Wrestlefest DXB impresses with second installment as third approaches this weekend
On May 7th, the innovative Wrestlefest returned to Dubai. This was the second installment of the live event that features pro wrestling alongside live music, live comedy, food vendors and more. A friend of Wrestlemap, Vedant, attended the show and was kind enough to provide WrestleMap with a report of the event.
The second edition of Wrestlefest, which was titled Broadway Violence, started off with comedy sets in the ring by two separate comedians. Live music (including a set from Dubai-based wrestler Kuya Burn’s band Espervene) was soon to follow and the wrestling action was not far behind.
A major storyline that developed during this event was the introduction of the four Wrestlefest Medallions that were on the line in several of the night’s matches. The idea behind the medallions is that whoever is able to collect all four first will receive a shot at the WrestlingME Championship. The process of collecting the medallions would begin with four singles matches at Broadway Violence that each had medallions up for grabs going to the winner of the match.
In the night’s first bout, Eli Hush and Zephyr met up with the black medallion on the line. This match had a little bit of everything. There were comedy spots, some technical prowess on display with each wrestler trading roll up attempts and even hardcore wrestling. The two wrestlers traded chair shots, had a clash with dueling kendo sticks and Legos even got involved. Zephyr was able to drop Eli Hush on the Legos as the match wound down, undoubtedly leaving Eli in pain. However, running on pure adrenaline, Eli Hush was able to seize the momentum, catch Zephyr in a roll up and win the match and in turn the black medallion with a quick pinfall.
From top: Eli Hush makes his entrance; Zephyr makes his entrance; Zephyr and Eli Hush square off with chairs in hand prior to the bout; the referee cleans up the Legos and other assorted debris from the hard hitting match.
The night’s second match was a triple threat match between Johnny Evers, Savage Sam and Jay Blade with the white medallion on the line. Johnny Evers and Savage Sam controlled a lot of this match with their strength and power advantage and Jay Blade took a lot of punishment, being the smallest of the three. However, Jay Blade was able to use his quickness and agility at times to land some offense, including in the match’s closing sequence. While Johnny Evers and Savage Sam were intertwined on the mat in a submission hold, Jay Blade took flight from the top rope, landing a splash on both wrestlers and covering them both for the 3 count and the white medallion.
Following the match, Jason Reed, the Scottish wrestler best known for his work with Insane Championship Wrestling, came out to talk to the crowd. Reed was originally scheduled to hold an open challenge and take on anyone brave enough to answer his challenge. However, due to an injury, he would not be able to move forward with the open challenge since he wasn’t cleared by doctors to compete. Jason Reed’s promo was well received by the fans in attendance who cheered him on as he promised that he would return to the ring at the next Wrestlefest DXB event.
From top: Johnny Evers, Jay Blade and Savage Sam await the start of their bout; Evers, Sam and Blade all lie on the mat spent during their match; Jason Reed announces that he will be unable to compete due to injury
The next match of the night was a grudge match between Nova Nox and MK. Making the stakes to this match even higher was the fact that one of the medallions, the red one in this instance, was on the line. Both wrestlers proved early that they knew each other inside the ring very well, reversing each other’s offense. This one felt like a grudge match throughout as both competitors were really laying it in and dishing out as much punishment as possible with each offensive maneuver. In the end, Nova Nox was able to make MK submit and in turn, was rewarded with the red medallion.
From top: Nova Nox and MK await the start of their bout; Nova Nox celebrates his submission win.
An intermission followed Nova Nox’s victory. During the intermission, the band Metarust played some original songs as well as playing through the first verse of CM Punk’s world-famous Cult of Personality theme by Living Colour.
The first match back from intermission featured Jay Lamrod taking on Cryptid with the final medallion, the green one in this case, being on the line in the match. Lamrod and Cryptid would brawl inside the ring, and eventually out of it, with the action spilling into the crowd. At one point while fighting through the crowd, Cryptid had Lamrod stunned on a chair. Cryptid then forced a groggy Jay Lamrod to hold a fan sign that had “Lame-rod” written on it, getting a great reaction from the crowd who often don’t see eye to eye with Jay Lamrod. Despite the embarrassment, Jay Lamrod was able to get the last laugh after burying Cryptid with a spinning suplex style maneuver and getting the pinfall victory. Jay Lamrod would be awarded the green medallion as a result of his victory.
From top: Jay Lamrod makes his entrance; Cryptid makes his entrance; a stunned Jay Lamrod sits in a chair amongst the fans; the referee checks on Cryptid following Lamrod’s victory
The next bout of the night was a triangle gauntlet submission match. The first two competitors in the ring were Matt Nero and Thomas Ramsey. In the first fall of the match, Ramsey looked to have the upper hand throughout. Ramsey showed off his submission prowess and was able to force Matt Nero to submit after some exchanges of offense. Ramsey would then advance to the third participant of the match, Kuya Burn. Kuya Burn and Thomas Ramsey have some history together so there was no love lost between these two. After some evenly matched wrestling, Ramsey was able to force Kuya Burn to submit, winning the match and proving to be a submission expert in the process.
From top: Matt Nero makes his entrance; action from Thomas Ramsey vs. Kuya Burn
The night’s main event featured a champion vs. champion non-title match that pitted WrestlingME Champion Shaheen against TNT Extreme Wrestling World Champion Dan Moloney of the United Kingdom.
The crowd was electric throughout this bout. Dan Moloney did an excellent job of playing the visiting heel, constantly insulting the fans that were on hand to support Shaheen, including Shaheen’s biggest fan, a young child named Connor. Before the bell even rang, Moloney had insulted Connor, stolen the shirt that Shaheen threw to the crowd back from the fan that caught it and ripped it up in his face. Needless to say, by the time the bell rang, Shaheen was ready to go.
Moloney kept at the visiting heel act and did it great, screaming at the ref after every two count and even being serenaded with the now-famous-in-Dubai “hit the ref” chants that have become a staple at Wrestlefest DXB shows. Despite his protests, Shaheen was able to keep fighting on. Things took a major turn when Shaheen attempted to throw a super kick at Moloney. Dan dodged the kick, moving the referee in the way to take the brunt of the impact and of course leading to a great reaction from the notoriously bloodthirsty for ref bumps crowd.
But what happened next left the crowd in shock. With the ref out cold, Dan Moloney picked up a chair to drill Shaheen with. However, Jason Reed hit the ring and urged Moloney not to end the match this way. Reed was able to talk the chair out of Moloney’s hands…only to turn it on Shaheen once he got possession of it himself and landed a vicious chair shot on the WME champion, knocking him out cold. From here, Moloney covered Shaheen and Reed woke up the ref, allowing him to count the 1-2-3. After the match, Moloney and Reed celebrated together and Moloney took off with the WME Championship despite the match being a non-title match after he and Reed beat up a little bit more on the referee.
From top: Dan Moloney makes his entrance; Jason Reed and Dan Moloney celebrate Moloney’s victory as Shaheen and the referee lay motionless.
The Instagram page for Wrestlefest DXB released a really cool highlight video from the show that they released on their Instagram page. We also have some video from the event that Vedant sent over that you can check out below.
There are a ton of questions that have arisen and stories that have been created after the action at Broadway Violence. Luckily, some of those scenarios will become a little bit more clear this coming weekend as another Wrestlefest DXB event is scheduled for June 4, 2022.
So far announced for the June 4th event, Diamond In The Dirt, is a 2 out of 3 falls match between Shaheen and Jason Reed. Shaheen will be looking to get revenge on Reed for his shocking attack in the main event of Broadway Violence. Dan Moloney is also scheduled to be on hand after declaring himself the WrestlingME Champion. One of the medallion winners (and a wildcard) will also get a huge opportunity to leave Diamond in the Dirt one giant step closer to having acquired enough medals to get a shot at the WrestlingME Championship.
Be sure to check out the Wrestlefest DXB Facebook page and Instagram page to get more updates on this weekend’s upcoming event as well as information for those in the Dubai area on how to attend the event.
