The booming voice of Kyle Wallace opened episode five of This Is VALOR, featuring matches from the joint ‘Back Clash’ event that was held in the aftermath of WWE’s ‘Clash At The Castle’ mega weekend in Scotland. The venue, The Grand Ol’ Opry in Glasgow.

With a crowd still hungry for more wrestling, they were champing at the bit for some more in ring action.

BT Gunn defeated Fulton King by pinfall.

A mouth watering contest on paper, a highly respected veteran in BT Gunn against a man that is carving himself a place in the Scottish wrestling scene in Fulton King.

Gunn schooled Fulton King in the early exchanges, but after putting the stops to an Irish Whip he found himself tumbling out of the ring with a spinning wheel kick to send both to the outside. The brawl continued into the crowd, to the bar, up the road, as King was bombarded by attacks from ‘The Oddity’. A poorly timed snack break gave Fulton the opportunity to take control, giving Gunn a chop by the ring post.

Like a red rag to a bull, Gunn returned with an open hand slap to the back of Fulton King and a chop of his own for good measure. A chair was brought into proceedings, as the referee Sean Moran gave up keeping control. A nasty rolling senton from the apron from Fulton King sent BT Gunn to the hard floor with only a steel chair to break his fall.

King tried to return the match to the ring but a burst of energy saw BT dive back out to the outside to send King reeling. Gunn had a bit too much fun with the crowd, which gave Fulton time to recover, roll away from a double foot stomp and crack BT with a big clothesline.

It became a battle of speed against power, Gunn using quick kicks to rock Fulton King whereas King was out to use his brute strength. BT hit a flatliner but it was only good for a two count. A spinning back kick to the face still couldn’t keep Fulton King down. King replied with a Big Ending for another near fall.

A second Big Ending attempt was countered into a roll up to give BT Gunn the win.

A great choice in opening the episode with a highly competitive contest with Fulton King holding steady with BT Gunn throughout. The difference between the previous BT Gunn match on This Is VALOR is evident, the last time out he faced Kez Evans, his own tag team partner elsewhere so there was a little bit of going through the motions because why would he risk injury to himself or Kez. This time there was still an element of him having a bit of fun but he was still out to win the match, testing Fulton King who seemingly passed due to the post-match handshake.

An entertaining match that was full of action.

LKS Dojo of Excellence Battle Royal of Excellence 2 – Jan Islav defeated Big Mick, Sami Sparx, James Blair, Euan G Mackie, Vinnie Van Driver, and Stone Malone.

With all seven men in the ring the fists were flying as soon as the bell rung. Sami Sparx showed some flair early but was soon finding himself choked over the second rope by Euan G Mackie.

Mackie formed an alliance with Van Driver, aiming their assault on Sparx with the masked man being the first eliminated. James Blair followed after being smashed with a Discus Lariat by Stone Malone. The new target was Big Mick who ran through the remaining field with clotheslines before pressing Euan G Mackie over the top rope and to the floor.

Big Mick continued to dominate, chucking out Van Driver, and despite a spirited fight from Stone Malone he was also thrown out. Just as Mick thought he had won it, Jan snuck back in. Mick made a charge towards Islav but found himself tumbling over the top to give The Eastern Bloc’s Jan Islav the win.

He got on the microphone and called out the challenge to Buffa, who appeared on the balcony to jaw jack while standing by an American flag. ‘Murica.

Battle Royales can be difficult to navigate, sometimes it can be a means to an end, in this case it was Jan Islav going back into title contention. There was a lot of punching in the corner in this one so it didn’t exactly excite the senses. Sami Sparx had an early showing, Big Mick got a little showcase including a hoss showdown with Stone Malone for a minute which would be interesting to explore further. Overall it neither excited nor offended.

Glasgow Grindhouse (Lou King Sharp & Krieger) defeated God’s Country (Stone Malone & Frank of the Cross) w/Sister Veronica by pinfall.

After some lengthy entrances the brawl began, Glasgow Grindhouse had the early advantage, playing ping pong with Stone Malone’s face, their bats being their respective fists. Cross tried to rescue his God’s Country partner but looked up to see Krieger throwing Sharp out of the ring towards both of God’s Country to cause maximum damage.

The chaos continued on the outside as all four men threw anything and everything at each other that was left on the ringside tables by the audience. Stone Malone brought out a chair from under the ring but Krieger managed to avoid getting decapitated before turning his attention back to Frank of the Cross with a lovely Bret’s Rope diving uppercut.

Sister Veronica proved her worth, clattering Krieger with a chair to give her congregation the upper hand, she declared the contest a no disqualification match per God’s wishes… which is what I had assumed anyway or otherwise referee Sean Moran might need his eyes and ears tested.

Malone and Cross kept Krieger isolated by keeping Lou King Sharp on the outside. A big spear from Stone Malone could only garner a two count. A double low blow stopped Krieger having his head split in two by a kendo stick/chair combo which was the opening Lou King Sharp needed to fire in.

A Chair Surf followed by a Van Terminator from Sharp had Stone Malone on his last legs, a big boot from Krieger and chair assisted Frog Splash by Lou wrapped up the win for Glasgow Grindhouse. Sharp promised a wild match and they delivered the whole damn show.

A strong episode of This Is VALOR from an in-ring stand point with the show bookended by two highly entertaining bouts, my only minor gripe is that it felt out of continuity with what we’ve had so far with the New Age Kliq return still lingering from episode three. If you’re watching it episode by episode there hasn’t been a settling in on stories to run through yet. We’re only on episode five though so I’ll hold off further judgement in the meantime.

I suspect the first “season” of episodes will be a compilation of matches from 2024 events and going into 2025 shows we’ll have a more focused run of stories as VALOR are ambitious in their lineup of shows and collaborations so I am very interested in how that’s going to feed across events. There’s a lot of fun on the horizon.

The show is available on YouTube: