20 years of Insane Championship Wrestling, from the murky halls of Maryhill to the Hydro, it’s been some adventure for the Glasgow outfit that revolutionised modern British wrestling with their controversial antics and big ideas, working up to the point of being part of the establishment of WWE on the WWE Network, having Triple H appear in the centre of their ring, to being the only place with the lights on in Scotland during a pandemic, they dragged themselves out of the embers of COVID with a fresh faced roster and earned their way back to being thee place to aspire to be in Scotland. They put the work in and 20 years on they are still standing.

The old school entrance from the crowd was a throwback touch, harkening back to that ECW vibe that set Insane Championship Wrestling apart from the pack as their audience of misfits grew larger with each passing event. It was a stacked line up on offer to celebrate the past, present, and future of ICW.

Bruiser Brad defeated Andy Roberts by pinfall.

A heavyweight exchange of forearms began the beefiest match scheduled for the night with neither giving an inch or staying down for long. Brad managed to knock down Andy with a dropkick and Spinebuster one-two but Roberts just kept coming back. The duelling chants of Andy Roberts and Beef King echoed around a meat slapper. German Suplexes were traded with Brad and Andy meeting with a simultaneous crossbody to reset the match. Headbutts, chops, uppercuts, Roberts and Brad wailed at each other until a short arm clothesline turned Roberts inside out. Andy kicked out of a vertical suplex and returned fire with an overhead belly to belly and Vader Bomb which Brad kicked out of one from.

Roberts went for a second Vader Bomb but Brad rolled out of harms way, a powerbomb quickly followed by a piledriver had Andy Roberts looking at the lights.

Billy Kirkwood summed it up on commentary, no wasted movement. It felt like a passing of the torch of the the last of the great British heavyweights to the new (Beef) King of the heavyweights. Brad and Roberts were hitting hard and fast for a match that didn’t hang about but gave us everything needed to start the night in style.

Stevie Boy defeated Landon Riley by pinfall.

It was a standing ovation before Stevie Boy even opened the curtain, going back to Stevie Boy for one night only, the welcome home chants filled The Garage. Landon Riley didn’t look phased by the occasion but as the bell rung it was Stevie that showed why he is a legend in Insane Championship Wrestling to have Riley scrambling to the outside. Stevie followed and found himself being drilled onto the apron and thrown into the front row. A jaw dropping springboard senton dive from Landon onto Stevie while crew assembled, to protect the fans from a rouge flying wrestler, kept the match in amongst the inhabitants of insanity.

The match returned to between the ropes as Stevie rallied back with a lovely corkscrew slingshot splash after a 619. Riley flung a kick out as Stevie did the same to knock both down. Stevie goaded a forearm battle, getting the better of it and blowing the air out of Riley with a Slam Dunk gutbuster for a near fall. After a clash on the top turnbuckle Landon got Stevie up for a Death Valley Driver into the turnbuckles for another two count. Riley smelled blood in the water, a springboard Senton and a Blue Thunder Bomb wasn’t enough. Landon missed a Moonsault and ran into a Glasgow Destroyer, an elevated twisted neck breaker gave the victory to the leader of The Filthy Generation.

Landon Riley had a tantrum post-match with Sean McLaughlin sending out a couple heavy lads to move him along.

Fantastic from start to finish. Despite the loss the levelling up of Landon Riley coming out of the match was evident. Stevie Boy is an enigma and got his flowers throughout from the fans and he sets a high standard that Landon was more than able to match against.

The 2nd Annual Scare Go! Tag Team Edition – Arcade Violence (Jake Lawless & Brody Turnbull) defeated Vanity (Judas Grey & Ronan King), Theo Doros & Austin Brookes, Jack Ripley & Michael Mailer, The Girvans (Lewis Girvan & Fraser Girvan).

It was adventure time for Vanity as they made their way out first for the second annual Scare Go!, they were joined by Theo Doros and “Dick Justice” Austin Brookes to start the match. King and Grey dominated, including squashing Brookes with an assisted splash. Jack Ripley and a physically broken Michael Mailer entered as Miss Piggy and Kermit as my mental facilities short circuited.

Lewis “Shaggy” Girvan was joined by Fraser “Fraser Girvan” Girvan. Fraser chucked out Ripley, Brookes, and Mailer rapidly. The final mystery team of Stay Puft and Gizmo boogied out to complete the field, the mystery wasn’t to be left for long as Arcade Violence revealed themselves and immediately got into it with The Girvans. In the scrap Fraser accidentally eliminated Lewis, with Turnbull and Lawless sending out the younger Girvan brother.

Doros put out both members of Vanity to leave him standing between Arcade Violence. Theo grabbed a chair to even the numbers and clocked both Lawless and Turnbull until he was sent flying out of the ring to leave Arcade Violence standing tall and firing into an ICW World Tag Team Championship match at Fear & Loathing.

The reaction for the return of Arcade Violence was incredible, as was the stand off with The Girvans once more. Vanity were fun to watch as always plus we got the absurdity of Ripley and Mailer. Theo Doros kept the match grounded between coming out without a costume and being annoyed by Austin Brookes, he provided a great dynamic with being the potential final spoiler to a dream return for Arcade Violence until he was launched over the ropes. Some bloody good sports entertainment was provided, especially with the communication break down of The Girvans continuing. Arcade Violence was a great surprise final entrant and brought their AV Club brand of mayhem light a fuse in the ICW tag division.

Deathmatch – Emersyn Jayne defeated Lost Boy Aspen by pinfall.

Jayne and Aspen got a feel for each other with a bit of the wrestling until Aspen brushed off a wrist lock and put pause to the match to declare that nobody came for that and brought out a bucket of thumbtacks to spread around the ring as they went back to side over headlocks onto the spiky terrain. Jayne sent Aspen out of the ring with a headscissors and joined him with a dive through the ropes as the apron curtain was lifted for the plunder to be revealed. Emersyn and Aspen ended up on the apron itself, with Aspen piledriving Jayne. The blood was spilling, Aspen dragged the forehead of Emersyn along the barbed wire side of the ring ropes, Jayne stabbed skewers into the skull of Aspen, who returned the favour to shrieks from the crowd and an I C Dub chant breaking out.

A revitalised Emersyn retaliated with a snap German Suplex, and obtained a wooden door from under the ring. Jayne felt it being dunted into her head. Aspen contorted Emersyn’s back over two chairs propped on their side with some sort of inverted Razor’s Edge spin release of horrors. Jayne dropped Aspen with a stump powerbomb as the door was laid across two chairs. The Lost Boy was able to meet Jayne onto the turnbuckles to tombstone her through the structure for a rapturous near fall. Aspen went for a second rope moonsault as a chair lay over the torso of Emersyn Jayne which seemed to affect Aspen more.

Emersyn hoisted Aspen up for an inverted package tombstone piledriver to end the match.

Outstanding, it was barbaric but it kept it from the point of gruesome. There was blood and violence that was given back and forth in equal measure. As someone who isn’t a deathmatch guy, this was my kind of deathmatch that had the story. It began with mutual respect, Aspen starting to show some more frustration, and Emersyn Jayne living up to her reputation as bad ass who endures pain and dishes it out. Excellent.

Scottish Rules – Colton Davis w/KOE (Adam King & Marcus King) defeated Kenny Williams w/Aaron Echo by pinfall.

Round one: shot of tequila. The first round was both easing themselves into the match, with an avoidance to take damage in the first minute until Kenny took the pace into a sharp turn to try and catch Davis off guard. The timer ran out as Colton finally got his hands on Williams for a chokeslam as the round was called.

Round two: flat pint of Guinness. A heavy stout didn’t stop Kenny Williams flying around as KOE decided to start getting involved. A dropkick knocked back Marcus and Adam with Williams returning to the ring for Colton to take advantage of the Scum of the Earth being sidetracked. Davis slowed things down with Kenny getting a slap in as the counter hit zero.

Round three: warm pint of Tenants. Colton seemed to have flouted the downing of his pint which Kenny wasn’t taking kindly to and challenged him to down a can, which Davis smacked off the head of Williams that saw Kenny’s forehead split open. The dirty tactics of low blows were exchanged as the effects of the match started to show.

Round four: can of Tenants. groggy strikes were the order with Kenny starting to lean off to the side with his attacks, but managed to catch Colton with a boot in the corner. Davis grabbed the throat of Williams, who rolled through for a pin and transitioned the kick out into an ankle lock at the 40 second countdown mark. Colton held on, tapping out after the round ended.

Round five: shot of Bacardi. The scrap was on as KOE went after Aaron Echo at ringside. Colton launched Kenny into the pile with the chaos increasing, as Thomas Kearins was distracted with Colton, Adam King popped back onto the apron and smashed a glass bottle of the back of Kenny’s head for Davis to pick up the pieces with 36 seconds remaining.

A really well paced rounds match. It didn’t feel laboured as the match escalated with each round. I loved that the alcohol hit Kenny harder after he started to draw blood, and his strikes being slightly off target was another great touch. I just really enjoy how Kenny Williams wrestles and he makes every match a have big fight feel. Colton Davis looked great off the back of it and continues to put in a hell of a shift in ICW and is thriving amongst the pandemonium.

ICW General Manager Sean McLaughlin entered to announce the commissioner of Fear & Loathing. Chris Toal entered, he basked in his return before asking who actually was the commissioner for Fear & Loathing…

RED LIGHTNING.

Lighting brought up that The Black Label were the rightful winners in the Hydro all those years ago. He declared that Fear & Loathing was the first step in Red Lightning taking back control of Insane Championship Wrestling. Landon Riley returned to start his campaign to get onside with the authority.

Sean denied it was Red Lightning, as Toal asked McLaughlin to tell the whole f’n story.

The instigator of Insanity Mark Dallas was back in an Insane Championship Wrestling ring. Dallas drove his golf club into the head of Landon Riley to send him scuttling off, but not before announcing that Riley would get Rhio at Fear & Loathing.

Dallas offered Lightning a handshake which was denied. Before the ring cleared, Mark put his stamp of approval of the current Insane Championship Wrestling roster, and told everyone to buy a ticket and take the ride.

A big moment, the crowd went wild, and it felt seismic seeing Mark Dallas back in an ICW ring. A lot is said about Dallas, somewhere in there is the truth, but what can’t be denied is that he gave his blood, sweat, tears, and every penny into making Insane Championship Wrestling into the cultural juggernaut it became and is back, for the time being, as it rises to become that juggernaut again.

Before the next match The Wee Man flapped his gums to introduce Angel Hayze, with a scattering of shots at Kay Lee Ray.

Kay Lee Ray defeated Angel Hayze w/The Wee Man by pinfall.

It was a frantic start with Kay Lee Ray and Angel Hayze after an early three count, Hayze got the first bit of offense landing by sweeping the leg out from under Kay Lee with little hesitation to deliver a Shining Wizard. Ray fought back with the match heading to ringside, Hayze rolled Kay Lee back into the ring and was met with a flying Ray seconds later through the ropes. As the match returned to between the ropes, Angel managed to clamp on a guillotine, Kay Lee stood her ground to break out into a brainbuster and lock in a guillotine of her own that was broken by a foot on the ropes.

The strikes were hitting hard, Angel Hayze connected with a Slingblade style flatliner as she started to gain momentum against Kay Lee Ray, which turned into a Gory Bomb out of nowhere by Ray for a close two count. The Wee Man jumped onto the apron and ate a superkick from Kay Lee Ray. It was enough for Angel Hayze to get an advantage with a superkick and poisonrana, a Shining Wizard looked to be all until the shoulder of Kay Lee Ray made it off the mat. A frustrated Hayze draped Ray off the second ropes with a gnarly neckbreaker which still couldn’t kept Kay Lee down for three.

Ray caught a kick and replied with a headbutt. A Gory Bomb to a Swanton Bomb wasn’t enough with Hayze somehow raising her left arm to break the count. Kay Lee Ray wasted no time and kicked Angel and dropped her with a double arm piledriver for the win.

Kay Lee Ray’s celebration was cut off by an Angel Hayze attack. After some mic issues, Angel gave Kay Lee a Glasgow Destroyer and told her to go back to America. Hayze turned her attention to Molly Spartan, who rushed out to make Hayze aware that when they meet at Fear & Loathing that she will know her place.

A hell of a match. The slips from Angel Hayze made it feel real, like there was a nervousness even while showing the confidence on the outside. The double arm piledriver wasn’t really clean with the Gory Bomb to the Swanton combo seconds before might’ve hit the peak crowd reaction better but hindsight is a wonderful thing eh.

ICW Zero G Championship – Golden Boy Challenge – Triple Threat – Myles Kayman defeated Wolfgang, and Sha Samuels to retain.

Kayman became the filling of a Wolfgang and Sha Samuels punch sandwich, with Myles out of the road it was The Regulator and The Butcher squaring off. Wolfgang got the better of the exchange, and caught Kayman while he tried to sneak back in with a crossbody. Myles wriggled out to send Wolfgang into Sha with Wolfgang rolling to the outside. Kayden barraged Samuels with uppercuts to take control whilst having the awareness to keep Wolfgang out of the equation.

The luck of The Golden Boy ran out as he was grabbed by Wolfgang and chucked off the top turnbuckle and was torn apart. During the flurry it looked like Wolfgang dismounted funny that visibly slowed him down from getting as much impact as usual. It didn’t stop him from hitting a Claymore Kick to Sha Samuels for a near fall and the ring shook as Wolfgang missed a swanton bomb.

Sha got Wolfgang up and down with a spinebuster but as he fired up Kayman rolled Samuels from behind with a handful of tights to once again escape with the ICW Zero G Championship.

Another month and I’m still not on board with Myles Kayman, and it doesn’t sound like the crowd is either. He feels very much out of place in ICW, and even when he’s in the ring against massive favourites in Wolfgang and Sha Samuels, it still couldn’t get a consistent reaction of negativity towards him, or any sustained thought for him. As mentioned in previous reviews, Myles is certainly a very talented wrestler, maybe because there’s no grit to him, being too polished and smooth, that’s causing that disinterest towards him. Who knows.

ICW World Tag Team Championships – The Dangerous Brothers (BT Gunn & Kez Evans) defeated Mark Coffey & Jason Reed w/Coach Trip by pinfall to retain.

Jason Reed and Mark Coffey were quick to show that they weren’t big fans of the other with blistering chops to signal tags. Reed was battered by The Dangerous Brothers before scrambling to tag in Mark, who took control back in the match. It was one stare-down too many between Reed and Coffey with Evans pushing Mark into Jason and bringing BT Gunn in as the ICW World Tag Team Champions isolated the ICW World Heavyweight Champion with tandem offense, quick tags, and keeping the match in their side of the ring.

Mark avoided a Dangerous Brothers headbutt and made his way to his corner as Reed dropped off the apron to leave Coffey hanging. An adrenaline fuelled Mark Coffey ran through Kez Evans and BT Gunn like a one man army. A forearm rocked Gunn, with Jason sneaking a tag in to try and snatch the pin to no avail. Reed delivered a lovely double leg spinebuster for another near fall as the partnership of Jason Reed and Mark Coffey reached its conclusion with a low blow from Reed to Coffey.

The Dangerous Brothers connected with the Snapshot DDT to Mark to wrap the match up. As they made their way to the back Reed and Coach Trip assaulted Mark Coffey. Wolfgang made the save, with Mark Dallas and Sean McLaughlin closely behind him to announce that the main event at Fear & Loathing would now be a Glasgow Street Fight as the locker room emptied and the feed ended with Jason Reed and Coach Trip being chased out of The Garage.

The main event was more of a story filler for Jason Reed and Mark Coffey, which was fine but there wasn’t any real feel of jeopardy for The Dangerous Brothers to actually lose their titles, it was more a matter of when Reed and Coffey would finally implode. A solid match with that taken out of the equation, because of course it was when you consider the competitors.

It was a tale of two halves, the first half of the show was brilliant and it was on track to being an absolute banger. There was no downtime, unless required for clean up, as the matches ticked on with no backstage shenanigans or packages. Though with that, and as the night went on, for a celebration of 20 years of insanity there was something missing. Mark Dallas turning up was a shot in the arm for nostalgia, but there could have been a Filthy Generation reunion, maybe a couple video messages from ICW roster past like DCT, or Joe Coffey, or Drew McIntyre, Noam Dar, Jack Jester, Grado, etc. Not even getting a Dirk McIntosh sighting. Another example being the Scare Go!, having The Young Team win King of Hawners with Bruiser Brad then not have them in the Scare Go! was curious, that was a match primed for some one night only returns. Some of that could’ve been done during the 20 minute interval, maybe it was done in the venue, I don’t know.

An in memoriam video might’ve been a morbid inclusion but that would have given praise to those that are no longer here and to commemorate their work in building the foundations of Insane Championship Wrestling to where it began to now like Drew McDonald, Lionheart, Tracey Smothers, Alexander Dean, and countless others would’ve been appreciated.

I’ve been really enjoying ICW this year, having watched a good skelp of their shows via YouTube live, and this was one where there was more that could’ve been done to make the most of the occasion. There is a time and place to use nostalgia bait, and this was both. Don’t get any of that twisted into me thinking this was a bad show. The first half was excellent, and the second had its moments but as a product ICW is of a high quality that even with my criticism, it was still a hell of an event. I loved the set up with the entrance being at ground level, as mentioned at the start of this ramble, it fits that underground atmosphere that led ICW into the stratosphere.

We’re counting down the days to Fear & Loathing, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!

The full show is available on Insane Championship Wrestling’s YouTube channel for subscribers.