Back once again with the ill behaviour to catch up with Edinburgh’s own Discovery Wrestling as they presented ‘Tagged’. An event that would feature the crowning of the inaugural Discovery Wrestling Tag Team Champions, plus a cross promotional title match with the Wrestle Carnival Pure Championship being defended north of the border.

It certainly meant there was another historic event on the cards to be etched into the history books, or however history is recorded these days. The history tablet.

VIP Bonus Match – Open Challenge – Ryan Richards defeated Johnny Lions by pinfall.

Let’s face it. Ryan Richards has expertly transferred his smug demeanour from the Twitterverse to in front of a crowd. Carrying himself upright and confident, which makes this character work, anything less spoils any illusion.

Johnny Lions is the ultimate crowd pleaser, always making sure they’re involved and going on the journey with him. An incredible talent that I’m glad has decided to put the wrestling boots back on again. Wide eyed and hungry, maybe he is a lion…

After a tussle, Lions climbed to the top rope but Richards caused a distraction using the referee to allow The Supreme to launch Lions off the top rope before finishing the job with an Eye of the Hurricane.

A hot opener for the VIP ticket holders. It’s always a pleasure to see Johnny Lions wrestle with Ryan Richards being impressive in his own right, showing a lot of athleticism and was able to show off a little in the process.

Richards is instantly easy to dislike, his gear of golden boxing shorts, white gloves, and pulled up white socks screams privileged privately educated dick then he opens his mouth which makes you hate him even more, then he’s a dab hand in the ring, it’s disgusting how he has put all the pieces together already. Excellent.

VIP Bonus Match – Double D’s (Dickie Divers & Debbie Dahmer) defeated Aspen Faith & Jarek Nowak by pinfall.

Debbie Dahmer is a bit… she’s something. Following the entrance of Dickie Divers, Debbie followed dressed as Jack Morris, complete with 5 o’clock shadow and a bottle of baby oil. Pure entertainment at its finest.

Aspen arrived partnerless, which would make sense later on, so he demanded Jarek Nowak to get into the ring despite the crowd’s insistence for Alan Smith Mr News to make a triumphant return.

The match started with a low blow bonanza, starting with Faith tripping and head butting the referee in the crotch and ending with Aspen allowing the referee a free nut shot in return, with Divers suffering a kick to the grapefruits before Debbie Dahmer found herself falling head first between Divers’ legs in the middle. Aspen refused to tag in Jarek which had the crowd baying for some Polish power to get in on the action.

Aspen finally tagged in Jarek for a big reaction as Nowak ran through Divers with wild abandon before hesitating to punch Debbie which allowed Dahmer to smash him with a forearm and for Divers to hit a Pedigree for Debbie to pick up the pin.

Debbie Dahmer is not afraid to make herself look like a deluded fool in the name of sports entertainment and she goes all in which makes her so captivating. There can be a fine line where it could just be a distraction but she treads it wonderfully.

When Aspen was looking for a partner before the match, Divers stepped across the ring and offered his services before Dahmer dragged him back to their corner. The hilarious love-hate tandem with Divers and Dahmer is a lot of fun.

Sidebar: I know they are due to team soon at SWA, but Aspen Faith and Dickie Divers looked like a really formidable tag team on the surface for those brief seconds they stood next to each other. Money.

Discovery Wrestling Tag Team Championship Tournament – Semi Final – Kings of the North (Damien Corvin & Bonesaw) defeated Fair City Saints (Air Myles & Alex Webb) by pinfall to advance to the final.

Alex Webb in the ring with Bonesaw, and he was ready. Webb tried all manner of flips and evasions before Kings of the North started chopping the chest of Webb, with him taking more hits than his (very popular) YouTube channel.

Fair City Saints are such a good tag team that should be featured in more places. Webb especially has these amazing shellshocked facial expressions that adds a little extra animation to the moves he’s taking.

Kings of the North were an absolute force of nature, quick tags, controlling the ring, suckering in some crowd support before essentially giving them the middle finger in return, with Corvin refusing to obey their “one more time” chants.

Just as the Fair City Saints looked to be on a roll, Corvin pushed Webb off the top rope to the floor below and joined Bonesaw to hit Myles with the Shatter Machine flapjack/codebreaker combo for the win.

Another top match between two well versed tag teams. Kings of the North looked almost unstoppable but Myles and Webb had brief glimpses of hope. The match was primarily Alex Webb being battered but Myles busted out an impressive diving senton over the top rope to the outside which was picture perfect.

Will Kroos defeated Caleb Valhalla by pinfall.

Two big lads smashing each other with Kroos dwarfing Valhalla in terms of physical size which made moments like Caleb hoisting Kroos for a suplex from the second rope all the more impressive.

It’s not often that Caleb Valhalla is physically manhandled so often in a match but Kroos was throwing the big Viking about with relative ease.

Valhalla slipped out of a powerbomb mid-hoist to then German Suplex Kroos which was incredible but then he followed up with a mind blowing second rope Moonsault.

Athena arrived to distract the referee which allowed Griffin to strike Valhalla, which left him prone for Will Kroos to finish Caleb with a Tombstone.

I know Caleb Valhalla has been around for a bit in Discovery now but this was the match that has “made” him in my opinion. Incredible performance, a different side to him, not just a power guy but having to be the de facto cruiserweight and looking like a beast while doing it. Loved by the crowd, absolutely brilliant. Will Kroos was the perfect opponent for Valhalla, a second round wouldn’t be the worst thing…

Another sidebar: give me Caleb Valhalla versus Gene Munny after Griffin gets a battering please and thanks.

Deacon Matthews defeated Jack Morris by count out.

Jack Morris arriving with the no socks, no shirt, powder blue suit jacket is a bold look that I wouldn’t dare try and pull off. He was met by Debbie chants, amazing.

After an ego stroking speech, Morris told the crowd that nobody makes money by being funny which lead to Deacon Matthews strutting out to the ring.

Matthews challenged Morris to a match which Morris accepted then jumped the leader of The Cult of Positivity.

Deacon Matthews chopped Jack Morris out of his shoes before Morris escaped and left the ring to accept a count out.

Morris returned to the ring after the match ended to once again jump Matthews from behind, finishing the assault with a TKO.

Jack Morris is money. Looks incredible, carries himself like an absolute star, can talk on the microphone, doesn’t get flustered when the crowd start heckling, and even though he used his then impending trip to Japan for a negative reaction from the audience, there is no doubt why NOAH came calling and I will boldly call Jack Morris getting some attention from your big American companies in 2023.

This was more of a segment than a match but it was entertaining nonetheless. I hope Jack got his other shoe back from the balcony.

Discovery Wrestling Tag Team Championship Tournament – Semi Final – Emersyn Jayne & Gene Munny w/Session Moth Martina defeated The She-Wolves (Molly Spartan & Kasey) by pinfall to advance to the final.

Martina announced that she had picked up an injury so had found a replacement for Gene Munny in the form of Emersyn Jayne.

Jayne and Kasey had an excellent opening exchange with Emersyn dodging attacks on the apron before front drop kicking Kasey on the outside, smashing her lower back on the apron in the process that could’ve been nasty.

All four kept the action going non-stop with no moments for rest. Munny launched Kasey with a pumphandle throw which got a good bit of air time. As expected the match broke down with bodies everywhere. Spartan hit a big impactful spear on Munny. Whilst Jayne hit a cracking enziguri to Kasey for a nearfall.

Thanks to some beer spraying assistance from Martina, Emersyn cradled a blinded Kasey into a pin to pick up the win.

There was a few of things I wanted to see coming out of this match, both involving Molly Spartan whose interactions with Munny and Jayne had me wanting to see singles matches.

Gene Munny is an incredibly consistent wrestler, every match I’ve seen him have in Discovery Wrestling has been top quality, brilliant in the ring, yet keeps true to his character. A wonderful wrestler to watch make art every time he’s in the ring.

If we got Emersyn in the VIP portion of the show we would’ve got an entertaining match with plenty of shenanigans. We didn’t get shenanigan Emersyn Jayne, we got wrestler Emersyn Jayne and I think there are few in the country right now that can touch her. Her moveset continues to evolve, very adaptable to any style put in front of her, a fantastic competitor.

Wrestle Carnival Pure Championship – Chris Ridgeway defeated Ian Skinner by pinfall to retain the Wrestle Carnival Pure Championship.

After an attempted intimidation from Chris Ridgeway, towering over Ian Skinner before the bell, Ridgeway went about grabbing holds for Skinner to burn his three rope breaks. He then went about using it to his advantage, busting out ankle locks, and pressing Skinner’s neck against the ropes without any consequence, along with bullying Skinner by using little kicks and slaps.

They jostled and traded kicks and chops in a hard hitting and technical hybrid of a match. Skinner fought back and wasn’t shy about tying Ridgeway in knots.

Following a battle, Chris Ridgeway kicked Skinner in the face before landing three German suplexes, the last deadlifted with a bridge pin, for the win.

Ian Skinner showed a lot of heart, with him continuing to fight until the end, he’s such an emotive wrestler that makes you take notice of him. The crowd love him, and he deserved the “thank you Ian” chant following the match.

It’s one of those matches that I can appreciate for its style, even if it’s not a style that I enjoy regularly consuming. It takes a special wrestler to keep me invested in a match like this, which Ian Skinner is.

Triple Threat – Theo Doros defeated Zach Dynamite and Griffin w/Athena by pinfall.

A quick fire triple threat followed with Griffin and Dynamite formed an early alliance before Athena tried to take full advantage of the no disqualification nature of triple threat matches. Doros side stepped a charging Athena, who speared Dynamite with authority.

Just as Griffin stepped it up a gear by grabbing his trusty metal club but was interrupted by the war cry of “GRIFFIN” heard from backstage, Caleb Valhalla made his way out armed with a chain as Griffin and Athena made a swift exit.

The match then became a very competitive one on one, with Dynamte and Doros taking each other to the limit. Dynamite side stepped a Superman Punch and countered into a crossface which was very nice.

The battle went to the apron with Doros attempting a piledriver but Dynamite backdropped Doros back into the ring. Doros replied in kind by Superman Punching Dynamite to send him back first off the apron into the ringside barrier that looked painful.

Theo rolled Zach back into the ring and wrapped up the match with a top rope elbow drop.

A lot happened in this with the opening few minutes being all about Griffin and Athena trying to take shortcuts before being chased away by a Viking, before settling down a little with the back and forth contest between Dynamite and Doros, then big finish with Dynamite taking a nasty landing on the barrier.

I loved Dynamite hearing a heckle while he battered Doros, and then made it his mission to make eye contact with the heckler when laying in the punches to Theo Doros, peak bastardry.

An enjoyable match.

Mister Manoval interrupted Alan Smith drawing the raffle. How dare he.

Joe Hendry arrived but let Mister Manoval do all the talking. Unhappy that Joe Hendry was not given adequate match prep time for his last title defence and demanded an apology. Alan made a deal that he would tell Manoval, so he could tell Hendry, who his next opponent was so Joe could prepare in plenty time.

The look of Manoval’s face when Alan whispered the name into his ear was a picture as the colour drained from his face. Manoval reluctantly passed on the message and Joe Hendry went from confident to fearful in a moment.

We now know that Joe Hendry will be facing BT Gunn at Year 7. All that work that Joe Hendry has been putting into his body, might be undone in about three chops from BT Gunn’s hand, Joe will be feeling the impact.

Manoval is very unsettling, there’s an overriding sinister-ness about the man, switching from child-like glee to a maniacal candour in a split second. A great addition to the Joe Hendry package in Discovery Wrestling.

Discovery Wrestling Tag Team Championship Tournament – Final – Kings of the North (Damien Corvin & Bonesaw) defeated Gene Munny & Emersyn Jayne by pinfall to WIN the Discovery Wrestling Tag Team Championships.

This was a slow burn of a main event. Corvin and Bonesaw were clinical in their ruthlessness, torturing Gene Munny’s supported shoulder in sadistic ways. They were also cerebral, Damien Corvin made a slapping sound behind the referee’s back, held his face and pinned the blame on Martina, the ref sent her to the back to take away any number advantage. Clearly they watched the other semi final in preparation and knew to remove Martina as soon as possible. Kings of the North provided no frills, just punishment.

Munny and Jayne had some fantastic tandem offense including Gene holding Corvin with a double knee facebreaker which allowed Emersyn to hit a swanton bomb onto Corvin’s back.

There was a great call back, Emersyn Jayne missed a second turnbuckle moonsault against The She-Wolves but managed to land one on Damien Corvin. Corvin couldn’t make head nor tail of Jayne as she had him on the ropes on more than one occasion. Opening her account with a Shadowfax German suplex, throwing in a rope assisted headscissor, and using Corvin’s own momentum to fling him for another German suplex later on. It would certainly make for another interesting singles bout.

It was a heartbreaker of an ending, Munny set up Corvin into an Electric Chair position with the plan for Emersyn to dive with a crossbody, a move that proved successful in their previous bout, but Bonesaw intervened and Jayne was pushed off the top to the floor, in similar fashion to Kings of the North’s previous match on the show. Her knee buckled and she took a nasty uncontrollable spill to the outside that changed the complexation of the whole match. Referee Chris Quinn was on hand in seconds to check on her to his credit.

While the ref was distracted Bonesaw brought in the tag title belts, but Martina reappeared only to have Corvin belt her with a forearm. A flapjack/codebreaker to Gene Munny and Kings of the North were the inaugural Discovery Wrestling Tag Team Champions.

It was a tense end to the match with Emersyn Jayne being tended to at ringside, Martina and Munny were staring daggers at Corvin and Bonesaw, something felt off, like there was an unsteady atmosphere. Jayne made it back to her feet as the fallen contenders made their way to the back while Kings of the North held their newest additions to their tag team trophy cabinet to close the show.

Phew, what a show. Sometimes it can be difficult to watch back events on YouTube or On Demand and be invested in a match because there are million and one distractions like phones, or all the streaming services in the world, but this show was a thrill ride from the VIP to the main event.

So many things I want to see coming out of this show, as mentioned throughout the review. Caleb Valhalla and Ian Skinner came out of the show looking like absolute stars, Mister Manoval made a verbal impact to cement his partnership with Joe Hendry, Ryan Richards delivered, Jack Morris was excellent, all the tag team matches from the VIP to the main show were fantastic, and the triple threat-turned-singles match was another worthy addition to the show.

Possibly one of the best Discovery Wrestling shows since the return from the pandemic.