Southside’s first Sheffield appearance of the year was an all-women’s show that was unfortunately overshadowed by injury…
There’s a slight change to how the show’s edited, as we get a bit of the pre-show spiel from MC Rob Maltman, who teases the show just being him for three hours, before we go into live action.
Viper vs. Ruby Summers
I think this deserves a “should be a squash match” klaxon, given the relative differences between these two.
Well, it wasn’t quite a squash, as Ruby started off working on Viper’s arm, but after the Scotswoman dishes out a headbutt, it’s pretty much one-way traffic from there. Summers shocks Viper with a Samoan drop for a near-fall! You know, they’d called on commentary that she was going to try that, but I thought it was a cruel joke… things fall apart after that though, when Ruby dives off the top into a cutter from Viper, but she tries to kick back into it as a Codebreaker takes Viper down!
Ruby takes her time to capitalise though, waiting for Viper to get up, and finds her crossbody off the top turned into a slam as Viper picked up the win. Nice and basic, but what they did worked here. Good stuff for an opener. **½
After the match, Viper tries to continue the beat-down, but she’s stopped by Nixon Newell! Apparently she was booked to face Alex Windsor today, but with Windsor on the sidelines, she needs a new opponent… so we’re getting Nixon vs. Viper tonight!
Before our next match, a butler comes out with a serving tray, glasses and champagne. Apparently his name is Savoy, and he’s here to introduce “the actual greatest women’s wrestler in the world”: Lady Katherine D’Arcy.
Lady Katherine Darcy vs. Martina
Darcy is the former Chardonnay (mostly from NGW fame), playing a higher-class version of her previous gimmick. Martina needs no introduction, but on paper this will be a comedy class war, especially as she was told to trade up her can of lager for Darcy’s champagne.
The champagne gets spat at Darcy, who replies with a low kick as this starts out with a series of stomps to the Session Moth. Martina ask for a breather as she’s sent into the ropes, and that is the cue for a comeback with a Thesz press and some punches.
The match grinds to a halt when Darcy fakes a knee injury as she’s sent into the corner – and that’s the cue for Savoy to try and interfere. The butler punches out Martina, but she kicks out at two after Katherine’s knee suddenly gets better, allowing her to keep up with some offence and sneak in another glass of bubbly. Martina knocks the butler (or the Fat Controller, as the crowd dubbed him) off the apron as she makes another comeback, landing a spinning neckbreaker to nearly win the match. Savoy pulls Darcy out of the ring as she was about to take a Bronco buster, but Martina regained the upper hand as she landed a headbutt before grabbing Mr Durexo… and delivering it to Savoy!
More comedy follows as Darcy’s sent into Savoy’s crotch, before he takes that Bronco buster. Darcy thought she’d broken it up, but a swift Codebreaker gives the Session Moth the win. Perfectly fine character-based graps! **¾
Shanna vs. Jade
Jade starts by grabbing Shanna in a side headlock, as the pair work some basic holds back and forth, cartwheeling out of wristlocks, before exchanging armdrags.
Shanna misses a dropkick and ends up taking a big boot in the corner, before Jade lands a headscissor takedown then hooks herself in the ropes… and slips free as Shanna tried to charge her to the floor. On the outside, Shanna takes a PK off the apron and catches another as she takes over with a leg sweep, eventually shoving Jade into a girder in the venue.
On the floor, Shanna nonchalantly stands on Jade for a visual pin as they played fast and loose with a count-out… but Shanna just runs back and breaks the count before going back to the bar to continue the beatdown, eventually throwing her into the ringpost. When they make it back to the ring it’s all Shanna as “Portugal’s Perfect Athlete” racks up some near-falls, before leaping into a guillotine choke on Jade.
Somehow, Jade fights back and powers up to her feet where she plants Shanna with a stalling vertical suplex, before they exchange chops back and forth. A reverse roundhouse knocks down Shanna, but they go back to trading strikes until Jade manages to string some together, shotgunning her into the corner for a cannonball for a near-fall. Jade slips on a moonsault attempt, then gets caught up top at the second try as Shanna counters into a Del Rio-esque double stomp.
Jade again kicks out though, and keeps attempting for a package piledriver… Shanna spins out so much both women get dizzy, before a discus clothesline is ducked and turned into a German suplex for another near-fall from Jade. After kicking out of a schoolboy though, Jade takes a series of rolling Dragon suplexes, before nearly getting robbed as Shanna rolled her up with her feet on the ropes. Another Dragon suplex gets attempted, but Jade avoids that and plants Shanna with a package piledriver for the win. A massive improvement on the awkward match Shanna had last time out here, and a fine outing from both women here. ***½
The Owens Sisters (Kasey Owens & Leah Owens) vs. Melina & Lana Austin
This was built up on Southside’s last shows in Nottingham, where the Owens attacked Melina after a match with a partner of her choice… which came in the form of Lana Austin and her personal photographer.
Unfortunately, this match barely got going as Melina suffered a knee injury – which wasn’t shown her. The injury was rotten luck, especially as it came the day after Melina’s birthday… and yes, they sang Happy Birthday to her before the match, only for the Owens to blindside the good guys.
Lana and Melina hit back with clotheslines, but we’re sticking to the hard camera for a large part of the match, which makes this exceedingly hard to follow. Austin gets double-teamed by the Owens, before she slips out of a pendulum backbreaker and manages to hit a knee strike to score a near-fall over Leah.
Kasey lands a sidewalk slam to Lana for another near-fall before they go for some more double-teaming. Lana gets a sunset flip out of the corner for a near-fall, but the Owens again keep on top of things, helped by Melina distracting the referee as the Owens play twin magic and tag behind the referee’s back repeatedly. Eventually they get caught out, and then we fade to black before, presumably, Melina tags in and picks up that injury. The Owens picked up the win, but that’s not shown here. We resume the show after an interval.
Viper vs. Nixon Newell
Nixon was one half of the Southside tag champions at the time, so naturally she comes out with the belt, and instantly shoves Viper down. A shoulder tackle from Viper takes down Newell, before she heads to the middle rope with Nixon’s arm for a bit of old school!
The goofiness continues as they both go for chokeslams, but a headbutt from Viper frees herself and gets a one-count. Nixon gets one from a big boot, before Viper bites her way out of a chokeslam attempt. When did she turn into Pete Dunne?! There’s more biting, and a tombstone attempt, but Nixon comes back with uppercuts and forearms, before she lands an enziguiri from the apron.
A crossbody off the top gets a near-fall, but Viper-taker sits up! And gets kicked back down! She faints to avoid another superkick, then rolls to the outside to forearm Newell’s dive away, before she threatens an Undertaker dive. Thankfully, she stops and just hits an axehandle off the apron, but Newell doesn’t hesitate as she connects with a tope of her own, before Viper counters a chokeslam into a tombstone… for a one-count! Finally Nixon gets her chokeslam, then a Shining Wizard, and that’s all folks!
Absolute nonsense – if you didn’t come into this aware that they were treating this as an Undertaker/Kane tribute, it’d be really easy to write this off as a joke.
Kay Lee Ray vs. Candice LeRae
Or “Candice LeRea” as her entrance video reads. Perhaps she’s Chris’ French relation? After a cagey start, LeRae shocks Kay Lee with a reverse ‘rana for an early near-fall, before Candice’s dive is swiped away with a baking tray. Yep, we’ve got a DQ in barely a minute!
Kay Lee heads to the back, but Candice grabs the microphone and declares the match as “dogshit”. Well, I wasn’t going to say… We end up with the match being restarted as a no-DQ affair, and referee Joel Allen approves it, so here we go!
No Disqualification: Kay Lee Ray vs. Candice LeRae
The second match starts with Candice landing that tope she went for earlier, and we’re straight into crowd brawling as Candice leaps up to a window ledge and pulls off a ‘rana!
Kay Lee sets up Candice in the front row, but a charge sees the Scotswoman wipe herself out into the crowd, where Candice clears up a spot on the merch table for her to hiptoss Kay Lee into. They fight on the bar for a bit, before LeRae hits a crossbody off the bar onto Ray on the floor, only to take a Gory Bomb onto the apron as the pair headed back towards the ring.
After collecting a near-fall, Kay Lee disappears again, and returns with a steel chair, but her intentions of a Gory Bomb onto it went awry as LeRae turned it into a Code Red. Candice goes backstage for plunder, and returns with a ladder that instantly gets dropkicked into her. The ladder’s barely the size of Kay Lee Ray, but they get up it as they tease another Gory Bomb before Kay Lee hits a kick the head as Candice’s head was trapped between some rungs.
Candice comes back with a Gargano Escape, but a sliding STO gets Ray into a Koji clutch that forces a rope break. The back and forth continues as LeRae hits a tornado DDT off the top for a near-fall, but out of nowhere Kay Lee lands a Gory Bomb on the chair, and that’s more than enough to score the winning three-count. A fun, plunderiffic main-event… but did we need that first “match” to set it up? ***¼
Kay Lee keeps the beat down going after the match, but Candice hits back with a Balls-plex onto the chair to send the Scotswoman packing before a title screen just shows the Southside logo set to Saliva’s “Ladies and Gentlemen” to close us out. Odd.
A decent show, but at under two hours long, it felt way too quick… and similarly, of absolutely no consequence. Unlike last years All Hail The Queen show, where the promotion’s women’s title was on the line, this just felt like “a show”, with perhaps the only storyline going having to be thrown out due to Melina’s unfortunate injury. If you have access to Southside’s on-demand service, it’s worth a shot.