Mum, The Cat's Dead

Mum, The Cat’s Dead

Before anything else, the obvious question needs answering.

Why was the show called Mum, The Cat’s Dead?

There isn’t a reason.

CorZ and Jayyy thought the name was funny.

That was apparently enough to name an RWL show.

Jayyy wasn’t even there.

RWL Goes to the Seaside

The original plan was to get the RWL crew together for a big day out, travelling from Blackburn to St Anne’s for a day at the beach and, naturally, some wrestling.

When the day arrived, however, only a handful of people actually showed up.

Making the trip were CorZ, “Cyanide” Danny Cooper, Kazuki “Lightning” Lyger and Darren Holden, who was primarily involved with RWL as a referee and behind the camera.

Undeterred, the four packed their wrestling gear and the classic RWL blue tarpaulin into bags, jumped on the train from Blackburn and headed for the seaside.

The idea had been to find somewhere relatively quiet to set up.

Naturally, RWL instead laid the tarp down in one of the usually busier parts of the beach.

Fortunately, it was a quiet day.

Welcome to St Anne’s

The show opens with Darren Holden lying on the tarp in his boxer shorts, attempting to introduce the show.

What Darren actually said is considerably harder to establish.

The wind coming off the beach completely overwhelms much of the audio, a problem that continues throughout the recording. Plenty of talking takes place over the course of the show. How much of it can actually be understood is another matter entirely.

The wind created another problem too.

The same blue tarp that worked reasonably well on the grass back in Blackburn had a habit of blowing around while people were trying to wrestle on it.

And then there was the sand.

Despite looking considerably softer than some of RWL’s previous wrestling surfaces, bumping on it hurt.

By the end of the show, everybody was covered in it.

[lfp] Falls Apart

The show itself began with CorZ and “Cyanide” Danny Cooper discussing their loss to R*WL at Leaping Spoonkick From Hell.

Cyanide blamed his [lfp] partner for the defeat.

Then he slapped him.

The force of the slap turned CorZ around, only for him to turn back into a huge lariat from Cyanide.

Cyanide left looking somewhere between furious and upset, leaving his former partner behind on the tarp.

Whatever problems [lfp] had before arriving in St Anne’s had just become considerably worse.

CorZ vs Kazuki Lyger

The first match saw CorZ face Kazuki “Lightning” Lyger.

It was a fun back-and-forth encounter and Lyger’s latest opportunity to search for their first RWL victory.

More importantly for CorZ, there was now another match waiting for him afterwards.

Because Cyanide hadn’t gone anywhere.

CorZ vs Cyanide

Following the attack earlier in the show, “Cyanide” Danny Cooper returned to face CorZ.

This time, Cyanide was getting booed.

The two fought back and forth for around 16 minutes, including CorZ delivering a huge crucifix powerbomb onto the sand.

All while children casually received donkey rides in the background.

It was also the beginning of something much bigger.

This was the first of many CorZ vs Cyanide matches to be captured on camera, beginning an in-ring rivalry that would repeatedly bring the two back together throughout RWL’s history.

At the time, though, it was simply two [lfp] partners fighting on a beach because one blamed the other for losing a match.

Cyanide vs Kazuki Lyger

After wrestling CorZ for around 16 minutes, Cyanide had very little time to recover.

His next opponent was Kazuki “Lightning” Lyger.

Lyger was still searching for their first RWL victory, and now they were facing someone who had just come through the longest match of the day.

Could this finally be their opportunity?

One More Match

By the main event, RWL had exhausted most of the available combinations.

There were three wrestlers.

So all three wrestled again.

CorZ vs Kazuki “Lightning” Lyger vs “Cyanide” Danny Cooper.

All three had already competed multiple times, CorZ and Cyanide had spent much of the day at each other’s throats, and Lyger was still looking for that elusive first victory.

After travelling from Blackburn with a tarp and some wrestling gear, the three finished the day together in a Triple Threat on the sand.

It was hardly the big RWL day out originally envisioned.

But it was certainly memorable.

A Very RWL Day at the Beach

Mum, The Cat’s Dead wasn’t a major RWL show.

Half the crew hadn’t turned up. There were only three wrestlers. The wind made much of the dialogue impossible to hear, the ring tried to blow away and everyone discovered the hard way that sand wasn’t particularly pleasant to bump on.

But four people had carried RWL onto a train, taken it to the seaside and put on a show anyway.

And amid all the absurdity, something genuinely important had happened.

CorZ and Cyanide had wrestled on camera for the first time.

It would be far from the last.

Three wrestlers, one blue tarp, a beach full of sand and enough wind to destroy the soundtrack. RWL went to the seaside, and somehow came home with the beginning of one of its longest-running rivalries.