5 Star Wrestling Review // 1st March 2018

The heavy weather caused major problems for 5 Star Wrestling this week, as they ventured to Northern Ireland for the first time in their history. The snow resulted in a reduced two hour show on Freesports, with 45 minutes worth of matches aired on various streaming services beforehand. This week's show saw Zack Gibson introduced the Real Wrestling Championship to the promotion on an edition of "Flash" Morgan Webster's The Modcast, before having to immediately defend the title against "The English Lion" Eddie Ryan, whilst Alberto El Patron made his debut in the promotion with a match against Jody Fleisch. But how did it all go down in Belfast? Lets take a look! 

Commentary - Greg Lambert & Joe Hendry 

Ring Announcer - Steve Lynskey 

Zack Gibson introduced the Real Wrestling Championship on The Modcast

The Modcast saw itself thrust into a main storyline this week, as Zack Gibson appeared and unveiled the Real Wrestling Championship. This segment went over similar ground as previous week's with Gibson going over his anti-American import stance. Honestly, I think Gibson is one of, if not the best, promo guys in the UK, but his story needs to evolve past the now pretty generic import disliker and onto something more specific, as I found myself tuning out a few times during this because it was very similar to what we've heard on the last four episodes. The same passion and delivery was there, but the content hasn't developed enough to hold my attention. Two highlights of Gibson's and Webster's interactions for me was Gibson referencing that Webster had had all of his set dropped and Flash's questioning about whether Gibson wanting British wrestling or himself on top, something which 5 Star should have been emphasising from the very beginning if they wanted him to remain a villain. The reveal of the title belt was underwhelming, with the belt being an exact copy of the one Jake Hager currently holds and I find the concept itself pretty cringey, with the idea being that only British wrestlers can compete for it, creating a weird underclass within the promotion. Eddie Ryan's interruption left the Janner way too exposed on the microphone as he has perhaps the least threatening voice in human history. Not exactly his fault, but it would perhaps be wise to find some to talk for him, if 5 Star plan on having Ryan involved in more promo segments. This all lead to a match between the pair being booked for the title, leaving the commentary team extremely confused about whether the Real Wrestling title was an officially sancionted belt and seemingly both taking on-air jabs at the ridiculousness of the situation. 

then...

5 Star Real Wrestling Championship // Eddie Ryan def. Zack Gibson (C) // Pinfall

Eddie Ryan became the second 5 Star Real Wrestling Champion in the titles first ever defence as he went over Zack Gibson with the George Cross. Looking past the numerous dumb booking decisions, Ryan vs. Gibson came out as a good match with the two most-pushed Brits in the promotion working together nicely throughout, putting on a well-paced match that built well to its conclusion. The base was some solid technical wrestling, with a good power vs. skill dynamic, as Gibson focused on Ryan's arm to set up for the Shankly Gates. Liverpool's Number 1 is one of the best at keep working a body part interesting, whilst Ryan has solid big man babyface selling, so this simplistic open worked rather well for the two. The pairs finishers were introduced with the best sequence of the match as they both escaped their opponent best move and then went back and forth with well-hit strikes into a superkick from Ryan. Past that moment I think the match lagged a little, although some nasty head kicks with wrist-control from Gibson looked tasty. All round a completely solid and enjoyable main event, that showed the Brits are more than capable of headlining an event when called upon. Despite all the time being put into Gibson, he's still to win a match in 5 Star and that's one of the major problems with the story, because if we don't see him win at all, not even cheap wins, then why are we supposed to stick around to watch him cut promos or buy into him as threat when put in the ring with top talent? 

After the match - Charlie Sterling and Adam Maxted hit the ring, putting boots to Eddie Ryan, before Bram was seen in the audience and Sterling & Maxted turned on Zack Gibson, with Bram getting in the ring and flipping off the children in the audience to close the show. More baffling booking from 5 Star, who are seemingly unable to learn from their mistakes. Why should I give a fuck about Sterling & Maxted turning on Gibson when they've only been affiliated for two weeks?

Alberto El Patron called out Jody Fleisch

Oh fuck, this segment was bad. I feel like that should be the start of a review of any 5 Star talking segment, because 9/10 out of ten (if they don't involve Zack Gibson) they've been poor to piss-poor. This was piss-poor. Alberto El Patron (who was subbing for Rey Mysterio and seemingly every other import as well) comes across as extremely passive aggressive on the microphone, takes unnecessary shots at WWE, which make no sense in front of family audience, most of which wouldn't have been there had former WWE guys been on the card. Surprisingly, that wasn't the main problem. The main problem was that there was so much time-filling and repetition that it got silly by the end. Alberto's rambling promo about Belfast kicked the ball rolling, but when he called out Jody Fleisch it somehow got worse. I don't think this was Fleisch's issue as he seemed mostly to following El Patron's lead. Bertie said the same thing about the crowd and asked if they wanted to see him vs. Fleisch about fifteen times, whilst also saying Belfast more times than anyone in history has said Belfast. It might not have been awful in the arena, but as a viewer at home this was excruciating. 

Alberto El Patron def. Jody Fleisch // Pinfall 

A diving double foot stomp with Jody Fleisch in the tree of woe position was enough to give Alberto El Patron a debut victory, at the end of a match that surpassed my expectations. Whilst like things like Fleisch getting booed by the Belfast crowd and El Patron doing the "Si Si" stuff despite working as the villain were minor annoyances, everything in this bout past El Patron throwing a tiny bit of beer over Fleisch was really rather good. The crowd brawling gave the bout some real energy as the action spilled out over the barricade, highlighted by Fleisch hitting a gorgeous moonsault off a separating wall. Two big spots on the floor, as Alberto hit a DDT on the ramp and a snap suplex on the floor, lifted the match from what could have felt quite throwaway into a genuinely interesting scrap, that held the audience's attention well. The best wrestling action came from a high intensity comeback sequence from the Phoenix, including a lovely jumping frankensteiner and a series of kicks and flips, whilst Fleisch also managed to evade the crossarmbreaker on a number of opportunities. Fleisch has been low-key one of the best things about 5 Star since it began on Freesports, so it was great to see him make the most of the opportunity that the weather and no-shows provided, hopefully he'll be rewards in the coming week's with more matches like this, whether in singles or with regular tag partner, El Ligero. 

After the match - Alberto El Patron got on the mic and showed respect to Jody Fleisch, whilst also taking a weird dig at WWE, by calling 5 Star a "real" wrestling company. Cringe. 

5 Star Tag Team Championship // Adam "Flex" Maxted & Charlie Sterling (C) def. Bonesaw & Damien Corvin // Pinfall 

I had high hopes for this one, as I'd enjoyed my limited exposure to Kings of the North and have heard rave reviews of their work in OTT in Ireland, whilst Max Money have proved to be one of the highlights for the promotion over the last few weeks. Therefore, I came out extremely disappointed with what was a rather dull and uninspired contest. A lot of this match felt like it was playing for time, which was the major theme of the show, as we saw very little of note across around 15 minutes. Sterling & Maxted controlled Bonesaw for a bit, then tried to leave, then continued to control, then there was a hot tag to Damien Corvin, which was cut off almost immediately, then Max Money controlled some more, then something happened and then the match was over with the referee seeming to count the pinfall for what looked like a false finish. That was basically it. Sterling & Maxted's heely cheating and distraction antics are all well and good, but I wasn't given nearly enough of the Kings of the North early on to help me stay interested through the rest of the bout, whilst there was also a weird lack of hope spots or fightback from either Bonesaw or Corvin. I'm not sure what happened here, especially when it came to the botched finish (which already looked awkward as fuck anyway) but it resulted in one of the dullest matches in recent memory. I hope both teams aren't judged by anyone on this effort, because all four are better than what they showed here. 

"Flash" Morgan Webster issued an open challenge, Big Grizzly answered 

The most high-profile match from the pre-show was presented as an open challenge from "Flash" Morgan Webster as he looked to get his first win in 5 Star. The segment, like most 5 Star segments, went on for much longer than was necessary (seriously, issue the challenge, someone comes out and then the match happens, everything else here wasn't needed), but both Webster and Grizzly looked comfortable and performed well in front of the audience. Grizzly, in particular, is a fun watch, for the simple fact that he has a thick Welsh accent and whilst the two arguing over who was more of a loser was a little lame, as the set-up for a match, two men who have yet to register a win facing off is not half bad.  

Big Grizzly def. "Flash" Morgan Webster // Pinfall

The match that followed as okay, but had a few moments that if they had paid off would have elevated the match to the next level. Stuff like Webster using the ringpost to fly into a rana that sent Grizzly into the barricade, which was a good idea on paper, but in practice ended up looking a bit scrappy and took me out of the match a bit. The story was sound stuff, using the power vs. speed dynamic, with Webster dodging and using Grizzly's momentum, with Flash getting the majority of the offence in, including a diving crossbody, front flip senton, tope conhilo and diving senton, all lovely. Grizzly got his first win in 5 Star with a Uranage slam to bring a solid match, that could've been tighter in places, to a close. Webster's winless run has been done before in PROGRESS to good effect and it seems that 5 Star are attempting to replicate that, whether it will eventually get over with the different audiences the company performs in front, I'm not totally convinced yet.

Brian Corr def. Dunkan Disorderly // Pinfall 

The best match from the pre-show came in the form of two debutants going head to head, as PWU's Brian Corr and OTT's Dunkan Disorderly put on a simplistic, but technically sound outing. The heel/face dynamic was clear, with Disorderly stalling a lot at the beginning, whilst Corr worked nicely from underneath. The crowd having being asked to move to the camera side before the match began meant they perhaps didn't get the reaction they deserved from the SSE Arena, but the two managed to build a nice little match that came to a head with a good solid back and forth chop sequence. Chuck in a nice rana and a beautiful match-winning moonsault from Corr and you've got a pleasing opening match, that whilst it didn't set the world on fire did exactly what it needed to do and did it well. 

HT Drake def. Matty Mayhem // Pinfall

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. Let's begin with the positives here. There was a nice technical start with Drake and Mayhem trading wristlocks and Drake's diving corkscrew senton that got the win was quite pretty. That's the end of the positives. This match fell so flat with the crowd, that even when the pair were at least trying to be creative, using the barricade on the outside, neither spot got a reaction and to be honest, a pop wouldn't have done much to stop either spot looking a bit of a mess. Actually, that's a good description for the match as a whole, as there was a number of moments that were a bit of a mess. The highlight was Joe Hendry audibly cringing on commentary as Mayhem took a horrible bump of what I can only describe as a thing, but there was also a bizarre walking/stomping version of a Headlock Driver and Drake catching Mayhem from a crossbody, only to hold him for a bit and then put him down to a verticle suplex. Perhaps the blood coming from Drake's ear effected the bout and the referee should've done much more to check on his well-being, but the bout playing out to complete indifference from the crowd and the sloppy action made for an uncomfortable watch at home.

Curtis Murray def. Russell Dempsey // Pinfall

Despite a slip by Curtis Murray early doors, this match developed into another solid outing, with some nice ideas spread throughout. The springboard flippy cutter situation that got the win for Murray was lovely stuff, whilst the two did well to stick to the basics and not get too ahead of themselves in the rest of the match, with the larger Russell Dempsey controlling most of the contest. This was my first exposure to either talent and it was clear to see that both have potential, but still have some way to go, with the match often having an unpolished feel to it, at times feeling disjointed. At times I was frustrated by Murray's bumping, which was a little over-exaggerated, not quite that gif. of Batista against Mark Henry, but certainly reminiscent of it.   

Also This Week 

- The Masters of Cool and Pure Dead Brilliant (minus Lou King Sharp) filled for time, with a few funny moments before Carlito & Chris Masters dispatched off Kid Fite and Krieger with the Master Lock and Backstabber respectively. 

- Joey Axl made BT Gunn tap out to Ayers Rock Lock, after Gunn had come out to confront the big Australian. 

ATPW Scale Rating // 3.10 out of 10 

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale 

Event Review: ICW In Your Face Space Coyote - Kid Fite v Joe Coffey 4

On 4th October, Glasgow based Insane Championship Wrestling held their first show in Wolverhampton, In Your Face Space Coyote, at Wulfrun Hall. Returning to the West Midlands for the first time since July, ICW presented a show that included Kid Fite searching for his first ICW victory over Joe Coffey, whilst Coffey looked to continue his warm up for Kurt Angle at Fear and Loathing IX. With Joe Hendry, Trent Seven, Tag Team Champion Mark Coffey, Bram and Matt Cross all on the card, would ICW make an impact on Wolverhampton like they have all over the UK? 

Venue & Audience - This was my first time at an ICW show, so expect that to impact the review a fair bit. I'm not a regular viewer of the product, I saw last year's Fear and Loathing show on VOD, but didn't make much of it, so haven't watch a full event since then. I tend to keep up with what's going on through Wrestle Ropes' results, so generally have an idea of who's got issues with who, who is being pushed etc. There were approx 150 people in the building, which looked very small because of the size of Wulfrun Hall, but the majority were extremly lively. Whilst the atmosphere would have been improved in a smaller venue, the audience did create a surprisingly good buzz, considering the large amount of space in the room.

Whilst Matt Cross and Wolfgang went on last, I want to talk about Joe Coffey's victory over Kid Fite in the main event slot. It was slightly longer (12 mins), which is almost certainly down to the crowd spending three minutes after the bell singing the riff of Coffey's theme music, Black Sabbath's Iron Man. Both men played it superbly, with Fite showing that he wanted things to stop, which, of course, was designed to get the audience to continue, whilst Coffey would let things die down, before encouraging once again with his signature chest beating. Those first few minutes were a real lesson in crowd control, helped by Wolverhampton being more than up for a sing a long. The actual wrestling didn't quite manage to match the crowd's energy for me, with a number of the bouts bigger spots and quicker sequences come across as a little awkward. A front dropkick that Coffey hit to knock Fite off the apron ended up looking like it hurt Coffey more than Fite. However, the crowd remained loud throughout and there was a nice near fall for Fite, with a low blow and brainbuster. Coffey would hit Aw Ra Best Fur Tha Bells (Discus Lariat) to continue his strong run, since winning and losing the World Heavyweight Championship on the same night in July, which has seen him defeat the likes Josh Bodom, Timothy Thatcher and Matt Cross. 

Match in a Sentence - A match that didn't connect as well as it should have in the ring, but one that demonstrated how over Joe Coffey is, even in an area he rarely visits.

The final match on the card was World Heavyweight Champion Wolfgang besting 2 time GSW Breakthrough Champion Matt Cross in a style clash that was a Match of the Night contender. The two worked together well, perhaps surprisingly seeing as this was their first match together, with Wolfgang, the big bruising heel champion and Cross the speedy and exciting babyface. The structure wasn't particularly complicated, but it was filled out with good timing and character work, as well as a couple of really cool spots. Both were over with the audience as a tired crowd remained involved, reacting to pretty much everything either guy did. One of the highlights, for me, was their scrap on the outside, where they put together a speedy sequence before Wolfgang would lift Cross up and crotch him on the guardrail. After brawling into the bar area, the match returned to ring and featured some top quality wrestling with the two going back and forth, including a brilliant near fall where Cross would dodge a punch from the brass-knucks covered fist of Wolfgang and hit a springback cutter. It would have been nice for the title to be on the line, just to give the show a bit more consequential feel, yet at the same time that could have lead to some of the crowd not buying into the Cross' near falls as much as they did.

Match in a Sentence - A big scrap, that was simply booked, but well performed, with a number of strong near falls.

"Big Kink" Jack Jester continued his fine run of form in ICW with a victory over Dan Moloney in a match that had a hometown gut-check type feel to it. Moloney is from the West Midlands and known for his work locally in Kamikaze Pro and Fight Club: Pro, so despite being mostly a villain, he got a favourable response from Wulfrun Hall and whilst there was a contigent of Jester fans, this almost created a home football game atmosphere for the contest. Jester spent a lot of time trying to get in the fans faces, pulling apart the guard rails as fans chanted at him, meaning that it was a good couple of minutes before anything really happened between Jester and Moloney. It was cool for the fans who were getting involved with Jester and speaks to the interactivity of these smaller tour shows, but it went on a little too long for me. Once it started the wrestling was decent, with Moloney taking advantage of the crowd, to work a style that I haven't seen him use before, whilst Jester played the bully role well. The finish made Moloney look great against one of ICW top stars as he was going toe to toe with Jester until a mule kick low blow and a Tombstone Piledriver gave the former World Heavyweight Champion the victory. 

Match in a Sentence - A solid encounter with a unique feel, that could have done with a little less stalling.

In the opener, the team of Zero G Champion Lionheart and Stevie Boy (accompanied by Kay Lee Ray) picked up a victory over Kenny Williams & Joe Hendry, following some interference from Hendry's former Local Fire partner, Davey Boy. The majority of the bout was a decent tag team affair where after Hendry & Williams shined early, Lionheart and Stevie were able to take control with plenty of help from KLR on the outside. This created some enjoyable activity as the villains used a t-shirt and external interference, including KLR being able to cut off what looked like a potential Williams comeback by pulling Hendry off the apron moments before the tag could be made. The finish however showed a lack of attention to detail as Hendry left the ring to brawl with Davey out of the Hall, however Hendry had been the legal man at the time. Whilst Williams fighting on his own against Lionheart, Stevie & KLR was an interesting story to watch unfold, as KLR removed the ref to stop Williams pins, both Lionheart & Stevie were attempting pins also, regardless of who was supposedly legal. This is a pet peeve of mine! If I'm expected to be invested in Williams attempting to get the tag earlier in the match, then why change the playing field and allow anyone to go for pins later on? 

Match in a Sentence - Some decent tag team action, with an story furthering angle for Fear and Loathing IX, but there needed to more attention to the detail.

Trent Seven continued the road towards his World Heavyweight Championship shot with a victory over 2 time Heavyweight Champion BT Gunn in a hard-hitting sprint. With both guys fan favourites in the brand, Fight Club: Pro star Seven got the majority of the fan support in his hometown. The duo put a real shift in across the nine minute outing, battering each other in out of the ring, with big strikes and suplexes. The chop sequence on the outside, where both would end up connecting with the ringpost was clever stuff, whilst the pair scrapping on their knees following a number of big moves (including Gunn kicking out of a piledriver) was cool, and had a great sense of building momentum, with both selling well. It's a shame that this felt like the adbridged version of a better match that the two could have had, as more time would have allowed some sequences the chance to breath. With another five or ten minutes and the chance and ability to explore, these two could produce absolute magic together.

Match in a Sentence - Good hard hitting shit, but not enough of it.

Former TNA King of the Mountain Champion Bram picked up a big win heading into the Battle for Control on 20th November, besting former World Heavyweight Champion Chris Renfrew with more than a little help from Black Label pals, Drew Galloway and Jack Jester. This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. When the duo focussed on what they do best, wild and crazy brawling, the match was a lot of fun. What's not to like about big blokes throwing other big blokes into walls, barricades and destroying the merch stand? I felt like once the match got back in the ring, it lost most of its intensity, with very little definition to make up for it. The contest wasn't helped by Bram's single fan in attendance yelling for her villainous bae throughout (someone had obviously had a little too much during the interval as she was nowhere to be seen throughout the first half). Things picked up with the finish that was a well worked situation, as Jester caused the distraction on the ramp, that allowed Galloway to come through the crowd with a chair and hand Bram the victory.  

Match in a Sentence - A firey brawl when outside the ring, that struggled when inside it, but had a cool angle for the finish.

Tag Team Champions Polo Promotions (Jackie Polo & Mark Coffey) continued to build momentum to their showdown with Team 3D (Bully Ray & Brother Devon) on 20th November, with a victory over first time team, "Smash Mouth" Chris Ridgeway & "Kiwi Buzzsaw" Travis Banks. This was the sleeper hit of the evening for me, as Ridgeway and Banks connected surprisingly well for a first-time unit, while Polo & Coffey heeled it up nicely, roughhousing the newbie team for a long portion of the match. Despite one gentleman loudly shouting "We Want Team 3D" (I can only imagine he expected the 8 time (WWE) World Tag Team Champions to be chilling in the back eating orange chips), Banks had the majority of the crowd support and his partnership with Ridgeway built from the hot tag onwards, with a number of sweet near falls for the team, including one off a nifty superkick and german suplex combination. The four built the match well towards the finish, that saw Coffey pin Ridgeway following a superkick and Polo Promotions' elevated German suplex double team (which I imagine has a snazzy name), with the move initially being teased on Banks, before a flurry from Banks & Ridgeway. The team of Smashmouth and the Kiwi Buzzsaw has potential, but my main takeway from this match was that I don't see nearly enough of Ridgeway at the moment and hopefully that will change in 2017!

Match in a Sentence - A cracking tag encounter, that made good use of it's time and built to an exciting climax.

Following the finish of Bram v Chris Renfrew, there was a busy af angle, that would lead directly into the Sha Samuels v Davey Boy match (see AOB). The main bulk of this would come from a Drew Galloway promo, where he talked about the injuries that had kept him out of competing on the tour (he was Trent Seven's scheduled opponent for this show), as well as addressing Mark Dallas' absense as the build for the Battle for Control continues. Galloway's promo was perfectly fine stuff, as he brought his trademark intensity, as one bloke shouted 3MB at him and Jack Jester and Bram kept Renfrew down on the ramp. Samuels would attempt to help out his team mate for Fear and Loathing IX but quickly got blindsided by Davey Boy and another steel chair. The beatdown of Samuels seemed to go on forever as Davey choked him out with his own scarf and smashed his leg with the chair. 

Segment in a Sentence - Managed the difficult job of promoting various angles, but went a little too long and lost the majority of my interest by the time the Samuels v Davey match began. 

Any Other Business 

• Despite the vicious attack from The Black Label and Davey Boy before the match, Sha Samuels was able to roll-up Davey in a short, but well paced encounter, with Joe Hendry acting as a distraction on the ramp.

• Following Trent Seven's victory over BT Gunn, Stevie Boy and Kay Lee Ray attacked Gunn on the ramp, with Wolfgang attempting to blindside Seven, only for the hometown star to rebuff the attack, before cutting a strong promo thanking the fans and vowing to defeat Wolfgang for the World Heavyweight Championship on 20th November.

• The show concluded with Trent Seven making the save for Matt Cross, hitting his Seventh Heaven Piledriver on Wolfgang, before posing with the World Heavyweight Championship in a bostin' moment to send the fans home happy and promote the upcoming Seven v Wolfgang cage match on 20th November.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.31/10

In Your Face Space Coyote was a relatively enjoyable night of professional wrestling in the style that you would expect from ICW. Polo Promotions v Ridgeway & Banks, Wolfgang v Cross and Seven v Gunn were all good matches and definitely the highlights of the evening. Some of the booking was a little frustrating, because of the need to heavily push Fear and Loathing IX. It was shame that names likes Grado (pulled earlier in the week), Lewis Girvan and Kay Lee Ray (dropped to a valet role) didn't wrestle on the card as they were three of the ICW regulars I was most looking forward to see. Big Damo's departure to WWE also took away a name heavily associated with the brand this year. However, it was cool to see West Midlands based guys like Dan Moloney and Travis Banks getting slots on the show, with the mostly savvy crowd recognising this and creating a great atmosphere for those matches, that is unique to these ICW tour shows.

Show in a Sentence - A decent wrestling event, that was a little overpriced at £19.

Match of the Night - Ridgeway & Banks v Polo Promotions

Words and Images - James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale)

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Event Review: ICW Shug's House Party III

On Sunday ICW held their 3rd Shug's House Party event at a sold out ABC Glasgow.  Shugs is always a mental event; it has a previous for old faces showing up and booting baws, new faces showing up and booting baws and... Yeah you guessed it, someone getting their baws booted.  This event was no different, except it was being broadcast worldwide for the very first time on iPPV via the Fite Network.  So loads of different countries got to experience the joy of watching all this baw booting live as if it were happening right in front of them.  Splendid.

Before the tag match, The Wee Man came out and had a moan about Davey Blaze, fat kids and about how his ma never loved him as a child... or something.  He had a wee moan then joined the commentary desk with Billy Kirkwood and William Grange. 

ICW Tag Team Championship Final: Bird and Boar vs. Local Fire

I'll be honest, I didn't care about this match when it was announced.  I've had little to no interest in the tag division since Polo Promotions left the Barrowlands with the belts never to be seen again.  As much as I think Local Fire are comedy genius I didn't care much for it because in my head they weren't fighting for real belts.  The real belts were probably draped over the side of Captain Jack's boat as the boysies sipped Cristal and smoked Cubans somewhere in the Caribbean.  

I was surprised to hear that Bird and Boar beat The 55 to secure their place in the final in Birmingham because I'd have put money on them being in the final against either Filthy Generation or Local Fire given their history with the belts and their previous (current?) owners.  Since that feud had been laid to rest before the departure of Polo Promotions I didn't mind seeing some new faces in the battle for the new belts.

Despite the belt situation this was a good match. Davey and Joe made their entrance to their own version of Bad Touch and came out in wee bear onesies, then when they took them off for their formal introduction they were very rudely attacked by Bird and Boar.  SO rude.

At first Joe and Davey were tagging in and out, doing a few wee nifty tag moves to Wild Boar but once they got Davey in the ring on his own they focused on taking out his injured leg from the night before and keeping him away from Joe.  They've been screwed out of the titles once before in Cardiff when they won them then had the decision reversed by our wonderful (read: cuntface) GM Red Lightning; you could see the determination from both of them that they weren't about to be fucked over again for those belts.  Davey managed to tag Joe Hendry and he done a beautiful double fall away slam to his opponents.  He seems to have gotten bored of lifting just the one guy and tossing them about like a sock in a tumble dryer and is aiming to throw about as many people as he can carry now.  When it seemed like Bird and Boar had the advantage, Boar missed a spear on Davey and ended up smacking his shoulder off the turnbuckle instead, then when he turned round was met with a spear in return from Davey.  Joe and Davey took advantage in the drop in momentum and they delivered a double Freak of Nature; Joe then pinned Wild Boar for the win, making Local Fire the new ICW Tag Team Champions.

Or, are they... ?

The Local Fire theme cuts out, there's silence, and then... could it be?

YES.  The crest comes up on screen, the infamous Scott Walker song plays and out they come; Jackie Polo and Mark Coffey are back, baybay!  With the original tag belts strapped around their waists 'n' all.  Instead of going for their normal pink and purple attire they've strutted out looking like Che Guevara and Fidel Castro; two revolutionaries who fought against the machine for the greater good, much like what Mark and Jackie seem to be looking to do with ICW.  Mark's last words before departing at the last Barrowlands show was that they would rather leave standing than stay on their knees and it looks like they've came back not only to reclaim the titles that are still technically theirs but to fight the power and restore ICW back to it's former glory.  

They saunter down to the ring and face off with Local Fire but security come between the two to stop any fight from happening.  Jackie and Mark, without uttering one word into a microphone, walk back up the ramp, hold up their tag titles and then walk through the curtain and who knows when we'll see them again; I just hope it's not as long as their last absence. 

ICW Zero G Championship Match: Lionheart (c) vs. Kenny Williams

This match has been a long time coming for Lionheart and Kenny.  After Lionheart feigned another neck injury during the 2015 Fringe shows just so he could catch Kenny off-guard and superkick him in the chops, the two have been interfering with each other's matches (and general happiness) ever since.  Kenny wants his belt back and to teach his former pal a lesson.

The tension, the absolute hatred that they have for each other could be felt from start to finish; just as Kenny was making his entrance, Lionheart came out and whacked him with a chair then proceeded to batter him down to the ring.  Lionheart missed a dropkick and Kenny took advantage and tried to get a quick pin but was unsuccessful, so he slung him out of the ring and Lionheart ended up over the barrier into the crowd.  The camera cuts to them fighting near the bar then of course, as many ICW matches end up doing, they were fighting ON the bar; Kenny smacks Lionheart's head off of the sign above the bar, then climbs on top of it (a good 15ft above the ground) and moonsaults off of it, crashing into Lionheart and a bunch of unfortunate ring crew members.  They exchange punches after getting up and Kenny attempts another moonsault off of a wall that separates the bar from the standing area but before he manages it Lionheart pushes him off of it, climbs on it and hits Kenny with his own moonsault.  They're fighting good and they're fighting dirty!

They end up back in the ring and continue to frantically knock lumps out of each other and try to pin the other but they're trying so hard to get each other out of the way as quickly as possible that they're just not succeeding.  Kenny ends up running into Lionheart's boot and as Lionheart climbs the turnbuckle Kenny hits him with an enziguri then attempts to head scissor him back onto the mat but Lionheart refuses to move and looks like he's trying to Styles Clash Kenny from the turnbuckle, which is absolute fucking madness.  Luckily Kenny finally gets him down by completing the head scissor and the pace continues to be as fast paced as ever with them trying to pin one another again and again but to no avail.  Lionheart out of pure frustration ends up picking Kenny up and throwing him against the turnbuckle and as he runs at him in the corner Kenny hits Lionheart with a superkick of his own; it would just rub salt in the wounds if he got beaten with his own move.  Kenny climbs the turnbuckle to hit Lionheart with his signature Springsteen McQueen and pins Lionheart for the apparent win.  Once Kenny's moved though we see that Lionheart's foot is on the ropes but Kenny's music is already playing.  Referee Sean Mclaughlin hands Kenny the belt but senior referee Thomas Kearins makes his way into the ring and shows Sean what's happened.  With little choice, the match is restarted.  As Kenny turns around Lionheart sticks his middle finger up at him and superkicks Kenny in the face and immediately pins him but Kenny kicks out at two. Not taking any risks, Lionheart superkicks him again then immediately hits him with a Rock Bottom and then a frog splash before pinning him for the last time in this match and retaining the Zero G title.

This match was meant to be the end of this feud but not only has it not ended it, it's only added more fuel to the fire.  Who knows what sneaky tactics Lionheart will use to keep that belt for a bit longer and to further double cross his former pal.

This next segment was probably one of the most pointless things that I've seen at ICW.  People claim that the first This Is Your Life segment with Jackie Polo at the first Shug's Hoose Party was one of the worst segments but this one took the biscuit.  Liam Thomson and Debbie Sharpe come to the ring and he declares his love for her and attempts to propose to her but Debbie stops him and says that she is in love with someone else; her best friend and fellow Bae Club member, Sammi Jayne.  Sammi comes to the ring and tells Debbie that she loves her but only as a friend.  Liam pushes Debbie and goes to attack Sammi but the screens bring up an old-style countdown timer and an image saying "House of Saynt" appears.  Out comes ex-Gatecrasher Christopher Saynt with an entourage of drag queens and they have a bit of a pointless shout-off before one of the queens slaps LT and Saynt kicks him in the head.  It took far too long for this segment to happen and it didn't make a whole lot of sense.  It was a shame seeing four great talents wasted at such a big event; at least we'll get to see some good wrestling out of their feud in the shows to come and hopefully Saynt will bring his queens because who doesn't love a drag queen?

Steel Cage Match: DCT vs. Bram

This is another match from the night that had been a long-time coming.  The feud between Bram and DCT has been ongoing from last year's SHP when Bram and his pals interrupted DCT's wedding and Bram ended up piledriving his wife Viper through her own wedding cake, slapping her arse before doing it to add insult to injury.  DCT, being the chivalrous shagger that he is, wasn't going to let that lie and they've been fighting on and off until tonight.  Whoever gets left behind in that cage is going to be left in pieces. 

DCT comes out first accompanied by Cooooooooooooach Trip, then when Bram starts to make his entrance DCT leaves the cage and starts laying into Bram.  They have a brief sparring match in the crowd then they enter the cage which is locked by one of the officials.  They fight back and forth pretty equally and at one point it looks like Bram is about to do what he done to Viper the year before and positions DCT for the piledriver, giving DCT's arse a slap before he attempts it but thankfully DCT throws Bram over his head to avoid the same fate that Viper met, except there was no cake to cushion the fall.  DCT then dropkicks Bram into the ropes and Bram's arms get wrapped around the ropes and he ends up stuck.  DCT begins to punch rapidly into Bram's big hairy noggin which the referee tries to stop and he ends up getting punched in the face as well.  Purely by accident of course, right DCT?

Next thing we know, Black Label's Flex Hunter comes out and begins to beat down on Coach and DCT can only look on and watch as he's locked in with nowhere to go.  He attempts to unlock the cage door to try and help his comrade but Flex gets there first and slams the door into DCT's head and enters the cage to help Bram escape from the ropes.  Flex starts kicking into DCT and Bram gets up to join him so it begins to look bleak for DCT... but next thing we know, Viper is making her way down to the cage to try and rescue her man-sel in distress.  Since the cage door was shut again and being a rationally thinking woman, she only had one choice; she began to scale the outside of the cage wall and literally jumped to DCT's rescue by falling on top of DCT and Bram, knocking everyone down to the mat.  Everyone loves Viper so it was difficult to watch her throw herself from such a height but she's tough as nails and didn't do herself an injury from the looks of it.  Meanwhile Coach had opened the door again and got rid of Flex, so taking his chance DCT began to climb the cage wall to make his escape and win the match.  However just as he was about to jump down on to the ground, he had a mad glint in his eye and started to climb back into the cage, much to the dismay of the screaming fans.  He jumps back down and begins to fight Bram again; Bram kicks DCT in the balls and given that 90% of DCT's power comes from his plums (it used to be his moustache but now that's gone, it all had to go somewhere) he was down for quite a bit.  Bram started to climb the cage wall but thankfully DCT recovered quick enough to stop him; he climbed the ropes, grabbed Bram and managed to scoop slam him from the top of the cage!  Easily the biggest scoop in the history of scoops.

DCT climbs the cage and for a  second time, he stops just as he's about to win and climbs back into the cage. By this point we were all blue in the face from screaming because of how intense it was, we just wanted DCT to climb out and win but DCT is a bigger man than that.  Climbing out of a cage and leaving your opponent fully intact in the centre of it isn't going to end a feud.  If he wanted to finish this, truly finish this then he had to go back in there and make an example of Bram.  And so he did; Coach passed DCT his trusty polo mallet through the cage and he had Bram asking for mercy before he went "nah, fuck you mate" and smacked him square in the face with it anyway.  In the final flourish to his masterpiece, DCT dragged up the badly beaten Bram, positioned him for a piledriver, gave his arse a good ol' smacking and by god he piledrived Bram right into that mat.  Needless to say, as soon as he covered Bram we knew it was over and sure enough, the ref counted three and DCT could breathe easy; it was finally done.  Bram was done, the match was done and DCT could go on his merry way and celebrate with Mrs DCT and his ol' pal Coach.  Before that though, Viper decided to exact a bit of revenge and piledrived Bram as well for good measure.  It was the perfect redemption for the both of them.

Team Dallas vs. Team Black Label 

The stipulation of this match was that if team Dallas won, Red Lightning would sign over 1% of the company to Mark Dallas, making them equal partners.  However if team Black Label won then Dallas would have to sign over ALL of his shares, making Lightning the sole owner of ICW.  Given how ICW has been since Lightning took over, it was looking pretty bleak if he were to win.

Team Black Label was made up of Drew Galloway, Jack Jester and Wolfgang.  Team Dallas only had two members announced so far; Grado and Noam Dar.  As they all came out to the ring, team Label were accompanied by Lionheart and Sha Shamuels whilst Team Dallas were accompanied by Sweeney, Scott Reid and Toal.  Team Label were all in the ring whilst team Dallas were on the stage; Dallas was talking about the third member of his team, and that because Chris Renfrew wasn't allowed to be in his team he had to look to elsewhere.  Grado then took to the mic and explained that the biggest rivalries turn into the biggest friendships, so the third member of Team Dallas would be...

Sha Samuels!

Well, he didn't say Sha, but Sha started to lay into his former allies in the middle of the ring and it all kicked off from there.  There was so much going on in this match that it was hard to keep up with; wrestlers were flinging themselves off the ropes and out of the ring onto other groups of wrestlers, different members of each team were ganging up and just battering each other.  It was madness, beautiful madness.  Much like the other matches of the night it was intense as there was so much to lose on both sides.

At one point Drew and Red Lightning were on the stage beating up Dallas, just as an extra big "fuck you" to the fans and everyone else that was against them at ICW.  There was just bodies lying everywhere, all over the ring and outside the ring.  Grado and Drew were fighting it out in the ring, with Drew trying to crush Grado's face with Jester's big metal dildo on the mat...

... then the lights cut out and the fans start to scream because they've no idea what's going on.  Seconds later the lights go up and it's none other than Chris Renfrew.  He throws up his signature N hand gesture and hits Drew with a Stone Cold Stoner then pushes Grado on top of Drew so that the referee can call the three count, making Team Dallas the winners and Mark Dallas an equal shareholder of ICW.

Tag Match: The Filthy Generation vs. BT Gunn and ???

BT Gunn's tag partner was yet to be announced but after he made his entrance it was revealed to be the ICW Women's Champion, Carmel.  The feud between this lot runs deep; Kay Lee Ray and Carmel have been feuding since the early days of ICW and BT holds a grudge against Kay Lee Ray and Stevie after they turned their backs on him and Renfrew.

There was a lot of fucking about and running around before BT Gunn decided "fuck it" and tossed KLR into the ring so that she could face Carmel.  They had a bit of a slap off and Carmel tried to get an early pin or three in after getting the upper hand on Kay Lee but it just wasn't happening.  Stevie slinked into the ring and tried to help KLR but BT Gunn was having none of it and intervened by trying to leave hand shaped indents on both Kay Lee and Stevie's chests.  Nothing beats a good ol' chop off, eh?

All four of them ended up in the ring, with KLR and Stevie in opposing corners and BT and Carmel running back and forth hitting them.  After their second run, KLR and Stevie managed to boot them in their faces and escape but instead of running and attacking their opponents they just ended up clotheslining one another. WHOOPSIDOODLES.

Carmel and KLR ended up fighting in the ring and Carmel tried to keep it clean but Stevie, as filthy as their tag name suggests, dragged her out of the ring by the feet to stop her getting the upper hand.  BT of course was having none of it so he and Stevie ended up chopping it out in the middle of the ring.  It ended up with all four of them back in the ring, with Kay Lee holding BT back so that Stevie could hit him with a chair but Carmel speared Stevie out of the way just before he could connect the chair with BT's skull.

After a lot of punches and a near fall, there's an intense moment where Stevie is about to end it with BT with a Canadian Destroyer but BT counters it and has Stevie strapped to his back about to plan his next move... but then KLR comes out of nowhere with the steel chair and smacks him in the face with it, making him drop Stevie and fall to the mat so that Stevie could go for the cover.  1,2,3... that was it over.  Filthy Generation won by using their dirty tactics once again.  Some may call it dirty, others call it smart... but from history we know that dirty tactics will only get you so far in wrestling.  We'll see if these two can defy history and make it to the top by continuing with the cheap shots and sneaky tactics.

Six-Man Tag Match: Moustache Mountain & Lewis Girvan vs. Legion

It's hard watching matches when you like every member of it.  You have your steady favourites but it hurts when you see them try to murder other wrestlers you have a soft spot for.  This rang true especially for every match that Trent Seven and Mikey Whiplash have had because I have an immense amount of respect for the both of them and, despite always usually siding with Whiplash, I still can't help but love the cheeky chappy that is Trent.  So despite being on Legion's side tonight I was crying internally throughout the whole match whenever they hurt any of their opponents.

The six men face off each other in the middle of the ring before launching an attack on each other.  It ends up with just Girvan and Whiplash who go back and forth until Girvan dropkicks Whiplash and they end up scrapping outside of the ring, leaving Michael Dante and Tyler Bates to battle it out.  Dante's a big, big lad but Bates held his own, superkicking Dante out of the ring to join his tag partner in a bit of cult-bashing.  This left Tommy End and Trent Seven to fight it off in a "let's see who can chop the chest/kick the head off of the other guy first" contest.  They have a marvellous exchange of slaps, punches and kicks before Tommy hits Trent with a brainbuster and attempts to climb the top rope but Girvan pushes him off before he can do anything.  Thus begins a series of suicide dives from both sides; Trent dives on top of Tommy, then they're joined by Whiplash, then Girvan.  Just as it looks like Dante is about to attempt a suicide dive, he goes and picks up Tyler Bates like he's the morning paper and throws him on top of the guys outside of the ring.  As if the big man's gonna do a suicide dive, right?

Wrong.  Dante goes over the top rope and crushes everyone and everything that's in the way, including his team mates.  They all somehow manage to get back into the ring and there's a flurry of moves between them all; Tommy managed to hit a double foot stomp on Girvan and all three Legion members covered him to try and get the pin but Trent and Bates managed to stop them.  Again all six men are in the ring, exchanging lariats and superkicks all over the place.  The pace slows down as Tommy and Lewis try to knock each other out, then with distractions from both sides Whiplash and Trent end up trying to chop each other to death.  Trent manages to piledrive Whiplash but fails to pin him as Whiplash kicks out then performs his Zombie Maker which Trent somehow, SOMEHOW kicks out of.

The pace quickens again as all six men end up back in the ring; Bates and Girvan manage to get Tommy and Dante out of the ring at opposites sides and each perform a suicide dive at either end, trying to make sure that the Sumerian Death Squad guys don't try to get back up to help Whiplash.  Sure enough, Trent and Whiplash are slugging it out on the ropes in the corner and Trent manages to do what he done a few nights previous and piledrives Whiplash FROM the ropes.  I sincerely hope he doesn't make a habit of doing it because it's absolutely terrifying to watch.  Whiplash was having none of it and kicked out at one but Trent planted him in the ground with an absolute belter of a lariat and that was enough to do the trick; Trent got the pin over Whiplash and made Moustache Mountain the winners.

All six men remain in the ring as Whiplash -after a few microphone issues and a Botchamania chant- takes to the mic and says that he did want to be in the main event of Fear and Loathing at the Hydro but now he doesn't; now he's saying that his former rival Trent Seven deserves it more. He wants Trent to fight for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship because "he fucking deserves it".  "It doesn't matter what them in the back want, it matters what you lot want"... and the crowd seemed to want it; they chanted on as Whiplash hugged Trent then raised his hand in the air.  Tommy and Dante followed in showing their respects.

Tommy took to the mic and announced that it doesn't matter where he goes, he carries all of his fans in his heart and wants to thank us for the last 3 years of support.  It was an emotional speech as I had no idea it was going to be his last match in ICW and the crowd showed him nothing but love as they all left the ring.  Sumerian Death Squad were a staple of the ICW tag team division and made it all the more exciting and interesting.  I hope wherever he goes NXT... eh, I mean next, I hope he conquers it like the warrior he is. 

ICW World Heavyweight Title Match: Damo (c) vs. Joe Coffey

                          

Every match of this show had been a long time coming, but none more so than this.  Joe Coffey has fought tooth and nail to get this opportunity.  He didn't walk into the company and have opportunities handed to him; he's had to work hard and work against the higher powers who have tried everything they can to get rid of him to get where he is tonight.  No-one, NO-ONE in the company deserves that belt more than Joe Coffey does.  

Joe's hunger for that belt has never been more evident than it is now; as soon as the bell rang he struck Damo with a missile dropkick then started pounding him with punches in the corner.  Damo reversed it momentarily but all Joe done was push him to the ground and continue his beatdown.  Damo rolled out of the ring and they continued their scrap on the outside and then into the crowd.  Damo, trying to restore a bit of control in the match, got Joe on the floor against the barrier and hit him with a rolling cannonball but Joe got back up and continued the scrap until they ended up back in the ring.  They punched back and forth until Damo lost it and irish whipped Joe into the corner with such force that it looked like it knocked the wind right out of Joe. Damo covered Joe but he kicked out; he wasn't going to give up that easily.  He's the fuckin' iron man, he's made of stronger stuff than that (mostly iron, a bit of paint and a lot of beard).

Joe got back up and got Damo on the mat; he looked like he was about to swing Damo (y'know, giant Damo, who makes Dante look like a cotton bud) about and sure enough he got a swing or two in before locking Damo into a boston crab but he quickly moved to the ropes so Joe had to let him out. He then attempts to piledrive Damo but Damo flings him over his back and begins to beat Joe down into the corner.  They take their fight to the centre of the ring and Damo, all 23 stone of him, stands on Joe's chest then falls down with a Belfast bump (which never gets easier to watch; that's a lot of Irish brute falling down on top of someone).  Joe jumps up straight away and after a few punches he manages to escape Damo and perform a springboard crossbody to knock the big man down.  They get back up and exchange punches until Damo is cornered, then performs two out of three of his signature "Hulk Busters" as Billy Kirkwood coined it but before the third one Damo managed to avoid it and threw Joe outside of the ropes onto the ring skirt.  Joe capitalised on this and made his way to the top rope and floored Damo with a spectacular missile dropkick to the head, making Damo roll out of the ring so that he could catch a breather.  They say there's no crying in baseball... well, there's no breathers in wrestling because Joe took the chance and threw himself over the top rope and on top of Damo, something we've never really seen from Joe Coffey before.  These are the new kinds of things you have to do and the risks you have to take to become the champion; Damo knows this and so do the champions before him.  

They get back in the ring again and Damo reverses Joe's attempt at a suplex, slams him off the ropes then on to the ground and performs another brutal Belfast bump on Joe.  You could see Damo's face and he was by no means done; if anything he was just getting angrier, and no-one wants to be in the ring with a raging, giant Irish man.  He powerbombs Joe, elbow drops him then tries to pin him but Joe is just as determined as him and kicks out at two. They get back up and have a tussle, Joe goes for a frogsplash (another new one from Joe) from the top rope and succeeds but fails to get the pin over Damo when he tries.  They both get back up and Damo brogue kicks Joe then goes for a cross body and then a pin but once again Joe kicks out.  Damo, obviously frustrated, gets Joe on his shoulders for an Ulster Plantation but Joe manages to struggle down and roll up Damo to try and get a quick pin but it just wasn't happening.  By this point the crowd's nerves were shot; it was anybody's game at this point and despite their exhaustion neither Joe or Damo were backing down. 

Joe gets back up and smashes Damo with a discus clothesline but when he tries to pin Damo he kicks out.  AGAIN.  He goes for a second discus clothesline but you can see Damo just think "nah, fuck this" and he headbutts Joe to stop him in his tracks.  He gets him in the corner, dropkicks him then asks an official for the belt and sticks it to Joe's upper body in an ultimate "fuck you, this is my belt and not only are you not getting it but I'm about to smash yer fuckin skull in with it" moment.  Damo then goes for the Coast to Coast which we've seen him devastate wrestlers with previously but it's not over for Joe; he springs up and uppercuts Damo as he's climbing the ropes then superplexes him off of the ropes.  It looked like that could be the end for Damo but no, he kicked out of a cover at two but you could see that both of them were on their last legs.  The end was nigh but it still wasn't clear who was going to walk out of there the champion.  

In what seemed like a final burst of energy, they began to uppercut and forearm the everloving fuck out of one another, with Damo once again brogue kicking Joe but Joe quickly shaking it off and attempting another clothesline.  Unfortunately for Joe, Damo was one step ahead and grappled him down to the ground to try and elbow him unconscious much like we saw in Belfast when he done the same with Chris Renfrew in order to become the champion.  Joe mustered every last ounce of energy he had and crawled to the ropes then threw himself to the ground outside of the ring to escape Damo's clutches.  Thomas Kearins approaches Joe and asks him in the microphone if he is able to continue the match... and with the determination that we have consistently seen from Joe from the very beginning, he roared "NO MERCY" and climbed back up to the ropes where Damo dragged him back into the ring.  Damo was looking to end it and booted Joe in the face before attempting and succeeding in performing the Ulster Plantation but Joe, somehow, managed to kick out at the last second.  Damo clambered over to Joe and began elbowing him in the head again but Joe struggled up and again somehow managed to enziguri kick Damo in the head then German suplex him.  Whilst Damo was dazed Joe ran the ropes then planted him with another discus clothesline, using absolutely every last bit of energy that he had to do so.  He covers Damo and the ref counts... THREE.  

FINALLY, after ALL of this time, the "Iron Man" Joe Coffey is our NEW ICW World Heavyweight Champion.  The crowd roar and beat their chests along to Joe's music as he's announced as the winner and new champion. The crowd begin to sing, there are people in the front row crying their eyes out with pure joy and Joe lays there trying not to get emotional and beating his chest feebly because he's finally done it.  He's reached the top against all odds, he's beaten the giant and he's conquered the world to become the champ.  Words cannot describe the atmosphere as people celebrate and both competitors struggle upright to say their thanks to one another.  Damo gets the mic and says that he's not the best in that locker room but Joe is.  He says he's his best friend and announces him as Joe Coffey, the World Heavyweight champion.  Damo is an aggressive, intimidating competitor but he always plays the game fair and he is always gracious no matter what happens.  He leaves the ring and kneels on the stage to show his respects...

And then it begins.

The Black Label come out and begin to attack Damo in his weakened state, with Joe not really noticing what's happened because they whisk him behind the curtain... and then the music hits.  That familiar howl of the wolf, and out comes Wolfgang with the briefcase.  He hands his case to Sean Mclaughlin and officially cashes in his Square Go briefcase.

ICW World Heavyweight Championship Match: Joe Coffey (c) vs. Wolfgang

No no no no no no no no.  Not not Wolfgang, please not now.  He's only just won the belt and he's completely gubbed from that last match, it's not fair.  Let him have his time.  

Of course it's not fair, since Wolfgang never plays fair; as soon as the bell rang he donned his infamous brass knuckles to try and end this quickly.  He swings and misses at Joe and Joe begins to punch Wolfgang then goes for a discus clothesline but Wolfgang reverses and slam dunks Joe then goes to the top rope for that deadly moonsault.  The crowd were screaming for Joe to move out of the way but it was no use; Wolfgang flew gracefully through the air and landed perfectly on Joe.  Wolfgang rolled him over to pin him but thankfully Joe kicked out at two.  He tried to feed off of the crowd's energy and encouragement for him so that he could get back up and fight; sure enough he dodged another punch with the brass knuckles and landed a clothesline, this could be it!  Joe could have won his first title defense minutes after just winning it!

The referee begins to count but before he gets to 3, GM Red Lightning comes out from backstage and pulls the ref out of the ring by the legs.  Joe tries to help the ref as Red Lightning is shouting at him and as he's doing so Wolfgang runs over, punches him in the gut then square in the face. Joe is knocked down and Wolfgang goes for the cover... and, sadly, manages to pin him for the three count.

The boos from the crowd are unbelievable, I've never heard anything like it.  The Black Label came out of course to celebrate Wolfgang's win and the crowd immediately began to fan out and leave as him and his pals all danced and cheered in the ring.  The dip in atmosphere was unbelievable, it was reminiscent of Wrestlemania 17 (ya'll know what I'm talking about).  It was equally disappointing as it was genius.  

Who knows what's going to happen with the title now; Red can't get away with his antics like he used to because he's not majority owner anymore, will Dallas interfere with what happened?  Is Wolfgang going to be our new long-term champion?  Who knows.  That's the beauty of it; no-one has a clue what's going to happen next and that's why everyone is going to keep attending shows, to find out what the dealio is. 

Overall the whole show was terrific, one of the best shows they've put on yet.  I say that about a lot of their shows but really, it was.  The build up to the matches was spot on, the matches themselves lived up to the hype and there were just so many emotional moments: Polo Promotions returning, Tommy End leaving, Joe winning then losing on the same night... it was a total rollercoaster.  If anyone knows how to keep their fanbase invested in a story, it's ICW.  It might have looked bleak for a while there but I'm sure we can all agree that it was worth the wait, yes?

All content by Lily Lestrange

Photo credit as always to the fantastic Mr David Wilson.