Defiant Wrestling has announced that the Magnificent Seven Match will be returning for the third year in a row, taking place on March 16th in Sunderland. The match is a seven-man single-elimination contest, with the winner earning a briefcase that guarantees them the right to challenge for the Defiant World Championship at any point they want within the next 12 months. In the past two years, the two men who cashed in the briefcase were successful in their championship pursuits. One a Defiant original, the other a former Bullet Club member.
2017: Too Sweet
Bulletproof: Championship Showdown saw the first bout in the history of the Magnificent Seven Match. Taking place on March 20th 2017 in Manchester, the competitors for the inaugural contest were Martin Kirby, El Ligero, BT Gunn, Travis Banks, Doug Williams, Marty Scurll, and Ricochet. The eliminations came thick and fast, with Gunn and Banks working together throughout the match, having been part of The Prestige stable at this point. Eventually, it would be Martin Kirby who came out as the first holder of the briefcase, which came right in the middle of his meteoric rise to the top of Defiant Wrestling.
Unfortunately for the future Project Ego, everyone was out to get him at this point. This resulted in him actually losing the contract to former friend and the (at the time) newest member of The Prestige stable El Ligero at Built to Destroy, which came after a distraction from ring announcer Stevie Aaron of all people. The Mexican Sensation clung on to the briefcase and defended it like an actual title, including a successful defence in a chaotic seven-man Ladder Match in the main event of a Loaded episode.
By the time we got to the second annual Refuse to Lose, Ligero was announced to be defending the contract against a mystery opponent – that man would turn out to be then-Bullet Club representative “The Villain” Marty Scurll. After capturing the briefcase, Scurll wasted no time in cashing it in, doing so later that night during the WCPW World Championship match between champion Joe Hendry and challenger Will Ospreay. One crossface chicken wing later, and we had a new champ in the form of the one true villain.
2018: Causing A Rampage
The second Magnificent Seven Match took place at the 2018 Lights Out event, airing on March 20th from Leeds. Entrants this time around saw El Ligero compete in his second bout, while Rampage, Gabriel Kidd, Prince Ameen, Joe Hendry, No Fun Dunne, and wildcard pick Christopher Daniels all entered the contest for the first time. This match was notable for Kidd turning on Ameen, ending their alliance and creating The Young Bull we’ve come to loathe today. In the end, a piledriver to Joe Hendry ended the match, and saw Rampage walk out of his hometown with the briefcase intact.
Rampage wasted no time in cashing the contract in, opting to do so at the following month’s No Regrets iPPV against then-champion Austin Aries. After retaining the briefcase against El Ligero at the Road to No Regrets special, the match was on for the Defiant World Championship. That bout would eventually end in a victory for Aries, albeit through nefarious means as he kicked Rampage below the belt en-route to a victory. Then-general manager Stu Bennett wasn’t standing for it though and ordered referee Steve Lynskey to continue the match. A brainbuster and piledriver later, and we saw Rampage finally receive his crowning moment.
2019: Better Than You
This year’s contest will feature the Defiant debut of Maxwell Jacob Friedman, a man who has been making waves all over the independent circuit and who has also recently signed with All Elite Wrestling. Also announced for the bout are “The Queen of Queens” Visage, fan favourite Benji, the man with the swag Man Like Dereiss, Sunderland’s own Conor Renshaw, and Anti-Fun Police members Deputy Drake and Los Federales Santos Jr.
Also announced for the show is Rampage defending his Defiant World Championship against Rory Coyle, Martin Kirby putting the Defiant Internet Championship up for grabs against his original Unstoppable opponent and new Bullet Club member El Phantasmo, Omari challenging No Fun Dunne for the No Fun Championship, Kanji‘s Women’s Championship being on the line against both Lana Austin and Lizzy Styles, Joe Hendry facing the newly reinstated Gabriel Kidd, and an Unstoppable rematch between Justin Sysum and John Klinger.
Magnificent Seven takes place on Saturday, March 16th from The Point in Sunderland, England, and will air LIVE on Access Defiant.
