REVIEW: Wrestle Carnival II Anniversary

Wrestle Carnival II Anniversary
HMV Empire, Coventry
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Reviewer: David South (@DavidSouth1980)

Just over a year ago, I wrote Grapple Theory’s review of Wrestlecarnival’s first anniversary show. I said then that the company had been quietly putting on shows mixing the best of the UK independent scene, with quality imported talent and that the word was starting to get out there.

Year two has seen a change of ‘home’ venue and because of that, a certain amount of rebuilding the fan base has been necessary. The quality of the shows has never diminished though, and the larger and savvier audience are again showing up.

This show began with what must be the earliest interruption in history, with host and announcer Colin Russell-Ames barely getting out “Welcome to th….”, before Gene Munny and the general manager Isaiah Quinn came to the ring.

Gene reminds us all about the ‘Munny in the bank’ briefcase he won at the first anniversary and has patiently held for a year but will definitely cash in tonight after the match between CJ Rawlings and ‘Nan like Doris’. Confident that victory is inevitable, they leave.

Before Colin can continue the welcome, Lance Revera’s music hits and it seems like the show has started anyway.

Lance Revera vs Leyton Buzzard

Both these gentlemen usually show scant regard for crowd approval but, perhaps as this is his last match before his excursion to Japan, Leyton Buzzard has had a change of heart and asks for support.

He gets the first pin attempt too, following a battle for wrist control. Revera is quickly on his knees begging for mercy. The crowd warn Buzzard that it’s a trap and they are proved correct when Revera pulls him into a codebreaker for his first near fall.

A perfect combo of Facebuster, clothesline and splash would get El Capitan another near finish then he’d catch Revera climbing the ropes, beal him off and then hit an uranage which we all felt must be the end, but Revera kicked out at 2 ¾.

Now confident, and with his challenger down, Buzzard climbed the ropes again and went for a moonsault, the playboy prince moved out of the way though and Buzzard pancaked hard.

Revera would then hit a perfectly placed superkick on his staggering opponent to claim the victory.

Good luck to one of the UK’s best as he goes to Japan, already brilliant I suspect he’ll come back even better. For Revera though he must be looking towards winning his first title in Wrestlecarnival now, maybe when the Future X belt is next up for grabs.

Chantal Jordan vs Amira

Whilst Amira has been a presence on many a show I’ve been to, this is actually the first match I’ve seen her have.

Perhaps acknowledging that Jordan was a tough opponent for her, she tried attacking right on the bell, a high kick which Jordan dodged. She begged forgiveness and then tried to hide on the floor, but Jordan dived out the ring, through the ropes after her.

Back in the ring Amira cowers in the ropes, trying to keep Chantal off her. When Ref Greenwood tries to separate them Amira screeches in his ear and then, as he recoils away, rakes Jordan’s eyes.

Now in the ascendency, she ties Jordan upside down in a tree of woe and then, in a move as unique as it was painful looking, bites at Jordan’s upper legs. Once Jordan is loose, Amira again attempts kicks but Jordan is either dodging or blocking them.

When it’s her time to attack her kicks are landing, two key blows then end the match; The first to Amira’s lower leg, which have her on her knees and then a knockout kick to the head, which gains her the three count.

With Jordon winning here and Alex Windsor now fighting fit again, the contenders for Jetta’s queen of the carnival title are growing.

Alex Connors vs Kieran Young vs Kieron Lacey vs Corey McRae vs Matt Powell vs Nathan Cruz vs Ronan King vs Robbie X - Eight-man Gauntlet for the Gold

Quick note on the rules of this one; Numbers were drawn at random, two men start with another joining every 90 seconds. Elimination is over the top rope to the floor until there are two remaining with the match then ending via pinfall or submission.

First out are Matt Powell and ‘The Enemy’ Alex Connors. They are joined first by Kieran Young and then by Kieron Lacey. Connors and Young team up to attack Lacey on his arrival, whilst Mad Dog has a beer on the apron, having gone under the bottom rope (Nice work if you can get it).

Nathan Cruz comes to the ring next and quickly eliminates Kieran Young. Corey McRae has drawn number six. Mad Dog mistakenly gives up his position on the apron to try and throw Cruz out, but Cruz turns the tables and out he goes instead.

Ronan King comes to the ring then finally Robbie X completes the field. Robbie X appears to have had a change of personality though, as he ignores the crowd and once in the ring, forms an alliance with Nathan Cruz.

Ronan King wants to join the veterans club too, but Cruz and X aren’t receptive. Robbie eliminates Kieron Lacey then hits his signature handspring cutter on King and he is thrown over the top.

That leaves Corey McRae in deep trouble, alone against two guys on the same page. McRae does manage to get Cruz over the top rope, but he lands on the apron. Robbie X charges but McRae sidesteps at the last minute and Cruz hits the floor.

So, it’s a traditional match now, Corey McRae against Robbie X. Robbie has no issues telling McRae that he “doesn’t deserve to be there”. X again goes for the handspring cutter but McRae turns it into a German Suplex for the very near fall.

The end though would come after an accidental bump to the referee, after which Robbie would hit McRae with a low blow and then successful hit the cutter for the victory.

Though he didn’t win the match, Corey McRae did win a bunch of new admirers today.

Lizzy Evo vs Safire Reed

This one had quite the even start, with Safire Reed attempting to steal it early with a roll up having pushed off the ropes. Lizzy changes tactics and gets much more physical but still Reed finds a way back into the match using her technical prowess.

Evo takes the brawling to the floor, chops Reed on the apron and then rams her into the corner post. Back in the ring Evo applies more pressure with the camel clutch before a delayed German suplex gives Reed a measure of hope.

Then the match swings backwards and forwards wildly. Evo’s DDT gets her a two. Reed catches an attempted kick and hits a big headbutt, but the Liver bird responds with a superkick.

She then hits a standing curb stomp that must be the end, but Reed kicks out at two! As if in shock that it wasn’t over, Evo then is caught in a rainmaker style clothesline and then, as Evo rises to her knees, Reed hits the radioactive running knee strike for the (upset?) victory.

Leon Slater vs George Lydon

Though Leon Slater is my boy from way back (Hex Club, Sheffield, 2019), at this show I was sat next to George Lydon’s family and struck up conversation with his lovely and very proud Nan during the interval. This left my loyalties a bit divided and to be fair the same goes for the crowd in general, as Lydon is a Coventry native.

Slater perhaps is getting comfortable to his golden boy status, so was not used to not having universal acclaim and was more boastful and aggressive than I’ve seen him in a while.

With Lydon on the floor, following a successful Hurricanrana, Slater dropkicked him in the head having come off the ropes at full speed. He then dragged him back inside and hit and DDT with Lydon just barely kicking out.

Lydon would change the momentum with a springing clothesline off the bottom rope. He hit a handspring elbow and a Fishermans Suplex and now it’s Slater desperately kicking out.

Following another German Suplex, Slater rolls to the floor and then, in a highlight reel moment, Lydon leaps to the top and lands a springboard somersault plancha on top of him.

The end comes when, with them both back in the ring, Slater hits a Hurricanrana of his own and then, with the ref unsighted, clings to the ropes for the tainted victory.

It’s another win for the youngest in charge, but it’s Lydon who takes most of the crowd’s appreciation.

Rayne Leverkusen vs Ivy

Ivy objects in the strongest possible terms to be referred to as a ‘Karen’ by the crowd and refuses to participate until they both cease and desist.

When Ivy does start the match, Rayne is on top. After a brief flurry when Ivy chokes her in the ropes, Rayne hits a pump handle slam, then ducks until a clothesline Matrix-style and then hits a cutter for a near fall.

Ivy hits a running dropkick to Leverkusen’s legs and, whilst she’s flat on the mat, sets in a deep Boston Crab and Rayne just makes it to the ropes.

They end up on the floor and Ivy irishwhips Leverkusen into the corner post. Ivy then demands that the referee hurries up and counts her out. Leverkusen makes it back in at 9 and ¾ though.

Ivy hits an underhook DDT but it’s only for a two count. Now desperate she grabs her ring jacket and chokes her opponent in front of the ref.

Then, as he is getting rid of the jacket, Ivy grabs her baseball bat and levels Leverkusen with it. Rayne is out cold and it’s a pinfall victory for Ivy.

Chris Ridgeway (c) vs Emersyn Jayne - Wrestle Carnival Pure Championship

In one of the clearest violations of the pure rules I’ve seen, Ridgeway attacks Emersyn Jayne before thematch starts, kicking her repeatedly. He gets the microphone and proceeds to tell us all the rules of a pure match, whilst holding Jayne in a single leg crab.

He hits her with a few more vicious shots before allowing the ref to confirm if she wants to start the match. She does and the bell rings.

Ridgeway immediately reapplies the Single leg Crab and Jayne is forced to give up a precious rope break. Ridgeway then shifts his assault to the left arm but it’s here that Jayne rallies for the first time and puts on an armbar of her own, drawing a rope break from Ridgeway.

Because of the prematch damage, Ridgeway can always plant a kick on Jayne’s legs to cut off her offence and as Jayne is getting desperate, she dives through the ropes onto Ridgeway, with both of them crashing to the ramp.

Back in the ring, Ridgeway reapplies the armbar to draw the second ropebreak. Jayne knocks him down and then hits a moonsault that Ridgeway only just manages to kick out from, then a dragon suplex and now Ridgeway is really struggling only just kicking out of that one.

Jayne tries one rollup, then another and a third with Ridgeway kicking out just a bit slower every time. She goes for it a fourth time and just manages to hold it long enough to take the win and the Pure Championship from Ridgeway.

It was a Herculean effort to come back from that prematch attack and win, and the crowd were on their feet applauding that effort at the end.

Man Like Dereiss (c) vs CJ Rawlings - Wrestle Carnival Heavyweight Championship

Bad blood in this one after the tag match at the last WrestleCarnival event ended in a brawl in the back. They are separated during the prematch introduction by a line of ring crew.

Dereiss goes on the attack as soon as the bell rings. He gets the 0121 stomps in early, but missed a flip off the top rope which allows Rawlings to start his offence.

He slams Dereiss on the entrance ramp, then more slams around the ring and back to the outside, when he wants a piledriver on the stage but Dereiss reverses it.

Back in the ring, CJ hits a popup Powerbomb for a two count but then misses a follow up moonsault. Dereiss comes off the top now, but CJ pulls the ref in the way and he’s laid out.

CJ fetches the title belt, he swings for Dereiss who ducks underneath it and hits a cutter and covers CJ, there’s no ref to make the pin though. Greenwood runs from the back, only for CJ to kickout at the last moment.

In a moment of madness, Rawlings hits a lowblow right in front of Greenwood. Seeing that the disqualification is imminent, Rawlings decides to punch Greenwood, so now both referees are down.

CJ gets the belt again and this time hits Dereiss, there’s still no ref though. Eventually the first referee recovers and starts a count with Dereiss just kicking out at two.

CJ starts to climb the ropes but Dereiss cuts him off with a cutter. He climbs the ropes and hits a 450 splash to retain the championship.

Gene Munny and Isaiah Quinn return to the ring. Munny says he’s going to do this properly and fairly, but then hits Dereiss once more with the case before cashing in his shot.

He calls for an ‘Ainsley Lariat’ to finish him off and hits it, Dereiss unbelievably kicks out. Stunned, Munny lines up a second one, but Dereiss hits a superkick and then climbs the ropes again and hits another 450.

It’s Munny’s turn to kick out this time though. Quinn grabs the belt and swings for Dereiss but misses and hits Munny full in the face. Dereiss rolls him up and successfully retains his title again.

He’s still not able to celebrate this win though, as Robbie X runs through the crowd and knocks him down again. He says that “Your time is up, my time is now” (he doesn’t follow it with “you can’t see me, my time is now” though).

At “Speed Kills” the next event, in Cambridge, Robbie X will face Dereiss for the Championship.

We’re not done yet here though as the chorus of J Cole’s “I’m Coming Home” play over the PA and out, to a rapturous response, is Charles Crowley.

The former champ has his issues with Dereiss, so he looks resigned to another fight, particularly when Crowley shakes hands with Robbie X, but instead Crowley holds on to Robbie’s hand and then hits him with a jumping knee strike.

He bows slightly to the champ and then leaves and Dereiss holds his belt aloft for the applauding crowd.

Interesting times for WrestleCarnival. Another great show, with two really top-quality main events, a little bit of a changing of the guard though with Revera, Jordan, Corey McRae, Safire Reed and George Lydon all impressing.

There’s so much talent about at the moment and the potential match ups are mouthwatering prospects. See you again for the third anniversary, and hopefully a few more Wrestlecarnival shows before then.

REVIEW: Wrestle Carnival II Anniversary

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