REVIEW: Ignite Wrestling Pro - All of Nothing

Ignite Wrestling Pro: All or Nothing
96 Shenley Road, Borehamwood
Sunday, May 15
Reviewer: Iwan Mackenzie (@iwanmack)

So my day started off with a train journey to London Bridge before changing platforms for the train to Farringdon before meeting up with my mate Dave to get yet another train to Borehamwood, all on a wet Sunday afternoon.

We got to Borehamwood around 14:15 and our first port of call was the restuarant that’s your friend and mine, German Doner Kebab. The Borehamwood branch possibly being the best one I’ve been to in the country, great service in there and the food tastes fantastic. I had the Donrt Wrap Boss Box which was frankly outstanding, well worth the money.

With our spirits and bellys full we headed to the local shop to grab some drinks for the show before heading into the venue. It was very busy on this afternoon which is great to see.

CJ Carter greeted us before the show and thanked us for coming and we caught up a couple of mates in Tom and Luis. Will say that the venue was very warm on this day despite the wet weather outside.

Sunset Skip was our host for the afternoon with him entering to no music reminding me of a comedian making their way to the stage, great work from Skip as per usual and he looked rather snazzy in his turtle neck jumper.

Joe Lando vs Tommy Kyle vs Danny Black vs Corey McRae - #1 Contenders Match

Massive boos for Kyle upon entrance, he’s really made his name as one of the top baddies in Ignite. We serenaded him with “rubbish Tom Cruise” chants. McRae received a similar reaction on his entrance as well. In comparison, Black and especially Lando received heroes reactions with their entrance.

Corey thought this was a Four Corners style match and thought Tommy was his tag partner, he kept this up through the match. Tommy decided to bad mouth his opponents and the crowd when the bell rung.

I told him to shut up and he replied back with “put it on Grapple Theory Dickhead!”, so I have, cheers Tom. This was followed by his three opponents hitting Superkicks on him.

This was a fantastic opening match with a lovely pace to this, it had plenty of four way action but did take time to have one on one encounters that didn’t feel cliche or that it ruined the match.

Some brilliant moments but special shout to Lando’s tribute to Halloween Havoc 1997 with him hitting a Springboard Moonsault DDT, Lovely.

Lando wins this after breaking up Tommy’s pin with his Shooting Star Elbow Drop to become the first challenger to the new Ignite Champion. Tommy fell into my lap afterwards before I could give him the point of shame.

Safire Reed vs Kira Chimera

Kira had a hell of a travel day before this show so fair play to her. These two have wrestled a lot of matches across various southern promotions and they were adding another to their rivalry here.

This was a very different match from what we had previous as it was more focused on chain wrestling and strikes, especially from Kira who is training in Muay Thai and having an MMA match coming up in November as well. Her strikes were really great and Safire sold them really well with her comebacks having more behind them due to the pain we had seen her go through.

Safire is a really exciting young prospect and every time I see her she just gets better and better, definitely somebody to keep your eye on.

It was Safire with the win here after a Cheeky Roll-Up as Kira was mad at this decision, the point of shame was finally in effect as Kira had a go at the crowd.

Taylor James vs CJ Carter

This came about after The Rebellion attacked CJ Carter with a chair after their match at the last show. I’m loving this storyline currently, with Carter as the hometown hero and James being hated for his actions (plus him getting booed for being announced as from Southend).

The best way to describe this match was an Athletic Brawl, these two went at it right from the bell with only a few slower moment for James to take over and work the crowd into cheering for Carter even more.

The babyface vs heel dynamic was cracking here, really did enjoy this match and again felt different from what we had before this.

The finish came when Carter was in control but Jack Toreno got involved and distracted the referee, with Taylor hitting Carter down low and then with a Made in Japan variant onto a steel chair with the Ref seeing the Pin and counting to Three for the Win to James.

Rebellion attack Carter afterwards and hit the 4G on him. James got on the mic afterwards and said that him and Carter are finished now and he will set his sights on the Ignite Championship instead.

Carter then got on the mic before Rebellion walked off and said that at the next show in September he will get weapons involved and him and James will have a Street Fight - if Carter loses then he will leave Ignite forever. This is definitely a ticket seller, I want to see how this story ends now.

Interval time and we got our in-ring picture with Safire, Danny, Joe and Kira plus had a chat with Tommy Kyle who said he actually really likes Grapple Theory!

Smashing Mike vs Nino Bryant

This was a match that I was really looking forward to, these two have been two of the most exciting young talents since shows returned post-lockdown. The kids in the crowd thought they had to boo Mike but soon realised it was two good guys.

These two started off fast and furious as Nino used evasion tactics combined with high flying, where as Mike wanted to use more power moves.

One of the opening moves in this was a Diving Hurricanrana to the outside with Nino delivering the move, Mike tumbled towards us like the boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Back in the ring and Mike looked to be pissed off with Nino so he used speed and power together to take him down, with moves like the Pounce and a Diving Superman Punch but it wasn’t enough as Nino kept kicking out.

The finish came with Mike hitting the Full Nelson Slam to get the win. This was an outstanding match, make sure to watch this when it hits YouTube, loved it.

Zander Bryant vs Jon Jon Tavious - BattleBowl Qualifier Match

Let’s see if the younger of the Bryant brothers could get a win here. This was also the first time seeing Zander wrestle as he came out to Gorillaz “Feel Good Inc.”, with his Mark Briscoe 2004-era esq shorts.

This was much more of a story match with Tavious attacking Zander from the off and taking pride in how great he was at doing it. Zander was doing well in his selling of the offence, the crowd was so into this and celebrated every time Zander kicked out and fought on.

I’ve seen Tavious a couple of times now and he was a babyface which I didn’t feel really suited him but as an arrogant heel and he was super entertaining.

Unfortunately for him though, his arrogance cost him as Zander hit an Inside Cradle to get the shock win, the crowd went wild and Tavious threw a fit about losing.

Now whilst I enjoyed this match, there is a few bits of criticism I have to give out as whilst the story was strong that it carried the match.

The action, I felt, was a bit messy at times which is understandable considering Zander’s experience levels at the moment and what I’d also say is that we had the same finish earlier on with Safire and I would have changed something here to make it feel different.

Forest Haze vs Warren Banks - Ignite Championship Match

This was to crown the first Ignite Champion, with the introductions making this feel big. Now, unfortunately there’s not going to be a lot said here about this match due to what happened but let me get us there.

The two had some chain wrestling with Forest taking some comfort in his bear, Buggles, for advice after taking time on the outside. Back in and Warren outpowered him and hit a Massive Dropkick that rocked Forest…this is where things broke down.

Something was up and it was noticeable as Warren improvised by attacking Buggles the Bear and hitting the People’s Elbow.

Forest got back in, rolled Warren up and won the Championship but unfortunately no celebrations were had here as Forest was hurt here. The roster and medical team went to work getting him looked at as it was confirmed later that he had suffered a clavicle injury.

Nobody in the blame here whatsoever and all was dealt with in the most professional way possible, just a very disappointing end to the show and you hate to see anybody get injured.

Thankfully it was confirmed by Ignite and Forest Haze the next day that the injury wasn’t as serious as it could have been.

This is a quote from Forest: “Thankfully no fractures or breaks. I’m in a sling for a while & have been referred to a specialist for my rehab”

Ignite have also set up a GoFundMe in the meanwhile to help Forest out through the next six-nine weeks, whilst he’s unable to wrestle or work, contribute to it if you can, every little helps: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-forest-haze-and-his-family?utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer

Overall, without the unfortunate ending, I thought this was a great show with two top matches in the four-way and Nino/Mike being two of the best matches I’ve seen this year.

I really enjoyed the rest of the card and thought the crowd was very lively as well, would recommend checking out Ignite, a great up and coming family promotion that doesn't talk down to its audience and is just pure entertainment.

Thank you all for reading, you can follow me on Instagram @IwanMack.

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