Rev Pro make their first stop of the year at York Hall this Friday – here\u2019s a look at the line-up as we have five title matches on tap.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rev Pro British Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (c)<\/strong> It says a lot that the main event couldn\u2019t be announced until ten days before the show because of how much Rev Pro\u2019s title has been intertwined in New Japan stories. A win for Ospreay won\u2019t change too much of that – although Ospreay has hinted at doing more dates in the UK\u2026 but in the eyes of some, as long as the title remains \u201cin New Japan\u201d, not much will change.<\/p>\n Rev Pro British Cruiserweight Championship: Michael Oku vs. El Phantasmo (c)<\/strong> Now, while the heavyweight strap is guaranteed to stay \u201cwithin New Japan\u201d, the cruiserweight strap could well be finding its way back to the venues like the Cockpit on the regular. Of course, it\u2019s not like the ROH TV title – a strap that\u2019s been on New Japan TV but not recently defended, as ELP last defended on a New Japan show at Showdown in San Jose last November, against SHO\u2026 but I could just as easily see this belt disappear from New Japan for a bit than not. Of course, there\u2019s also the wild speculation that Michael Oku could end up heading to Japan as part of the Best of the Super Junior tour\u2026 but either way, given the cynicism that surrounds Rev Pro titles, if there\u2019s no title change here, the detractors will be out in force. My money\u2019s on Oku though.<\/p>\n Rev Pro British Tag Team Championship: David Starr & Damian Dunne vs. The Legion (Rampage Brown & Great O-Kharn) (c)<\/strong> As always seems to be the way, the storylines in Rev Pro are a little muddy as the Legion have lost a member (going by their own entrance video). Could this be the moment that Great O-Kharn finally tastes defeat, or will the Legion find a way to quickly get their own back? Based on entirely nothing, I wouldn\u2019t be too shocked if there\u2019s a new man added to one of these sides to keep the feud going through to the summer.<\/p>\n Rev Pro British Women\u2019s Championship: Gisele Shaw vs. Zoe Lucas (c)<\/strong> That being said, when Zoe has been in the country (and Rev Pro\u2019s felt like it), there has been a laundry list of credible challengers who\u2019ve fallen by the wayside: Yuu, Charli Evans, Bea Priestley, Jamie Hayter, Seleziya Sparx, Maddison Miles, Millie McKenzie and of course, Gisele Shaw. A litany of former and current champions around the world there. The question is, given that Rev Pro are starting to put more focus on their women\u2019s division following the Southside merger, is now the time to change the title\u2026 or will Zoe\u2019s reign continue on? I wouldn\u2019t be too shocked if a new champion left York Hall, but then again, would that mean title changes?<\/p>\n Southside Speed King Championship: Robbie X vs. Ricky Knight Jr. (c)<\/strong> LA Park vs. Eddie Kingston<\/strong> Jeff Cobb vs. Dan Moloney<\/strong> Hikuleo vs. Carlos Romo vs. Mark Haskins vs. Kyle Fletcher vs. Kurtis Chapman vs. Chris Brookes<\/strong> At time of writing, tickets are fast running out for this one – so if you\u2019re able to make your excuses and get to York Hall this Friday, do it! Doors are 5.30pm, bell time 6.45pm\u2026 and given Rev Pro\u2019s track record, you shouldn\u2019t be too worried about the last train if you\u2019re just using the Underground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rev Pro make their first stop of the year at York Hall this Friday – here\u2019s a look at the line-up as we have five title matches on tap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Preview: Rev Pro High Stakes 2020 - Rev Pro make their first stop of the year at York Hall this Friday - here\u2019s a look at the line-up as we have five title matches on tap.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5010],"tags":[964,5053,5040,743],"class_list":["post-18873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-previews","tag-high-stakes","tag-high-stakes-2020","tag-preview","tag-rev-pro"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73vbt-4Up","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/backbodydrop-feature-preview.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18875,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18873\/revisions\/18875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAfter a ref stoppage ended his chances of beating ZSJ at the New Beginning in Sapporo at the start of the month, Ospreay was able to get his own back by beating Sabre in an elimination match at Korakuen Hall two days later\u2026 and then issued a challenge for a title shot at High Stakes.<\/p>\n
\nHaving won 2019\u2019s British J Cup, Michael Oku\u2019s earned himself a shot at the cruiserweight championship – and while Oku lost to ELP the last they faced off one-on-one at York Hall, Oku did beat ELP to win the British J Cup\u2026<\/p>\n
\nWith David Starr only returning to Rev Pro a month ago, as part of the unmasking of the Legionnaire that went a little awry (as far as the Legion were concerned), this does feel a little rushed. Starr claimed the title shot after beating Rampage at the Cockpit at the start of the month, so technically speaking the challengers get their shot in their first match.<\/p>\n
\nA quick rematch for Gisele Shaw then, after coming up short to Zoe at New Year Resolution a month ago. Zoe\u2019s run with the title has been a bit mixed – with a 14 month run including six months last year where it wasn\u2019t defended\u2026<\/p>\n
\nRKJ\u2019s perhaps been the most consistently-pushed name from the Southside acquisition, having impressed at the Cockpit and he\u2019s pushed on since then. RKJ\u2019s first run with the title started last March, but held it for a month before dropping to Kip Sabian\u2026 whose month-long reign ended with it going back to RKJ. That reign stretched across ownerships, with a win over Senza Volto ensuring Knight kept the belt into the new era – but will he drop the belt to a man who first won the title in 2012? Given that this title is eventually going to roll up into the Rev Pro Cruiserweight title, it perhaps doesn\u2019t matter who holds it, but if it\u2019s Michael Oku who leaves with the Rev Pro strap from here, I\u2019d imagine the youth versus experience angle would work well for any unifier down the road.<\/p>\n
\nUnder no-DQ rules this will be a war. Originally slated as Park vs. Sha Samuels, Sha\u2019s injury and circumstances meant that Rev Pro needed a replacement. I honestly thought they\u2019d slot in a Dan Magee here, given the \u201cfind yourself\u201d speech that Eddie Kingston gave him at the February Cockpit show (which was very reminiscent of a similar angle he did in Beyond last year). But thankfully, we\u2019ve got an absolute belter of a match – and one that will have everyone in the firing line!<\/p>\n
\nThis one\u2019s perhaps slid under the radar – Dan Moloney\u2019s in the midst of a feud with Hikuleo, having scrapped to a double DQ before picking up a DQ win in the space of 2-3 weeks\u2026 but against Jeff Cobb, we\u2019re looking at a two big lads who are deceptively agile. I\u2019d expect Moloney to leave with the win here, but don\u2019t be too surprised if we get some Tongan interference…<\/p>\n
\nThis\u2019ll be Brookes\u2019 farewell to Rev Pro, as he\u2019s off to Japan for a year in DDT after this! Rev Pro have been making a habit of adding scrambles to their York Hall shows, and while they\u2019ll never have the place in my heart that scrambos may, they\u2019re often a good way of keeping names and faces in the audience\u2019s eye when you\u2019ve got nothing else to do with them. Expect a lot of comedy here, a bit of a beating for Mad Kurt, but in the end the winner of these is always a bit of a crap shoot.<\/p>\n