WrestlingME holds successful Wrestlefest show which may be Dubai’s biggest pro wrestling show to date
Quite possibly the biggest pro wrestling event to date in Dubai just happened over this past weekend. On Saturday evening in the Al Quoz area of Dubai, WrestlingME held the first Wrestlefest event. The show featured live pro wrestling, food vendors, live music, clothing vendors and more with a great reported turnout of 200+. We previewed the show prior to the weekend, so go check that out if you haven’t yet.
A friend of WrestleMap, Vedant, was at the show and has helped us to compile a comprehensive report of the event. He grabbed some cool footage that captured the vibe of the unique show, which you can check out below.
Part of the appeal of Wrestlefest was the live music aspect and the night’s pre-show featured a couple bands playing, including the band Espervene, of which WrestlingME wrestler Kuya Burn is a part of. Following his on-stage performance, Kuya Burn would step into the ring with Thomas Ramsey and picked up the victory. With the win, Kuya Burn qualified for the WrestlingME number one contender tournament that was set for later in the show. But the night that started out so well for Kuya didn’t stay that way as he was beaten down by a frustrated Thomas Ramsey after the match. Despite suffering from the beating at the hands of Ramsey, Kuya Burn would still have to compete later in the night in the number one contender tournament. The band BAFOORY then played to close out the night’s pre-show, even playing a rendition of Edge’s WWE theme song.
The main card then began with a performance by the band Metarust. The in-ring portion of the main card started with a match between Johnny “Victory” Evers and Savage Sam, who was undefeated in WrestlingME heading into the match. That streak didn’t continue though, as Johnny Evers instead lived up to his nickname and snatched the victory from the undefeated Savage Sam.
In the second match, Truman Hudson the Third, who made the long trip from his home base of Detroit, Michigan, USA to Dubai for the big event, issued an open challenge that was answered by Eli Hush. TH3’s long trip didn’t end in disappointment as he was able to win the match.
Next came the number one contender tournament for the WrestlingME Championship. The tournament was scheduled to feature three first round singles matches and then a triple threat match to determine a winner of the tournament. In the first round, Fayez was able to take advantage of the injuries Kuya suffered after the qualifying match earlier in the show. Fayez advanced to the triple threat final with the win.
The second match of the tournament was between Matt Nero and Nova Nox. Nova Nox walked out of this first round match as the winner, qualifying for the triple threat match to determine the number one contender.
The third and final first round match of the tournament featured Jay Blade wrestling “The Main Attraction” MK. The Main Attraction was able to get the win in this one, living up to his name and advancing to the tournament final.
The next match was to be the last before the intermission. It was the advertised British Rounds style match that was scheduled to consist of six timed rounds for the WrestlingME Championship between defending champion Jay Lamrod and the masked Shaheen. Shaheen was played out to the ring by one of the live bands on hand, Metarust, who covered the song Second and Sebring by the band Of Mice and Men for the entrance. Surprisingly, Shaheen removed his mask for this bout and the belief is that he’ll be going maskless from this point forward. The match didn’t quite make it to the third round, however. The first round ended without either wrestler scoring a fall. The second round spun out of control with the referee having no choice but to throw the match out, meaning the championship match ended with no definitive winner.
Following the match, the ring announcer relayed a message from the authority figures backstage. Later on in the night, Jay Lamrod would defend his WME Championship in a Fatal 5 Way Legacy Rules Match. Shaheen would be in the match and would get another shot at the gold and the remaining competitors would be the finalists from the number one contender tournament: Fayez, Nova Nox, and “The Main Attraction” MK.
After a brief intermission with some live music, it was back to the in-ring action. In the first match after the intermission, Carnatux, who had made the trip to Dubai from Bahrain where he wrestles for KPW, took on Cryptid. Cryptid walked away as the winner in this match.
The next match featured another international visitor. This bout was between Abdullah Khawaja, a visiting wrestler from Pakistan who is the founder of WRG based in Lahore, and Zephyr. Zephyr ended up ruining Khawaja’s trip by securing the victory. We have some cool clips from this match in the video posted above, so go check that out.
Wrestlefest images courtesy of Vedant
The night’s main event soon followed and this one has gotten rave reviews. It was Jay Lamrod vs. Shaheen vs. Nova Nox vs. “The Main Attraction” MK vs. Fayez for the WrestlingME Championship. WrestlingME ran this same 5-way match back at an event called Legacy in which Shaheen was crowned the first WME Champion. The five wrestlers who competed in the match are considered to be the core 5 of the main building blocks of the promotion, similar to All Japan’s (and now AEW’s) Four Pillars.
The Legacy Rules meant that wrestlers would be entering the match one at a time. This rule created a unique power dynamic between the heels and faces in the match, with each side teaming up for tandem offense back and forth when they had the numbers advantage. Some weapons got involved in this match, including a kendo stick that was taken home by our friend Vedant. Jay Lamrod was also slammed through a table at one point by the four other wrestlers after being caught after attempting a dive out of the ring. Shaheen also took to the air at one point, leaping from the balcony and landing on the other four competitors.
At times during the match, two wrestlers would be paired off fighting, often leaving Jay Lamrod, the defending champion, on his own. Lamrod continued to tease that he was going to attack the ref in these situations, which the fans kept chanting for, but Lamrod ultimately did not end up attacking the ref during the match.
The match ended with Shaheen scoring the win and becoming the new champion. This was the same result after the last Legacy 5 Way match in WME, making Shaheen 2-0 in this style of match and a two time champion of the promotion. Following his win, Shaheen got on the mic and thanked the crowd for their support.
After Shaheen’s promo and an intense championship match, the core five of WME shared a moment in the ring with an embrace and a show of respect for each other. They would also throw up five fingers, the hand gesture that’s come to represent this core group, to the delight of the fans. At this point, with all five wrestlers gathered in the ring, the “hit the ref!” chants started back up. Now, with all five wrestlers united, they decided to take the advice of the crowd, delivering a 5-way super kick to the referee, leading to a huge reaction from the crowd and 200+ fans going home happy.
By all accounts, Wrestlefest was a huge success. The fans on hand had a blast. Hopefully, WrestlingME’s goal of drawing in new fans with this appealing event will be successful.
We can’t wait to see what’s next for the growing pro wrestling scene in Dubai.
