The open trials. Anybody who wrestled for IPW at the Orpington Halls circa 2006 will know about them. Held, i believe, on the same day as an England football match. The idea was to give wrestlers who were wanting to get booked in Orpington have a chance at showing up and wrestling to prove their worth.
Their potential future peers were the crowd, and this was way before you could simply fire off a YouTube link to your most recent 12 matches and promo’s. VHS was still the order of the day (exactly how I found out about PAC, actually), so the thought of simply coming down and wrestling/networking/seeing a show after was a great idea.
As such, we put together a list; and today, for the first time in YEARS, I have come across said list. See who you recognise…
- Berry
- Jekkel
- Jekkel +1
- Mark Cross
- Zack Sabre Jr
- Bingo Balance
- Giacomo Giglio
- Draven Cage
- Tom Russon
- Tom Russon +1
- Richard Fisher
- Chris ‘Boombastic’
- Jay Icon
- Mark Brownhill
- Mark Brownhill +1
- Mark Brownhill +1
- Donna
- Jetta
- Marty Gore
- Matthew Edgar
- Brad Flash
- Jimmy Havoc
- RD Wood
- Nikko
- Nikko +1
- Rogue
- Adam Mansfield
The big and interesting points there are that you will absolutely know the names Zack Sabre Jr, Jimmy Havoc and Jetta. All early in their careers, all have gone on to bigger and better things since then, with Zack arguably between some the best pure pro wrestler in the world.
There’s some other names who went on to make it regularly – Jekkel competes now as one half of the Henchmen, Brad Flash owns a company up north, Giacomo Giglio flew in from Italy and competes regularly, and Bingo Balance you may recognise from Irish Whip Wrestling on the Wrestling Channel way back when. Donna at the time was Ashley Reed’s valet and flourished later as Kelly Adams. Kelly was legitimately one of the sweetest but also funniest people I ever met through wrestling – a real joy, and now, living out in Thailand!
What you may not know are some of the stories. Mark Brownhill was a giant man. Wrestling under a mask, he had a t-shirt with his gimmick on that he would wear… when unmasked. Yes, really.
Anyway, this super-sized samurai ended up in a match with a young Tommy Gunn (unlisted). During the match, Brownhill went to do a move (we assume) like a London Bridge DDT off of the ropes, a move which Randy Orton sometimes uses from the middle rope.
But he missed. Tommy Gunn was then unceremoniously SPIKED down onto the canvas. A shocked hush came about the room. Tommy was fine, not for his opponent’s attempts to seemingly win by way of attempted murder.
Then came the star of the whole show. Real name Nikko Jaques (pictured), but coming to us as Nikko Brixton, the young FWA South London trained wrestler had the most amazing character. An instant hit booked immediately to join up with Paul Robinson and Marty Scurll as the third member of the original incarnation of the “Leaders of the New School”. I vividly remember James “Spud/Drake Maverick” Curtin sitting front row absolutely “losing his shit” at Brixton’s antics.
The shame came with the wrestling… if I knew then what I know now, he would never have done any of that.
The Open Trials of Orpington. Replicated twice but both times for financial gain, this first ever trials were done purely to scout new talent, and to give the regulars of the roster at that time a great team building, morale building afternoon. It worked.
Recognise any other names on that list? Drop me an email and let me know if they ever kept going!
Thanks for reading.