Michael Oku continued to prepare for his shot at the gold as he took on former ICW champion Leyton Buzzard at the 229.
Quick Results
Luke Jacobs pinned Joshua James in 16:03 (***¾)
Rampage Brown pinned Zak Knight in 8:49 (***¼)
Hyan pinned Skye Smitson in 10:25 (***¼)
Robbie X pinned Harrison Bennett to retain the Rev Pro Undisputed British Cruiserweight Championship in 13:44 (***½)
Connor Mills pinned Lee Dawson in 11:38 (***¼)
Danny Jones & Brendan White pinned Levi Muir & Sha Samuels to retain the Rev Pro Undisputed British Tag Team Championships in 11:51 (***¼)
Michael Oku pinned Leyton Buzzard in 20:28 (***¾)
— To watch this show, head over to RevProOnDemand.com – they’re currently running a free trial…
Since we last watched Rev Pro… they’ve only gone and bloody announced a show at London’s Copper Box Arena over All In weekend in August. But first, all roads pass through next month’s Epic Encounter, with five shows after this one to go… so let’s get cracking.
Commentary from the 229 in London comes from the usual duo of Andy Quildan and Gio. Still missing a last name.
Joshua James vs. Luke Jacobs
With Gabriel Kidd having made a move in Japan earlier in the day, Luke was back in London warming up for his clash with Gabe next month… against a Joshua James who, on paper, should have been a straightforward foe, given that he’s a Contender.
This hoss fight started off strong, with Jacobs putting the boots to James early on, but it wasn’t long before the pair were beginning to knock lumps out of each other. Shoulder tackles sent both men flying, leading to chops on the outside as the acoustics of the 229 were put to the test.
Back inside, Jacobs was nonchalantly kicking around James before he eventually got Snake Eye’d into the corner. Luke’s back with a RINGKAMPF-style German suplex away from the ropes, with more loud chops following ahead of a shotgun dropkick out of the corner from James.
James’ lariat gets swatted away as Luke unleashed the violence party in the corner ahead of the Shibata-ish dropkick. Ahem. A superplex damn near rearranges the boards in the ring as Jacobs sent James flying… James dug deep for a big forearm smash to Jaocbs, which sparked off another exchange of chops, only for Luke to try and lariat the head off of James in a bid to end this.
Jacobs finally gets slammed, as a lariat led to a big splash off the middle rope for a near-fall… more lariats take us past the 15-minute mark, only for Jacobs to return with a sit-out powerbomb, before one more wild lariat thwacked through James for the win. Yep, this was a damned hoss fight, and if this is your kind of wrestling, you’ll love this. A victory in defeat for James, who I feel is on the verge of graduating out of those black trunks… ***¾
Rampage Brown vs. Zak Knight
Welcome back Gideon Grey, who’s here to announce Rampage Brown’s arrival… and deal with some dissent from the crowd over Dan Moloney’s defection. Shouldn’t have offered a bubble tea…
This was a rather different style of the “big lads match with Rampage in particular looking to throw Zak around the ring as well as throwing bombs in this one. Irish whips nearly put Knight through the corners before Zak looked to go all World of Sport on us, eventually chuckling Rampage outside for a quick plancha.
Back inside, Rampage caught a flying crossbody and turned it into a slam, before a flying shoulder tackle off the middle rope kept him ahead as this was becoming pretty much one-way traffic for Rampage. Knight’s attempt at a suplex after catching Rampage off the middle rope eventually comes through as the pair trade strikes… Knight pulled ahead, back body dropping away a piledriver, only to springboard into a boot as a gutwrench powerbomb almost got the win for Rampage.
Knight’s slingshot and spear almost won it for him moments later, before a crucifix buckle bomb was escaped… allowing Rampage to come right back in with a piledriver for the pretty sudden win. It’s another high-profile loss for Zak, who needs to snap that streak before it becomes a defining one. ***¼
Gideon sticks around as we sorta-Heyman-special into the next match, complete with indignation from Andy Q, and a few donations to the swear jar.
Skye Smitson vs. Hyan
We’ve got the return of Hyan here as Gideon jumped on commentary for this one, after being nudged that this wasn’t for Skye’s title…
A cheapshot from Smitson gets us going, but Hyan’s able to score with a drop-down and a tijeras as Smitson found herself on the back foot. Hyan’s gutwrench facebuster scores a two-count, before Hyan got taken to the ropes for some choking. The pair fight over a suplex, with Hyan winning out, only for Smitson to hit back with a suplex of her own moments later.
Chops from Smitson take Hyan back down, before she fought back with forearm strikes and a back suplex that folded Skye in half. Skye swats away a low-pe, but couldn’t avoid a second dive from Hyan, before a running knee into the corner was avoided. Hyan quickly got back in control with a short crossbody, then with a shotgun dropkick and that running knee into the corner.
Smitson threw Hyan’s ring jacket at her to force an opening, before Smitson sat down on a sunset flip attempt… grabbing the ropes for leverage. Of course, the ref won’t count it, so Smitson added an Air Raid Crash for a near-fall, before Hyan countered a Smitson Effect into a Northern Lights suplex…adding a Glam Slam at the end for the upset win. ***¼
An impressive win for Hyan there led to her post-match interview with Kelly Marshall, where she was about to challenge Skye to a title match at York Hall… only for Alex Windsor to make her return from injury. Windsor isn’t cleared to compete, yet, but suggested that Hyan challenge for something other than a “dead-arse championship.” Smitson attacks, Windsor saves, only for Dani Luna to intervene… and I suspect we’re getting a four-way at York Hall to finally unify the Southside and Rev Pro women’s titles.
Rev Pro Undisputed British Cruiserweight Championship: Harrison Bennett vs. Robbie X (c)
This was a rematch from earlier in the year in Cardiff, where a shoulder injury derailed Bennett’s title shot… but a win over Robbie X in a tag match a month ago made sure this was more than a copy/paste match.
Bennett attacked Robbie X before the bell, taking him outside as the pair fought… leading to Robbie hitting a wall-flip into the Welshman by the crowd. They headed over to the other side of the room, where Robbie X took over as we finally got going, with the champion targeting that previously-injured shoulder in the opening stages.
Bennett manages to take over as he stomped on Robbie X on the apron, before an Irish whip into the corner had Robbie X in a heap by the buckles. Robbie’s grounded with a chinlock as the challenger looked to stop Robbie from taking to the skies. An inside cradle nearly nicks it for Robbie X though, who began to find his second wind ahead of a springboard Molly Go Round.
A diving gamengiri into the corner from Bennett looked to give him an opening, as did a running front kick and a spinebuster… but it’s only good for a near-fall. Bennett adds a slingshot stomp back into the ring as he looked to dictate the pace again, only for a Tiger feint kick in the corner and a moonsault off the top to turn it back around.
Robbie’s wild lariat took Bennett into the corner as the pair changed tactics, leading to Bennett kicking Robbie out of the air… Robbie’s able to fight back, only for his X-Claimation to get caught and turned into a death valley driver into the corner for a near-fall. A rope-hanging uranage’s escaped by Robbie X, who’s able to take Bennett outside for a tope into the second row, before he powerbombed Bennet from the apron back into the ring.
A Spiral Tap follows for a near-fall from there, only for Bennett to spin Robbie inside out with a discus lariat as the pair were swinging for the fences… leading to Robbie popping up from a snap German suplex before he snatched the win with the X-Claimation. It’s another successful defence for Robbie, who’s getting closer to that Oku record… ***½
…and a record that Connor Mills is looking to stop as he came out to attack Robbie after the match.
Lee Dawson vs. Connor Mills
It’s a debut for the newest addition to Rev Pro’s Contenders division – but we’ve got some spill-over from before the interval, as Robbie X attacked Mills during the entrances.
Mills escapes into the ring, but that just starts the match as Dawson almost marked his debut with a win via a diving kick. Mills kicks out, then heads outside into the path of a tope cannonball, before a missile dropkick back inside added another near-fall as Dawson’s Rev Pro career began in explosive fashion.
Mills takes things outside as he began to kick and chop his way through the debutant, before an Irish whip had Dawson bouncing off the buckles. It looked like it’ll be all Mills from there, but Dawson manages to sneak in a backslide and an inside cradle as he looked for the flash pin, before he scored a nice Gotch lift out of a schoolboy. Bloody hell, Lee…
Dawson fired off some forearms in the corner, then a gamengiri as wrecking ball knees in the corner had Mills rocked. A neckbreaker adds a near-fall before Mills’ flurry of strikes managed to turn it back around, with that suplex/powerbomb landing next. Hey, remember Dragon Lee’s Desnucadora that everyone had trouble spelling? It’s that…
Dawson’s able to fight back into land a rope-hanging Flatliner for a near-fall before he missed a double stomp off the top. A headbutt sees Dawson sent Mills backwards, but the rebound lariat followed before Mills put Dawson away with a Burning Cutter. I was hugely impressed by Dawson here on his debut – with him showing plenty on day one to suggest he’ll become a cult favourite in these parts. ***¼
Rev Pro Undisputed British Tag Team Championship: Levi Muir & Sha Samuels vs. Greedy Souls (Brendan White & Danny Jones) (c)
Two months ago we had Sha Samuels and Ricky Knight Jr. winning singles matches over the tag champions – and with Levi Muir also beating Brendan White last month, we’ve ended up with this as RKJ was out of action.
Brendan White looked to start against Levi Muir, but tagged out at the bell… which meant that Levi had an easy antagonist to lose his focus on on the apron. Sha tagged in and hit a diving uppercut to Jones’ knee as the London duo looked to isolate Danny… but Levi gets distracted by Brendan, and that opened the door for the champions to come in with a pair of back sentons.
Muir’s able to escape a suplex, returning with a neckbreaker to White before tags brought in Samuels and Jones… with the former landing a Michinoku driver for a near-fall. Brendan’s back as the Greedy Souls hit a double-team slam to Sha… and it’s somewhere in here I noticed Gio’s disappeared from the audio track.
More double-teaming to Sha led to a swinging neckbreaker for a near-fall, before an elbow drop out of the corner bought Sha some time… enough to tag in Muir, who was the proverbial house afire as he ran wild with Exploders on White. Sha’s back to hit an East End Destroyer off the middle rope, before Muir returned to hit a running crossbody that forced Jones in to break up the pin on.
A Cactus Clothesline from Sha took him and Danny to the outside… Sha’s then knocked off the apron as Muir was shoved into the ropes, and after Jones posted Sha, it’s a clear path through for the champions as the Soul Destroyer put away Muir. ***¼
Post-match, the Greedy Souls took the mic and counted through the challengers they’ve beaten – and demanded fresh blood, since they were already lapping the field.
Leyton Buzzard vs. Michael Oku
This was set up last month when Buzzard interrupted Oku…
Oku charges the ring as we get a jump start here, with Oku and Buzzard trading blows ahead of a pop-up dropkick and a teased Fosbury flop from Oku. Buzzard gets chopped by the ring post as it was all Oku in the early stages… at least until Buzzard tripped him into the ropes, then followed up with a backbreaker amid some geographic chanting.
Chops from Buzzard light up Oku in the corner, ahead of a slam and a legdrop for a two-count. A snapmare and a low dropkick keeps Buzzard ahead, only for Oku to fire back with a missile dropkick after he’d been taken from corner to corner. Buzzard’s forced to kick out from a DDT as he’s then taken outside for the Fosbury Flop.
Back inside, a froggy crossbody gets Oku a near-fall, before Buzzard caught Oku up top and flung him down with a release belly-to-belly superplex. Resuming, the pair trade blows before Oku got his knees up to block a standing moonsault from Buzzard… only to get flung into the ropes with another overhead belly-to-belly. Buzzard pounced with a moonsault as Oku just about kicked out in time, before he was forced to defend a Sharpshooter.
Buzzard holds on, but Oku makes it to the ropes… where Buzzard keeps up the offence, only to miss a missile dropkick as Oku found a way in with a half crab. The ropes save Buzzard, who ate a misdirection knee and a springboard moonsault seconds later, as Oku then faceplanted in Buzzard’s boots on a frog splash. Buzzard dives in with a Shining Wizard to the back of the head, as he began another barrage of offence, leading to a Coast to Coast dropkick… then a piledriver as Oku was just about kicking out in time. A half crab from Buzzard’s countered with an inside cradle, before a wild lariat spun Oku… but Buzzard’s search for a pop-up powerbomb ended up costing him as Oku countered into a huracanrana, folding forward on the landing on a modern day take of the SummerSlam ’92 finish to snatch the pin! ***¾
After surviving, Oku took the mic and put over Buzzard as the real deal – although not without a cheeky dig at ICW. Oku offered Buzzard a future title shot after he wins at York Hall, and of course, the ensuing respect hug ended up going sour as Buzzard kicked the ropes into Oku as he went to leave. Now he lands that pop-up powerbomb, before decking referee Chris Hatch… then went to get in Amira’s face as she was checking on Oku. That drew out Cameron Khai to make the save, but he too took a pop-up powerbomb as Buzzard vowed that this was just the beginning of him in Rev Pro.
These monthly London shows are Rev Pro’s bread and butter – and usually had a level of consistency that carried through here. Come for the big lads battering each other at the start, and stay the course as Rev Pro starts perhaps their most important summer season yet.