A month after their insanely-great Dream Tag Team Invitational weekender, Fight Club: Pro were on the move once more, this time to their new home in Wolverhampton as they looked to shake off the Hangover.
At short notice, Fight Club: Pro upped sticks and moved their future shows from the Fixxion Warehouse to the Starworks Warehouse – a former bicycle manufacturing site… giving the company a new look, and a little more room to play with.
Joe Coffey vs. Wolfgang
Apparently this was going to be a six-way, but Wolfgang told everyone else in the back not to come out… because he wanted Coffey one-on-one. That insistence started out with the pair just taking each other into the ropes before the two big lads decided to wrestle and dish out all the shoulder blocks.
After dishing out an uppercut in the corner, Coffey crumbled as he ran into the other corner, seemingly hurting his knee, and that’s where Wolfgang looked to take over. Instead, they ended up in the crowd, where Coffey followed up with a giant swing by the merch table, before mocking the Wolfgang howl.
Wolfie comes back by hanging Coffey’s arm across the middle rope, before Joe took the Bret Hart turnbuckle bump with some gusto! Coffey replies with a missile dropkick after thwarting a superplex, before landing his step-up crossbody off the top rope for a near-fall. He blocks a gutbuster attempt and went for a Boston Crab, before a Black Coffey was blocked as Wolfie looked to get the win.
That win after a bit of cheating, as Wolfie grabbed a pair of brass knuckles, using them to break away a Black Coffey, before the Howling senton bomb off the top sealed the win. As a match it was alright, but I’d agree with the multiple comments that this felt like the eponymous hangover, rather than a typical fast-out-of-the-blocks type of match. ***
Compared to the Fixxion, the Starworks is really echo-ey. I’m sure we’ll get used to the acoustics, but it’s pretty jarring after their Easter weekend tour!
Kay Lee Ray vs. Kris Wolf
The two start off working each other’s arms, before Kay Lee escaped a takedown and started… working Kris Wolf’s tail! A test of strength doesn’t quite work because of the height difference, so Kay Lee invites “a fan from the crowd” in the ring to help her.
“Kim” from the crowd, who has a strong resemblance to Viper, comes in and gets on all fours to help Kay Lee get a leg up, and this is ridiculously great. Armdrags and hiptosses follow, as does a forward roll from “Kim” before we go into an indy-riffic, ref-exhausting series of near-falls!
Wolf springboards off the bottom rope into a back elbow for a near-fall, and then we get… dive! Except Kay Lee caught her and threw her into the ring post before we get some brawling around the extremely cramped ringside area. I’m guessing one of the mobile cameras didn’t capture footage, as we had a hard camera watching the set-up for Joel’s dad joke as Wolf was hanging from the entrance way. Back in the ring, Wolf misses a leap off the top rope, but manages to kick out of a Gory Bomb at two, before the favour was returned from a Shining Wizard.
Another Gory Bomb gets Kay Lee a near-fall, so she switches it into the Koji clutch from the kick-out… and that’s the submission win for the Scotswoman. A really good outing for all here, even “Kim the fan”, and yes, it’s bloody weird seeing Kris Wolf in Fight Club: Pro! ***¼
The Hunter Brothers (Jim Hunter & Lee Hunter) vs. Scarlet & Graves (Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier) vs. #CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos)
We’ve got plenty of belts, as the ATTACK! and Rev Pro tag titles are on show… at least from those who have them!
Some water spitting takes out Scarlet and Graves early as #CCK go after the Hunters, before they set up for Xavier to return the water spit favour to Brookes… with some help from the Hunters! Poor Brookes (not really) takes a Wentz bronco buster for a near-fall, but #CCK get back on top, just as the crowd start to lay into them vocally.
The Hunters return to drop Brookes with a slingshot suplex, but Lykos returned to hit an elevated back cracker as Jim was hung in the ropes, getting the DTTI winners a near-fall. Lykos then intentionally wound up everyone on the apron to busy referee Shay Purser, as a prelude to Jim taking a wet willie. Not even his brother would help him!
Lykos had fun in trying to hit a brainbuster, with Lee Hunter eventually reversing it before bringing in Xavier to clean house. Wentz followed with a PK to Lykos then a standing shooting star press for a near-fall before all six men ended up on the floor, making that cramped ringside even busier. Still, Wentz found room to land a Space Flying Tiger Drop, whilst Xavier did the same as the crowd came unglued.
Back in the ring, Lykos took a double stomp over Xavier’s knees for a near-fall – broken up by Brookes – as the action kept coming until a double overhead kick from Xavier left everyone laying once more. Lee Hunter returned to give Xavier a giant swing that Jim rudely interrupted with a low dropkick, but #CCK came back and almost stole it… dropping Wentz with a pair of high knees before Xavier took a nasty spill from a backdrop onto the apron.
In the end, #CCK’s elevated codebreaker deal went horribly wrong as the Hunters superkicked Lykos back into Brookes, before the Hunters hit their sunset flip onto the knees… with Brookes giving Lykos a German suplex in the process. Sick f’n tag moves indeed!
That elevated Codebreaker helped out in the end though, as Lykos hit Xavier with it – and broke up a count – before Brookes’ back senton onto the pile proved to be enough for them to steal the pin on Lee Hunter. A classic car crash of a tag match, with plenty of fun action and never a dull moment. Just what you want – and thankfully the Wolverhampton crowd mostly remembered to boo Brookes and his Dirty Wolf! ***¾
Angelico vs. Jordan Devlin vs. Dan Moloney vs. Jimmy Havoc vs. Clint Margera vs. Eddie Dennis
I’m guessing this was where the other guys dumped from the opening match ended up? In a nice touch, Clint Margera wheeled out Havoc like he were Hannibal Lecter, which is something I don’t think Jimmy would fight too hard to not have in his entrance…
Angelico tried to play Mark Andrews and dive with Eddie Dennis early, but Jordan Devlin and Dan Moloney stopped it as everyone else decided to see just how cramped the ringside area was. Of course, Dan got the barrage of “Dan!” chants, frustrating him as Jimmy Havoc landed a tornado DDT.
Eventually everyone headed into the crowd as they figured out there was more space there… and so we entered “that sounded awesome” territory as Moloney got thrown through the merch tables. This was genuinely hard to follow as the mobile camera panned between groups, before focusing on Jimmy Havoc and Jordan Devlin fighting on the bar.
Finally they head back towards the ring as “something’s happening over there” turned into “something’s happening nearer the ring” as everyone grabbed chairs… and sat down for a six-way punch-out. Back in the ring, Havoc goes to town with forearms, as does Eddie Dennis with pop-up forearms… which just earned him five pump kicks as everyone else got tired of him!
Havoc and Margera square off with eye pokes, before Jimmy delivered a “sorry, I love you” Rainmaker for a near-fall. Eddie does the fallaway slam/Samoan drop to Jimmy and Clint, only to fall into a sit-out Samoan facebuster from Moloney, who then took a Fall of the Angels… before Devlin planted Angelico with a package piledriver for the win. Yep, he hid for most of the match and then took the win! I’d forgotten that Jordan was even in this match until the end, and that brawling segment in the middle really hurt it for me. Decent, but not memorable, sadly. ***¼
Fans Bring The Alcohol: Martina vs. Shay Purser
This wasn’t a match, as much as it was one massive rib/birthday party/coming of age for the “very naughty boy”. Shay came out to Steve Austin’s Disturbed theme with two bottles of water in preparation.
Joel Allen put on a bin-bag styles as a bib to protect himself from the incoming variety of lager, beer, cider and champagne that headed their way throughout the match. The story here seemed to be Shay’s rites of passage, getting grinded on by Martina, getting his first taste of alcohol, and loving it all.
The end came after they flirted with alcohol poisoning, when Shay got a boner from giving a Bronco buster, before no-selling Mr. Cocko (or Mr. Durexo/Johnny Wrestling/insert condom jokes here) and hitting Martina with a Stunner for the win. It was certainly something to see, and a perfect example of how you can deliver wackiness whilst keeping it in tune with the overall product.
Fight Club: Pro Championship: Trent Seven vs. Travis Banks (c)
Hey, Matt Taylor-Richards is sporting a Love The Graps badge!
Trent slaps the taste out of Travis’ mouth at the opening handshakes, but that just inspires Travis into zombie mode, kicking away and chopping at Trent before they became the latest to go on a tour of ringside!
Of course, Trent chopped the ringpost, but he made the fatal error of throwing Travis back into the ring as the Kiwi came straight back out with a tope, before punishing him with a PK after Trent decided to roll out of the ring. They headed into the crowd again as the cameramen struggled to get a visual, catching up just in time for Trent to chop the lighting rig. Poor, poor Trent.
Back inside, Banks kept up the pressure, tripping Trent into the corner for a cannonball, but after that near-fall Trent took a superkick before dropping Travis with a Dragon suplex and a Zangief-esque spinning piledriver. The two exchanged vicious forearms for a spell, before a swing and a miss led to a series of German suplexes between the two, prompting zombie Banks to return and land his Slice of Heaven corner enziguiri for a near-fall.
Trent keeps up with those chops though, laying into Banks as he puts him on the top rope, but the Kiwi escapes and drills Seven with a Ligerbomb for a near-fall, before crotching him in the ring post for a double stomp from which there was genuinely no escape. A Coast-to-Coast follows as Trent laid there helpless, but Seven again fought back as he went for another superplex, before deciding to just lay out Banks with a piledriver off the middle rope.
Somehow Zombie Banks kicked out at two, before Trent busted out a Burning Hammer and a lariat… also for a near-fall! Trent toyed with Banks like he was being cruel to a wounded animal, but his piledriver just turned up Zombie Banks yet again… as did a Dragon suplex! So Strong Style, Many Fighting Spirit, as Banks in the end hit a Slice of Heaven then a Fisherman’s driver to secure the win. My God. These two didn’t hold back at all, and left us with a suitably violent, hard-hitting main event as Travis slowly but surely starts to collect wins over everyone he’d fallen to in the run-up to him getting the title. Poetic stuff! ****¼
There were plenty of murmurs when Fight Club: Pro announced the move to the Starworks days ahead of this show – and it’s clear that no matter where they are, this promotion will keep on knocking it out of the park. Sure, there’s acoustic issues, but the same rabid fans turned up to watch the same brand of hard hitting, strong style action that has helped this group quickly escalate into the upper echelon of the UK scene. Seek this show out – it’s truly got something for everyone!