REVIEW: NORTH Wrestling - Thunderstruck

NORTH Wrestling: Thunderstruck
Walker Dome, Newcastle
Saturday, July 15, 2023
Reviewer: Mark Roffey (@TheR0ff)

NORTH are one of the hottest promotions in the UK post-lockdown, winning Grapple Theory Promotion of the Year last year. Having already been up to Newcastle for the NCL Cup in April (one of the best shows of the year, in my opinion), there was little chance of me missing their biggest ever show in front of 713 people.

Rampage Brown vs Amir Jordan

You knew that this was going to be a special show when the first entrance had a duo of drummers accompanying Amir Jordan to the ring.

Amir wasn’t waiting around to get things going as he jumped Rampage Brown before the bell and landed a Swanton Bomb on the outside. Rampage would work a methodical pace throughout the match, with Amir trying to fight through and get his moments in only for Rampage to slow down the pace.

Rampage would get the win after countering a swanton from Amir with his knees, leading to his Piledriver.

This match was a great way to start the show with the crowd mostly getting behind Amir, with a few Rampage fans. That ended up only being a sign of how loud the crowd would eventually get.

Man Like Dereiss vs HT Drake vs Jack Bandicoot vs Will Kroos vs Jet Martial vs Gene Munny

This was, as you’d expect from these scramble matches, quite chaotic. Particular highlights included; Gene Munny hitting everyone in the nuts (including a headbutt to Will Kroos), Will Kroos piledriving Jet Martial onto HT Drake, then giving one to Jack Bandicoot on the apron (Also known in my friend circle as absolute murder).

Dereiss would win this one with the 4-fiddy on Gene Munny, exacting revenge for his recent troubles over the last couple of shows. This was a very fun match, with most of the competitors getting big moments in.

This is also the hottest the crowd got in the first half, which is to be expected when everyone is diving at each other.

Scotty 2 Hotty vs Shreddy

This match was what I’d call a standard family show match, which wasn’t a problem here as the show itself was for families. The only thing that I noted that was different from the norm was that Sheddy, despite being the heel, still had a decent amount of vocal support, which was complemented with the ‘Shreddy is a prat’ chants (you know, as it’s a family show).

Everyone wanted to see Scotty doing the worm. Shreddy was trying to hit the worm himself, which got met with boos. So it was great to see Scotty eventually doing the worm to win, with everyone joining in the ‘W-O-R-M’ chant.

Post-match, Scotty had the crowd in the palm of his hand as he teased leaving without doing another worm. But he would do one more worm for the fans. Even Rich Swift, one of the referees, got in on the act.

Natalie Sykes & Session Moth Martina vs Eve Bateman & Lana Austin

This match was mainly about continuing to build Natalie Sykes’ momentum that she’d been building over the last few shows following matches with Lana Austin, Raven Creed and Millie McKenzie.

To be honest, though, the crowd clearly weren’t too invested. They cheered more for Isaiah Quinn forgetting which way to point the confetti cannon for Lana Austin. Not a good thing, especially as Maffew from Botchamania was in attendance.

This one had Natalie submitting Eve Bateman with her Fujiwara Armbar with a bridge. Decent enough match, but not one people will be remembering much from the show.

Clint Margera vs Joey Janela – NORTH Ultraviolent Title

An Ultraviolent Title match, which is usually known for its bloody wars, on a family show. Thankfully this one wasn’t bloody (at least not intentionally).

We had doors, we had chairs and we had Lego. Lots of it, in fact. So much so that when Clint did the Death Valley Driver on the Lego, every conceivable point of contact was covered with Lego.

Joey would get a big spot, doing a double foot stomp through a door, stacked on a chair on top of Clint. Clint would retain his title, however, with a Death Valley Driver through a Lego covered door.

I enjoyed this match, given the limitations of what could be done for a family show without causing any trouble.

Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II) vs Sunshine Machine (TK Cooper & Chuck Mambo) vs Michael Oku & Robbie X – NORTH Tag Team Titles

It’s good to finally see a triple threat tag match where one person from each team is legal, rather than the usual formula of one person from two teams being legal.

The main story of this match was Lykos Gym doing anything they could to survive with their titles, including using the help of Gene Munny.

There were a couple of really good spots in this match. First, everyone was trying to do the Russian Leg Sweep whilst exclaiming ‘Now We Play’, Michael Oku’s signature phrase. Gene Munny tried to come in and do a brainbuster on TK Cooper which, when countered set off the domino effect.

Michael Oku then had a cool moment where he transitioned from having the Half Crab on TK Cooper to having it on Chuck Mambo. Lykos Gym would hit low blows on both Chuck and TK before a small package on TK would secure the win for the defending Tag Champions.

This was a really cool match to watch and even the ending shenanigans didn’t take away from the match as it made sense to the story being told.

Gangrel & Rory Coyle vs The Landed Gentry (Benji & Zeo Knox)

It’s Rory Coyle’s career vs. Benji’s hair. Something had to go. Oh, and Attitude Era legend Gangrel was in the house to help the Last True Sick Boy.

Where the previous match had the heels (Lykos Gym) doing everything to survive with championship gold, this one had The Landed Gentry doing everything imaginable to try and end Rory Coyle’s career, to which Rory and Gangrel would find answers.

A pre-match cheap shot would be met by Rory and Gangrel literally ‘fanging and banging’. The Landed Gentry’s manager, Ace Matthews, would pull Rory from the apron one time, preventing a tag, but the second was well scouted allowing Rory to fend Ace off.

Whilst Zeo Knox had the ref distracted, Ace and Benji would take out Rory, but that only got a two count. Eventually, Rory and Gangrel would DDT Ace and Zeo allowing Rory to pin Zeo as Benji, being held back by Gangrel, could only watch in horror as the realisation of what was about to come began to settle in.

Rory’s career was safe. Benji’s hair? Not so much. Whilst not all of the shaving was done in the ring, I can confirm that Benji did go through with a full shave. It gives him a very different look which will be interesting to see on future shows.

This was a good match to keep the energy going before the two big matches, plus I can now say that I’ve seen Gangrel live, so there’s a bonus.

Rhio vs Mercedes Martinez

This was the match I was most looking forward to on this show. Rhio has been on a tear in the UK this year, let alone in NORTH where she won the NCL Cup back in April. The way she’s going, she’s probably going to win best UK female wrestler of the year awards across the country.

This match with Mercedes Martinez ended up being another notch on her belt this year as the two went and had a great hard hitting match, the crowd being firmly on Rhio’s side.

Even when Rhio hit her package piledriver, Mercedes would show her experience by rolling out of the ring, forcing Rhio to be creative in order to win.

She would use some ingenuity as before Mercedes could lock in her Surfboard Dragon Sleeper, Rhio would bite her way out, allowing her to roll Mercedes up in a small package for the win.

I initially wasn’t too sure about the finish watching it live, but having thought about it more, it ended up being a clever finish to what was a very good match. I feel there’s still a lot for Rhio to do in NORTH this year, such as challenging for the NORTH Title. Speaking of which…

Liam Slater vs Leon Slater – NORTH Title

This was easily Match of the Night for me. The chemistry and psychology on display was brilliant to watch, with Liam trying to get into Leon’s head, first by doing Leon’s slide through the ropes to the floor, then by working on Leon’s leg relentlessly.

Each time Liam had a Half Crab in, you could feel the tension in the room as Leon struggled to either reverse the hold or reach the ropes. But despite going through that pain, Leon would hit back fast and hard with devastating moves such as a straight jacket powerbomb, a curb stomp and even Dan Moloney’s Drilla Killa.

As Leon set up for his 450 Swanton, Liam pushed the ref into the ropes to knock Leon off balance as an act of desperation. Liam would try for a superplex but would be countered into a twisting neck breaker for an agonising two count. Some of the fans legitimately thought it was three, the count was that close.

But Leon would not be denied. A 450 Swanton from the top rope ultimately led to the three count and the crowd going mental.

Cue celebrations from the roster and a passionate promo from Leon about wanting NORTH to be bigger than it already was (which wasn’t exactly PG, whoops) to end the night.

Conclusion

This was, overall, a pretty good show with a very strong second half. Despite the heavy rain beforehand, it didn’t dampen the mood of the show. The crowd was very loud, arguably one of the loudest I’ve experienced in BritWres this year and the biggest matches really delivered resulting in one of the best moments of 2023 so far with Leon’s crowning.

If I had any criticisms, I thought nine matches was too much. Without mentioning details, you could have taken one or two matches out and it wouldn’t have changed too much about the show.

Hopefully Leon Slater’s words in his promo about wanting bigger crowds come to fruition. This show certainly proved to be a peak which sets NORTH up for even bigger things in the future.

REVIEW: NORTH Wrestling - Thunderstruck

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