Maddogs Monthly Muse - January 2024

It's that time again! Maddog Angus is BACK with his Monthly Muse, The New Year has started with a bang with successful sell out shows sweeping the nation! The excitement for quality wrestling, strong storylines and brilliant wrestlers is at an all time high in the UK. I have personally had an exciting start to the year starting firstly, with the sold out New Dawn 2 on 14th January at the Parish Huddersfield Over 100 fans packed into the venue bringing with them an electric energy

As my first show as GM at TIDAL Wrestling I had anticipated surprises and perhaps some challenging of my authority, however in the long run it seems like my GM decisions went down well with both the fans and wrestlers. I am slightly concerned that the Meat Wagon might have removed me from their Christmas card list, after granting Chase the Ace (Chase Alcala and Ace Matthews) a title match in which they flourished as a team and managed to snatch the TIDAL Tag Team tiles away from the team formerly known as Sinergy.

The long awaited rematch between Vusyk and Sam Gradwell did not disappoint, with the man known as the TIDAL Terminator picking up a huge victory over the former NXT UK star in decisive fashion, showing an even more vicious presence in the ring than ever before. With the two wrestlers now being tied 1 win apiece the crowd in the Parish let us know exactly what they wanted with chants of "One more match" being heard all the way to Leeds! Vusyk now turns his attention to the Iron Will Tournament being held in London on 24th February.

The card also featured an epic opening bout between Adonis Payne and the Heavyweight King Mickey Barnes. TIDAL have kindly made this one available to watch for all the fans of Real Rasslin at this link- https://www.facebook.com/share/v/r48DQfA36hdgosDY/

Adonis Payne will finally get his rematch with Bullit in February, the animosity between these two has only grown since their last encounter, with Bullit throwing Adonis literally into the line of fire of Shigehiro Irie at PROGRESS last week leading fans to speculate that Adonis' outline would be permanently imprinted on the Electric Ballroom floor. Will The Conqueror get his revenge in the capital?

In other exciting news from New Dawn 2, Nina Samuels defeated Rhio to become the new TIDAL Women's Champion. HT Drake uttered the line "Hell's frozen over" prompting a match with Blue Pain. The Big Red-acted machine was disqualified however after the  returning Dara Diablo interfered in the match, resulting in a chokeslam to the enraged Diablo. In the main event of the evening Scotty Rawk retained his TIDAL Championship over number one contender Tate Mayfairs in an epic encounter. 

A huge talking point coming out of the show was Harley Hudson stepping up to answer the Open Challenge of Spike Trivet. The hard working athlete Hudzilla who last year won TNA's Gut check competition showed her toughness and athleticism in a battling performance against the man who some would argue is currently the best wrestler in Europe. The Vulture is almost certainly the most dangerous, as he proved, on this occasion picking up a win against the courageous Scouser. The crowd at the Parish were kept enthralled throughout this one and rallied behind the Bodygirl, even Spike was left impressed by Hudson's efforts a nod from the PROGRESS Champion at the end of the match suggested that Harley had earned a modicum of respect.

TIDAL are excited to be bringing their next show to the New Cross Inn in London on Saturday 24th February. The show will feature the Iron Will Tournament which sees eight competitors go head to head to earn a place in a four person Iron Man match! The competitors have been announced they are Suplex Merchant Alf Edwards. Crimson Killshot Artemis, self proclaimed Tidal Chief Ace Matthews, Truman Roswell, Man Like DeReiss, the debuting Bauer and Vusyk. The TIDAL Championship will be on the line as Scotty Rawk aims to make his second defence of the title against Dara Diablo. This one came about after a backstage altercation between Dara and Scotty with myself caught in the crossfire. Tickets are available now https://bit.ly/TIDAL2024

Two weeks after New Dawn 2 I travelled down to London to host Hooked on Wrestling's Royal Rumble party alongside Chuck Mambo and Elora Mae. As with all Hooked on parties we had a quiz and a raffle, including the chance to win a trip to Wrestlemania with Wrestle Tours. It was a great evening of fun and this years Royal Rumble didn't disappoint, the whole gang in Shoreditch are now fully on the road to Wrestlemania! Hooked on parties all around the country all did extremely well and we hope everyone who attended had a great time. The fans at Wembley Boxpark were even joined by a legend of wrestling, as Fred Ottman (Tugboat, Typhoon and The Shockmaster) popped by to entertain the wild crowd in Wembley. Tickets for Hooked On's WM40 parties are available now!

https://www.hookedonwrestling.uk/upcomingevents

Only a few hours after the Rumble I headed to the Electric Ballroom for another sold out show! This was PROGRESS Wrestling's first show of 2024 Chapter 162 Light of the Dragon. An amazing start to the year as we first of all welcomed recent departee from WWE Mustafa Ali. Mustafa was an absolute professional from being one of the first wrestlers in the building, suited and booted, signing literally thousands of autographs and during the interval having pictures and chatting to the fans, Ali didn't stop, he also had an incredible match against Leon Slater which was the first match of the year, and an instant match of the year contender! A true honour to have Ali at the Ballroom and his advice for upcoming stars and kind words to wrestlers who's matches he took the time to watch and critique are invaluable. In Ali we trust. His World Tour continues to TNA and DEFY this coming week.

The Ballroom also witnessed the debut of NOAH star Taishi Ozawa who gave a spirited performance against Rob Drake. Drake himself looked on top form and even challenged Simon Miller to a match, after Miller had announced his plans to wrestle in America for PROGRESS this year. Rob Drake vs Simon Miller will take place at Twisted Metal on 25th February.

One of the most entertaining matches on the show was the returning GYV facing Sunshine Machine. The crowd in the Electric Ballroom certainly welcomed Zack Gibson and James Drake back in an interesting way , the classic "Shoes off if you hate Gibson" left many people hopping around the Ballroom! These two teams then proceeded to have one of the best tag team contests I've had the pleasure of viewing in a long time. An enthralling 25 minute contest you will definitely need to check out on Demand PROGRESS +

The show was capped off with a brilliant Thunderbastard match between seven of the best. Gene Munny, Luke Jacobs, Yoichi, Tate Mayfairs, Mark Haskins and Connor Mills all lost out to the victor, after entering first, and wrestling over 35 minutes was Kid Lykos, who showed he had what it takes to beat the best! He instantly used his key to unlock the opportunity to face Spike Trivet, one more time for the PROGRESS Men's World Championship. This allowed Spike to return from his suspension, which led to a problem for Lykos, as Spike demanded that the match would take place under his terms, in a match he hasn't lost, the place where he destroyed the Black Swan, inside the confides of a steel cage! And hence the show billed as Twisted for 25th February, became Twisted Metal.

With so many great wrestling shows coming up in the next few weeks I'll be back with an update very soon including TNT Extreme Wrestling DOA and 10th Anniversary weekender (3rd-4th February), Odyssey wrestling's first show of the year in Morecambe, an excursion to the Midlands to check out a training school who are putting on their own shows and making a lot of noise in the Dudley area, and don't forget the yearly Wrestleisland Rumble on 11th February. See you soon grapple fans. Maddog