We’re back for another year of Wrestlers of the Month greatness! January is always one of my favourite times of the year. Not only was it my day of birth (two days ago for everyone who never asked), but it was also Royal Rumble season which is arguably the best pay-per-view of the year. 2019’s January featured just the five shows here in Scotland, more than enough to get ten Scottish stars who excelled in the opening month plus a few honourable mentions as always. Let’s get straight into it – series two starts here!
Honourable mentions go out to Aspen Faith, Johnny Lions, Kieran Kelly, Lionheart, Mark Coffey, Michael Chase, Mikey Whiplash, Paxxo, and Scotty Swift.
10. Angel Hayze
2019 is looking bright for one Angel Hayze. The PBW Academy graduate kicks things off here, earning the first of what I imagine will be many points. Her first match of the month came at Discovery Wrestling’s event just under two weeks ago, where she defeated fellow PBW Academy star Ashley Vega in what looked to be a thrilling contest. Then, just this past weekend, Hayze ventured down to Shield Pro Wrestling and went back home carrying the Almost Pro Women’s Championship as she defeated Little Miss Roxxy. An incredible start to the new year for Angel – let’s hope 2019 has some big things in store for her!
9. Lewis Girvan
Lewis Girvan is back on the Wrestlers of the Month list this year following two incredible tag team bouts he had. The first of those saw a slight change of plans at Discovery Wrestling, as he teamed with Damien against CCK following Aspen Faith not being medically cleared to compete. In what looked like the impressive match, Lewis and Damien were unsuccessful against Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos after Aspen accidentally cost his partner the match. With Faith cleared to return the following night, The Kings of Catch defended their WrestleZone Tag Team Championships against the greatest tag team in WrestleZone history Scotty Swift and Johnny Lions. This was comedy wrestling at its finest, with all four (especially Johnny) providing a match full of laughs. Blue Thunder and William Sterling interfered to cause a double disqualification, but that doesn’t take anything away from the fact that it was an excellent contest for the Aberdeen faithful. If The Renegade keeps up these sort of performances throughout the rest of the year, he’ll be in the top five for sure, and perhaps even the 2019 Wrestler of the Year.
8. Jack Jester
Jack Jester kicked things off with a bang as soon as the new year rolled in, capturing the HOPE Championship from “Superbad” Kip Sabian in the first weekend of 2019, before successfully defending the same title against Chris Tyler the next day. Unfortunately for The Big Ride Machine, the success wouldn’t last. He and Kinky Party chum Sha Samuels were defeated by the newest team in ICW, The Nine9 (Dickie Divers and the debuting Jack Morris) after being distracted by a message on the screens from The Anti-Fun Police. Then a week later, his return up north to WrestleZone saw him unsuccessfully challenge Damien for the Undisputed Championship, with The Revolutionary pinning Krieger to retain in yet another Triple Threat Match. A rather painful end to the month for Jester saw him venture to Liverpool for TNT Extreme Wrestling’s DOA Tournament. Essentially, they got eight of the most sadistic men in the UK and put them in a death match tournament. He defeated HT Drake to advance forward, before going out in the semifinals to Jimmy Havoc. A mixed month for Big Kink but with it being Square Go! season for ICW, now’s the time to turn that around.
7. Ashley Vega
Ashley Vega had two matches this month and lost both, so you may be surprised to see her coming in at number seven. The performances she put in for those matches were enough to get her the four points for January though. Her first bout was a surprise debut for Pro Wrestling: EVE at their She Who Dares, Wins show, where she teamed with Little Miss Roxxy in a losing effort to Sammii Jayne and Jetta in a Battlebowl qualifying match. A week later saw another debut for Ashley, this time for Discovery Wrestling as she was defeated by fellow PBW star Angel Hayze in what looked like a phenomenal showing from both women judging by the snippets I’ve seen online. Like I said with Angel earlier on, 2019 is looking bright for Ashley. Expect to see her all over the UK by the time we get to January 1st.
6. Jack Morris
2018 was Jack Morris’ breakthrough year, as everyone got a glimpse of what he’s capable of. 2019 will be the year he leaves his mark on the Scottish wrestling scene. His first match of the new year saw him debut for ICW, a company that I feel suits him. Not only did he debut, but he picked up a pinfall victory over Sha Samuels, one of the UK’s very best. A huge accomplishment for Morris. He returned to one of his home promotions a week later in the form of Reckless Intent Wrestling, defeating Craig Forsyth and booting Wee Jimmy square in the tatty bojangles. It hasn’t been a good few months for poor Jimmy. Nevertheless, Jack Morris begins his 2019 with a spot in Wrestlers of the Month!
5. Damien
Damien is someone who had an incredible 2018, with debuts/returns at the likes of Discovery Wrestling, ICW, and he also made it to the finals of the Drew Galloway Invitational Tournament opposite Irving Garrett. He’s already had two impressive showings this year, with a match at Discovery seeing him team with Lewis Girvan against one of the UK’s premier teams CCK. As mentioned earlier, The Revolutionary was a last minute replacement for an injured Aspen Faith. Brookes and Lykos are two of the biggest stars in the UK at the moment but despite that, Damien looked like he belonged right next to them. Another successful defence of the Undisputed WrestleZone Championship came the next night, as he fended off the returning Jack Jester and Krieger to make it another month as champion. He also did the Slosh during the match, which was a sight to behold.
4. Viper
Someone who had an excellent showing in last year’s series was Viper. Overall, The Vixen of Violence finished second, just seven points behind the winner Joe Hendry. She’s had an incredibly busy January. Just two days into the year, she was over in Japan for a tour of World Wonder Ring Stardom. She was victorious in a 3 on 1 Handicap Match over the trio of Hanan, Hina, and Rina, before teaming with Queen’s Quest partner Bea Priestley to defeat the team of Bobbi Tyler and Hana Kimura. That same day saw Viper eliminated from a Battle Royal, a match that would eventually be won by Starlight Kid. Alongside Bea Priestley and Utami Hayashishita, the Queen’s Quest trio won a Trios Tournament by outlasting the teams of Hana Kimura, Mary Apache, and Sadie Gibbs, Oedo Tai members Hazuki, Kagetsu, and Natsu Sumire, and Arisa Hoshiki, Saki Kashima, and Tam Nakano to be declared the victors. After she and AZM overcame Jungle Kyona and Ruaka, The Babe of Brutality sadly lost both her EVE International Championship and SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship to her Queen’s Quest brethren Utami Hayashishita. From one tour to another, as Viper embarked on the World of Sport Wrestling tour around England. She began it by capturing the WOS Women’s Championship from Kay Lee Ray in a Triple Threat Match, before losing it the next day to the third participant in that match Bea Priestley. To end the month, The Vixen of Violence regained the title from Bea to become the first ever and HISTORIC two-time Women’s Champion in World of Sport history. Quite the month for the former Piper Niven.
3. Sammii Jayne
Another woman who was rather busy in January is Sammii Jayne. Had it not been for her ankle injury in the middle of 2018, Sammii could’ve very well been the Wrestler of the Year. A return to Revolution Pro Wrestling is how The Championship Huntress began the year, as she defeated Kellyanne, Yuu, and Debbie Keitel en-route to winning the 2019 Queen of the Ring Tournament. A week later, she teamed with (in the words of Aspen Faith) a British wrestling icon in Jetta to defeat Little Miss Roxxy and one of Sammii’s proteges Ashley Vega to qualify for Pro Wrestling: EVE’s Battlebowl Match. That would however mark her first loss of the year, as Charli Evans went on to be declared the winner in that match. After retaining her Discovery Wrestling Women’s Championship over Nina Samuels, Jayne would go on to lose her MEW Women’s Championship to Little Miss Roxxy in a Title vs Career Match. That same weekend, The Main Event Empress teamed with Charli Evans to defeat Chardonnay and Zoe Lucas, a match that earned Sammii an opportunity at the RevPro Women’s Championship at the company’s upcoming High Stakes event. As long as she doesn’t end up on the shelf again, Sammii is a firm shoo-in for this year’s number one.
2. Andy Wild
The leader of The Wild Boys. The Dad Bod God. Big Dad Stovie Strength. Unstoppable. Whatever you want to call him, there’s no arguing that Andy Wild isn’t one of the best in the UK right now. Although he only had two matches in January, he’s more than earned his number two place. After going to a no contest with Ravie Davie at ICW, Wild cut one of the most passionate promos I’ve heard in a long time. If you’re yet to hear it, ICW uploaded it to their YouTube channel earlier in the week (here). A week later saw one of Andy’s biggest matches to date, as he challenged Joe Coffey for the Y Division Championship. Even though he came out unsuccessful, Wild left it all in that ring. If you haven’t hopped aboard the Andy Wild hype train yet, get on now because he’s leaving the station and never turning back.
Discovery Wrestling management were kind enough to upload his match with Joe Coffey in full for FREE! View it below:
1. Joe Coffey
Joe Coffey is the inaugural 2019 Wrestler of the Month, and rightfully so. Over in NXT UK first of all, where he teamed with his Gallus teammates Mark Coffey and Wolfgang to defeat British Strong Style ahead of TakeOver: Blackpool. Speaking of that HISTORIC event, Coffey main evented the show as he challenged Pete Dunne for the United Kingdom. The bout was 34 minutes and 15 seconds (according to Wikipedia) of excellence. Both men put it all on the line, but Coffey was sadly unable to take the title from The Bruiserweight and took a boot to the face from the debuting WALTER post-match for his troubles. He returned to Scotland a week later, successfully defending his Discovery Wrestling Y Division Championship against Andy Wild. Like his match against Dunne, this was one of the best matches of the year thus far. The Iron King nearly lariated (is that a word?) the head off of Wild’s body to cling onto the title. Back for more NXT shenanigans now, as Joe competed at Royal Rumble Axxess alongside Mark Coffey. They lost to Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch on day one, before defeating Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster on the morning of the Rumble itself. Some amazing matches from The Iron King in 2019 so far. Here’s to another 11 months of pure Gallus.
The first month of 2019 has been a great one. The beginning of the year allows anyone and their dog to be up for contention in Wrestlers of the Month with the few shows happening in January. That’ll be changing throughout February and March though, with a total of six Rumble-based Matches set to be held in Scotland. Six Rumbles! How lucky are we? Expect to see some of those names included in the coming months.
Point Standings as of February 1st 2019
1. Joe Coffey (10 points)
2. Andy Wild (9 points)
3. Sammii Jayne (8 points)
4. Viper (7 points)
5, Damien (6 points)
6. Jack Morris (5 points)
7. Ashley Vega (4 points)
8. Jack Jester (3 points)
9. Lewis Girvan (2 points)
10. Angel Hayze (1 point)
SCOTTISH WRESTLING NETWORK | SWN 