OTT Defiant

April 1, 2018 – Tivoli Theatre, Dublin, Ireland

While the rest of the Dublin population were off enjoying Zombie Jesus day and Chocolate, 200 fans made their way to the Tivoli theatre for the first ALL-WOMENS card in Irish Wrestling and the first for OTT. There was one change to the card made since it was originally announced. Jinny was due to compete but due to her hand injury suffered at RevPro last January, she was replaced by Laura DiMatteo.

The show itself was booked around a mini-tournament to determine participants in an elimination fatal 4-way match for the OTT Women’s Championship. 3 qualifying matches would determine the three to meet the Session Moth Martina in the main event. Martina who was leaving for Japan had the odds stacked against here going into this show.

Aonghus McNally & Tony Kelly welcome us to the Tivoli to open the show and we’re underway!

MATCH 1: Nina Samuels vs. Sammii Jayne

Our opening match of Defiant features a return and a debut. Nina Samuels makes her return to OTT after a year absence following her losing effort to Katey Harvey. Nina gets a great reaction from the crowd who are definitely up for it tonight and are definitely glad to see Nina Samuels back.

Sammii Jayne is debuting for OTT following her really impressive run in EVE. Sammii is announced by Butch as “The Main Event Empress” After this match, she definitely lived up to that moniker.

The match was really split 50/50 in terms of offence for both ladies. Nina looked really impressive here seeing her for the first time in over a year, she’s definitely improved. Some of the standout parts of the match is Nina hitting a beautiful sitout powerbomb on Sammii which only got a 2 from referee Niall Fox. Sammii Jayne hitting “Shadow Fox” which is a baseball slide into a release German (even more impressive in the tiny Tivoli!).

Finish comes as Sammii hits an Enziguri, a nasty looking German and a Sit Out DVD for the pin in 11:23. Sammii progresses to the Main event! Sammii gets a smattering of boos from the OTT faithful as many would have had Nina picked to win here (including myself!). Really good match between these two and a great opener to get the crowd heated for the remainder of the show.

MATCH 2: Raven Creed vs. Debbie Keitel

This match has a bit of history to it being one of the main feuds coming out of the OTT Contenders shows. Debbie and Raven have faced each other both in CCW and OTT and recently took part in the first womens ladder match in the country. This match will be a bit more standard fare thankfully for their sakes. Before the match we get the below promo to hype the match

Debbie gets a hero’s welcome in the Tivoli where just the night before she was working Hardcam for Gaff Party. Debbie is someone who has IT. She’s incredibly impressive for someone less than a year wrestling. Raven gets the complete polar opposite reaction. You can tell Raven is much more comfortable working these adult crowds and honestly, it’s where she belongs and excels.

Just as the match starts, Raven gets in Debbie’s face as the crowd chants “Fuck her up Debbie”. She promises to fuck Debbie up but is met with a slap across the face. The two brawl onto the mat before rolling out of the ring and brawling to the outside. Raven gets driven back first into one of the wooden sidewalls on the outsdie. The match again is very much like the opener with both girls getting a chance to shine. Finish comes as Raven counters a DVD into a nasty looking backstabber for the pin in 8:33.

Another shock result here for the crowd as Debbie was another person who most of the crowd thought would go through to the main event.  Comparing the two matches 1 on 1 matches Debbie and Raven have had, I preferred the first encounter than this but by no means was it a bad match. I was shocked at the time as I fully expected Debbie to be the woman to dethrone Martina.

MATCH 3: Valkyrie vs. Katey Harvey

This match was one a lot of hardcore Irish Wrestling fans were hyped to see. Valkyrie was criminally underused in OTT only making two fleeting appearances in Limerick and Belfast in the last 2 years. Valkyrie got a run with Megaslam on the UK holiday camps and she’s one of the featured stars of GWF’s Revolution show this coming May.

Katey Harvey her trainer took time off after her losing the OTT Women’s Championship to Martina at Wrestlerama last August. She was working with a shoulder injury and took time to heal. She made her in-ring return at the FFPW Hangar show last December so she’s not coming into this with any ring rust.

The story OTT were telling here was Teacher vs. Student, Friend vs. Friend. An amazing promo aired before the match which was posted to their social media a few days before the show. We get it shown again live for the crowd before this match and on the VOD.

Valkyrie is out first to an amazing reception from the crowd. They know she has worked her arse off to get to this point. She’s also changed her theme for her OTT run from Phantom of the Opera to Halestorm’s “I miss the Misery”

Katey Harvey comes out to an equally impressive reception. She’s got a queen of hearts inspired gear for her OTT return.

Live the crowd were so into both of these women. “Both these girls” and “Irish Wrestling” chants break out before they lock up. This match starts as a much more technical affair than the preceeding matches with both Katey and Valkyrie countering each other’s offence. Valkyrie counters a monkey flip attempt into a cartwheel. This gets a standing ovation from the crowd who are super appreciative of the quality of the wrestling these two have exhibited so far. Katey gets an impressive surfboard on Valkyrie at one point during the match. Valkyrie targets her vicious kicks on Katey’s previously injured shoulder.

Both ladies trade forearms before Valkyrie decides to break out her WALTER-esque chops. Live these sounded incredibly violent! Valkyrie manages to tie Katey in the ropes and hits a scissor kick from Brets rope to get a close 2 count. However, she goes up top again for the moonsault but Katey rolls out of the way, she hits the gory bomb and gets the three in 11:45 or does she?! Valkyries shoulders were clearly up before the three but Referee Niall Fox does not see it! Katey Harvey advances to the main event which is now complete. Martina defends against Katey Harvey, Sammii Jayne and Raven Creed in an elimination fatal 4-way match for the OTT Womens championship.

This match was awesome and easily Match of the Night for me and easily the best women’s match OTT have featured on their cards until this point.

MATCH 4: Charlie Morgan & Charli Evans vs. Kris Wolf & Laura DiMatteo

Another return and some debuts here in this tag match. Kris Wolf is making her second appearance for OTT. She was super popular last June and not surprisingly, she was again! It’s my first time seeing Charlie Morgan in person but I’ve heard good things about her from her stuff in EVE. I’ve seen Charli Evan’s once in ATTACK! live and then in the RODL tournament Progress put on last year. The two Charli(es) are out first to a good response from the Tivoli crowd. Laura DiMatteo comes out next (her music wouldn’t play for ages, skillfully edited on the VOD). All three are making their OTT debuts. Kris Wolf is the last to the ring to a massive pop from the crowd. She’s got so much energy live, it’s incredible.

Some impressive stuff by Charlie Morgan and DiMatteo to start off with Morgan countering a wristlock by doing a handstand. Kris Wolf gets a lot of tail offence in during the match but suffers for it later as she’s choked out by Evan’s with her own tail. She does however gain the advantage later on by putting the wolfs head on Evan’s before breaking her box by dropping the knee.

A really fun match with the finish coming from double knees from the top by Wolf to Evans in 12:01. All the ladies get a please come back chant as Wolf & DiMatteo celebrate in the ring.

MATCH 5: Jordynne Grace vs. Dash Chisako

OTT being extremely sound have put this full match on Youtube for free. You can watch it below!

This was another Awesome match with some calling it the best women’s match that took place in Ireland. I still think Katey vs. Valkyrie took that honour earlier in the night but this was right up there with it.

MAIN EVENT: OTT Women’s Championship Elimination Fatal 4 Way:

Session Moth Martina © vs. Raven Creed vs. Sammii Jayne vs. Katey Harvey

This was the match that the three qualifiers led to, the 4 way for the OTT Women’s Championship. Katey Harvey is sporting kinesthetic tape on her previously injured shoulder. Martina is hobbling to the ring too. She injured her ankle during her entrance the previous night at Martina’s Gaff Party 3.

https://twitter.com/MatthewMacklin/status/981997972522192897

Martina wastes no time in kicking us off diving on the 3 other ladies on the outside to start the match. The crowd for this match are split between Katey Harvey and Session Moth. Raven and Samii decide to have a temporary alliance and eliminate Martina from the match with a steel chair to her injured ankle. Martina is lifted backstage by security while Katey is left outnumbered.

Katey valliantly tries to beat the numbers game but is unsuccessful until Sammii Jayne hits Shadow Fox to Katey Harvey but knocks Raven Creed out aswell with the baseball slide.

Katey ends up going up top rope to do a dive to the outside and is successful but as soon as she’s up, Martina dives from the stage area onto the other three participants.

All four ended up in the ring and proceed to chop the living daylights out of each other. Sammii and Raven end up in the corners and we get a faceoff between Martina and Katey to a massive reaction from the crowd. Martina vs. Katey was the feud that carried the women’s division since 2016 so it was nice to get the throwback to it here. They decide not to turn on each other yet with Martina dropping down to allow Katey to hit a leaping forearm to Samii Jayne. The peace doesn’t last long though as Martina unleashes a massive Chop to Katey.

Raven ends up being the first eliminated by a Gory bomb from Katey at 11:00. Raven is not happy and drags Katey to the outside, she rams her injured shoulder into the ringpost before throwing her into Sammii Jayne. Sammii eliminates Katey at 12:04. There was an audible gasp at this and chants of Bullshit around the crowd.

Sammii immediately goes to work on the Session Moth hitting her sit-out DVD but only managing a two. Martina hits the Sesh-Breaker but only manages a two. Sammii Jayne ends up perched on the top rope with Martina attempting a Top Rope Sesh-Breaker. However, Sammii counters it into a top rope DVD and we have a NEW Womens champion in 14:32.

Sammii gets a lot of heat from the crowd here while Martina looks shocked. She gets on the mic and thanks the crowd for the send-off last night and tonight. Kris Wolf, Charlie Morgan, Charli Evans and Laura DiMatteo come down to the ring and we get one last Session before Session Moth heads to Japan.

The Main event was a fun match and sets up a Raven vs. Katey feud down the line and it also establishes a credible heel champion in Sammii Jayne. She’s added another title to her collection!

Overall, I would consider Defiant a success for OTT. While it didn’t pull anywhere near a sell-out crowd, it did show that there’s an appetite and an audience for an all-female show in Ireland in the future. Whether it be in the Ringside Club or the Tivoli, it’s something I hope they explore again at some point. It gave the Irish talent a chance to shine and it also gave the OTT Women’s Championship some well needed time in the spotlight since it was last defended at their Third-Anniversary show last October.

Coming in at just under two hours as well, this is a really easy watch on demand and is worth checking out.

✏️  @garseys

OTT Defiant is available to watch on Over The Top Wrestling’s On Demand service now:

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