Review: ATTACK! Pro Wrestling - Hoodie Weather
ATTACK! Pro Wrestling: Hoodie Weather
Cathays Community Centre, Cardiff
Saturday, January 27, 2024
Reviewer: Mark Roffey (@TheR0ff)
Amidst a growing Welsh scene, 2023 saw the triumphant return of ATTACK! Pro Wrestling, keeping their shows fresh with a new look roster whilst maintaining the vibes from before their hiatus, culminating in the conclusion of Grapple Theory’s 2023 Feud of the Year between Wild Boar and Nico Angelo.
2024 would kick off for ATTACK! with the sold out Hoodie Weather, their first event to be live-streamed on YouTube.
The show kicked off with the new ATTACK! Champion, Nico Angelo, thanking the crowd for their support as well as Lykos Gym, Nino Bryant and ELIJAH for helping him win the title. He then issued an open challenge for the title in the show’s main event.
Eddie Dennis vs Nino Bryant
Credit: ATTACK! Pro Wrestling
The last time these two faced off at ‘Under The Mistletour ’ the previous month, Nino Bryant picked up a shock win over Eddie Dennis. This second match was more for Eddie to prove that he still has what it takes against the new blood of ATTACK!, and one of his students for that matter.
In the early stretches, Eddie would show that he’d learnt from the mistakes from the previous match, yet Nino would still have something more to offer, matching Eddie’s offence with some of his own.
This would force Eddie to show more aggression. It might be me but I swear this match was the hardest I’ve seen Eddie hit anyone. Nino had to react quickly to continue to overcome the experience factor, countering one Severn Bridge into a Code Red and countering a Next Stop Driver attempt to send Eddie out of the ring.
Nino would get two dives to the outside, the third being countered by Eddie but Nino would counter again, eventually hitting a tornado DDT. Nino would move quick even after Eddie beat the ten count by landing a springboard moonsault.
Eddie would hit a Severn Bridge but would only get two. Another Next Stop Driver attempt would be countered into a sleeper hold. Eddie would counter a tornado DDT into a roll up for the win, with leverage from Nino’s tights.
This was a really good opener. Eddie and Nino are incapable of having a bad match as their two encounters here and one over at Purpose have proven. With this, they’ve told a new chapter to their competitive rivalry and have set the stage for a third encounter at ATTACK! in the coming months.
Chip McSwings vs Will Kroos
One thing you’ve got to know about ATTACK! in the 2020s is that everybody hates golf. Anyone who has any love for golf, like Chip McSwings, will be booed out of the building. OK, maybe I’m over-exaggerating, but the point is Chip is really hated around these parts.
Enter Will Kroos. He looked particularly strong against Chip here; throwing, chopping and slamming him around. Such was the power of one of his lariats that Chip’s mask fell off for a moment.
Chip’s buddy, Larry the Caddy tried to cause a distraction by throwing a golf club at Kroos in the hopes of getting him DQ’d but instead caught that club to the face for his troubles. Chip would use another club to Kroos’ lower region and head before winning with the ‘Hole in One’-ton bomb.
This was a good follow-up to the opener that made Will Kroos look quite strong, whilst keeping heavy heat on Chip. This surely won’t be the last we see of Kroos in ATTACK!. It unfortunately was not the last we would see of Chip on this show.
Jay Joshua vs Kid Lykos vs Kid Lykos II vs Danny Jones vs Splits McPins vs ELIJAH – ATTACK 24/7 Championship
The ATTACK! 24/7 Championship is back after four years away and we all knew what was gonna happen when that title was to be fought for in a six-way scramble match.
ABSOLUTE CHAOS!
There were quite a few creative spots I noted watching live.
Lykos Gym were setting up a senton, only for more competitors to be added to the pile. Even Lykos II got stacked on top when Kid Lykos eventually hit it. Danny Jones gradually built up a submission hold on everyone at one point in the match; two were in a half crab, two were in a sleeper and the other in a dragon sleeper.
The finish came when Alley McPins, Splits’ sister, landed a moonsault on the outside to four of the competitors, leaving Splits to win the title by pinning Danny Jones with the 7-10 Split.
Despite the cheers, the celebrations would be short lived as Spilts’ bitter rival, Chip McSwings, would take advantage of the 24/7 rule by hitting Splits in the back of the head with a club and pinning him to become the new champion.
Chip would cut a promo telling Alley that she could ‘go home’ with the new champion. Alley would proceed, in disgust, to slap the shades off him before Larry the Caddy struck her with a club.
Scramble matches, by their nature, are usually fun, frantic and very fast paced. This was no exception. The return of the 24/7 title does leave room for more chaotic moments as the year progresses, even if the title is in the hands of a hated golfer.
Dani Luna vs Safire Reed
Credit: ATTACK! Pro Wrestling
Of the announced matches, this was the one I’d been looking forward to most, partly because of their upcoming encounter at RevPro’s High Stakes and partly because these are two of the best female wrestlers in the UK right now.
These two last met at ATTACK! back in April last year in Swansea. Whilst a good match then, I felt like the atmosphere was lacking, I suspect due to the lack of familiarity with Safire at the time.
Fast forward to this match and this match was a significant improvement, both in terms of the quality and crowd interaction, the latter of which may have been in part due to this loud reviewer treating this match like an away day, cheering for Safire and forcing the home crowd to get louder for Dani.
Safire has come leaps and bounds since that Swansea match, as other reviews on here have mentioned. That and the improved crowd reactions led her to give as good as she got in this match showing more aggression, in particular locking in her crossface on a couple of occasions, something that wasn’t part of her regular moveset back in April.
Even this improvement wasn’t enough as Dani would send Safire flying with her patented middle rope German Suplex and take the win with the Luna Landing.
Mulligan & James Ellis vs Old Poppa Sunflower & Sonny The Sunflower
Credit: ATTACK! Pro Wrestling
James Ellis & Mulligan had a main goal in mind in this one. Keep the energetic Sonny the Sunflower out as much as possible. For about half the match, it was working, with Old Poppa being kept at bay by the Ellis/Mulligan tandem. Once Sonny got in though, all hell broke loose.
We had a Lungblower by Old Poppa spring Sonny into a Code Red on James Ellis. Mulligan chokeslammed Sonny into an Olympic Slam by James Ellis, which looked slick.
Old Poppa had a Boston Crab on James Ellis, Mulligan tried to break it up with a chokeslam but Sonny locked in a guillotine on Mulligan instead, only for the big man to throw the Guillotine into the Boston Crab, breaking both submissions.
Mulligan tried to hold Old Poppa, setting James up for a knee strike, only for Old Poppa to move out of the way, causing Mulligan to go flying out the ring instead. One Sonny Tornado DDT and a Planting the Seed’ (Basically an End of Days) from Old Poppa later and this one was done.
This was for me the weakest match of the show. It wasn’t bad, necessarily. The crowd was still into it, mostly in support of the Sunflowers. But you could tell that the crowd were getting themselves ready for the main event to come.
Nico Angelo vs Leon Slater – ATTACK! Championship
Credit: ATTACK! Pro Wrestling
Can Leon Slater stop putting on contender after contender for Match of the Year so early? Because right now, it seems the answer is no. NORTH with Mike Bailey, RevPro with the trios tag at the 229, now this.
This match really picked up about midway on when Leon went after Nico’s knee. This completely changed Nico’s game plan, his actions being more desperate such as hitting a rapid Spanish Fly.
This pain, however, stopped him going to the top rope which allowed Leon to take advantage leading to his trademark corner dive to the outside. That’s always a spectacle to watch and never gets old.
Leon would continue to attack the knee, locking in a half crab quickly after some close 2 counts. This later led to a frog splash on those knees, further damaging them.
The finish would come after Leon missed his Swanton 450 and after some pin attempts, Nico would roll Leon up with a small package as a last ditch effort to retain the title.
I really enjoyed this match live which made the 28 mins or so that this match lasted, so I’m told, almost fly by. Could it have been a bit shorter? Yes, I’ll concede that. But what we got in those 28 mins was brilliant work by both Leon and Nico. I wouldn’t be surprised if these two ran it back elsewhere later this year.
After the match and a handshake, Jay Joshua came out to kick Nico in the head, turning heel in the process and setting up the next challenge for the ATTACK! Title, one that was predicted not too long ago on this very website. Sign us all up for that one.
Final Thoughts
For the first ATTACK! show I’d been to since February 2020, it was clear that they’d not lost any of their charm that made it such a fun promotion to begin with.
The 24/7 title made a more than welcome chaotic return, Eddie Dennis & Nino Bryant continued their feud with a well worked contest and have set up the rubber match, Dani Luna & Safire Reed had a great competitive battle and Nico Angelo & Leon Slater tore the house down in an incredible main event.
All in all, the best show of the year so far and well worth me making the trip. I’ll be looking to hopefully catch the stream for the sold out Press Start 7 on the 2 nd March (if there is one) before possibly heading back to Cardiff for the Mania weekend shows.