With five (main) shows in September, EVE’s got a busy month as the road to SHE-1 continued. Here’s a quick look at how things went down in Bethnal Green last weekend…
Hopping onto the PROGRESS Wembley weekend, EVE have announced that they’ll running four shows in the days prior – that’s after the scheduled “Strong Women Style” show at Walthamstow was canned and replaced with a pair of shows at the Resistance Gallery, in addition to Thursday’s sold-out “Global Women Strike” and a newly-announced Friday show. So, there’s a lot to process and a lot that could potentially fly under the radar. Injuries caused a slight reshuffle to the card, as Toni Storm and Jordynne Grace dropped out of the line-up, replaced by Jetta and Viper respectively.
Charlie Morgan vs. Millie McKenzie
Before the show it was announced that “EVE management” had told Charlie her next title defence would come on the first of the Strong Women Style shows at the end of the month. To pick a challenger, she offered an open challenge – and a title shot if whomever answered it could beat her.
On a totally unrelated note, I miss the days when a pug was the (kayfabe) booker!
Millie McKenzie answered the challenge, and it was a spirited effort as Millie tried to earn her first title shot… but at the end of it, Charlie had a little too much in her locker and was able to squeak by with a superkick to still leave us without a challenger for three weeks’ time. Or were we? After the match, Rhia O’Reilly came out to apologise for her errant chairshot last month – saying that it wasn’t intentional, because you’d know it it if were. Instead, Rhia opted to “cash in” the promise of a title shot that Charlie had given her… and so we have a main event for the Saturday afternoon show! ***¼
We also ended up with our main event for later tonight as well, as Kasey and Charlie Evans ran in to attack Rhia and Charlie’s love-in. Addy Starr went to make the save, chasing them away as the obvious main event was set.
Throughout the night, video clips played recapping the “friendship date” between Jetta and Erin Angel, which happened to be at the Reading music festival… and culminated in Jetta storming the stage during Kate Nash’s set, with Jetta taking a bodyslam from Nash for good measure. Remember the feud they were simmering about a year ago?
Jetta vs. Kay Lee Ray
Subbing for Toni Storm, Jetta decided to have a rather “old school” match with Kay Lee Ray, chock full of bulldogs, hair mares and rope running.
At least, until she figured out that that it was her doing all of the work here. Throughout the match, Jetta picked up a bunch of two-counts to make sure she could add Kay Lee to her list of “people I’ve pinned for a count of two”… and even found a way to kick out of the Gory Bomb at the count of one… but in the end Kay Lee Ray was a step ahead of her and was able to take the win with a senton bomb. ***
Sierra Loxton vs. Viper
As a “replacement” match, the first-time-ever Loxton vs. Viper outing more than lived up to expectations, with neither woman expecting, nor giving no quarter in this hard-hitting outing.
Loxton looked a little nervous before the bell, but those nerves quickly were shed as the pair started grappling before a broken full nelson led to them beginning to throw proverbial bombs at each other. Viper found early on that she wasn’t able to bulldoze her way through Loxton, but she was able to catch her with a leaping crossbody to take her off her feet. A back senton from Viper almost put Sierra away, but then Loxton began to uncork her hip attacks in a bid to put Viper down. Viper misses a cannonball, then gets met with a T-bone suplex as Loxton seemed to have her number, but the relative veteran Viper is able to rebound as she takes Sierra into the corner for a Vader bomb… only to get pulled out as more hip attacks left the Scotswoman rocked.
Viper hit back with a back suplex, then a cannonball into the corner before she almost fell to a reversed O’Connor roll… but in the end Viper outlasts more hip attacks, then a Muta lock, before she took Loxton in for another cannonball as the Viper driver gets the win. Good, hard-hitting stuff, and a match that announced Loxton in EVE, regardless of the loss. ***½
Erin Angel vs. Nina Samuels
Trying to curry flavour with Erin, Jetta vowed to watch this one from ringside and be her “number one fan”. Erin’s opponent today was Nina Samuels, who’s now being introduced as “the Superstar”, curiously with no mention of her having that wildcard briefcase that she won at WrestleQueendom…
Erin started out well against Nina with some armdrags, but things are quickly stopped when Nina shoved Erin off the apron and into the wooden wall… and that’s the turning point as Nina proceeded to choke on Erin in the ropes while egging on Jetta at ringside. Thing was, Nina looked to be taking Erin rather too lightly, not staying on her after a Yakuza kick drew a near-fall. Erin managed a fightback, hitting a cutter after shoving Nina into the corner… then hitting an “old school bulldog” as a throwback to Jetta’s match earlier for a near-fall. Speaking of, Jetta came in the ring and gave Erin her shoe… but since she wasn’t gonna use it, Jetta did, raking it on Nina’s nose, which looked to have bloodied her a little.
That led to a brief argument, but Nina couldn’t win with a roll-up despite having her feet on the ropes, before Erin countered a Go To Sleep and rolled up Nina for the shock win! Heck, a rare win for Erin, her first singles win since she beat Nixon Newell in February 2017! **½
Post-match, Nina expressed her outrage for Jetta’s interference, and challenged Jetta to a match at Strong Women Style.
She-1 Qualifier: Bea Priestley vs. Kris Wolf
We’ve a half-hour time limit here, with a countdown timer being on the video screen all night for matches. Wolf was by far and away the crowd favourite, and she tried to end this early with roll-ups, before Bea took control.
There’s a dropkick from Bea that takes Wolf into the crowd, but Kris manages to take Bea into one of the stairways, then towards the bar as she hit a body press off of the counter. They return to the ring, where Bea’s commandeered a fan’s beer and spits it into Wolf’s face, prompting a fight back… only for Bea to tie up Wolf’s legs as she went after the tail! Wolf gets her own back as she chokes Bea with the tail ahead of a monkey flip… and now it’s time for Tito (Kris’ wolf mask) to appear as she blinds Bea and scores with some kicks. Bea decides to give what she got, and stretches Kris in the ropes while she wore the mask, but it’s to no avail as Wolf retaliated with a crossbody for a near-fall, then with an Exploder by the ropes for another two-count.
Priestley looked to a more grounded game for her next attempt, stretching Wolf’s arm and leg… but Kris gets her free leg to the rope for a break, and quickly found her second wind, charging at Priestley with a lungblower for a near-fall, before a tornado DDT took Bea out of the corner and got the win! An entertaining back-and-forth contest, and the result means that Kris Wolf makes it to November’s She-1! All the wolf! ***¼
Kasey & Charli Evans vs. Addy Starr & Rhia O’Reilly
Triggered by the run-in earlier in the evening, we started off hot as all four women flew into each other, with referee Tom Scarborough not even having a chance to get control!
Addy and Rhia land curb stomps early on, sending Charli and Kasey to the outside… where they were prey for a dive… okay, a double axehandle off the apron from Rhia. There’s no such fear from Addy, who flips off the apron into a senton, as we go back to the bar! Charli tried to take control as she chopped Addy by the toilets (not a euphemism…), while commentary fell silent as they couldn’t see a thing during the melee.
The good guys managed to take control here, focusing on Kasey as they made it back to the ring, teaming up for a wheelbarrow cutter for a near-fall. Charli returns as the pendulum swung, with a release TKO and a pair of knee strikes leaving Addy down for a two-count as the match (whisper it) started to settle down.
Evans chopped Addy in the corner as the bad guys continued to wind up Rhia, who could only watch as Evans reared back on Starr’s wrist. Charli’s bid to take Addy into the corner backfires as a flipping stunner looked to give Addy a chance… but she runs into a clothesline as Starr again remained isolated. Another fightback from Addy sees her hit chops and a crossbody before she rolled over to tag in Rhia, whose comeback saw her Finlay roll Kasey onto Charli Evans – a move that left Charli a little winded.
Another Finlay roll puts Kasey down, but Rhia misses the back senton as the pair went back and forth with strikes, until both women sent themselves careering into the crowd with a Cactus clothesline. Charli and Addy hit the ring for another flurry of strikes, but it’s Addy who edged ahead with some knees and a sliding forearm before she went to the outside and grabbed, as Kris Wolf eloquently put it on commentary “an unidentified object.”
No, it wasn’t flying – it was a bag of drawing pins, but Wrestling Logic strikes again as Starr’s attempt to dump Charli into them backfires, with Evans dumping her into the pins with a spinebuster… before sprinkling a handful of those tacks into her own mouth!
That prompted the locker room to hit the ring to tend to Addy, but Kasey’s still able to nail Rhia with some knees. She gets into a fight with Charlie Morgan, which should have led to a DQ but… wrestling! The match came to a rather abrupt halt when the lights went out – eventually signalling the arrival of a hooded figure… revealing the returning Sammii Jayne! Sammii dumped Kasey with a German suplex and a running knee, before giving those diving knees out to everyone as the match was ruled a no-contest. Timing issues aside for the run-in, this was a pretty fun main event, which didn’t have any of the hallmarks you’d usually have with a match that wasn’t ever destined to go anywhere. ***
The show ended with pretty much everyone being tended to, before Dann Read made the announcement that the previously-agreed EVE title match between O’Reilly and Morgan was going to become a four-way elimination match, with Charlie Morgan defending against Rhia O’Reilly, Kasey and the returning Sammii Jayne.
EVE’s busy month got off to a good start, with a show that kept laying the path to She-1… and given how many times her bid for a title shot has been blocked and/or messed around with, you’d have to think a possible “change of attitude” for Rhia O’Reilly in the not too distant future. If you’ve not leapt onto EVE’s VOD service before, this month would be a good time to start, with the back catalogue and the plethora of cards at the end of the month – plenty of content to get you caught up ahead of November’s She-1!