United Pro Wrestling returned to Buckie this past Saturday with The Fisherman’s Hall being the venue once again. I’ve been to all of UPW’s events that have taken place in Buckie so have seen them grow over the last year or so. The line up was really good, mixing some incredible young talents along with wrestlers that I haven’t seen for a while which was exciting for me.

After a bit of rocking to S Club 7 it was time to start the show.

Livewire Zack Matthews defeated Ian Ambrose by pinfall.

The show started with fan favourite Livewire against the #Scumbag Ian Ambrose, with his tatty gear and fixation with clearing his nose… and then flicking at kids, he was giving me a Nasty Boy vibe minus the journey to pitty city. A dirty, thug-like, demeanour.

A solid contest with Ambrose having this nonchalant attitude towards inflicting punishment. Stiff kicks, forearms and taking shortcuts to take charge. Livewire fought back, getting the crowd onside, throwing Ambrose into the turnbuckles, discombobulating him.

Ambrose slumped in the corner and felt the force of a cannonball senton to see Livewire pick up the win.

It was a fun opener, it’s been years since I’ve seen Ian Ambrose and he’s still so good. I’ve missed seeing him wrestle, definitely one that has plenty to offer other promotions. Am I a fan of his nose picking antics? Not really, but I’m really not supposed to.

The Kings of Unity (Chris Lamb & Riley Adams) defeated Zack Leon & Tyler Reid by pinfall.

Tag team action was up next with The Kings of Unity against the flamboyant team of Zack Leon and Tyler Reid. Lamb and Adams cut the ring off and concentrated their efforts on the inexperienced Reid while doing what they can to stop Leon from getting involved. Eventually Leon got into the match and it broke down. The Kings of Unity lived up to their name with plenty of double team moves before finishing the match with a Shatter Machine.

Easily the best performance from Chris Lamb and Riley Adams. They have raised their shoulders, figuratively and literally, clearly showing more confidence which reflects on their in-ring work. They’ve certainly came a long way since that first Buckie show when they were hunched and afraid to get their character vocalised. This was the total opposite. Sure there is still a way to go but the progress is clear and that comes from working in front of crowds.

Tyler Reid looked very timid to run the ropes. He was also wearing converse shoes, for someone that has started wrestling I would appreciate wrestling boots in a wrestling ring. A nitpick perhaps but it’s something that I’m personally not a fan of. He has a lot of growing to do as a wrestler and as a character, he was quite limp when not in the action. It sounds like I’m picking on Reid here but it’s from a good place. He needs a bit of character development and wrestling boots.

Zack Leon is growing on me, it has taken a while and has a really great fire which is infectious. He really carried his team, making noise constantly and creating a buzz for the hot tag so that the crowd roared when he finally got tagged in.

Chris Lamb has extended his run in not knowing my name. On Saturday it was “Bobby”. Add that to Ben and Barry…

Steven ‘Air’ Myles defeated Luke Aldridge by pinfall.

The first half main event saw “The Big Lad” Luke Aldridge taking on Steven “Air” Myles. This match was a slow build with Aldridge wearing down Myles. Throughout with kicks and gritty grounding, including a big boot to keep Myles down, locking in an underhook crossface. Myles fought back with a crossbody and sling blade, Aldridge evaded Myles’ top rope attacks but was eventually down long enough to be the victim of a 450 splash for the win.

Aldridge did a fine job in putting the hurting to Myles. A good back and forth bout, always a joy seeing a 450 splash in person.

Jack Morris defeated Delsin Dayre by pinfall.

After the interval we got a match I was looking forward to going into this show. Two young talents, with an incredible upsided. Morris showed his athleticism early on but Dayre wasn’t afraid to show off a bit himself. Dayre rolled through a running crossbody into a sort of Spanish Fly move which was really great, along with a snap suplex-turned-brain buster. Morris was in a different gear, flying through the ropes with a dive before dropping Dayre with a big Double A Spinbuster. Mixing his offence into this hybrid of power with an arsenal of high impact and high-flying moves. Morris finished the match with a second rope Shooting Star Press that was just beautiful.

An outstanding match, both men put a lot into this one. Several highlights in this with the Shooting Star Press being the cherry on top.

Dayre and Morris are so good that this could be a fun series of matches which would showcase what these two can do further.

Jack Morris is a superstar waiting to happen, with more places taking notice of him I’d say get along to a show he’s on before he’s snapped up by even bigger promotions in the UK.

UPW Heavyweight Championship – Theo Doros defeated Stallyon by pinfall to retain the UPW Heavyweight Championship.

The main event almost ended before it begun with Stallyon jumping Doros as he entered, hitting Theo in the face with a chain wrapped fist that looked to burst the nose of Doros.

After Livewire assisted Doros to the back, the referee started a ten count while Stallyon rocked back and forth in the ring. Doros made his way back out at the count of eight and made a beeline for Stallyon to really get the match going.

A quick but intense match, the blood really fuelled the briskness of the pace with Doros getting big hits in to try and finish early whereas Stallyon was more than happy to slow it down to his methodical style.

Doros fought back with a tirade of Superman Punches, rocking Stallyon long enough to land a Low Down Frog Splash for the victory and to keep his UPW Heavyweight Championship.

A fun main event that really helped establish Theo Doros as a fighting champion, he was bloody and clearly in pain but kept fighting back against this deranged psycho who looked to revel in any damage he caused.

UPW also did something clever in this one, there was a sea of Stallyon masks in the crowd throughout the show. Kids like masks, so there would be a concern that these kids would support Stallyon against Theo. However, Theo Doros was doing the interval meet and greet, taking photos with those that has the VIP ticket which established him as the good guy to those that may’ve never seen UPW before. Coupling that with the pre-match attack made it safe that Stallyon wasn’t getting any cheers when he was taking on the champion that comes out and meets people. Effective subconscious idea planting which worked.

This was the best of the three UPW shows I’ve been to in Buckie, I’d even say it was better than the Acts that have been uploaded onto YouTube. The crowd were hot all night, the matches ranged from good to outstanding plus the improvement on some of the guys was noticeable which is certainly a good thing.

Sure there was a couple negatives mentioned above but overall a really fun night of wrestling that was only 20 minutes up the road.