I’ll be perfectly honest, this was a surprise drop. The previous Workin’ Man’s Wrestling release on W3L seemed to be it. A good handful of matches from Musselburgh with an expectation, in my mind, that the other matches would make up future W3L Wrestling Showdown episodes. Nevertheless we’ve got the rest of the show outta nowhere to check out for free on the internet.

Moxie Malone kicked off this one with a bit of a moan about not being pinned to lose the W3L Women’s Championship and that when she gets her chance she will take the title back. Kirsty Love had some microphone technical difficulties, that probably could’ve been trimmed out of the final edit, to simply just declare that it was her time now. Match set. The Ragin’ Ref Archie Williams got in to ring the bell and it was on.

Moxie Malone defeated Kirsty Love by pinfall.

Love got the better of the tie up, controlling the wrist of Moxie Malone until a springboard armdrag released the grip and gave Malone the space to turn the pace up to roll Kirsty Love for a sunset flip for a near fall. Kirsty bulldozed back into the driver’s seat with open hand chops to the chest, and bullying Moxie into the corner for a beating. The crowd were loudly behind Malone as she tried to fight back against a heavy handed Kirsty Love.

Every time Moxie looked to have a combo streak it was a shoulder barge, or a clothesline, to keep The Misfit grounded. Love taunted Malone with slaps that unleashed chaos from Moxie who leapt at Kirsty Love with a Thesz Press, clothesline, footstomp, and a flatliner flurry to capture a two count. Kirsty once again tried to go for power, driving her hip into the face of a seated Moxie Malone in the corner. Malone snuck a couple pin attempts in to rattle Love, who rushed into the corner that saw her splash dodged. A Helluva Kick from Moxie felled Love and gained Malone the three count to take the win.

Kirsty Love shoved Moxie post-match before taking her leave to keep a thread dangling.

It was rough and ready at points but it never lacked intensity which is no surprise when Moxie Malone is in a match. Kirsty Love was well placed to be the obstacle that transitioned Moxie from a bad guy to a passionate fighter as she made her way through the bout which was caught by the crowd who put their voice behind Malone in support to cement that switch. Every time I see Moxie Malone wrestle the evolution of a star comes across with each passing event. She has an aura.

PELÉ & Tony Wright defeated Dirty Money (Xander Davidson & Ahmed Hamdeh) by pinfall.

Xander Davidson showed the intention of Dirty Money early doors, forcing Tony Wright into the corners and getting a sneaky dig in during the separation to make referee Jamie Jones show a range of emotions, whilst not angry, he was certainly disappointed. Wright switched a third jostle into having the chance to jab Xander at the break but stopped short as Davidson let out a scurl of fear. Tony turned around to see a charging Hamdeh who dropped to the canvas to avoid getting a knuckle sandwich. The theatrics were enough for Xander to deliver a kick to the gut of Wright to put Dirty Money back in the black.

Wright connected with a knee to the face of Davidson to send him into the corner to tag in Ahmed Hamdeh, Tony tagged PELÉ as they chucked Hamdeh over head with a tandem hip toss. It didn’t get much better for Hamdeh who was bombarded with a rapid fire attack from Wright and PELÉ until Davidson lifted a knee to strike the small of the back of Tony Wright to allow for Ahmed to shake off the assault and begin Dirty Money’s isolation of Wright as they took turns to put the boots to their opponent.

Tony finally tagged in PELÉ, who ran riot to send Xander Davidson into the sky with a chokeslam. Hamdeh make it back in to assist Davidson and crush PELÉ with a nice top rope big splash. Dirty Money went to finish the job but PELÉ wriggled out of a fireman’s carry to send Davidson into Hamdeh. It left Xander to get a superkick to the face by Wright and to be driven to the mat with a double team cradle facebuster.

A serviceable tag team match, the audience were behind Tony’s journey to making the tag and reacted positively for PELÉ to rush in on the road to victory. It was a bit by the numbers that got a good response in the room but it neither offended or excited at home.

I don’t usually pull up commentary unless it was something so glaringly bad but Bryan D mixed up PELÉ and Tony Wright throughout the match. Which I’d understand if they looked anything alike, or maybe had the same gear, but it made the commentary sound amateur and not quality controlled to the point that it made it to the final cut. It’s post production commentary and a mistake like that should’ve been caught and corrected.

FTLOW Championship – Sam Bailey defeated Bobby Roberts by pinfall to retain.

It was main event time between Sam Bailey and Bobby Roberts for the For The Love of Wrestling Championship. Bailey immediately tripped up Roberts who took off to the outside for a wander and make kids cry (brah). Ever the hero, Sam went out to comfort the child, that’s why Sam Bailey is very well liked in the wrestling. There was more clock ticking while Roberts offered a handshake before kicking Bailey in the midsection.

Roberts went about dismantling Sam Bailey with a hard Irish Whip into the corner that had Bailey seeking a breather on the outside as Bobby followed. After a bit of a scrap a missed chop had Roberts collide with the ring post that lead to Sam touring Bobby Roberts around ringside for some high fives. As Bailey rolled Roberts back into the ring he dodged the first counter attack from Bobby but couldn’t evade a shoulder charge to launch Sam backwards at speed. Roberts kept the pressure on Bailey and seemed to have an answer to whatever Sam tried to fight back. Bobby was firmly in control which made his decision to grab the FTOW Championship to try and clock Bailey a curious one. Archie Williams was having none of it and whipped the belt off Roberts, who responded by attacking Archie while his back was turned.

The match continued with Bobby placing Bailey onto the top turnbuckle while chants for Jamie Jones began. Sam kicked Roberts back and delivered a tornado DDT to make the cover. The catchy Jamie Jones theme hit the speakers as the man himself made his way out… then made his way out. No that’s not a typo, the exact same part played twice. The second could’ve at least been in slow motion like Baywatch or something. It was only a two count as Roberts and Bailey returned to their feet to trade strikes. Sam got the best of it but ran into a Spinebuster for another near fall.

Bobby missed a Beefy Bomb, a string of offense from Sam Bailey lead to a 619 and left Roberts looking up to the tiled ceiling to see Bailey diving from the top turnbuckle for a Frog Splash to retain the FTLOW Championship.

Much like Moxie Malone versus Kirsty Love, Bobby Roberts was a solid foil that swung the audience to wholeheartedly put their belief in Sam to overcome the larger opposition. It was a bit different in that Kirsty had a bit more of a killer edge whilst Roberts did verge onto cartoon villainy with some hammy reactions. The crowd ate it up though and were ecstatic about the result.

The editing of Jamie Jones’ epic entrance took away from Jamie’s moment to watch back on. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a wrestling crowd all realise in unison that, with Archie Williams knocked out, it meant there was only one man in the back well stretched, poised, AND ready to slap his hand three times on the canvas. That Jamie Jones theme is like the hypnotic toad, the cult of Jamie Jones is here, get on your knees gad dammit.

The first part of Workin’ Man’s Wrestling in Musselburgh featured a through line story whereas this one was a bit more thrown together but the matches were paced well. The David versus Goliath themed matches were kept apart to bookend the show with a fine breaker in the middle.

What did let down the show as a “Network Special” release was the production of the edit. If commentary can’t tell you who the wrestlers are that’s a worry and shows a lack of preparation, but the ramshackle of replaying the same part of a match is poor and careless. By the lack of build up and the surprise of it just going out on a random night, there was a definite air of “that’ll do” about it which is a disservice to the time and care that the wrestlers and crew put forward to get the event in place to entertain the fans both in attendance and behind the screen.

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