REVIEW: NORTH 2.4 - Losing My Edge

NORTH Wrestling
Anarchy Brewery, Newcastle
Saturday, February 5, 2022
Reviewer: Craig Whiteman (@poptheboyspod)

We return to Anarchy Brewery for the first time in 2022, for a card more stacked than a pile of pancakes! NORTH announced a card that would surely go down in the company's history as one of the very best.

But, as can happen these days, we lost a number of workers due to a number of reasons. That didn't deter NORTH’s top man Andrew Bowers; he reached into his beanie and pulled more than one rabbit out of it, he wanted to give the fans the best wrestling show he could and the man didn't miss a beat.

I promise you now, NORTH 2.4 Losing My Edge, will be talked about by the sell out crowd like England fans talk about the ‘66 World Cup Final. We’ll be glassy eyed, the hair will stand on our neck, and we’ll get goosebumps as we tell you we were there on February 5th, we were there…

It was a night of debuts, so let’s start with a big one. At the last show NORTH said goodbye to long term MC Tom Campbell. Stepping into that role was the uber talented Jen Louise.

She was welcomed warmly by the cult (faithful as if, it’s a cult) and chants of her name rang out loudly, but before she could even settle herself in for the evening she was interrupted by none other than resident pain in the butt Shreddy.

Shreddybrek, Molly Spartan and Joe Hendry vs Crashboat (Jake Silver and Jack Bandicoot) And Rebecca Reznor

The jacked, stacked, Daddy has a bone to pick with NORTH head honcho Andrew Bowers! He was outraged to be in the opening match and more so that he had to take on the incredibly energetic and talented Jack Bandicoot.

Jack stormed to the ring with tag team partner Jake Silver, Crashboat were in the house!! The Shredliner had an idea -  he wanted a tag match and he brought out the jacked, stacked, lassie,  Molly Spartan for her NORTH debut!

Molly coming out clearly caught the eyes of none other than Rebecca Reznor for another NORTH debut. The Blue Eyes White Dragon aligned herself with Crashboat, Shreddy and Molly were staring down the barrel of a handicap match.

Then it happened, as two debuts in this match wasn't enough you see, some music hit, we sang along, we were unsure what or who to expect… then all became clear, Joe Hendry was in the building and the roof came off.

Receiving a heroes welcome, although on the team of two resident rogues, Joe evened up the numbers; we had ourselves a trios match. In a back and forth affair that was a great blend of Crashboat and Reznor's highflying and team Shreddy’s powerful attack, this match went at 100mph.

Shreddy was constantly trying to up Joe’s feats of strength and even stole the win, tagging himself in when Joe was certainly about to get the W, to lock young Jack Bandicoot in a Shreddy recliner until he passed out.

This match set the night on fire early. Shreddy and Crashboat always get the reactions they require but the added extras of the debuts took this to the next level. I also don't believe this will be the last time we see Shreddy and Hendry in a ring together and I for one can't wait.

Rhio vs Charlie Morgan

The crowd were barely given a chance to catch their breath, as we got straight into the next match. This match was scheduled as a four-way, but sadly due to Covid we lost Taonga and Heidi Katrina.

No big deal, here’s a one on one match between two of the best technical wrestlers you could hope for. North West Strong Styles own Rhio against The Ace Charlie Morgan. Morgan was making her NORTH debut and it was one hell of an outing against a NORTH mainstay in Rhio.

Technical, hard hitting and smooth as butter, this match was a wrestling purists dream. Both wrestlers looked to find a small window of advantage but neither gave an inch.

Charlie Morgan hit a beautiful swanton for a very long two count and then Rhio recovered, saw her opportunity and pounced. A rope draping spinning neck breaker by Rhio was enough to get her a massive win in front of a hot sell out crowd and the competitors showed each other respect after what was a tremendous match.

Gene Munny and Kid Lykos vs Man Like Dereiss and Leon Slater

So Gene Munny is a bad guy now, no it's true, he's filed all the required paperwork and is now officially a heel, (just don't boo him yet he's not quite ready for that).

Poor Gene has had a tough time of it in NORTH so far and only has one solitary win to his name (way back in 2019). So when the going gets tough, you tag with Kid Lykos apparently.

Gene and Lykos were set to take on MLD and Visage, in this NORTH tag team tournament match up, but Visage has had to take some time away from the ring, we wish them all the best and can't wait to see them in the ring again as soon as they are ready.

So that meant MLD needed a partner and the lyrical dragon picked a debutant that didn't let him down. Ladies and gentleman Leon Slater has arrived and he LITERALLY tore the place down.

Gene didn't look too comfortable in his new role as a bad guy, apologising for his new dastardly tricks and screaming he “didn't like this' ' when choking Leon.

Lykos, ever willing to help someone come to the darkside, was a great coach of nefarious techniques to young Gene. MLD was a charged fireball in this match, he was high flying, hard hitting and grows ever more impressive the more you see him.

This match, we thought was about Gene and his turn towards true evil, as Lykos threw Gene a PROGRESS tag title to use on Leon, Gene thought he would do the Eddie Guerrero spot and pretend the belt had been used on him.

The only issue being Gene threw the belt to his partner before falling, and when realising his mistake loudly proclaimed “he always gets that wrong.”

Remember two sentences ago when I said this was about Gene? Well no one told Leon that. Young Mr Slater was taking full advantage of his debut and showed off some great high flying offence, this boy has hops, hops so high that when going for a 450 splash he smashed the goddamn lights off the ceiling!

He then rolled Gene to the opposite corner for MLD to hit a 450 of his own and get the 1,2,3. Celebratory backflips from the top rope  were in store for our winning good guys.

Leon saw this as another chance to pull some more lights down and pulled some string lights from the wall. Leon is one to watch, MLD is on fire, Lykos is born to be bad and poor Gene loses again.

Rory Coyle vs Liam Slater vs Will Kroos - NORTH Championship

We were due to have a championship match directly after this but since young Leon decided to rip the building down we had to have a small break for it to be patched back together.

When we came back though, we had our NORTH Championship triple threat. Out first, the champ, the Devil of NORTH, the last true sick boy, Rory F’n Coyle and he had a microphone in his hand.

Rory on the mic is money, and if you haven't had the chance to see Rory cut a promo, you're missing out. He is one of the most believable promos anywhere right now. 

Rory has constantly told us he hasn't changed but for some reason now we boo him, he told us that companies can talk about their pillars but he is the rock that this company built its church on!

Out came Liam Slater and Liam was ready to get himself a bit of the sick boy. Rory though said he was here for a triple threat and since “Stanford '' (Joseph Conners) couldn't turn up, they best find someone else otherwise this match wasn't happening.

Cue the returning number one contender, Will Kroos. This match was a true hardcore brawl, kendo stick shots, brawl through the bar, Rory begging Liam to hit him with a barbwire covered bat and Liam not giving in to temptation.

The end of this match, however, was where the story was really told, with both challengers having the title ripped out of their hands by the crafty sick boy. After setting Liam on fire with a fireball (not kidding), he taped him to the ring post, and was forced to make him impotently watch the end of the match.

But in his obsession with Slater, Coyle took his eyes off Kroos and walked into a sit out piledriver, better known as the Kroosifiction. During the pinfall the crowd counted to 10 but the ref was still dealing with Liam, Rory had survived by the skin of his teeth!

In Will’s attempt to get the refs attention he opened a window for Rory to sneak through and through that window he snuck, with a video tape to smash over Wills head.  A DDT on the title later and the Devil remains our champion, you might not like it, it's not the Disney ending we wanted, he may not be the champion we want but he is truly the champion we deserve.

Gia Adams vs Lizzy Evo

You running out of energy yet? How did you think we felt? Now here comes the culmination in a six month long feud that has set NORTH on fire.

The Liverbird, Lizzy Evo, has made herself quite comfortable in NORTH and seems to really enjoy being booed by the faithful. Her opponent, Washington’s hardest lass - Gia, Gia, Gia F’n Adams.

Gia has quickly became NORTH’s biggest babyface and the ovation she got when she came out confirmed that. This storyline has been built beautifully and the crowd were at a fever pitch for this match, we wanted to see a battle and we got one.

Lizzy at her dastardly heel best, choking Gia out in front of her own mother, cutting Gia off at any attempt to take control. Gia though wasn't to be denied and with the crowd at her back and her mother in her corner, the queen of the North, battled on.

Lizzy allowed hubris to get the best of her, and got in Gias mum's face one too many times where we learned that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, when Gia’s Mum laid Lizzy out with a hard slap and even snatched some weave.

Back in the ring Adams Jr took full control, a huge washy drop,the GDT, the 123, Gia fucking did it and the crowd let her know. A star making a turn and the future for these two women is very bright. What a feud!

Zeo Knox and HT Drake vs Big Lou and Connor Renshaw

By this point in the evening voices were gone but we were still giving it all we had because damn it we still had another debutant to cheer for! That debutant none other than Commander Stephanie Sterling in all their non-binary finery.

The Commander got a raucous welcome by the NORTH faithful, after being a heel in America, they are definitely a face right here in the UK. Sadly though the fun and good times couldn't last as resident Tory pain in the arse Zeo Knox came out with current tag partner HT Drake.

Drake, in a bow tie and sporting a mallet, along with Zeo had bad intentions for the Commander but luckily Big Lou and Connor Renshaw raced out to stop any shenanigans and start our next tag team bout.

Zeo wanted no part of former tag partner Connor and allowed HT Drake to carry most of the heavy lifting. This lasted until Drake got pissed off, slapped Zeo in and took himself a seat on the apron.

Connor laid waste to his former ally and for the first time in his young career tried to celebrate (it's a work in progress). Connor looked towards the entrance ramp and the Commander gave him the nod… big chokeslam incoming!

Zeo went up and came down even harder and Big Lou and Connor rolled onto the next round of the tournament. The Commander though wasn't finished with Zeo and got some revenge of their own with a massive top rope chokeslam. Welcome to NORTH Wrestling, Commander Sterling!

Mark Haskins vs Gabriel Kidd

So you may be wondering why the championship match wasn't the main event, well pretty simple really, the main event was two of the best in the world in one of the best wrestling matches you will ever see. Mark Haskins versus Gabriel Kidd.

Let me say that once more for those in the back. Mark Haskins versus Gabriel Kidd. Jesus Christ this was a wrestling match. Now I'm not a talented enough writer with a good enough vocabulary to give this match enough of the superlatives it requires.

These are two of the very best in the game, doing what they are the best at, wrestling and kicking the crap out of each other. It was stiff, technical, brutal and oh so delicious to watch.

Overkill going after Kidd’s arm, Kidd trying to bring the best out of Haskins by mentioning his son. The kicks and chops were enough to make a normal man cry but neither of these masters of their crafts gave an inch or took a step back.

Technically it was brilliant too, the reversals and near falls were a wrestling purists dream, almost dizzying to watch as they happened with so much fluidity.

This match is to be watched, however you get the chance, wherever you get the chance it was an instant classic. The finish again came from reversals and ended somehow with Kidd hitting Haskins with a spinning tombstone. 

This match ended what was a night of wrestling that you could only dream about. One of those shows that gave you everything you wanted and more.

A show that took your voice away but didn’t stop you from screaming your lungs out. A show that reminds you that when wrestling is done right there is absolutely not a thing like it in the whole world, nothing that makes you feel so many things in so many ways and makes you beg for even more. NORTH wrestling absolutely knocked it out of the park.

Losing My Edge? Absolutely not. NORTH is only getting better.