With 3 independent wrestling shows under my belt and many more to come, it looks like 2018 will be a fantastic year for wrestling, not just from the big names like WALTER, Pete Dunne, Travis Banks, CCK and so on, but also from wrestlers who perhaps not as many have heard of. With my known support for indy wrestling I wanted to shine a light on those singles stars who are destined for greatness in 2018 and beyond. If you're wondering about tag teams, that will be in an upcoming article.
There is no particular order or placement in terms of importance, these are simply the wrestlers I think everyone needs to go out and see this year, I'll be leaving as many of their social media links as I can as well as any merch links they so happen to have as well as recommending any matches I've seen them in, even if it's just one. Go support them, and tell them the owl sent you!
Twitter: @TikeSprivet
Merch: http://spiketrivet.bigcartel.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spiketrivet/
Matches I'd Recommend: Vs. Big T Justice & Adam Ralph - PROGRESS Wrestling
Live At The Dome IV
"Arrogant, brash, elitist, spoiled, entitled... but I'm just being me." Allow me to introduce Spike Trivet, a heel who just gets it. He doesn't act like a heel to be cool, or funny, he acts like a heel to get booed and hated, and he succeeds, he is fucking brilliant. I love a good character in wrestling, it adds more to a match, a feud, a promo, anything, having a character adds more to it and Spike is a character, he isn't just a good wrestler who's himself, he's a great wrestler that makes the crowd emote, feel and react to anything and everything he does. When he's in that ring, you aren't ironically booing him, you grow to despise him and loath him with his privileged persona, whiny childish outbursts, and him knowing full well who he is but knowing he'll still get whatever he wants, and we all hate him for it. While he acts like a drunken Tory on his way to the ring, Spike will still pull out his A game when he has to, or if he's got the upper hand, he'll become as cocky as anything, then hide behind ropes, refs and anything else once the tables have turned, true chicken shit heeling at its finest,
Whilst I haven't seen many of his matches, yet, I have to recommend his double header from last week's Live At The Dome show, both matches being for his spot in the Natural Progression Series, firstly against the debuting Adam Ralph, who Spike had previously paid off when he was a trainee at a PROGRESS show, then stealing the money back from him. He taunted Ralph with money wanting him to lay down for an easy win, but the two ended up having a fun, be it short match, with Trivet ultimately picking up the win with a cocky pin using one foot. Saying he thought he would have a bigger challenge, Glenn literally gives him a bigger challenge in Big T Justice, making his PROGRESS debut, Big T gave Spike his just desserts, with some fierce chops, but Spike attacked the knees of Big T to slow him down and get him off his feet, simple, effective storytelling is all you need sometimes. But this time Trivet had to get his win dirty, attacking an injured Ojmo before a low blow roll up to pin Big T and escape, still in the NPS.
If you can, track the show down to see those matches, as well as any you can find of Spike from companies like Anarchy Wrestling or ACW, the next top heel champion of the UK, in any promotion!
Sid Scala
Twitter: @SidScala
Merch: http://sidscala.bigcartel.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SidScala
Matches I'd Recommend: Vs. Danny Duggan - PROGRESS Wrestling Live At The Dome IV
During LATD at the start of Sid's match, a small section were chanting "Sids the business!" Thinking they were friends, or fans who had seen him another promotion, by the end of the match, I was one of those people chanting it, because, the whole room was chanting it, Sid is the fucking business. His character has an heir of Ric Flair to it, coming out in a suit with an expensive watch looking dapper, being billed from Canary Warf and even using his belt as a weapon during the match. What was great about the match with Danny was he starts off quite methodical, picking his spots, but as the match builds and the crowd got more behind him, his move set evolved to be a bit more explosive and have more impact which was brilliant, I love seeing the pace match the crowds tempo instead of sticking to the tempo and expecting the crowd to follow it. Sometimes feeding off of the crowd is what makes a great match, and both Sid and Danny did it here. It was a shame to see Sid lose here, as he was over as fuck by the end, but with that reception, I doubt it's the last we'll see of him in PROGRESS and hopefully I see him in other promotions in the future when I can go to other shows outside of my small circle. Whilst this is the lone match I've seen of Sid, it's definitely left an impact on me, and he is a fantastic talent with a bright future ahead of him!
David Francisco
Website: http://fantasticdavidfrancisco.com/
Twitter: @davidfantastic_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fantasticdavidfrancisco
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/davidfantastic
Matches I'd Recommend: Vs. Connor Mills - ACW Apollo 4/Back With A Vengeance
Ladies and gentlemen, stand up, stand up, take a deep breath and get ready to be amazed, some are good, some are even great, but only one can be, FAAAAANTASTIC! I fucking love David Francisco, the dude is easily my favourite independent wrestler at the moment, he is charisma, confidence, cockiness and ability all rolled into one. If you're sensing a theme here, it's that I love wrestlers with larger than life personalities and characters, David certainly is that, he think, scratch that, KNOWS, that he's the best and sets out to prove it every single night he performs, his social media is a lightening rod for promos and he is very active on all his socials to give you a real grasp of who he is and how hard he works. He has a podcast, a Youtube series and frequently posts promos on his Facebook, Instagram and Youtube profiles, so even when he isn't wrestling, you still have an experience when viewing him online, he knows how to draw an audience and has done so in various ways with various platforms.
Now, his actual in ring ability, yes as expected, he's very fucking good, from when I first saw him in NFW, to his matches on all of PROGRESS's sub Chapter shows, to his time in ACW and many other companies, it seems David Francisco just can't have a bad, or even just an okay match, he always has great matches with any opponent he's given. His finisher is the fucking curb stomp, but he'll beat you up in any way he knows how to, he's always adding to his arsenal with his variety of opponents and is currently having a (Pun intended) fantastic feud with Connor Mills with his two ACW matches being my highlight, mainly because I was there live. While he's seemed to have burst onto the scene in the last year or so in the UK, he's actually a very important, historical figure for Portuguese wrestling, become the first, and I believe so far, only dual champion in Portugal, holding both the APW Nacional Championship for 1036 days and the WP National Championship, the only two Portuguese championships.
At only 25 years old, he still has best years ahead of him, he's already made history in his home country and it's only a matter of time before he makes history in the UK, I will forever be a mark for this man, and I have no shame in saying that he is simply... FAAAAAAAAAN... TASTIC!
Those were 3 wrestlers that I think everyone should be keeping an eye on in 2018, did you agree? Who else do you think is set to explode in 2018? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @BogglesTheOwl and don't forget to follow me over there as well as following this blog. Please share this blog with your fellow wrestling friends and I hope to write to you guys again, soon.
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