Top 5 Moments In NORTH History
By Harry Miller
If you define a promotion by its best moments, NORTH would be world-renowned as the greatest professional wrestling brand in the business. Whittling the hundreds of amazing moments down to just five seems impossible, but this list exists, so I guess it isn’t.
5.) A Star So Bright He Broke The Light
NCL.2.4/Losing My Edge saw the start of something special: the formation of Boisterous Behaviour.
Man Like DeReiss is very much like the Notre-Dame cathedral in 2019, on fire and constantly making headlines. When the lyrical dragon needed a partner for the first round of the Tag Team Tournament, he called upon the debuting Leon Slater to fly by his side.
The teenage sensation had a smashing debut, leaving the crowd astonished by his ability and leaving the ring slightly darker. Whilst attempting a spectacular 450 splash from the top rope, Slater caught the lights and brought a bulb crashing down.
Anyone who has seen Leon Slater in action would expect him to break through the glass ceiling, but no one expected the debutant to break the light from the ceiling.
Slater and DeReiss went on to win this match and combined their talents on a more permanent basis to great success.
4.) Tag Title Triumph
After their light-shattering debut, Man Like DeReiss and Leon Slater (now known as Boisterous Behaviour) would find further success in the Tag Team Tournament.
Two young men found common ground in both being able to do really cool flips and fought with more chemistry than the periodic table despite only teaming together a handful of times.
Boisterous Behaviour went on to cruise through the semi-final finding victory in a three-way bout. Slater and DeReiss captured the hearts of the crowd in their quest to capture the newly minted gold.
Another team with unbridled potential in Crashboat awaited BB in the final. When the lights were brightest and the stage was set, Boisterous Behaviour stepped up and showed out. The newly crowned champions tore the house down (metaphorically this time) and the crowd exploded with noise once the referee counted three.
Two men started a tournament as strangers to the tag division and ended as the inaugural tag team champions while becoming true NORTH favourites. If that’s not behaviour that would be described as boisterous then I don’t know what is.
3.) The Return
2020 saw an unprecedented pandemic take the flourishing Britain wrestling scene and turn it into a wasteland infested with the ruins of once-great promotions that were now only spoken of in the past tense. But from the ashes rose a shining black and yellow phoenix defeating the darkness of the unknown and inspiring the masses to step into the light of the future.
After 567 days of uncertainty, NORTH Wrestling had returned.
NCL.2.1 was a reset for NORTH and was performed in front of a sold-out crowd. Finally, everything was back where it belongs; the NORTH faithful was back, Tom Campbell was back and wrestling was back.
The show delivered as the perfect comeback with returns of NORTH favourites like Liam Slater, Gia Adams, and Gene Munny combined with the debuts of Crashboat, Lizzy Evo and Lykos Gym.
A fantastic night was capped off with the Video Nasty, Rory Coyle claiming the vacant NORTH Championship in a hard-hitting four-way affair.
After a year of uncertainty surrounding the industry, there was no better way to show that British wrestling will never die as long as NORTH’s heart is still beating.
2.) Rhio Wins The Cup
The inaugural NCL Cup saw eight of the most talented wrestlers in the country compete in a tenacious one-night tournament to crown the winner.
Despite a pre-match assault, Rhio overcame the rising star Kid Lykos II in the first round using her signature package piledriver to put away the Problem Child.
Rhio would go on to face Lizzy Evo (who defeated Jake Silver in the opening round) in the semi final in what was a rematch of Rhio’s NORTH debut. The Red Rose Among The Thorns had never defeated Evo in their previous NORTH encounters but this night proved different for Rhio.
After a brutally aggressive fight that either woman could have finished on top, Rhio hit another package piledriver to win the match and qualify for the cup final.
The other side of the bracket saw a true underdog story as Jack Bandicoot overcame the infamous Jet Martial in a thrilling high-paced first-round match followed by a semi-final showdown with the Headline, Will Kroos.
Kroos had the power and size advantage which was imminently evident as he tossed Bandicoot around like a sack of fruit, but the smaller man has a big heart and an even bigger brain. Bandicoot outsmarted Kroos by hiding under the ring momentarily which caused the Headline to be counted out during the search for his opponent.
This outcome may have pleased the crowd, but Kroos didn’t take the result lightly and lashed out by savagely attacking Bandicoot after the match, topping it off with a piledriver onto the hardest part of the ring.
After a night of world-class wrestling, the two warriors left standing met in the final to coronate the NCL Cup Champion.
Bandicoot fought through his Kroos-related injuries to attack with an array of aerial assaults that almost saw him be the victor. In spite of the barrage of attacks, Rhio’s savage slams and strikes were too much for Bandicoot to survive.
The sun had looked to be setting on the Bandicoot fairy-tale journey as Rhio hit her devastating package piledriver but the energetic enigma became the first person of the night to kick out of the manoeuvre.
This unbelievable feat of endurance was only short-lived as Rhio wasted no time in hitting two further package piledrivers that ended the bout.
The Red Rose overcame the entire field of competition to blossom into the top competitor and become the inaugural winner of the NCL Cup.
1.) The New King In The North
Liam Slater has had the truest hero’s journey that NORTH has ever seen.
NORTH’s first-ever show back in 2016 opened with Liam Slater winning the first match. Slater went on to only win two of his next nine NORTH matches before the pandemic.
A different Liam Slater returned after the break, a new man with a new destiny.
Rory Coyle had been the thorn in Slater’s side ever since the return of wrestling. When Liam Slater came a second away from winning the NORTH championship, Coyle stopped the coronation and claimed the championship as his own.
After coming so close to reaching the pinnacle of the industry only to be knocked down into the pit of failure, Liam Slater clawed his way back into championship contention and back into the ring with the villain of the story.
Batman and Joker. 50 Cent and Ja Rule. Liam Slater and Rory Coyle. Rivalries that define eras and genres.
The conclusion of the journey was a bloody battle between the two pillars of NORTH that shattered all expectations. Coyle was trying to bring the dark side of Slater out with temptations of barbed wire, but the valiant challenger could not be corrupted.
The Sick Boy choked and chomped his opponent, but this was not enough to defeat the unbreakable will of a determined Liam Slater. After withstanding the brutality and bloodshed, Slater finally used the barbed wire weapon to assist his single leg boston crab and finish his story.
Liam Slater overcame his own identity crisis and slayed the devil of NORTH. Finally, the man who started it all had his crown.
From the depths of despair to the island of immortality, the Lazarus Kid winning the NORTH Championship was the perfect fairy tale ending.