Over the last 12 months or so, I have been trusted to do a bit of the ring announcing for W3L when they head up north, with Golspie, Dingwall, and Alness under my belt and, by gum, it put them on the map! When Elgin entered the calendar I had a hope to be standing (with my face to the hard cam) in the middle of the ring. I missed the last Elgin show, the first one since 2012, and previously I was on backstage interview duties with Kayleigh, so my role wasn’t confirmed but that hope was hanging around.
Growing up in Rothes, I’d always seen Elgin as the “big city” (whether it is or isn’t is irrelevant), life happens and moving around was the norm until about 2011-ish when I moved to Elgin to make it my home. Since then the houses have changed, life events have happened, meeting my future wife, and having our son, Elgin is a place I call home. When I was told it would be me standing and holding that microphone, I won’t lie, it was nerve-wracking. This isn’t just a town that I have no ties to, this is where I live.
It was a busy set up, the W3L team don’t mess about when it comes to all hands on deck quick turnarounds and this was no different, the lights were on, the stage was set, and it was time to let the masses into the New Elgin Hall for a Thursday night of wrestling.
W3L Wrestling Showdown Exclusive – Connor Molloy defeated The Tormentor by pinfall.
Connor Molloy’s Cisco hold music played and once again Connor got a huge reaction. It doesn’t matter where Molloy has been in W3L, the crowds have gone wild every time. On this occasion, Connor was about 15/20 minutes from his hometown in Forres with a vocal travelling support to see him take on the ever present Tormentor in the Wrestling Showdown bonus match.
The Tormentor tried to grab Connor early on but The Big Slay picked up the pace to duck and dive to overwhelm his opponent in the early going, knocking down The Tormentor with shoulder barges and dropkicks until the masked man shoved Molloy back to take a breather on the apron to reset. Connor was in pursuit but it was a ruse! The Tormentor hung Molloy over the top rope and took control with a backbreaker and stretch the spine to put some extra stank on it. The back was the target with a body slam, followed up with a devastating Tormentor Elbow as The Tormentor kept the pressure on Connor Molloy.
Connor continued to fight back to rattle The Tormentor with an uppercut and a near fall from a basement meteora. A rake to the eyes had The Tormentor setting up for a reverse DDT to Molloy but it was spun out of for Connor to deliver a Fisherman’s Buster to take the win.
A fun opening match elevated by a white hot crowd in a very hot hall, a straight forward dynamic to set the tone for first time attendees, casuals, and regular wrestling goers alike to get their whistle wet for the rest of the night.
Onto the main show and Chris Renfrew interrupted Kayleigh’s mic check outside the venue, he talked about coming back a year ago to save wrestling but now he’s going to destroy it for everyone and for himself, begging someone to end him and stop his addiction to professional wrestling. He swung around to calling out Irn Dru Marshall to come and try to kill him and put him out of his misery. Renfrew always has a way of stringing truth into his words to make you believe in every syllable.
As that baldy ring announcer welcomed everyone to Summer Spectacular he recapped the news that there would be a return to W3L at the event, enter Lost Boy Aspen. He ran down the crowd and the venue, before staking his claim on championship gold. W3L Champion BT Gunn made his way out and put the challenge forward for Gunn versus Aspen in the main event. Aspen jumped Gunn, accepted the match, then piledrove BT in the centre of the ring. BT Gunn versus Lost Boy Aspen in Elgin? Sound.
W3L Wrestling Showdown Championship – Hugo Harris defeated Saqib Ali by pinfall to retain.
Hugo Harris entered with the W3L Breakout Championship… for some reason, which he tried to take off the head of Saqib Ali, who ducked and laid in the punches in the corner and sent Harris out of the ring with a clothesline. Saqib and Hugo brawled around ringside with Harris missing a chop at the ring post to be put back on the receiving end of a battering. Once the match returned to the ring, Harris rolled back onto the apron, and much like The Tormentor earlier, suckered his opponent to come over and hang them off the top rope to get the advantage but turned around to a big boot from Ali in response.
Harris begged off and crotched the ring post and slid to the floor but rolled under the ring to appear on the opposite side to try another sneak attack. Saqib spotted it in time but ran into a back elbow for Hugo Harris to gain control. A bit more back and forth followed as Hugo Harris missed a leaping elbow drop and Saqib capitalised for a tornado DDT to get a two count from referee Stu Pendous. Hugo dodged the running knee and came back with a spinebuster for another near fall but missed the Curb Stomp.
Ali connected with a lungblower for another two count, the challenger wasted no time to head up to the top turnbuckle. Harris shoved Pendous into the corresponding corner to knock Saqib back to the mat and a Curb Stomp later it was Hugo Harris retaining the W3L Wrestling Showdown Championship.
The match was fine, as solid as Saqib Ali always is and he got that crowd support in the palm of his hands, it felt like Hugo Harris wasn’t as on it as he usually would be with more time spent time wasting that actually doing some of the wrestling. The audience were into it either way, for me it was a rare dip in form for Harris.
Kayleigh joined Lost Boy Aspen who confirmed his intention to become a champion in W3L. Aspen walked away with BT Gunn rushing in moments later on the search for the lost boy.
The Jackal defeated Father Luke Aldridge w/The Tormentor by stoppage.
A recap of the events at Alness explained the why for this match. Aldridge tried to use a distraction from The Tormentor but The Jackal saw it coming to light up Father Luke with punches until Aldridge rolled out to the tune of a chicken chant. Thanks using The Tormentor as a shield, Luke raked the eyes of The Jackal and left him at the mercy of his former Commune brother, whipping The Jackal into the ring post and leaving Jackal to crawl back into the ring to be worked over by Aldridge for an extended period.
The Jackal sidestepped a rush from Aldridge that sent Father Luke bouncing off the ropes sternum first into a nice German Suplex. Jackal slipped into the corner, and after shaking off the effects he unleashed an attack on Aldridge with an attempt to lock in a Cobra Clutch but Father Luke fought out of it, missing a strike and slammed to the canvas for a two count. The Jackal locked in the Cobra Clutch and cinched it in as Aldridge dropped to a knee, Jackal wrapped his legs around the torso of Father Luke as he faded out. The Tormentor chucked in the towel to put an end to the match.
Another drama fuelled match that didn’t stick around for long. It took a minute for the crowd to warm up to The Jackal, his position as the good guy is quite the juxtaposition to everything about him, he’s got a a full bad guy presentation and has done for a long time. There could have been a bit more time with the Cobra Clutch before the towel through but it can be spun as The Tormentor not having as strong as a trust in Father Luke getting out of the submission which would be good. The Jackal telling the story of trying to get the Clutch on was told subtly throughout with two/three attempts before getting it locked in was nice. A solid match.
Some behind the scenes bits, the queue for the half time photos with The Jackal was out the door, along with the souvenir table being packed, the Elgin crowd once again showed out with their investment in the wrestling whether it’s with the noise or the money in their pockets for a great turnout.
Irn Dru Marshall defeated Euan G Mackie by pinfall.
Euan G Mackie made his feelings known with a rant against the professional wrestling fans and the industry as a whole that has turned against him and in turn he has turned his back on them in return.
Marshall brushed off the shoulder tackles from Mackie, easily returning fire from a foot stamp to drive the sole of his boot into the face of Euan. An eye poke gave Mackie the opening as he targeted the midsection and lower back of the W3L Golden Ticket holder. Dru absorbed the strikes and hung on enough to roll out of a springboard splash to turn the tables. A Michinoku Driver managed to get a two count with Mackie slipping out of a lawn dart throw into the corner to connect with a Sliced Bread.
Irn Dru flipped Euan over and delivered a heat butt as Mackie charged over to keep his opponent down for three. Marshall announced that he would cash in his Golden Ticket at School’s Out in Dunfermline, music interrupted with Chris Renfrew assaulting Irn Dru from behind with the locker room emptying to separate the two.
In fear of repeating myself, another solid match. Mackie got a very good slab of offense, Marshall continues to have a great connection with the crowd that willed him on. An entertaining encounter.
Father Luke had a bit of a breakdown in the gardens of New Elgin Hall, declaring that Father knows best.
Chris Renfrew defeated Rhoderick Jones by pinfall.
Renfrew returned to the hall by pummelling Rhoderick Jones towards the ring, it was card subject to change with Jones offered the match against him with a defiant “ring the damn bell” in response. Chris Renfrew continued the beating, a short arm clothesline had Renfrew looking all sorts of confident but a stunner was pushed away with Rhoderick landing a couple splashes, the third countered with a stunner. Renfrew broke the pin to finish the match with an exclamation point via a T-Virus double arm piledriver to mercifully end it.
It wasn’t over, Renfrew grabbed a chair to further attack Rhoderick Jones. Before he could Pillmanise the ankle of Jones, Irn Dru Marshall rushed back out to chase away Chris Renfrew.
An exchange of words left Renfrew teasing a match between them there and then until he patched it and stotted to the back announcing that a match between them would be on his terms.
Less of a match and more an extended segment that bleed over from the previous match. Renfrew had the crowd exactly where he wanted them with every word and action, even inciting a fight or two at ringside. Rhoderick Jones got a pasting with his comeback getting a great reaction even if it was brief.
It wasn’t Kayleigh’s night with another interruption, Irn Dru barged into frame to rant about Chris Renfrew, ultimately deciding to put the Golden Ticket on the line against Renfrew at School’s Out in Dunfermline with the idea of a slight rule change so that Chris Renfrew could maybe see the Irn Dru Marshall that he is so desperate to meet.
(Small editing note, the camera panned a little to the right and Chris Renfrew could clearly be seen just around the corner while Marshall was talking about him.)
I don’t want to brag, but I got to draw the raffle again, did a cracking job of it as well.
W3L Championship – BT Gunn defeated Lost Boy Aspen by pinfall to retain.
A nice pre-match word from Kayleigh with BT Gunn followed him rushing out to get things started straight away, a double leg take down had Aspen scrambling on the outside with the bell being rung and immediately returning to the ringside area with Aspen getting the best of Gunn as the match returned to between the ropes.
BT pushed back with a flurry that was cut off by Lost Boy Aspen with a piledriver that had Gunn bouncing off the mat for a near fall. The Lost Boy brought in a chair but it rebounded off the top rope after BT ducked, with a Scorpion Death Drop catching a two count. Aspen and Gunn collided with each other as referee Stu Pendous started the ten count.
They slugged forearms back and forth, Gunn brought a couple kicks but was spun to the canvas with a sit out Black Hole Slam. While Pendous disposed of the chair, Aspen headed over to the where the W3L Championship was being held (in my hands) and took it by force then returned to the action. Pendous got a hold of the title so Aspen dislodged a turnbuckle pad to send the man in the stripes all over the place while he retrieved the belt to continue his master plan.
Aspen swung and missed with the title and Gunn hit a superkick followed by an elevated flatliner but it wasn’t enough. The battle continued with strikes with Aspen connecting with a slew of stinging chops. A spinning roundhouse kick outta nowhere from BT Gunn knocked Aspen out for three to keep the W3L Championship in The Oddity’s possession.
A heated main event, it went at a blistering pace but bookended the night well from the opening brawl to the Gunn overcoming the challenge of Lost Boy Aspen to close. The audience were up for it and threw everything into wanting BT to retain. The finish was sudden, and selfishly I wouldn’t have minded a couple more minutes to build up to it, but it did a great job of showing that BT Gunn can land a death blow at any given moment.
Considering how much jiggering and pokering that the show had to deal with from the announced card, W3L put forward a blast of a show. Elgin were happy to oblige and make plenty of noise, which created such a fun atmosphere to see first hand.
It was an entertaining night at New Elgin Hall with W3L coming in with a good rhythm of matches to keep the crowd invested throughout the night. W3L have developed a connection with the crowd in Elgin, and the north in general, with returning fans not only from last year but also from events all over including those I spoke to in Dingwall and Alness previously making the journey down to the home of The Dandy Lion for more wrasslin’ and building a further core audience in their regular towns.
The full show is available on Hooked On Wrestling TV now to check out for yourself:
