Hello I’m Iwan Mackenzie and coach travel can kiss my arse.
I’m back yet again with another Fight Club: Pro review this time tackling the last leg of their Dream Tag Team Invitational weekender in Manchester.
Now you’re probably wondering why just day 3 and not the full weekender, well simple answer was my job wouldn’t allow me the full weekend off so instead I requested for the Sunday off so I could at least do the final. So normally I tell you what we knew going into this show but this was all a mystery. We obviously know that we’d get the DTTI semi-finals and final with Lucha Bros, LAX, Schadenfreude and The Besties in the World all going through to the semi-finals.
We knew certain talents but this was by and large, a complete mystery. I left my house at around 8am, getting an Uber to Bromley South so I could get to London Victoria early as my coach was at 10am. Got on my coach and it was a pretty standard journey but then everything went to shit…
So we stop halfway through to change drivers over, you’re told you can have a smoke and stretch your legs but get back on the coach soon as they’ll leave without you. We head about 30-40 mins down the road, we then pull into a second service station where the driver announces that we’ve left someone behind and we’re gonna have to go back for them thus delaying our coach by 45 mins to an hour. Now this sounds harsh but if you have been told that you’ll be left behind then its your own fault, you shouldn’t delay people’s journeys. Went back and picked up this dozy pillock, thus leading to an argument between him and another passenger at the front of the coach, happy Easter!
We eventually got into Manchester at 16:20 when we were meant to be their at 14:55, we got discount cards and that guy was taken away by National Express security thankfully. Because of this delay though I missed out on the £25 meet and greet that I had payed for so I could meet the Lucha Bros, because by the time I had checked into my hotel, the line was cut off for it. Fight Club: Pro though have redeemed this for me as I have been able to get Meet and Greet for another show, I can’t thank Martin Zaki enough for doing this.
Got an Uber to the venue, at this point really in a mood about all that had gone on but thankfully due to my mates, I was all cheered up by the time, the first bell had been rung. Spoke to Kid Lykos about his retirement as well as the article, me and Jake Clarke have written for this website that can be found here: http://prowrestlingjournal.com/index.php/2019/04/20/thank-you-lykos/
Got myself a drink, and parked myself up as the show was opened up by British Strong Style made their FCP return in a dark segment, presenting the trophy to the ring, thus passing it on for the eventual winners. In our opening match, its a DTTI Semi-Final match as the Lucha Bros of Penta El Zero M (or Pentagon Jr to many) and Rey Fenix face off against LAX‘s Ortiz and Santana. Perfect way to kick off the show, the crowd were ready for this so much with duelling chants meaning that both teams didn’t have to do much in the opening stages. Both teams jut went for it completely in this match, both showing excellent tag team moves and more flips than Jim Cornette could shake his fist at.
Penta and Fenix with some brutal kicks onto LAX in this bout which made wince but LAX in turn with some hard hitting fast moves of their own. There is one part where all four men trade Canadian Destroyers off with each other which lead to a standing ovation from this hot crowd, this is excellent wrestling right here. Lucha Bros pick up the win in the end though with a Package Piledriver/Foot Stomp combo to go through to the finals.
I’ve been watching Indy live shows for 7 years now and this is one of the best opening matches that I’ve ever seen, all four put in an absolute shift, the crowd were hot for this match. Absolutly excellent stuff all round.
In our second match its the other DTTI Semi-Final match as the Schadenfreude team of Chris Brookes and Kyle Fletcher accompanied by Kid Lykos take on the Fight Club: Pro Tag Team Champions Davey Vega and Mat Fitchett other wise known as The Besties in the World.
Things start off heated as Brookes/Fletcher attack the Besties during their entrance thus cutting off the sing a long of “Truly Madly Deeply” which obviously draws huge heat from the crowd; They brawl on the outside for a bit with the Besties hitting their senton/kick combo to Schadenfreude on the outside which nearly sent the lighting rig down but alas everything was good, Schadenfreude do gain the advantage though with Fletcher throwing Fitchett into the ring post with a Lawn Dart and Brookes hitting Vega with a Roll of the Dice on the apron onto the floor.
Schadenfreude do dominate Vega for a large part of the match and even show off some great tag team chemistry with one another which isn’t surprising when you get two halfs of two of the beat teams of the last five years. Vega is able to comeback and tag in Fitchett who hits a hell of a hot tag onto Fletcher and Brookes, the crowd are fully behind the Besties at this point serenading them with multiple chants, my favourite being the “Hey Jude” chant with the words being changed to Besties.
Lets talk about the last five minutes of the match though as they were filled with fantastic drama. Referee Shay Purser gets taken out and Brookes throws one of the FCP title belts which Vega catches as Fletcher does the Eddie Guerrero trick, Purser almost throws the match out in a DQ but Vega and the crowd plead with him not to, Purser flys the bird to Fletcher as Brookes hits him with a springboard dropkick to the back of the head, the bump that Purser takes is nasty but also kind of hilarious. Schadenfreude hit one of the Besties with a big double team move as second referee Chris Roberts runs down to thunderous boos but one of the Besties, kicks out to a great pop. The finish comes though when Lykos hits Vega with the baking tray whilst Roberts is distracted allowing Brookes to win Vega to send Schadenfreude to the finals to face Lucha Bros.
This has a tough act to follow following LAX/Lucha Bros but they did a great job and gave us a different style tag move with a good story woven in. The last five minutes were pure magic, and added to the match for me.
In our next match, Rey Horus faces off against Chuck Mambo. This also had a tough spot to fill, following two great tag team matches but they did a great job by giving us variety. They had some very nice technical moves but the real highlights were the high flying as both men are very good at it, at one point, Mambo hit a lovely looking double jump crossbody to the outside which was really impressive to see. In the end though, Horus hits his top rope schoolboy bomb to pick up the win. Yet another Rey Horus match that I’ve ended up really enjoying as well as another great Mambo match.
In our first half main event, its a six-man tag team match as the oVe team of Sami Callahan, Dave Crist and Jake Crist face the Leigon of Rot‘s Frightmare and Hallowicked and their partner for this night Eita. Sami cuts a promo before the match with the set up basically being that he wants no rules, what a surprise.
I know the contents of his promo rubbed a lot of my friends up the wrong way but as I saw it, he was just gaining cheap heat. But as you’d expect from a Sami Callahan match, this was crazy all round; lots of corwd brawling and weapons with the tide not really staying in one of the teams side for too long. There are a couple of memorable spots where Eita goes for a dive but is kept being cut off by each member of oVe who hits dives of their own, in the end Eita does a diving chair shot from the apron, effective I say; the other memorable spot comes when they all set up chairs and start trading blows between each other.
Towards the finish though, Frightmare is taken out for realises as I can see him clutching his arm with a possible injury coming to mind, you can see some of the wrestlers as well as Paramedics coming down to take him to the back but Frightmare waves them off. The finish comes though when Hallowicked locks Sami up a headscissors allowing Eita to wallop him with a unprotected chair shot to pick up the win for him and his team. I didn’t especially like the finish as theirs a reason why unprotected chair shots are rarely used nowadays, their not especially pretty to watch. This was a fun brawl and some nice variety for the show but I felt it went a little long personally, could have done with shaving about five minutes off.
Interval now where I praised LAX for their fantastic tag match, grabbed a picture with them as well as the Besties in the World as well. Quick chat with Chuck Mambo, grabbed a drink, spoke to my mate Trish, took in Tyler Bate performing a striptease of sorts on the balcony and it was time for the second half.
So the second half starts off with Fight Club Pro World Champion Mark Davis coming out and bragging about still being world champ after defeating Jeff Cobb and Penta El Zero M the previous nights, he says that he’s the toughest motherfucker in FCP and throws out an open challenge. The challenge is answered by Dan Maloney, so it looks like were getting Maloney vs Davis but then Team R.E.D’s music hits and PAC comes out so now its a triple threat match but then just as I get back onto my seat, Will Ospreay‘s music hits and I nearly fall out of my seat. Ospreay makes it a four way match, So its now Mark Davis defending the title against Dan Maloney, PAC and Will Ospreay, oh my word!
Ospreay and PAC just stare a whole through each other as Davis boots PAC to start the match also sending Ospreay out as Maloney and Davis start to clobber each other, PAC gets back in and takes them out and then Ospreay gets in and we have him and PAC face to face. Everytime PAC and Ospreay face off in this match, its electric, the crowd really want it and are so fucking receptive for it, they don’t even need to touch each other because the facial reactions just sell it alone, there is one really cool spot where Ospreay goes for the handspring but PAC on the outside grabs Ospreay’s hands and Ospreay looks terrified. But this match wasn’t just about PAC and Ospreay as Davis was fantastic in this match as the only real heel in the match, he was able to be super aggressive but as soon as things got tough he’d become a chicken shit heel, he’s really excelling in this role.
Dan Maloney in this match was utterly fantastic, he got huge reactions with everything he was doing, he may well be one of the most popular men in BritWres right now. A couple of great nearfalls towards the finishing stretch as PAC hits the Black Arrow on Ospreay but Dan just runs in to break it, and PAC hits Dan with a big move but Ospreay comes in and prevents the ref’s hand for going down for the three. The finish comes when Davis is able to get Dan up to hit the Close Your Eyes and Count to Fuck to retain the title.So yeah this match was fantastic, everyone played their part to perfection; even though it was an impressive looking match, the storytelling and moments were off the charts good. This is also a match that I give a high recommendation to watch, plus it showed that PAC and Ospreay should happen in FCP and not RevPro.
Our main event now as its the DTTI Finals as the Lucha Bros face Schadenfreude. This was a great main event, not as good as the semi-final matches these teams had but still great non the less.They do go full throttle as you’d expect with momentum shifting both ways through the first 3/4 portions of this match, at one point Fletcher throws Fenix from the second rope onto Penta which looked mighty impressive indeed, some really great tag team wrestling as you’d expect but I really want to talk about the ending stretch.
Lykos interferes but Shay throws him out and to enforce this carry’s him out on his shoulder which was an hillarious visual, Davis comes down and starts to get involved, Fenix try’s to take him out but with no result, Penta is able to outsmart Davis yet though as he gets the rest of Schadenfreude to take hi out by moving out the way. In the end, Penta/Fenix hit Fletcher with the Package Piledriver/Foot Stomp Combo to pick up the win and win the DTTI 2019!
After the match, they cut a promo in part English and part Spanish but with the jist of the promo being that they were thankful for the support over the whole weekend, Fenix dedicates the win to his parents as the show finishes. A great main event, with it having really good drama and great tag team wrestling in it, it was cool to see Lucha Bros win as well.
Post show, I spoke to Rey Horus and Dan Maloney about various topics, grabbed a picture with Will Ospreay and brought his hoodie from him, he also thanked me for my support for him over the years, I still remember tweeting about hi and Ricochet having a match back in 2013 on Ricochet’s first UK Tour. Then I was bullied by Schadenfreude about my favourite wrestlers list where Brookes edited it so him and Kyle are first, cheers lads. Then went to McDonalds and had a laugh with my friends to end a great night after a shit day.
So Overall Thoughts: This was as good a night of wrestling that you could hope for, nothing on this show was boring at all and held my attention, the whole time. My particular highlights were the opening tag match, the last five minutes of Besties vs Schadenfreude and the four way match for the PAC and Ospreay face off if anything else; the crowd were insane the whole night as well, still for my money the best in the UK.
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Thank You for Reading
Iwan Mackenzie
