SHELTON vs ESSMACK took place on **PenGame Academy 2025** in Manchester at **The Clint Store**. The host introduces the battle as **S Mac vs Shelton**, with SHELTON winning the coin toss and choosing to go first.
SHELTON opens with an aggressive first round. He attacks ESSMACK’s appearance, moustache, hygiene, family, clothing, alleged theft, dad/family background and overall relevance. The round is crude and direct, but the structure is rough. There are moments where the aggression is there, but it does not feel fully controlled.
ESSMACK responds with a stronger first. He attacks SHELTON’s body, clothes, lack of status, Blackpool background, sexual/family angles, lack of recognition and previous reputation. He has clearer rhythm, better stage energy and more memorable punchlines. His Jesus / “she sucks” repetition, Blackpool/seaside angle and “send this skinny prick back to the seaside” material all land better than SHELTON’s opening.
SHELTON’s second round is the turning point, but in the wrong way. He barely gets going, throws out a few short lines about ESSMACK’s mum, clothing and PenGame, then stops early. The host immediately calls out that he dropped the material. This round heavily damages SHELTON’s chances.
ESSMACK’s second round is the clearest round of the battle. He uses SHELTON’s real name, his parents’ names, Blackpool Pier, baby-mum/maintenance angles, and then does a strong local-status section where he says he went Blackpool asking about SHELTON, but people only knew names like Little T, Millie B, Sophie Aspin and Afghan Dan. It is direct, researched and clearly tailored.
SHELTON’s third round is better than his second but still not enough. He admits he has not researched ESSMACK, says he has not heard a tune from him, brings Nazi/family/crew angles, and repeats some earlier “pen stabbing” imagery. The problem is that admitting no research weakens the round in a judged Academy setting.
ESSMACK’s third closes the battle comfortably. He attacks SHELTON’s Blackpool image, documentary/Benefit Street look, hygiene, bad-boy claims, money, street image, Blackpool Rock, immigration-status posts and general credibility. It is not perfectly clean, and the host later says ESSMACK may have had too much aggression and energy, but it is enough to secure the battle.
At the end, the host says ESSMACK won quite cleanly. SHELTON is told his performance was not there, that he looked nervous, and that the host caught him freestyling a few times. ESSMACK is praised for aggression and energy, though told to rein it in and make the performance cleaner.
Official host winner: **ESSMACK / S MAC**.