21st July, 2018 – Fitlinks Fitness, Dublin, Ireland

Main Stage Wrestling –  one of the Ireland’s leading training schools – made their return to promoting shows with their first training show of 2018. A small but passionate crowd attended the Saturday afternoon show with the audience a nice mixture of the usual hardcore supporters and families.

MATCH 1: LJ Cleary vs. Curtis Murray

The show opened with the charismatic LJ Cleary taking on fellow OTT roster member Curtis Murray. This match set a great tone for show being fast paced with both wrestlers getting equal time to shine. Curtis Murray picked up the win with a Slingshot cutter. I wouldn’t say there was anything particularly remarkable here but it was a fun sprint match between two rising stars who clearly enjoy working each other.

 

MATCH 2: Cowboy Jim West & Angel Cruz vs. Club Tropicana

Club Tropicana (Aiden & Captain Sexsea) have been recent standouts of OTT’s Contenders shows and have also recently graduated to the main OTT shows. There opponents are the combination of “Ultrastar” Angel Cruz (who needs little introdution at this stage) and Cowboy Jim West. Cowboy is a familiar face to those who regularly attend OTT as one of the ring crew – but has been a student at MSW for a while. While you’d think a cowboy gimmick in 2018 has no place, Cowboy somehow makes it work and has recently had a run with Irish standout J-Money in Belfast’s Uprising Wresting as Stacks & Stacks.

This was a very heavy comedy based match and wouldn’t have felt out of place on a Contenders show. That being said, I felt some of the comedy was really aimed at those who would have prior knowledge of Tropicana’s and Cruz’ gimmicks but the kids seem to love Tropicana missing their top rope spots and falling out of the ring.

Club Tropicana were victorious with a Roll up from Aiden to finish off the team of Cowboy and Angel Cruz. Cowboy is showing a lot of potential here – he’s not at the Contenders level just yet – but I can easily see him bursting onto those shows heading into the next year or so.

 

MATCH 3: Fabulous Nicky’s Open Challenges

Another stalwart of the OTT roster from the early days, The Fabulous Nicky (who was looking quite fabulous if not a bit rude) issued an open challenge to any member of the MSW roster. His challenge was accepted by newcomer “The Fashionable Born Killer” Lee Enright.

Enright – making his debut – definitely has an amazing look and is probably in the best shape of the MSW trainees. Unfortunately for Enright he didn’t last too long in here with the cocky veteran with Nicky picking up with the win via Superkick in quick fashion.

Not content with finishing off his opponent quickly Nicky issued another challenge –  this time answered by Danny Cross.

Cross is very much a high flying type wrestler and as such he quickly upped the pace with Nicky – Cross even managing to hit a Swanton Bomb on Nicky! However, like Enright – the veteran here made quick work of Cross with a roll up aided by a fistful of tights.

Again, a clearly unsatisfied Nicky issued yet another challenge – this time answered by Alex Grayson. Grayson took to the ring quickly and hit an impressive tilt a whirl headscissors to Nicky and got some impressive offense in on Nicky coming close to finishing the match and scoring a win in his debut match. However, Nicky – not wanting to be outshone by Grayson – hit a low blow on Grayson to score a pin.

Nicky once again grabbed the microphone and demanded even tougher competition but this time his luck ran out – his challenge was met by the Silverback Gunther Isaak. Gunther is a behemoth on the Irish scene with a massive size advantage on pretty much everyone in the country. Gunther made short work of Nicky ending his antics and picking up the win.

The actual concept of this match worked perfectly for a training show. It gave 4 trainees a chance to have a chance to get some vital in-ring experience in front of a crowd while protecting them at an early stage. Great tour de force from Nicky here too. Definitely intrigued to see more of the newer talent here down the line.

 

MATCH 4: Amy Allonsy & Scotty Davis vs. Rebecca Reznor & Frankie

Next up was some mixed tag action featuring the debut of the fiery Rebecca Reznor teaming with long time MSW roster member and contender Frankie (fka Frankie Fenix) against two standouts of Main Stage in Scotty Davis & Amy Allonsy.

Scotty Davis is the teen prodigy lighting up OTT with his incredible Mat based skills and strikes – at the time of writing he’s appeared for both Frontline & Fight Club Pro in the UK. He’s definitely one to watch on the Irish scene and one of the first names on most fans lips when they talk about the next crop of Irish stars to break out.

Amy Allonsy was fresh off her “Over 18’s” debut at the July 6th Trinity Brawl show and has been so impressive since ‘grauating’ from working the family friendly Wrestling.ie shows. She’s become so confident in herself and is a natural babyface too with a massive likeability factor.

Speaking of confidence, I have never seen a wrestler so confident and possessive of such a demanding presence as Rebecca Reznor. The 21 year old was making her debut here and nailed her look and character as soon as she walked through the curtain. Frankie who has had a few gimmick changes over the year has settled on a greaser gimmick which suits his look quite well.

Nothing against the men in this match but the highlights of this were the interactions between Reznor and Allonsy. Nothing special technically but both have nailed their facials, their selling and I was particularly impressed at Allonsy leading this match the way she did. Allonsy and Davis were the winners when Allonsy nailed Frankie with a DDT.

 

MATCH 5: The Wildcats vs. Rough Stuff (w/ Troy Mendous)

The Wildcats – consisting of Tigre and Leo – faced off against former MSW Tag Team Champions Rough Stuff who were flanked by their weight lifting apprentice Troy Mendous. The Wildcats are a gimmick that’s a throwback to teams like the Killer Bees and 90’s era WWE mainly appealing to the younger members of the audience. In contrast, there was some interesting makeup choices by Rough Stuff, who looked like they had already been mauled by the Wildcats in the dressing room.

This was a solid match with the Wildcats being very impressive. Leo has been M.I.A. since his last Contenders match with Luther Ward so it was great to see him return to action and in a match where he looked as good as he ever did. His partner Tigre definitely nails the comic timing with the random meows thrown in during his match popping the kids and older fans alike.

Rough Stuff looked good here too and I’m starting to warm to them a great deal. I wasn’t a massive fan of them initially but they are putting in some real shifts and can only get better when put in with stronger opposition. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Rough stuff got the better of them but all in all a solid match with signs of progress from all competitors.

MATCH 6: Gavin Fitz vs. Pa Ward vs. Lovejoy vs. Damon Ruin

The penultimate match of the card was a four way dance that saw a return and two debuts.

Gavin Fitz is best known for being part of the Mongrels stable on the OTT Contenders shows alongside Russell Dempster and Eddie Stone. “The Big Ticket” has a great look and is a decent promo but I haven’t been able to see much of his work in the ropes as he’s usually seconding Stone or Dempster.

Pa Ward is a throwback to the old days of OTT and is the son of Luther Ward. Ward has has just returned from a long layoff and this match was his first since that injury.

Our two debutants were Lovejoy, a fun loving hippy from Birmingham, England, and Damon Ruin who looks like a third member of WWE’s gothic tag team The Ascension. Credit does go to Ruin for using Irish traditional Ogham stone markings on his gear which looked great.

This match was very short with Fitz and Ward getting most of the in-ring time here. There was nothing overly impressive here with Pa picking up the win on his return.

 

MAIN EVENT: Calum Black vs. Terry Thatcher

This match marks one of Calum Black’s first matches in Dublin for a long time. Black was one of the originals of the Contenders shows but hasn’t appeared since the first two events – opting to ply his trade in Northern Ireland for Uprising. Black has changed massively since, bulking up and looking in incredible shape – the type of guy that whilst not overly tall still looks foreboding in the ring. His opponent is the current OTT NLW Champion, the veteran Terry Thatcher. Thatcher has had such an incredible 2018 and the 13 year veteran has made sure that number hasn’t been unlucky for him.

This match really played to both wrestlers strengths with Black’s power and Thatcher’s selling being the main themes of the match. It really wouldn’t have felt out of place on a Contenders show.

I was hugely impressed with Calum ragdolling Terry around and this was a great platform for the Drogheda native to show off his skills and prove why he shouldn’t be ignored. Due to the family nature of the show – Terry was ultimately victorious which sent the crowd home happy. An excellent match that really over delivered on a show like this and easily best match of the night.

 

While Main Stage Wrestling hasn’t gotten the recent recognition that Fight Factory has got recently, it’s doing an excellent job in building the next crop of Irish Wrestlers nicely. These gym shows will be vital to their success and hopefully we see more to come in the future.

✏️ @GaryOnGraps