Going to a new promotion can be a daunting experience. I’ve been to shows where there was myself and ten other people, on nights like that you feel embarrassed making any noise and feel sorry for the wrestlers who have to perform to an essentially empty room. On the other side of the spectrum I’ve been to shows where there was a hundred crammed in and everything was great. On the 10th of June I headed to the city of Gloucester (a city I’ve never been to by the way) to see how the new company of Riot House Promotions got on with their debut show entitled Beers, Beats and Brainbusters!
Before I go on let me just add something. I love seeing new talent, it’s something that I’ve made a mission of this year, to not just go to the same promotions that I’ve frequented the last 3 or 4 years (Futureshock, PCW and GPW to name but a few), so the draw of this show was that at least half the roster was made up with talent that I’ve never had the chance to see.
On arrival I got a pleasant surprise, a quick head count resulted in roughly 100 people and a lovely looking venue. The show emanating from the Liquid Diva nightclub meant that there were no seats BUT that wasn’t an issue as everywhere I looked at had a decent view. The crowd was made up of a mixed bunch of rowdy fans, older folks (who I suspect were there to support their children/grandchildren) and they were vocal the whole night which made for a fun atmosphere.
Match number 2 former NXT star Joel Redman beating Big Grizzly. I’ve only ever seen Redman play the white meat babyface, so to see him working heel was refreshing and I was seeing Grizzly for the first time. Redman made the match look effortless as he oozed charisma and confidence, playing up the crowd and looked great. Grizzly was super over with the fans and controlled the majority of the match which was a little odd, at times you almost expected Redman to make the big babyface comeback but then remembered he was a heel. He won with a sneaky rollup complete with heeley feet on the ropes much to the chagrin of the fans. They didn’t worry for long though as Grizzly hit Redman with a nice sit out chokeslam to gain a measure of revenge.
Match 3 saw Wild Boar defeat Charlie Garrett in a good match. I’ve only seen Boar work heel and only seen Garrett work face so seeing them in the other roles was again refreshing. Garrett brought a mop to the ring and much hilarity resulted as Boar pinched it and had a good long chat with it as Garrett was busy jaw jacking with the fans, who took great delight in telling him that he was a cunt! Back and forth with loads of nice looking strikes, suplexes and, of course, stalling from Garrett meant this one built to a frantic finish. A beautiful t bone suplex by Boar and a brainbuster from Garrett were the highlights and I for one was happy that we finally got said Brainbuster after the title of the show! Boar got the win with a lovely sit out powerbomb, he then snogged the mop to a big pop.
Something quite amazing happened next. The ring announcer told us there would be a 5 minutes’ intermission, and, to everyone’s shock and amazement, it actually lasted 5 minutes!!! This followed the show starting bang on time made a very good impression on someone who is a stickler for time like me.
The second half began with the massively popular tag team of The Fever (Christopher Queen & RyRy) beating The Heritage City Hitmen (Dave Eaton & Richard Diamond). 4 more men that I hadn’t see before so I was looking forward to this one, both teams have matching outfits so earn Brucie Bonus points! The Fever have a lot of fans and wear flashing glasses to the ring, which you can buy on the merch stand, that’s brilliant! This one was a much more cookie cutter tag match than the opener, with Queen playing your face in peril until he could get the hot tag to RyRy. A splash off the top rope by Queen getting the win. Nothing bad but nothing outstanding.
Match number 5 saw the Ginger Jesus Mike Bird losing to Matt Ridler. Like the previous match there isn’t really much to say about this one, nothing bad but nothing memorable. Having never seen Ridler before he looked good, cutting a decent heely promo before Bird made his way to the ring and cheating to win by distracting the ref, going low then hitting a spinning brainbuster for the win. Mike Bird shone here, looking like a star in a way that I’ve never really appreciated when I’ve seen him at promotions like Fight Club Pro.
As Bird left the ring the ring announcer said, “one bird leaves the ring, but don’t worry, 2 more are coming out” making reference to the upcoming woman’s match. I’d never have dreamed of saying a line like that in my time as a ring announcer!
I’d tell you all about Toni Storm’s victory over Kat Von Kaige but I needed to nip to the loo as it started and in the time it took me to drain the snake the match was over, so it was short if nothing else.
When you have men as talented as Pete Dunne, Chris Brookes and Tyler Bate in your main event you know it’s going to be a good match. I went into this one confident that because of the 2 heels (Brookes and Dunne) against one face that Tyler Bate would emerge victorious so was pretty stunned when Pete Dunne got the win. Annoyingly my phone’s battery had died so I couldn’t take any notes but everything was good and the crowd loved all 3 men.
I had a really good time at this show, all the matches delivered in the ring, the crowd were decent, the show started and ended on time which is very very rare in British wrestling. I spend a lot of time in the area so I’ll certainly be at their next show
You can find out more about RHP on their Facebook Page, at this time there is no date announced for their second show. Photo Credits go to The Dude Abides Photography, who are also over on Facebook here. Get more Marc Pearson on Youtube, Twitter and Facebook.
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