Lucha Forever: Live and Let Dive Review

When I started this blog I always had the intention once I had gotten to a certain stage to cover other companies than WWE. And with this post I am going to start with a new up and coming promotion based in the UK known as Lucha Forever.

Its no secret that the UK Wrestling scene has been growing massively over the past few years and starting to reach heights it hasn't seen since the original World of Sport years. Not only have promotions like PROGRESS, ICW, Rev:Pro and WCPW showcased the best talent from the UK but also the absolute best from around the world coming to these promotions to showcase their talents. More and more promotions have been forming around the UK and one of the latest to be really starting to grow based in Birmingham is Lucha Forever. I have heard a lot of buzz about this promotion on Twitter and this month they have started streaming their shows on the fantastic FITE TV app. I decided after all that I heard I would check out their first show on the app entitled Live and Let Dive from the 1865 in Southampton.


First of all I wanna say the 1865 in Southampton looks like a really cool venue. Very intimate but also has a sweet looking balcony. Also worth nothing is the announcers Harvey Dale and Rob Morton (who doubles as ring announcer and rings the bell!) have some very good banter which I personally enjoyed but may not be to everyones taste if you prefer your announcers to call everything they see in the ring.

The opening match saw local boy Kelly Sixx take on Aussie Kyle Fletcher and the flamboyant Cara Noir in a Triple Threat Match. I hadn't seen any of these performers but I was very impressed with all 3 of these guys. Cara Noir's entrance in particular was very cool. Inspired by Black Swan he had a very Goldust mixed with Dalton Castle vibe to him. Sixx being the local boy not surprisingly had the crowd behind him but Fletcher managed to get the crowd on his side with his athleticism. Cara Noir won the match pinning Sixx after a brutal Package Piledriver. HOT START!

Next match saw Drew Parker take on Omari in what was originally set to be a regular singles match but Parker challenged Omari to a No DQ match. This was swift and brutal with a lot of use of the frying pan Parker brought on until they made it up to the sweet looking balcony which Omari tossed Parker off! The match ended when Omari slammed Parker onto a pile of thumbtacks for the pin. SAVAGE!

Aussie Mark Davis came to the ring to issue an open challenge and out came Spud who fans of TNA/Impact Wrestling/GFW whatever you wanna call it will know him as Rockstar Spud. His gimmick at the moment is that he had taken a huge bump to the head and he is convinced it is 2002 and he is a young rookie trying to prove himself instead of a 34 year old man. The gimmick is very entertaining and very over with the crowd! Both guys played the part of big heel Vs small babyface very well and it was very cool to see Spud pull out moves he did from 2002! Spud got the win to HUGE OVATION!!

After a break we have a match between two guys who I hadn't heard of before but now I wanna see many more matches between them. Josh Bodom took on Chris Tyler in an epic back and forth match well worth watching. Brutal punt kicks, suicide dives, knee strikes, reverse rana and Canadian destroyers just to name a few moves that were pulled off during this match. After several near falls Bodom finally got the win with a brutal knee strikes to the back of Tylers head and he bounced off the middle turnbuckle and Bodom got the pin. FAAAANTASTIC!!

Up next was a Women's match as Shax took on Bea Priestley. I am very familiar with Bea's work in WCPW where she works as a bitch heel so it was interesting to see her work as a feisty babyface. Shax was introduced as from the depths of her mind which I thought was pretty unique. Bea is currently involved in an ongoing rivalry with 'The Anti-Fun Police' lead by Chief Deputy Dunne who's music played to distract Bea and then when the arena went dark she was attacked by Alex Windsor allowing Shax to get the win. Hopefully revenge for Bea will be swift!

MAIN EVENT TIME! This match was an absolute blast! 'The Villain' Marty Scurll & Kip Sabian took on the team of Ryan Smile & Will Ospreay known as The Uptown Funkers. Ospreay and Scurll of course are well travelled and have worked together countless times. Smile and Sabian are also well known in the UK scene but deserve to be known worldwide. The Uptown Funkers entrance was nuts with various members of the audience getting involved and Ospreay & Smile showing off their dance moves. Its crazy how many different characters you see Ospreay play in the different promotions he goes to and I think his character work gets forgotten about. Scurll has such an amazing presence though he has a real rock star IT factor to him. The match started pretty fun but eventually turned into the fast paced aerial masterpiece you would expect from the guys involved. Scurll got the win in the end after breaking Smile's fingers and rolling him up for the pin. After the match Sabian made the mistake of touching Scurll's umbrella which he paid for getting his fingers broken and suffering the crossface chicken wing as the show ended.

So that was Lucha Forever: Live and Let Dive! Overall I really enjoyed this show and found it entertaining from start to finish. Clocking in at just over 2 hours long its never gets boring or drags at anytime. I would say go and watch it right now free on the FITE TV app if you are looking for a fun wrestling show with two brilliant matches everyone should see.

Thank you all for reading. Watch the show and let me know what you thought of it in the comment section!

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