Wrestlers on the card :-
• Jay Joshua
• Rhio
• Charles Crowley
• Alexxis Falcon
• Simon Miller
• Joe Blazr
• Edgar Adams
• Nate Reilly
• Brandon Jordan
• Liam Jones
• Leon Cage
• Jakk Sellstrom
• Franco Fate
• Kanji
• Omari
• Aluna
• Chantal Jordan
• Claudia Bradstone
• Duchess Sophia
• Melissa Fierce
• Samuel Hughes
• Chicago Desailly
• Steve Valentino
• Hollie Barlow
• Chris Angel
Before starting with the review, a quick note - I've
recently started a YouTube channel for independent wrestling content in
Britain. It has near-daily 15-second videos I've dubbed "Smackdown
Showcase", it has match highlights (some of which are embedded in this
review), and more. The purpose of the channel is to shine a spotlight on
the incredible talent we have here. Memorable moments, memorable
matches, hard-hitting action...if you'd be so kind, please could you
check out the YouTube channel. Like, comment, share, and subscribe!
With that being said, let's dive in...
Our final wrestling show of 2025 - and it was a special one. Typically we wouldn't travel as far North as Stourbridge, liking to keep our radius of Thatcham-Swindon-Gloucester-Bristol-Cardiff intact. We both work full-time jobs, plus I'm moonlighting in helping to organise Comic Cons, a small side engineering business with a friend, and now this blog and YouTube channel for indie wrestling shows...my cuppeth doth overfloweth. However, when a benefit show was announced for the retiring (hopefully short-term) Millie McKenzie with all proceeds going to her, we couldn't miss it.
I first watched Millie wrestle live about 8 years ago for FCP. Back then she was a teenage sensation. We were all expecting great things for her in the future...and she delivered on that potential. Soon after this, Millie went to wrestle for Progress and ultimately WWE via the NXT UK initiative. It feels particularly cruel that Millie is having to take a step back from wrestling at 25 years old because of something completely out of her control. Millie has been living with a rare form of liver disease her entire life. Having a successful wrestling career while dealing with that is so special. It shows the remarkable strength that Millie has...but things have started to deteriorate. She needs a liver transplant. Best-case scenario: this all happens and post-recovery she can get back in the ring. But until then, she needs help. There is a GoFundMe link here. Please, please consider donating. In the vein of trying to help Millie while she's going through all of this, Bridge Pro Wrestling and SpinebusterTV joined forces to bring us this night: the first half (4 matches) is Spinebuster, the second half (3 matches) is Bridge Pro. All proceeds going to Millie. It's nice to see the total on GoFundMe north of £13,000 at the moment...but we can do better, can't we? The Patron Saint of wrestling fundraisers, Chris Jericho, has already contributed. What a legend.
Millie, if you are reading this, we're all here for you. We've got your back. Anything you need. One day you'll be back in the ring doing what you were born to do, but until then go kick ass outside the ring. We're all rooting for you to get the transplant soon and start that recovery process.
I've been attending indie wrestling shows for almost 20 years. Twenty. Years. Christ, I feel old. From teenager to mid-30s. The British indies have never been this good in my humble opinion. Everywhere is on fire. Progress, RevPro, ICW, Brit King Pro, New Wave, Attack!, Chaos, South West Wrestling, No Mercy, Evolution, Bridge Pro, and many more. The sheer volume of talent on the Isles right now is staggering. It was really heartwarming to see so many wrestlers from that talented crop step up and want to be a part of this show to support Millie and help fundraise for her. There were genuinely world-class talent on this show including - but not limited to - Charles Crowley, Jay Joshua, Rhio, and Jakk Sellstrom. I'm so excited to be writing about some of these people in long-format review for the first time!
Speaking of the blog; thank you. While the YouTube is only a few months old, the blog has been here for 12 years. It originated as a blog for TV reviews and Comic Cons - both of which I'm still doing...or planning to do - but now has started to incorporate wrestling reviews. Thank you to the old audience for sticking around and reading them; thank you to the new wrestling audience for receiving them so well. The amount of positive feedback I've been getting from attendees, wrestlers, and companies alike is humbling. In just the last month or so my reviews have been getting steadily increasing traffic. Attack! (8k reads), Chaos (11k reads), No Mercy (12k reads), Brit King (17k reads), and my article on the rise of Welsh wrestling...52k reads! Wow! These reviews typically take 2 days. A day to create the highlight videos and a day to write the review/edit it/promote it. All of this - and the YouTube - doesn't make me a penny. I do it for the love, while juggling 3 other jobs. Frankly, if the audience was only 1oo people I'd still write the reviews because I love it, but the fact they're successful is really nice. My aim with the reviews and YouTube is to spotlight the companies and wrestlers that deserve it. Let's get some of these incredible talents more exposed!
"Holiday Havoc" took place at the Amblecote Royal British Legion in Stourbridge. The venue was decked out for Christmas which made for some really cool visuals, e.g. lights above the entranceway. The advertised card looked phenomenal on paper...
- Kanji vs. Omari
- A Spinebuster Scramble between Aluna, Chantal Jordan, Claudia Bradstone, Duchess Sophia, and Melissa Fierce
- A Royal Rumble match to be #1 contender for the Grand Championship
- A Grand Championship match between Brandon Jordan (C) and Liam Jones
- Cheeky Little Buggers & Joe Blazr vs. Simon Miller & Zeroes 2 Heroes
- Jay Joshua vs. Rhio
Before the show even started, Millie was ringside chatting to all the attendees. For a long time as well! She genuinely cares about people and appreciates everyone showing up for her.
Onto the show, from the front row!...
Match 1: Leon Cage vs. Jakk Sellstrom vs. Franco Fate
I've used the term "unsung hero" a few times this year while writing wrestling reviews. I've used it for Tiger Ali and Matt Gatlin in particular. Jakk Sellstrom can definitely be added to that list. Jack has been around for a long time. He's wrestled just about everywhere - including WWE - and against just about everyone. His entrance alone is worth the price of admission. The slow walk to the ring...the death-stares...the crown...the outfit...it's a cool presentation. Look at this :-
Photo Credit: y2jimbob
Badass, right?!
One of the most impressive things about Jakk is that everything he does is believable. He wrestles so crisp. His striking, his movements, his suplexes...it all looks spectacular. It's an amalgamation of perfection.
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Leon Cage has been one of the finds of 2025 for us. He first came to worldwide attention last year when a video of him performing a double footstomp - while his opponent is draped across the top rope - into a powerbomb caught everyone's attention. He's still a frickin' teenager! Since then we've been lucky enough to watch him wrestle live on multiple occasions, including him winning the Chaos Rumble for Pro Wrestling Chaos a week before this event. The Futurist's future is indeed limitless. His athleticism is impressive...but there are lots of athletes around these days. What truly sets Cage apart is his creativity. He's doing moves we've never seen before after 20 years of indies. That creativity and ability to capture everyone's attention is going to get him to the bigger worldwide companies within no time. Everyone wants something new that's never been seen before.
Franco Fate was a new name for me. This is actually a theme of the night; there were many new names and faces - including some truly impressive ones, such as Franco Fate. Franco looked the part and more than held his own against the veteran Jakk Sellstrom and the wonderkid, Leon Cage.
The match itself was beautiful chaos. A plethora of exciting, impactful moves coupled with brawling outside the ring. One particularly memorable moment was when Fate hoisted Cage onto his shoulder and then dropped him down face-first onto the bar at the back of the venue. Good stuff! There were suicide dives, near-falls, and all three participants almost won the match at various stages. At one point Cage sat Franco Fate onto the lap of an audience member - the man sat next to me in the front row - and Sellstrom chopped his chest. It's in the highlights video below. Cage's handspring kick-to-the-face is a thing of beauty to watch live. He should definitely keep that in his arsenal. In the end, Cage won the match, stealing a quick pin from Franco Fate. Another notch on the belt of "The Futurist". What a great start to the night!
Match highlights :-
Match 2: Kanji vs. Omari
5 days earlier we were lucky enough to watch Kanji wrestle live for the first time against Rayne Leverkusen for the Attack! Championship in the totally-unique Loco Klub in Bristol. That match was awesome. One thing that really stood out about Kanji was her ability to sell. Don't get me wrong, her offence is awesome too...but her selling is world-class. This match against Omari followed that pattern. Omari was the giant, muscular powerhouse, towering over Kanji. Kanji was the underdog with the fighting spirit that was trying to scrap her way to victory from underneath. There was about a foot difference in height!
Omari was another new name for us. Physically imposing and built like a legitimate heavyweight, Omari moved with the grace and timing of a man much smaller. The start of the match was a decent exchange of mat wrestling - something that can be missed in today's fast-paced product. Soon afterwards, Omari started to dominate. Kanji rallied enough strength to fight back: a frontflip into a superkick to the back of Omari's head. That was cool.
There was an exchange of German suplexes between the pair, followed by a Canadian Destroyer from Kanji! This weakened Omari enough for Kanji to strap on the submission and make Omari tap out. The underdog got the victory! That's 2 for 2 on babyface wins so far. This was a great representation of the David vs. Goliath story. Solid match.
Highlights! :-
Match 3: Spinebuster Scramble - Aluna vs. Chantal Jordan vs. Claudia Bradstone vs. Duchess Sophia vs. Melissa Fierce
Three new names, one I've watched online but never live (Chantal), plus the always-immaculate Aluna.
Aluna is fantastic. Trained at the New Wave Wrestling Academy, Aluna has taken 2025 by storm. Can we just talk for a minute about how many talented wrestlers are coming out of New Wave?! No wonder the Welsh scene is thriving. With trainers such as Brendan White, Wild Boar, Danny Jones, and Nico Angelo, you can't help but get great fundamentals or level-up if you've already got some experience. I'd strongly recommend checking them out if you're a wannabe wrestler or an existing wrestler looking to move to the next level.
We were lucky enough to watch Aluna take on Connor Mills at New Wave's "Test Your Might" earlier in the year and Aluna instantly captivated both of us. Much like Kanji above, Aluna's ability to sell really stood out. Connor obviously dominated parts of the match and Aluna really made you believe that she was injured and in peril. Case in point from my #SmackdownShowcase playlist....
How good is she?!
Aluna followed this up by having an impressive showing in the Chaos Rumble the weekend before this event.
Fresh off of her three-day seminar with WWE's Bayley, Chantal Jordan is a staple of Women's wrestling in the Midlands area. I was already familiar with Chantal's work, but had never had the opportunity to see her wrestle live. She was one of the people I was most excited to watch because I was already a fan from afar.
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The remaining ladies - Claudia Bradstone, Duchess Sophia, and Melissa Fierce - were all new to me.
Scramble matches are usually great fun. They're constant action because two people are always in perpetual motion while the rest are down selling. I had a sneaky suspicion that this would be great...and boy, was I right. All five Ladies kicked ass. The action was so fast and ferocious that I couldn't record everything. Claudia and Sophia were battering the shite out of each other behind us, while Aluna, Melissa, and Chantal were exchanging suplexes and kicks in the ring. It was the very definition of excitement.
In a match filled with memorable spots, some that stand out the most were Aluna's suicide dive to the outside onto Claudia and Sophia, Fierce's 619 into a dropkick off the turnbuckle, Aluna's rolling kick from the mat to Fierce's face, Claudia bringing everyone to Suplex City, Sophia's X-Factor to Claudia, and Chantal's running dropkick to Aluna while Aluna was sat down in the corner.
All five women impressed. They put on one helluva match. While Claudia and Sophia were battling at the back of the hall with chairs, Fierce managed to get the cover on Chantal to pick up the victory. Congrats, Ladies! What a match.
Match highlights! :-
Match 4: Jay Joshua vs. Rhio
The match I was looking forward to most. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Jay Joshua is world-class. Arguably the best wrestler in Britain. I can make cases for Nico Angelo and Chris Bronson, and a small handful of others. I can make a case for Charles Crowley being the best character in the world, not just Britain, but Jay Joshua is in that conversation. The reigning New Wave Wrestling Champion (a Title we've been lucky enough to watch him defend), Chaos Internet Champion (another one we've seen him defend live), and the new RevPro British Heavyweight Champion, Joshua has had one of the most successful 2025's out of anyone in Britain. At 30 years old - according to Cage Match anyway - his future is as bright as he wants it to be.
Another Welsh standout, we first saw Joshua wrestle in our homecity of Gloucester nearly two years ago. He was already great then. But my God has he leveled-up in that time. The most stark change from what I can see is his confidence level. He oozes confidence now when he's in the ring. As he should.
Jay recently went public with his speech impairment and he should truly be proud of himself for doing so. It's not easy to talk about insecurities publicly, especially in an industry where you have to cut promos in front of live audiences. Jay's vulnerability to share is admirable. As I told him afterwards, I have my own insecurities. When I was 22, I tried to kill myself. The why's are a conversation for another day - although I talk about it in-depth during my review of Buffy's "Amends" - but the salient point is that I took a lot of pills. Roughly 60. I don't know the exact number. I washed them down with Jack Daniels, wrote my suicide notes, and passed out. Miraculously, two hours later, I woke up. No vomiting, no medical intervention. My body just absorbed them like The Incredible Hulk. Since then, I've had a few long-term medical changes. The most important of which is that my hands shake when I get a release of any amount of adrenaline. It makes me quite self-conscious. When I'm at wrestling shows or Comic Cons, I'm filled with excitement and adrenaline, which means during meet-and-greets I'm usually a bit shaky handed. This makes me self-conscious and focused on it...which makes them shake more. It's a cycle. It's a small price to pay for surviving and living the incredible life that I have now, but it still makes me paranoid sometimes. I don't like the idea of other people noticing. I'm naturally predispositioned to depression and anxiety. They're both in the family. I have depression, anxiety, and O.C.D. myself. It's the main reason I studied through the Open University and went on to get a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology (First-Class Honours) and a Master's Degree in Psychology, and started giving Therapy to teenagers with addiction and mental health issues. I was juggling full-time work with full-time study for years, but I wanted to help. I wanted to give back after my survival. I hope I've done that.
My story is an important one for a couple of reasons: Firstly, it's a cautionary tale. Don't do what I did. Go get help before you reach that stage. Secondly, it's a reminder that no matter how dark life gets, you can come out the other side. I'm basically living my dream life now. I'm truly happy. When I attempted suicide 14 years ago, happiness wasn't a viable future I ever saw for myself. Yet here it is. Never give up. Keep pushing forwards; keep fighting back against that dark side of your brain.
...Where was I before that tangent?...
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Rhio! Like Jay, Rhio is currently holding three Titles of her own. Both entered the match with gold around their waists and gold in both of their hands. It was Goldfest '25! The goldiest of all the gold matches! Enough gold to make Spandau Ballet proud! I'd been a huge fan of Rhio from afar and a huge fan of Jay from close up, so my excitement level was peaked.
The match truly lived up to the hype. It was one of my favourite matches of the whole year. A legitimate "match of the year" contender. They tore the fucking house down.
Jay giving Rhio her flowers from the front row!
Rather than type too much about the match itself, I'm just going to direct you to the highlights video below. See it for yourself. This is going to be uploaded for free on YouTube soon by Bridge Pro Wrestling and/or SpinebusterTV. Definitely check it out!
Match 5: Cheeky Little Buggers (Charles Crowley & Alexxis Falcon) & Joe Blazr vs. Simon Miller & Zeroes 2 Heroes (Edgar Adams & Nate Reilly)
He loves us all really....deep down...really deep down?
Can we just collectively agree to give Charles Crowley his flowers now rather than wait to appreciate his genius later? For my money, Crowley is the best character wrestler in the world. Yes, the world. There is nobody that makes me laugh more. Nobody that entertains me more. Nobody that makes me stop what I'm doing and rush to watch a video when he releases a new one (such as the blisteringly funny "The Twat's Christmas Address" that he released a couple of weeks ago)...
His acting skills come into full force. His voice acting skills make him unique. He's hilarious, he's witty...and I haven't even mentioned anything outside of social media yet! Live, he is equally phenomenal. His entrance is cool as fuck, his entrance theme is an earworm (listen below), and he has the crowd in the palm of his hand every single time. He is a star. How WWE or AEW, or TNA, or NJPW hasn't snatched him up yet is a genuine mystery. He uses social media to get himself, his stories, and promotions over more than anyone else I've ever seen. Hell, he does a better job of promoting companies than they do themselves in most cases.
Suffice to say, I'm a fan. I'm a fan of the character; I'm a fan of the human being behind it. You should definitely be following Crowley and the untrodden path he's forging right now.
Cheeky Little Buggers - Charles Crowley and Alexxis Falcon - have been around for a couple of years now. I've had the great honour of watching Crowley perform live a number of times, but never Alexxis. Never Cheeky Little Buggers. So this was a particular treat. Joe Blazr is someone that has recently come to our attention. We watched him in the Chaos Rumble at Pro Wrestling Chaos the weekend before this event and he was someone that immediately caught the attention. I love how he stays in character throughout the show, including meet-and-greets. It's very MJF.
I've been a massive fan of Simon Miller's YouTube channel for years. After a long time of trying, we finally got to see Simon wrestle live at the Chaos show mentioned above, where he too was in the Chaos Rumble. Fast-forward 6 days and we got to watch him again! Clearly Simon Miller live matches are like buses. You wait ages for one, then multiple show up at the same time.
Zeroes 2 Heroes were the only people in this match I'd never heard of before. Upon doing some research, it appears as though the team has been together about 2 years and largely wrestles in central England, which is why we'd not heard of them before. Boy, are they talented. Both Adams and Reilly were mightily impressive. I sincerely hope they keep this tag team going and get to branch out a bit more because they'd set companies like Attack! and Chaos on fire. Imagine Zeroes 2 Heroes against Act Two for a second...dream match for 2026!
The crowd were loud all night - especially for Jay Joshua vs. Rhio - but this match was the loudest and most engaged. How could they not be? You have the star-power of Miller, the arrogance of Blazr, the hilarity of Cheeky Little Buggers, and the athleticism and local familiarity of Zeroes 2 Heroes.
Some highlights included Crowley's "magic" to start the match at the request of the crowd. Chants of "we want magic" rang through the hall and Crowley was happy to oblige...he grabbed his trusty hat and proceeeded to pull something out of it...a middle finger for us all. Charming man.
This was followed up by Crowley declaring that nobody could stop the Spectacular Charles Crowley...until Simon Miller stopped him within seconds by choking him out. Miller said that it was too early to finish the match so he invited Blazr into the ring to carry on, while Crowley was dragged to the apron to keep snoozing.
Good stuff all around.
At one point, Crowley accidentally speared his partner, Falcon. As Edgar Adams crawled to his corner to get the hot tag, Crowley was spotted in the background trying to revive Falcon with chest-compressions. So fucking funny. We also had a bit of a Human Centipede situation: as Blazr was sat down in the corner, Miller tripped Crowley into Blazr's crotch. As Crowley was trying to get up...so to speak...Miller tripped Falcon into Crowley's ass. The comedic genius of Crowley reared its head again as when he finally got himself away from Blazr, he departed wiping his mouth. Sweet Jesus.
Later in the match, Cheeky Little Buggers taped Simon Miller to the ring post outside and covered him in Christmas wrapping paper. Miller was helpless as Crowley pinned Nate Reilly. A tie for "match of the night". From a purely wrestling perspective, nothing touched Jay Joshua vs. Rhio. From an entertainment and crowd engagement perspective, nothing touched this. What a privilege to watch this live.
Match highlights! :-
Match 6: Grand Championship Match - Brandon Jordan (C) vs. Liam Jones
My home-County, Gloucestershire, has two major promotions: South West Wrestling and Evolution. One of Evolution's biggest stars is Liam Jones. I've seen Liam wrestle live before, but I've never reviewed it. Liam Jones is one of the most athletically gifted Super Heavyweight's I've ever seen. He can roll, he can flip, and he moves with the grace of a Junior Heavyweight.
Contrastingly, I'd never seen Brandon Jordan before. I was familiar with his work through social media and I know a lot of people that spoke highly of him, but I'd not seen him wrestle live before. I can see why he's Bridge Pro's chosen Grand Champion. He's great in the ring. Not the biggest human, but very believable.
The chemistry between Jordan and Jones was undeniable. They had a terrific match. A match worthy of being for the Grand Championship. Much like Kanji vs. Omari - and something I personally love to see - the match started with some mat wrestling, where Liam Jones' size and strength became the great equaliser. Jones started to dominate the Champion until Jordan was able to execute a beautiful-looking tornado DDT on the big man. There were lots of near-falls, including one particularly memorable one where Liam Jones hoisted Brandon Jordan up into the back suplex position, then pivoted into a piledriver that looked like it killed Brandon...but Brandon just about managed to kicked out. The babyface defending Champion eventually won the match by grabbing the middle rope while pinned Jones. The referee didn't spot it so Brandon was declared the winner.
Match highlights! :-
Match 7: Royal Rumble Match - Winner Is #1 Contender To The Grand Championship
Entrants (in alphabetical order) = Alex Connors, Alex Dean, Alexxis Falcon, Brad Osborne, Cameron Anderson, Chantal Jordan, Charles Crowley, Chicago Desailly, Chris Angel, David Atlas, Edgar Adams, Hazz Hype, Hollie Barlow, Jay Cee, Jay Matthews, Joe Blazr, Joey Scott, Luke Douglas, Nate Reilly, Ryan Parrott, Samuel Hughes, Steve Valentino, TJ Rex, and Zac Walker
Some of these talent I was already familiar with, such as Chicago Desailly, Chantal Jordan, Charles Crowley, Alexxis Falcon, Chris Angel, Nate Reilly, and Edgar Adams. A lot of them were Bridge Pro wrestlers that I didn't know.
Steve Valentino was an interesting one. I haven't seen Steve in years. I think I first saw Steve wrestle live about 10 years ago for VWF. He still looks awesome and moves incredibly well. Another unsung hero.
The Rumble itself was great fun. It had Santa Claus, it had craziness, it had memorable moments...Valentino's rope-assisted Tornado DDT was one of them. Other highlights included Alex Dean chopping Steve Valentino (which had no effect), then Valentino following it up by chopping Dean into next week, Chantal's "Five Knuckle Shuffle", Blazr firing a confetti cannon into someone's face, Crowley using Hollie Barlow as a battering-ram against everyone...when they finally succeeded in smacking everyone to the floor and attempted to high-face, Barlow face-planted from dizziness...
Soon afterwards, two remained: Alexxis Falcon and Samuel Hughes. They fought in the ring, they fought on the apron, but ultimately Samuel Hughes was the victor. This brought Brandon Jordan out for the staredown. A match for the Grand Championship is in the future for these two.
Match highlights! :-
Samuel Hughes brought Millie McKenzie to the ring and the entire locker room soon piled out to give Millie her flowers...literally. Watch the video I made below...
Millie - wrapped in emotion - thanked everyone for coming and hyped up the next Bridge Pro show. The event concluded with everyone cheering for Millie, as it should.
Thank you, Millie. I hope we all get to see you perform again soon.
It was a brilliant way to end our wrestling journey in 2025. We've already got loads of shows booked for 2026, but the first one will be Brit King Pro's "Ultimate Ascension" from Gloucester. That should be incredible. Announced matches already include Prince Phoenix vs. Leyton Buzzard, Tiger Ali vs. Kouga (formerly Owadasan), and former WWE wrestler Brian Kendrick defending the Junior Heavyweight Championship against "The Man With A Black Heart of Gold", Nico Angelo. Can't wait.
Thank you for reading. I wish you all an amazing Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Stay safe, stay strong, and be grateful.
- Your Friendly Neighbourhood Shangel
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