Wrestling: Scott Renwick is new Scottish champion

Sep 24 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

THE purple and pink shiner around his right eye gives a hint at how gruelling last weekend was for Scott Renwick.

The Livingston wrestler may have a few aches and pains, and a swollen eye, but he reckons his battle scars are a small price to pay for the prize lying across his shoulder — the NWA Scottish Heavyweight Championship belt.

In the closing moments of last weekend’s The Gathering event in Glasgow’s Kelvinhall, Renwick dodged Lionheart’s finishing move, countered his opponent, and applied his own “prime cut” signature move to become the new NWA Scottish Heavyweight Champion.

The battered and bruised star proudly held the title belt aloft in one corner while his tag-team partner, Damien O’Connor – himself a separate title winner earlier that night – took to the ring and shared the moment and a warm embrace with the new king of the SWA world.

It was an emotional ending to a gruelling night for Renwick who was forced to plough his way through five wrestlers at the start of the night just to earn a place in the top-of-the-card title bout against deadly duo Lionheart and Wolfgang in a triple-threat rules contest for the belt.

Renwick, William Grange, Darkside, Liam Thompson and Kid Fite were the five young bucks who did battle in a 25-minute epic championship bout where the last wrestler to score a pin-fall before the end of the time limit would win a title shot at any time of their choosing.

Control of the bout and control of the prestigious title shot passed around the wrestlers frequently throughout the allocated time, but with seconds left to go Renwick dug deep and secured a timely pin-fall over Darkside to clinch a shot at the big belt.

But after such a gruelling scrap against four of the toughest wrestlers in Scotland nobody in attendance expected his IOU to be cashed in so soon.

Champion Lionheart was scheduled to defend his belt against Wolfgang in the main event but as the two prepared to lock up, Renwick’s familiar theme rang out through the Kelvinhall and he made his way to the ring, to take his shot there and then.

Renwick admitted to the Courier it was a night to remember.

He said: “Darkside left me with a badly swollen eye in the first match but nothing was going to stop me cashing in my title shot last weekend.

“The title match itself was really tough with Lionheart and Wolfgang double-teaming me but my fortunes improved when they turned on each other.

“It was such a hard fight but I saw my chance when I spotted him going for his finisher and I managed to get my knees up to block his frog-splash off the top ropes.

“Then I managed to hit my own move and get the win and the title which is easily the highlight of my wrestling career.

“When Damo O’Connor came out as well and we celebrated together with the crowd going wild, I must confess I had a wee tear in my eye.

“After the match Lionheart also came back to the ring and spoke about how he was the man but I was now in a sort of passing-the-torch moment which was also great.”

This week Renwick is nursing his creaking bones and swollen eye at home in Livingston but revealed to the Courier plans for his first NWA Scottish Heavyweight title defence and his plans to take to the ring in Bathgate Scout Hall this coming Saturday as part of the Scottish School of Wrestling (SSW) Meltdown show.

He said: “My first match with the belt on the line will be against Darkside in October at the Clydebank Town Hall. But before that I’m making my SSW debut on Saturday with a match against Ben N Jeremi in Bathgate.

“I will be brining my new belt with me to show the fans I’m the champ and I’m looking forward to the bout.

“Also on the horizon is a trip to Coventry soon where I will be wrestling for XXX Wrestling.

“They are an organisation aimed more at adults as they swear, use weapons freely and are more violent.

“I will be down there as part of a six-man tag-team match with us being known as the Tartan Army – so we expect a hostile reception.”