The final WrestleZone event of the year and it’s another incredibly stacked line up to close out a magnificent 2022 for the North East promotion. Every show has been newsworthy, every show that I have had the pleasure to attend has left me emotionally drained due to the stories being told. Christmas Chaos looks to end the year even higher with the return of the beautiful blue bar steel cage to settle a barbaric feud.

Of all my years attending WrestleZone events this will be my first at Danestone Community Centre, but will unlikely be the last due to the Northern Hotel closing their function room which will force WrestleZone to visit new venues like Curl Aberdeen, for Halloween Hijinks, or visit places like Danestone Community Centre more than once a year.

An interesting time for WrestleZone as it closes a very hot year, with new faces and breakout wrestlers coming through the ranks with some of the old guard taking a step back to allow a phased transition into the next stage of WrestleZone.

This year we’ve had Crusher Craib announce his retirement, Blue Thunder tweeted his intention to remain outside of the ring for the foreseeable with roles on the crew and commentary taking priority, William Sterling moved into more of a managerial role for The Outfit, and Lord Mr Malice died again. These faces that I saw back in June 2013 that were the part of the foundations of WrestleZone giving way to the young talent that worked through the Training Academy to get in front of us fans, many of whom would’ve started their WrestleZone journey on my side of the barrier.

Enough of that emotional stuff, let’s look at what’s in store for us on Saturday.

VIP Ticket Holder Match – Triple Threat – Chris Archer vs Umar Mohammed vs Tommy Raiden

You gotta pay extra to see TV’s Umar Mohammed, though the sea air and the thick granite hasn’t let his prime time ITV appearance go to his head up here, Umar has been a welcome addition to the WrestleZone roster. Always providing pure entertainment with his dazzling jackets and even more dazzling charisma. He steps in with the veteran, ‘The Aberdonian Bad Ass’ Chris Archer, for the second time in a triple threat environment. Neither man was victorious in their previous outing at ‘Halloween Hijinks’ which saw Rhys Dawkins pinning Archer to fire himself into a title match. Archer has lost a lot of momentum and needs a win to start making his way back to the Tri-Counties Championship he lost in January.

The third man is an unknown to anyone that wasn’t at ‘Trinity Centre Takeover’, Tommy Raiden. A new graduate from the WrestleZone Training Academy that was thrown into the deep end, competing against a multitude of opponents throughout the day with no wins despite plucky performances before dumping Dino and Bryan Tucker over the top rope to win the main event battle royal. This will be his first match in front of a paying audience, there is a little pressure on the lad considering the last handful of debuts post-pandemic were Evan Young, Ronan King, and Rhys Dawkins who have all smashed it out of the park.

This will be a fast action bout with all three liking to pick up the pace for their advantage but it only takes three seconds to snatch victory.

Shawn JOhnson & Mr P vs The Outfit (Dino & Murphy)

Both teams were on the losing end of things at ‘Halloween Hijinks’ with Shawn Johnson and Mr P failing to capture the WrestleZone Tag Team Championships from The Foundation of the Future, and The Outfit losing to the makeshift team of Connor Molloy and Damien.

As 2022 comes to a close, The Outfit need a big dominating end to the year but they will have a tough task as the team of Johnson and Mr P has gelled very quickly, beating Lou King Sharp and Krieger, and The Outfit during their short tandem.

A win for either team will likely have ‘Summerhill Showdown’ implications with all eyes on the tag team championship match on this show. It’s a tough one to call, but after the refurb of the team this year, 2023 could be the year of The Outfit.

Loser Leaves WrestleZone – Scotty Swift vs Bryan Tucker

I was already prepare for some tears to flow at Christmas Chaos but this one could be a very tense bout. Look, we’re all aware of Bryan Tucker’s less than stellar win-loss record over the last year, and yes maybe challenging Scotty Swift to a Loser Leaves WrestleZone match possibly was quite wally-ish in behaviour… I don’t have a counter point.

Oh yes, but lets not forget that Tucker is a former Undisputed WrestleZone Champion, a former Tag Team Champion, a Regal Rumble winner, so when his back is against a wall he built his WrestleZone career on surprises, shocks, and you know who knows all of that? Bryan Tucker.

Scotty Swift is well aware of what Bryan Tucker is capable of, their friendship dating before WrestleZone, he’s watched from the back of all of Bryan Tucker’s triumphs, the highs, the lows, he was in the ring when Shawn Johnson jumped Tucker to join Sterling Oil, he was there the night the mindset changed and Tucker became a bit deranged and paranoid.

At ‘Halloween Hijinks’ Swift did his best to not combat Tucker, instead taking him to Backslide Barracks to eventually get the victory, but with his career on the line Scotty Swift is going to need to put his friendship and history aside for a few minutes in order for us to continue seeing ‘The Red Haired Warrior’ at WrestleZone events.

Rhys Dawkins will no doubt be at ringside with words of encouragement, and Umar Mohammed will be in Scotty Swift’s corner. It’ll be interesting to see if they will play a role in the outcome.

It’s hard to think of any other result than Bryan Tucker being carried out kicking and screaming, but there’s never a guarantee when it comes to WrestleZone.

WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship – Fatal Four Way – Mikkey Vago (c) vs Connor Molloy vs Rhys Dawkins vs Ronan King

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” 

William Shakespeare

We started 2022 with The Rejected holding the WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship in Chris Archer, so Mikkey Vago will no doubt be aiming for that to continue into 2023. Never one to back down from a fight, his first defence was a chaotic triple threat at Hijinks against Captain Alan Sterling and Caleb Valhalla, which saw him retain with the aid of some green mist. Now he steps in against three fellow WrestleZone Training Academy graduates.

Vago has had a fair bit of history already with Ronan King having battled in a Singapore Cane match, and a Mosh Pit Rules match this year. He also has a little history with Connor Molloy with their irregular team ups over the summer. Rhys Dawkins defeated Chris Archer at Hijinks so has his history with The Rejected as a whole.

Much like Hijinks this is a hard one to call, Vago is only in the infancy of his title reign having nabbed the belt in Inverurie in September but that doesn’t mean we could end the year with the saltire emblazoned trophy over a new champions shoulder.

Connor Molloy has had championship experience having started 2022 as one half of the WrestleZone Tag Team Champions, and having had to strike out on his own a title win to close the year would be a nice bookend. Ronan King already thinks himself as a champion but to take the title and get the last laugh against Vago would be satisfying for him. Rhys Dawkins, having made his in-ring debut in May at Aberdeen Anarchy, has already taken wins from former champions Scotty Swift, Blue Thunder, and Chris Archer in that time.

There’s a lot of moving parts with Mikkey Vago not even having to be involved in the fall to lose the title, he walks into a pit with three young lions out to tear away the gold. Fortunately for Vago, it’s not the first time he’s had experience in a pit.

WrestleZone Tag Team Championships – Foundation of the Future (Bruiser Brad Evans & Ryan Riley) (c) vs Fair City Saints (Air Myles & Alex Webb)

The Foundation of the Future have been riding high since capturing all the gold in May, Riley and Evans have been able to smash their way past Shawn Johnson and Mr P, and the team of Mikkey Vago and Connor Molloy to keep the titles in their camp being undefeated in tag team competition. They come up against a team making their debut as a duo but have popped up in WrestleZone this year.

Alex Webb and Air Myles have made separate debuts in 2022, Webb defeated Bryan Tucker at ‘Summerhill Showdown’ and Myles picked up the win against Alastor Kharon at ‘Aberdeen Anarchy’.

Legitimately two of the best teams in the country right now colliding makes for a very tasty contest.

The Fair City Saints have been making their mark this year in Discovery Wrestling and Reckless Intent Wrestling, along with making debuts around the country. Young, hungry, and exciting to watch, they will prove to be a tough test against the imposing Ryan Riley and Bruiser Brad Evans.

Riley and Evans will also have the main event in mind, while Webb and Myles have nothing to lose coming into Christmas Chaos.

There are many matches that could steal the show but mark this one down as the dark horse.

Christmas Brawl – Captain Alan Sterling vs Caleb Valhalla

‘Regal Rumble’ saw Caleb Valhalla finally sink his partnership with Captain Alan Sterling, the initial showdown was set for ‘Aberdeen Anarchy’ but COVID stepped in and Sterling was unable to appear. It was reset for ‘Battle of the Nations’ but thanks to some interference Sterling escaped with the win and retaining the Tri-Counties Championship.

Inverurie rolled round in September, Valhalla distracted Sterling long enough for Mikkey Vago to hit a Stunner and relieve the title from Captain Alan. This showdown isn’t about titles, it’s about Caleb Valhalla finally getting his hands on Captain Alan Sterling.

A Christmas Brawl match, for those unaware, is a no disqualification match where Christmas items are legal, so expect some presents and wrapped weapons being revealed to cause some pain and punishment.

Captain Alan has had back up in the past from The Outfit and his brother William, if Caleb gets a hold of a weapon is will be a violent night for them.

Undisputed Wrestlezone Championship – Triple Threat – Steel Cage – Zach Dynamite (c) vs Aspen Faith vs Damien

One of the most heated matches in WrestleZone history. For the sake of argument we’ll say that it all started at ‘Summerhill Showdown’ in January but us WrestleZone nerds know there are further historic points we can go back to. From Damien and Zach Dynamite tearing each other apart in 2013, to Dynamite and Aspen Faith vying to become the first WrestleZone Tri-Counties Champion. These three have old scores to settle along with this relatively new one.

Since ‘Aberdeen Anarchy’, Dynamite has used his Foundation of the Future boys well to make sure he remains the Undisputed WrestleZone Champion. After their influence was felt one more time at ‘Halloween Hijinks’, using a triple team piledriver onto chairs to finally put down Aspen Faith, a brawl was ignited which ended with Aspen Faith demanding one more match, inside a steel cage, and even brought Damien back in to finally settle this once and for all.

I’ve watched wrestling long enough to know that the steel cage won’t 100% stop Bruiser Brad Evans and Ryan Riley finding their way into the match but at least it’s a barrier to finally make Dynamite do his own dirty work.

The steel cage has been pulled out a few times over the years in WrestleZone with Damien and Aspen both competing between the blue bars. Dynamite has yet to step into the gated environment.

Will ‘The Aberdonian Ace’ continue his reign, will ‘The Revolutionary’ claim back his title, or with ‘The Granite City Sinner’ fulfil his 12 year journey and be the first to complete a historic WrestleZone Grand Slam.

It’s another huge night in WrestleZone history, much like every other show they’ve had this year. 2022 ends a remarkable year for the North East promotion.

It’s another sold out show, so I can’t end this with a big final push to buy tickets. If you haven’t got a ticket you are missing out. Trust me.

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More Information

Doors: 6pm (VIP). 6.30pm (General). Bell time: 7pm (VIP). 7pm (General).

Tickets: SOLD OUT