REVIEW: FutureShock Wrestling

FutureShock Wrestling
New Century Hall, Manchester
Sunday, October 2, 2022.
Reviewer: David South (@DavidSouth1980)

I didn’t want one of the biggest weekends in British Wrestling to have gone by without me seeing at least one show.

With train strikes ruling out much of the Saturday stuff, I decided that I’d head across the Pennines on Sunday and take in the stacked card that Futureshock have assembled and to get a chance to see the newly reopened New Century Hall, a venue steeped in musical history, that has thankfully been restored to former glories.

Glorious it is too, with its atmospheric ceiling of colour controllable lights. . . but enough about the venue, Chris Brooker thanks us for coming and announces the first match is for the Futureshock Tag Team Championships.

The Models (Danny Hope and Joey Hayes) vs Sinergy (Troy Ryan and Anderson Daniels) - FutureShock Wrestling Tag Team Championships

The beefy boys of Sinergy are very popular with the Manchester crowd and start the match on top, throwing the models around, tagging in and out whilst keeping Joey Hayes up in a suplex and walking around the ring holding their opponents in a press slam position.

A well-hidden low blow gets The Models back into the bout though and they swap in and out whilst working on Troy Ryan’s legs.

Ryan makes the tag eventually and Daniels slams both Hayes, and Hope, and splashes them both in the corner. The fightback doesn’t last long though and The Models both apply crossfaces and Sinergy are forced to dig deep, refusing to submit.

Each man then twists free of the hold and deadlifts their foe into a powerbomb. Now in the ascendency, Sinergy would retain their titles following a top rope bulldog and celebrate with the delighted fans.

Big Guns Joe vs JJ Webb - FutureShock Adrenaline Championship

The second match on the card was also a championship match. This time JJ Webb, accompanied to the ring by Danny Proper, would put up his Adrenaline Championship against another wrestler popular with the crowd, Big Guns Joe.

Speared on by the crowd support, Joe made a very strong start, with even Proper’s pulling down the ropes to make Joe tumble to the floor, providing little more than a moments respite for the beleaguered Webb.

Indeed, Webb never really got any sort of foothold in the match, with Joe getting a near fall from a gut wrench suplex and then applying a Boston crab that JJ only just managed to get to the ropes to escape.

Perhaps sensing that it wasn’t his day, JJ aggressively and deliberately pushed the referee across the ring. Joe, seeing Webb’s plan, begged the Ref not to disqualify him but he had no other option and called for the bell.

Joe wins the match, but Webb retains the title. This doesn’t seem like it’s over.

Session Moth Martina vs Taonga - FutureShock Women’s Championship

If the crowd had been playing favourites so far, they really weren’t sure who to root for here as Futureshock Women’s champion Taonga defended her title against the Session Moth, who danced to the ring throwing handfuls of glowsticks into the crowd.

They even seemed to quite like each other, with Taonga accepting a ceremonial glowstick before the bell rang. It became competitive quickly though, as Martina knocked Taonga down with a clothesline and applied an armbar.

Taonga would launch her own offence and get a near fall after a punch, slap, stunner combination. They would both attempt clotheslines and knock each other down, the referee began the count when Harley Hudson’s music hit, and she and Lily Winter came to the ring and attacked both participants ending the match in a double DQ.

On the mic, Winter said that she was aggrieved because she is the number one contender, but Martina walked straight into to her spot. Hudson was furious that Futureshock had flown Martin across but couldn’t find a place for her on this card (I did think to suggest that they’d probably split the cost of the flight with 1PW, but it didn’t seem helpful).

Martina recovered enough to suggest that they had a tag match, which then immediately started.

Session Moth Martina & Taonga vs Harley Hudson & Lily Winter

Naturally, the fresh team were immediately in the ascendancy. Isolating Taonga and keeping fresh with frequent tagging. Eventually though Taonga avoids a clothesline in the corner and makes it across to Martina for the tag.

Martina beats up both Hudson and Winter and though it looks like Hudson has managed to cut off her offence, she soon receives a knee to the face, is knocked to the floor and is essentially eliminated from the match.

Lily Winter is now alone with both her opponents and they make short work of her, Taonga shoving her into a codebreaker by Martina for the win.

The villains skulk away whilst Martina and Taonga have the crowd up and dancing to celebrate their win. Martina then chases Referee Greenwood to the back and Taonga holds her title aloft.

Alexxis Falcon w/JJ Webb vs Lana Austin

If the crowd wasn’t sure who to cheer for in the earlier match, here they’re not sure who to boo. Small sections of the crowd are cheering for Austin, which seems to both confuse and annoy her.

Alexxis is accompanied by JJ Webb but even she doesn’t seem chuffed by that prospect. This was a great match with some unbelievable near falls.

Falcon hits a spinning DDT off the second rope for hers, Austin with a running kick and then again with a trapped in the corner codebreaker which Falcon implausibly kicked out from.

With the referee distracted, Webb gave Falcon his loaded bag to hit Austin with it, but she refuses and instead hits him with it.

In the distraction though Austin strikes and hits an Implant DDT and surely has the match won, but again, Falcon kicks out.

With Austin surely questioning what it will take to keep Falcon down, Falcon would instead find the way to win, hitting the spinning DDT off the ropes for a second time. Excellent stuff.

Joe Kessler, Tu Byt and Dynamite Lee Dawson vs Danny Proper, Oscar Byron and Steve Cross

Some unusual partners in this three-man tag. Tu Byt kicks things off for his team, with Oscar Byron mocking his stature before losing out in a matchup of technical skills.

Next Danny Proper and Joe Kessler face off, but Kessler is the stronger of the two and hits a two-man suplex on both Proper and Byron.

Lee Dawson is about to light the fuse, but Tu Byt catches his arm and tags himself in. The crowd and Dawson are cleared annoyed by this, particularly when the Rat King does it for a second time minutes later.

Steve Cross is the old school grappler of his team, and he takes over on Tu Byt beating him down to the point that Byt has no alternative but to tag Dawson in.

He lets out his frustrations and has the crowd on their feet after a middle rope dive to the floor. Cross manages to get Kessler in a Texas Cloverleaf but he gets to the ropes to break the hold.

Tu Byt though, seems to think that his North West Strong stablemate isn’t giving his all, so slaps his partner across the face. Furious, Kessler enters beast mode, hitting big power moves on all three opponents, before a DDT on Cross secures his team the win.

He doesn’t seem to appreciate Byt’s tactics, but he can’t argue with the outcome.

Ashton Smith vs Deadly Damon Leigh - FutureShock Heavyweight Championship

Damon Leigh’s four-year reign as Futureshock Heavyweight Champion comes under serious threat from returning NXTUK star Ashton Smith.

Leigh makes the early running, controlling Smith in a headlock for a long period. Smith eventually gets free and hits a snakeeyes and shoulder block to knock Leigh to the floor.

Back in the ring, Leigh recovers and hits a dropkick on Smith, who’s climbing the ropes and now he hits the floor. Leigh though continues to the attack, running Smith into the corner post and hitting a flip knee to his head as Smith tries to get back in the ring.

The match swings back and forth with Leigh hitting his crucifix powerbomb and Smith somehow kicking out. Later Smith would hit a GTS but Leigh falls to the floor.

He’s unable to answer the referee’s count but Smith, somehow, had the wherewithal to dive to the outside, as the referee was on nine, to reset that and not allow Leigh to retain via count out.

Back in the ring Smith avoids Damon’s splash into the corner but, unfortunately, the referee Dan Sheader isn’t quite as quick, and is laid out.

Smith has the match won following a powerslam but the ref isn’t able to make the count. Joey Hayes returns to the ring and joins Leigh in a beatdown of Smith.

Leigh hits the Crucifix powerbomb again and Hayes rushes to revive the ref, who crawls over and starts the count, only for Smith to kick out at two, much to the crowd’s delight.

With Hayes continuing to provide a distraction, Smith attempts a sunset flip, but Leigh is just that bit more aware, reverses the momentum and leans back to hold Smith down for the three count.

Leigh and Hayes leave triumphant, Smith takes the mic and thanks the crowd for his support and declares that he’s back home.

An excellent event from Futureshock, with both tremendous matches and well told stories, here in what is a truly exceptional venue. I can’t wait to head back across again later this year.

REVIEW: FutureShock Wrestling

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