In a weird timeline of events I have written up ‘Summer Spectacular’ already but before it goes out into the world, W3L uploaded their previous event onto their W3L Network platform on YouTube so for the benefit of continuity let’s get it checked out.

Initially advertised as a charity event, I would guess that due to a big ticket demand the powers that be decided that it was worthy of becoming a Network Special event, similar to their ‘Road To Wrestlution’ show earlier this year. Three matches were announced prior, taking place at the Community Hub in Bonnybridge.

Marc Munro defeated Hugo Harris by disqualification.

Hugo Harris out muscled Marc Munro in the opening exchanges after being soundly booed from a bit of pre-tie up pageantry. A cocky Harris celebrated a little too long, walking into a hip toss and running into a headscissor to send Hugo diving to the outside with Marc quickly in pursuit.

The brawl continued on the outside, Harris missed a chop at the ring post, his hand colliding with the metal to ruin his later plans. Munro kept the pace high with a nice springboard back elbow but a wily Harris crawled under the ring and appeared at the adjacent side to plant Munro with a sweet spinebuster to take charge.

Harris kept the pressure with shortcuts, distracting the referee to sneak some cheeky stomps to the chest of his opponent, and using his wrist tape to choke at Munro. Marc tried to fight but was soon down on the canvas again with a gorgeous dropkick.

A spirited comeback from Munro was stopped by a side step to avoid a running kick, Harris hit a Pedigree for a near fall. Marc Munro once again got the momentum going as he scaled the top turnbuckle. Harris pushed referee Sean Moran into the ropes to knock Munro off balance before adding insult to injury with a kick between the legs to cause the disqualification.

After grabbing a mic, Harris confronted Tour Manager Claire but Mike Musso was soon stomping out to send Hugo scurrying.

This was a really solid opening match. Hugo Harris has so many Mr Perfect qualities and really hams it up to the family crowd. There was a moment he launched Munro with a hard Irish Whip where Harris did a front flip from it to convey the force he was driving Munro into the turnbuckles that was tasty. I haven’t seen him pushed into a more adult orientated environment as yet which I think would be the making of him and really test him as a professional wrestler, he’s still high on my ones to watch.

Marc Munro really shone in this one as well, and worked well to put in a good shift with smooth sequences and keeping the crowd invested in him and not just them wanting to see Harris get a pasting.

The Commune (Luke Aldridge & Lou King Sharp) defeated Johnny Thunder & Taylor Bryden by pinfall.

As The Commune made their way to the ring, Lou King Sharp grabbed a camo hat from a child in the audience. He popped it on and transformed into John Cena because we couldn’t see him (I’m here all week).

A dramatic Sharp lost out on a wrist lock and test of strength from Taylor Bryden to send him outside to regroup. Bryden continued to get the better of The Blood Tourist, standing firm at a shoulder block attempt and switching a hip toss to crash Sharp to the mat. A Tier Zero was evaded by Lou, who tagged in Luke Aldridge who demanded Johnny Thunder.

It was Aldridge’s turn to show his strength, pushing around Johnny Thunder but a quick counter allowed Thunder to get his agility on display, smashing into Aldridge with a couple of uppercuts in the corner. Sharp was on hand to kick the back of a charging Thunder to stop the momentum building.

Thunder was isolated, The Commune exchanged tags to take turns putting a beating on Johnny while Taylor Bryden watched on. Thunder hit a cutter to Sharp but as he crawled to his corner a wild Chris Renfrew rushed out to fight with Bryden as they went to the back. A lone Johnny Thunder kept swinging but a double team big boot from Aldridge into a Lou King Sharp Finlay Roll spelled the end for the New Spark.

A well paced match that built nicely to the appearance of Chris Renfrew dragging Bryden away. Before the next match announcement could be completed, the two re-appeared to continue fighting until Saqib Ali, Irn Dru Marshall, and Saqib Ali arrived to break it up with Mike Musso returning to try and calm the situation.

Irn Dru Marshall & Saqib Ali defeated The Commune (The Jackal & The Tormentor) by pinfall.

A jump from some yay-boo capers had The Commune full of confidence, knocking Irn Dru down with a double team but Marshall broke through a second double team clothesline which sent The Jackal and The Tormentor seeking refuge on the outside.

After The Tormentor tried to sneak attack Saqib Ali, which was dodged, Ali brought in The Jackal the hard way to get the action properly started. Saqib quickly took control which lead The Jackal bring in The Tormentor who suffered an Airplane Spin for his troubles. The dizziness allowed The Tormentor to charge Ali towards The Commune corner to bring back The Jackal but Saqib fought back to tag in Irn Dru which sent The Commune back to the outside, wanting no part of the W3L Wrestling Showdown Champion.

Marshall tagged out which suddenly got The Commune interested in returning to the match, with some chicanery allowing them to isolate Saqib Ali deep in their corner of the ring. Ali fired up to tag in Marshall but again The Commune retreated until Irn Dru tagged out.

Once again Ali was kept in The Commune corner, with The Jackal and The Tormentor doing their best to keep Saqib away from Irn Dru Marshall. Eventually Ali sent The Jackal colliding into The Tormentor to finally bring Irn Dru in to run roughshod.

Lou King Sharp and Luke Aldridge arrived to offer some words of encouragement to The Jackal on the apron but some miscommunication lead to The Tormentor running to The Jackal and eating a Saqib Ali running knee to give The Commune a 1-1 record in Bonnyridge.

The build up threat of Irn Dru Marshall was handled well with The Commune wanting no part of him so when he did get the tag towards the end he overwhelmed them pretty handily. Sharp causing the chain of events for the loss but putting full blame on The Jackal at ringside showed the tension building in The Commune which would ultimately carry forward into ‘Summer Spectacular’ (mild spoiler). The match was decent, it had back and forth with story elements thread through well.

Hera defeated Kirsty Love by pinfall.

A pre-show pose down firmly had Hera as the fan favourite. Love moved Hera into the corner from the tie up but Hera replied by slamming Kirsty Love face first to the mat and running full speed with corner splashes.

Love got out of a Samoan Drop attempt and laid in elbows and forearms to rock Hera. The Goddess kept coming back but missed a charge into the corner but Love’s roll out could only get a near fall. Hera went for another fireman’s carry but again Kirsty Love had it scouted with a nasty looking kick to the side of the face to stop her rampaging opponent. Hera wasn’t to be stopped, a sidewalk slam and Samoan Drop kept Love down for the count.

It wasn’t pretty. The burst of splashes from Hera early on was rough and ready but looked good. It got clunky in parts, with some mistiming that made things look off. The crowd were a bit quiet but offered their support for Hera on her road to hit the sidewalk slam in the closing moments and applauded her victory following the Samoan Drop.

W3L Wrestling Showdown Championship Number One Contender Over The Top Rumble – Marc Munro defeated Hugo Harris, Johnny Thunder, The Jackal, and The Tormentor to become number one contender.

A five man battle royal to determine a new number one contender for the W3L Wrestling Showdown Championship closed the show. The Commune eliminated Johnny Thunder but were quickly sent packing by a sneaky Hugo Harris to leave him in the ring with the man he kicked in the testicles in the opening match, Marc Munro.

Munro landed a big boot and leg drop of doom but as he went up to the top turnbuckle, Hugo dodged a dive and gave Munro a spinebuster. Harris set Munro up in the corner for some Shattered Dreams but as he prepared to gather up some stream, Mike Musso suddenly arrived into shot to deliver a low blow. A top rope double axe handle sent Hugo Harris loopy for Munro to toss him over the top rope to exact some revenge from earlier in the night.

It was a quick battle royal but tied up a few parts of the evening well. The final two mirroring the opening match was great with Hugo Harris suffering the consequences of his actions. Once again the underlings of The Commune failed their objective and that put a further question mark on their status within the group.

Show wise it was a entertaining 90 minutes, production wise the commentary went out of sync about 35 minutes in so it was ahead of the action about 15/20 seconds, then later it was 15/20 seconds behind the action following an ad read for Wrestling Showdown that echoed, the balance was off. It eventually settled back into order but it made for some odd listening for a period.

As a final bit of context leading into ‘Summer Spectacular’ it provided some solid additional pages to the stories coming into the event.

The full show is available on the W3L Network now to check out for yourself.