It’s the spooky time of year and Iron Girders Pro Wrestling got into the spirit with a Halloween special at the Iron Girders Gym this past Saturday. For those unable to attend that handy Twitch notification dinged and it was live on that purple app.

Tall ‘N’ Tiny (Kev.i.n & James Diaz) w/Astrid Day defeated The Moxie Crue (Chris Kingston & Stone Malone) w/Big Mick by pinfall.

The first thing you saw was Kev asking why Stone Malone and Chris Kingston hadn’t dressed up for halloween while he was costumed as Buzz Lightyear, James Diaz as Sheriff Woody, and Astrid Day as the rootin’ tootin’ Jessie. Five stars. No notes.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wrestler, or a human in general for that matter, happier as Kev.i.n aiming his hypothetical laser towards Kingston and Malone and declaring that there were no signs of intelligent life anywhere.

Woody, I mean, Diaz got into the match and slammed Stone Malone so hard that the camera rattled. Chris Kingston asked Master of Ceremonies Katt Wolfe to announce that “Andy was coming” which led our fun loving trio to drop to the ground as ‘You’ve Got A Friend In Me’ played over the speakers. I love wrestling.

Kingston took advantage of the moment and put the boots to Kev as The Moxie Crue took over punishing him with quick tags. He finally got the tag to James Diaz who rounded up his opponents into the opposite corners for some big splashes. It was a big boot to the head of Kingston followed by a falling in style elbow drop from Kev.i.n that sealed the win for Andy’s Toys.

Pure entertainment. The little extra things just made it all the better like James Diaz calling Stone Malone his favourite deputy which caused Malone to have a crisis by not wanting to hurt Woody, only to rescind that comment later when Malone was battering Kev.i.n. The absolute disgust from Chris Kingston for people chanting “Buzz” for Kev as “he’s just a man in a costume”. Chef’s kisses all round.

I’m really enjoying what I’m seeing from Tall ‘N’ Tiny, they are a little rough around the edges but they have charisma for days, the Iron Girders crowd are all in on the team, and I could see them be an early contender for Ones to Watch in our Year End Awards.

That’s not to take away from Malone and Kingston. The moniker of “The Weasel” is well apt as Kingston screws his face up and has disdain for anything joyful. He is so easy to boo, coupled with the sheer force that Malone puts behind his strikes, this was a lot of fun.

Martin MacAlistair defeated Prince Levi by disqualification.

This one started hot and heavy with Martin MacAlistair going for a double leg takedown before the bell which led to William Logan separating the pair before the bell could ring. Once the sound was made it was back to throwing punches, there were no pretty lock ups as this was a feud spanning the last few months.

Levi weathered the rush from MacAlistair but once he found his opening took to grounding the positive charge, wearing down Martin with a tight headlock to try and short circuit the spark.

MacAlistair fought back, hoisting Levi up for an Attitude Adjustment but it was smoothly countered in a Nightmare on Helms Street. Martin wouldn’t quit, not even with the forearms to the base of his spine or the springboard facebuster, he would continue to kick out and keep moving.

The punches went back and forth but MacAlistair snuck in a shoulder tackle to make his comeback, a headbutt, and back to the AA but Levi flipped out but grabbed his knee upon landing. Referee William Logan was ready to call for the bell but Levi refused and in the confusion he sprung to life and put MacAlistair into a step over choke, and refused to break the hold on the ropes to cause the disqualification.

I loved Levi belittling Martin throughout, just the repulse of having to continue to beat him up when all MacAlistair would have to do it roll over and take defeat. The continued reference to Martin not quitting though hints towards a final showdown somewhere down the line where rope breaks and a standard rule set may not be required.

As a chapter to the rivalry it was a solid match. The intense start with Levi looking to bore down on torturing Martin MacAlistair leading to the Levi being a maniac and not relenting the modified STF was good stuff.

Elijah Bulwark introduced Kez Evans to the ring. He spoke openly about struggling with a loss, and that he stepped away 6 months ago because he thought that he had fallen out of love for professional wrestling. He announced that he was better, he missed everyone and everything, and that he was back.

Great to see and hear Kez Evans speak with positivity on his future. I think we all underappreciated his work during the pandemic, myself included, for a lot of the closed door ICW tapings he was tasked with being the champion and thus being the top dog, that guy, in a very uncertain time in history.

British Rounds Match – Branagan defeated Tommy Lockhart two falls to one.

Referee William Logan changed into a white shirt and bowtie for this match. Loved that.

Round one began with a back and forth feeling out process with a wrist lock until Lockhart tried some flash with handstand on the top turnbuckle but Branagan chopped Tommy down that echoed around the venue. The final minute of the round was akin to a standard wrestling match, Lockhart managed to push a scrapping Branagan off the second turnbuckle and hit a front dropkick to send him to the canvas.

A missed knee was enough to avoid the roll up pin from Tommy Lockhart to make it 1-0.

Lockhart started fast in round two with pinning combo after pinning combo to take advantage of Branagan being rattled. Branagan soon caught him in a butterfly lock which ultimately lead to a Stretch Muffler for the tap out to bring the score even into the final fall.

At the break between rounds Branagan conveniently fell forward to chop block the back of Tommy’s left knee that he had just stretched out. Round three started with Branagan focusing on the left knee with Dragon Screws and kicks to the back of the knee. Lockhart held on with being locked in a single crab until the end of the round to survive into round four.

Round four saw Tommy weather the knee attacks before get the upper hand in the closing stages, hitting a nice handstand Frankensteiner to throw Branagan from the top turnbuckle to the floor but his pin was cut short by the end of the round.

The final round began with Tommy smashing Branagan into the corner as Branagan had done earlier, but was caught while scaling the top rope for a butterfly suplex before Branagan just went back to the knee, jarring it into the canvas before going back to the single leg for the submission.

British Rounds matches are not usually my bag but these crafted a tight story within the five rounds that kept me engaged throughout. I love this Branagan guy, he talks about wanting to wrestle, cutting a stoic iceman demeanour but when it doesn’t go his way he becomes this unhinged, vicious, Bronson-esque figure as he attempts to twist and disfigure his opponents because they aren’t doing what he wants. The attacks on the knee of Tommy Lockhart were brutal, especially jarring the knee into the canvas for the finishing submission.

Tommy Lockhart continues to impress, and a special mention to the referee as William Logan held great authority in this one.

Branagan went back to the single leg after the match but Kez Evans chased him off.

Robbie Cardwell came out after the break but was immediately interrupted by Charlie Vyce and Moxie Malone. With little provocation, Malone hit Cardwell with a forearm with Vyce quick to jump on and rain punches until Kasey rushed out to make the save, demanding a match to be made there and then.

Moxie Malone & Charlie Vyce defeated Robbie Cardwell & Kasey by pinfall.

Despite an opening flurry of moves, Vyce and Malone used their intelligence to take advantage with Vyce tripping a running Kasey to see her land hard face first on the mat. Malone and Vyce went to work keeping The Mother of Chaos on their side of the ring with quick tags.

Kasey fought back to get Robbie Cardwell into the equation as he went fists flying towards Charlie Vyce, to the point that even had Kasey trying to rein Cardwell in. They attempted a Twist of Fate/Swanton Bomb combo but Vyce pushed Kasey into Robbie causing him to crash to the canvas. Moxie dragged Kasey out of the ring which allowed for Charlie Vyce to use the most devastating move in professional wrestling, the roll up (with a handful of tights), to pick up the victory.

Vyce pushed Cardwell away after the match but that just started a brawl being separating by crew and wrestlers. Elijah Bulwark got into the middle of it all… then the audio feed cut out so I’ve no idea what happened. Charlie Vyce didn’t seem happy about it though. Katt Wolfe mentioned a Christmas Carnage match when the sound returned so keep an eye on those socials!

What I did notice during the silence was a cameo from Grant McIvor, which was nice.

IGPW King of the Fling Championship – Bingo Brawl – RABU defeated Eddie Castle, Jordan Wolff, and The Masked Assassin to retain the IGPW King of the Fling Championship for Casino Brutale.

Casino Brutale entered to announce that management did not allow 27 entrants for the Bingo Brawl and they could only get… 4. So RABU was going to defend the title to put paid to any rumor of him not being a King of the Fling even though Mikey Devine technically won the belt.

Devine and RABU milked the ball banter for all it’s worth and it was glorious. Eddie Castle, Jordan Wolff, and The Masked Assassin were the lucky ball holders as RABU gave them all personalised ring announcements (I think as the audio muted again when Jordan Wolff made his entrance, but Eddie Castle’s was “he was chaotic but he’s okay now” and if that’s the level we’re working with they were probably great).

The Masked Assassin was quickly eliminated as clearly he was the biggest threat so it was smart for the others to focus their attacks on him early on. Jordan Wolff was next to go with RABU launching him over the top rope to the apron with Eddie Castle finishing the job with a Superman Punch.

Castle and RABU went back and forth with Eddie being relentless but RABU managed to avoid any big moves, catching him from a slingshot, countering a Thesz Press with an Atomic Drop etc. They battled to the ropes where RABU managed to launch Castle overhead, over the ropes, and to the floor to retain.

A quick fling, the final two of RABU and Eddie Castle was brief but I wouldn’t say no to a revisit one on one, or if Castle can find a pal make it two on two.

The chaos that is the Iron Girders raffle continue with Branagan being announced to pull some tickets… only for Mikey Devine to turn up with a towel over his shoulders. When Branagan did turn up Devine shouted “I wasn’t booked, I needed to do something!” before escaping through the fire exit. My love for Mikey Devine never ends.

IGPW Championship – Luke Kyro defeated Angel Hayze by pinfall to retain the IGPW Championship.

Hayze immediately clocked Kyro with a forearm to the face to send him scurrying to the outside. Coming back into the ring didn’t do much use with Angel Hayze dominating the early going, leaving Kyro once again to take a powder to the outside to reset.

The match went to the outside with Hayze chasing down Kyro who was happy to take the count out loss to retain before seeing both slam the other hard onto the apron. Hayze still managed to keep the upper hand for the majority but after being caught from a crossbody attempt Kyro took control as he drove her into the ground with a sit out slam.

Angel fought back and readied herself to knock Kyro’s block off with a superkick but Luke stopped, dropped, and rolled to the apron again. Hayze followed but got hung up on the ropes and given a slingshot spear for a near fall.

The momentum switched with both trying to land that killer blow. Hayze hit the superkick and the looked to have it won with a neckbreaker but Levi appeared to cause a ruckus. Kyro hit Hayze with the IGPW Championship but it could only garner a two count. Levi jumped up onto the apron and ate a superkick but Kyro’s spinning neckbreaker in the melee couldn’t keep Angel Hayze down.

Kyro looked to finish the job by shooting Hayze off the ropes but Angel locked in Dragon Sleeper but was spun out into spinning neckbreaker for the champion to remain holding the gold.

The continuing trend of Luke Kyro being overwhelmed in matches but still scraping a win by any means necessary will just make it all the more satisfying if/when the time comes for the title to be taken from his grasp. Angel Hayze is hard hitting and her fieriness always makes for an intense encounter.

Once again I want to highlight William Logan, refereeing every match, was strong and was in charge. It’s something you don’t properly take notice of but he was always locked into the match and reacting, but not overreacting, but naturally providing an extra emotion to the matches that is underrated.

There was a dog dressed as Jack Skellington that barked when people were clapping, the dog was joining in. That is the best thing. I applaud that dog owner, that dog, and to Iron Girders for being a dog friendly environment.

Another highly enjoyable show from Iron Girders, I need to get to one of these events sooner rather than later. Hopefully the stars and, more importantly, the bank account align so I can get to Glasgow next year.

Be sure to follow Iron Girders Pro Wrestling on Twitch. There isn’t always a guarantee that the shows will be on there so the best way to experience it would be live in person and get a ticket.