17 Malaysia - Nor Phoenix Diana heads to the UK making her farewell matches and MYPW Endgame 2019 review

I finally made it to my first wrestling show in Malaysia, and it was a great experience. What follows is a focus on the success story of one particular Malaysian wrestler, an overall commentary on the show I went to, and some pictures that I took. 

Nor Phoenix Diana

Nor Phoenix Diana heads to the UK making her farewell matches

At 19 years of age and with 3 years of in ring experience, Nor Phoenix Diana has been making waves in the Malaysian & Asian wrestling scene, and at her peak had a run as the MYPW 'World to Regional' champion. This young high flyer is one of the first female Islamic wrestlers to perform wearing a hijab, following a short stint at the start of her career wearing a mask. 

The promoters of UK based, feminist pro wrestling company 'EVE', have obviously taken note, and have booked her to appear at their marquee event 'WrestleQueendom 3', which takes place at the legendary York Hall in London in January 2020, in front of a sell out crowd of over 1000 fans, which will give her a platform and a springboard opportunity to make waves across the world. In fact, I can reveal that she is going to spend a whole year living and working in the UK, so many grapple fans throughout that part of the world can look forward to seeing her in action. This could well be a trailblazing opportunity to not only showcase her talents, but set a positive example and become a role model for many female and Islamic wrestlers and fans throughout the world.

At this show, Diana will have her final three farewell matches before heading over to the UK to start the next stage of her journey. 

Link to mini documentary about her: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6BQh-WznUs8

MYPW Endgame 2019 Match Results & Event Analysis:

For more information about the start and history of wrestling in Malaysia, see this link about MYPW

There were probaly about 100 in attendance, with individual plastic chairs spread around three sides of the ring. The venue was an open-sided Futsal Court, which was part of a sports complex, and next to the MYPW performance centre. Three people provided live commentary over the matches during the night. The card went right through with no breaks. 

This was a 'mini-show', mainly used as a showcase for all the recent trainees that had graduated through the boot camp, and was propped up by experienced wrestlers peppered in throughout the show. 

Nor Phoenix Diana over Development Centre Trainee Graduate - Surprise match following an interview with the traineem and an excellent opportunity for the young graduates in her  debut. Basic match.

Eddie Powers over "The Trickster" Kyle Black - Black had some cool magic tricks that he worked into well the match, and he was allowed to shine thanks to Powers. Solid match.

Harpokratis (with Izz Dolus) over Khai. Khai was the babyface flyer announced as from the village, and Harpokratis is actually mute and deaf in real life, and he sported a clown mask whilst using a stiff gimmick - the manager was a classic well dressed cocky heel.

Steektin Hill & Fionn McCool over "Lethal" Daus & Revolver Roy - Good, fast and well worked tag match from all the debutants here, with each given a chance to showcase their talent. Fionn McCool is actually Irish too, and Revolver Roy is a great name. 

Mojo Fist vs Ace Rizzo - Not sure who won this, yet the big guy went over the enthusiastic guy. Big guy had a good look about him and carried well despite having the ring movement of Yokozuna. 

Nor Phoenix Diana over Orion Black - Decent, well-worked match, which went a lot longer than previous matches, and slotted in nicely on the bill as a pre main event. As it was a number one contenders match for the Wrestlecon Championship, it leaves the door open for a Diana return.

Shaukat over the Feral Alliance - Veteran & established wrestlers in the main event. It was orginally meant to be a handicap match, yet it was changed to a triple threat before it began, with the angle of giving the newest established star an equal shot at the belt. Shaukat became the four time 'World to Regional' Champion. A long, slow placed, hard-hitting match, featuring an array of moves, which must have gone nearly 20 minutes. This stood out compared to all the other matches on the card.   

Following the match, Shaukat cut a promo, in which he broke kayfabe somewhat - talking about how hurt he got in the match, and how physical wrestling is - you could tell be his mannerisms that this was true. He even got a worker to hold up the aprons to show how hard the mats were. He put over Diana for being put through the training in the same way as everyone else, and made public that she was leaving to go and fight for EVE. 

This then led to Shaukat going over Diana in a post-show farewell match. It was a no strikes / grapple only match that ran for a few minutes before Diana bowed out on her back. The segment ended as she took a few moments and a bow in the ring, before leaving to applause from the crowd. 

Following the conclusion of the event, Shaukat thanked all the trainees and congratulated them for graduating from bootcamp, and then they all came out to take a bow to the audience. Now we can wonder which ones are going to make it to the regular roster. 

Photos

The Venue (from outside)

MYPW Development Centre before the show

View from the back

The entrance way

The Action

The trainees watch on from the back

Nor Phoenix Diana says goodbye

The trainees take a bow

16 Malaysia - Friends From Far Away Places - Pop Punk For The People @ Angkasa, Kuala Lumpur

Winningshot

If this was an advert for the Malaysian pop punk scene then it was Christmas all rolled into one with a John Lewis premier standard; polished, somewhat unpredictable and putting the message over strong. 

I arrived in time for the second half and caught the last two songs from PASCA SINI - the crowd were going wild with plenty of singalongs, circle pits and stagedives. Their last song was an abolsute banger, with a catchy chorus of "We will carry on". There was a big crowd of youths at the show, and they all went batshit crazy again when HACKTICK! played afterwards. They had a keyboard player too, and they played a great set of songs covering lots of different styles. The band were full of as much energy as the crowd, and it was a real treat to see them play in this environment - they kinda reminded me of China Shop Bull from Leeds with their eclectic style, but with more New Found Glory for the pure pop punk parts. I'd definitely like to see this band play again.  

One thing I love about the Angkasa venue is that they have real plants on the stage, and the sound system is of a good standard. Something else I noticed, this time about the crowd, is that the bulk of t-shirts being worn were mainly made up of Malaysian bands, which was good to see, people showing a sense of pride in their scene. Whilst much of the music tends to be borrwed and influenced from the Western bands that pioneered and dominated the genre, the identity of the scene is very much Malaysian. 

The band I was most looking forward to seeing was WINNINGSHOT from South Korea - a three piece that played a more old school pop punk sound - fast, melodic, and straight to the point. They were awesome, and reminded me of many a band from the Lookout / Asian Man Records era of pop punk - their chord progressions were amazing. They even dropped in a sweet sounding cover of 2002 by Anne-Marie. I hopefully will get the chance to see them again one day, and will definitely follow their journey on social media. 

The penultimate band I saw were SICK, who played a mix of Rage Against The Machine,  Limp Bizkit, and heavy hardcore extended bridges - it was nice to have a break from the pop punk. Unfortunately the crowd had filtered out as it was getting late, yet IMANS LEAGUE from Singapore finished the night off perfectly with their well crafted late 90s / early 2000s pop punk sound. With 6 albums down, they were polished, tight, and full of quality melodic riffs.  

Overall, it was a fantastic showcase for some of the Malaysian & Asian pop-punk bands at the top of the game, and I look forward to checking out some similar shows and some of the same bands, further down the line. A nice early Christmas present for Ont Road Fanzine. 

15 Malaysia - World Cup Qualifier, Malaysia vs Indonesia

A classic at Bukit Jalil

Once again I found myself at Bukit Jalil for a World Cup Qualifier. Unfortunately I missed the previous game, where Malaysia beat Thailand 2-1, as I had to prioritise going to see The Cavemen at Rumah Api. Following the Thai victory, it gave the Malaysians a boost following their 1-0 loss away to Vietnam, and kept their hopes of world cup qualification alive, setting up this match perfectly.

As it was a local derby against their local rivals, it was a sell out of 80,000. Thankfully I scored my tickets way in advance, so had no trouble on that front. This was evident as it took nearly two and a half hours to get to the stadium from door to door. Sinchan had provided the perfect hook up once again, and got us parking opposite the stadium at his friends house, the drummer from SARJANT HASSAN. It was so busy that there were huge queues outside the turnstiles, and it got to a stage where the gate staff were just automatically scanning people (and us) into the stadium without checking the tickets. 

We managed to get a spot on the aisle, on the cusp of the ultras section, so we got a great view and place to absorb the atmosphere and singing. After a nervy start, Malaysia settled our nerves with a spectacular free kick that sent the crowd into rapture. The Indonesian fans were irrate, and they started throwing objects, flares, and smoke bombs at the Malaysian fans. This just made the crowd get louder, and the party atmosphere was in full flow.

One common rule amongst ultras sections across the world is 'no photos' (hence my lack of), and the leaders in the stands do well to police this. In the second half we were joined by Ken, who I observed for a while. He had a Manchester United badge on his phone, and he shared a video of the atmosphere on his Facebook story; and over the course of the rest of the game he was checking it every few minutes to see how many likes he had. He left early, probably to beat the traffic. 

In the second half, the same Malaysia player scored again, this time at our end, and the place erupted once more. For the next few minutes, in addition to the cheer and chants of the ultras, there were Mexican waves going both ways round the stadium, on all three levels. As well as that, many people were holding up the torches on their mobile phones, creating a unique sight that was akin to a Bray Wyatt entrance in wrestling. 

The other hero of the game was the reserve goal keeper who came on during the first half. Not only did he keep a clean sheet, he also saved an Indonesian penalty in the final stages, to rub further salt in the wounds of the team that are bottom of the group. The game finished with a salute from the players and the whole stadium belting out the national anthem, which brought goose pimples all over my body. 

If Malaysia win out in their final three games, or win two and draw one against the right opponents, then they are going to the next stages for World Cup qualification. The tail of the tiger, continues to dream.