World Wide Wrestling League arrived at Musselburgh for some Workin’ Man’s Wrestling. In our timeline it was before Lord of the Ladder, which I reviewed recently, so there is some wibbly wobbly timeline stuff going on here.

W3L Breakout Championship – Chris Renfrew w/Sami Sparx defeated Nitro Green by pinfall to retain the W3L Breakout Championship.

Sami Sparx was immediately of use, jumping into the apron to turn Nitro Green’s attention away from Chris Renfrew, who took advantage to assault Green. Nitro managed to work up some momentum until he ran into a brick wall called Chris Renfrew and his big lariat. Sparx once again got his digs in while Renfrew occupied the vision of referee Archie Williams. It was rinse and repeat with Renfrew hitting hard but once Nitro Green got an opening, Renfrew was quick to employ Sami Sparx to do the dirty work.

Green absorbed a barrage of chops, avoided a double team attack to crack Renfrew with a superkick for a near fall as an audible split in crowd reaction was heard. A stunner from Chris Renfrew caught a two count with Nitro managing to get a shoulder up. The T-Virus was halted as Green connected with a cutter for a biting near fall. Nitro went up to the top turnbuckle, only for Sami Sparx to grab the leg of Green, which was enough for Chris Renfrew to navigate a second rope stunner to retain the W3L Breakout Championship.

A hot opening match, the Musselburgh crowd were loud and were invested in the action. Chris Renfrew has a swagger about him that doesn’t inherently fall into a clear cut camp, it’s very much an anti-hero vibe which can make it a bit harder work to get the crowd to throw their support against his opponent. Nitro Green got the crowd on side for the moments that mattered to keep the flow of the match going. An enjoyable encounter.

Renfrew offered a handshake to his fallen challenger that turned out to be a ruse for Sparx to low blow Nitro Green and Renfrew followed up with a stunner. A T-Virus was set up, with Glen Dunbar being the disruptor to stop the post-match attack.

CWP World Heavyweight Championship – Joe E Legend defeated Irn Dru Marshall by pinfall to retain the CWP World Heavyweight Championship.

Conversely from the end of the first match, Marshall and Legend shook hands to get the match underway with Irn Dru getting a loud response from the crowd. Dru showed his agility to counter Joe E Legend, while Legend manoeuvred out to manipulate the joints of Marshall. Irn Dru started to show his frustration of being outsmarted by the veteran.

A reset and a slap to wake himself up has Marshall return a hip toss with one of his one to catch Joe E Legend off guard. Both swung fists before catch the other mid-kick to the stomach. The grappling continued to the ropes where an errant back elbow caught Legend in the eye which divulged the bout into a shoving match into a slugfest.

Joe E Legend became the aggressor and whipped Irn Dru hard across the ring into the turnbuckles again and again. A Brainbustah was hooked by Marshall, who countered with a suplex in response to start his build up of offense. A missed elbow drop had Joe E Legend back in control, who drove his knee into the forehead of Irn Dru for a count of two. As Legend kept picking at Marshall the feral response from the crowd roared for Irn Dru as Legend cut off any momentum to slow the match down with a recurring rear chin lock.

Legend propped Marshall in the corner for repeated chops across the back, flogging Irn Dru. Marshall woke up, absorbing each chop while the reaction got bigger and bigger. The comeback was on, a superkick and headbutt almost had it but Joe E Legend’s foot rested on the bottom rope. Irn Dru rushed to go for the springboard Moonsault that was dodged for Legend to grab him for a lifting Flatliner to keep the CWP World Heavyweight Championship in his possession.

A really good match, to see the change in gears when the cards fell towards the support for Irn Dru Marshall. Joe E Legend ramped up the pressure which put Dru into an underdog position that was eaten up fantastically.

The champion grabbed the microphone to put his sincere stamp of approval on Irn Dru Marshall with a closing mega handshake.

Glen Dunbar w/Chris Renfrew defeated Sami Sparx by pinfall.

In the main event of the release, Sami Sparx faced Glen Dunbar to round off the shenanigans from the opener. Sami went straight onto the attack before the bell, overwhelming Dunbar before The Lowland Superstar could even get his jacket removed. An Irish Whip turnaround opened the match up for Glen Dunbar to send Sami to the canvas with a leg sweep. Dunbar struck with a nice and snappy sidewalk slam but an enziguri sent Glen to the outside for Chris Renfrew to get involved out of sight of referee Jamie Jones.

Back and forth the momentum went but Sparx couldn’t keep Dunbar down for the three count. Renfrew jumped onto the apron in a mirror from earlier, this time Glen dropkicked Sami into a collision with Chris Renfrew which gave Dunbar the space to get some damage done. Renfrew returned to grab the leg of Dunbar to lead to him receiving a stunner from Sami Sparx but it still wasn’t enough. A chair was brought in, which was nullified by Nitro Green bursting through the curtain to snatch it from The Chaotic Luchador.

A disheveled Sparx walked into receiving a Lowland Driver to score a feel good victory to end the show.

It was a great way to bookend the night, once again I bring up the word investment. The crowd in Musselburgh wanted to see some sort of comeuppance for the villains and were raucous, baying for Sami Sparx to take a shellacking from Glen Dunbar. Their wish was received and actioned effectively.

It was a quick fire hour of wrestling action on hand, the matches had a good rhythm to them with the stories threaded to make it a quality standalone event.

The full show is available on the W3L Network on YouTube: