Arrived at he venue nice and early and took our ring side seats, great spot opposite entrance. Set up is pretty nice, big stage with runway down to the ring.
Show started bang on time which is rare so plus points already at this point!
G-Man the assistant GM comes out to say since the GM is not here then he is running the show, promptly interrupted by Mr and Mrs Haskins who run him down and announce that Vicky Haskins has actually been put in charge.
Jurgen Heimlich vs Ryan Style – Nice show starter, fast paced with some high impact moves and some good spots and some high flying from the All Day Star. Smile comes out on top and ends up dropping a Flair style elbow on the German flag.
‘The Bastard’ Dave Mastiff vs Bubblegum – I really like the heel Bubblegum but this version came across really well too. Swamped by Mastiff he tried to keep moving and taking pot shots where he could, including a kick to the “thigh” which may have landed a bit more centrally than intended!! Ultimately The Bastards power won out, including a power bomb to the outside of the ring and blocking a sunset flip by sitting down on Bubblegums chest for a 2 count. Mastiff won with his bomb into the corner. Good match with very contrasting styles
Max Angelus, CJ Banks & Alex Gracie vs. El Ligero, Joseph Conners & LJ Heron – Good solid match with each of the guys getting some decent ring time. Focus of the match was on Angelus trying to take off Ligeros mask. Conners took a beating but finally managed to make the hot tag before it went crazy. Everyone hit their big moves but ultimately the team of Ligero, Conners and Heron came out on top
First Half Main Event: Kris Travis vs “Suicidal” Jimmy Havoc – Havoc enters the ring with a chair and invites Travis to have a hardcore match. Travis claims to be a wrestler and tries to start off on all fours to give Havoc a chance, each time reversing him and spinning around on top mocking him. Eventually Havoc just boots him and its on. A cane, a baking tray, a frying pan, tables, chairs and about the first 4 rows of seating all got used in this match. Travis picked up the win when he sent Havoc through a table on the outside. Really good match with some brutal spots, including Havoc getting dropped off the top rope through a chair. Crowd was really into it and Travis played his role superbly.
First half notes … Not sure exactly where this happened ….
After turning on Battle Squad Awesome and joining Xander Cooper at the last show Robbie X – now to be known as ROBERT X – came to the ring with Cooper to explain his actions. Cooper claimed they were the backbone of British wrestling and would be for years to come so they demand the respect they are due.
Harvey Dale (on commentary) got physically annihilated by Ruffneck, including a dive over the announce table!
Zack ‘Diamond’ Gibson vs. T-Bone accompanied by the lovely Melanie Price (who I last saw working with Nathan Cruz in NGW) – Before the match started the ref uncovered a pair of scissors hidden in Gibsons boots. Good hard hitting match, some big moves and some innovative throws and slams, with Gibson working over T-Bones arm for the majority of the match. T-Bone put Gibson up for the longest vertical duplex I think I have ever seen and ultimately came out on top. While he celebrated in the ring with Melanie, Harvey Dales music hit, while he was distracted Barricade snuck in (if somebody that size can “sneak”) and took him out, which ended up with him handcuffed to the ring post. At this point Dale sent his monster after T-Bones sister who was in the crowd, her boyfriend tried to protect her but got thrown into a wall. Barricade slammed her in the middle f the ring and left before any help arrived.
Xander Cooper & Robert X vs Battle Squad Awesome – Chants of “Robbie sucks” and “Xander Pooper” throughout the match. Some great high flying action from all involved and the pace was kept up throughout. Finish came when ref was distracted by an injury allowing Cooper the chance to slam a chair against the ring before sliding it in and Robert X taking a dive leading the ref to suspect foul play and handing Cooper and X the DQ victory.
Main Event: Mark Haskins with Vicky Haskins vs Martin Kirby – I loved this match, full of back and forth action, some high impact moves as well as some great technical wrestling from 2 of the best in the UK. At one point Kirby slapped Mrs Haskins backside (which she sold for most the rest of he match) enraging Mark to take the fight up a level. As the match went on the Haskins tried to cut corners as much as possibly but Kirby managed to come out on top.
As acting GM though Vicky Haskins has said that this match will be struck from the records, so hopefully there is more to come between these two. Overall a great main event.
All in all a good show, crowd was pretty vocal for the most part and a good mix. A solid range of matches on the card to suit most fans, generally well executed. Highlights for me were Travis/Havoc and Haskins/Kirby but there certainly wasn’t a bad match on the card. A great highlight for British Talent. I for one am interested in seeing the story lines progress as well as seeing some more of the talent and I’ll definitely be at the next show (and not just because I won the raffle!)
Matt Bayliss
@mattmatt316
The Indy Corner Wrestling Podcast 