Furious’ Riptide Wrestling Deep Six Review 2.15.19

Riptide is a Brighton based promotion that’s been around for a couple of years. They call themselves “cinematic pro wrestling” and pride themselves on high quality production and running in beautiful buildings. They’re starting to get a solid reputation as one of BritWres’ stand-out promotions with the bright lights of Progress and Rev Pro fading somewhat in 2019. This isn’t perhaps their best line-up, but you must start somewhere, and this seems like a good spot.

I’ll be giving a little bit of history on the wrestlers on this show as we progress but some of the names will be familiar to casual BritWres fans even if the acts are somewhat different here.

Immediate venue thoughts; it’s a great building with rowdy fans and it feels like those earlier Progress shows. It’s cool.

Kurtis Chapman vs. Jordon Breaks: Chapman is well known as a skinny Rev Pro youngster but in Brighton he’s the “keyboard warrior” and a firm heel. Breaks is a local lad so he’s the babyface. They do some fun technical stuff with Kurtis getting increasingly frustrated. The bridges with slaps is a lovely spot. Breaks takes his name from BritWres traditions and he certainly lives up to it with his style. Kurtis brings the character and they have a nice time. Some of the technical work is a little raw but I appreciate the effort. The German suplex that finishes is a bit on the soft side too. Breaks picks up the win. Final Rating: ***

Video Control takes us backstage where TK Cooper rants about being put in bad matches and it’s interspersed with clips of him kicking ass. This is very cool stuff. Why not throw the hype stuff into the VOD? I saw Candy’s video on Twitter at the time.

Candy Floss vs. TK Cooper: Candy is still a bit green but she’s getting more bookings and has worked in Japan so she’s steadily improving. She’s already loaded a lot of effort into the look too, which is super distinctive. Teeks, who gained a reputation in BritWres from punching girls, is surprisingly reluctant to do anything remotely violent here. Instead comedically stumbling through the match and giving Candy an enormous percentage of the contest. As if she’s some sort of technical god. It’s all a bit awkward. At least they have a narrative with Candy going after TK’s arm and trying to get an armbar that was billed as death in the pre-match vid. Cooper, who takes Candy far too lightly, switches gears near the finish and starts hitting a bunch of crazy flips that Floss kicks out of. This is a huge improvement over at the attempts at building parity. Just have her valiantly kick out of shit and this could have been good. Riptide get a bit excited and show three replays of a Spanish Fly. I appreciate they had three angles to choose from and it does look mint to be fair. There is a decent match hiding in here but it takes them too long to get to it and the parity work didn’t click at all. They shot for epic here and came up short. Candy probably should have used her character stuff to drive the match. I did like the arm work but Cooper had to carry a lot of the action. Final Rating: **1/4

Jack Sexsmith vs. Damon Moser: Sexsmith cuts an incredible promo on tape, which makes me think he should carry on in wrestling as a manager of some description. Brighton afforded Sexsmith somewhere where he could fine hone his work and he was clearly on his way back to big things in wrestling when he injured his knee a few months after this. If you only saw his underdog babyface act from Progress you haven’t seen everything he had to offer. Moser works the arm here, which is perhaps a flaw in formatting and a lack of conversation between the boys as the previous match was built around arm work. These two know each other well and this leads to some well executed spots like Moser side stepping a dive and turning straight into an anklelock. They do have a few awkward moments too, which seems to be mainly on Moser. When they’re trading on strikes and hitting vicious high spots the match is very effective but the spot where Moser has to usher the ref out of the way so he can get hit with a mistimed superkick is a prime example of the match going astray. Moser kicks Jack in the plums for a lame DQ finish. Sexsmith’s work in this, with his selling especially, was rock solid but they had a few issues where they didn’t click and with Sexsmith gunning for Spike Trivet it felt weird having him win on DQ instead of clean. Final Rating: **3/4

I’m enjoying the presentation of this so much I don’t even mind them sliding an advert in there for Bison Beer. Mainly because I enjoy a beer.

Cara Noir vs. Ashmore: Ashmore was in Progress before he was ready and got a rough reputation for it. Cara Noir is amazing. The entrance alone, if it’s lit right, is worth the entrance fee. I’ve seen it live a couple of times and it gives me chills. Even on tape here it’s pretty cool. Basically everyone with classical music is winning at wrestling. Ashmore, if you’ve not seen him since his disappointing Progress matches, has improved a lot. The crowd is great here and the Only Fools and Horses abuse for “Uncle Albert” is good stuff. The standard is this match is a little higher than the rest of the show. There are odd little timing issues but there’s snap on the bumps and the big spots are more impressive. It’s really good! File this in the Cara Noir is Good folder. Cara tries for a bulldog off the top but it’s countered, in mid-air, into a backbreaker and that finishes. This was excellent. They had some great ideas. I’ve been championing Cara Noir for a while now and this is further evidence of how good he is. Takes two to tango obviously and I’m pleased that Ashmore has made something of himself. Final Rating: ***3/4

Paul Robinson & Chakara vs. Rocky Mac & Martina: Robbo is so good at being a heel. I love him to pieces. His ability to piss people off is legendary. Best heel of the entire BritWres boom. This is a pleasant change of pace with Martina doing comedy and asking Rocky Mac for a Valentine’s present (and child support), which bizarrely leads to Paul Robinson threatening to fight god and Martina rubbing a Little Trees air freshener on her crotch. I’ve seen Rocky Mac wrestle a few times and this is the first time he’s let his personality run wild. Robbo’s trash talk of Martina is next level and combining it with Martina’s antics is good stuff. It’s a really fun match that’s consistently well executed without ever needing to do anything ridiculous. It’s just personality driven. The loose bottom ropes cost Martina on her springboards and Robbo curb stomps her for the pin. This was effortlessly good. If you’re a UK promoter and you’re not using Robbo you’re doing it wrong. Final Rating: ***1/2

The post-match antics include Jinny coming out to cut a savage promo on Robbo. “I’ve got that contract and you’ve got nothing so fuck you”. I loved all this and it sets up Jinny & Jimmy Havoc vs. Robbo & Chakara for the next show.

Wild Boar vs. Spike Trivet: Trivet is dodging Sexsmith but he doesn’t mind working Boar because “he’s a wild animal and people like me hunt wild animals”. I mentioned Robbo being the best heel in BritWres but Trivet is also outstanding. I’m not certain his entitled, champagne swilling Tory character would translate to other countries but it works perfectly here. Spike’s effectiveness as a heel is neutered by the minority in the crowd who love him for his character. Either that or they’re Conservative Party members. Trivet’s act is rounded out by his butler, played by Shay Purser. The match has a narrative of powerhouse vs. coward. This works for the most part but occasionally there are issues. Trivet’s attempted John Woo is a total fuck up. Shay runs in, gets killed with the Trapper Keeper, and Spike uses the distraction to roll Boar up for the win. This was patchy and overlong. Spike should have taken a shellacking here to lead to that sneaky finish. Final Rating: **1/2

Riptide Brighton Championship: Chuck Mambo (c) vs. Mark Haskins: Haskins has a calf injury. “I got a little envious of all the time off Kid Lykos was getting so I thought fuck it, why not?” Lykos is the ring announcer for today’s show and has since retired with a bad shoulder. Haskins isn’t known for his promos but he cuts a stunning one here skipping effortlessly between topics. It’s all a set up for Haskins to jump Mambo from behind with a crutch shot and heel it up. He actually wrestles the match in street clothes. Haskins working as an established world-class heel and belittling Mambo and his people gives the match a fine dynamic so they don’t need to work all that hard. Which has been an overarching story of the entire show. If you tell a good enough story you don’t need to kill yourself in the process. They do a good job of incorporating Vicky Haskins into the match and having her assault the referee to prevent a three count. They have an awkward moment on a double pin spot but recover with a superkick and a big splash finishes for Mambo. They made great use of Haskins as a special guest star and promptly set up Mambo vs. TK Cooper for the next show. The mic drop cut to end the show is one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Final Rating: ***1/2

7.2

The final score: review Good

The 411

If you’re looking for Match of the Year contenders this probably isn’t the promotion for you but if you’re looking for a promotion that actually tells stories and builds feuds and makes you actually interested in why matches are happening this is consistently great at all of that. In a year where BritWres seems to have lost the ability to tell stories to set matches up it’s refreshing to see Riptide do that and in the process build their own stars. You will no doubt recognize a lot of these names from other promotions but where Riptide is so successful is in making the most of their abilities. Plus their presentation and production is unique. They’re actually doing something different and it’s great.