By Doctor Bedlam
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Greetings again dear reader, thank you for joining me once again for another Bedlam Report, tonight is the first of what could be a bold new era for ICW.

I know lately there have been rumblings by some fans and bloggers of British Wrestling that the boom period is well and truly over, I don’t think so, yet, as you will read later, there are things that can tip the balance one way or another. Don’t write British wrestling off just yet whatever you do. Anyway on with the report.

Kez Evans vs Leyton Buzzard – When Leyton wears the mask and the pirate gear he reminds me of something you’d see in the game “Dishonoured” it’s a cool look though. I really enjoyed this match, both guys look like they are settling well into their roles now and having fun with it, and as I said in my previous report, I like Kez’s new look. They work well together too. Leyton hasn’t just stepped out of Joe Hendry’s shadow, he’s jumped out and Kez, well he’s got all the makings of a great heel.

Aivil vs Angel Hayze – Once again Aivil produced a performance worthy of a champion. Angel was great as well, though I admit when I heard this was part of a tournament I immediately thought Aivil’s going to win, purely based on the fact I’d never seen Angel in ICW before. I feel barring her picking up an injury or brain fade by the ICW booking team this is Aivil’s tournament for the taking. Once again although I am a big fan of Aivil but it does highlight something I have long thought. Even though women’s wrestling in the UK seems to be going through a mini boom period you wouldn’t know it at ICW. They tend to focus on the same few wrestlers, which means whenever they have such tournaments you feel its a foregone conclusion who is going to win because you haven’t seen most of the competitors in ICW at all before (or, at best, the odd cameo). Little Miss Roxxy is one example, she appears a couple of times, got a title shot, never heard from again. I found an excellent article by the Eat Sleep Suplex Retweet team on female performers ICW could (and in my opinion probably should) book. The fact is ICW, if they are serious about a women’s division, need to book more women and my only hope is we will see more of the women brought in for the tournament once it’s finished.

Liam Thomson vs Gabriel Kidd – This was a fairly decent match and a solid first title defense of the Zero G title. Though I admit it wasn’t setting the crowd alight but to be honest it didn’t need to, it did its job of showing Liam as a credible champion with Gabriel Kidd being a more than worthy contender. Liam won, as we all suspected, but it was a good start to his reign all the same.

Iestyn Rees vs Kieran Kelly – I love Iestyn’s new gimmick, it’s like a crazy cross between Kurt Angle’s
Olympic hero and William Regal. Kieran was, as usual, outstanding and looked suitably surprised with
some on Iestyns antics. I have to talk about the ending and how brutal that spear was, from where I
stood it looked like he didn’t just spear in the normal way, it looked like when he launched himself forward, he went upwards too literally lifting Kieran off the ground with the sheer power of the move. I’d love Iestyn to challenge for the title sometime, the guy is a machine in the ring.

The Kinky Party vs Nine9 – This could have been such a great match but it followed what is now a standard formula for Kinky Party matches. I did like Nine9’s touch with the zero alcohol lager bit but apart from that the match wasn’t much to write about. Yes The Kinky Party are still beloved by sections of the crowd, but this is one fan who has seen enough of the team, I’m sorry.

Andy Wild vs Power Forward – Okay, about Power Forward, once again, why are they here? Why are they aligned with Mark Coffey? Why are they targeting Andy Wild??? Why pretty much everything in this feud. I’m sorry, Power Forward have been about for nearly nine months and we are still clueless about them, Andy wins easy of course and issues a challenge to Mark.

Aaron Echo vs Alexander Dean – Now this was supposed to be a rematch of the Shug’s match featuring Ricky Knight Jr but in a way I am glad it wasn’t. I remember last year when the Fight Club after Shug’s had a rematch (Kez Evans and BT Gunn) and it wasn’t as good as the previous match and going in I feared this would be similar but Ricky couldn’t make it so Aaron Echo stepped in and had an amazing bout. I admit i was surprised to see Aaron pick up the win, but in a good way, Mister Echo is rising up the ranks and a win against such a great talent such as Alexander Dean will go a long way to elevating him the eyes of the crowd.

Bad Company vs Filthy Generation – This is an interesting little feud developing and could be interesting. I mean, yes BT is injured and I suspect Stevie isn’t back to his best quite yet (hence I feel this match was made as a tag match to protect him somewhat), the factions as a whole can feud and keep it alive while BT heals and Stevie gets back into the full swing of things, plus you have the threat of RUDO hanging over everything too. Great match, potentially great feuds, I feel this is going to make the main events of ICW very intriguing and exciting for some time to come. Of course the match itself was the epic match up we all thought it would be and was an awesome way to end the night.

Some points I’d like to make about recent events;

It seems Dallas is trying to get things back on track by building up stars from the ground up again. It’s what made ICW great and I agree that the UK scene isn’t dying, however it is at a tipping point. It can go either way, I think what has hurt ICW isn’t so much their biggest stars were taken, because when I started watching ICW, the main stars were RUDO, Lionheart, Wolfgang, Jester, Renfrew, BT Gunn, James Scott, Kid Fite and were later joined by Grado and Whiplash and until the past year or so the majority of these guys were still up there or thereabouts. I think the problem is as these guys have retired/went on to other projects/etc the people whom were to replace them, the Coffeys, Noam Dar, Kenny, Joe Hendry and the likes have went elsewhere. Most to WWE in some way shape or form and I think thats whats caught them out, its left a bit of a gulf between the main event and the rest, I mean there are some really really hot talents right now but you find yourself more thinking “I hope they get a Zero G run soon” rather than “I hope they get a world title run” soon if that makes sense, it’s how ICW addresses this that will determine ICW’s future.

Something I have noticed for a while, I have noticed in a lot of instances when it come to entrances, ever noticed some wrestlers, it feels like they are a lil late for their cue to go through the curtain? There are times when you are wondering if they are actually coming out because they seem to stay behind the curtain just a tad long? or is it just me?

ICW creating a new show/brand called Gonzo: well it sounds very similar to the original idea behind the Spacebaws project, but this time I feel they are doing it right by not having it at the garage and keeping it small, it seems as if it will act as abridge between ICW and the GPWA showcases, like an NXT for ICW and I hope it sticks to the idea of showcasing new talent with the odd appearance from an established star. Spacebaws did that at first but seemed to lose track of it, I guess to the point it just became another big ICW garage show. One thing, and I admit it’s an odd thing, the logo, I get its supposed to be a fist, but it just looks weird, for some reason it reminds me of a poppy and surely they could have used a different colour scheme to further differentiate it from the Fight Clubs, just a humble fans thoughts, I do hope it succeeds though.

RUDO Lightning continuing his opportunity to catch the champion unawares: the whole feeling that the sword of Damocles is hovering above Stevies head with the teasing and taunting. He’s using the briefcase right, using it to tease and provoke in a way Renfrew didn’t quite manage when he had it and indeed it’s good to see the title once again being used as part of a storyline. The early signs are Stevie’s title reign, even with the loss of so many main event level guys, could be one of great interest due to this dynamic of RUDO holding it over him.

Carmel as commissioner: while I admire Dallas for taking a step back to focus on other aspects of the company, the choice of Carmel seemed, I dunno, one literally no one guessed it (most said Coach Trip or Jackie Polo) and I daresay where I was standing there did seem some confused and disappointed faces. Yes, the cheers were loud but not everyone was cheering. I am waiting to see how it goes to be honest though. Call me a cynic, and you may indeed call me that (and worse), I bet give it a while and her and Kay Lee Ray will be at it like she was never gone. I know some will think “whats wrong with that Doc?” well bear in mind I’ve seen then feud on and off for so many years that I genuinely have no desire ever to see that match up ever again. For all I know she may be a good commissioner, the real test is how credible she comes across as someone in authority over time.

I know I don’t usually get involved in fan stuff… but ICW’s crackdown on queue jumping was a (welcome) surprise. It has been a problem for years and before it was only fans and bloggers drawing attention to it and every post would have a war of words. People saying stuff like “people make too much of a deal of it”, “some people are idiots for queuing early in the first place” and the old “I do it cos others do it” reasoning. The difference is, before people would go, stand for a while then head over to Box, then come back for the most part. It was frustrating as hell granted, but lately judging by the posts of some people it was getting out of hand and in some cases nasty. I’ve got no problem with people keeping a space for someone, but you’d have incidents of someone genuinely keeping a space for someone but when you see someone turn up late and chat to someone near the front of the queue and just stay there as if they had kept a place when they probably haven’t (or hell just turn up and stand near the front regardless) then it’s a problem.

The difference this time was ICW itself (and for all we know could have been Mark Dallas himself getting fed up of it) made the appeal and you still had some people making out they’d just queue jump anyway. It’s one thing to do that with other fans but when you do that to the company who are trying to make ICW a good environment for everyone that’s taking it too far. Though ICW handled it in a perfect way, they had the wrestling bouncer Eli Bulwark stand outside for the last hour or so (which is when most queue jumping seems to happen) which helps get people who are unfamiliar with him aware of who he is as well as policing the queue and of course he has the licence to do the job properly too. Even then I bet some were waiting for Bulwark to go in so they can jump in at the front, it’s like the company is more or less saying stop doing it, just queue up and if you want to get in quick queue early (instead of mocking those who do for doing so) if you can’t due to travel or work and someone has been asked or is good enough to keep you a space that’s fine otherwise go the the back. We are all here to see the same thing and have a laugh, a lot of people liken ICW to a family, so let us remember that at the next ICW event, please guys.

Hope you enjoyed my thought and opinions (and bear in mind they are just opinions).