WATNSourceLooking back at previous events in professional wrestling can lead to either good or bad memories, depending on what you like. Nevertheless, it gives you something to remember. Whatever happens on that fateful night will remain in the history books forever. Later this month, it will be the one year anniversary since Source Wrestling held a 16-man tournament to crown their inaugural Source Champion. A plethora of both established and rising stars went into battle over three nights to crown the first champion in Source Wrestling history, a weekend that featured the Scottish debut of Sugar Dunkerton who has gone on to become one of the most beloved stars in the country. Although it’s only been 12 months since the tournament, let’s take a look back at that fateful weekend and see what happened to all 16 men involved in the tournament!

Alexander Darwin MacAllan

The winner of the whole tournament was one Alexander Darwin MacAllan, a man who I wasn’t too familiar with prior to this tournament. In the year that’s followed though, he’s now one of my absolute favourites, especially when it comes to his work on the mic. To this day, he’s still the Source Wrestling Champion, with successful defences coming against the likes of Grant McIvor, Kieran Kelly, and Sugar Dunkerton. When he’s not dominating the scene in Source, The Clyde River Killer is away causing chaos in several other promotions. Since July, ADM has wrestled for promotions including Respect Pro Wrestling, Insane Championship Wrestling, and Reckless Intent Wrestling, where he was the leading charge during the Source Wrestling invasion back in April. As he approaches one year as champion, who will be able to stop MacAllan in his reign of terror over the Source Wrestling roster?

Aspen Faith

Although he was eliminated in the opening round of the tournament, there’s no taking away the fact Aspen Faith was one of the best grapplers out of the 16 included. With his Kings of Catch partner Lewis Girvan beside him, the pair would go on to have an outstanding match with The Hunter Brothers at last year’s ICW Shug’s Hoose Party event. Some tension would start within the kingdom in Respect Pro Wrestling when Aspen won the Heavyweight Championship from Lewis in August, starting a seven month reign with the title. Faith continued his tear of the Scottish wrestling scene, which included winning the both the WrestleZone and ICW Tag Team Championships with his best friend, alongside huge matches with names such as Rampage Brown, The Kings of the North, Joe Nelson, and The Nine9. When he’s not tombstoning people in the ring, Aspen can be found making posters, graphics, shirt/gear designs, videos, etc. with his company Bearhug Design, with some of my personal favourite posters in Scottish wrestling stemming from his creativity.

Craig Anthony

Believe it or not, Craig Anthony debuted just a few months before this tournament. His nickname of The Natural is something that he earned as opposed to just slapping it on and hoping it sticks – for someone that new to wrestling to be as good as he was made him a force to be reckoned with. Night three of the weekender saw Craig put in a valiant effort against NXT UK star Jordan Devlin, followed the next month with a debut for British Championship Wrestling inside the Kilmarnock Grand Hall opposite Kid Fite. Anthony would add the likes of Premier British Wrestling and Scottish Wrestling Alliance to the list of promotions he’s wrestled for, soon capturing the respective Tag Team Championships in those companies alongside “Shotgun” Kieran Kelly. A debut would come for Insane Championship Wrestling at the start of April against Charlie Vyce, a bout that he would go on to win to ensure a successful start to what could be a very promising ICW career for young Craig Anthony.

David Devlin

David Devlin may not have made it that far in the tournament, but that didn’t hamper any success he would go on to find in other promotions, most notably Reckless Intent Wrestling. Devlin would defeat his former High Society partner Luke Aldridge to earn the right to pick a new partner, which would turn out to be his I-Gen ally Kieran Kelly. Together, the duo would become the second set of Tag Team Champions in Reckless Intent history after beating Polo Promotions for the vacant titles, eventually losing them back to the inaugural champions The Age of Orion. Elsewhere, The Demolition Man can still be found tying it up in Source with Griffin, Shaun Walker, KOE, and others.

Grant McIvor

For someone with the ability of Grant McIvor, it’s surprising that he doesn’t get around as much as some of the other names on this list. Despite that, The Gazelle has continued to light up crowds at Source Wrestling events, which included unsuccessfully challenging Alexander Darwin MacAllan at one point for the Source Championship. He was also featured in Discovery Wrestling during 2018 as a member of The House of Saynt, eventually being ousted from the faction following a loss to Theo Doros at November’s 48 Months Later event. A debut at Insane Championship Wrestling earlier this year saw McIvor in a losing effort to Paxxo with a spot in the Square Go! Match on the line. At the time of writing, he, Kieran Kelly, and Shaun Walker are technically all in line for a shot at the Source Championship after going to a 1-1-1 tie during a contenders round robin tournament this past April.

Jack Jester

Jack Jester has been one hell of a busy man since this tournament came to an end. Not only did he film the recent BBC show Rogue to Wrestler last summer, The Big Ride Machine could be found defending the Tag Team Championships of ICW, Pro Wrestling Elite, and Preston City Wrestling alongside his best pal Sha Samuels, although The Kinky Party would eventually lose all of their titles to The P.O.D, The Purge, and the team of Bram and Sheikh el Sham respectively. At the start of 2019, Jester would capture the HOPE Championship from current AEW star Kip Sabian, followed by him putting his body on the line by entering TNT Extreme Wrestling’s DOA Tournament, competing in both a Dog Collar Death Match against HT Drake and a Barbed Wire Tables Death Match against Jimmy Havoc that saw him eliminated from the tournament at the semifinal stage. He’s continued to tear it up in promotions such as ICW, Scottish Wrestling Alliance, and Premier British Wrestling, and can also be found at the Asylum in Glasgow teaching the future stars of Scottish wrestling.

Jayla Dark

When it comes to Scotland’s female performers, many will likely think of the likes of Kay Lee Ray and Viper/Piper Niven, but there’s a whole host of other incredibly talented workers. One of those is the current Scottish Women’s Champion, Jayla Dark. The Supreme Leader of The Thirst Order has wrestled names including Debbie Keitel, Little Miss Roxxy, and Kasey Owens in the months that came after this tournament, while also retained her aforementioned title against Addy Starr, Valkyrie, and Jokey. A return to Discovery Wrestling and debut for Respect Pro Wrestling would ensure a successful first half of the year for Jayla. At the time of writing, she is currently in Japan where she has been competing for the Ice Ribbon promotion.

Joe Coffey

A few weeks after the tournament, Joe Coffey was featured as part of the first set of tapings for WWE’s new NXT UK promotion alongside Wolfgang and his brother Mark in a group known as Gallus. Since joining the roster there, The Iron King has been positioned as one of the show’s premier performers, as was shown when he took then-WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne to the limit in the main event of the first ever NXT UK TakeOver show in Blackpool this past January. When he’s not ruling over NXT UK, Joe can be found with both the ICW Zero-G Championship and the Discovery Wrestling Y Division Championship draped across his shoulders, the latter of which he retained against Andy Wild earlier on this year in what turned out to be an early contender for match of the year in Scottish wrestling.

Kieran Kelly

Kieran Kelly is always being regarded as someone to keep your eye on, and for good reason. In the 12 months that have followed since last summer’s tournament, he’s wrestled for some huge promotions, including Fight Club: PRO and Preston City Wrestling, while also becoming more of a regular in Insane Championship Wrestling. He captured the Reckless Intent Tag Team Championships alongside David Devlin, followed by the SWA Tag Team Championships a few months later alongside regular tag team partner Craig Anthony. An impressive showing in this year’s ICW Square Go! Match was followed by Kieran joining forces with Andy Wild and Aaron Echo as part of The Wild Boys, with the three making it to the finals of the King of Hawners Tournament. Although they fell at the final hurdle courtesy of Bad Company, Kieran recently won the PBW Tag Team Championships with Anthony, ending the 900+ day reign of Lou King Sharp and Krieger.

Lewis Girvan

Since his performance in the Source Championship Tournament, Lewis Girvan’s success hasn’t died down one bit. Alongside his Kings of Catch partner Aspen Faith, the duo would continue to reign supreme in ICW, including putting in one hell of a performance against Jimmy Havoc and Mark Haskins in a Chairs Match. They captured their first set of titles at the end of October in the form of the WrestleZone Tag Team Championships, while also fighting between themselves over the Respect Pro Heavyweight Championship, which included Scotland’s first Bunkhouse Brawl. After winning the ICW Tag Team Championships alongside Aspen (a moment that was a long time coming), Lewis would defeat his best friend to regain the Respect Pro title, turning on him in the aftermath. Although they would lose the WZ Tag Team Championships at Aberdeen Anarchy to Scotty Swift and Johnny Lions, The Kings of Catch still hold the ICW tag titles to this day, while also remaining allies with the entertaining Sugar Dunkerton as part of The Big Bad Bawdy Daddies.

Luke Matthews

When it comes to ruthless competitors, it doesn’t get much better than Luke Matthews. The Dog of War isn’t afraid to decimate his opponent in order to pick up a victory, as has been shown in bouts featuring the likes of Dean Ford, former Violence Institute partner MATT DALY, and Canadian wrestling standout “Speedball” Mike Bailey. While he and DALY may not be the best of friends in Source, they did still manage to get along in Respect Pro Wrestling as they failed to capture the Respect Pro Tag Team Championships on two separate occasions. Perhaps their falling out in Source affected their performance in this bouts.

MATT DALY

MATT DALY is the man who needs no introduction. He’s essentially the opposite to David Starr. As a member of The Violence Institute, he teamed with fellow members Alexander Darwin MacAllan, Luke Matthews, and Rowan Frey to battle Chris Renfrew, Grant McIvor, Mikey Whiplash, and Robbie Solar in an epic Hardcore Match on the first Source show after the initial championship tournament, which was followed a few months later by his in-ring proposal to Sammie Jo in November. He entered the Elimination Match to crown the inaugural Respect Pro Tag Team Champions alongside Luke Matthews this past March, eventually being the last team eliminated by winners BMD (Bobby Roberts and JD Bravo) at the promotion’s show in Lochwinnoch, while also picking up wins in Source over the likes of Anastasia and Nathan North.

Mike Bird

After making it to the finals of the tournament, Mike Bird spent the rest of the year wrestling mostly for ATTACK! Pro Wrestling in his home of Wales, defeating Damian Dunne, Connor Mills, and NIWA, amongst others. He also competed for the likes of International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom, GOOD Wrestling, and Dragon Pro Wrestling, where he captured the All Wales Championship from Matt Horgan in October. Throughout the first half of 2019, the Welsh powerhouse had mixed success. He lost his All Wales title to Beano in a Rumble Match, but he did manage to defeat Drew Parker in a fantastic Dog Collar Match for Pro Wrestling Chaos. More recently, he qualified for GOOD Wrestling’s Gift of Good Tournament when he defeated Danny Jones back in May.

Mikey Whiplash

When it was revealed that Stevie Boy would be unable to take part in the tournament, it would be Source Wrestling School’s head trainer Mikey Whiplash who replaced him. After his first round loss to “The Natural” Craig Anthony, Whiplash would have some rather huge matches further down the line – whether it was the now-deceased Japanese wrestling legend Atsushi Aoki or the high-flying South African sensation Angélico, The Necromancer showed everyone that he can be a fantastic technical wrestler as well as a hardcore grappler. A surprise opponent came in November when WWE’s Killian Dain returned to ICW for a one night only appearance, with The Deity of Defiance then going on to win the DOA Tournament in TNT Extreme Wrestling with wins over Krobar, Drew Parker, and finally Jimmy Havoc to win the whole thing. He recently captured the Extreme Division Championship in the same promotion from BT Gunn, a match that has received rave reviews from fans in attendance.

Scott McManus

Scott McManus is someone who doesn’t really get enough recognition these days. Each time he steps into the ring, you’re in for a treat. His performance in the tournament proved just that as he made it past Aspen Faith in the opening round, but he’s not really felt the same level of success in the year that followed. Numerous losses came at future Source shows to names including David Devlin, Xero, and his Underdogs partner Kieran Kelly, but he did manage to squeeze in a victory over the similarly talented Ian Skinner at a Respect Pro Wrestling event at the end of April. A debut came for ICW came in March against Kelly, while he’s since formed some sort of alliance with MATT DALY here in Source. The pair defeated Sammie Jo and Anastasia at the start of June, while McManus then assisted DALY in defeating Nathan North a few weeks later.

Sugar Dunkerton

Saving the best for last – Sugar Dunkerton gained a huge cult following during his first UK tour last summer. He went on to lift the Tidal Championship Wrestling Championship in the middle of August during one of the final dates of initial tour but thankfully, big old Suge D would indeed return later on in the year after a few months back in the States. He won the Reckless Intent Hardcore Championship from Divinity’s Justin Deed at a show in Livingston, then defeated Gene Munny in a Survival Match that saw the man who is 230 lbs of raw sexual gammon eaten alive by zombies, later turning into The Munndertaker as a result. Two long-awaited debuts came for The James Brown of Throwin’ Down in the form of ICW and PROGRESS Wrestling, while a recent return to Source saw him unsuccessfully challenge Alexander Darwin MacAllan for the Source Championship due to the interference of Shaun Walker. Alongside The Kings of Catch, Suge would defeat Shaun, Kai Williams-King, and King Killa at the recent Source show in Mount Vernon in one of his final shows before he heads back to America for a short while. Don’t worry though – he’s promised us he’ll back in the UK later this year!

In full results from these shows, taking place from July 13th-July 15th 2018 at the Source Wrestling School, Glasgow:

Night 1 – July 13th
Source Championship Tournament First Round – MATT DALY def. Jack Jester
Source Championship Tournament First Round – Scott McManus def. Aspen Faith
Source Championship Tournament First Round – Grant McIvor def. Luke Matthews
Source Championship Tournament First Round – Lewis Girvan def. Sugar Dunkerton
Source Championship Tournament First Round – Kieran Kelly def. Jayla Dark
Source Championship Tournament First Round – Craig Anthony def. Mikey Whiplash
Source Championship Tournament First Round – Mike Bird def. David Devlin
Source Championship Tournament First Round – Alexander Darwin MacAllan def. Joe Coffey

Night 2 – July 14th
Scramble Match – Xero def. Daihlan Hendry, Manlon, Shaun Walker, Sugar Dunkerton and Tom Fulton
Cody Crawford def. MJ Wills
Sammie Jo def. Veda Scott
Mike Bailey def. Robbie Solar
Source Championship Tournament Quarterfinals – Alexander Darwin MacAllan def. Grant McIvor
Source Championship Tournament Quarterfinals – Lewis Girvan def. Scott McManus
Source Championship Tournament Quarterfinals – Mike Bird def. MATT DALY
Source Championship Tournament Quarterfinals for the Scottish X Championship – Kieran Kelly (c) def. Craig Anthony

Night 3 – July 15th
Source Championship Tournament Semifinals – Mike Bird def. Lewis Girvan
Source Championship Tournament Semifinals – Alexander Darwin MacAllan def. Kieran Kelly
Xero def. Irving Garrett
Sourse Tag Team Championships – KOE (Kai Williams-King & King Killa) (c) def. The Hunter Brothers (Jim Hunter & Lee Hunter)
Jordan Devlin def. Craig Anthony
Andy Wild def. Rowan Frey
Sugar Dunkerton def. Shaun Walker
Source Championship Tournament Finals to determine the inaugural Source Champion – Alexander Darwin MacAllan def. Mike Bird