FutureShock: Double Down – Preview

This Saturday sees the MMU Union in Manchester hosting a double header show in Futureshock: Double Down – as it sees ten bouts across the whole day, as we’ll see two championships, as well as two qualifying matches for the upcoming ‘Tables, Ladders and Chairs’ match for the tag titles at the 20th Anniversary show this coming August. On top of that, we’ve a couple of former best friends going up against each other too, or former tag partners meeting in the ring.

‘The Asset’ Steven Cross & Jacob North vs THE MEAT WAGON
In the first of two bouts on the card in which it will determine who earns their spot in the TLC match for the Tag titles at the 20th Anniversary show – the first team will be either the former Tag Team Champions in the Meat Wagon, or the duo of ‘the Asset’ Steven Cross and a returning Jacob North to Futureshock Wrestling. While the ‘beefy boys’ will be deemed favourites, due to this being in their wheelhouse of a tag match, you can’t discount the team of Cross and North, as both are very dangerous individuals, so putting them together is a lethal combination. So this will be hard-hitting for sure.

Sam Bailey vs ‘the Ace of Hearts’ Jenson Vesper
Following ‘The Ace of Hearts’ Jenson Vesper losing his debut match to Dynamite Lee Dawson at High Gear, it saw him wanting and demanding to face the best that FutureShock has got to offer, and so FSW management have taken his pleas on board and found the perfect opponent. The decision being, that the head coach of the FutureShock Performance Centre in Sam Bailey has booked a match for Vesper to go one-on-one with Bailey himself, as the Ace of Hearts may have a long night and be a case of, ‘be careful what you wish for!’.

‘The Leading Man’ Tony Wright vs Ethan Kelly
Also in Part One, we’ll see ‘The Leading Man’ Tony Wright face the protégé of Scott Oberman in Ethan Kelly, as both men enter the match on a roll, with Kelly having scored the surprise win over Chris Egan at ‘Danger Zone’ back in April; while in the case of ‘Tony Wrestling’ he has beaten the likes of ‘Deadly’ Damon Leigh twice and HT Drake in recent times. Both Wright and Kelly will have different reasons for victory, as while Tony will want to add another win to his recent good run of victories; Kelly will be looking to try and impress his mentor in the ‘Real Thing’, as you feel a win for either man in this contest could seriously push them into title contention.

‘The Rat King’ Teddy Reay vs ‘Wildfire’ Nate Reese
One match added in the last 24 hours has been that of Teddy Reay and Nate Reese, where it sees both men having gone through a lot of changes in the last few months. It saw Reese struggle to pick up wins for sometime now at Futureshock, and saw the Wildfire blaming the fans for why he was losing and his drop of form. For Reay, he made his return to the company under his new look and name of Teddy Reay last month, where he faced Connor Patrick Reilly in arguably the match of the night and more importantly, the win. So will this new change from the Rat King be the winning formula moving forwards.

Joe Blazr (c) vs Ethan Allen – FutureShock Heavyweight Championship
And rounding off Part One in the Main Event, it sees the verbal jousting online between the current FutureShock heavyweight champion Joe Blazr, and the challenger in the returning Ethan Allen settling their differences in the ring this Saturday afternoon at the MMU Union. Blazr will be looking to add Allen’s name to opponents he has conquered so far since becoming champion last year, while the challenger in Ethan Allen will be stepping back inside a FutureShock ring after his long lay off through injury, as it will have been 1,029 days since Allen’s last match with the company back at the 17th Anniversary show in 2021. A now fit again Allen – has targeted the champion Joe Blazr as his first victim, and had Allen posting a video about his opponent on the Futureshock page ahead of this weekend, he went on to say that he has gone from “being an underdog, to a bit of a fraud” and no doubt Blazr will be wanting to show he is no fraud.

PART 2:

Prince Pelé vs ‘the Millennium Falcon’ James Grayson
In what started out as a goodwill gesture from ‘the Coffee Connoisseur‘ Prince Pelé to stand in the corner of the debuting James Grayson at May IV against Briac Strong, it saw after the match Strong continuing to go after the ‘Millennium Falcon’ with Pelé stopping the beatdown. That led to the Strong/Pelé fight last month in a wild brawl that resulted in Pelé being brutally attacked by ‘the Hunter’ and having his hair shaved off by Briac Strong. The fallout of that show has seen Prince accusing Grayson of not being there when he needed help, so this seemingly one-sided affair will take place Saturday afternoon.

Forbidden Planet VS Ethan Kelly & Scott Oberman – ANNIVERSARY QUALIFIER
The second of the Anniversary Qualifying matches for the TLC Tag titles match – sees Ethan Kelly pulling double duty, as while he faces Tony Wright earlier in the day, he will then team up with his mentor ‘the Real Thing’ Scott Oberman to take on the high flying and explosive duo in Aiton Steen and Dave Birch of Forbidden Planet. On paper you would fancy Forbidden Planet due to them having more tag-team chemistry than that of their opponents, but the team of Oberman/Kelly have a win as a duo too, and the tool to win, so this isn’t as cut and dry it may seem.

Jacob North vs DYNAMITE Lee Dawson
The term ‘keep your friends close, and your enemies closer’- could very much describe this restocking of a rivalry between Jacob North and his former tag partner in Dynamite Lee Dawson, as they were once former tag partners in the past, and maybe even friends. But after they fell out in 2021, it has since seen Dawson going on to become a two-time Adrenaline champion in FutureShock, while a returning North will have a couple of goals in mind. One is to try and get in the tag title picture with Cross, and the other is that a win over his foe could lead to a potential meeting with Chris Ridgeway and his Adrenaline title down the line.

‘Playboy Prince’ Lance Revera vs Connor Patrick Reilly
In the latest additional match to the card, it sees two of the top young rising stars today in the company squaring off, when Lance Revera and C.P Reilly meet in the ring, as this bout could be an absolute banger. Both men have had mixed fortunes to their 2024 to date, as it saw Reilly having a pretty quiet time of things since winning the FutureShock Tournament back in December, and saw him picking up more losses than wins. After losing to Teddy Reay and Chris Egan, he suffered a ‘GORE!!!!!!’ at the hands of Rhino at ‘For the Love of Futureshock’ event back in April, but since then hasn’t done too much. His opponent meanwhile in Lance Revera, has been the total opposite, as the Playboy Prince has had an interesting year so far – what with a couple of tough matches against Chris Ridgeway, be it one-on-one or part of that incredible triple threat contest at Danger zone for the Adrenaline title. Both will feel a win for themselves will help elevate them to challenge for the main title perhaps, but then Reilly has that Ace up his sleeve in terms of a guaranteed Futureshock title win, as he is looking for when to cash in when he can.

LEAH RAVEN (c) vs LIZZY EVO – FutureShock Women’s Championship
After defeating one of the top female wrestlers in Brit Wrestling today in Lana Austin last time out, it sees another top star taking aim for Leah Raven’s Women’s championship in Liverpool’s own Lizzy Evo, as the FutureShock coach will be looking to add her name to the list of champions. The ‘Reign of the Raven’ has seen Leah take on all comers during her run with the title to date, as while they have all tried to unseat the champion, she has continued to come out on top and will hope to leave Double Down – STILL the FutureShock Women’s champion. As a fan, this could well steal the entire two shows.