While this will be my last piece for a while, while I decide to take a longer break or quit, I thought I’d write about an amazing first full year and four months of watching British Wrestling. Following August 2023, when I started going to shows regularly, 2024 saw me continuing to watch shows up and down the country with 47 shows (42 if you disregard the double headers). And while I am not in the same league as my good friend WrestlingJebus who did 100 plus shows, I did see some incredible matches over the year, in which of the 47 shows, Seventeen, yes 17 (!) were different wrestling promotions throughout the UK:
NORTHERN:
– Atomic (Liverpool)
– FutureShock (Manchester)
– Infamous (Widnes)
– Modern Nomads (Manchester)
– NORTH Wrestling (Newcastle)
– Off The Page (Warrington)
– Salford City Wrestling (Salford)
– (PROGRESS and PRO WRESTLING NOAH at the O2 Ritz Manchester)
Midlands:
– Bridge Pro Wrestling; Irish promotion – Over The Top at Wolverhampton
Wales:
– ATTACK Pro Wrestling (seen at the Garage in London),
SOUTHERN:
– HUSTLE
– RIOT CABARET
– REVPRO
– AEW – ALL IN LONDON.
I have certainly clocked up many miles travelling to watch wrestling this year, with my adventures taking me to the capitals down in London to watch five Wrestling shows over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The biggest show of the weekend was AEW ALL IN London at Wembley Stadium, which was pretty poor overall, compared to last year, with a few notable exceptions. Those exceptions were the surprise inclusions of Brits Zack Sabre Jr and the returning Nigel McGuiness, along with Sting, who made a shocking return to save Darby Allin and garnered one of the loudest crowd reactions of the night. The other loudest came during the entrances, with Bryan Danielson using his old ROH (Ring of Honor) theme ‘The Final Countdown’ for his, and the British crowd didn’t disappoint to make it loud on the chorus. But the pop from the Wembley crowd when Bryan Danielson tapped out Swerve Strickland to be the new champion was loud.
Other shows while down there were at ALL CAPS, ALL DAY triple show at ‘The Garage’, as it saw ATTACK, NORTH and HUSTLE being followed by RevPro’s 12th Anniversary show at the Copper Box on the other side of town on the Saturday night. Friday night saw the best event of the weekend while in London for me, as Riot Cabaret put on a superb event in Clapham, with Thunder Rosa making a shock appearance and singing a version of ‘Livin la Vida Loca’ towards the then Women’s champion Nina Samuels.
Staying central, I went to all four shows that Bridge Pro Wrestling put on in 2024, with the Stourbridge promotion emptying my bank account, with the only negative being public transport, as it takes me six trains and two buses to get there and back (bus to MAN, Manc Picc-Wolves-Smethwick Galton Bridge-Stourbridge Junction, then a 15 min walk to hotel from the station). For my furtherest north trip, that took me to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne for NORTH Wrestling as a pre-birthday treat to myself, where I caught the promotion’s fifth show in NCL.50 at the Anarchy Brewery.
With all that said, for a few weeks, I’ve been trying to compile a list of my top 10 favourite matches that I’ve watched in person, not online or on TV, as I’ve seen some great matches across all the promotions I’ve been to this year.
Emersyn Jayne VS Millie McKenzie – NORTH Wrestling NCL.50 – 7/12/24
Perhaps there is recency bias on this one, as the recent NORTH show proved that both Emersyn Jayne and Millie McKenzie can do it on a “Rainy Night in Newcastle”, where these two women put on a very special contest, which saw me telling both during the interval that it was in was my top 2 at the very least. You know what to expect with these two bad-ass women in the ring, but dear god – this went beyond expectations and then some.
It saw things slowly build toward this hard-hitting contest that spilt to the outside, where McKenzie saw her second attempt at trying to hit a move off the ropes work out, where Millie hit a Poisonarana and a massive spear combo on Emersyn Jayne but only drew a two-count, with McKenzie speechless and stunned that her opponent could kick out. The match went back and forth, with the crowd split between who they wanted to win before they traded suplexes, all six in a row, with each impact greeted with a louder and louder reaction. Emersyn Jayne hit a Spanish fly from the top rope with a Dead Eye for just a two count, which left Jayne in shock that her opponent kicked out, and would then hit a pair of Tiger Drivers put paid to Millie’s hopes, with Emersyn Jayne taking the victory in a serious contender for match of the year.
Harry Milligan VS Luke Jacobs © – DEATH MATCH for KEYBOARD WARRIOR Championship – MODERN NOMADS: TOY BOX NIGHT GRAPS – The Bread Shed, Manchester 30/4/24:
Without question, this was hands down the most emotional match of the year for me, as following Luke Jacobs winning the Keyboard Warrior championship at the Mad Kurt show, it saw the sentimental favourite Harry Milligan having the first crack at Jacobs’ Keyboard Warrior Title. Many wanted Harry to win the battle royal that night because the title was dedicated to the late memory of Kurtis Chapman (Mad Kurt) who was known to troll wrestling and played up to be a keyboard warrior. Harry and Kurt wrestled under ‘The Chapmans’ and were billed as brothers, so at Toybox Night Graps in March, it saw a Keyboard Death Match between Harry and Luke for the title.
We saw one of the most memorable matches in Nomads history with Luke Jacobs coming to the ring in his cowboy hat and carrying the golden Keyboard Warrior Title, with the Champion showing a lack of respect to the challenger and making Milligan the clear fan favourite for obvious reasons. Harry took an absolute ass-whipping in the match with Jacobs smashing a couple of keyboards to the head and chest of his opponent while catching him in a hurricanrana and driving through a table with a powerbomb.
However, Milligan refused to stay down and give up, as he pulled off a stunning Canadian destroyer from the ropes to send Luke crashing through the table with keyboard keys to secure the win, sparking an explosion of noise and having the tears flow from everyone in the Bread Shed. Harry Milligan got handed the Keyboard Warrior title from Referee James Greenwood, falling to his knees and taking off his black armband with the name ‘Kurtis’ written on it, as he laid it on the title and bowed down in respect to his late friend to with the venue chanting ‘Mad Kurt’. Jacobs got back to his feet and cornered the new champion, before putting his cowboy hat on him and giving the nod of approval as he left the ring to allow him to enjoy the win. What a match, and what an incredible atmosphere for such a small venue. Sadly, this was to be one of the last Modern Nomads shows, where the new Bread Shed owners didn’t have wrestling in their plans.
Leah Raven © v Lana Austin – 3 STAGES OF FUTURESHOCK – 20th Anniversary show, Stockport Guildhall 10/8/23:
This match helped to end one rivalry, yet see the wounds of an old rivalry reopened. Over the last year or so, Leah Raven had been fighting her way up the rankings to get a title shot at the women’s championship and saw her finally getting gold at Lotto Thunder, beating Harley Hudson. But in the back mirror, her on-and-off rival Lana Austin looked to challenge her at High Gear in May and saw Raven prevail, outsmarting Austin at her own game. These two had a history going back to 2023, where both had a count-out win a piece and saw them clashing at the 19th Anniversary show, where Lana beat her 2-0 in the two-out-of-three falls contest. Fast forward a year, and Austin challenged Raven to a match at the 20th Anniversary show, but she let the champion choose the stipulation. Leah chose a ‘3 stages of Futureshock’ – 1st fall was a standard wrestling match; 2nd fall would be a submission match; and the 3rd and deciding fall would be a Street Fight.
Unsurprisingly, the first two falls went quickly, with both having a fall a piece to set up a street fight. All the third fall did was give them licence to beat the living hell out of each other, as neither held back. The weaponry soon came out with items such as – Kendo sticks, a toilet seat, stop signs, baking trays, trash cans, a door and even Lego blocks in the match. Despite Raven having had the better of the contest at the start, she was now on the back foot with Austin suplexing her off the top rope through a door, with 2-1 Lana victory looking to be on the cards. But a ghost from Lana Austin’s past was back to haunt her in the shape of Hollie Barlow. It saw the returning Barlow come from under the ring to surprise her former best friend and exact some revenge on her. It was back in 2019 when Hollie defeated Alexxis Falcon to become women’s champion, only to see minutes later Austin turn on her bestie and steal the title from her grasp. The re-emergence of Austin’s former friend proved to turn the tide in favour of Leah Raven, as the Empress of Anarchy retained her title and saw one rivalry end and another reignite.
Cut Throat Collective vs Kanji, Nightshade, Rhio, Debbie Keitel, Gisele Shaw – RevPro 12th Anniversary – Copper Box Arena, London 28/8/24:
For me, the RevPro Anniversary show at the Copper Box this year was disappointing compared to last year. But this match was by far the best of the night, as there can’t be any arguments with that. That match in question was the No Disqualification ten-woman tag team match, where the Cut Throat Collective was a group of women that had been running roughshod over the women’s division in Alex Windsor, Lizzy Evo, Mercedez Blaze, Nina Samuels and Safire Reed flexing their dominance. But they faced some opposition in Kanji, Rhio, Debbie Keitel, and former CTC member Nightshade, with former TNA star Gisele Shaw completing the team. This match was just utter carnage from the off, with all 10 women trading off at the bell, where we saw Safire Reed taking a chair shot from her fellow CTC member Mercedez Blaze and Nightshade slamming Alex Windsor through a table before Nightshade wore the ‘crimson mask’ from a bin opening a cut on her.
We saw some crazy moves throughout, with Kanji doing a step-up flip senton to everyone on the outside, with Windsor then hitting a coast-to-coast on Rhio, where Rhio also took some nasty cane shots to her back. Nightshade returned with her face covered in blood and speared Windsor through a table before Shaw hit a Spanish fly on Reed to the crowd outside. The action never seemed to stop, and Rhio probably wished it had, as she took the brunt of things and concluded by being sent through a table with pins on it as Blaze hit a twisting suplex to give the Cut Throat Collective victory, with the group revelling in their win as they headed to the back. But despite losing the match, the beaten and bruised quintet would take a well-deserved bow with the Copper Box crowd giving them a standing ovation.
YOUNG GUNS vs BOISTEROUS BEHAVIOUR – PROGRESS: 173 STAY YOUNG,& INVINCIBLE – O2 RITZ, Manchester:
In what was a highly anticipated match between four men who were no strangers to each other, it saw Manchester O2 Ritz hosting ‘the 0121’ in Boisterous Behaviour, Man Like Dereiss and Leon Slater, going up against the hometown boys in the ‘Young Guns’ and members of North West Strong, in Ethan Allen and the PROGRESS World Champion Luke Jacobs. From the opening bell, it just saw a crazy and wild brawl throughout, with an equal amount of time on the outside as inside the ropes. All four brawled across the Ritz and saw crazy moves coming from Leon Slater, as well as plenty of double-teams and having the match constantly swinging one way and the other, with neither having firm control.
Everyone in the Manchester Ritz was engrossed in this match and began to hear duelling chants of ‘O121’ (Birmingham number code) and ‘0161’ chants (manchester number code) to which the crowd split was 70-30 in favour of Jacobs and Allen with a small section cheering for Slater and Dereiss, who were the good guys in the match in storyline. We saw the ref knocked down after a plancha by Slater taking him out, which then saw Jacobs low-blowing Dereiss, where the Lyrical Dragon shook off the blow and saw the 0121 hitting duel superkicks on their opponents, with Dereiss hitting Jacobs with the PROGRESS Championship belt. From there, he told Slater to go up top to finish it off, where a Swanton 450 splash from the ‘Youngest in Charge’ saw him getting the three count on the champion in his backyard, and more importantly, became the number 1 contender. Incredible match!!
CHRIS EGAN vs JOE BLAZR (Career v Title) – FutureShock 20th Anniversary PART 2: 10/8/24:
This was a match that saw Denton’s finest putting his career on the line against the champion Joe Blazr, with the crowd being as partisan as CM Punk in Rosemont (just outside Chicago) against John Cena back in 2011 Money in the Bank, though obviously on a far lesser scale in terms of buildings. Blazr for a few months before this event had seen the fan reaction getting less and less for the champion, so to have him going up fan favourite in Egan, it was clear he would be booed. The match was arguably the best performance we’d seen from Chris for a while, as he and Blazr went back and forth with some great moments throughout and despite being booed throughout, Joe never resorted to being a bad guy in the match and the most villainous thing he did was telling him to stay down and avoid taking more punishment. However, the crowd’s reaction before, during, and even after was incredible, with the noise levels beyond loud. With near falls and false finishes, we were joined by Connor Patrick Reilly who cashed in his Futureshock tournament trophy to make it a triple-threat match. Despite hitting a spear on Egan and having him kick out at two, Reilly tried again but got it reversed into a near fall, but the ‘Man of the People’ couldn’t avoid another spear as Reilly became the NEW Futureshock champion, and in the process retiring Chris Egan. Ironically, Reilly called for him to retire in April claiming he wasn’t good enough, yet having lost to Egan that night when the stipulation came into force, on this night it saw him getting his wish.
Man Like DEREISS v NIC NEMETH – OTT SCRAPAMANIA VIII – The Hangar Wolverhampton, 9/8/24:
This was one of two matches where the atmosphere made the match more, as the massive venue in The Hangar in Wolverhampton hosted Night 1 of the Irish promotion Over The Top Wrestling -ScapperMania VIII. The main event saw Man Like Dereiss facing the TNA heavyweight and AAA Mega Champion Nic Nemeth. The fans were electric following Dereiss hyping them up for the match and had the place rocking during his five-minute entrance. It saw the TNA champion dominating most of the bout, with the home favourite staying in the contest due to the crowd getting right behind him and leading to the Lyrical Dragon feeding off them.
Just as Dereiss looked to have the momentum swinging his way, the ref got knocked down and saw Nemeth attempting to hit his opponent with the title and missing, with Dereiss hitting a 450 splash with no one to make the count. Another ref ran down to count 2 but saw Nemeth superkicking him for a second ref down. Dereiss went to the well too often by going for a second 450 splash that saw Nemeth getting his knees up before hitting the Danger Zone and going for the cover, but have his opponent kicking out at 2.99 and popping the crowd! Nemeth would prevail in the end and saw a hell of a battle that lasted 27:31. After the match, Nemeth asked for the microphone and said, “I was told you’re the next big thing to come out of here (Dereiss). I was told this would steal the show, and you’re damn right we did.”
Jack Knudsen VS IAN Skinner © – SOVPRO Commonwealth Championship – Infamous: MASTERS of MAYHEM – The Studio, Widnes 22/6/24
Following the theme of no rights to be that good, we come to this classic encounter on a hot summer night in Widnes back in June, as Infamous – Masters of Mayhem show saw the debut of the ‘Real Thing’ Ian Skinner taking on Jack Knudsen, one half of Act Two and this was a barnburner! It saw this contest getting even sweeter, with the news that the owner of INFAMOUS in DJ King had to drop on the newly crowned SOVPRO Commonwealth Champion Ian Skinner, as it was a bombshell. After getting the pleasantries out the way, he informed Skinner and everyone in attendance that following a little chat with Shotty Horroh (owner of SovPro) in the back, he asked if the newly won title could be on the title and Shotty agreed, so this now became the champion’s first title defence. Things started slowly, with both men feeling the other out as the two traded holds, but then Knudsen injected some speed into the match, where his quicker style suited him more than the slow pace that his opponent preferred. Jack put the champion in a Dragon Sleeper and locked in, but Skinner managed to get to the ropes and break the hold. We then saw the two take a move and come roaring back with one themselves, where a superkick from Skinner saw Knudsen flip up and kick his opponent in the head, only for the champion to return the favour and flip back up himself and hit the standing lariat clothesline, just for Jack to reverse a driver on Skinner. Both men traded multiple forearm smashes, with Knudsen then taking a nasty piledriver on the ring apron, with the champion looking to take a shortcut and saw him use the belt but saw a kick out, until a flurry of moves from Skinner followed by a GTS finally put him away.
Lance Revera Vs Dynamite Lee Dawson ©) Vs Chris Ridgeway – Adrenaline Title: Futureshock – Danger Zone: Part 2 – Stockport Guildhall 14/4/24:
The main event of Danger Zone Part 2 saw Dynamite Lee Dawson defending his Adrenaline title against The Playboy Prince Lance Revera and Chris Ridgeway in a triple threat match for the Adrenaline championship, having seen Dawson and Revera wrestle to a no-contest in the first show due to the interference of Chris Ridgeway. Following the no-contest and interference, the original match of the winner going on to face Chris Ridgeway was now made a triple threat for later that evening. It was a hard-hitting and entertaining title match, with Dynamite using high-flying offence compared to Chris Ridgeway, who adopted technical holds & strikes on his foes and saw Lance Revera use a mix of his opponents’ styles in his attack. Dawson and Ridgeway had more of the rivalry ongoing involving the trio at this point, with Chris doing anything to get under his skin, which played nicely into the end of the contest. Having seen Dawson getting his legs wrapped around the ring post by Ridgeway, his foe would grab some duct tape and tape his feet up so he couldn’t move. Ridgeway then battled with Revera, where he would Lance in a Guillotine Choke and saw him fading, with a helpless Dawson watching on as Chris stared straight at him to rub the salt in the wounds and be crowned both the new Adrenaline and Grand Slam champion in Futureshock.
CHARLES CROWLEY vs DANHAUSEN – OTT SCRAPAMANIA VIII – The Hangar Wolverhampton, 9/8/24:
While this isn’t the best conventional wrestling match, it is the one match I enjoyed live at the time with the two known for their comedic and theatrical backgrounds. Both are my two favourites, so when I saw they were facing one-on-one I had to buy tickets solely for this match. Crowley came out with balloons and had one wrapped around his wrist as the two had a bit of a staredown with Danhausen who built up to his ‘CURSING’ of his opponent in Crowley. Danhausen kept knocking him down and going for a pin, but each time the balloon tied to his wrist floated up it saw Crowley’s arm going up and stopping the count. This went on a few times with the crowd laughing on each occasion before the balloon got popped and Charles took over in the match.
Crowley then put Danhausen’s cape on and saw him going on to hit a springboard cutter, but it saw him going for his horned hat and pulling out a jar of teeth. The ‘Very Nice, Very Evil’ opponent used the distraction to try and roll him up before a knee to the face and then pouring the jar into the mouth of his rival and kicking him in the face, with the GoodnightHausen ending things and seeing the Danhausen victorious. After the match, he celebrated by wearing his opponent’s hat and attaching another balloon to Charles’s wrist to get him up, then punched him in the groin!
Honourable mentions:
KID LYKOS II v LIO RUSH – Mad Kurt, The BREAD SHED, Manchester 5/3/24
TJ SKY v LILA KYLE – BRIDGE PRO – WE’VE GOT HEAT, 30.8.2024
Cara Noir V Charli Evan – PROGRESS: 173 STAY YOUNG,& INVINCIBLE – O2 RITZ, Manchester
Dead Sea Souls v Alex Connors/Luke Douglas – BRIDGE PRO WRESTLING- Brand New Level
CJ RAWLING v CHANTAL JORDAN, Bridge Pro – WONDERLAND, 27.9.24
Meat Wagon v Forbidden Planet – Futureshock: Reality Check 2.24
Amira v Cassius w Simon Miller REF- Falls anywhere – RIOT CABARET – All singing all dancing
Emersyn Jayne v Dani Luna – ATTACK
Trolley Match: Pun Intended v Amira & Natalie Sykes – BRIDGE PRO – WONDERLAND