By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
The end was in sight as four men stood with a chance to be crowned the first every Brighton Champion. Chris Ridgeway, Chuck Mambo, Jonah Rock and Spike Trivet were the last wrestlers standing, and the Brighton faithful were left with the concerns of ending up with a Money Versus Everybody champion if Ridgeway or Trivet could get the job done.
It was Chris Ridgeway who got the night started by attacking Chuck Mambo before the bell had even rang, using a choke to pull him off the top rope and then hitting quickly when the bell did officially ring. Ridgeway wasn’t messing around as he used chokes, armlocks in the ropes and a modified STF with a nose grab, before blasting Mambo with kicks through the ropes. A brief comeback by Mambo was halted by a running boot to the arm, followed by Ridgeway utilising a cravat to control his opponent. As the pace began to ramp up, Mambo managed to hit a tiltawhirl backbreaker and a second rope blockbuster. However, Ridgeway was able to apply the rear naked choke twice, the second time after avoiding a springboard splash that could have ended the contest. Unfortunately for Ridgeway, Mambo rolled back into a pinning situation and grabbed the three count to advance to the final. Unhappy with the situation, Ridgeway attacked Mambo before he left. A short match – unsurprising due to the need to wrestle twice – and a good example of the face managing to outthink the heel after struggling to keep in the contest.
Between the two semi-finals, Lord Gideon Grey would talk about how the only good thing Riptide had done this weekend was giving a shot to Jordon Breaks. It was good to see Grey in a position where he could showcase some of his wrestling skills, but this was mostly about highlighting Breaks’ UK-style. Bridges that held Grey up, reversals and escapes were all to be seen, as well as numerous flash pinfalls. Just as it looked like Grey was in danger, a low blow with the ref out of position allowed him to apply a grounded clutch for the submission victory out of nowhere. It was a fun showcase of what Breaks can do, and good to see Grey pick up what feels like a rare win.
The match between Spike Trivet and Jonah Rock was always going to be a question of how might Trivet stop Rock…a question that was answer in the entrances as Damon Moser and Ridgeway attacked Rock with a chair, Pillmanizing the leg. Even that barely halted Rock initially as he threw Trivet with two gutwrench powerbomb-style throws, but after getting dropkicked off of the apron and hung up in the ropes, MvsE would pounce once more. Rock’s attempts to fight back against Trivet were often cut off by attacks to the leg, yet a pop-up Samoan drop gave him a way back into the contest.
An avalanche in the corner, a full nelson slam and a uranage saw Trivet launched around the ring, only for Trivet to take to the air to try and down the monster with a second rope codebreaker and a top rope DDT. Trivet was unable to apply the Birth Right, so chose to spit at Rock instead. A poor move that earned him a clothesline, a press slam onto his stable mates and a Rock suicide dive. Moser was still at ringside though when Rock went up the top, halting him long enough so that Trivet avoided the Bullfrog splash and Rock ended up wrapped in a small package for a three count. Trivet was through in a match that helped to highlight how dangerous Trivet was with Moser and Ridgeway around, as well as putting Rock over huge as a complete beast.
Unlike the previous night against RINGKMAPF, this was Aussie Open in a more playful mood as they took on El Phantasmo and Angelico in the Aussie Open Challenge, nicely summarised by Kyle Fletcher’s attempt to become a human hat stack. This would almost see him pinned by ELP as the match begun in earnest, and it was Headbangarang (as they were dubbed) who took early control of Mark Davis by working the arm, before dropping Fletcher with a double Japanese armdrag. Their decision to dab was not the cleverest; it earned them boos from the fans and punches to the face by Davis.
After some slow motion wrestling that saw ELP do an old school ring walk into a very slow rana on Davis, Fletcher would stop the nonsense with a top rope crossbody (albeit one followed by a lot of crotch chopping). Both teams would come close to finishing the contest shortly after as an assisted sitout splash by Aussie Open was broken up, whilst a myriad of dives (splash/Lionsault/swanton) by Headbangarang had Fletcher kicking out at two. It was always likely to be the Open’s night though, as ELP was dropped with Close Your Eyes and Count To Fuck before the Fidget Spinner for the victory in a fun and frantic encounter.
A huge multi-person match that got several names on the card saw Session Moth Martina, Fraser Thomas, Kurtis Chapman, The OJMO, Dan Magee, Candy Floss, Big T Justice and Lion Kid all compete in one contest. Chapman raised the ire of the fans as he booted Martina in the face. The OJMO would soon drop Chapman with a big punch in the crowd to many a raucous cheer, which sparked a wider brawl for many of the competitors. Twice Big T Justice would be ganged up on, but he was able to fight his way out of the onslaught the second time, only to be low bridged by Kid. After Kid ‘summoned’ Simba for some offense, including two suicide dives, Chapman and Floss would end up fighting in the ring as Floss almost scored the win with a small package. Justice would end up on top after a sequence that saw some fighting near the turnbuckle; Thomas would show some impressive strength by hitting him with a powerbomb. Moments later, it ended up being Justice and Chapman in the ring, with Justice taking Chapman out with a sitout dominator to get the three count. Nothing particularly special but a nice way to get some lesser lights on the show.
Following a ‘Bye Bye Bye’ rendition, Kip Sabian and Amir Jordan would be attacked by their opponents for the evening, Paul Robinson and Chakara. Chakara was dressed like Robinson – a pair of jeans rather than her usual singlet – and she channelled her partner’s hatred as she helped to completely dominate Jordan in the opening exchanges. Robinson would disgust the crowd by pulling Jordan by the nose and then licking his fingers. There would be further disgust as he dribbled on Jordan’s stomach, but that would at least earn him some spit in the face. When Jordan did make the hot tag, Sabian came in with a springboard double dropkick and took both out with a running kick/headlock bulldog combination. Chakara and Robinson regained control with a dropkick/T-bone suplex combination, only to get caught out by a blind tag that saw Jordan hit a double crossbody. However, after Jordan and Sabian collided mid-ring, Chakara hit a Gory bomb and Robinson a double foot stomp on Jordan for the victory. A decent enough match, though highlighted by the heel team being one that I never knew I wanted until this night.
The importance of Moser and Ridgeway to Spike Trivet was paid off handsomely in the main event as a quick start by Chuck Mambo was stifled by the MvsE members, giving the referee little option but to chuck them out. Now, it was one on one, and Mambo scored a quick nearfall with meteora knees as Trivet argued with the referee. The fight went out of the ring as Trivet would end up sending Mambo into the ringpost three times and into a row of chairs, before Mambo fought back with an air raid crash on the ring apron. Mambo would hit a variation on his top rope splash when the fight returned to the ring, but Trivet rolled outside, as well as managing to get his knees up on the next attempt at the finisher.
Two codebreaker variations earned Trivet a two count, yet Mambo was then able to get his feet on the ropes following Trivet hitting the Birth Right. Things quickly spiralled out of control here as the ref would end up getting a chair kicked into his face as Trivet aimed to introduce the weapon into the match. After an Air Raid Crash by Mambo, Shay Purser would hit the ring to count…only to pull up at three as he reminded us of his allegiance to MvsE. Another Birth Right still didn’t get the win, even with a fast count, nor did a title belt shot with Moser and Ridgeway in support now. Just as it looked like they were about to break Mambo’s neck, Jack Sexsmith hit the ring, taking out Moser, Ridgeway and Purser. With Trivet backing off, he would walk straight into a Mambo superkick, followed by his gutbuster and springboard splash in order for Mambo to become the first Brighton Champion; a victory that would come at a cost as the ring would break during the subsequent mad celebrations as many fans rushed in to celebrate.
Though overkill in some place, the main event did a good job of coming full circle on the Trivet versus Sexsmith feud, without going the obvious route of having the two meet in the final. With MvsE’s quest for the gold a storyline hook that helped pull the shows together, alongside numerous additional contests that were engaging and exciting in their own right, Riptide delivered on their ambitious attempts to stage a three night sequence of shows during Pride. They should be…ahem, proud.
