REVIEW: NORTH Wrestling - NCL Cup
NORTH Wrestling
NORTH Wrestling: NCL Cup
Anarchy Brew, Newcastle
Saturday, March 30, 2023
Reviewer: Jamie Walker (@walker_this_way)
After years of looking on in jealousy at the fans of NORTH Wrestling I was finally able to venture to Newcastle for my first taste of NCL and the Anarchy Brew. And what a time to go, on the night of the NCL Cup, the promotion’s annual tournament featuring eight of the best rising stars from across the country.
Last year’s tournament was won expertly by Rhio, who has gone on to have a stellar year at NORTH. So it’s fair to assume this year’s winner would also be thrust into the spotlight at the Anarchy Brew.
Before we get onto the action I have to say I can see why the NORTH faithful love the Anarchy Brew. It really suits the character of the promotion and is light and spacious even for a sold out show.
I also got my first taste of the famed Two J’s Pizza that everyone has been raving about and it’s definitely up there among some of the best graps food I’ve encountered.
But now, onto the show;
Liam Slater vs Red Scorpion
NORTH Wrestling
To get the crowd fired up there was a special preshow match. Red Scorpion came to the ring first, the Italian making his NORTH debut took to the mic and showed complete disrespect to Two J’s pizza outside, going so far as to call it ‘shit’.
Well the fans of NORTH love their Two J’s and so do the wrestlers, that’s when Liam Slater came out to defend the honour of the pizza van and give Scorpion a good kicking.
It was great to finally see Liam in action live and he did well in teaching Scorpion a lesson for being so rude beforehand. A good victory for Slater and he then forced Scorpion to eat the pizza he’d been so disrespectful about. All was right with the world again.
The ever energetic Tom Campbell kicked things off as usual. It was great to see Tom do his thing live for the first time, he’s an absolute natural host and presenter and you can see how passionate he is about the promotion.
Now for those who don’t know, NCL Cup rules mean that all matches have a ten minute time limit (making for fast paced and frantic action) and the count on the outside is only five seconds, not ten.
Hard Man Dan vs ??? - NCL Cup first round
Hard Man Dan entered the ring as the crowd eagerly awaited who the wildcard entrant min the Cup would be.
It’s fair to say they were less than pleased when Ace Matthews music hit and he made his way to the ring. Confidently saying he would win the tournament and insulting NORTH’s ultraviolent champion Clint Margera.
Naturally, Margera didn’t take to kindly to this, storming the ring ready to attack Ace as the latter fled - what a coward. Clint took to the mic and aimed his jibes at Ace before declaring that neither of them were the wildcard entrant.
With that the tron started up again and the wildcard was revealed to be Trent Seven!
Now, to a Londoner like myself seeing Trent wasn’t too exciting, but the crowd went nuts for him! It was really cool seeing someone I see regularly, and who doesn’t get that kind of reaction at shows in the south, be so welcomed at a northern show.
Naturally Trent became the fan favourite and he and Dan put on a solid opening match. Some hard hitting strikes and boy Trent’s chest chops really echo around the room.
It was the Moustache Mountain member who claimed victory in the first round, advancing to the semi finals, but Dan gave a good showing of himself and showed why he’s so highly regarded as a up and coming star of the northern scene.
Myles Kayman vs Eve Bateman
Myles Kayman is quickly being known for two things, the first is being one of the best young talents in Britain; the second is for being a bit of a twat. And over the course of the evening he’d show why both these things are very true indeed.
He took on NORTH rising star Eve Bateman, who was looking to show why she’s becoming widely featured for her hard hitting talents. This was a solid contest with Kayman trying to use every sneaky trick he could to lure Bateman into trap after trap and it worked incredibly effectively.
Despite her obvious talent Eve succumbed to Myles in a good start for the Golden Boy - or “Golden C***” as the NORTH faithful newly dubbed him. It was also a good start for me, owing to the little bet I had on with the guys for the Tea and Tights podcast that Kayman would win the tournament.
Aigle Blanc vs Joe Wade
I’m a bit fan of the Goth Boy Joe Wade so was really excited to see him in action here. He was taking on highly touted European star Aigle Blanc, who was making his NORTH debut.
This was a really good match, fast paced, energetic, plenty of high flying and hard hitting, everything a match in the NCL Cup should be. Blanc would advance to the next round after a great back and forth to close out the match.
Wade impressed me and it’s clear to see why he’s considered an underrated talent. And Blanc was fantastic, it was a clear sign of things to come from him for the rest of the night.
Jordan Oliver vs Henry Faust
Last up was the man Tea and Tights had picked to win, hometown hero Henry Faust. He’d have a challenge to help them win the bet as he had arguably the toughest draw in the first round, against Jordan Oliver who is regarded as one of the best young wrestlers in the world at the moment.
And it’s easy to see why Jordan is seen that way. His athleticism and in ring character work are fantastic. He refused to shake Henry’s had at the start of the match, immediately drawing the ire of the crowd and from there he had them eating out of the palm of his hand.
Although Faust would come up short in the match he’d receive a huge ovation on his way to the back. The future is very bright for him.
Rhio and Emersyn Jayne - NORTH Wrestling tag team championship open challenge
NORTH Wrestling
Rhio and Emersyn got a huge ovation on their way to the ring, it’s clear to see how beloved both are by the crowd up here. Just a month and a half on from winning the titles in an open challenge against Lykos Gym, the pair put their titles up for their first defence in yet another open challenge.
Dereiss came out alone at first, making his way to the ring is his usual brilliant fashion. Once again the crowd lapped it up, Dereiss has got his gimmick down to a tee and I’m yet to see a crowd that he can’t win over.
He took to the mic and announced that he wanted the tag belts back around his waist, but with the announcement that Leon Slater wouldn’t be making it for the show the crowd was left wondering who his partner would be.
However, you should always expect the unexpected in wrestling and the roof of the Anarchy Brew was blown off when who should show up to partner Dereiss than his Boisterous Behaviour partner...LEON SLATER!
It was the first time the two had partnered each other at NORTH since June 2023, before Leon started his whirlwind singles run which saw him win, and to this date continue to hold, the NORTH title.
This match was all set up to be a MOTN contender and it certainly delivered on that front. Dereiss and Leon started out by smartly isolating Emersyn Jayne and beating her down together.
Eventually she would be able to tag in Rhio and yet still the Boisterous boys would work together well and dominate the contest…that was until things all started to unravel.
It seemed like any other tag in, Dereiss tagged in Leon who entered the ring and they prepared for a tag move on Rhio in the corner but then Leon went into business for himself, taking a cheap shot at Emersyn while she was standing on the apron.
Dereiss wasn’t best pleased with this and once the two had beaten up Rhio some more he confronted Leon about his behaviour. They seemed to wrap things up but things weren’t wrapped up at all.
Rhio and Emersyn would take advantage of the trouble in paradise and work their way back into the match. With the boys looking for a double whip into the corner, Jayne and Rhio reversed the move and after some back and forth Leon ended up superkicking Dereiss square in the chops.
This would lead to even more tension between the pair, expertly building the story, while the crowd were pleading with them to not break up and remain friends.
But their pleas would be in vein, after some more excellent in ring work there was more miscommunication between Leon and Dereiss which resulted in Lyrical Dragon being pinned and Rhio and Emersyn retaining their titles to a huge pop.
Once they had left the ring Leon went to take the mic but Dereiss snatched it out of his hand. The Lyrical Dragon said Leon has changed and that the ‘power of the title’ had gone to his head. Naturally, Leon wasn’t happy with this and suggested that he’d moved beyond Dereiss and was now leagues above him.
The scene ended with Leon holding the NORTH title high above his head as he and Dereiss faced off. It’s clear it won’t be long until the Boisterous Behaviour boys finally come to blows and it wouldn’t surprise me if Dereiss tried to take Leon’s much coveted title away from him.
Myles Kayman vs Trent Seven - NCL Cup semi final
After the break it was time to recommence the NCL Cup action. First up was Kayman taking on the new crowd favourite Trent Seven. It was clear from the off that the fans wanted to see the Moustache Mountain man beat the living daylights out of the Golden Boy.
And for most of the contest that’s exactly what happened. Trent used his power to dominate Kayman and leave his with some serious red chop marks across his chest.
It definitely looked as if Kayman’s run in the cup was about the come to an end, until he used his cunning to one-up Trent. See, the rules of the NCL Cup mean the time that can be spent on the outside is halved and so as the pair brawled to the outside Kayman took one last shot at Trent to keep him down, rolling into the ring just before the five count.
The crowd was left a little stunned by this. On the one hand it keeps Trent unpinned by having him lose via count-out but it would’ve been nice to see Trent take the pin and give Kayman a huge push in the process. I also think it would’ve drawn the ire of the crowd even more to have Kayman pin the man who had become the crowd favourite on the night.
Aigle Blanc vs Jordan Oliver - NCL Cup semi final
So the only question left to answer was who Kayman would face in the final of the 2024 NCL Cup. That would be the winner of Aigle Blanc and Jordan Oliver in what was expected to be another incredible contest.
These two absolutely delivered. Once again Jordan played the heel, not shaking Aigle’s hand and using a couple of tricks to help him get the upper hand. However Blanc wasn’t going to just sit back and take a beating. His high flying style really engaged with the crowd and all of a sudden his was the favourite that everyone wanted to see lift the trophy.
Blanc and Oliver meshed wonderfully together, with epic flips and tricks as well as some hard hitting strikes and kicks. It was my match of the night to be honest, beautifully crafted right until the last, as Blanc pinned Oliver to advance to the final.
This time the pair did shake hands and acknowledge each other, but the drama wasn’t over. As Oliver went to the back Blanc was attacked by Joshua Kemper. In a savage beating Blanc was left unable to protect himself, exhausted from his gruelling match. After the beating was over Blanc was helped to the back, with an injured knee as his reward.
It’s unclear whether Kayman enlisted the help of Kemper to injure his opponent, but I certainly hope it means that Blanc will return to NORTH in order to exact his revenge on Kemper.
Sunshine Machine (TK Cooper and Chuck Mambo) vs Rampage Brown and Will Kroos vs Jack Bandicoot and Amir Jordan - NORTH tag team tournament semi final
NORTH Wrestling
With a spot in the tag tournament final against The Landed Gentry on the line, these three teams were willing to do whatever it took to make sure they got the win.
Now, it was originally meant to be Crashboat in the final, but with Jake Silver unavailable (taking his mum to see James Blunt for her birthday apparently) Bandicoot enlisted the help of NORTH fan favourite Amir Jordan to help him in the battle.
This was a hard hitting and really fun match! All six competitors brought something different to the contest which made it especially enjoyable, that and the fact it was tornado tag rules.
Kroos and Rampage set out to be the dominant pair in the match, using their overwhelming power to take down both of their opposing teams. Kroos especially enjoyed a brilliant run in this match, taking down everyone that dared come up against him and the crowd were eating it up.
Considering the last minute change, Bandicoot and Jordan worked really well here. With some fantastic tag moves to help take down not only Kroos but Rampage as well.
Sunshine Machine were also on hand to help keep the larger pair out of the contest, while they engaged in some fab fast paced and high flying action with Bandicoot and Jordan.
Just as Kroos and Rampage were getting back on top the music hit and through the crowd came the Postmodern Sick Boys, Liam Slater and Rory Coyle. They attacked Kroos and Rampage and the four brawled to the back, leaving just two teams left.
That’s when the pace amped up and things got really intense. But it was the natural tag partners of Sunshine Machine who got the upper hand and made the pin in order to take the win.
After the match the Landed Gentry came out to confront Sunshine Machine but were left fleeing for their lives after TK and Mambo looked set to beat them up, typical Tory cowards…
Myles Kayman vs Aigle Blanc - NCL Cup final
To close the show we were left with one final matter of business - who would lift the NCL Cup and prove themselves to be the best rising star of 2024. It was Kayman vs Blanc,; villain vs hero; fresh, young upstart vs wounded underdog.
Kayman came out and immediately started mocking his injured opponent, pretending to hobble around the ring injured as Blanc bravely fought through his injuries.
Naturally, Kayman enjoyed a huge advantage and really made it pay. Working Blanc’s injured knee in the build to locking in the Figure Four. Meanwhile Blanc did his best to fight his way into the bout, but his high flying moves really suffered as his knee kept giving way.
But the fact Blanc wouldn’t lie down and accept defeat was starting to annoy Kayman, who was slowly getting more and more frustrated with every single Blanc kick out.
This gave Blanc the chance he needed, putting a beating on Kayman who was (unfortunately for the fans in attendance) equally unwilling to accept defeat in the biggest contest of his career to date.
The action kept going back and forth until the end of the ten minute time limit, the first time the limit had been reached in the tournament. With that being the case the match would continue until there was a winner, with the added stipulation that rope breaks were now prohibited.
This wasn’t good news for Blanc as Kayman finally managed to lock in the figure four. Blanc tried to claw his way to the ropes but to no avail, but with the crowd spurring him on he wasn’t prepared to tap out.
He would use his last strength to flip Kayman round and reverse the figure four. Now it was Kayman in trouble, by the ropes but with the knowledge that grabbing them wouldn’t help the situation.
As the crowd built to fever pitch Kayman was on the verge of tapping out, but Blanc’s knee finally gave out and he wasn’t able to keep the hold in place. Letting go and clutching his injured knee, Blanc was left to rue what might’ve been. With the hold broken Kayman gained the upper hand again and finally managed to get the win.
As the fans in the Anarchy Brew booed, Kayman basked in his victory, lifting the NCL Cup and boasting of his incredible year at NORTH, starting off as a ‘joke’ to now ending as the top young wrestler on the scene.
As the boos ring out I can’t help but be impressed by Kayman, he’s an absolute star with the world at his feet and a bright future ahead of him. Not only that but he helped me win my bet and for that I’ll feel forever grateful.
And that bring to an end my first ever NORTH experience! It was a brilliant time, a great crowd, some mighty fine pizza and well worth doing again. The guys at NORTH have something special on their hands there, it’s no wonder they’re growing into one of the country’s hottest promotions.