World Wide Wrestling League returned to Bishopmill Town Hall this past Friday night for a Great Winter Bash, bringing some fresh faces up to the North East with Tim Strange and Nina Samuels bringing their respective championships up the road.

A message was sent to ticket holders to inform us that doors would be late opening, which is standard practice now when W3L heads the couple hundred of miles upwards so the wait outside was a little more extended than anticipated but no matter as I got a fantastic seat in the corner which only occasionally blinded me while seated just under one of the spotlights. The presentation of the Bishopmill Hall was quality. The hall isn’t the most aesthetically exciting venue but as every year comes and goes W3L dress it up and make it look fancy to enhance the viewing experience.

The crowd were hyped for the wrestling, they were excited and invested in the matches on offer.

Wrestling Showdown Exclusive – Lou King Sharp defeated Sami Sparx by pinfall.

The show began with a change to the line up but it was a welcomed one with Lou King Sharp and Sami Sparx providing an excellent opening match to form as a bonus match for W3L’s YouTube content.

It’s always a good move to have Lou King Sharp being your introduction to wrestling, a big character, you get it straight away. Cocky, overcompensating due to his stature, but it makes for fantastic entertainment. He’s a terrier, barking and scrapping at opponents constantly.

The deplorability of Sharp was countered by Sami Sparx who provided some lucha things to make the crowd ohh and ahh. As Sparx launched himself through the ropes to the outside it started a chain of events that created such an incredible moment to witness.

Sparx dragged Sharp around for some child-aided chops, as Lou got an opening to take advantage he made a point to tell one of his assaulters that it was their fault. As Sharp continued the offense, he threw Sparx out of the ring and the kid rushed over to help Sami up which powered up The Chaotic Luchador to fire up the momentum meter.

Sharp eventually got the win with a gnarly Cop Killa but Sami Sparx fought to the bitter end. As the dust settled, Sharp returned to the ring to announce that The Commune had made a mistake attacking his big sexy pal Krieger and that the Glasgow Grindhouse is coming for them. The crowd weren’t totally receptive to this as they just watched Sharp being a bit of an arsehole for the 10-15 minutes prior but it planted the seeds for the rest of the show.

A great opening match, Lou King Sharp is a special talent who creates an emotional response and makes things bigger. The chemistry he has with Sami Sparx was evident as both bring an unpredictability factor to proceedings.

W3L Wrestling Showdown Championship – Tim Strange defeated Irn Dru Marshall by pinfall to retain the W3L Wrestling Showdown Championship.

As the main show began properly we were treated to the last real man Tim Strange making his way with his Wrestling Showdown Championship in hand. Is there any title that adds to the cowboy attire more than that belt? It has that oval WWF/E Intercontinental Championship vibe but it’s a bit bulkier like a big ol’ belt buckle.

Irn Dru continues to be a very popular wrestler in Elgin, his popularity increased further once he responded to Strange donning the bandana and cut off shirt of Marshall by doing something no man should ever do, touch another mans cowboy hat. The reaction from Tim Strange as Irn Dru stretched out his prized headwear was majestic.

Strange didn’t look to be taking his opponent too seriously as he bullied Marshall around the ring at times with big open handed chops, and riding him on the second rope for some rodeo time. Dru fired back with a big headbutt to knock Tim Strange out of the ring, but as referee Sean Moran was dealing with a crooked turnbuckle pad and disposing of the title belt that was brought into the ring by Strange, the champion enlisted use of his trusty cowbell to smash the skull of Marshall for the win.

Irn Dru stormed off, pissed that his championship hopes have once again been dashed due to shenanigans.

Another strong match, the over the top nature of Tim Strange gathered some chuckles from the crowd but it didn’t stop them being all in behind Irn Dru Marshall. We got vintage Irn Dru as he allowed the kids in the audience to get a chop in, a rule that must just be in the W3L referee handbook “no interference unless it’s small children”.

I’ve been waiting a long time to see Mr Tim Strange do a bit of the wrestling live and in living colour and I was thoroughly sports entertained, he’s like a anime villain with the big booming drawl, which was extended when he was swatting away the physically smaller Irn Dru like a handle barred mustachioed Kingpin. This was a lot of fun.

Saqib Ali & Taylor Bryden defeated The Commune (The Jackal & The Tormentor) w/Luke Aldridge by pinfall.

In our first half main event it was tag team action with The Commune taking on the tandem of Saqib Ali and Taylor Bryden. Bryden and Ali took charge in the early going but the divine intervention of Luke Aldridge gave his charges the upper hand.

As The Jackal and The Tormentor took turns putting the boots to Saqib Ali, the crowd were willing for the tag to Taylor Bryden which eventually came as Tier Zero went wild with forearms, taking both opponents down with a top rope crossbody.

It looked to be the end of The Commune but Aldridge jump up onto the apron to cause the distraction. Lou King Sharp ran out with a Singapore cane in hand to chase Luke Aldridge which allowed The Commune to be distracted for The Tormentor to be Alabama Slammed by Taylor Bryden then have the knee of Saqib Ali (The Saqib Al-knee?) driven into their face for the win.

Brace yourselves for me saying a nice thing about The Tormentor, I’m happy that The Tormentor now has a mask that fits. It’s a creepy mask but better than what was previous. As a match goes it wasn’t the most exciting but once again the Elgin crowd were fully on board with The Commune getting a battering. The arrival of Lou King Sharp fully shifted that wavering of support earlier in the evening to swing the cheer-o-meter over to the positive zone for The Blood Tourist which is credit to The Commune doing their job as an effective terrible trio.

It was good to see Taylor Bryden back after missing Summer Spectacular in July complete with a glorious curly mullet.

W3L Women’s Championship – Nina Samuels defeated Brodie Adler by pinfall to retain the W3L Women’s Championship.

Back from the interval we were all witness to The Nina Samuels Show as she arrived to defend the W3L Women’s Championship against the unimpressed ‘Dynamite’ Brodie Adler. Adler started on the offensive, looking to take Samuels out early and curtail any momentum for the multi-current champion.

The wily veteran managed to counter to send Brodie into the corner with a dropkick before whipping Adler with a neck flip on the mat that had a sent her head whiplashing backwards. Brodie got back into the match, choking Samuels as the crowd slowly started to get involved, throwing the boos towards Adler.

Samuels managed to avoid a Sunset Flip counter to send Brodie back into the ropes for another dropkick. Adler tried to roll up Samuels but Samuels countered with a pin of her own whilst holding the second rope for leverage.

Fresh off the interval the audience in the Bishopmill Hall took a few minutes to get back into the groove but once they did it was smooth sailing as Brodie and Nina provided the action. I found Nina Samuels to be clinical then adding a little extra flair to get the crowd to applause. Another quality match to continue the trend when the W3L team comes to town.

Luke Aldridge w/The Jackal & The Tormentor defeated Glen Dunbar by pinfall.

In the resulting switcheroo we got Luke Aldridge taking on Glen Dunbar instead of his originally scheduled opponent Sami Sparx. It was the right call, for the matches themselves but also for the story being carried forward because no doubt Sparx along with Fulton King from Legends Never Die will find themselves drawn into this Glasgow Grindhouse-The Commune situation in the near future.

Before the match Aldridge tried to welcome Glen Dunbar into the cult (if we have The Tormentor and The Jackal, would he get a new The title? The Lowlander would actually be banging… anyway it didn’t matter because Dunbar refused so lets escape the brackets), but Dunbar refused which lead to Aldridge striking first to send the veteran on the back foot.

Dunbar had to fight from behind for the majority of the match, just when it looked like he would gather some momentum The Jackal and The Tormentor would throw in some interference to keep it all about Aldridge. A simple but effective story with Dunbar looking to get back into it but Aldridge would cut him down.

Following the conclusion, The Commune attempted to crown Dunbar with the spooky goblet but Lou King Sharp returned to the fray with his trusty Singapore cane in hand to chase off the trident of terror.

If the earlier run out during the tag team match swayed the crowd into cheering for Sharp, the post-match cemented his new status of anti-hero.

W3L Breakout Championship – Meyhem Brooks defeated Hugo Harris by disqualification to retain the W3L Breakout Championship.

After some perfect raffle drawing from this guy right here (even if the first ticket garnered no response other than one guy leaving the hall… which was awkward), it was time for the main event.

Hometown hero Meyhem Brooks got a big reaction as he entered. Harris was quick to take a powder on the outside but Brooks was hot on his tail battering the challenger around ringside. The match had plenty of shenanigans from Hugo Harris as he tried to be sneaky by crawling under the ring, only to be followed by the champion.

Harris went for a second rope… something, only to be met by the foot of Meyhem Brooks and time stood still with Harris stunned which allowed plenty of time for Brookes to scale to the top rope at the opposite corner for his flying clothesline. Brooks then hit a great second rope superplex to roll into a snap suplex on the mat which was smooth.

With the champion rocking and rolling it was only a matter of time before Brooks locked in the rear naked choke, but as the lock was turning, Harris swung his leg back for a low blow for the disqualification. Harris swaggered about with the title at ringside before getting choked on the floor to close the night.

A disqualification end to the night could go either way for a reaction but as mentioned so many times, the crowd being so entertained throughout the show they were incensed at the actions of Hugo Harris and were elated to see him getting choked out on the outside and celebrate with the Elgin lad.

I’d just be repeating myself with praise and aspirations for Hugo Harris, see any of my previous W3L reviews. There is plenty of nostalgic Curt Hennig throwback to get the older crowd, big character colourful-ness to get the younger crowd in, and a good bit of sleaze to make for easy booing, especially with his “shower” for the crowd consisting of whipping his wet hair on the front row. A great talent.

The hometown pop for Meyhem Brooks continues to hold strong in Elgin, and with follow up results from Alness it will be interesting as to where he goes when W3L return to the Elgin Town Hall next summer, maybe a move up into Wrestling Showdown Championship contention?

A fun main event, a satisfying ending in terms of Brooks remaining champion and the bad guy being knocked out to close the night.

Overall another excellent night of wrestling from World Wide Wrestling League in Elgin. They continue to invest in their production, and more importantly there were no noticeable tech issues which I’m sure was a relief for the W3L team. There was a lot of Lou King Sharp in the show which is always appreciated, as they were all in context for the show. The shuffles in the card made for higher quality matches which is always a good thing.

The continued relationship with PROGRESS has opened the door for more big names over the border to take the long journey up to the North East which is a thrilling prospect. Long gone are the days of a small roster with a tag team main event that consists of four guys from the first half, in what you would expect from a gala show. There is a proper effort to grow the events in Elgin which is great to see evolve year by year.

I still miss The Bulgarian Baker though .

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