By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
With the huge Pride weekend triple shot by Riptide only just around the corner, Liam Byrne aims to cover the shows run by the company up until now – several that he was at live. Here is a review of the second show they ran, though the first full show on their streaming service.
After a debut show that was main evented by Will Ospreay taking on Shane Strickland, one that is only available in highlight form, Riptide returned with… Riptide Returns. It was the first show to be released in full and set the tone that the promotion has followed for the first full year of its existence. With a mixture of local talent, big name stars, hard hitting action, comedy and oh so important feuds, Riptide had found a formula that worked to sell wrestling to the Brighton (and general Sussex region) wrestling fan.
It would be the soon to be front and center feud between Jack Sexsmith and Spike Trivet that began the show, with Trivet out calling himself ‘wrestling’s answer to Theresa May’ and – whilst not having an issue with Sexsmith’s lifestyle – complaining about having a match with Chuck Mambo scrapped and Sexsmith’s use of Mr. Cocko in their previous contest. As Sexsmith came out to enjoy reminding Trivet that he had been beaten with the help of a prophylactic, Trivet would jump Sexsmith from behind to kickstart the action.
The attack by Trivet would only get him so far, as two atomic drops (one reverse) briefly halted the attack, whilst a reversal of a suplex into a neckbreaker did indeed turn the tide. However, an attempt by Sexsmith to go high risk caught him out, Trivet landing a forearm to stop a springboard, tripping him up on the apron and sending him shoulder first into the ringpost. The arm became an area of interest for Trivet (now bleeding from the nose somehow) as he stomped on it, used variations on wristlocks and whipped Sexsmith twice into the corner arm first. This wasn’t all that Trivet had to offer as a modified facebuster off of a springboard grabbed him a nearfall.
The Sexsmith comeback started with a sequence of kicks and a Sliced Bread #2 for a two count, though an armbreaker and sitout DVD did also almost see Trivet with his arm raised. The delayed DDT by Sexsmith allowed him to pull out Mr. Cocko, but a block and a butterfly suplex into a kneebuster earned Trivet another nearfall. In an act of hubris, Trivet attempted to use Mr. Cocko on his rival, only to have it turned upon himself. As much out of embarrassment as anything else, Trivet used a low blow to break the hold, forcing the disqualification. A post-match attack on the referee with Mr. Cocko would see Sexsmith save the official by nailing Trivet with Meteora knees from the top rope.
The match between perennial midcarders (if their vlog is anything to go buy) TK Cooper and Chuck Mambo started with a sequence of escapes and reversals, one leading to Mambo remarking ‘sometimes I do actually wrestler’, though Cooper’s foot on a seated Mambo with the cut throat pose was less friendly. After three armdrags from three very different setups (jumping by Mambo, following a moonsault escape from Cooper, from a wheelbarrow by Mambo), Cooper decided he wasn’t getting superkicked today and fled the ring. This led to a sequence of exchanges that saw Cooper threaten to rip a ball in half; Mambo then offered to rip Dahlia Black in half – a threat that he soon realised was a little bit rude in nature; the grabbing of a camera man and some trainees as each threatened to do some damage; the eventual vanquishing of the trainees following a slugfest between all four men.
An eye poke from Cooper stopped the jollity, though it would be Mambo who threatened to take advantage with a springboard cannonball senton. When the match did return to the ring, a pop-up Samoan drop scored a two count, whilst the Samoan links continued as a superkick by Mambo was greeted with the ‘I’m Samoan’ headbutt. An axe kick and an over the shoulder belly to back piledriver over Cooper’s knee almost scored him the win, but Mambo would fire back with a kick, a pop up gutbuster and a move akin to a Kryptonite Krunch/White Noise for the victory.
When Eddie Dennis tells the crowd ‘I quit my job for this’ in a quite exasperated tone, it sets the trend for what begins as him versus Session Moth Martina in a drinking contest and pretty much spirals from there. After some drunken attempts at chain wrestling are interrupted by Lord Gideon Grey (who asks Martina to shut her legs to stop the echo) and Kurtis Chapman, Chapman gets chucked out for taking the bait of a beer from Dennis and getting ID’d by security. Hence, the contest turned into a triple threat as Grey attacked Martina and Dennis from behind.
Initially, Dennis and Martina were able to double team to take on Grey, but an attempted vagina tombstone combination ends up with Dennis getting chucked to ringside and Grey stamping on the aforementioned reproductive organ. Moments later, Martina does get some measure of revenge with a suicide dive on the Lord. Martina is fired up by a mouthful of beer, only to spit it at Dennis by mistake, whilst Grey then dribbled a fan’s cider over Martin’s hair. Dennis, ever the chivalrous one, punched Grey in the face to regain control for the lose collective, one that then hit a crucifix buckle bomb followed by a bronco buster, followed up with a successful vagina tombstone.
With Dennis and Martina fighting over who gets the pin, Chapman reappeared – beard drawn on – to eventually attack all three with his keyboard. This solves the ‘who should win?’ problem as a falling out between Grey and Chapman, with Chapman getting a slap following an ‘overused’ brainbuster – Grey’s opinion – left them open for a codebreaker by Martina and a lifting reverse DDT by Dennis for the joint win.
The early attempts by Candyfloss to give Dahlia Black a huge – out of a test of strength and on a go behind – weren’t too disconcerting as Black kicked out of two quick flash pins (though Candyfloss didn’t quite hit the wheelbarrow roll-up properly, she improvised quickly). Black’s offense focused on using the corner, hitting a dropkick and running knees, whilst even a missed cannonball which lead to some trading of pinfalls was repeated moments later with significantly more success. Candyfloss ended up targeting the arm following a tiltawhirl into an armbar, though Black was ever vigilant for opportunities to turn it into a pin before Candyfloss applied a backslide for a nearfall of her own.
Double hair grabs with a double break led to double forearms for a double down in some nice symmetry, leading to Candyfloss pushing the pace with an armbreaker, dropkick in the corner and a basement dropkick. Another transition was whiffed somewhat, this time a butterfly suplex into a cross armbreaker, but it was covered up quickly as Black again almost turned a submission into a pin. After getting the ropes to break the hold, Black used a kick combination to set up for a (missed moonsault), only to hit back immediately with a wheelbarrow suplex into a bridge for two and a modified Gory special into a flatliner for three.
A match with Candice LeRae, Joey Ryan and Colt Cabana taking on British Strong Style was always likely to be full of shenanigans, and this was no let down. After asking Tyler Bate to touch his dick, Ryan would get it grabbed by his own partner, Cabana, applying his dong style submission briefly by mistake. Trent Seven is offered just the tip moments later and almost has an arm wringer turned into a crotch grab, whilst Pete Dunne is a gamechanger by grabbing Cabana by the balls initially. However, he isn’t as lucky with an offer by LaRae to try her out for size, with Ryan moving in at the final moment for a dong assault. BSS did come out of this initial exchange on top following three bop/bang punches.
A brawl around ringside that included a moustache twist on Ryan, Cabana chopping Seven’s backside and a brief towel choke train gave way to Dunne returning to the ring to kick the referee (?!), who also gets a chop from Seven later on when the Midlander is reminded of his recent six second loss in PROGRESS to Matt Riddle. Between these two official assaults, Bate used a one inch punch to further the attack on Ryan unleashed by Seven’s chops of fury in the corner. Dunne even teased biting the dong, but he worked the leg instead. The iron dong of Ryan is too powerful though, as an atomic drop, kick and one inch punch all have no effect.
After a double step up enziguri and Rainmaker from Seven halted Cabana as he came in like a house on fire, a reversed double suplex allowed him to tag out to LeRae who unleashed a top rope huracanrana, a tiltawhirl into an Octopus hold and a reversal of the submission to send Bate careering into Dunne. Not content with just this, a top rope huracanrana off of the apron sent Bate into the rest of BSS. Several six man spots occurred next: whilst LeRae and Cabana had submissions applied, Ryan scored a nearfall with his dick lollipop-assisted superkick; three bites of fingers led to three pedigrees, though Style were caught with three superkicks after taking time out for three Triple H water poses. There was still enough time for an airplane spin by Bate on LeRae and Ryan powering out of a triple team attack on his dong before a dropkick on Bate into a Balls-plex by LeRae ended the contest.
In the main event, Jimmy Havoc met Marty Scurll in a competition between two of the stalwarts of the UK independent scene. It was unsurprising to see the two men trade holds to begin with, each man competent on their feet and down on the canvas, but a decision not to allow a clean break in the corner showed the potential true colours of Scurll. Moments later, Havoc showed he was willing to break the rules with an eye poke to turn down an attempted ‘too sweet’ show of respect following an exchange of holds. The moment Havoc came out on top of the wrestling on the canvas, things began to turn nastier with a shove by Scurll and a big forearm to the face by Havoc. Niceties and grapple exchanges were no longer the order of the day.
Scurll attacked Havoc’s arm with two armbreakers that utilised the top rope, whilst a hammerlock saw Havoc sent shoulder first into the turnbuckle. The official would eventually need to get in between Scurll and Havoc as the Villain stomped him multiple times in the corner. Havoc needed to channel his aggression, which he did, bursting out of the corner with a dropkick, hitting a running forearm, kick and knee in the corner before scoring a nearfall with a double footstomp off of the second turnbuckle. Two was also all he gained for a pumphandle bomb, before an attempt to head to the top was thwarted – after some back and forth upon the top rope – by a Scurll superplex.
Havoc was as yet undeterred. He used a forearm to avoid the just kidding superkick, whilst using his own variant of the move seconds later but landing the superkick. The exchanges had taken their toll on each man as Scurll scored a two on a crucifix pin and they were equally slow to get up, but it was Havoc again forcing the pace soon after as a sequence of exchanges saw him nail the Acid Rainmaker, only for Scurll to kick out. This seemed to energise Scurll as he came close with a powerbomb and a tiger driver, before breaking Havoc’s finger. However, a piledriver would be kicked out of instantly by Havoc, yet this was a false dawn as a crossface chickenwing forced the tap out.
With a hard hitting main event in the books, the second ever Riptide show was over. Along the way, everything worked towards the greater good; nothing was bad, everything was at least competent. Between the laughter caused by the chaos in Eddie Dennis and Session Moth Martina’s segment and the dong focused six man tag, and the bubbling heat of Trivet versus Sexsmith, coupled with the other matches on offer this night, Riptide did offer a bit of everything for its diverse crowd. Not only did everything have its place, but it generally delivered something of worth entertainment-wise – a booking philosophy that seems to have stuck with the company as the year progressed.
