World Wide Wrestling League returned for their annual Halloween spooktacular in the form of All Thriller. Matches included fan interactive bouts voted on Facebook and on the night, which always makes things a little bit spicy.
Alfie Adams defeated The Tormentor by pinfall.
Before we got the main portion of the event, it was the Wrestling Showdown run in. A frustrated Tormentor hit first, mauling at Alfie Adams in the early going. The domination continued to connect with a Tormentor Elbow for a two count. Adams was overwhelmed between being struck in the back of the neck or having his head squeezed by The Tormentor. Alfie fought up to his feet to deliver some rapid offense that was cut short thanks to a Tormentor slam.
The Tormentor had Alfie set up for a Final Cut, but Adams broke the grip and spiked Tormentor with a double arm DDT for the win.
There was a lot of Tormentor on top, which feels unusual. There wasn’t a whole lot of content but Alfie Adams had a bit of a spark about him that the crowd took to when he managed to get some moves in and good a positive reaction when the three was counted. A fine match to ease us into All Thriller.
Scarlett w/Brandon Prince defeated Penelope Grace by pinfall.
It was agility versus brute force with Scarlett trying to overpower Penelope early on as Grace was about unsettling the balance of Scarlett with sheer pace as the crowd were happy to join her on the mission. Penelope grounded Scarlett for a standing moonsault but couldn’t keep her down for a count as Scarlett broke through a suplex attempt to drive her forearm into the face of Penelope Grace.
Scarlett took control with impactful hip attacks in the corner, before dragging Penelope along the ropes and a suplex for good measure. Grace ducked a clothesline to build up a flurry of offense, stopped by a wily Scarlett rolling out of the ring. The sharp change in direction allowed Scarlett return on top and an electric chair facebuster sent Grace head first onto the apron.
Penelope tried to get another comeback going until Brandon Prince grabbed the leg of Grace while she prepared for an aerial attack. It was enough for Scarlett to recover and send Penelope Grace to the canvas with a powerbomb for the win.
A solid opening match, a clear cut dynamic of who the hero and villain was, and I was so impressed by Penelope Grace. I’ve been more used to seeing her hardcore match antics at VALOR, or being the bad bitch of the Grand Ole Opry. Here she looked like she was in her element and at a comfort level to bring the audience in that I haven’t seen before from her. There wasn’t anything pretty about Scarlett’s moveset but it looked pretty effective to close that height difference to keep Penelope as the underdog before using Brandon Prince, in his only real interaction, to snatch a tainted victory. I enjoyed this one.
FTW Heavyweight Championship – Scott Plitt defeated Riley Wallis by pinfall to retain.
In lieu of W3L Wrestling Showdown Champion Hugo Harris being unable to appear to defend his title, the fan poll winner, Riley Wallis, still got a title opportunity but against Full Tilt Wrestling Heavyweight Champion Scott Plitt. Much like the previous match, Plitt was the brawling big lad trying to keep Riley Wallis at bay, with Wallis showing a back pocket full of fast moves to take Plitt off his feet. Scott took the match to the outside and gave the younger Riley a no nonsense beating hauling his body off the apron to send Wallis spine first to the wooden floor. Plitt continued to have his way with Riley Wallis, swatting the attempts to turn the tide.
Plitt delivered a nasty cannonball in the corner with sit out powerbomb that only netted a two count as the fans got louder with every shoulder up. Scott went for another cannonball that met air as Riley Wallis once again found a chance to up the tempo, Wallis had his superkick caught, and his second go at it was cut short thanks to Plitt pulling the referee into the path to cause a hesitation from Riley. The champion rolled up the challenger with all his weight to get the three.
I was unfamiliar with both wrestlers coming into this one so I was able to look at it with a blank slate. Riley Wallis managed to keep the crowd invested in his plight to survive thanks to his early high flying bombarding of Plitt, which transferred a lot of heat onto Scott Plitt off the back of it when he went to work clipping the wings of his opponent. They worked well together.
Scarlett Is Handcuffed To The Bottom Rope – Thomas Blood w/Bella Blood vs Brandon Prince w/Scarlett ended in no contest.
Scarlett elected to leave before she could get handcuffed, as voted for by the fans, Penelope Grace rushed out to give her a receipt for earlier on for Scarlett to be cuffed and neutralised for the time being. It didn’t deter Brandon Prince who launched himself across the ring with a shotgun dropkick to take it straight to the big man. An Irish Whip counter opened the campaign for Thomas Blood to throw around Prince with ease as Brandon took a breather outside the ring. Blood followed but took his eye off Prince thanks to Scarlett with Brandon taking charge.
Thomas Blood absorbed the assault and returned the favour to and hoisted Brandon Prince up for a powerslam. Luckily for Prince he slipped out to send Blood into the corner and snapped an enziguri to the back of neck of his opponent get back to the wearing down behemoth. Brandon kept the strikes coming as Thomas Blood found a third wind to plant Prince with a head trap Michinoku Drive which looked painful. Blood tried for a flying uppercut off the second turnbuckle and was met by the referee that was pulled into way. A low blow from Prince kept Blood down long enough for Brandon to loot the referee for the keys to the handcuffs and released Scarlett.
Bella Blood rolled in to stop a double team attack and got a forearm from Brandon Prince. She dropped like a stone with Thomas Blood bursting with rage. Scarlett and Prince made an exit while Mike Musso arrived with referee Jamie Jones to throw the match out and check on Bella.
The match was okay, it went back and forth with Brandon having to be nefarious in cutting down the colossal Thomas Blood. The switch in the David versus Goliath dynamic was done well, I felt like Bella Blood should’ve been sharper with her involvement, especially when Scarlett was choking Thomas behind the referee’s back, or that she took a while to come in to be a shield to stop the double team assault. More involvement would’ve been appreciated.
Number One Contender Match – Jonny Storm defeated Saqib Ali by pinfall.
A little bit of wristlock wrasslin’ started things off as Storm tried to take Saqib off guard by changing speed as Ali had to rely on breaking things up with strength. Saqib turned up the aggression with finger snaps and drilling his elbow into shoulder of Jonny Storm, keeping The Wonderkid horizontal. A brief pause was all that was needed for Storm to kip up and strike to swing the momentum back in his favour, and returning to keeping the tactics erratic between grounding Ali to the mat and turning up the pace. Pinfalls were traded as referee Jamie Jones began to favour his wrist with the amount of near falls that came his way.
Storm and Ali jostled with Saqib being caught in a pinning predicament for Jonny Storm to squeeze the victory and become number one contender for the W3L Wrestling Showdown Championship.
It was an engaging match, even when Saqib got a bit rougher it didn’t cross the line as both kept their pockets of support happy. I wouldn’t have been against it going a little longer for a bigger run up to the finish but the out of nowhere win didn’t damage Saqib Ali’s standing especially against someone of the reputation and stature of Jonny Storm. It was always going to be a good one.
Cowbell On A Pole Match – Tim Strange vs Shreddy
In the final fan interactive match, and main event, the pole was brought out and the cowbell was stuck up there. After a bit of gesticulating, Strange hit first by chucking Shreddy into the corner and immediately scaling up the turnbuckles to retrieve his property. Shreddy cut Tim off and rammed his foe’s skull in every corner. Strange stood his ground to barge Shreddy down, imposing his size over Shreddy. Once again the action made it up close and personal with the front row as Tim Strange picked up any item he could get his hands on to lay into Shreddy, knocking him down with the heavy ring steps.
Shreddy broke free of a Full Nelson but was still struggling to get the upper hand against an immovable object. Rodeo Time had Shreddy gasping for air, with an elbow drop compressing the lungs. Strange headed up for the cowbell once more only for Shreddy to drag Tim down with a short powerbomb. Shreddy unhooked the cowbell as Strange begged off an attack. A low blow from Tim Strange saw the cowbell change hands, Strange missed with the swing and the momentum had Shreddy able to body slam the hoss. Shreddy dunted Strange with the cowbell to come out victorious.
The post-match saw Shreddy add further embarrassment with a Rodeo Time rendition of his own to Tim Strange.
It was a lengthy main event but it didn’t feel it, Shreddy and Tim Strange took their time and laid out the beats of the match from Shreddy going for the body slam multiple times to bring it back towards the end, and the tussle over the cowbell. It was all built well to maximise the cowbell’s importance to the match.
Overall a decent show, however, it didn’t feel like a W3L show though as a lot of the main roster weren’t there. It may have been the case they were all packed into Hugo Harris’ car and that scrubbed out the whole show but having one of these shows without the likes of Irn Dru Marshall, Luke Aldridge, Euan G Mackie, or even championship representation from Hera, Chris Renfrew, or BT Gunn just missed the W3L vibe in what seemed like a W3L show in name only, even missing pre/post match interviews made it come across as something different from a usual W3L Hooked On Wrestling release.
Other than that moan, Penelope Grace looked great against Scarlett, the main event was good, and there was hefty handfuls of positive moments throughout the night. There was a little bit of story threaded through from Penelope Grace and Scarlett bleeding into Brandon Prince and Thomas Blood which was nice.
The full show is available on Hooked On Wrestling TV now to check out for yourself:
