It was time once again for the longest trip to the wrestling I have to go through once a year. Less than 5 minutes to drive from my home to the car park that sits adjacent to the Town Hall in Elgin.

For 12 years I’ve been going to World Wide Wrestling League in Elgin, I’ve seen some really good shows, I’ve seen some less-than-stellar matches. There’s been many Bulgarian Bakers and former TNA stars, title changes and defences. A lot has happened in that time.

Last time W3L were in Elgin it was in the midst of Storm Babet and the crowd wasn’t packed in on a Sunday afternoon. Returning this year in the evening during the summer holidays seems to hit the sweet spot for a wrestling audience as it was rammed July last year.

As I arrived 15 minutes after doors opening, the line was long and was moving. So from that information only I can assume that the doors opened on time. That’s the first hurdle managed. I found a seat near the back, sweated my tits off in the heat, and looked around to see the seats filling up, and the merch area bustling before bell time.

Fi was on ring announcing duties, Sean Moran in the stripes, it was time for some wrestling.

Sami Sparx defeated Xander Davidson by pinfall.

When I say the crowd was buzzing for some wrestling, when Xander Davidson entered the place was full of cheers and excitement for the show to start… it quickly changed to boos when Xander didn’t share their enthusiasm to be in Elgin that evening. He used barbs about the bespectacled front row, terrible haircuts, and an odour that was lingering around the ringside area. Easy villain stuff, they’ve done studies y’know, 60% of the time it works every time.

That behaviour left Sami Sparx the nice job to enter as the hero as the crowd wanted to see Davidson get battered. Sparx started like a house on fire throwing forearms, dropkicks, and all the agility he had at his opponent.

Xander slowed the match down with a sidewalk slam onto an oncoming Sparx, Sami tried to restart but Davidson ducked a second rope crossbody. There was a moment where Sparx attempted a move from the top rope but Davidson once again evaded and threw a rushing Sami overhead for a Fallaway Slam which looked fantastic.

The battle continued to the turnbuckle, Davidson attempted to go up for a Superplex but was knocked back down to the canvas and a Swanton Bomb later saw ‘The Chaotic Luchador’ pick up the win.

An excellent opening contest. Davidson was a great bad guy, he showed plenty of character and was solid in the ring. These two had an excellent back and forth match with that Fallaway Slam and the Swanton Bomb being top highlights. I think this was my first in-person Sami Sparx match shockingly and it was worth the wait. Now just to get the other half of Legends Never Die, Fulton King, up to the North East, maybe when W3L return in November?

Logan Smith defeated Marc Munro by pinfall.

Up next was an interesting dynamic. Logan Smith made his entrance, all smiles and high fives, so in theory Marc Munro is the bad guy in the situation. Out came Munro all smiles and looking for high fives… which weren’t coming his way.

I hypothesized that it might have been that last time Marc Munro was wrestling in Elgin he was the bad guy against Saqib Ali in a triple threat that also included Xander Davidson. So maybe there is some memories of wrestling past at the Town Hall. Last year there was a face-face bout between Saqib Ali and Krieger but again they’ve had a few matches up here and were established good guys. All of that could be just be nonsense and the people that paid for their tickets to see the wrestling just didn’t like Marc Munro’s face that night.

Despite that awkwardness of watching children too-slow high fives with Munro, the action was another that was thick and fast with the momentum swinging constantly. Logan Smith resorted to using a more power based game to handle the lanky but nimble Munro.

The crowd begged for an rKo which Smith tried to provide but Munro was able to breakout. Logan got back into the driver’s seat with a hard clothesline then landed a heavy Moonsault, with a foot on the second rope and using a foot on the top rope to launch himself. It looked brilliant… and sore for Munro.

Smith went for the rKo again but Munro once again countered, hitting a neckbreaker. He tried to finish the job from the top rope but Logan rolled out the way, managing to land the cutter on a charging Marc Munro to pick up the pin.

Two matches in and two bloody good ones. Even if the Elgin crowd decided that Marc Munro was to be the bad guy in the scenario it didn’t seem to phase him. I think the last time I saw Logan Smith wrestle live was back in 2017 when The Young Team was called The Upstarts, this is pre-Jimmy Pierce when he was going by Owen Jakks. Smith has really left an impression on me from watching back the Combat League Wrestling shows on the YouTube where he lets his bad guy side flourish up North. We didn’t get that edge to Smith, but he is very capable in-ring and the match was entertaining.

W3L Breakout Championship – Meyhem Brooks defeated Jay The Jackal by submission to retain the W3L Breakout Championship.

In our first half main event, Meyhem Brooks got a heroes welcome as he entered with the W3L Breakout Championship that he won back in October in the main event in the same venue. The hometown support filled the Town Hall with The Jackal getting not even a polite applause, just boos across the board.

Brooks went on the offensive straight away, fired up by the roars around the ring. The Jackal retreated to the outside but Brooks was on the hunt but The Jackal showed that cerebralness that he prides himself on by getting the upper hand at ringside.

Meyhem continued to fight back, he attempted a top rope clothesline but The Jackal ducked and replied with a running clothesline of his own. Brooks hit the flying clothesline at the second time of asking, catching some mega air but it couldn’t finish the job.

The Jackal recovered to hit a German Suplex, he went for a second but Brooks elbowed out of it, gave The Jackal a judo throw and clamped in a Rear Naked Choke. The Jackal hung on until Brooks wrenched back for the tap out.

High energy, Meyhem Brooks had the crowd in the palm of his hand as they were fully invested in supporting their hometown lad. The Jackal is always a great foil, he is so easy to detest with just a look, he has a very expressive face that can convey smugness or disgust with just a little twitch, or just from his actions as he takes any sneaky digs he can put into an opponent to give him the advantage, whether it’s fair or not.

Brooks stayed in the ring for the halftime polaroids. The queue spanned near out of the venue with nearly everyone wanting a picture with Meyhem Brooks and the W3L Breakout Championship. Brooks in Elgin has really caught on. I remember when they had Stu Pendous advertised as from Elgin, then from Dingwall, etc. but to have a hometown guy, who will hustle, put the posters up, hand out the leaflets, which lets the prospective audience get to know Meyhem Brooks the person before taking that chance and heading to the show and showing support is a very good asset to have.

It doesn’t hurt that Brooks is solid in the ring, using that MMA background creates a different dynamic on a show that features a variety of wrestling styles.

Hugo Harris defeated Irn Dru Marshall by pinfall.

As the queue cleared and the raffle tickets were sold, we returned to the action with Hugo Harris strutting out with his bathroom mirror in hand. He mocked the crowd, continually whipped his wet hair back over the front row. That’s what you get for your extra couple quid and signed poster, soaked by Hugo Harris.

If Meyhem Brooks got the biggest ovation on the night, Irn Dru Marshall was a close second as I spotted dWo merch around the venue. I was sure that had seen this match before and I headed into my review archives and on December 2nd in 2022 they faced off at the Bishopmill Hall. I enjoyed the match then so will I enjoy the match now…

There was a lot of stalling to start off with, yay-boo pantomime which is always going get a crowd going. Harris left the ring but Dru spotted his opponents sunglasses in the corner which caused a “put them on” chant to breakout. Harris tried to intimidate Marshall with a push to the chest but found himself flying backwards when pushed back.

Irn Dru seemed less than impressed by the antics of Harris as he brushed off attacks in the early going until Harris took the match to the outside. Even after being choked by the ringpost, Dru casually walked away from the chop of Harris as Hugo’s hand collided with the ringpost for a satisfying sound.

It didn’t stop Harris from showboating, skinning the cat to pull himself back into the ring only to be met by the arm of Irn Dru to turn Harris inside out. Marshall followed up with two hard kicks to the back that even left him limping. Hugo tried to evade more punishment but found himself scooting back to where his legs straddled the ringpost with Dru calling upon the children (and even bigger children) to send Harris back to 2022 by yanking the legs to cause some testicular discomfort.

Harris dumped Dru to the outside after wriggling out of a Fireman’s Carry, he went for the shortcut by exposing the turnbuckle but in his haste he found himself being headbutted by the returning Marshall.

Irn Dru went to the monkey flip well, but on the third time Harris managed to block, using the ropes to leverage his legs to pick up the tainted victory.

Four for four. Another great match that was heated, it had the classic crowd interaction beginnings, a lot of hard sounding moves, thighs were adequately slapped, and the bad guy won by being a cheaty cheat cheat. Irn Dru Marshall has such a self-assured poise when he is commanding the ring, testament to the work he’s been putting over the border at WAW UK with his recent NWA Worlds Championship match, and trips to South Africa representing Scotland. Once again I’m impressed by Hugo Harris, I’ll say it in the podcast about the show but he has the potential to have the trajectory of a Jack Morris if he decided to take opportunities in different places. A good look, charismatic, and puts on a show.

W3L Heavyweight Championship – Buffa Aayooo defeated Lou King Sharp by pinfall to retain the W3L Heavyweight Championship.

After the raffle was drawn, I didn’t enter on this occasion as I learned my lesson last year, it was time for the main event. I was perplexed for a moment as the first entrant was the champion. Before the match we got a video package to give the highlights from ‘School’s Out For Wrestling’ and how we got to this match with the post-match attack that saw Lou King Sharp leave with Buffa’s chain and kicks.

A familiar Scottish voice wanted to get the chants going as Buffa’s music continued with Lou King Sharp arriving wearing a bucket hat along with Buffa’s big gold chain that had his shoes hanging off it. He was jumped by the champion on the stage as the match didn’t officially start for a bit as the two brawled around the ring. Sharp threw everything including a big plastic bin, Fi’s can of Monster (Ultra Rosa by the looks of it), Buffa’s shoes (who throws a shoe, honestly), and whatever else that was to hand as the drinks spilled around ringside.

Sharp threw a chair at Buffa’s head before seating the champion and running for a crossbody to crash to the floor. They continued to scrap at ringside before the match eventually began when Sharp rolled Buffa into the ring, with Lou attempting a Frog Splash to finish the “official” match early but missed.

Buffa got some momentum going with a reverse Atomic Drop and follow up elbow drop before dropping Sharp with a hard back suplex. Sharp hit back with a beautiful tornado DDT that had a wonderful snap. Buffa created some space for a twisting crane kick and headed up top. Sharp grabbed the referee to cause a hesitation from Buffa which allowed Lou to hit a Finlay Roll.

Lou believed he could fly once more but Buffa fell into the ropes to crotch Sharp on the top turnbuckle to leave him prone for an avalanche X-Factor to retain the W3L Heavyweight Championship.

An absolute blast of a main event to cap off an outstanding show. Just as it looked like the night would end on a boogie, Sharp returned with a microphone in hand to challenge Buffa, not to a match, but to a dance off as he proceeding to remove his dungarees to continue the tradition of Lou King Sharp undressing in Elgin.

After an interesting turn of events in the dance off, Buffa put Sharp in a Full Nelson before slamming him to the mat to finish the show.

Something I noticed, which may have just been a tech hiccup, but during Buffa’s celebrations the tron switched briefly to Rory Shaw’s logo. Whether that means Shaw will return to the title picture, or a wrong button was pressed, who knows.

This was genuinely one of the best W3L events I’ve seen, whether it’s Elgin or online. Every match delivered, the crowd were hot for wrestling, it was packed, people wanted it and the wrestlers gave it. Even though I missed The Wizard, Fi was a great presence on ring announcing duties. There were no tech issues, the lights stayed on when intended, and everything ran smoothly (at least on the surface, backstage could’ve been a nightmare for all I know).

It will be available soon on Demand PROGRESS Plus to check out yourself.