This weekend saw the annual FOR THE LOVE OF WRESTLING Convention taking place at the B.E.C Arena on the outskirts of Manchester, as besides the biggest European wrestling convention, it saw the usual afterparty show that included the traditional FutureShock Wrestling show, as FUTURESHOCK BREAKS CONVENTION V hit the big wrestle fest weekender! A big crowd was on hand to watch a five-match card that featured three title matches alongside the usual exciting Invitational Rumble, where this year saw an extra incentive to the winner, as they would go on to face Raj Dhesi for the inaugural FTLOW Championship in the Main Event of the night.
LILY WINTER (c) vs. LIZZY EVO — FUTURESHOCK WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP:
This was the fifth title defence of Lily Winter’s reign as champion, having beaten the likes of Helen Charlotte Campbell, Lucy Sky, Violet Nyte, and Lana Austin in her previous encounters. But in one of the biggest shows of the year, it saw an equally big name in the ring with her in Liverpool’s own Lizzy Evo, as the Futureshock Women’s title has been a championship to elude Evo in her career.
For the past two years at these Futureshock Break Convention events, it has seen the champion Lily Winter chasing the title, while this year she would be trying to defend her belt and didn’t have things going to plan to start with, as Lizzy Evo had the better of things early on. The champion, though, would soon take charge and have Winter putting the challenger in trouble, but Evo would fight back and have signs of her gaining the momentum.
Unfortunately for the Liverpudlian, Winter scored a near fall with a front Russian leg sweep before hitting the Cold Shoulder for the win and a successful title defence.
MEAT WAGON vs. BREEZANGO – FUTURESHOCK TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP:
The popular Tag Team Champions in the Meat Waggon found themselves with new meat and a fresh challenge in front of them at the BEC Arena on Saturday night, as they took on the tag team of Tyler Breeze and Fandango, otherwise known as Breezango, for the Futureshock Tag Titles.
It saw the former NXT tag team champions looking to win their second championship against the champions in the Meat Waggon, with Anderson Daniels and Troy Ryan knowing they had a fight on their hands to come out on top.
The fans were in good voice by singing and dancing along during the Breezango entrance theme, but once the action got going, it saw the champions having the better of things with the experienced challengers fighting back. In what was a hard-fought contest between two fan-favourite tag teams, it saw Daniels pinning Tyler Breeze to help retain the titles for the beefy boys and stay champions for another day.
FOR THE LOVE OF WRESTLING INVITATIONAL RUMBLE
For the past four years, it has seen winners like Adam Scherr, Pete Dunne, Big Damo, and last year saw Connor Patrick Reilly being added to that list, but this year had the added spice of the winner facing Raj Dhesi for the Inaugural FTLOW Championship in the main event.
It started out with the man who has come close every year to winning these rumbles in the FutureShock Head Coach Sam Bailey, with the second man in being that of ‘the Leading Man’ Tony Wright. Following the arrival of the third man in the rumble in Salford’s Jack Johnson, it saw Big Dec McCarthy getting involved by attacking his biggest rival right now in Sam Bailey and wearing him out with a steel chair.
Bailey was helped to the back as McCarthy smirked at his handiwork by taking out Sam. The ‘Queen of Mean’ in Lana Austin joined at number four and saw her about to break into song for Lana-oke till AC Brack came out at number five with Peter Sedhor and Slam Johnson following, with Johnson slamming everyone in the ring with Austin attempting a running clothesline on Slam, but she bounced off him and came off second best.
Entrant number eight was that of ‘The Hound of Ulster’ in Declan McCarthy, as he beat up nearly every man in the ring with Lana Austin helping out and wanting a high-five off him and saw him ignoring her. Dec Henry of The 05 was number nine, with the ‘Hot Topic’ Hollie Barlow coming in at number ten and hitting a crossbody from the top rope on McCarthy, before unleashing a Stunner barrage on everyone in the ring, with McCarthy then grabbing Barlow for a Big Swing and taking out his opponents.
Gorgon and Dynamite Lee Dawson entered at numbers 11 and 12, where the duo of McCarthy and Austin worked together again by eliminating a couple of participants and having Declan once more ignore the hand from Lana, who then hit him in the back and tried to pass it off as a friendly tap. The Irishman then eliminated Austin to the section of boos from the crowd as McCarthy was one of the favourites now in the match. Number 13 saw the Monster Solomon, where he acted as a bodyguard to the leader of The Horde in Gorgon and saw him doing the bidding of his leader.
Dec. Henry was in trouble as Solomon had him up, but Henry’s 05 partner in Harvey Jukes dashed down to ringside as number 14 and hit a roll off the top rope that saw Henry falling on Solomon as they double-teamed the monster. The Wildfire Nate Reese then came in at 15 and cleaned house, which was one of the surprising images in the match, as he let everyone know he was here to win. Steven Cross, Jenson Vesper, and Joe Blazr joined the fray at numbers 16, 17, and 18, with Bart O’Connor being the 19th entrant, and we saw ourselves getting to the final stages.
The countdown for the final member of this year’s rumble hit and saw the shock entry of the one and only GRADO! It saw him nailing jabs and the big elbow to both Joe Blazr and Dec McCarthy, with Bart O’Connor and Blazr both taking turns to lift him up dead weight but couldn’t. After O’Connor eliminated himself, it left the final four of Grado, Blazr, McCarthy, and the Iron Man of the Rumble in Tony Wright. The Hound of Ulster dumped Wright unceremoniously out of the ring to eliminate him before helping Grado and Blazr out together and began to celebrate.
His joy was short-lived, as Sam Bailey returned and saw these two bitter rivals go back and forth with Declan looking to have eliminated Bailey, but the referees deemed him still legal, but Sam would then backdrop McCarthy out of the ring to win the rumble and face Raj Dhesi later on that evening.
SCOTT OBERMAN © v HEATH SLATER – FUTURESHOCK ADRENALINE CHAMPIONSHIP:
We saw Heath Slater challenging the ‘Real Thing’ Scott Oberman for his Adrenaline title and saw the former WWE/TNA star on the back foot to start with, as Oberman took the fight to Slater, who quickly turned things around and began to take control of the match. It’s the first time in a long time that Oberman actually looked vulnerable in contest, as he even tried to walk out of the match by going up the aisle but was stopped in his tracks.
Oberman then managed to find a way to regain the advantage and had Heath in a bit of bother, with Scott not taking his time, especially with such a top-level opponent. This was a back-and-forth contest that saw Heath Slater pinning Scott Oberman’s shoulders down for the 1-2-3 and crowned a new FutureShock Adrenaline Champion with the crowd on hand excited to see a title change. However, an official ran out to inform James Greenwood that Oberman had his foot and hand grabbing the rope but was missed by the official.
Greenwood then explained to Heath Slater that he got it wrong and that he hadn’t won the match, to which he chatted to the announcer on the outside and informed him that he was restarting the contest. But Oberman saw the opportunity to low blow Slater behind the ref’s back and saw him going up to the top rope to hit a flying cutter for the win and see him retaining his title.
TEAM ONOO (Tajiri, Briac Strong, FTM—Jack Critchlow & Tom McColl w/Sonny Onoo) vs. TEAM D’LO (Gen 1—Prince Pele, James Grayson & Forbidden Planet—Aiton Steen, Dave Birch) —Survivor Series Rules.
In a special 8-man survivor series rules tag match, it pitted Team Sonny Onoo against Team D’LO and featured some of the top talent at Futureshock Wrestling, along with the Japanese Buzzsaw Tajiri. Team Onoo drew first blood in the contest, as FTM (Finely Tuned Machines) in Critchy and McColl hit the Countdown to Ecstasy on James Grayson to eliminate one half of Gen 1.
Tom McColl was soon eliminated for his team moments later, but Tajiri’s educated feet saw his fierce kicks putting Aiton Steen down for the three count to make it 3v2. The combo of Prince Pele and Dave Birch seemed to work well; that was until it saw Pele being rolled up and leaving the ‘Starkiller’ Dave Birch all on his own against Critchy, Strong, and Tajiri.
The numbers game got a bit better for Birch when he landed an attack off the top turnbuckle to disorient Jack Critchlow for a pinfall, and it saw the final member of Team D’Lo facing Tajiri and Briac Strong. Tajiri looked to have things in hand by trapping his opponent in the Tarantula in the ropes, and just when he was setting up to land the final kick to Birch, Briac Strong came in, much to the bemusement of Tajiri, who spat Green Mist in his eyes and walked out of the match with Onoo following him.
Briac continued the beatdown despite having a green face from the mist in the face, as he began taunting D’Lo Brown on the outside of the ring and mimicking his moves with a sitdown leg drop and hitting a Skyhigh on the Starkiller for a near fall. With the action spilling to the outside, Briac threw Brown into the ring post and continued the taunts while he had Birch at his mercy.
But the Hunter had poked the bear too much and saw him dragging Brown up on the apron, to which D’Lo dropped his foe across the top rope, which gave Dave Birch the chance to hit the Lo-Down for the 1-2-3 and win for his team. Following the match, it saw D’Lo Brown getting the four men in line and raising a fist in the air like the Nation of Domination and had his victorious team follow suit.
RAJ DHESI v. SAM BAILEY—FOR THE LOVE OF WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP
The main event saw Sam Bailey facing former WWE Heavyweight champion Raj Dhesi for the first-ever FTLOW Championship, and on the first view, it looked a tall task for the Futureshock Head Coach as the size difference was evident. Bailey was never going to outmuscle his opponent in the contest, so he had to use all his experience on how to combat his rival.
Dhesi dominated the contest as Bailey found himself in a lot of trouble but hung in there and didn’t give up. As the match went on, though, it saw Raj Dhesi getting more and more frustrated with the referee not counting the pinfall, with Sam kicking out of near falls and Dhesi losing focus. Bailey would mount some offense with a run up the turnbuckle and hitting a bulldog that saw him gaining just a two-count.
The Canadian thought he had victory and saw Bailey just getting a shoulder up that saw him arguing with the referee, but the Rumble winner then rolled him up to become the first-ever For the Love of Wrestling Champion.
