A trilogy can be difficult to maintain, every additional chapter draws comparison to the previous, and it can suffer from diminishing returns. When Che Monet announced his third event, Show Must Go On, he built a card of all killer, no filler from top to bottom.

As always it wasn’t without headaches with regular reshuffling of matches due to unexpected pull outs for whatever reason.

The day finally arrived, the Gallowgate being the venue, for a seven match card. I really like the Gallowgate as a venue, the acoustics are great to carry sound, the aesthetic is very much like when you’re playing a WWE2K game as your wrestling in a gym, the graffiti walls and overall spirit of the venue makes for a great atmosphere.

VIP Early Entry Match – Winner Faces BT Gunn – Fatal Four Way – Chris Kingston defeated Prince Levi, Xander Davidson, and Sam Taylor by pinfall to advance.

Chris Kingston inserted himself in the match as the opening bell was about to ring, and earned himself a double superkick from Sam Taylor and Xander Davidson for his troubles.

Taylor was operating at an electric fast pace, consistently ramping up the speed that found himself running into a Davidson sized brick wall. Levi and Kingston formed a tentative tandem, by isolating and dismantling their opponents.

The alliance had trouble in paradise when an errant kick from Levi was caught by Kingston, who dropped the Prince with an awkward Dragon Screw. Sam Taylor returned to the fray to slug it out with the audience support shifting between Sam and Xander.

Davidson snapped Levi over with a Fallaway Slam to remove him from the match for the time being. Sam dived in to take Xander down with a nice springboard stunner and 450 splash but Levi interrupted the fall with a double foot stomp, taking Sam down with a Shining Wizard. Chris Kingston took the opening to try and low blow Prince Levi, unfortunately, his arm got caught between the vice grip thighs of Levi, who responded with a low blow to Kingston.

Xander dragged Levi out of the ring as Kingston fell backwards on top of Sam Taylor, and a three count from referee Chris Quinn later saw the IGPW King of the Fling Champion punch his ticket to a match with BT Gunn later on the main show.

A blisteringly quick pre-show match, Sam Taylor was in hyperdrive and left an impression, with Chris Kingston providing more of the story beats with his sneakiness to try and grab a win by any means necessary.

The action was crisp and rapid, a good match.

IGPW Championship – Fatal Four Way – Angel Hayze defeated Skye Smitson, Natasha Swann, and Daisy Jenkins by pinfall to retain.

The chaos was immediate with Daisy Jenkins and Natasha Swann brawling around the Gallowgate while Skye Smitson and Angel Hayze battled it out in the ring. Hayze almost had the match ended early but her neckbreaker to Smitson was broken out of and Daisy Jenkins tripped up the champion to take charge.

Swann made her way back to the action, landing a splash to Smitson and Jenkins, however, her burst of confidence lead her to being thrown overhead for a double team suplex.

While Skye and Daisy congratulated themselves, Angel scaled to the top turnbuckle to land a dropkick to the villains which had The Young Lioness stringing a combo together to build some momentum.

The strength of Skye Smitson put a stop the build up, slowly picking apart Angel Hayze while Daisy Jenkins kept up the feral attack on Natasha Swann around the ringside area and eventually back between the ropes.

In similar vein to the bonus match, the passing agreement between Jenkins and Smitson fell apart when individual gain came into the equation. The fallout finally gave us an extended time for Natasha Swann to shine as she got a measure of revenge on Daisy Jenkins, throwing her out via the fire escape.

An Oblivion by Hayze while Swann made her way back into the ring took Natasha out of the match, and a superkick into a neckbreaker kept Smitson down for the count for the champion to retain.

Much like the match before it, it was a rapid-fire bout with very little downtime. Daisy Jenkins was this vicious ball of energy which preyed upon the innocence of Natasha Swann who came across overwhelmed in moments but that just endeared her more to the crowd. The more Daisy went after her, the reactions for both hit the mark.

Skye Smitson was assured, keeping things to her pace, coming in as a foil to the agility of an always technically sound Angel Hayze. The end was sudden, but received well.

BT Gunn defeated Chris Kingston by pinfall.

In one of the many changes in the build up to the event, BT Gunn was due to face Visage but the match was changed to the winner of the pre-show bout.

Chris Kingston arrived looking like an amalgamation between Sable and Nicole Bass, sporting a fetching blonde wig that flew into the air when BT Gunn speared Kingston to the ground for the easy win.

Master of Ceremonies Simon Cassidy offered out an open challenge seeing as they had a bit of time to spare.

Griff defeated BT Gunn by pinfall.

Gunn and Griff traded holds and suplexes back and forth, showing the similarities between the pair. That carried on throughout with the match becoming like a conversation where the back and forth was enthralling.

Griff almost cleaned his own clock when a vaulting shooting star press plancha had his forehead shave the ring apron. The momentary pause was all that BT Gunn needed to recover and unleash his famous chop buffet that reverberated around the Gallowgate along with the echoes of “one more time”.

An adrenaline fuelled Griff landed a stunning springboard DDT that hand some sweet hang time but it couldn’t put Gunn away. A twisting reverse DDT into a cutter garnered another near fall for Griff as the battle headed to the turnbuckles.

After a struggle, Griff knocked Gunn down to the mat and landed a top rope Shooting Star Press for the win.

Chris Kingston arrived to put the boots to BT Gunn but was stopped by Griff, who threw Kingston into Gunn for a Flatliner, with The Weasel feeling the impact of a Shooting Star Press from Griff.

A fantastic match. The mirroring of offence provided an incredible introduction of Griff to a new audience. There’s always an expected level to any BT Gunn match, which is high bar set automatically and this match still exceeded it.

The fluke nature of how Chris Kingston came by the match with BT Gunn was taken care of in the pre and post match, and gave rise to a second chance to see Griff land a smooth as butter Shooting Star Press.

TNT Ultra X Championship – Che Monet defeated Rhio by pinfall to retain.

The Gallowgate was split in support between the champion and challenger early on, with the latter getting the better of Monet by gator rolling Che around the canvas.

When Che tried to use speed to counterbalance the constant torquing of his body, Rhio switched up to explore her power and strength to keep Che on the defensive.

Monet had enough and grabbed the TNT Ultra X Championship to make his exit, but Rhio was quickly in pursuit to bring Che back to the ring. Monet slipped out of an apron package piledriver attempt to drop Rhio for an electric chair drop onto the hardest part of the ring, but his follow up rush was met with a fireman’s carry backbreaker on the outside.

A ducked clothesline had Che find an opening, jarring Rhio with an inverted lungblower from a kneeling position to give The Weapon of Sass Destruction the edge.

Rhio kept coming, like a juggernaut, with open hand slaps from Monet just pissing her off and seeing her fire back forearms in return.

The near falls came for both with the exhaustion setting in as Che and Rhio threw out some Hail Marys to try and keep the other down. A Blue Thunder Bomb got another two for Monet, with Rhio getting a near fall from a Black Hole Slam.

After numerous attempts, Rhio drove Che into the mat with a package piledriver but the count was stopped by Prince Levi dragging Chris Quinn out of the ring. It earned him a package piledriver of his own.

Che jumped on the opportunity to get a shot in with a running knee and sit out fisherman’s buster. It looked like a rope break was due to occur when Rhio tapped the bottom rope with her foot briefly with a slight bit of awkwardness when Chris Quinn called the shoulder up when Rhio didn’t actually do so.

The challenger once again fought back, as she delivered elevated punches in the corner, Che raked the eyes of Rhio, and followed up by putting his knee through her skull. A powerbomb was capped off with Monet putting his feet on the ropes for leverage to keep hold of the TNT Ultra X Championship.

With the mess up in the run up to the conclusion aside, it was a highly competitive match. The aura that Rhio emits is incredible, when she enters a match the atmosphere changes. The subtle lean towards Che being the antagonist was well done, with his desperation oozing. Another strong one.

PWR PRO Tag Team Championships – Modern Culture (Umar Mohammed & Zachary Swift) defeated Sammy Blue & Jack Ripley w/Natasha Swann by pinfall to retain.

Jack Ripley’s future was so bright he started the match still wearing his sunglasses. The dazzling deviant had Zachary Swift in all sorts of confusion, giving him the bum’s rush, and a double nipple cripple.

The fun stopped once Umar Mohammed got involved, showing a merciless manner of manipulation to punish Sammy Blue, then Jack Ripley. Keeping the tags hidden and quick to maintain the advantage.

Zachary Swift tried to direct Umar for a Poetry In Motion that was ducked, with Ripley tagging in Sammy Blue to go after Modern Culture. Ripley returned for a 450 Splash but Mohammed rolled out of the way to drive Jack to the mat with a spinebuster.

Blue and Ripley got another chance, but before they could land a Clam Jam to Zachary Swift, Daisy Jenkins rushed out to get her hands on Natasha Swann. The distraction was enough for Umar to explode a cucumber over the head of Jack Ripley.

An incensed Umar dragged Zachary over for the tag, hit a Thundergunn Express to Sammy Blue, and Modern Culture delivered a diving double chop/Gory Bomb combination to continue as PWR PRO Tag Team Champions.

Jack Ripley really is the man of the moment, the charisma the man possesses is infectious. The added element of Sammy Blue was really fun.

There were jokes on the run up to the match, but there was a heavy Judas Grey vibe from Sammy, like an alternative reality version that watched Hunger Games instead of Twilight, and I mean that with all the complimentary inflections. He matched the Risky Business vibe well.

I don’t know what influence Zachary Swift has had on Umar Mohammed but the no-nonsense violence he was willing to dish out was excellent. There was no fun-loving Desi Debonair, this was straight up matter-of-fact brutalist Umar Mohammed.

The Modern Culture team is relatively fresh on the scene, but they gel well and have an evident chemistry for carnage.

A callback to the main show opening match was a nice way to lead into the final stretch.

Logan Smith defeated Tony Wright by pinfall.

Wright frustrated Smith in the early exchanges, sending Logan out for a regroup that drew jeers from the crowd.

The high tempo from Wright continued, after a second turnbuckle cannonball, Tony set up Smith for a running superkick. A quick dodge from Logan had Wright going back to Bret’s Rope for another crack but Smith had it scouted to sweep the legs and bring Tony crashing to the canvas to jump into the driver’s seat.

Logan kept the pressure up, only for his arrogance to bully Tony with kicks see his leg get caught to give Wright the space to cook, turning Smith inside out with a flying clothesline and planting him with a Half Nelson side effect slam for two.

Sweet Chin Music was avoided, with Logan snapping Tony back with a German Suplex for another near fall. Another bombardment of moves came from Wright, hitting a Famouser but with Smith landing too close to the ropes he got his foot over, in the direct eyeline of the referee, to catch the break.

Tony got Logan to his feet only to be rattled by a sidekick, Smith followed up with a Claymore to score the win.

It was a nice palette cleanser as the penultimate match of the night. Logan Smith kept the audience engaged by being a loud mouth whereas Tony Wright seemed a bit more reserved, using the ire that Logan was generating to organically convert to cheers when he had the upper hand, but wasn’t really doing a whole lot to earn the cheers himself other than just not being Logan Smith.

Solid in-ring action, a strange story dynamic of Logan Smith being cowardly in the beginning to catch Wright off guard for a moment, with not much by way of nefarious means to lead to getting the three.

Tommy Lockhart defeated Charles Crowley by pinfall.

The showmanship was in high gear from the offset, Crowley gave Tommy the gift of a middle finger upon countering a kick, with Lockhart returning the present moments later as Charles was in a precarious leg splitting position.

A brief reset had Crowley offer to show everyone come magic and proceeded to produce a fist from his hat to deck Tommy Lockhart.

Tommy weathered a barrage to bambozzle Crowley with a handstand in the corner, floating over and producing a fist from his own hat to bop Charles in the jaw.

Lockhart hoisted Crowley up for an Airplane Spin, the dizziness caused Charles to lift Chris Quinn for an Airplane Spin… which lead to Quinn lifting Tommy up for an Airplane Spin to cause all sorts of motion sickness.

As Chris collapsed to the mat, Crowley took advantage and low blowed Lockhart. His advantage was short lived as a diving Tommy Lockhart lead to the match heading to the outside. Crowley kicked the middle rope to take back control upon re-entry, finding a target in Tommy’s left knee.

A defiant Tommy Lockhart wasn’t ready for a curtain call, finding a way to connect with a top rope elbow drop for a two count as the noise in the Gallowgate was fully behind him.

The counters came fast, Lockhart went for a second turnbuckle Moonsault but was caught in mid-air to receive a spectacular spin out facebuster.

Crowley became frustrated following a kick out after flying cutter and a spin out knee lift. He headed out to grab a chair, and while Chris Quinn disposed of the weapon, Charles hit Tommy with the monkey toy that accompanied his entrance.

It wasn’t enough, Lockhart let out a roar as Crowley panicked, striking with a high knee but his second springboard cutter was countered by Tommy getting his hands down to pop back to his feet. Tommy hit a springboard flying uppercut, and an Airplane Spin into a Finlay Roll to set up Charles Crowley for a second turnbuckle Moonsault that landed which was enough for Tommy Lockhart to emerge victorious.

Both exchanged bows and handshakes to close the show.

There’s many ways to describe the main event with tremendous and spectacular ironically being the most fitting. Charles Crowley is so sure footed, and has a superstar quality that you can’t take your eyes off of.

We’ve seen the evolution of Tommy Lockhart’s ringmaster persona, and while there’s still room for growth, this was a huge test in seeing how it fairs against someone who is very prolific in UK wrestling as a Mad Hatter, bringing mischief wherever he goes and is larger than life. If Tommy didn’t have the strength in character and that overwhelming support then he could’ve got swallowed into The Charles Crowley Show.

He hung with Crowley, and the way that Charles reacted to little things, like even right at the start with the entrance of Tommy and Chris Quinn managing to catch the hat on Tommy’s cane showed how in the zone he was to make this a phenomenal main event which I think was achieved.

A class match to close an excellent event with some outstanding matches of high quality professional wrestling.

Just when you thought one match stole the show, another came along to top it, leading to the main event. It was well paced, with none of the matches outstaying their welcome.

The full event is available on YouTube: