Maybe Memories

After several weeks of making Darwen Vale High School something of a regular home, RWL returned to the familiar surroundings of Turning Medieval for Maybe Memories on 27th August 2007.

As it turned out, Misery Business two weeks earlier had been the promotion’s final show at Darwen Vale. The exact circumstances behind leaving are a little unclear, although the cost of hiring the sports hall every week may well have been a factor. Whatever the reason, RWL was back in the field where so much of its early history had taken place.

And the blue tarp still hadn’t returned.

Just as at Condoms & Cigarette Packets three weeks earlier, everyone was wrestling directly on the grass, with the same collection of boulders serving as makeshift turnbuckles. After getting used to gym mats, indoor facilities and an actual roof over their heads, the roster had somehow managed to take a step backwards.

Still, Turning Medieval was familiar territory. Countless afternoons had been spent wrestling there, and it was also where Valo had been informally training some of the newer members of the roster on random weeknights. It wasn’t a wrestling school in any conventional sense, but people were learning, and there was a growing collection of wrestlers eager to put that training into practice.

The surroundings might not have changed much, but RWL itself certainly had. By this point, the promotion was developing longer-running storylines, with events building on one another rather than existing as isolated afternoons of wrestling. There were championship histories, ongoing rivalries, characters changing allegiances and even an authority structure.

Admittedly, the authority structure was about to encounter a few problems.

Reinstate Cyanide or We Walk

Rather than opening with a match, Maybe Memories began with the entire roster gathered around the wrestling area, with Spyke standing in the middle.

Spyke had recently been appointed RWL Assistant Manager, a storyline development that had taken place through the original RWLuk.net.tc website rather than on camera. Back then, the website wasn’t just somewhere to post results and photographs. It was occasionally used to advance storylines between shows, too.

Now Spyke was putting his new position to use.

He called out Valo and demanded the immediate reinstatement of “Cyanide” Danny Cooper, who’d been suspended at Misery Business. If Valo refused, Spyke warned, the entire roster would walk out.

Spectators had only recently started turning up to RWL shows. Losing the wrestlers as well would have been quite an achievement.

Valo appeared to a chorus of boos, a noticeable change from the mixed reactions he’d received at previous events. His increasingly unpleasant behaviour over the preceding weeks had firmly pushed him into heel territory.

He wasn’t impressed with Spyke’s demands, reminding him that he’d been given the Assistant Manager position to help run RWL, not to make stupid decisions like bringing Cyanide back.

Spyke argued that without Cyanide, Valo no longer had a proper rival in the promotion. Who else was going to stand up to him?

Valo was perfectly happy with that arrangement. As far as he was concerned, having Cyanide out of the way was rather the point.

Spyke had other ideas.

With a particularly emphatic “WRONG!”, he announced that Cyanide was reinstated, effective immediately.

Cyanide returned and addressed the roster and the handful of spectators gathered around the field. He apologised for the way he’d treated people during his reign as RWL Hardcore Champion, acknowledging that he’d hardly been the most pleasant person to have around.

It was an important change in his character. After spending much of his championship reign antagonising people, Cyanide was now being positioned as the man standing up to Valo.

His suspension had also resulted in the Hardcore Championship being vacated, meaning he was returning without the title he’d previously held.

Valo, meanwhile, was furious.

The two confronted one another, Cyanide shoved Valo, and Valo responded by spearing him to the ground.

It was at this point that Valo issued a challenge for Entertainmania II.

Initially, he suggested a Street Fight, before deciding that wasn’t quite enough and changing the stipulation to a Deathmatch.

He collected his NAW Cruiserweight Championship and left, having just established the main event for RWL’s next major show.

The announcement was significant for more than just the match itself. The original Entertainmania, held on 16th September 2006, had been RWL’s first recorded event. Almost a year later, the name was returning for a second instalment on 30th September 2007.

It was the beginning of the idea that some RWL shows could become recurring fixtures rather than one-off events.

And what better way to mark the anniversary of the promotion’s first recorded show than threatening to kill your mate?

When the Lines Between Reality and Wrestling Blurred

Of course, the situation between Valo and Cyanide had a rather more personal background than most RWL storylines.

Following Inhuman Creation Station in July, Valo had started a relationship with the former girlfriend of Lewis, the person behind Cyanide and one of his closest friends.

It was a situation Valo would later acknowledge he’d handled badly, particularly given his friendship with Lewis. Rather than allow the tension to remain entirely outside wrestling, the two agreed to incorporate it into an ongoing storyline, drawing inspiration from the worked-shoot approach associated with Vince Russo.

The intention wasn’t to settle everything in a single match. It was to let the rivalry develop across several events, blending elements of reality with the fictional conflict between their characters.

At Smack!YerBitchUp, Cyanide had interfered in Valo’s opportunity to win the RWL World Championship. At Misery Business, Valo responded by suspending Cyanide and delivering a deliberately provocative promo about the real-life situation.

Now the storyline had reached another stage. Cyanide was back, Valo had become one of the promotion’s most unpopular characters, and the two were heading towards a Deathmatch at Entertainmania II.

Something that had caused genuine difficulties outside wrestling was becoming one of the biggest stories RWL had attempted.

Thankfully, the friendship between Valo and Lewis survived beyond the storyline, even if their characters were heading towards considerably less friendly territory.

A Scottish Welcome, RWL Style

With the opening confrontation out of the way, attention turned to the wrestling, beginning with two RWL debuts.

Rob Torque had travelled down from Scotland, representing IW (Impact Wrestling Scotland), while his opponent, Scythe, was one of the latest people to come through RWL’s informal training sessions at Turning Medieval.

Torque was the more experienced of the two and wasted little time making himself unpopular.

“England… yer shite!”

That was his opening contribution to Anglo-Scottish relations.

He spent much of the match controlling Scythe, who managed occasional bursts of offence before Torque regained the advantage. It was a useful opportunity for one of RWL’s newer wrestlers to work with somebody who’d already gained experience elsewhere.

Towards the end, Torque ducked an attempted strike, causing Scythe to accidentally clothesline the referee. With the official down, Torque took advantage with a low blow before delivering a sit-out Pedigree.

Not the cleanest introduction to RWL, but he’d certainly established what sort of character he was going to be.

A Collar, a Chain and a Mystery Opponent

Backstage, Overkill and Shawn O’ Mercy were warming up when Valo approached with some news.

Following Cyanide’s suspension, the RWL Hardcore Championship was vacant, and Valo had decided that Mercy would have an opportunity to reclaim it that afternoon.

There was a catch.

It would be a Dog Collar Match, and Mercy wouldn’t know who he was facing until somebody answered an open challenge.

Valo handed over the collar and chain, sarcastically wished him luck and wandered off.

Very helpful.

The segment continued Valo’s increasingly arrogant character while also setting up a championship match with an unusual stipulation. Even though Cyanide had been reinstated earlier in the afternoon, the title remained vacant.

Squats, UFOs and Questionable Wrestling Holds

Before that could be settled, however, there was the small matter of Kazuki “Lightning” Lyger and Overkill.

Lyger had become something of an unlikely crowd favourite, largely thanks to their increasingly famous squat routine. What had started as a ridiculous bit of comedy had developed into a regular part of the character, and the audience now seemed genuinely delighted whenever Lyger started squatting.

Wrestling is a strange business.

Overkill, on the other hand, had been steadily becoming more unpopular through his recent behaviour, particularly his growing association with Spyke.

Their match mixed comedy with some surprisingly physical moments. Lyger worked their squats into several sequences, including a combination ending with a Banzai Drop that genuinely knocked the wind out of Overkill.

In fact, it knocked so much wind out of him that filming was briefly stopped to let him recover.

Not ideal, but these things happen.

Lyger also brought out the UFO Low Blow, a routine that had become another audience favourite. They’d point towards the sky, insist there was a UFO overhead, wait for the referee to look away and then deliver a low blow.

It was a beautifully stupid idea, and people loved it.

There was also a running joke involving Adam Watson’s beloved Axe Handle Smash. Both Lyger and Overkill took turns delivering the move to one another, refusing to sell it and generally treating it as the most useless piece of offence imaginable.

Watson wasn’t even involved in the match and was still getting mocked.

Overkill eventually finished things with his namesake move, but the more important development was how comfortable both characters were becoming in their respective roles. Lyger had found an entertaining comedy routine that audiences responded to, while Overkill was growing into a genuinely troublesome heel.

And his association with Spyke was about to become considerably more obvious.

The Curious Case of the Not-So-Unknown Wrestler

Spyke emerged alongside Overkill with an announcement concerning Adam Watson.

Apparently, they’d killed him.

At Misery Business, the pair had attacked Watson, and Spyke was now proudly taking credit for his apparent demise.

Overkill quickly interrupted.

“WE killed Adam Watson.”

He wasn’t letting Spyke claim all the glory.

To support their story, Overkill produced Watson’s familiar entrance jacket, explaining that it was all that remained of him and that the jacket now belonged to Overkill.

A touching tribute to a fallen colleague.

Spyke’s scheduled opponent was then introduced as Mr. Unknown, billed from Parts Unknown.

Out came a masked wrestler who looked suspiciously like Adam Watson.

And by suspiciously, it was Adam Watson wearing a mask.

He’d borrowed the appearance of Corey Taylor’s mask from Slipknot’s Vol. 3 era, but otherwise hadn’t changed a thing about his attire.

Same clothes, same build, same everything.

It was an astonishing disguise. Nobody could possibly have worked it out.

The match continued the rivalry between Watson and Spyke, with some fairly stiff moments along the way. Spyke stomped on Watson’s arm while wearing his New Rock boots and delivered a particularly hard kick to his back.

Eventually, the mask came off, revealing that Mr. Unknown was indeed Adam Watson.

Shocking, really.

Watson fought back and called out Overkill, who joined Spyke in attacking him.

But Overkill had managed to upset somebody considerably larger than Adam Watson.

KillSwitch ran out and immediately went after him.

This was a continuation of events at Misery Business, where Overkill had interfered during KillSwitch’s match for the newly introduced RWL Cruiserweight Championship.

KillSwitch had become the inaugural champion, but Overkill’s involvement had made it clear that he had his own interest in the title.

Now KillSwitch was taking the opportunity to get some revenge.

The interruption briefly shifted the momentum, although Spyke ultimately brought his contest with Watson to a close with a powerbomb.

What mattered more was the developing relationship between the four wrestlers. Watson had an ongoing issue with Spyke, KillSwitch had unfinished business with Overkill, and Spyke and Overkill were becoming increasingly inseparable.

This was the early formation of the partnership that would eventually become The Omen, although they weren’t using that name just yet.

There was also something wonderfully inconsistent about Spyke’s position.

At the beginning of the afternoon, he’d been standing up for the roster against Valo’s abuse of authority.

A little later, he was claiming to have murdered one of the wrestlers.

Still, he’d only recently become Assistant Manager. Perhaps he was learning on the job.

Size Isn’t Everything

The next contest introduced another new face in Teddie H, who faced Project SEX, formerly known as Project S20.

Project SEX was part of the Chris System alongside Chris Goodwin and Ciaran Kennedy, a group that had developed a reputation for being less than popular. Oddly enough, Project SEX still received cheers during his entrance.

Apparently, the audience was willing to make an exception.

There was a considerable size difference between the two wrestlers, but Teddie brought an interesting style to the match, drawing on a background in breakdancing to incorporate speed, agility and unusual movements into the wrestling.

It made for a genuinely entertaining contest, and looking back, it stands as Project SEX’s best RWL match up to that point.

The closing moments also made good use of the natural surroundings, with Teddie climbing onto one of the boulders and launching a flying clothesline.

There weren’t any turnbuckles, but at least the local geology was cooperating.

Blackberries, Chains and Bad Intentions

The afternoon’s Hardcore Championship match brought things back to Shawn O’ Mercy, who’d been informed earlier that he’d be competing in a Dog Collar Match against whoever answered the open challenge.

Mercy entered to boos, something that had only recently become a regular occurrence for him.

His opponent was the newly reinstated Cyanide.

The two already had history together. Mercy had previously held the RWL Hardcore Championship before losing it to Cyanide at an XWA (Xtreme Wrestling Arts) event earlier in 2007, while they’d also faced one another in a hardcore-style contest at RWL:ACW Hardcore Debut in May.

So this wasn’t simply a random pairing. Both men had previously held the championship, and there was already a rivalry to build upon.

Before the match could begin, however, Cyanide had something important to announce.

He asked everyone to be quiet, then revealed that he’d brought blackberries for the audience.

Actual blackberries.

A handful of fruit.

And the crowd went absolutely mental.

Quite why that particular announcement got such an enormous reaction remains something of a mystery, but it did. After weeks of suspensions, personal insults and increasingly hostile confrontations, Cyanide had apparently discovered that the quickest route to becoming a fan favourite was to turn up with some berries.

Whatever works.

The Dog Collar Match itself was something RWL believed to be a first for UK backyard wrestling, although that distinction hasn’t been independently verified.

Both wrestlers wore dog collars around their necks, connected by a long metal chain, with No Disqualification rules allowing them to use the chain however they pleased.

And they certainly made use of it.

The match was a chaotic brawl, with both men whipping and choking one another with the chain and finding different ways to make the stipulation as unpleasant as possible.

At one point, Cyanide climbed onto one of the boulders, only to be yanked back down by the chain attached to his collar.

It’s not a particularly comfortable-looking way to leave a rock.

There was also the return of an old prop from Turning Medieval (Show) back in March.

During that event, Shawn O’ Mercy had used an electrical wire in his match against Valo. The same wire was still present in the field, visibly grounded, and it was incorporated into another staged electrocution spot when the chain was placed against it.

As if that wasn’t enough, Spyke, who was watching from the crowd, decided to start climbing the electrical wire.

The camera quickly panned away.

Probably for the best.

For all the silliness surrounding it, the match was an enjoyable hardcore contest that made creative use of both the stipulation and the familiar surroundings.

Unfortunately for Cyanide, it also provided another opportunity for Valo to interfere.

Towards the end, Valo ran in and delivered a huge spear to Cyanide, allowing Shawn O’ Mercy to take advantage and regain the RWL Hardcore Championship.

Because it was a No Disqualification match, there was nothing preventing Valo from getting involved.

Mercy had reclaimed the championship he’d previously lost to Cyanide, while Cyanide had been denied the chance to win back the belt that had been vacated during his suspension.

And Valo still wasn’t finished.

After the match, he attacked Cyanide again, delivering a massive CorZonE before the referee managed to push him away.

It was another important moment in the developing rivalry.

Earlier in the afternoon, Valo had been forced to accept Cyanide’s reinstatement. Now he’d cost him the Hardcore Championship and attacked him for good measure.

The two were already scheduled to meet in a Deathmatch at Entertainmania II, and Valo was doing everything he could to make sure Cyanide had plenty of reasons to want revenge.

A Cruiserweight in Name Only

The final match of the afternoon brought together two champions from different promotions.

Valo, the reigning NAW Cruiserweight Champion, faced KillSwitch, the newly crowned RWL Cruiserweight Champion, with neither title on the line.

There was, however, a rather noticeable difference between the two men.

KillSwitch stood approximately 6’6” and weighed around 28 stone.

Yes, the RWL Cruiserweight Champion weighed 28 stone.

RWL’s weight divisions were apparently more of a suggestion than a rule.

Valo was considerably smaller, and the opening exchanges reflected that, with KillSwitch using his size and strength to throw him around the field.

The crowd was firmly behind KillSwitch, while Valo received the same hostile reaction he’d been getting throughout the afternoon.

Eventually, Valo managed to fight back with a huge superkick, and the match developed into an entertaining back-and-forth contest.

KillSwitch delivered his Switchiguri, a variation of the enzuigiri, along with some particularly stiff kicks to Valo’s back.

Valo, meanwhile, had decided to borrow Project SEX’s shorts.

The reasoning was simple enough. They reminded him of D’Lo Brown.

Naturally, this meant he had to perform a Lo-Down Frog Splash.

Quite why borrowing somebody’s shorts was necessary for that is another matter, but apparently it was.

There was also an attempt at Valo’s Devil’s Night Driver, a wheelbarrow facebuster that proved rather difficult to execute on somebody of KillSwitch’s size.

Not every idea translates particularly well when your opponent weighs 28 stone.

KillSwitch had rather more success with his own power moves, including an impressive multi-rotation Black Hole Slam after catching Valo’s attempted clothesline.

The match eventually reached a point where KillSwitch climbed onto one of the boulders and launched himself onto Valo with a huge splash.

The referee began counting.

He reached two.

And then Overkill appeared.

Overkill ran in and struck KillSwitch with Valo’s NAW Cruiserweight Championship belt, breaking up the pinfall and causing Valo to be disqualified.

The result meant KillSwitch had technically beaten the NAW Cruiserweight Champion, but neither title changed hands, and the bigger story was Overkill’s continued interference in KillSwitch’s business.

Having already caused problems for him at Misery Business, Overkill had now involved himself in another of KillSwitch’s matches.

And he wasn’t alone for long.

Overkill called for Spyke, and the two began attacking KillSwitch together.

Unfortunately, there was one fairly obvious problem with that plan.

KillSwitch was enormous.

He fought back, flattened both men with a double clothesline and looked ready to deliver a double chokeslam.

Spyke and Overkill decided that discretion was the better part of valour and promptly ran away.

KillSwitch was left standing tall, celebrating as the afternoon came to an end.

It was another step forward for the partnership between Spyke and Overkill, and another chapter in Overkill’s developing rivalry with the RWL Cruiserweight Champion.

The future Omen were becoming a regular source of trouble, even if they hadn’t yet found a name for themselves.

Same Field, Different RWL

Looking back, Maybe Memories feels like an important transitional show for RWL.

The promotion had left Darwen Vale High School behind and returned to the field that had been its home for much of its early existence. The blue tarp was still missing, the boulders were still being used as turnbuckles, and everyone was once again wrestling directly on the grass.

In terms of facilities, things hadn’t exactly progressed.

But the wrestling itself, and particularly the stories surrounding it, were becoming more developed.

There were visiting wrestlers from Scotland, new trainees making their debuts, established characters finding their identities and a growing roster of people willing to spend their afternoons getting thrown around a field in Darwen.

Kazuki Lyger had somehow made squats and imaginary UFOs into crowd favourites. Adam Watson had attempted to disguise himself by changing absolutely nothing except his face. Cyanide had brought blackberries, and the audience had reacted as though he’d handed out championship belts.

Shawn O’ Mercy had regained the Hardcore Championship in a Dog Collar Match, while Spyke and Overkill were gradually developing the partnership that would become The Omen.

Most importantly, the rivalry between Valo and Cyanide had taken another significant step forward.

It was a storyline rooted in genuine personal circumstances, something both men had agreed to turn into wrestling rather than leave entirely outside it. That decision gave the feud an edge that some earlier RWL storylines hadn’t possessed, although Valo would later acknowledge that he wished he’d handled the real-life situation differently.

By the end of the afternoon, Cyanide had been reinstated, Valo had firmly established himself as a heel, and their Deathmatch at Entertainmania II was officially on the horizon.

For a promotion that had begun with a handful of friends messing around in a field, RWL was now attempting longer-term storytelling, building towards major events and creating connections between shows.

There was still plenty to learn, and much of what happened was ridiculous.

But it was a particular brand of ridiculous that was becoming recognisably RWL.

And for all the improvements briefly enjoyed at Darwen Vale, there was something fitting about the promotion finding itself back at Turning Medieval.

No sports hall. No gym mats. Not even a tarp.

Just the grass, the boulders, a growing collection of wrestlers and an increasingly complicated set of reasons for them to want to beat each other up.

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Maybe Memories brought RWL back to familiar ground. The surroundings hadn’t changed much, but the stories being told certainly had.