The snow is falling, it is all around me, and World Wide Wrestling League were recently in Dunfermline for a Great Winter Bash, the latest of their Box Office events. As I had to miss their Wrestling Showdown taping in Elgin that took place the next night, I couldn’t pass up having a look at the event that proceeded it.

From ‘All Thiller’ there were some major frictions in the camp of The Commune, a return of a Bulgarian legend, and some unfinished business between Irn Dru Marshall and Judge Jimmie James.

A nice five match card was confirmed including a four on four Survivor Series style elimination match, plus an interesting inclusion of Jonny Storm versus Chris Renfrew.

Hera defeated Tate w/The Tormentor & The Jackal by disqualification.

Hera easily overpowered Tate from the opening lock ups, sending her down to the mat without breaking a sweat. Tate found herself being thrown from corner to corner, and rag dolled around the ring. An eye rake to escape a fireman’s carry allowed a moment of offense for Tate, until she ran into the fist of Hera.

The powerhouse Hera wasn’t for anything fancy, launching Tate into the corners with hard Irish Whips and slam after slam after slam. Tate dodged an elbow drop but didn’t get a second to recover as she was met with hands and forearms being thrown by Hera. A misjudged sunset flip attempt had both scrambling and colliding with stereo clotheslines to leave Hera and Tate laid out on the canvas.

Despite her best efforts, Tate’s attempts to get the upper hand were brushed off or muscled out by Hera. The Jackal jumped up onto the apron to cause a distraction with The Tormentor getting involved. A trip up gave Tate the time drag Hera into the centre of the ring to land a standing moonsault for a near fall. A missed Twisted Bliss put Hera back into the driver’s seat to hoist Tate up for a fireman’s carry only to be bombarded by a Commune assault to cause the disqualification.

Following the decision, Hera broke through a double clothesline attempt to smash The Jackal and The Tormentor to send them to the outside. They looked up to see Tate being thrown from the ring into their path.

It wasn’t a pretty match with the majority of it being Hera just pushing back any attack then treating Tate like a wet trackie. I saw it more as a showcase for Hera with Tate making her strong moves look good. The sunset flip error was reset well with it coming back for a near fall nicely later on. As noted at ‘All Thriller’, Tate is starting to meld some of that Penelope Grace personality into the character which in turn shows the weakened state of The Commune now that she it seems that she is less hypnotised by Father Luke’s teachings. It means we get to see how far she has come along in 2025, and the comfort to adapt and pivot is becoming more evident.

Hera fighting back The Commune solo aided to a possible showdown with Luke Aldridge, so that was a fine story thread to have there.

Kayleigh caught Judge Jimmie James backstage but he was less than forthcoming with any answers on why he turned his back on Irn Dru Marshall.

Bozidar Branimir defeated Mr Tim Strange by pinfall.

The Bulgarian Baker arrived with croissants which he tossed into the crowd. Strange didn’t look impressed at the shenanigans and demanded that they get to fighting. Bozidar retrieved two more pastries to strike with some jabs, jamming one of the croissants into the open mouth of the Canadian Cowboy, and tested referee Sean Moran’s leniency when The Baker shoved a Little Chef covered baguette up the backside of Strange then dunting it off the dome of the former W3L Wrestling Showdown Champion.

It was a smooth rise for The Bulgarian Baker until his Little Chef strike was caught by Tim Strange, allowing Strange to remove the oven glove and slam Branimir onto his wee pal. It was turnabout being fair play when Strange grabbed the baguette that violated him earlier, and swung it off the face of The Baker. Strange continued the battering, unleashing some RODEO TIME to further punish the pâtissier.

While Strange basked in his work after punting Little Chef out of the ring, he didn’t see Bozidar get a potassium boost. It resulted in Branimir trying to slip up Strange with a banana peel… literally. Tim spotted the attempt to make him look like a fool and step around the Mario Kart weapon to continue his battering, however, a countered Irish Whip had Strange make contact with the ridiculous rind and toppled backwards. Bozidar took advantage with a jack knife cover to pick up a big win.

Top quality nonsense. Tim Strange is the perfect kind of opponent to be suckered into this sort of tomfoolery because he is so big and intimidating but has no issues looking silly because he just has to turn up the violence meter a notch to make you remember that his back catalogue of blood spilling violence is only a moment away. It wasn’t a “mat classic” but the crowd loved every second of it, as did I.

Jonny Storm defeated Chris Renfrew by pinfall.

It was strength versus agility to begin with as Chris Renfrew tried to bully Jonny Storm around the ring only for Storm to fire back with quick evasions to frustrate the Godfather of Insanity, tripping Renfrew into the ropes to set up a 619 to the joy of the young members of the audience, only for Chris to roll out of dodge to halt the momentum built by The Wonderkid.

Jonny followed Renfrew out via jumping off the apron but was caught, it didn’t stop Storm from wriggling out of potentially becoming a human lawn dart to send Renfrew into the metal ring post, heading back into the ring to continue to send his opponent flinging about with arm drags.

Renfrew tried to get back in the game with an eye rake but was once again being outsmarted by Jonny Storm, it took a high impact flapjack to finally put Jonny on the back foot as Renfrew slowed down the pace and picked apart Storm with chokes and gouges to keep the high flyer rooted to the ground.

Storm wasn’t to go down easy, snipping in quick pin attempts that increased the desperation from Chris Renfrew to finish the match, striking with a lariat for several two counts. Jonny struck back with an enziguri from the mat to rock Renfrew, then landing a springboard dropkick for two.

The back and forth continued, Renfrew went for the T-Virius but was denied, only to hit the Stunner for another long two count as he couldn’t put Jonny Storm away for three. An incensed Renfrew headed outside to grab a steel chair but his hopes to decapitate the legend was stopped by Sean Moran. Storm recovered to send Renfrew into the ropes for the 619 but a last second lift of the shoulder kept Chris Renfrew in the bout.

While Storm was double checking the count with the referee, Renfrew rose from the dead to go for a T-Virius but it was countered into a jack knife cover for Jonny Storm to snatch victory.

Two matches in a row finished with the jack knife pin variant but due to the circumstances that lead to each cover it’s not something I would bemoan. It was a bit different for Chris Renfrew to have a standard match, especially since his return he has leaned into being more known for taking the action to the outside and use all manner of plunder. This had a a minute or two but was primarily kept in the ring until Renfrew lost his cool and grabbed a chair. I’d even take it as Renfrew having no beef or reason to hate Jonny Storm, even as far to have respect so he didn’t plan to do what he had done to Taylor Bryden or Sami Sparx in past events until Storm’s resolve broke Renfrew’s patience only for the veteran to escape with the win. Good stuff.

This showed that Renfrew can be a right bad bastard without implements to cause destruction. The 619 call back was great from Jonny Storm who is so in tune with family show crowds.

Backstage, a pissed off Tim Strange barged into Kayleigh to voice his displeasure of being embarrassed by The Bulgarian Baker.

We came back to quick recap of Chris Renfrew jumping Jonny Storm during the interval meet and greet. Promotions are really beginning to use the interval to add an extra something something to events to make the whole show a can’t miss affair. I like it.

W3L Wrestling Showdown Championship – Irn Dru Marshall defeated Judge Jimmie James by pinfall to retain the W3L Wrestling Showdown Championship.

Irn Dru entered the ring with his back to Jimmie James, who immediately speared Marshall as he turned around. The Judge stomped and ripped at Irn Dru, biting at the forehead, and just making life a misery for the W3L Wrestling Showdown Champion.

Jimmie James was relentless, driving his knee into the side of the head of Marshall with complete calm and control on the situation at hand, that was until he took his eye off the ball. A fake out Irish Whip towards the crowd on the outside had James send Irn Dru back into the ring but as The Judge jaw jacked with the audience, Marshall recovered to dive back out and finally get some offense into the match.

Marshall bombarded Jimmie James with kicks, landing hard with a senton for a two count with The Judge immediately rolling out of the ring to get away from the onslaught. It turned out to be a ruse as James tripped a marching Irn Dru and dragged him to the corner, and sent him groin first into the ring post to turn the tide once more.

Dru continued to fight back but as he tried to pick up the tempo he was flung overhead with a release German Suplex to once again but him on defence. Another burst of energy from Irn Dru Marshall had Jimmie stumbling but a crossbody was caught and transitioned into an F5. Marshall landed hard with his leg draped over the bottom rope. Sean Moran counted the fall but noticed the break as his hand slapped to the mat the third time.

A jubilant Judge went to retrieve the title while Moran tried to explain that the match was still going on. While Jimmie argued with Sean, Marshall recovered to strike with two superkicks and a Glasgow Kiss headbutt to retain the title.

For being away for over 15 years, Judge Jimmie James looked lethal. I loved how you could see the moveset influence that he has had on Irn Dru Marshall to properly show the mentor-mentee dynamic. The little tricks like the ring post groin press, the running senton, just little bits like that were great nuggets of story threaded throughout. The naivety of Marshall to enter with his back was a lovely wee plot point, letting a sliver of trust come through which The Judge immediately took advantage of.

Post-match there was a quick promo segment with Jimmie James explaining his actions. I couldn’t hear it to be honest but the crowd reacted positively. The Judge raised the hand of Irn Dru before leaving Marshall to have the spotlight solo who proceeded to thank the fans and W3L for what they have allowed him to accomplish.

4 vs 4 War – The Commune (Luke Aldridge, Lou King Sharp, The Jackal, & The Tormentor) w/Tate defeated Team W3L (Mike Musso, Fulton King, Saqib Ali, & Buffa Aayooo) w/Hera.

Buffa made his W3L return as the fourth man, with Hera added to enforce ringside to cancel out any potential interference from Tate. Saqib Ali and Lou King Sharp started the bout off, with Ali getting the upper hand by targeting the arm of The Blood Tourist early on. Sharp was quick to rake the eyes of Saqib to escape having his arm being ripped off and becoming a Scottish version of Mrs Nesbitt.

The tags at each side of the ring were coming in fast as both teams looked to gain the edge, Buffa knocked down The Jackal, Fulton King threw about The Tormentor, Mike Musso had his way with Luke Aldridge, but the Father of The Commune lifted his elbow to drive it into the head of a charging Saqib Ali to put The Commune back on top.

A running knee opened the space for Ali to get the tag in as Team W3L once again exchange rapid fire tags, Musso dropped Aldridge with the Blunt Force Trauma DDT but the Father of The Commune was saved by The Jackal breaking up the pin, The Jackal and The Tormentor were bundle out of the ring and a lariat from Fulton King put the W3L Heavyweight Champion on his back long enough to see Luke Aldridge being the first man eliminated. Tate had tried to intervene but was stopped by Hera.

As he started to make his exit, Aldridge bonked Fulton King with a chair which left him easy prey for Lou King Sharp to land a Frog Splash to even the score.

Saqib Ali fired into The Jackal but a snap German Suplex followed by an STO wrapped up his night with The Jackal getting the pin and leaving Team W3L with only Mike Musso and Buffa left, the eliminations were coming in fast with The Tormentor next to head to the back thanks to a Full Nelson Slam and diving facebuster from Buffa. Tate tried to get involved again by jumping onto the back of Buffa, but Hera gave Tate a Samoan Drop. In the confusion, Sharp snuck in to strike Buffa with a Sick Kick, and got the three count following a Finlay Roll.

The Commune tried to use their numbers advantage, Musso held on as he managed to kick out of a pin following an STO from The Jackal. A timely dodge from Mike had The Jackal colliding with Lou King Sharp and saw The Jackal rolled up for three as it got down to one on one.

Mike ducked a Sick Kick that saw Sharp’s boot connect with the face of Sean Moran to take the referee out. A Blunt Force Trauma DDT from Musso was unable to be capitalised on due to the man in the stripes having an unscheduled nap.

Hugo Harris made his way out to give Musso a bit of grief, Hera entered the ring to stand with Mike Musso… only to drop to a knee and swing her arm to low blow The Merchandise. A Curb Stomp from Harris, and a Frog Splash from Lou King Sharp sealed the victory for The Commune against Team W3L. Harris and Hera made their exit with no further interaction with The Commune.

A begrudged handshake from Luke Aldridge to Sharp post-match continued the ongoing tension between the Father and the Da of The Commune.

It was a well structured elimination match. Luke Aldridge going out first was a fantastic twist that added more credence to Lou King Sharp’s claim that he does everything for The Commune. The Hera turn came out of nowhere to add another page on the Hugo Harris/Mike Musso which I thought was put to bed at ‘All Thriller’ with a satisfying conclusion, so now we’re in the epilogue to launch the Hera/Hugo Harris combination it seems.

World Wide Wrestling League continue to have a consistent level of family friendly entertainment, and have cultivated a dedicated audience when they revisit the same markets annually. Big characters, easily digestible stories, heroes to cheer, villains to boo, easy stuff with a nice mix of variety. It was a good show, with all the matches providing solid action that pleased the fans in attendance, and a breeze to watch on demand.

The full show is available on Hooked On Wrestling TV now to check out for yourself.