REVIEW: Wrestle Carnival - Carnival of Champions II
Credit: Wrestle Carnival
Wrestle Carnival: Carnival of Champions II
HMV Empire, Coventry
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Reviewer: David South (@DavidSouth1980)
I’ve been to a few Wrestlecarnival shows at The Portland Centre in Nottingham and really enjoyed them. So, with a few options available to me on this final weekend in January, I decided to travel slightly further afield, to Coventry, for Carnival of Champions II, the company’s first event of 2023.
I did not have VIP tickets for this one, which meant I was caught up in a few issues getting into the building, caused, I was told, by the venue’s policies rather than by Wrestle Carnival themselves.
After a brief diversion via the bar, I took a seat on the back row and waited for the show to begin. Not having a VIP ticket meant I couldn’t see the preshow match, which was a triple threat involving Judas Grey, Chez and Ronan King. I’m afraid the best I can tell you is that the crowd seemed to appreciate it.
After introductions, the new GM of Wrestle Carnival, Isaiah Quinn came to the ring and explained that “he” had organised a deal with the Premier Streaming Network for all of Wrestle Carnival’s events, new and historic to appear on their service. He also said that from now on, the Carnival would be a place of absolute integrity and that his associate Big Jim, would help make sure that was the case.
Emersyn Jayne vs Sam Bailey – Pure Rules Match
Credit: Wrestle Carnival
The first match on the card proper was a Pure rules Bout involving Jayne, who challenged Ridgeway for the Pure Title on the last show and The ‘Northwest Savour’ Sam Bailey.
Both competitors were wearing green and gold (Cornette would be fuming!) and the customary handshake before the match demonstrated little respect on Bailey’s part.
Both competitors would quickly use the first of their three allowed rope breaks to escape from arm submission holds, but Bailey would take control, continuing to focusing on Jayne’s arm.
From there though, the rest of the match would mostly belong to Jayne; a German suplex leading to a crossbody in the corner, a missile dropkick and then a dive to the floor.
She’d get a near fall following a top rope hurricanrana and extract both of Bailey’s other rope breaks with an Octopus submission and a deep armbar. They would end up together on the top rope again, where Jayne would hit a Spanish fly and then a snap powerbomb to win. With his respect earned, the two exchanged a proper handshake.
George Lydon vs Mark Trew vs Nino Bryant vs CJ Rawlings - Future X Fatal Four-Way
Credit: Wrestle Carnival
Four guys I’d never had chance to see before here, for a brief but hectic fatal four-way match. It began with pairings of George Lydon and CJ Rawlings in the ring, and Trew and Bryant on the outside.
From there highlights included Bryant’s triple rope jump arm drag, the powerhouse Rawlings slamming each of his opponents on top of the others and attempting to hold down all three for a pinfall, Lydon with a springboard flip off the top to the floor and Rawlings following that with a moonsault off the second rope, again to the floor.
Rawlings would pick up the victory here, climbing to the second rope with Trew in a slam position and then flipping backwards to a body press. Still reeling from his earlier moonsault, neither Lydon nor Bryant could make it to the ring in time to break up the count.
Slightly confusingly, Rawlings was then presented with a championship belt, which wasn’t shown before the match started and then, even more confusingly he took to the mic to announce he was taking “Option C” – which I wasn’t sure was a possibility outside of Impact, vacating the title for the one he wants, Dereiss’ King of the Carnival belt.
Nathan Cruz vs Riley Nova
Unfortunately, Conners had announced earlier on Twitter than he has picked up an injury and wouldn’t make the show. Cruz though comes to the stage, dragging with him Conner’s protégé Riley Nova, already in a bad way.
Cruz also has a ring mic and says that he is going to take out his frustration on Riley and that this match would be his 1825th but Nova’s last.
He beats him around the ring and then rolls him in and tells the ref to start the match.
Though Nova offered sporadic fightbacks, truth be told he’d lost well before the bell rang to start this one. Cruz is brutal and unyielding, whipping Nova into the corners and putting on deep Boston Crabs that, to his credit, Nova does not surrender too.
A missed headbutt from the top gives him a chance of some offence and he nearly steals victory with a backslide. He then climbs the ropes slowly, too slowly, and Cruz intercepts, throws him to the mat and puts on a Liontamer style submission which Nova quickly taps too.
Charlie Morgan vs Chantal Jordan - No DQ Match
Back from the interval we’re told that Lizzy Evo unfortunately isn’t able to attend, due to illness. Morgan, however, will compete, against a more than capable replacement, Chantal Jordan.
After a few lockups and holds exchanged, Morgan calls for the mic and says that this crowd paid for a No DQ match and ask Jordan to accept the challenge, which she does.
The pair fight from the ring to the floor and up the ramp to the stage area, where a suplex leaves both competitors down. Back at ringside, Morgan goes looking under the ring and comes back with a Kendo stick, which she breaks over Jordan’s back.
Jordan is just as capable with the weaponry though and after a German suplex onto a chair, she fetches a baking tray from under the ring and begins to kick Morgan until she sits up, then smash her over the head with it.
After a suplex through two chairs off the ropes doesn’t get the job done, Morgan decides on the nuclear option and brings a bag of thumbtacks in. It takes a while to get the bag open though and during that time Jordan recovers.
She grabs Morgan and hits a Death Valley driver into the tacks and as Morgan sits up in pain, Jordan kicks her in the head and pins her to win.
Whilst the ring is cleared up, we’re shown a video of the situation between Charles Crowley and Spike Trivet, including Spikes attack on Clementine. It’s then confirmed that the pair will meet in April at Clash at the Carnival.
Tommy Kyle vs Chris Ridgeway - Wrestle Carnival Pure Championship
Credit: Wrestle Carnival
Tommy Kyle was the firm fan favourite but found Chris Ridgeway in as vicious and a contemptuous mood as I’ve ever seen him. He stripped Tommy Kyle of all three of his rope breaks, twice with an armbar and third with a single leg crab.
Following a sustained attack on his left leg, Kyle couldn’t run across the ring without collapsing and Ridgeway delighted in faking an Irish Whip and then yanking him back and to the mat.
The fightback though was about to come, following a German Suplex, Kyle applied a crossface that required a ropebreak to escape. Ridgeway used his second to escape another quickly applied submission and a third to break the pin after a backslide.
Neither man now had any ropebreaks left. Then came a moment of controversy…
Tommy Kyle hit a lethal injection and pinned Ridgeway. It looked to the crowd, and to Kyle, that Ridgeway had used the ropes to break the pin, but Referee Greenwood insisted that he had kicked out and the match continued.
Not for long though as Ridgeway applied a sleeper hold and then hit a series of kicks and stomps. He hit a brainbuster and PK combo and chances are had the match won there but decided to repeat the combination for a second time before retaining his title with a three count.
Big Guns Joe came to the stage area and looked disappointed with his mentors’ actions. He came to the ring and shook Kyle’s hand. He got the mic and said that he and Kyle were always “replacements” when someone can’t make it, that “whenever they do get opportunities, they blow them” and that “something has to change”. He then hit a low blow on Kyle and said, “the thing that needs to change, is me” and left to a chorus of boos.
Lana Austin vs Jetta - Queen of the Carnival Title
Credit: Wrestle Carnival
Lana jump started this one, attacking Jetta before she’s completed her entrance. She began a process of slamming her opponent around and screaming at the crowd.
She would get the first near fall following a codebreaker in the corner, though Jetta would kick out. Jetta would get on offence, hitting a backstabber out of the corner and then a three amigos style suplex run, modifying to a fisherman’s for the third one and holding on for another two count.
The key moment of the match would come after Austin “accidentally?” levelled the ref with a wild swing. With him down she would hit a spinning elbow and pin Jetta for more than three, but there was no referee to make the call. Frustrated, but sensing her opportunity, Austin would leave the ring and return with the Queen of the Carnival title belt.
She’d swing for Jetta’s head, but she had recovered enough to duck and grapevine Lana’s leg and she fell face first onto the title. With the referee recovering, Jetta then hit a running clothesline and completed the win.
However, Isaiah Quinn returns and says that this is exactly what he was talking about when he questioned the integrity of Wrestlecarnival previously as Jetta had clearly used the belt to win.
Backed up by Big Jim, Quinn got in Jetta’s face and she pushed him over. Quinn said that now she’d put her hands on an official, he had no choice but to suspend her.
Leon Slater vs Man Like Dereiss - Wrestle Carnival Championship
Credit: Wrestle Carnival
It will surprise none of you that this was another brilliant match from two of the best around at the moment. The 0121 Civil war began with a handshake and some aggressive but honest lockups, Dereiss the stronger of the pair but Slater had a speed advantage, to avoid or strike when he could.
They traded near falls before Slater astonished the crowd with a coast-to-coast style dropkick, not along the ropes, but diagonally into the opposite corner.
Only a two count though. As was the outcome for Dereiss following catching a crossbody, transitioning into a powerbomb and hitting a 450 splash.
Having kicked his way out of a Boston Crab, the pair traded cutters before Dereiss hit a Superplex off the ropes that had both men down for a nine count.
The closely fought encounter would be won by the narrowest of margins, with Dereiss countering a sunset flip and just managing to hold on for the three count. The pair shake hands… and the lights go out!
On the screen, Subculture appear, specifically Dani Luna and Flash Morgan Webster. They say that they’re glad that the 0121’s little tiff is over, as they’re coming to WrestleCarnival and they are targeting them.
The lights come back on, and Gene Munny is in the ring. He blindsides Dereiss and then hits Ainsley Lariat and hands his “Munny in the Bank” briefcase to Referee Greenwood telling him he’s cashing in.
He goes to hit a second Ainsley, but Leon Slater is back in the ring and in his way. Munny thinks better of cashing in and demands his briefcase back.
Quinn returns to the stage once more to confirm that “of course that wasn’t a real cash in” just a warning to the Champion that this could happen at any time. Munny and Quinn leave together. Dereiss and Slater take one last moment of appreciation and the show is over.
Having never been to a Coventry show before, I’m not sure if this was the case last time but there was, for me, a little disconnect between the sort of show that Wrestlecarnival provided and what some of the audiences were expecting.
There were a lot more families in with younger children than I’ve seen at Nottingham, and one or two of the parents didn’t seem overly impressed with the odd moment of swearing, or aspects of the no DQ match.
I’d certainly defend Wrestlecarnival here, who stated that there would be aspects of the show dealing with adult based elements when ordering tickets, but I’d wonder about maybe making that even clearer on shows going forward.
That said though, it was another show of great matches, with enough of the performers knowing how to play to the kids that I’m sure some of them will have enjoyed their experience. I hope some of them will come again, I’ll certainly be heading to Nottingham in April.