While perhaps a little New Japan-heavy, Rev Pro returned to ‘Mania weekend with another loaded show with more than a few familiar names from home.
It’s a prompt start… or so we thought, as we’re coming from the WrestleCon venue in mid-town Manhattan, with the “dream team” of Kevin Kelly and Andy Boy Simmons on commentary. About 15 minutes late, with Slick Lombardo of all people as ring announcer. We open with the “president of Rev Pro”, Andy Quildan, who’s had an upgrade in job title. He tried to rally the crowd before we got going.
Clark Connors & Karl Fredericks vs. CCK (Chris Brookes & Jonathan Gresham)
The crowd came unglued for CCK, who went from the main event to opener after PAC pulled out.
Connors and Gresham start us off on the mat, with the pair scrambling for a hold. There’s a chop in the ropes from Connors, as he sparked a little battle… and won out as he took Gresham off his feet. Tags brought in Fredericks and Brookes, with the latter using a front headlock early before Fredericks took him down… only for Brookes to get to the rope pretty quickly. Brookes looks to work on Fredericks’ arm, before he followed in with chops in the ropes. Fredericks replies with a shoulder tackle for a near-fall, as Connors comes in to double team Brookes with duelling leg locks as Gresham comes in to break it up. There’s still a little bit of refinement to be done with these Young Lions, and this series showed it.
Gresham got a blind tag and dumped Connors with a German suplex off the ropes, before a chop battle ended with a low dropkick as Brookes returned. More chops redden up Connors as Brookes tied him up in a deathlock submission. Gresham goes for a Figure four, but gets shoved off… as does Brookes, before another Connors dropkick gave him a chance to bring Fredericks back in. A spinebuster from Fredericks lands as he proceeded to turn Brookes over for a Boston crab… but again Gresham comes in to break it up, booting Fredericks in the face before Connors speared him away. After a rope break, Brookes crushes Fredericks with a back senton off the middle rope, before Gresham returned with a Shibata-ish dropkick in the corner to nearly put away Fredericks.
Connors and Brookes are back to trade chops, but Gresham again snuck in with a low kick before a knee-assisted Praying Mantis Bomb only got a two-count, as Fredericks propelled Gresham into the pile. Gresham tries his luck with a German suplex after he’d kipped up from a forearm smash, but he instead has to make do with a Quebrada and an ankle lock before a trapped-leg German drew another near-fall. Another running forearm clocks Connors, then another, as the Young Lion refused to stay down… before a rear spin kick did the trick. This was real good for the opener, but I doubt anyone had CCK down to go around 15 minutes with the US Young Lions here. ***¾
Carlos Romo vs. A-Kid vs. Kid Lykos vs. Flamita
Team Whitewolf came out separately, playing up their storyline in Rev Pro where Sha Samuels is trying to split them up… Poor Lykos doesn’t have a titantron where his name appeared on it, and we start with Lykos jumping A-Kid to send him into the guard rails.
In the ring, Romo clobbers Flamita with a dropkick, before the favour was returned as Lykos slid in… and delivered some headscissors and a sweet satellite headscissors takedown to take Flamita into the ropes. A-Kid’s back with a lucha armdrag and a dropkick, before Romo slid in and teased a staredown… instead working together to dispatch Lykos. Flamita takes Whitewolf down with a handspring double back elbow, before A-Kid accidentally laid out Romo with an Orihara moonsault as Lykos got out of the way. Lykos and Flamita complete the dives, with the luchador hitting a tope con giro across the ringpost. Back inside, a Northern Lights suplex from A-Kid nearly put away Flamita, before Lykos took advantage with almost a Diamond Dust and a split-legged corkscrew moonsault for a two-count on A-Kid.
Revolving door action continues until Flamita punched out Romo… before Lykos looked for a brainbuster on A-Kid, instead getting sent into the ropes as A-Kid decided to dive onto Flamita outside. Romo tried to nick the pin on Lykos with a moonsault, but A-Kid returns after the kick-out to confront his tag partner. We keep going as Flamita nearly took the win with a muscle buster gutbuster, before A-Kid looked for a cross armbreaker on Flamita, who tried to powerbomb his way free, only for A-Kid to turn it into a Destroyer… as Romo, who refused to fight A-Kid, instead stole the pin! Hey, they weaved storyline into this, and the crowd did not like that! This was a real fun four-way – plenty of flips and action… and you can’t go wrong with it playing into stories too! ***¾
Michael Oku vs. Brian Cage
Oh dear. Oku, billed here as the OJMO, became a full-time member of the Rev Pro roster last weekend… and now he’s up against a freaking monster.
Oku tried for headscissors early, but Cage puts on the brakes as Oku instead goes for a dropkick… then more headscissors, which are also caught as Cage just shoves him away. Cage then began to light up Oku with chops, then a back elbow, before he just tossed him across the ring as the crowd bayed for more. Yep, this is becoming a squash, as Oku became a human missile. There’s a monkey flip out of the corner as Oku continued to bump like a mother… but he found a way in after flipping out of a German suplex, following in with a dropkick before Cage turned Oku inside out with a lariat. Oku again tries to fight back, but he gets placed on the top rope before he leapt into the arms of Cage, who lost him on a fallaway slam as Oku again hit back.
Another head kick on the apron staggers Cage, as Oku again goes up top and scores with a moonsault press… but Cage rolls outside, and gets caught with some tiltawhirl headscissors in the ropes. Yeah, it didn’t look great, but it worked as Cage was sent outside, where a Fosbury flop followed as Cage was surprised on the floor. Oku rolled back in to take a count-out, since he had no chance of lifting up Cage. A Code Red from Oku is lost, as Cage tries for an F5… but Oku somehow countered into a Destroyer… and flops an arm onto Cage for a near-fall! Another knee from Oku led to another two-count, before a single leg crab was easily pushed away as Cage rushed to a finish, landing a buckle bomb, then a spinning powerbomb for a near-fall.
Oku ‘ranas out of a powerbomb as he almost stole the win, but one clothesline later decks him as Cage hits a Drill Claw for the win. Oku gave a lot, but in the end he was simply overwhelmed by Cage as the newcomer remains winless. ***¼
Will Ospreay & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.)
I’m shocked this is the midcard main event, but there you go…
Sabre and Tanahashi start us off, giving a preview of tomorrow’s match at the Garden… and there’s some early hair pulling as the naughty boy Suzuki caught Tanahashi in the ropes. There’s chants of “kill the ref” as Chris Roberts tried to admonish him, while Sabre just danced around Tanahashi. Ospreay comes in and gets a near-fall with a standing shooting star press as Ospreay then stared down Suzuki. Unwisely. A faked-out dive follows as Suzuki just shook his head at it all, while Sabre shook the guard railings in frustration. Ospreay goes for a dive, but gets caught in a hanging armbar, which the crowd roared for as the match spilled outside. Back inside, a bloodied Ospreay tries to start a chop battle, and it backfires as he’s left in a heap on the mat by Suzuki.
Tanahashi has the referee distracted as Sabre and Suzuki tie up Ospreay in the ropes, which turned into duelling submission attempts… and an attempt by Suzuki to put Chris Roberts in a single leg crab! After that dies down, Sabre ties up Ospreay again, tweaking his nose in the process, before a single leg crab from Suzuki continued to add the pain. Eventually Ospreay got free as Tanahashi came in to flatten Sabre with a flip senton for a near-fall, before a Slingblade was countered as the pair reverse Cobra Twists on each other.
An overhead kick to the arm sees Sabre take Tanahashi down, before the arm twist goes a little awry, with Sabre losing grip. Suzuki comes back in to trade elbows with Tanahashi as commentary fell silent, while Tanahashi damn near told Suzuki where to throw his shots. Yep, they thud. I retch. Tanahashi tries to fight back with a Dragon screw, but Suzuki blocks him and comes back with a cross armbar… prompting Ospreay to come in and get beaten up as Suzuki shrugged him off. Ospreay gets a tag in as he pelts Suzuki with elbow strikes, trapping him in the corner ahead of a Shibata-ish dropkick that Suzuki just stood up from.
More elbows greet Suzuki, who fires back, before a hook kick left both men down. A Gotch style piledriver’s countered with a back body drop as the pace quickened, leading to Ospreay taking a barrage of PKs for a near-fall as Tanahashi breaks it up. All of a sudden, Suzuki-gun were on the defensive, but they turn it back around with duelling Octopus stretches. Ospreay manages to come back with a Cheeky Nando’s and a roll-up for a two-count, but he’s pretty much running on fumes as Suzuki came in to cut off a Storm Breaker. Tanahashi dispatches Suzuki with a Dragon screw before Sabre ate a Slingblade… and after a Tanahashi slam, a shooting star press lands perfectly for a near-fall. The finish came after another submission attempt was escaped, as Ospreay tries for the Storm Breaker, but Sabre slips out and caught him with a Euro clutch for the pin. This went over 20 minutes and was as good as you’d expect with these four guys. ****¼
Post-match, Chris Roberts gets decked with a big boot from Suzuki on the outside. Imagine if they’d lost.
Rocky Romero vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
There’s burns a-plenty for Generic Ring Announcer #3 during the intros, and we start with Taguchi taking Romero into the corner with threats of hip attacks.
Romero recovered as he worked over Taguchi’s arm, but Taguchi gets to the ropes for the break. Kevin Kelly berates Andy Boy for his mic work as Romero pulled Taguchi into a bow and arrow hold, which quickly ended when Taguchi rolled out for a pinning attempt. Rocky cheapshots from a handshake, before he put the brakes on to avoid a hip attack as the pair were having a bad hit rate. Taguchi manages to land a hip attack, then rolls away as he baited Romero into whiffing on a low dropkick, before a hip attack knocks Rocky out of the ropes. We get dives as Rocky lands a tope into the aisle, before a quick fight around ringside led to him taking Taguchi back in for a couple of ironic hip attacks.
After both men fell down with exhaustion, Taguchi began to fight back with a rather numbed rear end, of course, landing hip attacks, then the Three Amigos only for Rocky to come back with a springboard legdrop after Taguchi had been hung up in the ropes. Some Sliced Bread is blocked as Taguchi fought back with more hip attacks, with one ending up being blocked as Romero gave him a thumb up the bum. Some knees from Romero led to another Sliced Bread effort, but instead Taguchi switches into Dodon… as they then countered with roll-ups for near-falls, before a chop battle broke out in the ring. An uppercut from Rocky edges out, before he blocked some hip attacks… only to take an enziguiri as Taguchi followed up with a Bummer-Ye for a two-count. One Dodon later, and Taguchi left with the win – a decent match, but the audio mixing for these shows made it sound like the crowd didn’t give a toss, which brought it down on the VOD… ***¼
David Starr vs. Tomohiro Ishii
A rematch from Uprising – and we got a rather different Starr to the one who was ultra cocky in York Hall last year.
Ishii took Starr into the ropes early for a clean break, before Starr tried his luck with some shoulder tackles… having little effect on Ishii, before a dropdown sent Ishii flying to the mat. Chops come next, but Ishii barely registered them before he decked Starr with a single chop… just like WALTER. Starr tries to fight back from the bottom, gradually finding success with body blows before he sent Ishii arm-first into the ropes as a shoulder tackle finally works. Ishii’s caught in the corner next with a sliding splash for a near-fall, before forearms and chops from Starr looked to weaken Ishii, only for the former Rev Pro champion to come back with a backdrop suplex.
A tope from Starr nearly overshoots Ishii on the outside, but there’s no follow-up as Starr waited for Ishii to come back in as he caught him with a Product Recall, then a flying elbow off the top for a near-fall. Ishii swats away a Han Stansen, before he popped up from a German suplex to run through Starr with a lariat. Heading up top, Starr tries to fight off a superplex, but to no avail. Starr again tries to fight back, blocking Ishii’s strikes before a Han Stansen barely registered… the second one does, and the third, but Ishii kicked out just in time. A Blackheart Buster comes close as Starr began to lose his mind again. Instead, Starr teases a package piledriver, before Ishii headbutted him away, leading to a sliding lariat for a near-fall, as the sheer drop brainbuster managed to get the win. Not quite as heated as their match last year (at least, with the hampered VOD), but another cracking match as David Starr’s losing momentum going into his title defence at York Hall. ****
Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH)
A rematch from last year’s World of Pro Wrestling TV tapings, as Aussie Open had a warm-up ahead of their tag title match next month.
We’ve duelling chants to start us off, as Dunkzilla offered a test of strength to the much smaller YOH. It’s met, but Dunky’s got too much strength, and both men ended up tagging out as SHO and Kyle decided to trade shoulder tackles. A Quebrada from Kyle lands for a near-fall, before SHO came in and helped double-team Fletcher to the outside, before double dropkicks dispatched Davis as Roppongi 3K followed up with topes con giro into the guard rails! Back inside, Aussie Open found their stride as SHO was propelled with a double-team flapjack for a near-fall. Fletcher begins to put the boots to SHO on the mat, as SHO gets isolated for a spell, which led to YOH coming in to break up Davis’ attempt at a chinlock… but instead it just led to SHO getting chopped back to the mat.
Kyle tries to suplex SHO, but SHO gets free and rushes in with a spear as he finally gave himself an opening to tag in YOH… Davis tries to run in without a tag, but he’s stopped before YOH ran into Fletcher’s boot in the corner. A backbreaker/neckbreaker combo followed from YOH for a near-fall, before a Dragon screw yanked Kyle to the mat. YOH keeps up the pressure with a Figure Four in the middle of the ring, only for Davis to wander in and stomp it apart, before he misses a shoulder charge as he sent himself into the ring post.
Davis recovered to help with a double team Go To Sleep outside, before an assisted Aussie Arrow back inside drew a two-count for Fletcher. On the outside, Davis stomps away on SHO as Fletcher measures up YOH once more, only for YOH to get sent outside… and rebound in with a superkick after he skinned the cat. A tag brings in Davis and SHO, who runs into a big boot as the comeback was quickly stopped. Chops from SHO just anger the “Aussie Bear”, who chops his way back in before eating some rapid-fire, Nagata-like elbows ahead of a clothesline that put Davis down. SHO followed that up with a German suplex for a near-fall, before YOH returned to set up for a 3K… but they’re oblivious to Kyle on the top rope, as his crossbody takes them both down.
Things settle down again as an inverted crucifix bomb (with a tope on the way out from Kyle) nearly put YOH away, before YOH rana’s out of a Fidget Spinner and tried his luck with a small package. It doesn’t work, as Aussie Open were still too strong… something Roppongi 3K tested as they trapped them in dual submissions that ended in the ropes. A 3K’s attempted, but gets cut off as Davis just stacks up and slams them both at once before another double-team Go To Sleep went awry, as YOH nearly stole a win from the miscommunication. Undeterred, YOH’s trapped in the corner for a sliding D, before Davis pulled him up for the piledriver, as a Fidget Spinner led to the win. Another really good main event, ending at just over 20-minutes… but again, this was hurting on the VOD thanks to the crowd audio not coming over for most of the match. ****¼
As usual with this promotion, this was a Rev Pro show that went from solid to good in terms of the in-ring – with both tag team matches delivering in spades. For a change, we also had some storyline progression with that four-way with Team Whitewolf. I just wish the WrestleCon audio was mixed better, as this show felt like it was in a soulless room for large parts of it… which hampers your enjoyment on the VOD. Reports live suggested that a decent portion of the crowd abandoned the show at the interval, which could well have played into it.