REVIEW: Wrestle Carnival

Wrestle Carnival - The Hunt
Sunday, May 22, 2022
The Portland Centre, Nottingham
Reviewer: Tia Owen (@BlazingOptimist and @TiaOwen_Author)

It’s been a while - but after a longer-than-planned absence, Wrestle Carnival is finally back! With 9 matches and a title on the line, there was a lot packed into the promotion’s newest instalment.

Brady Phillips vs Ian Skinner

If The Hunt had a theme, it’d be the emergence of young talent. Brady Phillips is no stranger to the Carnival, having had a great showing in the last show’s King of the Carnival gauntlet match.

However, this was the first appearance of “Kickass” Ian Skinner, who’s previously had standout matches in ICW and Discovery Wrestling (his bout against Mark Haskins is a personal favourite).

They got off to a hard-hitting start, with Ian more than able to handle Brady’s signature strikes. Skinner gave as good as he got in that regard, and at some points even seemed to be surprised at his own level of offence.

At times it looked as if nothing would put the British Psycho down, but after some frenetic exchanges it was a tombstone that quelled Skinner for a three count.

Big Man Incorporated (Adam Bolt and Jack Tayson) vs Dead Sad Boyz (Billy Haze and Jay Joshua)

After their performances in Wrestle Force, I was really looking forward to seeing the Dead Sad Boyz live. Wrestle Carnival fans have seen Adam Bolt before, but this match marked the Carnival debut of his personal security guard, affectionately known as Jackie T.

Being Nottingham lads, Big Man Inc had a huge amount of support from the Portland Centre (with the crowd chanting “Mr Bolt” throughout).

In their home promotion House of Pain, they’re fully committed to the comedy, and I was glad to see that here too. Their secret handshake is a thing of beauty! I’m not surprised Haze and Joshua decided against matching it…

The frantic pace from the previous match continued, with Adam Bolt using his size to evade as much as he could. Billy Haze threw himself around the ring with abandon, and often the carnage was as much about saving partners as it was inflicting damage on the opposition.

Despite all the high-flying, it was a double submission that eventually got the Dead Sad Boyz the win. Considering that DSB work exclusively as heels in Wrestle Force, it was unexpected but welcome to see them shake hands with Big Man Incorporated.

In my last Wrestle Carnival review, I mentioned the possibility of tag team titles in the promotion’s future - and this match shows that there are plenty of candidates.

Chantal Jordan vs Ashley Vega

Continuing the theme of young talent, “The Undeniable” Ashley Vega was next up against Carnival regular, “The Bad Girl” Chantal Jordan.

The two were on opposite ends of the spectrum, both physically and stylistically. Seeing Chantal stand across the ring from Vega - her dressed all in black, Ashley in a pink gingham skirt and glasses - some might have pegged this as an easy win.

Ashley clearly hadn’t read that memo, as she launched a vicious verbal attack on Chantal, proclaiming that she was “undeniable for a reason”. For a good while, it looked like the young upstart could prove herself right - but The Bad Girl showed why she wasn’t to be messed with, ending the fight with a spinning heel kick that instantly knocked Vega out.

Pure Beef (Will Kroos and Blake) vs Nathan Cruz & Myles Kayman

This was ⅔ of a rematch from Carnival Mania, where Cruz, Kayman and Sean Kustom lost to Pure Beef and Brady Philips.

Kroos and Blake came out of the blocks quickly, laying strike after strike on the members of Second To None. Once again, Blake and Kroos are scarily athletic for their size.

With Kroos and Blake throwing themselves around the ring like they did, it was only a matter of time before a rope gave up on them. This might’ve driven away some less forgiving members of the crowd, but didn’t deter the competitors.

They continued to fight on, with the end only coming when Cruz was coaxed out of the ring by his budding rival Joseph Conners, leaving Kayman open to a takedown by Pure Beef.

Riley Nova vs Joseph Conners

Joseph Conners has previously said that he came to Wrestle Carnival to prove himself. What better way to do that then by going toe-to-toe with Riley Nova, one of his own students?

After the opening bell rang, there was a long feeling out process between the two men. This caginess soon gave way to a trading of submission holds and verbal barbs; Conners repeatedly telling Nova “you’re here for a reason”, daring him to show the crowd what he was made of.

Riley certainly held his own with the veteran. In the end though, Conners showed exactly why he’s lasted so long, dropping Nova with a DDT (formerly known as The Righteous Kill, but I’m unsure whether it has a new name now).

After the match ended, Conners spoke to Riley directly. Alluding to the difficulties Riley had growing up, Conners congratulated him on their match and touted him as one of the future stars of British wrestling.

The local crowd was in agreement - but this feel good moment was spoiled by Nathan Cruz. Attacking Riley (perhaps as payback for what happened to Myles earlier in the night) is an action that surely won’t go unpunished by Conners when they meet again.

Man Like Dereiss vs Tommy Kyle

The dynamic going into this match was an interesting one. Dereiss is currently the official number one contender to Charles Crowley’s King of the Carnival Championship; Tommy Kyle, a man that fell short during the gauntlet. Both competitors are well-liked by the crowd too, which meant the split of support was pretty even.

I have lots of feelings about the people that left after the rope break, but my overwhelming one is that they missed out. After all, in what other situation would you see Man Like Dereiss doing “Black Sabre Jr sh*t”?

Though both competitors were making light of the situation, neither was a slouch in the ring. Sure, they had to switch up their respective game plans, but both worked well with what they had, trading submission after submission.

Dereiss still had his power game to rely on, and that secured him the win over the Top Gun of UK wrestling. With Max still in Crowley’s immediate future, it was hard to not see this as a message to the Spectacular Twat.

Jetta and Charlie Morgan vs Emersyn Jane and Ivy

After the Gauntlet SNAFU at Carnival of Champions, all eyes were on how Jetta and Charlie would work as a tag team in this match. With a number 1 contender for the Queen of the Carnival title in Ivy, and a former OTT women’s champion in Emersyn Jayne, this was no mean feat.

Though Ivy and Emersyn had less tag team experience, they worked well to keep The Royal Aces isolated from each other for much of the match. For 75% of it, I was actually relieved, as it seemed Charlie and Jetta had put the accident behind them (with Jetta ‘nailing’ a superkick with her fiancee’s help).

But of course Ivy and Emersyn had something devious up their sleeves. While one member of the team attacked Jetta, Charlie ran to save her: the momentary lapse in concentration caused Morgan to be pinned.

As the two went to the back, with Jetta chastising Charlie for needing to check on her and Charlie insisting she was just trying to help, I got the distinct feeling that there’s more to be told in this story…

Back in the ring, Emersyn had taken the mic and was repeating her credentials. As the best women’s wrestler in Scotland, Europe and the world, she needed to face the best.

It was at this point that I assumed she was going to call out the absent Alex Windsor for her Queen of the Carnival championship. Dear reader, how wrong I was.

The Main Event Empress proceeded to call out Smash Mouth Chris Ridgeway in a bout to crown the first ever Wrestle Carnival Pure Champion!

This will be the first singles intergender match in Wrestle Carnival’s history, with two very competent performers. I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out at the next show.

Joe Hendry vs Judas Grey

In preparation for this show, I tried to do as much research as I could on the wrestlers I hadn’t seen before. Some, like Big Man Incorporated or Max the Impaler, had a lengthy archive of matches. Judas Grey was an exception.

As such, I went into this match with no prior info on “The Crown Prince of Sarcasm”, except that he was another student of Hendry’s.

Similarly to the Conners/Nova bout from earlier, the student and teacher spent a while feeling each other out before getting down to business. Though Judas would tell me later that he couldn’t be his usual flippy self in this match, his agility still provided a great contrast to Hendry’s strength.

Hendry won the match - but Judas won something potentially much bigger. After the bell rang, Hendry spoke directly to the crowd, saying that promotions like Wrestle Carnival provide a platform for performers to redefine their current careers - or in the case of Judas, begin new ones.

Unbelievably, this was Judas’ second ever match - and if this is what he’s capable of now, I can’t wait to see where he goes next.

Charles Crowley vs Max the Impaler (No DQ for the Wrestle Carnival Championship)

Ever since Max was announced for the Carnival back in March, I’ve been dreading this match. That only grew the closer we got, with the Non-Binary Nightmare demanding that it be made no-DQ.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the match began with a game of cat and mouse between Crowley and Max (I’ll let you figure out who was who). Those tactics only worked for so long, though - and when the contact came, it was brutal.

I doubt Max even knows what a wrestling match is - they slammed Crowley into ring posts and chairs so much that I was surprised that the King of the Carnival was still standing.

But stand he did - and using the no disqualification stipulation to his full advantage, Charles produced his infamous magic bag. From cymbals to flour-filled balloons, everything was thrown at Max to keep them down. In the end, Crowley had to tie their feet together with a whip to secure the three count.

Even so, Charles didn’t win this match as much as he survived it. If he’ll be able to do the same with Scotty 2 Hotty and Axel Tischer remains to be seen.

I’ll end this review by reiterating my tweet thread from the day after the show: The Hunt was a great mixture of established talent, new faces, and a whole lot of heart.

With Ringmasters in July, the 1st Anniversary in August and the promise of new friends from NOAH, the next few months are set to be an exciting ride.

Dream Holiday Destinations of Wrestlers

REVIEW: Ignite Wrestling Pro - All of Nothing