It’s the last stop before the 13th Anniversary weekend – so Rev Pro’s headed to the south coast to wrap up the Great British Tag League.
Quick Results
Zozaya defeated James Ellis
Great British Tag League Block B: Kieron Lacey & Mark Trew pinned Danny Black & Joe Lando
Emersyn Jayne pinned Anita Vaughan in 14:14 (***)
Luke Jacobs submitted Kelly Sixx in 14:56 (***)
Aluna defeated Jane Nero via referee stoppage in 2:07
Great British Tag League Block A: 1 Called Manders & Thomas Shire pinned James Drake & Zack Gibson in around 19:20 (***)
Ricky Knight Jr. defeated Harry Milligan via referee stoppage in 7:25 (**½)
Great British Tag League Block B: Connor Mills & Jay Joshua defeated David Francisco & JJ Gale in 20:08 (***½)
— To watch this show, head over to RevProOnDemand.com
Don’t call this a comeback – but with this being the last show before the 13th Anniversary/Global Wars double-header, it’d be remiss to drop by, particularly since we’ve got the last knockings of this year’s Great British Tag League.
Going into today’s show we had a straight shoot-out in block A – if the Grizzled Young Veterans avoid defeat, they’re through to the finals on Saturday; but a win for the Cowboy Way mean they’ll take that spot after having their three matches inside seven days. In block B, it’s a little more of “G1 block finals day” about it – if Connor Mills and Jay Joshua avoid defeat against the Sons of Southampton, then they take the block. Should they lose, we’ll be looking at who wins the CPF vs. Trew & Lacey match, with a CPF win there giving us a three-way tie instead of the Sons going through. Got that?
Anyway, we’re at the 1865 in Southampton for this, with commentary coming from Dave Bradshaw and Gideon Grey… joining the show in progress since technical issues lost the first 40 minutes of the stream.
Zozaya vs. James Ellis
This one’ll need to wait for the VOD to go up, since Stripe and the rest of the Gremlins were hard at work here.
Great British Tag League Block B: Mark Trew & Kieron Lacey vs. CPF (Danny Black & Joe Lando)
This is where we joined on the live feed, quickly followed by Gideon having a pop at referee Chris Hatch for his officiating.
Trew and Lacey were in control as we joined this one, with Gideon chiming in with a suggestion for how CPF could make the finals without listing a finger. A missed Aim Assist from Trew and Lacey gave Lando an opening to make the tag out, with Danny Black running wild en route to a standing Spanish Fly for a near-fall.
A Clash Bomb from Danny Black forces a near-fall as CPF kept going, at least until a reverse ‘rana from Trew countered a FIJ as Kieron Lacey almost wiped out CPF on the floor. Mark Trew’s Sasuke special was even scarier, but he shakes it off to hit the Gravedigger double-team for a near-fall.
A wild shooting star press/neckbreaker combo on Lacey forces a near-fall for CPF, but one last turnaround has Kieron Lacey snatch the win with a piledriver… with Will Kaven’s interference preventing Black from kicking out. That eliminates CPF, which means both blocks come down to a straight shoot-out.
Emersyn Jayne vs. Anita Vaughan
This was the first time we’ve seen Emersyn since she came up short to Safire Reed last month in that contendership tournament…
An even start to this one saw Vaughan and Jayne exchange pinning attempts before Jayne’s crossbody was caught and turned into a fallaway slam. Commentary spent the early part of this talking up Anita’s history elsewhere with Safire Reed, and the still-standing offer to join the Cut Throat Collective.
Vaughan heads outside and gets met with the dropkick through the ropes, turning the match around as the Scot managed to control proceedings for a spell. Rolling Anita through into a chokehold almost forces the stoppage, but Anita powers up to her feet before swivelling Jayne around for an impressive deadlift suplex.
From the restart, clotheslines and dropkicks from Vaughan saw her pull ahead, only for a quick turnaround to allow Jayne to come back in with a Shadowfax baseball slide German suplex. Emersyn’s take on a slingshot cutter’s next, but it’s not enough as she instead hung up Vaughan on the ropes ahead of an apron PK that’s countered out of.
Back inside, Vaughan’s sitout powerbomb almost wins it, only for Jayne to pull her in for a bridging German suplex on her knees. It’s to no avail though as a Ki Krusher swings it back for AV, before one last turnaround allowed Jayne to get the win with the Jig ‘n’ Tonic – a good back and forth outing, but at least on the stream the crowd didn’t sound that much into it. ***
My feed wobbles as we’ve got Safire Reed out afterwards as the campaign to get Anita onboard continued…
We’ve got a video promo from Kelly Sixx, who told us that he’d given himself til the end of this year to get a shot in Rev Pro otherwise he’d retire. He’s got his booking, and for those of us who were in the Cockpit back in the day… bring on the wall!
Kelly Sixx vs. Luke Jacobs
That video package earned Kelly a good reaction, but he’s got a big test on his hands here…
After getting dumped on his arm, Sixx tried to mount a comeback, only to get charged through by Jacobs, who followed up with chops and forearms in the corner a la Ishii… but it felt early on that Luke wasn’t quite having to go at full pelt here.
A rear naked choke from Jacobs is eventually broken out of, but Sixx has to head outside to make a mark, avoiding Luke’s charge before throwing him into the corner as a set-up for a TKO-like stunner. Sixx adds a swinging DDT before… he ran into a simple forearm from Jacobs to stem the tide.
An overhead kick from Sixx just earns him a pop-up powerbomb and a Boston crab from Jacobs… who transitions into a bulldog choke before things ended in the ropes. Absorbing more chops, Sixx fired back, at least until a Jacobs lariat and sheer-drop brainbuster landed for a near-fall.
Anticipating another lariat, Sixx blocks before hitting a Big Ending into a cutter… only to run into another lariat as Jacobs put the brakes on things. Another chop from Jacobs knocks Sixx off the top rope… and after kicking out from a pumphandle tombstone and yet another lariat to the back of the head, a rear naked choke forces the stoppage. This one told a good story with Jacobs underestimating Sixx, but as both men raised their game it was clear by the end that Jacobs was the proverbial cut above. Hopefully this isn’t another one and done (for now) here for Sixx… ***
Post-match, Jacobs told Sixx he had to work his way back up the card in Rev Pro, then ordered him out of the ring… Sixx didn’t go, so Ethan Allen booted him in the head. Ethan took the mic and displayed how poorly he took the Young Guns’ elimination from the Great British Tag League.
Aluna vs. Jane Nero
It’s a Rev Pro debut for Nero, as we were spared the Blutsbrüder music here…
Nero had a bright start to the match, but Aluna hit back with a low dropkick for an early two-count as Gideon on commentary was on a tear. Blocking a Tiger Feint kick, Nero’s able to hit Aluna with an uppercut in the ropes, only for her knee to buckle, forcing a delayed stoppage. An unfortunate ending to Nero’s debut, and hopefully she’s not out for too long.
Great British Tag League Block A: Cowboy Way (1 Called Manders & Thomas Shire) vs. Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake)
It’s win or bust for Cowboy Way, with Manders having brought the wXw Unified World Wrestling title belt with him… and Shire a healthy dislike of red and white stripes.
Shire had a good start, working over Gibson’s left arm before a separation led to both men eventually tagging out. There’s a cheapshot from Drake after the tag, as he looked to wind up the cowboys… but that just yielded shoulder tackles before Drake caught Manders with a suckerpunch.
Manders responded with a shoulder tackle, while Thomas Shire’s clothesline made sure Drake couldn’t stay on the apron too long licking his wounds. A blind tag brings in Zack Gibson, but there’s no change in fortunes, with Thomas Shire coming in to hit a sidewalk slam before Gibson managed to fight out of the cowboy corner as the former tag champions turned the match on its head.
A Dragon screw to Manders as he came through the ropes led to the start of an extended spell of pressure from the GYV, featuring a suplex into the ropes from Gibson, which ensured Manders’ legs were compromised for a while. Gibson’s bow and arrow hold instantly goes into the ropes… but we’ve a turnaround as Thomas Shire got the tag and ran wild with high knees.
A double clothesline puts down Drake and Gibson after he’d charged through a double-team clothesline, while an overhead suplex sent Drake into Gibson. Manders is back for an avalanche powerslam, but Shire’s return coincided with a resurgence for the GYV, with a deadlift Saito suplex from Gibson almost winning it.
Shire’s lined up for the Grit Your Teeth, but he avoids it as we instead got a powerbomb/clothesline combo from the Cowboys for a near-fall. All that led to a stand-off as all four men wheeled away on each other… the Cowboys looked to pull ahead, but Drake and Gibson kick for the legs as duelling submissions were locked in. Shire forces out of the Shankly Gates, before Manders got caught with the Grit Your Teeth out of nowhere.
Gibson can’t quite follow up though, accidentally lariating Drake before a Manders lariat and a Shire UFO led to one final lariat on James Drake… and that’s an unbeaten record in the block as the Cowboy Way book their spot in next Saturday Great British Tag League final. As for the match, I just wish this crowd would audibly react more to certain acts between the bells… but it is what it is. Good match, but we’ve not got long to wait for news… ***
The Young Guns are out – and get kicked in the bollocks as the GYV were still a little sour over the perceived lack of respect that they were shown in Wolverhampton last month. Gibson took the mic and noted that while they’re out of the Great British Tag League, they’ll take a shot at the Young Guns at Global Wars, since they beat them at Summer Sizzler.
Harry Milligan vs. Ricky Knight Jr.
Harry had issued an open challenge for this show two weeks ago… but RKJ answered it, which has everyone expecting a real squash here.
Harry had to avoid a charge at the bell, before his chop barely registered on Ricky. Shades of Mad Kurt. A tijeras goes nowhere, but Harry’s able to escape a powerbomb before he just got steamrollered into by RKJ.
Grabbing Harry by his tracksuit, RKJ launched him across the ring, before Harry got lit up with overhand chops in the ropes and at ringside. The one-way traffic continued, with Harry kicking out of a volley to the back before he got hung up in the ropes for a draping DDT… but Harry’s able to fight back with a Sha Spinebuster before what looked like a Destino was thwarted as RKJ turned it into the Fire Thunder Driver.
A second one followed, planting Harry into the mat for a forced near-fall. Wash, rinse, repeat, before shots to the back of the head from RKJ forced the referee to wave it off. Exactly what you expected this would be, in about the same time. **½
Post-match, RKJ took the mic and blamed what happened to Harry on Sha Samuels, before performing some percussive maintenance on the Rev Pro mic. It worked. Ricky then turned his barrels to Leon Slater, taking shot at him for being over in TNA rather than here, before promising to end Sha Samuels career next Saturday.
There’s one more Fire Thunder driver for Harry, just to underline everything.
Great British Tag League Block B: Connor Mills & Jay Joshua vs. Sons of Southampton (David Francisco & JJ Gale)
The winners of this one go through to take on the Cowboy Way on Saturday… and the Sons of Southampton have a new custom theme, which some may say sounds a little AI.
Things got heated from the off, and the match quickly spilled outside with Mills and Joshua taking some dives into the aisle. Unlike in Berlin, we don’t have split-screen view here as the match spread around ringside, leading to Connor Mills tying up Francisco’s legs around the ring post for a dropkick to the knee.
Francisco went down after that, but ended up fighting the contenders as he got carried to the back – leaving Gale on his lonesome. It went poorly as Mills and Joshua were allowed to combine with a kick and overhead suplex as quick-fire tags ensured that Gale had to wait for any openings to emerge.
Of course, when he made the most of it, Gale almost stole the win with a roll-up on Joshua, before a springboard double Gale Force left everyone laying. There’s the cue for Francisco to hobble out and tag into the match, where he looked to be a step ahead of Mills and Joshua, polishing off the pair with a double jump double clothesline.
Francisco keeps going with a poke to the eye and a ripcord clothesline to Joshua, then a brainbuster to Mills for a near-fall. A finger snapper from Mills stopped all that as Gale gets a blind tag in, allowing them to hit a Doomsday Cyclone Uppercut on Mills for a very near-fall. After a backslide, Mills wiped out Gale with a knee strike, then brought back Joshua… but that exchange ends with a headbutt to counter a Gale Force en route to a two-count for the Welshman.
Mills and Joshua continue to pour it on as Francisco was down on the floor… Francisco’s back to make a save, but he’s sent back outside again as Gale remained the target, but again Francisco helps out by shoving the rope towards Gale’s outstretched hands to break a submission. Unimpressed, Mills just leathers Francisco and Gale with kicks until Gale had enough… sparking a two-on-one on Mills.
That quickly built up into a Ruckus from Francisco, then a senton bomb from Gale on Mills… but a Joshua piledriver breaks up the resulting cover. Another tornado sequence ends with Mills getting rudely curb stomped, before the Francisco Force was avoided by Mills… Francisco takes the shot, before he pulled out the ref to save Gale’s bacon.
Back inside, Mills’ charge gets redirected to send him into the ring post, before David Francisco’s tag in led to him almost snatching the win with an inside cradle. A diving kick spins Mills to the ground, but the follow-up goes awry as Mills returned with a big ol’ rebound lariat, then an ankle lock, wrapping himself around Francisco who went out for the stoppage. That finish deflated the Southampton crowd, who had their heart set on a Francisco win, but that wasn’t to be. We’ve got Mills & Joshua against the Cowboy Way in the finals on Saturday, and that should be a heck of a match for those there live.
Post-match, Connor Mills called out the Cowboy Way as the quartet scrapped, in spite of referees and Contenders coming out to break it up, before cooler heads eventually prevailed to end the evening.
This was a solid show to wrap up Rev Pro’s “in front of a crowd” build for their Anniversary weekender – which pretty much guarantees a boat load of Twitter and YouTube posts to round out the cards in the coming days.