Source Wrestling were kind enough to upload their latest Fusion event onto their YouTube channel and it would be rude if I didn’t sample the offerings from the famed wrestling school. Taking place at Mount Vernon Community Hall in Glasgow, our MC for the show was Kwaku Adjei whose voice you would recognise from Eat Sleep Suplex Retweet.

KoE (Kai Williams-King & King Killa) defeated The Kings of Catch (Aspen Faith & Lewis Girvan) by pinfall.

Plenty of shenanigans before the bell rang with Lewis Girvan using the referee to combat a sign swinging King Killa. Aspen Faith started off with King Killa as they traded holds back and forth. KoE decided to take a break from the action and it just let to an early breakdown with KoE taking an advantage when all four men were in the ring. Girvan hit a nice neckbreaker onto Williams-King but was soon suckered into a drop toe hold into the ropes and a King Killa dropkick straight to the head whilst Williams-King distracted the referee. KoE cut off the ring with quick tags to keep Girvan down. Girvan created some space with a shotgun codebreaker to tag in Aspen Faith who cleaned house. The match broke down again. Killa hit the most awkward reverse DDT onto Girvan which took him out of the action for the moment. KoE couldn’t keep Faith down, even after a lifted powerbomb. Girvan sprung back into action with a top rope hurricurana to King Killa but the pinfall was interrupted by a flying Kai Williams-King. The Kings of Catch went for the Apter Burner but King Killa pushed Girvan from the top rope to the floor. As the referee went to check on Girvan, Killa slid in and rattled their sign off Aspen’s head which allowed Williams-King to roll up Faith.

The crowd were cold for this match, I was struggling to enjoy it. I found KoE to be too lackadaisical in their offense, no sharpness which took away the intent of the moves. Like, watch Lewis Girvan throughout this match for example, his movements were clean, crisp and everything landed like it should’ve when he was offense (this writer says as someone who has never wrestled in his life). There was very little, if any, crowd interaction from both sides so there was no opportunity to gain the crowd and get them involved at all so the match was being played out to silence most of the time, only coming alive when there were superkicks being thrown around.

Griffin w/Athena defeated Mikey Whiplash by pinfall.

To wake up the crowd, Griffin came out to call everyone stupid while Athena stood around looking menacing. Mikey Whiplash immediately set out to get the crowd to make some noise with the chicken chants for Griffin taking his sweet time to enter the ring. Whiplash set about punishing the shoulder of Griffin off the bat. Whiplash went for a suicide dive but turned it into a 619 to spin back into the ring to sit and wave at a baffled Griffin. Another attempt saw Athena push Griffin out of the way and stare at Whiplash. A distraction from Athena saw Griffin get the upper hand, throwing Whiplash down with a hair pull and quick pins. Whiplash fired up with a big splash into the corner and a second rope uppercut that could only muster a two count. Griffin dodged the rebound clothesline and brought Whiplash down with a Zig Zag but that, and a follow up Rocker Dropper, couldn’t get the job done. Whiplash countered Griffin’s top rope attempt but an attempt of his own was halted by Athena getting onto the apron. Another Athena distraction allowed Griffin to dodge a corner dropkick and grab Whiplash for a rolling stunner and victory.

Solid match, these guys woke up the crowd thankfully, cheers and boos in the appropriate places on the most part. Athena looks amazing and with their interactions I wouldn’t say no to Athena versus Mikey Whiplash eventually down the line. I enjoyed this. Griffin and Whiplash kept a good pace.

Alexander Darwin MacAllan vs Taylor Vite

ADM didn’t look amused to be in Mount Vernon on his 440th day as Source Wrestling Champion. Taylor Vite was cheered as he entered. MacAllan took the power route early but Vite was doing his best to cut down the big tree with kicks. ADM replied with two chokeslams that could only get a two count. Vite tried his best but was throw with a butterfly suplex. ADM continued to punish Vite, thwarting a comeback with a big boot then another butterfly suplex into the corner which looked brutal. ADM smelled blood and continued the assault on the back, cranking a Torture Rack but Vite wriggled out, taking down the big man with a DDT. MacAllan swatted Vite out of the air with a knee to the face. More back and forth. A rolling forearm and a piledriver from MacAllan could only get a one count. One more defiant slap from Vite saw ADM hit a ripcord clothesline then throwing Vite up into a Death Valley Driver to seal it.

ADM shook Vite’s hand after the match.

A fun big man – little man match. Lots of polite applause when Vite fired up. Taylor Vite showed plenty of fire in his valiant effort and the match itself was decent. They did their level best to get some reactions but the crowd were content with sitting on their hands, or on their phones as this was the second match the bad guy called out someone on their phone during the match. What was the point in going if you were going to sit on your phone the whole time?

MATT DALY & Scott McManus defeated Sammie Jo & Nathan North by pinfall.

MATT DALY used his power early on against Sammie Jo but Sammie easily made DALY look foolish, tying him up and booting his bottom to an uproarious laugh. After DALY had his butt kicked, literally, he tagged out to Scott McManus. Nathan North, and his glorious beard, tagged in for a shoving contest where he easily bundled over McManus. North took out McManus and DALY with relative ease but a brief distraction allowed DALY to knock him off the apron and push him back first into the edge of the apron. Quick tags saw DALY and McManus focus their attack onto the lower back of North. McManus took out Sammie Jo by throwing her face first into the ring post. North fought back with a Vadar-esque moonsault to create some space while Sammie recovered. Sammie got tagged in and went straight for McManus with forearms before hitting DALY with a bulldog whilst simultaneously dropkicking McManus.

North and Sammie attempted a suplex to McManus but DALY returned to dump Sammie out of the ring and holding North in a Boston Crab. McManus did all he could to increase the pressure until Sammie came back in to sort McManus. Just as it looked to all calm down from the chaos, McManus once again tripped Sammie off the apron which allowed him and MATT DALY to hit North with a Magic Killer to get the win.

Great match, MATT DALY and Scott McManus hit a sweet spot of being bumbling but menacing. Like The Wet Bandits in Home Alone. Sammie Jo and Nathan North did a fantastic job to get everyone going and involved. There were some awkward moments, some stumbling, but not enough to take me out of the match. It was scrappy but they made it work.

Grant McIvor defeated Michael May by pinfall.

May took the early advantage with a wrist lock. McIvor tried many athletic and not so athletic ways to escape the move but to no avail. McIvor eventually got May to the ropes to break the hold. McIvor hit some hard shoulder blocks before methodically clubbing May with uppercuts and forearms. McIvor planted May with an overhead fireman’s carry slam and a follow up senton but could only get two before rattling May’s knee of the apron before continuing the assault on the joint. May powered through with a suplex then popped McIvor in the face with several left hand punches. McIvor was able to hit a Side Effect to May for a near fall. May powered McIvor up for a powerbomb but he fought out of it to hit a ripcord forearm to score the pinfall.

I liked McIvor picking on a body part but wasn’t a fan of May seemingly forgetting all that work later on, showing no effects, it was frustrating. I liked McIvor’s moveset, the match itself was good, clean and inoffensive.

Robert Wishart defeated Ian Skinner by pinfall.

Flips and that to start off with counter after counter. Wishart took control with a kick to the face and follow up a standing Shooting Star Press. Skinner rattled Wishart with a kick before following up with a knee into the corner and back suplex. These two went back and forth with Wishart fighting out of a kneebar and stomping on the chest of Skinner. Chops were exchanged before Wishart grabbed Skinner’s fingers and snapped them. Skinner created space then snapped his fingers back which sounded awful. Forearms exchanged before slaps came into play. They threw clotheslines and punches, Wishart countered a back suplex into a sunset flip for two. Skinner countered a springboard attempt with a knee to the chest. Wishart hit a lightning fast running Spanish Fly. More counters with a Wishart brain buster being rolled up for two and backslides exchanged. Wishart got Skinner up then quickly down with a brain buster for the three.

An excellent match, fast paced encounter with hard kicks and cool flips that I’d want to see more of. It certainly kept building and got faster with neither giving an inch until the last second with the brain buster to stun Skinner long enough. Grand.

Leyton Buzzard defeated Xero by pinfall.

The spooky Xero against the pirate Leyton Buzzard. Every movement that Xero made just came across as creepy. Buzzard countered a headscissor with a leg hold which looked really nice. Some early back and forth saw Buzzard take control while Xero groaned and writhed. He couldn’t keep the inhuman down though as Xero grabbed Buzzard from the top rope and threw him into the ring as he manically laughed and stomped on Leyton to continue his mauling. Xero looked to finish Buzzard off on the top rope but The Captain fought out of it to hit a nice missile dropkick from the top. Buzzard’s momentum continued with a standing Shooting Star Press but it couldn’t finish Xero. Buzzard escaped a Kryptonite Krunch attempt before hitting a tornado DDT for a close two count. A follow up Kryptonite Krunch saw Buzzard’s neck land on the knee of Xero but it couldn’t keep Buzzard down. Xero locked in a sleeper hold that he wouldn’t relinquish as he kept raising from the dead to grab Leyton but Buzzard finally got Xero down long enough to land the 450 splash from the top rope to pick up the win in the main event.

A slow main event. I like Xero’s mannerisms and character but the wrestling wasn’t something I enjoyed watching. Leyton Buzzard looks like a star though, I’d be shocked if he hasn’t been courted by the likes of NXT UK.

A mixed bag of a show, a lot of it was really due to the lack of atmosphere from the crowd. Some wrestlers did what they could to drag them in but it wasn’t happening for any extended period. They liked the Skinner-Wishart match and the tomfoolery of MATT DALY and Scott McManus in their match with Nathan North and Sammie Jo as did I, otherwise they would force some golf clapping sometimes. I think an actual reactive crowd would’ve made this show so much better, and give the wrestlers something to work from but they were given little even with cajoling. It was a tough night for Source Wrestling but there were plenty of positives, Ian Skinner hung with Robert Wishart all the way, Sammie Jo is very good, it was cool to see Nathan North again as it had been a wee while since I’d saw him doing the wrestling and the tandem of MATT DALY and Scott McManus provided plenty of laughs. It was also a nice welcome to Taylor Vite and Alexander Darwin MacAllan, in front of a louder crowd they could do something special by feeding off the energy I think.

I think a commentary track over the top could’ve hid the worst of the crowd silence and explained a little more what’s happening, a bit of backstory. Something that could be implemented in future shows on YouTube.

You can watch the full show yourself on YouTube below: