The internet decided again, thanks to the many that voted on Twitter I’ve fired up the YouTube machine and watched Iron Girders Pro Wrestling’s third event that took place back in May.
From what I know about Iron Girders is that it’s NXT superstar Wolfgang’s gym that offers a wide array of training, from weight, cardio, to having a wrestling ring for group and individual training.
They started running shows earlier this year to give trainees and wrestlers more ring time and from there it’s had shows with big guests like Scott Garland, fka Scotty 2 Hotty, along with UK veterans like Martin Kirby to put the new batch of Scottish pro wrestlers through their paces.
This show that I’m checking out was uploaded match by match on YouTube and forms their third ever event.
I’ve heard great things about the shows at Iron Girders so interested to see what’s happening down Glasgow way.
IGPW Championship Qualifier Round One – Group C – Thatcher Wright defeated Ellie Armstrong by pinfall.
This show featured the first round matches to become the inaugural IGPW Champion.
You know you’re in for an interesting match/show when the first chant is “Maggie! Maggie! Maggie” and the response is “DEID! DEID! DEID!”.
I find Thatcher Wright awkward to watch, I think it’s because he is so good at being the slimy sleekit Tory botherer that it reflects on his movements. Like I’m almost offended that he is getting an offense in when I want to see him getting battered. The last time I saw Wright wrestle was back in 2019 and he was brand new, not very expressive, but this guy is a fully fleshed out character, and I want to see people punch his face.
Ellie Armstrong has the potential to go very far, because of her build there will always be comparisons to Viper, aka Doudrop, but for good reason. She has a very likable quality about her and she’s very capable in the ring.
Thatcher Wright picked up the victory after taking a weight into the ring and while the referee disposed of the item, Wright gouged the eyes of Ellie and got her in a small package for the win.
Bastard.
It was a quick match but showed plenty of both, the sly conniving Thatcher against the plucky Armstrong made for a nice pairing. A fine opener.
IGPW Girders Gauntlet – Winner: Leon Graves
Up next was the Girders Gauntlet, essentially a Royal Rumble as it was a battle royal with staggered entrants. It featured a lot of new faces like Nicole Jasmin, Jake Lawless, and Jan The Slavic One. Along with some that were more familiar.
Leon Graves last eliminated KJ Mack to earn entry into the IGPW Championship qualifiers.
It’s a rumble, I always say it’s difficult to not have an entertaining rumble, and this one had plenty of action with some stand out performances;
Rabu Romero entered at number one, coming out with Mikey Devine and they rolled a dice to decide who was going in first, which I loved seeing as they’re Casino Brutale so leans into their character to have their luck decided by the roll. Every time he had a featured moment he nailed it, like noticing that someone wasn’t eliminated because he looked into the mirror wall on the other opposite side of the ring was a touch of genius, along with his casual low blow and elimination of Hache Gavida.
Anastasia was an early entry and took charge straight away, cracking Hache Gavidia in the face with a beauty of a slap before smashing faces with running big boots into the corner. A really impressive sequence with Nicole Jasmin and Che Monet was another great moment of the match, and she had the distinction of having the best/worst elimination when she fought with Che Monet on the apron with Che hitting an X Factor on Anastasia to send her face first to the apron and out of the match.
Speaking of Che Monet, as soon as Monet entered the match the tempo increased with high impact flips and adding a flair to the match. As mentioned, Che, Anastasia, and Nicole had a great portion of the first half with all three looking very good.
My only criticism would be the final two, once Martin McAllister was unjustly thrown out the energy dipped. For me, I would’ve had Martin in the final two with Graves to maximise the reaction of Leon Graves winning.
IGPW Championship Qualifier Round One – Group D – Leyton Buzzard defeated Moxie Malone by pinfall.
In the second round one championship qualifier we got a brisk but action packed match between Moxie Malone and Leyton Buzzard.
Malone, ironically, showed a lot of moxie by jumping Buzzard before the bell rang and put on a Dragon Sleeper to start the match in her favour. She punched and clawed at Buzzard, scrapping at him with no fear, trying to put the Dragon Sleeper back on. Eventually Buzzard managed to fight back, busting out a nice standing moonsault and a running shooting start press for near falls. Buzzard finally finished Malone off by hitting two super kicks and a Uranage for the win in just over five minutes.
There were some mistimed moments, namely a strange neckbreaker and the first superkick from Leyton whiffing Moxie, he had the wherewithal to hit her with another, more accurate, superkick to make up for it.
But even with those moments, these two had a good match.
There’s something so smug about Leyton Buzzard that I personally can’t take him as a babyface, he is so talented and looks like he knows it. It treads a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Buzzard is excellent though, one that you’d boo but then begrudgingly clap at something cool he does.
There’s something about Moxie Malone that draws my attention, she’s got that feisty wildness that is headstrong to fight with anyone with no resolve.
Another solid bout.
IGPW Championship Qualifier Round One – Group A – Kez Evans defeated Eddie Castle by pinfall.
Continuing the first round of qualifiers, we had Eddie Castle battled Kez Evans in a knock down, drag out match.
The epitome of back and forth as these two hit each other with everything, it wasn’t flashy, just trying everything to get some sort of advantage with the tide turning constantly.
While in a scuffle in the corner, Evans hit Castle with a low blow and followed up with a Razor’s Edge for the win.
There is nothing likable about Kez Evans, and I give that as a compliment. He scowls, he stares daggers at the crowd, not flinching at any chant that comes his way, he doesn’t try to be the cool bad guy, his moveset is low risk but hard hitting, you won’t see any flippydoodles, he’ll come in and smash you. It’s almost like he’s not trying to sports entertain you but by doing so it’s entertaining, because it’s different to anything else on the show.
Though Eddie Castle was good in the match, and is a talented wrestler, he didn’t shine in this one, almost as though it could’ve been anyone in the ring against Kez Evans and the same match could’ve occurred move for move. There was no “ah that’s an Eddie Castle thing” feeling that put his stamp on the match.
The Models (Danny Hope & Joey Hayes) defeated KoE (Marcus King & Adam King) by pinfall.
Tag team action next with Danny Hope and Joey Hayes facing KoE, who were announced as such so I’ve no idea if they were still going by their previous individual names or to the updated Marcus and Adam King. It’s not an important, or even a relevant point, just saying.
It was a fairly by the numbers tag team match, Joey Hayes was kept away from his corner with fresh tags before eventually tagging Danny Hope in, big flurry, finish, done.
The Models won with a Rocket Launcher, the move not the weapon in a bit of a flat finish.
The crowd were invested in The Models so there was plenty of noise, but this one didn’t tickle my pickle.
IGPW Championship Qualifier Round One – Group B – Kasey vs Charlie Vyce ended in a time limit draw.
In the final round one qualifier of the show, it pitted Kasey against Charlie Vyce.
After a spirited opening from Kasey, Vyce targeted her left knee to keep Kasey grounded as the crowd grew louder in support. As she started her fight back suddenly her knee had no issues despite having had it worked on, throwing in double knee splashes with no problems.
Kasey hit Vyce with a running knee, her right knee, but Vyce rolled out of the ring. She tried to roll Vyce back in but he caught his legs on the bottom rope as the time expired.
This was fine, the knee attacks from Vyce felt like a waste of time after spending so long on it only for Kasey just to ignore it in the run up to the finish, and it hurt Charlie Vyce in the process as his offense just looked weak in retrospect. I did like there was some sense of urgency from Kasey when Simon Cassidy announced the rapidly decreasing time limit so there was that.
It was a promising start but ran out of steam towards the end.
BT Gunn defeated LJ Cleary by pinfall.
A worthy main event to close the show, lots of impressive athletic moves from LJ Cleary mixed with an array of chops and hard hitting offense from BT Gunn.
In one of the longer matches, bar the Iron Girders Gauntlet, it allowed for the bigger moves and higher impact moves breath and leave an impression.
There were plenty of near falls and close calls for both to finish the match, keeping the crowd on their toes. Both traded cracking kicks, and Cleary was victim of the famous BT Gunn chops as they echoed around the venue.
LJ Cleary went for a top rope crossbody but Gunn rolled through the momentum and nabbed the pin.
An even match, plenty of action, and it only took a split moment for the three count to complete. A great exhibition match to close the event.
A really good first half with a serviceable second that was saved by the main event being really great match.
Despite the mixed bag in the second half there was a lot of positives to take from this event, I enjoyed the opener, the Iron Girders Gauntlet offered a lot of fun and there were plenty of new faces and characters that I would like to see again.
The main event was the right match to close the show, it had that aura and provided an entertaining closer. The crowd were hot throughout, showing plenty of enthusiasm and support towards the wrestlers in the ring which can never be underestimated.
The full show is available on YouTube, I’ve compiled the show in a playlist linked below:
🆂🆆🅽 | Scottish Wrestling Network 