Community Pro Wrestling celebrated their ‘Govanniversary’ with a two night extravaganza. Two shows, first from their spiritual home, dubbed Madison Square Govan at the Fairfield Club, then the next day from their training facility, The Church of Wrestling.

For four years the Community Pro Wrestling events have been a platform to see well established UK and European independent wrestlers who you wouldn’t necessarily expect to have available on your doorstep. It merges that with an array of their own Glasgow School of Wrestling graduates along with some of the best in Scotland for a melting pot of first time matches, and some dream matches to boot, puppeted by The Fresh Prince of Drumoyne Square, Ravie Davie.

For night one it was the Fairfield Club, which has a fantastic reputation for professional wrestling and Davie has turned it into one of those venues that must be experienced. The crowd is loud, the tuck shop is bursting with sugary snacks to release the often terrifying roar of the young audience, and that has made its aura quite unique in this country.

Pre-show – Ticket To The Top Qualifier – Butch Armstrong defeated E-Town by pinfall to advance to the Ticket To The Top Ladder Match.

In the first of several Ticket To The Top qualifying matches, Butch Armstrong made a couple appearances for Attitude Pro Wrestling earlier in the year but this was his Community Pro Wrestling debut against E-Town.

E-Town aided the crowd to rile up Armstrong, who didn’t take kindly to being called a dafty. A side headlock was slipped out of with E-Town swapping the referee into the hold for Butch crank the head of. E-Town continued to have Armstrong chasing with arm drags and a Monkey Flip to have him scrambling for balance.

Butch was sent all over the place with chops in the corner, but a superkick countered into a hard lariat by Armstrong stopped the vicious lad’s momentum stone dead. Butch kept on top of E-Town, launching him into the corner with an Irish Whip, and slamming him to the canvas. E-Town managed to stop a pop up to turn it into a DDT to create a little bit of breathing room.

A flurry of quick pin attempts tried to catch Butch Armstrong off guard, E-Town tried to flip over the ropes for a Sunset Flip but Armstrong dropped to his knees and held onto the ropes to get the tainted victory to move onto the ladder match on day two.

It was a fine pre-show match. E-Town is starting to look more comfortable with letting the crowd be part of the shenanigans. In past matches it has felt like he was doing the motions required but didn’t have the full commitment to get you absolutely on board. There’s certainly been growth in that respect. I liked Butch Armstrong’s ability to add a lot of personality while rough housing his opponent. It was solid.

Titanic All Ulster Championship – Ticket To The Top Qualifier – Four Way – Ravie Davie defeated Tucker, Big Ross Hauser, and Jack Carter by pinfall to retain the
Titanic All Ulster Championship and advance to the Ticket To The Top Ladder Match.

The lines were drawn early on with Tucker barking orders at Jack Carter, with Ravie Davie and Big Ross Hauser forming a temporary in-match alliance. A quick dive out of the way from Carter and Tucker had Davie collide with the shoulder of Big Ross that didn’t budge Hauser but had Davie curled up on the mat in agony.

Carter and Tucker sent Ross over the top rope with a double clothesline only for Hauser to land on his feet, dragging the duo to the outside to continue the brawl. All eyes were on the mass of bodies for Ravie Davie to appear from the skies via a step up corkscrew splash.

Davie set his eyes on Jack Far…Carter with a flurry of strikes and a Blockbuster that might have had it if it wasn’t for Big Ross breaking up the fall to cause a little tension between the pair. Tucker sprung into ring to knock Ross into Davie which didn’t help the situation…

Tucker dragged Davie back in for a two on one mugging with Jack Carter, the numbers weren’t in his favour but a defiant Ravie Davie wasn’t going down without throwing hands and kicking feet. With Davie down, some misreading of an innocent slap to the chest from Carter had Tucker chop the life out of his apprentice. Big Ross returned to squash Tucker with a basement crossbody but his pin was interrupted by Ravie Davie to return us to a stalemate between the two CPW favourites.

It was Davie that struck first with an impressively high boot to the face of Hauser. Tucker arrived to play spoiler, launching Davie from the second rope with Frankensteiner, leaping from the canvas to send him crashing into Ross. It looked like Big Ross tried to catch Davie for a powerbomb but the impact of the clash had him fall to the mat.

Now with all alliances and friendships fractured, all four stood in the ring to trade chops and forearms. It was Hauser who stood tall in the ring, clotheslining Tucker, and bludgeoning Jack Carter with a big boot. A chokeslam to Tucker onto Carter looked to seal with win until Ravie Davie burst over with a Glasgow Kiss headbutt to knock Big Ross back long enough for Davie to land a Lisbon Lionsault to Jack Carter and get the three.

Post-match, Davie declared that he would not only win the Ticket To The Top, he would cash in that night to take the CPW Heavyweight Championship to Japan and make it a World Title.

A fast paced fatal four way. There was little to no downtime as something was always happening. Jack Carter, even if he was Tucker’s lacky for a good spell, showed a tonne of high quality movements to maximise the crowd reactions. The break down between Ravie Davie and Big Ross Hauser was intriguing, plus Tucker was a great constant in the match it was like he controlled the tempo to keep things moving but also let moments breathe. A sound entertaining match with a popular winner. A great opener to the main card.

Ticket To The Top Qualifier – Thorin & Judas Grey defeated The Division (Jay Barker & Max Milby) by pinfall to advance to the Ticket To The Top Ladder Match. As Jay Barker got pinned, Max Milby also qualified for the Ticket To The Top Ladder Match.

In a surprise, Thorin introduced his tag team partner for the evening, fresh off his stellar bout with Gene Munny less than 24 hours prior in Edinburgh, Judas Grey was at the Fairfield Club. There was an air of confusion from the crowd on how to react as Judas, along with Ronan King as Vanity, had been less-than-heroic in their past appearances for Community Pro Wrestling.

The strange bedfellows pairing, Valh-anity if you will, made sense with context though. Thorin didn’t need a pal, he just needed someone who is talented and hungry enough to put their body on the line so he could get to the Ticket To The Top match the next night. In fact, having Judas in there had The Division unknowingly assist with weakening a threat in that match if Thorin and Judas made it through. There was plenty of logic around this choice.

Max Milby loudly questioned if Judas could be trusted but, before any handshakes between Grey and Thorin could come to completion, The Division jumped the pair. Judas and Thorin showed quick synergy to counter and land stereo dropkicks to Barker and Milby, with a handshake cementing the common goal for the evening.

After an exchange between Thorin and Milby, their respective tag team partners were tagged in. Grey unleashed a barrage against Jay Barker, using his chest as a chopping board. Judas brought Thorin back in for another bit of teamwork, both striking with a sandwich of kicks that had Barker as the filling.

Milby broke up the resulting pin attempt, and his influence to halt a run off the ropes gave Barker the chance to land a boot to the face of Thorin then taking him down with a Jackhammer-style float over suplex for a near fall. The Division took control.

Thorin fought back as he collided with Barker for a synchronised clothesline. Both made it to their corners to tag in and it unleashed a rested Judas Grey into the match. After a burst of offense, the match broke down to have all four men getting in about it, which left them all sprawled on the canvas as a result.

Magic Dave interrupted to inform everyone that due to a pull out from the mystery guest for the Ticket To The Top Ladder Match, Ravie Davie decided that this was now an eliminator, so whoever was pinned would not qualify for the match the next night. Judas Grey confirmed the change in rules then superkicked Thorin and walked out to avoid looking up at the lights. Fantastic.

The Division tried to act quickly to finish the job with an assisted pop up sit out powerbomb, but Thorin kicked out and came back with all guns blazing. Jarring Milby with an enziguri then landing with a thud onto Jay Barker from a Swanton Bomb to qualify for the match and divide The Division.

When the match stipulation changed on the fly I did groan into thinking it was a bit convoluted for a second but Judas realising that he just didn’t need to be pinned and trying to take out who he deemed would be the biggest problem was very much his modus operandi and swung me back on board. Then with Thorin still qualifying it made for wanting to see the repercussions from Grey’s actions. It was a nice tag team match, it didn’t reinvent the wheel but it was good. The twist was unexpected and the minutes before of building up Judas as a potential fan favourite only for him to look out for himself when it came down to it was brilliant bit of bastardry.

A little detail that I liked was Thorin coming out with a Judas Grey-style black skirt over his usual entrance gear. There is a definite vibe that following the dissolving of The Pack, Thorin has been wandering and looking to forge new unions, like with E-Town as VL-Halla. It was like this was him trying to impress possible tag team partners to endear himself to them after a good chunk of his past has seen him being shackled to a faction that he was beaten into finally submitting and joining. He’s trying friendship, it’s a bold move, and it’s had mixed results.

Govan Street Fight – Monstrum w/James Erdos defeated Dave Conrad by pinfall.

There was no hesitation for the match getting started, Conrad went straight for Monstrum fists and forearms raining down on the monster. A run of clotheslines couldn’t budge Monstrum, but a duck from a returning clothesline had Monstrum unbalanced enough to be knocked through the middle and top rope to the floor.

Punches continued to be traded around ringside, up on the stage, and down into the crowd. Erdos tried to insert himself to cause a distraction but Conrad brushed it off to slap a couple of metal baking trays off the sides of Monstrum’s head where, I can only assume, his ears should be.

The match returned to the ringside area for Conrad to jump onto the apron and deliver a Satellite DDT to the wooden floor. Dave grabbed a chair to crack off Monstrum’s back but the more the metal hit spine the more Monstrum appeared to absorb the pain, turning around to punch the chair into the Cowboy’s face.

James Erdos directed traffic, sliding in some hard plastic boxes, along with removing his tie for the monster to wrap around the neck of Dave Conrad. Monstrum attempted to splash a prone Conrad through the boxes but it was pre-empted as Monstrum found his neck cracking off the edges with a powerbomb from the second rope. Somehow Monstrum got to his feet only to have the plastic shattered over his skull thanks to his opponent, not once, but three times to finally drop him to his back. All for a two count.

Erdos returned to cause a nuisance and opened Conrad to have a chair launched at his face, the follow up Black Hole Slam from Monstrum wasn’t enough so a door that introduced but saw Dave get Monstrum onto his shoulders for a Death Valley Driver through the wood set up in the corner. James Erdos broke up the fall by dragging the referee out only to get hit with a TKO to take him out.

While Conrad’s back was turned, Monstrum rattled a steel chair off his spine, then chokeslammed him on the metal to end the bout.

Dave Conrad looked absolutely indestructible, very little in the match actually showed a lasting effect before he was storming into a fight back against this horror movie savage. Monstrum needed James Erdos weaselling around to get offense and then again to open Conrad up to be kept down for three. The powerbomb onto the plastic boxes was gnarly with Monstrum having his neck contorting around the bottom curve.

This came across as making Cowboy Conrad look like a never stopping juggernaut but at a temporal cost of Monstrum, who is this big and scary towering brute, having to get his wee mate to help in order to win. I don’t think it was balanced enough if it’s a one off so I’d like to see Monstrum straight up murderising some folk for a handful of shows in increasingly gory ways before revisiting a confrontation with Dave Conrad again.

For the first half main event Kayden Cross arrived to much fanfare but that was dwarfed when ‘Like A Prayer’ hit the speakers. There are many that try/hope to reach the overwhelming aura that Grado has created and maintained, some get real close, but there’s no one like the man from the tap end of Stevenston.

Kayden got the upper hand from a lock up, forcing Grado into the corner for a clean break. Just as the match began The Big Strong Man’s music hit and he had a big strong microphone in hand. A pissed off Big Strong Man accused Grado of picking the easy option to face Kayden Cross and not The Big Strong Man. Grado was having none of it, and said he’d rather team with Kayden Cross if BSM could find himself a tag team partner. Cue The Bill theme. After a little reluctance from BSM, The Big Strong Kings reunited for one night only.

Kayden Cross & Grado defeated The Big Strong Kings (Nick Justice & The Big Strong Man) by pinfall.

Cross and Justice started off, Kayden tried to add a little dancing flair but an open handed slap to the chops snapped him into serious mode, laying into Nick Justice with stinging chops to the chest. Grado was tagged in to put some of his own in (if it’s a Policeman getting it, is it considered a pork chop?).

A standing switch counterathon ended with Justice attempting to German Suplex Grado, but despite all those muscles there was no lifting him. Grado’s vintage shenanigans begun, tripping Nick Justice over and snapping some jabs to flip, flip, and fly. Justice avoided the Dusty elbow, and kicked his way out of a Five Knuckle Shuffle to take control, tagging in The Big Strong Man.

The Big Strong Kings isolated Grado while Kayden Cross drummed up the support from the crown in his corner. Eventually the big man escaped the villainous clutches to push BSM back and get his hand out for Cross to accept. Kayden run riot over The Big Strong Man, putting him down with a Discus Clothesline but, thanks to Nick Justice getting involved, BSM struck a big strong lariat for a near fall.

An attempted isolation of Kayden Cross was in vain with Cross scrapping his way back to a rested Grado who got both of his opponents with the Dusty elbow with pinpoint accuracy right on the forehead. Grado exhausted himself with corner splashes but step out of the way of a charging Big Strong Kings to cause the pair to collide into the other, finding themselves seated in opposite corners.

Stereo Roll N Slices and follow up splashes ended the one night return for The Big Strong Kings.

A feel good end to the first half, The Big Strong Man was justified in his grievance, acknowledged that he still hated Nick Justice but hated Kayden Cross more. All very solid and logical character work. In-ring was fine, you got the usual Grado tricks which are still as entertaining as ever. It was a simple story in the match with the fan favourites overcoming the bad guys after some back and forth. It also curbed any potential backlash on either Grado or Kayden Cross depending on the crowd split for the match and the result, putting all the heat on The Big Strong Man and Nick Justice which was clever.

The music stopped during the celebrations as the crowd in the Fairfield Club loudly filled the hall with an acapella singalong, which continues to show how ingrained Grado is in Scottish professional wrestling culture. Grado got on the microphone to pass the torch to Kayden to close out the first half of the event.

CPW Tag Team Championships – The Freshnas (Martin Steers & Fabio) defeated Sunshine Machine (Chuck Mambo & TK Cooper) by pinfall to retain the CPW Tag Team Championships.

After the oddness of the last CPW show with The Freshnas in this middle ground of are they good guys? Are they bad guys? Thankfully it was a bit clearer here as there was a lot of love for Fabio. So much so that the crowd demanded he started the match, TK Cooper tossed Fabio out of the ring to catch Martin Steers off guard and now facing Sunshine Machine alone which was an excellent bit of work.

Cooper overpowered both Freshnas that seemed to rattle Steers and Fabio. A blind tag brought Chuck Mambo in, who similarly had the early upper hand against the Irish lads by chopping the chest hairs off Fabio, then taking him down with a crazy acrobatic tightrope arm drag that saw him dodge an oncoming attack from Martin Steers on the apron.

The fluidity of Sunshine Machine continued to have The Freshnas on the ropes, with Steers and Fabio once again having to recuperate on the outside and reset. A new game plan arrived in the form of playing Mambo and Cooper at their own tactics, a quick blind tag left TK open for a double team leg sweep/running blockbuster combo to finally give The Freshnas some momentum.

Now the shoe was on the other foot with Sunshine Machine catching their breath on the outside from a rapid barrage from the CPW Tag Team Champions. They didn’t have long as they looked up to see Fabio and Martin diving through the ropes to meet them. Cooper and Mambo weathered on to bundle Fabio away and throw Martin Steers up into the air in unison to literally put his head through the ceiling of the Fairfield Club.

The tide turned again to the visitors as they picked apart Steers, torturing his spine and limbs. By the time Martin got to his corner for the tag, Chuck Mambo had already assaulted Fabio, leaving him on the floor battered. Steers was stretched into all shapes and sizes by Sunshine Machine until a double suplex was countered for Martin to see his path clear and get Fabio back into the bout.

Fabio was relentless, using all that pent up energy to fire back at Cooper and Mambo, a 619 using the ring post, a springboard moonsault to take out both team members, but Cooper put a stop to a pop up Canadian Destroyer for a double team of their own which was saved at the death by Fabio breaking up the pin.

Sunshine Machine once again removed Fabio from the ring and went about demolishing Martin Steers. Martin hung on just long enough to once again bring in Fabio that kickstarted a chaotic chain of events with big moves and close calls. The Freshnas strung a series of high impact moves together and kept TK Cooper down long enough so not to interrupt a pop up Canadian Destroyer to Chuck Mambo to claim victory and retain the CPW Tag Team Championships.

Well this was something a bit different. The finishing stretch was balls to the wall that escalated with the crowd coming along for the ride throughout. Sunshine Machine were so slick with every movement they made and the story of The Freshnas being on the backfoot before finally being able to keep Mambo and Cooper separated just long enough to get the win was very satisfying. Fabio continued his excellent 2025 form.

CPW Cruiserweight Championship/CPW Women’s Championship – Session Moth Martina & Kev.i.n defeated Planet A (Ellie Armstrong & Martin MacAlistair) w/Abbie by submission. Session Moth Martina won the CPW Women’s Championship, and Kev.i.n won the CPW Cruiserweight Championship.

In the Planet A open challenge, Session Moth Martina was the first to arrive to a tepid reaction. An unexpected response but she soon had them clapping along. Martina revealed that her tag team partner was behind Martin and Ellie, some top camera work panned to reveal Kev.i.n standing poised for a fight, running into the duo for a double clothesline to start the bout.

Kev.i.n and Mar.t.na took advantage of the ruse but Ellie Armstrong was soon back into the action, dragging Martina off the apron for a back suplex onto the tables that formed the barriers around ringside. MacAlistair jumped on the distraction to rain punches on Kev. Planet A took their anger out on Kev with quick tags and keeping him close by their corner with Ellie Armstrong berating Kev.i.n for the betrayal.

A double suplex rolled into a DDT counter finally gave Kev the chance to tag in Martina who went straight for Planet A, knocking them into the corner for a Bronco Buster train. Planet A tried to mount a comeback with the assistance of Abbie. An Eat Defeat from Martin MacAlistair had Kev wobbly legged, but Martina dived in to spear Armstrong to stop one final tandem manoeuvre with both members of Planet A caught in crossfaces for the double tap out.

It was an odd match. There was a brief moment before the opponents were announced where the music for Session Moth Martina hit and Kev.i.n and Abbie were standing directly in line behind Martin MacAlistair and Ellie Armstrong which was an excellent teaser for what ended up being a half betrayal (an “ayal” if you will).

Maybe it was the mayhem from the CPW Tag Team Championships match previous that had exhausted the crowd, or there hadn’t been enough world building for the surprise in the build up but the audience weren’t vocally invested in the match until the conclusion. The in-ring was really good, no faults there, and all four were trying to get some sort of prolonged reaction but it wasn’t forthcoming.

CPW Heavyweight Championship – Mr Wanderer w/Jack Carter and Bryan Mojo defeated Cousin Zander by pinfall to retain the CPW Heavyweight Championship.

It was an atmospheric feeling out process to begin, the crowd were fully behind The People’s Cousin. Zander got the better of the opening lock up but The Entourage were quick to make their presence known so that Mr Wanderer could get the jump and try to take control. Zander stood his ground with powerful shoulder tackles, not letting the occasion become a factor, he soon had Wanderer in position for the Itchy Bum Diver to wrap up the match early until Bryan Mojo jumped up on the apron to begin “The Entourage get flung about like wet trackies” section of the evening.

After Mojo and Carter were done being Tiger Bombed into the canvas, Zander dispatched them out of the ring. An opportunistic Wanderer re-entered to clothesline Zander out to join his crew, following up a dive through the ropes into the trio on the floor.

Zander seemed to get the least of the damage, rushing back into the ring for a flip senton of his own to knock The Entourage flat on their backs. The trio surrounded the ring, but Referee Steven had had enough and sent Bryan Mojo and Jack Carter to the back (it had been a stressful event for Steven to be fair, no one was listening to him all day. One in, one out, come on guys!).

With Mr Wanderer trapped like a moth in a bath, he became a bit more unhinged, ferally dragging Zander out to the floor and tearing into him at ringside. The beat down continued in the ring, an Uranage sent Zander rock bottom to the mat. A Wanderer Elbow was dodged that looked to awaken the chances of championship glory for The People’s Cousin.

Mr Wanderer rolled an Itchy Bum Diver into a pin attempt for a near fall. Wanderer tried his own version of the move only to be lifted up for a sit out powerbomb. A Zander charge of offense, ending with a sit out fireman’s carry was good for two. The battle went up the turnbuckles, Mr Wanderer was sent crashing to the mat to raise his head up and see a top rope Itchy Bum Diver in his eye line. It looked to be over, until Bryan Mojo pulled the referee out of the ring before the three count.

A cutter couldn’t keep Zander down with Mr Wanderer directing Mojo to bring in the CPW Heavyweight Championship. The referee tried to confiscate the belt but received a standing crossface chicken wing for his troubles. Now that the referee was out cold, as was the back up referee during the resulting melee, interference became fair game for a three on one attack on Cousin Zander.

The People’s Cousin needed a hero, and help arrived in the form of a chair wielding Spider-Bam who took out Carter and Mojo to leave Mr Wanderer against all odds. Itchy Bum Diver, and a Govan Team crescendo to come… until Steg waited for Zander’s back to be turned, he grabbed Zander’s shoulder, stood eye to eye with his flesh and blood… then Steg kicked him between the legs then delivered a superkick to the head as the shock befell those gathered in the Fairfield Club.

An unconscious Wanderer was dragged on top of Cousin Zander to end the Govan Dream, the three count was made while Steg made his exit through the crowd.

In the realms of Community Pro Wrestling and what they have put together, this was the worthy main event. Cousin Zander has steadily been a consistent fan favourite from day one as part of The Govan Team, maybe he was in the shadow of Ravie Davie at times but consistent nonetheless. As the shadow trickles down from the acceptance that Zander may have for that hierarchy there was the third man in the group, disappearing through injury and maybe festered on that whisper of being the third wheel in The Govan Team, Steg. The more you think about it, the more it all made sense, even to why he allowed The Entourage to get a doing, he had no interest on whether or not Mr Wanderer was champion, as long as Zander ended the night without it.

The match was well paced, the audience were hot for it. Mr Wanderer is almost pantomime in villainy but it works so that no one is cheering they guy, but they are booing him in droves. An entertaining closer to an entertaining event.

For it being a marquee event for Community Pro Wrestling then stories are key which were told well. Some might not have totally hit the mark for the paying crowd but there were certainly no matches for the sake of a match kind of scenario. Even the CPW Tag Title match may’ve been “here are two good teams” on the surface, but it was used to further cement The Freshnas as fan favourites which was a bit muddied at previous events.

The teases for night two with Judas/Thorin, the tension between Ravie Davie/Big Ross, and whatever fallout was to come from the main event kept my interest high to check it out as soon as time allows.

The full show is available on Community Pro Wrestling’s Patreon: