ICW 5th Annual Square Go

Back in November, Insane Championship Wrestling packed the SECC Arena in Glasgow for Fear & Loathing VIII with 4,000 people- a giant crowd for a British wrestling show in modern times, and confirmed their place at the top of the British wrestling tree. In my review of the event however (which can be found here) I wasn’t overly enamoured with much of the show, which gave me a similar impression of the promotion as I had seen when reviewing the previous year’s event. Featuring large amounts of overbooking, too frequent an amount of sloppy wrestling and a trigger happy approach to ‘surprises’, I concluded that ICW wasn’t for me. One thing I was unable to criticise however, was the expertly executed conclusion to Grado’s rise to the top of the promotion in an emotional contest with Drew Galloway in the main event of the show. Grado’s journey had lasted 4 years and had taken him from being a comedy figure, desperate just to be booked, to the point of being British wrestling’s biggest star and, perhaps more importantly, a genuine money draw. I therefore opted to persevere with ICW for their 5^th Annual Square Go event which would feature Grado’s first high profile defence of the title he won at Fear & Loathing and their take on the Royal Rumble match.

ICW Fear & Loathing VIII

From a commercial perspective, Fear & Loathing VIII was a phenomenal success for Insane Championship Wrestling before it even took place. Managing to draw a genuine sell out crowd of 4,000 to the SECC in Glasgow demonstrated exactly how big the promotion has become and how much of a clamour there was to see Grado’s bid to win the ICW World Championship in the main event. There can be no denial now- ICW is the real deal and the only question left is: how big can they get? That very question may be answered this time next year when, as was announced by ICW owner Mark Dallas at the beginning of the show, the company promote next year’s Fear & Loathing event at the Hydro Arena- a 13,000 capacity venue where WWE hold their annual shows in the city on their visits to these shores. You might argue that such a jump within a year is over ambitious for any wrestling promotion, but saying that would be to ignore the phenomenal rise the company has enjoyed over the past couple of years- and specifically in the 12 months since Drew Galloway won the ICW World Title back at Fear & Loathing VII.

ICW Fear & Loathing VII

With just a few days to go before ICW present what will be the biggest show put on by a British wrestling company in some 30 years with Fear & Loathing VIII, I decided it might be a good idea to take a look back at last year’s Fear & Loathing event which is available, for free, on their on-demand service. It is a great credit to them that they are gearing up for a show which will play out before 5,000 fans, a sell out no less, in Glasgow this coming Sunday- and shows not only the level of their success (unprecedented in my lifetime) but also the rising popularity of British wrestling as a whole. For my part, I’ll admit to not having seen very much from the company, aside from the Drew Galloway return video that went viral last year and a YouTube clip of Grado’s excellent promo where he put out the challenge to face whoever was champion come this year’s event, and so this was in many respects my introduction to the product. The show, which took place at a sold out Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow, had followed what was another runaway success of a year in the company’s meteoric rise and included their first national tour- promoting shows in England as well as their usual strongholds of Scotland. The main event would see ICW Heavyweight Champion, Jack Jester take on his long time friend, turned rival, Drew Galloway.