At the start of February 2019, the Glasgow-based Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) revealed they would be holding a two-night eight-team single-elimination trios tournament coming to their home venue of The Garage on Sunday, May 26th and Monday, May 27th. Known as the ICW King of Hawners, the two nights at the end of May will showcase some of the greatest trios on offer from Scotland, England, and Ireland. This will be ICW’s first tournament since the summer of 2016, and their first tournament in general to not have a championship as the prize on offer (there has been talk of an ICW King of Hawners Championship, but this may just be a trophy for the winners rather than actual titles). Before the action kicks off on Sunday evening, here’s a quick look at all eight teams.
ICW King Of Hawners
The Anti-Fun Police (Chief Deputy Dunne, Deputy Drake & Los Federales Santos Jr.)
The Anti-Fun Police have made their presence felt within ICW this year, particularly towards The Kinky Party (Jack Jester and Sha Samuels). Together, Chief Deputy Dunne and Los Federales Santos Jr. have held the Tag Team Championships in HOPE Wrestling, Kamikaze Pro, and International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom (IPW: UK), while Dunne also currently holds the Defiant Wrestling No Fun Championship (formerly the Hardcore Championship) and the ATTACK! Pro Wrestling Championship. Deputy Drake makes his ICW debut to team with his AFP allies – he’s a former Tidal Championship Wrestling (TCW) Champion and Main Event Wrestling (MEW) Heavyweight Champion, while also winning the 2018 MEW Toon Tussle Match.
Bad Company (BT Gunn & The Purge (Krobar & Stevie James))
Without a shadow of a doubt, BT Gunn is one of the most recognisable names within this tournament and alongside the team of Krobar and Stevie James, the trio make for quite the destructive alliance under the alias of Bad Company. The Oddity has made a habit of winning championships everywhere he goes, including the Insane Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight, Zero-G, and Tag Team Championships, the Premier British Wrestling (PBW) Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships, and the British Championship Wrestling (BCW) Heavyweight and Openweight Championships, amongst others. Meanwhile, Krobar and James, who are collectively known as The Purge, are the reigning Pro Wrestling Elite (PWE) Tag Team Champions, a set of titles they’ve held for the last 10 months.
The Dallas Mavericks (Joe Hendry, Kez Evans & Ravie Davie)
ICW owner Mark Dallas is throwing his own team into the tournament in the form of The Dallas Mavericks – “The Prestigious One” Joe Hendry, “The Self-Proclaimed Top Tier Talent” Kez Evans, and “The Famous” Ravie Davie. For months now, these three men (alongside Dallas’ other cronies) have been on a crusade to change ICW for the better, in their eyes at least. Hendry is the most experienced of the men, having held gold in the form of the Defiant World Championship, the Reckless Intent Wrestling (RI) Heavyweight and UK Championships, and the prestigious (no pun intended) DDT Pro Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship, which is just the start of the long list. While Kez Evans and Ravie Davie may not have achieved nearly as much in their short careers thus far, they’re well on the way to doing so if they stay aligned with Dallas.
The Kings of the North (Adam Maxted, Damien Corvin & Bonesaw)
Two sets of Irish stars are set to enter the King of Hawners tournament, the first of which sees Adam Maxted step in as an honorary Kings of the North member, joining regular members Damien Corvin and Bonesaw. Non-wrestling fans may know Maxted from his time spent on UK reality show Love Island, but his work in the ring proves that he’s not just any old reality television star. Having held titles including the IPW: UK All England Championship and the Pro Wrestling Ulster (PWU) All Ulster Championship, The Most Handsome Man in Wrestling was also crowned the inaugural Southside Wrestling Entertainment (SWE) European Champion in October 2018. Separately, Corvin and Bonesaw have held the tag gold in both Pro Wrestling Ulster and Ireland’s biggest wrestling promotion Over The Top Wrestling (OTT), establishing themselves as two of the country’s greatest exports.
More Than Hype (LJ Cleary, Darren Kearney & Nathan Martin)
Speaking of Ireland’s greatest exports, the More Than Hype lads are quickly forcing their way on to that list. With every performance from LJ Cleary, “Handsome” Darren Kearney, and “Psycho” Nathan Martin comes at least one new fan. Different combinations of the trio have held tag championships in their home of Ireland, including LJ and Nathan holding the Pro Wrestling Ulster Tag Team Championships and Nathan and Darren holding the Fight Factory Pro Wrestling (FFPW) Tag Team Championships. Not only that, but Martin is also a former No Limits Wrestling (NLW) No Limits Champion while Cleary has held the FFPW Irish Junior Heavyweight Championship and the OTT Gender Neutral Championship.
Power Forward
Throughout 2019, three masked men have been invading ICW shows, often to assist their apparent leader Mark Coffey. Not much can be said about these men as no-one has a clue as to who they may be, thus it gives them an advantage over the other seven teams involved in the tournament. Perhaps they’re a dark horse to win the whole thing?
The Sinky Party (Jack Jester, Sha Samuels & Liam Thomson)
After losing the Tag Team Championships back in December, The Kinky Party haven’t been on the best roll of their career, thanks in part to The Anti-Fun Police. Dunne and Santos have made life a living hell for Jack Jester and Sha Samuels, costing them a victory against The Nine9 (Dickie Divers and Jack Morris) in Divers and Morris’ first match as a team in ICW. Luckily, they’ve acquired some help for this weekend in the form of Liam Thomson. When he’s not caring for his beloved sink, The Bad Boy is reminding everyone just how good he really is following his return to action last summer. In February, he entered the Square Go! Match from the number one position and made it to the final three, eventually being the penultimate man eliminated by runner-up Joe Hendry. He’s doing great things just now, something he’ll hope will rub off onto Jack and Sha here.
The Wild Boys (Andy Wild, Kieran Kelly & Aaron Echo)
Last but certainly not least, we have The Wild Boys; a trio of stars who have been the biggest pain in the neck Mark Dallas has ever felt. We’ve got Andy Wild, a man who was once a regular feature on ICW shows, even holding the Zero-G Championship. After not being seen for a while, The Stovie Superman went on a career resurgence, which included ending Scotty Swift‘s record-breaking 525 day reign with the Undisputed Championship up in WrestleZone (WZ). Since his return, it has become clear that Dallas doesn’t want to see him succeed. Joining Wild in this mission are “Shotgun” Kieran Kelly and “The King of Benidorm” Aaron Echo, both of whom have felt the same lack of respect from ICW’s head honcho. Don’t let that fool you though – Kelly is currently holding the Scottish Wrestling Alliance (SWA) Scottish X Championship and the Tag Team Championships in both SWA and Premier British Wrestling, while Echo was the winner of the first annual Asylum Invitational Tournament back in 2017, a tournament now known as the Drew Galloway Invitational Tournament.
The quarterfinals will see;
The Anti-Fun Police vs The Sinky Party
Bad Company vs The Dallas Mavericks
The Kings of the North vs More Than Hype
The Power Forward vs The Wild Boys
In addition to the tournament itself, a few bonus non-tournament matches will also take place over the two nights, including;
ICW King Of Hawners: Night 1
ICW Zero-G Championship: Joe Coffey (c) vs Josh Terry
Viper vs Anastasia
The Nine9 (Dickie Divers & Jack Morris) vs Jody Fleisch & Jonny Storm
Rampage Brown vs Paxxo
ICW King Of Hawners: Night 2
ICW World Heavyweight Championship: Lionheart (c) vs Rampage Brown
ICW Tag Team Championships: The Kings of Catch (Aspen Faith & Lewis Girvan) (c) vs The Fite Network (Lou King Sharp & Krieger)
ICW Women’s World Championship: Kay Lee Ray (c) vs Aivil
Wolfgang vs The Primate
Kenny Williams vs Ryan Griffin
