For years I’ve been hearing rumblings about a Scotland-based wrestling promotion called ICW, that supposedly blends pro wrestling, sports entertainment and throwback hardcore wrestling into a product that Fighting Spirit Magazine called the “UK Promotion of the Year” in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
ICW has been on my radar for quite some time, but because there’s approximately 10 million new hours of pro wrestling available all throughout the world, on a weekly basis, I’ve just never gotten around to checking them out. This past weekend they held their very first live IPPV, which is now available on-demand, so I thought I’d give it a shot!
In a quick attempt to familiarize myself with their product, a look back through their past champions yields names like Mikey Whiplash, Drew Galloway, Grado, Joe Coffey, Lionheart, Noam Dar, Fergal Devitt, Paul London, Brian Kendrick and Tommy End – so I’m extremely intrigued and reasonably excited about digging into this promotion. So, without further ado, ICW Presents Shug’s House Party 3!
Actually, I do have some ado left…
I don’t know who Shug is, or why he has now had three house parties. If any knowledgeable fans want to fill me in on that in the comments section, that’d be great. Also, “Shug’s House Party 3” sounds very much like the name of a weird British porno. I’ve put my trust in the UK fans who have sent me to their website in search of wrestling, but this review may get a little steamy.
I’d also like to give a big shout-out to Martin Smith, who runs a neat little wrestling blog at SnapmareNecks.com that focuses primarily on ICW shows, and lends itself to a few WWE/NXT events as well. I stumbled upon the blog trying to research for this show, and it was instrumental in helping me understand what I’m about to watch.
AND NOW WITH NO MORE ADO REMAINING…
ICW: Shug’s House Party 3
The O2 ABC Glasgow
Glasgow, Scottland
July 31, 2016
– A man with great tattoos calling himself Billy Kirkwood opens the show alongside SoCal Val of all people to run down the match card. We get a video package and Master of Ceremonies Simon Cassidy explains the rules – referee discretion applies at all times, as do ropebreaks, but other than that everything is No Holds Barred.
TOURNAMENT FINALS FOR THE VACATION ICW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
MIKE BIRD & WILD BOAR vs. THE LOCAL FIRE (DAVEY BOY & JOE HENDRY)
The Local Fire came out in bear onesies to a weird remix of the Bloodhound Gang’s “The Bad Touch”. I’m missing something here.
Local Fire are very over with this crowd; Bird and Boar attacked them before the bell. The commentary puts Hendry over as a potential Olympic wrestling athlete as he’s getting worked over by the heels. Davey Boy makes a hot tag but is limping off an injury he came into the match with and meets the same fate as his partner. Hot tag to Hendry who comes in with a flurry of clotheslines and a DDT on Bird; Davey Boy with a weak spinebuster on Boar but the injury is limited his power and rotation. Hendry, who they’re calling the “local hero”, with a huge display of strength, picking up both much larger opponents for a double fallaway slam! Bird and Boar comeback with a gutbuster/frog splash combo on Hendry, but Davey breaks it up, dodges a spear and drops Boar with a twisting spear he calls The Kill List. Local Fire with a Freak of Nature (double fallaway slam) for the pin.
Winners and New Champions: The Local Fire
– Local Fire are celebrating their title win, but their music is cut off and a team called Polo Promotions comes out with their own set of tag titles. This is apparently a big deal as the team left the promotion earlier this year after “issues with management” and were stripped of the belts, but they never had the actual physical titles taken from them. The two teams stare down with their belts as security hits the ring to escort Polo Pro out.
Review: Not a great technical match, but the crowd was very into it and it had a fun setup being a tag tournament final and the stuff at the end with Polo Promotions felt very important, even though I’ve never seen an ICW show before. Hendry was the star of the match, but nobody else really did much to take your breath away; very solid, basic tag team wrestling. Davey Boy’s injury was obviously limiting him. **1/2
ICW ZERO-G CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
LIONHEART (c) vs. KENNY WILLIAMS
Williams with a dropkick through the ropes sending Lionheart over the barricade. They fight their way through the fans and up onto the bar. Williams climbs a sign above the bar into the rafters and hits a big moonsault into a cluster of Lionheart and ICW security. More brawling through the fans, Kenny goes over a barricade or bar counter, and Lionhart flies over with swanton to take him and the guards out. Poor guards. They eventually make their way back into the ring and trade forearm shots. Lionheart with a big lariat for two. Kenny hits a step-up enzuigiri and tries for a top rope hurricanrana, but Lionheart blocks it and gets leveled with a running knee for two. Lion with a superkick but Kenny does the Dean Ambrose rebound lariat and does a ridiculous take on a tilt-a-whirl DDT for two. They fight in the ropes and a superplex takes them both down. They trade stiff right hands, elbows and chops. Lionheart with a stiff superkick and a Rock Bottom for a close nearfall. He’s getting frustrated and looks for the Styles Clash, but settles for a Buckle Bomb, then runs into a superkick from Kenny and a modified springboard codebreaker. He thinks he got the three and they announce him as new champion, but Lionheart got his foot in the ropes and the senior referee runs out to reverse the decision and restart the match. Kenny is arguing the decision with the referee and turns around to eat a superkick, but kicks out at two-and-a-half. Lionheart hits him with another superkick, another Rock Bottom, and a frog splash for good measure to pick up the win.
Winner and Still Champion: Lionheart
Review: Super match, with a little bit of everything from brawling in the crowd to the ridiculous gimmick spots, to great late match storytelling and a false-finish that actually worked. Really great athleticism from both guys and I have to say, a fine introduction for me to the ICW Zero-G division. Commentary really filled me in on the history between them and enhanced the match in a big way. ***3/4
– Liam Thomson and Debbie Sharpe make their way out. Liam says the fans have put him in a bad mood, and that they should be celebrating ICW being seen around the world on IPPV. He says he’s grown to like Debbie over the past few months, going out on dates and “in the sack”. He says he’s fallen in love with her and tries to propose, but she grabs the mic and looks disgusted. Debbie says she’s sorry, but she loves someone else. Liam loses it and calls her a “stupid little bitch”, then demands to know who it is. She reveals her lover as…Sammii Jayne! Out comes Sammii, who says she loves Debbie too…as a friend. She says Liam has a tiny dick and is so bad in bed she’s turned Debbie into a lesbian. Liam shoves Debbie to the ground and gets in Sammii’s face, but out comes Christopher Saynt with a gaggle of…trans women? He’s making his return after 18 months gone. Saynt says his group of women have more balls collectively than Liam will ever have. He puts over ICW on PPV with the world watching, and says there’s no room for backwards pricks like Liam. Thomson says Debbie is going home with him and tells the “bloody trannies ” to get the hell out of his ring. One of them slaps him and Liam drops him with a superkick and they all celebrate to end this very long, very strange segment. Wrestling – fighting scripted misogyny with an actual gang of trans women.
STEEL CAGE MATCH
BRAM vs. DCT
A “fuck TNA” chant breaks out as Bram takes it to his opponent, bouncing him off each side of the cage. Bram beats him down slowly for several minutes as the crowd goes silent. DCT fights back and hits a shoulder block from the second rope, and a running knee lift. Bram with an Impaler DDT for two to make the comeback short-lived. He sets up for a piledriver but spends too much time toying with the crowd and DCT back body drops him, following up with a dropkick and Bram gets tangled up in the ropes. DCT could escape with his opponent caught, but instead levels him with dozens of punches; the referee tries to make him stop but DCT drops him as well. Flex Hunter runs out and takes out DCT’s coach, then hits the ring and frees Bram. The heels beat down DCT for several minutes until his wife Viper runs down a climbs the cage, launching herself off the top to take them out. Coach recovers and pulls Flex from the ring. DCT climbs the cage but comes back when Bram has a hold of Viper. The two brawl and DCT teases leaving several times, but continues coming back to beat down Bram, including a shot from some kind of weapon handed to him. He kills Bram with a piledriver for the pin.
Winner: DCT
– DCT celebrates with Coach and Viper after the match. They go to leave but DCT tells her to wait, and then she drops Bram with her own piledriver before they leave together.
Review: From a technical standpoint this was a bit of a mess. The wrestling was a slow, old school style brawl and the fans weren’t into it until it broke down. All the shenanigans made for an entertaining segment overall but the match itself was sloppy and unexciting. *3/4
DREW GALLOWAY, JACK JESTER & WOLFGANG vs. GRADO, NOAM DAR & ???
I guess the story here is Mark Dallas, founder of the company, is fighting for 50/50 ownership here against Red Lightning, who is currently running things. Team Lighting is out with Lionheart and Sha Samuels on their side, and announced that they were using a different referee that was in their pocket. Dallas came out to reveal their third man as… Sha Samuels!
Sha double crossed his team and a giant brawl breaks out. Grado comes off the top rope to take out a mass of humanity. Sha is next off the top to take everyone out. Red Lightning slaps him in the face and curses him out for disrespecting him, so Sha throws him in the ring and Dallas goes after him. Galloway in with a metal pipe and the sides finally split up to start the actual match.
The heels work over Sha for several minutes, keeping him isolated. Another “fuck TNA” chant, this time for Galloway. Sha with a spinebuster and the hot tag to Dar who cleans house with kicks to the guys on the apron. Missile dropkick to Wolfgang and he launches himself over the ropes to take out the others. The heels regroup and chokeslam Grado off the top rope. They get a hold of Mark Dallas and Wolfgang knocks him out with a right hand. Things completely break down as somebody I didn’t even know was out there hit Galloway with a low blow and Noam Dar dropped with a superkick. Sha with a Falcon Arrow on Wolfgang, Jester with a Tombstone on Sha, and Grado with a Rock Bottom on Jester. Lighting is beating Dallas with a metal rod on the ramp. Somebody hit a tornado DDT but the cameras missed it. Galloway catches Grado with a powerbomb and puts him in a crossface using the metal pipe…and the lights go out. Chris Renfrew appears out of nowhere, drops Galloway with a Stone Cold Stunner and Grado pins him to win it for Team Dallas!
Winners: Grado, Noam Dar & Sha Samuels
Review: Well, that was one of the biggest clusterf**s I’ve ever seen in a wrestling ring. I’m going to abstain from giving it a score because these kinds of things are really great if you know the wrestlers involved and can actually follow the story from a long-time fan perspective. It was clear this was a big deal, and the fans were eating it up and loving the match from start to finish. There were people coming out of the woodwork from start to finish, and as a first-time viewer I had a lot of fun feeding off the energy, but it was more convoluted than even some of the most ridiculous TNA angles. Again, I think anybody with more knowledge than myself about the ICW product probably loved this match.
BT GUNN & CARMEL JACOB vs. THE FILTHY GENERATION (KAY LEE RAY & STEVIE BOY)
Carmel and Kay Lee brawl outside the ring immediately as BT hits a spear through the ropes on Stevie Boy to get things started. The women trade big slaps in the middle of the ring, Carmel hits a knee lift and a lariat for two. She comes off the top rope with a one-legged dropkick for another two-count, followed by a Fisherman’s Buster. Carmel tries for a Hangman’s DDT but Stevie pulls his girlfriend out of the ring. Loud “BT-BT-BT Fuckin Gunn!” chants. BT with chops and punches to both opponents, and the heels accidentally take each other out with clotheslines. Stevie puts the boots to Carmel in the corner and Kay Lee tags in to pick the bones. The women trade forearm shots until Stevie pulls Carmel from the ring. Kay Lee accidentally kicks him as Carmel ducks out of the way and makes the hot tag to BT, who runs into a superkick from Stevie, but comes back with three kicks of his own, Snake Eyes in the corner, and a beautiful rolling enzuigiri. BT off the springboard into a stunner, but Kay Lee breaks it up and hits a superkick and impressive Gory Bomb on him. In comes Carmel with a snap release German Suplex into the Hangman’s DDT. Stevie has a steel chair, but BT grabs it from him and accidentally lays out his partner. Stevie with a low blow and the Canadian Destroyer…but he kicks out at two-and-a-half. Stevie goes to the chair again but Carmel drops him with a spear. Kay Lee with a superkick to Carmel, BT with a superkick to Kay Lee, and Stevie with a superkick to BT for two. The men trade big right hands and BT tries for another Destroyer but takes a chair shot to the head from Kay Lee and Stevie flips him for the pin.
Winners: Kay Lee Ray & Stevie Boy
– The winners continue their assault with a chair and a metal pipe after the match. Stevie wraps a chair around BT’s throat and climbs the ropes but security rushes the ring and stops him.
Review: Really good match with a ton of heat and chemistry between the two teams. The men and women had some great sequences together, and as jarring as it is having not seen intergender violence in wrestling in over a decade, the mixed spots had impact and it really felt like these four were trying to kill each other. Like the Zero-G match earlier this had a little of everything, from brawling, to foreign objects, to the story and some great athleticism and big moves. I had a lot of fun and it was easy to follow; a nice change of pace from the insanity of the “match” before it. ***3/4
LEGION (MICHAEL DANTE, MIKEY WHIPLASH & TOMMY END) vs. LEWIS GIRVAN & MOUSTACHE MOUNTAIN (TRENT SEVEN & TYLER BATE)
Girvan and Whiplash trade forearms to start things off. Knee lift and a beautiful dropkick from Bate on Dante. Trent and Tommy light each other up with chops and kicks and forearm shots. End hits a brainbuster but gets thrown off the top to the floor by Garvin. Trent with a tope suicida through the ropes to take him out, Whiplash tries to follow but catches himself int he ropes on a pretty bad botch. Garvin takes them all out with a suicide of his own. Dante darts Bate over the ropes into the pile and the big man gets a running start and hits a senton over the ropes to take everyone down. Legion with a superkick, double foot stomp and lariats on Girvan but everyone is in to break it up. Girvan lights them all up with superkicks and it breaks down into everyone hitting big moves one after another. Girvan and End trade forearms and headbutts and then put single crab submissions on Whiplash and Bate as they continue to slap each other. Big Dante turns Bate inside-out with a half nelson suplex. Now it’s Whiplash and Trent’s turn to trade strong-style forearms and chops. Trent hits a Dragon suplex and a piledriver for two. Things break down again, with Girvan and Bate cleaning house and hitting outside dives. Whiplash tries to superplex Trent onto the floor, but he counters with a second rope piledriver…for a one-count. He follows up with a big lariat for three.
Winners: Moustache Mountain & Lewis Girvan
– The two teams stand across the ring from each other as the crowd chants “that was awesome”. Mikey grabs a microphone and after some technical difficulties, and says that after a tough year he no longer wants to be a part of the main event at the Hydro, because there’s somebody more deserving. He puts over Moustache Mountain and Trent Seven huge, saying he deserves to be in that spot instead. Mikey says it doesn’t matter what the boys in the back want, it matters what the fans want, and promises to stand behind Trent until he gets to the Hydro. The two teams shake hands and hug it out as the crowd chants for Tommy End. Tommy does a goodbye promo, telling the ICW fans that wherever he decides to go next he carries them with him.
Review: Another really good match, all action from start to finish. Almost on that Young Bucks level of constant, non-stop moves where it’s almost impossible to keep track of everything going on. Commentary did an excellent job driving the rivalry between these men and told a great story alongside the story happening in the ring. The best match of the show so far. My one complaint is that I absolutely hate to see the piledriver weakened as a finisher, and this match had two piledriver kick-outs. The second wasn’t even a one-count and really took the piss out of the finish for me. Still a great match, but those spots just didn’t need to exist. ****
ICW HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
BIG DAMO (c) vs. JOE COFFEY
Coffey right off with a missile dropkick and they brawl to the outside with elbows and uppercuts. They fight into the fans and Big Damo levels Coffey with a cannonball into the barricade. Back into the ring and Damo hits him with a few chair shots. Coffey sweeps him and briefly does the Cesaro Swing spot on the big man before applying a Boston Crab; Damo gets to the ropes and resumes his beatdown of the challenger. After several minutes Coffey comes off the springboard with a three-point crossbody out of nowhere to take them both down. He hits a few splashes in the corner and a huge missile dropkick from the top, then follows Damo to the floor with a tope taking out a flock of security. They fight back into the ring and Coffey lifts the big man for an O’Connor Roll and a hits a top rope splash for two. Damo blocks a rolling forearm with a kick and gets a running crossbody for two. He gets Coffey up into the Electric Chair position but Coffey counters with a victory roll for two. Damo counters another forearm with his head and hits a massive dropkick into the corner. He teases doing coast-to-coast with the title belt, which wouldn’t happen in a million years, but Coffey recovers and superplexes the big man for a nearfall. They slowly get back up and trade a ton of forearms, then European uppercuts. Damo takes him down and starts wailing on him with elbow shots, trying to end the match by ref stoppage, until Coffey rolls under the ropes. Damo drags him back into the ring and hits a superick and an electric chair driver for two-and-a-half. Coffey mounts his comeback with an enzuigiri and a massive German suplex, a series of elbows and uppercuts, and a lariat for the win.
Winner and New Champion: Joe Coffey
– Damo surrenders the belt after the match and Coffey gives him a show of respect. Damo said he had to beat Joe Coffey to prove he was the best, and he couldn’t do that.
Review: A damn good main event match. This was more of a traditional, slow-paced New Japan style main event than anything else we’d seen on the card, very slowly working towards all the big moves, high spots and nearfalls at the end. The crowd was into it, and the only thing that made it difficult for me to invest in was simply not knowing the product very well at the end of a long, three-hour show with a lot going on. Still a great wrestling match, and as I’ve said a few times, these scores would be a little different coming from someone with an ICW-educated perspective. ***3/4
– Red Lightning and The Black Label came out and beat down Big Damo and dragged him to the back. Wolfgang comes out with his briefcase and cashes in his shot at the title.
ICW HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
JOE COFFEY (c) vs. WOLFGANG
Wolfgang puts on a pair of brass knuckles and lays out Coffey with a double-knee gutbuster and a Swanton Bomb, but Coffey kicks out a two to everyone’s surprise. Coffey blocks a knuckle shot and lays him out with a huge lariat for two. Lightning is out and pulls the referee the floor, distracting Coffey long enough for Wolfgang to knock him out with a stiff right hand for the pin.
Winner and New Champion: Wolfgang
FINAL THOUGHTS
You only get one chance to make a first impression, and ICW nailed it with this show. I was promised a hybrid promotion that did a little bit of everything, and I got a show filled with all different kinds of wrestling, some hardcore spots, a cage match, long in-ring promo segments involving a gang of trans women, a full-on management war, but most importantly, wrestling matches with deep backstory that told excellent, emotionally-charged stories.
The commentary was excellent, despite the broadcast being littered with technical issues and a sound guy that clearly did not know how to level multiple channels properly. Even though I had never seen an ICW show before, and was only familiar with a very small percentage of the stars competing, the commentary team kept me informed and filled me in on the rivalries and made each match feel important.
This did feel like one of those shows that you really need to have a long-time investment in the product to fully appreciate though, and I’m sure there are huge ICW fans that were marking out and loving every minute of this event. I could sense the impact and excitement of each segment, even if I rarely understood what was happening. It was a little like being the guy at a WrestleMania party that’s never seen WWE; I thoroughly enjoyed my experience, I absolutely want to see more, but I do feel like I missed out on a little of that “magic” that comes from being a long-time fan.
If you’ve never seen an ICW show and reading this got you interested, you can subscribe to their on-demand platform for just $6.99 a month with no commitment, and get access to this show and their entire backlog. I would also highly recommend checking out the aforementioned SnapmareNecks.com blog which previews this and other ICW shows for those, like me, who have no idea what’s going on.
