Joseph Hayes will also be smiling after he won a hard fought battle against ‘Retro’ Dave Rayne to retain the number one contenders spot for the British Championship. Unlike the fast and frenetic elimination matches on show throughout the night, this singles contest was a slower, tactical affair but like the elimination matches, could really have gone either way and was enthralling. Rayne dominated the early parts of the match, knocking his opponent down and taking him out from the top rope before Rayne threw Hayes out of the ring and both men fought close to the fans.

Back inside, Hayes was nearly caught in a roll up but he recovered to slam Rayne to the canvas for a close near fall. Looking to end the match, Hayes signalled for his patented Teenage Kick but Rayne, scouting the opponent he has known since training to become a wrestler, tripped Hayes and began a punching offensive. After nearly seeing off the SIN member twice, firstly with a roll up then a slam, Rayne hit his patented ‘Flying Brick’ move but much to his surprise, Hayes kicked out. But Hayes recovered from Rayne’s flurry of offence to this time successfully strike him with a fierce Teenage Kick and get the three count.
Rayne was sporting despite falling to his former training partner.
“It was quite an exciting match, I’ve been looking forward to wrestling Joseph and I’ve wanted to test myself against him for some time now.
“It was disappointing to lose, but I felt the match could go either way. He’s a great number one contender for the British title. When he faces Damon it will be one hell of a match.” he said.
One hell of a match had indeed preceded Rayne and Hayes’ battle. In a contest which lasted just over half an hour,