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OTT Scrappermania 3: Great Wrestling, Characters & Fun Overcome Technical Difficulties
On Saturday April 15 Over the Top Wrestling (OTT) presented the "biggest night" in Irish wrestling history with Scrappermania 3. The show, emanating from the sold-out (2,200 fans) National Stadium in Dublin Ireland, was a massively important night for the Irish promotion. And despite its FloSlam stream going down for roughly 30 plus minutes which frustrated fans, OTT was able to pull off a must-see show that showcased some of the best name talent on the international independent scene, and OTT originals.
Match #1: Grado vs. Charlie Sterling (of the Social Elite)
Grado, no matter where he is on the card, is a main event attraction. His entrance to Madonna's "Like a Prayer" is a sight to be seen. There's nothing like a bunch of beer drinking hardcore wrestling fans singing the Material Girl's anthem at the top of their lung's like it was The Sandman coming out to Metallica's "Enter Sandman."
Charlie Sterling is part of OTT's "Social Elite" clique and played the matinee idol doofus to perfection. If you never watched wrestling a day in your life you'd swear the chiseled Sterling would wipe the floor with the paunchy man from the Top of Stevenson. But instead we saw Sterling play the perfect straight man, showing his ass (literally) to Grado's every move.
Grado is so natural in the ring when it comes to making people laugh. Every move, every facial expression, even the way he carries himself (he literally pushes Sterling into the corner with his beer gut) is hilarious.
Unfortunately the winner of the match was not seen on the stream, we only got to see Grado kick Sterling in the exposed posterior and roll him up...about 10-15 times as it kept looping on the stream.
I found through social media that Grado picked up the win.
Two other matches did not make my feed...
Chikara original Jigsaw defeated Scotty Davis, and WXW star "Massive" Jurn Simmons defeated Lord Paul Tracey.
Luckily the feed came back in time for one of the more heated grudge matches on the show...
The Gymnasties (B. Cool and Sammy D) vs. Justin Shape and Logan Bryce
Back story here is Shape was one of the founding members of The Gymnasties, then turned his back on the squad in order to be taken more seriously. His former team, in particular B. Cool, was conflicted on whether to hit their former partner.
The four men in the ring may not win any bodybuilding contests, but they sure know how to put on a hell of a match. The live audience's investment in the match, especially given the beloved status of The Gymnasties, really amplified how good this match was. Some cool spots, also some sloppy ones throughout the match. The positive highlight had to be when the Nasties hit Poetry in Motion on Shape. After some scuffling Shape and Bryce took the advantage and tried for a Poetry in Motion of their own. Shape took too long mocking his former team which allowed Sammy D to propel himself off a prone Bryce and level his former partner.
In the end it looked like The Gymnasties had the win, but Bryce and Shape's manager - Mr. Humperdink (the "owner" of OTT) - caused interference, allowing Shape and Brice to pick up the win.
Winners: Justin Shape and Logan Bryce
Thoughts: One of the "weaker" matches on the show -- but I use that term loosely because the show was that good. Entertaining but rough at points.
Six Woman Grudge Match: Team Katey vs. Team Martina
Team Katey consists of Katey Harvey (the OTT Women's Champ), Jinny Couture (a Progress staple), and Bea Priestley (who often teams with boyfriend Will Ospreay).
Team Martina consists of: "The Session Moth" Martina and her "Session Friends" Nixon Newell (WWE bound), and Alex Windsor (trained by Paige's mom Saraya Knight).
I mentioned Grado as having a great entrance, well the "Session Moth" certainly has one hell of an entrance herself, and it fits her character perfectly. If you've never seen Martina before, she's basically the female version of The Sandman (yes, second reference in one review) if he were in ROH's rave clique Special K. She's super fun in the ring, and she was easily one of the most over performers on the show.
The match was centered around Martina taking the beatdown while Newell had to limit herself due to "where she was headed." Of course that didn't stop her from hitting a 450 onto everyone on the outside. Windsor got in a handful of spots, but nothing memorable. The heels worked their parts to perfection -- Jinny was the mean girl, Bea was the aerial jerk, and Harvey was the brutal team leader.
Martina eventually scored the win by nailing an insane flying codebreaker on a leaping Bea.
Winner: Team Martina
After the match the rave flares up, but Martina cuts it short. She takes the mic and puts over Nixon who is leaving OTT. The rave starts up again by Alex Windsor levels both Nixon and Martina.
Thoughts: Man, go out of your way to see this match. This was easily the second best match on the show. It was a great exhibition of women's wrestling mixed with six women who understand who they are as characters.
OTT Tag Titles: The Kings of the North (C): Corvin, Disorderly, and Bonesaw vs. The Lads from the FlatsL Workey, Paddy M...and the returning Martin
One of the most interesting matches since so much of the heat from the match comes from culture and geography. The Kings of the North come from Northern Ireland and they got nuclear, Dudley Boyz in ECW heat from the Dublin crowd. The Lads from the Flats, who are a trio of warm-up pants and t-shirt wearing ravers from "the flats."
At first look there is no way the massive, ready for sports entertainment trio of Kings of the North should've had any difficulty from The Lads -- who look like they stumbled out of a pub rather. But, this is OTT and looks are deceiving.
The Lads, despite their size disadvantage, gave their all to the KON. The Kings are a wildly polished and vicious tag team that's being pushed by OTT as a classic, dominant heel tag team (having defeated the likes of War Machine and Polo Promotions recently).
Paddy M, the smallest man in the match, "injured" his knee and worked as the Ricky Morton of the match. The Kings really were able to show how physical, and surprisingly agile they were when Paddy was in the ring.
Towards the end things broke down and the team traded three man finishing moves. It was a remarkable series of moves...but in the end the Lads, given Paddy's injury, could not withstand the onslaught of the Kings.
Winners: Kings of the North
Thoughts: The Lads could easily be viewed as a comedy act, but man they broke their asses in this match. Kings of the North could move outside of Ireland, and make noise elsewhere, and I think that would benefit them.
"The Villain" Marty Scurll vs. Jay White
The Villain is massively over in OTT. Honestly, it's a surprise WWE didn't try and snag him up a long time ago -- he's absolutely money. This is the second time I've seen Jay White. The first time was in the train wreck of a tag match where he and Dragon Lee took on Will Ospreay and Volador.
This match a literal back and forth strong style knockabout. Scurll had the early advantage but White kept battling and batlling. The crowd was not happy when he got advantage, because Scurll is so damn beloved here. I've rarely seen this where a wrestler just keeps putting in the work and battling to get the advantage in the match. It really impressed me, and you could tell the crowd (despite being upset Marty was getting hit) really was impressed with White too.
In an awesome end sequence, Scurll did his "finger snap" move, which the crowd freaked out over. White looked at his fingers and then STRAIGHTENED THEM OUT. It was disgusting, but also a brilliant spot. He flipped Marty off, but Marty just started grabbing fingers and snapping them. This allow him to hit a vicious piledriver.
Winner: Marty Scurll
Post-Match: Marty put over White, and the crowd, calling OTT "home."
Thoughts: Wow, wow, wow. Scurll was amazing in this match, and if you ever needed proof that White would become something big -- watch this match.
Announcement: It was announced that OTT would return to the National Stadium in August, and that MICK FOLEY would be the special guest commissioner. The likes of Joey Ryan and Jeff Cobb would also be part of the show.
Zack Gibson vs. Angel Cruz
Gibson arrived, delaying the main event and said how he was going to be the #1 in the entire world, but he'd start in OTT. Angel Cruz came out to a chorus poorly singing a version of "Superstar." This match was pure gaga, with the larger Gibson having to put up with Cruz's shenanigans. Nothing special here, but it was a good palette cleanser before the main event.
Winner: Zack Gibson
The Main Event: The Uptown Funkers (Ryan Smile, Will Ospreay, Lio Rush) vs. The Elite/Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks)
If you are not a fan of gaga in wrestling -- dancing, comedy, etc. -- please avoid this match all costs.
The match stats out with The Uptown Funkers coming out to, you guessed it, Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk." Lio Rush, who replaced an injured Ricochet, came out without his Uptown Funker gear and was sent to the back. When he emerged he came out with the proper gear and a handful of dancers. The Funkers made their way to the ring and then ended up leading the front row in a conga line.
The Elite made their way to the ring to a thunderous ovation. These guys are just stars and they know it. There was a "super kick counter" a fan made at ringside, and the Bucks brought it into the ring.
As for the match -- it was absolute bananas. The Elite dominated most of the match. At one point Matt Jackson slapped on a sharpshooter, and then was handed a mic by Kenny Omega. The match stopped and The Elite began filming an episode of their YouTube series, "Being the Elite." Matt talked about how he admired Bret Hart, hence why he decided to do the filming mid-Sharpshooter. He then went on to plug the show, the Bucks merch, and Kenny Omega's merch on Pro Wrestling Tees.
Kenny Omega tagged in and wrestled with the microphone in one hand -- narrating his every action. He was absolutely hilarious, and had the announcers in tears from laughter.
There was another crazy spot where the Funkers were on the outside and the Elite kneeled in the ring and began a clap to the rhythm of the Terminator theme. Once the crowd got into it, they ran the ropes and flew out onto the Funkers.
Later in the match, the Uptown Funkers would do the same, but to the beat of "Uptown Funk."
Another nuts spots involved Lio Rush accidentally nailing Ospreay with a kick. He and Smile went back and forth shoving each other with Ospreay trying to play peacemaker. Rush shoved both men, ripped off his Funker gear and did the "Too Sweet" hand gesture. The Elite embraced him. All four men did the Bullet Club "finger guns" sign, but Rush quickly turned into a dance move, signifying this was all a ploy.
The end of the match was a bonkers amount of high spots from all six men hitting super kicks and coming off the top rope. In the end, Omega was able to counter a handspring Os-Cutter, and turn it into a One-Winged Angel for the Win.
Winners: The Elite
Post-Match: The Elite talk about how great their UK tour was, and put over OTT huge. But before they leave they say, "We can't end the show this way." They let the Funkers begin their usual end of show dance off.
The locker room emptied and the ring filled with mostly mid-card talent and Martina. Out of nowhere The Elite destroy everyone in the ring with super kicks. They close out the show with their usual post-match speech, and Kenny's music hits.
Thoughts: This entire match was a high spot, and I mean that in the best way possible. It was fun, hard-hitting, high-flying, and hilarious. It's a match you need to go out of your way to see.
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