A couple week’s back I had the chance to do a little work for World Wide Wrestling League as their new Northern Correspondent so I jumped in the car to Dingwall, via a stop in Inverness, to go do some corresponding!

However, due to helping out with jobs, doing a backstage segment or two, I didn’t actually see any of the wrestling… but! the show is now available on Demand PROGRESS Plus so I loaded it up and revisited the night from the other side of the curtain.

The Legion Club offered a sizable space, with a good view of the ring from any vantage point, the fans piled in for a good sized crowd as more chairs needed put out to meet the demand.

Kicking off the Working Man’s Wrestling tour in Dingwall, W3L took helm at various working men’s clubs up and down the country for some wrasslin’ action with the tour to finish up this weekend in Dalkeith.

Paul Hubris defeated Old School Cool by pinfall.

Hubris trash talked the Dingwall, voicing his displeasure of having his scheduled opponent, Sami Sparx, pull out and awaited a mystery opponent. Out strutted Old School Cool James Blair much to the irritation of Paul Hubris.

After an early lock up exchange, it was Old School Cool heating up by getting the better of Hubris. A handshake fake out from Hubris saw a kick to the gut turn the tide. OSC tried to pick up the pace but had his efforts thwarted by the world travelled veteran.

Having had enough of the bullying from Hubris, Old School Cool dropped the strap to begin the Cool Down (patent pending), laying in the haymakers, an atomic drop, a back suplex, and landed a high impact leg drop that would make, brother Terry, proud for a two count. OSC was muscled up for a Death Valley Driver but a shoulder was raised just before referee Sean Moran’s hand hit the mat for a third time.

A DDT from OSC couldn’t do the job as Hubris raked the eyes of Blair as he attempted a running powerslam, a lariat to the back of the neck and corkscrew butterfly neckbreaker had Paul Hubris pick up a win.

Funky Like A Monkey opened up with a solid match, the Dingwall crowd loved them some Old School Cool as they were all in on him giving that disrespectful Paul Hubris a battering. The in-ring action wasn’t anything particularly fancy but flowed nicely and provided an entertaining contest.

We headed backstage with W3L’s new Northern Correspondent grabbing a quick word with Irn Dru Marshall who talked The Commune numbers being a factor and if Tim Strange’s recent assault something of a concern. Marshall called out all comers if they think they could beat him. One take. Cut the check.

Hugo Harris entered for his scheduled confrontation with Mike Musso, taking his time and making sure as many of the Dingwall community received a handsome shower. He wanted to let bygones be bygones with Musso and requested his presence in the ring. Mike seemingly accepted the apology but also had an opponent ready for him to defend the W3L Breakout Championship against, enter Chris Sawyer.

W3L Breakout Championship – Hugo Harris defeated Chris Sawyer by pinfall.

Harris yanked the hair in the lock up to mark his intent against the rookie Chris Sawyer, slamming him down to the mat. Sawyer recovered to hit a sweet standing dropkick, and dumped Harris to the canvas but, before he could do anything further, Hugo made his escape to the front row.

Sawyer followed, taking Harris around the houses to get some small handed chops from the kids in the audience. The match returned to the ring, a cartwheel evasion from Harris was congratulated by knife edge chop from Sawyer to send Hugo making his escape once again.

A sneak attack from Hugo Harris gave him the advantage once more, hitting the snappiest of snap suplexes and stopping the momentum of Sawyer with a back elbow as he bounced off the ropes. Sawyer kept coming back, a back elbow of his own provided space to recuperate and string together a flurry of clotheslines, a uranage, and an impressive standing moonsault.

Sean Moran got knocked back by Harris while he was about to be launched by Sawyer, which allowed a low blow and Curb Stomp for the title retention for the champion.

Sawyer looked impressive in his debut, with the crowd happy to support his attempt to dethrone the Breakout Champion. Hugo Harris is an incredible talent, he is so fluid in the ring that it elevates matches he is in. I’m like a broken record here because every time I watch a match he is involved in I’m left impressed by his athleticism and embodiment of character.

In the darkest corners of backstage Lou King Sharp started a ritual with The Jackal and The Tormentor, joined by W3L’s Northern Correspondent doing the most exercise he’s done in many years, being made to do squats while asking for the scoop on Sharp’s strategy against Irn Dru Marshall later on which didn’t go to entirely to plan with Sharp chanting nonsense.

The Commune (The Jackal & The Tormentor) w/Lou King Sharp defeated Saqib Ali & Johnny Thunder by pinfall.

Sharp tried to start a baldy chant towards Saqib Ali but it backfired when everyone pointed at an equally follically challenged Jackal and directed the chant his way. He was politely dismissed to ringside by Sean Moran as he patrolled the area, Singapore Cane in hand.

Saqib Ali and The Tormentor began proceedings with Ali easily knocking down the masked entity with a shoulder block to rattle them. After a number of pinning combinations, Tormentor had enough and rained down punches before finally tagging in The Jackal who wanted Johnny Thunder.

Thunder kept Jackal busy, enough for Lou King Sharp to jump on the apron to cause a distraction which allowed The Commune to take the advantage. Jackal and Tormentor exchanged quick tags as they mauled at Johnny Thunder, keeping Thunder grounded with a front slam and TOR-MEN-TOR elbow.

The Commune kept the pressure on Johnny Thunder, but some dodges and a crossbody to The Jackal managed to get the fresh man Ali into the action, throwing wild clotheslines and splashes to send The Jackal and The Tormentor reeling.

Just as it looked like Johnny Thunder was going to put away The Tormentor, The Jackal provided a further distraction for the referee to allow Lou King Sharp to drop Saqib Ali off the apron and smash Thunder with the Singapore Cane to the head which left The Tormentor to drape their arm over Johnny’s chest for the three count.

The trio gathered in the ring to hold a post-match caning ritual but a chair swinging Irn Dru Marshall rushed out to make the save as The Commune left the building.

Another decent match to continue the consistency of the show, The Tormentor continues to torment but having The Jackal and Saqib Ali at either side, along with Lou King Sharp rambling around ringside, kept the foundations solid for me to be sports entertained. Saqib is another guy that I constantly sing the praises of, with he and Johnny Thunder having good chemistry.

The crowd were electric for Irn Dru running out to send The Commune scurrying as Dingwall were thoroughly involved in nailing the desired reactions. They were at the Legion Club to have a great night of wrestling and were all in when it came to showing W3L that maybe Dingwall should return to being a regular stop again on their Northern tours.

Before the next match could begin, Brodie Adler stormed out to insert herself the contest to make the scheduled bout a triple threat.

Triple Threat – Rubi Roberts defeated Moxie Malone, and Brodie Adler by pinfall.

Rubi Roberts wasted no time throwing forearms trying to keep her opponents apart in an attempt to nip a quick pin but after covering Malone, following a knee to the side of the head, Adler grabbed Roberts and all that early offense came back to bite The Basic Bitch Slayer with the numbers not being in her favour.

Moxie and Brodie continued to take turns putting a hurting to Rubi, The Misfit drove her foot to the skull of Roberts in the corner before Adler slammed her with a Samoan Drop. But as all impromptu teams go in a multi-person contest, after Adler tried to pin Roberts there was a difference of opinion on who was to win with the miscommunication allowing Rubi to get back into the hunt.

Roberts dropped Moxie with a nasty brainbuster DDT, but Adler threw out Roberts to then give Malone a Black Hole Slam. Roberts just managed to break up the pin, sending Brodie into the corner post before sliding in to roll up a wobbly legged Moxie Malone for the win.

This went at breakneck speed as all three were after a quick victory. It got scrappy in moments but the amount of damage Moxie took in the conclusion made her look almost unkillable. Rubi was well supported in her fight against her opponents with Brodie Adler providing a despised antagonist effectively in Dingwall. Good stuff.

Before the main event Lou King Sharp challenged Irn Dru to make the match a Dingwall Deathmatch seeing as he liked to use a chair earlier, Marshall considered his options and as it meant he could batter all of them he gladly accepted.

W3L Wrestling Showdown Championship – Dingwall Deathmatch – Irn Dru Marshall defeated Lou King Sharp w/The Jackal, and The Tormentor by pinfall to retain the W3L Wrestling Showdown Championship.

Lou King Sharp attempted to strike first, rushing towards Irn Dru with the cane in hand but after three attempts Marshall relieved Sharp of the weapon and smacked him about, making Lou possibly regret all his choices.

In record time the action spilled to the outside, Lou sought comfort with an unsuspecting woman on the front row as the brawl continued. Sharp sprayed water into the face of Marshall but it didn’t do much to stop Irn Dru from slamming Sharp to the wooden floor and striking The Tormentor with a superkick out of nowhere.

Dru rolled Sharp back into the ring via Lou’s nipples but The Jackal provided enough interference to let The Blood Tourist recover and use a chair to level the damage meter. Sharp used the chair and cane to great effect to wear down the W3L Wrestling Showdown Champion, digging the end of the broken cane into the forehead to torture Marshall further.

A reversal sent Sharp head first into a corner propped chair to get the crowd jumping. Marshall got hold of the chair and went after The Commune, once again smashing an unaware Tormentor like they owed Dru money.

The two battled back and forth with objects, with Sharp sailing into a set up chair, but his chair woes continued as Marshall parted the crowd from their seats to throw Sharp into the first five rows before ending the offense with a sudden superkick to The Jackal who entered the Irn Dru orbit.

Back in the ring, Sharp managed to lay out Dru with a Finlay Roll onto a chair but a missed Frog Splash left him open to join the superkick party as a trio connected to the head one after the other. The Commune tried to get involved once more but found themselves in a cross road malfunction at the junction as Sharp ended up smashing The Jackal, The Tormentor… and himself with a Singapore Cane before all three got a Glasgow Kiss headbutt each to let Irn Dru Marshal hook the leg of Sharp and retain the Wrestling Showdown Championship.

A wild main event that was a blast to watch. I loved the instinct that Irn Dru showed in that if a member of The Commune got within a couple yards he would just smash them just to keep them away. When it comes to these kind of matches there are few better in getting as close to the line on a family friendly show as possible than Lou King Sharp. His ability to do something barbaric but also make himself the butt of the joke and getting his comeuppance is tremendous with Irn Dru happily bouncing Sharp around the ring.

The crowd at the Legion Club were loud and the footage doesn’t quite do it justice as you could barely hear yourself think at times as the kids and adults alike got invested in what was unfolding in front of them. A fun night of wrestling that was devoured by the paying audience.

It is available on Demand PROGRESS Plus now to check out for yourself.