My Weekend of (British) Wrestling 3

Last night I spent another ten pounds. I know what you're thinking; 'I've heard this story before'... but this story ends happily ever after!

James Mason

Instead of Banbury, Oxfordshire - where the previous night I had seen a diabolical show - I travelled a little closer to home in Kidlington, Oxfordshire where there was a wrestling show on at the Exeter Hall. The selling point for me was that a gentleman by the name of James Mason was on the bill. A couple of friends of mine have always had good things to say about him as a wrestler, and as an organiser of wrestling events. This was well deserved comments after my experience last night.

I, along with two mates, paid and entered the venue where we already knew what we were getting - high ceilings; as a result the ring was assembled how it should be. I should point out that my admiration of the venue alone will make sense if you read my post from the previous nights show - My Weekend of (British) Wrestling 2.

Exeter Hall, Kidlington, Oxford 9/3/2013

Exeter Hall is a large hall with plenty of space for the ring, the ringside area, and there is absolutely no chance of hitting the ceiling during a move! This put me at ease straightaway. The referee and the Ring Announcer/MC, Lee Bamber then made their way to the ring. Unlike the previous nights announcer, Mr Bamber was dressed the part and had a microphone in hand; at the previous evenings show there was no microphone and no sound system to get the MC's point across clearly. That instantly hurt that show.

But I digress... not only was Mr Bamber dressed to announce but his delivery was clear, informative and entertaining at times. He warmed the crowd up without insulting our intelligence as wrestling fans; I say this because the last two shows that I had attended saw the announcer let us know that we should 'boo' the bad guys and 'cheer' the good guys, getting us to practice our cheering and booing, just in case we weren't sure how to?! This insults me and everyone in attendance - I know who I should cheer and boo. If this information is for the benefit of the kids then they DEFINITELY don't need the head's up - they, more than any other age group KNOW who the bad guys and good guys are - they are still young enough to see things purely in black and white; unlike us seeing the shades of grey.

A final note on Mr Bamber; I instantly liked him and wanted to listen to what he had to say all evening.

The wrestling then commenced and we witnessed five very entertaining, and different, matches. The first saw Englishman James Mason take on Welsh villain 'Mean' Tommy Dean. This was an excellent opener that got the crowd warmed up and firmly behind Mason. Tommy Dean did an excellent job of getting us to hate him - very funny with it.

Mark Haskins

The next two matches saw two youngsters from London compete in two very entertaining matches - the first saw 16-year-old Shaun Meryll (apologies for the spelling) take on former TNA star, Mark Haskins in a match that was billed as 'Youth vs Experience'. This was a very good outing for the youngster - for a 16-year-old kid he kept up and gave a great showing. Surely, things can only get better and better for him?

The second match saw 17-year-old Josh Faulkner compete against an older opponent. Unlike Meryll (again, apologies for the spelling if wrong), Faulkner had a bigger physique and looked more dominant. An interval was then announced and this gave us time to dwell on what we had just seen and how well the two young guys had done.

Iestyn Rees (right) along with WWE's Oliver Grey

After the interval, the action continued with a bout between Welsh Heavyweight Champion Iestyn Rees and former champion, and former WWE developmental star Stevie Starr. This made for a nice lead up to the main event of the evening.

The main event was billed as a 2-on-1 handicap match that one of the competitors had requested to show his strength - enter Richtor - a 300-pound monster. I've seen Richtor on other local shows and I really like seeing the big man - most notably, I remember seeing him against Zak Garrett; where I would always want him to sit on/bonzai drop Garrett - very impressive looking and flattening!

In this 2-on1 handicap match, Richtor was pitted against James Mason and his partner, 'Little Legs' - a local midget actor/wrestler (from Headington). This led to a very entertaining match with all the usual little man/big man comedy spots along with Mason taking it to Richtor. This was, by far, the comedy match of the night, but after the four entertaining matches previously, this was the icing on the cake!

In summary, this show was why I love wrestling and going to well organised local shows. It had a good mix of talent, experience and youth on display. The venue was adequate for what they wanted to do and the show did not disappoint in any way. I have absolutely no problem paying my admission to see shows like this.

Richtor (courtesy of Superkick.co.uk)

Comedy of the night - 'Little Legs' and Richtor little man/big man spots.

Wrestler(s) of the night - although it was good to see Mason and Haskins, the wrestler(s) that put on a great show were the two young lads - 16 and 17-year-olds - as I said before: the only way is up for these guys!


The next show that these guys are putting on will be in Abingdon on Friday 22nd March - please check listings and get yourself along to the show!

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@jimmosangle