Review: Reckless Intent presents Proving Grounds

Some of my friends made the the journey from Ayr to check out Reckless Intent's Proving Grounds show in July.  I asked one of them, Claire Allan, if she would mind writing a wee review of the show....and here's what she had to say.....


On 4th July, I travelled all the way to Livingston for my first ever Reckless Intent show.  I will be totally honest, I was apprehensive about the show.  It's a smaller company than the ones I am used to going to and was frightened that I would not enjoy it.

THE SHOW

Enter Davey Blaze with the 'manager of champions' Charles Boddington, proclaiming he was only here for one reason and that was to become Reckless Intent Champion.  This statement then brought out current champion 'Local Hero' Joe Hendry.  Joe tried to reason with Davey, explaining that he is aware of his talents and that he doesn't need a leech like Boddington to get to the top and could get there on his own merit.  Blaze took umbridge to this and attacked Hendry, which then set up the main event of the night - Blaze vs Hendry for the Reckless Intent Championship.

LIONHEART VS RAWLINS

I found this quite amusing that one of the participants had to tell us he was a bad guy right at the start so I made the quickest face turn in a century and was cheering for Rawlins.  This was the first time I had seen Rawlins wrestle and was impressed, he could possibly fit in with the events I normally attend.  Lionheart was doing a little parading around the ring and in the process managed to make a young fan cry.  After an entertaining match that could have went either way, Lionheart pinned Rawlins for the win.  After the match, Lionheart went over to the young fan which I thought was to console him but ever the typical heel, he made the fan cry even more!

LEWIS GIRVAN'S OPEN CHALLENGE

The self-proclaimed 'best young wrestler in the world' Lewis Girvan comes to ring with a chair, stating that there is no young wrestler that could beat him and he wasn't leaving the ring until he gets to prove it.  Venym answers his call.  As with Rawlins, this was the first time seeing Venym and the first thing I noticed about him was his beaming smile.  This was another match that could have went either way with both men showing good technical ability and Lewis even took Venym on a walk around the ring and kindly placed him on my knee then hit him with an almighty chop which I felt right through from Venym.  After some more too-ing and fro-ing, Lewis pinned Venym for the win and it added more fuel to his fire that he is the 'best young wrestler in the world.

CHRIS RENFREW VS SAINT GEORGE

For me, this match, first half main event, was Match Of The Night.  A street fight between Chris Renfrew, a man I have a lot of admiration for, and Saint George.  Even though I have never seen Saint George, he is what us Scots call a bawbag especially after waving that English flag over my face!  This match was intense from start to finish.  Renfrew took it to Saint George right from the bell.  Both men knocking lumps out of each other and even had a little trip outside which saw both men being rattled off the fence and round the side of the Scout Hall was a broken toilet, which Renfrew sat Saint George on and hit him with a few chops that could probably have been heard in Edinburgh then grabbed him and stuck his head down it and pretended to flush.  The fight then returns to the ring where Darren Lewis's music plays and Saint George tries to take advantage but fails and Chris Renfrew seals the win.  Renfrew then issues Lewis with a warning saying he will be defending his UK title against Renfrew at Cruel Summer.

SIX MAN TAG MATCH

This match sees Scott Renwick, Theo Doros and Sweet Johnny vs Jam O'Malley, Matt Daly and Rob Mills accompanied by Wee Jimmy dressed as an Ompah Loompah.  Sorry to say, this match didn't light my fire. I was ecstatic that I finally got to see Rob wrestle but Sweet Johnny annoyed the hell out of me!  I did try to get into the fight but my heart couldn't get into it.  After the wrestling, the team of Scott Renwick, Theo Doros and Sweet Johnny secured the win.  Jam turned his attention to his team mates and blamed them for the defeat.  Both Matt Daly and Rob Mills walk away leaving Jam in the hall with the winning team.  After the match, the GM came out and advised Jam that he now had to defend his Hardcore Championship at any time and any place.  This brought The Westler and Jackie Grady to the ring to try to win the title from Jam but they got into a fight with Theo Doros and Sweet Johnny leaving Jam and Scott in the ring.  Scott defeats Jam to win the Hardcore Championship, that brings Saint George out who distracts Scott for Jam to win the title back.  Chris Renfrew was hot on Saint George's heels that caused some members of the audience to run outside in case the scrap from earlier continued.

MIKEY VS KENNY WILLIAMS

I was looking forward to this match, Kenny is someone who I have seen on several occasions and has impressed me each time.  I have only seen Mikey on YouTube but liked what I saw.  Both men lived up to expectations, had a great mix of high flying and technical ability.  Even though Kenny reminded me that it was a family show after yelling 'Kenny is the bollocks' which then started the girls sitting next to me to shout 'Mikey is the mutts nutts'.  After some more fantastic wrestling, Mikey beat Kenny by pinfall.  After the match Mikey said that he has defeated some excellent competitors since returning from knee surgery but at Cruel Summer he will face none other than the 'Beast of Belfast' Damian O'Connor.

JOE HENDRY (C) VS DAVEY BLAZE

This was the night's main event, these two men looked equals when in the ring the only difference is the small person standing at ringside.  Of course, without fail, I managed to get the standard 'baldy midget' chant ringing round the hall plus the poor girls next to me took some abuse from Blaze, think he was scared to abuse me!  Once the match began the two men in the ring were definitely equals and above average technical wrestlers.  This was another match that you could not tell the eventual outcome.  It was move after move, countermove after countermove, it was an excellent match for first timers to watch.  You could tell Blaze was getting frustrated with the near falls.  Joe's resilience was second to none, he knew what was at stake.  In the end it came down to the little person who got involved but was not sly enough and was caught by the referee so Joe Hendry won by disqualification to retain the title.  After the match, Blaze took his anger out on Joe Hendry and started to beat him down only for Scott Renwick to come and save the Reckless Intent Champion and issue Davey Blaze with a match at Cruel Summer.

As I stated at the start of the blog, I was apprehensive about this show but I clearly had nothing to be apprehensive about.  It was an excellent show and I hope the crowd at Reckless continues to grow.  I do hope to return at some point but at this moment I can't say when!

P.S. I do believe some of the gang may be there in September!

A huge Thank You! to Claire for her comments and look forward to your next visit to Livingston.

Review: Reckless Intent presents Sunday Slam: Is A Magical Place

Sunday 24 May 2015

The show started with Sunday Slam Champion, Craig "The Firestorm" Valant calling General Manager Jason McKinlay out to the ring to make an announcement.  Valant stated that since winning the Sunday Slam title he felt he had become lazy, not attending training sessions or shows and that he did not deserve to hold the belt.  He promised that he would take it back in the future as a fighting wrestler but for now he was relinquishing the belt and with that the Sunday Slam Title was vacated.

The SOS entrance music played and Scott "The Butcher" Renwick came out and stated that he had been promised a match with Valant, that he did not get that match and therefore he wanted a match there and then.  Valant accepted the challenge and the match was on.  This was a decent match but there was surprising very little crowd participation.  Valant hit a cracking elbow drop before going for "The Firestorm", which Renwick tried to reverse into "The Angels Wings" but it was Valant who was the victor by successfully managing to re-reverse the move and score the pinfall.

Mikey then came out to the ring to make a face to face challenge to Renwick.  As their match at No Going Back in March had to be cancelled due to Mikey's knee surgery being brought forward, Mikey had been looking to face Renwick since his return to the ring and had received no response to his video requests so face to face he made his challenge - Mikey v Renwick at Taking Over on 6 June, one-on-one with no Darren Lewis or Graeme Leask.  Challenge accepted!!

Next up was Hardcore Champion, The Westler to face Saint-George but the mouthy Englishman did not appear.  Instead Wee Jimmy got into the ring to challenge for the Hardcore belt.  Just then Jam O'Malley's music played!  O'Malley announced that his "wife" Saint-George could not attend due to lady problems then told Jimmy to step aside as O'Malley wanted to regain the Hardcore title and challenged Westy to a match for the belt.  This was a fun match that could not be contained in the unit, spilling into the car park where Westy was force-fed Jaffa Cakes.  Once back in the unit, Westy took the pinfall to retain the Hardcore belt but while he was celebrating, Rob Mills took the opportunity for a sneak attack and pinned Westy to win the title (and I actually saw it this time!)  Once again Mills reign was short-lived as Sully took his revenge and the belt.  Westy quickly rolled up Sully to retake the belt.  O'Malley hugged Westy in congratulations but quickly made his move and pinned Westy to become Hardcore Champion, taking the microphone and telling Westy "don't trust anyone" before leaving with the belt.

The first half main event saw Rawlins face Theo Doros.  The crowd took some time to warm up to this one and when they did, it seemed quite an even split, an achievement for Doros as the newcomer to have already gained a following when facing one of the usual fan favourites.  For me the match was a bit slow and more of a show of "look what I can do....well I can do it better" with much of the match basically them reversing wristlocks and headlocks or taking turns on armdrags, before going down on a double cross body and following up with a slugfest.  By the time they started doing something different, I was already bored.  A few German suplexes from Rawlins was followed by his flying headbutt, only Doros had moved out of the way and grabbed his opportunity, ending the match by rolling up Rawlins to take the three count.  Rawlins and Doros then shook hands, Rawlins gave Doros his hoodie and Doros gave Rawlins his t-shirt.  While I wasn't overly impressed with the match, I do think that Doros shows amazing potential and is definitely one to watch.

The second half started with tag team action as Sweet Johnny teamed up with Jackie Grady to face Sambroso and Davidian Fury, both strange combinations in my opinion.  After some amusing showboating from Sambroso, Fury did his usual, using his size as an advantage to dominate both Grady and Johnny, but it inevitably became a disadvantage when Sweet Johnny sent him barrelling into the ringpost knocking Sambroso Maestro and "crotching" him on the turnbuckle before Sweet Johnny rolled Fury up for the pinfall.  Sweet Johnny and Jackie Grady were then joined in the ring by Westy for a display of their "awesome dance moves"!

The penultimate match of the day saw Rob Mills face Venym.  The self proclaimed "Heart and Soul of Sunday Slam" was not happy about Venym being popular with the crowd, believing they should be in awe of him instead.  I was quite surprised at the level of ruthlessness shown by Mills as he focused his attention on the arm of his opponent, including using the ropes and ringpost to his advantage.  It appeared that each time Venym looked to be gaining some momentum, Mills managed to wriggle his way free and continued his assault on the left arm of Venym.  It looked like Mills might take the victory as he called for his finisher but Venym was able to reverse into the "Poison Rain" and take the three count.  This was a very close runner-up for my Match of the Day....

... but was narrowly beaten for the accolade by the main event match between Mikey and Massimo Italiano.  Mikey has been working on his physique in the last few months and it really shows.  Matching up fairly evenly in both height and build, neither man appeared to have an advantage over the other - until the crowd got involved, clearly behind Mikey.  This was a lovely match, with Italiano generating extra heat by deliberately antagonising Janet during periods when he had the momentum on his side.  After several near falls, the Italian looked to be in complete control with Mikey struggling to get back to his feet but Mikey never gives up and managed to score the victory with a crucifix pin.  The crowd were elated and Italiano was shocked.  A cracking end to the show!

Due to the lateness of this blog, Taking Over has already taken place (6 June) and my blog will be posted soon.  The next event is Proving Grounds on 4 July and the card is shaping up to look like one of the best with the return of Chris Renfrew and the RI debuts of Lionheart, Kenny Williams and Davey Blaze with Charles Boddington.  This really is one not to be missed and tickets are available online - click here

Check out Reckless Intent on Facebook to keep up to date with all future events and ticketing information.

Review: Reckless Intent presents Sunday Slam: 2015 BOWL Qualifier

Sunday 19 April 2015

It was this weekend a year ago that I first discovered the existence of Reckless Intent after seeing a couple of the guys on an SWE show and had yet to actually see an RI show - how time flies - and how things change....

As has become usual, Rob and I were at the unit early to help with the setup.  Although this was a Sunday show, it was also the qualifier for the next Saturday show and Rob was not on the card....or so I thought.....

I got the shock of my life when the show was opened with the appearance of Rob Mills, who got into the ring, took the microphone and announced that he was "the heart and soul of Sunday Slam" and having been omitted from the tournament, he was holding the event hostage until he got a match! (Apparently my face was a picture but thankfully no-one thought to actually take one.)  Well he got his match all right...from none other than Mikey, who was returning to the ring after having surgery on his knee.  This was a cracking match to start the show.  Mills put on a great performance against Mikey, definitely the best I have seen from him, and although Mikey thoroughly annihilated him in the end, I was very proud of my boy.

Next up was the first of the BOWL qualifying matches between Saint-George and newcomer Theo Doros.  With Saint-George being his usual arrogant self, he proclaimed that this year he would go a step further, having been beaten in last year's tournament in the semi-final.  Continuing a run of good matches, Saint-George gave it a good try but, to the delight of the crowd, he took a step backward and it was Theo Doros who took the win and a place in the semi-final on 2 May.

The next qualifier was a triple threat match between Sambroso Maestro, Sweet Johnny and Jackie Grady.  Before the match started, Saint-George appeared and attacked Westy, who was accompanying Grady to the ring, and took the Hardcore Title, however his reign was short lived as ring announcer Sully quickly took the title from Saint-George.  The match then got underway, producing many comedy moments, including Grady sucking up to referee Brian Laing and Sambroso and Sweet Johnny teaming against Grady before falling out with each other over who would be allowed to make the pin.  Grady's sucking up may have actually worked for him as he scored the pinfall on Sweet Johnny to take the win.

The first half main event was an exhibition match between Scott Renwick and Falcon.  Renwick came out to the ring accompanied by one of his fellow SOS members Darren Lewis.  Once Renwick got in the ring, Lewis was roaming around ringside and as he approached me, I moved into the ring apron to allow him plenty of room to pass.  Instead he moved right in front of me and yelled "MOVE" in my face.  Now it has been a while since I have got into a nose to nose with a heel but never have and never will let one bully me...so I stood my ground and told him no.  I will admit that I was actually a wee bit scared as I thought he was going to pick me up and move me, but Renwick, who is slowing starting to see the light, stuck his head through the ropes and told Lewis to walk round me - thank you Scotty!!  Falcon then made his way into the ring and the match began..and it was a corker!  The skill and experience of these two wrestlers was a joy to watch.  With the momentum swinging back and forth between them, it came down to interference from Lewis, from standing on the apron to distract the referee while Falcon went for a pin on Renwick during the match to entering the ring at the end with a steel chair as Falcon looked to be nearing a victory.  As the referee demanded that Lewis and his chair leave, he was caught by Falcon and knocked out, leaving Lewis free to make his mark.  With Renwick holding Falcon, Lewis swung the chair only for Falcon to drop out of the way and Lewis so nearly nailed his own guy, only just stopping short. It looked as though Renwick was finally going to turn on Lewis and the crowd yelled for him to nail Lewis with the chair, however it was not to be and Falcon took the blow just before the referee recovered and Renwick made the pin.  Renwick seemed unhappy with his victory however with Lewis buzzing in his ear, he made a final attack on Falcon before leaving ringside and some of the other roster members came out to help Falcon from the ring.

The second half began with another BOWL triple threat qualifier LJT beat Davidian Fury and Graeme Leask.  Fury and Leask started by double teaming LJT but this was a short-lived tactic as they each wanted the win for themselves.  LJT pulled off a couple of cracking moves on both guys during the match, leaping over the ropes to take both men down early on and a lovely splash from the top turnbuckle onto both guys about midway through.  A slightly controversial finish but one the crowd thoroughly enjoyed came as LJT pinned Fury but the referee had been knocked out of the ring - enter the little lad that Fury had terrorised at a previous show to make the three count and give LJT the victory.

The final qualifier saw Conor Frost face Venym.  Frost is most definitely a better wrestler than he is a referee in my opinion but is just as unpopular with the crowd.  Complaining about Venym's accessory, a foam disc launcher, Frost attacked Venym from behind as he removed it from his wrist.  Frost had the upperhand for the early part of this match but I have to admit that I missed part of it ("old lady syndrome" struck at the wrong time and I had to go to the loo).  When I returned Venym had gained the advantage and pinned Frost for the victory.

General Manager Jason McKinlay came out to the ring to make the draw for the semi-final matches.  Venym would face Theo Doros and Grady would face LJT at the BOWL on 2 May.  As the semi-finalists faced each other in the ring, Saint-George appeared and attacked Sully for the Hardcore title.  As Saint-George celebrated, Mikey attacked and beat down Saint-George but instead of pinning him, he pushed Westy forward and Westy took the three count to re-take the Hardcore belt.

The main event saw Darren Lewis put the UK Title on the line against Rawlins.  Now this match had all the ingredients to make a a fantastic match - SOS member against one of the RI Originals for the title - but, for me, something was missing.  There wasn't the passion and spark that I expected and it turned out to be just a good match.  After going back and forth, it appeared that Rawlins had the win in the bag when Scott Renwick appeared at ringside.  While it looked like he was on the side of Rawlins, telling him to go for the pin and not try anything fancy, he actually distracted Rawlins and allowed Lewis to take the victory.

I had two contenders for my Match of the Day - Rob Mills v Mikey and Scott Renwick v Falcon and I know I will be accused of favouritism whichever match I pick (cos everyone knows I am a total mark for Scott Renwick) but I have to give it to Rob and Mikey... firstly because it really was a damn good match and secondly for managing to keep it secret and giving me the "OMG" moment too!

Because this is being published late, the BOWL event has already taken place and the next events are Sunday Slam on 24 May at the RI Unit and Taking Over on 6 June at Murieston Scout Hall.

Check out the Reckless Intent Facebook page for details of events and tickets for upcoming events.

Review: Reckless Intent presents Sunday Slam: Come At Us, Bro

Sunday 22 February 2015

A very wet and windy day, along with a virus that was doing the rounds, meant a smaller crowd than usual, but this didn't stop the guys from giving a great show.

The RI originals, Rawlins and Mikey came out to the ring to address the issue of the SOS.  After revealing themselves at the last event, Mikey had then faced Renwick for the Reckless Intent title but was unsuccessful.  He addressed the fact that he was having to pull out of their scheduled rematch on 7 March due to the fact that he would be having surgery on his knee on the Wednesday following this event and would not be medically cleared to return to the ring. He would that day however, be facing Davidian Fury, who had recently returned to Reckless Intent and thought he should be "at the top of the food chain" but Mikey planned to send him right back down to the bottom.  Rawlins then took the microphone and asked Doctor Grue to announce the stipulation for his match with Darren Lewis and that he didn't want to wait till 7 March for the match, he wanted to face him that day!  At this point Davidian Fury appeared and reminded people that he had won the right to be guest host of this show and took great pleasure in announcing that Rawlins was suspended for two weeks for attacking a referee at the last show.  As Rawlins left the building, Grue then announced that the referee, Conor Frost, was under investigation for misconduct.

The first match of the night saw Bobby Roberts and Craig Valant teamed up to face Jackie Grady and The Westler.  Roberts was the dominant force in this match, starting well against Westy before handing the mantle to Valant.  Westy quickly tagged out and Grady took the upper hand, working the leg of Valant, taunting Roberts and having the ref hold him back from entering the ring while Grady and Westy double teamed Valant.  Grady tried to pin Valant who was able to kick out, launching Grady into the turnbuckle and allowing Valant to make a much needed tag.  Roberts demolished Grady before hitting Westy with the spear.  With all four guys in the ring, Roberts pinned Grady for the victory and Valant hit him with "The Firestorm" for good measure.

Next out to the ring was Saint-George Bernard, who took the opportunity to try and intimidate Doctor Grue before taking on JJ Russell,  With the crowd behind him, Russell started well and Saint-George's tactics of gathering himself outside of the ring was made more difficult by the presence of Bobby Roberts, who had taken a seat at ringside for this match.  Using some underhanded tactics, Saint-George gained the upper hand but Russell had said "geez a chance" and now that he had one, he was not going to let it slip through his fingers.  As Saint-George moved in for his "Saint George Cross" Russell was able to counter and hit the mouthy Englishman with the "Sister Abigail" and take the pinfall.  Bobby Roberts raised Russell's hand in victory and smiled smugly as Saint-George came to terms with his loss.

The first half main event saw SOS member Darren Lewis face Falcon.  Since the SOS attack on Falcon and Rawlins at Over The Top in November, Falcon had been a silent and aggressive character, however now that the culprits had unmasked, it appeared that Falcon had returned as the fan favourite and was looking for retribution.  Lewis dominated the early part of the match, using underhanded tactics and keeping his opponent caught in the corners but Falcon kept fighting, pulling off some lovely moves of the ropes to unbalance the bigger man.  After scoring a near pin and sending Lewis out of the ring, Falcon appeared to be going for a suicide dive but Lewis intercepted the move with a chair. Referee Conor Frost called for the disqualification but Lewis then talked Frost into allowing the match to continue before getting back into the ring to make the pin on Falcon.  As Frost started to count, Rawlins made his return to the unit, knocking Frost unconscious before attacking Lewis.  Then all hell broke loose as Scott Renwick jumped into the ring to help Lewis subdue Rawlins and Mikey appeared to even the numbers, followed by the entire roster who attempted to keep The SOS and The Originals apart.  After the ring had finally been cleared, Doctor Grue announced that the original result of Falcon winning by disqualification would stand.

The second half started with a 4 Way match for the Hardcore Title between Sambroso Maestro, Sweet Johnny, Rob Mills and current champ Chavi.  Before the match started, Sambroso pulled a rather large pair of leopard print knickers from his tights, threw them at Rob stating "give these back to your mum" (he wishes!!) That set the tone for the match and there were lowblows aplenty before Chavi got the other three tied up in their own gear (with Sambroso flashing a bit more cheek than he may have wanted to).  With each guy trying to take the title, there was always someone getting in the way.  The crowd were firmly behind Chavi, who seemed to have the match well in hand, however it was Sambroso who was victorious after nailing Chavi with his "Debo Numero Uno" to become the new Hardcore champ.  Westy made an entrance to challenge for the belt but instead received a blow to the head, but Sambroso's joy was shortlived when Venym appeared and pinned him with the use of his hammer to take the belt.  Westy then attempted to challenge Venym and received a blow to the head from the hammer for his troubles.

The penultimate match saw Davidian Fury take on Mikey.  Fury managed to make a young lad cry and was invited to pick on someone his own size....ie me!!  Mikey came out all guns blazing but Fury used his size advantage to gain the upper hand, before getting a bit to full of himself and soon Mikey put him back in his place, using some cracking aerial moves to knock Fury off balance before putting him down for the three count.  After the match, Mikey addressed the fact that Scott Renwick had said he was too scared to face him at No Going Back on 7 March and stated he would be glad to face Renwick but no medical official would clear him for the match to happen and therefore he had chosen a replacement for the match - someone who kept asking for a chance - JJ Russell.

Finally it was time for the main event where AJ Russell would put the Sunday Slam Title on the line against the new Hardcore Champion Venym.  This match went back and forth, with both guys showing their agility as well as strength.  With the crowd firmly behind Venym, Russell attempted several underhanded moves to gain the advantage.  At one point the referee was knocked from the ring and both guys had what would have been successful pin attempts with no referee to count.  As Russell dragged the referee into the centre of the ring, Venym took the time to recover, hitting his "Poison Rain" finisher to score the pinfall and become the new Sunday Slam champ.  As he was celebrating, Saint-George pulled a sneak attack from behind, hitting Venym with the "Saint George Cross" to take the Hardcore Title.  Once again Westy appeared to challenge for the belt, however this time he actually managed to succeed, rolling up Saint-George for the three count.  An irate Saint-George left the ring empty-handed as Venym and Westy shook hands and celebrated their new titles.

Check out Reckless Intent on Facebook for details of upcoming events and how to get your tickets.

The next Sunday Slam, Fight The Power is on 22 March at the RI Unit with entry only £5 on the door.  Reckless Intent returns to Murieston Scout Hall on 4 April for Never Back Down and with Chris Renfrew making a return, it's sure to get ugly.  Tickets are available online now.