This show had probably the most appropriate name of the Chaos calendar thus far with what unfolded on Saturday August 23rd 2017. Unfortunately, I wasn't in Thornbury to witness the event, it was the first Pro Wrestling Chaos event I'd missed since 'The King is Dead, Long Live the King' in September 2015. Instead I was attending Fight Club: PRO's Project Mayhem VI weekender in Wolverhampton - Billy Johnson's reviews for those shows will be here in due course.
There was a lot of buzz about The Sound of Violence after the show and I'm truly gutted to have missed it. Thankfully, the good people of Turning Face have uploaded the rough cut of the show in double quick time for those of us who weren't in attendance to be able to view it on demand. Jim and Aliki are two unsung heroes of the Chaos team so this is me giving them the credit they richly deserve for all of their hard work. 'Speedball' Mike Bailey vs. 'Dirty' Dick Riley The show kicked off with the first of the three North American stars on the card in Canadian wrestler, 'Speedball' Mike Bailey. Bailey has wrestled all over the world for promotions such as CZW, Smash, EVOLVE, Rev Pro, wXw and PWG just to name but a few. On the other hand, Riley is developing quite the reputation for himself and I'm glad I get to regularly watch his progress in Pro Wrestling Chaos. As I've said before, Riley has taken to singles action like a duck to water since his split from 'Filthy' Chris Walker in late 2016 and this again was another fine example of why he's regarded so highly by the Chaos faithful. Sadly for Riley, he was on the wrong end of the result here as 'Speedball' picked up a win in his Chaos debut in a fantastic opening back-and-forth contest. If they didn't know already, the fans found out what a phenomenal talent Mike Bailey really is. Here's to hoping he's booked for a Chaos show again in the near future! Hopefully one I'm in attendance for! Winner - 'Speedball' Mike Bailey Mikey Whiplash vs. Eddie Ryan Let's face it, Eddie Ryan is on a horrific streak of losses. He's lost to wrestlers such as Tommy Dreamer, Mr. Banana's and Alex Steele among others in recent months. What better way to prove himself than against a man who's been on somewhat of a roll this year in Mikey Whiplash? 'The Necromancer' has defeated some big names including The Brotherhood in a Steel Cage match alongside Team H8 at Unleashed in August. This was a brutal war with Eddie Ryan looking much more focused than he had in previous months. To be fair, he had to be. When going up against one of the all-time greats of British wrestling, you need to make sure your head is in the game. I think I'd say as well that this was probably my favourite match of Eddie's so far in 2017. We all love watching two big lads beating the hell out of one another and this match was just that! Much to my surprise, but perhaps not so much to Mr Ryan, it was he who walked out the victor. After Whiplash had been caught up in the ropes, ala Mick Foley - sans the loss of an ear as he pointed out on Instagram in the days following the event. Once Whiplash had untangled himself and made it back to his feet, 'The English Lion' locked in The Gator to pick up a huge win over a British wrestling legend. The win is a huge momentum booster for the unstable Eddie Ryan whereas I don't think the defeat will hurt Whiplash too much. Winner - Eddie Ryan Drew Parker & Mike Bird vs. Team H8 (Gideon & Jeckel) Following his deathmatch escapades the previous evening at Fight Club: PRO, Drew returned to "regular" action here teaming with a man who has become somewhat of a mentor to him over the past few months in Mike Bird. They faced the team who were part of the Steel Cage match at Unleashed last month in Team H8. I think it's pretty cool that Team H8 are still working together after the rivalry with The Brotherhood. It's added another level of depth to the tag division which is already pretty stacked. You could also add Bird and Parker to that as it seems as though The Wild Boar has walked away from his brothers after the defeat to Project Lucha Underground last month. As I'm sure most would have expected, this was an absolute war. Two teams going toe-to-toe, battering seven shades of poop out of each other seemingly because why not? Whether it was Bird and Gideon trading chops in the centre of the ring or Jeckel diving off the top rope to the outside, this was brutal. Even the ending was brutal and one could argue that Drew should've tagged his partner in after receiving more than enough punishment, looked to finish things in style but missed a high impact move. Bird came in to even the numbers up but was thrown to the outside by Gideon. Drew was then hoisted up onto Jeckel's shoulders as Gideon went up to the top and scored with an awesome DDT type maneuver and Jeckel covered 'The Urchin Prince' to take the winners share of the purse for he and 'The Red Emperor'. Winners - Team H8 (Jeckel & Gideon) King of Chaos Eddie Dennis vs. Rickey Shane Page - Non-Title Match Also fresh off of his evenings work in Wolverhampton the previous evening, RSP made his Pro Wrestling Chaos debut. Knowing I was going to be in Wolverhampton that week, I was incredibly gutted I wasn't going to be in Thornbury to see RSP. He's been one of my favourite American independent wrestlers for the last few years. Last year he wrestled for ATTACK! Pro Wrestling in Bristol and I missed him because I was on holiday with my family. Thankfully I was able to see him at Fight Club: PRO on Friday. This was my favourite match of the night for a couple of reasons. Firstly, for those who saw the aforementioned brutal deathmatch at FCP the previous evening, this match showed just how good of a wrestler Rickey Shane Page is. The guy hung in there for a good long while with one of the best we have on our scene right now. Secondly, Eddie has often been seen as a man who wrestles a comedy style and this showed that he's more than capable of mixing it up against a top wrestler in RSP. Sure Eddie likes to have a laugh, but he can put a stop to that and finish any opponent with a Next Stop Driver at any moment as he did here to Page! Part of me really thought that Page would win this non-title match, but at the same time it could easily have hurt the credibility of both the King and his crown...or title belt in this case. This is definitely a match I recommend you watch on the VOD or DVD (which is now available to pre-order over at www.prowrestlingchaos.com) Winner - King of Chaos Champion Eddie Dennis Post match, Eddie pointed out his good friend Alex Steele who was sitting in the crowd with his new wife. For those unaware, Alex had taken a hit on his bike and re-injured the ankle which he'd hurt last year at the All or Nothing event when he and Eddie became the first ever Knights of Chaos. Eddie called an emotional Alex into the ring and he told the fans about how he got knocked off of his bike and sustained the injury. Doctors told Alex that he'd likely never be able to wrestle again and the leader of the 'Steele Section' went on to thank everybody who'd helped him in his career to that point. Eddie returned to the ring to show respect for his tag team partner and friend and when assisting Alex in picking one of his crutches off of the floor, Alex viciously attacked Eddie with the other. The whole thing was a set up for Alex to turn on his partner, friend, the fans, Chaos management, literally everyone and everything. I'm really not sure what Alex's thought process was here, but it's clear his friendship and partnership with the current King of Chaos is over. So it would appear as though Alex had taken inspiration from Mark Henry. However, if Alex has the same intentions as Mark in challenging for his promotions top title at the next show then he's sadly mistaken. However, as per the stipulation from the triple threat match involving Eddie, Alex and Morgan Webster from Unleashed, Alex isn't able to challenge for the King of Chaos title for the remainder of 2017. Mark Andrews vs. Big Grizzly Current Heir to th...wait is he? For those who don't remember, Chaos' new favourite kleptomaniac, Beano, took off with Grizzly's briefcase after their match at Unleashed. Clearly still incensed by 'The Original Badman's' actions, Grizzly served up a plate of punishment and pain on WWE Superstar Mark Andrews in this contest. It's nothing new for Mandrews being an underdog in terms of size and power, but this was something different as Grizzly seemingly wanted the jobs of Merlin Obadiah Cambridge and Rob Maltman as he took the microphone, berating Mark Andrews and the fans as he repeatedly chokeslammed Mark onto the ring apron. Soon after, the kleptomaniac himself, Beano came out with the Heir to the Throne briefcase, personalised with his own custom stickers, seemingly to taunt and tease the rightful Heir to the Throne. Grizzly briefly got his hands back on the briefcase but it was however soon knocked out of his grasp by 'White Lightning' back into the hands of Beano. Andrews soon after scored with his Shooting Star Press to pick up the win in his return to Pro Wrestling Chaos. Winner - Mark Andrews Veda Scott vs. Sierra Loxton The final international guest of the evening was former Ring of Honor superstar Veda Scott who has seriously improved in the ring over the last couple of years. I was always rather critical of her work in Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU) Absolutely Intense Wrestling (AIW) but here she showed that she's put in some hard yards in recent times to improve. Big respect goes out to Veda for that. We all love to be proven wrong from time-to-time when it comes to that sort of thing! This was a good showing from both ladies, although if I'm putting my smart mark cap on, the result was obvious going into the Maiden of Chaos tournament at the end of October. The obvious result is in no way intended to knock the match because I enjoyed it. This win has to make Sierra a favourite for the tournament, however, she does face some tough challenges from wrestlers such as Dahlia Black, Jinny and her arch rival and my randomly drawn sweepstake's selection, Jetta. Winner - Sierra Loxton To my knowledge, the brackets are yet to be announced for the Maiden of Chaos tournament, however the wrestlers competing on that afternoon in Hanham will be: - Jinny - Jetta - Dahlia Black - WWE Mae Young Classic competitor Viper - Session Moth Martina (Really looking forward to see how she gets on in a family friendly environment) - Jamie Hayter - Sierra Loxton - WWE Mae Young Classic competitor Ayesha Raymond The quarter final and semi final matches will take place on the afternoon show and the main event of the evening show will be the final to crown the first ever Maiden of Chaos. Knights of Chaos Title Match - Project Lucha (Martin Kirby & El Ligero) vs. Modern Culture (Edwin Ricci & Matthew Horgan) - Two out of Three Falls So onto the main event, the first time the Knights of Chaos title match has main evented a Chaos show and it really was a damn good match. Horgan and Ricci were alone with no numbers game to assist them. With Morgan Webster no longer being a part of the Chaos roster and Danny Jones on a tour with All-Japan Pro Wrestling, the odds were even in a match involving Modern Culture for the first time in a very long time. The even numbers however didn't stop them from taking the first fall in this match however, they sacrificed a fall when taking out the Knights with the championship belts leaving the match at one for apiece in an attempt to gain the advantage to pick up the third and deciding fall. Alas, it was not to be as Project Lucha scored the pinfall to pick up the win and retain their championships. I've kept the review of this match very brief due to the aftermath... Winners and still Knights of Chaos - Project Lucha (Martin Kirby & El Ligero) Once the smoke had cleared from this match, The Brotherhood hit the ring and brutally attacked everyone and everything in sight, even going as far as taking out Merlin and Rob on commentary. Hell, I think the only two people around the ringside area who didn't get attacked were Jim Maitland and Charlie McConville. This was very reminiscent of the Nexus debut in WWE back in 2010 and watching it on Facebook (as this was aired live) gave me goosebumps and chills down my spine. It was a perfectly executed segment and a moment that will go down as one of the greatest in Chaos history I think. Once the brutality had stopped, The Brotherhood's music played and 'HE' was here. Under a mask, the apparent leader of The Brotherhood made his way to the ring with real purpose. A lot of speculation as to who the leader would be had been made over the previous weeks and months but I don't think anyone had predicted that it would be WWE United Kingdom star James Drake! The Grizzled Young Vet had arrived in Chaos, and you have to believe that his mission is to cause nothing but chaos! His first order of business was to cut out the Chaos logo from the ring canvas, and walked to the back with it draped over himself like a championship belt. This can only be a sign of things to come from this stable who seem to now be stronger and more focused than ever before now that James Drake is among the ranks! That just about wraps up this review. Remember to get your tickets for the Coalition of Chaos double shot for October 28th if you haven't got them already. As well as the previously mentioned eight wrestlers vying to become the first ever Maiden of Chaos, WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne and former Ring of Honor superstar Keith Lee will both be in attendance. If you wish to check out The Sound of Violence then get onto UK Wrestling On Demand for just £3.99 a month. All details for upcoming shows and the on demand serivce as well as merchandise can be found at www.prowrestlingchaos.com!
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By Darren Dyer17 year veteran of viewing graps. Archives
February 2018
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