The last 12 months up to this event had been a journey of learning. When Bleeding Gums Wrestling owner Andrew Crammond and I sat on either end of a Zoom call to talk about ‘The Ultraviolence Referendum’, who would have thought that I would have been sitting at home a year later gutted to be missing a death match show.

As the matches were announced ‘Liquid Filth’ felt like a show specifically targeted at myself. Unfortunately real life plans got in the way from making this my first Bleeding Gums Wrestling event in the flesh, but the fact that I had checked the train times and put a strong consideration to heading to Dundee speaks volumes of what the Bleeding Gums team have built in that time.

For our end of season finale of the SWN Podcast I sat and watched ‘Wire & Ice’ with Mark Leslie for my first Bleeding Gums experience, and I was impressed by the stories created and weaved in among the violence. The blood being spilled was secondary to the logic presented and it wasn’t the mindless cut throat sea of red that is the stereotype for such a genre of wrestling.

With my month subscription to IWTV running out, the ‘Liquid Filth’ event was uploaded over the festive period so I had to give it a watch as soon as possible. Hailing from Church in Dundee, a plethora of Scottish talent was on hand for a hybrid night of athleticism and brutality.

Stevie Wizard was on hosting duties, opening the show with an epic monologue:

Today marks our first time in Dundee, today is our last event of 2024, and today is our one year anniversary event, and where better to come to than here because where else are you going to go to on Sunday other than Church?

So one year ago we held an Ultraviolence Referendum, it gave us all a Lust For Death, we wrapped ourselves in Wire & Ice, we warned you that Death Can Be Hazardous To Your Health, we finally brought Death To Art, and today we celebrate our one year birthday by raising a glass and by having a toast, but this isn’t mouthwash, no no, this is LIQUID FILTH!

Euan G Mackie defeated Ian Skinner by pinfall.

After a tepid reaction for both from the crowd including one very vocal fella chanting “this is boring” while Euan G Mackie was attitudinising in the ring. Skinner ran through Mackie’s skull with a big boot following the opening bell to kick off the match emphatically.

The two barrelled each other with strikes, as the audience started to get on board with the cool guy, lots of friends, with his barrage of kicks and use of Mackie’s attire braces to snap them off Euan’s back.

Mackie swung the momentum in his favour with a hard forearm to the face but couldn’t avoid a release suplex into a kick to the back to head. Skinner mixed it up between unrelenting kicks with ankle lock attempts but it couldn’t get Mackie to submit.

A BRAINBUSTAHHH was reversed into a DDT with Skinner and Mackie trading forearms, slaps and chops (oh my), Euan knocked Ian down but Skinner kipped up and smashed Mackie with a lariat. With Mackie prone in the corner and on the ropes, Skinner made his way over at speed but a big boot to knock him down followed by a foot on the rope for leverage kept Ian Skinner down for the three count.

A match bookended with a big boot, one from Ian to kick off his Bleeding Gums debut and one that lead to Euan G Mackie to get a tainted victory. The fact that the crowd were a bit, I’d say, lackluster for the entrances but were invested in the match by the conclusion is testament to the skill of both wrestlers. We got a taster of Ian Skinner, and the nefarious nature of Euan G Mackie on display. A solid opening match.

Hardcore Rules – Legends Never Die (Fulton King & Sami Sparx) defeated Not Safe For Mums (Patryk Peterski & Kairn Douglas) by pinfall.

Sparx and King interrupted the hometown welcome for NSFM, smashing Peterski and Douglas with chairs as they soaked in the moment. NSFM turned the tide, dunking a chair off the skull of Fulton King.

Sami Sparx returned to get LND back into the fight, punishing Kairn Douglas with a chair. Peterski dragged Fulton to the outside which allowed Douglas to recover and launch the same chair to the face of Sparx to send The Chaotic Luchador tumble to the outside.

The chaos continued around the ring, with weapons flying around, road signs, chairs, whatever wasn’t nailed down was used.

The Juggernaut Fulton King set up four chairs for a conference, as all four threw punches back and forth. NSFM got the upperhand, managing to hit a spinebuster/neckbreaker combo for a two count. As everyone was digesting the kick out, Sami Sparx was spotted on the balcony to dive onto everyone below.

King got Kairn Douglas up on his shoulder, Sami Sparx dropped some thumbtacks onto the mat, before dropping Douglas to the canvas with some Punk Tactics.

A proper brawl, it wasn’t pretty, just four lads smacking each other around. Akin to something you’d see on the streets in Dundee I’d imagine. The big dive from Sami Sparx in the conclusion was great. The looseness of the ruleset opened up to seeing a bit more of what Patryk Peterski can do. There was a nice show of respect afterwards. A nice little preview for the what is likely to come later in the night.

Rubi Roberts defeated Daisy Jenkins by submission.

Two sides of the colour spectrum next with the bright, smiley, and vibrant Daisy Jenkins, against the dark, dour, and angry Rubi Roberts, in what was the first ever all female bout in Bleeding Gums Wrestling. Refereed by Sandy Beeches in her promotion debut to boot.

Roberts towered over Jenkins as the fists started swinging. Daisy was overwhelmed in the opening minutes but managed to dodge a corner rush to pick up the pace. Roberts rolled to the outside but Daisy Jenkins wasn’t backing down, heading out the ringside area to continue the fight.

Rubi tried to slow the action down, cutting off Daisy as she tried to build a string of moves together whereas Roberts was aiming to get the match down to a brawl by attempting to bully Daisy around. Jenkins almost picked up the win the a facebuster, Roberts almost did the same with a Samoan Drop but Daisy got the shoulder up.

Jenkins got a boot stomped into her chest to wind her before Roberts locked in a modified rear chinlock for the tap out win.

A harsh crowd rattled both with a very vocal minority shouting that the match was awful, a very mixed crowd for Daisy Jenkins that got more negative as the match went on for seemingly no reason, same for Rubi Roberts. In-ring wise it was one of the best Rubi Roberts matches I’ve seen. It got a little messy in a couple spots but it was an entertaining bout. I don’t think there’s much more either could’ve done, the corner loudly shouting shit wasn’t to be swayed.

British Top Team (Lou Nixon & Brett Semtex) defeated SKOL BROL (Lost Boy Aspen & Caleb Valhalla) by submission.

SKOL BROL arrived with a shopping trolley full of plunder. After watching ‘Wire & Ice’ I was very curious to see a Brett Semtex and Caleb Valhalla collision.

Valhalla misunderstood the tag team rules as he headed to the apron and leaving Aspen to get thrown about by Semtex and Nixon. The Lost Boy created space with a second rope moonsault to “tag in” his tag team partner. Valhalla ran wild, taking out British Top Team but his exuberance to spear Nixon was dodged to send Caleb into the shopping trolley that they requested to be commandeered for the match.

There was a little blink and you miss it moment while Caleb was having his way with BTT, as Valhalla grabbed Semtex to bulldog him onto Nixon, Lou Nixon shot a glance over to where the trolley was, seconds later he was standing right by it to sucker Valhalla in.

Aspen returned with a staple gun, stapling everyone in sight… including Caleb by mistake, Caleb politely requested possession of the staple gun to return the favour but all that shenanigans let BTT recover and jump SKOL BROL.

Semtex dropped the trolley onto Aspen, who powered out of a suplex attempt for a release vertical suplex to Brett Semtex before muscling Lou Nixon out of a chokehold to Death Valley Driver him through a wooden board set up in the corner. Semtex lifted Aspen to gore him through a board on the other side of the ring.

Caleb returned with two wooden bats with water jugs taped to them, handing one to Brett before waffling each other with them. Semtex got the upper hand but was taken down with a spear from Valhalla.

A SKOL BROL Hot Soup splash should’ve been all but Nixon rushed in and somehow grabbed Aspen and Caleb and locked both in a rear naked choke at the same time for the victory.

Absolute carnage, the naivety of Caleb Valhalla about the Midgard ways was fantastic, after he had finally learned what the rules of tag team matches are… he was put into tornado tag rules and innocently left Aspen on his own for the opening portion. The look he had after getting stapled by Aspen was hilarious. British Top Team were ruthless, they tried not to fall into the tomfoolery that SKOL BROL were creating. Even with the water jugs duel, Semtex was swinging it hard to cause maximum damage. The finish was unique to top off a really fun match.

Three Way Hellscape Match – Tommbie w/Veronica defeated Danny Darko, and Antonio Gonzalez by pinfall.

After a brief exchange of punches, the trio realised that there was actually an array of accoutrements on the outskirts of the ring with the light tubes being smashed with ferocity.

Gonzalez and Darko worked together to stab a gusset plate into the weapon wielding Tommbie which busted him open dramatically as the crimson spilled from his head. He took a moment to recover but a distraction from Veronica lead him to return to smash a preoccupied Antonio Gonazlez with a collection of light tubes before turning his attention to Danny Darko.

Tommbie stabbed Darko in the head with tattoo needles, whipping Gonzalez into a barbed wire board. Tommbie grabbed more tattoo needles for Gonzalez, who responded with skewers to accompany the wound left by the gusset plate earlier.

Darko dragged both to the outside for more light tube smashing as the crowd bayed for more blood. Sandy Beeches could only watch on while trying to tidy the ring a little but the glass was ingrained into the canvas.

A blood soaked Tommbie emerged with a barbed wire bat but found himself Russian Leg Sweeped into a board of half cut Strongbow cans by Darko. Gonzalez landed on both with a Swanton for a near fall. Gonzalez set up a couple panes of glass over two chairs but felt the wrath of a Discus Lariat by Darko.

Veronica tried to cause another distraction which allowed Tommbie to smash Darko with a barbed wire wrapped light tube monstrosity. Gonzalez tried one more skewering but was hoisted up by Tommbie and slammed through the glass construction with a One Winged Angel, picking up the win while Veronica hand her hands on Danny Darko and that was it.

Well that was a bit mental. Tommbie is a terrifying individual, then with Veronica providing the assist when required makes them such a dangerous duo. The havoc caused by everyone involved was just insane. The vision of Tommbie, just drenched in his own blood, still going and looking indestructible was quite a sight.

Valley of the Shadow of Deathmatch – Franco Fate defeated Brett Semtex by pinfall.

Brett Semtex returned to take Franco Fate up on his open challenge. They both ran at each other with light tubes with neither giving an inch. The forearms flew with suplexes on the light tube remains on the canvas.

After throwing Fate around with German Suplexes, Semtex went back to the light tubes, cracking them over the head of Franco Fate. Fate returned with a Michinoku Driver for a near fall as the black ring mat got whiter with the broken glass and dust. Semtex laid Fate’s hand into the broken glass before stomping them, adding insult to injury by pouring salt onto the wounds.

Franco tried to Alley Oop Semtex into a lighttube tower but it didn’t go as planned so Fate just threw Semtex into the construction to send the glass flying. After a joustle for control, Brett Semtex sent Franco Fate into the other light tube tower for it to explode.

Semtex tried to end it with an F5 onto a light tube pallet but Fate wriggled out to drive Semtex down with a running powerslam into the pallet to get the three.

This one was a bit more of a mindless violent filled match due to the circumstances coming into with the last minute match change and subsequent open challenge. Brett Semtex is an animal, I was impressed at ‘Wire & Ice’ and the more I see of him just makes him a very exciting talent in the UK. I liked what I saw from Franco Fate, the punishment he took with the salt covered wounds was disgusting.

BGW UK Deathmatch Championship – Holy Shit Deathmatch – Alton Thorne defeated Tim Strange by submission to retain the BGW UK Deathmatch Championship.

Despite entering first, somehow Tim Strange managed to jump Alton Thorne from behind on the stage with his cowbell adorned rope as brawl continued around ringside. Strange battered Thorne with a Tim Strange action figure which has to be such an insult to have done to you as a wrestler.

The match finally made it to the ring as Tim Strange smashed a light tube crucifix over the back of Alton Thorne. Strange stapled money to the forehead of Thorne from a collection plate then it was rodeo time, demolishing Thorne with a big splash.

Thorne managed to charge Tim into a barbed wire wooden cross to finally get some traction. While still having money stapled into his head, Thorne produced a bible with gusset plates between the pages, jamming it into the head of Tim Strange. He followed up by trying to staple Tim’s mouth shut.

The champion took charge, clocking Strange with the cowbell that started the action. Tim came back with spraying lemon juice into the face of Thorne to get into every open wound, then hip tossed Alton into a perched carpet gripper cross. Thorne brought the bed of nails in, Strange hit a lariat after fighting out of a piledriver attempt onto the bed.

Franco Fate arrived and gave Tim Strange a lariat outta knowhere. Thorne took advantage, laying the bed of nails over the back of Strange, hammering it with a chair before wrapping a rope around the neck of Tim Strange and cranking back end the match.

A brutal finish, Alton grabbed a crown of thorns for a striking image to close the night. It was a different level of barbarically from anything else on the card. The three way had a high level, but this one felt personal throughout, the mirror use of the cowbell rope to start and then finish the match provided a great bookend of the night with the opening match having a similar theme in that moment but that was a straight up wrestling match so it echoed back but provided the varied nature that Bleeding Gums Wrestling have become synonymous for in the last 12 months.

This was a well put together show, despite the weird rejection for Daisy Jenkins and Rubi Roberts, the crowd were hot, or at least patient. The show provided a cliffhanger for their next event, with Franco Fate and Tim Strange no doubt on a collision course at ‘Lust For Death 2’ on April 12th.

Bleeding Gums Wrestling continues to rise, establishing themselves in 2024, with 2025 looking to continue that trajectory.

The full show is available on Independent Wrestling TV here.