Newy Pro Deck The City Halls Review (08/12/2023)

By Mick Robson

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Ho ho ho, we're back with another Christmas themed wrestling show! Newcastle Pro Wrestling puts on an excellent product, particularly when they grace City Hall. I was last there for Rumble In The Jungle earlier this year and had a great time. On this occasion, I didn't attend in person- commitments to Rock N Roll Wrestling (review here: https://www.thearenamedia.net/single-post/rock-n-roll-wrestling-christmas-vacation-review-08-12-2023), and my weekend was eaten up by a spontaneous trip to Canberra, so here we are watching this back on FITE on a Monday afternoon! I did get the main event spoiled for me but otherwise, I'm going in blind.

Let's do this!

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After the standard Newy Pro intro video airs, Rob Oxley welcomes us to the show. In that video we still see former champion Carter Deams, who sadly retired after suffering a horrendous arm injury at the last City Hall show. I still live in hope that he returns, but mostly just hope he's happy and healthy. Such a genuinely good dude!

Match 1: Invictus Gauntlet 6 Way- "Razor" Gatt vs. Lil Tony Stellino vs. Shayne Sheffield Sinclair vs. Ricky South vs. Massive Q vs Ben Braxton

Damn! Talk about meaty men slapping meat! Originally set to be a 5 way, Braxton was a late addition to the match. The first 10 minutes are elimination rules, then it's one fall to a finish. Braxton immediately takes out Stellino and Sinclair with a moonsault while he's finishing his entrance, and he's wasting no time here! Dropkick on South. Belly to belly on Gatt. Massive Q advances but Brax ducks his attack and takes out the others on the outside with a flip dive! On fire!

Q goes on a rampage, and Gatt goes low to slow him down. Everyone gangs up on the biggest man in the match. Braxton and South take Q down with a double flapjack. Everyone piles on the pin to eliminate Q.

Stellino knocks down the opposition and plants Gatt with a chokeslam. South charges at Lil Tony but gets flapjacked onto Sinclair. Sidewalk slam on Braxton gets a near fall. Sinclair builds mometum and spears Stellino for the elimination. Great run by the Sicilian Slammer there!

Gatt, Sinclair and South face off. Sinclair hits South with a Lo Down for a near fall. Gatt is knocked to the outside and Sinclair and South trade punches. Braxton tries to return to the ring, but is knocked back down to the floor. Brax gets back in and throws Sinclair out, spinning suplex on South gets a 2 count. Braxton out, Gatt back in, and in between that, Sinclair smashes South with a shotgun dropkick. Sinclair with a superplex on South, then Braxton flies in with a top rope splash- then we go through a sequence of pin break-ups. Timing was off as we still had a a few seconds left of the elimination period when Brax went for the cover, forcing them to act like it was sudden death prematurely.

Gatt and Braxton trade right hands. Gatt then locks South in a kneebar but Braxton breaks it up with a Lionsault. Shayne clotheslines Braxton to the outside and goes on a run. Ricky stops him with a piledriver but Gatt breaks up the pin. Braxton hits Gatt with his spinning flatliner- the Gamechanger- and gets the 3!

Winner: Ben Braxton (at 13:30)

Star Rating: ***3/4. This was balls to the wall action from start to finish. Unique stipulation which worked well overall, besides the slight hiccup at the end of elimination time, and high stakes with the Invictus Gauntlet, which functions in Newy Pro like a MITB esque trophy that can be thrown down for a title match at any time. Braxton is a star and excellent choice for a winner here.

Rob Oxley announces that Newy Pro will be heading to the Central Coast next year for Clash At The Coast, at Impact Gym Erina on Feb 3rd.

Match 2: Sam Osborne (w/ Will Kiedis) vs. Dazza

Hey, is that Jax Jordan I spy in the referee's shirt? Quick tie up, Osborne transitions to the hammerlock and arrogantly pushes Dazza away. That's consistent with the commentary from Cameron Smith and Ed Lock, talking about how Osborne doesn't see Dazza on his level as a middleweight against a heavyweight.

Dazza hits Osborne with a spinning back elbow, throws him out of the ring and hits a suicide dive! Back in the ring, Dazza goes up top, but Kiedis distracts him, allowing Osborne to hit the backbreaker/T-bone suplex combo for a near fall. Dazza mounts a comeback, but Osborne grabs Jax's hair to avoid getting slammed. He shifts his weight into a lateral press and gets another 2 count. Osborne applies a Sharpshooter but Dazza makes the ropes. Huge off the shoulder DDT- like a Stormbreaker but without the spin- and Dazza kicks out at 1! He springs up and takes the fight to Osborne. Leg drop gets a near fall for the Bogan Hogan.

Dazza goes up top. Kiedis tries to get involved again but gets kicked to the floor. Top rope elbow scores on Osborne for a near fall! O'Connor Roll by Dazza but Kiedis distracts the ref. Dazza takes a swing at him, allowing Osborne to roll him up and get the win- with the feet on the ropes! Winning by any means necessary.

Winner: Sam Osborne (at 7:00)

Star Rating: ***1/2. A very action-packed 7 minutes that the people were into. Osborne & Kiedis, as part of the North Shore Wrestling faction, are such a great, slimy act. Dazza is an absolute hero to the Newy Pro faithful. Combine that fan investment with top-notch athleticism, and you're onto a winner. Especially loved all the unique names Dazza has for moves- the Spear is "the Pitchfork", the top rope elbow is "the Combine Harvester", and his finisher, a cartwheel Death Valley Driver IIRC, is the Wagon Wheel.

A promo video airs for the House of Free Fighting, Newy Pro's training school.

Match 3: Newcastle Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship- The Velo-Cities vs. Mat Gauge & Albie Anne Troska vs. Blue Nation (Adam Hoffman & Rita Stone) (c)

The fists fly between all three teams before the bell actually rings to start the match! Brief Blue Nation reunion between Hoffman and Albie, but Gauge tries to join in, and Hoff's not having that. Back to fighting.

Rita and Jude become the legal competitors in amongst the chaos, I guess? Rita takes Jude down with a beautiful top rope rana. She looks for a tilt-a-whirl but Jude drops her with a backbreaker. We're under lucha tag rules, so Hoffman gets back in to fight the Velocities, and they run a smooth sequence of counter moves. Hoffman gets Paris in a powerbomb, but both go over to the outside as Paris performs a headscissors. The ring is empty for the moment and Albie and Gauge enter. Albie pins Mat... could they both win and lose at the same time? Everyone breaks it up anyway.

Velocities get Albie in the ring and Jude manages a near fall after a dropkick/knee drop combo. They work over Albie for a while as Mat watches helplessly from the apron. After Jude hits a standing moonsault, he races in to break up the pin. We get a couple of roll outs and roll ins, and now Hoffman's legal. Velocities set up for a double suplex, but instead Hoff suplexes them both. Gauge wants a tag but Hoff refuses, giving Jude the opportunity to hit a slingblade. Near fall.

Hoffman eventually creates space and tags in his own partner, Stone. She has a flurry but Jude sends her out of the ring with a handspring stunner. Back to beating up Hoff. He finally relents and tags in Gauge. He hits a series of atomic drops on the Velocities. He gives Paris a kiss- wow, Paris is really getting some action this week between this and the PWA Beer Bash!- then a monkey flip. Albie tags in and hits a big senton. Rita pushes her to the floor and now it's Blue Nation and Mat Gauge in the ring. A boot by Rita and a German suplex by Hoff. Velocities in and Blue Nation gives them these hands as well! Tis the season for giving, right?

Double 450 splashes by Stone and Hoffman but it only gets a 2 count as they get dragged to the outside. Gauge hits a half nelson flatliner (thanks Ed Lock) and Albie goes for the Albatross Bomb, but Jude pulls Mat on top of him and Albie hits her own partner! Paris hits Albie with a snap dragon and Jude hits Gauge with a split-legged backslide- and it gets the 3!

Winners: The Velocities (at 14:26)

Star Rating: ***3/4. This was all over the place in a really fun way. The big story was the in-fighting between the Blue Nation, Albie and Mat Gauge, but in-ring it was the Velocities that were the glue that held this thing together, with plenty of cutting the ring off, isolating opponents, and tandem moves at a rapid pace. One of the absolute best tag teams in the world, and the perfect choice to represent Newy Pro as the standard bearers.

Rob Oxley promotes another 2024 Newy Pro show- Shattered IV, at the Hamilton Station Hotel, on April 6th. It's part of their over 18s series, which is a good move for the promotion. As much as they do a great job presenting an all-ages product that doesn't insult the intelligence of the adult fanbase, PWA Black Label definitely proves there's a market for the adult wrestling fan that prefers a slightly edgier product. Hell, that includes your writer, who grew up on the Attitude Era and the original ECW.

A promo video airs for the Leo Tempest vs. Bob The Viking hardcore match. One thing I'd like to see Newy Pro work on production wise- they just put a camera on the big screen for these promo videos, which makes the audiovisual quality pretty dodgy on FITE. If they could figure out how to play those videos direct to the stream feed- like the intro video was- that'd make for a much better viewing experience. The rest of the presentation is on point though.

Match 4: Hardcore Match- Leo Tempest vs. Bob The Viking

"The Artist" Leo Tempest brings out an easel wrapped in barbed wire. Unique! Bob's got a raid of fellow Vikings backing him up, with full gear, armor and weapons. Super cool.

They charge at each other immediately throwing punches. Tempest with a European uppercut, Bob returns fire with a blatant low blow and high knee. It's all legal! Bob goes to the outside and Tempest thinks about a dive, but instead takes a trash can to the head. A suplex on the ramp follows. No give in that thing! They fight up the ramp and back down, Leo kicks the can into Bob's face and then hits the suicide dive he was looking for earlier. Back up the ramp, Tempest uses the barbed wire easel on the back on Bob. My prediction is pain!

Back to the ring and Tempest grabs some weapons- a brick, a piece of barbed wire, a board and a chain! He also grabs a box- and inside is a barbed wire paintbrush! He hits him in the groin with it- what a receipt- and then hits a clothesline for a near fall. Bob blocks a back elbow in the corner and returns fire with a uranage for a near fall of his own. Bob then gets the chain and hangs Tempest with it! Nasty.

Back in the ring, Tempest escapes a Dominator attempt and hits a headlock driver for a near fall. He grabs a bag and pours thumbtacks all over the canvas! He almost immediately gets back suplexed onto them. Dumb ways to die, I guess. Gatt comes out to give Bob a drinking horn- what a good guy- and then Tempest hits Bob with a painting canvas and a Michinoku Driver for a near fall.

They battle in the corner and Bob hangs him up again, this time with a sleeper hold. Bob gets a table, prompting the commentators to go on a hilarious tangent about how much wrestling fans love furniture. "Officeworks probably has to bar wrestling fans from the store," says Cameron Smith. Tempest pushes Bob off the ropes through the table, but only gets a 2 count! Tempest applies the crossface, then uses the barbed wire for an assist... and Referee Hannah's seen enough and calls for the bell!

Winner: Leo Tempest (at 12:08)

Star Rating: ***1/2. A wild encounter. They got about as extreme as an all-ages show would allow- no blood, but still plenty of violence. I really appreciated Leo's commitment to the Artist gimmick by having those barbed wire themed weapons. A couple of nitpicky things- Tempest recovered way too quickly after being hung by a steel chain, and I feel like they could have built to the thumbtack spot a little more, but overall, an intense effort that suited the feud from what I saw in the video package.

Intermission. No bonus match or anything, just a blank screen. Boo.

Match 5: Middleweight & Women's Championship- Scott Green vs. Jessica Troy vs. Will Kiedis (c)

Kiedis sends Sam Osborne to the back. We'll see how long that lasts... To paraphrase Stone Cold Steve Austin, if you put a "W" in front of the word "Anchorman", you have my exact opinion of Will Kiedis.

Scott has two packets of chips and he gives one to Jess. They pose on the ropes to cheers. Will poses too and gets booed. Cute. Will snatches the chip packets and throws them to the outside, and the challengers go on the attack! Will gets dropkicked and goes to the outside. Jess works over Scott briefly, until Kiedis snatches her leg from the floor. Kiedis back in the ring and takes an uppercut by Green, followed by a victory roll for a two count. Springboard arm drag followed by an enziguri gets Green another near fall.

Troy back in to work the arms of Kiedis and Green, because of course! She may be the Granola Grappler now, but collecting arms is still her thing. Kiedis stops her momentum with a big dropkick. 2 count for the champ. Green back in and he looks for the rolling Stunner, but Kiedis counters with an F5. Kiedis goes up top but is thrown to the mat by Green. Scott hits a springboard moonsault on Kiedis and a superkick on Troy. Green applies a Figure 4, Kiedis rolls over... then Troy puts him in the Fujiwara! They find the ropes and Green comes back with a rolling double stunner- didn't hit clean but we fight on.

They're on their knees trading strikes. Green goes for the Green Out but Kiedis lands on his feet. Green plants him with an End of Days- could be a shout out to Baron Corbin OR Carter Deams, who's to say. Jess applies a straight armbar on Green from there, into the Fujiwara. Green crawls over and pins Kiedis, forcing Jess to break the hold. Green then throws her out of the ring. GREAT spot. Kiedis then hits an inside cradle on Green for the 3 count!

Winner: Will Kiedis (at 9:56)

Star Rating: ***1/4. Bit short and sweet, but I really appreciate the brilliance of how that finish went. Made sense for Green to take the pin if Kiedis was retaining, but he was protected via the amount of offense he got in, as well as it being a bit of a flash pin. Good stuff.

Before the main event, Rob Oxley announces the next City Hall show, Brawl At City Hall IV, March 8. Newy Pro getting all their ducks in a row in 2024!

Main Event: Newcastle Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship- Mat Diamond vs. The Chief Rig

Rig comes out to "Gangsta's Paradise" in Durag Vince attire. Brilliant.

Rig offers Diamond a handshake to start but he declines. Mat ducks a right hand and unloads with a flurry of punches, but one single return shot floors him. A huge beal sends Diamond across the entire ring. Middleweight vs. a heavyweight. Rig goes for a chokeslam but Diamond counters with a hurricanrana! Rig powders and Diamond takes out him and his gangsta entourage with a flying body press. Back in the ring, Diamond gets a near fall off a standing moonsault. And Rig lost his durag. It was the source of his strength!

Rig evens the playing field with a headbutt then slips as he goes to pose on the ropes. HA! He takes his embarrassment out on Diamond though by beating him down. The crowd gets behind the challenger and he drops the champ with a flying clothesline. Standing shooting star, followed by the split legged moonsault, Diamond goes for the pin... and the entourage drag the ref out of the ring! Referee Jordan kicks them out. Back to action- Rig hits an AA for a near fall! Rig then punches Jordan out and calls his boys back. Dazza, a long time friend of Rig is also there, but doesn't seem happy about all of this.

After some literal pushing around by the henchmen, he goes to hit Diamond, but Diamond ducks and Dazza takes down Rig. Diamond hits a cutter/stunner of sorts- it's taken awfully tbh- and another guy gets blasted with a steel chair. Diamond and Dazza come face to face, and Rig takes advantage, hitting Diamond with a chop block. Rig then pushes Dazza down! He rolls out of the ring looking conflicted. Referee Hannah runs down and Rig hits a sit down powerbomb for a near fall. Rig shoves Hannah- and Hannah shoves him right back! He falls on his ass and the crowd explodes.  Rig goes to hit Hannah- that bastard- but Mat scores with a Diamond Cutter! Cover, but Rig kicks out at the last moment!

Diamond looks for the 450 but Rig moves and Diamond rolls through a little gingerly after the attacks to the leg. Rig grabs Hannah by the shirt as a means to hit an undetected low blow on Diamond. A Tombstone Piledriver hits- complete with the Taker crossing of the arms pin- and it gets the 3!

Winner: The Chief Rig (at 12:53)

Star Rating: ***1/2. Chock-full of shenanigans, but it got the desired reactions, with Rig getting booed more and Diamond (and Hannah!) getting cheered more as the match went on. They told the David vs. Goliath story well, and Rig's back up played well into his heeldom- if a heavyweight is superior to a middleweight, why does he even need an entourage?

Dazza comes into the ring and raises Rig's hand. They hug- and then Rig grabs him by the hair and throws him to the mat! Rig grabs a mic and says it's embarrassing that this (Dazza) is what you cheer for. Rig used to get cheers, but he doesn't need any of that. Dazza is dead weight, Diamond is dead weight, so is everyone backstage. "I don't wish you a Merry Christmas, long live The Chief".

Ben Braxton's music hits, and he's got the Invictus Gauntlet with him! Rig hides behind Dazza after just throwing him down, but Dazza exits stage left and gives Braxton the ring. Braxton throws down the Gauntlet and it's on!

Main Event Pt 2: Newcastle Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship- Ben Braxton vs. The Chief Rig (c)

Braxton hits a Sick Kick and goes for a Lionsault but Rig gets the knees up. Braxton avoids a corner attack with the flipping up and over but Rig spears the life out of him. Near fall. Tornado Kick by Rig. Rig grabs the mic and mocks the announcement, "Ben Braxton has thrown down the Gauntlet- shut yo bitch ass up!" He then misses the cannonball in the corner. Gamechanger hits- and we have a new champion!

Winner: Ben Braxton (at 1:18)

Confetti rains from the ceiling as Braxton celebrates. Awesome way to end the show.

Overall Thoughts

These City Hall shows from Newy Pro never disappoint. I thought the undercard was very strong with all the action it brought. Comparatively, the top matches lacked slightly, but The Moment (TM) of Braxton capturing singles gold in Newy Pro more than made up for it. Very excited to see Braxton reign as the standard bearer in Newy Pro- been wanting it to happen for a while in PWA, but Newy is his home. A massive 2024 appears to be in store for Newy Pro, and I encourage anyone to get a ticket or a FITE+ subscription and check them out!

Overall Score: 8.5/10

Until next time, take care.