The weekend of December 7th saw me heading up to Newcastle-upon-Tyne for my first proper NORTH Wrestling show, as it saw them celebrating fifty shows with the event titled ‘NCL.50’. Following a long delay on the train heading up from Manchester Victoria, (3h 15 and a 55-minute delay for those interested) – the excitement of seeing my first proper show overrode the transportation problems. I had seen a NORTH show a few months back at ALL IN weekend in London when they were one of three shows taking part at The Garage at ALL CAPS ALL DAY.
(author NOTE: I have forgotten some events in matches so my apologies)
PRE SHOW: MARC MATHERS v JOE KESSLER
Following his broken jaw last December, ‘the Cyber Slayer’ Joe Kessler saw him making his return to NORTH and faced Marc Mathers along with Michelle Mathers accompanying him in the preshow. Kessler started the quicker of the two and had Mathers in early trouble, but his opponent soon turned the tables on him and had the head of ‘Death Dealer Inc.’ now taking punishment. Joe was then distracted by Michelle Mathers, who had climbed up on the ring apron, with his opponent running at him and dodged the bullet that almost saw the Mathers colliding, with Joe Kessler setting himself to pick him up and slammed him down to get the win.
NCL.50:
NORTH Ultraviolent Title Four Way: Ace Matthews (c) defeats Jet Martial Joe Wade and Lou Nixon
The opening contest saw a battle for the NORTH Ultraviolent championship, with Ace Matthews having to try and turn back the challenge of three men in Jet Martial, ‘Goth Boy’ Joe Wade and BIG Lou Nixon. Ace was the piggy in the middle, as everyone took turns getting some offence in on Matthews before we saw Nixon and Wade trading strikes and having the home favourite in Big Lou using Shearer kicks on Wade. While Jet Martial and Ace Matthew battled in the ring, it saw Nixon and Wade fighting amongst the NORTH faithful before Big Lou Nixon and Matthews brought kegs into the ring, but the height difference between the two kegs saw Ace having a far smaller keg than that of Nixon. After a mini slapping competition sat on the kegs, we saw Big Lou hitting a huge lariat clothesline on his opponent, where Ace Matthews dashed in the ring and quickly pushed him to the outside to capitalise on a prone opponent and have him retain his title.
Emersyn Jayne defeats Millie McKenzie
This next contest is in my top two for Match of the Year, where these two Women put on one of the best matches in 2024, without a doubt. I can guarantee now that this little review will not come to describe just how incredible this match was, as it was two Women who are killing it right now worldwide, as they went hold for hold, move for move. It saw some high-flying offence from Emersyn Jayne that had Millie McKenzie staggering, with the match then moving to the outside and having the crowd getting a close-up of both taking this violence amongst the people. While Emersyn was more fast-paced, Millie was more methodical in her approach and showed just why she is nicknamed ‘suplex’ with a string of suplexes on her opponent, but surely the beating both were handing out to each other would see this match end sooner. Spoiler – it was just warming up. The NORTH fans were split between who they wanted to win, as Millie seemed to throw almost everything but was getting frustrated at being unable to keep her opponent down. Millie then performed a Posionrana off the top rope, followed by a spear that left McKenzie thinking that was enough, but saw Emersyn kicking out just the three. They then traded suplexes, with the recipient seemingly gaining momentum after it and playing a game of wrestling top trumps, with Emersyn Jayne going on land more offence before hitting solid sit-down Powerbomb to score the win and have the crowd letting both how they felt over the contest, with even those sitting down giving them a standing ovation.
Shreddy defeats Saxon Huxley
We then saw two beefy boys slapping meat, as these two men have wrestled over in Japan and saw the ‘Jacked, Stacked Daddy’ in Shreddy ask that this match be contested under Japanese rules of a 20-count instead of the traditional 10-count when on the outside. After the previous contest we just witnessed, this was a lot slower and more technical as neither man wanted to give the other an advantage early on. It saw a test of strength where neither man gave an inch and saw a stalemate before the NORTH fans demanded that they both take their jacket off, with Shreddy happy to oblige before ripping off his opponents to appease the fans. After they did a test strength and tried to barge the other, both men were cancelling the other out before it spilt to the outside and had a couple of drinks go flying. Both men stopped fighting when the referee got up to 19 in his count, as they made the count just before the 20 was issued. Huxley started to take control, but Shreddy went into his bum bag, to which he pulled out some power and threw it into the eyes of the oncoming giant running towards him before rolling him up to steal the victory.
Myles Kayman defeats Henry Faust
One of the ongoing storylines in NORTH saw the long-awaited match between Henry Faust and the ‘Golden Boy’ Myles Kayman, as both have a long history and saw Faust winning last month to secure a win with his rival. While Kayman was going through his entrance and posing, Henry didn’t wait for his entrance as he ran down to the ring to send the Golden Boy flying off the ring apron and proceeded to dish out some knuckle sandwiches to him. Having seen Faust start as the aggressor in the match, he was now on the back foot with Kayman taking charge and having his way with Henry, while the fans were all behind the underdog. Both men then found themselves fighting at the bar and onto the ledge, where Myles began to taunt the fans and his opponent, but Faust grabbed him and saw both flying off the ledge towards the crowd. Once they got back to the ring, Faust took an awful-looking landing on his head and saw somehow him kicking out at two. With Henry rallying and Myles trying everything to cheat, Faust continued his comeback and saw him going for a pin that got reversed into a roll-up and a win for the Golden Boy that left Henry devastated in the ring. After his opponent gloated and headed to the back, Faust grabbed the mic and apologised to the fans for his loss with the NORTH fans fully behind a crestfallen man.
NORTH Tag Team Title: The Landed Gentry (Benji & Zeo Knox) (c) defeat Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II)
Kid Lykos I & II saw them facing the tag team champions in The Landed Gentry with Benji and Zeo Knox looking to keep their titles heading into the new year but knew they would face a stiff challenge from former NORTH tag champs in Lykos Gym. Unsurprisingly, it saw one of the best junior heavyweight tag teams using speed to their advantage and had the champions in bother. The Landed Gentry finally managed to regroup and did very well at isolating Kid Lykos II from his tag partner by adopting questionable tactics that saw Benji and Zeo Knox getting the better of their opponents. Lyko II made the tag to Kid Lykos, but the referee didn’t see the tag and ordered him back to his corner, where the champions continued to beat Lykos II even more. When the tag finally came, it saw both members of Lykos Gym being too good for them and looked on course to see a title change with Benji being put in a submission hold, that until Zeo came into the ring with his mallet and clocked Lykos with it to get disqualified. While Zeo celebrated the DQ loss from the staging area, Benji seemed apologetic towards his opponents in the ring, with an angry Zeo demanding he join him at the stage area and seemingly threw the belt at him and saw the two getting into a heated argument with Benji having enough and walking off.
Rampage Brown defeats Trent Seven
We then saw another match with two meaty men in Newcastle’s own Rampage Brown taking on Trent Seven, where this saw them practically throwing their weight around the ring and outside of it, with Trent being the smarter of the two and Rampage being more about the brawn. Trent went to chop Brown, who was leaning by the ring post on the outside and moved, but Seven stopped himself from smashing his hand off it, only to do it off the other ring post and have the sound and look of his eyes bulging tell you all you needed to know. Back in the ring, it saw more big-impact moves from two beefy men, but in the end, it took two back-to-back powerbombs to put Trent Seven away and gave Rampage the thumbs up after the match while still laid out on the canvas.
Three On Two Handicap: Liam Slater & Lucia Lee defeat Crashboat (Jack Bandicoot & Jake Silver) & Natalie Sykes
The penultimate match of the evening saw a 3-on-2 encounter with Team Natalie Sykes having the return of CRASHBOAT in Jack Bandicoot and Jake Silver, with their opponents in Team Lucia being the ‘Cult Classic’ herself, Lucia Lee, and her sole tag partner in the Post-Modern Pro Wrestler, Liam Slater. Team Sykes saw Natalie herself with Bandicoot and Silver having the better of things, with Lucia Lee taking an early beating in the match, but when Liam Slater entered, things quickly changed. ‘Coach’ Slater then showed why he is a wrestling machine, with everyone suffering at the hands of Liam before tagging Lee back in to taunt the fans and her opponents. It saw the trio fighting back and having the crowd on their side, but after Slater downed Sykes, Team Lucia would prevail to claim victory, and leave Lee to whoever would listen, that she was the best Female Wrestler at NORTH wrestling today.
NORTH Title: Leon Slater (c) defeats Gene Munny
The main event of the evening saw that ‘Damn Dirty Dog’ and ‘Best in Show’ Gene Munny challenging the longest reigning NORTH Champion in history, the ‘Youngest in Charge’ Leon Slater. It would be fair to say that Munny was a fan-favourite in the match, and with Munny being one of the funniest wrestlers on the circuit, he was all business this evening. Leon Slater made his way to the ring accompanied by his coach, Liam Slater, as the champion looked confident with his title reign hitting 511 days. Once the bell sounded, it saw two men going full out as you would expect in a championship match, with Slater using a fast-paced offence and high-flying style, while Munny was more wrestling-based and varied his attacks with some quicker offence. Leon would have spells in controlling things and saw the challenger in trouble, but Munny seemed to be constantly fighting two Slaters, with one on the outside and one inside. Lykos Gym then came down to even the odds for Munny, as Liam Slater was interjecting himself in the match a bit too often and saw the appearance of Lykos Gym went a long way to make it more even. Things got even more interesting when Liam Slater interfered again, with the official having just about enough of him and sent him to the back. Gene was gaining momentum and had the championship slipping away from Leon, but Slater grabbed the leg of Munny and put him into a submission hold to which the crowd and Lykos Gym begged him to hold on and fight the pain, but he had no other option to tap out.
With Leon Slater turning back yet another challenger for his NORTH Championship and making a tenth title defence, what is next for the ‘Youngest in Charge’ come 2025?