Ringside Report: NBW Southside Wrestling: Supremacy (19/08/12)

Back in January the Maximum Impact IV tour inspired me; I have been a wrestling fan for many years but before my venture to the Capital FM Arena, I had only previously been to two wrestling live events, both held by the WWE and both over 10 years ago; but watching the likes of A.J. Styles and Austin Aries in person made me want more. Last month I attended Leicester Championship Wrestling's 'Summertime' event and now I had a front row ticket for Southside's 'Supremecy' event in which the main attraction was to see Ring Of Honor's Davey Richards in person as he is regarded as one of the best in the world.

Arriving at the venue I wasn't sure what to expect, the LCW show I attended was good but had a crowd made up of kids; but walking into the bar waiting area I could tell this would be different, a large array of different people but only a small number of children to be seen and a variety of wrestling t shirts ranging from the everyday WWE CM Punk shirts to the rarity of ROH merchandise. 

After a lengthy delay, presumably down to the Q&A session taking place we were allowed into the arena, we were sat on top of a bowling green, but I guess finding  places to hold events is tough and once I was seated I was in a wrestling arena rather than anywhere else.

Seated at ringside, right in front of the corner of the ring near to the wrestlers entrance way and sound desk, it was worth the extra fiver not to have anybody in front of me to have the perfect view, only spoilt on occasion by the camera men trying to make their living. 

The show kicked off and the ring announcer 'Diamond Dale Mills' made his way to the ring to a chorus of boo's, but only from the side of the crowd that I was in! Having not read up on the history I was a little taken aback, but on the introduction of Harvey Dale it became clear there was a divide between Southside and the House of Pain which are two promotions (but seemed more like factions such like the WWE Invasion angle) and the crowd behind me was made up of HOP trainees. The two in the ring had a good back on forth on the mic and set the tone of the rest of the show and then introduced the opening bout of Lionheart vs. Ego Dragon, Harvey was then sent packing to the back and DDM took a spot on the commentary table. The match was a solid opener and I was familiar with Lionheart having seen some of his matches on the internet, but the crowd heat died off from the opening promo and the in ring action suffered slightly from it, Ego Dragon picked up the win which continued his undefeated streak    

The second match on the card was a treat as it was unscheduled, Gresham and MK Mkinnon took on the 'LDRS of the New School'  Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre Jr in tag team action. LDRS are regarded as the best British tag team and from this showing its easy to see why, once the novelty of referring to 'Party' Marty as that guy from ITV's Take Me Out has worn off. The match built from comedy moments at the start including lots of hugging and 'wrestling friends' to a hard fought, hard hitting bout which showcased the talents of all involved including some great technical wrestling and excellent selling by ZSJ who spent a large period of the match looking out of it right by my feet. LDRS picked up the win and Zack challenged Marty for a shot at his Speed King Title for later on this evening. 

The entrance of Rockstar Spud

The next 'match' segment brought out HOP's Max Angelus with Harvey Dale to face Rockstar Spud; who coming to the ring to the whole of Living On A Prayer rivalled any Wrestlemania entrance in length; Spud grabbed a mic and said he didn't want to be there so tried to strike a deal with Dale to make Max lie down for him, this went back and forth with Max initially refusing and riled up the crowd giving back and forth opinions with the HOP side yelling for him to do it and the rest telling him to stand up for himself. After a period of time Max hesitantly got on his back while Spud instructed the camera man and referee to do exactly what he wanted, after the two count though Angelus reveresed the pin and rolled up Spud for the three count. Dale was angry at Max clearly setting up a further angle between the two. 

During the segment I have to say how great Spud was on the mic, his entrance gave him a sleazy feel but his mic work made him despised, especially as he talked down to audience members and bossed around the employees, but he played his part elevating this segment. 

The next contest was a six man tag splitting the audience as it was House of Pain (The Predators and SC Supreme) vs. Team SWE (Martin Kirby, Robbie X and Mad Man Manson). The match showcased everybody's abilities and having read about Mad Man in Fighting Spirit Magazine was amused to see his act in person, with drawn on ring boots, straight jacket and random moves such as nipple twists which added to the match making sure it didn't go too much in one direction.

Noam Dar - Future Superstar

Noam Dar came out next which meant it was time for Davey Richards, going into the event this was the match I was most excited for and it delivered! From stiff looking kicks to hard hitting knocks in and out of the ring this was an excellent match up. Davey picked up the victory but Dar came out looking like the winner, going toe to toe with one of the best in the world, a few more matches like this and it wouldn't surprise me if he was called up to one of the big American companies.
After the match Davey grabbed the mic and put Dar over, then it was time for the interval where Richards stayed in the ring for photo's while selling a very serious limp, whilst Lionheart was selling merchandise in which I quizzed him over a number of things and am hopefully looking forward to seeing him on the Maximum Impact Tour next January.

Richards - Best In The World

After the break it was time for the Speed King title match between LDRS members Marty Scurll and Zack Sabre Jr. The match started slowly between the two friends and tag partners with holds taking part between jokes and reversals being more a 'you can do it, I can do it' mentality but this built into another excellent match with each willing to do anything to become the victor. The crowd were a little flat during this match but I think it was mainly down to not knowing which man to cheer for!  Scrull retained his title in the end after hitting a tombstone and ZSJ was upset with the loss and almost went straight to the back, but Marty won him over and the two embraced to send Zack off on his tour of Japan, with a promise of a rematch in the future to whet out appetites.

The Main Event was to crown a SWE Heavyweight Championship and started with Stixx coming to the ring in street clothes as no opponent had been named for him. After another two and fro between Harvey Dale and 'DDM' the HOP side of the crowd were demanding Stixx just be awarded the strap, but then Mark Haskins was announced as his opponent and the match was a NO DQ match! The match was wild and spilt into the crowd on multiple occasions, the crowd were all on their feet lifting the roof off the venue with the noise being made as the two athletes threw everything at one another, well mostly chairs! HOP got involved in the match but SWE members came to chase them to the back, duelling referees played their part and eventually Stixx picked up the victory, after Harvey Dale took a super-kick off the apron.

The HOP side of the crowd went mental for Stixx winning and he made his way to celebrate with them as Haskins pulled himself together in the ring as stated this wouldn't be the end between them. The crowd continued to be at war with one another with the HOP rubbing the title win in the faces of the rest of the crowd. Once the excitement had died down a little Stixx and co went backstage to draw an end to a fantastic show.



I can only recommend that if you see a promotion close to you holding a show then you should give it a try and if you can make it to a Southside show then what's stopping you! From reports I may have been lucky and caught one of the best independent shows ever in this country but it shows that with quality talent and booking this was from top to bottom an excellent card and definitely worth the price of admission with the only down point to the show was that Juvi Guerrera pulling, but the talent on show and getting to meet most of the card afterwards more than made up for it!
I saw Stixx open the LCW show I attended before this and little could I have predicted he would have been beating a TNA superstar the next event, it just goes to show that you never know what to expect!

Written and Photos by: @Robbie_G_CH

Full set of photos at: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.395327070531472.94499.225595667504614&type=3