This past weekend was a significant moment in my life, not only did I attend my 100th wrestling show (44 of which being WrestleZone, yes I keep a track of these things), but it was also my son’s first ever live wrestling event. He’s 2, so with that in mind, this won’t be a review of the show, because I spent three hours chasing a toddler around who just wanted to march everywhere, watch Bluey, and eat snacks in whatever order that took his fancy as the minutes ticked past his bedtime and the heat somehow just got more intense as the hours went on.

That being said, he seemed to enjoy himself but I missed chunks of the matches so it wouldn’t be very fair to go through the ins and outs of the matches and cast opinions on things I didn’t actually see, that’s why the title of this article is “Thoughts on” and not “Review”.

As we arrived in the heat to Danestone Community Centre (which now appears correctly on Apple Maps FYI) the queue was long and there was an excitement in the air. It had been three months since WrestleZone tore the roof off Rich Energy Arena for Aberdeen Anarchy, and with gala season in full flow we were champing at the bit for WrestleZone to return to the main shows with Battle of the Nations being the destination.

After entering the hall, picked up merch (I’ve been needing an excuse to buy a foam finger for years and a 2 year old fulfilled that nicely), we took our seats for a night that had me excited in more ways than one.

The VIP bout featured the first of four WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship Tournament quarter finals with Judas Grey taking on Tommy Raiden. As many readers know by now, Judas has a tradition pre-match when I am in attendance and that is to throw clothing at my face. Luck would have it that I was the favoured parent on that evening and my son was on my lap at that very moment which stopped Judas from launch. Which, in many ways, shows that Judas Grey isn’t a bad guy… in fact, what bad things has he done in WrestleZone? He goaded, yet was not physical, with Tommy Raiden at Christmas Chaos and Raiden snapped to aid his mentor Mikkey Vago to win.

At Regal Rumble, Judas appeared, yet was not physical, which caused Speed Metal to be distracted to lose to Rhys Dawkins and Bryan Tucker. At Aberdeen Anarchy he wrestled a clean match but was unlucky to lose to Speed Metal and Gangrel. I mean, sure he is cocky bordering on arrogant, but he actually hasn’t done anything wrong in WrestleZone. The company he keeps is questionable but that’s a whole other thing.

Or is this that Stockholm Syndrome kicking in again.

Anyway, the rumor is that I used my son as a shield and I will have to see the footage to confirm as I have memory of lowering him to take my pasting. Regardless, this was the first shock of the night as a seemingly dominate Judas Grey found himself small packaged by Tommy Raiden, booting him out of the tournament.

Grey then point blanked threw his shirt at my face post match and blamed me for the loss. Fair enough.

As I returned from a nappy change (his, not mine), I was greeted by a gaggle of security plus Scotty Swift, TV’s Umar Mohammed, and Mr Paterson, trying to move Damien to the back as Richard R Russell had arrived to take his seat. Russell, ever the shrewd businessman, bought a General Admission ticket it seemed, I guess what he had planned later on didn’t require the need to drop an extra £3 to watch an extra match. Mr Paterson acknowledged Russell’s presence by handing him back the cane that Russell used at Aberdeen Anarchy to cause the downfall of William Sterling, saying that Russell left it behind and nobody wanted it.

Kicking off the main show it was the tag team title match which started before the bell, Ronan King and Connor Molloy jumped Ted O’Keefe and Murphy for a prolonged assault that ended with O’Keefe having his injured arm wrapped around the ring post and being dropkicked. As Ted was helped to the back, Murphy demanded the bell to be rung as it looked like it was a handicap match.

Murphy held his own, with him being able to get some space to knock Flippy N Drippy down but like a scene from Platoon, his crawl to the corner for the tag was met by nobody, he raised his hands in defeat… until Planet Zero hit the speakers and Dino arrived to make the tag. Dino’s last appearance in WrestleZone was December for Christmas Chaos and when I tell you the crowd went nuts it wouldn’t do it justice. The sound as Dino made the tag was electric with him throwing hands and bodies with ease. The rush was too much for Flippy N Drippy as they fell to The Outfit.

Two matches in, two shocks. I didn’t think King and Molloy would lose at the first time of asking but the return of Dino was too much to contain. Ted returned to celebrate with the pair as The Outfit trio was reunited once more.

Oliver Green and Rhys Dawkins were up next in the second Tri-Counties Tournament quarter finals, and to be totally honest… I didn’t see a whole lot of this one which is a damn shame as it was a match I was really looking forward to. It wasn’t just because Rhys Dawkins turned up looking like The Hurricane sans mask. Was dressing in bright green meant as some sort of psychological warfare against Oliver Green? Dawkins has been sporting a dark green colour scheme in the past so might’ve just been a coincidence.

Tucker tried to provide some distraction, with Green entering alone with no Evan Young in sight which I found odd considering both are under the charge of Chris Archer following Young’s defeat to Archer at Aberdeen Anarchy so it would be of mutual benefit that they would be in support of each other in order to avoid the wrath of Archer.

It didn’t matter on this occasion with Green able to catch Dawkins with an O’Connor Roll to get the pin to move onto the semi finals, whenever they may be.

I did see Oliver Green hit a standing moonsault, then Dawkins teasing a go at it himself but he stopped himself to flick his teeth and land an elbow drop.

In our first half main event it was tournament bout three, Captain Alan Sterling toot tooted to the ring to face Alex Webb. The first note I had was, no Hero. What happened there? Alex Webb without Chad Kroeger and Josey Scott is like, it’s too traumatic to think of another example.

Despite the lack of epic entrance music, Captain Alan was not deterred in calling Webb out as being Spider-Man. Alex Webb denied this, of course he did. Which just made him more guilty. Webb took to speed and agility to try and bamboozle the constantly bamboozled Alan, sounds like a Spider-Man move to me… but the bamboozling cancelled each other out which must’ve given Sterling the edge.

In another shock, Captain Alan trapped the arm of Webb and planted a DDT to head to the semi finals.

An interesting note during the interval was Richard R Russell was seen having a chat with The Outfit while they were taking pictures with fans during the break. Let’s keep an eye on that shall we.

The second half returned with the hotly anticipated six man tag match, The Foundation of the Future swaggered out with confidence. Scotty Swift, Umar Mohammed, and Damien, made their separate entrances as Damien led the charge to the ring to incite a mass brawl around ringside.

Things finally settled as tag ropes were grabbed and the bell rang. The momentum continued to switch as the two teams tried to string together some momentum. Mohammed and Swift showed some tandem offence and making up for lost time.

That settlement eventually broke down as Swift, Damien, Ryan Riley, and Bruiser Brad Evans scrapped outside the venue as the security and the referee followed.

Umar Mohammed locked in The Big Kachowski to Zach Dynamite but there was no one to call the submission. Mohammed shouted for a referee and that’s when Richard R Russell chose his moment, he left his front row seat, took that cane that Mr Paterson handed him before the main show, and cracked it off the back of Umar to send him crumpling to the floor. Dynamite took advantage of the situation and gained the pinfall.

As the dust settled, The Foundation of the Future continued the beat down to Damien and Swift with Russell watching on. Eventually Zach Dynamite declared that they are collectively The Sterling Oil Killers with Dynamite, Evans, and Riley shaking hands with the master strategist.

Another chapter written in the Foundation of the Future versus the foundations of WrestleZone tale with plenty more story to be told. There’s loads of possibilities on where it can go with it and that is exciting. The fact that there are so many young and hungry wrestlers on the roster coupled with guys that have been there since day dot could see it bleed into other feuds and there could be some mad civil war situation with everyone having to pick a side. I love it.

In the penultimate bout of the evening it was Bryan Tucker, accompanied by Rhys Dawkins, facing Evan Young, who entered alone. I think that’s an important thread to pull on. After the earlier attempts at sabotage by Tucker didn’t affect Oliver Green from being victorious, maybe Young felt like he also had to do it alone. Pride has been the sin that has consumed Young since his return, he wants to go his own way, he won’t listen to older heads like Chris Archer. Yeah, him and Green falling under the tutelage of Archer was forced upon him thanks to some shenanigans at Aberdeen Anarchy, but Young is refusing to even entertain the idea of taking advice from a multi-time champion might be short sighted.

Dawkins and Tucker, in a weird turn of events, actually learned from their mistakes earlier in the night with the interference working in their favour. Tucker hit a Twist of Fate, Young got his foot on the bottom rope but a wily Rhys Dawkins pushed Evan’s foot off so that the official could not see the break. Tucker moves on to face Oliver Green next as Evan Young looked furious of the outcome.

Will that pride turn into jealousy if it looked like Oli Green could defeat Bryan Tucker in the semi finals?

Before the main event Mr Paterson announced that Halloween Hijinks has been moved to a bigger venue due to WrestleZone securing a special guest for the event. On October 19th at Rich Energy Arena, former World Tag Team Champion Eugene would be heading to the Granite City.

I have no idea who Eugene would face in WrestleZone as he has such a unique character. He’s never been one for me personally, but I’m positive there will be people excited to see Eugene in action.

After Mr Paterson and Lost Boy Aspen, who was on commentary for the main show, he even wore a tie and waistcoat for the occasion, both overcame their respective colour blindness to draw the raffle it was time for the main event.

Donning his own Caleb Valhalla shirt, the SKOL chant had an extra voice as the crowd roared for the new Undisputed WrestleZone Champion making his first official defence since winning the title at Aberdeen Anarchy.

The match went as anticipated, two warriors battering each other. The crowd was relatively split, with neither man getting the majority sway of the cheers.

They threw everything each other, a Cartwheel Elbow from Vago, a Stinger Splash from Valhalla, the momentum went back and forth.

Vago even threw out the big guns, ripping his vest off and scaling the top rope and landing a Coast To Coast dropkick but it wasn’t enough.

Valhalla finally managed to hoist Vago over for a superplex, then rolling through to lift his opponent up to land a Jackhammer to make it a successful first defence of the title.

Speaking of shocks, as Caleb celebrated the Regal Rumble countdown happened again, and all my conspiracies since Regal Rumble were answered as a haunting video played. Following a chilling introduction, Monstrum marched out and flattened Valhalla.

Lost Boy Aspen clambered over James Chesser at commentary in an attempt to assist his SKOL BROL partner but was swatted by the monster who chokeslammed Aspen.

Monstrum had arrived in WrestleZone, leaving both the current and former Undisputed WrestleZone Champion laying in a heap.

Despite my distraction during the show, I took in a hell of a lot more than I realised. This was story heavy event with the surprises in the Tri-Counties Championship Tournament, the return of Dino and subsequent title change, the shock of Richard R Russell officially aligning with The Foundation of the Future, and the debut of Monstrum to top it all off.

It felt like one of those shows that if you missed it then there was quite a bit to catch up on between now and Inverurie on September 7th or Halloween Hijinks on October 19th.

For sentimental purposes I’ll be picking this one up on the ol’ DVD, but also because I have to hear Lost Boy Aspen’s commentary for this one, which I bet is a riot.

A fun and stressful night was had, we might wait until Regal Rumble for all of us to attend as a trio but that didn’t stop WrestleZone providing a fantastic night and a moment I won’t forget.

Quick Results:

  • VIP Ticket Holder Match – WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship Tournament – Quarter Final – Tommy Raiden defeated Judas Grey by pinfall to advance.
  • WrestleZone Tag Team Championships – The Outfit (Dino & Murphy) defeated Flippy N Drippy (Ronan King & Connor Molloy) by pinfall to WIN the WrestleZone Tag Team Championships.
  • WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship Tournament – Quarter Final – Oliver Green defeated Rhys Dawkins by pinfall to advance.
  • WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship Tournament – Quarter Final – Captain Alan Sterling defeated Alex Webb by pinfall to advance.
  • The Foundation of the Future (Zach Dynamite, Bruiser Brad Evans, & Ryan Riley) defeated Scotty Swift, Umar Mohammed, & Damien by pinfall.
  • WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship Tournament – Quarter Final – Bryan Tucker defeated Evan Young by pinfall to advance.
  • Undisputed WrestleZone Championship – Caleb Valhalla defeated Mikkey Vago by pinfall to retain the Undisputed WrestleZone Championship.