LANA AUSTIN vs HCC – HELEN CHARLOTTE CAMPBELL
Part two started with a hard-hitting contest involving Lana Austin and Helen Charlotte Campbell. Both women took some lumps in the match-up, and neither gave an inch to the other. It was an even contest where both hit impact moves on the other and drew near falls. Both had purple patches, with the Oldham native in HCC giving Austin everything she could handle early, with Lana having to weather the storm as she seized momentum away.
It looked like Lana Austin was moments away from taking the win with her opponent down for the count. As the ‘Queen of Mean’ was in a position to finish her off, that was until Hollie Barlow’s theme played and caused Austin to get distracted with no Barlow around, leading to HCC capitalising and picking up the surprise pin. For Lana Austin, it was back-to-back losses, and both times Hollie Barlow was the main reason for her misery.
WINNER: HCC
THE O5 vs SAM BAILEY/CHRIS RIDGEWAY
We saw ‘The 05’ in their second match of the day, as they took on two of the FutureShock Performance Centre coaches, head coach Sam Bailey and Chris Ridgeway. Bailey asked pre-match if Dec Henry and Harvey Jukes wanted this match to take place, to which they both nodded. It saw the students facing the teachers, with the combination of Bailey and Ridgeway playing in ‘Good Cop/Bad Cop’ with Sam being very much the good cop and happy to wrestle within the rules, with Ridgeway riding that razor’s edge in how he wrestled.
While ‘The 05’ showed glimpses of what they could do, it always had Bailey and Ridgeway a step ahead of them, with Ridgeway getting lectures from Sam Bailey over his actions and couldn’t have cared less. Henry was getting the worst end of things in the match, as Ridgeway was enjoying dishing out punishment while his tag partner Harvey Jukes could only watch on from the apron and shout support. Ridgeway kept shouting at Bailey, “These your boys?!” about their opponents, before soon after having him low-blowing Bailey and having the official berating Ridgeway.
It looked like the teachers were on course for victory, but Henry managed to reverse things and shock Chris Ridgeway, with Harvey Jukes pulling his tag partner out of harm’s way. After the match, Ridgway and Bailey argued and saw their tempers explode, with officials pulling them apart as the big crowd chanted, “Let them fight!!”.
WINNER: The O5
Before we saw who would claim the vacant women’s championship, the outgoing champion in the “Empress of Anarchy,” Leah Raven, came to the ring and addressed the crowd on hand on the state of play from her side in the short term. Leah told the FutureShock faithful that a combination of things had led to her needing to vacate the title and take time out, as ‘injuries not healing as quickly’, plus the gut punch of receiving devastating news minutes after her epic victory against Lana Austin in the ‘Three stages of FutureShock’ match at the 20th anniversary weekend, was hearing the news of a family member passing away.
Raven spoke about her mental health, and that she needed some time away from the ring but vowed to come back when she was ready. She was then given a standing ovation from the entire crowd in the Union, which seemed to catch her off-guard but showed her just how much the fans cared and were behind her.
VACANT FUTURESHOCK WOMEN’S TITLE: HARLEY HUDSON vs LILY WINTER
The match to crown a new women’s champion saw the previous holder in ‘Hudzilla’ herself, Harley Hudson, looking to regain the title that she lost at the UNION back in January against Leah Raven, with only Lily Winter standing in her way, as Lily too was hoping to win her first ever title. Unsurprisingly, it was a full-blooded contest with both women pushing each other to the limits.
Winter was motivated by winning the big one, as she had Hudson in trouble and looked on course to do so, but Harley fought back and saw her taking the fight back to Lily. It saw a big superplex from the top rope by Winter draw a near fall, while Hudson hit a neckbreaker off her knee to see just a two-count. Hudson thought she had done enough, but hesitation cost her as Lily Winter hit the Cold Shoulder to become the NEW FutureShock women’s champion.
WINNER: LILY WINTER
FORBIDDEN PLANET vs. GEN 1:
In what was a rematch from last month’s Hangover III show at the Fairfield Social Club, on that day it saw Forbidden Planet just coming out on top by the bearest of margins, so GEN 1 was looking to level things up in what was a ‘Nerd Derby’ so to speak. GEN 1: Prince Pele and James Grayson came out in their special Team Rocket gear, while Forbidden Planet dressed up as Vega and Blanka from Street Fighter as it saw the two fan-favourite teams going at it.
Grayson and Pele surprised their opponents when they pretended to fly on the outside before Pele dived to the outside and then had Grayson come off the top rope. It was an even contest, similar to their last meeting, as it was too close to call. However, we saw the match conclude as a no-contest due to the lights going out in the Union, with the emergence of Gorgon and his two new followers, Seraphim and Jack Nomac, causing mayhem.
Both members of GEN 1 suffered the most, with the duo taking a beating by the new ‘The Horde’ as Grayson got dropped on his head in a spiked Tombstone before Pele took a swinging knee to the face, followed by a pair of knees to the face of Gorgon, as the Gorgon and his followers left ringside with one of the officials.
WINNER: NO CONTEST
‘WILDFIRE’ NATE REESE vs DYNAMITE Lee Dawson
It saw Nate Reese looking to try and end his losing streak that stretches back to last September, where the ‘Wildfire’ is currently in a slump of 0-6 since beating Critchy (by DQ) at the 2OOth Show. His opponent in this “Battle of the Pyros” was Dynamite Lee Dawson, someone who has been in a bit of a slump himself in recent times. Despite Dynamite starting strong, Reese took control of things following a savvy move that saw him avoiding the Powderkeg.
However, one can say that since Nate Reese changed their attitude back in December, his focus hasn’t been there. This was evident again when Dawson flipped the match in his favour to hit the Powderkeg DDT and pick up a victory, with Reese’s luck going from bad to worse.
WINNER: DYNAMITE LEE DAWSON
EXTREME RULES: STEVEN CROSS, JACOB NORTH, CP REILLY vs JOE BLAZR, TONY WRIGHT, RHINO
The main event of the evening saw an Extreme Rule Match as Steven Cross and Jacob North teamed up with Futureshock heavyweight champion Connor Patrick Reilly as they took on the team of former champion Joe Blazr, Tony Wright, and the ‘Man-Beast’ Rhino in a crazy, chaotic, and downright wild encounter. It saw all rules go out the window in this one, as the six paired off in the ring before spilling out on the outside and all over the Union, with Rhino hitting North with a pint of beer and suplexing Reilly up on the staging area.
After the fan favourites had dominated the early stages, things changed when North, Cross, and Reilly regrouped and saw momentum swing their way, with Joe Blazr and Tony Wright bearing the brunt of it. The match descended into more carnage when a door was introduced and propped up in the corner where Rhino was looking to GORE Reilly right through it, only for Reilly’s teammates in Cross and North to delay the inevitable.
However, Blazr and Wright evened things up, where Rhino made good on his promise earlier in the day when he said Reilly would get put through a door, and so saw the champion Gored…through the door, much to the delight of the fans in attendance. It saw ‘The Leading Man’ Tony Wright hitting a pedigree and scoring the pinfall victory over the Futureshock champion. Since then, it has been announced that Wright will get to fight for the heavyweight title at “Hot to Go” at the Stockport Guildhall on Sunday, November 3rd.
WINNER: TONY WRIGHT, JOE BLAZR, RHINO