Yesterday I attended the first show of a new UK independent promotion, the National Wrestling League, and despite it being a local show, the setup and production quality were far above those of most new promotions I have ever seen.
The National Wrestling League is “wrestling, reimagined,” as they state on their website (thenationalwrestlingleague.com), and the concept is certainly like nothing I’ve ever heard of or seen in wrestling before.
The concept is essentially wrestling and football (soccer for our American friends) combined, with six teams representing different areas of the UK, all competing to earn points in a league-style system.
Each match is a 15-minute Iron Man match split into two seven-and-a-half-minute halves, with the wrestlers competing to win falls by pinfall, submission, countout, or disqualification. Disqualification is determined by a yellow-and-red card system, with a yellow card issued as a warning for an infringement of the rules. If a second yellow is issued for further infringements, the wrestler receives a red card, which means they lose that fall by DQ, and the other team wins a point. A wrestler can also receive a straight red card for gross misconduct during the match, which means they immediately lose the fall by DQ.
Unlike a regular Iron Man match, a match can end in either a win or a draw. If a team wins a match, they earn three league points; for a draw, both teams earn one point, and for a loss, teams earn zero points. And the team that earns the most points at the end of the season will be crowned National Wrestling League champions and win the trophy.
The league matches will start on August 9 in Newcastle, and yesterday’s show was a pre-season warm-up show in Eston Leisure Centre in Middlesbrough.
But despite yesterday’s show being a pre-season affair, the production quality was incredible. The sold-out crowd saw a gigantic inflatable entranceway with the promotion’s logo towering above the ring; smoke cannons and pyro were used on the entrances, and the ring canvas was green with white markings to replicate a football pitch inside a wrestling ring. There was also a full professional lighting and camera setup, akin to those you would see from WWE and AEW shows.
Match #1: Joey Hayes (Manchester Maniacs) vs. Riley Nova (Midlands Destroyers)
The first match of the show saw Joey Hayes of the Manchester Maniacs team take on Riley Nova of the Midlands destroyers. It was an excellent opening match, with both Hayes and Nova displaying great technical moves. They really got the crowd going and gave us a brilliant showcase of how this rules system works, with yellow and red cards issued.
Match #2: Tim Strange (North East Outlaws) vs. Hugo Harris (Glasgow Hitmen)
The second match featured a completely different style to the first, as we saw babyface powerhouse Tim Strange compete for the local team, the North East Outlaws, against the smaller heel Hugo Harris, who competed for the Glasgow Hitmen. Strange dominated Harris for most of the match, but despite controlling the pace, he was unable to win, as Harris scored an early fall and survived Strange’s onslaught to earn a victory for his team.
Match #3: Smashing Mike and Levi Muir (London Executioners) vs. Wesley Nsereko and Vusyk (Yorkshire Titans)
The third match of the evening was a tag team contest, with Smashing Mike and Levi Muir of the London Executioners, managed by Prince Ameen, taking on Wesley Nsereko, who regularly appears as a contestant on the rebooted Gladiators TV show, teaming with Vusyk. They were managed by original Gladiators star Diane “Jet” Youdale. Both managers were heavily involved in this match, as Prince Ameen helped his team take an early lead by using underhanded tactics.
But despite the cheating from the heel team, the Yorkshire Titans came out on top, and at the end of the match, as Jet and her team were being interviewed in the ring, Prince Ameen stole the microphone to deliver some trash talk to Jet, who responded by flooring the London manager with a slap.
Match #4: Ricky Regan (Manchester Maniacs) vs. Wolfgang (Glasgow Hitmen)
Match number four saw Ricky Regan of the Manchester Maniacs taking on former WWE star Wolfgang, who competed for the Glasgow Hitmen. Wolfgang was dominant early in the contest, but he appeared to sustain a knee injury after delivering a top-rope axe handle, and Regan took advantage, targeting the leg of the former WWE NXT Tag Team champion to get himself ahead on the scoreboard. Wolfgang fought through the pain, mounted a comeback, and leveled the score at 2-2. However, as Wolfgang attempted to make the pin to win the match, the time limit was reached, and the match ended in a draw.
Match #5: Martin Kirby (North East Outlaws) vs. Brady Phillips (Midlands Destroyers)
The main event saw Martin Kirby, competing for the North East Outlaws, versus Brady Phillips of the Midlands Destroyers. The main event lived up to its billing, as the match was exciting and filled with drama, as Kirby dominated the earlier stages of the bout, only for Midlands Destroyer’s manager, the legendary Frankie Sloan, to enter the ring as the referee was distracted and took a page out of Eddie Guerrero’s playbook as he entred the ring to exchange some heated words with Kirby, only to fall to the floor clutching at his face and pleading to the referee that Kirby has struck him, despite barely touching the Liverpudlian legend in their verbal encounter.
The referee had no choice but to give Kirby a straight red card for a suspected attack on a manager, and Phillips took advantage of Kirby’s confusion to take over and put himself further ahead. However, Kirby mounted numerous comebacks and took the lead with just seconds left on the clock. Kirby then used his speed advantage to dodge Phillips’ attempted attacks and ran out the clock to earn the win for his team.
After the match, former WWE NXT UK star Joseph Conners appeared via a video on the massive entranceway screens to congratulate Kirby on surpassing his 20-year milestone in the wrestling business, before then issuing a challenge to Kirby to face him at the upcoming show in Newcastle on August 9, referencing their WCPW Title bout at the Refuse To Lose pay-per-view almost ten years ago, which also took place in Newcastle.
Kirby seemed to accept Conners’ challenge, so we can likely expect the two veterans to do battle at the National Wrestling League’s next event in Newcastle.
Thoughts On The National Wrestling League’s First Event
Coming into this show, I didn’t know what to expect from a blend of wrestling and football, and I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw, as it was a fun and exciting shakeup to the regular format of wrestling shows, and the new rules made for some exciting and tense moments in the matches.
I am very excited to see what the next show will bring and how the introduction of the league table and the stakes of teams needing to earn points will change how the matches play out throughout the season.
There are currently three confirmed dates for shows in Newcastle on August 9 at the Vertu Arena, Manchester on September 27 at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre, and Glasgow on October 10 at the PlaySport Arena.
Tickets and event details can be found at thenationalwrestlingleague.com
