Disclaimer: I took no notes last night solike if any of this is factually inaccurate, feel free to correct me and/or whine about it :) was far too engrossed in the action and making sure the weans didn't jump into the ring.
Source - Showcase 4
Source Wrestling School
22 Cogan Street
Glasgow
G43 1AP
Sunday 7th September, 6.30pm
Source - Website | Facebook | Twitter
SWA - Website | Facebook | Twitter
So what was this all about then? Essentially, there were three different things going on last night. On one hand, the trainees and graduates of the Source Wrestling School got a chance to showcase their talents in a ring in front of a sizeable live audience. On the other hand, there was an opportunity to see who could be the bright stars of the future in the Scottish Wrestling Alliance and across the UK wrestling landscape in the years to come.
But ultimately what you had was great family-friendly wrestling action for only £5, with plenty to keep adult wrestling fans engrossed as well.
Match 1 - Glen Dunbar vs DCT
Kicking things off for us was the "International Sex Hero" DCT who, for the benefit of the impressionable children in attendance, was not quite thrusting his 'sex hero' moniker in our face. There was still plenty of good-humoured banter however, as the occassional hip movement followed by a sultry "Do you LIKE that?!" let everyone know that DCT means non-stop action.
His opponent was one half of the SWA Tag Team Champions "The Forgotten", Glen Dunbar, who despite coming to the ring sporting his championship belt and demanding that we all rose to our feet and showed respect to, in his mind at least, wrestling royalty, could barely buy himself a fan tonight (with rare exception of a few Dunbar diehards in the front row).
No, this crowd were firmly behind DCT, who fed off the energy of the crowd throughout to produce a fantastic showing worthy of his adulation. Some energetic wristlocks started us off, and despite being on the receiving end of most of the punishment, DCT's good nature could not be contained. A pretty cool counter came from DCT when he was caught in a lock and flat on his ass. Using his feet to seperate Dunbar's inch by inch, all DCT had to do was give his opponent a little knock, and Glen went down.
Despite the energy and effort from both DCT and the fans, it was not to be his night as a distraction from Alex Cavanagh, the other member of The Forgotten, allowed Jam O'Malley to crack DCT with a cane behind the ref's back, gifting Dunbar the pinfall victory. Afterwards, Jam O'Malley helped The Forgotten celebrate and made sure that we all knew who his respect lay with.
Match 2 - Sammii Jayne vs Viper
I've seen Viper involved in a few different matches in a few different settings, but I think she is really suited to shows in smaller, quieter venues. Certainly the crowd were quite a bit quieter for this match than the opener, but that was due mostly to being engrossed by both women and attuned to Viper's natural rhetoric while being twisted and turned all around the ring by Sammii.
The night looked like it might belong to Jayne as she managed to wriggle out of the Viper Driver (michinokou driver) attempt and set her opponent up for the Bitch Please (spinning cutter from the apron), but Viper showed her guile by avoiding that, taking advantage of Sammii's dazed state to hit the Viper Driver for the win. For anyone who doubts the seriousness of wrestling, you need only look at Viper's bottom lip as she left the ring. Two vicious kicks from Sammii throughout the match had resulted in two brutal looking cuts on her lip. Her performance was not unnoticed however - when asked who their favourite wrestler of the night was, one of the kids immediately leapt in with Viper!
Match 3 - Joe Hendry vs Cobra Carr
Before the match could take place, Joe Hendry took to the mic and revealed that his scheduled opponent for the night, Private Bobby Roberts, has had to pull out due to an illness. Bobby was in fact in attendance and Joe made no bones about pointing out that he would not be waiting on Private Roberts. If Roberts was not able to face Joe soon, then Joe would simply ascend further up the wrestling food chain and Bobby would fall further down the card. A classless promo from the self-styled "Global Hero", but his connection with the crowd was undeniable as at least half of those in attendance were joining with the call and response of JOE HENDRY - GLOBAL HERO.
That call was cut short however as, while Hendry instructed the MC to announce him as winner by default, a new challenger appeared in the form of Cobra Carr. This was my first time seeing Cobra wrestle but having heard some good things about him I was not left disappointed.
Still, I personally had expected Joe Hendry to see off his challenger fairly easily, especially given that Cobra had very little time to prepare for this match. I was left shocked, as time and time again Cobra Carr managed to battle back from the brink of defeat. The culmination of this came as Joe Hendry hit his patented Freak Of Nature (falaway slam) finisher and covered Carr for the pin, only for Carr to kick out! Granted, there was a few seconds of confusion as the referee pointed out Joe's own feet were under the ropes, but the fact that Cobra Carr kicked out of the Freak Of Nature cannot be denied.
What also cannot be denied was the brutal DDT Joe Hendry followed this up with, finally getting the pinfall victory. While the crowd was firmly behind DCT and Viper in the previous bouts, Cobra Carr worked hard to turn a crowd half with Joe, half against Joe into a crowd that was half with Joe and half with Cobra Carr.
Match 4 - The Gatecrashers (Christopher Saynt & Dave Conrad) vs Britain's Most Wanted (Damian O'Conor & Scott Renwick)
Oh dear. This match took a while to get going, but in no way is that a complaint. Between jibes at Christopher Saynt's choice of make-up to threats of Damo going to abandon wrestling and simply eat his opponents, the wrestlers and crowd were riled up long before the first strike was thrown.
Saynt started things off gingerly, running to the corner for protection whenever Damian O'Conor so much as looked in his direction, but soon The Gatecrashers found their flow and had Renwick cut off in their corner. While Saynt has been, and will continue to, quite rightly getting a lot of acclaim within the Scottish wrestling scene lately, I cannot stress enough how well Dave Conrad plays his part of the team also. Both of these men are exceptional talents and personally speaking they were the highlight of the card for me as a fan.
But what does that matter when facing against Damian O'Conor. After battling both members of The Gatecrashers valiantly, Scott Renwick finally managed to tag in Damo and the true fight began. What happened next went past in an absolute blur of action, but I remember Damo stood with his full weight upon Dave Conrad's chest, before falling backwards for a senton, and at one point he had Conrad upon his shoulders in a fireman's carry only for Saynt to attempt a crossbody and get caught, as Damo flung himself backwards onto Conrad and sent Saynt flying with a falaway slam at the same time. Both Gatecrashers wound up being set up in the corner for a rolling senton from Damo and something quite like a Bronco Buster from Renwick.
Damian O'Conor was without doubt the MVP of the match however. At another point, The Gatecrashers had Renwick up for a dual suplex, but Damian simply appear from behind them and eased his partner to the ground. Everything went by in so much of a blur I can't even remember the ending. I remember that O'Conor and Renwick did this amazing move that combined a superkick and enziguri respectively to Saynt, then repeated it to Conrad who was on the apron, but I don't think that got the win. Pretty sure it was Renwick over Saynt, but at any rate Britain's Most Wanted got the pinfall over The Gatecrashers in some kind of fashion.
After the match, with the fans genuinely grateful towards all four wrestlers for what they had accomplished, BMW offered their hands in respect to their opponents, only for The Gatecrashers to deny them the same respect and walked off, gesticulating obscenities upon the way.
Match 5 - Mikey Whiplash vs Celtic Arrow
If the previous match took a while to get going, then this encounter took forever, but again I am not complaining. From banter about Arrow sounding like a Smurf, to enquiring if a young fan had managed to cut off his Estrogen supply, to making all sorts of references to the "Whippy Sucks" chant, Mikey Whiplash was a comedic house on fire. Like a Dreamworks picture come to life, almost every line was there for the adults in the audience's amusement and thankfully most of the references went right over the heads of the more innocent audience members.
With the verbal feeling out period over, the wrestling could begin, with Arrow getting the initial advantage albeit through nefarious means, catching Whiplash with a lowblow. This apparent accident aside, the match got into a decent flow once it got going, with a particular high point coming as Whiplash was on the outside, Arrow swung himself around the ringpost and maneuvered into a hurricanrana position, with both men utilising the tiny space between ring and crowd to perform the feat safely, well as relatively safe as a hurricanrana to concrete flooring can be.
The ending came as Whiplash got Celtic Arrow into a headlock takedown and forced the submission out of the masked wrestler.
Match 6 - Nikki Storm & Bete Noire vs Courtney & ??? (Manlon)
Nikki Storm and Bete Noire came out to the refrain of Nikki's entrance music and, as Storm proceeded to pose for pictures while Bete tried to get her to focus on the ring, it would appear that Storm had adopted the de facto leadership position of the team.
Courtney came to the ring alone. With scheduled partner Debbie Sharpe currently suffering an injury (#PrayForDebbie), the courageous Courtney insisted that she could go it alone and asked the referee to make this a 2-on-1 match and let her proceed. But there was no need. A hero was soon to arrive, a hero sporting 80s throwback hair and bright pink underwear!
Manlon ran down to the ring and offered himself up as a partner for Courtney. Some initial protests from Storm and Noire soon died down as someone asked if they were too chicken to face a man. Not wanting to back down but also trying to get in the minds of their opponents, Storm and Noire began deriding their opponents, claiming "That's not a man" among other things.
All four interacted with each other incredibly, so much so I was sucking into their back-and-forth barbs almost as much as the actual wrestling. Manlon started off a bit hesitant to hit his female opponents, no doubt shaken too by Storm's loud derision of "You can't hit a girl!", and actually attempted swooning Bete with an impromptu waltz instead. He was soon put in his place however, as both Bete and Storm showed no hesitation in hitting him.
Once again this was an incredible match that had me so enthralled I can barely remember all the details. I do know at one point Storm went running away from the match, and Courtney did all she could to keep Manlon motivated as he was cut off from the tag by the dastardly duo. The ending came about as Bete and Courtney tumbled over the ropes (a little too close for comfort personally as I was right there as they fell!), and Nikki took advantage of the momentary distraction to lowblow Manlon and get the pin.
Main Event - Lewis Girvan v Solar v Alex Cavanagh v Mr Byers
Initially slated as a singles bout between Girvan and Solar for number one contendership of the Scottish Junior Heavyweight Championship, the duo were soon joined by Alex Cavanagh who, aping his tag team partner Glen Dunbar, insisted that being the Tag Team Champion gave him a certain right, a right to be in this match, especially as his scheduled opponent Cobra Carr had taken it upon himself to swap matches earlier in the night.
Mr Byers then appeared, in full schoolteacher get-up, claiming that if anyone was being forgotten about it was him and he deserved to be noted and there was no better platform for that than in this match. As the four bickered (well, three, as Solar amusingly took a bathroom break while Cavanagh and Byers prattled on), SWA owner John "The Bomb" Graham took to the ring and declared that he would allow the match to proceed as a four-way elimination encounter.
Things got off to a great start - for the bad guys! Byers and Cavanagh quickly realised that, under elimination rules, they could sit back and allow one of Solar or Girvan to eliminate the other and wear himself out at the same time. So they took to stalking the outside of the ring, chiming in with verbal barbs from time to time. As Lewis and Solar soldiered on and battled each other like real men, they even took time to hit back verbally as well. Eventually, both Cavanagh and Byers got sucked into the match and one by one, first Byers and then Solar, competitors were eliminated. Down to Cavanagh vs Girvan, both men gave it their absolute all but eventually Cavanagh succumbed to his villainous ways. As Glen Dunbar prowled around one side of the ring, Jam patrolled the other with his trusty cane in hand. Dunbar leapt up to the apron to alert the referee to something of apparent importance, but while Jam readied his cane to swing, Lewis Girvan reversed an Irish Whip so Cavanagh got the brunt of the attack, snapping it in half with the sheer force of the impact, and was free to get the pinfall victory as the crowd erupted, showing without doubt that they approved of Lewis Girvan being the new number one contender.
Summation
Overall this was a great night. There wasn't a single match I didn't enjoy, and the kids seemed enthralled also. A £5 entry fee is always welcome, but at a run time of around 2-and-a-bit hours it also didn't last so long as to totally tire the kids out.
I would recommend that you come along to the next Showcase event, whenever that may be, but get there pretty early. Doors were at half 6 and although there wasn't the hugest queue by that time, the school soon filled up to standing room only and, as word begins to spread, I can see it being even more packed next time.
An excellent night and one of the most fun events I've been to this year.
Source - Showcase 4
Source Wrestling School
22 Cogan Street
Glasgow
G43 1AP
Sunday 7th September, 6.30pm
Source - Website | Facebook | Twitter
SWA - Website | Facebook | Twitter
So what was this all about then? Essentially, there were three different things going on last night. On one hand, the trainees and graduates of the Source Wrestling School got a chance to showcase their talents in a ring in front of a sizeable live audience. On the other hand, there was an opportunity to see who could be the bright stars of the future in the Scottish Wrestling Alliance and across the UK wrestling landscape in the years to come.
But ultimately what you had was great family-friendly wrestling action for only £5, with plenty to keep adult wrestling fans engrossed as well.
Match 1 - Glen Dunbar vs DCT
Kicking things off for us was the "International Sex Hero" DCT who, for the benefit of the impressionable children in attendance, was not quite thrusting his 'sex hero' moniker in our face. There was still plenty of good-humoured banter however, as the occassional hip movement followed by a sultry "Do you LIKE that?!" let everyone know that DCT means non-stop action.
His opponent was one half of the SWA Tag Team Champions "The Forgotten", Glen Dunbar, who despite coming to the ring sporting his championship belt and demanding that we all rose to our feet and showed respect to, in his mind at least, wrestling royalty, could barely buy himself a fan tonight (with rare exception of a few Dunbar diehards in the front row).
No, this crowd were firmly behind DCT, who fed off the energy of the crowd throughout to produce a fantastic showing worthy of his adulation. Some energetic wristlocks started us off, and despite being on the receiving end of most of the punishment, DCT's good nature could not be contained. A pretty cool counter came from DCT when he was caught in a lock and flat on his ass. Using his feet to seperate Dunbar's inch by inch, all DCT had to do was give his opponent a little knock, and Glen went down.
Despite the energy and effort from both DCT and the fans, it was not to be his night as a distraction from Alex Cavanagh, the other member of The Forgotten, allowed Jam O'Malley to crack DCT with a cane behind the ref's back, gifting Dunbar the pinfall victory. Afterwards, Jam O'Malley helped The Forgotten celebrate and made sure that we all knew who his respect lay with.
Match 2 - Sammii Jayne vs Viper
I've seen Viper involved in a few different matches in a few different settings, but I think she is really suited to shows in smaller, quieter venues. Certainly the crowd were quite a bit quieter for this match than the opener, but that was due mostly to being engrossed by both women and attuned to Viper's natural rhetoric while being twisted and turned all around the ring by Sammii.
The night looked like it might belong to Jayne as she managed to wriggle out of the Viper Driver (michinokou driver) attempt and set her opponent up for the Bitch Please (spinning cutter from the apron), but Viper showed her guile by avoiding that, taking advantage of Sammii's dazed state to hit the Viper Driver for the win. For anyone who doubts the seriousness of wrestling, you need only look at Viper's bottom lip as she left the ring. Two vicious kicks from Sammii throughout the match had resulted in two brutal looking cuts on her lip. Her performance was not unnoticed however - when asked who their favourite wrestler of the night was, one of the kids immediately leapt in with Viper!
Match 3 - Joe Hendry vs Cobra Carr
Before the match could take place, Joe Hendry took to the mic and revealed that his scheduled opponent for the night, Private Bobby Roberts, has had to pull out due to an illness. Bobby was in fact in attendance and Joe made no bones about pointing out that he would not be waiting on Private Roberts. If Roberts was not able to face Joe soon, then Joe would simply ascend further up the wrestling food chain and Bobby would fall further down the card. A classless promo from the self-styled "Global Hero", but his connection with the crowd was undeniable as at least half of those in attendance were joining with the call and response of JOE HENDRY - GLOBAL HERO.
That call was cut short however as, while Hendry instructed the MC to announce him as winner by default, a new challenger appeared in the form of Cobra Carr. This was my first time seeing Cobra wrestle but having heard some good things about him I was not left disappointed.
Still, I personally had expected Joe Hendry to see off his challenger fairly easily, especially given that Cobra had very little time to prepare for this match. I was left shocked, as time and time again Cobra Carr managed to battle back from the brink of defeat. The culmination of this came as Joe Hendry hit his patented Freak Of Nature (falaway slam) finisher and covered Carr for the pin, only for Carr to kick out! Granted, there was a few seconds of confusion as the referee pointed out Joe's own feet were under the ropes, but the fact that Cobra Carr kicked out of the Freak Of Nature cannot be denied.
What also cannot be denied was the brutal DDT Joe Hendry followed this up with, finally getting the pinfall victory. While the crowd was firmly behind DCT and Viper in the previous bouts, Cobra Carr worked hard to turn a crowd half with Joe, half against Joe into a crowd that was half with Joe and half with Cobra Carr.
Match 4 - The Gatecrashers (Christopher Saynt & Dave Conrad) vs Britain's Most Wanted (Damian O'Conor & Scott Renwick)
Oh dear. This match took a while to get going, but in no way is that a complaint. Between jibes at Christopher Saynt's choice of make-up to threats of Damo going to abandon wrestling and simply eat his opponents, the wrestlers and crowd were riled up long before the first strike was thrown.
Saynt started things off gingerly, running to the corner for protection whenever Damian O'Conor so much as looked in his direction, but soon The Gatecrashers found their flow and had Renwick cut off in their corner. While Saynt has been, and will continue to, quite rightly getting a lot of acclaim within the Scottish wrestling scene lately, I cannot stress enough how well Dave Conrad plays his part of the team also. Both of these men are exceptional talents and personally speaking they were the highlight of the card for me as a fan.
But what does that matter when facing against Damian O'Conor. After battling both members of The Gatecrashers valiantly, Scott Renwick finally managed to tag in Damo and the true fight began. What happened next went past in an absolute blur of action, but I remember Damo stood with his full weight upon Dave Conrad's chest, before falling backwards for a senton, and at one point he had Conrad upon his shoulders in a fireman's carry only for Saynt to attempt a crossbody and get caught, as Damo flung himself backwards onto Conrad and sent Saynt flying with a falaway slam at the same time. Both Gatecrashers wound up being set up in the corner for a rolling senton from Damo and something quite like a Bronco Buster from Renwick.
Damian O'Conor was without doubt the MVP of the match however. At another point, The Gatecrashers had Renwick up for a dual suplex, but Damian simply appear from behind them and eased his partner to the ground. Everything went by in so much of a blur I can't even remember the ending. I remember that O'Conor and Renwick did this amazing move that combined a superkick and enziguri respectively to Saynt, then repeated it to Conrad who was on the apron, but I don't think that got the win. Pretty sure it was Renwick over Saynt, but at any rate Britain's Most Wanted got the pinfall over The Gatecrashers in some kind of fashion.
After the match, with the fans genuinely grateful towards all four wrestlers for what they had accomplished, BMW offered their hands in respect to their opponents, only for The Gatecrashers to deny them the same respect and walked off, gesticulating obscenities upon the way.
Match 5 - Mikey Whiplash vs Celtic Arrow
If the previous match took a while to get going, then this encounter took forever, but again I am not complaining. From banter about Arrow sounding like a Smurf, to enquiring if a young fan had managed to cut off his Estrogen supply, to making all sorts of references to the "Whippy Sucks" chant, Mikey Whiplash was a comedic house on fire. Like a Dreamworks picture come to life, almost every line was there for the adults in the audience's amusement and thankfully most of the references went right over the heads of the more innocent audience members.
With the verbal feeling out period over, the wrestling could begin, with Arrow getting the initial advantage albeit through nefarious means, catching Whiplash with a lowblow. This apparent accident aside, the match got into a decent flow once it got going, with a particular high point coming as Whiplash was on the outside, Arrow swung himself around the ringpost and maneuvered into a hurricanrana position, with both men utilising the tiny space between ring and crowd to perform the feat safely, well as relatively safe as a hurricanrana to concrete flooring can be.
The ending came as Whiplash got Celtic Arrow into a headlock takedown and forced the submission out of the masked wrestler.
Match 6 - Nikki Storm & Bete Noire vs Courtney & ??? (Manlon)
Nikki Storm and Bete Noire came out to the refrain of Nikki's entrance music and, as Storm proceeded to pose for pictures while Bete tried to get her to focus on the ring, it would appear that Storm had adopted the de facto leadership position of the team.
Courtney came to the ring alone. With scheduled partner Debbie Sharpe currently suffering an injury (#PrayForDebbie), the courageous Courtney insisted that she could go it alone and asked the referee to make this a 2-on-1 match and let her proceed. But there was no need. A hero was soon to arrive, a hero sporting 80s throwback hair and bright pink underwear!
Manlon ran down to the ring and offered himself up as a partner for Courtney. Some initial protests from Storm and Noire soon died down as someone asked if they were too chicken to face a man. Not wanting to back down but also trying to get in the minds of their opponents, Storm and Noire began deriding their opponents, claiming "That's not a man" among other things.
All four interacted with each other incredibly, so much so I was sucking into their back-and-forth barbs almost as much as the actual wrestling. Manlon started off a bit hesitant to hit his female opponents, no doubt shaken too by Storm's loud derision of "You can't hit a girl!", and actually attempted swooning Bete with an impromptu waltz instead. He was soon put in his place however, as both Bete and Storm showed no hesitation in hitting him.
Once again this was an incredible match that had me so enthralled I can barely remember all the details. I do know at one point Storm went running away from the match, and Courtney did all she could to keep Manlon motivated as he was cut off from the tag by the dastardly duo. The ending came about as Bete and Courtney tumbled over the ropes (a little too close for comfort personally as I was right there as they fell!), and Nikki took advantage of the momentary distraction to lowblow Manlon and get the pin.
Main Event - Lewis Girvan v Solar v Alex Cavanagh v Mr Byers
Initially slated as a singles bout between Girvan and Solar for number one contendership of the Scottish Junior Heavyweight Championship, the duo were soon joined by Alex Cavanagh who, aping his tag team partner Glen Dunbar, insisted that being the Tag Team Champion gave him a certain right, a right to be in this match, especially as his scheduled opponent Cobra Carr had taken it upon himself to swap matches earlier in the night.
Mr Byers then appeared, in full schoolteacher get-up, claiming that if anyone was being forgotten about it was him and he deserved to be noted and there was no better platform for that than in this match. As the four bickered (well, three, as Solar amusingly took a bathroom break while Cavanagh and Byers prattled on), SWA owner John "The Bomb" Graham took to the ring and declared that he would allow the match to proceed as a four-way elimination encounter.
Things got off to a great start - for the bad guys! Byers and Cavanagh quickly realised that, under elimination rules, they could sit back and allow one of Solar or Girvan to eliminate the other and wear himself out at the same time. So they took to stalking the outside of the ring, chiming in with verbal barbs from time to time. As Lewis and Solar soldiered on and battled each other like real men, they even took time to hit back verbally as well. Eventually, both Cavanagh and Byers got sucked into the match and one by one, first Byers and then Solar, competitors were eliminated. Down to Cavanagh vs Girvan, both men gave it their absolute all but eventually Cavanagh succumbed to his villainous ways. As Glen Dunbar prowled around one side of the ring, Jam patrolled the other with his trusty cane in hand. Dunbar leapt up to the apron to alert the referee to something of apparent importance, but while Jam readied his cane to swing, Lewis Girvan reversed an Irish Whip so Cavanagh got the brunt of the attack, snapping it in half with the sheer force of the impact, and was free to get the pinfall victory as the crowd erupted, showing without doubt that they approved of Lewis Girvan being the new number one contender.
Summation
Overall this was a great night. There wasn't a single match I didn't enjoy, and the kids seemed enthralled also. A £5 entry fee is always welcome, but at a run time of around 2-and-a-bit hours it also didn't last so long as to totally tire the kids out.
I would recommend that you come along to the next Showcase event, whenever that may be, but get there pretty early. Doors were at half 6 and although there wasn't the hugest queue by that time, the school soon filled up to standing room only and, as word begins to spread, I can see it being even more packed next time.
An excellent night and one of the most fun events I've been to this year.
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