Wrestling and independence go hand in hand in some aspects. If there wasn't an independent wrestling scene then companies like WWE and AEW probably wouldn't have brilliant rosters like they do today. Wrestlers like Ricochet, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles all served the independent scene for many years, much like the rest of the roster in the big companies have. Not only that, but wrestlers are seen as independent contractors, even if they are signed to a company that doesn't seem to recognise the independent bit in that title. The thing about being seen as an independent contractor is that your not usually allowed to utilise amenities that contracted workers have access to. So there's no sick pay, there's no company paid for travel and there's no paternity/maternity leave. Now, a way to combat this is to form a union. So there's a group of people that you could go to and ask for help to get access to these amenities. However, even though unions are pretty common in most workplaces, they aren't in wrestling. The We The Independent movement aims to change that. Headed by David Starr, the movement aims to create unions in wrestling so wrestlers can get access to amenities that other independent contractors have. So, six independent companies came together and put on a quality night of wrestling in Sheffield on a humid July night. How did it go? Let's find out...
First match of the night and it's the hometown promotion Breed Pro Wrestling. So Breed decided to put together their two champions, that being TK Cooper (Breed Champion) and Joe Nelson (Leader Of The New Breed Champion), to see who the best of Breed truly is. Cooper was away in New Zealand earlier in the month so the last time we saw him he came away with a controversial win over Rampage Brown at This House Is A Circus. Nelson on the other hand was at the last Breed show and came away with a hard fought victory over Gabriel Kidd to retain his title. The match kicked off with the bigger Cooper asserting his strength advantage over Nelson however, Nelson came back into it with a flurry of offence and managed to hit both his tornado DDT and Sliced Bread No.2 but neither got him the win. It would be the self proclaimed 'Daddy Of The North' who would come away with the win after he hit a gnarly spinning kick to Nelson that put him away. After the match, it appeared that Cooper would show Nelson some respect and offered a hand shake to the valiant loser. However, it was a ruse and Cooper proceeded to beat up Nelson. However, Luke Jacobs chased off Cooper and appeared to save Nelson. After saying that it would be he who would be facing Nelson on the August 18th show, Jacobs proceeded to beat Nelson. Could The New Breed be getting a new leader? You'll have to see on August 18th! Good Wrestling up next and it's a Good Grand Prize match with champion Man Like Beano taking on 'Bronco' Brendan White. It was another brawn vs speed battle with White aiming to wear down Beano with various punches, chops and suplexes including one from the second rope launching Beano from the apron into the ring. Beano used speed and high flying to his advantage with a suicide dive and various running kicks keeping White at bay. Beano would go on to pick up the win with his rope assisted neck breaker getting him the win. Just before we move on, special props to Jack Sexsmith (our lovely host for the evening) who busted out a macarena to Beano's entrance music. Next up, It's Pro Wrestling Soul! They brought the extremely talented duo of Charli Evans and Talia Martins to duke it out in the intriguing British Rounds match. So what's a British Rounds match I hear you ask? Well, it consists of six five minute rounds of wrestling with the winner being the first competitor to win three rounds. So round one, fight! The match started pretty cagily as both women tried to feel each other out. Apart from a few roll up attempts, no one managed to secure that first pin. So round two, Evans began to take control and would secure the first pin of the match towards the end of round two. So down 1-0, Martins needed a quick reply and she got it in round three tying us up with a nice looking fisherman suplex. Round four and its all to play for. Both women gave it their all but it would be Charli Evans who would secure the win with an impressive looking cradle DDT. So a good win for the Aussie and a good showing for Martins. Scramble match action up next and it consisted of a member of each promotions roster going at it for brand supremacy. Pro Wrestling Crash brought CJ Carter, Good Wrestling brought Eugene Munn (haven't we seen you somewhere before?), Breed brought Scotty Davis, DNA Wrestling brought Tate Mayfairs, Wrestling Resurgence brought Kanji and Pro Wrestling Soul only went and brought Chris Ridgeway. The best way to describe this match is enjoyable chaos with action going on everywhere inside Hex. We saw Ridgeway and Davis reacquaint with each other, Kanji absolutely tore it up with Carter and Mayfairs also showing good stuff. It would however be Chris Ridgeway picking up the win for Pro Wrestling Soul after putting a gruesome looking submission on Carter and just before Davis could break it up, Carter tapped. A show of respect between Davis and Ridgeway led to Ridgeway soaking in a rapturous applause from the audience. Before he could leave however, who should come out but the biggest, henchest guy in British Pro Wrestling Big Guns Joe. Joe wasn't selected for any company tonight and he wants to show them what they were missing by challenging Ridgeway to a match. Ridgeway accepted and although Joe put up a valiant fight, he just wasn't big enough to beat Ridgeway. First match after the break and its Pro Wrestling Clash! They brought the ever impressive O.J.M.O and Sam Stoker to battle it out. Stoker wasn't pleased with how the match started for him and put it down to him being a tag team wrestler and The O.J.M.O being a singles wrestler. After a short search, Stoker found his partner in a member of the audience! The O.J.M.O was hesitant to attack the fan due to Hex not being in neutral waters so assault could lead to an arrest. Stoker used this hesitation to his advantage and took O.J.M.O's legs and began to assert himself on the match. This lead to Stoker taking off his belt and looking like he'd use it as a weapon. After several unsuccessful attempts at hitting The O.J.M.O, O.J.M.O managed to get back into it and looked like he'd got the win when he locked in the half crab. Stoker however, used his belt to get to the bottom rope and The O.J.M.O looked like he'd use the belt to bear Stoker. The ref stopped O.J,M.O and put the belt aside however, whilst his back was turned, Stoker hit a low blow and got the roll up win to the dismay of the crowd. His celebrations were short lived however as The O.J.M.O did use the belt to strike Stoker. After Stoker left, The O.J.M.O uttered his 'Now we play' war cry and left to a lovely ovation. Penultimate match of the night and it's the turn of DNA Wrestling. Tim Lee vs Mauro Chaves was their offering and what an offering It was. Chaves came out to the strangest entrance music I've ever heard due to it just being pigs squealing set to a guitar riff. Lee on the other hand came out to a funky remix of Enter Sandman. Lee didn't seem to approve of Chaves and his hygiene, Chaves didn't appear to approve much of Lee full stop and began to take him to task. Lee did make a comeback and showed that despite his size, he is an agile performer with a spinning kick and a moonsault being busted out. Chaves picked up the win with a take on the One Percenter. It's our main event and its Wrestling Resurgence capping it all off with a battle of the lariats. This one was for the Resurgence Championship and it was between champ Gene Munny and Gabriel Kidd. This was a hotly fought encounter with both men brawling outside the ring for a large part of the opening exchanges. Gabriel Kidd began to dominate and looked to be closing in on a victory after hitting a tombstone piledriver. he did get the three count but a ref who had been knocked out earlier overruled the stand in official and after a match restart and two servings of Ainsley Lariat, Munny retained his title and sent the crowd home happy. So was Independence a good event? Yes. Yes it was. Even though it did run a little bit long, that didn't matter because every match on this card was spectacular. It really was a brilliant showcase for how good independent wrestling is and everyone involved can be proud with how this turned out. Serious well done everyone, this was incredible.
0 Comments
Another month, another Breed Pro Wrestling show and as we get closer and closer to Starrcave, you can really feel this company is beginning to build a lot of buzz about it. That is incredibly pleasing to see and long may it continue! Anyway, lets take a closer look at the penultimate event before the aforementioned Starrcave, the eloquently titled My Childhood Was Small But I'm Gonna Be Big!
Opening up the afternoon we had singles action with the ever hench Big Guns Joe taking on the equally big (but only just) Jurn Simmons. Big Joe comes into tonight in a rich vein of form after picking up a victory in his last two Breed events. Simmons however, would prove to be a much bigger test for the self proclaimed "biggest, henchest guy in all of British wrestling". If you haven't seen Jurn Simmons before lets just say he's the equivalent to a living tree (his thighs!). The match kicked off with Joe on the backfoot as he was easily manhandled by the much larger Simmons. Joe managed to get the upper hand for a little bit though after a cheeky low blow whilst the referee was distracted. This didn't last however and after Joe attempted to blind Simmons with a blast of 'special' juice, Simmons put Joe away with a spectacular looking piledriver. So Simmons walks out with a debut victory in Breed and Big Joe will have to regroup and reassess after the beating he took here. Second on the card and its the return of Will Kroos as he took on JJ Barker. Kroos comes back to Breed after his debut win at The Colossal Tussle back in March and Barker returns after a loss at the hands of Connor Mills at the Breeding Ground 2. Much like the first match this was David vs Goliath with Kroos using his power to ground the high flying Barker. Kroos dealt some absolutely brutal chops and clotheslines to Barker but Barker did rally, a tornado DDT being the move that nearly got him a first singles win but it wasn't to be for Barker with Kroos making him submit to a high angle Boston Crab/Liontamer. So Kroos gets his second win in Breed and Barker is still waiting for that elusive singles victory. Next up, it was Women Of Steel tournament time and our competitors were two very popular members of the Breed roster with Candy Floss taking on Kanji for the chance to go to the cave and face Ivy for the belt. A technical classic ensued between the two competitors with both struggling to find a way to really get an edge on the other. Candy Floss showed an unusual amount of brutality in this bout and it was perhaps this mean streak that got her the win. Tapping out Kanji after a very, very good bout. After the match, one of the best promos I have ever seen took place. Ivy believed that Candy Floss didn't have the ability to beat her in the cave. After hearing this, Candy Floss said that all she could do was try her best. I haven't done the best in fully recounting this promo but the comic timing of Candy Floss was brilliant and this match and promo is definitely one that is worth checking out when the show is put out online. Our first half main event was a doozy of a tag match. The ever popular Club Tropicana returned with both Captain Sexsea and Aidan present and they were taking on the debuting team of Martin Steers and El Motho! Just before we get onto the match, I have to say that the entrance of Club Tropicana is really something special and is simply magical to see live. Anyway, onto the bout and our visiting luchador El Motho locked up with Aidan and after some simply explosive offence between the two, Aidan went under the ring and transformed into his luchador alter ego El Aidano. This led to a lucha libre masterclass that would make El Santo blush. After having our breath taken away, Aidano and Motho tagged out and let Steers and Sexsea take each other on. This is the first time that I've seen Steers and he is very impressive. The highlight of his offence, apart from his ability to deliver a nasty looking atomic drop, balls beware, is his standing moonsault that is so quick I had to ask my friend what happened because I couldn't believe my eyes. Anyway, after a match that is up there in my opinion with your Okada/Omega's, it came to a conclusion with El Motho being unmasked and under the mask was... Session Moth Martina! After the initial shock of seeing Martina, Gene Munny quickly made his way to the ring as he attempted to end the match that started at Never Fight A Man With A Perm. As Munny chased Martina off, El Aidano and Sexsea were able to put away Steers after a super, sexy, slip n slide and a tag manoeuvre. So Club Tropicana get a second win in Breed and I don't have much else to say other than see this match when you can. It was very, very good! After the break it was trios time with More Than Hype taking on The O.J.M.O and The N.I.C aka Destination: Everywhere. Now this was a special match, it was absolute chaos and went just about everywhere in the venue. There were thrills, spills and everything in-between. I knew that More Than Hype were talented but they blew me away in this match. Their offence is so crisp and quick and is really, really fun to watch. On the other hand, what else needs to be said about The O.J.M.O. This guy is special, he's got such a good in ring presence and the fact that he is in two of my five favourite matches of the year is a testament to how good he is. The N.I.C were also incredible in this match and added to the whole spectacle of the bout. In the end, More Than Hype walked away with another win in Breed after LJ Cleary delivered a Canadian destroyer to The O.J.M.O. Not much else to say about this match other than go and see it when it comes out. It's bloody incredible. Just before our next match began, we had a visit from Gene Munny! Munny was tired of having to continue his months long match with Martina and was looking to finish it at Breed today. So after calling out an equally battered Martina, the two looked to be ending the match in a draw and a handshake. This was all a ploy however and Munny got a near fall on Martina. After this, Munny proclaimed that since this match isn't finishing tonight it'll finish at Starrcave and not just any match. This is going to be a DEATHMATCH! So finally we'll see an end to this match in the most brutal of ways and I for one, cannot wait! So after that, we were treated to a singles match between the debuting Charlie Sterling and 'The Supreme Suplex Machine' Scotty Davis. This was another cracking match with both men giving their all. Davis and Sterling again fought all over the arena and Davis even busted out a moonsault to the outside. More hard hitting offence inside the ring made it look like neither man would be able to get the victory. Davis had other ideas however, and put away Sterling to get another victory on his way to his title match at Starrcave. Our penultimate match was a fatal four way match with the added stipulation that the winner would get to pick their match at Starrcave. Brady Phillips, Spike Trivet, the debuting Sean Kustom and MK McKinnan fought it out in a fast paced match that included scintillating dives and hard hitting offence. All four men managed to show off their impressive move sets but the stand outs of the match have to be Kustom and McKinnan. Kustom was absolutely excellent and his high octane offence was a joy to watch. McKinnan was also excellent with his hard hitting chops and kicks getting gasps from the audience. He also delivered an absolutely stunning flying cannonball to the outside. It was neither of these men who would win the match however, that honour would go to Spike Trivet. He choked out McKinnan and after the match said that he wanted to take on David Starr at Starrcave. Now in the aftermath of this match, a certain member of the audience said something to Spike that was frankly abhorrent and should have no place in modern day life, not just wrestling. I just wanted to say that Spike handled this person and the situation superbly as always. So a big well done to Spike, you might be a bad guy in the ring but out of it, your one of the best there is. It's main event time and the New Breed Championship was on the line as Joe Nelson defended his belt against the debuting Gabriel Kidd. It's been a few years since I last saw Kidd live and the transformation in this young man is frankly outstanding. He carries himself like a ring veteran of 20 years and makes you forget that he is still astoundingly young. It's no surprise that he has been invited to train at the NJPW dojo in LA. Anyway, onto the match and this was a good little match with Kidd battering Nelson so much that Nelson couldn't even stand by the end of the match. Nelson would go on to win the match however, after capitalising on Kidd's arrogance he managed to deliver a code red (!) and sliced bread no.2 combination for the win. All in all, I think this was Breed's best all round card yet! There are at least 5-6 matches on this card that I would recommend that you go out and see for yourself they were that good. So onwards and upwards for Breed and next up it's the show on August 18th aptly called 'This Isn't Murder It's Just Grenoside'. Unfortunately, I will not be attending this event as a certain football team have their first Premier League game kicking off an hour before the start of this event. I'm sure that the Breed guys and gals will knock it out of the park though and I really do wish I could be at the show because I have genuinely been so proud to see this company grow over the past five months. Anyway, coverage will continue from a certain show in a certain cave... Until then however, I'll see you all soon! |
AuthorHi I'm John and I am a wrestling fan. Archives
December 2019
Categories |