Hello my name is Iwan Mackenzie and at work I was described by a customer as “The man with the hair they goes that way”
I’m back again with another review this time delving into the world of Southside for their evening show of a double shot. This was due to me being at work during the morning and afternoon so I could only do the evening show but thankfully the evening show on paper looked better; even though I’m not a hardcore follower of Southside’s product, something I will give credit to Southside is that all their cards are really strong looking, normally with top international talents and a good mix of the BritWres scene as evident with this show with the top matches being AEW Star and Japanese legend CIMA teaming up with Queen of Southside and Speed King Champions Shanna and Senza Volto to face Tag Team Champions Jack Sexsmith and Stixx who were teaming up with returning American star Darius Lockheart, plus newest AEW star Kip Sabian facing Lucha Underground star Rey Horus aka Dragon Azteca Jr.
This was my first Southside show since their debut Ressistance Gallery (I shall be calling it the ResGal for the rest of the show) show back at the tail end of 2018, that show itself was very fun due to the lively crowd who was up for anything that was being presented to them and the wrestlers taking a very laid back approach with the banterous atmosphere. After a hectic day of work, I grabbed some dinner and headed down to Bromley South with my brother Leighton in tow, we headed out of Bromley South around 17:15pm and got into Victoria before heading to the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus where we changed to the Central Line to get to Bethnal Green, in between this we helped a tourist get to Islington, I do wonder if they ever got there in the end…
Got into Bethnal Green just after six and headed to the que where we met up with friends Andy, Nick, Dave, Martin, Louis, Donna and even Mauro Chaves as well. Got in and had to take a different spot then my usual space at the ResGal as there was merch tables by where we normally stand but that was fine for me as I had a load of space to stand in as the show hadn’t sold out completely. Our pre-show entertainment was provided by an 18-month old infant called Ronan who ran around the ring and had the whole crowd interact with him, it was all very funny to watch.
Our opening match is Rickey Knight Jr taking on Brady Phillips and Kanji in a triple threat match in a moment of card subject to change as Kanji’s original opponent Charlie Morgan pulled out the match due to illness which I found out through Kanji herself later on, this did piss me off a little as I was looking forward to seeing Charlie wrestle and to see that match but I hope Charlie rests up and is well now. This match started off in very funny fashion as Brady called us all virgins and said we didn’t even though who the other two were, this lead to chants for both RKJ and Kanji and a sing song of Shiny Pants to the tune of Purple Rain by Prince as Brady was wearing a disco ball for attire. This match was very back and fourth and fought at a frantic pace, all three came out of this match looking strong and all made a name for themselves. The ending of the match came when Brady threw RKJ into the wall and then hit a rope hung DDT on Kanji to pick up the pinfall for the win.
Our second match was the team of Maverick Mayhew and Connor Mills collectively known as M&M vs the brand new team of Sean Kustom and The OJMO who were collectively known as Two Jacked Dudes because both were jacked, writes itself really. This match had a lot of banterous moments between OJ and Sean and was for me the highlight of this match, M&M hit some very nice double team moves as you’d expect from a team who have such great chemistry, although Connor did hit some impressive um singles moves? (is that the right turn of phrase) as he hit a springboard moonsault onto TJD and then hit the Millshot onto OJ which OJ sold beautifully. The finish of the match came when OJ blind tagged Sean but Sean didn’t know this as he hit the Thunder to Down Under powerbomb onto Mills but OJ took the pin for himself to win the match. Post match OJ said that after four matches with Southside he’s finally won one and he did it by himself, Sean took issue with this as they had won it as a team and challenged him to a match on June 29th which is Southside’s ResGal return as the Two Jacked Dudes explode in what was dubbed by the crowd as a Jack Off and if you don’t know what that is then the Urban Dictionary is your friend.
In our next contest, the team of Gabriel Kidd and Saxon Huxley known as Trial by Violence challenged the team of Anthony Henry and JD Drake known as the Lethal Enforcers for the Freelance Wrestling Tag Team Championships. This match started off pretty heated as during the afternoon show (which I couldn’t be at due being at work) Kidd had beat Drake by low blow so Drake wanted to get his hands on Kidd. They started off in the ring but they eventually took it to the outside and started brawling around the building where Drake hit some Deadly chops off of Saxon’s chest, they were the loudest I’ve heard in a long time specially considering I was at close proximity. They decided to take the fight outside so I decided to head out as well and document it for my own records as rarely this stuff happens, they fought outside the pizza restaurant next door as the customers watched out in wide eyed amazement, Henry climbed up to a wall box thing and then hit a crossbody onto everybody onto the cobbles they then fought into the pizza restaurant before finally taking it back inside. Back in the ring and Trial were able to take control of the contest and isolate Henry in their corner and effectively cut the ring off in half, I should say here that Trial by Violence have come on leaps and bounds as a team since I last saw them at PROGRESS last year, they were also very good heels and riled up the crowd at every opportunity. Henry was able to mount a comeback and make the tag into Drake who cleared house and was able to swing the momentum back into the Enforcers favour. The Enforcers hit some really cool double team moves before the finish came when Drake hit a moonsault onto Saxon to pick up the win and retain the titles. There was a scary moment as well as wrestlers had to come to the ring to take Saxon out as Saxon took a fatal blow when drake came down for the moonsault as he basically got kneed in the head, thankfully he was ok later on. So apart from that scary moment at the end, this was a hell of a match and my favourite match of the show.
In our first half main event we had Mr SuuuuuuuuuuuuuuperBad himself Kip Sabian (who had some nice new tattoo’s) take on Rey Horus. On his entrance Kip asked me open the ring ropes for him and as I got onto the apron, I was told by my mates that my arse was showing, so I’d like to apologise to the people who had to see that. This match didn’t totally click with me at first due to being a little burned out at the tag match before and the fact that both men’s were trying to find their footing with one another, but eventually they found it and built up nicely into a really great match, Kip’s trademark remarks were hilarious through this match and the crowd started to count in Spanish in honour of Horus. Horus himself impressed a lot, but then again I’m a big fan of his work anyways. The finish of the match came when Horus hit a powerbomb/victory roll type move off the second rope to pick up the pinfall to win the match.
We then went into our interval where there was meet and greet with CIMA and Allie in the ring for a tenner each but I decided instead to talk to The Lethal Enforcers about their match along with the British weather and grabbed a picture with them whilst they were there. I also talked Horus about Lucha Libre and being the protege of Rey Mysterio Sr, I also pciked up a t-shirt from him and asked for a picture and he was up taking it but I was informed by the promoters son that I had to buy a promo picture for £10 extra to do the picture, I then explained that I had just brought the £20 T-Shirt but he said that it wasn’t part of the deal, I the said to Rey that we’d get the picture at Fight Club: Pro instead, Rey thanked me for the support and told me to find him at the end.
Now I don’t normally go on a soap box on these reviews but this is one issue that pisses me off. If the wrestlers are happy to take a picture with the fans and the promoters want them to charge, its just awkward to be honest. It really pissed me off that I had already forked out a score to get a t-shirt and hopefully a picture and be told I had to pay a tenner extra on top of that. This is something that I don’t with enjoy with both Southside and also BEW in Wimbledon as it’s unfair to wrestlers and fans for charging as it just creates an awkward tension. It’s something that pissed me off gooing into the second half, if I’m being honest.
Right rant over now. We go into our second half being kicked off by Southside Heavyweight Champion Rob Lynch facing Dan Moloney in a Street Fight, apparently if Dan won he would have been inserted into the title match between Lynch and Shigehiro Irie at Speed King. This was a very good scrap between two men who excel at this kind of style. They most fought on the outside by us and a little by the smoking area at the back, they then headed back to the ring where Dan hit Andy’s favourite move, the Spinebuster which almost got him the win but eventually it was a spear by the champion Lynch that won him the match. This match felt surprisingly short as it must not have gone longer than five minutes, I don’t know why this was as the show wasn’t running over, this was a good match but if it had been given a little longer it could have been even better.
Just as ring announcer Rob Maltman intro the next match, OJMO interrupted and called out Allie, apparently OJ had once slid into Allie’s DM’s on Twitter and Instagram and asked her out but Allie just left them seen. He then mocked her husband Braxton Sutter and asked if “she wanted to play with OJ?” Allie then slapped him and stared to lay the boots into him and now we have a match between the two, hang on; Allie was eventually advertised to face Kay Lee Ray and I saw Kay Lee there so why was this match happening instead, we still don’t really know but my mate Martin speculated weather it was because of the contract situation of having an NXT UK wrestler face an Impact wrestler, I don’t know what it was but all I know is I’m not seeing Kay Lee Ray or Charlie Morgan wrestle tonight, so I’m pretty sad. But anyways this match was good and OJ did a good job of making Allie looked strong, and Allie in turn looked like a star here and showed why she’s highly regarded. Allie picked up the pinfall win in the end and showed why you shouldn’t slide into a wrestler’s DM’s as this might happen to you.
I just want to take a side note to say here that the OJMO was the highlight of the show for me and a lot of other people as well. He excelled in both roles he was given on this night and showed why he has a bag full of charisma, he will be a big player on the BritWres scene by the end of the year, I tell you.
We then got to our main event as the Revolutionist Darius Lockheart who was very much a face teamed up with ultra heel Tag Team Champions Jack Sexsmith and Stixx (I’m not sure how this partnership came about) to face Speed King champ Senza Volto, Queen of Southside champ Shanna and the icon that is CIMA. The entrance that Stixx and Sexsmith that was just quite frankly awkward as they enterted to no music and had their introduction done twice which I supposed to draw heat from the crowd but to be honest the crowd didn’t really care. This was your typical babyface team vs mega bad guys main event but it was a lot of fun, the dynamic between Darius and Double S was very good and the crowd cheered Darius if he was in the ring and booed the other two if they were inside. The finish came when Shanna seemed to go down and the just disappeared it seemed whilst Double S decided to walk off but Darius challenged them to get back into the match and finish before CIMA got on the mic and cut the best promo I’ve seen this year, his words were “You two have no balls” “You two are Stinky Pussay’s” The crowd howled with laughter at them lines, Double S got back in the ring and then Darius turned on them and joined team babyface and we found out that Shanna had climbed up to the balcony and hit a crossbody off it to take out Stixx to get the win to win the match for the babyfaces and by default Darius.
Post show, I got to meet CIMA which was an honour for me personally as I’ve been a big fan of his work for years through places like Dragon Gate, PWG and TNA. I also met Senza Volto for the first time as well, he was a very nice guy to speak to, and I spoke to Allie as well who I could have chatted to for ages as she was very talkative, I also got to pick up a Demon Bunny pin badge from her after she liked my jacked and asked me if I’d like one of her pins, my answer was yes, I was also able to grab a picture with her despite the promoter telling her and that fans that she would’t be doing fan pics for free due to the meet and greet earlier but still me and my mates got pics with her as she was happy to do it and the promoter didn’t see us. Grabbed that pic with Rey as well, as well as pics with Shanna and Kanji before finally heading home.
So overall, this show was a bit of a mixed bag for me as I thought the first half was brilliant and both the Enfocers/Trial and Kip/Rey matches back to back were the best of the night, the second half felt rushed and the crowd were quite burned out as well. The whole charging situation as well really left a sour taste in my mouth at first but getting matches with Horus, Allie and CIMA afterwards softened the blow, the reason I took issue with this is because like a lot of my mates as well, the meeting wrestlers part of the show is quite big and promoters wanting the wrestlers to charge money wasn’t my cup of tea at all.
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Thank you for reading
Iwan Mackenzie
