It’s almost time for EVE’s second annual SHE-1 series – as a round-robin tournament prepares to crown the latest Ace of EVE.
We’ve been getting qualifying matches since this past June, across two continents, and on this past weekend’s Command Attention show, the final entrant was confirmed. So… shall we take a look at the dozen involved this year, and what their form’s been in EVE to date?
Charli Evans
Qualified against: Laura di Matteo
Past Record: Not involved in 2017’s SHE-1
Recent Accomplishments: Has had a rather patchy record in EVE, but has recorded a huge win over Viper in June. Recently forming an alliance of sorts with Kasey, Charli’s been in and around the midcards without being too much of a threat. I’m not too sure she’ll be troubling the finals, but I don’t see her having a Jetta-like run either…
Kasey
Qualified against: Charlie Morgan
Past Record: Not involved in 2017’s SHE-1
Recent Accomplishments: The big EVE storyline over the summer was that Kasey – who failed to qualify last year because she “felt pity” at Charlie Morgan – was revealed to be her assailant earlier this year… but the whole title feud kinda petered out with Kasey coming up short. Having split from her (injured) sister, Kasey’s character has already had a shot at the title and lost… can SHE-1 see her focus and get back into contention?
Kris Wolf
Qualified against: Bea Priestley
Past Record: Not involved in 2017’s SHE-1
Recent Accomplishments: Since debuting in May 2017, as part of the tournament to crown a new EVE champion following Rhia O’Reilly’s injury, EVE has been a happy hunting ground for Kris Wolf in recent months, with wins over Nina Samuels, Jinny and Zoe Lucas setting her up for this weekender. Perhaps an outside bet?
Jamie Hayter
Qualified against: Little Miss Roxxy
Past Record: Had a 2-1 record in block C of last year’s SHE-1 – lost in a play-off match
Recent Accomplishments: Returning from a tour of STARDOM, the current Rev Pro women’s champion Hayter had been loosely affiliated with Jetta and Sammii Jayne in recent months, but there’s a very telling statistic since last year’s SHE-1 – she’s undefeated in singles matches, and has only one singles loss in EVE in total, to then champion Sammii Jayne in last year’s SHE-1. Qualifying in a hell of a brawl against Little Miss Roxxy on the last EVE show (review to follow soon, I promise), while also calling out Kris Wolf, perhaps Hayter is a dark horse?
Jetta
Qualified against: Nina Samuels
Past Record: Not involved in 2017’s SHE-1
Recent Accomplishments: the Princess Diana of British Wrestling maybe hasn’t had the greatest of win/loss records, having spent her time as of late more focused on Kate Nash at the Reading festival than on in ring action. Last year’s SHE-1 was rather farcical for her, with a trio of losses (in short order), so perhaps this year is all about redemption? She made the Wild Card ladder match at WrestleQueendom courtesy of a confusing draw against Kris Wolf, but since then things have been entertaining… but very hit and miss since then.
Madison Eagles
Qualified against: Shazza McKenzie
Past Record: Not involved in 2017’s SHE-1
Recent Accomplishments: Making her EVE debut will be the Australian Eagles, who’ll also be making her European debut here. A win over Shazza McKenzie at Pro Wrestling Australia’s Call to Arms show this past August stamped her ticket for SHE-1, but the two-time former SHIMMER champion perhaps may not be a favourite to go all the way…
Millie McKenzie
Qualified against: Addy Starr
Past Record: Not involved in 2017’s SHE-1
Recent Accomplishments: one of the British scene’s hottest prospects, 2018 has been a bit of a break-out year for Millie McKenzie, who has gone international as well, wrestling in Germany and Japan for wXw and Sendai Girls respectively in the past few months. As far as for EVE, Millie’s still finding her feet, falling to Rhia O’Reilly, Charlie Morgan and Chihiro Hashimoto in her last three outings.
Rhia O’Reilly
Qualified against: Holidead
Past Record: Not involved in 2017’s SHE-1
Recent Accomplishments: EVE’s unofficial talisman, Rhia O’Reilly is still looking to reclaim the title had to vacate after breaking her ankle in March 2017. She almost a one-on-one shot with Charlie Morgan at the Strong Women Style show in late September, only for “management” to turn it into a four-way… and there’s some simmering tensions that’s played out in recent shows. You can count the singles losses Rhia’s had in the last few years in EVE on one hand, and perhaps a “first ace” against “long term ace” match could be on the cards?
Toni Storm
Qualified against: Meiko Satomura
Past Record: Not involved in 2017’s SHE-1
Recent Accomplishments: Toni’s placement in the SHE-1 tournament perhaps makes her the biggest name to a casual audience, given that she won this year’s Mae Young Classic and has a feature role in NXT UK show. When it comes to EVE though, Storm’s not been around much, having not appeared for them at all in 2017, before starting 2018 with a pair of losses. She returned a week after WrestleQueendom with a win over Bea Priestley, and earned her spot with a win over Meiko Satomura at Global Women Strike, but despite her reputation, I wouldn’t expect Toni to make it to the finals.
Viper
Qualified against: Kay Lee Ray
Past Record: Had a 2-1 record in block B of last year’s SHE-1 – coming second in her block to Meiko Satomura
Recent Accomplishments: Perhaps entering SHE-1 with the most momentum, Viper won the inaugural International championship by winning the one-night tournament at Command Attention – topping off a year in EVE so far that has been a real mixed bag. A loss to Aja Kong at WrestleQueendom was quickly followed with a loss to Charli Evans, but since then Viper’s been on a roll – with a loss to Chihiro Hashimoto in late September being the only real blemish on her win/loss record. If you “think too much”, you’d be a little dubious of whether we’d have the International champion instantly going for the world title… but stranger things have happened!
Shortly before the blocks were drawn, EVE announced the withdrawal of two entrants, with Sammii Jayne and Jordynne Grace dropping out for what could best be described as injury and logistical reasons (Sammii felt that her ankle wasn’t quite up to four shows in two days, while Grace, who’d had her qualifier rearranged many times due to injury, had a conflict on the morning after the final show). In their place, after another, even later change:
Command Bolshoi
Past Record: Not involved in 2017’s SHE-1
Recent Accomplishments: Originally scheduled to debut at October’s Command Attention show, it’s a speedy rearrangement for Command, who’s in the final few months of her career, having announced that April 21, 2019 would be the day that her boots would hang up for good. Having spent most of her career in Japan with the now-defunct Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling promotion, this’ll be Bolshoi’s debut in Europe, which isn’t bad going for someone who’s been wrestling for the better part of 30 years; although long-term fans of CHIKARA will know her from her appearances in the 2012 and 2016 King of Trios tournaments, where she was a part of teams that lost in the quarter-finals and finals respectively.
Erin Angel
Past Record: Not involved in 2017’s SHE-1
Recent Accomplishments: A late replacement for the injured Jinny, Erin’s been thrust straight into a block that puts her on course for a final block match against someone she’s recently gotten back on-side – Jetta. While her last appearance at EVE, at September’s Maybe Wrestling Will Help, produced an upset win over Nina Samuels, Erin’s not really been able to shake off her recent year as Jetta’s sidekick with the dodgy acronym – complete with a slew of losses, as her last singles win prior to that Nina upset was in February 2017 against Nixon Newell (in what you could have called another upset).
So, now we know the diabolical dozen, here’s how they’ll break into packs, after one final wrinkle where Kasey was swapped with Erin Angel on show day…
Block A: Jamie Hayter, Viper, Madison Eagles, Millie McKenzie
Block B: Erin Angel, Kris Wolf, Charli Evans, Rhia O’Reilly
Block C: Toni Storm, Jetta, Command Bolshoi, Kasey
As for the fixtures…
Saturday – Show 1 – 3pm start time
Block A: Hayter vs. Eagles; Viper vs. McKenzie
Block B: Wolf vs. O’Reilly; Evans vs. Angel
Block C: Storm vs. Kasey; Bolshoi vs. Jetta
Saturday – Show 2 – 8pm start time
Block A: Hayter vs. McKenzie; Viper vs. Eagles
Block B: Wolf vs. Evans; Angel vs. O’Reilly
Block C: Bolshoi vs. Kasey; Storm vs. Jetta
Sunday – Show 3 – 2.30pm start
Block A: Eagles vs. McKenzie; Viper vs. Hayter
Block B: Wolf vs. Angel; O’Reilly vs. Evans
Block C: Storm vs. Bolshoi; Kasey vs. Jetta
Sunday – Show 4 – 6.30pm start
SHE-1 Finals – Winner of Block A vs. Winner of Block B vs. Winner of Block C
*plus any play-offs as required
Pro Wrestling EVE Championship: Kay Lee Ray vs. Charlie Morgan (c)
Like last year, SHE-1 is a league system, where everyone’ll wrestle each other in their block once. If there’s a tie-breaker, like last year, there’ll be a play-off on the fourth show ahead of the three-way finals. Last year, we had the wacky permutations surrounding who’ll get a title shot – but with the Charlie Morgan not involved in this year’s SHE-1, we’ve got a rather more straightforward “the winner will be in the main event at WrestleQueendom 2” – a show that’s not been slotted yet, but you’d have to imagine it’ll be a title shot once that show has been announced.
Tickets for SHE-1 remain on sale at evewrestling.com – with a discount if you buy tickets for all four shows together. If you’re coming, we’ll see you there – and unless you’re not travelling far, it may be worth your while grabbing a hotel or an Air BnB in the area!