By Harry Miller. November 10th, 2023.
A boisterous crowd of 242 fanatics bared witness to an outstanding night of professional wrestling at the Anarchy Brewery.
A chaotic night filled with brutal yet entertaining action was capped off with NORTH Champion Leon Slater’s first title defence since signing with Impact Wrestling. The clock is now ticking on Slater’s time on the independent scene, so it was a night to be savoured for the NORTH Faithful.
Another Impact Wrestling star was on hand to kick off the show with former Digital Media Champion, Joe Hendry in the opening match.
Joe Hendry vs Michael Oku
In a bout that personified power vs speed, Joe Hendry and Michael Oku set the pace for the night with a thrilling encounter. The crowd was in full voice with duelling chants for both men who had each cultivated a strong following through their careers.
Oku was making his first NORTH appearance since his loss at Thunderstruck but it looked unlikely that the losing streak would end here as Hendry’s overwhelming power put the Scotsman in firm control. A momentary flicker of the venue lights distracted Hendry enough for Oku to fire himself back into the match with a flurry of high-flying offence.
Michael Oku hit an insanely impressive Fosbury Flop-inspired dive onto his outside opponent followed by an unbelievable springboard moonsault back in the ring. This train of momentum was soon derailed by Joe Hendry catching one of the many aerial assaults and returning fire with a huge pop-up powerbomb.
Just when it looked like Joe Hendry was closing in on victory, Oku manoeuvred his opponent into a surprise pinning predicament which was enough to get the three-count.
Tag Team Tournament Opening Matches
The Tag Team Tournament had returned after its successful first outing that saw current NORTH Champion Leon Slater not only make his debut but win the whole competition with partner Man Like DeReiss.
Hoping to find similar success in their debut were the team of Rogan and Hard Man Dan. Unfortunately for the newcomers, they were matched up with the two most experienced members on the NORTH roster, the longest reigning NORTH Champion of all time, Liam Slater and the only ever two-time NORTH Champion, Rory Coyle. Coyle had a recent tag-team victory, teaming with WWE legend Gangrel at Thunderstruck and was looking for further success in the tag division in this new team known as the Post Modern Sick Boys.
This was an all-out brawl that spilled all around the venue with bodies being thrown into the crowd and over the bar within seconds of the opening bell. Despite the best efforts of Rogan and Dan, they were unable to overcome the Sick Boys who hit stereo finishing manoeuvres to end this physical battle.
Before the victors could celebrate for too long, an enraged Rampage Brown made a surprise appearance to declare himself in the tag tournament. The crowd pondered who could be partnering the monstrous Brown but they didn’t have to wait for long as the mountainous Will Kroos came out to what was the loudest reaction of the night.
Faced with the task of defeating two angry behemoths was the established ensemble of Joe Wade and Joe Kessler. This was Wade and Kessler’s third NORTH appearance, making their debut at Let The Cannons Fly 4 earlier this year but the duo had never squared up to a team with such raw power as Brown and Kroos.
Despite the size disadvantage, Kessler and Wade found themselves in control of the match with their long-standing chemistry being highlighted by their constant tandem offence. It took some dastardly tactics from their opponents to flip the momentum and quickly demolish any chances of advancement.
Brown and Kroos used their overwhelming power to slam, toss and drive their opponents into the ring mat with the latter hitting a devastating piledriver to end this contest.
The first two teams had advanced in this tournament with one more first-round match to come later in the night.
NORTH Ultraviolent Championship: Clint Margera (C) vs Cole Radrick
This match should come with an explicit material warning as both competitors have little regard for human well-being and a huge appetite for blood spilling. Margera had been Ultraviolent champion for over 200 days and had recently defended the title against former AEW star Joey Janela.
Cole Radrick was making his NORTH debut and immediately needed some ibuprofen after being thrown head first into the base of a steel chair. The sound of skull meeting metal echoed around the venue, but it was a whimper compared to the symphony of destruction that followed.
Radrick’s relationship with chairs only worsened as Margera drove his challenger through a stack of seats. As if this wasn’t enough carnage, the champion produced a sack that was soon emptied onto the canvas to create a pool of thumbtacks.
Thumbtacks have become a common weapon in the wrestling world but that doesn’t make it less thrilling to see two competitors grapple to throw the other one into a literal bed of nails. The champion used the tacks to great effect, driving his opponent into the pile of sharp edges but the hundreds of pins in Radrick’s back seemed to fire him up.
Radrick rose to his feet and slammed Margera into the tacks so now both men had a back full of metal and a head full of ill intentions. With title aspirations in sight, Radrick climbed to the top rope but was met with a series of projectile steel chairs bouncing off his head.
Clint Margera met the challenger up top and slammed Radrick back onto the pile of thumbtacks to successfully retain his title.
Ace Matthews Hardcore Open Challenge
From one extreme to another, out came Ace Matthews flanked by the Landed Gentry (Zeo Knox and Benji). To fit the hardcore aesthetic, Matthews donned some lovely eyeliner and crowned himself the ‘Deathmatch Cutie’. Matthews had set an open challenge, looking for NORTH’s most hardcore wrestler and who better to answer the call than Natalie Sykes?
Matthews immediately underestimated Sykes to his own peril as it did not take long for a chair to be thrown in his direction. One superkick and Northern Light’s suplex later and Matthews was almost out of his own open challenge. It took the use of a kendo stick from Ace Matthews to fight back, hitting sykes with a combination of strikes.
This brief success went straight to Matthew’s head but this newly found cockiness lead to a kendo stick strike going straight to his head. Sykes, now armed with the kendo stick, brutally battered Matthews before hitting a cutter to put away her opponent for a three count.
Amir Jordan vs Kid Lykos
Fresh off a tour of Canada, former WWE Superstar Amir Jordan made his return to NORTH to take on young veteran Kid Lykos.
Both competitors possessed great athleticism which was put on show as they traded impressive feats of aerial abilities. Jordan would hit a suicide dive onto the outside only to be upstaged by Lykos pulling off a standing shooting star press back in the ring.
The two super athletes went back and forth with pinning combinations, each only able to muster a two count. Amir Jordan broke away from the vortex of pinfalls and hit a rolling thunder cutter to get yet another two count.
Jordan went to the top rope to hit his signature swanton bomb but Lykos’s stablemate Gene Munny suddenly appeared on screen to deliver a distracting video message. Lykos took full advantage by hitting a low blow on Jordan while video Munny took the ref’s attention.
Unfortunately, the rambling Munny was too much of a distraction even for Kid Lykos, allowing Jordan to pull an unexpecting pinfall that was successful.
Tag Team Tournament Continued
In the final first round match of the night, Crashboat (Jake Silver and Jack Bandicoot) face Alexxis Falcon and former WWE Superstar Lizzy Evo.
Before the match could get underway, Falcon called for a celebration in regards to her and Evo being the only women in the tournament. It was a Saturday night in Newcastle so what better way to celebrate than having some alcoholic beverages with Falcon supplying both the cups and gin.
The celebration was short lived as Evo and Falcon went to spit their mouthfuls into the opposition’s faces but both members of Crashboat dodged and fired back with huge superkicks. Crashboat’s chemistry shone throughout with lots of double team offence including a Hardy Boyz like poetry in motion.
It took nefarious means for the tides to turn for Crashboat as Falcon once again had a mouthful of gin but this time she spat directly in Bandicoot’s eyes. This lead to a PJ in Byker Grove moment for Bandicoot as he called out that he couldn’t see before being slammed with a German suplex from Evo.
Falcon and Evo took full control, displaying a high level of tag wrestling IQ by ensuring Bandicoot was isolated and unable to tag in Silver. This was until Falcon went to spit in their opponent’s face again but this time, Bandicoot caught the gin in his mouth and spat it right back in Falcon’s face.
This gave the opportunity for Silver to tag in, take both opponents out and hit an F-5 to set up a Bandicoot frog splash which was enough for Crashboat to sail into the next round.
NORTH Championship: Leon Slater (C) vs Kid Lykos II (with Kid Lykos)
Leon Slater at just 19 years old has taken the world by storm, recently signing for Impact Wrestling and winning the NORTH Championship in the span of a few short months. Standing in the path of further glory was the only man to pin Slater at NORTH, Kid Lykos II.
This match was a 2-out-of-3 falls contest and the first fall was decided instantly as Kid Lykos attacked the referee before hitting the champion with a vicious brainbuster. Kid Lykos II followed suit, hitting a brainbuster of his own and getting the successful pinfall after a second ref had entered the ring.
Leon Slater was down but not out, coming back into the match like a raging inferno, scorching his opponent with huge dives, kicks and strikes. It may have been bonfire night eve but it sounded like a firework show inside the Anarchy Brewery with how loud Leon Slater was chopping Kid Lykos II.
This match flew by with an exhilarating pace, both competitors trading audacious acrobatic attacks and high speed offence. Kid Lykos II constantly went for another of his signature brainbusters but was often met with a counter that left him flat on his back.
Leon Slater caught his opponent and hit a giant spinning powerbomb to win the second fall and tie the contest. The champion kept on top of Lykos II and hit another spinning powerbomb but before the referee could count to three, Kid Lykos attacked the official once again.
With no referee to administer the match, the two Lykos’ beat down the champion but Slater was able to overcome the odds, remove Lykos from the equation and hit Lykos II with an insane 450 swanton splash. The crowd counted to three as Slater pinned Lykos II but there was no referee to make the official call.
While the next referee was on the way out, Lykos smashed the championship belt into Slater’s face and hit his devastating brainbuster. With the ref in position, Lykos II went for the pin but in an unbelievable act of defiance, Leon Slater kicked out at one.
Slater has a newfound surge of adrenaline and hit Lykos II with a pair of superkicks before an astonishing spinning powerbomb from the top rope which was enough to successfully defend his title.
An incredible night of wrestling was wrapped up by recent WWE superstars James Drake and Zack Gibson appeared on the screen to announce they would be at NORTH: Once Again It’s ALL CAPS on December 9th. Tickets for this event can be purchased on the NORTH website.
