REVIEW: ICW Fear and Loathing XIII

Insane Championship Wrestling: Fear and Loathing XIII
Venue: Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, Scotland
November 20 and 21, 2021
Reviewer: David South (@DavidSouth1980)

‘Fear and Loathing XIII’ was my first ever live ICW experience, indeed it was my first trip to Glasgow. I wish I had time to talk about the food, culture and hospitality of the place but frankly, I’ve got 20 matches and a few other moments to try and cram in here, so I’ll have to skip all that.

I can’t skip waxing lyrical about the Barrowland Ballroom though, one of the few true Meccas of BritWres. A building ageing gracefully and with history seeped into its walls. Once I’d negotiated the covid passports, metal detectors and found a seat, Simon Cassidy made his way to the ring to announce the first night’s pre-show match.

NIGHT ONE

Che Monet vs Xero

This match was for the final spot in night two’s Zero-G number one contenders ladder match.

Monet, the quicker and smaller of the two, utilising that pace advantage and achieved some near falls with a variety of kicks to the head and a moonsault.

The inhuman Xero though, slowed the pace and eventually, once Monet missed a top rope cutter, hooked in a sleeper hold and, unable to reach the rope by mere inches.

Monet passed out and the referee called the match in Xero’s favour.

Billy Kirkwood came to the ring to fire up the crowd for the beginning of the taping and soon we were underway with match one proper.

Francesco Akira vs Daz Black - Zero-G Championship

Starting off with a bang, this match really split the crowd with as many supporting the Italian born, All Japan signed, challenger Akira as the champion Black.

It was as fast and technically strong a match as we had hoped for and could genuinely have gone either way. Black eventually retained though following a series of running knee strikes and a curb stomp.

Sweeney and Levi vs Saqib Ali and Daro (w/ Chris Toal)

Chris Toal owes Sweeney money, but to pay it off, he’s staked Saqib Ali’s hair in a winner takes all tag match. This match was all Sweeney and Levi until Ali made the hot tag to popular underdog Daro whose kicks were oddly more effective than his Shinku Hadoken, which seemingly just confused Sweeney.

His efforts were in vain though, as Levi hit a top rope ‘coup de grace’ style drop kick for the win. Toal settled his debts with Sweeney (sort of) and then called out a barber and together they shaved Ali’s head.

Theo Doros vs Ravie Davie - Glasgow Street Fight

A match now for the very soul of ICW as, per the stipulations, if Doros won ICW will start to introduce more traditional rules to its matches. Naturally the crowd, and their proxy Ravie Davie were very much against this idea.

This match contained the most terrifying moment of the night, when Davie attempted a moonsault to the outside but got his angles wrong and instead hit the ropes and fell, spinning uncontrollably, to the floor.

Fortunately, he soon popped up and was OK but this could have been genuinely disastrous. The pair fought around the building, eventually working their way downstairs and into the market beneath the ballroom, hitting bins and shuttered market stalls.

The finish came back at ringside with Doros hitting an elbow from the top turnbuckle, onto a prone Davie on a table on the outside, then getting a three count.

Aaron Echo vs Logan Smith

Echo dominated the early proceedings in this one. At almost a foot taller than Smith, he hit kicks, knee strikes and a Samoan drop for a near two count.

Smith shifted the momentum though, turning a super backdrop into a splash and continuing with a brutal looking cutter to the outside. Echo eventually used the referee to block a top rope move and hit a pump handle suplex for the pin.

Jason Reed vs Chris Bungard

I have seen matches live before that were technically better than this, but I’m not sure I’ve seen any with comparable “big fight” atmosphere.

MMA fighter Bungard started the better utilising takedowns and mounted punches. Reed eventually wrestled his way back into the match, employing suplexes before taking the fight to the floor and slamming his opponent on the guard rail.

A shot from Reed’s manager, Coach Trip, with a loaded cast had Bungard stunned but he was able to answer the ten count. Later, Bungard hit a superplex before locking in a sleeper that saw Reed tap.

Reed was then taken away by the medical team whilst Bungard took the applause and we all headed into the interval.

The Manifesto (Alexander MacAllan, Dylan Thorn, Eddie Castle and Grant McIvor) vs Jimmy Pierce, Lou King Sharp and The Purge (Krobar and Stevie James)

This match broke down almost immediately and saw all eight men fighting wherever they stood.

Whereas the Manifesto became a unit as the match ran on, discontent only grew between the Purge and their less serious teammates.

With The Purge handcuffed on the outside, the Manifesto isolated Sharp and MacAllan hit a chokeslam backbreaker for the win.

Molly Spartan vs Angel Hayze - ICW Women’s World Championship

With the title having been vacated due to an injury to Aivil, the tournament to crown a new champion reached it’s final here.

Molly Spartan used her power to get in front and her partner in the She-Wolves, Kasey, to stay there. Momentum changed when Kasey was kicked from ringside by the referee.

Hayze eventually hitting two superkicks, then transitioning a DDT into a front face lock and after a few seconds, the referee deemed Spartan unable to defend herself and awarded the decision, and the belt to Angel Hayze.

DCT vs Thatcher Wright

This match would have been over in seconds, as DCT immediately hit a pedigree and went for a pin which Thatcher’s Cabinet (Charles Vyce and Ian Skinner) broke up.

The match swung back and forth until DCT missed a splash off the top and Thatcher hit several chair shots and two with his prized Maggie Thatcher biography for the win.

Following the fight, DCT asked for the microphone, thanked the crowd and seemingly retired (though importantly, he never actually said those words – more on that on night two).

JAXN vs Kez Evans - ICW Heavyweight Championship

This title had been stripped from Noam Dar, who had been unable to defend it due to the pandemic.

The crowd favourite JAXN got the better of the early exchanges, with Evans taking control after a missed baseball slide left him open to attack. JAXN powered his way back in, only for Evans to hit a clutch DDT on the apron and then splash his opponent who kicked out at twi.

JAXN recovered and cinched in a crossface submission, which he then transitioned to a slam finish and became the new champion.

This match perhaps suffered a little from crowd fatigue, we were almost five hours in at this point and though there was a cheer for the victory, the fact that it came a little out of nowhere meant the match didn’t hit the heights of the Bungard/Reed one.

This was only the first night though, and there were plenty more twists to follow. Night two again opened with a pre-match bout for those who paid extra for early access.

NIGHT TWO

Gia Adams vs Anastasia

This match was to become number one contender to Angel Hayze’s newly won Women’s Title.

These two were very evenly matched, and that was reflected in a number of near falls for both. The match ended though when Anastasia hit a claymore style dropkick for the pinfall.

Billy Kirkwood again fired up the crowd ahead of the start of the show proper. It shouldn’t be underestimated just how good he is at this. Once everyone is set, we head into match one.

Sheikh El Sham vs Martin Kirby vs Tallon Jnr vs Joey Hayes vs Danny Hope vs Xero - six man ladder Zero-G Championship number one contenders match

As Xero was coming down the ramp, he was jumped by Manifesto. They tied a chain around his neck and dragged him to the back allowing Dylan Thorn to take his place.

From there, there were simply too many spots to try and tell you about here. One highlight though was Kirby convincing Tallon that they should do double dives to the outside before abandoning his jump at the last moment, watching Tallon splash his other opponents then turning round and trying to climb the ladder.

The winner though ended up being the interloper, Thorn, who pulled Tallon Jr off the ladder and volleyed him in the face on the way down, before climbing himself and claiming the briefcase.

Thorn, certainly on these two nights here, seems very much like someone to keep your eyes on in the future.

Simon Cassidy then informed us of the first rule changes, based on last nights victory for Theo Doros over Ravie Davie. From now on, matches will have a 20-minute time limit, except for title matches, which will be 30 minutes.

The crowd are not happy and vent their frustration at Cassidy.

KoE ( Kai Williams-King and King Killa) vs Luke Kyro and Adam Maxted

The KoE isolated Luke Kyro for long periods of the match utilising quick tags and double team moves to keep a frustrated Maxted on the outside. Eventually though, the hot tag came, and Maxted thundered into the ring clearing house.

The finish came after Kyro hit a Cross Rhodes style cutter and pinned Williams-King, he and Maxted embraced for a big crowd reaction.

The new heavyweight champion JAXN came to the ring, he teased joining the battle of the big men later tonight but instead the lights go out, and when they come back on, DCT is in the ring, but not as we saw him last night, clean shaven and with a polo mallet.

He lays out the new champion and then leaves as Kez Evans returns to the ring dragging a referee with him. He says he has an anytime rematch clause in his contract and he’s taking it now.

JAXN vs Kez Evans - ICW Heavyweight Championship

A dazed JAXN staggered forward into Evans, who executed a spike piledriver and pinned his opponent to take the title. He returned the abuse he received from the angry crowd and left.

Thatchers Cabinet (Charles Vyce and Ian Skinner) vs Jack Jester

Jack Jester unfortunately got lost on the way to the ring, having been outside and in the toilets, he ends up bumping into an old friend who joins him as his tag team partner.

It’s Sha Samuels and The Kinky Party is reunited. This was, perhaps, the biggest and most sustained crowd reaction of the whole weekend.

The Kinky Party make short work of the cabinet, before Thatcher Wright tries to interrupt their celebrations and is knocked out himself. Jester then does some unspeakable things to his copy of the Margaret Thatcher biography.

Big Damo vs Andy Wild

The former WWE man had his first match back in ICW against Andy Wild, who believes himself to be the best unsigned big man in the UK.

Both men where cheered by the crowd and both utilised their strength and mass throughout. After Wild had followed up a gut wrench suplex with a splash, the bell rang to say that the allotted 20 minutes had expired.

Wild took the microphone to demand five more minutes but Damo declined and left boos and jeers ringing in his ears.

Leyton Buzzard vs LJ Cleary

Back from the interval we saw Leyton Buzzard and LJ Cleary in another lightning fast cruiserweight style match. Both men kicked out of Canadian destroyers but after a backdrop on the apron and a 450 splash Buzzard hooked in a modified sharpshooter and Cleary tapped out. Big futures for both these guys.

Kasey vs. Rhio

Having seen her partner fail to clinch the women’s title last night, Kasey came to the ring looking for some redemption against Rhio, who felt that the She-Wolves have been a thorn in her side long enough.

This was a really strong outing for both women, the end coming when Kasey hit a second double knee strike to the back of Rhio’s head and pinned her.

Kasey left declaring that she should be in contention for the women’s title.

The Kings of the North (Bonesaw and Damien Covin) vs. The Nine9 (Dickie Divers and Jack Morris)

The Kings of the North won the titles from the Nine9 but in very controversial fashion. Divers was knocked seemingly unconscious and the match appeared to stop.

The medical staff came out, and one or two of the other Wrestlers came to help, the crowd was very quiet. Though the referee never actually stopped the match, it appeared to be over when Morris shook hands with his opponents.

The KOTN had other ideas though and hit a big double team move on him, then forced the referee to count. They left the Barrowlands with the ICW tag titles to a chorus of outraged booing.

Stevie Boy vs. BT Gunn - King of Insanity Match

Finally, we saw our main event. The pair of brawlers came out of the ring and into the crowd almost immediately. BT Gunn was through a table from the raised camera position with the match less than two minutes old and it only escalated from there.

Stevie Boy was cracking light tubes across Gunns back, before returning the favour opened a deep cut at the back of Stevie’s neck.

Gunn brought in a staplegun, Stevie responded with Barbed wire. Gunn brought in the thumbtacks; Stevie answered with Lego bricks.

Referee Sean McLaughlin was assaulted by both competitors and was incapacitated when Stevie Boy was dropped through several lighttubes lying between two chairs, so was unable to make a count.

The finish came when Stevie Boy was driven though a barbwire wrapped table, from a ladder, and BT was able to crawl over for a pin, to become the new King of Insanity.

The crowd and staff bid an emotional farewell to Stevie Boy, who is moving to America and the pair shared a beer together amongst the detritus the strew the ring.

It’s obviously a time of transition in British Wrestling, as we deal still with the fallout of the various issues that have beset it in the last couple of years.

In previous years, Fear and Loathing has had greater star power and utilised more imports, but this felt like a roster of mostly homegrown, talented, stars on the rise, showing what they are capable of.

It was a memorable couple of nights for me and a place I hope to return to in the not to distant future.

REVIEW: ICW Fear and Loathing XIII

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