First-time class wrestling at the MEM Wallsend 21/12/18
Friday night show, so a quick bolt out of work, trying to remember where the bus heading towards Wallsend leaves from that's close by. Luckily the one way system means it's not too far. My previous experience of Wallsend has basically been working security at the shipyards and a housing estate, so besides the shipyards and The transport hub, I know nothing of this end of town. Loading up Google maps takes the jeopardy of potentially ending up.in north Shields out of the equation.
So, a short bus ride with a stop close to the venue means I'm there 40 minutes early. Luckily the place is also close to the Anson pub on the high street - which now appears to be a chain pub of some kind of sizzler grill house chain. No real ales at all even though they have handpulls, but I'm buggered if I'm going halfway down the high street in search of another place, so a bottle of Newcastle brown it is.
Every year I participate in "whammageddon" - a background music survival game that starts on December 1st and ends when you're "whammed" by Last Christmas by Wham. This is by far the biggest risk I've taken on that front so far. Luckily, potential disaster was averted when the jukebox was turned off after someone put "baby shark" on. Day 21 and I'm still standing, though thanks to the baby shark earworm, it's somewhat of a pyrhic victory.
Anyhow, brown ale chucked down the throat, and it's off back to Wallsend memorial hall for a night of wrestling and the first class "king of the ring" six man tournament.
My usual haunts wrestling wise are edgier promotions with a slightly older audience, so this is a bit of a departure for me, but one I'm looking forward to based on good things I've heard about this promotion and the shows they've put on in the past.
Normally there's one or two things that ring alarm bells for me, and those are the usage of the terms "American wrestling" or "big time pro wrestling" on a poster for a British wrestling event. It's just a personal gripe on my part - I guess that's a hangover from the days of the shows that used to have performers portraying WWF characters, and the odd travelling show that I've been to. As you'll read later in this piece, this show shattered the expectations these these terms normally conjure up.
At the venue, the hot dogs are on the go, good news as I didn't grab anything at work or the pub beforehand. Beer wise, there's a small bar that covers most bases. Worthington's on as well
Confirmation at the merch stand that it's definitely not an inflatable hammer show. Posters, Mysterio masks, programmes and 8x10s were available though - the programs looked really nicely put together too.
Good to see a crowd of all ages here, and it looks like the venue is good for accessibility despite being upstairs.
The playlist beforehand has been pretty decent, various raw themes and a bit of hard rock. Admittedly there was a Robbie Williams track in there, but for a hype song in a family/all tastes environment "let me entertain you" is not a bad choice. Not sure about the mic on the announcements so far - it's sounded a touch low and a bit muffled at times, maybe that'll change when the MC comes to the ring.
This is one of the few shows up here that I've seen not using HT Drake's ring - we've got one of a similar size, with black, yellow and blue ropes, a sky blue canvas and royal blue apron skirts. It's like all the wrestling I watched during my childhood (wwf and wcw circa 1991) came together in this structure.
A heartily chanted along with countdown from 10 and "Ready to go" by Republica, signify that we're about to get underway
The first match is Finland's own Vitto Peru Vs first class champion Micky long
Both have flags with them - the Finnish flag and the Union flag respectively.
Vitto lets the audience know how high the level of disdain he has for them is.
Early on, it goes to the outside and Vitto misses a chop against the ring post that resonates around the room when his hand connects with the steel.
Micky gets everyone behind him and England, while the Fin keeps on mocking both, and the audience throughout.
Micky long gets the victory eventually with a death valley driver
Rammstein's "feuer Frei" plays and our next competitor is is out waving the jolly roger - from Merseyside, Tyson Taylor to go against Dean Allmark.
Deano's got the fans behind him here, and turns the tide on Taylor after a sneak attack at the start.
Taylor gets put outside and the younger members of the audience start giving him a lot of grief. There's the insult, and the injury comes in the form of a dive through the ropes from Deano.
As they battle back into the ring, the exchange gets a bit faster paced before we start seeing some of the kickboxing coming out from Deano.
Taylor begs off Deano and offers a handshake. While Allmark is asking the audience whether to go for it or not,
Tyson demonstrates the legitimacy of the offer offer by offering the ref one first. Deano eventually takes the hand and stamps on it much to the joy of those in attendance.
Taylor gets a public warning for a choke on the ropes - i didn't know they were using that system - good to see it being utilised though.
Deano goes for a top rope leg drop, and connects. As the referee's hand is less than an inch above the mat for the three, the bell goes. The 15 minute time limit has expired and both men are eliminated from the tournament.
Well done ending to that one in a really good match. Something like that takes a lot of skill to get the timing that spot on for that kind of an ending
Next up, Screwface Vs El Excentrico
Screwface's powerful and technical offence starts to get the better of the luchador, At one point he tries to unmask him at the ropes, but can't get it done before the five count and has to break.
After a bit more back and forth, Screwface ends up on the outside. He crawls under the ring to the other side picking up the chain from his ammobox on the way. The referee is looking for him on the side he crawled under, Excentrico tries to grab him through the ropes but is levelled with a fist wrapped in steel. That does it, and Screwface is through to the final. Apparently not through with Excentrico though, attacking him afterwards and choking him with the chain.
His opponent for later tonight comes out to make the save, as Screwface backs off towards the door Long ups the ante for the final by challenging Screwface to make it a chain match. Screwface accepts, but only if the belt is up for grabs. Micky does his best Zodiac impression while he lets the crowd decide (YES? NO?)
They settle on it. Now this I didn't expect with it being a family friendly show, chain matches are normally fairly brutal.
The kids in the audience are giving Micky the rocky entourage escort back to the locker room. It's great to see them enjoying it so much and behind the main guy there. Everyone there is hyped for the main event as we head into the interval.
We kick off with a number 1 contenders match
Another pirate flag is being carried out, this time by the henchman Jim Diehard as he is set to go up against the Union Flag waving James Mason
James is someone that's got a lot of experience behind him, is a well known great technican, and is one of the guys that I've really wanted the opportunity to see live, so this is really was a treat for me
The Henchman is a bit larger than Mason and holds the power advantage for a fair bit of the match. The offence that mason did get in on him was more quickness and slick technical wrestling
A trapezius hold isn't something you see a lot of these days, but when well used like it was here, by a bigger guy putting his weight on the shoulders of a plucky and popular underdog, it's great to see.
Henchman takes the win with a big splash - again, this was a fantastic old school style match.
For the match they're attached by the wrist as opposed to the neck. The presence of a pole in the corner with the belt on it puts paid to any question I had as to whether it's a pinfall or touch all four corners to win type chain match.
Lots of tug of war type stuff to start, Screwface tries to shorten the chain by standing on it, but Micky pulls the rug from.under him so to speak upending Screwface
Some hard hitting and we'll thought out use of the chain between the two here
Screwface showing some innovation with the chain - constricting it round Micky's head at the ring post at one point. There's no doubt at all that chain matchres are his wheelhouse.
Brutal chair shots from both during and after a brawl to the outside
Screwface swings the chair at Micky, the chair bounces off the ropes and he ends up hitting himself in the head with it on the rebound.
After a superplex attempt was thwarted by Micky, he retained after using Screwface who was lying across the corner as a step to reach the belt on the pole
This again was a really well put together match - a stipulation you wouldn't expect to see at a family friendly show, but carried off really well.
Overall this is one of the best shows of this type I've seen. It was a bit of a throwback in some respects to the shows I'd see growing up, but brought up to date. Strong, clearly defined characters for people to get behind and for people to dislike, great action and a really good atmosphere. The venue was brightly lit throughout, which normally I wouldn't be a fan of, but it suited this show. One other thing it had that was a nice touch was a door at either end of the stage, which was used to good effect having the faces entering from one side and the heels from the other.
If you see First Class Wrestling in your area, I would definitely recommend it for a good, fun night of wrestling that the whole family can enjoy.
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