Let me paint you a picture, months ago a family holiday was booked for down in Filey. A wee Haven holiday in a caravan, lots of entertainment, spending an unacceptable amount of money on 2p machines, and other such activities. Your wife suggests going down the day before the booking to break up the journey with a cheeky overnight in a Travelodge at Glasgow. Meaning instead of a 6-7 hour drive in one go, it’s a refreshed 3-4. All is well, she makes the booking and I think no more about it.

Final preparations being made the night before, I happened to check where a nearby Tesco would be for breakfast/refreshment purposes, five minute walk from the hotel, ace. There was something familiar about the road though… as I turned the Google Maps 180 degrees there it was, Glasgow’s Grand Ole Opry.

VALOR were running on the Sunday we were down, could it be? So I abandoned my family in the hotel, turned left, and walked the five minutes, crossed the road, and was there. The home of VALOR in all its splendor. Entering the venue it struck me how compact the venue is, considering how big the atmosphere is from through footage via This Is VALOR you would’ve thought it was huge. That being said it was packed full for the main portion of the event with the seats filled with passionate wrestling fans in all corners.

Warning, this event is coming up to two weeks ago so I will do my best to recall the action in order thanks to clips taken on the night and the photos VALOR have put up on their social media via David J Wilson. Oh, and due to the written word lacking in tone, Mrs SWN was fully aware that I was attending the show…

VIP Bonus Match – Eastern Bloc Rules – Special Guest Referee: Krobar – Open Challenge – Eastern Bloc (Jan Islav & Patryk Peterski) defeated Sean Moran & Kairn Douglas by pinfall.

The bonus bout saw the mighty Eastern Bloc enter, the trio of Jan Islav, Patryk Peterski, and Krobar donned in their red and white garb arrived to await whomever would be accepting their open challenge. First out was a referee with a particular set of skills, that being counting… beats. Sean Moran was joined by a face from Patryk’s past seeing Kairn Douglas joining the party to get his hands on his former NSFM tag team partner.

As Moran was in the match, who would referee such a contest? Cue Krobar whipping off his jacket to reveal that he was wearing the black and white stripes to call the action, the white complementing his Crocs that were not even in sports mode because Crocs wouldn’t dare slip off the feet of Krobar. You know, for future reference, white with red stripes, just saying.

Douglas and Peterski faced off to start the match but a demand from Jan Islav to tag in held off the collision for the moment. It became apparent that the referee may have been slightly favouring the Eastern Bloc with fast counts, though I haven’t brushed up on the stipulations of an Eastern Bloc Rules match so it might be double speed counts for those that are part of Eastern Bloc, I’ll do some digging…

Thanks to a distraction or two, Patryk Peterski got the upper hand on his former tag team partner, launching Kairn overhead with a Fallaway Slam, and quick tags left Douglas prime for a basement dropkick to the side of the skull from Islav who had picked who was going to be isolated for the time being, with Jan whipping Kairn into the path of a hard sidewalk slam from Patryk.

Peterski kept the pressure but Douglas managed to flip over his friend-turned-foe and fire back with a discus lariat to give him the chance to make his way over to an amped up Sean Moran who showed his Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect. Avoiding some Krobar shenanigans to land a standing splash while Islav tried to roll away, adding insult to injury with a Five Knuckle Shuffle. Peterski returned to throw his weight around, and Sean Moran, by planting Sean with a spinebuster as the match broke down.

Moran and Douglas had the rare opportunity to have the numbers on their side, busting out some double team offense to Eastern Bloc. The two brought in chairs to try and finally rid VALOR of the faction, but Krobar stopped a Conchairto attempt to save a decapitation to Jan by grabbing a chair off Kairn. In the confrontation, Krobar smashed the chair off the back of Douglas that left Moran open for a low blow and back suplex-neckbreaker combination to put the Rappin’ Referee out for the count.

I’ve been high on this Eastern Bloc version of Patryk Peterski who batters opponents mercilessly and with little emotion. It works because Jan Islav is so large in character that it allows Patryk to be a stoic nasty bastard who hits high impact offense and have Jan, and even Krobar, be the hype man to stoke the flames to create that visceral reaction to their antics. A really well gelled team which made for a fun pre-show extra.

Before the main show kicked off properly the soulful voice of Kyle Wallace introduced Lou King Sharp to talk about the Extreme Sports era of VALOR. Sharp took aim to the castrated pro wrestling that kids today have been brought up on, the hypocrisy of those advertising themselves to be counter-culture only to sell out at the first opportunity, to sports entertainment being a commercialised scheme that has priced out working class families from having an escape from reality to enjoy real life superheroes live and in person.

The full speech is available on VALOR’s socials if you want to have a looky:

I’ll get onto this a bit more later but you can’t help but get wrapped up in the emotion of it all because Lou King Sharp believes in every word he says. He wants the people of 2025 to feel why a generation of wrestling fans yearn for that Attitude Era environment which he wants to facilitate at VALOR, trusting his audience to be immersed into the world of professional wrestling, and know that it’s a show. It’s going to be sweary, bloody, and violent, but it’s going capture your heart and imagination. To have that on your doorstep is an incredible thing to have access to, affordable live entertainment.

Side bar: Just this past weekend the first match I remember was uploaded to WWE Vault, Undertaker versus Kane in an Inferno Match, February 1999. I was 8 years old. There will always be a vocal minority that makes wrestling look like it melts minds and causes violence outwith the three hours bell to bell, but those with a sliver of logic know that approaching professional wrestling as a live experience, a distraction from the real world, an outlet to switch off and just absorb the mayhem, it’s what the majority of the paying audience does.

One of the best on the microphone, Lou King Sharp spit bile and venom towards those that have made wrestling all about the cash grabbing and not about what made us all fans in the first place, the characters that you can relate to or see your fears in physical form, the larger than life moments that made us gravitate towards the squared circle, the chaos, the cheering, the booing, for the wrestlers and the sacrifices to get five minutes under the bright lights, the hours of driving for an opportunity, it all leads to the greatest spectacle you can witness with your own eyes, professional wrestling.

I always refer to Lou King Sharp’s black book of contacts, but it’s all those names, all those countries, flights, thousands of miles in a cramped car, missed birthdays and family gatherings, blood, sweat, tears, and opportunities that have lead to him achieving something that looked improbable when he took control of Copenhagen Championship Wrestling. If you learn anything about Lou King Sharp it’s that he will look at the impossible and do everything in his power to make it a reality.

Hearse Match – Penelope Grace & Lucy Couture defeated The Heretics (Brodie Adler & Hera).

After a blistering call to arms from Sharp, it was on to the main show and the first match recorded for Extreme Sports, a tag team Hearse Match with a mystery element after the apparent death of Aerin Taylor.

Brodie Adler and Hera marched out on a mission, awaiting who Penelope Grace found to replace her possibly deceased tag team partner. Lucy Couture joined Penelope for her VALOR debut, but it didn’t seem like she was quite prepared for the challenge at hand as she was tasked with keeping Hera as far away as possible while Adler and Grace tore lumps out of each other once more.

The match became a wild brawl from the off, with the new look 2BadBitches tried to separate The Heretics quickly but ran into the immovable force that was Hera with two double chokeslams for their efforts. Now on the backfoot, Lucy was doing everything to avoid getting into the orbit of Hera as her screams of fear echoed in all corners of the Grand Ole Opry while Brodie and Penelope continued their chaotic feud.

The weapons came into play, Hera and Couture fought to the bar where a metal bin came into the equation as Lucy found herself with the bin on her head to blindly receive a Hera sized forearm. All four carried on scrapping all over the Opry, using bins and crutches to punish each other. It wasn’t long before the blood was spilled with Penelope Grace having her face covered in a crimson mask thanks to Brodie Adler once again.

Due to the stipulation there were no pinfalls or submissions, the only way to win was to bundle both opponents into the back of the hearse that was situated outside the venue and close the doors. So that meant everyone swarmed around the vehicle once the fight headed onto the streets.

The sunlight started to fade while the competitors attempted to put the opposing team into the back of the hearse that contained all sorts of spooktacular plunder. The brawling continued with it being difficult to keep track of what was happening until Penelope Grace was situated on the roof of the hearse. A defiant double middle finger salute pre-empted a crossbody dive onto the mass of bodies below.

As it looked like a hard task to get two bodies into the vehicle, Hera suddenly attacked Brodie Adler and threw her into the hearse and drove off to end the contest. There was an awkward little delay to the big speedy ending when Hera ran into a red light but once the light finally turned green the car went tearing down Govan Road to give 2BadBitches a big bad victory.

If this was an introduction of what to expect from VALOR then it served as taste of the unrelenting violence that was to come. From memory, and maybe because my view while outside was obstructed, Penelope Grace and Hera had very little actual interaction with them concentrating on their respective tag team partners which may come as an interesting plot point. Lucy Couture spent most of the match running away and keeping both her feet on the ground or being battered by Hera so for a first Couture experience it didn’t feel like she was showcased at all with all eyes being on heightened viciousness between Brodie Adler and Penelope Grace for the most part.

I’ll be interested to see how this one is edited because you had to keep your head on a swivel to try and keep up with everything happening. The question coming out of it will be is if Lucy Couture was a decoy hire by Penelope Grace. This is one I will need to watch back when it airs because of the wild nature of the bout but I continue to be impressed at the rapid growth of Penelope Grace as a professional wrestler over the last 6 months.

Johnny Pressley defeated Krobar w/Jan Islav & Patryk Peterski by pinfall.

After witnessing an abduction, the VALORants made their way back into the Opry for the next match. There were no stipulations in hand but the Eastern Bloc made their way out again in numbers and didn’t look too impressed by the hip swivels that Johnny Pressley was thrusting forward.

Krobar used all his bear fighting experience to maul the masked cool cat to take control, a dodged clothesline gave Johnny a chance to pepper some jabs and land a splash as VALOR’s PT-91 Twardy weathered the early flurry to overwhelm Pressley by smashing into his opponent and taking control, but some shaking, rattling, and rolling got Johnny back into the fight by sending Krobar over with a back body drop.

Patryk Peterski and Jan Islav watched on as Krobar started losing his grip on the contest. Pressley was sent to the apron but a counter trapped Krobar in a sunset flip for a near fall, another roll up snatched victory as the Eastern Bloc were caught napping. An all shook up Johnny Pressley made a quick exit to avoid an all too common post-match beat down.

It was a quick match but was a bit of fun. What was interesting is that Jan looked frustrated, but not towards Johnny Pressley, because there was more than a moment of lingering rage pointed at the man that sold the vision of Eastern Bloc to him, Krobar. Krobar seemingly brushed off the loss but with an upcoming match with Pitbull Gary Wolfe at Wrestle Gear Solid it was a bit too nonchalant which is a thread I can see Islav pull on. There is some trouble in the Eastern Bloc camp.

There was an extended break between this match and the next as there was a small matter of negotiating a massive wooden cross into the ring. An act that caused one gentleman in the Opry to go ballistic about the heavily advertised crucifixion match. He offered any responding member of the audience to a fight outside which thankfully wasn’t taken up on with staff heading out to cool things down. Adding blasphemy to the buzz words VALOR can use now, causing a god-fearing man to welp and yell that it wasn’t right. That was new.

Crucifixion Match – Tim Strange defeated Tommy Lockhart.

The first half main event also served as the final match taped for episode one of VALOR on Extreme Sports. This was the first noticeable change to the advertised card with Tim Strange walking out in place of fellow God’s Country cultist Frank of the Cross. Tommy Lockhart arrived in his blue jeans, cowboy boots, and vest in tribute to SummerSlam 2002 Shawn Michaels, which was ironic considering the stipulation in place. Magnificent Mackie and Big Mick entered with Lockhart but made their way to the back before the bell.

Due to quite a bit of the in-ring space being taken up by a handmade crucifix, Strange and Lockhart had to navigate the terrain which made for a flow quite difficult to build up. Tim took full advantage of that by bullying Tommy around, slamming him onto the crucifix face first and landing an open hand chop to the exposed chest of his opponent who was blinded by his vest being pulled over his face.

Lockhart did his best to try and out manoeuvre his foe but Tim Strange was relentless in breaking through any attempts. The match went to the outside with Strange bullying Tommy with a ring bell and throwing him head first into the ring post. Tommy wasn’t to go down easily, wriggling out of a fireman’s carry position to put Tim off kilter. Strange took Lockhart for some rodeo time before a short arm clothesline left Tommy prone on the cross. Tim tied a struggling Lockhart’s arms to the crucifix, landing one final blow with a big splash to knock out Tommy and allow for his legs to be tied to finish the match.

Staff assisted raising the cross into the wooden stand in the ring so Tim Strange could proudly show off his handy work.

The match felt like it was better in mind than in practice due to the logistics involved with the wooden cross, which looked super sturdy in all fairness. The change in dynamic with Frank of the Cross having to be replaced on the fly certainly didn’t help matters because it instantly changed what kind of pace the match was going to be.

It was a bold stipulation to put forward, showing that VALOR aren’t afraid to try some more outlandish ideas. The match may not have been a classic with all those outside forces involved but you just know the image of Tommy Lockhart being crucified will live long in the history of VALOR.

We reached the interval of a crazy first half, my curiosity at this point was if the Bullrope Match would take place as advertised considering one of the competitors was shifted into the first half main, but lo and behold the first wrestler out post-break was Mr Tim Strange, rope in hand to start the taping for episode two of VALOR on Extreme Sports.

Bullrope Match – Tim Strange defeated Big Mick w/The Magnificent Mackie by pinfall.

Big Mick was accompanied by The Magnificent Mackie with continuity nicely kept with Tommy Lockhart being absent from the Cirque du Catch entrance set up.

It was a stalemate test of strength to open up the match, with Big Mick dodging a shot from the cowbell dangling in the middle of the bullrope to start laying in forearms to Strange. It didn’t take long for Tim to settle into his rhythm, using the rope to great effect to whip it off the broad back of Big Mick, adding a little spice via an open hand chop to the chest of the strongman.

Mick’s hubris got the better of him with any momentum gathered leading him to try and slam his adversary to no avail as Tim Strange easily counter balanced his weight to stop any throw down. A cowbell assisted standing elbow drop and a short armed lariat kept Big Mick down for three.

Lou King Sharp recently cited Tim Strange as VALOR’s Andre The Giant and that was evident on this night. Tim was the immovable object across both matches, barely flinching against his opponents and even toying with them at points. Strange also has an undeniable charismatic aura which splits the audience between booing him and being so encapsulated by his rodeo riding cowboy persona. The most important thing though, he generates a strong reaction on either side of the fence.

Again, it more about making Tim Strange look like a colossus and as he will be featured in the first two episodes on Extreme Sports it’ll be interesting to see if we see those challenges get bigger and bigger to build to someone finally slamming him.

Two On One Handicap Match – Christian Colombo defeated Struan Fraser & Howlette w/Chris Bungard by submission.

In the second change of the advertised line up, Chris Bungard informed Christian Colombo and the crowd that he suffered a knee injury while sparring and would be unable to compete that evening. So, he offered two of his finest trainees, Struan Fraser and Reece Howlette, for Colombo to choose from. In the ECW spirit of it all, Colombo went hardcore and chose them both.

Fraser and Howlette constructed a game plan that just lead them walking into the path of a ginormous double clothesline. Colombo then proceeded to absolutely batter both with punches and knees. Struan clearly didn’t know when to quit when he tried to trigger a forearm exchange that only saw him get slapped about more with the VALOR crowd begging for Christian Colombo to inflict more damage.

Bungards boys finally used their numbers to distract the terrifying Colombo that allowed Howlette to chop the knee of the big man to have him in position to eat a double superkick. Their time on top was fleeting, Howlette got knocked off the apron to leave Struan all alone to have his knee torqued into a gory position for the submission.

If I was a betting man, once Christian Colombo and Chris Bungard have their scheduled scrap I’d put heavy weight into seeing Colombo versus Tim Strange down the line. Both were presented as tour de forces in their respective matches with a future crossing of paths being a mouthwatering prospect, it would certainly be a spectacle.

Struan and Reece held up their end of the bargain, being effective punchbags to show the deadliness that Christian Colombo presents to the VALOR roster.

Elimination Tag Team Match – Team VALOR (Lou King Sharp, Mike Musso, Ozzy, Daisy Jenkins, & BT Gunn) defeated The New Age Kliq (Chris Renfrew, Dru Marshall, Sami Sparx, Fulton King, & Kasey).

It was main event time and just time for one more unscheduled change. The New Age Kliq entered en masse, a conglomeration of chaos filled the ring. Team VALOR walked out with a man missing, Big F’N Joe. Chris Renfrew pointed out the lack of numbers but The NAK had little time to gloat when the surprise fifth entrant arrived, UEWA European Heavyweight Champion and a man with a lot of history with many of this modern New Age Kliq, BT GUNN.

Scenes.

As much as I would love to break this down per elimination that just isn’t going to happen. 25 minutes of non-stop barbarity followed from all out war in the Opry, Daisy Jenkins squared up to Fulton King with the fire in her eyes of a burning star, Lou King Sharp crashed Sami Sparx to the mat with a Cop Killa, spilled blood, and fought Kasey within arms reach of myself, every person was amped up for a fight. Of course, the battleground would naturally transfer onto the streets.

Outside Glasgow’s Grand Ole Opry it was four on four with Sami Sparx and Ozzy already being dispatched from their respective teams, the crowd gathered to watch fists flying on the kerb, on the road, off barriers, and before the action returned to inside the venue Mike Musso Blunt Force Trauma DDT’d Irn Dru Marshall into the boot of a taxi and jumped into the passenger seat to take both out of the bout with the official line from the mouth of referee Sean Moran “eliminated via Uber”.

We returned to our seats with three remaining on each side as Daisy and Kasey rekindling their past VALOR feud. I’ve been a fan of Daisy Jenkins since day one-ish and to finally see her energy live and in person there is something very special about her, clashing with an underrated veteran in Kasey was a little bit of magic and it was Kasey that got the better of the luck in this chapter of their story.

The showdown between BT Gunn and his real life partner, and person that betrayed him at ‘808s & Ropebreaks II’ to join The New Age Kliq, Kasey was electric. Gunn didn’t hold back throwing his famous chops to rattle the contents of her chest cavity before sending her packing from the match up.

Team VALOR took the lead with the numbers once Lou King Sharp pinned Fulton King following a Coast To Coast dropkick into a BT Gunn held chair to smash off the face of the Legends Never Die juggernaut. Chris Renfrew stood alone against Sharp and Gunn. Lou slowly got to his feet to witness BT raise up the N symbol to mark a reuniting of the original New Age Kliq.

It was an unbelievable turn of events that shocked everyone. Gunn and Renfrew exchanged an embrace… then BT struck his former running buddy to dissolve any plans for some Killer Boots in the near future. Sharp could breathe a sigh of relieve for the time being, holding Renfrew in position to have his head taken off by a solo big boot from BT Gunn. Renfrew ducked to cause BT to put his sole through the chest of Lou King Sharp to throw a spanner in the works. A low blow neutralised The Oddity to give Chris the time to plant Sharp with a double arm piledriver to take out his long time rival and leave the match to one on one. BT Gunn versus Chris Renfrew.

The final stretch only lasted a couple minutes but the hand in heart moments were still there. A second rope stunner would have ended any other match but BT Gunn rolled a shoulder up. The tussle for control continued until Renfrew tried another stunner only to be rolled up by Gunn to gain victory for VALOR over The New Age Kliq.

Team VALOR (minus Mike Musso) congregated in the ring, Lou King Sharp basked in the victory and celebrated his team mates, but noted his regret that despite VALOR getting one over The New Age Kliq, once again he was one upped personally by being eliminated by Chris Renfrew himself. Lou hyped up Wrestle Gear Solid when he would be going one on one once more with Renfrew but it would be in a Barbed Wire Taipei Death Match.

Closing the night with an insane clash with a star studded line up that made for total bedlam was worth the price of admission alone. I’ve talked about matches representing VALOR and for anyone that was new in the door, THIS was the match that gave a splice of what VALOR provides. We got the hard hitting in-ring content, we got the pandemonium outside the ring and on the streets, blood was shed, sweat exploded off the bodies, tears from the pain bubbled to the surface. VALOR delivered a memorable night to kick off their TV era in style.

The inclusion of BT Gunn, though last minute, was absolutely perfect. Not only for me getting to see one of the best active wrestlers in the country wrestle live for the first time in years, but because of that existing beef lingering between him and Kasey, and reopening a wound with Chris Renfrew by extension, it just made sense to have him involved. Bonus marks for BT wrestling in what looked like his training gear to show how rushed it was for getting the replacement member of Team VALOR put together.

What a night. As someone who has been keeping track of VALOR via This Is VALOR on YouTube I had this pre-conceived idea of what to expect from the crowd but being there is a different animal. It is up close and personal, the action is real and raw, you can feel that every wrestler is in for elevating VALOR to that next level. The more that I reflect on the show, the changes that were forced were a blessing because every piece was in the right place for being put to air and introduce the world to VALOR.

A few folk that deserve a mention because they weren’t in-ring competitors but I casted my eye around to spot who was on crew and one person really stood out and that was Tara Lenny from Iron Girders who was never off her feet from the moment I entered the Grand Ole Opry to when I (finally) left. She was always busy, focused, doing something. One of the few I didn’t catch for hellos because I didn’t want to interrupt. An absolute workhorse getting stuck in, I have no doubts that that attitude and work ethic will pay dividends for her.

Archie Williams, another that always looked to be buzzing about and busy. A guy that you see the pure love he has for being involved in the wrestling, along with Kayleigh, Lou King Sharp struck gold getting her involved with backstage interviews and adding her (unbeknownst to herself) cool vibe and passion for wrestling which is underrated in the total package that VALOR aims to produce. Another underrated man behind the scenes who I got a word with after the show was Brian Bamford who takes some of the maddest concepts for brutality and constructs the weapons to cause many nightmares for wrestlers and fans alike.

That’s what Lou is creating at VALOR, it’s an underground movement, it’s bucking the current trend of big lights, giant LED screens, it’s working class professional wrestling for working class people. The in-ring is a broad variety, it might not all be for everyone but there’s nobody half arsing it. All the pieces of the puzzle have been carefully picked with trust, from Kyle Wallace’s strong voice on ring announcing, to Sean Moran who referees with confidence and authority. It has been about three years since Sharp took the reigns at Copenhagen Championship Wrestling, transitioning the brand to VALOR, taking it to Europe, to China, holding the VALOR name high in Mexico, and if this is what he can achieve in that short amount of time there’s no limits to what he can accomplish.

It’s easy for any company to infer themselves as a throwback to the letters E C W but returning that balls to the wall rush of adrenaline at every event is another matter entirely, and VALOR are doing their hardest in restoring that feeling one night at a time.

Check out our SWN Podcast On The Road episode for my initial day after the event thoughts below.