Monday Night RaGE 2

By September 2007, RWL had become rather good at making enemies.

Valo and Cyanide were heading towards a Deathmatch at Entertainmania II, Spyke had a score to settle from the previous week, and Overkill was finding himself increasingly involved in other people’s business.

On 10th September 2007, all three situations would come together at Monday Night RaGE 2.

There were only three matches on the card, but the significance of this show had considerably more to do with what happened between them.

The Omen was about to make its official debut.

A Few Home Improvements

First, though, RWL had been doing some decorating.

The lighttube entranceway from RaGE 1 had disappeared, replaced by two road construction barriers positioned diagonally, with a wooden door concealing whoever was about to make their entrance.

The door would be pushed down to reveal the wrestler behind it.

It was a surprisingly effective little setup for RWL in 2007.

Less reassuring were the corrugated roofing panels laid across the ground, which looked suspiciously like they might have contained asbestos.

There’s no confirmation that they did, but given their appearance, it’s a fairly uncomfortable possibility to consider nearly twenty years later.

The wrestling area was still just grass, with the familiar boulders joined by two heavy bags of rocks and a traffic cone to help mark out the corners.

It wasn’t exactly a purpose-built wrestling venue, but the new entranceway did look the part.

And, somewhat predictably, it wouldn’t survive the evening without becoming part of the action.

Cyanide Gets the Win, Overkill Gets Even

The show opened with the first-ever meeting between “Cyanide” Danny Cooper and Overkill.

Overkill had made his RWL debut at Smack!YerBitchUp in July, and had since been developing both his wrestling and his character.

Behind the scenes, he’d been training with Valo at Turning Medieval, and the pair had already faced one another at Misery Business.

Now he was firmly established as a heel, taking on a Cyanide who had become one of RWL’s most prominent babyfaces.

Overkill opened the match with an absolutely enormous DDT, driving Cyanide into the grass before the two settled into a competitive back-and-forth encounter.

For Cyanide, the match came at an interesting point in his rivalry with Valo.

Only a week earlier, he’d pinned reigning Hardcore Champion Shawn O’ Mercy in a non-title match at RaGE 1, delivering his Crystal Clear through a lighttube.

He had also spent that show being verbally targeted by Valo, whose increasingly personal remarks had made the upcoming Entertainmania II Deathmatch considerably more than an ordinary wrestling feud.

At RaGE 2, however, Cyanide’s immediate concern was Overkill.

And despite the aggressive start from his opponent, Cyanide eventually secured the victory with a backslide.

Overkill didn’t take the defeat particularly well.

Following the match, Spyke appeared and joined Overkill in attacking Cyanide.

This wasn’t the first time the two had worked together.

At Misery Business, Overkill had interfered in Spyke’s match against Adam Watson, attacking Watson before combining with Spyke for a double suplex. Overkill had even stayed at ringside afterwards to support him.

Their partnership was already established.

But the attack on Cyanide was especially interesting given the events about to unfold backstage.

Enter The Omen

Following the opening match, the surviving footage cut to Valo and Spyke meeting backstage.

The two shook hands.

Then Overkill approached, joined them, and all three walked away together.

A short segment, certainly, but an important one.

This was the official unveiling of The Omen, consisting of Valo, Spyke and Overkill.

And unlike some wrestling factions that appear seemingly out of nowhere, RWL had actually spent several weeks establishing the relationships between its members.

Spyke and Overkill had been working together since the Darwen Vale shows, but there was already a connection between Overkill and Valo as well, thanks to their earlier training sessions and matches.

Meanwhile, Valo and Spyke were hardly strangers to one another’s schemes.

Valo had appointed Spyke as RWL Assistant Manager, giving him an on-screen position of authority within the promotion.

And just one week earlier, at RaGE 1, Valo had played a rather important role in Spyke’s confrontation with Teddie H.

During RWL’s first multi-cut backstage promo, filmed in Spyke’s office, Valo had fetched Teddie back into the room following an argument.

Waiting for him was Spyke.

Armed with a drum cymbal.

The resulting attack made it pretty clear that the two authority figures were perfectly happy to cooperate when it suited them.

Now, with Overkill joining the pair, those existing relationships had finally become one faction.

It also gave a new dimension to the developing Valo and Cyanide feud.

Valo had already used his position in RWL to suspend Cyanide at Misery Business, publicly mocking the very real personal circumstances behind their rivalry.

Now, as their Deathmatch approached, he had two allies who had just demonstrated their willingness to attack Cyanide after a match.

For Cyanide, an already difficult rivalry had become a three-against-one problem.

And for Valo, whose character had spent much of the summer becoming increasingly arrogant and unpleasant, The Omen was a natural progression.

He wasn’t simply abusing his authority anymore.

He had people to help him do it.

Spyke Hasn’t Forgotten

The next match brought together Jayyy and Teddie H for the first time.

Both specialised in fast, agile wrestling, and the contest was built around cruiserweight exchanges and sequences inspired by martial arts films.

One particularly entertaining moment saw Jayyy show off with a backflip, prompting his opponent to respond with some breakdancing.

Unfortunately, attempting to demonstrate your dancing abilities during a wrestling match comes with certain risks.

While Teddie was upside down in a handstand, Jayyy dropkicked him straight in the face.

The match continued with both exchanging athletic offence, but towards the finish, it looked as though Teddie might have secured the victory.

Then Spyke appeared.

At RaGE 1, the pair had faced each other in a Hardcore Match following their earlier confrontation backstage.

Despite Spyke’s cymbal attack in the office segment, Teddie had won that match with the Face Adjustment.

A week later, Spyke was apparently still rather unhappy about the result.

He interrupted the match and delivered a Tombstone Piledriver onto the suspicious roofing panels, leaving Jayyy to collect the three-count.

Jayyy won the match, but Spyke got his revenge.

It was a continuation of Spyke’s individual rivalry rather than any indication that Jayyy was involved with The Omen.

And, for anybody keeping track, the questionable roofing panels had now been used for a piledriver.

Probably not their intended purpose.

The Hardcore Championship Comes Full Circle

As the evening began to draw in, Shawn O’ Mercy defended the RWL Hardcore Championship against Valo.

Valo entered as the reigning NAW Cruiserweight Champion, but it was Mercy’s championship he wanted.

There was a particularly interesting history behind this match.

Back in July, Cyanide had captured the RWL Hardcore Championship from Mercy at an XWA event in Warrington.

But at Maybe Memories on 27th August, the championship changed hands again.

In a Dog Collar Match between Cyanide and Mercy, Valo interfered and helped Mercy regain the title.

It was another chapter in the increasingly bitter rivalry between Valo and Cyanide, with Valo using somebody else’s championship match to make his enemy suffer.

Now, just two weeks later, Valo was challenging the very man he’d helped become champion.

And Cyanide hadn’t forgotten what had happened.

The match itself was a competitive back-and-forth contest, although the fading daylight was becoming a problem for the cameras.

One of its biggest moments came when the new entranceway was put to a rather different use.

The wooden door was positioned across the two roadwork barriers, turning it into a makeshift table.

Valo then delivered two massive Crucifix Powerbombs to Shawn O’ Mercy onto the door.

Having spent the afternoon being pushed over so that people could make their entrances, the door was now expected to withstand two powerbombs.

A demanding first day at work.

But just as Valo appeared to be making progress towards winning the Hardcore Championship, a familiar face arrived.

“Cyanide” Danny Cooper ran in and delivered a Crystal Clear to Valo.

It was enough to allow Shawn O’ Mercy to score the pinfall and retain the RWL Hardcore Championship.

And just like that, the events of Maybe Memories had come full circle.

Valo had cost Cyanide the Hardcore Championship. Now Cyanide had cost Valo his opportunity to win it.

The rivalry had already involved personal insults, suspensions and interference in championship matches.

Now Cyanide had made it abundantly clear that he was perfectly willing to play Valo at his own game.

Twenty Days Until Entertainmania

Cyanide wasn’t content with simply costing Valo the match.

After Mercy’s victory, he stood over Valo and began talking to him.

Whatever he said, unfortunately, is no longer known.

But his next actions were considerably easier to understand.

Cyanide dragged Valo back to his feet and delivered another Crystal Clear, this time onto one of the roadwork barriers.

It was a particularly satisfying reversal of the position Valo had enjoyed throughout much of the previous month.

At Smack!YerBitchUp, Cyanide had interfered in Valo’s RWL World Championship opportunity, beginning their on-screen worked-shoot rivalry.

At Misery Business, Valo had retaliated by suspending Cyanide and publicly bringing their real-life disagreements into the storyline.

At Maybe Memories, Valo had helped take the Hardcore Championship away from him.

And at RaGE 1, he’d openly challenged Cyanide to settle everything in a Deathmatch.

Now, with twenty days remaining until Entertainmania II, Cyanide had struck back in the most direct way possible.

Valo had spent the evening unveiling The Omen, bringing Spyke and Overkill together under his leadership.

Cyanide had ended it by hitting hid finishing move twice.

The balance of power in RWL might have been shifting towards Valo and his new faction.

But Cyanide clearly wasn’t planning to make things easy for them.

A Show Without a Soundtrack

There’s one particularly unfortunate problem with documenting Monday Night RaGE 2.

None of the original full-show footage is known to survive.

The only remaining visual record is the original music video uploaded to YouTube in 2007, edited down to approximately seven and a half minutes at 320×240 resolution.

And to make matters worse, the video has since been muted.

The original soundtrack is gone from the surviving upload, and with no full recordings available, there’s no way to reconstruct the missing dialogue or the action that didn’t make the music-video edit.

That is especially frustrating for a show built around ongoing storylines.

The footage preserves The Omen’s unveiling, but any accompanying words are unavailable. It also captures Cyanide standing over Valo following the main event, visibly addressing him before delivering one final Crystal Clear.

What he said is now anyone’s guess.

Nevertheless, there’s enough left to understand the important developments.

The Omen’s three members had finally come together, Spyke had settled a score from RaGE 1, and Cyanide had found a particularly effective way to answer Valo’s repeated interference.

For a show whose original recordings have disappeared, RaGE 2 still tells a surprisingly coherent story.

It’s just unfortunate that nobody can hear any of it.

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The Omen was unveiled, Spyke got his revenge, and Cyanide had the final say. Somewhere, on a lost recording, there were probably some words to go with it.