By @specficluchador

Southside’s second show of the day, Battle of the Egos VI, again provided an eclectic mix of talent from around the globe. Talent as diverse as Carlito, Robbie E and Timothy Thacther competed on a card that was main evented by a Joseph Connors vs Stixx in a Last Man Standing contest: a match one year in the making.

Carlito vs The Pledge

Carlito received one of the biggest reactions of the night but ate more apples than he took bumps. I guess once your name has such value you can avoid having to do any substantial work. This was a pretty one sided match, with Carlito running through much of his signature offence before landing the back stabber for the win. Again, further dissension between Pledge and Connors was teased post-match. Stixx would spear Pledge before Connors slapped the forlorn Pledge across the face. Once again, none of this amounted to anything and no one really was in to it.

Martin Kirby vs Timothy Thatcher

Martin Kirby is one of the most diversely talented workers on the UK scene, possessing the ability to work a variety of styles- and more importantly, work them well. Thatcher forced Kirby to work a mat based, grapple heavy style in what was a really good match. Kirby proved more than adept at working this style, securing the surprise victory with a backslide. Thatcher heads back to the states having not won one single match in the UK, to my knowledge. I have seen him four times whilst he has been in the country and he has been fascinating to watch each time. For the style he works, there is no one better than him in the world.

Nixon Newell vs Leva Bates vs Liberty

Queen of Southside Title

I’ll preface this with a couple of comments. I think Nixon Newell is an incredibly talented worker: I have never seen Bates work an extended match nor have I ever previously heard of Liberty. This match didn’t really click, with a lot of awkward moments of people just standing around. The original match on the card was Bates/Newell and that would have surely been better. Not that this was a bad match, though it was sloppy in parts. Finish came when Leva Bates delivered a sloppy sliced bread- Nixon delivered a swinging neck breaker on Bates moments later to secure the win and retain the Queen of Southside title.

El Ligero vs Travis Banks vs Flash Morgan Webster vs Chris Tyler vs Mark Haskins vs Pete Dunne

Winner crowned number one contender to Joseph Connors Southside Title

This was fantastic. The crowd were more than justified chanting This is Awesome. I would put this as a legitimate **** as the best match of either show. Everyone worked tremendously hard, with the combination of styles jelling well to produce an excellent match that reminded me of that six way match from the Southern US earlier this year (can’t remember the promotion, but it was awesome). There was a whole host of great interactions, with Dunne/Flash and Dunne/Haskins being the most impressive. Bodies flew everywhere throughout this match, with the most impressive spot coming when Ligero suplexed Banks from the top rope to the outside into a mass of bodies following all five men-except Banks, landing dives to the outside.

The eliminations came as follows:

Banks was eliminated by Flash with a double underhook facebuster.

Flash was eliminated by a pump handle face buster by Pete Dunne.

Tyler was eliminated by Made in Japan by Haskins.

Robbie X, Haskins’ estranged tag partner, music played to distract Haskins following an great exchange with Dunne, who took advantage of his distracted foe with the pump handle face buster to eliminate Haskins. Heading forward, we will surely be getting another singles math between Haskins/Robbie X.

Fantastic series of near falls between Ligero and Dunne culminated in a frankensteiner followed by a C4L ddt to secure the win and a date with Joseph Connors down the line.

Go out of your way to see this. It was a hell of a lot of fun.

Second City Collective (Damian Dunne & Ryan Smile) vs London Riots vs Bromans (DJ Z & Robbie E)

Southside Tag Team Championship

Ryan Smile cut a scathing promo on the other teams in the match before receiving an almighty beat down at the hands of The Riots and The Bromans. Smile was worked over by The Riots for a long time, before DJ Z was tagged in. Smiles and DJ Z had some high paced, fun exchanges before Smiles once again was on the receiving end of a series of double team maneuvers by The Bromans, who were coincidentally the most over team in the match. As the match broke down, Robbie E poked everyone in the eye-including his partner and the ref. Such recklessness would come to his detriment as Pete Dunne, member of SCC, took advantage of the referee’s absence to send both The Bromans to the outside before being chased away by Rob Lynch. SCC double teamed Davis of The Riots before securing the win following an almighty frogsplash by Smile. Lots of good stuff in this match. Ryan Smile, as ever, was brilliant as the insufferable, arrogant chickenshit that manages to continually get away with everything. I have no idea why larger prootions don’t book him in the UK.

Will Ospreay vs Andrew Everett

This was a really good-but not great- match between two of the premier flyers in the world. Following a lightning fast opening series of reversals, Everett would gain the advantage after cutting off a springboard that sent Ospreay crashing ribs first into the ropes. Everett proceeded to mechanically dismantle Ospreay, delivering stomps, kicks and offence that centred around the ribs. Every time Ospreay would begin his comeback, Everett would cut him off with a swift blow to the ribs. As the pace picked up, both men landed dives to the outside before trading frankensteiners. Ospreay kicked out of a shooting star press before raising his knees to a Red Arrow, rolling Everett into a small package to win.

This started off great and had a strong finish but, considering Ospreay/Everett are two of the most impressive fliers in the world, the middle stage was pretty slow. I don’t want to say this was disappointing because it was far from it: I just feel that if this was in PWG it would have been completely different, which is understandable for obvious reasons and shows a maturation of both men on knowing when and where to work 100%.

Will Ospreay heads into Essex, his hometown, with the opportunity to win the Southside Heavyweight Championship. Ospreay is scheduled to face the winner of the main event.

Joseph Connors vs Stixx

Southside Heavyweight Championship

Last Man Standing Match

Connors and Stixx have battled over the Southside Championship for over a year now, despite not having one memorable match. The matches have often been good, although long and drawn out affairs in which nothing really of note occurs. This was no different. It was good but it lasted well over half an hour. The match started at a frenetic pace, with a brawl around the ring featuring tables, slams on the floor and irish whips into the wall. The middle stages of this match were peculiar. Connors and Stixx started having a wrestling match in the ring working holds-something that shouldn’t happen in the final match of a year long rivalry. Stixx choked Connors out with a chain but the champion would not stay down. A spear through a piece of plywood followed by an F5 on a steel chair couldn’t keep the champion down, either. Connors would retain the championship following a ddt on the chair followed by a Razor’s Edge through a pile of chairs stacked in the corner of the ring.

The ref was lax with his counting throughout, with both participants being down longer than the ten count on numerous occasions. This was incredibly detrimental to the match as it created no suspense. Not a bad match by any means-it was actually pretty good-, just an incredibly long one that was aided tremendously by the stipulation. Hopefully this feud is put to bed now and we can move on to new things in the title picture now.

Final Word: This was another fun show, for the most part. The six man elimination match was great, Ospreay/Everett was very good and Thatcher/Kirby was a lot of fun. This show marks the beginning of a new chapter with Stixx/Connors finally coming to a conclusion and a new number one contender to the Heavyweight Title. Although the first show was probably more fun, this show advanced several storylines that make the next show an exciting prospect. The six man match is worth seeking out on Southside’s new VOD service.

Southside returns in two weeks time at the Tavern in Essex on March 5th.

Follow @KayfabeToday on Twitter for up to date reports from the British Independent Scene.