A new year but the fallout from 2025 continued in the Granite City. There was a bit of hype for the special guests for the first event of 2026 with Terrance and Terrell Hughes aka TNT aka sons of Aberdeen Anarchy combatant (and man that lost to Lou King Sharp in a six man tag team match), legendary tag team wrestler, and Aces and Eights own D-Von Dudley.

2026 also marked a big change in the way tickets were distributed following the closure of Ringside World after 12 years, putting the onus on WrestleZone to arrange and track more than before, which doesn’t sound like a big change but with tickets becoming a little cheaper, a higher demand to see international legacies, and a packed line up of WrestleZone favourites and those that are causing a buzz all over the country and across the border, it creates an additional task to maintain. All of that seemed to work as Curl was sold out in the midst of a yellow weather warning across Aberdeenshire. I can vouch for the level of rainfall, it was a wet night.

The doors opened a whole ONE minute early as the bodies piled up the stairs to secure their seat for the evening.

I apologise for the late review but will do my utmost to do the show justice with the written word.

VIP Ticket Holder Match – Fatal Four Way – Ted O’Keefe defeated Travis Knox, Connor Molloy w/Ronan King, and Umar Mohammed by pinfall.

It was a star studded bonus match for the VIP ticket holders, three former champions, and one of the newest graduates from the WrestleZone Training Academy squaring off, plus Ronan King arrived with Connor Molloy with no crutches as the . In an interesting note, Ted O’Keefe entered to new music, and a new tron, the latter without mention of The Outfit. There was still the peaky blinder attire but with flashes of green instead of the all black colour scheme. New year – new Ted?

A fast paced start was on the menu with Connor Molloy not endearing himself to the trio of opponents in front of him. As the action got going it was breakneck in all four trying to get the killer blow to get out with the win. Travis Knox proved his worth, entering without Captain Alan, and showcasing a dazzling high risk offense to take out Mohammed and O’Keefe via a Suicide Dive.

There was little moment to take a breath, with each man stringing combinations and counters to try and cause some separation to grab a fall. Connor Molloy was in superkick heaven, slaying each competitor with the sole of his boot, and driving Knox to the canvas with a brainbuster. Ted O’Keefe went on a tear, giving Molloy a taste of his own medicine with an Eat Defeat, before then hoisting Mohammed up and quickly down for a Samoan Drop, Ted didn’t miss a step to catch Travis mid-crossbody – a combo broken by a running dropkick of Connor.

Travis tried to pick up the tempo again, breaking out of a counter to send Umar flying with a crisp Shotgun Dropkick. Mohammed returned by becoming a de facto powerhouse, muscling Travis Knox up for a nice delayed Fisherman’s Buster with all four showing the effects of the total non-stop action.

Ronan King tried to provide the assist by grabbing a crutch from a member of the merch crew but his attempt to slide it to The Big Slay went though Molloy’s legs into the hands of Ted O’Keefe who didn’t hesitate to drive it into the face of Connor to take the win.

King and Molloy got into a bit of an argument post-match, with Ronan calling out Connor as a loser. Judas Grey arrived to play peacemaker as The Influence left the ring fractured.

A fantastic showcase for all four involved, with the added wrinkle in story to cause intrigue. The fan reaction to Umar Mohammed continues to get stronger with each match with the loss of the Tri-Counties Championship at ‘Christmas Chaos’ not deterring the support. It was a good re-establishing win for Ted O’Keefe, with Travis Knox fitting into the group well. Connor Molloy is always a solid hand and the friction in The Influence is going to be a great run into ‘Aberdeen Anarchy’.

Chip Watson defeated Captain Alan Sterling w/James Taylor by pinfall.

Opening the main show was the first official one on one match in WrestleZone, “The Tribal Chef” Chip Watson showed no fear as he embarked in his Granite City Showdown, and Curl, debut.

Captain Alan immediately pointed out the absurdity of a wrestling chipper, before declaring that “fish are friends, not food”. An impassioned Chip Watson got a fish and chips chant going to fight back an sneak attack from BruceSterling. A double Samoa Joe walkaway had Alan, and James Taylor, reeling with Watson giving chase around ringside.

Sterling got the upper hand with a well plaiced stomp while Chip rolled into the ring, taking charge and setting sail with a hard lariat. Watson continued to battle back against the numbers to slingshot spear Captain Alan. Due to his constant interference, an earned stunning double underhook stalling facebuster took out James Taylor.

A twisting neckbreaker from Sterling had Watson in some rough waters but as Alan tried to finish the match with the DDT, Chip spun through to roll up the Captain for three. Watson had little time to recover with the duo jumping him post-match to deliver the DDT.

A great opener, it gave us a little bit of what Chip Watson can do while giving Captain Alan and James Taylor the run-around, the post-match opens the doors for a couple more chapters as my dreams to see a Fish Market Street Fight remain alive and well. Alan was the perfect opponent to get the character of Chip Watson really ingrained into the WrestleZone crowd, with the potential of a feud coming with all sorts of shenanigans.

Triple Threat – Bruiser Brad w/Richard R. Russell defeated Judas Grey, and Kai Orson by pinfall.

After the tension following the VIP pre-show, Judas Grey entered alone – no Connor Molloy OR Ronan King – as the The Influence continued to be on shaky ground.

In a change from the line up, Evan Young was removed from the match to replace Scotty Swift later in the evening. The change in dynamic left Judas Grey in bit of a pickle in a double beef burger with him quickly trying to make an alliance with Orson but neither could shift Bruiser Brad.

Despite their best efforts, Brad went about throwing his opponents around in dominant fashion. Grey and Orson had fleeting moments of offense, including an impressive World’s Strongest Slam from Kai to Brad, with an assist from Judas, that looked to surprise Orson himself.

Grey showed his tremendous strength to lift Bruiser Brad onto his shoulders into a torture rack, for a delayed Angle Slam. The adrenaline coursed through the veins of the poster boy of Scottish wrestling but his follow up Swanton Bomb couldn’t finish the job.

Judas was sent crashing down with a powerbomb from Kai Orson onto Brad, but as he picked up his wounded foe, Brad grabbed Kai Orson to drive him to the canvas with a piledriver to end the match.

An excellent triple threat, once again the new lad kept up with the more experienced competitors with Kai Orson’s charisma coming through. Bruiser Brad is a proper wrassler, a big brute that cuts a menacing figure with incredible power with ridiculous agility to boot.

The turn of crowd reaction towards Judas Grey is something I didn’t expect but welcomed. It’s adds something extra into what seems to be an impending Influence implosion. A real turning point was the display of core strength to lift Bruiser Brad onto his shoulders, it really had the audience in awe, which started gathering more fanfare and support. I’d bet the Judas Choir may be making its way to the North East before year out.

WrestleZone Tag Team Championships – The Warriors Against Low Life Entities (Rhys Dawkins & Bryan Tucker) defeated TNT (Terrell Hughes & Terrence Hughes) by pinfall to retain.

The WrestleZone Tag Team Championships main evented the first half, with TNT getting a great response.

After a rendition of WALLY, encouraged by TNT, Terrell had Bryan Tucker doing everything he could to get out of dodge because when Bryan got caught, he was getting thrown.

TNT were a house on fire in the early exchanges with Terrell sending Dawkins and Tucker for a couple rolling fireman carries, then tagging in Terrence for one his own to land on top of a twitching pair of tag team champions.

It wasn’t all TNT, with Dawkins and Tucker having some tricks up their own sleeveless attire. A Bushwacker battering ram was wisely halting after one successful application with Rhys pointing out that it never worked the second time. Dawkins continued to isolate Terrence before tagging Bryan Tucker back into the fold.

Terrence and Tucker clashes with stereo running cross bodies to allow Terrell to get tagged in and he was well rested and running through The Warrior’s Against Low Life Entities, snapping Bryan over for a powerslam with any follow up stopped thanks to Rhys Dawkins rushing in to plant Terrell with a Fifth Act.

The fall was saved by Terrence, with TNT coming back with a Hart Attack style springboard back elbow variant to have Tucker wobbly legged.

A blind tag from Rhys Dawkins allowed him to nip in following a 3D to Bryan Tucker, to knock Terrell into Terrence and rolling up the challenger to retain the WrestleZone Tag Team Championships.

All’s well that ends well, still the fine’s the crown;
Whate’er the course, the end is the renown meaning
– All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 4, Scene 4

The Warrior’s Against Low Life Entities outsmarted their way to victory but Rhys Dawkins ended up eating a 3D after the match to dampen his mood.

The match showed how the championship maketh the man, as Rhys Dawkins levelled up even further with his intelligence around the ring by putting a stop to the silliness that had cost them victories in the past, and even tried to guide Bryan Tucker into making better choices to keep the championships in their possession.

TNT were a hit, their willingness to get into the character side of things with the wally chants isn’t something you always expect to happen when guests come in. They tuned into the fans and made the big impacts count for big reactions. Stuff like that leaves a lasting impression and I hope it isn’t the last time the guys come up to The Granite City.

Mikkey Vago & Lost Boy Aspen defeated Monstrum & Mr P by disqualification.

Mr P entered donning a familiar attire, instantly recognised as The Super Executioner’s trackies and kickpads. My only thoughts over the last couple weeks is that Monstrum has almost certainly killed the Master of the Kali Ma on behalf of Mr P… right?

The team of convenience was shown early on with Vago offering a fist bump and it being absentmindedly ignored by Lost Boy Aspen. Mikkey convinced Mr P to tag in, an amped up Mr P accused Vago of hair pulling, before doing a little hair pulling of his own.

After enduring a mass of chops from The Heavy Metal Hooligan, Mr P scrambled to get Monstrum back involved, who made his presence known by countering a double team suplex to throw Aspen and Vago overhead for a suplex of his own.

Monstrum dominated Lost Boy Aspen, who did his best to evade the monster, sending the beast into Mr P on the apron, and rolling through to get Mikkey Vago back in. A flurry was stopped in it’s tracks thanks to a big chop swatting Mikkey from the skies.

With his opponents weakened, Mr P chose to return to the action but was soon back on the apron when Vago absorbed his championship winning jabs. It was divide and conquer for Mikkey and Aspen, with Vago sending Monstrum over the ropes to the outside for a ringside brawl while Aspen got his hands on Mr P.

Just as the danger reached nuclear for Mr P, he grabbed referee Mikey Innes and delivered a slap across the chops to cause the disqualification and survive with what was left of his chest intact.

This was more of what I’ve wanted from Monstrum, when he was in the ring he was a bonafide threat. As a match it was stopped suddenly, just as it was getting to a peak, to extend the story further. The cowardly finish adds some extra fuel to the fire that makes Mr P look in over his head about the whole situation with a façade of confidence doing its best to patch over the cracks.

Scotty Swift made his way out to talk about the hows and whys he was unable to compete in his scheduled WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship match, citing a back injury that he’s never given attention to and as time has gone on with continuing to wrestle and train, it’s finally reached a point where it’s becoming a bigger issue. Swift announced that he didn’t know if or when he would return to the ring but put forward his replacement, Evan Young.

Young entered and encouraged Scotty to stay in his corner to keep an eye on Richard R. Russell.

WrestleZone Tri-Counties Championship – Ryan Riley w/Richard R. Russell defeated Evan Young w/Scotty Swift by pinfall.

Strength versus speed was the name of the game, Evan Young went about sending Ryan Riley around the houses but was snuffed out by a shoulder barge from Riley.

Richard R. Russell made his presence known early with Scotty Swift on hand to get in about it. Evan found himself drawn into the capers more often than not which had Ryan capitalise to regain control and keep the match to his preferred pace.

Young swung wildly but as the match wore on Riley looked calm and assured, ducking the attempt and sending Evan into a Half Nelson to land spine first across the knee of the champion.

Evan wasn’t going to lay down, wriggling out of a carry to connect with an enziguri to take Riley down to a knee, then a bulldog style Sling Blade put Ryan’s face to the mat to put some jeopardy into his reign.

It was Ryan Riley’s turn to show his grit, spiking Evan backwards with a Half Nelson suplex, and a beautiful deadlift snap suplex.

Once again it was Russell that became the difference maker, getting the attention of the referee to delay the count after Evan knocked Riley out with the headlock driver. As Young headed up to the top turnbuckle, Triple R and Scotty got into a fracas at ringside that took Evan’s eye off the ball, turning around to be stumped to the canvas with a belly to back sit out powerbomb and pinned for three.

I talked about Rhys Dawkins coming in levelled up, it was the same with Ryan Riley who entered with a new aura. His strikes were harder with a ramped up aggression that has been pushed to the forefront by being seen in more singles matches.

As the dust settled, Scotty Swift tried to comfort the disappointed and rage filled Evan Young who seemed to cool off… only to drive his forearm into the lower back of Swift to have the crowd erupt in anger.

After a beat down, Young shouted that he isn’t a replacement as he tried to put the finishing touches to his disgusting actions. Before he could connect with a steel chair across the back, Ted O’Keefe rushed out to stop the madness. As Evan retreated he got into a confrontation with Finlay Bane who marched “Mr 2004” to the back before assisting Lewis in helping Scotty. Which sets up their upcoming match at ‘Blootoon Ballroom Blitz’ on February 28th nicely.

It was a shock, but it felt organic. Evan Young has been a bundle of anger for a long time in WrestleZone and it just so happened that he was going in with bigger and angrier individuals that it was somewhat subdued, or at least tunnel visioned with being an underdog, so it wasn’t so prominent. Having the rug pulled from underneath over and over again for things that were outside of his control finally had him snap and what bigger statement than to target WrestleZone’s franchise guy.

Ted O’Keefe coming out to make the save may have further put across a new focus on singles competition without The Outfit. O’Keefe has steadily earned his stripes in WrestleZone and he is looking comfortable with being the hero, to be put into the position to be the guy that’s protecting Swift against this new threat is an opportunity to elevate both himself and Evan Young further.

WrestleZone Undisputed Championship – Damien defeated Alex Webb by pinfall to retain the WrestleZone Undisputed Championship.

Much like a part two of any movie franchise, once the introductions took place it was right back to throwing hands with Damien and Alex Webb doing what they could to outmanoeuvre the other to start building momentum.

Webb got the best of the early flurry, setting Damien up for the apron punt but the champion was quick to notice the danger and got as far away as possible, it wasn’t long before Alex had Damien back into position and had his foot impacting across the chest of his opponent to have Damien on the back foot. Webb went to end the match early but his Frog Splash was evaded, and his attempt to recover was met with a superkick to the face.

Damien targeted the knee of Webb to slow down the challenger, delivering an apron punt of his own to send the message that he can also provide the strikes.

It was high energy with neither man able to keep a prolonged period of advantage, as the time continued to tick on it became pure back and forth impact that had people on the edge of their seats in Curl.

Alex was after a 1-2 combo, a Claymore Kick and Frog Splash but as one arrived the other wasn’t coming that came across as Damien being more studious after their last outing where that was the sequence of events that have him looking up at the lights.

The champion had it scouted, countering the second Claymore with a pop up sit-out powerbomb as he’d finally had enough, grabbing the WrestleZone Undisputed Championship with eyes on giving Alex Webb and up close and personal view of the design.

But a hesitation came over Damien, there was no Mr P or Monstrum at ringside egging him on, he had to use his own conscience. He dropped the title but ran into a Claymore for the nearest of two counts.

It was back to trying to mount some sort of offense with the two rebound back at each other with strikes and suplexes, neither giving an inch.

Finally Webb got another Claymore and quickly made his way to the top rope and landed the Frog Splash, referee Mikey Innes made the count but a shoulder rose just in the nick of time. Alex Webb was a split second away from the title.

As fleeting as it was, Damien managed to dive from the second rope for a Codebreaker and one final knee to the side of the skull ended Webb’s championship hopes for the moment.

After the fight from ‘Christmas Chaos’ and determination from this match, a humbled Damien shook Webb’s hand, there’s still the old revolutionary in there even it’s clouded by the corporate kool-aid and the glistens of gold.

An incredible heart-in-mouth main event that had you believe that Alex Webb could leave Aberdeen with the WrestleZone Undisputed Championship. A mark of two very talented wrestlers that had included sprinkles of callbacks from ‘Christmas Chaos’ and, for Damien, even some revisits to how we got here with the apprehension to use a weapon that would inevitably taint his victory.

The stipulation was adhered to, there was no outside interference, no swerves, or mystery assailants to cost one or other, just two professional wrestlers battling over the title with a strong story that was told effectively.

Considering it’s been over two weeks since I was at the event (thank you Brian Battensby Photography for putting up images that jogged my memory), and although the order of events in the match might be a bit jumbled, I still remember how I felt. Especially during that main event. I’ve been a wrestling fan for nearing 30 years, a WrestleZone fan for over a dozen, and you get a feel for how things will play out but the near falls that Alex Webb had did have me questioning every logical thought in front of me.

The two multi-man matches were outstanding, the other matches were laced with lore and kept things open ended for more to come with sports entertainment abound. As an introduction to 2026, WrestleZone did a great job in carrying through the hot end to 2025 with the road to ‘Aberdeen Anarchy’ on the horizon.

If you want my day-of pre and post show thoughts I’ve stuck in our On The Road episode and montage below: