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GALLOWAY, GRADO, NOAM DAR & MOERE IN 'BRILLIANT' EPISODE: 9/22 ICW FIGHT CLUB TV REPORT

By Bill Bodkin on 2016-09-23 09:00:00

ICW FIGHT CLUB - September 22nd Episode

Insane Championship Wrestling is gearing up for its Wrestlemania -- Fear & Loating IX at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow.

The build, so far, has been slow and steady with the main focus being the announcement of Mick Foley, Ricochet, Kurt Angle, and Team 3D coming in as guests. As of right now, "Iron Man" Joe Coffey will take on Angle. 

There have been a few other matches announced on ICW's Facebook page, but have not been announced then developed on television yet, so I'll let those with an investigative mind head over to ICW's social media to find those matches out, and not spoil it for the rest of the readers.

This week's episode of ICW Fight Club had two goals in mind -- setting up two, massive main event matches for Fear & Loating.

The first match is a title match, or so we're hoping. At ICW's last PPV, Shoog's House Party, ICW mainstay "The Necromancer" Mikey Whiplash, who had the #1 contender spot, cut a promo (after he, Damian and Tommy End battled Mustache Mountain and Lewis Girvan) that Mustache Mountain's leader Trent Seven deserved to have the #1 contendership, and Whiplash's spot at Fear & Loating.

The in-ring part of the episode begins with Trent Seven, who is obscenely over with the crowd, cutting a promo about wanting the main event at Fear & Loathing, and how the fans are behind him.

So, tonight he begins his journey to the main event. Trent lets the crowd know that his originally scheduled opponent (who was not named on the show at all) was injured and could not compete. So if there was anyone in the back...

Match #1: Trent Seven vs. Massimo

"The Italian Valiant" (I could've sworn the commentators said "Italian Valium") Massimo comes out, returning to ICW after suffering a broken ankle nearly three months ago. 

At first blush this looked like it'd be a complete squash match for Trent Seven, but this was not the case -- and both men benefitted from this.

ICW definitely takes a page from ECW when it comes to the booking of their in-ring product. They find a way to make every competitor in a match look strong, so win, lose or draw the crowd believes in the talent and toughness of the people in the ring.

Trent Seven should've easily gone over here, but they really let Massimo shake his ring rust off, and get in a fairly decent amount of offense. Massimo's gimmick entering the ring (a sort of Italian maestro/conductor) was kinda lame, but when he got in the ring he was able to hold his own, and get in some really, really stiff shots on Trent Seven.

As usual, the burly Seven took a way too realistic and hellacious beating from his opponent. Seriously, this guy gets the holy hell knocked out of him with stiff kicks, punches, and absurd tosses into the guardrail. But, Seven gives as good as he gets. His kicks and forearms really embody the "British Strong Style" movement permeating the scene in England, Scotland, and Ireland right now.

In the end Seven was able to hit his corkscrew (sorta) piledriver "The Trentsetter" and claimed another victory for Mustache Mountain.

Winner: Trent Seven

Post-MatchThought: Is Seven ready for the main event for ICW's biggest show of the year, especially given the fact he hasn't been in the promotion as long as others? The answer is 1000% yes. Seven has this weird yet charming charisma that is so captivating that you'd have to have a heart of stone not to get behind him. His move set which is absolutely brutal (in a good way) is definitely main event quality. If he actually goes on to fight ICW Champion Wolfgang, the crowd is in for a sick world title match. As for Massimo, this guy could definitely be something special if given some more ring time, given his recent injury.

Then we moved onto a legit 30 minute segment which pit "The Pinky Party" against ICW's main heel faction The Black Label.

The Pinky Party is Grado, "The Champagne Supernova" Noam Dar, and Sha Samuels. The trio, who are legit real-life best mates outside the ring, came together when Dar and Grado comprised Team Dallas (who was taking on The Black Label) at Shugg's House Party. They announced they had a third member of the team, and the exclaimed "No pinky, no party!" They raised their pinkies in the air, and when cameras cut back to the ring, longtime heel Sha Samuels, who was affiliated with The Black Label, raised his pinky in the air and turned face, helping Team ICW win the match, which also gave Mark Dallas 50% ownership of the company.

Back to the actual show -- Grado, Sha, and Noam came out to Dar's amazing theme "Fair City Riots" by Titors insignia wearing matching "pinky party" jackets. The crowd basically went absolutely bananas for this, and we watched as the three good guys soaked in the adulation for quite some time.

ICW heel General Manager Red Lightning came into the ring, and was showered with a non-stop wave of "No Pinky, No Party!" chants (set to the "Seven Nation Army" beat). It was an absolute sight to hear, and see and it really reminded me of an ECW Arena crowd and the deafening and creative chants they'd come up with. The crowd was really at a fever pitch, and Red Lightning perfectly baited the crowd into chanting louder, and louder.

When they calmed down he introduced his team: Drew Galloway, Jack Jester, and Lionheart.

(Match #2: Drew Galloway, Jack Jester, and Lionheart vs. Noam Dar, Grado and Sha Samuels)

If you were hoping for a crisp, technical six match tag match, or a frenetic lucha libre tinged trios match you'd be sorely disappointed. What we got instead was a breakneck brawl where everyone hit their high spots and sent the crowd into fits of hysteria and euphoria.

This match definitely created to help highlight Samuels as a babyface, and boy did the crowd ever get behind the longtime heel. When he hit his spine buster finisher, the roof nearly blew off the building. 

Announcer Billy Kirkwood kept reinforcing this match may be Dar's last match in ICW given the fact he's signed with WWE.

Not surprising, Drew Galloway had his work boots on and sold for everyone. He wasn't his usual dominant self, but that was fine as he wasn't the focus of the match. Grado, Jester, and Dar put in the effort you'd expect -- maximum and highlighting their strengths -- comedy, brawling, and chain wrestling to be exact. Lionheart, who I've never gotten behind, looked really good here, especially when he nailed a beautiful 5 Star Frog Splash.

The finish of the match came when Samuels was about to put one of the Black Label away, but Kid Fite, Samuels' partner in The 55, came out and level Sha will a chair.

This allowed for The Black Label to score the win.

Winners: Lionheart, Jack Jester, Drew Galloway

Post-Match: Red Lightning isn't happy about the fact Mark Dallas won 50% control of the company at the last PPV. So what he proposes is an "all or nothing" match pitting Team Black Label against Team Dallas. It'll be a five-on-five match, winner take all.

Thoughts: This match, and the subsequent angle were so much fun, and showed why ICW is such a great promotion. The crowd reaction to, and the crowd chants for The Pinky Party were incredible, and as a wrestling fan it made you want to hop a plane, and experience that feeling.

As for the 5-on-5, winner take all...I really hope they do it in a War Games-style match. War Games is just such an awesome concept, I want someone...anyone to  do, but do it right. I have faith ICW would do this classic math justice. 

As for the teams Black Label will likely be Galloway, Jester, and Kid Fite for cresting. I wouldn't be surprise if Red Moon inserted himself in as the final member of team Black Labe or if they bring Bram back. For Team Dallas I suspect it'll be Grado, Sha along with Chris Renfrew, probably. It'll be interesting to see who ends up on Team Dallas.

All-in-all, another brilliant show from ICW!!

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