Pints, Pile Drivers and Bus replacement services - night 2, Tidal Championship Wrestling "Now we are 3!" Darlington Dolphin Centre
Absolutely stacked card for this one, New Nation, Slater, and of course Joseph Conners.
Insert ticking clock sound effect here
I finish work at 5, the signal there is so bad that I have to get my ticket at the station because the website refuses to load. A good mix of commuters, weekend breakers and miserable sods on silenced devices since I inadvertently chose the quiet coach to sit on. No easily identifiable wrestling fans on the train. Then again there is another event on in North Shields tonight, so I guess most people from Newcastle aren't heading to Darlington. The quiet coach is like being at a funeral for someone you walked past once in a college hallway and never saw again, but somehow got roped into attending. Quiet, sombre and completely devoid of any potential of a smile. You kind of feel obligated to observe the social norms, bit really have no desire to. I - like quite a few others uncomfortable with the silence, currently popping tins - have an emergency beer in the bag for just this situation.
I can hear the imaginary clock ticking louder, gradually increasing in volume. I'm not going to review this as my pre-show beer since I'm reliably informed that there's a decent bar between the station and the venue. But if this silence doesn't break shortly I might start clicking my fingers to the imaginary timepiece. Someone elses phone rings, saving the rest of the carriage from the potential annoyance this will undoubtedly cause. Or at least reducing the levels as the stinkeye is now in full effect, directed at the recipient who forgot to set her phone to silent. The seat I'm in is booked from Durham, so I'm ousted and decide that the vestibule between the back of the quiet coach and the engine is the best bet. There's more life in there for a start. As I walk away, the unfortunate phone call woman is getting smaller a lot quicker than perspective would normally have her seem to be. The optical knives of the rest of the carriage are slowly slicing away at her in a silent surgical procedure The clock begins to fade into the distance.
Darlington. Here we go. Do I go to Hogan's as I normally would or find this good bar I've been told about. Well, I've left my beanie hat at home so I'm conscious that having both ears kind of makes me overdressed for the establishment that would have no doubt led to paragraphs of hulkster puns, brother so I head for the "Old Vic".
I normally trust my own judgement in finding watering holes, but a bloke who looked like the missing member of the Dubliners told me about the old Vic last night in a micropub with a skittle run. If that's not a good omen I don't know what is.
The good pub must have been on a different route as I find myself in a Cameron's gaff - the Boot & Shoe. Pint of magnet. Now one thing about darlo is that they've held on to magnet over John smiths. That's there as well, but there's no hand pull beers, so magnet it is. And the magnet is good. Locals are lively and the racing channel is on at the bar. It looks like there's some sort of disco on here later, and it's less daunting than Hogan's (brother). Generic Cameron's bar, but the magnet is as on form as a mixed gas beer can be. On to the venue. Half an hour til doors. What do I see here... The hole in the wall... That'll do
Ok. So the boot and shoe wasn't really where I'd make the effort to go back to, and this place has real ale on, so it's a decent pre-show pint - blackberry stout in a tankard - this place is a bar after my own heart - if I had to compare it to anywhere in Newcastle it's like the hop and cleaver (the good one between the red house and offshore 44 . Good beers, good selection of spirits and good food from what the other punters are saying.
I know this is listed as a review of the wrestling show, but the experience of getting there, getting back and various bits and pieces in the area of the show from the point of a real ale drinker pad things out a bit. Hell, pints, pile-drivers and replacement bus services could end up being the new diners, dives and drive throughs.
Anyhow, back to the pub - they're playing the velvet underground, they serve good real ale in tankards, and the staff are fantastic. I might be back here later in the year...
On to the venue... For real this time
It's a leisure centre. It's on the 3rd floor in a ballroom - the chandeliers are static, on full belt - the venue doesn't appear to allow for much variation on this. I don't know how busy this one is going to be, but there's enough chairs out. It does kind of look a bit big towards the start time of the event.
On a side note, the time keepers table has an actual bell on it. Not a piped sound effect, an actual bell. The ring is the same one used for NORTH prior to the full review era of me watching wrestling. I have notes, and remember some of it but not enough to review. (Tangent closed for resurfacing, back to the main road) there is one minor problem that I have with this ring, and it's probably not an issue for the guys, but it looks like it could be restrictive. That is the layer of protection under the canvas ends a couple of inches before the edge. Not that much of a problem per se, but an apron spot looks like it is going to hurt.
Show starts - unfortunately there's not that many in the crowd.
Mickey the dragon vs Drake
The few that are here are very vocal and dragon is a local lad. I've seen these guys before at other promotions, mainly as a tag team. this is one thing that is great about touring different promotions, the "who's the better of the tag team?" question can be answered in many different ways depending on the context of the show they inevitably end up being booked against each other in. It came out of the blue that Drake went over. Some nice technical wrestling here with a good bit of flying to boot and of course Drake giving it the odd sneaky underhand tactic. Roll up for the win.
Sons of Ulaid vs New Nation
Very impressive match. Lots of power moves, great verbals from Henry and Rory. There's one fan that looks like he's going to end up annoying the wrong person. If not rabbit punch Rory, then from someone over he course of the night.
Bas Ban is getting more and more deranged and does a great job of not understanding why people are booing him while still being credible as a monster. If Luke Gallows ever sees him, i firmly believe he'll be taking a video of it to wwe creative and telling them that this is what "Festus" should have been doing. This was a lot better than the last time I saw these two teams against each other. New Nation get the clean win.
The crowd may be small, but bah gawd they're definitely into it
Sean Only vs Dan James
Dan James jumped the queue as Sean was being announced. The "atmospheric horror film loop" music taking the place of Sean Only's entrance theme. Tiny red cape and white cloth type thing that doesn't look like a towel in hand, we get a series of laps of the ring drawing out the entrance past the point of it being annoying and into it being pretty damn funny. He's giving it the lobster, and thanks to his voice and build, all I can think of is the bad comedian from the league of gentlemen.
Sean Only is like early ROH era CM punk in appearance, well into his martial arts in his mannerisms, and frankly I'm surprised I've not seen him up north before.
The match included multiple procrastination methods being employed by Dan, almost getting in the ring, then rolling back out and taking a lap. Eventually we get into a confrontation, and it's good. The match included a Posedown leading to an attack by James (no flexible bar thing in sight), and a Sean Only hulk up, big boot and legdrop (brother) Unfortunately not for the win.
Dan James went over clean, and out of nowhere with a sit out full Nelson bomb. The element of surprise well in effect here. For someone that loves an armbar, he didn't spend much time trying to one from what I remember.
After the victory, he was lead out of the wrong door by the ref, did a victory lap of the building and came back mid interval after Sean had gone to the back. This guybis properly old school heel. I'd like to see more of both of these guys up here.
Really entertaining match - leading into the interval
It's taken a while to get used to the lighting in here and I can see how it would feel ok if the seats were full, but unfortunately it's the wrong night to have a fully illuminated hall. Then again its mainly been darker rooms with lighting rigs that I've been watching wrestling in up to now.
Conners vs Kidd up next.
Conners out first. Kidd is well over as a face, and great to see without the servant thing hanging over his head. Once again, getting to see various wrestlers in different contexts and roles is really interesting.
Kidd: "How's everyone doing tonight Darlington?"
Crowd: *Cheers*
Conners: "nobody asked me how I was doing tonight - I was stuck on the (road name) for hours"
You couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Well, I couldn't anyhow. I've been a passenger in a traffic jam, and I was so bored and frustrated I could hear my red blood cells arguing with each other as they coursed through the capillaries in my ears. Imagine being the driver - all that boredom, frustration but with the added caveat of having to keep focused and knowing the destination was going to involve a fight of some sort.
Some fantastic stuff here from both guys - Kidd's refusal to go down in a drop toe hold and the banter during the escape is damn entertaining. The match is pretty well contested between the two, Kidd getting the better of a few exchanges and Conners getting the advantage back with some nice dirty tactics.
Conners goes over with a roll up holding on to the rope for leverage.
Our pissed off punter from earlier is trying his luck with Conners and the ref after the decision. Conners dealt with it professionally without breaking character. Class act.
Roxxy vs Evie Black
Roxxi went over in this one, fairly good reception for her. another quick roll up finish, Roxxi went over clean (her entrance theme is stuck in my head again) I wanted to see what Evie was going to do with the leg she grabbed before going into the roll up. I do love a good submission hold. Admittedly I missed a bit of this match, due to biological interference. Evie looks like she's going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future
Main event time with Alex Gracie vs Liam Slater.
Alex Gracie comes through the door, the Hawaiian shirt is not getting a good response, but he's trying - it's nice to see him not in the prospect thing letting a bit of his own charisma come out.
Slater comes out to "loser" by beck! The vengabus replacement service makes my ears very happy.
Very nice technical match, well contested. Slater goes over with a very nice folding press that Gracie was still trying figure out as he made his bewildered way back to the locker room.
Post event pint special, the hole in the wall is closed but the Sam smiths gaff is open - awesome pint of nut brown and good local crack - never had a bad pint in one of there. It's like Karma is making up for me having to suffer the boot and shoe
All in all, the show itself was fantastic - I did feel sorry for the guys due to the low attendance, the way certain ones acknowledged it by climbing the turnbuckle in the completely empty corner and posing kind of made me wonder if it was an in-joke, or if someone had slipped some special mushrooms into the pre-show sandwich. The promotion announced that it was their last show in Darlington the day after. I can understand why, but I do feel that the people of Darlington have lost out on the Tidal experience. Honestly, this is a show that any town in the country would have enjoyed, and I can't fathom why more people didn't turn out for this, especially with it being the anniversary show. I will be going back to Tidal in their hometown at some point in the tour.
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