Frontline Hits The Headlines

The British independent wrestling scene has seen many new wrestling promotions pop up all over the country.

It is now the turn of East London, with Frontline Wrestling having their first three shows in the Stratford Circus Arts Centre.

Fronted by international and local Essex wrestling star Will Ospreay, Frontline Wrestling is bringing a Japanese vibe to the British scene.

Young and upcoming wrestlers known as ‘Young Lions’ set up the ring and the safety support around it during matches, which is a staple of the wrestling scene in and around Japan.

New Challenge

Ospreay has introduced a new format into his promotion with the introduction of the J1 League. The promotion debuted in this show as 12 wrestlers are split into two blocks, A and B.

The A-Block competitors are: Ash Draven, Kelly Sixx, Paul Robinson, Martin Kirby, Darrell Allen and Chris Ridgeway.

B-Block is comprised of Kyle Fletcher, Damian Dunne, Malik, A-Kid, Rocky Mac and Travis Banks.

Some of these wrestlers are hardened veterans on the independent scene while some are just making their way through the ranks. So this was a fantastic experience for the younger performers.

A win is two points, a draw (if there is no winner after 15 minutes) is one and a loss is zero. All competitors in each block will face each other once and the winners of their respective block will face off to find the winner of the inaugural J1 League.

This show had eight matches, with six of them being tournament matches.

Ready To Rumble

The night began with two ‘Young Lions’ facing off as Scotty Davies took on Chris Gladden in a non-tournament match.

Davies hit a spin kick right on the nose and finished Gladden off with a German Suplex into a pin. As two young prospects starting off their wrestling careers, they still have a lot to improve on.

The three matches of the B-Block were next in the show running.

The first saw 18 year old Australian Kyle Fletcher against ‘No Fun’ Damian Dunne (He doesn’t like people having fun).

There was almost a foot in height between the two guys with Kyle towering over Damian. This was an interesting match with some good crowd interaction from Dunne, saying that the moves he was hitting on Fletcher were in fact ‘fun’. Both men were hitting high impact moves upon one another.

The Australian picked up the first two points of the J1 by throwing Dunne headfirst into the turnbuckle like a javelin and a swinging DDT.

This had been an enthralling start to the tournament.

Hard-Hitting Thriller

Another match with discernible size difference saw Malik from Essex take on A-Kid from Madrid. ‘Hard hitter’ Malik certainly hit hard throughout this match but A-Kid was trying to chop the bigger man down with swift kicks and submissions.

Corner to corner action was in abundance throughout this match which had everyone on their feet in the Circus Centre.

Malik finally got the win with a knee to the jaw which would put this reporter in hospital for a week!

It was a phenomenal contest between these two lesser-known wrestlers and they definitely caught the eye in this match up.

Rocky’s Robbery

B-Block’s final match of today would see the enigmatic Irish Rocky Mac take on the returning Kiwi Travis Banks.

Rocky took the microphone before the match and cut a promo about praying to God and plugging his merchandise at the same time. Travis hated this and absolutely dismantled Rocky, dropping him on his neck on the ring apron.

The match was over quickly, as Rocky rolled up Banks out of nothing and stole the win without getting in any offence.

The next non-tournament tag match saw two ‘Young Lions’ in Callum Newman and Kam Lucia take on Jimmy Havoc and David Starr, the latter replaced Mark Haskins who had pulled out with an injury.

Bad guys Havoc and Starr bullied the new boys all round with Lucia and Newman getting in little offence.

Over to A-Block

It was now the turn of the A-Block as Kelly Sixx took on Ash Draven.

Draven is an odd character, very slow and lethargic with short bursts of speed out of nothing. The match-up unfortunately felt lacklustre as a result and Draven picked up the win with a hammerlock DDT.

The penultimate match saw two legends of the British scene in Paul Robinson and Martin Kirby face off.

Robinson, known as the ‘most despicable man in Professional Wrestling’ lived up to his name, repeatedly telling the crowd to shut up, with a few expletives thrown in for good measure.

Kirby used his own comedy factor by accusing Robinson of hair pulling, despite the fact they are both bald men.

Interruption from fellow bad guy Havoc saw Robinson hit Kirby with a low blow and a curb stomp with the referee’s back turned.

The bad guys win this time.

Heated Headline

The main event saw Chris Ridgeway against Darrell Allen in the final match of A-Block.

The pair showed each other a sign of respect and tried to get down on the mat early to implement both of their submission games. The match then reverted to a grapple contest, more of an actual wrestling match with less theatrics.

Both men cancelled each other out which led to some hard hitting strikes by them both. With 30 seconds remaining, Ridgeway hooked in a submission and Allen couldn’t hold on.

Here are the J1 league standings after week one.