Hello again and welcome to another edition of The RIPTIDE Wrestling RETROspective, with me Mark Blake. Those of you that have followed this series will know that I have covered The Storm, Black Water 2017, Deep Six 2018 and Spring Break 2018. You can catch up by clicking the links to read those reviews.
I have been recieving postive comments from you all out there, and I thank you all for the kind words. It gives me more impetus to get these reviews out there for you all.
Enough gushing from me, here is possibly my longest review yet (blame the Rumble)….The RIPTIDE Wrestling Rumble!
Before I begin this review with an explanation. I usually try to keep my reviews to 1500 words or less, a nice steady flow to keep you all engaged. With the Rumble lasting for over 65 minutes, most of my review is based on that. This means I had to cut parts of the show out (or give a brief rundown). Unfortunately, I’ve decided to cut out the ATTACK! Tag Team Title match and the Jinny/Havoc match on the basis that Jinny vs Jimmy has been done a fair few times now and the tag match was, in my opinion, just ok. Anyway, let’s crack on…
CandyFloss vs Chakara
The always impressive CandyFloss took the impetus straight from the bell with a running corner dropkick. This lead to her working the left arm of Chakara in readiness for the Candy Cane armbar finisher. She even broke out with a ZSJ tribute with some nice joint manipulation, again on that left arm.
Eventually, Chakara got herself back into the match, using her power and strength advantage. A nice sit-out powerbomb and a Snap Dragon Suplex turned the tide in her favor.
Some shenanigans backfired on Chakara, as she tried to blow some gold glitter into CandyFloss’s eyes ala Mr. Fuji’s salt, but it blew back into her eyes instead! A great looking straightjacket backbreaker and the Candy Cane grabs the super quick victory for CandyFloss!
I have a feeling that most of the matches will be quick due to the Rumble.
Winner – CandyFloss
Mike Bird vs Spike Trivet
If Spike gained a victory here against Mike Bird, he would be entered into the Brighton Championship tournament. This would prove that indeed money does get you what you want. But without his Money Versus Everybody cohorts though as both Damon Moser and Chris Ridgeway were both banned from ringside.
Bird wanted to finish this match quickly with quite a few roll-up attempts, but Spike kept kicking out. Slightly perturbed, Bird then began to take his frustrations out on Spike’s chest with many…MANY…chops. A serious case of the ouchies here!
A whip reversal sent Bird over the top turnbuckle and out into the crowd. This gave Trivet some much needed time to catch a breath and compose himself. Trivet hit a springboard codebreaker as Mike was getting back in the ring. This looked and sounded great but it was only enough for a two count.
But a Trivet match isn’t a match at all unless there’s a slightly screwy finish, and this followed suit. As Bird was mounting a comeback, and with the referee down after a collision, a certain Damon Moser lowered a wrench via a rope from the balcony above the ring and blasted Bird straight in the head, knocking him out clean cold.
That damn bastard Spike has now qualified for the Brighton Championship!
Winner – Spike Trivet
The RIPTIDE Rumble
It’s RUMBLE TIME folks! Everybody loves a rumble match! In the interests of keeping the flow going and my poor fingers, this review will only talk about the high points of the match…Which there were plenty!
Entrants one and two are Kurtis Chapman and Rhia O’Reilly, but poor old Chapman’s past would come back to haunt him as when he decided to go on a rampage and hit folks with his keyboard (Rhia, James Castle, Kip Sabian, and Elijah). Unfortunately for him, the local security guard named Two Metre Peter eliminated Chapman for his nefarious ways!
Two Meter Peter and O’Reilly met their end thanks to Castle and Elijah, while Kip slipped unnoticed under the ring to escape elimination. As the James and Elijah connection looked like they were on a roll, Big T Justice made his way down and eliminated the two-some as well as Adam Chase who followed him afterward. One half of M&M, Connor Mills was out next but was met with a huge press slam over the top rope onto Chase, Castle, and Elijah. Big T is the man!
Kip decided that now was the right time to re-enter the rumble after his under the ring hiatus and team with Amir Jordan to hypnotize Big T with their dance moves. It didn’t go as planned for the pair because as soon as the dancing finished Justice dismissed them over the top rope. Great funny spot.
Los Federales Santos Jr (who I am a HUUUGE fan of) and TK Cooper were next out and the match became bogged down until Sierra Loxton entered to mark the halfway point of the match, just as Santos Jr and Justice clashed! Charlie Morgan should have entered at 17 but she was attacked by the recently turned heel Flash Morgan Webster, who took her place in the match. Dastardly!
Eventually, TK realized that everyone needed to work together to eliminate Big T, and that’s exactly what happened, via a low blow from TK, just to make sure. Wild Boar would make his mark by entering and hitting package piledrivers to everyone, but a brutal axe kick from Cooper would see him eliminated as quickly as he entered.
The crowd erupts as Chuck Mambo made his way to the ring and eliminates Chakara in super quick fashion, as Fraser Thomas entered the match, accompanied by Lord Gideon Grey – who decided to nap at ringside as this match was beneath him! It didn’t matter much as Thomas was thrown over the top rope by Chuck to the cheers of the crowd.
The biggest “HOLY SHIT” chant of the night was reserved for the RIPTIDE debut of the one and only Viper! She slid under the bottom rope and slammed Santos Jr! Pastor William Eaver soon joined the foray. Eaver used his “religious powers” on Viper and The Body Guy Roy Johnson. This was stopped when he tried those same powers on the atheist TK Cooper! Another funny spot!
Number 30, the last spot in the Rumble, and out came Liverpool’s Number One…Zack Gibson, who was accompanied by the biggest chorus of boos of the entire night! After a quick flurry of eliminations, it was down to Gibson and Mambo to decide the winner.
Mambo eventually won the inaugural RIPTIDE Rumble as he dispatched Gibson to the delight of the Rippers! The place came unglued but that wasn’t it, oh no…
Eddie Dennis, the bartender for the evening, entered the ring and congratulated his friend. And also challenged him at the next RIPTIDE show, International Waters, to put his spot in the Brighton Championship on the line. Mambo accepted to more cheers from the crowd as the show faded to black…
And that folks is today’s big finish! Once again I’d like to thank RIPTIDE Wrestling and Powerslam.tv and as always, your wonderful selves for not only reading this piece but all the fantastic work right here at Pro Wrestling Post
So until next week…..ADIOS!!!
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