Friday evening saw me attending my first ever Bridge Pro Wrestling live event as it saw the Stourbridge’ promotion putting on its second show in ‘Brand New Level’. It was fun & games getting to Stourbridge though, as it took over three hours via bus and train to arrive in the glass making capital of the UK, with a bus to Manchester Piccadilly and saw the first of my three trains of the day being delayed. After a minor delay It saw me switching trains at Wolverhampton, then at Smethwick Galton Bridge, before finally arriving at Stourbridge Junction station, which was followed by a leisurely 19-minute walk up Red Hill to reach my hotel in town.
MATCH 1 : CHANTEL JORDAN vs ALEXXIS FALCON vs CHARLES CROWLEY
The opening match of the Brand New Level show saw Chantel Jordan going up against one half of the ‘Cheeky Little Buggers’ in Alexxis Falcon, where Falcon was very much the not the fan favourite amongst the Stourbridge audience, while her opponent in Jordan received a loud pop from the crowd as she came out from behind the curtain. During the announcements by MC Stewart Summers, it saw the music playing of the other half in Cheeky Little Buggers – in ‘the Spectacular Twat’ Charles Crowley, as he pranced to the ring as suggested that match be a three-way, as a one-on-one wasn’t fair.
Despite the crowd booing the idea down, Jordan was more than happy to agree to the inclusion of Crowley to the contest, though it was a case of biting off more than she could chew in facing the former Progress Tag Team champions, as you knew it was going to be more of a handicap match. And unsurprisingly that is just the way it proved to be, where both Crowley and Falcon used double team moves on Jordan to wear down their opponent, but the heart of the fan favourite kept kicking out of their pinning attempts. It then saw shoots of a comeback as Jordan battled her way back into the contest, but was constantly cut off by Falcon or Crowley.
The final stages saw Jordan and Crowley fighting up on the stage area, where it saw an ugly landing for Crowley and saw him taken out of the match before seeing what we would have got originally in a one-on-one bout. Falcon would prevail in the match however, as she nailed her Twisting DDT off the ropes in the ‘Falcon’s Fury’ to score the win and give the Cheeky Little Buggers reason to smile, much to the disdain of the Bridge Pro crowd.
MATCH 2: VIOLET NYTE & TJ SKY v LILA KYLE & MEMES
Next was a Tag Team match encounter – as again it saw a change to the scheduled programme, with the team of Nyte Sky – ‘the Inspirational’ Violet Nyte and TJ Sky slated to face ‘Wheelie Good Wrestlers’ in ‘the Pocket Rocket Party’ Lila Kyle and Harry Cruise. Unfortunately though, Cruise was forced to miss the show and had her opponents thinking they may have an easy night. However, she had a new tag partner for the match in the social media dream in ‘Memes’ – as the dynamic of the two saw them both getting the better of their opponents and had both using cutters to down their opponents. Memes then used Kyle’s smaller frame as a weapon to slam on top of Sky, with Kyle wanting to reverse roles but informing us that she has only lifted 60 kg as she couldn’t lift her much bigger tag partner.
In truth, this was one of my favourite matches on the night, as it saw a touch of comedy about it at the start before it settled down into a wrestling match and had Nyte Sky isolating the taller man in the ring. They also pulled out some really creative tag moves too, where Memes was put in a figure four in the ropes with Nyte attacking the leg. Kyle was begging for the tag for her team, and after she got it she showed just why she is the ’Pocket Rocket Party Girl’ with some livewire offence. The closing stages saw Kyle being kept out of the ring by the boot of Sky, while Nyte put an arm submission on Memes to get the tap out. After the match all four shook hands after a good contest, where both Lila Kyle and Violet Nyte hugely impressed me.
KAMIKAZE SHOWCASE: ‘SKYWALKER’ NATE REILLY vs ‘THE SPEED DEMON’ EDGAR ALLEN
We then had a special showcase match from the Kamikaze Pro Dojo, where it saw two members of ‘Zero 2 Heroes’ square off against each other as the ‘Skywalker’ Nate Reilly and ‘the Speed Demon’ Edgar Adams put on a superb match. The match itself was great for both Kamikaze and Bridge Pro as hopefully this leads to a working relationship between the two, as it can help both companies. One thing with wrestling fans in the UK is that they are very loyal and will have many fans watch many shows from the same area, as there were a few in attendance that were fans of the KPW product and that helped to get the crowd more involved I thought.
It saw the match start off with both demonstrating what they can do in terms of the high flying athletic side from Reilly, while Adams was far more grounded in his approach. There is too much to say on his match, as the phrase ‘quicker than a hiccup’ could describe this bout as it was up there for my match of the night. On this occasion, it saw ‘the Skywalker’ Nate Reilly prevailing in the contest and is somewhat fitting as we are close by to May the 4th Star Wars Day, but the match itself really could have gone either way.
MATCH 4: ‘the 21st CENTURY LIABILITY’ NATALIE SYKES vs LIAM SLATER
The main event of the first half saw a Teacher v Student encounter, where ‘the 21st Century liability’ in Natalie Sykes faced her teacher in Liam Slater, with Sykes throwing a tantrum from the moment she stepped through the curtain and wasn’t happy that she didn’t finish her entrance. With Slater in the ring, it saw the student refusing to lock up on the basis that Liam was ‘OLD!’ – at the old age of 30!. Sykes continued to draw the ire of the crowd with her whines, before finally her and Slater got the match going and saw the teacher showing ex-student that she still had a lot to learn, as he outwrestled the younger Sykes and saw her having a hissy fit and acting grumpy – though she did sit next to me for like 10 seconds, so perhaps I am to blame?!
The experienced Liam Slater would put his opponent in numerous holds, while Sykes at times felt clever for getting out of them, only to be put in a counter. Natalie would have spells of being in charge of the contest, but her actions weren’t endearing herself to the crowd with the kids behind me being very vocal against her and calling her Bille Eyelash, to which she has referenced herself on twitter. Liam fought back and nailed a package piledriver on his opponent, and after kicking out at two it saw her outsmart her teacher by taking advantage of the referee not looking and kicking Slater between the legs and having him crumble to the mat. That kick would prove vital and see ‘the 21st Century liability’ gaining the pinfall victory and the bragging rights over her teacher.
MATCH 5: FIVE MAN SCRAMBLE – AMIR JORDAN, ZAC WALKER, KEMPER, SAM HUGHES, WILL STEVENS
Next on the slate was a five man scramble match with Sam Hughes, the untouchable 6”6 Kemper, Stourbridge own ‘the future’ Zac Walker and NXT UK alumni Amir Jordan – but just who would be the fifth man in the scramble? With Hazz Hype being unable to take part due to a fractured arm, along with Memes who had already wrestled earlier in the night, it saw the solution being Hughes’ associate in Will Stevens being added to this match. Once the bell rang, it unsurprisingly saw everyone ganging up on Kemper, but the taller and stronger man in the match exploded and saw everyone sent flying back from his power.
It saw the contest split into two – with Kemper fighting mostly on the outside against anyone and everyone that was around him at the time, with the ‘Untouchable’ dominating on the outside of the ring. Walker and Jordan then went back and forth in the ring, before Kemper came in and raised hell, with Jordan and Kemper spilling back out to the outside and fought all over the Amblecote British Legion, while Sam Hughes and Will Stevens wore down Zac Walker. It saw Walker in a bad spot as Hughes got a Kendo Stick from under the ring and saw Stevens holding him in a full nelson. But before Hughes could do any damage, it saw the injured Hazz Hype coming out and grabbing the weapon away from Hughes and turning the table to use the cane on him and chase him off. Meanwhile back in the ring, it saw Amir Jordan taking the win but didn’t see how due to being blocked off (joys of front row lol!)
MATCH 6: ALEX CONNORS & LUKE DOUGLAS vs DEAD SEA SOULS
For the penultimate bout of the night we saw a Tag team encounter that has been brewing since the 4-way match back in October, when Luke Douglas saw his win rescinded after footage of the People’s Captain Steve Valentino kicking out before a three count, but the referee had already counted the pinfall. Bridge Pro management then made the match null and void which angered both ‘the Inquisitor’ Alex Connors & ‘the 21st Century Hero’ Luke Douglas as they deemed the result a conspiracy. Since then however, Valentino has seen threats coming from the duo which led to his Dead Sea Souls tag partner in CJ Rawlings happy to join forces and settle this in the ring.
However, with both teams in the ring, it saw Bridge Pro owner Ryan Parrott coming out to the ring and telling both Connors and Douglas that if they have something to say, then do it in person and not socials. It then saw Ryan unzipping his jacket and revealing a referee shirt underneath, to which he appointed himself as guest referee for the contest. This of course didn’t sit too well with the duo, and if they felt that a conspiracy was against them before, then this was fuelling those thoughts. The fan favourites dominated the early stages until Valentino found himself in a spot of bother with both Connors and Douglas working well together and making quick tags. That said, the tags being made weren’t the most conventional ones and in truth friendliest you ever saw, but they were still on the same page.
It saw the Dead Sea Souls fighting back in the match, while Alex Connors left the ring to head to the back and saw him leaving his tag partner high and dry. After Valentino and Rawlings hit Douglas with a double team that looked set to end the match, Connors came back out ringing the bell to stop the count being made, but he and Douglas took everyone out in the match. It saw Connors looking to rub salt in the wounds of his foes, as he dragged the lifeless body of the referee over to the fallen Valentino and had the indignity of making the Bridge Pro Owner’s arm count the pinfall and leave carnage in the ring as they departed. After the match, it saw ‘the People’s Captain’ grabbing the mic and letting everyone know that “This isn’t over”.
MAIN EVENT: ‘SUPLEX’ MILLIE McKENZIE vs MAN LIKE DeREISS
For the Main Event of BRAND NEW LEVEL – it saw ‘Suplex’ Millie McKenzie going up against Man like DeReiss as the frenemies clashed once more, with the Lyrical Dragon from the ‘0121’ coming out with his usual swagger, while the majority of the crowd were firmly behind his opponent in Millie McKenzie, as she came out to a loud reception. Before the bell rang, it saw the two trading verbal barbs with each other, as DeReiss claimed that he wanted to get this ‘squash’ match over with and saw Millie disgusted at him thinking that this was a gimmie.
Both negated the other early on, that was until DeReiss took charge of the contest and saw McKenzie in trouble early on, with her opponent asserting his dominance and having the Lyrical Dragon trash talking during the bout and shouting to the crowd. Every time McKenzie tried to get going it was always thwarted by her opponent, as the crowd got behind Millie and rallied to see her back in the contest. In a contest that was mostly in the grip of DeReiss, all it took to see a change was a slap to his opponent, as they woke the beast inside Millie as sparked to life and saw DeReiss being Suplexed and Speared and saw the plucky opponent gain the pinfall victory.
After the match the pair hugged it out and let McKenzie bask in the victory as he headed to the back. However, McKenzie was blindsided by the Cheeky Little Buggers, as both Crowley and Falcon jumped a helpless Millie in the ring, before DeReiss came back out to make the save and have the pair leave the ring. This led to a challenge being issued to the Cheeky Little Buggers for a tag team match at the next Bridge Pro show on August 30th at WE’VE GOT HEAT.
Overall: 4/5 A superb show from top to bottom, not a bad match on the card and had a nice flow to the show too. Really want to do a match of the night, as there were three that I particularly enjoyed a lot, but would be difficult to select an outright one.