We take a look at a new format from Spinebuster as familiar faces – and some new ones – look to go for the gold.
Quick Results
Cerberus Medal: Millie McKenzie pinned Maddy Morgan, Madison Marley & Claudia Bradstone in 7:42 (**¾)
Chronos Medal: Harry Milligan pinned The Duchess in 6:40 (**¾)
Spartan Medal: Charli Evans pinned Aleah James in 10:10 (***¼)
We’re coming live via stream from the Kamikaze Pro dojo in Digbeth, Birmingham for this – and we open with an explanation of the “Grind” concept. They’re going to crown a Spinebuster Underground champion, but in order to go for the title you need to pick up three wins in a row, in three different matches – lose one, and you’re back to square one.
There’s three medals needed before you can claim a shot the Underground title – by winning any singles match, you’ll get a bronze Spartan medal; a singles match with a time limit gives you the silver Chronos medal; while a victory in a multi-man match gives you the gold Cerberus medal. Get all three and you’re the champion; lose along the way and like Sonic when he takes damage, you’ve gotta start back at square one.
We’re taken to Nina Samuels backstage telling us that Spinebuster TV is the Nina Samuels Show before offering to coach Tilly Rose in a roundabout way. That leads to a montage of their prior interactions around these parts, including Tilly shooting down that offer.
We’re then taken outside as Nina interrupts Tilly in the middle of a promo. She’s not hurt at Tilly’s rejection, not at all. So much so Nina’s going to find someone to coach instead to get one over Tilly.
Heading to ringside now, Nina Samuels is making an entrance ahead of our opening match. Commentary comes from Conor Bailey and Lucy Simons – with Nina jumping on commentary here…
Claudia Bradstone vs. Madison Marley vs. Maddy Morgan vs. Millie McKenzie
If only they could have convinced Claudia to change her name to another one with the initials M.M! Bradstone’s from Portugal and has been around the British scene for a while… Marley’s from Denmark and you’d have seen her on wXw’s Femmes Fatales show last year, while Morgan is a regular on the Lancashire scene. Millie should need no introduction!
A golden Cerberus medallion’s up for grabs here, and you’re instantly made aware of how this is virtually an empty set.
The MM’s poke fun at Claudia to start, booting her out of the ring before they turned on each other. Morgan’s step-up knee and facebuster out of the corner leads to a sanding moonsault for a two-could… but Bradstone’s in to follow up with a front suplex as the revolving door took over.
McKenzie’s back with a neckbreaker to Bradstone for a two-count, before a German suplex was resisted. Morgan tries to get in a cheapshot, but Bradstone just goes for the youngster, hooking at the nose as she gradually began to dominate proceedings.
Morgan’s thrown with a butterfly suplex for a two-count as Marley and McKenzie broke things up, before we got a chain of submission attempts ending with Millie measuring up and just kicking the pile apart. All four women stay in the ring as Morgan looked to pick up the pieces, but it’s a running facebuster that nearly gets Marley the win before she’s flung with a German suplex from McKenzie.
Millie’s cutter lays out Morgan, only for Bradstone’s Saito suplex kept the revolving door theme going… leading to a Samoan driver on Marley for a near-fall, broken up with a Quebrada from Morgan. Millie’s back with a German suplex, before a spear wiped out Morgan for the win. This was fine for the time they had, especially given the mixture of experience levels at play here. **¾
Millie gets a gold medallion – but after the match Bradstone attacks Morgan, leading to a double-arm DDT as Nina on commentary was acting like she’d found her new hired gun. That was underlined afterwards with a backstage segment with Nina and Claudia… who seemed to be in agreement.
Harry Milligan vs. The Duchess
Jetta’s replaced Nina on commentary here – and we’ve got a 10-minute time limit here so this is for a silver medal. Those of you into Britwres deep cuts may remember another “Duchess” – this isn’t the same one, as this one debuted in 2023.
A slam from Harry sees him take control early on, but the Duchess takes over after a missed clothesline before hitting a suplex. Harry’s low bridged to the outside, but that’s used to bait the Duchess into a gamengiri, before a missile dropkick saw him take the upper hand once more.
Milligan works over the Duchess’ arm as he begins to rack up pinning attempts, before a diving knee to the back caught the Duchess in the ropes. In return, an enziguiri from the Duchess catches Milligan off-guard as she sparked into a John Cena-ish comeback, leading to a fallaway slam for a near-fall.
A ducked enziguiri from the Duchess allows Harry back in with a Samoan driver of his own for a near-fall, before a Ralph Wiggum torpedo headbutt from the Duchess almost took home the win. People have really been watching their Ilja Dragunov tapes lately, eh? In the end, Milligan chops his way out of a suplex before a piledriver laid out the Duchess for the win – like the opener, this was pretty solid given the time limit and the experience on hand. **¾
Next week, we’ve a trio of the bronze Spartan medals on the line in singles matches – Adam Bolt vs. Harley Hudson, Brad Matthews vs. David Atlas and Joseph Conners vs. Sheikh el Sham. That’s quite the variety of names…
Aleah James vs. Charli Evans
Hey, a match with some history – with the pair having had three matches in the space of a week back in 2020 before… you know. Charli’s come out on top in all three of those (two singles and a tag, in matches for Pro Wrestling EVE, and the departed pair of promotions that are GOOD Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Soul.) One of those matches, I recall, had Aleah try to poison Charli… if you were there, you know.
An even start to proceedings gave way to Evans working over Aleah’s arm, before things went to ground with James rolling her way out of a side headlock for a quick two-count. Another takeover from Evans leads to a crucifix pin as James was proving to be a different test than their last meeting almost five years ago.
Shoulder tackles from James just led to a response in kind from Evans, before a headscissors takedown and a shoulder tackle finally put Aleah ahead. A bulldog’s good for a two-count, but Charli starts to target the arm, tying up Aleah in knots as Aleah’s flexibility became a detriment as she was forced to kick herself in the head.
Elbows from Evans have Aleah in the ropes, but forearms from Aleah see her make a comeback, leading to a leaping crossbody for a two-count. Evans’ cradle out of a suplex nearly nicks a win, but Aleah lands the Fisherman’s suplex moments later for a near-fall anyway.
A missed charge into the corner from Aleah opened her up for a roll-up into a knee strike, before Evans’ Fishermans suplex added a near-fall. A series of see-saw pins don’t yield a winner, nor does a leaping DDT from Aleah, whose attempt to go up top ended up costing her as Charli cut her off… ahead of a superkick and a lariat for the win. ***¼
We crash out to the credits, as after one episode, Millie McKenzie, Charli Evans and Harry Milligan have a medal apiece as they take their first steps towards going for gold.
So… what to make of Spinebuster’s Underground debut? While this obviously builds off of previous Spinebuster shows, they’ve made a good crack at having this also be self-contained, adding in recap packages for those of you who are coming in fresh. The empty dojo vibe might put some people off, especially with the easy comparisons to covid-era shows, but by its very nature, these Spinebuster shows are filling a gap in the market. A gap that allows names who aren’t booked everywhere to get extra reps – while the Fightback and CHIKARA-esque “win three different matches to get a title shot” format creates a hook for fans to keep up with on a week-to-week basis.