For reasons that will become clear in the On The Road episode of the SWN Podcast this will be little less than a full review and more a jotting of some thoughts and feelings.

Wrestling has been a constant in my life since the late 90s (because I’m old) so after a couple rough weeks all I wanted was to watch a bunch of adults do some fighting in costumes. WrestleZone were back after a couple months touring the various galas and festivals in the North East for Battle of the Nations featuring a returning guest, wrestling in Aberdeen for the first time since his incredible match against Grado in 2014, Scotty 2 Hotty was back in the Granite City. He wasn’t alone, bringing his son Keagan Garland along for his first UK tour.

An earlier start time was announced of 5.30pm to accommodate additional time for the meet and greet. I rolled into the Rich Energy Arena car park about 4.50pm so took a jaunt over to KFC to gorge on chicken. By 5.40pm I joined the tail end of the queue and it turned out that the meet and greet was moved to the interval and after the show. All good.

VIP Ticket Holder Match – Triple Threat – Rhys Dawkins defeated Tommy Raiden, and Ted O’Keefe w/Doug Handco by pinfall.

I placed myself in a cracking spot next to the entrance way, 10/10 seat even if there was a slight moment of death that occured before the first half concluded. It was time for the pre-show match with an added twist as Ted O’Keefe revealed his corner… man(?) Doug Handco that riled up Rhys Dawkins to no end. Dawkins, O’Keefe, and Tommy Raiden had a really good triple threat and with no real firm favourite coming in it left the odds on who would be walking out with the win a big open field.

O’Keefe really stood out, and looked to be enjoying his work as he just kept moving and diving, like a whippet, landing a sweet senton off the top turnbuckle to both of his opponents standing in the ring. Rhys also hit a beautiful powerbomb to Tommy that was sublime, it helps that Tommy is so wiry which makes his limbs just go all over the place for an impactful visual. Doug Handco tried to distract Dawkins to continue their ongoing (insert bread pun here). Dawkins wasn’t having it and punched Doug in the donut hole, then planted Raiden and took the win.

“Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour” 
– Richard III

WrestleZone Tag Team Championships – Casino Brutale (Mikey Devine & RABU) defeated The Foundation of the Future (Bruiser Brad Evans & Ryan Riley) w/Richard R. Russell by pinfall to retain the WrestleZone Tag Team Championships.

The main show started with some tag team title action, on a show with many multiperson bouts. The Foundation got the jump early, the sneaky devils, but the champs fired back to settle down the action. It wasn’t long before Mikey Devine found himself isolated by Bruiser Brad and Ryan Riley.

RABU got the hot tag to run wild as the bodies started flying around. Mikey got the sneaky tag that was missed by Ryan Riley that came back to haunt him as RABU sent him over the top rope and Devine dived in with a crucifix pin to Bruiser Brad to retain.

There was something off about this one, it didn’t have the smoothness that their match in January had. The crowd were also very subdued. I’ve been thinking about the hows and whys for the last couple days and I’ve come up with some theories; the crowd were there for Scotty 2 Hotty and with them arriving early to not meet him there was a bit of discontent and grumble, the noise may’ve been there but with the high ceiling of the venue it just went straight up and didn’t carry around the venue. The latter can be countered with a bigger crowd like Aberdeen Anarchy or Regal Rumble had but Battle of the Nations wasn’t as big of a draw for whatever reason.

Back to the match though I would put this more down to a blip because they are two high quality tag teams that had an off night together.

I’m interested in seeing the fallout between The Foundation and Richard R. Russell because he has failed over and over again in bringing the team back to championship glory.

WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship – Fatal Four Way – TV’s Umar Mohammed defeated Murphy, Lou King Sharp, and Bryan Tucker by pinfall to retain the WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship.

More title action followed with the WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship match and first off TV’s own Umar Mohammed’s Tri-Counties title inspired blue and white colour combination was stunning, 10/10, 6 stars.

A lot of the early going was “Murphy and…” capers with him smashing about Umar, Lou King Sharp, and Bryan Tucker around with the two not involved in the ring doing bits around ringside. Eventually Sharp and Tucker took down Murphy for Mohammed to return via the skies, a massive double dropkick and kip up woke up the crowd.

In one of the more inventive sequences, Murphy put Bryan into a tree of woe and splashed Lou into the Grand Slam Daddeh, the resulting saw Murphy and Umar crotch Sharp towards the ring post but Bryan blocked the post… with his face. Tucker then spent the remaining of the match with his ascot covering his face in the corner.

Lou tried to fly but missed the mark, there looked to be an attempt at this cool doomsday device/springboard thing between Murphy and Umar to Sharp but it fell apart so Mohammed just went superkick mad and retained.

Another one that just had something off about it, and I come in very aware that I was off myself so that is likely a big factor. I said in the On The Road episode there wasn’t enough Umar Mohammed in this match and though it meant less is more, Umar is a big spark of energy in WrestleZone and whenever he got into it got louder. So while I can see why he wasn’t a focal point of the match to make those moments bigger I would’ve liked more, considering this was his first main show defense. Spoiler: Umar Mohammed is my current Regal Rumble winner odds on favourite.

It was great to see Lou King Sharp back up in Aberdeen with his feral antics. As match it was a mishmash of ideas that had mixed results.

Scotty 2 Hotty & Keagan Garland defeated The Influence (Ronan King & Connor Molloy) by pinfall.

In the first half main event the sparkler pyro made my life flash before my eyes. The Influence entered to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance, no Judas Grey but once the lights flashed I had a terrifying vision that Judas would appear from the light and throw something in my face. The pyrotechnics seemed to also catch a very plasticy cropped puffer jacket wearing Ronan King off guard and I know Ronan is on fire right now but maybe not literally.

While Connor Molloy and Ronan strutted around Scotty 2 Hotty and Keagan Garland made their way out to a good reaction. We got a good bit of crowd hyping from the Garlands which provided some noise in the venue as we started off with the Scotland’s answer to Grandmaster Sexxay (stole that from Mya) Connor Molloy against Keagan. Keagan was solid with the pair having a good exchange back and forth. Ronan tagged in and demanded he got Scotty.

More shenanigans happened with The Influence running into each other thanks to being sent all around by Scotty, referee Dennis Law got in on the action by catching a running Molloy for a bodyslam for one of the biggest reactions of the night.

The Garlands kept on top but a missed bulldog from Scotty took out Dennis (karma) which gave Ronan the idea to grab the ring bell. Casino Brutale rushed out to stop the attempted bludgeoning with The Foundation following behind them to brawl out of the venue.

Ronan and Connor went for their stereo splashes but were stopped, Molloy had his head driven to the mat with a bulldog to get what we paid for, W O R M for the W I N.

Scotty gave a rah rah speech about wrestling and wrestling fans which was nice, but really I wanted a dance with them and Casino Brutale which would have been a big crowd pleasing moment and Mikey Devine would’ve produced one of the best displays in 2025 if he got two minutes to bust out some moves.

It was interval time for the announced meet and greet, which started out as being at the interval and after the show but as time went on it changed to during the interval only. I queued up for my opportunity, paid the combo which was advertised as a picture (with your own camera) and a signed item (or a provided 8×10). The word item being an important word. I had a foam WWF Tag Team Championship for signing, which was signed by Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Billy Gunn at my first ever WrestleZone event, so I showed Scotty… who said for that kind of item it would cost £20. Which was weird. I wasn’t in the mood to argue so opted for the 8×10 and got a picture with the belt over my shoulder. Before I made my exit Scotty signed the belt for no charge and we had a pleasant couple minutes of chat.

So I can only, in the frame of mind I was in, take it as a joke that I wasn’t mentally taking in. One of the stranger wrestler interactions I’ve had but for once it wasn’t on me.

Chris Archer w/Oliver Green defeated Mikkey Vago w/Evan Young by pinfall.

Back from the break, in a change from the advertised tag team rematch, Oliver Green announced that he was injured so left Vago and Young to decide who would face Chris Archer. Mikkey Vago took them up on the offer and was fairly dominant against his former Rejected tag team partner.

It looked to be wrapped up in short order with a coast to coast dropkick but the masked individual from Aberdeen Anarchy arrived wielding a Singapore Cane to beat down Evan Young with Oliver Green assisting. Vago grabbed the attacker and after a scuffle the mask was removed to reveal Tommy Raiden. In the shock, Vago turned back to Chris Archer who smashed him the chain while Dennis Law tried to remove Raiden and the Singapore Cane to get the three count.

Shocked. Shocked I say. I gave my theory for the reveal back in my Aberdeen Anarchy review and sometimes the most logical path is the most dramatic because the why is so relatable, Tommy was given a mentor and the mentor abandoned him and replaced him without a heads up. There wasn’t a big noise when the mask came off which was a shame because it’s a really layered story. What I will get my tin foil hat back on for is that I don’t think Tommy is the last man to join Archer, in fact, this is all a ruse to break apart The Heavy Metal Hooligan. I’ll explain:

Tommy wasn’t even subtle in hiding the fact that he was the man behind it, entering the pre-show match wearing a gold and black face mask. You know who else entered wearing a face mask? Evan Young. He and Vago were adorned in headwear as they made their way to the ring, Vago as a goat but Evan had the same mask he wore at Aberdeen Anarchy the night the distraction happened. Coincidence??? Probably.

Captain Alan Sterling w/James Taylor, Kai Orson, & Travis Knox defeated Scotty Swift by pinfall.

And now for something completely different…

Captain Alan emerged with his newly acquired crew James Taylor, Kai Orson, and Travis Knox all with matching neckerchiefs and sailor hats. Orson and Knox weren’t totally on board while James Taylor was stupendously eager to please the Captain. Scotty Swift arrived bemused by the situation as he tried to take Knox and Orson back to dry land.

A fairly typical Captain Alan bout with some silliness and buffoonery abound. Taylor tried to interfere but was carried off by Orson which backfired as a distracted Scotty Swift was rolled up with a handful of tights. Captain Alan praised his crew for the distraction. Swift tried to leave with Orson and Knox but Sterling jumped Swift and dragged his mutinous charges away by their ears.

It felt like an opening chapter so had plenty left in the tank to throw stipulations at. It has the makings of a Halloween Switcheroo or Christmas Brawl down the line. Captain Alan comes with the laughs and Scotty is always a trusted hand to have an entertaining match.

Damien & Monstrum w/Mr Paterson defeated SKOL BROL (Caleb Valhalla & Lost Boy Aspen) by pinfall.

I totally blanked out if the raffle actually happened. No memory of it at all. Like, at all. The main event began at 9:30pm which was super late by WrestleZone standards with many of the crowd being in the venue since half past five, an already unusually quiet crowd were showing signs of fatigue.

Mr Paterson entered to change the referee to Dennis Law which got my dander up and started getting suspicious. Paterson declared himself as the OWNER of WrestleZone, no longer a management representative but all in on being the judge, jury, and super executioner that he promised to be when he took the job. He then employed Kev and Lewis as his security for the main event as a barrier and if Caleb Valhalla and Lost Boy Aspen touched him then they would be fired.

Not done with the power trip, Paterson then demoted MC Martyn Clunes to ring bell duties to take over ring announcing to bring out his team of Monstrum and the Undisputed WrestleZone Champion Damien.

SKOL BROL got a good reaction, and I’d never really noticed before but the SKOL BROL entrance music is a banger, it is both violent AND funky. Aspen and Caleb showed their tag team experience with some fantastic double team moves that were so in sync and smooth, knocking down Monstrum with stereo shoulder barges, and a varying combination of splashes and chops, with it being all SKOL BROL early on.

As it looked like it was Hot Soup time, Mr Paterson announced that the match was now a tornado tag team match and as SKOL BROL took in the change they looked over to find Monstrum charging at them for a squash in the corner.

Once again SKOL BROL fought back, a double hip toss into a two man high spirits to Damien was stunning, as they were once again back on track to win Mr Paterson changed the match to a tornado tag ONLY for Damien and Monstrum so Caleb had to get back into his corner. Damien and Monstrum took advantage to isolate Lost Boy Aspen. The fight back continued but as SKOL BROL again looked to be in charge Damien kicked Aspen between the legs for the disqualification.

Nuh uh huh, Mr Paterson announced that it was a no disqualification match. As the match continued Aspen went to catch his breath on the outside but was smashed by Monstrum in a spill that sent him hip first towards the unpadded entrance way that was nasty.

With the numbers firmly in their favour, Damien fought off a Valhalla attack for Monstrum to put the finishing touches to the match with a colossal chokeslam that had the ring shake for the pin. As the dust settled Aspen sidestepped Monstrum on the outside to send the monster into the ringpost to aid in stopping a post-match attack. A spear from Caleb Valhalla and an Aspen Darkest Lariat had the champion reeling but before SKOL BROL could deliver any more damage to Damien he was dragged out with Mr Paterson demanding that security held him back.

On any other night, maybe in a more intimate venue like Curl this would’ve been electric. The constant rug pulls didn’t get the desired visceral reaction, maybe it was too much too soon but that’s saying that with the beauty of hindsight. Take that away though it was a hard hitting tag team match that got down and dirty but also showed the cohesiveness that SKOL BROL have, which we haven’t seen as a team in the North East since about January 2024.

Three months is a long time between shows, and I would love to sit here and give all these ideas that may’ve helped but I simply don’t know. More online content like event recaps with show footage, full matches, or online access to full shows (even if it’s a behind a paywall) would be good to get WrestleZone out into the world for example.

Maybe in the year 2025 it’s more difficult to sell events on nostalgia alone. Now don’t get me wrong I love seeing stars from the Attitude era or from a time I was growing up watching wrestling, Billy Gunn was the reason I attended my first WrestleZone event in 2013, but comparing the crowd between Scotty 2 Hotty and when Nixon Newell came to town for Aberdeen Anarchy earlier this year it was Nixon that was a big selling point for many I spoke to.

I’m not saying it has to be a regular thing but for the quarterly events it could have say a Will Kroos come in, imagine Kroos versus Rhys Dawkins or Bruiser Brad for example, just to freshen the match cards and convert those that wouldn’t be able to travel down south to see them in action but can see them on their own doorstep and hook them in for future events. Of course there would be a risk factor of travel/expenses over recouping it in ticket sales but if the budget is available it could be worth a shot.

But what do I know, I’ve never had to deal with the logistics of running a wrestling event and don’t plan to any time soon.

Going back and writing it down what I remember from Saturday night, the in-ring, on average, was of a great quality, the stories were there but for some reason the crowd just was not. A break from Rich Energy Arena looks on the cards with Inverurie on the September 6th and Curl for Halloween Hijinks on October 18th, both venues will no doubt bring the noise. I aim to be in attendance for Inverurie with less of the heavy brain stuff going on.

If you want my pre and post show thoughts I’ve stuck in our On The Road episode and montage below: