Another fantastic year was had by the Edinburgh-based Discovery Wrestling. Numerous excellent guests, phenomenal match after phenomenal match, the crowning of their first-ever Women’s Champion and who can forget, the disbanding of Buffet Club. What a bad way to end the year with the breakup of one of Scottish wrestling’s greatest tandems. Aside from that though, great stuff all around.
The action kicked off on March 5th with a show at The Jam House. All three of Discovery’s year-long tournaments kicked off here, as Aspen Faith defeated Doug Williams in the Hotter Than Hell Edinburgh Invitational, Candice LeRae defeated Viper in the Women’s Championship Tournament and Fight Club defeated The House of Saynt’s Lou King Sharp (then Lewis Sharp) and Theo Doros in an Uncivil War Qualifier, leading to Christopher Saynt kicking Sharp out of The HoS before he was saved by Michael Chase, a man who wasn’t meant to be in attendance. The main talking point came from the main event, as Lewis Girvan turned his back on the Discovery fans to join Aspen Faith and bring The Kings of Catch to Edinburgh. With Aspen’s help, Lewis continued his record-breaking reign as Y Division Champion.
Two shows into the year and Discovery management go and bring The Elite to Edinburgh. The trio of Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks main evented the show against Team Discovery, which consisted of Joe Coffey, BT Gunn and Lewis Girvan, with Aspen Faith in their corner. After Aspen survived a Superkick Party for the second time in his career, he and Lewis, received a Double Meltzer Driver for the pin. Elsewhere on this show, Joe Hendry was victorious over the debuting Liam Slater, Marty Scurll returned to defeat the debuting Will Ospreay and Session Moth Martina picked up the win over Ayesha Raymond as two new faces joined the Discovery women’s division.
As May rolled around, we were back to tournament action. Dave Conrad and Deviation advanced to the Uncivil War Finals with a win over The Fabulous Bakewell Boys, Nina Samuels moved one step closer to winning the Discovery Women’s Championship with a win over Debbie Sharpe and Chris Ridgeway and Mikey Whiplash took their spots in the Hotter Than Hell Edinburgh Invitational Semifinals with wins over Mark Coffey and the debuting Matt Riddle respectively. Lewis Girvan reigned supreme in the main event to remain Y Division once again by winning Discovery’s traditional Fatal Four Way Elimination Match over Lucha DS, Danny Boy Rodgers and Joe Hendry.
The next month, Joe Coffey earned another crack at the Y Division Championship as he and Joe Hendry defeated The Kings of Catch in the main event. More tournament action also took place, as Scotland’s meatiest tag team Buffet Club defeated the debuting Headbanders in an Uncivil War Match, the returning Rampage Brown pinned Dave Conrad to become the last semifinalist in the Hotter Than Hell Edinburgh Invitational and the final two ladies qualified for the Women’s Championship Match as Sammii Jayne defeated Toni Storm and Lucy Cole was victorious over The House of Saynt’s newest member Jayla Dark. If all that wasn’t enough, WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament competitor Joseph Conners defeated South African sensation Angélico. After four shows in four months, it was time for a break before Year Three in September.
The big anniversary show was set for September 16th at The Corn Exchange. The main event saw Joe Coffey end Lewis Girvan’s reign as Y Division Champion at 666 days with a win in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match, Aspen Faith and Rampage Brown advanced as the final two in the Hotter Than Hell Edinburgh Invitational with wins over Chris Ridgeway and Mikey Whiplash, The New Age Kliq became the fourth and final team to qualify for Uncivil War as they defeated Polo Promotions and the debuting Kings of the North, Dalton Castle debuted in a loss to Joe Hendry, former WWE star Lisa Marie Varon appeared as Lou King Sharp and Michael Chase’s tag team partner to defeat The House of Saynt and, sadly, the match to crown the first Women’s Champion was cut short due to an injury suffered by Lucy Cole. Despite that, this was still a monumental night for Discovery Wrestling.
Up next on the Discovery calendar was Uncivil War. The night saw Joe Coffey’s first defence of the Y Division Championship as he retained over Matt Riddle, Aspen Faith won the Hotter Than Hell Edinburgh Invitational as he defeated Rampage Brown, Buffet Club were victorious in the Uncivil War Finals to be crowned the 2017 Discovery Tag Team Champions with a win over The New Age Kliq, Dave Conrad and Deviation and Kid Fite and Krieger (who replaced Liam Thomson due to injury) and Sammii Jayne was crowned the inaugural Discovery Women’s Champion as she defeated Ayesha Raymond (replacing Nina Samuels), Lucy Cole and Session Moth Martina in the tournament finals. Elsewhere, the world-travelled El Ligero made his return to Scotland with a win over Lewis Girvan, Christopher Saynt defeated Lou King Sharp, who replaced Michael Chase after Chase was ambushed before the show, and “Turbo” Josh Terry debuted with a win over Lucha DS and Delsin Dayre. One more show left in 2017…
How do Discovery end off another successful year? By bringing in four members of Bullet Club. Marty Scurll, Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks made their way to Discovery Wrestling for some entertaining contests. Marty Scurll picked up the win over fellow ROH star Flip Gordon, Cody Rhodes retained his ROH World Title against BT Gunn and The Young Bucks lost to The Kings of Catch in a Fatal Four Way Elimination Match also involving Polo Promotions and Buffet Club, who apparently broke up following their elimination from what I’ve heard. In other happenings from the show, Joe Coffey retained his Y Division Championship with a win over Discovery debutant Matt Cross, Sammii Jayne made the first defence of her Women’s Championship as she defeated the returning Kay Lee Ray (who replaced Viper due to an injury), Christopher Saynt defeated Michael Chase in a Lumberjack Match to ensure The House of Saynt weren’t forced to break up, “The Prestigious One” Joe Hendry defeated the man with all the nicknames David Starr and Kenny Williams returned to Edinburgh with a win over Liam Slater.
Photo credit David J Wilson
And so ended another eventful year for Discovery Wrestling. I think everyone can agree this was their best year yet, with the culmination of Lewis Girvan’s monumental title reign, record-breaking crowds and most importantly, for being the first promotion to bring David Starr to Scotland. They really are All About The Wrestling.
All Title Changes
Y Division Championship
Lewis Girvan – November 20th 2015 to September 16th 2017
Joe Coffey – September 16th 2017 to Present
Discovery Women’s Championship
Tournament in Progress – March 5th 2017 to November 5th 2017
Sammii Jayne – November 5th 2017 to Present
Win/Loss Records
“Half Man, Half Amazing” Angélico – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The King of Catch” Aspen Faith – 5 wins, 1 loss
“The Amazon” Ayesha Raymond – 1 win, 2 losses
Bonesaw – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The Oddity” BT Gunn – 2 wins, 2 losses
Candice LeRae – 1 win, 0 losses
“Smashmouth” Chris Ridgeway – 1 win, 1 loss
Chris Renfrew – 1 win, 1 loss
“The Patriarch of The House of Saynt” Christopher Saynt – 2 wins, 2 losses
“The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes – 1 win, 0 losses
“The Party Peacock” Dalton Castle – 0 wins, 1 loss
Damien Corvin – 0 wins, 1 loss
Danny Boy Rodgers – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The Alpha Male” Dave Conrad – 2 wins, 4 losses
“The Cream in Your Coffee, Your Favourite Wrestler’s Favourite Wrestler, The Jewish Cannon, The Physical Embodiment of Charisma, The Most Entertaining Man in Professional Wrestling, The Bernie Sanders of Professional Wrestling, Mr Americanrana, Davey Wrestling, The 104 Minute Man, The Main Event, He’s Really Good at Twitter, The King of Taunts, The Product” David Starr – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The International Sex Hero” DCT – 0 wins, 1 loss
Debbie Sharpe – 0 wins, 2 losses
“The Cure” Delsin Dayre – 0 wins, 1 loss
Deviation – 2 wins, 1 loss
“The Ambassador for British Wrestling” Doug Williams – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The Mexican Sensation” El Ligero – 1 win, 0 losses
“The Very Good” Euan G. Mackie – 0 wins, 1 loss
Flip Gordon – 0 wins, 1 loss
Gene Munny – 2 wins, 2 losses
Jackie Grady – 0 wins, 1 loss
“Nature’s Gift to Wrestling” Jackie Polo – 1 win, 2 losses
“The One Girl Gang” Jayla Dark – 0 wins, 2 losses
Jerry Bakewell – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The Iron Man” Joe Coffey – 4 wins, 3 losses
“The Prestigious One” Joe Hendry – 5 wins, 1 loss
“The Righteous Killer” Joseph Conners – 1 win, 0 losses
“Turbo” Josh Terry – 1 win, 0 losses
“The Queen of Hardcore” Kay Lee Ray – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The Cleaner” Kenny Omega – 1 win, 0 losses
“The Bollocks” Kenny Williams – 1 win, 0 losses
“The Demolition Man” Kid Fite – 1 win, 1 loss
“Scudmaster Sexy” Krieger – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The Renegade” Lewis Girvan – 3 wins, 4 losses
“The Heart and Soul of British Wrestling” Liam Slater – 1 win, 2 losses
“The Bad Boy” Liam Thomson – 1 win, 0 losses
Lisa Marie Varon – 1 win, 0 losses
“The Rebel With a Cause” LJT – 1 win, 0 losses
“Your Mother’s Favourite Wrestler” Lou King Sharp – 2 wins, 2 losses
Lucha DS – 0 wins, 2 losses
Lucy Cole – 1 win, 1 loss, 1 draw
“The Power Forward” Mark Coffey – 1 win, 3 losses
“The Session Moth” Martina – 1 win, 1 loss, 1 draw
“The Villain” Marty Scurll – 2 wins, 0 losses
“M-Dogg 20” Matt Cross – 0 wins, 1 loss
Matt Jackson – 1 win, 1 loss
“The King of Bros” Matt Riddle – 1 win, 2 losses
Michael Chase – 2 wins, 2 losses
“The Necromancer” Mikey Whiplash – 1 win, 1 loss
Nick Jackson – 1 win, 1 loss
Nina Samuels – 1 win, 0 losses, 1 draw
Rampage Brown – 2 wins, 1 loss
Rob Cage – 2 wins, 2 losses
Rob Mills – 0 wins, 1 loss
“Flyin” Ryan Griffin – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The Queen of Catch” Sammii Jayne – 3 wins, 0 losses, 1 draw
Steakly Bakewell – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The Superior Cypriot” Theo Doros – 0 wins, 3 losses
Toni Storm – 0 wins, 1 loss
Uncle Bobby – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The Vixen of Violence” Viper – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay – 0 wins, 1 loss
Buffet Club (Gene Munny & Rob Cage) – 2 wins, 2 losses
“The One True Alpha” Dave Conrad & Deviation – 2 wins, 1 loss
The Elite (“The Cleaner” Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson)) – 1 win, 0 losses
The Fabulous Bakewell Boys (Jerry Bakewell & Steakly Bakewell) – 0 wins, 1 loss
Fight Club (“The Demolition Man” Kid Fite & The Bad Boy” Liam Thomson) – 1 win, 0 losses
The Headbanders (Jackie Grady & Rob Mills) – 0 wins, 1 loss
The House of Saynt (“The Patriarch of The House of Saynt” Christopher Saynt & “The Superior Cypriot” Theo Doros) – 0 wins, 1 loss
The House of Saynt (“The Patriarch of The House of Saynt” Christopher Saynt, Jayla Dark & “The Superior Cypriot” Theo Doros) – 0 wins, 1 loss
The House of Saynt (“Your Mother’s Favourite Wrestler” Lou King Sharp & “The Superior Cypriot” Theo Doros) – 0 wins, 1 loss
“The Iron Man” Joe Coffey & “The Prestigious One” Joe Hendry – 1 win, 0 losses
Lisa Marie Varon, “Your Mother’s Favourite Wrestler” Lou King Sharp & Michael Chase – 1 win, 0 losses
“Your Mother’s Favourite Wrestler” Lou King Sharp & Michael Chase – 1 win, 0 losses
“The Demolition Man” Kid Fite & “Scudmaster Sexy” Krieger – 0 wins, 1 loss
The Kings of Catch (“The King of Catch” Aspen Faith & The Renegade” Lewis Girvan) – 1 win, 1 loss
The Kings of the North (Bonesaw & Damien Corvin) – 0 wins, 1 loss
The New Age Kliq (“The Oddity” BT Gunn & Chris Renfrew) – 1 win, 1 loss
Polo Promotions (“Nature’s Gift to Wrestling” Jackie Polo & “The Power Forward” Mark Coffey) – 1 win, 2 losses
Team Discovery (“The Oddity” BT Gunn, “The Iron Man” Joe Coffey & “The Renegade” Lewis Girvan) – 0 wins, 1 loss
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) – 0 wins, 1 loss
Here’s where you can catch Discovery Wrestling in 2018;
January 19th at the Jam House, Edinburgh (The Disco Derby)
March 4th at the Jam House, Edinburgh
May 6th at the Jam House, Edinburgh
July 1st at the Portobello Town Hall, Edinburgh
September 2nd at the Jam House, Edinburgh
November 4th at the Jam House, Edinburgh
SCOTTISH WRESTLING NETWORK | SWN 