The recent launch of the Pro Wrestling: EVE on-demand service has given us something different to dip into. So… let’s start at the beginning, eh?
We’re starting with their debut show from May 2010, at the Delphi Club in Sudbury – according to Cagematch, one huge show split into two parts, although part one is a manageable 75 minutes. In an age where companies are churning out three-hour-plus shows… a mighty thumbs up seven years later!
We open with a Star Wars-esque crawler, and we’re in old-school 4:3 ratio here folks! Fred Ellison is your commentator, and after that opening crawl about clone wars, I can’t help but get the feeling he sounds mighty familiar. Don’t read into it.
Catch Division: Jenny Sjödin vs. April Davids
The rules of EVE’s Catch Division are a bit of a mix of World of Sport and MMA rules – it’s submission-only, with rules around the use of the ropes (with Irish whips and rope running banned). There’s also the usual MMA-esque bans on closed fists, biting and the like. We’ll have six 2-minute rounds, with the referee deciding the winner if there’s no result.
There’s a few feinted kicks from Sjödin early as she put Davids on the back foot, but April connects with a couple of kicks to the midsection… and good Lord, that’s a young Chris Roberts. The Swede Sjödin takes down Davids with almost a DDT-like move, as some she’s mounted Davids… but she’s unable to land any blows as Davids makes the ropes to force a break at the end of the round. Of course, Chris Roberts has to be told about the rope break because even in 2010… he’s still clueless (kayfabe!)
Round two opens with Davids trying a pump kick, but it’s caught as Sjödin scores a takedown, then works her way around into an attempted armbar, but Davids rolled into the ropes as the break’s forced. Straight away, Sjödin lands a kick and gets taken down again in a guillotine, but she escapes as time ran out once more.
The third round starts with Sjödin shooting for a takedown… but Davids was already in the ropes. It was second time lucky as a single-leg led to a takedown, before Davids tried to stuff another takedown, but instead ended up in almost a stump puller as the Swede worked towards a cross armbreaker. Davids forced another break as they got into the ropes, and finally starts to land some offence in the way of kicks to the side, before grabbing a front facelock as Sjödin was on the back foot as the round came to an end.
Round four starts with Sjödin limping a little, but she tries a headkick that Davids ducks… but again they head to the ropes as Davids this time went for a knee bar. More kicks from Jenny just end up with Davids replying in kind, taking her down into an ankle lock for the submission. A very unusual match – seeing a MMA-style match in the confines of a wrestling promotion – but a well received one as Davids outlasted Sjödin early on before going for a body part and forcing the tap.
Alpha Female vs. Becky James
This is under normal wrestling rules, and yes, this is the same Alpha Female that’s been involved in the Mae Young Classic… you may remember Becky James from an earlier review we did, where she was a valet for “Loco” Mike Mason against the Mexican Eagle. You can thank me later for reminding you of that match…
James was trained by Lance Storm, so she’s coming into this with some notoriety, but she’s also at a massive disadvantage against the monstrous German. Alpha instantly shoves Becky into the corner from the opening tie-up, before catching her off the ropes into a series of backbreakers. Becky manages to get a shot back in with a crossbody out of the corner, before countering another backbreaker with some flying headscissors as Alpha’s taken outside… but Becky doesn’t follow-up, and instead grabs Alpha Female’s German flag and pretends to blow her nose in it. We’ll just get the tombstone ready now, eh?
Alpha Female comes in and stalks Becky, as you would… so when James slipped off the middle rope, it was really easy for her to dish out payback. A swinging side slam follows, before a running powerslam does the job. Virtually a squash here, with Becky slipping at the worst possible moment… **
Elimination Match: Carmel Jacob vs. Erin Angel vs. Saraya Knight vs. Melanie Price
EVE introduces everyone with a gym affiliation, kind of like how they do in MMA… so here we’ve got a four-way elimination match with two members of the Glamour Gym in Carmel Jacob and Melanie Price.
Going by Cagematch, Price is only a year into her career, and instantly rubs Saraya Knight the wrong way as Price refused to get involved. Knight wears down Angel with a front facelock as Price went on Twitter… rather than wrestle. Well, it’s a unique act, her and her mate chatting on the apron rather than wrestle.
To be fair, if the alternative was being stretched in a bow-and-arrow backbreaker, I too would Tweet. Or do anything else. There’s a tag of sorts as Saraya brought in Jacob, who takes an armdrag as Angel worked on the arm, before a bridging suplex gets a near-fall. Jacob heads to the corner, where she accidentally tagged in Price… but Price tagged straight back out as she saw that Angel’d brought Saraya back in.
Again, can’t be blamed!
Apparently the Saraya tag didn’t stand as the Glamour Gym pair double-team Angel, landing a double clothesline as Price picked up a near-fall, before Angel made a comeback, hitting a missile dropkick to Price, who then brought Saraya in… and yeah, Knight was more than happy to clean up. A punch to the gut of Angel leads to a superplex that almost caused an elimination, before a double legdrop did the trick.
We’re left with Saraya against both of the Glamour Gym members, and she drags Jacob into the ring before a front facelock’s broken in the corner. Knight comes back by spanking Carmel, who claimed sexual assault, but Saraya wasn’t having any of it, pulling her by the hair before unloading with a series of body blows and a diving dropkick in the corner.
With Jacob on the mat, Saraya pulls her like a bow, with the arm and leg stretch forcing a submission… leaving Melanie Price alone! Price sobs as she’s dragged into the ring, as she takes a series of headbutts and body blows, before a running Samoan drop surprisingly only collected a near-fall! Another slam follows though, as a jack-knifed roll-up gets another two-count, before more spanks led to Price getting lifted up for a sit-out powerbomb that gets the win. Once it settled down, this was a demolition job by Saraya, who was streets ahead of the competition. ***
Sara-Marie Taylor vs. Rhia O’Reilly
Another Lance Storm trainee, Rhia would go on to have a more significant role in EVE’s later years, and we start with a wristlock against the other regular member of the Glamour Gym.
Rhia frustrates Taylor early on as she switches between various holds, before Taylor elbows her away and starts raining down some clubbing forearms to the back. Taylor lifts O’Reilly to the top rope, but the handstand takedown doesn’t work as the Scotswoman comes back with a headbutt and a facebuster en route to a near-fall.
Rhia fights back again with a back elbow and a shoulder tackle before knocking Taylor into the corner… but she misses a charge in and ends up taking the Makeover DDT as O’Reilly takes the fall. Pretty brief, but really enjoyable for what time they had – with Rhia in particular looking really good for her short time in wrestling. **¾
Next up we were set to get the debut of Jemma Palmer – formerly Inferno from the British remake of the game show Gladiators. However, she came out with a broken arm and was apparently wasn’t cleared. Nevermind, Jetta’s out to be all sportsmanship (a 2017 reference!), and she claims that Palmer was scared of looking stupid. Jetta shoves Palmer, who fires back with her good arm, and I guess our match is underway!
Jemma Palmer vs. Jetta
Palmer brawls around ringside using the forearm that wasn’t in a cast… and yes, Jetta’s all sportsmanship-like, targeting the cast, wrenching the arm in the ropes.
Jetta hangs Palmer’s arm in the rope as commentary tells us that this is actually Jetta’s penultimate match before retiring. An armbar keeps Palmer down, and she finally comes back with a prat-fall on Jetta before getting near-falls out of schoolboys. A suplex gets reversed into a small package as Jetta stops the onslaught by attacking the arm, but Palmer comes back with a series of forearms for a near-fall… and I’m now really questioning how bad that injury was, given how much she’s lasted and put herself through.
In the end, Jetta goes back to the armbar, and referee Chris Roberts waves off the match. This was very one-sided, with Palmer’s arm injury almost being a joke by the end… Palmer’s wrestling career was pretty brief, having done this match after a brief spell with WWE’s developmental system, before moving into other opportunities.
Blue Nikita vs. Britney Knight
This is our main event, featuring the future Paige, who started working the crowd just like her mum, sparking chants of “England” against her Greek opponent. Saraya’s actually at ringside to cheerlead, as Knight and Nikita rolled around the ropes, before Britney was shoved to the mat.
They move to a test of strength, which Nikita rolls back through into a double wristlock as she looked to make her experience show… Back in the ring, Nikita keeps on top of Knight, following in with a snapmare, a kick to the back and a diving forearm for a near-fall. Nikita sits down on a backslide for a seated Gory stretch as she looked for a submission, before rolling through into a cover for a near-fall. Knight tries to trip Nikita as she ran the ropes, before instead connecting with some headscissors… but Nikita overpowers her with a whip into the corner and a bulldog out of it for a two-count.
Knight tries to avoid the Air Raid Crash, but her roll-out only gets her into the path of a basement dropkick before a death valley driver gets the Grecian another near-fall. A half-crab follows despite Knight being in the ropes, but Britney finally gets back in with a back suplex, only for the pair to collide into each other with a clothesline. Saraya’s extremely animated at ringside, especially as the pair slap each other silly.
Britney refuses to back down, and connects with a Knight Rider (Code Red) for a near-fall, but she misses a top rope elbow as Nikita comes back with some kicks to the face ahead of a running dropkick that only gets a near-fall as Knight kicked out in the ropes. Again, Britney comes back with a neckbreaker, before taking her into the corner for a tornado DDT, hitting it with such force that Nikita continued to flip into the ropes.
Nikita’s had enough of the cheerleader at ringside, and wipes out Saraya with a baseball slide. For some reason, Chris Roberts tends to Saraya at ringside, so he misses a low blow as Nikita hits the Code Blue (Air Raid Crash) for the win. Easily the best of the whole show, with Britney showing pretty good form for a (then) 17-year-old… ***¼
After the replays, Blue Nikita gets the microphone and gets in Saraya’s face… Nikita vows to kick Saraya’s ass, but after putting over her daughter, Saraya accepts the challenge as a brawl broke out to end the first part of the show!
For a debut show, this was pretty good – especially when you consider what else was on offer for women’s wrestling at the time. I’d question the call to open the show with a MMA-style match, but it helped create a nice variety of action ahead of the “second show” featuring the remaining action from this card…