Slightly delayed due to internet difficulties (lovely weather we’ve been having), but the second of 12 lists is here. After a great start to the year, Scottish wrestling had a fantastic February 2018. With two big shows taking place in the form of ICW’s Square Go! event and W3L’s Remedy, who makes up the 10 Wrestlers of the Month for February?
Honourable mentions go out to Damien, Mikey Whiplash, Chris Renfrew, Luke Aldridge, Andy Wild, Sha Samuels, Jack Jester, Kay Lee Ray, Jackie Polo, Lionheart and Johnny Lions
10. Blondie Barratt
The former World of Sport star Blondie Barratt is the reigning W3L Heavyweight Champion and had three ‘successful’ defences of that title during the last weekend of February. First off, he was disqualified in a title match against Mike Musso at the Wrestling Showdown event in Oban, then he was disqualified against Nathan Reynolds at the 2018 Remedy event and finally he was disqualified in a match against Vortex on the last leg of the tour in Buckhaven. A fighting champion indeed!
9. Jack Morris and JD Wilde
Seeing as they were the co-winners of the SWE Fast Track Rumble, I’ve put Jack Morris and JD Wilde in as one on this month’s list. Both men competed at the UPW show in Mintlaw on February 10th, where Wilde lost to Alex Webb before Morris defeated Ian Ambrose later in the night. A few days later, they featured on SWE’s Too Hot for PG show. Here, Wilde was unsuccessful in challenging Felix Fortune for the SWE Heavyweight Championship while Morris lost to Steven “Air” Myles in a No DQ Match. As mentioned, they both entered SWE’s annual Fast Track Rumble event, where they eliminated each other at the same time, leaving us without a proper winner. As a result, they’ll now face off on March 31st to determine a sole winner.
8. BT Gunn
BT Gunn kicked off February with the debut of the 5 Star Wrestling weekly shows in Liverpool, losing to Mark Haskins in an Elimination Match to crown the inaugural Tap or Snap Champion, with the other participants including Flash Morgan Webster, Joey Axl and Nathan Cruz. The Oddity then headed over to Spain and made a successful defence of his RCW Heavyweight Championship against Angélico at their Here We Go Again event, before defeating Nathan Cruz on the second 5 Star Wrestling show in Newcastle. Next for Gunn was ICW’s double-header at The O2 ABC, which saw him retain the Undisputed Championship over Bram at The 7th Annual Square Go!, followed by a retention of the World Heavyweight Championship against James Storm the following night. Next up was Defiant Wrestling’s Chain Reaction show, where he was part of Team Defiant as they were victorious over Team IPW in a 5 on 5 Elimination Match, although he was eliminated early on by Mark Davis. Rounding off the month, BT Gunn picked up a submission win over Nathan Cruz in a Tap or Snap Beat the Clock Challenge in Plymouth.
7. Aspen Faith
Aspen Faith started February with two successful defences of his WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship against Mikkey Vago and Damien in Newtonhill and Montrose respectively. The King of Catch then headed to Glasgow, where he was unsuccessful in his first ever ICW Square Go! Match after being dumped out by Iestyn Rees, before he, Lewis Girvan and Stevie Boy picked up the win against the team of Kenny Williams, Mark Coffey and Aaron Echo the next night. Aspen ended the month with a debut for TNT Extreme Wrestling in Liverpool at their Merseyside Massacre show, where he and Girvan were eliminated in the first round of the 2018 World Tag Wars Tournament at the hands of The Kings of the North.
6. DCT
DCT started February by winning the vacant Reckless Intent Heavyweight Championship by defeating Chris Renfrew in a fantastic 2 out of 3 Falls Match (available here). He continued the month by being the last man eliminated in a Fatal Four Way Elimination Match for the Respect Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship at the hands of new champion Lewis Girvan (a match also including Michael Chase and King Robert Wishart) before participating in ICW’s Square Go! Match, where he lasted between 1-2 minutes before being tossed out by Joseph Conners. The International Sex Hero got his revenge the next night as he defeated Conners in singles action, before heading down to Ireland a week later to Celtic Championship Wrestling at their Ladder Wars III event, teaming with Angelica Della-Dean in a win over Billy Bedlam and Gunther Isaak in tag team action. He rounded off the month by answering Shady Nattrass’ Open Challenge at a Target Wrestling show, before winning a Rumble Match later that night to become the #1 contender for the Target Wrestling Championship.
5. Lewis Girvan
“The Renegade” Lewis Girvan kicked off February by failing to dethrone King Grayson of the AOW-UK Championship at their Outbreak show. He got back to winning ways the following week by defeating Michael Chase, King Robert Wishart and DCT in an Elimination Match to win the vacant Respect Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship before entering ICW’s Square Go! Match, eventually being tossed out by Iestyn Rees. Alongside Aspen Faith and Stevie Boy, they were victorious over the team of Kenny Williams, Mark Coffey and Aaron Echo the night after. Girvan and Faith then debuted for TNT Extreme Wrestling at Merseyside Massacre, losing to The Kings of the North in the first round of the World Tag Wars Tournament. Girvan ended the month with an appearance for Celtic Championship Wrestling at Ladder Wars III, losing Vic Viper in a Triple Threat Match for the CCW All Star Championship, with WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament competitor Tyler Bate being the third entrant.
4. Joe Hendry
“The Prestigious One” Joe Hendry had a very noteworthy month, as he announced his participation in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia this April as well as being a commentator for the 5 Star Wrestling shows. His first match of the month saw him enter the ICW Square Go! Match as number 30, eliminating Jody Fleisch and having a Freak of Nature party before being tossed out by former rival Lionheart. The following night, he defeated Chris Renfrew in a Falls Count Anywhere Match before he had his first match for 5 Star at their Sheffield show, defeating Big Grizzly. A few days later at Defiant Wrestling’s Chain Reaction show, he debuted The Joe Hendry Show with Defiant General Manager Stu Bennett as his first guest. After pleading to be the fifth member of Team Defiant and ripping up his restraining order against Travis Banks, Stu instead selected Rampage. Not the best way to end a month, especially with a man like Travis Banks potentially coming after you.
3. Mark Coffey
Mark Coffey’s entire February took place with 4 shows over 3 days, at least according to his Cagematch profile. February 10th saw a double show for The Power Forward (is Coffey slowly turning into El Ligero?), where he and Jackie Polo were defeated by Rampage Brown and Tyson T-Bone, known collectively as Team Single in a PCW Tag Team Championship Tournament first round match, while also losing their Target Wrestling Tag Team Championships in a Four Way Elimination Match to Kriss Ross, the team of Kris Kendal and Luke Ross, with The Grizzled Young Veterans and the team of CJ Banks and Shady Nattrass being the other two teams. The following night, he entered ICW’s Square Go! Match and was able to eliminate Iestyn Rees and Lionheart before eventually falling to Stevie Boy as the 29th and final man eliminated. His month ended the following night as he, Kenny Williams and Aaron Echo were unsuccessful against The Filthy Generation trio of Stevie Boy, Aspen Faith and Lewis Girvan.
2. Viper
Viper’s February began in Japan as she ended another tour with Stardom, defeating Kay Lee Ray at Kyoto Max on February 4th. The following weekend, she returned to Pro Wrestling: EVE, where Jawsolyn before she entered as one of two female entrants in the 2018 ICW Square Go! Match. After entering at number 24, she dumped out Joseph Conners after he eliminated her husband DCT before falling at the hands of Stevie Boy. Like others on this list, her February came to a close (according to Cagematch) at ICW’s Biggest Fight Club Taping Ever, where she became a two-time ICW Women’s Champion after beating Martina, making The Session Moth the shortest-reigning champion at 1 day.
1. Stevie Boy
Earning the full 10 points this month is of course Stevie Boy. The King of Insanity began February with a successful defence of his SWE Speed King Championship over Shax at Raw Deal 7 in Stevenage. The following week is where business picked up for him. After drawing the number 29 position in The Square Go!, Stevie managed to gain 3 eliminations, those being Viper, Jackie Polo and finally Mark Coffey, which means he now has a guaranteed shot at the ICW World Heavyweight Championship whenever he chooses. The month came to a close for Stevie 24 hours later as he, alongside The Kings of Catch, was victorious over Kenny Williams, Mark Coffey and Aaron Echo.
With 2 months down so far, the points table is shaping up nicely with Aspen Faith at the top, followed by Andy Wild and Stevie Boy just 1 point behind. With several big shows still to come this year, this could get very interesting come the end of 2018.
Point Standings as of March 5th 2018
1. Aspen Faith (11 points)
2. Andy Wild and Stevie Boy (10 points)
3. Shawn Johnson and Viper (9 points)
4. Damien and Mark Coffey (8 points)
5. Joe Hendry (7 points)
6. Lewis Girvan and Sammii Jayne (6 points)
7. Crusher Craib and DCT (5 points)
8. BT Gunn and Eric Arkham (4 points)
9. Aaron Echo (3 points)
10. Glen Dunbar, Jack Morris and JD Wilde (2 points)
11. Blondie Barratt (1 point)
Thanks to Cagematch.net and Wrestle Ropes for match info
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