Wrestlers on the card :-
With that being said, let's dive in...
It’s been a few months, guys. It’s been a few months. The summer of 2026 was a shit-show for me. Two friends passed away and I was made redundant. My anxiety flared up, my body started to get a crazy level of physical stress symptoms for the first time in my life, and my brain decided that being human was too much humaning and it wanted a break from humaning…all while still going to work. So I took a couple of months away from extracurricular activities other than a couple of Comic Cons that I’d already committed to (Manchester and Newport). No wrestling shows for 2 months; I didn’t really socialise much. I spent the time rebuilding my brain and body. The brain feels good. The body is mostly back to normal with just a few lingering irritations remaining.
The weekend of September 5th & 6th was my grand return to being busy. We went to “For The Love Of Retro” on the Saturday and I got to hang out with people I first met 10-15 years ago through cons such as Dennis Taylor, while also meeting a bunch of new guests such as Dean Norris and RJ Mitte from “Breaking Bad”, the kids (who are now in their 40’s!) from the original “Jurassic Park”, and Sue Holderness, Tessa Peake-Jones, and Gwyneth Strong from “Only Fools And Horses”. It was a fun show. On Sunday, it was time for No Mercy Wrestling’s “Coming Undone”. Let’s settle in, cue up Korn’s banger tune of the same name, and dive into the review….
I’ve made no bones about the fact that I’m a Brit King Pro Wrestling guy. I’ve been attending Dave Sharp’s events for 20 years. We go way back. Over the course of the last year or so, No Mercy Wrestling has definitely slotted into the number two position. Myself and Susie go to everything we can – PROGRESS, RevPro, South West Wrestling, New Wave, Attack!, Chaos, Bridge Pro, Slammasters, Evolution, Overdrive…we get around as much as most of the talent! What makes No Mercy stand out is that everyone – and I do mean absolutely everyone – is nice! Kind, helpful, friendly, caring, engaging…everybody is professional and welcoming. It was evident from our first show. It’s one of the reasons why I decided to have “Coming Undone” be my return show after a couple of months away. I had tickets to a lot of other shows over the summer that I ultimately skipped because my brain and body simply wasn’t up to it. I knew that No Mercy would be great. If I could make it through the whole show feeling good, I could return to life pre-breakdown.
The VIP meet-and-greet took place around the ring before the show. How it usually works at No Mercy is that everybody on the card is at the meet-and-greet unless they’re the opening match (as they’re getting ready) or someone is arriving to the show later because they’re wrestling elsewhere earlier in the day, etc. This meet-and-greet consisted of everyone on the card other than Kenny Mantra, Vivika, Ryan J. Williams (all of whom were in the first match), and Trent Seven (who was doing a separate meet-and-greet during the interval – more on that later).
At this point I’ve met most of the wrestlers on the card, but it’s always nice to see them again and get to know them more. We started with MJ Grayson, the long-time Champion swiftly approaching the end of his in-ring career. Working our way around we chatted to, got autographs from, or got selfies with Lana Rae, Leon Brando, Chris Ares, Violet Nyte, Adam Crater, Tess Warren, Morgana, Abigail, The Butcher Man, Aaron McRae, and Ryan Saint. All awesome.
As always, No Mercy had spectacular production values. An immaculate ring, an entranceway, two big screens, lights, smoke, the whole lot! Another thing that makes No Mercy standout is that they put so much effort into video packages – and they do them well! The show opened with a video recap of what led to “Coming Undone” (while Korn’s song played in the background) – the heated feud between Ryan Saint and Leon Brando, MJ Grayson calling for the biggest and best match of his career while on a record-setting run with the No Mercy Wrestling Championship, introducing debuting wrestlers. If you’re a newbie and this is your first show, you’re already up to speed on the stories, the lineage, and who’s a babyface and who’s a heel before the opening bell. You can’t assume that everybody has been before and knows what’s going on. In fact, you want new attendees. You want to grow. Having an avenue for them to get up to speed is a useful tool. I’ve been to a lot of fantastic indie shows that have well-told stories and rivalries, but don’t utilise video packages or social media in the same way as No Mercy to hype them up outside of the event itself. I cannot overstate what a useful tool it can be if done professionally and purposefully.
Match 1: VCW Championship – Kenny Mantra (C) vs. Vivika vs. Ryan J. Williams
Ryan J. Williams was the first entrance of the show. Ryan is one of those guys that we’ve seen around for a while. When he’s not wrestling he’s always mucking in and paying his dues by crewing or running merch. His progress over the last year has been fantastic – especially over the last few months. The Williams we saw at Overdrive back in May was decent in the ring, but not a loud, overt character outside of the moves. This Williams was leaps better. He had swagger, he had energy, he had charisma, a cool ring jacket, a smug demeanour. One of my very favourite things about indie wrestling is that you get to see the talent at the start of their careers and watch them flourish – sometimes ending up in WWE (Rayne Leverkusen, Pete Dunne), NJPW (Zack Sabre Jr.), or other worldwide promotions. A notable recent example is Tommy Vril. The first match we saw of Tommy’s was about 9 months into his career. His evolution in the last 18 months has been spectacular. He’s a fully-fledged character with one of the best entrances in all of wrestling (not just indies), an ever-improving in-ring worker, and has even main-evented some shows for notable companies like Attack!
Kenny Mantra is so very criminally underrated. No Mercy present him like the star he is, but I’m waiting for the rest of the local companies to catch up. Slammasters and New Wave have started to use him, which is nice. But he’s talented enough to be working the likes of Brit King, Attack!, and Chaos as well. I’ve never seen him have a bad match! The crowd loves him. He’s charismatic, cool entrance, fun gimmick…it’s inevitable that he’s going to be wrestling for RevPro and PROGRESS consistently at some point in the next couple of years. He really deserves the opportunity to do so. He’s one of those characters that you’re just rooting for.
Vivika is another wrestler that we’ve been fortunate enough to watch perform all over the place over the last couple of years. Y’all know that “Game of Thrones” is my all-time favourite show. I’ve done hundreds of Comic Cons with the cast and met *almost* everybody at this point. Anyone sporting the moniker “First of her Name” is going to get cheers from me. Especially as she’s such a badass alongside it. At one point in the match she double German suplexed both Mantra and Williams at the same time!
Some other highlights of the match included Mantra’s suicide dive to the outside onto Williams. They landed squarely between myself and Susie. We were both absolutely fine. They both made a point of checking that Susie was okay though. Williams quietly as the heel, Mantra loudly as the babyface. Good stuff. Williams’ Jabro-knee (read: flying knee) to Mantra was also brilliant. He should definitely keep that in his arsenal for the future. It looked devastating. Mantra folded his body in such a way that it looked like Williams knocked him out. Vivika also caught Williams coming off the turnbuckle and turned it into a Fallaway Slam. Awesome.
Mantra retained the VCW Championship in an exciting, fast-paced opener. Exactly what you need to get the crowd going and set the table for the rest of the show.
Match highlights! :-
Match 2: Outbreak Championship – Ryan Saint (C) W/Aaron McRae vs. Leon Brando
A match and story many months in the making. Saint won the Outbreak Championship from Brando back in May before Saint went into a multi-month story with Chicago Desailly…a story I don’t believe we’ve seen the conclusion of yet personally. Brando wanted revenge. He wanted his Title back.
Saint is a very brash, surprisingly athletic super heavyweight wrestler who is a believable Champion. He has the aura of a badass…and he’s gobby, which I enjoy. Comparingly, Brando is the stalwart babyface. Over the course of the last 6 months or so, Brando has gotten himself into better and better shape. Fair play to the man, he’s putting the work in. He’s constantly uploading gym selfies and the results are showing. He’s also one of the nicest, most interesting people working on the indies right now.
The match itself was solid. Good old-school work of the babyface shining, the heel cheating to get the advantage (this is where McRae made his presence known), and the match hanging in the balance. Some of the most memorable moments were Brando hanging upside-down on the top turnbuckle in the full vertical position (very impressive athleticism!), as well as his Road Warrior Hawk-esque top turnbuckle shoulder block to Saint. Saint’s match-winning Vader Bomb to Brando looked like it squished Brando into the mat. I was expecting nothing but paste to be scraped off afterwards. It looked brutal.
One babyface win, one heel win, two retained Championships thus far.
Match highlights! :-
Match 3: Abigail & Morgana vs. Yogi Duggan & The Butcher Man
You don’t get many intergender tag team matches these days. It was a very refreshing change of pace.
Much like Ryan J. Williams above, Abigail is someone who we’ve seen around a lot over the last couple of years. She’s crewing, she’s helping, she’s wrestling. She’s paying her dues. The moniker of “The World’s Worst Accident”, the blue hair, the baseball bat…it’s a character that works. It has legs. It seems to fit with Abigail’s natural personality too. She always strikes me as a natural heel…but more on that later. Abigail and Morgana were the babyface team fighting from underneath, while Duggan and Butcher Man were the grizzled, hairy men beating down the smaller team. Wrestling storytelling 101.
I’d never heard of Morgana before she released her social media video hyping her appearance at the event. She was absolutely delightful at the meet-and-greet, and it made us want to root for her from the offset. It also didn’t hurt that her entrance is really energetic and makes her come across as so likeable. It was an interesting team dynamic between Abigail and Morgana.
The Butcher Man was a new one for me as well. I really didn’t know what to expect from this match, but it ended up being decent. Morgana spent most of the match in the ring getting beaten down by or fighting back against Butcher Man and Duggan. There were a couple of opportunities where she could have tagged Abigail in, but she ultimately kept fighting and kept fighting. When she was finally ready to tag Abigail, Abigail jumped down from the apron and abandoned her partner. This allowed Butcher Man and Duggan to get the win.
After the match, Abigail berated Morgana for not tagging her in earlier. She attacked Morgana and left her laying in the ring. I smell a match at the next No Mercy show in Caerphilly – “Kill The Noise” in November.
Match highlights! :-
It was now time for the interval. The first half of the show took roughly an hour. Three decent matches.
The main attraction during the interval was the meet-and-greet with Trent Seven. For the very reasonable price of £10, you could get a picture with Trent, plus an autograph on a provided 8x10. Of course, I did this. Trent Seven is an absolute legend of British wrestling who I used to watch wrestle 15 years ago for Fight Club: PRO. Since then he’s gone on to wrestle for WWE, AEW, TNA, and almost every other big promotion in the world. This was his first time back at No Mercy in two years. Trent was really fucking cool to meet. He also carried the wounds of what I’m assuming was a recent weapons match of some description as he had a cut just above his eyebrow and another one on the side of his back.
During the interval I took stock of myself too. I felt good. I felt fine in fact. I still had a few lingering physical symptoms from the last couple of months of issues – very mild intermittent breathlessness – but otherwise I felt alright. The beauty of professional wrestling is the escapism the artform offers me. We know it’s a work. But when it’s done right…God, it’s perfection. The main event of this show was exhibit A for that.
Match 4: Legacy Championship – Adam Crater (C) vs. Chris Ares
I’m a big fan of both these guys.
Myself and Susie were talking about Adam Crater on the way home actually. He’s been wrestling for a while now, but over the last year he really seems to have stepped it up a gear. I can’t even put my finger on what’s different, but he’s suddenly got this star-power and aura around him of being a world-beater. He’s successfully defended the Legacy Championship 10 times, which I believe is a record.
Chris Ares is part of that crop of very talented athletes coming out of Britain presently. He’s right in the mix with the Leon Cage’s, the Kenny Mantra’s, the Tommy Vril’s, the Danny Black’s, the Shane Hook’s. The man can wrestle. I had this match as a possible show-stealer when it was announced, and it certainly lived up to the billing.
The chemistry between the two performers was apparent from the opening exchange. Everything they did together seemed to work. It all looked crisp and impactful. Nothing drags me out of the moment faster than moves or strikes that are a mile away from the opponents' face.
At one point during the match Crater cleared the front row of people, only to have Ares suicide dive to the outside onto him. That led to some fun footage as I was on the front row that got cleared. Crater suplexing Ares back into the ring – something that happens almost every match in wrestling these days – looked devastating as well. I cannot overstate the chemistry between the two. I’d love to see them have a main-event length match. I think they could tear the house down.
Some other highlights included Crater’s picture-perfect dropkick to Ares. Honestly, check it out in the video below. It’s worth going out of your way to see. Men Crater’s size shouldn’t be able to dropkick that perfectly. It was a Maven/Hardcore Holly-esque dropkick. Bloody impressive. Ares also managed to get the big man off his feet by lifting him up and slamming him for a believable near-fall that the crowd thought might have been the end…but it wasn’t. The actual end was another great exchange whereby Crater delivered a Baldo Bomb of sorts to Ares from the top turnbuckle. A superb finish to a thoroughly enjoyable match. Best of the night so far.
After the match, Crater grabbed the mic and said that unlike Grayson, he isn’t asking for the best competition from management, he’s going to create his own opportunity.
Three title defences, three retained. Would the final two matches follow suit?
Match highlights! :-
Match 5: Xtreme World Wrestling Women’s Championship – Tess Warren (C) vs. Violet Nyte
Over the last year we’ve been watching Violet Nyte perform, I’ve become a big fan. I think Violet Nyte has been the #1 definitive female performer on the British indies in 2026 so far. Don’t get me wrong, Aluna has been amazing, Rhio has been amazing, Alexxis Falcon has been absolutely on fire…but I don’t think anyone has outshone Violet so far in 2026 when you’re in the buildings watching the shows. That’s my opinion anyway. I think she’s a star in the making. She appears to be comfortable and confident in the ring too. She engages with the crowd, throws out one-liners, and isn’t afraid to get stuck in.
Tess Warren is from Flair country: North Carolina, USA. Trained by esteemed coach Tom Prichard, Tess is currently touring Britain. She’s popping up all over the place! It was our first opportunity to see Tess wrestle live and in living colour. She was really fucking cool in the meet-and-greet earlier in the day, so we were already won over before the match started.
This was fun. This was really fun. It had a bit of everything.
Violet Nyte’s strikes to Tess while she was down on the mat looked great. There was a lot of mat wrestling and pinning combinations from both competitors. Nyte’s Fisherman Suplex into a bridge pin was particularly inspired. Warren came back with a beautiful boot/DDT combination for a believable near-fall. This is where the match got tasty. Warren delivered a Thesz-press to Nyte and rained down strikes. One of these must have caught Nyte in the nose as her nose was gushing blood soon afterwards. It wouldn’t stop.
Nyte rolled out of the ring to compose herself and then carried on with the match. Nyte got the 3-count and a new Champion was crowned!...Or was it? Warren’s foot was on the ropes. The referee missed it, but ComMISSioner Lana Rae did not. She restarted the match rather than let the Title change hands unfairly. Warren managed to regain her composure and successfully put Nyte away for a 3-count. Another retained Championship at “Coming Undone”!
Post-match, Nyte was livid. She attacked Lana Rae from behind. The blood still gushing from Nyte’s nose made the moment all the more memorable. Lana fired up and attacked Violet Nyte right back! A dozen or so crew had to keep the two separated, but they still managed to break free and go at it again. Absolutely great stuff. One of the most fun brawls I’ve seen live in ages. Lana grabbed the microphone and announced that herself and Violet Nyte would wrestle at “Kill The Noise” in November. Can’t WAIT for that one. It’s gonna be epic.
Finally, it was time for the main event.
Match highlights! :-
Match 6: No Mercy Wrestling Championship – MJ Grayson (C) vs. Trent Seven
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It was well established before the match that MJ Grayson was retiring imminently. We just didn’t know exactly when or why. During the meet-and-greet, MJ was being quite coy as to when his last match was going to take place. I always assumed it would be at a No Mercy show as he’s their Champion and he’s close to Chris Bevan (owner). My guess was that he’d either retire at the conclusion of this match or come back for one more match at November’s “Kill The Noise”.
Before getting into the contest, I need to give Grayson his flowers. Grayson has been an incredible wrestler for 11 years. He’s wrestled all over the British indies…but No Mercy definitely felt like “home” for him. No Mercy is what made him a main-event level star. He’s defended their Championship more than anyone else in company history and he’s put on consistently great matches during his tenure as the face of the company. His match with Spike Trivet was particularly memorable, but without giving away spoilers too soon, this match with Seven might be the greatest of his reign. It was absolutely phenomenal. Legitimately emotional.
Grayson’s combination of aura, accurate and realistic-looking striking, solid offence, ability to sell, and imposing stature made him an obvious candidate to carry the company over the last year. He’s in great shape, he’s reliable, hard-working…from a fan perspective at least, he’s everything you’d want in a Champion.
At the conclusion of the last Caerphilly show (“Fearless”) after Grayson successfully defended his Title against Josh Holly, Grayson grabbed the mic and asked for his biggest and best challenge yet for “Coming Undone”. Management certainly delivered by coaxing back Trent Seven after a two-year hiatus. As previously mentioned, Seven is a legitimate legend in British wrestling. He’s worked for WWE, TNA, AEW, and all over the world. He’s a seasoned veteran that can have great matches with absolutely anyone. Fifteen years(ish) after first watching him live for Fight Club: PRO, it was great to see Trent once again.
The match definitely had a “big fight” feel. The crowd were into it. Seven entered to cheers, Grayson entered to cheers and ticker tape streamers being thrown into the ring by the crowd while he was stood on the turnbuckle. There’s some badass video footage of it in the highlights video below.
The match started strong with both competitors exchanging moves. Hold for hold. Transition for transition. There was some spectacular looking strikes from Seven and Grayson. Some of Seven’s chops sounded and looked devastating. Grayson’s chest was blood-red by the end of the match. He also had the perfect outline of Seven’s handprint on his thigh.
Grayson suicide dived to the outside onto Seven (again, great footage below). They brawled around the hall. Grayson threw Seven into one of the doors. Seven pushed Grayson against the ring post and went to chop Grayson. Grayson moved and Seven chopped the ring post, with a deafening rumble of noise following the impact. Fucking great stuff. Seven DDT’ed Grayson on the ring apron and then again on the outside floor for good measure. The ref started counting the Champion out...
1….2….3….4….
No sign of movement from Grayson.
5….6….7….8….
Grayson starts to stir.
….9….
Grayson sprang to life and managed to get into the ring just before losing the match.
His reward? Getting bodyslammed into the ropes – twice – so that his legs hit the ropes on the way down. Such a unique, stiff-looking variation on such a common move. Those little touches truly separate Seven from so many of his contemporaries.
Seven and Grayson exchanged German suplexes and clotheslines before both finally crashing to the mat with exhaustion. The crowd roared their approval. “This is awesome” chants began to ring through the hall. The match was an absolute WAR. Seven and Grayson went strike-for-strike, move-for-move, nearfall-for-nearfall. It felt like they both had the match won numerous times and the anticipation built with every kickout.
A strong, impactful piledriver from Seven, surely, must have the match won?!
1….2….NO! GRAYSON KICKED OUT! NO WAY!
Grayson regained some composure and side-suplexed Seven to the mat…
1….2….NO! SEVEN KICKED OUT!
With exhaustion and fatigue kicking in, Grayson, down on his knees, yelled up to Seven that he wanted Seven’s absolute best. He gave Seven two middle fingers. Enraged, Seven grabbed both of Grayson’s middle fingers, snapped them, hoisted Grayson up and delivered a brutal Burning Hammer (or Birminghammer in this case).
1….2….3. We have a new Champion. I’ll speak about Grayson in a moment, but for now I just want to take a second to say how excited I am for Trent Seven being Champion and therefore having to return to No Mercy in the future. He’s so, so talented.
Match highlights! :-
Post-match, Seven raised Grayson to his feet and hugged him. The crowd gave both a standing ovation and then began to bang on the edges of the ring canvas as tribute. Seven left the ring…and out came Adam Crater. I guess he’s taking the opportunity he mentioned earlier. Crater and Seven stared each other down. Could a Champion vs. Champion match be in No Mercy’s future?
Grayson asked for a microphone and told us that this was his last match. He’s retiring tonight. Not just because of wear-and-tear, but because he’s going to be a Father next month. I think I speak on behalf of all of us when I say that 1) we’re so very happy for him, and 2) we’re all going to miss watching him perform. He’s been a phenomenal Champion and ambassador for No Mercy Wrestling, and he’ll most definitely be missed. It was an emotional speech. He thanked the fans. He thanked No Mercy. The No Mercy management and former No Mercy Wrestler (also retired in 2026) Big Van Wesker joined MJ Grayson in the ring. They all hugged and celebrated together.
Grayson was left alone in the ring. The standing ovation continued. Everyone was standing, clapping, or banging on the ring apron. The No Mercy locker room emptied and joined the fans in the standing ovation. Grayson removed his boots and left them in the ring next to his black belt. He walked up the ramp and waved goodbye to the crowd as the cheers and claps continued to echo throughout the hall.
A perfect ending to a brilliant career. Enjoy retirement and Fatherhood, MJ. Please come back and visit us.
It was a genuinely magical moment. Emotional. Special. A match and aftermath that attendees won’t forget. The whole event was decent, but the main event was legitimately special. Suffice to say we’ve already bought VIP tickets for November, so we’ll see you then!
Stay safe, stay strong, and keep kicking ass.
- Your Friendly Neighbourhood Shangel
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