By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
Brighton Spirit Night Two would break my streak of Riptide shows in 2018 due to – quite simply – a lack of funds on my part. With a seeming inability to go to a wrestling show and not buy a t-shirt or sample some cider, two nights in a row was unfortunately beyond my means at the time. Something beyond Jack Sexsmith’s means at the time was the ability to trust anyone (seamless segue, I hope you’ll agree…), with even the sight of Chuck Mambo coming to his aid the previous night being treated with suspicion by the pansexual phenomenon. Elsewhere on the card, Riptide continued to showcase its ability as a drawing card and a place that the best wrestlers in the UK wanted to be seen at as Pete Dunne would end up teaming with Trent Seven in the main event to take on Aussie Open and Millie McKenzie in a handicap match, following an angle to cover for an injury sustained by Tyler Bate the previous night.
Placed earlier on the VOD than the live show would have it, the uneasy duo of Jack Sexsmith and Chuck Mambo would face off against Kurtis Chapman and Lord Gideon Grey. It would be Grey and Mambo who began the contest for their respective teams, with Mambo in particular quickly out of the gate with some running moves in the corner and a second rope blockbuster for two. However, the issues with Sexsmith’s psyche were clear as he was reticent to tag in, allowing Grey to escape and tag out to Chapman in the process. The Keyboard Warrior wasn’t in for an easy ride though, as Sexsmith was also angry, his fury being taken out on Chapman as he nailed several stomps in the corner, running basement knees and a neckbreaker in rapid succession. A rolling senton to the outside by Sexsmith would follow a brief mid-ring confrontation between the two fan favourites, with Mambo then landing his own springboard plancha.
If there were problems with the face team, they appeared to put it behind them with a combination lungblower into a Mambo German suplex. Moments later, this newfound friendship was tested as an errant Mambo superkick nailed Sexsmith and left him isolated in the heel corner. A crafty Grey trip also meant that Mambo was not in the corner for a Sexsmith tag attempt, adding potential fuel to the idea that Sexsmith couldn’t trust anyone. Multiple mounted punches by Chapman earned the heels a two count, yet moments later they were down following a double Sliced Bread #2. Given the chance, Sexsmith would refuse to tag out though, an issue exacerbated by Grey pushing Mambo into Sexsmith. With the referee having lost control, a keyboard shot from Chapman was enough to keep Sexsmith down for three as one of Riptide’s favourites continued to slide into oblivion as Money Versus Everybody’s attempts to break him seemed to have worked. Post-match, Sexsmith would walk out on Mambo
That is not to say that Money Versus Everybody didn’t have their own problems that evening as Damon Moser and Spike Trivet would face Big T Justice and Omari. The significant disparity in size between Omari and Trivet saw the waistcoated one come up short on the opening exchanges, dumped to the canvas with a shoulderblock and taking a big forearm to the face after an Omari leapfrog. Omari would also land a dropkick on Trivet, before Justice would spend the first moments of his time in the ring throwing Moser from corner to corner with reckless abandon. Some chops rang out around the Bright Helm centre, followed up by a wheelbarrow splash and assisted senton combination of double team moves for a nearfall. It would take an illegal forearm from the apron by Trivet to halt Omari, finally allowing Money Versus Everybody to gain a footing in the contest.
A corner clothesline and legdrop would see Trivet gain a two count, but more importantly, Trivet and Moser would utilise quick tags to keep the fresh man in and effectively cut the ring in half. Having fought his way out of a clutch-style submission, it would take one big forearm to the face to allow Omari to make the tag to his sizeable partner. Impressively, Justice would hit a dropkick that took out both Trivet and Moser as he threatened to take the team out all by himself, whilst Omari would take to the air with a tope con giro. The momentum was all with the face duo, until a Trivet eye rake and butterfly neckbreaker wiped out Omari. Still, Justice had the match won after a Canadian Destroyer and dominator on Moser, but a timely grab of the official’s leg by Trivet and an attack by Chris Ridgeway would earn a huge tag win for the heels as Moser would put Justice out like a light with a sleeperhold. To add further insult to injury, Moser would use a chair to attack the arm of the already injured O.J.M.O.
Candy Floss was on somewhat of a tear in a Riptide wrestling ring, but faced stiff competition in her next match in the form of Charlie Morgan. Following some less than positive interaction with the crowd, Morgan would also be taken down early with a dropkick, though quickly avoided a corner kick and used the top rope to attack Candy Floss’ neck. Morgan’s initial offense relied heavily on strikes to work Candy Floss over, whilst two running European uppercuts in the corner had Morgan in firm control. A casual jumping kick in the corner with pose had the fans booing Morgan once more, but Candy Floss at least managed to kick out of the resulting pinfall attempt and almost catch Morgan in a flash submission with an armbar.
A kick would target the arm, before a basement dropkick in the corner and a straitjacket backcracker by Candy Floss allowed her to apply a cross armbreaker. Morgan would be able to fight her way out of the hold, taking Candy Floss down with a superkick in the process, though a second rope springboard blockbuster almost saw Morgan land hard on her own head. Draping an arm for the pin only led to Candy Floss re-applying the cross armbreaker, yet the classical strains of Cara Noir and his appearance on stage would distract Candy Floss for long enough to see her get rolled up by Morgan for the shock loss. Post-match, Noir would drop Candy Floss hard with the package piledriver before taking her limp body around the ring in a macabre dance.
As aforementioned, Pete Dunne would team with Trent Seven to take on Aussie Open and Millie McKenzie, a match that only came about after Dunne would attack McKenzie and be saved by Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher. This sparked a ringside brawl to start the handicap match, one that would see Seven and Dunne attempt to use chokes to keep their opponents at bay, only to get dropped by Dunkzilla himself. Back in the ring, a right hand dropped Seven, though several chops and a DDT were enough to keep Davis down for a two count. Davis then showed immense power to turn a Dunne guillotine hammerlock into a suplex, allowing McKenzie to try and get some measure of revenge on Dunne as she entered the match for the first time.
This served to be somewhat of a mistake as Dunne would continue to brutalise her, blocking a snapmare and sending her face first into the canvas. Dunne would methodically attack McKenzie, using a lifting armbar slam that showcased the disparity in strength, before Seven would aim several kicks and stomps at her downed form. A slam then saw Dunne toy with the idea of allowing McKenzie to tag, only to stomp on the back of her hand, whilst subsequently cutting off a series of strikes with a brutal forearm to the face. Dunne’s hubris threatened to come back to bite him on the arse as McKenzie landed a second rope huracanrana moments after having her fingers ‘broken’, but it was a swinging neckbreaker on Seven that almost allowed her to finally tag out. Dunne would manage to halt this by attacking Fletcher, whilst a chase that ensued also saw the Bruiserweight hide behind a fan at ringside wearing a Pete Dunne t-shirt.
Finally, a Code Red out of a crucifix did allow McKenzie to tag in, with Davis the proverbial house on fire in taking the fight to both Dunne and Seven with double sliding corner forearms. Having nailed Around The World on Seven, Davis would turn a finger bite into a powerbomb on Dunne before an assisted cutter by McKenzie and a top rope splash by Fletcher almost had the match won. The tide would turn in an instant though as an X-Plex by Dunne on Fletcher saw the Aussie planted on the edge of the ring, but as Seven would be taunting the crowd, McKenzie would land four consecutive German suplexes and almost pin Dunne following a Canadian Destroyer. Dunne would be required to pull the ref out to stop a pinfall after a Fidget Spinner, but would get nailed with a Fletcher plancha for his troubles. Amazingly, McKenzie managed to kick out of a Bitter End and a spinning piledriver, yet was taken out for three with a burning hammer setup by Seven turned into a tombstone by Dunne. Even with the handicap, British Strong Style were able to come out on top.
The last match on the VOD experience of the show was the battle of the New Zealanders – Travis Banks versus Jonah Rock. Coming off the back of a huge win the night before, Rock once again showcased his brute strength in the early going by walking his way to the ropes when in the middle of a Banks sleeper hold, before three chops would have Banks down on the canvas as he mistakenly tried to match strikes with the man mountain. As it looked like Banks was firing up with a collection of strikes that did have some success, Rock caught a Slice of Heaven out of mid-air and dumped Banks with a modified flapjack. Rock almost decided to punch the referee as he got in the way of a continued onslaught in the corner, but thought better of it, instead focusing on his continued destruction of Banks with a huge shoulderblock and slam.
Banks was struggling, but a sequence of a trip, basement dropkick, apron kick and multiple suicide dives suddenly turned the tide in his favour, though it was shortlived as an attempted sunset flip powerbomb had Rock just sit down on Banks, squashing him between cheeks and the edge of the ring apron. This at least sparked a fire in Banks, tripping Rock off of the second rope, landing a second rope foot stomp to the back of the head and a coast to coast dropkick for two, but an attempted Kiwi Krusher got him nowhere. Banks was still in charge as he tripped Rock in the corner and hit a cannonball, but a full nelson slam would dump the Buzzsaw on the back of his head. Banks did manage to fight off an attempt at a brainbuster, but his Slice of Heaven this time would be reversed into a Samoan drop. Another missed moonsault by Rock did give Banks a chance, one that he almost took with a Slice of Heaven and a Kiwi Krusher, yet a one count kickout followed by a lariat and a Bullfrog splash made this a very successful weekend for the debutant.
By the end of the weekend’s worth of shows, a few things had been clearly established. Money Versus Everybody had somewhat succeeded in their plans to destroy Jack Sexsmith’s psyche. The promotion continued to be able to lure the best and brightest of UK and Irish talent through the doors to wrestle for the Brighton crowds. Jonah Rock is a meaty lad. All things that couldn’t really be argued.
By ‘Spring Break’, however, there would be a debut that blew the Brighton Championship Tournament wide open. Whoever wanted to be the first person to lift the title would have to find some way of navigating an Austrian behemoth and arguably the hottest wrestler on the planet in terms of momentum. The stakes had been raised considerably for any and all members of the Riptide promotion – WALTER was coming.
