We’re going to dig into the Rev Pro archives here, and take a look back into the not-too-distant-past when they put out a “TV show”.
Yes, Rev Pro’s foray into TV saw them produce a regular YouTube show, with matches from their “smaller shows” (for want of a better term) as a build up to the York Hall-level of events. These programs are still up on YouTube, as well as Rev Pro’s on-demand service, should you wish to play along…
We’ll start as you should – at the beginning!
Episode 1
The show opens with Zoe Lucas in front of a green screen welcoming us to the show, and then they cut to an extremely loud (in comparison) opening credits. Yeah… it’s not a good thing when levels aren’t normalised.
Andy Quildan joins Zoe after the credits in his role as the Rev Pro matchmaker. In the background we see the start of a match that’s going on, but they cut away to tell us that this week’s main event is Doug Williams vs. Marty Scurll for the British Heavyweight Championship.
But first we have a six-way scramble match to crown a new number one contender for the Cruiserweight title – under “Mexican rules”, Andy says, as only two men should be in the ring at any time. The winner of this match will face either Will Ospreay or Rocky Romero – whose match is on the second episode – on the “At Our Best” show in Hoddesdon in April 2015. Zoe pitches “to ringside”, and we’ve had the entrances clipped for this one.
Jimmy Havoc vs. Josh Bodom vs. Owen Phoenix vs. Ryan Hendricks vs. Tiger Ali vs. Wild Boar
These matches were apparently taped in February 2015 at the Cockpit Theatre in London – the same venue that the promotion now runs monthly.
We start with Havoc against Owen Phoenix in the ring – this was one of Phoenix’s final matches according to CageMatch, whilst Ryan Hendricks is apparently the real life brother of Josh Bodom. Tiger Ali’s best known for his work in 4FW, and was an alternate in the recent WWE UK tournament.
Havoc quickly tags out to the Boar, who’s taken into the ropes by Phoenix for a clean break. Boar uses a forearm to break free of a wristlock, but a dropkick takes him back down as Jimmy Havoc drops off the apron to prevent a tag out from Phoenix. Boar tags in Ali, who flips over Phoenix with a back body drop for a two-count as Havoc breaks up the count.
Phoenix leaves the ring as Josh Bodom comes in, dropping Tiger for a two-count with a moonsault press as Havoc again breaks up the count. We then end up with Hendricks vs. Bodom, as Andy Simmonz on commentary tells us that Josh won’t allow Ryan to use the Bodom name, so “Flyin’ Ryan” ends up having to do without.
A springboard leg lariat takes down Bodom as Ryan’s cover is again broken up by Havoc, who’s more than happy to troll everyone else. Bodom lands a hiptoss into a knee strike for a two count, before the brothers bring Havoc into the ring as he’s forced to compete. Havoc takes a diving dropkick and an enziguiri from the Bodoms, before the ring fills up.
We’re left with Bodom slingshotting into a moonsault off the apron after he threw his brother out into the stage steps, and Ryan comes back with a body press off the top rope to knock the pile down! Phoenix does a dive next, as his tope con hilo connects, before Ryan and Havoc return to the ring… but Havoc escapes as Boar comes in to catch Hendricks with a cannonball senton as we start a parade of moves.
Phoenix lands a double stomp to the back as Ali breaks up the resulting cover. Some superkicks from Ali get a two-count as Bodom breaks it up, before a Lumbar Check follows… and Jimmy Havoc comes in to steal the pin. At under seven minutes, this was really brief, but fine for what it was. It’s odd seeing Jimmy Havoc in a Cruiserweight title scene, but there you go. 2015! **¼
After the match, Andy Quildan gets in the ring and interviews Havoc – whilst the commentary team talks all over this. Havoc rips into the hecklers, before promising to raise the Cruiserweight title over his head, as we get a harsh cut into an advert for some Rocky Romero merch. Unfortunately, the volumes were all over the place, as the background music overwhelmed Rocky.
We’ll get the elephant out of the way here – it’s the same sort of production that has ruined many a Cockpit show, with blurry cameras, odd cuts and staying with wandering cameras being the order of the day for the matches.
We’re back with Andy and Zoe in studio as we get clips of some of the dives as they recap what we just saw. That leads to a plug for next week’s Romero/Ospreay match… and then a video package featuring clips from High Stakes 2015. My main takeaway from this was how much some folks in this have aged in two years!
They crash back to “Matt Classic?” – Zoe doesn’t believe it’s not Colt Cabana, and this segues to a promo from Lord Gideon Grey. He’s mad that he was robbed by Colt Cabana – who was banned from wrestling in the UK after losing to Grey in March 2014. Grey threatens to take Colt to court for his podcast, his merch and his studio… flat. This builds up to a “message” that Gideon will have in two weeks.
A good promo, but again, what’s with the loud background music??
We’re back with just Zoe, and it’s main event time!
Revolution Pro Wrestling British Heavyweight Championship: Doug Williams vs. Marty Scurll (c)
Spoiler everybody: a match between two good wrestlers was great!
Scurll launches into Williams at the bell with an enziguiri, before he powders to the floor as Williams tries to counter a chicken wing with a Chaos Theory. Back in the ring, they go back and forth as Williams maintains a wristlock, holding onto it through a monkey flip until Scurll heads into the corner.
After leaping over Williams, Scurll gets a toe hold, but he can’t keep it on as Williams escaped into some grounded headscissors. Those are escaped and turned into a toe hold as Scurll tries to flip out, but only ends up in a bow and arrow hold. From there, Williams catches Scurll in a Japanese stranglehold, but it gets reversed back and forth as Williams ends the exchange on top after a diving shoulder tackle.
Scurll tries to catch Doug in the ropes, and eventually comes back into the ring with an arm whip, before he sent the veteran into the crowd. A series of knee strikes and an enziguiri to a kneeling Doug gets a one-count, so Scurll moves into an Octopus hold then a roll-up as he took control. A finger snap out of nowhere keeps Doug down, before a comeback gets cut-off with an elbow off the ropes.
A kick to the knees takes Doug down for a two-count, but Williams again tries to make a comeback, hurling Scurll across the ring with an overhead belly-to-belly. The Just Kidding superkick knocks Doug down, but he hits back with a clothesline to leave both men laying. Williams stands up and delivers some more uppercuts and knees, then picks up a two-count from a clothesline.
Scurll launches into another flurry that ends with a superkick on the apron – something that almost led to a count-out – but Williams leapt back in at the count of nine. More offence from Scurll led to another Just Kidding superkick out of a sunset flip, but Doug blocks it and gets a schoolboy for a near-fall as he launches back into an Exploder, then with a back elbow off the top rope for another two-count.
The crowd are calling for the Chaos Theory, but Scurll avoids it and leaps into a chicken wing. Doug avoids it and goes back for the Chaos Theory, which is blocked again, as Scurll leaps up into a wheelbarrow roll-up for the win. A fantastic match which I’m sure has been criminally underseen. ****
There’s a handshake after the match, but James Castle comes out to jump Williams as Scurll just watches on as his Revolutionist stable-mate chokes away on Doug. Jake McCluskey makes the save, and then the show… just ends with the Rev Pro logo. Strange that there’s not even a sign-off for next week’s show.
Episode 2
We start again with Zoe Lucas and the green screen, and apparently this week is all about championships. Cue the title screen and an Andy Quildan magically appears to run down today’s main event: Rocky Romero vs. Will Ospreay.
Uh-oh, they recap last week’s main event with a music video of Doug Williams vs. Marty Scurll. Given this is on YouTube, is there much point to this, other than padding out time?! It leads to a plug for Marty Scurll vs. Davey Richards, and then some speculation over why James Castle got involved after the match. Could they not have instead put in a video package of Jimmy Havoc, since he’s challenging the winner of today’s main event?
We then get a promo from James Castle, who’s apparently targeting Jake McCluskey rather than Doug. Eh? Next week will feature the fall-out from the “At Our Best” event, and that challenge from Gideon Grey. But first, we get more build to the main event – Andy says that Ospreay needs to win this, and speaking of, we get some promos from Romero and the “Ariel Assassin”. I hope the Little Mermaid came out unscathed…
Romero runs down his title history, and needless to say, Ospreay’s CV was pretty much overshadowed.
Revolution Pro Wrestling British Cruiserweight Championship: Rocky Romero vs. Will Ospreay (c)
Remember our spoiler from show one? Lets repeat it here: good wrestlers, great match!
Ospreay starts with a wristlock, before Romero reverses it into a takedown but Will gets out of it and trips Rocky into a toe-hold. The ground-based grappling continues as Romero gets a headlock, and he clings onto it for grim death, before he’s shoved off… and drops Will with a shoulder tackle.
Ospreay Matrix’s out of a head kick, before his evasion of Romero’s strikes end up with him crashing face first to the mat. Rocky forces Ospreay to bridge back from a test of strength, before Will reverses it all the way to collect a couple of one counts out of it. Romero monkey flips Will, but he lands on his feet and ends up taking the Cuban down with a dropkick.
Romero tries to fight out of a grounded armbar, before eventually succumbing to a version of the Tequila Sunrise. Romero gets free, but he’s levelled with a forearm as he blocks an Irish whip, and eventually catches Will in a cross armbreaker… only for Ospreay to easily make the ropes and roll outside after the break.
Rocky follows him and chops him around the ringside area, then ends up being pushed into the ringpost as Ospreay shoves off a lawn dart attempt. Romero catches a through-the-corner diving DDT and wraps Will’s arm around the ringpost as the “Forever Hooligan” mounts a comeback. An Octopus hold follows from Romero, but Will drags his way into the ropes before Rocky slows the pace down further with an armbar.
Romero hooks himself in the ropes, then slides away as Ospreay charged at him as that comeback was cut-off once more, ending with a dropkick as Will was hung in the ropes. That got Rocky a two-count, as he continued to target Will’s arm with a cobra clutch, before Ospreay worked free… and collided with Romero as they both went for cross bodies at the same time.
Will comes back with a handspring off the ropes into an overhead kick, before a standing moonsault gets a near-fall. A move off the top is aborted before a Sliced Bread #2 is blocked from Romero, leading to a reverse brainbuster from Ospreay for a near-fall. They continue to go back and forth, as Ospreay takes a reverse enziguiri then some Forever lariats, before the Sliced Bread #2 gets Romero a near-fall.
Another cross armbreaker follows, but Rocky’s rolled-up for a near-fall, before he counters an OsCutter into another cross armbreaker. Will gets out, but quickly gets a back elbow before flipping out of a German suplex and dropping Romery with a standing shooting star press. They trade more kicks and forearms, then knee strikes, before Romero’s superkicked as he hooked himself in the ropes. One OsCutter later, Romero’s left laying for a shooting star press, and Will retains! A fun match, which went surprisingly long, but didn’t have any down-time you’d expect from a (relative) newcomer. ****
After the match, Jimmy Havoc appears for the obligatory “I want your title” facedown – a reverse of what was going on in PROGRESS at around this time, as it was Ospreay chasing Havoc there- as the show again crashed to a sudden end.
Well, that was quite the opening pair of shows. Helped by the fact that they had no fixed run times, Rev Pro was able to give us two four-star matches in as many shows – and these are matches that are worth your time. Of course, the long-standing Rev Pro bugbears of blurry cameras come into play, but they don’t ruin these particular shows.