by Thomas Brace and Joe Mulhaney
Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) is in a new era – the company moving forward without their maverick owner Mark Dallas marks unprecedented territory.
For many years, Dallas was the face and the machine behind the wild ICW product he built from the ground-up, having started the company from his native Glasgow whilst he was in relative poverty.
Under his stewardship, ICW hit dizzying heights, with sold-out shows at the Hydro, a massive cult following, BBC documentaries, a deal with the WWE network and so much more.
A new team of ownership is in power – its new owners are World Champion Jack Jester, Triple G events owner Duncan Gray, Scott Reid, Thomas Kearins and Adam Carrel. It is up to the new generation to get ICW back to their previous heights, a huge task, but not impossible.
There are promising signs. For example, ICW is focussing on building its own unique, semi-exclusive roster from both wrestlers of its past such as Jester and Grado, and graduates from its Asylum training academy, as opposed to using the circuit UK indie scene wrestlers. ICW also has a good deal with Fite TV as well as retaining its name value as a promotion.
It was due to all this context that we attended their first event in the North East of England since 2022 with great intrigue.
Taking place at the Northumbria Students’ Union, just over a hundred passionate fans filled the venue in an area outside ICW’s home base. Therefore it was smart that the event kicked off with a man popular anywhere across the UK, ICW favourite Grado, who made his signature entrance. He took on the self-described ‘Wrestling God’ Theo Doros.
It was a short if slightly underwhelming match to kick off the night and ended with Grado picking up a pinfall victory. A highlight was the crowd informing Doros that Grado had shagged his mum and was in fact Doros’ Dad. Grado denied these allegations, but we may never know the full truth.
Arcade Violence (Jake Lawless and Brody Turnbull) faced off against the burly duo of Reece and Rogan next, AKA Yorkshire Tough. It was your standard tag-team affair, with Tough picking up the win over Arcade Violence with a variation of the Shatter Machine.
Before what was due to be a singles match, ‘The Scum of the Earth’ Kenny Williams attacked his opponent Dylan Thorn before the bell had rang – co-owner of ICW Scott Reid then came out and added super heavyweight Will Kroos to the match, making it a triple threat.
What followed was a good match. Kroos dominated the early stages as he looked immoveable whilst Thorn had some offence in the match he usually took the brunt of the attacks. However, the conniving Williams used his in-ring IQ to steal the victory practically unscathed.
In true ICW style, there was a deathmatch, with two UK hardcore indie stalwarts taking each other on – Clint Margera and Rory Coyle.
Coyle entered first with a burlap sack of weapons slumped over his shoulder before going backstage to get his homemade contraption of carpet gripper, duck tape and an array of JAKKS giant wrestling figures. Margera arrived with a steel chair, a barbed wire steel chair and strand. A whole host of weaponry was brought out during the match such as Coyles VCR player, cocktail sticks, a stapler, barbed wire board.
Coyle at one point had cocktail sticks stuck into his arm as he was put through a table on the outside – following which the same arm was stapled repeatedly. Margera was also put through a barbed wire board, with Coyle eventually picking up the win via pinfall. A great spectacle of a match.
A fan favourite from the Asylum training school Landon Riley, accompanied by his counterpart Ben Rogers, took on the massive heavyweight Shreddy. Shreddy seemed to have a bit of support with chants of ‘who’s your Daddy’ belted out during the match. Riley was not able to overpower the brute with most of Riley’s initial attacks not phasing Shreddy.
Shreddy took over the contest with huge moves punctuated by a few flexes but Riley came back into the match with a standing shooting star before crashing and burning with a moonsault off the top. The finish came as Riley caught Shreddy off guard with a roll-up for the three count.
Adam King and Rampage Brown collided in a customary hard hitting affair by two big strikers. Adam King was flanked to the ring by tag team partner Marcus King and, as there are no rules in ICW, Marcus wreaked havoc, basically making the match a 2 on 1 handicap in parts. However, Rampage overcame this assault – sending Marcus crashing to the canvas and hitting his signature piledriver on King for the win.
Amir Jordan took on Scotty Rawk next. Rawk came out first to boos from the crowd – Jordan on the other hand danced his way around the fans to get them hyped for the match as he made his entrance. It was a back and forth contest with Scotty Rawk winning via pinfall.
The world championship was on the line to wrap up the night, as ICW icon Jack Jester took on former champ Aaron Echo. The match began in typical fashion, with a collar and elbow tie up and bit of back and forth between the two competitors, before descending into chaos on the outside of the ring.
Jester threw Echo into the bar before brawling around the crowd – much to their delight. Jester threw a bin at Echo’s head several times, before the two men traded bin blows with reckless intent.
Jester also brought out a barbed wire pipe which was unfortunately used against him along with his trusty corkscrew. In the end it wasn’t enough however, with Jester picking up the win in what was an exciting main event.
He celebrated with his title before Rory Coyle’s music hit, and Coyle challenged the champion at After Hours in Glasgow. Jester accepted under the condition that the match was an Asylum street fight for the ICW title.
And that was the show! Overall an entertaining night with matches which ranged from okay to good in quality.
However, can they reach their previous heights? They still have a long way to go but they seem to be back on the right track. It is possible and it’s clear from the show that one of the huge positives for the company going forward is their unique roster and feel compared to the other UK indies.
Their next event After Hours, a two-night show taking place after Smackdown and Clash at the Castle, is a sellout and they will hope some eyes from the WWE can be cast on them.
Show Rating: 3/5
Grado vs Theo Doros 1.5/5
Arcade Violence vs Yorkshire Tough 2/5
Will Kroos vs Kenny Williams vs Dylan Thorn 3.5/5
Clint Margera vs Rory Coyle 3.5/5
Shreddy vs Landon Riley 2.5/5
Adam King vs Rampage Brown 2/5
Amir Jordan vs Scotty Rawk 2/5
Jack Jester vs Aaron Echo 3.5/5
SCOTTISH WRESTLING NETWORK | SWN 