We’re back for another dose of RevPro’s 2015 YouTube series – and another series of matches from the London Cockpit!
These shows all aired in the days after Rev Pro’s “At Our Best” event in April 2015 – and with the next big show taking place in June, we’d expect some build towards that card to at least be started at here.
Episode 3
It’s the usual open – Zoe Lucas in front of a green screen before she runs down what’s on the show tonight.
First, we go back a year to High Stakes 2014 where Colt Cabana lost his Rev Pro British title to Marty Scurll. There’s clips from Terry Frazier and Sha Samuels double-teaming Colt before the chicken wing earned Marty the title in sudden-death extra time in an Iron Man match. A graphic then takes us to “24 hours later High Stakes 2015” – which just makes no sense at all in this context. In reality, it’s 24 hours later from High Stakes 2014, at a show called Sittingbourne Spectacular. We see Lord Gideon Grey complaining that he’s not gotten his British Heavyweight Title match, and he threatened to hold the show hostage until he got his title match.
They show clips of Cabana’s promo where he put his Rev Pro career on the line against Gideon Grey’s winning streak, then clips of how Grey beat Cabana thanks to a lot of interference from Rishi Ghosh. After clips of Colt’s farewell speech, we jump forward to “12 months later” at High Stakes 2015, where Colt made his return… only for Gideon Grey to ruin the party and demand that security escort Colt out of the building. Later in the show, Grey had an open challenge that was answered by Matt Classic. Whose similarity to Colt is entirely coincidental.
Of course, Grey lost to Matt Classic, and now we’re back to the Cockpit where Grey has a “message for Matt Classic”. This week they’ve added a graphic to name the commentators and their Twitter handles, which is a nice touch in lieu of any to-camera pieces.
Grey rips on the crowd, saying that they’ll leave nothing but skin, bone and distant memories when they die, whereas Grey had a plan to leave a legacy… but that legacy of a winning streak was ruined by “one liar and cheat”. A message comes out “for Colt Cabana”, and it’s a trainee in the mask of Matt Classic, announced as Matt Classic Jr.
Gideon Grey vs. Matt Classic Jr.
Judging by the physique, I swear that’s Kurtis Chapman under the hood – aka “the kid who everyone says needs to bulk up”. Grey grounds Classic with a wristlock out of the gate, but it’s turned into a hammerlock that Classic easily escapes. The youngster rolls up Grey for a near-fall, and to his credit, Classic Jr holds on until Grey decides to stop playing around, and just levels him with a punch.
A tiltawhirl backbreaker takes down Classic, who’s then dropped with a single underhook suplex for a near-fall. The Grey-plex (Fisherman’s suplex) comes next, and this is all one-way now, before a Regalplex damn near kills Classic Jr, who’s then forced to submit with the House of Lords – acamel clutch-esque hold. Basic, and too short to be anything other than an angle. *
After the match, Grey picks up the kid and gives him the Go To Sleep – to a few CM Punk chants – before unmasking “Matt Classic Jr”.
We’re back to the studio with Zoe and Andy Quildan – who are both standing on an angle. They announce a match with 2 Unlimited next week, plus a match between Sha Samuels and Mark Haskins.
Zoe then pitches to a slideshow from At Our Best – some 24 hours earlier, I believe – with Will Ospreay successfully defending his Cruiserweight title over Jimmy Havoc, thanks to some interference from Josh Bodom. Andy and Zoe are still slanted to the right, which I’d like to think is just a wonky tripod!
Andy speculates whether Josh Bodom “went into business for himself”, or whether his interference was “approved” by Sha Samuels. Somehow, I’m not sure we’ll find out in this next match, but hey, it’s a tenuous link between Revolutionist stable mates!
James Castle vs. Jake McCluskey
Since we last saw him, James Castle has spiked his skunk-inspired hairdo… Jake McCluskey is a babyface here, as “Mr Moonsault”. Yeah, I can see why the crowd eventually turned on this vanilla act!
Castle spits at Jake, who replies with a double-leg takedown and a bunch of forearms as he unloads at “Mr Moonsault”. As the referee remonstrates with Jake, Castle comes back, but McCluskey scores a near-fall with a standing moonsault before he clotheslines Castle to the outside. A dive attempt followed, as Jake cartwheeled over an attempted chair shot, before landing a dropkick on the apron. They continue to brawl around the ring, before a running strike misses as Jake hits the ringpost. Castle throws him back into it, as he then rolls McCluskey in for a couple of near-falls before he uses a neck crank to wear down the flyer. McCluskey’s taken into the corner by his ear apparently, before Castle looks to bite his ear in full view of the referee.
A comeback from Jake’s quickly cut-off as Castle lands some knees and a single-underhook suplex for a near-fall. They end up back outside as Castle peppers Jake with some shots, before he’s charged into the apron as McCluskey finally makes a comeback, throwing Castle’s head into the apron. Jake rolls back in and comes straight back out with a tope, before throwing Castle in the ring for a moonsault… but Castle rolls away, and quickly ends up taking a discus lariat for a near-fall.
More clotheslines take down Castle, as does a discus forearm, before Jake lifts him up for a powerbomb into a Codebreaker for a near-fall. Jake looks to get that moonsault again, but Castle gets his knee up, then hits a diving knee to get a two-count himself.
Castle calls for a curb stomp, but McCluskey switches out into a sunset flip for a near-fall, before a leg lariat sets up for a moonsault… but Sha Samuels runs in to knock him down, and there’s a DQ. Samuels beats on McCluskey afterwards, and that’s the match… decent for what it was, but nothing you’ll remember afterwards. **½
After the match, Samuels holds McCluskey in a front facelock whilst Castle lands some chairshots before Sha declares that the Revolutionists are taking over. The camera stays on Samuels and Castle leaving the arena, and the show crashes to its familiar ending.
Episode 4
We open with footage from At Our Best, where Marty Scurll is celebrating another title defence as he notes that he’s beaten everyone Rev Pro’s thrown at him. This leads to the announcement of Scurll vs. AJ Styles for June’s Summer Sizzler… and then we crash to the opening titles.
We open to the ever-leaning Zoe Lucas and an unsure Andy Quildan in the studio, and he confirms what we just heard from Scurll – adding that this match will be for Scurll’s title. They then plug 2 Unlimited’s match tonight, and the Sha Samuels/Mark Haskins main event. But first… a match!
2 Unlimited (Jay Sammon & Patrick Sammon) vs. Big Damo & Psycho Phillips
Two guesses what music these guys used. Andy Simmonz gets off of commentary and cuts a promo from the upper deck in the Cockpit, noting that they beat Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian “last week”. Simmonz has a way to stop their progression – in the form of “the biggest tag team in Revolution Pro Wrestling”. Big Damo and Psycho Phillips… who came out to “I Will Be Heard” – the Hatebreed song that Rampage Brown made famous in PROGRESS…
We joke in 2017 that Rev Pro is effectively multiple companies, given the matches they book at York Hall vs. Portsmouth, and this match alone showed it – since this match took place, only Damo has done York Hall shows, whilst Phillips is hardly even featured on Rev Pro these days.
Damo and Phillips jump their Irish opponents at the bell, but the Sammons end up dropping Damo with a pair of enziguiris, before Phillips eats two dropkicks. Psycho is low bridged and sent to the outside, but Damo catches Jay Sammon’s plancha, before Patrick’s dive is knocked away with an uppercut. Back inside, Damo gets a two-count before Philips scored a short-arm clothesline for a near-fall on Jay.
Jay’s thrown into Damo’s boot, before the Northern Irishman deliberately distracts the referee so that Phillips can continue to work over Jay in the corner. A back senton squashes Jay, who’s kept isolated from his brother for a while longer. Phillips lands a headbutt to end a comeback from Jay, before a moonsault off the top rope takes down Damo… and finally Patrick gets the tag in! A missile dropkick takes down Damo, as Patrick flips out of the ring and throws in a Sliced Bread onto the apron on Phillips.
Patrick’s a house of fire here, and he uses his brother as a battering ram, monkey flipping Jay into Damo, before a Finlay roll and the Limitless Effect (450 Legdrop, then a double stomp) only gets them a near-fall. Phillips turfs out Patrick as Jay avoids a chokeslam, then snatches the win with a schoolboy. **
Well, 2 Unlimited were on defence for a lot of this match, but it was obvious that they were getting some afters as they stayed in the ring as they were attacked, with Phillips giving Jay a chokeslam, before Patrick was powerbombed on top of his brother… all in front of an increasingly frustrated ref! The small/quiet crowd meant that we got to hear a lot more of Chris Roberts – including his exasperation to this beat-down…
We’re back in the green screen again as the leaning pair of Andy and Zoe recap what we just saw. Cut to a badly-mixed video for Rocky Romero’s t-shirt, then more clips from At Our Best, this time in the form of a video package. A video package that gave away that the match we just saw would end up taking place again on the At Our Best card. It’s worth noting that the “pillow case” turnbuckles were still being used here, as Rev Pro wouldn’t replace them for some time…
More leaning goodness follows as Andy shills the on-demand service, but Zoe begs us to stay for the main event!
Sha Samuels vs. Mark Haskins
Haskins had only just returned to Rev Pro in this timeline at February 2015’s High Stakes, when he reunited the Thrillers with Joel Redman, who was somehow able to keep the tag titles when Martin Stone left the company as champion.
Haskins started with a waistlock takedown before Samuels scurried into the ropes. A hammerlock keeps the East End Butcher down, but Samuels manages to fight his way free and drop Haskins with a shoulder tackle. Sha ducks a kick and heads to the outside as Josh Bodom appears for the hell of it to support his Revolutionist stablemate.
Haskins joins Samuels on the outside, and that game of cat and mouse ends with Sha jumping Haskins back inside. The tables turn again as Sha ducks another kick and rolls outside, but Mark just follows him there with some kicks as Samuels leans against the ringpost, and of course, Bodom gets into Haskins’ face, which allows Samuels to roll as far away as popular… but it just means he rolls into the path of a tope from Haskins. Another distraction allows Samuels to hang Haskins on the top rope, then throw him into the ring post, where he falls to the floor so Bodom can get some shots in. Back in the ring, Samuels uses his scarf to choke Haskins, which leads to chants of “we want Paz” as some of the PROGRESS fans in the Cockpit want a referee who isn’t written to be clueless.
Samuels uses his braces on Haskins, then throws in a suplex for a near-fall, before “The Star Attraction” flew in with a springboard crossbody to collect a near-fall for himself. More kicks to a kneeling Samuels follow, as Sha takes a drop toe hold into the corner for an eventual running boot that gets Haskins a near-fall. Mark gets caught on the top turnbuckle by Sha, but Haskins overcomes him and hangs him in a tree of woe on the outside of the ring, before peppering him with some dropkicks.
Back inside, Samuels takes a short-arm lariat for a near-fall, before Haskins floats over into the bridging armbar. Haskins puts on the breaks to avoid a ref bump, and ends up being thrown with an overhead belly-to-belly, before a leap over is caught and turned into a Samoan driver for a near-fall.
Samuels has a moan at the referee’s count, but that just lets Haskins recover a little as he switches out of a piledriver and eventually pops up with a roll through into a death valley driver as Josh Bodom pulled the referee out of the ring at the count of two. Haskins gets distracted from it and takes a spinebuster, before he rolls through into a sharpshooter, but Josh Bodom gets up on the apron again as Samuels taps whilst the referee was distracted.
Haskins knocks Bodom off the apron as he goes back to the butcher, who uses Haskins’ title belt on him, and that belt shot was enough for Sha to get the win. I could have done without the interferences, but this was a really good TV match, and easily the best of the two episodes we covered here. ***½
As usual, it seems, the show ends with Sha Samuels announced as the winner, before the show crashed to an end.
Well, if the first two shows highlighted Rev Pro’s elite, these two shows highlighted the other side of the company. Live action from guys who ordinarily wouldn’t get on the “big shows” is very much like WWE promoting their PPVs using nothing but Main Event – it exposes the product for some, but without the big names, you’re not going to be getting as many eyeballs as you can!