Barely 24 hours after Unstoppable, we’re back for a wholly spoiler-free episode of Loaded.
Taped before Saturday’s iPPV, which we haven’t watched yet, so we’re getting spoilers too, we’re from the O2 Academy in Manchester. Dave Bradshaw and James R. Kennedy are on commentary for this one… and after we pan the crowd, it’s straight to action.
Lizzy Styles vs. Kanji
It’s a Defiant debut for Styles, who’s out with a Liverpool scarf, so Manchester know to boo her. Just be careful when you Google her…
This was a non-title outing for Kanji, whose belt was infinitely more impressive than the scarf was for this crowd. We get going with Styles looking for a wristlock… but Kanji reverses it and flips over Lizzy in a pumphandle, sending her scurrying to the outside. Styles returns and goes for a lock-up, grabbing back onto the wrist before Kanji tripped her and flipped over for what I can only describe as a Cattle Mutilation to the legs. Again, Styles slips outside and comes back in with a cheapshot, clubbing at Kanji’s back before going back to the headlock, wrenching in to show the crowd before Kanji comes in with a leapfrog and a leg sweep to take Styles down. Styles avoids a step-up leg drop and instead kicks Kanji away before she grounded the champion with a chinlock.
Kanji fought back with some forearms before she springboarded into an uppercut for a two-count. More forearms from Styles has Kanji wobbly, but she’s back with forearms of her own before a springboard forearm finally had Lizzy down. From there, a springboard enziguiri finds its mark before an avalanche in the corner and a 619 in the corner left Styles down and out, ahead of a missile dropkick for a near-fall. Kanji flips back into the ring, but runs into a knee before a Northern Lights suplex almost stole the win for Lizzy. Styles tries for a powerbomb, but Kanji fights out and comes back with a lucha armdrag Stunner into a roll-up for a two-count, before Styles crotched her as Kanji went for a moonsault. In response, Styles pulls Kanji into a Tree of Woe, then out of the corner as a running knee got Styles the win. So, Styles wins on her debut with a big win over the Defiant Women’s champion – so you have to think she’s up there for a shot, but Defiant may do well to establish her more before we get to the title shot stage of things. **½
“Last week”, General Ameen and Simon Miller were with Kelly Sixx and Ashley Dunn. Kelly wants a tag title match, which Miller denies, instead giving them a match on Loaded soon against Jonny Storm and Jody Fleisch. That could be quite good…
Conor Renshaw vs. Visage
Renshaw doesn’t get heat in Manchester for just being from Sunderland. Commentary tags both men as not having won a match yet, which is… a thing. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for commentary to tell us exactly what Visage is, rather than let everyone piece it together themselves… WWF were all over that with Goldust in the 90s, no?
Visage goes for a wristlock early, but instead we get a Test of Strength before Visage headbutted his wig off. He rolls over Renshaw before scoring with some kicks, sending Renshaw rolling to the outside ahead of a dive that Conor punched away. Renshaw rolls him straight back inside as he put the boots to him, before a chinlock keeps Visage on the mat. A spinning heel kick a la RVD from Visage drops Renshaw for a two-count, before a Snow Plow-like slam from Renshaw keeps the match very tit-for-tat. Renshaw looks for a bicycle kick, but Visage sidesteps it and hits a spinning heel kick and that’s enough for the win. Well, that was a match, and I guess it just about puts Visage above Renshaw at the bottom of the totem pole. **¼
Backstage, Simon Miller’s moaning while he does Ameen’s dishes. Ameen sneaks up on him, then berates Miller for making some bad calls. Ameen has a wristband for him – it’s some tape with “WHAT WOULD MO DO?” – for Mohammed Ameen.
Marty Jones is out next with a bombastic intro, as he’s out to second the Dynamic Duo… but first, he’s got a speech to thank the crowd for “keeping this business going”. He calls out that the Dynamite Kid’s brother and sister-in-law was here to see their kids wrestling, as we finally got the introduction of the Dynamic Duo, with a remix of Rule Britannia as their music.
Dynamic Duo (Mark Billington & Thomas Billington) vs. The Models (Joey Hayes & Danny Hope)
Wow, both teams got Conor Renshaw’s jobber tron. The Models got a decent reaction as they were in their own stomping grounds… it’s Hayes and Thomas Billington who start, but their lock-ups don’t yield anything, before Thomas grabbed a headlock and came back with a shoulder tackle.
A headlock takedown keeps the pace up as the pair exchange those, before they reached an impasse. Mark Billington tags in alongside, as our next tie-up led to Hope grabbing a wristlock, but Mark reverses it as he elbowed Danny into the corner, only for an Irish whip to backfire as Danny instead goes for a monkey flip… which Mark landed on his feet from! Mark follows up with chops before dropkicking Hope into the corner, but the tables quickly turn as Mark was thrown into the turnbuckle as the Models took over. Double shoulder tackles have the Models ahead, but they’re too busy playing to the crowd as Mark gets picked up as the Models continued to pressure them. Frequent tags keeps Mark at bay, while we sadly didn’t get Marty Jones on the house mic…
A slam drops Mark ahead of a missed back senton out of the corner, with Mark getting crotched on the top rope as he eventually lands a missile dropkick. Thomas finally gets tagged in, as he’s all about the clotheslines and snap suplexes, with Thomas really reminding everyone of his uncle. Thomas clears the ring, and follows Hayes outside to whip him into the guard rails, before a second “whip” saw Hayes stagger into Hope as Mark headed up top for a cross body to the floor. Back inside, a double clothesline dumps Hayes for a two-count, with Hope breaking up the pin as Mark again gets thrown into the middle turnbuckle before Thomas ate a Hart Attack clothesline as the Hart Foundation tribute act finished off with a Sharpshooter from Hope… except Thomas dragged himself to the ropes for the break!
Hope taunted Marty Jones from the ring, and just as a crew member slid a chair in, Marty looked to climb into the ring. The referee’s too busy checking on Thomas, so he misses Marty punching Hope before a leaping Tombstone and a swandive headbutt (after Hope rolled over) earned the Dynamic Duo their win! This was rough in places, as you’d expect with the Billingtons age, but if they’re going to be regulars on Defiant then at least we’ll all be able to see them grow. Hopefully alongside teams where they’ll be able to learn on the job! **
That’s all for Loaded – next week, it’s Aussie Open vs. Team Whitewolf, No Fun Dunne vs. Lucky Kid, and Roxxy vs. Lizzy Styles.
So, it turned out we had no spoilers from Unstoppable, presumably because this show was shot and turned around in a day without wanting to even give spoilers on commentary, lest someone overhear! On it’s own, this wasn’t a great show, but it wasn’t designed to be, as instead we saw the start of the story of Lizzy Styles in Defiant, which (going by her facing Roxxy next week) looks to be going somewhere, and the continuation of the late Dynamite Kid’s nephews career.
- Watch Loaded #10 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCpoBx3oi9U