We are pleased to confirm that tickets are now on sale for a huge DOA show in Peterborough in 2024 - Clash at the Cresset.  This is will be one of DOA's biggest shows ever and it will be a one not to miss featuring the very best that DOA has to offer.  The show will be at the Cresset on Sunday 7th April and you can ensure you book your tickets early to be part of this massive show.  The tickets are on sale directly from the venue and you can book online by clicking HERE. 

In September 2023 at Fury Road in Bury St Edmunds, Brad O'Brien became the latest in a long line to win the Go 4 Glory briefcase.  He defeated Sunset Skip in controversial circumstances to take the prize, although this opportunity came about by complete chance as O'Brien was not one of the original competitors fighting for the glory this year.  First of all, for those who do not know, the Go 4 Glory briefcase entitles the holder to any championship match of their choosing, and at anytime.  It holds great power and over the years there have been many champions crowned after cashing the briefcase in for a shot at a championship - often unexpectedly. 

So I mentioned that Brad O'Brien was not in the original match for the briefcase, and this is true, he was out injured at the time.  The Go 4 Glory match took place on the 24th June in Bury St Edmunds and the fatal four way match featured Danny Darko, Sunset Skip, Rexx Wylde and Garzya.  Sunset Skip won the match and therefore took the briefcase meaning he could gain any championship match of his choosing.  After a couple of months of mulling over his options he made a big decision.  Whilst there is no doubt many people thought Sunset Skip would want the DOA Heavyweight Championship, he wanted something more personal to him, something that means a lot.  He wanted back his prized Pan Arabian championship - the belt that was stolen from him last year by Brad O'Brien and renamed the Social Media Championship. 

Skip wanted back what was rightfully his and therefore he felt he had a golden opportunity by cashing in the Go 4 Glory briefcase to get it.  There was just one problem though.  The then Director of Authority Marc Lloyd had to inform Sunset Skip that the Social Media championship is not an official DOA championship meaning the Go 4 Glory briefcase could not be used.  This news played right in to the hands of the devious Brad O'Brien who stated that the only way he would defend the belt against Skip again would be if Skip put the briefcase on the line.  Skip without hesitation agreed to the match and therefore in an unforeseen move, O'Brien despite not being in the Go 4 Glory match had the chance to be the holder of the briefcase.  In the match, the usual Farrell Family antics followed, O'Brien won and the rest as they say is history.  

To date, Brad has not yet even made any hints as to when he will cash in the briefcase (sorry he has named it the beefcase now) or when.  So lets just take a little look at the possible options he has now and what is the most probable scenario.   

DOA Heavyweight Championship
This is the obvious one isn't it? I mean, who would not want to become the DOA Heavyweight champion - the biggest prize in the company? It may be the most obvious but it is not the one everyone has gone for historically.  A lot of thinking is required when making such a big decision and Brad needs to look closely at who he would be crossing paths with if he went for this belt.  Big Joe is the current champion - a man who has just won the tournament of death, the man is a beast, he is far bigger and more powerful than O'Brien, so would it be wise to pick a fight with him? Brett Semtex is next in line to face Big Joe in December in a match where he could become a two time champion.  Like Big Joe, Semtex is bigger than the beefcake and has that MMA background in his arsenal.  O'Brien is not stupid and he knows that cashing in for the heavyweight title would not be easy and he would be picking a fight with a much bigger and stronger person.  

DOA Adrenaline Championship
Brad O'Brien is quite unique in that he can fit into both the heavyweight division and the adrenaline division.  He can go toe to toe with bigger guys but he can also move quick and do some high flying, so this championship would also be an option.  If we are looking back in history, O'Brien could be compared to someone like Dexter who did indeed win Go 4 Glory and cashed in to win the Adrenaline championship.  Maybe O'Brien would fancy his chances against AJ Boogie Benjamin who has only just won the title back after it changed hands twice within a month.  Boogie and O'Brien are similar sizes and there is no doubt a match between them would give the fans their moneys worth.  It has to be said that in his 13 year career, Brad has never won a heavyweight title, but he has also never won a recognised DOA title - the Adrenaline title could be a strong start. 

DOA Tag Team Championships
This could be an interesting option given that O'Brien's Farrell Family stable mates The Wylde Kings have just lost the tag team straps.  I don't know if it is just me, but has anyone else sensed in recent months there seems to be a little bit of tension between the Wylde Kings and the rest of the Family? The Kings have hardly been seen at the same time and in the same place as O'Brien and Lord Steven Farrell - indeed they were even absent from Brad's Go 4 Glory celebration which he shared only with Farrell and Sir Ryan Matthews.  The tension seems to stem ironically from the Go 4 Glory event in June when the Wylde Kings abandoned Farrell and left him at the mercy of the Banker's boot.  With that said, could it be an option that the King of Couture teams with Lord Steven or Sir Ryan to cash in on the tag team champions - the Dark and the Shark (Danny Darko and Dillon Slade)? There is certainly no love loss between O'Brien and Dillon Slade, which does make this quite a realistic option.   

DOA Women's Championship
Well the rules do state ANY title shot - bit of a wild card but I think it is safe to say that Brad O'Brien knows better than to mess with the seemingly unstoppable women's champion Leia Elise!

DOA Pandemonium Title
The most unique of the championships in DOA and the newest of all titles.  Each challenger can choose the match stipulation and these range between the weird and the wonderful - something which could be a risk to O'Brien due to his love of his image and how unpredictable this title can be.  With that said though, he is quite well matched size wise to the current holder Jack E Hyde and he could see this title as a realistic target, I would not be surprised if he is giving it some serious thought and weighing up the pros and cons.  The other thing that the Beefcake has to weigh up here is who he would be messing with if he was to try some of his funny business.  Just like with the heavyweight title, it is hard to see him getting away with too much against Hyde due to his relationship with the cursed monster Hex - the biggest man in DOA.  Hex has always had Hyde's back and the Farrell Family have learned from past experience he is not someone you can mess with and come out on top against.  Food for thought.  

So those are the options, you can speculate what Brad will choose to do, but ultimately, only he knows the plan, and there is always a plan it seems.       

Photograph by Mark Ashley Films

As the 'Insider' of DOA, I like to think I know about most things that are going on - the news and all the gossip.  However, one thought provoking thing I did not pick up on until the 10 year anniversary show was the so called 'curse' of the Adrenaline division championship.  It was not until our man with the microphone AK asked then champion Ty Hazard about the rumors of a curse on the title that I really took note.  I am the kind of guy who refuses to walk under ladders and always salutes at magpies, I guess I am superstitious to an extent, so this rumor of a curse could have something in it...or not. 

DOA's Adrenaline division features some of the UK's hottest prospects, it can be high flying, fast paced and most of all exciting.  The title history of the Adrenaline championship alone tells you all that you need to know with the list of people who have held that belt.  Jody Fleisch, Ashley Dunn, Banker Marc Lloyd, Peter Nixon and Ash Draven just to name a few.  When Ty Hazard won the championship from Cali Grey at Fury Road in September, he was the 13th holder of the title - at this point, the number 13 and curses could go hand in hand, but that is not the thread I am going to take here - promise. 

Looking back at the history of the Adrenaline championship it is hard to see where curses could come in to the picture.  The title has always been stable with some good reigns during its history and some long ones.  The longest serving Adrenaline champion was Dexter who defeated Kelly Sixx for the belt before losing it to CJ Carter in late 2021.  It could be argued that the reason for this long reign was helped in a big way by the Covid Pandemic and various lockdown's.  Dexter won the title pre pandemic and obviously there was no live wrestling for a year or so, which meant the days stacked up in Dexter's favor to give him the accolade of the longest running Adrenaline Division Champion.         

Another long reign was in more recent memory when the fan favorite AJ Boogie Benjamin took DOA by storm by winning the title very early on in his DOA career after it was vacated due to CJ Carter's retirement.  He was a fighting champion making several top defenses of the championship in a reign that lasted nearly a year up until Beach Ball Mania in August 2023.  At this point you may be reading this and stating that there is no sign of a supposed curse so where does that actually come in to it? Well it is in fact Beach Ball Mania when things took a bit of a turn. 

​In a very unique match, AJ Boogie teamed with Karama against Cali Grey and Women's champion Leia Elise where both the Adrenaline and Women's championships were on the line - meaning either way a new champion would be crowned.  This match was nothing but frustration for AJ Boogie because Elise pinned Karama which meant that Cali Grey was the new Adrenaline champion.  After such a long reign, Benjamin had lost his title without even being pinned, and he had to watch Cali Grey parade around as the new champion. 

What happened next though caught everyone by surprise when Grey traveled to Fury Road in September to make his first defense against Ty Hazard. At this point, despite producing some top matches including against Robbie X, Hazard had not exactly grabbed the victories that would make him a favorite to win the championship.  Cali Grey looked confident but could simply not keep Ty Hazard down who caused a huge upset and pinned Grey to become the champion.  Within the matter of just a month, AJ Boogie, Grey and Ty had all held the Adrenaline title, such a quick turn around.  The fact that Boogie lost it and had not been pinned and then Grey lost it in his first defense is where the talk of a curse came from. 

After the quick changes of champion, it came as no surprise that the ten year anniversary show featured a triple threat match where Ty Hazard would defend the title against Cali Grey and AJ Boogie.  In his pre match interview when asked about the so called curse by AK, Ty Hazard played it down and seemed confident that he would put an end to that talk and leave the show still champion.  In retrospect, that confidence could have been misplaced because sure enough AJ Boogie Benjamin won the match and became the first ever two time Adrenaline champion.  This created a unique situation where both Grey and Ty had lost the title in their very first defense. Ty showed respect to AJ after the match and shook his hand but the look of shock on his face said it all - maybe the comments about a curse were playing on his mind? Cali losing it in his first defense was one thing but for it to then happen to Ty too?

So is the title cursed? The first logical questions to ask are why would it be cursed and who cursed it? I mean lets face it, DOA is no stranger to curses, poor Ben Hull was cursed years ago by the Voodoo Queen and that is why he ended up as Hex, but what reason would she have to curse a belt she had no contact with during her time in DOA? Maybe just doing it for a laugh? Cali Grey has quite a dark personality so it really would not shock me to learn that he was in to the dark arts or something.  However, I doubt he would conjure up some kind of curse that would cost him the title (twice) as that would make no sense - unless he is new to it all and did it by accident? 

As you can see, I find no logical reason for the belt to be cursed or who would have cursed it.  However, I think the key here is going to be Boogie's next title defense because if he were to lose it, I think I would be a believer that there is something really dark happening here.  Even then though, that could be a psychological barrier due to these rumors, but if he wins his first defense, it is safe to say this all just happened by chance and he is now back on track, picking up where he left off before the title was taken from him without even being pinned.  Still though... what if? 

Photographs by Mark Ashley Films