Four more wrestlers join the fray for medallions as the Grind continued.
Quick Results
Chronos Medal: Angel Hayze pinned Hollie Barlow in 8:39 (***)
Spartan Medal: Sha Samuels pinned Joey Slade in 9:25 (**¾)
We’re back at the Kamikaze Pro dojo in Digbeth, Birmingham as the medal collecting continues with a trio of medal matches. Commentary comes from Conor Bailey, Lucy Simons and this time… Nina Samuels?
Hollie Barlow vs. Angel Hayze
This one’s for a Chronos medallion, so we’ve got a ten minute time limit at play here as both Barlow and Hayze are making their series debut. Barlow’s only just made her return to the ring after stepping away from the ring in 2021…
Commentary outlines that Hayze is no angel these days, as we got going with Hayze backing off in the corner. A missed crossbody from Hayze put an end to her early offence as Barlow had a thing for trying a back elbow… one of them gets through ahead of a crossbody off the middle rope that gets Barlow a two-count.
Hayze quickly tripped up Barlow as she looked to force a way back in as Nina on commentary flat out said she was scouting opponents for Claudia Bradstone. An Irish whip sent Barlow into the corner as Hayze picked up a straightforward two-count from that, before some choking in the ropes kept Barlow on the back foot.
Barlow catches Hayze with a sunset flip out of the corner, but a leaping forearm from the Scot stopped Hollie in her tracks. More choking gets Hayze an admonishment from the ref, before Hayze’s trash talk fired up Barlow. A blocked kick’s turned into a release Northern Lights suplex as Barlow came back in with clotheslines and a stunner for a near-fall.
A shotgun dropkick from Hayze ensured she didn’t fall too far behind as we were well past the halfway mark in the time limit. Barlow hits back with an Air Raid Crash, then with a headbutt, before an elbow drop to the lower back left Hayze prone to a knee strike. It’s still not enough as the clock continued to tick, before Hayze shoved Barlow towards the ref… who missed a hair pull as a superkick and a neckbreaker proved to be enough for the win. Both Hayze and Barlow made good use of the time they had here – but were it not for shenanigans at the end, this could well have gone the distance. ***
Promo time now as Brad Matthews addressed the injury he gave to David Atlas after their match last week… and as suspected, it’s Matthews playing the “I had an injury and couldn’t walk, so I’m making others go through what I did” card. Matthews took issue with being stuck on commentary while he was injured, and he’s going to make everyone pay for that.
We segue to Joseph Conners, Spartan medal in hand, as he’s addressing his future opponent Leon Cage. Conners is a little annoyed at the hype Leon’s getting, and he’s going to make sure Leon doesn’t get the win – of course, Conners has a medal already, and anything but a win means he loses what he’s won so far.
Another promo, this time from Charli Evans, who’s back in a fortnight to get another medallion… against Angel Hayze and Madison Marley. Next week is Joseph Conners vs. Leon Cage, plus Adam Bolt & Jackie T vs. Chantal Jordan & Jay Joshua.
Sha Samuels vs. Joey Slade
Bloody hell, it’s been a long while since I’ve heard Sha Life. Like way back in the old Cockpit days… meanwhile, Joey Slade’s got a thing about cutting a promo on the way to the ring. Either that or he’s talking to himself, and given he’s on a losing streak, I could buy the descent into madness.
Before the bell, Sha openly asked if Slade was old enough to wrestle. Slade took exception to that, as we got going with Sha just walking Slade into the corner from a lock-up. The clowning around continued as Slade fell for every trick in the book early on, before Sha blocked a hiptoss from Slade and just dumped him with a slam instead.
A back elbow keeps Slade on the back foot as he struggled to get anything going, not helped with a volley to the back from Sha as pretty much everything young Joey tried to do was getting shut down. Slade evades a shoulder charge in the corner as he finally got some offence in, but Sha’s able to shake it off… only to miss an elbow drop off the middle rope.
Slade goes back to that left arm of Samuels, trying him up with an overhead wristlock as he looked to wear down the veteran. A missed Vader Bomb elbow out of the corner stopped Slade in his tracks, and allowed Sha back in it as he built up to a lariat and a Michinoku Driver… for just a near-fall?!
The pair trade strikes back and forth as Slade looked to be sensing the match slipping away from him… but Sha’s able to set up for and land the elbow off the middle rope on the second attempt, before a spinebuster got Sha the win. Slade did give Sha something of a test here after the early going made it look like it was going to be one-way traffic – but Slade’s still looking to snap that streak. **¾
Next week sees The Grind format move into a new gear as we start to get wrestlers making their second appearances of the series – adding fresh danger as anything but wins will set you back to square one.