The first ever WOS Wrestling UK tour has been hailed as a massive success - and it's clear wrestling fans want more!
Britain's top professional wrestlers – as seen on ITV - toured for the past three weekends putting on six acclaimed live events to packed houses from Blackpool to Bethnal Green.
Fans flooded social media to rave about the tour which saw plenty of action, drama and title changes.
Lorraine Rankin-Smith, on the WOS Facebook page, said after the stunning sold-out Blackpool Tower Ballroom show: “Fab time last night, what a great show WOS. My daughter hasn’t stopped talking about it, even on our 3.5hr trip back home to Scotland! I’m sure we’ve relived every match at least four times now!”
And another fan, Dave Brooks, posted: “Went to the Newport show, it was fantastic…I thoroughly recommend you go.”
The tour began at Southampton Guildhall on January 18 and finished with an electric night at the historic York Hall, Bethnal Green last Sunday, February 3.
WOS Champion ‘Superhuman’ Justin Sysum was in supreme form during the tour, fighting off the challenge of the merciless former champion Rampage at four of the six live events. Sysum also had to overcome the odds stacked against him by the former champ’s cohorts Sha Samuels and CJ Banks on many occasions.
The WOS Women’s Championship was also the focal point of high drama during the tour as the title changed FOUR times in six shows.
At Bethnal Green, London, Katy Lees shocked champion Viper and former champ Bea Priestley to win the title in a three-way, just moments after she signed a contract with WOS.
Lees was unveiled as WOS’s newest signing by acting WOS Executive SoCal Val, before Viper interrupted. Val then added Katy to the scheduled title match between Viper and Priestley, which ended in the shock pinfall win for the Worcester newcomer.
This ended Viper’s reign in short order for the second time during the tour. The Ayrshire native took the championship from fellow Scot, Kay Lee Ray, in Southampton, only for Priestley to defeat Viper in Newport the following night. Viper then regained the title from the New Zealander in Blackpool before losing to Lees in London.
Meanwhile the sensational ‘Aerial Assassin’ Will Ospreay had an extremely successful tour, winning five out of six matches – his only loss coming to Rampage on opening night in Southampton.
Ospreay suffered a broken toe during victory over Martin Kirby and Robbie X in Blackpool on January 26, but defied the pain to score a tag team win with Sysum over Alpha Bad (Iestyn Rees and Kip Sabian) in Northampton on February 2, before his second win over Kirby and Robbie on February 3 in Bethnal Green.
Fans were also thrilled by the series of grudge matches between Adam ‘Flex’ Maxted and ‘The Showstealer’ Nathan Cruz. The two men began last summer’s WOS series on ITV as tag team partners until a bitter televised split. The enmity between the two was obvious on the tour as they battled in both straight singles and spectacular ladder matches with a title shot on the line, Maxted scoring four wins to Nathan’s two.
Grado was also a major part of the tour, scoring wins over Martin Kirby and Sha Samuels although ‘East End Butcher’ Samuels did turn the tables on the charismatic Scotsman in Blackpool and London.
Joe Hendry and BT Gunn also formed a successful team on the tour, scoring four victories. And ‘The Monster’ Crater continued the dominance viewers saw on the TV show, crushing the plucky Gabriel Kidd on five of the dates.
SoCal Val also made her presence felt as authority figure on the tour, standing in for regular WOS Executive Stu Bennett who appeared on screen at all six events.
Each WOS Wrestling tour show was preceded by a Fan Interaction event which saw the top stars of WOS mingle with delighted fans, many of them families and young children, who were overjoyed to meet their heroes.
WOS Wrestling brought British wrestling back to ITV for the first time in 30 years. The 10-part debut series is currently being repeated on ITV and the ITV Hub.
Full results from the tour were:
Friday January 18: Southampton Guildhall
BT Gunn and Joe Hendry beat Sha Samuels and CJ Banks
Rampage pinned Will Ospreay
Crater pinned Gabriel Kidd
Adam Maxted beat Nathan Cruz in a ladder match
Viper defeated Kay Lee Ray and Bea Priestley to win the WOS Women’s Title
Grado pinned Martin Kirby
Justin Sysum and Robbie X beat Alpha Bad
Saturday January 19: Newport Centre
BT Gunn and Robbie X defeated Alpha Bad
Joe Hendry beat CJ Banks by disqualification
Nathan Cruz pinned Adam Maxted
Will Ospreay pinned Martin Kirby
Bea Priestley pinned Viper to win the WOS Women’s Title
Joe Hendry and Grado defeated Sha Samuels and CJ Banks
Justin Sysum pinned Rampage to retain the WOS Championship
Friday January 25: Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent
Alpha Bad defeated BT Gunn and Robbie X
Grado pinned Sha Samuels
Nathan Cruz pinned Adam Maxted
Will Ospreay defeated Joe Hendry and Martin Kirby in a three-way
Crater pinned Gabriel Kidd
Bea Priestley pinned Viper to retain the WOS Women’s Championship
Justin Sysum pinned Rampage to retain the WOS Championship
Saturday January 26: Blackpool Tower Ballroom
BT Gunn and Joe Hendry defeated Alpha Bad
Sha Samuels pinned Grado
Adam Maxted defeated Nathan Cruz in a ladder match
Will Ospreay beat Martin Kirby and Robbie X in a three-way
Crater pinned Gabriel Kidd
Viper pinned Bea Priestley to regain the WOS Women’s Championship
Justin Sysum pinned Rampage to retain the WOS Championship
Saturday February 2: Royal&Derngate, Northampton
BT Gunn and Joe Hendry beat Sha Samuels and CJ Banks
Rampage pinned Robbie X
Crater pinned Gabriel Kidd
Adam Maxted pinned Nathan Cruz
Viper pinned Bea Priestley to retain the WOS Women’s Championship
Grado pinned Martin Kirby
Justin Sysum and Will Ospreay defeated Alpha Bad
Sunday February 3: York Hall, Bethnal Green, London
BT Gunn and Joe Hendry defeated Alpha Bad
Sha Samuels pinned Grado
Adam Maxted beat Nathan Cruz in a ladder match
Will Ospreay defeated Martin Kirby and Robbie X in a three-way
Crater pinned Gabriel Kidd
Katy Lees defeated Viper and Bea Priestley in a three-way to become the WOS Women’s Champion
Justin Sysum pinned Rampage to retain the WOS Championship