This past Saturday night saw me taking the extremely rare trip down to Warrington by train, as I headed to St. Benedict’s Social Club where I took in my first ever ‘Off The Page’ show, as I’d heard a lot about the promotion in the area, and was interested to cross it off my list of shows in the North West. Their latest offering was titled ‘Just How You Like It’ – though I didn’t like the warmth inside the venue on what was a balmy evening in the ‘Wire’ capital, but I looked forward to the nine-match show.
Match 1: SAM BAILEY Defeated PRINCE PELE (w/Leon Grey): – The opening contest saw Prince Pele accompanied by the unofficial OTP ‘title-holder’ Leon Grey (more on that in a bit) as he faced Sam Bailey in what was a fun opener. The coach outwrestled Pele early on, to which the mixture of the heat and being made to be a fool off in the ring made for a very unhappy Prince. Once Pele got his head into the match, it saw the contest become more even and was helped even more with the added distraction of Grey in his corner. The Runcorn native had the match under control, that was before he called for the ‘Stinkface’ in the corner and saw Bailey playing possum, to which he grabbed Grey and pulled inside the ring to take the rump-facial instead of him. Sam then caught the eye of his opponent standing on the ring apron by smiling and waving, to which Pele came running at the coach, where Sam Bailey reversed it into a package piledriver for the win.
After the match, it saw the owner of Off The Page in Ben Cecil coming out and demanding the return of his belt, having seen the duo stealing the championship belt from his bag at the last show. Grey told Cecil that he would hand back his property on one condition, that condition being that they were added to the title tournament in August. Cecil took a few moments to think about it, before agreeing to the terms given, and as Pele and Grey celebrated holding the title up and claiming that one of them would be holding it again come August 10th; Cecil then cooled their jets, as he said “I’m not done yet!” – before going on to confirm Grey’s inclusion to the title tournament…but he never said both of them. Due to Prince Pele being the one who initially stole the belt, it saw Cecil informing him to pack his bags and leave, as he was suspended and led to a massive child-like tantrum in the ring.
Match 2: LUCY SKY Defeated ZOE NIX: – In the first of two matches where a replacement filled in for an absentee talent, it saw Alexxis Falcon being was unable to appear and face the ‘Pop Punk Princess’ Zoe Nix, as OTP management found a suitable replacement in Lucy Sky. Sky came to the ring and saw her ‘making friends’ by telling those in attendance that she wished she was home in the garden enjoying a beverage rather than being in Warrington, plus being from a rival rugby league town in Wigan, you see why she wouldn’t be happy to be there. This was my first time seeing Zoe Nix in the ring, and she was impressive, especially going up against one of the breakout stars for me in the country. Nix started well till a very clever move by Sky saw her pulling the skirt around the ring to have Zoe trapped and saw Lucy gaining control of the match. Nix hung in there as much as she could, but unfortunately the stronger Sky overpowered the Pop Punk Princess to gain the pinfall victory.
Match 3: KC PAYNE Defeated ISAAC NORTH BY DQ: – In the words of BIG E this was a case of ‘big meaty men, slapping meat’. Having seen a mass take place hours before the event at the church nearby, this was a totally different type of mass on view, as it saw two beefy boys going at it. North took charge of the contest for the most part, as he beat down Payne and didn’t allow his opponent to generate much in the way of offense. However, that all changed in a flash with one chop by North, as it sounded like a gunshot and reverberated around the room to which my ears were still ringing from it hours later. KC Payne turned the tables and saw him asserting his dominance after being fired up by that hard chop, as after both men scored with boots to the face, it saw Isaac leave the ring and return with some greyish powder to blind Payne and get himself disqualified. After continuing to beat down on his blinded foe, it saw Tommy Jackson from the VGS (Violent Gentlemen’s Society) hitting the ring and saw an intense stare down between himself and North, with Isaac vacating the ring proud of his handywork.
MATCH 4: MAX BROOKER Defeated CHRISTY QUINLAN: – With the next show being a tournament to decide the OTP heavyweight champion at ‘Got it Memorised’ on August 10th, it saw Max Brooker and Christy Quinlan fighting it out to determine who would get a bye in the first round. Both men as you would expect came out fighting and looked to try and gain the upper hand, but they seemed to cancel each other out. Quinlan would catch a break though, as he caught Brooker by the ropes and targeted his leg, or more so his ankle, as Max found himself on the back foot with his leg being worked over. Christy perhaps showed his hand far too much in the contest, as after being put in the ankle lock a couple of times, it saw him using his brain by untying his boot. The trick worked a treat, as by loosening his footwear it saw Quinlan putting the hold on again and having the boot come straight off, where Brooker quickly capitalised by rolling him up for a three count and securing the bye.
MATCH 5: BEN REID Defeated LIAM CARR (STREET FIGHT) :– In the second of the two replacements on the show, Liam Carr stepped in to fill the void left by the ill Rizman Khan, as he took on Ben Reid in a Street Fight. With the contest being more like a normal matchup, it soon saw both remember that this was indeed a Street Fight and have the action spill all over the venue, as they beat the living hell out of each other. Reid took over while on the outside, as he began to introduce weapons to the contest, with Carr taking a chair shot to the head for his trouble. The next weapon brought into play was a Kendo stick, as Carr got worn out by the strikes to the body from Reid, before Liam would get shots in too with the second steel chair in the match. Carr set the two chairs up and looked to suplex him through them, but unfortunately for him, it got reversed into an Attitude adjustment by Reid. The end was nigh for Liam Carr, as Ben Reid took victory courtesy of a running headbutt that ended the fight.
MATCH 6: Six Person Tag Match – EJ WALSH, NISHIKI & KIYA Defeated CONOR CLYNE, LEWIS JOHNSON, LILY WINTER: – After the interval we had a six-person tag team match, as EJ Walsh, Nishiki and Kiya took on Conor Clyne, Lewis Johnson and Lily Winter. This match really seemed to fly by for me, as the start of the contest saw everyone pairing up before spilling to the outside, with order soon restored, where it saw Nishiki taking what looked like an awkward landing from a powerbomb on his arm. The trio of Clyne, Johnson and Winter isolated Nishiki in the contest, but he eventually managed to make the tag to EJ, where he and Kiya took up the baton for the team. It then saw all six fighting again, with the men in the match all fighting to the back, which left the two women to battle it out in the ring. Kiya would pick up the win for her team, that was after she put Lily Winter in the Muta Lock and saw cold-hearted Winter tapping out to the submission.
MATCH 7: Tag Team Match: F.T.M defeated ACT 2: – Following that, we dropped from a six-person tag to the traditional two-on-two tag variety, as an entertaining bout saw Tom McColl and Cam Critchlow (F.T.M) take on Jack Knudsen and Benjamin Harland of Act 2. This was a fun fast paced matchup where Knudsen and Critchlow were the main two in the contest, while McColl and Harland seemed to take a backseat. The match itself saw some superb teamwork from F.T.M to split the ring in half and have Knudsen cut off from his tag partner in Harland, as every time he went to make a tag something would thwart it at the last second. Jack would finally make the tag to Ben, to which Harland fought both men off and looked to have the match in his sides’ favour. However, Tom McColl grabbed Jack Knudsen’s tambourine from the corner, and that helped to distract the referee enough to allow Critchlow to grab the microphone and nail Harland in the head which only drew a two count. The Scouse duo knew they still had the advantage and saw them hitting a double team move, with both a cutter from McColl and a curbstomp from Critchlow off the top rope giving the pair victory.
MATCH 8: HELEN CHARLOTTE CAMPBELL (HCC) Defeated MEGAN : – The penultimate bout of the night saw Megan facing HCC (Helen Charlotte Campbell) as the two most powerful women on the show were less about finesse, and more about brute strength. It was a shorter match as having two strong competitors meant it wasn’t going to last too long at all, as Megan overpowered her opponent but HCC was never out of the fight and saw her fight right back. It saw a scary moment late on in the matchup, when Megan seemed to land on her head or neck, but she still managed to kick out. It saw a second powerbomb proving to be the deciding factor for HCC, as she secured the pinfall.
MAIN EVENT: PADRAIG QUINLAN Defeated JACK BANDICOOT:- It saw a clash of styles with the popular Jack Bandicoot taking on Padraig Quinlan, as two of the young stars today went one-on-one with the technical side of Padraig going up against the high flyer in Jack. The contest itself swayed one way and then the other, with Quinlan having the better of things from the midway point of the match. Bandicoot mounted a bit of a comeback, as it saw Quinlan alert to the danger but couldn’t avoid the quick feet of Jack while both were up on the ropes, as Padraig fell to the canvas. This saw the beginning of the end for Bandicoot, as having him bounce off the top of the ring post and then turnbuckle and miss with a splash, it saw Padraig hitting a big pump kick to end things and give VGS their second win of the night.
Overall: Rating: 3.5 to 4/5 – For my first OTP show it was really good, as the pacing of the matches was excellent and saw every match getting some time on the card and that helped to give the show a good flow. My score seems low, but it doesn’t fully tell the whole story, as I think the heat affected a couple of matches early on, but there were a couple of matches that ended a bit strangely for me, plus there was a couple of scary moments that had me worry. That said, all in all a very good show and will certainly be returning back to Warrington to take in another OTP show in future.