Last year I finally went to my first ever Fair City Wrestling event, I had said that I would wait until the version came out online, primarily because I had such a fluster travelling down, ran late to try and get any content, phone battery draining, just an all round bugger of a day before the show itself. Then the Sunday, that was an arse and a half with train delays, so to put that on FCW would be harsh if I suddenly tear apart a match that was actually good on a second viewing.

I was able to accost Tom Atlas near the toilets before the event though so there was that…

The Ardler Complex, I’ve got a lot of good memories of the place, like they weren’t my finest moments like fannying about with a microphone, losing a clip-on tie far more times than I care to mention, and acting like a pillock for the sum total of experience. It was good times in the moment.

It had been near 10 years since I last set foot in the place that really kick started what was OSWtv and eventually evolved to be SWN as it is today. There were so many familiar faces in the crowd, in the ring, and it really made me appreciate how far our little site has come in that time.

Right, time to access some recall while I reminisce and review Fair City Wrestling ArdlerMania.

First bit of recall that isn’t on the Patreon video release. The event started with Flash Gordo introducing Stevie Wizard as the MC for the evening. Gordo was an absolute ball of excitement and fire. Never have a seen a man so excited for the wrestling and that carried through into the crowd who were champing at the bit to see some the wrasslin’. Genuinely, before the show, I saw Gordo going about and I thought he was the fire marshall as he was sporting some spiffy red braces. Like, how you would imagine a fireman would look in Fireman Sam. What a guy.

I’ve mentioned it in previous reviews but when Stevie Wizard is on MC duties there’s always an air of control and poise. The lighting might suck, or there’s a sound issue, but you never see Wizard panic and he won’t ignore it but will just acknowledge and move on. If anything if I see Wizard panic… I’m going to panic.

When I was at the show there was a light right in my eye line that meant it was pointless taking pictures. Which is fine, not a real issue as it allowed me to just watch the show and not think about a montage for once. The work on the lighting for the Patreon release is outstanding as I feared I’d be watching two and a half hours back and it being quite dark. The magic of post-production eh.

Zach Dynamite defeated Euan G Mackie by pinfall.

The show started with Zach Dynamite, having been so used to Zach being the deplorable bastard up in the North East it was nice getting to cheer for ‘The Aberdonian Ace’ for once. Mackie’s music hit and the green and black bear swaggered out but it was revealed to be Tom Atlas with a maniacal laugh as it was a ruse! A flimflam! A shenanigan! Mackie walked out during the distraction to kick the match off with a sneak attack.

Dynamite fought back, backdropping Mackie over the top rope with only Tom Atlas there to break his fall. Zach followed up with a top rope senton onto the stumbling Neo Paradigm to the floor. Dynamite slapped Atlas and threw him to the back. It wasn’t picked up on the video but as I was right next to the entrance, the little scream from Atlas as he was thrown through that entrance way was incredible.

Mackie pushed Dynamite into the ringpost once the battle went to the apron and followed up by tying Zach’s leg into the ringside barrier to attempt to win by count out but Dynamite returned to the ring. Mackie avoided an elbow drop by getting his knees up to his chest but was flipped out of a Sliced Bread and was met by a Super Kick for a near fall.

As the fight wore on, Dynamite hit Mackie with a GTS but Euan rolled out of the ring. Mackie returned with a jumped up DDT with only a foot on the bottom rope saving Dynamite. Mackie had enough and brought in a stiletto to impale Dynamite, the ultimate heel move you might say… but referee Chris Quinn grabbed it and in the melee Dynamite kipped up and hit a Killshot onto Mackie for the win.

A great opening match. Plenty of action with a lot of back and forth to keep the momentum swinging. Tom Atlas maximised his moments to make them memorable (as I watch again about 5 months after the show itself), and that oddness of seeing Zach Dynamite work for the crowd approval was jarring in the opening but by the end I had erased his heinous actions in and around The Granite City for a moment. Two wrestlers I enjoy watching do a bit of the wrestling.

Brodie Adler defeated Ashley Vega by pinfall.

Brodie tried to finish the match early with a Samoan Drop in the opening moments but Vega kicked out. Adler slowed the pace down with Vega trying to battle back.

There was a little odd moment with Vega doing a running double knee to the back of Adler that showed no effect.

After a prolonged beat down Ashley fired back with a Thesz Press and rocked Brodie with running forearms. Adler returned in kind with a nice second rope (the most dangerous rope) flying crossbody for a near fall. Ashley tried another come back by snapping Adler’s head onto her knee, but was hit with a Black Hole Slam for three.

Adler offered Vega a handshake which was accepted with a hug to bring the match full circle from the opening.

This one didn’t quite click for me. There was a lack of attack in the moves at times, and at times it felt like it was slow motion, maybe there was a little miscommunication in moments. When the moves were attacked, like there was a follow up Uranage in the opening exchanges by Brodie and her second rope crossbody, it looked really good.

We didn’t get a lot of Ashley Vega in this one as she had to try and come back from the opening Samoan Drop which set her on the back foot, she had a nice little bit where she broke up her Irish Whip attempt that Adler was blocking by using her leg to break the grip and followed up with a nice big forearm.

Andy Roberts defeated Craig Berry by pinfall.

Big meaty men slappin’ meat was the order of the day next as Roberts and Berry traded shoulder tackles but Roberts took advantage with a swift boot to the stomach and forearm to the back. Berry fired out of a chop for a lamb chop of his own.

Berry took the fight to the outside with some meaty chest clubs at the guard rail, he then tried to use Roberts’ own momentum to lift him into a powerslam but was denied by an eye rake which allowed Andy to lay in the boots and elbow drops to try and squash Berry. An Eddie Guerrero style hilo from the apron back into the ring could only muster a two count.

After some meat tenderising splashes, Roberts caught a running Berry for a lovely belly to belly suplex but once against he couldn’t kept Craig Berry down. Roberts went for a Vader Bomb but Berry sprung up and caught Andy while he was in mid-air, steadied himself, and planted Roberts with a lovely powerslam but it was all for another near fall.

Berry tried to set up for one big move but was caught by Roberts into a fireman’s carry for a Wasteland, a big splash, then put the exclamation point on with a Vader Bomb for the win.

Roberts launched a post-match attacked on Berry but a Vader Bomb was thwarted by John Kerr. Craig Berry gave Roberts a T-Bone Suplex, and The Meat Factory ignored Roberts’ pleads for mercy and gave him a Tenderiser for his troubles.

Two big lads just battering each other, it was what I hoped to see and it’s what we got. My lasting memory from the match at the time was that Vader Bomb catch into a Powerslam and it was still a beaut to watch back. It wasn’t a “pretty” match by any means but it was good fun to see them battle back and forth with Andy having to use cheap shots to gain some advantage over his student.

Control of FCW – Eight Man Tag Team Elimination Match – Team Williams (Caleb Valhalla, Retro Randy, Duke Cannon, & Nathan North) w/Kevin Williams defeated Team Hunter (Deacon Matthews, Solomon Grum, Dickie Divers, & ADM) w/Marcus “The Glory” Hunter

We got a little introduction to everyone with brief exchanges in the opening. ADM dropped the middle rope which saw Duke Cannon get his leg tangled which caused Team Hunter to launch an attack on Duke which Nathan North interrupted with a dive through the ropes. In the kerfuffle, Divers got Cannon back into the ring and hit a Pedigree for the first elimination.

North found himself cornered by Team Hunter, as they caused distractions to stay on top. The referee missed a tag from Retro Randy, and a further distraction from ADM saw an attempt from North to counter a Pedigree stopped which lead to an elevation for a leaping Pedigree from Divers to count his second elimination in the match.

Retro Randy mixed it up with Dickie Divers but soon found himself on the receiving end of a beat down from Deacon Matthews, some quick thinking and a dodge from Valentine which saw Matthews collide with the ring post was enough to roll Matthews up for a three count to pull one back for Team Williams. Matthews didn’t take kindly to this and knocked Randy down with a clothesline as Solomon Grum loomed over the Retromaniac.

Randy knocked down Grum with a flying dropkick but the follow up Atomic Leg Drop and Elbow Drop of Doom could only manage a two count with Grum launching Randy out of the ring with the kick out. Marcus Hunter attempted to assault Randy with a clipboard… with little effect. Grum and Randy brawled at ringside with both being counted out. Grum threw Caleb into the ring post before continuing the brawl to the back.

ADM and Caleb got into it, with ADM hitting a Piledriver for a two count. As ADM tried to finish the Viking, his brief hesitation to pose allowed the time for Valhalla to lift ADM up for a Jackhammer to even the score to one on one.

Divers and Valhalla battled it out, following a second rope superplex Marcus Hunter decided to get involved leading Kevin Williams to bring Hunter in for a Mega Driver. As Hunter had a nap on the outside, Divers knocked out the referee with an errant flying kick so his pop-up Lungblower to Valhalla counted get the desired count.

Valhalla ducked a swinging chair from Divers to hit a spear but Divers was able to Pedigree Caleb onto the chair for a long two count. Divers attempted a second chair assisted Pedigree but Valhalla got out and gave Divers a Helride onto the chair for the win.

Team Williams returned to give Marcus Hunter a parting gift of a Mega Driver, Hart Attack, and Elbow Drop of Doom.

A big long match but the action kept going with the emotional points being hit. The crowd were entertained throughout, as was I. I had a wee logical crisis when Hunter started hitting Retro Randy with his clipboard but if Hunter was the owner at the time then I would conclude that the referee discretion would maybe lean in favour Marcus in that moment? Chris Quinn playing both sides so that he always comes out on top. I dunno, but it didn’t take away from the match anyway.

Being in the crowd for this one I could hear a guy in front of me that loved Retro Randy Savage (his words, not mine) and was all about the bright colours and Macho Man tribute. There was plenty of character in the match with the feel good ending by seeing the pompous Marcus Hunter get his comeuppance.

During the interval Team Williams posed over a, possibly dead, Marcus Hunter for the fan photos. They were joined by other FCW wrestlers intermittently like Brodie Adler, Zach Dynamite, and owner John Young. I regret not getting a photo myself as it would’ve been a great memento of the trip but alas I didn’t. The line was long with plenty folk jumping in for a picture. There was a fella from the crowd who recognised me from the podcast so that was surreal, thank you kind citizen!

Anyway, back to the action.

FCW Junior Heavyweight Championship – Spike Tierney defeated Sebastian Asher by pinfall to become the undisputed FCW Junior Heavyweight Champion.

Asher went onto the attack by attempting to leather Spike with the Junior Heavyweight Championship but Tierney avoided the swing. Spike bamboozled Asher to send him to the outside and launched himself over the top rope for a big Swanton.

Sebastian took over with a Famouser upon re-entering the ring, and snapped Spike with a nice spinebuster. Asher continued on top with a front slam, and a fake out second rope elbow drop by landing on his feet before hitting the elbow, a delightful bit of scumbaggery.

Spike used a 619 to sweep the legs from a second rope situated Asher but the follow up Code Red couldn’t put him away. A crossbody collision seemed to rattle Asher a bit as there were a couple janky moments with timing with Asher falling before making contact with a Famouser variant of his own, a bit of a strained headscissor attempt that didn’t look good.

Tierney missed a Swanton Bomb and Asher shook it off to hit a nice Frog Splash for a two count. Asher hit a Panama Sunrise for another near fall. A follow up spear was countered by Spike into a knee to the head and Abra-Kebabra for the win.

I remembered this match being a bit off but on a re-watch it was a really solid bout. Sure there was a little bit of a mis-step for a minute or two in the middle but overall it was still a good match.

FCW Women’s Championship – Sirena Rose defeated Debbie Dahmer by pinfall to retain the FCW Women’s Championship.

Rose kicked Dahmer off the apron as Debbie tried to hype up the crowd during her entrance. Dahmer grabbed a double leg once the bell rang.

Sirena took control by slowly beating down her opponent, Dahmer tried some forearms to fight back but Rose continued the attack until a couple pie faces fired up Debbie. Dahmer hit a trio of suplexes before going for the pin with a bridging Fallaway Slam for a near fall. A follow up Vader Bomb from Dahmer couldn’t put the champion away.

Dahmer hit a nice neckbreaker onto Rose but she crawled to the corner. Dahmer elbowed referee Chris Quinn while trying to drag Sirena out of the corner and in the distraction Rose snuck up to spin Debbie around for an elbow of her own right to the face.

A Diamond Dust and Chick Kick from Sirena Rose wrapped up the match for the retention.

This was another match I thought was a bit rough on the night but watching back there were plenty of positives. There were points in the opening section that felt meandering, and the crowd didn’t really get involved bar small pockets, but Sirena hit a nice snap suplex and the trio of suplexes from Debbie were good. The errant elbow from Debbie leading into a purposeful elbow from Sirena for the final moments was a nice little quick callback.

Before the main event, in a bit that I thought would be cut from the final video release, Kevin Williams and John Young presented referee Brian Laing with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a framed referee shirt as the next match would be his final match donning the stripes. A handful of the roster joined at ringside to chant ‘Thank you Brian’ along with the crowd.

FCW Heavyweight Championship – Ian Ambrose w/Skully defeated Emersyn Jayne by pinfall to retain the FCW Heavyweight Championship.

The lighting didn’t do it justice but Emersyn was coming into this match less than 24 hours removed from a deathmatch in Liverpool for TNT Extreme Wrestling and the cuts and bruises told the story of how that went.

Entering last, as champions usually do, was… how can I describe it… the commentary team called it the Brose Buds and that sets the scene as multiple skull masked adorned figures emerged, before a small child with a clown mask and axe arrived to collect Skully… then Ian Ambrose arrived also wearing a skull mask to form a conga line to the theme of Peep Show.

Was I on drugs?

Two wrestlers that have a lot of history in the Ardler Complex, wrestling over the top title in Fair City Wrestling, I was glad to be witness to this one.

After an opening exchange of pinfalls and wrist locks, Ambrose went to the shenanigan well to bring in Skully and involve Brian Laing but despite Ian’s best efforts Jayne wasn’t amused, I mean she was dizzy after an airplane spin and dropped like a stone after a big standing dropkick, but definitely not amused.

The match headed to the outside with a kick on the apron from Jayne blocked, she then used the pushback momentum to turn around to front dropkick an unsuspecting Ambrose before following up with a suicide dive.

Jayne tried to bring Skully into the equation which fired up Ambrose to plant Jayne with a fireman’s carry slam and senton splash with his forearms adding a little extra spice before planting Emersyn with a back suplex.

The back and forth continued with Emersyn getting the German Suplex trifecta and Shadowfax for another near fall. Jayne missed a top rope moonsault but was successful with a top rope Frankensteiner that saw Ambrose roll back onto his feet to walk into a Michinoku Driver for two.

This became a war of attrition as the big moves continued, Jayne with the big suplexes and Ambrose with the cutters with the kick outs getting closer and closer to three. Jayne hit the moonsault, and continued the head attacks with a Snap Dragon Suplex but ultimately Ambrose countered a backslide into a pin of his own for the win.

A fantastic main event, the Skully shenanigans early on didn’t really seem to hit for me but the big bombs of these two throwing everything at each other was great. It had been a while since I’ve seen Emersyn Jayne wrestle live and the same for Ian Ambrose to catch both in the same match was a bonus for me.

The nostalgia feels of the Ardler Complex were overwhelming, and it just made the night all the better from a wrestling standpoint. I’m glad that I waited to watch the show back because the fluster of the journey really put a little bit of a dampener of things and I know that I would’ve been a bit sour on bits and pieces because of that.

Fair City Wrestling provided a quality night of wrestling in Dundee.

For the production side of things for the Patreon release, I loved the title match graphics with a picture of the belt, give me that RAW 2002 vibes. The commentary was consistent and kept the stories in mind, and didn’t overshadow the action. I’ve watched shows that has the commentary team trying to make it about them but this kept a nice balance of keeping the comments on topic.

A great event overall, the show was sandwiched by top quality matches with a satisfying filling.

The full show is available on Patreon now for £3.50, check it here (I’m the guy near the entrance in a red t-shirt).

Check out our road trip episode of the podcast, even if I do give a bit of a serial killer vibe with the 35 minute hotel ramble in the middle.