With the spookiness of Carnival of Souls past, we’re into the Fair City Rumble event but before we get into the 30 man over the top rope spectacle we have a small matter of two championship matches.

The episode started with Ian Ambrose reminding everyone that he will be entering number one in a scattered promo talking about making Ambrose great again. Eddie Devine popped in to advise Ian that he would also be in the Fair City Rumble match and would help if Ambrose was still there.

FCW Junior Heavyweight Championship – Botchico defeated Oliver Green by pinfall to retain.

After a lengthy yay-boo crowd experience, the bell rang to start the match. Green tried to grab at the mask of Botchico to gain an advantage, which was replied to with a stiff slap to the jaw.

Botchico went for multiple pins to keep Oliver moving and using energy, turning to take downs and hip tosses to bamboozle the Skyripper. Green took a break to the outside. A fake out suicide dive left Oliver prone for a punt kick courtesy of Botchico from the apron.

Once the action returned to the ring, Green busted out a flurry of strikes to put Botchico on defense, aiming an assault on the torso of the FCW Junior Heavyweight Champion.

It was one kick too many with Botchico catching the leg of Green for a Dragon Screw. A back and forth of counters ended with an Oliver Green back suplex, followed by a running knee into the corner and a step up bulldog for a near fall.

A Cannonball crash into the corner from Oliver revitalised Botchico to quickly get to his feet and connect with the float over DDT and unleash a barrage of clotheslines to the challenger.

Green knocked down Botchico but missed a double foot stomp, Botchico went for the Flatliner but Oliver got his hands down to handspring his way out of trouble. Botchico halted a Codebreaker to send Oliver Green to be seated on the top turnbuckle.

Oliver fought off his opponent, but his dive from the second turnbuckle was met with a Flatliner to leave him looking up at the lights in the sky while Botchico ticked off a defence of the FCW Junior Heavyweight Championship.

A fine match, Oliver Green and Botchico seem to bounce off each other well. Green isn’t afraid to be disliked by the crowd which draws a very clear divide to maximise reactions, and that also means Botchico can get on with the match as the atmosphere is set early on and maintained throughout.

Backstage Rich Money had a wee gloat of his number while Sam McMillan entered looking disappointed at his drawing. DE got their numbers with a fairly neutral response.

FCW Heavyweight Championship – Retro Randy Valentine defeated Fulton King by pinfall to retain.

Fulton King answered the FCW Heavyweight Champions open challenge. The match began with another round of a yay-boo trade off (dammit D’Lo), which still held a strong reaction. Once again there was no shades of grey with the Empire Zone in full support of Retro Randy Valentine.

King overpowered Valentine from the lock up that descended into a slugfest of fists and forearms. A clothesline with a mighty amount of recoil sent Fulton to the canvas as Randy took control, bouncing the head of the challenger off all four top turnbuckles to send The Juggernaut stottering before finally surrendering to gravity.

The match spilled to the outside with Fulton King struggling to get a handle on the bout with Valentine overwhelming King with chops. An eye gouge finally gave Fulton a look in with the brawl heading to the back of the room and into the darkness.

Valentine kept swinging, which Fulton encouraged by swinging Randy into the ring post head first thanks to an Irish Whip.

Randy was dominated, Fulton kept the pressure on the champion until the Retro Rage was unlocked. A body slam, a leg drop OF DOOM, and an elbow drop OF DOOM, was the triple whammy combination to keep the championship in the hands of Retro Randy Valentine.

A refused handshake gave the Empire Zone another reason to boo Fulton King that didn’t deter Randy in his celebrations.

The ending was sudden after a prolonged wear down from Fulton to be swiftly dispatched once the Retro Rage was activated. Fulton King is a dependable hand to cause a bit of a ruckus and matched the primarily brawler style of Retro Randy Valentine well. The grungy versus colourful aesthetic made for a nice clash of visuals.

Before the episode ended Patryk Peterski emerged backstage with his number, noting that if he was going to do it then he’d have to go all night (and minor spoilers, that was a lovely bit of wordplay that will foreshadow the Fair City Rumble… which we’ll probably talk about next week).

Two solid matches to get us in the mood for the Fair City Rumble, the splices of wrestlers being captured reacting to their numbers for the Fair City Rumble was a nice touch.

The show is available on YouTube: