On the biggest night of the wrestling year, ATTACK! headed to Cardiff Walkabout for their fourth show at this particular venue. It was my first time at Walkabout so went in open minded not knowing what to expect from the venue. It turned out to be a nice sized venue with plenty of standing room for the 500 or so rafflers who would be in attendance.
I arrived in Cardiff on the train from Bristol at around 1700hrs. I loaded up Google Maps to try and find how to get to the venue and luckily my map reading skills aren't as bad as I thought they were. Once I'd found Walkabout, which was a couple of minutes walk from the train station, I got myself a drink and watched a few minutes of the Arsenal vs Manchester City match on TV before heading towards the Weatherspoons down the road where I met a few other members of the ATTACK! Pack. After a couple of drinks there, we headed back to Walkabout for about 1845hrs, which was the time the doors opened. While we were waiting in the queue, The Anti-Fun Police came outside to make sure we weren't having any fun while waiting for the show to start. I was handed a slip of paper by one of the members of the Brothers of Obstruction which I was told to take to my local police station. The slip of paper promptly got thrown at Chief Deputy Dunne when his back was turned. Once the doors opened, we quickly found a place to stand and waited for the show to start. There were a few 'Beano' chants coming from our section aimed at 'The Original Badman' himself who was working the show as security for the night. The show started on time with an amazing video showing moments from ATTACK's history with Creed's epic track 'My Sacrifice' being used as the soundtrack. Very fitting indeed! Our ring announcer for the first half of the show was Jade (or Sexy Jim as she's seemingly been nicknamed by the fans!) EC-Drew vs Elijah - Extreme Rules Match Drew pulled off the SanDrew gimmick previously used at this venue for this match and having spoken to him about it, it's the one venue where you just have to use that gimmick. The entrance itself along with 500 fans singing Enter Sandman at the tops of their voices is a fantastic experience to be a part of. Anything these guys could use to gain an advantage on the other in this match, they did. If it wasn't nailed down, it was in danger of being broken! This was anything from the Singapore Cane which SanDrew brought to the ring, the tables which Elijah found behind the barrier, the chairs both men acquired from underneath the ring, the staples, the drawing pins (thumbtacks for our American readers) or the salt. Yes, you read that correct ladies and gentlemen, salt! After Drew had emptied the bag of drawing pins into the ring, Elijah powerbombed him onto them and literally rubbed salt into the wounds of Drew Parker. Now, I've seen some sick stuff in wrestling before and this was certainly up there among them. I've had salt in open wounds before and I can tell you now, it bloody stings! The match had seemingly come to an abrupt end when Drew was sent crashing off the top rope by Elijah through two tables set up at ringside. Drew was aided to the back by the personnel at ringside and Eljah demanded the referee count him out. Uhh, I don't think you're supposed to have count outs in an Extreme Rules match? The referee got to the count of eight when the familiar music of SaDrew hit and out came the nephew of the Drewiginal Sheik. Hmm, I like that one! SaDrew came out and took the attack (no pun intended) to Elijah. SaDrew finished the match by spearing Elijah through a table to pick up the win to settle this rivalry. This was an awesome way to kick off the show with the crowd firmly in the corner of Drew Parker, as they always are. I'm not sure where both men go from here but all I know is that both men are better off for having this rivalry which dated back to January. Two extremely (pun intended that time) talented guys who will both be doing amazing things in the land of ATTACK! throughout the rest of 2017, no doubt. 'Flash' Morgan Webster vs Charlie Sterling Sterling was making his first appearance back in ATTACK! in 2017 while 'Flash' was wrestling his second match in ATTACK! since his return from injury. It's fair to say that the Bristol native, Charlie Sterling, got a less than appreciative reception from the audience. He came out with an arrogant swagger and a cup of tea and a silly beret hat, as he's been doing in ICW for the past few months. The crowd did literally everything they could to get under the skin of Charlie Sterling in this one. There were several rather unsavoury chants directed at the former Charlie Garrett, but if you've read my blogs before, I try to keep things as family friendly as possible so I shan't repeat some of those chants in this review. Charlie played the role of the villain very well to be fair to him. I do remember shouting something at him to which he shouted "Shut up you Taffy". Uh, hate to break it to you bro, I'm from the same neck of the woods as you! Just a nicer part of Bristol though! 'Flash' was the victor in this one, transitioning perfectly from a tornado DDT into The Strangler which Sterling submitted to. Another fine match to add to the opener between EC-Drew and Elijah. The feeling in the air was that after the first two matches, we were in for a special night full of awesome surprises! ATTACK! 24/7 Championship - Owen Warren vs Shay Purser Shay came out first, trolling all of us by using 'Bruiserweight' Pete Dunne's entrance music. It was before this match that Kayfabe literally died. There had been a rumour for a long, long time that Oli Sandler of The Ringside Perspective and Jim Maitland of Turning Face were indeed one of a kind. Now, unless there was some sort of body double or something, the VOD can confirm that this rumour is simply just a rumour. Kayfabe is officially dead to me! Warren came out to Bill Goldberg's entrance music with the 500 capacity crowd chanting as one as the champion made his way to the ring. Shay started the match, back Warren into a corner, but the champion retaliated by knocking Purser on his keister! Warren then followed this up with not one, but two spears as the crowd almost blew the roof off of Cardiff Walkabout! As Warren looked to put Shay away with a Jackhammer Slam, the Rogue Ref countered and caught the champion with an inside cradle to pick up the win and his fourth ATTACK! Pro Wrestling 24/7 championship. As Shay had stipulated prior to the match, because Warren lost, he was no longer able to compete for the title again. Shay took the opportunity to rub salt into the wounds before Nixon Newell came out to challenge the newly crowned champion... ATTACK! 24/7 Championship - Shay Purser vs Nixon Newell As has seemingly become the norm, I was abducted by two masked men before Nixon made her entrance and replaced by a bloke who looks exactly like me and seemingly enjoys singing along to B*Witched. I'm not sure what's going on with all of this but it's getting a bit silly now! There was a nice little moment of redemption for the family of Warren at the start of this match. Nixon had Shay's arms locked behind his back as she took him around ringside allowing fans to chop the chest of the 15 year old snooker player. Two of those people happened to be Warren's wife Sophie and his sister-in-law Fern. A moment for the entire family to share! Now, because he's a referee many people might think that Shay Purser can't wrestle. I tell you what, he might be a little bastard (I apologise for breaking my PG rule there), but he certainly put up one hell of a fight in this short match. Credit to you, Shay...we still hate you though! Still, all of that fight didn't stop The Girl With the Shiniest Wizard from defeating Purser to become ATTACK! Pro Wrestling 24/7 Champion. Certainly a great moment, especially when it's been heavily rumoured that Nixon is headed to the WWE. It kind of threw a curveball at us because we're now left to wonder not if Nixon will be back, but when she'll be back. I'm sure she'll be a fighting champion between now and her eventual departure, assuming the rumours are true that is! ATTACK! 24/7 Tag Team Championship - Bowl-A-Rama vs #CCK - Two-out-of-three falls This one has been brewing since before Christmas and it all came to a head in this fantastic contest. In my opinion, this was the best match between these two teams who for me are arguably the best in ATTACK! right now. But then, there's a great tag division all across the board. Now that I'd been returned to where I was standing by those masked men who'd abducted me about 15 minutes earlier, I was able to (metaphorically) sit back and enjoy watching two of my favourite teams in the country. It's safe to say that it got off to a flying start! Quite literally a flying start as Splits McPins scored with a Suicide Dive taking out both members of #CCK. Lykos was thrown back into the ring and Lloyd scored with a rolling fireman's carry, Splits scored with a Senton from the top rope and Lloyd followed it up with his middle rope moonsault allowing Bowl-A-Rama to gain the early advantage taking the first fall. Sexy Jim announced that there would be a 20 second rest period, however Chris Brookes wasn't about to let this happen as he unloaded on both members of Bowl-A-Rama with several steel chair shots. The next few minutes were nothing short of pure domination as #CCK tortured and tormented Splits. This was all up until Lykos attempted to hit the always failing Brainbusters and Splits was able to tag his partner into the match. The action soon spilled to the outside with all four men ending up in the crowd. #CCK managed to seize the advantage by rolling Splits back into the ring and then hit their Gory Special/flipping cutter move (I'd love to know what it's called if anyone can help a brother out) to pick up the pinfall to tie the match at 1-1. The third fall contained just as much excitement as the first two as firstly Lloyd Katt kicked out of the Gory Special/Cutter which his partner had previously succumbed to, and Lykos narrowly escaped from the combination of moves which proved to be his downfall in the first fall of the match. The third fall was decided remarkably with Mondai Lykos hitting a Brainbuster. Yes, you read that right ladies and gents! Mondai Lykos, the Pound Shop Liger himself, hit a Brainbuster to Lloyd Katt to score the pin and ensure that #CCK were three time ATTACK! Pro Wrestling tag team champions! Lykos even seemed surprised himself that he'd done it. Respect to him for never giving up and for getting his Walkabout Moment (if that's even a thing?) Up next was the interval which allowed us all to refresh and get some merchandise. I picked myself up a shirt each from Nixon Newell and Morgan Webster. Always nice to help out independent wrestlers as well as having a chat with them. You may not get much time with them sometimes, but it's always cool to speak to them and take pictures etc. The raffle was up next followed by the costume contest. The four finalists were Rowan reprising his Leva Bates get up from about a year prior when she came to Pro Wrestling Chaos, Kyle dressed as Chief Deputy Dunne, Stuart dressed as Tama Tonga and a couple (who's names I didn't catch) dressed as the BROKEN Hardyz. Of course, the Hardyz won in an apparent landslide victory! Congrats to them! Bird & Boar vs The Brothers of Obstruction Now it's fair to say that Leigh and James' look has, shall we say, changed somewhat. They're now the health and safety officers of ATTACK! Pro Wrestling and are sporting (pen) moustache's. There were plenty of comparisons being thrown around in the crowd as to who they look like. Some of those are as follows: - Ron Jeremy - Mario and Luigi - The Chuckle Brothers Now, I personally can't decide who the look like most, but I do like Rikki Francom's suggestion of everyone wearing Ron Jeremy masks at the next event. I'm not sure that complies with the family friendly atmosphere of Bristol if it were to happen there, though. Bird and Boar had seemingly turned face by virtue of who their opponents were on this night. Not that that's a bad thing because they are one of the finest teams to come out of the UK and more specifically, South Wales. The certainly got a heroes reception to anything they did which was pretty cool. It was the men who currently hold the ICW Tag Team titles who picked up the win in this one with Mrs Patterson's Revenge. For me, this has to put them in line to challenge #CCK either in Cheltenham on May 13th or Bristol on May 20th. If that is the case then I'm hoping it's going to be the Bristol show as I'm not able to attend Cheltenham. Dan Moloney vs 'The Welsh Dragon' Danny Jones I was surprised that this one made the VOD given Moloney's involvement in the WWE United Kingdom tournament, but then I guess different wrestlers have different deals. The second thing about this match was Danny Jones. No longer is he 'Raving' Danny Jones, he's now sporting some Finn Balor esque facepaint and a singlet as opposed to the whistle and bright trunks. The dude looks the business now so let's hope he can impress in the ring as much as he is in appearance. Much to my surprise, it was Jones who picked up the win in this match with a GTS. Hopefully this is the start of something huge for the former raver in ATTACK! as he's transitioned into The Welsh Dragon. I could see Danny going on a run as 24/7 Champion at some stage this year. Hopefully it's not too long before we see some gold around his waist. ATTACK! Pro Wrestling Championship - Chief Deputy Dunne vs Eddie Dennis This match had been four months in the making. Ever since their epic match at the 2016 Under the Mistletour war in Cardiff, Chief Deputy Dune had been a thorn in the side of Eddie Dennis. Now for those who've seen that match, you'll know that it was an absolute war. And if that can be considered a war, there are no words to describe just how brutal this one was. If people though Eddie chokeslamming Dunne off of the roof at Cathays was awesome, I'm not sure what adjectives there are to describe the part of this match where Eddie Crucifix bombed Chief Deputy Dunne off of the stairs onto the Anti-Fun Police at Cardiff Walkabout; a moment which sent the fans in attendance into an absolute frenzy. The Anti-Fun Police made their presence felt later on in the match. Eddie had just scored with a Next Stop Driver from the middle rope, however the Anti-Fun Police pulled the referee from the ring as the hand was coming down for the three count. Some would argue, myself included, that it was indeed a three count. However, if the ref says it was two, then the match must go on. And so it did, and after more interference from The Anti-Fun Police, the odds seemed to be in the favour of the No Fun champion. The former champion was able to battle off Los Federales Santos Jr., as well as James and Leigh Obstruction. However, his battle was in vein as Chief Deputy Dunne scored with his Flatliner/DDT combo to retain his No Fun title. After the match the Anti-Fun Police took the attack to Eddie until Bowl-A-Rama made the save. As the numbers game started to catch up to Splits and Lloyd, the glass shattered and the familiar sound of 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin's music hit the arena. Given what happened at the Kris Travis Tag Team Invitational when this song hit, I assumed it was going to be CJ Banks. However what we got was even better in the return of the Love Making Demon. Sorry CJ! Demon hit the ring and immediately caught the No Fun champion with a Stone Cold Stunner before he fell victim to a 3-on-1 assault. As the Anti-Fun Police had seemingly gained the upper hand, the sound of The Jam's 'In The City' played and out came 'Flash' Morgan Webster to save the day. Or did he? Surrounded by the Anti-Fun Police, Webster removed his coat to reveal a black shirt signifying that he'd become the newest member of the Anti-Fun Police. Or had he? Once Chief Deputy Dunne's back was turned, Webster ripped off the black shirt to reveal an ATTACK! Pro Wrestling shirt. Webster then launched an all out attack on all four members of the Anti-Fun Police as Bowl-A-Rama and Demon recovered from their respective beat downs to assist Webster in disposing of ATTACK!'s most hated group of wrestlers. Webster got just enough time alone in the ring with the No Fun champion to lock in The Strangler and the champion tapped out. The show ended with 'Flash' standing tall in the centre of the ring and one has to assume that he's next in line for a title opportunity. Assuming that's the route ATTACK! goes down, it probably just a case of whether that match takes place in Cheltenham or Bristol in May. I'm sure we'll find out the answer soon enough! After the show, I spent a good 15 minutes or so talking with Mike Bird about his match, ATTACK! in general and other promotions he's currently working for. I've always got a lot of time to talk to Mike because A) He's a top bloke and B) He's a damn fine worker and really knowledgeable about wrestling. So that just about wraps up another ATTACK! Pro Wrestling review. This was an incredible event full of shocks, surprises, returns and most of all...FUNAH! By the way, great idea to have the 'FUNAH SECTION' signs. I'm sorry, I don't know the persons name who made them. ATTACK! now rolls onto Cheltenham for their next event 'Teenagers With Attitude' on May 13th and then to Bristol the following weekend for 'Soundtrack to a Head Drop'. I hope this doesn't mean that we won't have a RaffleMania event this year which for the past two years has been held in Bristol around May or June time. If you've never been to an ATTACK! event before, I strongly urge you to get a ticket to either the Cheltenham or Bristol show because ATTACK! are on fire right now and there's a lot of buzz about them online. Tickets and merchandise can be found at http://attackprowrestling.bigcartel.com/ Also, remember to check out ATTACK! Pro Wrestling's on demand service over at https://vimeo.com/attackprowrestling
1 Comment
Tom
9/4/2017 07:22:20 pm
The names Tom, and thanks for the mention about the signs haha
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