REVIEW: Tidal Championship Wrestling - Destroy All Monsters
Tidal Championship Wrestling: Destroy All Monsters
The Parish, Huddersfield
Sunday, December 5
Reviewer: Matt Laurillard (@matmagazineuk)
Credit: Tidal Championship Wrestling
Tidal are part of the ever quality Northern wrestling scene here in the UK and with their last show at Huddersfield’s Parish venue gaining a great reception it was about time I made it over.
The room is upstairs in a pretty good pub not far from the train station that’s set up pretty well for the show. Tidal have always put on great matches but this show did feature a couple of things that are worth mentioning:
The occasionally odd production and the late changes to the card - unlike most companies they don’t have an in ring announcer and this does lead to it feeling very strange in between matches with no focus.
That said, it’s time to get to the matches themselves.
Dara Diablo vs Brady Phillips
The first match features the first late change to the card as Brady Phillips steps in to face Dara Diablo (Tom Thelwell was originally in his place).
Diablo has been a bit of a revelation since his transformation into a Charles Bronson style street brawler (the criminal not the actor) and Phillips meshed well with him here.
These two had a properly hard hitting contest with some of Phillips’ always impressive athleticism, his Swanton always surprises me. In the end it is Phillips who picks up the win in a really enjoyable opener.
Sebb Strife vs Big T
There will always be something inherently exciting about two big athletic wrestlers clashing, and this was exactly that. Both Strife and Big T have a surprising amount of quickness for their size and once again they gelled well.
There were plenty of big moves from both men including one from the top rope which was genuinely stunning. Strife referenced his former tag team partner Nsereko multiple times during the match, including when he picked up the victory in the end, building more towards their inevitable one on one clash.
Joe Wade vs Man Like DeReiss vs Ace Matthews – Open Championship
Credit: Tidal Championship Wrestling
A triple threat featuring two very athletic wrestlers running into a charismatically annoying opponent, yes please. Matthews has crafted a very entertaining persona as this pseudo-motivational speaker character and along with DeReiss and Wade these three had a really fun match that featured all of them in the ring at the same time more than often in a match of this kind.
DeReiss looked to have the match won at one point with his 450 splash but Matthews broke it up, and Wade went on to retain his title.
DeReiss challenged Wade to a one on one match in the future and took out his frustrations on the champion in the aftermath, a match that will surely be great.
Tom Thelwell vs Luke Jacobs
The second change of the night as Tom Thelwell moves to face Luke Jacobs, but much like the opener this didn’t harm the match at all.
In fact Thelwell and Jacobs, who have both been on an amazing run this year, put together a stunning contest. Seriously one of the best matches of the year as both young men threw everything at each other, showing why they both have such bright futures.
It’s not worth me describing it in any way, simply go and watch it as soon as you can. The standing ovation they received was absolutely well deserved.
Violence Party (Jack Turner & BA Rose) vs Crashboat (Jake Silver & Jack Bandicoot) – Tidal Tag Team Titles
Credit: Tidal Championship Wrestling
A classic tag team clash between a duo of big scary men and two rapid high fliers. Both these teams are mainstays in Tidal and have great chemistry.
Crashboat have bags of charisma as a pair and both are capable of pulling out some really impressive high speed moves, with Violence Party working as a strong base and adding their own hard hitting offence to proceedings.
It was Violence Party who won the match and retained their titles in the end, they have earned a decent reign with the belts and Crashboat have more than enough about them to return to the title picture at any time.
Rhio vs Natalie Sykes – Tidal Women’s Title
Rhio has been the cornerstone of the Tidal Women’s title for most of the last two years and recently retained against Ivy.
Her challenger is another mainstay of Tidal in Natalie Sykes and they put on a strong match built around Sykes fighting from underneath for the most part against the more powerful Rhio.
It looked to be heading towards a Rhio victory until Ivy ran in and attacked both women, causing a no contest and setting the stage for a triple threat in the future.
Will Kroos & HT Drake vs Chris Ridgeway & Joe Kessler
Credit: Tidal Championship Wrestling
The main event was originally due to be Kroos vs Ridgeway in a first time ever singles match for the title but was surprisingly changed at the last minute to be Kroos and number one contender HT Drake facing Ridgeway and a debuting Joe Kessler.
This change visibly sucked the life out the crowd, something not helped by Joe Kessler being mis-announced, meaning half the crowd didn’t know who he was.
The match itself was fine, as you’d expect with four very talented men in the ring, but the last minute change for ‘reasons’ meant it was hard to fully enjoy.
Kroos and Drake won the match and showed one another respect to each other before their planned title match. Unfortunately Kroos was injured during this match and their title clash will have to wait.
An odd decision to change the match meant the show ended on an odd note.
Overall the match quality was the saving grace of this show as every match delivered. The main event change will be the biggest talking point for most people coming out of this show and unfortunately will probably mean the match we actually got will be forgotten.
Luke Jacobs vs Tom Thelwell on its own though is reason enough to watch this show.