ICW - Fear and Loathing Tour 2017 - 5/11/2017 - Live Report

ICW - Fear and Loathing Tour - 05 November 2017 - Tramshed, Cardiff 

A year ago, I attended my first indy wrestling event. I went to a ICW event in the Tramshed. I've been lucky enough to attend plenty other indy shows since them from the best UK promotions such as Progress, Attack, Lucha Forever and Rev Pro. It's only fitting on my one year Anniversary that I attend my second ICW show. ICW has a different vibe, it's more serious and adult and is quite story driven. Given that their big show, Fear and Loathing is a few weeks away, there was a bit of story development in this show which was the last in a series of tour shows outside of Scotland.

1) Chris Renfrew beat Lionheart - music kept playing that distracted Lionheart

ICW World Champion, Joe Coffey ran down the crowd before being interrupted by his opponent for Fear and Loathing, BT Gunn. BT's scheduled opponent for tonight, Bram then showed up and Coffey and Bram beat down BT.

2) Non -title: ICW Women’s Chamion, Kay Lee Ray beat Viper & Sierra Loxton

3) Cardiff Streetfight: ICW Tag Team Champions, Bird and Boar (Mike Bird & Wild Boar) beat The Kinky Party (Jack Jester & Sha Samuels) - in a match that included Samuels moonsaulting off a brick wall outside the building!

ICW Owner Mark Dallas made his way out and spoke about the early start was due to WWE taking place in the Motorpoint Arena. He mentioned he had friends in WWE and brought out WWE:UK Champion Pete Dunne. Dunne spoke about going from struggling to sell 100 tickets in Cathays to now and Dallas then said that Dunne wasn't his only friend and welcomed Triple H! Everyone lost their minds as Triple H showed up at the Tramshed, he put over ICW and indy wrestling and thanked everyone for coming. Unreal.

4) Joe Hendry beat Beano

Wolfgang confronted Ravie Davie then introduced the Purge who he would allow to take his place.

5) The Purge (Stevie James & Krobar) beat Ravie Davie - afterwards Wolfgang said that Davie had earnt his respect

6) Stevie Boy beat Big Grizzly

7) Death match: Jimmy Havoc beat Mikey Whiplash - They traded fists at first before there was a loud bang and I turned to someone to ask what that was. It was Havoc using a staple gun on Mikey's head! Havoc then stapled Mikey in the balls and they traded throwing each other into the barricade taking a few fans out. Havok then did papercuts to Mikey's fingers and between the balls and legs. Havok sent Mikey back first into a chair wrapped in barbed wire in the corner before Havok went head first into a chair in another corner. They threw each other into tacks before Havok brought out lighttubes. He busted one over Mikey's head then taped another to the outside ringpost which Havok was sent back first into. Cinderblocks were then brought into play and after a bit more back and forth, Havok dumped Mikey onto the blocks for the win. Absolutely brutal. I'm not a big deathmatch fan but like any style, when done right it's brilliant and it was done right here. MOTN

The pure shock of Triple H was worth the price alone. Every match was fun, special mention to Beano, a graduate of the Dragon Pro Academy who has all the ability to make a name for himself.  Meanwhile, his opponent, Hendry has improved on his build since I saw him a year ago. Although his gimmick is a bit ropey, he is an excellent heel and I wouldn't be surprised to see more of him in the future. But the main event takes MOTN for bring so damn brutal.

Lucha Forever - Card Subject to Change - 02/11/2017 - Live Report

Lucha Forever - Card Subject to Change - 02 November 2017 - Banking Hall, Cardiff Bay

Lucha Forever returned to Cardiff Bay with the very apt title "Card Subject to Change". All the show's they have put on have been plagued with problems like wrestlers pulling out and arena changes, however, everything was running smoothly until we got the show and they informed us that the ring hadn't arrived yet. Ryan Smile took to the ring to explain that was only one the problems they faced as they nearly didn't have the venue and the two big guest appearances weren't even here yet. Regardless, Ryan said they will put on a great show and he wasn't lying.

1) Chris Brookes, Travis Banks & Toni Storm beat Mike Bird, Drew Parker & Chief Deputy Dunne - originally meant to be Brookes versus Bird this changed due to the show being Card Subject to Change. MOTN

2) The 198 (“Flash” Morgan Webster & Wild Boar) beat Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) - Dunkzilla Mark Davis got injured pretty early on and so they wrapped this up early. Not the best of starts for the debut of the 198.

3) Chris Ridgeway beat Jimmy Havoc

4) Kip Sabian beat Jack Sexsmith

5) Non-title: Lucha Forever Champion, Mark Haskins beat Matt Riddle

6) Eddie Dennis beat WWN World Champion, Keith Lee

Overall a great night, the opener gets MOTN for being a wild match but the main event comes a close second, the fans love Eddie and he made a great comeback to overcome Lee. Both Lee and Riddle put on fun showcase matches and rather surprisingly, both went away with two loses. "Superbad" Kip Sabian continues to shine on Lucha Forever shows.