We wait weeks for a new episode of This Is VALOR and two come in subsequent weeks. This edition’s cold open featured Johnny Pressley tapping Irn Dru Marshall to try and get into the NAK. Marshall sent Pressley on a fool’s errand to slap Chris Renfrew to show Renfrew that he is New Age Kliq material which Pressley did.

Thankfully for Johnny, Renfrew saw the funny side… for now.

It was the next portion of Appetite For Destruction from Kirkintilloch, continuing the action from Kirkintilloch.

Ozzy Michaels defeated Jan Islav w/Krobar and Patryk Peterski by pinfall.

Jan Islav entered flanked by Krobar and his newest comrade Patryk Peterski who was now decked out in the red and white while offering a stoic demeanour. The increase in numbers lead to a very tentative Ozzy, who flashed glances at ringside as he approached the ropes early on.

When the match was in the middle of the canvas though Ozzy got the best of Islav but Peterski jumped onto the apron to distract while Ozzy held Jan in a fireman’s carry for a reverse DDT as Jan put the boots and fists to Ozzy Michaels.

Ozzy tried to pull Jan into a headlock to stop the swinging punches but a Polish Hammer reset it back into the camp of Eastern Bloc. Islav rained down the elbows to the back of the head of Ozzy but a missed running knee gave Michaels the opening, an enziguri and a couple of suplexes gained him a near fall.

A double underhook was countered with Jan kicking out the knee, Islav managed to land a Code Red but Ozzy rolled his shoulder off the mat. The back and forth continued, Islav was caught on a crossbody but planted with a rolling senton. A timely distraction from Peterski while Michaels was scaling the turnbuckles gave Jan the opportunity to take Ozzy down with a Frankensteiner.

As Jan went to finish the match, his running knee was reversed into a roll up into a double underhook Angel’s Wings to get the three count.

Eastern Bloc didn’t give Ozzy a chance to rest with the post match beat down, a spinebuster from Peterski following by a running knee from Jan Islav left Ozzy having to limp his way slowly to the back.

A fun opener to the show, Jan kept the offense simple, nothing too flashy until the Frankensteiner, it built the crowd up to support Ozzy Michaels effectively. It’s been a little while since Ozzy had been on a This Is VALOR episode from memory and he looked really good. The

Johnny Pressley tried to give Lou King Sharp some advice. For some reason Sharp wasn’t up for chat and told Pressley that he will see him in Carluke.

…who’s Carluke?

– Johnny Pressley

Kayleigh joined Brodie Adler who was a bit raging over her loss to Daisy Jenkins. Penelope Grace arrived to add more joy to Adler’s life who just stormed off after Grace started mentally giving Brodie a makeover. Is there a montage coming soon?

Flag Match – Krobar w/Patryk Pereski and Jan Islav defeated Taylor Bryden.

We returned to the ring and Eastern Bloc were still hotdogging and grandstanding to lead nicely into the next match. Taylor Bryden rolled through to grab the leg of Krobar but the rest of Eastern Bloc immediately jumped onto the apron to intimidate Bryden into distraction.

Krobar grabbed a headlock, stopping the escapes by grabbing the hair of Bryden. A foot stomp finally assisted the break as Taylor went back to the leg of Krobar. Peterski dragged Krobar out of the ring but Bryden wasn’t far behind with a fake out dive then followed up a dive while Krobar and Islav congratulated themselves.

Eastern Bloc once again used the numbers to put Bryden down but after trying to pin his opponent, Krobar needed reminded of the match rules so he continued to beat down before going after Taylor’s flag but Bryden interrupted. Bryden fought off Peterski and Islav while Krobar teased the flag. Taylor Bryden took Krobar down with a suplex but his aims to grab the flag was stopped by Patryk Peterski hitting him with a slam off the turnbuckle and dragging Krobar to their corner to retrieve the flag.

Jan Islav joined the two for a post-match beat down as Krobar waved the Polish flag in victory.

The match stipulation really made everything a bit awkward. It was a kick-punch affair with bits of interference here and there with the styles not complementing the other, Bryden trying to make it a bit more technical while Krobar was like ‘ave that and punched away. Both have had better matches and this one didn’t show the sense of urgency for the flag concept.

Kayleigh found Euan G Mackie in the bowels of the building recovering from his match with Chris Renfrew. Euan teased a potential retirement.

Hardcore Match – Lou King Sharp defeated Dru Marshall by pinfall.

Before the match the big sexy voice of Kyle Wallace passed on the announcement that Chris Renfrew was barred from ringside. Renfrew slowly made his way to the back after being threatened to be fired by referee Sean Moran.

Lou King Sharp immediately ran at Marshall with the Singapore Cane and despite his cat like reflexes to miss the first swing he got the cane swung against his stomach as Sharp took Irn Dru around St Ninian’s Church Hall. An elbow drop and leg drop off a chair to the hard carpeted floor had Marshall regretting his life choices with a kid smashing Dru with a can of Irn Bru to compliment the chocolate cake that also made contact with his face.

Sharp took a fork to stab into the forehead of Marshall as he found more weaponry under the ring. Dru took the opening to try and take advantage but he was soon feeling the Singapore Cane again. It was a hard push of Sean Moran into the ropes to knock The Blood Tourist off balance on the top turnbuckle that finally gave Dru the upper hand.

Marshall pulled out a wee plastic bag of grinders to slam Lou on top of and grabbed the scraps of plunder to stab into the head of Lou King Sharp. Marshall found a laptop, a chair with drawing pins stuck to it, coat hangers, and a studded belt, using the latter to whip off of Sharp.

It wasn’t enough to keep Lou down who used the coat hangers to make Dru smile, but his follow up was stopped with a knee to the gut with a senton roll countered into a reverse DDT for a near fall. His momentum was halted with an errant dropkick to trap him in a tree of woe, Sharp took advantage with a basement dropkick with the laptop leaning onto the face of Marshall, a Rob Van Dam style corner dropkick with chair, and a coast to coast Van Terminator to leave both laying as Sean Moran started a ten count.

The Blood Tourist moved first but it was Marshall getting to his feet quicker via rolling out of the ring. Dru stumbled under the apron curtain and produced a hammer. Marshall stalked Sharp who begged off to sucker Dru into being punched right into the groin with the hammer being dropped. Sharp grabbed the tool, and Marshall, mid-superkick to crack the hammer off the knee of Dru as the VALOR crowd begged for more.

A flailing Marshall lay prone for a Frog Splash to stay down for three. Chris Renfrew stormed out to confront his future opponent, and retrieve his stablemate, but had no interest in getting into the ring with a claw hammer wielding Lou King Sharp.

As the dust settled, Lou King Sharp grabbed the microphone to announce that his chosen stipulation against Chris Renfrew when they next meet would be tables, ladders, and chairs!

The buzzword I seem to use when watching VALOR is “chaos” and the main event had that in spades. The escalation of weapons throughout the match was nicely done with the hammer shot really being the killing blow. No superhuman comebacks from that when you get smashed onto the knee cap with a claw hammer with Dru holding onto his decimated joint during the fall to add to the violence of the moment.

There was plenty of plunder, but each big spill got a chance to breathe to logically allow some recovery time for each competitor. It was a well put together hardcore match.

It was a strong episode of This Is VALOR, holding steady from the heights of the previous edition. It didn’t leave stories hanging and paying off the viewing audience if they watched last week while still peppering in stuff for the more seasoned viewer, the backstage segments keep that fresh by checking in from last week’s event with the Brodie/Penelope interaction, and catching up with Euan G Mackie. I’m also enjoying the cold open hooks for the episodes that have been added on recent editions. Now we’re into 2025 events the series has softly rebooted and has quickly settled into the episodic nature to keep track episode by episode.

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