REVIEW: Purpose Wrestling - Hungry Like The Wolf
Credit: Purpose Wrestling
Purpose Wrestling: Hungry Like The Wolf
Merton Arts Space, London
Friday, October 7, 2022
Reviewer: Dave Sewell (@davesewell04)
I was actually sweating as to whether I’d get to this show on time as I got stuck in traffic and my normal 30-40min drive to the station ended up taking 90mins, which also meant I had to forgo my pre-show visit to Starbucks.
Luckily the show was delayed slightly, meaning I got there with ten mins to spare, checked in as I was on the guest list as I couldn’t make the rearranged show to weeks back so the ticket was transferred to this show and went and took my place for the show
Our ring announcer was th always outstanding Jessy Maria.
Rex Armstrong vs Mad Kurt w/Harry Chapman
Credit: Purpose Wrestling
This started off with Mad Kurt on the mic saying how he knows Rex is lonely now there is no JJ and instead of wrestling they can do what Kurt does when he’s lonely - which brought about laughter and family show chants - thankfully it was just having a beer.
Even Rex couldn’t down it in one, which was more surprising that Kurt not being able to, but he won the drink off quite quick - Kurt is a bit of a lightweight and even tried to get Harry to help but couldn’t as we pointed out he’s underage and had no ID anyway.
Onto the wrestling and after a drunken stumble out of the ring Rex checked on Kurt’s well-being, finding he was okay he unloaded a blistering chop and continued to chop him around the ring.
This was a great comedy match to start the evening and included Kurt continuing to mess up a “four fivvy splazz” by going to the wrong turnbuckle, even with Rex helping him when he finally went for it it ended up landing in his feet and flopping over.
A Kurt low blow ended with Rex’s head hitting Kurt’s balls on the way down and Oscar the ref’s balls being hit too (I missed how) leaving all three in pain and a two count ending as Oscar pulled his groin further about to count three with Rex on Kurt.
The eventual end came after two airplane spins on Kurt (Rex nearly threw up after the first), an Alabama stampede into the corner, Harry causing a distraction, and BAM Kurt smacked Rex with a keyboard followed by a double stomp off the top rope for the win
Ava White and Skye Smitson vs Maya Matthews and Amira
Credit: Purpose Wrestling
Starting the match, Skye asked Amira if she thought it was a good idea to face her - considering the last time they wrestled Amira got a broken ankle.
She promptly tagged in Maya who, after giving her a pep talk, tagged Amira back in to give it a go. It didn’t take long for a beat down on Amira before an enziguri enabled the tag to Maya who rocked Skye with a lovely combo of moves, ending with a cutter.
Eventually the tide turned back into the heel’s favour. Maya was on the outside, Ava hit the neutraliser coupled with a Skye kick to the face to get the win.
I have to say, it’s the first time I’ve seen Maya and I hope to see her again as she looked very good. Also, the team of Ava and Skye were certainly a very well oiled machine, I think that is their first match together but you certainly wouldn’t have thought it.
Jordon Breaks vs Dan Moloney
Credit: Purpose Wrestling
This was for the Purpose title and was a very good match, between arguably the best British technical wrestler in Jordon and the power of Dan meshing very well.
The first part of the match was Jordan out-wrestling Dan, neutralising the power advantage until, with Jordon on the top rope, Dan hit him with a enziguri, sendling him toppling out of the ring.
It was then a case of Dan absolutely leathering Jordon with chops and kicks, with little fight backs now and again from Jordon, who honestly is as tough as old boots and can take a beating with the best of them.
After a nasty looking piledriver Dan went for the Drilla finisher which Jordon superbly countered into an euro clutch for the successful defence.
Afterwards Dan said “the only reason Jordon won is that he’s a fucking good wrestler”, leading to a hug and a show of respect between the two.
Mad Kurt then came out and started to talk before Jordan just said “yes I’ll wrestle you” followed by Kurt again trying to talk with Jordon ”yes I”ll put the title on the line”
Bullit and Oli Peace vs Dead Sad Boys (Billy Haze and Jay Joshua)
Credit: Purpose Wrestling
After Oli continuously used his speed to avoid Jay at the start of the match, Jay tagged in Billy who easily out-westled Oli.
While going for a double team manoeuvre Bullit got in a cheap shot, eventually throwing Billy onto Oli to turn the tide. This led to frequent tags and piling on the pressure.
When Jay eventually got tagged back in he caught Oli with a backdrop and a beautiful full Nelson suplex before a blistering chop.
Oli got the tag and we had some big lads wrestling, in the form of Jay and Bullit exchanging heavy blows after an exchange of German suplexes.
Billy got Bullit with a frog splash which Bullit kicked out of at two, shortly afterwards Bullit took another splash off Billy which Oli broke the count.
After a quick parade of moves leaving Jay on the outside, a chokeslam from Bullit followed by a second rope moonsault saw Oli and Bullit get the win.
The OJMO vs Karim Brigante
Credit: Purpose Wrestling
After Oku’s recent appearance at NJPW people seemed to have warmed at him at Purpose, likely due to being happy for him for getting the opportunity, as he didn’t get as many boos as normal.
This was my MOTN with Karim impressing hugely which was great as I’ve seen him for Wrestleforce and was bigging him up to my mate.
I think half of this was down to OJ’s selling, he made Karim look like The Hulk with one punch in the corner sending him clean across the ring like The Rock taking a stunner.
I really can’t do this match credit in a review so I’ll tie it up with Karim kicking OJ out of the ring to escape the half crab and OJ injuring his knee with Karim had in a figure four.
I seriously thought we would get the upset but OJMO eventually got the win with a frog splash. Karim left to “please come back” chants, that tells you all you need to know, seriously when this drops on YouTube watch it.
Vaughn Vertigo vs Nino Bryant vs Connor Mills
Credit: Purpose Wrestling
The final match was the first three way match in Purpose history. To be honest I find three ways the hardest to review as they’re all pretty fast moving as in reality - they pretty much play out a large part as singles, with one man normally on the outside so all get a well deserved breather before shining - this was no exception.
The wrestler who I was most impressed with in this match was Mills, who is great as a shithouse heel. One part of the match saw him chopping Nino while Nino was on my mates lap.
“One more time,” was the chant so he set Nino up and stopped short of chopping him, chucked him back in the ring and flipped my mate the bird.
I would say just watch this match when it drops, some of the exchanges were great especially, if I remember correctly, Vertigo was on the top rope, Connor threw Nino who hurricanranaed Vertigo who did the same to Connor on the way down.
The end, whIch hopefully makes sense, was Connor having both men set for the Lewishammer, both rolling off, Connor kicking Nino, Vaughn pushing Connor into Nino, Nino flipping onto Connor who threw him onto Vaughn for the satellite DDT, Connor charging Nino who instead sent Connor to the floor then pinning Vaughn. Great match!
Afterwards Bullit and Oli came out to waffle Nino with a chair but before they could nail him again Xander Bryan quickly grabbed the chair out of Oli’s hands to save his brother.
After Oli and Bullit took their leave OJMO came back out, blaming his loss at NJPW on Nino’s parents as when he sees them they throw him off his game and are affecting his mental health and decided to call out Nino.
After calling Nino a coward when he didn’t come out David Francisco came out saying OJ knows full well Nino is in no state to come out and that everyone knows OJMO is a joke.
After OJ said David’s lucky his arm is injured and that he was leaving, David got him back in and gave him a delayed suplex said someone needs to ‘shut his mouth’ and he’ll be the one to do it next show.
All in all this was another great show by Purpose who always have a great mix of up and comers coupled with the experienced hands to give them a platform.