By @specficluchador

Southside returned to the Circus Tavern, Essex, for Supremacy 2016, which presented a stacked card filled with both British and international talent; El Ligero faced Shane Strickland, Mark Haskins faced Sami Callihan, Angelico made his Southside debut and Joseph Connors, having ended his battle with Stixx, defended his Southside Title against Will Ospreay, the hometown hero. Despite a few changes to the card due to injuries, Supremacy delivered a fun show that built on several on going story lines.

El Ligero vs Shane Strickland

Due to the aforementioned injuries, El Ligero faced Shane Strickland, or Kill Shot from Lucha Underground, in a fun, fast paced opener. The two went back and forth, trading aerial offence and near falls throughout. The finish to the match was hot, with a series of high paced reversals before El Ligero spiked Strickland with a reverse-rana followed up with the C4L ddt to secure the victory. Great way to start the show. El Ligero is one of the most consistent performers in Europe and pairing him with another flier always makes for compelling viewing.

Gunner vs The Pledge

Dueling chants prefaced the match. Pledge has gained somewhat of a cult following, it seems, and this was one of his better matches. Far better than the Carlito match a couple of weeks ago. Lots of back and forth following Pledge evading Gunner early on. Pledge controlled the middle stages of the match, working a series of holds before Gunner punctuated his comeback with a powerbomb to secure the win. This was a solid match that built well to a finish.

Nixon Newell vs Blue Pants

Queen of Southside Title

I’ve never been able to understand the charm of Blue Pants. Sure, she has strong support from the crowd for her quirkiness but this was not a good match.In fact, it was terrible. Nixon Newell is fantastic but she could do nothing here. She was sloppy by association. This was messy, clunky and generally awful. Nixon Newell retained the Queen of Southside following a swinging neck breaker. Nothing much else to say about this other than Newell will have much better matches this year and that I will be unlucky to see worse matches than this all year.

London Riots & The Hurricane vs Second City Collective (Pete Dunne, Ryan Smile & Damian Dunne)

Imagine someone telling you fifteen years ago that The Hurricane would still be working as The Hurricane in 2016. Not that I’m complaining, seeing The Hurricane was good fun, not to mention something I never really expected. A theme for the match would be The Hurricane questioning Ryan Smile and Damian Dunne’s phallic endowment, stating numerous times that they both had camel toes. Smile has some of the best facial expressions, he was physically selling The Hurricane’s verbal taunts. Outstanding. The crowd tore into Pete Dunne throughout, mocking his choice of hair cut. On that subject, the Second City Collective are great at generating a big response. Smile and Pete Dunne are both excellent workers and it testifies to their characters that they are able to generate so many boos.

Some good interactions between Smile and Rob Lynch before Hurricane received the hot tag. Hurricane delivered the Eye of the Hurricane before the Riots joined him to secure the win with tandem chokeslams on all three members of the Second City Collective. Post match, The London Riots vs Second City Collective for the tag titles would be occurring at Stevenage in April. If Pete Dunne interferes, the Second City Collective will be stripped of the titles.

Sami Callihan vs Mark Haskins

Holy smokes, this was great. Possibly second only to Ospreay/Scurll matches from RevPro and Progress as the best match I have seen live all year. Mark Haskins, for the past 18 months, has been delivering some of the best matches in Europe and Sami Callihan, since his return to the indies, has a chip on his shoulder and is quickly re-establishing himself as one of the top guys on the independent circuit. This was a fight from the first bell to the last: they beat the crap out of each other. Callihan and Haskins traded fierce strikes throughout, battling around the ring and into the crowd. Despite both men’s abundant striking ability, they both, also, have a nuanced submission arsenal. There was an incredible exchange of submission holds, with Callihan looking to apply the stretch muffler before Haskins rolled through to apply one of his own. After trading a series of near falls, Callihan delivered a piledriver before KOing Haskins with a fierce elbow to secure the pinfall. Post match, Callihan offered to shake Haskins’ hand before spitting in Haskins’ face. The fight continued before Callihan fled to the back.

This was the first time I have seen Callihan live. He has an intensity that sometimes doesn’t translate well to television and works much better in a live environment. This match is well worth going out of your way to see.

Southside Speed King Championship Match (Vacant)

Flash Morgan Webster vs Angelico vs Andrew Everett vs Martin Kirby

Due to a knee injury sustained in Australia, former Southside Speed King Champion, Jimmy Havoc, was forced to vacate the title. Everett and Angelico are two of the best fliers in the world, Webster is one of the best in the UK and Kirby is incredibly versatile as a wrestler. With the talent involved, this was always going to be a great match. The structure used for this fatal four way was the two in two out formula until the match broke down towards the end. Some great interactions between Angelico and Everett-albeit in short bursts-with lots of flying from all involved.Pete Dunne, perennial thorn in FMW’s side, cost Webster the match. Dunne attacked Webster from behind, landing a pump handle slam to rule him out for the rest of the match. Angelico applied a figure four on Kirby before Everett delivered a shooting star press to break the hold. Everett would pin Angelico moments later to crown himself the new Southside Speed King Champion. Heading forward, it will be interesting to see whether Everett is just a hold over champion or whether he will keep the title for a long time. I guess the answer depends entirely upon his availability.

Southside Heavyweight Championship

Joseph Connors (C) vs Will Ospreay

Chants of Will Ospreay, who was in his home county, underscored the match, but lets be honest Ospreay receives that response where ever he goes. Joseph Connors, the nefarious holder of the Southside Championship, was the latest challenge for Ospreay, who received the opportunity to cap off an incredible week by crowning himself the new Southside Champion. Ospreay had the better of the early stages before Connors gained the advantage through illicit means. Every time Ospreay would attempt to make his comeback, Connors would cut him off, going to work on Ospreay’s lower back with multiple suplexes.

When Ospreay did begin his comeback in earnest, he scored a number of near falls before Pledge, Connors’ muscle in his faction, Righteous Army, pulled the ref to the outside looking to get the match thrown out-completely forgetting about the abuse he has suffered at the hands of Connors. Out came another referee, who soon received the same fate as the first ref. Connors looked to use his Championship to strike Ospreay but he missed, Ospreay took out both Connors and Pledge before heading to the top rope. An attempted 630 was met with a shot to Ospreay’s back with the title before before Connors rolled up Ospreay to retain the championship. Apart from the finisher spam by Connors then Ospreay’s comeback, this was a pretty good match.

At a seriously young age, Ospreay has mastered the art of the babyface in peril. Few do it better. After the match, Ospreay thanked the fans in an impassioned promo before stating that he would be returning to Essex with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Final Word: This was a real fun show with a lot of good matches: Ligero/Strickland, Ospreay/Connors and Haskins/Callihan are all worth the download cost. Haskins/Callihan, in particular, is worth the download cost alone. I really can’t say enough good things about that match.Sure, there was some stinkers but they are worth it for the trainwreck value. Seriously, go check it out when the DVD/VOD becomes available.