REVIEW: Ignite Wrestling Pro

Ignite Wrestling Pro: Encore
96 Shenley Road Community Hub, Borehamwood
Sunday. March 6, 2022
Reviewers: Iwan MacKenzie (@iwanmack) and Dave Sewell (@davesewell04)

Iwan: My day started off with a Trip to St. Pancras Station and a visit to the Weatherspoons for a breakfast; large breakfast and a non-alc Koppaberg coming to £10.04, which ain't too bad. Breakfast itself was very good but could have done with more beans.

Dave: I met the rest of the boys at St Pancras about 10:30 and we caught the train to Borehamwood.

Iwan: The train itself was packed with Gooners all heading to Boreham Wood F.C. for that afternoon's Arsenal vs Birmingham City game.

Now as a Gooner, I was in my element here as we scored an easy 2-0 in the first half, with the second half being more controlled on defending. Birmingham made some substitutions in the second half and immediately scored as the gmae went into jeopardy here but the mighty Arsenal was able to finish it 4-2.

After this, it was off to my favourite fast food place, German Doner Kebab. I had the Boss Box for £9.99 with a Doner Lahmacun, Spring Rolls, Chips and a Fanta Orange; that filled me up I can tell you and was excellent as it was next door to the venue.

Dave: This was my first visit to Ignite and only their second ever show so I was looking forward to it and not sure what to expect.

Iwan: Got in and had CJ Carter Greet us at the Door with a Big Hug and had a pre-show talk with Warren Banks about the Current State of BritWres, The LA Dojo and picked up a Gentleman Banks signed picture.

Show started a few minutes late here but didn't massively effect anything, crowd wasn't near sell out like last time but still pretty packed in. Our MC was Sunset Skip who improved upon his previous performance on this afternoon I felt, and he was good to begin with.

Tommy Kyle vs Laura Di Matteo

Iwan: This was a really good opening match with a very clear goodie/baddie divide. The crowd was full of jokes to Tommy about his plane, his Top Gun appearance and his two first names.

He gave it back to the crowd though which I loved to see. I think Tommy has something about him, I'm more impressed every time I see him. We did have Laura win this though with the Headlock Drama.

Dave: I enjoyed seeing the ‘Maverick’, Tommy, given plenty of Top Gun chants and puns, which definitely seemed to annoy him. He was up against one of the best in LDM, who easily controlled the early going of the contest. It was turned around with a big Spinning Back Breaker and Laura was the one who had to knuckle down to fight back.

Laura hit a Tombstone which Tommy powered out of, but it was only a temporary respite as he would eventually fall short to LDM’s aforementioned Headlock Drama.

Joe Lando vs Kelly Sixx

Dave: This match was originally scheduled to be Joe vs Dexter, but Dexter had to pull out due to a positive Covid test (wishing you a full recovery Dexter). We all had a laugh during Kelly’s entrance when he bent down to argue with some kid who had poked him in the cheek.

This match saw Joe’s speed and flips up against the strength of Kelly. Joe’s defence is all backflips, no ducking or jumping, and I absolutely love it. Lando did take a lot of punishment in this match though, including a reverse DDT on the apron and a top rope Brain Buster onto the turnbuckle.

Thankfully, Joe wasn’t hurt too badly and picked up a big win with a Shooting Star Elbow (which I’ve been waiting to see since Joe promised me he’d do it).

Iwan: I will also send my well wishes to Dexter, it was a shame he couldn’t make the show (Get well soon Dexter).

Kelly does look completely different from the Fresh Faced Josh Wall I'd watch those years ago at the Cockpit. I think it’s fair to say that this match took a while to get going and for the crowd to get into this match.

But they soon did and, as I thought, this was a good match. Kelly proved a different challenge for Lando’s in-ring style and allowed for Lando's pure underdog babyface performance to shine through. We had Lando win this with that great Shooting Star Elbow Drop.

Forest Haze vs Danny Black - Ignite Championship Qualifier

Iwan: This was one of two Championship Qualifiers on the night, with the winner going through to the show on May 15th.

Personally, this was my least favourite match of the show. I'm a big fan of Danny Black but I felt this match was too similar to the match that came before - in terms of its execution.

The other thing that stopped me from enjoying this was the fact that I'm not a fan at all of Forest Haze. I don't like the gimmick for a heel, I'm not a fan of the bear and most of his matches feel dull to me, just my opinion.

We had Forest win this match with the Sister Abigail-esque manoeuvre to advance through to the championship match.

Dave: This was my first time seeing Forest Haze and he does have a very disturbing smile. Before the match he took some advice from Buggles the Bear, which can’t have been very good as Danny was running rings around him.

This all changed when, encouraged by our “kill the bear” chants. Danny delivered a devastating suplex to Buggles. This lit a fire in Forest who himself hit a half-and-half suplex on Danny.

The end of the match saw Danny hit a 619 and Oscutter. Forest rolled out the ring and when Danny went high risk with a Suicide Dive it backfired and Forest caught him and hit his finisher for the win.

Not knowing Forest Haze too well. I’m not sure if this was a surprise result of not.

Iwan: Half time, In-Ring Pictures with Danny Black, Joe Lando and Nino Bryant for £3. Can't go wrong with that value.

Smashing Mike vs Mark Trew - BattleBowl Qualifying Match

Dave: Like with Forest, this was my first time seeing Mike in person. The match started off with Trew offering a handshake and raising Mike’s arm before jumping him with an attack.

This was a pretty good match, with Mark using his MMA-style strikes and kicks, as well as some high flying moves. Meanwhile, Mike was having fun throwing Trew around the ring.

This match came to an end when Trew went up top, Mike sprang to his feet, ran up and threw him across the ring before delivering a huge Full Nelson Slam.

After the match came a funny moment when. at the entrance ramp, Trew thought it would be a good idea to push the Smashing One, who then smashed him in the jaw - leading to Trew staggering onto the ramp and doing two forward rolls through the curtain.

Iwan: This match was a Battlebowl Qualifier Match with the winner joining Nino Bryant in the final in November.

Now, with the regular work these two do for WrestleForce this did feel like a guest match from that promotion. This was the only face/face match of the show and with it being the first match back it had a bit of a struggle in getting going.

But this really worked and ended up being my favourite match of the show. These two have such great chemistry with one another, and the action never let up at all, with big dives and even the old Canadian Destroyer from Mike. Mike ended up winning this with the Full Nelson Slam to get to the November Final.

The Rebellion (Taylor James & Jack Toreno) vs The Borehamwood Bad Boys (CJ Carter & Nino Bryant)

Iwan: This match came about as a result of last time out, where Taylor attacked Nino after their match and CJ made the save, prompting Taylor to bring in his partner Toreno to this show for a tag match.

This started off hot with both teams showing a lot of animosity towards one another. Rebellion isolated Nino for a while, until CJ made the save and the contest broke down into a big exchange of moves, with Toreno even hitting the big Bandido 21-Plex.

This was a really good match overall, probably my second favourite behind Mike/Trew. We had Rebellion clock CJ with a Chair behind the ref's back and then hit Nino with their big double team finisher to get the win.

They went to double team Nino with Chairs after the match but CJ stepped in to protect Nino and ended up getting beaten down by the Rebellion. I'm intrigued to see where they story goes next with this.

Dave: This was an absolutely belting match with far too many highlights to list them all, if it goes on YouTube I’d definitely recommend going to check it out.

Nino pulled out some excellent high flying moves and The Rebellion were excellent in their move-set and dirty tactics. The hot tag is what made this the match of the night for me.

Rebellion won the contest after taking CJ out with a chair shot leaving Nino to take the pair on by himself, which didn’t go well, and ended in a loss for the hometown team.

After the match The Rebellion were about to attack Nino with chairs, until CJ sacrificed himself by pushing Nino out the way and taking the big chair shot himself.

Warren Banks vs Corey McRae - Ignite Championship Qualifier

Dave: On the way in, Corey was asking every kid how much pocket money they earn. trying to sell his stickers. So, when a little kid went for a high five and he asked “did you buy a sticker?”, I did give out a belly laugh. He also looked genuinely upset with the “your stickers suck and so do you” chants.

In truth, McRae is fantastic, his MMA skills are really impressive and his spinning kicks are awesome. This. again. was another match with so many highlights and a hard hitting battle.

I thought McRae had this one won with a picture perfect Package Piledriver. only for Banks to get his foot on the ropes. And it was Banks who eventually came through the winner with a Ripcord Knee followed by a Spear to advance to the final.

Post-match. Buggles the Bear appeared in the corner with the belt around him. A surprised Banks went over to check on it. before Forest Haze attacked him with a low blow from behind.

Nino, Danny Black and Joe Lando appeared before he could do any more damage.

Iwan: This was the other Championship Qualifier with the winner facing Forest Haze in May.

This was a very good main event, lots of aggression in the strikes between the two of them and Warren looking like a great top guy of this promotion.

Corey was really good here in trying to take down the Nigerian Kaiju. We had Warren win this after a Ripcord Knee Strike and Spear to get through to the Championship Match.

Forest attacked Warren afterwards until Danny, Joe and Nino ran him off to close the show.

Overall, a very fun second show from the new promotion with them setting up two storylines heading into the next show in May and the Year in general.

Dave: Ignite was a fantastic show and being in Borehamwood it was very easy to get to. The next show is in May. This is a very family-friendly promotion, which is always good to see as the youngsters do make a fair bit of noise which is great for the atmosphere.

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