Well, as I predicted, Sunday’s show at the Stockport Guildhall for Futureshock Crywolf didn’t disappoint, and if anything, it surpassed my expectations. A superb card saw three exciting title matches, along with a solid undercard made an early contender for show of the year for me.
The opening match of Futureshock Crywolf saw one of the newcomers to Futureshock Wrestling in Ginha taking on ‘Wildfire’ Nate Reese, as the ‘Wildfire’ has recently adopted a new attitude following his semi-final loss to Doctor Proctor back in the Futureshock Tournament last December. Reese was quick to hand out some guidance to the ‘Emo Luchador’ as the irritated Wildfire told him that the ‘fans don’t really care about you, and they will only turn on you like they did to him’. The Futureshock faithful were quick to respond to those claims by letting Reese know that he brought it all on himself, as the vocal crowd in the Stockport Guildhall threw their full support behind Ginha. It was a fairly even contest, with both men having near falls and having the crowd invested in the match. The opening bout went the way of the ‘Emo Luchador’ as Ginha registered his first victory in Futureshock wrestling, and the first of many.
We then had the interruption of ‘Scouse Style’ duo Jack Critchlow and Tom McColl, as they came to the ring and ran down the Manchester crowd (though they were in Stockport) as they spoke about being the best around and have some fans trying to drown out their promo with the dreaded ‘WHAT?’ chant. Thankfully, the Meat Wagon of Troy Ryan and Anderson Daniels cut short Jack on the mic, as they made their return to Futureshock in Stockport, having last seen the duo defeating another scouse pairing in ‘The Grizzled Young Veterans back in December. The Meaty boys got a ‘Meaty Pop’ from the Guildhall crowd, as it saw a spontaneous tag match between the two teams. The match itself was a really entertaining one, with Ryan/Daniels being their wise cracking self, but then it was all business. Cries of ‘Meat’ reverberated around the Guildhall, as the fan favourites were firmly in control. That was until interference saw the match swing the other way with Critchlow and McColl isolating Ryan in their corner. Daniels was getting the ‘Meat sweats’ in the corner, but when he finally got that tag he came in like the proverbial wrecking ball and cleared the ring. However, moments later, Daniels was thrown to the outside after taking an awkward looking fall, where the referee, doctor and officials checked to see if he was ok. That then saw Critchlow heading up to the top rope and taking everyone out on the outside, which led to a 2 on 1 advantage momentarily. FTM thought they had the match won when they hit Ryan with a double team, but a kick out at two saw the match continue, before the Meat Wagon secured victory themselves soon after and kep them in the hunt for the Tag titles.
Match three saw Doctor Proctor taking on C.P Reilly, with a chance to gain a small measure of revenge having seen him taken out by the Wildfire Nate Reese in the final of the 4 way for the Futureshock Tournament back in December. The ‘Genius’ was his usual surly self, as he patronised the locals with their clapping to start the match, by asking “Are we all done now?” – before he then mocked them by slowly clapping himself. An even start saw Reilly taking over and dominating the match, while demanding his trophy was brought to ringside and made Proctor look at the trophy while in a headlock down on the canvas. The fans tried to get the Doctor back in the match with vocal support, all the while the ‘Genius’ was in full control. Proctor then managed to mount a comeback, as he used his ‘defibrillator’ on Reilly in the corner and looked to have turned the tide in the match. However, Nate Reese came down to ringside and tried to distract the Doctor, with Proctor taking him out and having Reilly crawl from underneath the ring and attempt the most devastating move in all of pro-wrestling as Simon Miller will tell you…the roll up! But all he got was a two count. Proctor would then succumb to Reilly moments later, as the Genius scored the three count and was proclaimed the winner and celebrated with this tournament trophy.
The main event of the first half saw a rematch from Lotto Thunder at the Union last month, as Leah Raven put her newly won Futureshock Women’s title on the line against the challenger in Harley Hudson. Their encounter last month was a good match, but this surpassed it for me. Hudson used her smarts early on, as she fell from the turnbuckle to the ground and claimed her shoulder was injured, and drew concern from all, the ref, the fans and Raven herself. But of course, it was all a ruse as she laughed while having the match in her control, and wasn’t short on letting everyone know about it. It seemed at times like she was trying to convince herself that her loss last month was more a case of her letting her opponent win than actually being beaten. Leah kept trying to mount a comeback but was always cut off by ‘the nine stone of Scouse girl power’, as the crowd got more into the match and had the fans cheering on Raven to shut up Hudson. It saw Hudson going for her finisher and Raven avoiding it, but couldn’t a second time and the title looked to be heading back to Liverpool, except the champion managed to get her foot on the rope.
Hudson was beside herself, as her emotions began to get the better of her while Raven was quick to capitalise with a combo that was finished off with her DDT off the rope to score the win. Harley had tried to get Leah to shake her hand early on in the match and was met with refusal every time. So after the match, it saw Leah Raven calling her back out and to get in the ring. She then said on the mic, “I’m not going to shake your hand, but I will give you a hug”. The two embraced and saw Hudson begrudgingly doing so, but not before the head coach of Futureshock wrestling in Sam Bailey came to the ring and informed the crowd that this was to be Harley’s final appearance with the company, before she heads to TNA Wrestling. Bailey gave a speech and brought out some flowers for her, to which Hudson sat in the ring crying and smiling at the same time, while the crowd chanted both “TNA” and “Harley Hudson”. It was a nice send off for one of British wrestling’s rising female stars.
The second half began with a see-saw bout for the Futureshock Tag Team Championship, where Benjamin Harland and Jack Knudsen of Act 2 challenged the title holders of Max Brooker and Rizman Khan – the North West Saviours. This was arguably the show stealing match of the night, as Act 2 had the champions in trouble early doors with their quickness, however the holders showed just why they are champions, as they swung back momentum their way and made quick tags with poor Jack Knudsen being the unlucky party to face the onslaught. Everytime it seemed like a tag was forthcoming for Act 2, it was stopped at the last second, be it a grab of the leg to pull him away from the corner, or the champions knocking Harland off the apron so the tag couldn’t happen. The latter stages saw the match in the balance, with momentum swinging one way and then back the other way, with the crowd thinking the fan favourites were on course for victory, but Brooker kicked out at the last second The end came when Knudsen was sent flying out of the ring and to the far side of the Guildhall, only for Brooker and Khan to hit a variation of the ‘3:10 to Yuma‘ finisher on Harland, as Knudsen could only watch on as the ref made the three count to see another title defence for the NWS.
In the penultimate match of the night, it saw the battle of the two Chris’s – as Denton’s finest in Chris Egan took on the hard striking Chris Ridgeway. Many were praying for Egan to survive with Ridgeway being a no-nonsense ass kicking machine. Egan didn’t back down at all and saw him trying to out wrestle the wrestler, with Ridgeway happy to let his opponent chop him as hard as he could, but you knew full well that the stiff strikes weren’t too far away. And for those of you that like strong style strikes, Ridgeway didn’t disappoint, as a couple of solid boots like concrete to the chest nearly caved in Egan. Ridgeway threw his opponent out the ring almost in disgust, but Egan constantly kept getting straight back into the ring quicker than last and seemed to annoy his opponent more and more. After a few solid strikes later, followed by a devastating brainbuster to Egan, Chris Ridgeway got back to winning ways and proved he is one man not to be messed with. One could say Egan got off lightly compared to past opponents.
You’re main event of the evening saw Joe Blazr in his third title defence of the Futureshock Championship, defending from one of the top talents on the British wrestling scene in Kid Lykos. This was a fun, yet competitive match where the crowd were genuinely split between Lykos and Joe, with even the two in the ring surprised by the split. It was arguably the loudest the Futureshock crowd has been for some time, as the noise seemed to bring the best out of the two competitors. Both had their moments in the title match, with Kid Lykos having the quickness on his side, while Blazr had the power and this tussle was so even, that you would struggle to fit a cigarette paper between them. In the end it saw Blazr downing his opponent to retain his title in a tough battle and staying champion. In the aftermath, it saw CP Reilly appear from nowhere and look to take out Blazr while the champion was completely oblivious to his whereabouts. But before the Genius could do any harm, it saw Lykos jump back into the ring and hit a brainbuster on Reilly, with the sight of Lykos and Blazr shaking hands to end the night.