Maddog’s March Newsletter

Hello wrestling fans!

It's been a busy and exciting month for professional wrestling in the UK, and we are now just days away from a milestone event as Wrestle Mania 40 in Philadelphia takes place next weekend. The road to Wrestle Mania as always has been filled with lots of speculation and intriguing storytelling, will Cody finish the story? Will the Rock turn on Roman Reigns? And will Maddog win the race up the Rocky steps against Charlie Crothers and the other Wrestle Tours guests? These answers and a full review of the trip to Philadelphia will be in next months recap. If you would like to donate to our run up the Rocky steps we are collecting money for Marie Curie https://www.gofundme.com/f/wrestle-tours-rocky-step-run

Meanwhile in the UK the month started with one of my favourite events in the wrestling calendar as Monopoly Events once again presented For the Love Of Wrestling (FTLOW4) at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester. This amazing weekender was kicked off by PROGRESS Wrestling who showcased For the Love of PROGRESS on the Friday evening. Including the debut of Hammerstone, Myles Kayman and also the return of Debbie Keittel, A hugely enjoyable show which included a brilliant encounter between the Grizzled Young Veterans and Lykos Gym. The team from PROGRESS had earlier in the day been guests at Manchester City football ground Etihad Stadium which included such highlights as Tate Mayfairs telling everyone who would listen that "Arsenal and Tateness are greatness" and Lana Austin chatting to Pep Guardiola. He was suitably impressed by the Superstar. A huge thank you to Aziz and all the team from EAMAR Developments for your kindness and hospitality.

FTLOW as always was a cavalcade of some of the greatest wrestling stars from the Golden age, Attitude Era, Ruthless Aggression and even active roster members. Some of the highlights for me included catching up with Sgt Slaughter and finally disproving the myth that Justin Clapper started that we are the same person. Also chatting to Shelton Benjamin, Matt Riddle, Nic Nemeth (Dolph Ziggler) and Enzo Amore was certainly interesting. Feel free to reach out with any specific questions to Maddog's Mailbox at (INSERT REAL RASSLIN email). The hosts Chris Brooker and So Cal Val did a great job with in ring interviews throughout the two days. The stars themselves were on top form especially Marc Mero who was THE power of positivity, and Mandy Sacs who absolutely made the day of the young gentleman who was lucky enough to be doing his work experience alongside us! BEST WORK EXPERIENCE EVER

It was great to catch up with so many wonderful people from the world of wrestling including all the Real Rasslin team, Futureshock, Infamous, SovPro, Top Rope, TIDAL and other wrestling promotions. The cosplay was on another level this year with some incredible outfits including Macho Man, Uncle Howdy and a Chyna lookalike who has had the wrestling world talking due to her likeness to the late great 9th Wonder of the World. Check out Chyna Syndrome on Instagram!

A real honour for me was being able to host the Diamond pass QnA with Sean Waltman, Diamond level guests are able to have an intimate meet and greet with the stars in a replica of the Star Wars cantina!. XPac was on top form and regaled the group with tales of the NWO, D Generation X and his days as the 123 Kid. A really positive and eye opening talk from someone has been through so much in the business. A great way to wrap up the weekend.

All in all FTLOW4 was right up there with the most exciting and organised conventions around, and is a must for wrestling fans. A huge thanks to Andy, James, Jason and all your team for providing the best wrestling convention this side of the pond every year for our UK fanbase. Looking forward to next year already which takes place on 15th and 16th February 2025. Tickets available now

Next up for PROGRESS Wrestling was a very special show on 7th March as Chapter 165 Diamond Dust rocked The Dome in Tufnell Park. The show featured first time appearances for Galeno Del Mal, GHC Heavyweight Champion El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr and ECW legend Masato Tanaka. It was such an honour to have Masato on the show and his match against Luke Jacobs was excellent, including some classic brutal chairshots and some amazing power house moves reminiscent of his matches with Mike Awesome. The show also featured the first Tag title defence for the Cheeky Little Buggers, and a huge win for PROGRESS Champion Kid Lykos over worldwide superstar Lio Rush.

Saturday 9th March the action was a bit closer to home as I ring announced for the Kingdom of Wrestling at the Southport Market, The Market is a brilliant venue filled with food stalls and bars. The show featured some great wrestlers from around the North West and included a match up for the KOW Women's Championship as Harley Hudson defended her Women's crown against Aurora Teves. Sadly Teves is soon to depart back to North America and so her is on her farewell tour of the UK, make sure to catch this wonderfully talented athlete before she sets off in 2024. Also involved in the action was someone I am very familiar with from my time in Wales for Britannia Wrestling Promotions, that is Douggie, a brash arrogant wrestler who on this occasion decided to bring a steel chair to the ring with him, Unimpressed by my wonderful ring introduction I gave for him, which involved reminding the crowd that he has now attained his 10 metre swimming certificate and badge, Douggie managed to hit me in the throat with the steel chair trying to usher me out of the ring. My windpipe is still bruised from the assault, but this was not the end of my woes that day. I was also battered by the King of the Kingdom of Wrestling as Lance Revera upset at the end of his championship victory over Ethan Kelly took his frustrations out on me. This was almost certainly in retaliation to the Southport fans repeatedly singing Backstreet Boys, I want it that way to Lance during his match, after he had exclaimed "Tell me why!" to referee Ste Grimshaw. Big thanks must go out to Raymundo who decided playing the Backstreet Boys for the audience as I was helped to the back, Kingdom of Wrestling return to Southport Market with the aptly named Tell Me Why on Saturday 25th May.

TIDAL Wrestling returned to Huddersfield on 17th March for the culmination of the Iron Will Tournament. This was such an exciting show which began with Zeo Knox answering the HT Drake open challenge, the politically minded Knox unfortunately didn't endear himself to the Huddersfield crowd. The Tag Team Champions Chase the Ace defended their belts against the team of Memes and Adonis Payne, after Memes shockingly turned on his partner. At the conclusion of this one Ace Matthews announced the next time the Tag titles would be defended would be in 3 years time at the end of the Chase the Ace Invitational Tag Tournament. The tournament will in fact begin on the 5th May and will actually feature 8 teams with the first round of matches occurring over the next few shows.

Spike Trivet returned to the Parish to face off against another hero, this time beating Joe Blazr in an incredible contest. The Vulture is on a clear path to the top, can anybody stand in his way? TIDAL Champion Scotty Rawk faced off against Myles Kayman in another impressive defence against a highly skilled individual, Scotty once again showing what a fighting champion he is and suggesting he would like to face off against another eXtremely talented individual in his next defence. In the main event the Iron Will Tournament reached its climax in a chaotic 20 minute match which saw 5 people instead of the scheduled 4, compete to pick up the most pinfalls and submissions. Ian Skinner and Dara Diablo battled themselves into the match after Man Like DeReiss was unfortunately unable to compete. When the dust settled the TIDAL Terminator Vusyk stood tall with 6 victories in the match therefore becoming the inaugural Iron Will Champion. TIDALs next show is on 5th May, tickets are available now, and the Women's championship match has already been announced. Nina Samuels will welcome Superstar Lana Austin to make an appearance on the Nina Samuels show!

On the 23rd March I was honoured to once again ring announce for All Star Wrestling in one of my favourite venues Hull City Hall. A family friendly fun wrestling show was made extra special by Meat Wagon's Troy Ryan making his debut for All Star in his home town and picking up a big win. The show ended with a Rumble match featuring some of the biggest and best around including Big Jim Diehard, Jack Starz and eventual winner Colossus Kennedy. The following day was a trip down to Ettington for Phenomenal Elite Wrestling PEW, where the Entitled (Brady Phillips, Riley Nova and Ivy) seemed to be hosting some sort of celebration, I believe it was for holding the Tag Team belts for over a year, but I counted it as being Dave Bradshaw's Birthday celebrations. Once again PEW put on an action packed show with great performances from Adam Bolt and a huge Internet Title win for Hazz Hype. The show ended with Smashing Mike and his mystery tag team partner Martin Kirby wrestling the Tag Team Titles away from the Entitled. The next show on 20th April is going to be a Reckoning as already announced is Ivy against Lizzy Evo for the Women's Championship in a No Disqualifications match!

My final show in March was a return to Top Rope Wrestling for Rise of the Top Ropers. The prestigious Accrington Town Hall was SOLD OUT for the third time in a row, as the local Mayor and Mayoress watched on. It was brilliant to see amazing talent from all over England and Scotland compete in brilliant matches against the highly talented bunch from Top Rope Academy. Sebastian Cloud, Romie Kendrick, BT Gunn, Melissa Fierce and Alexxis Falcon all having exceptional contests. The Sheikh as always keeping a close eye on proceedings, as the Middle Eastern Millionaire was involved a few times during the show! In the main event Joey Hayes became the new Havoc champion in a hardcore match which included a baking tray, and Martin Kirby dressed as Agent Thirsk wrestling in a full Pink Suit and dress shoes instead of wrestling boots. Another great show from the Top Rope team.

Next up for the Maddog is to head over to Philadelphia for WrestleMania and make sure the Wrestle Tours guests have the time of their lives. Applications are now open to join us for Wrestle Mania 41. I will be back next month with a full update on everything that happened in Philly! Enjoy Wrestle Mania everyone and hopefully catch you at a show next month!