We’ll have a road trip episode of the podcast tonight about this event, in the meantime it is available on Patreon in audio form here: www.patreon.com/scotwresnet

The road to Aberdeen Anarchy is on, the biggest Regal Rumble, the biggest paid attendance for a ‘Regal Rumble’ event, hundreds and hundreds arrived at the Rich Energy Arena in that the doors opened on time but the sheer demand caused delays getting everyone through the door.

With every event WrestleZone have adjusted the venue, from the half sized hall for ‘Granite City Showdown’ last year, the entrance adjustment for ‘Aberdeen Anarchy’, and that evolution continued to pack as many people into the venue. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house with full view of the ring in eyesight wherever you sat.

VIP Ticket Holder Match – Evan Young defeated Captain Alan Sterling w/Lost Boy Aspen by pinfall.

Once again Captain Alan tried to encourage Aspen to do some sneak attacks but Aspen was having none of it, deciding to sit on the apron and watch Captain Alan do Captain Alan things.

Evan wasn’t to be swayed by the potential tomfoolery, flipping Alan around and sending him all over the place early on, but the Captain found a way to get back on top to take down Mr.2004.

Captain Alan wanted to show Aspen what a real finishing move was as he set up for the Arm Trap DDT but got small packaged by Paul Smackage Evan Young.

A quick opening match to continue the sinking of SAILOR BROL while simultaneously giving Evan Young another notch in the win column as he still has unfinished business with Oliver Green and Chris Archer. I’m surprised that there wasn’t a distraction from either off the back of ‘Blootoon Showdoon’ but either way a good match.

The Outfit (Ted O’Keefe, Dino, & Murphy), & Casino Brutale (RABU & Mikey Devine) defeated The Influence (Judas Grey, Ronan King, & Connor Molloy), & The Foundation of the Future (Bruiser Brad Evans & Ryan Riley) w/Richard R. Russell by disqualification.

Kick off the show in style with a big multi-man tag team match. It has been a while but in a return to the norm this writer was victim to a t-shirt assault from Judas Grey, it’s definitely Stockholm Syndrome at this point when I actually missed it.

Now, with what I said earlier about not a bad seat in the house, which there’s four beefy lads standing on the corner it becomes a little difficult to see what’s happening, but as I peaked between the legs of RABU it was Mikey Devine that was getting the majority of the beatings from The Influence-Foundation of the Future quintet.

Speaking of Mikey Devine, he was an excited soul, running around the early goings with a tuxedo t-shirt so he could fit in with The Outfit but he wasn’t the only snappy dresser with Ted O’Keefe having a battle of his own against Connor Molloy’s sparkly vest but several attempts later he was finally donning it.

As all multi-person contests go, the match broke down as the chaos ensued with everyone taking out everyone before it was down to Ted O’Keefe locking in a Sharpshooter to Ryan Riley, but Richard R. Russell broke up the hold to once again cause the disqualification.

The mayhem continued when The Influence shoved The Foundation of the Future for causing the loss. The Outfit and Casino Brutale cleared the ring but RABU and Mikey Devine picked up the WrestleZone Tag Team Championships before returning them to The Outfit with a heavy amount of hesitation.

For what I saw this was a lot of fun with the big move trade off at the end giving a lot of potential previews if these teams meet again at ‘Aberdeen Anarchy’ with all signs pointing to it. There was a little moment with Ronan King buzzing to reunite Forever The Foundation, the very brief team up event from a couple years back. Casino Brutale have slotted into the WrestleZone fold very easily, a charismatic team that the Granite City have taken to and I am glad of it. It was also great to see the full might of The Outfit which hadn’t happened for a wee while due to injuries along the way.

The continuing negative intervention from Richard R. Russell that is starting to cause the losses to mount up for The Foundation of the Future can’t end well for the master strategist surely…

Alex Webb defeated Lost Boy Aspen w/Captain Alan Sterling by pinfall.

What started as a respectful contest, as the match wore on the competitiveness increased. The battle moved to the outside where Aspen was sent flying into the timekeepers area, meeting a superkick from Alex Webb to leave him prone hanging over a barrier. Webb jumped off the apron with a double foot stomp to back for a crash out as referee Dennis Law started the count that saw both barely get back into the ring to break.

The high impact offense continued with Aspen driving Webb down with a Death Valley Driver but the momentum swung back and forth so often it was difficult for either to grab a combination to take advantage. Aspen broke the stalemate with a second rope spinning Samoan Drop, a Finlay Roll, and second rope moonsault to send him well into the driving seat, jamming Webb on his head with a piledriver to the ire of Captain Alan who jumped up to give Aspen a rollicking.

Thanks to that distraction, Webb recovered enough to roll up Aspen to pick up the win. That’s a couple wins on the bounce for Alex Webb now and I hope we see more of him in 2025 in the North East, bags of charisma, and dependable in the ring. These two escalated the match nicely with both having shining moments of offense.

Captain Alan made his backhanded apologies and after all the issues they’ve faced even Aspen decided to give Alan another chance. Alan admitted he wasn’t a threat to Aspen and that he just wanted to be friends. Aspen relented, putting on the sailor battle hat and telling Alan that he had to listen to him. The Captain wasn’t for this mutiny and kicked the Lost Boy between the legs to put an apparent end to this unconventional duo.

I blame Caleb Valhalla, he opened Lost Boy Aspen up to the possibilities of friendship and here he was, cupping his little Aspen’s due to the swift booting from Captain Alan. Both men losing to a roll up added a nice mirroring of the SAILOR BROL misfortunes.

The Warriors Against Low Life Entities (Bryan Tucker & Rhys Dawkins) defeated Scotty Swift & TV’s Umar Mohammed by pinfall.

Reunited and it felt so good for some sensational scenes. Umar Mohammed was on fire as he and Scotty busted out the tandem offense early on. Tucker and Dawkins found their way into the groove to hold Umar away from the tag to Swift.

Once Scotty got in he rattled the punches off The Warriors Against Low Life Entities, sending Dawkins and Tucker wobbly legged, crashing through a double team attempt to give them a double clothesline to put the momentum all onto the side of Swift and Mohammed.

Bryan Tucker had had enough and went to employ the use of Dawkins’ book of Shakespeare but with the determination not to see a repeat of past events, Mohammed was quick to get into the fray to try and take away the weapon from Tucker. As referee Mikey Innes tried to stop the fracus, Rhys Dawkins used the chaos to hit Scotty Swift with The Fifth Act behind everyone’s back to leave Swift laid out for the easy pin for the WrestleZone Tri-Counties Champion.

A fresh paint of coat so to speak, these four spent a lot of time at each other’s throats in 2022 with Umar, partnered with Mr WrestleZone, picking up the mantle into 2023. Scotty coming in off the back of being at the mercy of Rhys Dawkins recently along with Umar’s championship hopes dashed by one second thanks to the time wasting antics of Bryan Tucker added more spice to the charge, less silly shenanigans than expected as both teams really went for it.

Dawkins’ Fifth Act move is steadily becoming a feared move against the WrestleZone roster, it has taking out a lot of big hitters recently. I can’t not see these four tussling again at ‘Aberdeen Anarchy’, four way for the gold?

WrestleZone Undisputed Championship – Caleb Valhalla defeated Shawn Johnson by pinfall to retain the WrestleZone Undisputed Championship.

Valhalla looked to make short work of Shawn Johnson but a spear in the opening minutes aggravated the recently cleared injured shoulder and Johnson pounced on the weakness, targeting his attacks on the area while referee’s and crew tried to halt Caleb long enough to assess the damage. Valhalla defied the insistence to stop by diving out through the ropes to take the attack to Johnson at ringside.

Caleb kept trying to fight back but Shawn was slippery, getting out of the attempts at the power assault by keeping hold of the arm to yank at the joint, trying to lock in an armbar to torture the viking. It wasn’t just the submission game that Johnson used, planting Valhalla with a Michinoku Driver and Angle Slam for near falls.

Johnson trapped the arm again but Valhalla powered out, lifting Shawn up to slam him on the mat twice to finally break the hold and get a bit of space from the relentlessness. A Darkest Lariat from Caleb wrapped it up but not without controversy when Dennis Law missed Johnson’s foot on the bottom rope. Dennis was having a mare.

This was a tight match, and it made you think it may just be the end of the Caleb Valhalla reign. Johnson was soundly booed by the masses in the Rich Energy Arena, there was loud hatred for the man that had shockingly returned and quickly got himself into title contention, but much like this match, it wasn’t without a measure of controversy on the way.

30 Man Regal Rumble Match – Damien defeated Ronan King, Connor Molloy, Judas Grey, Bruiser Brad Evans, Ryan Riley, RABU, Mikey Devine, Tommy Raiden, Lord Mr Malice, Ted O’Keefe, Dino, Murphy, Alex Webb, Shawn Johnson, Bryan Tucker, Rhys Dawkins, Chris Archer, Damien, William Sterling, Lost Boy Aspen, Oliver Green, Evan Young, Captain Alan Sterling, Scotty Swift, TV’s Umar Mohammed, Mikkey Vago, Travis Knox, Keison Howie, Kai Orson, and James Taylor to win the 2025 Regal Rumble match.

As all Rumble “reviews” go once again I will breakdown some highlights from the match of which there were many. Number one and two were Captain Alan Sterling and William Sterling, as The Sterling Brothers went face to face, Captain Alan denied all knowledge of knowing “Willy”. Number three being Lord Mister Malice added to the madness as he took out both Sterling’s before trying a Malice Destroyer to number four entrant Keison Howie but it was avoided and Malice was sent packing.

The field was cleared with Captain Alan standing alone for the next entrant. Lost Boy Aspen.

Several low blows later, Captain Alan was dispatched over the top rope to close that portion of the Regal Rumble. Judas Grey was out to square up to the former WrestleZone Undisputed Champion with an exchange of chops that Grey seemed to regret getting involved in with an audible exasperated question to himself of “why am I doing this??”. Unfortunately Judas was eliminated just before Ronan King entered so a Regal Rumble Vanity project was denied.

The ring filled up quickly with wrestlers of all shapes, sizes, and experience including the debuts of several from the WrestleZone Academy in James Taylor, Travis Knox, and Kai Orson getting their first taste of WrestleZone in-ring action. Of the new faces Kai Orson really stood out, built like Otis but also showed some personality, I’ve got a feeling that he will be a lot of fun going forward, just a tank of a lad.

As the countdown to number 30 was on, the previous surprises were all Academy guys so it would be logical to think that the last entrant would be the same… enter Mikkey Vago. 8 months out with injury, returning with two Singapore canes in hand and he was back swinging wildly.

The tag team mayhem followed into the Regal Rumble match, with The Influence, The Outfit, The Foundation of the Future, or Casino Brutale finding a way to be involved around at least one of the team’s eliminations. Murphy chokeslamming Connor Molloy off the apron to a groggy Bruiser Brad Evans before finding himself bundled out to turn around to find Damien and Shawn Johnson launching Ted O’Keefe his way.

The final four were Lost Boy Aspen, Damien, Shawn Johnson, and Mikkey Vago but despite a lot of his Rumble being spent on the outside avoiding the action, Aspen’s time was cut short thanks to the distraction from Captain Alan with Shawn Johnson being sent out shortly afterwards to get us to two left. A man who knows what the final two feels like in Damien, and the returning ‘Heavy Metal Hooligan’ Mikkey Vago.

With heart in throat close calls on the apron, Vago hit a Stunner but his attempt to throw Damien over was countered and ‘The Heavy Metal Hooligan’ found himself sailing over the top rope for The Revolutionary to add another accolade in his WrestleZone career.

Caleb Valhalla entered for the traditional face to face for the ‘Aberdeen Anarchy’ main event but it didn’t take long for Damien to hit a Codebreaker to lay out the champion. I immediately thought about 2019 and 2022. Both years Damien was the guy watching the Regal Rumble match, and both years he ended up getting jumped, or at least involved in a skirmish after the winner was declared. 2019 had him suddenly find himself putting the Undisputed Championship on the line and losing it, I can see why Damien would want to strike first in this situation as he has been burned in the past when unprepared.

It shouldn’t be a shock either, he’s made no secret about his obsession over the Undisputed Championship. During a pandemic he had that title in his presence 24/7. His last reign was over 1,100 days, but he couldn’t defend it for the majority. Since his last shot at the WrestleZone Undisputed Champion in December 2022, he’s been distracted by other issues from the young upstart Ronan King, the buffoonery of Captain Alan, then was dragged into The Foundation of the Future battles. Damien hasn’t shied away from his title aspirations which was obvious from his confrontation with Caleb Valhalla following the conclusion of ‘Christmas Chaos’ at the end of 2024.

The time away from the title has almost softened ‘The Revolutionary’, would 2018/2019 Damien have allowed Shawn Johnson stepping into his title path with such little resistance? Probably not.

A fantastic show that was full of twists and surprises. The final two portion had me questioning how the night would end with Mikkey Vago and Damien managing to have everyone on the edge of their seats seeing who would be the last man standing tall.

The road to ‘Aberdeen Anarchy’ is well and truly on with plenty matches teased to cap off another incredible year in the North East. I can’t wait for May 17th!