More Than Hype vs Club Tropicana
It is announced before the match that nun-chucks and paddles are allowed. More Than Hype (LJ Cleary, Nathan Martin, Darren Kearny) came out with nun-chucks, and Club Tropicana (Captain Sexsea, Aiden, the Fabulous Nicky) came out with kayak paddles. This went exactly how it sounds at first. Lots of goofy comedy. There was nothing to consequential, but it was very funny when Martin got smacked in the rear with a paddle and broke down crying. More Than Hype picked up the win.
Chris Ridgeway vs Calum Black
For those who do not watch OTT, this match exemplified what the Contenders brand is all about. Contenders is all about the younger, lesser known Irish talent getting a chance to shine, with one or two big matches. In this match Calum Black faced a stiff test in Chris Ridgeway. It was a simple, yet effective story. Black showed a ton of fire and was able to simply out-muscle Ridgeway for a while. Ridgeway realized the only way he could win was to chip away at the larger Black, and out-grapple him from there. He was successful, but whenever there was a submission attempt, Black would never say die. This was to the point that Ridgeway had to kick him in the face and then apply a sleeper hold. Black did not submit, but he did fall unconscious, giving Ridgeway the win. Very fun match. Both these men will be very big stars in the near future.
Next we had the coronation of Conor Andrews as the “king” of Contenders. He comes out, and says he wants to do this right. He wants to make play-by-play man Aonghus Og McAnally to put the crown on his head. Just as the crown is lowered onto his head, Amy Allonsy comes out, and challenges Andrews’s royalty. Andrews tries to refuse, but the match begins, and after a couple of roll-up attempts, Allonsy successfully pins Andrews to become the queen of Contenders.
Sethion Moth Martina & Sugar Dunkerton vs Valkyrie & C.T. Flexor
Valkyrie is one part of the woke queens along with Katey Harvey. C.T. Flexor really wants to be considered woke, so he believes that winning this wrestling match will constitute that. Sugar Dunkerton is just here to have a good time, and he had the perfect partner to do that with. There was a lot of dancing and comedy, including Dunkerton not really wanting to wrestle Valkyrie, instead opting to dance with her, subsequently taking out Flexor a few times. Martina worked her tail off, running and diving all over the place, but still leaving room for her regular schtick. After a mad scramble involving all four competitors on the outside, Valykrie pinned Martina with a schoolgirl. Flexor was very excited as now he believes he can be considered woke. Valkyrie disagrees.
Curtis Murray vs Gavin Fitz
This was a good example of a match where they did some cool stuff, but something was missing. The pacing was off, and some parts almost felt secondary to the storyline that there is dissent between Fitz and the Mongrels. Fitz showed a lot of fire and athleticism in the ring, and Murray did his part in being a jerk heel. Murray wins after reversing a pin into a crucifix cradle (in the same way the Usos beat Shane McMahon and the Miz). Afterwards, the Mongrels left Fitz in the ring after telling him he did not try hard enough.
Scotty Davis vs Hyperstreak
Like I mentioned earlier, Contenders is a platform for younger wrestlers to showcase their skills against bigger names. No one has benefitted more from this platform than Scotty Davis. On every one of these shows, he gets a prominent match and comes through almost every time. This was no exception. The only thing different about this match than a regular Davis showcase was that this one felt very long. It seems they were going for the idea that Hyperstreak is someone who can keep up the pace and go for a very long time. Well, Scotty kept up. Where he could not match Hyperstreak in athleticism, he made up for with his technical wrestling ability. Davis won when he hit the crossroads, but the key is that he did not mess up the set-up for the move like he did when he faced Jushin Thunder Liger at Scrappermania last month. Over time we are only going to see him become more composed in the ring. I would venture to guess that in a year’s time, everyone in European wrestling will know who Scotty Davis is.
Mark Haskins © vs Terry Thatcher – Gender Neutral Championship
Haskins comes out with his championship and a briefcase that guarantees him a title match at any time. Keep that in mind for later.
Terry Thatcher is the best babyface that no one is talking about. One of the things I love about OTT the most is the commentary. Aonghus McAnally plays up the story of the matches so well. The entire time in this match, he kept bringing up that Thatcher has a never-say-die attitude. Usually, that type of commentary can get annoying, but not here, because it played into the match at several different points. Thatcher could not out-wrestle Haskins, but whenever he was down, he would always get back up. It was such a simple, yet beautiful story that was executed brilliantly. Haskins worked over Thatcher’s knee the entire match, and it was only exacerbated when Thatcher hit a springboard moonsault on the outside. After this, Thatcher could not manage to build up any offense due to his knee, so he turned to the only thing that would let him win this match: a flash pin. Haskins got him in a fireman’s carry position, but Thatcher struggled and managed to reverse it into a crucifix for the pin and the championship. The whole venue goes nuts, and Haskins is stunned. So much so, that he decides to attack Thatcher with his briefcase after the match. Instead of waiting for a possible world championship opportunity, Haskins decides he is not leaving Contenders without his belt. He cashes in his briefcase to try and win back the GN Championship. After a little bit of fight from Thatcher, Haskins locks in the sharpshooter, and that is it. Haskins is your new GN champion, again.
Overall, this was a fun show, but nothing you should go out of your way to see. The main event was great, and everything else was, at worst, fun.
What did you think? Leave a comment down below, and thanks for reading!
