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.
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AuthorHi I'm John and I am a wrestling fan. Archives
December 2019
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