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Thoughts and Prayers

When I think of grade school, I think about good things such as hanging around with friends, getting good grades (including passing classes) as well as a good education, and some good highlights that were part of my time as a student including going to a senior prom with one of my classmates.

What I try not to think about when it comes to grade school is something horrifying and tragic such as mass shootings, especially one that took place this week at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. As we saw in the news, nineteen students—ranging from second grade to fourth grade—and two teachers were shot and killed in the elementary school. The reason why I mention this in the beginning is because I’m dedicating this issue of Pro-Darin to the family and friends of the victims of that tragic shooting. My hearts and condolences go out to the 19 students and two teachers that were killed on that day…may they rest in peace.

ICW Fight Club

Our first stop is the GPWA in Glasgow, Scotland in the United Kingdom for an episode of ICW Fight Club.

This episode took place after ICW Barred II. Post-Barred storylines came into play on this episode such as Team ICW—the team of Daz Black, Leyton Buzzard, Luke Kyro and Jack Jester to be more specific—metaphorically sighing in relief after defeating the Manifesto in the Super Smokin’ Thunder Bowl at that event; the Manifesto trying to regroup after losing in the aforementioned four-on-four cage match and eyeing on past rivals such as Che Monet; BT Gunn being frustrated—like Iva Kolasky was after losing the wXw Women’s Championship to Ava Everett—after losing to Kez Evans and (also like Iva) possibly turning heel; and Ravie Davie pulling Thatcher’s Cabinet’s strings like they’re puppets by putting the members of that team in matches with competitors and stipulations of his choosing.

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Mentioning Team ICW defeating the Manifesto, you could tell in both Daz Black’s match with LJ Cleary as well as Eddie Castle’s match with Che Monet that the aftermath of their ICW Barred II fight played a factor. Black was finally worry free after getting the metaphoric monkey—in the form of the Manifesto—off his back, concentrating on his pretty good match with Cleary that kicked off the episode (unless you count Barred II highlights and Billy Kirkwood & James R. Kennedy welcoming us to ICW Fight Club as the kickoff prior to match #1); it was also my favorite match of the episode. I’m curious to see what else Daz Black will have in store after his past run as the ICW Zero-G Champion as well as putting Barred II in the rearview; he appears to be doing very well during his run in that company.

The first taste of Ravie Davie’s match choices to unnerve Thatcher’s Cabinet was announced on an episode of Vibes with Luke Kyro. As soon as Davie was going to tell Kyro one of the matches he came up with for one of the Cabinet members, the Cabinet came in and demanded to find out what Davie’s first announced match would be. Davie showed it on the screen, and he—at the Garage where Barred II took place—announced that he found a “bad” opponent for Thatcher Wright…“The Bad Guy” Chris Bungard! It looks like Bungard is adding more pro wrestling matches to his fighting career ever since appearing in a few ICW matches, including those involving Jason Reed and Coach Trip; I’m curious to see how his match with Wright will go even though Wright is leaning towards “won’t end well” per se.

Not a happy camper after Barred II was of course BT Gunn after coming up short in his match with Kez Evans for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship. In the main event, Gunn and Buzzard would argue during and after their match against Logan Smith & Jimmy Pierce (now known as “The Young Team”), as well as backstage before the match with Buzzard announcing that he was looking forward to cashing in his Square Go! briefcase and winning the title that Gunn—who was agitated after hearing that announcement—came close to winning. Like I said, we could be seeing a possible heel turn for the ICW veteran Gunn.

Here are the match results from Glasgow…

Match #1: Daz Black defeated LJ Cleary with the Curbstomp.

Both men shook hands before the match as well as after the match. My score: 3/5

Match #2: Che Monet defeated Eddie Castle (w/ ADM, Grant McIvor and Dylan Thorn).

Castle blindsided Monet before the match. Towards the end, Monet knocked McIvor off the apron before planting a kiss on Thorn’s lips; Castle went after Monet afterwards until Monet rolled him up for the win. Afterwards, the Manifesto ambushed Monet, and then wrapped a steel chair around one of his legs and stomped it. Then, Xero’s music played in the arena, and he appeared under the ring and grabbed McIvor by the chain before fighting and chasing the Manifesto out of the ring. My score: 1.5/5

Match #3: Alexxis Falcon defeated Ellie Armstrong.

The same Alexxis we see in Progress, TNT and other independent wrestling companies in the United Kingdom made her ICW debut in this episode; she defeated Ellie with the Falcon’s Fury. Both women gave each other a fist bump afterwards. My score: 2.5/5

Main event: The Young Team (w/ The Wee Man) defeated Leyton Buzzard & BT Gunn.

The Wee Man once again vowed to lead the Young Team to tag team gold before the match, and then jokingly said that Buzzard and Gunn looked like a “celebrity couple.” Towards the end, Buzzard hit Logan Smith with the Rock Bottom (nowadays known as the “Buzzkiller”) until Gunn blind tagged himself in; both Buzzard and Gunn argued and got into a shoving match until Smith rolled up Gunn and pinned him for the win. Post-match, Gunn and Buzzard argued once again until Smith and Jimmy Pierce intervened before Gunn stormed off. My score: 2.5/5

wXw We Love Wrestling 29

We stay in the continent of Europe, but this time, we head to the Batschkapp in Frankfurt, Germany for wXw We Love Wrestling 29.

This episode took place on April 2, 2022, almost one month after the 16 Carat Gold tournament. Two more moments were made during the tournament. They were… Maggot defeated Ninja Mack to become the new wXw Shotgun Champion in a four-way dance that also included the Rotation and Ender Kara.

Jonathan Gresham won the 16 Carat Gold tournament; also in the tournament were Robert Dreissker, Fuminori Abe, Cara Noir, Vincent Heisenberg, Peter Tihanyi, Aigle Blanc, LuFisto, Dennis “Ca$h” Dullnig, Marius Al-Ani (taking the spot from Biff Busick who pulled out after getting COVID), Michael Knight, Maggot, Ace Romero, Shigehiro Irie, Senza Volto, and Bobby Gunns. (Al-Ani would then be replaced by Hektor Invictus after Al-Ani got injured.) After Gresham won the tournament and celebrated, Dreissker—who lost to him in the final round—attacked him, and then attacked wXw’s Director of Sports Francis Kaspin; Dreissker would be suspended from wXw afterwards due to his actions.

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This episode of wXw We Love Wrestling was pretty good. With the exception of one match that was too short-lived in my opinion, the rest of the matches were pretty good including back-to-back title changes that occurred in the last two matches. It was also rare seeing two or more matches that only had heels in action, even though Maggot and Baby Allison—who are heels of course—received a standing ovation in their matches since they’re residents of Frankfurt. My favorite of the matches that took place would go to the rematch for the wXw Tag Team Championship between Fast Time Moodo & Stephanie Maze and Bobby Gunns & Michael Knight. Not only did it have a better finish unlike last time where Knight was injured leading to a referee stoppage, but it was as good as the first time that both teams fought for the belts.

Oh, and before I continue, Norman Harras is the new Director of Sports for wXw.

Now, we’re taking a look at the match results from Frankfurt…

Match #1: Rott und Flott defeated Hektor Invictus & Dennis “Ca$h” Dullnig.

Near the end, after Dullnig and Invictus were paying homage to the Dudley Boyz starting off with hitting Nikita Charisma with the 3D, they attempted to hit Michael Schenkenberg with the Wassup headbutt until Charisma stopped the attempt. Then, Schenkenberg had Invictus crotched on the top rope and would tie his shoelaces to the post before he and Charisma hit Dullnig—who saw the tied up Invictus—with an elevated DDT for the win. My score: 2.75/5

Match #2: Vincent Heisenberg defeated Aigle Blanc after countering a moonsault with a powerslam.

My score: 3.5/5

Match #3: Oskar defeated Jacob Crane in three minutes to retain the wXw Academy Cup.

Before the match started, Oskar encountered Robert Dreissker who was in the audience, and Dreissker argued with him before throwing a drink at him; Dreissker would be ejected from the arena afterwards. Oscar won with a Michinoku driver. No score.

Match #4: Stephanie Maze & Fast Time Moodo defeated Michael Knight & Bobby Gunns

To retain the wXw Tag Team Championship after a combination of Stephanie’s Skyfall (her Blackbelt Kick of course!) and Moodo’s Blackbelt Kick to Gunns. My score: 3.75/5

Match #5: Maggot defeated Norman Harras to retain the wXw Shotgun Championship.

As mentioned moments ago, Maggot received a standing ovation in his hometown of Frankfurt. Near the end, Harras rolled up Maggot with a handful of tights until Maggot won with a rollup—and a handful of tights as well—of his own. My score: 2.5/5

Match #6: Baby Allison (w/ Vincent Heisenberg) defeated Ava Everett and Iva Kolasky to become the new wXw Women’s Champion.

As mentioned moments ago, Allison—like Maggot—received a standing ovation in their hometown of Frankfurt. As soon as Allison was beaten down in a corner in the beginning, it looked like Iva was ready to team with Ava until Ava made her think otherwise by yanking her by the hair. Towards the end, Ava hit Iva with a roundhouse kick until Allison hit Ava with a spear for the win. Afterwards, Allison celebrated her win with Maggot and Heisenberg. My score: 3.5/5

Main event: Jurn Simmons defeated Tristan Archer and Axel “The Axeman” Tischer in a three-way dance to become the new wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion.

This match was scheduled to be a tag team match between Simmons & Levaniel and Tischer & Archer, but became a non-title three-way dance because Levaniel was out due to COVID. Then, as soon as all three wrestlers were in the ring, Norman Harras announced that the title would be on the line in this triple threat match. As soon as the match began, Archer refused to fight and let Simmons and Tischer go at it until the two went after the “French Revolution.” Near the end, Archer almost shoved Tischer into the referee before hitting him with a low blow. Then, Archer attempted to hit Tischer with the Coup d’État until Simmons booted Archer; Simmons would then pick up the win after hitting Archer with a spear followed by a piledriver. My score: 3.5/5

NXT

Now, we head to Orlando, Florida in the United States—on the date of May 24, 2022—for an episode of NXT.

Just like the aforementioned 16 Carat Gold as well as the main event to the 29th episode of wXw We Love Wrestling, there were also changes that occurred for this week’s episode of NXT. One was the cancellation of the non-title tag team match between Diamond Mine’s Roderick Strong & Damon Kemp and Pretty Deadly; Strong was out due to suffering an ankle injury (even though he’ll be back next week on NXT), leading to the Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile getting ticked off over the news—as well as getting ticked off over the tag team champions getting “lucky”—since Brutus and Julius are scheduled to face Pretty Deadly for the NXT Tag Team Championship at NXT In Your House.

From a storyline to reality, the second change that occurred this week involved the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament. For those of you that wanted to see Nikkita Lyons win the tournament (I did as well, but I’m now going with Roxanne Perez), she unfortunately ended up spraining her MCL and would end up being pulled out of the tournament; instead of seeing Fallon Henley—whom Nikkita would have faced in the semi-final round—get a bye run, Nikkita would be replaced by Tiffany Stratton.

Speaking of women, two matches involving NXT’s women’s roster—especially all three members of Toxic Attraction—have been made for In Your House; one is Wendy Choo fighting Mandy Rose for the NXT Women’s Championship, and the other is Katana Chance & Kayden Carter fighting Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship. Those matches were made after Katana, Kayden and Wendy accused Toxic Attraction of dodging them when asking for shots at the titles. Aside from Wendy getting another shot at gold in the form of—this time—the NXT Women’s Championship, it’s good to see Katana and Kayden go for tag team gold since they have closed in on it several times; despite seeing Toxic Attraction being a dominant stable in the women’s roster, I’m hoping that Katana and Kayden finally win the belts and not end up with yet another “close but no cigar” result.

Joe Gacy is now taking his personal rivalry with Bron Breakker to a new level heading into IYH. This week, Gacy would try to have Breakker metaphorically quote Linkin Park “crawling in my skin…these wounds they will not heal…” by referencing his father; one was placing a photo of the Steiner family from 20 years ago on his locker, and another was playing footage of Breakker playing high school football—that his father Rick Steiner wasn’t in attendance for—on the screen while he was interviewed backstage by McKenzie Mitchell. It would also have Breakker reaching the boiling point after his opponent—for this week—Duke Hudson declined those actions that were of course done by Gacy before Hudson mentioned Breakker having “daddy issues.” These mind games—especially when it comes to mentioning someone’s family—definitely show Gacy wanting Breakker to get disqualified at IYH in order to lose the NXT Championship besides showing the dark side of Gacy’s character, hooded followers and all.

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The matches in the first half of the show were alright, but the matches in the second half were approximately two times better in my opinion. My favorite match would have to be the aforementioned main event non-title bout between Breakker and Hudson; despite seeing a result that wasn’t in the form of losing via pinfall or submission, it showed Gacy metaphorically getting into Breakker’s head while watching not only on the stage but also at ringside later in the match and supposedly succeeding by taking the champion down a peg. Here are the NXT match results from Orlando…

Match #1: Stacks & Two Dimes (w/ Tony D’Angelo) defeated Edris Enofé & Malik Blade.

Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde & Cruz del Toro headed to ringside after watching the match backstage for a minute. Stacks and Two Dimes won after a double boot to Blade. Afterwards, Escobar, Wilde and Cruz appeared and D’Angelo told them to come in and fight; the three Legado del Fantasma members did so as all six men brawled until referees came and separated them. My score: 1.5/5

Match #2: Sanga defeated Wes Lee in almost four minutes with a chokeslam.

Post-match, Xyon Quinn came in and taunted Lee until Sanga threw him aside and protected Lee. My score: 1.5/5

Match #3: Alba Fyre defeated Elektra Lopez in almost three minutes.

Cora Jade was in the audience eating popcorn. Alba was unable to hit Elektra with the Fyre Bomb after Elektra worked on her left arm earlier; instead, she picked up the win after hitting Elektra with a Swanton Bomb. Afterwards, Elektra approached Cora and slapped the popcorn out of her hands. My score: 0.5/5

Match #4: Roxanne Perez defeated Lash Legend in the semi-final round of the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament with a Code Red (now known as the “Pop Rox”).

My score: 1.5/5

Match #5: Mandy Rose defeated Indi Hartwell in a non-title match.

Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne weren’t at ringside because Katana Chance and Kayden Carter attacked them backstage while Toxic Attraction poked fun of Indi’s solo run. Near the end, the brawl between Katana & Kayden and Gigi & Jacy spilled to the ringside area as well as the ring; Indi fought Jacy out of the ring until Mandy hit the distracted Indi with a pump knee. Afterwards, the Katana & Kayden/Gigi & Jacy brawl spilled out of the arena, then—at the entryway—Wendy Choo hit Mandy with a pillowcase full of balls (as in basketballs, footballs, tennis balls, etc. for those of you that have your minds…ahem…in the gutter). My score: 3/5

Match #6: Tiffany Stratton defeated Fallon Henley (w/ Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen) in the semi-final round of the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament.

As mentioned moments ago, Tiffany was the replacement for the injured Nikkita Lyons. Tiffany won after hitting Fallon with a corner dropkick (ala Jeff Hardy) followed by a corkscrew Vader bomb. My score: 2/5

Match #7: Von Wagner (w/ Mr. Stone) defeated Ikemen Jiro.

Jiro went after Wagner before the match started. Wagner ended up winning with a Death Valley driver. Post-match, Sofia Cromwell appeared at the entryway and Wagner lifted up Jiro until Josh Briggs ran in and attacked Wagner out of the ring. My score: 1/5

Main event: Duke Hudson defeated Bron Breakker by disqualification in a non-title match.

Joe Gacy and two of his hooded followers watched from the stage during the match before moving to ringside later on. Towards the end, the followers went after Breakker until Breakker fought them; behind his back as well as the referee’s, Gacy handed Hudson a chair. Breakker came back in and took the chair from Hudson before fighting and shooing away the followers and Gacy with it as well as hitting Hudson with it for the DQ. Gacy smiled at Breakker getting himself disqualified afterwards. My score: 3.75/5

NXT UK

We now return to the United Kingdom, but this time, we head to the BT Sports Studios in London, England for an episode of NXT UK.

Two matches seeing the worlds of NXT and NXT UK collide took place this week which were Lash Legend taking on Emilia McKenzie and Damon Kemp taking on Sha Samuels. Besides those two matches, we also have one match involving two wrestlers from both rosters will take place next week, that being Von Wagner taking on Sam Gradwell. We also have one more match involving two more wrestlers from both rosters will take place on the following week, and—made official—it will be Ivy Nile fighting Meiko Satomura for the NXT UK Women’s Championship.

From worlds colliding to tag teams colliding, next week we will see three teams fight for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship; Moustache Mountain will defend the belts against Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter and Die Familie members Teoman & Rohan Raja. This definitely sees Moustache Mountain—especially Trent Seven—get tired of fighting Smith & Carter at first in back-to-back title defenses before seeing that Teoman and Raja are one monkey wrench thrown into the championship picture.

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Even though the matches were off to a below fair start, they would end up rising to the top and not fall off like the hiker in the Cliffhangers game on “The Price Is Right.” My best match out of the four would go to A-Kid fighting Die Familie member Charlie Dempsey in a match that was under Heritage Cup rules. It’s not the first time that we have seen the wrestlers on NXT UK’s roster fight under those rules without the Heritage Cup or a shot at that cup on the line; remember when Kassius Ohno (now back to fighting as Chris Hero outside WWE) and Sid Scala fought under those rules in late 2021? Anyway, it was a pretty good back and forth match, even with technical maneuvers such as submission holds coming into play. Despite seeing an ending that would have anyone roll their eyes in disgust, it was still a pretty good main event.

Here are the match results from London…

Match #1: Mark Coffey defeated Saxon Huxley in four minutes.

Mark had “JC” written on his wrist tape, referencing his brother Joe Coffey who is taking time away. Mark won after hitting Saxon with a running basement back elbow. My score: 1/5

Match #2: Lash Legend defeated Emilia McKenzie with a bicycle kick.

My score: 1.5/5

Match #3: Sha Samuels (w/ Noam Dar) defeated Damon Kemp.

During the match, Dar drank from Samuels’ flash (and ended up giving a look that reminded me of the Keystone Light commercials from the 1990s where drinkers had a “Bitter Beer Face”), and Samuels wanted a drink from it before realizing that it was empty. Near the end, Kemp caught Dar by the ankle with his scarf, leading to Samuels hitting Kemp with a spinning spinebuster for the win. My score: 2/5

Main event: Charlie Dempsey defeated A-Kid in a Heritage Cup rules match 2-1.

Dempsey took the 1-0 lead after making A-Kid submit to a grounded bow and arrow in round 3, then A-Kid tied it up 1-1 with a running heel kick in round 4. Then, in the final round, Dempsey brought his towel into the ring, and the referee got rid of it until Dempsey threw brass knuckles at A-Kid before making it look like A-Kid struck him with the knuckles. This led to Dempsey sucker punching A-Kid before picking up the win with a Regalplex. My score: 4/5

NXT: LVL UP

Lastly, we return to Orlando, Florida for an episode of NXT: LVL UP.

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As I have mentioned in past newsletters while recapping episodes of NXT: LVL UP, I have been impressed with Trick Williams’ run-in singles competition as of late especially on this week’s episode; the main event that saw him take on Dante Chen was my favorite match of the night. Williams continues to impress me in each one-on-one match he participates in week after week. Now, if only we get to see him have a singles competition run on NXT as well besides NXT: LVL UP…

Okay, thinking aside, let’s take a look at the NXT: LVL UP match results from Orlando…

Match #1: Andre Chase & Bodhi Hayward defeated Damaris Griffin & Bryson Montana in four minutes after hitting Montana with the Fratliner (spinning Gory Bomb/flatliner combo).

My score: 1.5/5

Match #2: Amari Miller defeated Arianna Grace after countering Arianna’s rollup with her own rollup.

My score: 2.5/5

Main event: Trick Williams (w/ Carmelo Hayes) defeated Dante Chen with the Trick Kick.

My score: 3/5

Next time…

Recently, it has been a wXw show along with my usual four (ICW, NXT, NXT UK and NXT: LVL UP); in the next newsletter, it will be much different because instead of a wXw show, it will be a lookback at Progress Chapter 134…followed by my usual four.

For my newsletters as well as any articles that are on the Wrestling With Johners website, the website is wrestlingwithjohners.com/articles

For just my newsletters along on the WWJ website, it is wrestlingwithjohners.com/authors/pro-darin/

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment! I’ll see you next time!

(Photos shown in the newsletter are from WWE, ICW and wXw.)