OTT hosted their annual WrestleRama event in Dublin, Ireland on June 23, and it was a smash hit.
For a long time, this promotion lacked identity, relying on imports, such as The Elite, Matt Riddle, and various stars from New Japan Pro Wrestling. But in the last several months, through calculated storytelling and consistently excellent wrestling, OTT has developed into one of the premiere independent promotions not just in Europe, but the entire world.
WrestleRama featured a loaded card full of matches with huge storyline implications, and a look into the bright future of Irish wrestling, without relying on big-name imports.
Scotty Davis Continues To Prove That He Belongs
Davis, one of the most promising prospects on the independent scene, has wrestled in several big singles matches this year for OTT. Of all of the talent that OTT contracts, they have done so much to push this 18-year old as the real deal.
On this show, he wrestled Darby Allin, a much different wrestler than what he is used to. This made for an interesting clash of styles. Davis is a technical wizard who relies heavily on suplexes and grappling to get by. Allin works a very intense, fast-paced athletic style, and the two meshed very well.
Davis has been in multiple great matches, including against OTT Champion Jordan Devlin, and Mike Bailey, but this was his best performance. His selling is so good for someone his age, plus he has improved significantly in transitioning between spots in matches, something he struggled with mightily not long ago, which hindered the flow of his matches and made the finishes always feel flat. That did not happen here.
To the surprise of no one, Davis picked up the win in an excellent match.
Sometimes A Good Video Package Is All You Need
Three video packages aired before matches this evening: before the top two matches, and before the GN Championship match between the champion Mark Haskins and the challenger Terry Thatcher.
The video package before this match talked all about how Thatcher fights to make his daughter proud, and he wants nothing more than to see her smiling face when he comes home with gold around his waist.
With the stage set, we were in for a very emotional, intense battle between these two men. Haskins entered with his wife Vickie, who has not been seen in the promotion in a long time.
Like I have mentioned in a previous article, Thatcher is the best babyface that no one is talking about. Haskins played into this perfectly. The crowd wanted Thatcher to win so desperately. His road to redemption has been sour so far, and this would be the perfect conclusion to this chapter of his story.
On this night, however, it was not to be. No matter what Thatcher threw at him, Haskins would not die. Coupled with sporadic interference from Vickie on the outside, Haskins’s relentless attack was too much, and he managed to get the win and retain the title. A true heartbreaker for those invested in Thatcher’s story.
The Rapture Lay Claim To The OTT Tag Team Championships At The Expense Of Club Tropicana
The Tag Team Champions, British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate and Trent Seven), were noticeably absent from this show. In any case, new challengers for their titles needed to be established. The Rapture, led by the most hated man in wrestling Zack Gibson (the boos were so loud that he could not be heard when cutting his promo).
Club Tropicana (Captain Sexsea, Fabulous Nicky and Aidan) were the most popular guys on this show, for the simple fact that they had the chance to shut Gibson and the rest of the rapture (Sha Samuels and Charlie Sterling) up.
Unfortunately, Tropicana are not ready to be at the level of the tag team champions. They are very popular, and, in my opinion, are the much better of the OTT undercard trios (the other being More Than Hype). But, if they are going to move up to that next level, they need to be more than just a trio whose matches are half comedy. The Rapture are former tag team champions, so it makes sense that they are next in line for the gold.
Devlin Gets The Job Done, Remains OTT Champion
Listen, Sean Maxer Guinness was never going to beat Jordan Devlin for the OTT Championship. This match was put in place to bridge the gap until there is more development in the Devlin-David Starr rivalry.
Maxer is a good wrestler, but he looked out of place in this position. He does not have the charisma to be a top guy right now. This match was technically solid, but the crowd was cold for much of it, and only woke up when Devlin was on offense.
The story of the match was that these two guys know each other so well through teaming together for many years. Maxer turned on Devlin when he realized (thanks to Starr) that Devlin does not care about their relationship, he only cares about furthering his career. Devlin picked up the win with a roll-up.
The Symphony Of Silence Falls On Deaf Ears
25 times in his career David Starr has tried and failed to defeat WALTER. All Starr wants is to hear that bell ring and not have to hear the symphony signifying that he failed again. He wants to conduct the symphony of silence, and finally put to rest his biggest demon.
This is a story of desperation. Starr thoroughly chopped down WALTER, working over both of his knees, just to make sure he could not keep getting up, but he failed.
The crowd was torn with this one. WALTER has been a monster since coming to OTT last year, terrorizing the entire roster and laying waste to everyone in his path, including fan favorite Devlin. On the other hand, Starr is the most hateable guy on the planet. He screwed Devlin multiple times on his quest to regaining the championship. Starr let jealousy get the best of him, and now his anger has consumed him. This match was designed for Starr to clearly be the villain, but it seemed like the crowd was more interested in seeing history, than story progression, which I do not blame them for.
Starr thought he had it won multiple times. The first, when he had WALTER in a figure-four leglock. WALTER slapped his knee a couple of times, and Starr, along with everyone watching, thought this was a tap-out and that the match should be over. But no, the match continued, and WALTER managed to comeback and make it an even fight again.
The match hit the next gear when Starr grabbed WALTER’s WWE UK championship. He proceeded to call WALTER a sell-out and stomp on the belt. WALTER was incensed by this, and beat up Starr, powerbombing him into the crowd. Starr fought back though, once again using the belt, this time attacking WALTER directly after referee Foxy was knocked out. With the referee out, Starr attempted the pin, but the only ones there to count the pin was the crowd. Even then, WALTER kicked out at two. Reality set in for Starr, so he pulled a rabbit out of his hat. He grabbed the belt again, and waited for Foxy to regain consciousness, before tossing the belt at WALTER, and feigning that WALTER illegally used the belt as a weapon. Foxy saw this and rang the bell. Starr had done it. As underhanded as it was, he finally defeated WALTER…at least until Devlin ran down and implored with Foxy that this was the wrong call.
Foxy restarted the match, and WALTER put Starr in a sleeper hold, and that was it. Starr, through all of his desperation and underhanded tactics, still could not get the job done. 26 tries, and 26 failures, and counting.
The big question now is, what’s next for Starr? He failed, and now there is no way he deserves a shot at Devlin’s title. It seems like he is at a dead end in OTT.
That wraps up my overview of OTT WrestleRama. What did you think of the show? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to follow Pro Wrestling Journal on twitter (@KayfabeToday) for all of your wrestling needs. Thanks for reading!
