Review: SWE Uprising - The Ardler's Last Stand

Saturday 26 July

After missing the Uprising shows in May and June, I could not miss this one - the final Uprising to be held in the Ardler Complex.  Although we had recently been to see SWE in Cupar, a lot of the friends we have made in Dundee could not make it, so we were also looking forward to catching up with them!

This was actually one of two shows SWE were putting on that night.  Their "Battle Stations" show in Perth had started an hour earlier in order for some of the wrestlers to be able to appear at both shows.  Good idea or not??? I will give my opinion later.....

The show started with a Ghostbusters themed vignette on the video screen, followed by Ravishing Randy Valentine taking to the ring to say goodbye to what has become the home of SWE Uprising.  After recounting some of the special moments that took place in the Ardler and thanking the fans for their continued support, he took his seat at the announce table with The Grue and it was time for Ring Announcer Amy Anderson to take over microphone duties!

First match of the night was fan favourite Mr News facing Trident member MDK. Now I have to admit that I don't like the Trident as a gimmick and never have so I really hope that the fact that the members now have identities and are appearing in singles competition is the beginning of the end.  The match started off with News working on the leg of MDK but the big guy soon had the upper hand.  This was less a wrestling match and more a brawl as MDK used brute force to subdue News.  Despite taking some serious punishment, Mr News refused to stay down, and fought his way back into the match but his attempted pin on MDK was shrugged off and News almost landed on the referee.  MDK then weakened News in a bear hug before catching News' attempt at a crossbody from the turnbuckles and slamming him to the mat for the three count.  MDK finished the victor but Mr News remains the fan favourite.

Next up was the girls, Nikki Storm v Viper.   I thought Rob's eyes were gonna pop out of his head when Nikki made her entrance in her new red ring gear....and even more so when it slid up during her match to reveal her bra!  This match was brilliant.  Storm and Viper are two of the best female wrestlers I have seen.  Storm played up her heel status to the max, screaming that every attempted pin was a three count and standing on the hair of Viper while arguing with the ref.  Viper had the crowd behind her and there were huge cheers when she kicked out of the pin after taking Storm's swinging neckbreaker.  After her earlier attempt failed, Viper managed to get a surfboard style submission hold on Storm which was too much for the feisty lass to withstand and Viper took the win by submission.  These girls served up an amazing match which can be viewed here.

We then had a Future Division Championship match between current champion Christopher Saynt and Felix Fortune.  I still don't like the new name given to McMinn - Felix is a cat food brand - however he is improving his in-ring abilities, although he was totally outshone by Saynt in this match.  As much as it pains me to say it, Christopher Saynt is a really good wrestler and he can make an amateur look better than he really is and I think that Fortune really did "luck out" with this match. It started off with Saynt running his mouth, talking about how people had been sharing their favourite memories from the Ardler and how his hadn't happened yet because he couldn't wait till the Ardler Complex burned to the ground.  He then turned his attention to Fortune, asking him if he really thought he could be the next champion and what made him think he could ever be as good as Saynt.  Fortune responded by saying he had done enough talking in his career as a ring announcer and promptly socked Saynt, before dropkicking him out of the ring and taking the upper hand, before getting back into the ring where he made a pin attempt.  Then Saynt came back at him with punches to the head and chokes on the ropes.  It continued in the same manner until, with Fortune appearing to be gaining the upper hand, Saynt picked up his belt and left ringside, leaving Fortune to win by count out but with Saynt retaining the title.

Then it was time for the first half main event.  This match pitted the #1 contender for the heavyweight title, Martyn Stallyon against "The Beast from Belfast" Damian O'Connor.  What can I say about this match....it was bloody incredible.  SWE made a huge mistake here as this really should have been THE main event, but with wrestlers travelling from their show in Perth to appear at Uprising, I understand why they did it.  Obviously this was my Match of the Night - and quite probably match of the year!  Stallyon came out and started taking selfies with crowd members before the arrival of "The Beast".  With both men in the ring, the crowd started off with a chant of "Damo's gonna kill you" and for a while it looked like this could be true - Damo stood on Stallyon in the ring, cannonballed into him against the barriers and slammed him off a wall or two - but Stallyon would not go down.  In fact, he went up.... up the stairs and dived onto Damo from the balcony! The action returned to the ring where, eventually Stallyon got the pin on big Damo and took the win in this utter belter of a match...but don't take my word for it, you can watch the entire match for yourself by clicking here - go on do it - it's amazing!!

The second half started with Joe Hendry facing Claymore.  With Joe hyping up his appearance on RAW, the "Local Hero" had taken a fabric pen to his trunks so they now said "Global Hero" and he really didn't seem very happy when I got the crowd singing "Joe Hendry, Total Zero"!!  Hendry appeared to have this match firmly in his grasp from the outset, keeping Claymore grounded and using a series of holds, before hoisting the big man onto his shoulders.  It was this move which allowed Claymore to use his weight advantage to escape and knock Hendry from the ring, only for a masked figure carrying a sledgehammer to appear.  He attacked Claymore before unmasking to reveal himself as Trident member Darren Blair (formerly known as Powerbomb in my blogs).  With Claymore bleeding from a head wound, he was declared the winner by disqualification, before being helped from the ring.

The final Ardler show would not be complete without an appearance by SWE Heavyweight Champion "The Scumbag" Ian Ambrose.  Whilst not competing in the show, he thought he would "grace" us with his presence and after mentioning the match between Stallyon and Damo, brag about how he had beaten Damo for the belt and subsequent matches and that he would do the same to Stallyon at Hell For Lycra XI but he took to his heels quickly enough when Stallyon appeared in the ring!

Bravehart then took to the ring before Euan Mackie arrived, accompanied by Jam O'Malley.  Bravehart said that he would not be facing Mackie that evening, however they would face each other at Hell For Lycra XI. Bravehart then announced that he had chosen another opponent to face Mackie and, unsurprisingly, it was none other than Jam O'Malley.  With the Z List members laughing and saying that Bravehart had tried this trick on them before, O'Malley suddenly turned on Mackie.  While Bravehart now laughed, the crowd were gutted and cries of "No Jam" and chants of  "you sold out" rang around the hall.  O'Malley used the element of surprise to take the upper hand in the match, however Mackie grabbed him by the short and curlies, stopping the bigger man in his tracks, before rolling him up and taking the pin to the delight of the crowd and the disappointment of Bravehart.  A very unhappy O'Malley then went into the crowd to grab a chair and chased Mackie backstage.

The main event of the evening was Jay the Jackal v LJT.  Now I mean no offence to either man but after the match up between Stallyon and Damo, this just didn't cut it as a main event match.  I once again pointed out that The Jackal had a picture of a fox on his butt!  After a cracking start with LJT knocking The Jackal from the ring and then diving on him from the ropes, The Jackal then held the advantage, keeping the high flier grounded with a series of holds but LJT just never gives up.  Despite the underhand tactics from The Jackal, LJT came back at him with some submission holds of his own and more high flying moves, before finally scoring the pinfall.

So in my opinion, all in all it was a good show but it could have been great with just a couple of tweaks.  All the matches were good, but I think a little reshuffle of the order was required.  For me the second half seemed a bit of a let-down after the amazing match between Damo and Stallyon.  I think I would have had Storm v Viper as the first half main event, made sure the guys appearing at Perth were on first there and up the road in time to appear early on the second half and had the Damo/Stallyon match finish the show.

The next SWE show, Hellbound is on Saturday 23 August at Kirkton Community Centre and features Colt Cabana and Grado.  Doors open at 1.45pm.

Their annual showcase, Hell For Lycra is being held at the Bonar Hall the following week, 30 August.  Hell For Lycra will feature WWE Legend Road Warrior Animal and tickets for the show also grant access to the afternoon autograph session at 2pm with the doors opening for the main show at 6.45pm.

For more information on their upcoming shows, how to get tickets and watch previews and videos of past events, check out SWE on Facebook

Review: SWE Breaking Backs

Friday 11 July 2014

So we have missed the last couple of SWE events in Dundee due to date clashes so we were really looking forward to this show in Cupar.  After a morning of general mayhem and then panic when 4 ambulances zoomed past us on the way to the Forth Road Bridge, we arrived in Cupar.  Unfortunately our plans to grab a bite before the show were scuppered when we found that eateries in Cupar generally close at 2pm after lunch and don't reopen until around 5-5.30pm for dinner....bit of a downer when you arrive in town just after 3pm!!  Thankfully they had a Greggs so we made do with some pizza slices and steak bakes.

Arriving at the venue, we met up with some of our friends from Dundee and had a bit of a catch up which was really nice.  Once we knew we were safe from parking restrictions, we headed to the venue and decided to head inside and bumped into Charles Riddell, co-owner of SWE and asked if it was okay to wait inside where it was cooler and where would the ticket desk be, only to be told that I had won tickets to the event in a competition I had entered with Fighting Spirit Magazine - only the mag hadn't actually notified me!  I was well chuffed and having a little extra cash meant I could get our tickets for both Hellbound and Hell For Lycra in August!

Cupar Corn Exchange was a cracking wee venue for the show with a stage area which the wrestlers used for the entrance and plenty of room for seating.  It was a shame that more people didn't come along but the very small crowd (around 30 people) made plenty of noise.  I may or may not have instigated many of the chants but it was great that everyone joined in and there were a great wee group of kids who really got into it - potentional loudmouths of the future!  Our Ring Announcer for the night was the lovely Amy Anderson, who did a great job!

The first match of the night was Debbie Sharpe v Sammii Jayne.  Bearing in mind we haven't been to SWE since the end of April, there were a lot of changes...and mostly for the good.  Sharpe came to the ring first, having ditched her bouncy Gina G entrance music, using that of her other half, Martyn Stallyon.  She has also ditched her goody, goody persona and had a permanent scowl on her face (when I told her to watch for the wind changing cos it might stay that way, she asked me if that was what happened to me - I like heel Debbie!)  Next Sammii Jayne came bouncing out to the ring, smiling and greeting the crowd but when it came to the action, the sweet act was gone and she was as good, if not better, than heel Sammii.  Within a minute of the bell, the action had already spilled out of the ring.  Sammii then dumped Debbie over the barriers before climbing over herself, proceeding to smack Debbie into everything in sight, chairs, the walls and of course the merchandise table, before getting onto said table and launching herself at Debbie.  The action then returned to the ring where both girls gave as good as they got before Sammii Jayne got the pin, leaving Debbie looking stunned, then angry.  This was probably the best match I have seen between these two girls and while it seemed somewhat wrong to have Sammii Jayne as a face, she did not dumb down her in-ring abilities and seemed almost more vicious as a face than she did as a heel.

Next up was a tag team match featuring two members of the Trident against Claymore and Calum McMinn, now known as Felix Fortune.  It seems that since my last visit the Trident have been given names and tonight featured "the big dour faced one" now known as MDK (I think this is a reference to the movie Demolition Man) and "450" who I think they said was called Steven Myles.  The match started with the Trident attacking Claymore and Fortune as they climbed the ropes to greet the crowd during their entrance and this could have been a really good match, however there were a few really botched moves when it was impossible to suspend disbelief and I just had to laugh (sorry guys but I have to be honest with my opinions).  Unfortunately, for me, those moments totally overshadowed the really good parts of the match.  Fortune put in a relatively good showing in the early part of the match, but when the momentum turned and a desperate Fortune tagged in Claymore, Trident had managed to distract the referee who refused to accept the tag had been made.  Claymore did eventually get a tag in and cleared house before Fortune took over and momentum swung again in the Trident's favour, Fortune was unable to kick out after taking a 450 splash and the win went to The Trident.

With the next match I was again faced with a character change - Joe Hendry had turned heel.  His opponent, Martyn Stallyon was accompanied to the ring by Debbie Sharpe, however before the match started Stallyon sent Debbie backstage (I think this may be because she has been costing him wins by distracting him).  This was a cracker of a match. Hendry initially seemed reluctant to stay in the ring and received the obligatory "Chicken" chant but then took the upper hand in the early part of the match. Stallyon came back at him and they continued to trade blows and holds throughout the match.  There were near pins on both sides and if looks could kill I would have dropped dead from the one Hendry gave me after I sang "Joe Hendry, Total Zero"!  The match ended with Stallyon splashing Hendry from the top rope and securing the pinfall.  Enter Debbie Sharpe, wearing bright red lipstick, who gets into the ring and congratulates her man by planting a smacker on his lips, only to quickly drop to her knees and plant one on the cheek of the still prone Hendry while her man's back was turned.  Loving this Stallyon/Sharpe storyline and yes, I definitely like Debbie better as a heel than a face!

Chaz Phoenix then came out to the ring and addressed his upcoming steel cage match with Steven Magners at Hell For Lycra.  When I started chanting "We want Magners", Chaz yelled that Magners wasn't even here and that I should shut up.  Chaz was upset that someone he used to call a friend would stab him in the back but the crowd loved him - so I told him I was playing the world's smallest violin for him.  He didn't seem to appreciate it and yelled "shut up, you ugly cretin" - I'll give you this Chaz, I have been called a lot of things but that was the first time I have been called a cretin.  He then continued to talk about how once he got Magners in the cage he was going to destroy him and that he didn't care if a single person turned up to watch, he would do it anyway before deciding that we did not deserve his presence, throwing down the microphone and storming out of the ring.

During the Hendry/Stallyon match, Jam O'Malley & Euan Mackie entered the hall and sat quietly at ringside with a bag full of old posters and flyers.  During the interval it became apparent that they had been writing messages on the back of the posters and flyers and went round the hall leaving them on seats, before taking to the announcers table which had been vacated by Randy Valentine and The Grue for the break.

First up after the interval was Jason "The Jackal" Costello v LJT.  As usual, there were chants of "potato" greeting the arrival of Costello, who was wearing trunks with what looked more like a fox than a jackal on them.  I, of course, felt it my duty to point out this fact to him but, like Chaz earlier, I don't think he appreciated it!  LJT got the jump on Costello early on, but Costello soon took the upper hand, often resorting to his usual underhanded tactics.  With the crowd firmly behind LJT, the match continued to swing back and forth.  With LJT looking like winning and being just a fraction of a second short of scoring the win, Costello managed to use LJT's own momentum to roll him up for the pinfall.

Euan Mackie and Jam O'Malley then took to the ring to address recent events between Mackie and Bravehart.  After Mackie spoke about being promised a title shot that didn't happen, losing his group "The Z List" and how Bravehart's attitude had changed, he started a "Low Must Go" chant and started throwing flyers from the ring.  Jam then took the microphone and spoke about how he was robbed of the Future Division championship when Bravehart overturned the referee's decision but did nothing regarding the outside interference.  They then sat in the ring until Bravehart appeared to face them.  After stating there would not be a career v career match as Bravehart was going nowhere, he confirmed he would face Mackie at Hell For Lycra, even if he was not fit to wrestle and could end up in hospital, because Mackie was worth it.  He then turned his attention to Jam O'Malley, telling him that as a current SWE employee, he must show his loyalty by removing Mackie from the premises or he would be sacked on the spot.  After about 30 seconds of shaking his head and saying "I need this job" O'Malley turned to Bravehart and gave a gesture that indicated he would not be carrying out his orders before he and Mackie left the hall.

The main event pitted SWE Heavyweight champion Ian Ambrose against Mr News for the title and was my pick for Match of the Night.  Ambrose revelled in the jeers from the crowd as much as Mr News did in the cheers.  News quickly took the fight to Ambrose and when outside of the ring he even took requests, slamming Ambrose face first into the barrier right in front of me after I asked him to!!  This ended up being an action packed match with both guys putting it all out there and the momentum swung back and forth with each having several near falls.  Each time News seemed in control, Ambrose would fight back using whatever it took and when caught in a submission hold and unable to reach the ropes, he manouvered News' hand and bit him in order to get the hold released.  With both men exhausted, News hoisted Ambrose across his shoulders but as he turned, Ambrose's boot caught the ref on the back of the head, sending him out of the ring so when News dropped Ambrose on his face then rolled him over for the pin, there was no ref to count the fall.  As Mr News tried to grasp what had happened, Ambrose crawled to the corner of the ring, picked up the title belt, threw it to News then kicked the belt into him, cutting his head.  Pinning the prone News, Ambrose screamed for the referee and a second ref appeared but News managed to kick out after a 2 count.  It was not to be Mr News' night however as, grabbing a handful of tights for leverage, Ambrose managed to get the pinfall.  While a bleeding Mr News was helped backstage from the ring, Ambrose revelled once again in the crowd's jeers, still SWE Heavyweight champion.  As Ambrose celebrated, Martyn Stallyon appeared and announced that he was cashing in his title shot and would face Ambrose for the title at Hell For Lycra XI.

Despite not having the crowd they would normally have at one of the Dundee venues, the wrestlers still put on a good show and I was really glad we had decided to go.

SWE have several events coming up, two shows on 26th July, "Uprising" in Dundee and "Battle Stations" in Perth, followed by "Hellbound" on 23rd August featuring Colt Cabana and Grado and then their big annual Hell For Lycra show on 30 August, featuring  WWE legend Road Warrior Animal and Dennis Stamp.  Tickets are available now.  Check out their Facebook for details on events and tickets.