Discovery Wrestling were back in Portobello Town Hall, a venue that is very much Disco ready. In a rare turn of events we got a full line up of matches in advance which hyped up the show even more than usual.

Alas there were some amendments to those announcements, Simon Miller, Emersyn Jayne, and the Y Division Champion Gene Munny were all pulled due to injury which caused some reshuffles to the match card. Including the opening bout.

Bruiser Brad defeated Troy Ryan by pinfall.

A meaty match up to start the night, Bruiser Brad received a great ovation to chants of BEEF. He and Troy Ryan went strength to strength but it was Brad that absorbed the attack to come back tenfold, returning chops and slams to send Ryan rolling to the outside to rethink his strategy.

It worked, a rake to the eyes to get out of a powerslam position had Bruiser Brad staggering enough to be tackled off his feet for Troy to take control, leaving Brad having to lean on crowd support to get the energy to comeback. A massive Ron Simmons style spinebuster was delivered to give The Beef King free rein to throw his body at Troy Ryan, slamming Ryan to the canvas for a two count.

Troy wasn’t to roll over, lifting Brad onto his shoulders for a twisting Samoan Drop that could only net him two slaps to the mat. Ryan went for, what looked like, a pounce that was barrelled through with a beefy clothesline and Brad ended the night for Troy Ryan with a piledriver.

A competitive opening match. I’m enjoying how much Bruiser Brad has organically become this fan favourite powerhouse. Every match the calls for BEEF get louder. Troy Ryan, coming in with a big reputation down south, was great and having such a confidence in being clinical that Bruiser Brad overcoming that experience increased his stock. The crowd loved it, a smashing match.

Judas Grey defeated Man Like Dereiss by pinfall.

Man Like Dereiss got a good response when he entered but it paled in comparison to the Judas Choir. Judas Grey is superstar levels in Discovery Wrestling. Minutes passed and all that had happened was duelling chants as Judas and Dereiss soaked it all in.

Dereiss got a little carried away with the crowd to leave him open for a roll up, which snapped him into the match itself. The trio of lock ups came back with varied results, a technical exchange, Man Like Dereiss getting the better of it but seemed overwhelmed by the reaction received as her reared back for punches in the corner, to Grey coming back to land a lovely standing dropkick to put Dereiss in his back.

Lock ups and agility were all well and good, but it was raw power that put Dereiss into the driving seat, a couple of shoulder tackles and a standing leg drop, with a bit of arm crossed flair, had Judas writhing on the mat. The momentum had Dereiss getting distracted by showboating which gave Judas a chance to break through the punishment but his Suplex attempt saw Grey being lifted and driven to the canvas. Dereiss continued to target the back of Judas Grey.

Judas started desperately peppering Dereiss with weak clotheslines just to knock his opponent back. A slightly missed running Senton had Dereiss just weakened enough to be hunched for a Swanton across the spine, and a springboard Codebreaker had Judas Grey back in the match with a bang.

There came a panic with every move from both men, each trying to finish the match as quickly as possible but having to deal with counter strikes from the other. The tussle for control headed up to the turnbuckle where Dereiss backflipped off the top and caught a crossbody from Judas to turn it into a Gunnslinger-End Of Days mash up that somehow saw Grey lift a shoulder up. The crowd were all in for every twist in this tale.

Grey fought out of being put into a Sharpshooter, delivering a shotgun dropkick only to see his Swanton just catching the knees of Dereiss who fired back with a sit out powerbomb, immediately transitioning into a Sharpshooter when Judas kicked out. A rope break saw an end to the hold but Dereiss smelled blood in the water to go after the knee of Judas Grey, a couple Dragon Screws had Judas slowing down. A superkick rocked Dereiss back for a cutter but it didn’t quite have the same impact, with Man Like Dereiss responding with one of his own.

In a mirror from earlier, it was Judas backflipping off the turnbuckle but he didn’t wait for any follow up, rushing back up to launch Dereiss with a superplex. A torture rack spin out powerbomb still had Dereiss managing to get the shoulder up, but while he was trying to catch his breath Judas Grey was already descending from the top turnbuckle with a Swanton to get the three.

Another Discovery Wrestling event, another outstanding match from Judas Grey. It was a very sportsmanlike match, no outward aggression, more akin to a chess match to get just enough to keep their opponent on their back long enough for count. That ramp up once they seemed to understand that they needed to hit hard and fast escalated nicely and it was a rollercoaster for the Disco Faithful.

Lana Austin introduced Hollie Barlow as the LALLIE pair decided to have a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who would win. Unfortunately for them, Molly Spartan barged in to challenge them.

Triple Threat – Hollie Barlow defeated Lana Austin, and Molly Spartan by pinfall.

Austin bailed, despite losing another game of rock, paper, scissors (should’ve used fire), leaving Hollie Barlow to run into The Beautiful Bruiser with a full head of steam which ended as well as expected. Lana tried to get involved and was splatted to the mat by Spartan. Molly threw LALLIE about wet trackie styles until the numbers finally came into play.

Barlow and Austin were relentless in assaulting Molly Spartan, striking and chopping at Molly while the noise for her got louder. The pair picked at Spartan, keeping her grounded and on defence until a throw into the waiting boot of Hollie Barlow was turned into seeing Lana being the one having her forehead being introduced to the situation.

Molly went back to throwing around LALLIE to separate them. Lana knocked Spartan off the second turnbuckle, Barlow came down from the parallel corner with an elbow drop for a near fall. Molly regained the upper hand to drop Lana Austin. She stalked and charged at Austin, who got out of dodge, Molly went head first into the turnbuckle, leaving her spaghetti legged for Hollie Barlow to swoop in for the roll up.

Hollie Barlow and Lana Austin are so charismatic together. They can be buffoons, but switch it up into a well coordinated machine at the drop of a hat. Molly Spartan was a great opponent to really show that turn, as she presented danger when able to have Barlow and Austin have to be individuals but found it difficult to overcome when they were firing on all cylinders. A good match.

Ronan King defeated Ian Skinner by pinfall.

There was little “cool guy lots of friends” Ian Skinner when he made it out, the wide eyed Skinner felt more like “The Shooter” staring into the black hearted soul of Ronan King, who didn’t look to be phased, in fact he looked sinister, like he was proud to have fully stirred a dormant side to Ian Skinner.

The bell sounded for the fists to immediately start flying. Ronan broke the stalemate with a big boot, but found himself being bombarded by a feral Ian Skinner. King sent Skinner to the apron and followed up with a running dropkick that hit with authority. The match continued around ringside, Ian shook off the attack to dive off the apron to drive his knees into the spine of Ronan King. Skinner’s momentum was halted when Ronan kicked Ian off the turnbuckle and Skinner landed back first onto the apron for a gnarly landing.

Ronan went after the back of Ian Skinner, a hard impact off a back suplex was followed up with a kick to the spine. The shin to spine connection awaken another gear in Skinner who rained forearms then locked in a half Boston Crab to try and rip the recently surgically repaired knee of Ronan King. Ronan grabbed the ropes but was at the mercy of Ian Skinner, who chucked him across the ring with a stunning cravats suplex. King kept swinging wildly, finding himself locked into a Dragon Sleeper.

King drove Ian into the corner, dodging Skinner’s reply to put his boot through the back of Ian’s head. A brainbuster got a two count, and a hidden blade could’ve been it but it was too close to the ropes for Skinner to prop his leg across the bottle rope.

A second hidden blade was attempted but Skinner crumbled to the ground. Ronan arrogantly brushed at Ian, bullying him into finding a third wind to start striking once more. King chopped Skinner to the mat, and received a kip up lariat second later. The bout headed to the stage where Ronan grabbed Ian and stung him into the wood with a brainbuster. Ronan dragged himself into the ring while Skinner stirred, as referee Chris Quinn’s count got higher a sudden revival of Skinner saw him jump off the stage, bounce off the top rope and land with a double foot stomp to the chest of Ronan King. Ronan got to his feet to be Uranaged back down for a near fall.

Skinner grabbed the wrist of King and started punching and chopping at the neck and head. Ronan switched into a fireman’s carry that Skinner spider-monkeyed into a Dragon Sleeper. Chris Quinn found himself in the way of the counter and was knocked down. A low blow from Ronan King just seemed to annoy Ian Skinner, who reapplied the Dragon Sleeper with a primal scream. King tried to rake the eyes and got knees driven into the side of his head instead as he flopped to the mat. Ian punched and stomped until Chris Quinn pushed Skinner away to check on a motionless Ronan.

A moment of silence passed, a glint of regret and concern was seen on the face of Ian Skinner. While Chris went to update Ian, King popped to his feet to elbow Skinner in the face. A fireman’s carry into a side powerslam had Ronan get the win with a shower of boos along with it.

In a promotion like Discovery Wrestling, it takes a lot to be outright loathed. That’s what makes Ronan King so brilliant at what he does. He lives to garner hate, he can do something physically impressive then cast such arrogance from it, a smugness to make you quickly remember that he is an absolute arsehole. There are no shades of grey with Ronan King, he’s a dick. An incredible wrestler, yes, but a master at getting under the skin of anyone that comes into, or even looks at, his orbit.

The increased determination of Ian Skinner in recent events it’s like he’s realised his status of being the bridesmaid, he puts in so much effort yet is second when it comes to results. Sometimes the better man wins on the night, sometimes it’s something outwith his control like the interference in January. That frustration is palpable which has stripped away from his willingness to partake in shenanigans, and is causing him to take bigger risks to make his in-ring content as unpredictable as possible.

A great combination and an excellent match, it does make me worried about how it will escalate as this feud goes on, but in an excited way.

Connor Molloy defeated Lost Boy Aspen by pinfall.

Having seen these two scrap in the past, what a match to have in the back pocket with Gene Munny having to pull out of action.

DiscoDad himself, Aspen powered Connor about, with Connor showing a lot more of a sleekit side to dropkick the knee after encouraging a shoulder tackle from The Lost Boy. A tilt-a-whirl had a very scary landing for Molloy, who seemed to narrowly avoid any major damage.

Aspen launched Connor like a lawn dart into the top turnbuckle head first, with him somehow still able to get onto his feet to get into a position for a snap German Suplex that had Aspen struggling to get to a vertical base. The heavy hits back and forth was put to a stop for the time being as Connor stomped at Aspen.

A corner charge was evaded as Aspen dodged his way into being able to run at Molloy to connect with a Shining Wizard. Aspen got the momentum going to chop and clothesline Connor, flinging him into the ring via a release suplex that conjured an audible gasp. Molloy was strike, but Aspen would strike harder, chucking Connor up for an X-Plex for a near fall.

After being caught amazingly from a second turnbuckle double knee facebuster, Molloy escaped to come back with a tilt-a-whirl reverse DDT as redemption for the earlier nasty landing. Both men were down as the chants for Aspen filled Portabello Town Hall. Connor hit a second wind off a Death Valley Driver to hit a basement meteora while Aspen was sitting up from the DVD.

Connor tried to bully Aspen with kicks which awakened the Lost Boy for sit out Black Hole Slam and a follow up sit out powerbomb for a two count. It was big combinations and near falls, Molloy getting Aspen into a Shattered Dreams position for a double foot stomp to the back of the neck, adding further trauma with a Fisherman’s twisting neck breaker.

A missed second rope Moonsault had Aspen staggered, Connor tried to go airborne and missed a frog splash. Aspen was quick to recovered for a stump piledriver. A weary Aspen clawed at Molloy, who snagged Aspen into a roll up and a hand full of singlet to snatch the three.

Another big win for Connor Molloy, who has found “it”. Maybe it’s the change of look, but it’s all come together. A match with Gene Munny would’ve been good no doubt, but a proper showcase run out with Aspen on the way to Gene Munny was exactly what was needed to establish this more complete package of The Big Slay. As a mentioned at the start of this match, I’ve been lucky to see a couple matches between these two over the years and the chemistry is on point, and Connor got to show his metal and a gutsy performance during, before confirming a more deceptive edge in the way he got the win.

Monstrum defeated Chip Watson w/James Erdos by pinfall.

I want to first appreciate that James Erdos doesn’t quite know what to do during The Disco Fry entrance and his continued glances at Chip. Erdos hyped up oor Tribal Chef but in doing so landed an errant slap to the chest of Monstrum that the monster didn’t quite take kindly to and murdered Watson with a clothesline out of the gate.

Erdos was sure that Chip had “got this” but the decimation of the man in the opening minutes made you think otherwise. Watson managed to stop a charging Monstrum, hitting a hurricurana that lit up the Disco Faithful… then was ran over by the Monstrum express which was a non-stop service.

Every moment of hope Chip had had the crowd erupting, he leathered the masked face of Monstrum with forearms to have the colossus wobbly legged and a springboard stunner sent him tumbling to the outside. Chip tried to follow up but was captured and powerbomb onto the edge of the ring apron. Monstrum went up top, James Erdos tried to run interference to save Chip, who ran up to meet Monstrum head on.

Then Chip Watson died. A chokeslam from, a guesstimate of 10 feet in the air at the peak, and a Tsunami splash had The Disco Fry closed for the night. An uncontrollable Monstrum kept attacking Chip after the match which brought Erdos in to try and help Watson, and received a Black Hole Slam and a chokeslam of his own.

Lost Boy Aspen ran out to dispatch the monster, and when checking on Chip, Watson pushed back, mistaking Aspen for Monstrum. The two butted heads, exchanging a tense fist bump while the corpse of James Erdos was removed from the premises.

Did Monstrum have a failed investment in The Disco Fry? Because he battered Chip like he was owed money. The connection that Chip Watson has with the Disco crowd is incredible, they begged for mercy, they willed for Chip to succeed, and gasped when he was beaten in all manner of sadistic ways. You can’t manufacture that, it’s a natural likeablity that isn’t something that you can force in the hope that people will just get on board with eventually.

A continuation of Aspen and Chip crossing paths is something I enjoyed with Aspen having unfinished business with The Good Times and Chip trying to prove that he is worthy to be in championship contention, there are a lot of elements at play that can be built upon. Of course with the benefit of hindsight it looks like we’ll see something of it at Disco Derby on July 12th, but this little tease was a good bit of business to have.

Triple Threat – Chris Bronson defeated BT Gunn, and Umar Mohammed by pinfall.

In the penultimate match of the night it was quick fire triple threat action, bodies moving around at an electric pace with the Disco Faithful very much split on who to throw their support behind.

The match headed to the outside to see Chris Bronson rammed into the ring post by Mohammed, who ate a kick to the side of his head from BT Gunn a split second later. All three made a bid for control, forming alliances to take the third man out of the running. Gunn launched Bronson overhead with a stunning back body drop, but it wasn’t enough to stop The Stallion countering a double suplex to throw BT and Umar overhead.

Mohammed went for a headscissor that Bronson stopped and drilled Umar to the canvas with a sit out powerbomb for his trouble. Chris was sent tumbling to the outside by Gunn, who picked up where he left off with Umar for a nice tradeoff. BT put Mohammed into the beginnings of an Indian Deathlock but was interrupted by Bronson, who caused Umar to have his pretzeled legs tortured by knocking BT to the mat. Gunn suplexed Chris for one final torque and release.

Chris Bronson continued to provide his explosive power that has endeared himself to the Discovery crowd, but it was Umar Mohammed that saw the swing of fan reaction going his way. Bronson looked prone for a Thundergunn Express from Umar, which was ironically stopped by BT Gunn grabbing his leg. The lapse in concentration was enough for Bronson to roll up Mohammed to collect the victory.

Handshakes were exchanged between Chris Bronson and Umar Mohammed, with BT Gunn refusing and making his way to the back.

This felt like a match to gauge the audience on who was where in the reaction hierarchy. It was Umar Mohammed that had them, to the point where Chris Bronson, a firm fan favourite since his debut, was very audibly booed by the majority. It’s presented some intriguing branches, giving the crowd more Umar, which is always good, going forward with BT Gunn feeling slighted, which is also good and a one on one with Chris Bronson would be banging, or explore the potential of Bronson as a bad guy. Plenty of directions to spin off into. The match was packed with total non-stop action.

The famous Discovery Wrestling raffle was once again chaos, Redmond attacked a trainee, grabbing Major Matt Wolfe and demanding a title opportunity. Wolfe granted an Openweight Championship match at Disco Derby to stop the assault. Redmond Jackhammered the trainee. The Disco Faithful chanted for one more, which Redmond set up for and refused to give, releasing the trainee and storming out after getting what he wanted.

Discovery Wrestling Scottish Openweight Championship – Dave Conrad defeated Shreddy w/Nick Justice & MX1 by pinfall to win the Discovery Wrestling Openweight Championship.

A jostle in the lock ups saw Shreddy take charge early on, knocking Conrad down with shoulder tackles. Conrad worked his way into locking in a Full Nelson that was broken out of by The Jacked Stacked Daddy. Shreddy’s safe space goons tried to get involved and were easily knocked off the apron with the match spilling to ringside.

A brawl ended with Shreddy dropping Dave onto the apron, feigning interest in a count out which was a cover to occupy the referee and let Nick Justice and MX1 beat down Conrad out of the sight of Chris Quinn. The match returned between the ropes with Shreddy delivering an impressive stalling vertical suplex for a two count.

Shreddy cut off Dave Conrad’s come backs for an extended wear down of the Cowboy. There were pockets of chants for Conrad, with the noise coming more against Shreddy than for the challenger. Shreddy went for the vertical suplex against but Dave countered to deliver one of his own. Shreddy and Conrad fought from their knees to their feet, with Dave getting the upper hand from a clothesline. A Snake Eyes to a big boot had Conrad in control, with a Spinebuster getting a two count.

MX1 threw in the title, and with Shreddy having Chris Quinn trying to relieve him of the potential weapon, Conrad once again swatted off MX1. Justice struck with the handcuffs to the head to knock Conrad down in position for a springboard elbow drop from Shreddy for another count of two. Dave fought off Shreddy on the turnbuckles, finding himself being speared as he made his way down. Conrad avoided a second spear which had Shreddy dive through Chris Quinn who couldn’t count the fall following a TKO from Dave.

Justice and MX1 jumped into the fray for a three on one beating of Dave Conrad and cable tied him like a hog. They postulated for too long and were caught by a recovered Quinn who promptly sent MX1 and Nick Justice to the back. Conrad broke the ties and speared Shreddy. Shreddy fought out of a TKO to land a German Suplex and went for another spear. Conrad leapt over and hoisted Shreddy up to connect with the TKO to become the new Discovery Wrestling Openweight Champion.

It was a solid match, the Disco Faithful reacted accordingly to the outcome. The noise of the crowd dipped in the middle which made the beat down portion feel longer, the crowd came up and were loud and shouting for Dave at the peak then it kept going and the sound got lower, with hindsight a cut down of that section may have kept the flow in line with the audience. I think that hurt some of the continued investment in the match somewhat, it tempered the crowd expectation, they were still positive with adulation and chanting as the match concluded but it could’ve been more.

The whole Dave Conrad-Shreddy arc has been a frustrating and, sometimes, confusing affair but it reached the end with the main event title change that got cheered so all well that ends well.

Another strong event from Discovery Wrestling, stories moved forward, some potentially ending, and matches delivering and then some, which is no mean feat after changes being made late on in the process.

As we head to The Disco Derby on July 12th I can’t even begin to whittle down the favourites to win it and receive a future title opportunity. From this show alone I’d hazard a guess at a Judas Grey redemption win, Umar Mohammed (though there’s some lingering Regal Rumble hopes and dreams still rattling around my brain) maybe, Ian Skinner chucking out Ronan King en route would be epic. It’s a ridiculously open field at this stage and that unpredictable factor always makes for a fun time.