Pro Wrestling EVE’s first show at Bethnal Green’s Resistance Gallery was a sprightly affair, marked by the European debut of joshi legend Manami Toyota.
Before we get going, this show almost didn’t get released… issues with the camera meant that the audio on all but the main event wasn’t exactly ideal, to the point where EVE were unwilling to release this show for sale on DVD (although it should soon be up on their newly-launched VOD platform).
Jinny vs. Jetta
At the bell Jinny and Jetta both try to cheapshot each other from a handshake, and they’ve got a lot of similar ideas – frustrating the other in doing so!
After taking a suplex, Jinny rebounds with a wheelbarrow roll into a seated surfboard as the Fashionista looked to end things early, but Jetta escaped and went back with the suplexes, before a kick was caught and turned into an over-the-knee facebuster for a near-fall. Jinny continues with some running knees into the corner as she looked to take the upper hand, only for Jetta to return with a heart punch and a neckbreaker off the ropes.
Jetta charges into the corner to slap Jinny a few times, before Jinny gets fed up at her dance moves and just boots her for a two-count. The back-and-forth slaps continue until they connect at the same time, but Jetta gets back to her feet and threatens to go up top… only to get caught as Jinny looked to be setting up for the middle-rope X-Factor, before instead catching Jetta with another knee to the head. More forearms from Jinny keep her in it though, but her attempt at a Rainmaker’s ducked and met with a strangle hold that she easily rolled out of, before standing over Jetta for long enough that she ended up getting rolled up for the pin. A decent, but basic opener – and one that really highlights how far Jinny’s come in not-even-six-months since this. **½
After a black screen, we return to see Jetta challenging Rhia O’Reilly, but unfortunately the warbly audio really hits here. They shake hands, and I guess they agreed to a match… but not today, as Jetta takes a Rhiadjustment DDT as she’s left laying.
Nixon Newell vs. Alex Windsor vs. Kay Lee Ray
KLR’s entrance is really odd when she doesn’t have her “Dominate the World” headbanger…
This is effectively a two-on-one against Windsor, who’s passed between Nixon, Kay Lee and referee Rob Brazier… who then drops her as she orders. Cue a pratfall, before Nixon just kicks her out of the ring so the two friends can have a wrestle. They each go for their finishers, before switching into the indy’riffic pinning series, ending with Windsor picking it apart, as she pulled off an impressive double Muta lock.
We’re back to the two-on-one quickly as Windsor’s slapped from pillar to post, before ducking a crossbody as Nixon took down Kay Lee in error. With Kay Lee down, Windsor looked for a cross-legged surfboard before she instead ended up giving and receiving superkicks, putting all three women down… for a three-way kip-up!
Alex goes a little overboard on her DX love, so she gets superkicked as Newell and Ray decide to headbutt each other at the same time. Once everyone’s back up, we get forearms before Nixon gives Shining Wizards out to everyone, picking up a near-fall, before Kay Lee disappears… and re-emerges on the balcony to take down Nixon with a Doomsday Device!
With Nixon down, Kay Lee drops Windsor with a Gory Bomb, before Newell returned with a Shining Wizard… as they then fought between themselves for a chokeslam. Instead, they turned their sights onto Windsor to do the Undertaker and Kane double chokeslam, before sharing the pin as we had joint winners! Once the referee had made his mind up… this was good fun to watch, and was the best way to solve this kind of a three-way! ***
Shanna vs. Laura Di Matteo
In this battle between Portugal and Italy, it was the “hometown” girl Di Matteo who was the favourite… unless you count the guy who was chanting for Shanna. Mauro Chaves, we’re onto you!
The opening exchange sees the pair athletically reverse out of wristlocks before they headed back and forth with shoulder blocks, then armdrags, before Shanna ultimately won out with a dropkick. Sportingly, Laura offers to shake Shanna’s hand… but that just gets her a knee to the gut as Shanna threw her to the outside, forcing the crowd to part like the Red Sea.
They fight towards the bar, which is unfortunate given the single-camera set-up, before returning to the ring where Shanna gets knocked down… and has a fan pull her back to her feet. Back inside, Laura tried for an Octopus hold, but Shanna rolled back into a near-fall to keep her on top… something she tried to solidify with an exchange of forearms.
Eventually Di Matteo made a comeback, scoring with a missile dropkick, before getting knocked into the ropes with a forearm and a back-heeled kick. An Angel’s Wings from Shanna leave Laura lying, but she misses a crossbody off the top before Laura snatched the win, ducking some shots and then rolling her up for the pin. I liked the “out of nowhere” style of the finish, which I’d hope would set up for something down the line somewhere… ***
Pro Wrestling: EVE Championship: Emi Sakura vs. Rhia O’Reilly (c)
So, the legend has it that this match was originally meant to have involved Emi Sakura and Pollyanna, after Dave Meltzer somehow managed to confuse the two in the Wrestling Observer (when he claimed during a report of Pollyanna doing a WWE try-out that she was “also known as Emi Sakura”. Yeah, I don’t know either…)
Anyway, Pollyanna was a late withdrawal from the show as she’d end up going into semi-retirement, so this was what we got instead. Pollyanna vs. Rhia O’Reilly. Kidding!
We got going with a wristlock as Sakura went to work on the champion, before the pair decided to take turns throwing each other into the turnbuckles. An arm rake helps Emi with an Irish whip, but they ended up reversing each other back and forth for a spell in a way I’ve not seen before, until Emi tried for a bodyslam… which Rhia countered by slamming her with ease. Eventually Emi trips Rhia and pulls her into a Romero special, before literally pushing her onto the apron for the hell of it.
What else was done “for the hell of it” was a snapmare with a handful of Rhia’s hair, but the champion came back as she tripped Sakura into the middle turnbuckle before launching into a back suplex, then a back senton for a couple of near-falls, only for the challenger to catch her on the mat in an Octopus hold.
After O’Reilly broke via the ropes, Sakura did something which we couldn’t sees as Rhia’s flag was draping in the camera’s way, but the champion was able to surprise Emi with a rope-hung DDT for a near-fall, before the favour was returned as Emi rolled the dice. Emi tries to go up top, only to get quickly pulled down, but she quickly comes back to hit a Sister Abigail, a double-underhook backbreaker and a Vader bomb for another near-fall.
The back and forth continues as a snapping Samoan drop got Rhia another two-count, before Emi flew back with a dropkick and a Tiger driver to almost regain her title. In the end though, a missed frog splash allowed Rhia to charge back with an Exploder suplex, before securing the win with the Rhiadjustment DDT. Another fun match, with plenty of good back-and-forth – exactly the sort of thing you’d expect from two women who’d been at this for as long as they have! ***½
Blue Nikita vs. Manami Toyota
Given that Toyota’ll be retiring at the end of this year – after a career which by then would have spanned thirty years – it’s amazing to think that this was her first match in Europe.
Of course, Nikita refused the offer of a handshake, pushing away Toyota at the bell, which saw Manami take her into the corner with a barrage of kicks, before rolling her around the ring in a dizzying series that threw the crowd back to the days of Limp Bizkit! Toyota drops some knees onto Nikita in the ropes, before the German retaliated by using some hair to pull Toyota back over the ropes.
A slam and a back senton gets a near-fall for Nikita, as someone thought it’d be a good idea to throw in a “Moose!” chant. Thankfully, he was shouted down pretty quickly, as Nikita went for a rear chinlock that Toyota broke by getting her foot on the ropes. Out of nowhere, Toyota gets back into it with a springboard crossbody off the ropes, before using Nikita’s ponytail to snapmare her across the ring.
Toyota then poses with Nikita in a camel clutch so the lucky ones at ringside could get some good shots, before a stalling double underhook suplex gets Manami a near-fall. A figure four follows, this time forcing Nikita to stretch for the bottom rope, which she eventually grabs, before Toyota unloads with a series of legdrops to her opponent’s groin.
Manami keeps up the pressure with a missile dropkick, before going for the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex… but Nikita slips out and replies with a ‘rana instead, picking up a near-fall. Nikita went for a belly-to-back piledriver – aka Pollyanna’s “Finish Her” (since the two were feuding at the time in EVE) – but Toyota counters into a sunset flip for a near-fall, before following up with the Ocean suplex for another two-count.
A missed moonsault allows Nikita to get back into it, landing a Samoan drop for a near-fall, before Toyota popped up and landed an axe kick as the near-falls kept coming. The greatest hits kept coming as the scooped brainbuster – or the Queen Bee Bomb – dumped Nikita on her head for another near-fall, before finally landing the Ocean Cyclone Suplex for the win! This was fantastic – knowing their audience, Toyota busted out all of the moves that the crowd in attendance had no doubt seen for years on tapes, DVDs and on YouTube – and let’s be honest, there was only ever going to be one result… so doing the “greatest hits” was the right way to go here. ***¾
This was EVE’s debut in their newest home in Bethnal Green, and it was a perfectly fine way to debut. With five matches on the card, there was something for everyone: using home grown, European and names from further afield, this was the perfect show for EVE’s target audience.
It’s such a shame that the show experienced camera issues, and with EVE following the PWG model of only releasing shows on DVD, it’s perfectly understandable that they refused to release this show. If you’re not going to jump on board their VOD service, all I can say is… get “After The Storm” and enjoy this as a freebie, because it’s extremely unlikely that we’ll be seeing Manami Toyota back in the UK before her retirement!