Match Point: Scotty Swift & Johnny Lions vs. Blue Thunder & William Sterling (12/7/19)

Match Point is an on-going series at Last Word on Pro Wrestling, where we look at intriguing matchups in indie wrestling and beyond. They may be dream matches, first-time matchups, or hotly anticipated rematches. Today’s edition focuses on a highly-anticipated Tag Team Championships Steel Cage Match set for WrestleZone’s Christmas Chaos event on Saturday, December 7th, where Johnny Lions and Scotty Swift will defend their titles against rivals Blue Thunder and William Sterling in what may very well be the retirement match for Johnny Lions.

In Aberdeen, Scotland, two men who have been at the forefront of WrestleZone (WZ) since the very beginning are “Tenacious” Johnny Lions and “The Red Haired Warrior” Scotty Swift. Lions helped with the transition of WrestleZone from Kirkcaldy, Fife to the Granite City, where Swift took a keen role in the company, as was detailed on an episode of British television show Judge Rinder. Since 2018 though, the duo have put their past lives behind them in favour of becoming a cohesive unit. Although Swift was hesitant to become a tag team performer, especially alongside someone he used to fight on a regular basis, the longest-reigning Undisputed Champion in history would eventually come round to the idea of the tandem, proven when they captured the WrestleZone Tag Team Championships from The Kings of Catch (Aspen Faith and Lewis Girvan) at Aberdeen Anarchy back on April 13th inside a steel cage. The third team in the match that evening was Blue Thunder and William Sterling, with Sterling determined to end the career of The Tenacious One, who has promised to retire whenever he loses the championships. All four men will now enter the blue cage once more, with both the WrestleZone Tag Team Championships and Johnny Lions’ in-ring career hanging in the balance.

JOHNNY LIONS & SCOTTY SWIFT

Both Johnny Lions and Scotty Swift have been two of the most recognisable faces within WrestleZone for the entire history of the promotion. Until 2018, the duo would rarely ever see eye to eye, usually preferring to trade fists as opposed to phone numbers. However, the pair united in the middle of 2018 during a time where Swift’s problems with Sterling Oil, particularly Crusher Craib, were at an all-time high. Alongside Bryan Tucker and WrestleZone management representative Chris McDonald, the duo were part of the unit who forced Sterling Oil to disband as they defeated Craib, Richard R. Russell, and The Sterling Brothers (Alan Sterling and William Sterling) at Aberdeen Anarchy X on September 1st.

From that moment onwards, William vowed to get retribution on Swift, resulting in him reuniting with his old Thunder Buddies pal and one of Swift’s associates at the WrestleZone Training Academy in the form of Blue Thunder. Together, Thunder and Sterling would prevent Swift and Lions from capturing the Tag Team Championships on two separate occasions, before the tandem eventually lifted the gold in a Triple Threat Steel Cage Match from The Kings of Catch at this year’s Aberdeen Anarchy in a match also involving The Thunder Baddies (as they’ve since been referred to as).

Since lifting the gold, the stipulation in each title match has been that Johnny Lions will retire whenever they lose the titles, something that’s come very close to happening on more than one occasion. The Outfit (Dino Del Monte and Ted O’Keefe) had nearly won the titles at August’s Battle of the Nations event, but referee Dennis Law restarted the match after discovering O’Keefe had used brass knuckles to win the match, while Thunder and Sterling had seemingly won the gold at Halloween Hijinx in a Halloween Brawl, only for the decision to be reversed after Sterling had used a crutch to win the match behind the referee’s back, which wasn’t a legal Halloween-themed weapon. Thus, The Swift Lions remained the champions.

Now, Swift and Lions are again fighting to keep The Tenacious One active as a wrestler, while also aiming to cling on to their WrestleZone Tag Team Championships.

BLUE THUNDER & WILLIAM STERLING

In 2013, Blue Thunder and William Sterling were thrown together as a team during an eight-team tournament for the vacant Tag Team Championships, which had been vacated due to then-champion Jay Lethal being unable to return to defend the titles. To the shock of the WrestleZone fans, the pair, who had since taken on the name of The Thunder Buddies, would go on to win the championships by last defeating Team SMASH (Aspen Faith and James Midas) at Halloween Hijinx 2013.

Fast forward two years though at Aberdeen Anarchy 2015, a night where The Thunder Buddies and the iconic D-Von Dudley had been defeated by Lou King Sharp and The Rejected (Chris Archer and Mikkey Vago). Later that evening, Sterling turned his back on Thunder to realign himself with brother Alan and Damien as Sterling Oil were back together once more. So, after three years apart, the duo surprisingly reunited at Christmas Chaos 12 months ago, with Thunder assaulting Scotty Swift while he and Johnny Lions were challenging The Kings of Catch for the Tag Team Championships.

The Masked Wonder has made it crystal clear though – he’s not teaming with William because they’re friends again, he’s simply teaming with him to get back into the title picture. They haven’t quite been able to lift the gold yet, with a recent failure at Halloween Hijinx further angering the man in blue. It looked as if that was the end of the reunion after this, as it seemed like the pair were going their separate ways since they had again failed in their chance to regain the titles. However, that’s clearly not the case, as Blue Thunder and William Sterling once more have the opportunity to become two-time WrestleZone Tag Team Champions.

For Thunder, this is about the championships, but for Sterling, this is about ending the wrestling career of Johnny Lions.