A local community centre in Salford is hosting a Christmas-themed pro wrestling show this festive period and it might just be one of the coolest-sounding fundraisers we’ve heard in a while.
Do sleigh bells and body slams go together? Well, we’re going to find out.
Hosting the special seasonal edition of PinFall Wrestling, the local sports entertainment group based out of Salford Gymnastic Centre, beloved local organisation The Rec will be helping put on a whole evening of fighting action from their 20ft wrestling ring.
Scheduled to get underway on Saturday, 14 December, a whole slew of UK wrestling talent will be competing in PinFall’s Christmas Chaos 2024.
Managed by the Salford Involved Cooperative, a non-profit enterprise that helps fund places like The Rec, nearby gyms and other important community outlets,
Promising “turkey, tinsel and takedowns”, the star-studded roster includes ITV’s World of Wrestling stars Sheikh El Sham and Martin Kirby, plus fan favourites like Commander Sterling.
Better yet, as well as many other familiar faces to those immersed in the British wrestling scene, the event will also feature talent from the Top Rope Wrestling Academy (TRWA), all of which will be making their PinFall debut.
Christmas Chaos takes place at The Rec on Camp Street in Salford (M7 1ZT), just five minutes or so outside of Manchester city centre, with doors opening from 2:30pm.
Adult admission is only a tenner and children aged 15 and under go even cheaper at just £6. Tickets are available HERE and you can even spring for early access through VIP passes if you’re feeling fancy.
Once again, all the funds raised through ticket sales go straight back into the centre and towards organising other community events throughout the year.
The Rec is based in East Salford, which has eight out of its 13 neighbourhoods listed as the lowest 10% on the country’s index of multiple deprivation.
They offer a wide range of support services throughout the week that help tackle the effects of poverty in the area including recovery support for those struggling with addiction, refugee and asylum seeker classes, sports, youth activities, food banks and more.
As well as ticketed events like these, they regularly hold free community fun days such as their annual Easter event and Christmas present drive, which saw over 250 presents handed out to locals in 2023.
Working with multiple regional and national organisations such as Greater Manchester Police, the NHS, National Lottery, Sports England, Children in Need, The Mustard Tree and more, the importance of the work done at The Rec cannot be overstated.
More importantly, places like this need constant support directly from the communities that they serve, especially during difficult times like the one we are facing right now. So, if you fancy helping the much-loved Salford community centre and watching some festive wrestling shenanigans, see you there.
Spanish journalist rubbishes reports of Barcelona debating ending Marcus Rashford’s loan deal early
Danny Jones
Spanish journalist Guillem Balagué has come out to rubbish reports that FC Barcelona have been considering ending Marcus Rashford’s loan deal early.
The well-known football reporter, who regularly works with the likes of Sky Sports, CBS Sports, BBC and more, is one of many to have publicly decried false claims made about the Manchester United loanee, who joined the La Liga giants at the start of this summer.
Barca themselves are also said to have quashed the rumours, with Balagué’s quotes having now been widely circulated online.
Speaking via X over the weekend, the 56-year-old put it simply: that the rumblings are nonsense, reassuring that the club have plenty of faith in his abilities.
Absolutely rubbish that Barcelona is planning to end up early @MarcusRashford loan deal
Barça told his representative that they have a lot of confidence in Rashford’s potential and that they believe he will recover as a top player
As you can see, the Catalan-born RCD Espanyol fan also chose to publicly align himself with former England footballer, Gary Lineker, who has suggested that a targeted and discriminatory narrative against Rashford has developed in recent years.
Though he didn’t state it verbatim, Balagué added: “No more to say, apart from the fact I agree with Gary Lineker and his treatment by some media.”
In case you were unaware of what he’s precisely referring to, Lineker said in a chat with the Man United forward on his The Rest Is Football podcast that he believes Rashford “wouldn’t face the same criticism if he was white.”
Having also made the move from Britain to Barcelona back in 1986 (spending a total of three seasons there), the 64-year-old knows plenty about adjusting from playing in one country to another.
You can see the interview in full here.
The interview was conducted shortly after Rashford’s loan deal was completed, and he had plenty to say about his boyhood team.
Responding to Balagué’s social media post, one commenter wrote: “This nonsense is coming from racist journalists in England who refuse to leave [Rashford] alone. They bullied him when he was in England, especially during times when he seemed unhappy.
“Now, these haters have followed him to Barcelona. Rashford is one of the kindest players in the world, but these clowns just won’t let him live his life in peace.”
It is worth noting, however, that the original reports in question and ultimately aggregated by media across Europe and here in the UK come from a domestic outlet, El Nacional.
While he is yet to rediscover the form of his peak years in United red at the Camp Nou, he is now entering what are traditionally seen as the ‘prime’ period in a footballer’s career and did show more positive signs on loan at Aston Villa during the second half of the previous campaign.
At 27, there is still plenty of time to turn things around; that being said, after being brought back into the national team and with his parent club holding an option to buy clause for around a reported £20 million, the question remains whether he will be returning to Old Trafford at the end of the term. Speaking of…
Is Tom Aspinall ‘the greatest heavyweight the UFC has ever seen’?
Danny Jones
With Tom Aspinall now a few months into being the undisputed champion in his class, the discussion of where he sits among ‘the best of all time’ is well and truly underway, and if you ask one fellow MMA pro, he’s already “the greatest heavyweight” in the history of the UFC.
If you ask us, we’d still like to see the now highly unlikely fight between him and Jon Jones, just to have it on record, but we have no shame in admitting we lean towards our Greater Manchester bias.
Nevertheless, these are bold claims made by fighting peer Ian Machado ‘The Future’ Garry, who touched on the Atherton-born in a recent interview.
He had plenty of big words about his own potential bout against outspoken American competitor, Sean Brady, but also spent some time sharing his reverence for Tom ‘Honey Bagder’ Aspinall. It’s not the first time he’s shared his fandom either.
Speaking to GamesHub ahead of the local athlete’s next match-up against Ciryl Gane, Garry said simply: “Tom Aspinall sparks him. I don’t see that fight getting out of the first round, right? I think Tom is phenomenal.
“I think he’s absolutely the best heavyweight we’ve ever seen in the UFC, and now he’s got the belt, he is the champion.”
Aspinall is set to take on the 35-year-old next month in Abu Dhabi, and was met with a somewhat surprising chorus of boos when he appeared at the most recent Fight Night in Paris last week.
Then again, you could argue it was nothing more than a crowd full of Gane’s compatriots backing the Frenchman; either way, the Wigan warrior didn’t let it faze him much, simply allowing his native opponent to take the spotlight and largely shrugging off the reaction.
On the other hand, his attendance at the Accor Arena wasn’t entirely negative, as he was able to watch his Croatian teammate, Ante Delija, win on his UFC debut – the reaction to which saw Aspinall painted in a much more favourable light.
We’re sure these emotional scenes won over a few new fans.
Once again, Tom Apsinall will face Ciryl Gane in just a matter of weeks and is still being heavily considered the favourite – but is there a chance the underdog could surprise and deliver a shock result against the Manc mauler and reigning heavyweight champ?
As for Garry, the Irishman may not be on the fight card for UFC 321 on October 25, but it’s clear he’s pushing to book a date with ‘ducking’ Brady, going on to tell the outlet: “I’m in a position where I have proven time and time again that I’ll fight anyone, anywhere, anytime, and I’m as game as game gets.
“So I want it publicly announced that if me and Sean Brady are fighting, it’s the number one contender fight. So Sean Brady should shut up and let me do all the heavy lifting, and he just needs to show up on fight night and lose. I have never ducked anyone in my life and I never will.”
What do you think: is Tom Aspinall the greatest heavyweight the UFC has ever seen, and if not, would you really want him to humour the rather bizarre notion of putting him to the test against Jon Jones, even though Dana White has already ruled him out?…
Danny Jones -
23rd November 2024 
