Welcome to the review of Saturday’s FUTURESHOCK: BUMPS IN THE NIGHT ‘Return of the MAN BEAST’ at Manchester’s MMU, as it saw a double-header show taking place with the return of the ‘Man-Beast’, the last ECW TV and Heavyweight Champion in RHINO. Alongside Rhino’s return, it saw the crowning of a new women’s champion, a possible re-igniting of an old feud, and a wild main event on Show 2.
JACK JOHNSON vs TEDDY REAY: FutureShock Adrenaline Championship Match
Show one got underway with a meeting of former best friends as it saw Jack Johnson making his Futureshock Wrestling debut by challenging for the Adrenaline title against the Rat King Teddy Reay. This was an absolute belter of a contest to kick things off with and set the standard of how good this show was from bottom to top.
Johnson is one of the more vocal wrestlers on the scene and isn’t afraid to trash-talk during matches, while Reay, on the other hand, is keen to let his actions do the talking in the ring. Both were keen to one-up the other with their holds and saw Johnson showing the Futureshock faithful why he is one of the best in the North West today.
Reay had his arm worked over by the challenger and needed the champion to dig deep to try and come back in the match, as his title looked to be in jeopardy. The Rat King would draw on his championship spirit to turn the tables and saw him storm right back to have his opponent down on the mat in a cross-face, drawing the tap-out win and retaining his title.
Winner: Teddy Reay
BRIAC STRONG VS DANNY PROPER
The lead-up to this contest saw Danny Proper referring to his opponent as a ‘Womble’ from the costumed variety back in the day. So with this show being the ‘Halloween’ special of sorts, Proper came out dressed as a Womble and billed from Wimbledon Common, home of the Wombles, as well as coming out with a black bin bag for fans to recycle their rubbish, much like the Wombles promoted. His opponent, the ‘Hunter’ Briac Strong, donned a Jason Voorhees.
Mask saw him attacking Proper before the bell even rang, leading to Strong dishing out punishment from the off, and it wasn’t pretty.
Every time Danny looked to be getting back in the match, it saw the Hunter always cutting him off and re-establishing control. In the end, Strong hit his finisher in ‘The Hunted’ for the 1-2-3 to score an impressive win over a Proper, with the question now being what, or who is next for the Hunter?
Winner: Briac Strong
8-MAN TAG: FTM (Finely Tuned Machines) Critchy & Tom McColl, Jenson Vesper, Peter Seodhr VS The 05 (Harvey Jukes & Dec Henry), MEAT WAGON (Troy Ryan, Anderson Daniels)
Originally, it saw FTM come out and have Critchy speak on behalf of the team before stating how Futureshock management constantly ignores them and never books or promotes them before wanting to face the Tag Team champions again in the Meat Wagon for the tag titles. They were then interrupted by the duo of Jenson Vesper and Peter Seodhr, as Vesper claimed that they were overlooked by management, with Critchy asking “Who are you?”.
Two of the newest Futureshock Performance Centre recruits, Harvey Jukes and Dec Henry of ‘The 05′, came out on the staging area and saw the four in the ring wanting to fight the young team. That was until the Meat Wagon music hit with Daniels grabbing the microphone and challenging those in the ring to an eight-man tag. This was a chaotic contest with a comedic element, as we saw Peter Seodhr making his first appearance in Futureshock and wanting to flex his muscles against Troy Ryan, but having seen his initial efforts fail, he quickly tagged out. We then saw Ryan performing a ‘Giant Swing’ on Vesper, McColl, and Critchy, with Daniels completing the set by swinging Seodhr.
Despite the fan favourites starting well, FTM, Vesper, and Seodhr would turn things around, cutting the ring off in half with quick tags and isolating Dec Henry of ‘The 05’. Despite the beatdown, Jukes and the Meat Wagon would force their way back, with Ryan and Daniels hitting the tenderiser on Peter Seodhr for the win.
Winner: The 05 & Meat Wagon
LANA AUSTIN vs HARLEY HUDSON vs LILY WINTER: FutureShock WOMEN’S TITLE ELIMINATOR
Following the sad news that the current women’s champion, Leah Raven, was vacating her title due to mental health and injuries affecting her, Futureshock management put together a triple-threat eliminator, where the person that was pinned or submitted in the match would be eliminated, with the remaining two squaring off later on in Part 2. The three vying for the title were former champions Lana Austin and Harley Hudson, while the third member was Lily Winter, who had yet to win the title for herself.
Austin came out in a Freddy Kruger-esque outfit, and while she played to the crowd, she wasn’t too happy at being ignored by her opponents in the ring, as Winter and Hudson were having a verbal. Despite this, an alliance was quickly formed between Winter and Austin as they began to put the boots on ‘Hudzilla’ with Hudson being the sacrificial lamb in the match. After Lana and Lily tried outdoing the other, Austin spent most of it on the outside and left Winter and Hudson to beat each other down. She would then return with a steel chair, which saw Hollie Barlow come running out to stop Austin from using the chair and pushing it back into her, where Harley Hudson would then soon after gain the pinfall victory, eliminating Lana Austin from the title picture and having her and Lily Winter fight later on to determine the new women’s champion.
Winner: Harley Hudson
SCOTT OBERMAN vs AC BRACK
It saw AC Brack making his singles debut in Futureshock action against the Real Thing Scott Oberman, but it wasn’t to be the dream debut that the man from the North East envisaged. This was a dominant performance by Oberman, as while Brack bravely tried to fight back against his opponent, it felt more like Scott playing with his food and deciding when to end things. While Brack put up a fight, it saw Oberman hitting a spinning tombstone piledriver for the win and have the Real Thing the victor.
Winner: Scott Oberman
JACOB NORTH w/ Steven Cross VS RHINO
The main event of Part 1 saw Jacob North challenging the last ECW TV and Heavyweight Champion in the ‘Man-Beast’ Rhino, having won a four-way match battle in Stockport at the Back to the Futureshock show to earn the right to face him. Unsurprisingly, the crowd support was solely behind that of Rhino, with the Futureshock Faithful chanting “Hall of Famer” and “You Deserve It,” both of which related to the news that the Detroit native was recently announced to be going into the TNA Wrestling Hall of Fame.
North looked to try and gain the early advantage in the contest, but Rhino was too smart and started the quicker, before his odds increased when Steven Cross was sent to the back after grabbing the ankle of the ‘Man-Beast’ and saw this being one-on-one. However, ‘The Ravenger’ soon took over in the match and began to take it to the former Extreme wrestler, with North having his opponent in all sorts of trouble. Unfortunately for him, Rhino capitalised on a mistake and GORED Jacob North to pick up the win in a tough battle between the two.
Winner: Rhino
After the match, Futureshock Champion Connor Patrick Reilly came out and said, “How he couldn’t believe that (Rhino) had come back, especially having beaten him cleanly last time out (For The Love of Futureshock).” Rhino then got into position to hit the Gore, but Reilly left the ring and saw Rhino grabbing the microphone and calling Reilly an ‘A-hole’ before adding, “I know this is a family-friendly show, but sometimes you just have to call it as you see it.” He then concluded by saying Reilly will be ‘Gored! Gored! Gored! and may even use a kitchen door.