Over The Top Wrestling – Live in Laois
Ballyroan's Darragh Lynch in agony on the mat in Dublin.
In the world of professional wrestling, ‘WWE’ is the genericised trademark. When most people talk about wrestling, they call it WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment); but wrestling, as with crisps and vacuum cleaners, has far more options than the traditional market leader.
WWE is the biggest and most recognisable wrestling company in the world, with an unparalleled global reach and revenue stream. However, there are countless other wrestling companies/promotions spread across the globe.
The WWE’s biggest competitor is another US-based company, AEW (All Elite Wrestling), owned and operated by the billionaire Khan family that also own English Premier League club, Fulham. Other companies run smaller shows, including TNA, NWA and MLW.
There are several major wrestling companies in Japan, such as New Japan Pro Wrestling and Stardom; Mexico has two main attractions – CMLL (the world’s oldest wrestling company) and AAA; while there are numerous companies across Europe, including Progress and RevPro in Britain and WXW in Germany.
Even in Ireland there are several wrestling companies, including No Limit Wrestling, Rebel County Wrestling, Hard Knox Pro Wrestling, and Fight Factory Pro Wrestling.The market leader in this country is Over The Top Wrestling (OTT); owned and operated by Joe Cabray, a pro wrestler turned trainer and promoter from Dublin.
Since its established in 2014, OTT has showcased the best Irish wrestling has to offer, as well as attracting some of the biggest names from across the globe, including Mick Foley, Cody Rhodes, Gunther, Kenny Omega, Penta, Jon Moxley, and Ireland’s own Finn Balor, to name just a few.
While most Irish companies are regionally based, OTT operate all across Ireland, with their premier shows attracting thousands of fans to the National Boxing Stadium in Dublin. Over the past couple of years, OTT have begun running shows in Britain, with a tour scheduled for later this year in Germany and Italy.
Many of the shows are available on OTT's YouTube channel, while the company also offers a streaming service called ‘OTT on Demand’, where their entire back catalogue is available for €8 per month, with new shows added as they happen.
In February this year, OTT held a hugely successful show in Mountmellick, and they are now set to return to Laois to make their first ever appearance in Portlaoise later this month.
‘OTT Live in Portlaoise’ will take place on Saturday, September 27th, at the Midlands Park Hotel. Tickets are available online at OTTwrestling.com, with ringside seats available at €27.75, general admission, €16.85, and family tickets for €55.
The show is part of OTT’s ‘Velocity Tour’, which included a milestone appearance over the weekend at Electric Picnic. The new OTT Champion, Renzo Rose, and the OTT Tag Team Champions, Luke Frehill and Cian Noonan, have already been announced for the show, with more stars to be announced in the coming weeks.
As with Mountmellick and Stradbally, the fans at OTT Live in Portlaoise will have a local wrestler to cheer for in the form of Ballyroan's Darragh Lynch. A former student of Scoil Mhuire Abbeyleix and Heywood Community School, Lynch is a self-professed life-long wrestling fan, who first began training as teenager.
“It’s the typical story of always being obsessed with wrestling, so when I was old enough, I looked up the school and got started pretty much straight away,” he told the Laois Nationalist.
Lynch began training at just 16-years-old and had his debut match three years later. Seven years on from that, the would-be ladies’ man, now 26, has become one of the most popular wrestlers on the Irish circuit.
Managed by his adoring Mammy, the pair are embroiled in one of Irish wrestling’s most compelling sagas – the quest to find out who is Darragh’s Daddy. The answer to that question will be revealed this coming Sunday, September 6th, in Dublin’s Ringside Club when Darragh and his Daddy – whomever he may be – will challenge Luke Frehill and Cian Noonan for the OTT World Tag Team titles.
Lynch tasted championship glory earlier this year, overcoming Matthew ‘Bullet’ Smyth to win the All-Ireland Heavyweight title in Mountmellick; and the Ballyroan man has his sights set on more success when OTT arrives in Portlaoise.
“I’ve been getting on to Joe (Cabray) for a minute now about doing a show in Portlaoise and we finally pulled it off. So hopefully it’ll be a good night, and hopefully I get that championship back,” he said.
Lynch was speaking to us from Stradbally, where he and the rest of the OTT crew had just finished setting up the ring and the stage for their much-anticipated appearance at Electric Picnic.
“I'm super excited for it now,” he said. “We’re at the Jerry Fish tent (in Fish Town). We met Jerry Fish, and we scouted out the place - it looks exciting. The set looks almost like something out of like a Rob Zombie music video - it’s a crazy looking thing.”
Jeff Hardy.
Ric Flair v Shawn Michaels (WWE WrestleMania 24).
Trent Seven.
