Scrappermania has the names and the dream matches but Contenders has the culmination of the NLW title tournament, a Celtic Championship Wrestling (CCW) invasion, and a big return. OTT Contenders Hangover is loaded with talent and matches that Irish Wrestling fans probably never thought they would see. While Scrappermania grabs the headlines Contenders will steal the weekend.
OTT Contenders Hangover Preview (5/13/18)
Match 1: The Armstrongs (Butch & Marion Armstrong) vs Angel Cruzers (Angel Cruz & B. Cool)
The Armstrongs are the current CCW tag team champions and by the time this match happens, the Cruzers may be OTT tag team champions. Who doesn’t love when champions from two different promotions clash? Outside of the gold these two teams may hold, all four men are extremely entertaining. Cruz and Cool have built their reputations on being entertainers. The Armstrongs similarly have become the most popular team in CCW by being insanely funny both in the ring and in the Total Armstrongs Youtube series. These two teams won’t have a technical classic but they will have every fan in attendance hooked from the start.
Match 2: Kings Of The North (Bonesaw & Damian Corvin) vs Rough Stuff ( CT Flexor & Paul Scarfe)
Another CCW vs OTT clash. Unlike the other tag match, this will be less about entertainment and more about two teams trying to beat each other up. KOTN are the best tag team this country has ever seen and this is a tough test for Rough Stuff. The current MSW tag team champions have an awesome look that instantly makes them stand out. If the Kings are really starting to fizzle out Rough Stuff would be worthy heirs to their throne.
British Rules Match- Charlie Sterling vs Michael May
Michael May lost to Sterling’s Rapture teammate Zack Gibson at Martina’s Gaff Party and now Sterling challenges the young technician to a British rules match. OTT has kept the rules for the matchup their sleeve making this a difficult match to analyze. If the British Rule plays into a more World Of Sport-style then the match would favour Michael May but it could also be some evil ploy by Sterling to give himself an advantage.
Match 4: More Than Hype (Darren Kearney & Nathan Martin) vs Will Ospreay & Curtis Murray
This is a show stealer in the making. More Than Hype are the current All Ireland tag team champions and have put on great matches since their OTT debut last year. This match will be very similar to the Match Of The Year Classic that Nathan Martin and Curtis Murray had with The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz & Dezmon Xavier) where the match almost immediately broke down and was full of high paced combos and bodiess flying everywhere. While it is not the Rascalz on the opposite side of the ring it is two high fliers one of which is among the best in the world and the other who, on his day, can be an elite high flier. This tag match has all the makings of a show stealer.
Match 5: Keith Lee & Shane Strickland vs The Big Hangovers (Jordan Devlin & Sean Guinness)
Keith Lee is on a Contenders show. Let that sink in. Strickland returns to OTT this weekend after his amazing match against Jordan Devlin at Contenders 3 and again here he faces the Import Killer. While the import team will attract the attention, as it should it’s Keith Lee and Shane Strickland, it is the home team that has a nice story to it.
Devlin and Guinness were both prospects at the same time and back in 2010 were teaming together. The two friends took two different career paths as Devlin stayed in Ireland to become the biggest star in OTT and a member of the WWEUK division. Meanwhile, Guinness has blazed a trail in Japan wrestling for Zero-1 where he is a former ZERO-1 World Junior Heavyweight Champion and is curiously FMW World Street Fight Six Man Tag Team Champion with Atsushi Onita and Hideki Hosaka since 2016. Guinness has found success in Japan whereas Devlin has become a star at home. The two are finally back together as they team to face Keith Lee and Shane Strickland.
NLW Championship Match- Scotty Davis vs Terry Thatcher
This video says all it needs to about this match. The Prodigy vs A 13-Year Veteran. A winner in every avenue of his life with an acclaimed amateur wrestling past; he is at the forefront of the Contenders shows and taking on someone that just never connected. The toils of an indie wrestler that just can’t connect are heartbreaking. Thatcher is finally at the point where the fans respect him and are behind him. He is the true underdog. This match is not about a dastardly heel against an inept babyface. Instead, it is about a generational star that is the future standard-bearer of OTT taking on a warrior who is desperate to prove that people were right to support him. Whoever walks away with the NLW title has big shoes to fill. Whether it is Davis or Thatcher, the belt is in good hands.
