#revpro high stakes

[angelkitty32001]

Yesterday I went on An Adventure to that there London to go to the RevPro High Stakes show. Part of my new year plans was to get out and see more live wrestling, and this was part of that.

Despite the best efforts of the travel gods, I did make it to the venue before things started. Could have done without all the stress tho. I had an incredible seat, right by the entrance, and was so pleased I took my Loops with me.

Slight amusement when I realised that wearing my hat with my leather coat makes me look like I'm cosplaying the Undertaker. Something to be mindful of in wrestling crowds.

Best bits - having a surprise Orange Cassidy was incredible! 2000 people lost their shit when Jane started. The chant of "Fuck the Tories" when the ZSJ match started. Mustafa Ali v Robbie X was incredible. Ali's hair is fabulous *swoons*. JJ Gale was a lovely new to me discovery. ZSJ getting carried out bridal style. Seeing a family of foxes playing in the park on the way back to the station.

Downsides were having to leave early to get back to Euston so I missed the main event, the diabolical seats which are instruments of torture (it's a leg room thing), being hot all day, and the *very* enthusiastic dude sat next to me.

Would I do it again? Yes, I think I would.

[solarsonicsoda]

Rebbie's Wrestling Reviews - Matches I Loved

Michael Oku (c) (w/ Amira) def. Will Ospreay for the RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship in 47:12

It’s the match taking wrestling fandom by storm, love it or hate it, and I was there. I loved it. An epic match that concluded their trilogy, and said goodbye to Ospreay in RevPro. What a sendoff, with so many great moments. The Sega Mega Driver and the Tiger Driver 91 stick in the mind as the greatest moments, as well as that emphatic finish. But there's so many more, like Amira’s involvement, as well as that atmosphere. Never have I experienced noise and energy like that in a wrestling match. Everyone was loud and on their feet and it was simply incredible to watch and be a part of. Also, Tony was in a box. What a lark. Seriously though, a great conclusion to this feud and Ospreay’s time in RevPro, as well as a great performance and showcase for Oku. Check this one out. 

[frentique]

[zedxspacess]

Zack Sabre Jr being carried out like a baby during tonight's RevPro High Stakes event

[puroresu-musings]

RevPro HIGH STAKES 2024 Review (Feb 18th, Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London, UK)

AEW International Championship Scramble - Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Flash Morgan Webster vs. Sha Samuels vs. Spike Trivet vs. Richard Holliday vs. Cameron Khai vs. Shigehiro Irie ***

RevPro Undisputed British Women's Championship - Dani Luna (c) Safire Reed ***

Young Blood vs. Trew & Lacey ***1/4

Luke Jacobs vs. JJ Gale ****1/4+

Mustafa Ali vs. Robbie X ***1/2

Shingo Takagi vs. Trent Seven ***1/2

Ricky Knight Jr. vs. Anthony Ogogo **1/4

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Connor Mills ****1/2

RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship - Michael Oku (c) vs. Will Ospreay *****

Photos - BritWresPics

This was an excellent show from the premier BritWres promotion, that featured great action up and down the card, a whole load of good, nothing bad, and the best match of the year so far.

Things kicked off with a fun, but unspectacular Scramble match, that had the surprise inclusions of Shigehiro Irie and AEW's Global champ, Orange Cassidy, who got a huge pop and put his belt on the line here. Which left the finish in no doubt really. This only went 8 minutes, and was essentially just a collection of high spots, and many of the guys didn't do much. I'm a fan of Big Shig, but honestly, he might as well not have been here as his contributions came to one spot. Same with Cassidy to be fair, he was AWOL most of this thing, selling a lowblow from Holliday, but it was still fun stuff. Orange pinned Holliday with the Orange Punch to retain. The RevPro Women's Title was on the line next. This was another good match, but I wasn't a massive fan of the finish, which brought it down slightly for me. Despite seemingly having the match won, Reed inexplicably went to use Dani's title belt, but payed for it as she ate an Elevated German into the ring and a Luna Landing for the champion to retain in 9:44. Alex Windsor Jumped Luna after the match and beat her down and dragged her around with a chain, which one would presume is leading to a dog collar match.

The NJPW Dojo graduates Yuto Nakashima and Oskar Leube took on heel duo Mark Trew and Kieron Lacey in a really good little traditional tag bout next. The heels worked over stocky babyface Yuto, before he made the hot tag to his Germanic Skyscraper of a tag partner, who ran wild and they bumped around like crazy for him. After taking Lacey out with a verion of Total Elimination, Leube caught a Trew crossbody attempt, and deadlifted him onto his shoulders, allowing Nakashima to come off the second rope with a jumping knee, and Oskar hit a massive multiple rotation F-5 for the win at 9:25. They announced a UK Fantasticamania show for May 19th before the next match, which was an excellent slugfest between Luke Jacobs and JJ Gale. This was grand hard-hitting violence, with both guys hitting forearms, kicks and suplexes. After Jacobs caught Gale's leg from a roundkick attempt, he captured his arm too and hit a sickening headbutt. JJ scored a nearfall with a flash small package, then got another super close nearfall with his Gale Force spinning Oscutter as the crowd went crazy. Gale missed a 450, before eating a serious of stiff Lariats from Jacobs, which lead to Luke scoring the win at 17:02 with a Steiner Screwdriver. Great stuff here, and I hope we see more from both guys at the top of the card in 2024. Jacobs vowed to win the Revolution Rumble in the post match.

Mustafa Ali took on Robbie X in a very good flippity spot fest next. This was all-action, with a non-stop stream of flying and springboard moves. The finish came when both guys fought in the top, Ali hit a Sunsetbomb off the top, then a match winning 450 Splash to win at the 13:08 mark. Ali looked super happy to be here, and put on a good showing, so I'm under no doubt that he'll do great in New Japan and the Indys, after years of being in wrestling purgatory. Shingo took on Trent Seven next in a match that was made less than 24 hours before they came through the curtain. Originally Takagi was to take on Gabe Kidd (which I would have been all in on as that sounds awesome), but Kidd suffered an undisclosed injurey in the insane Cage Match he was in in Osaka. If I were a betting man though, I'd say it was likely a concussion from that insanely stiff Henare slap he took near the end, not to mention the crazy chairshots. This was ultimately a very decent match, but at 21:58, it was way too long, and it was another of those matches where too much stuff was kicked out of. There was no need to work this like it was a Tokyo Dome main event; Shingo kicked out of a Pump Handle Emerald Flowsion, Trent kicked out of a sitout Burning Hammer, Takagi kicked out of a middle rope Emerald Flowsion, then a short piledriver, Shingo then escaped a Seven Star Lariat and hit a Last of The Dragon... but after a delayed cover Trent kicked out(!). Seven kicked at one from a Sliding Bomber, but ate a few more Pumping Bombers to finally allow Shingo to win. This would likely have been great if it was around 14 minutes, but it outstayed it's welcome a little and they just kicked out of way too much for no reason.

Next up, Anthony Ogogo defeated RKJ in what was by far the weakest match of the night. This was perfectly fine, nothing was bad, the crowd were respectably hot, and RKJ tried his damndest to have a good match, but this ultimately didn't click. Former Olympic Boxer Ogogo scored the win at 13:30 with two great looking punches. Which were the best looking things he'd done all match. What followed was an excellent technical wrestling match, as Zack Sabre Jr. took on Connor Mills, which was my second favourite of the night. This featured exemplary mat work, as both guys exchanged submission holds, with Mills aggressively working over the left leg, and Zack focussing on the left arm. After both failed to tap the other out, frustrations flared and this broke down into a nasty strike battle, with some seriously stiff slaps back and forth. In the end, after Mills kicked out of a Zack Driver, Sabre Jr. turned up the pace and put the younger wrestler away after a series of PK's at the 21:25 mark. Great, great stuff.

Then the Main Event, which was Will Ospreay's RevPro swan song before going fulltime with AEW, and was one of the best matches you'll ever see. I loved their match at High Stakes 2022, but this one was considerably better than that classic, with off the charts drama, heat, storytelling and big fight feel. This was outstanding. The stipulations were that there were no referee stoppages allowed, but if Amira threw in the towel (like she did in their last match), then Oku would lose the title, and Ospreay threw the bloody towel from the forst match at her to use. The crowd were white hot from the off, and neber cooled down once during this epic battle. There was way too much to reasonably recap here, but everything was great. Oku worked over Will's knee in preperation of the Half Crab, but came up bloody from going into the ringpost. Ospreay worked him over, taunting Amira to throw the towel, but she responded by spitting on him, which Ospreay responded by kicking her into the guardrail to loud boos. Oku went crazy with a fiery comeback that included hitting the old El Generico Tornado DDT through the ropes to the floor, which Ospreay juiced from, then locked on the most dramatic Figure Four since Muto/Takada, but Ospreay made the ropes. Will hot the Oscutter for a nearfall, and Oku hit a reverse rana which spiked Ospreay, but as he celebrated, Ospreay popped up and hit a Hidden Blade to the back of the head for the double down. Oku then turned a Storm Breaker attempt into a package tombstone, but missed a Frog Splash. He landed on his feet though and hit Ospreay with his own Hidden Blade. In a callback to their 2022 match, Oku started hitting numerous Hidden Blades, but pulled Ospreay up at two every pin attempt. He tried another but The Ariel Assassin countered with the real deal Hidden Blade. Ospreay hit the flip out of a clothesline into a powerbomb spot, then transitioned into a Styles Clash for a near fall. Amira is dragged into the ring and she pushes Oku out of the way of a Hidden Blade, taking the move herself, leading to Ospreay pushing her unconscious body out of the ring. Oku rolls through another Hidden Blade into the Half Crab, but as he leans back into the bridge, Ospreay pulls him out of it, flips him over and hits a devastating Tiger Driver 91, another Hidden Blade and finally the Storm Breaker, but Oku kicks out at 2.9999, which blows the roof off the National Sports Centre. Oku then turns a Tombstone attempt into a Sega Mega Driver, in tribute to Mad Kurt, finally hits the Frog Splash to the back, goes back up and hits a second to the front, but Ospreay kicks out at the last minute. As he does, Oku grabbed his leg and turned it into the Half Crab as the fans went crazy. Ospreay fought to the ropes, but a revived Amira flipped him off, Oku pulled him to the centre, bridges back, and Ospreay finally tapped at the 47:12 mark, giving Oku the biggest win of his career. This was all brilliant.

In the post match, Ospreay handed Oku the title, symbolically passing the torch, Oku offered the handshake, which was expected, and Ospreay cut an emotional promo to say goodbye to a scene he's invested so much into. He thanked New Japan and RevPro, as well as the fans, for all they've done for him, and he promised his best stuff was still to come. He then said teary fairwells, before nemsis Zack Sabre Jr. appeared at the curtain to give him a hug and a kiss. All in all, this was an excellent show that's well worth checking.

NDT

[cavenewstimes]

MJF Sets Stage for Global ‘American Championship’ Defense Tour

One big thing: MJF’s American Championship goes international AEW’s newly crowned ‘American Champion’ MJF is taking his title on a global tour, with defenses scheduled in Mexico and England before a high-stakes rematch at Wembley Stadium. The details: • MJF will defend his title against Templario in CMLL on August 2 in Mexico• A match against Michael Oku is set for RevPro in England on August 11•…

[renee-ckstrong]

My new year's reso is to attend more live wrestling events than I did last year.

This shouldn't be hard since I only went to two last year. And I already have tickets to RevPro High Stakes and All In.

But here's to a year full of wrestling

[rikatatsumi]

...Tyler, you absolute fool.

[imvgeswrestling]

》》》

[gdwessel]

Naito Suffers Knee Injury, Out of G1 Climax 31; Suzuki Officially Added To GCW Bloodsport 7 10/22/2021; Bullet Club Beats FinJuice Again at Impact Victory Road; Shooter, Yota, Ospreay at RevPro High Stakes 2021, Aussie Open Joins United Empire

Bad news regarding G1 Climax: It has been reported that Tetsuya Naito suffered a left knee injury (MCL and meniscus) during his opening match Saturday against Zack Sabre Jr. There is no timetable for his return, so he will be forfeiting the rest of his A Block matches, with the rest of his opponents getting a free 2pts because of this. The cards will be altered, with Yuji Nagata, BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi and Satoshi Kojima all stepping in to wrestle Naito’s opponents those nights in non-tournament matches. If you ask me they could have just put Kojima in to give him one last G1 Climax, but I don’t book New Japan Pro Wrestling so what do I know.

This will also make Naito the first person with 0pts in G1 Climax since Tomoaki Honma in G1 Climax 24 back in 2014, although Honma wrestled all his matches, whereas Naito had to forfeit after one round. So maybe not really the same thing.

As predicted, Minoru Suzuki has been officially added to the card for GCW’s Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 7 event. No opponent has been announced for this as yet. Suzuki was in the first two Bloodsport branded events (the first one under the name of *spits* Matt Riddle), and was due to face Chris Dickinson at Barnett’s Bloodsport 3 during Mania Weekend 2020 before the pandemic put paid to that.

So with that, here’s the updated Suzuki indie itinerary.

- 9/22/2021, All Elite Wrestling, Dynamite: Grand Slam, Arthur Ashe Arena, Queens, NYC, NY (Airing 9/24/2021 on AEW Rampage on TNT)

Lights Out Match: Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston v. Lance Archer & Minoru Suzuki

- 9/24/2021, Game Changer Wrestling, Get Lost A Lot, Melrose Ballroom, NYC, NY (FITE)

Minoru Suzuki v. Homicide

- 9/25/2021, New Japan of America, Autumn Attack Night 1 (NJPW Strong taping), Curtis Culwell Center, Garland, TX

Fred Rosser v. Minoru Suzuki [SZKG]

- 9/26/2021, New Japan of America, Autumn Attack Night 2 (NJPW Strong taping), Curtis Culwell Center, Garland TX

Minoru Suzuki [SZKG] & Lance Archer [AEW] v. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor & Royce Isaacs [Team Filthy]

- 10/1/2021, WrestleMax, Episode VI, Affton Elks Lodge, St. Louis, MO

Minoru Suzuki v. Calvin Tankman

- 10/2/2021, Premiere Wrestling Xperience, All Hail The King, Cabarrus Arena, Concord, NC

Minoru Suzuki v. Anthony Henry

- 10/3/2021, Glory Pro, Little Ring of Horrors, South Broadway Athletic Club, St. Louis, MO

Minoru Suzuki v. Davey Richards

- 10/5/2021, NJPW Toukon Shop Online Meet & Greet

- 10/8/2021, West Coast Pro Wrestling, No Leaf Clover (3rd Anniversary Show), The State Room, San Francisco, CA (IWTV)

Minoru Suzuki v. Daniel Garcia

- 10/10/2021, Game Changer Wrestling, The Aftermath, The Showboat, Atlantic City, NJ (FITE)

Minoru Suzuki v. Joey Janela

- 10/17/2021, New Japan of America, New Japan Showdown 2021 Night 1 (NJPW Strong taping), 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, PA

Chris Dickinson [ROH] v. Minoru Suzuki [SZKG]

- 10/18/2021, New Japan of America, New Japan Showdown 2021 Night 2 (NJPW Strong taping), 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, PA

TBA

- 10/21/2021, TimeBomb Pro, Violence is Forever, Tak Music Venue, Dilworth, MN

Minoru Suzuki v. Dominic Garrini

- 10/22/2021, Game Changer Wrestling, Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 7, Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA (FITE)

Minoru Suzuki v. TBA

- 10/23/2021, Game Changer Wrestling, War Ready, Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA (FITE)

Nick Gage v. Minoru Suzuki

In other news, Saturday was Impact’s Victory Road PPV, which among other matches, had the Bullet Club tandem of Chris Bey & Hikuleo once again getting the better of FinJuice in a tag team match, continuing that feud as we head into Sunday’s NJPW Strong tapings with the rubber Texas Bullrope Match between Juice v. Hikuleo. Also on the show, NJPW Strong guest Josh Alexander decided to utilize “Option C” with regard to the X Division title, whereby he vacates that title in order to challenge Christian Cage for the Impact World Title. That will happen at the forthcoming Bound For Glory event.

On Sunday, RevPro in the UK held their High Stakes 2021 event, that saw Shota Umino defeat Dan Moloney, as well as Yota Tsuji beat Mark Haskins in 21:45, which turned out to be the 3rd longest match on the show, and definitely the longest match Yota Tsuji has ever wrestled.

Will Ospreay retained the Undisputed British Heavyweight title by defeating British Heavyweight champion Ricky Knight Jr. (there’s something there with RevPro acquiring some promotions and grandfathering in their champions, or something). I’d still like to know how Will Ospreay is able to go back and forth between the UK and the USA right now. Post-main, Ospreay continued to beat down Knight, which brought out Shooter for the save. Ospreay and RevPro tag team the Young Guns continued to beat down Shooter, until RevPro tag team champions Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) came out.... and also attacked Shooter, whilst Ospreay then turned on the Young Guns. With that, Aussie Open have now joined the United Empire, and it’s a good chance one of Aussie Open will be Ospreay’s mystery partner in Texas this Sunday.

[mrfearlessriot]

Zoe Lucas • RevPro High Stakes 2/15/19

[wrestlingisfake]

G1 Climax in Dallas preview

This is the first day of the 29th G1 Climax tour, featuring the first five of 91 (!) tournament matches.  The ten men in A Block will meet on this show, while the ten men in B Block team with undercard guys to preview their tournament matches on July 13.  I’ll probably go over the tournament as a whole later, but this show deserves some special attention.

Each tournament match is worth two points--two points to the winner, zero for the loser, or one apiece if it goes to a 30 minute draw.  (Any other outcome gives everybody zero points.)  Whoever has the most points in his block faces the leader of the other block in the final match.

The first night of the G1 is always a special occasion, but this time is more special because it’s the tournament’s first show outside of Japan.  Everybody is bound to be working hard to make a big impression.  The show will air live on AXS TV in the US and everywhere else on NJPW World.  (Americans who don’t have AXS will have to wait a few days to see it on-demand on NJPW World.)

Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - Okada is the IWGP heavyweight champion, but titles aren’t at stake in the G1 Climax.  This will be the 14th match between these two, but Okada was just a rookie in the first one in 2010.  The rivalry really began when Okada returned from excursion in 2012 and won the heavyweight title from Tana in a huge upset.  Tanahashi is currently 6-5-2 against Okada in singles matches, but the more interesting stat is that Tana is 1-0-2 against Okada in the G1 Climax.  They’ve met in the tournament three times and went to the time limit twice.

This is the biggest match New Japan could deliver in 2019.  They didn’t do it at Wrestle Kingdom, and they didn’t do it at Madison Square Garden, but they’re doing it here in Dallas.  I feel pretty privileged to get to see it live.  That being said, it’s technically the ninth year of the rivalry, and we’ve come full circle from Tana in his prime versus a young boy to Okada in his prime versus a beat-up veteran.  Sooner or later Tanahashi won’t have enough left in the tank to live up to the standards of this series, and we’ll see a bad Okada/Tana match.  It could happen here.  So I’m trying to keep my expectations from soaring too high.  Then again, Tana is probably as rested as he can be, and it’s the first night of the tournament, so conditions are good for him to leave it all in the ring.  But I worry about him, y’know?

Under the circumstances I have to predict a time limit draw.  That’s probably not the right finish for this show, but on paper you expect this matchup to go either way and to go long, and history supports a tie.  Okada “deserves” to even up the series and avenge his losses last year, but that only makes him a slim favorite.

Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA - Ibushi would be one of the best wrestlers in the world except he keeps doing crazy spots where he damn near breaks his neck, to the point that I kinda dock points from his matches over it.  Kenta Kobayashi may be best known to American fans as Hideo Itami on NXT and 205 Live, but he was frustrated with his WWE run and recently returned to Japan.  He goes by KENTA to avoid confusion with the legendary wrestler Kenta Kobashi, although I personally find that just makes it more confusing.

This is Kenta’s first New Japan match, aside from a one-off very early in his career in 2002.  He started out in All Japan, staying there only briefly before joining Mitsuharu Misawa’s big exodus to found Pro Wrestling NOAH.  Kenta rose through the ranks to be a key guy, and held every championship in Noah.  It was widely expected that he would return to Noah once he departed WWE, but he instead chose to join New Japan, making his first appearance...on the tenth anniversary of Misawa’s tragic in-ring death.  Noah loyalists were not thrilled with that.

New Japan is clearly trying to book an instant classic by starting Kenta out on this show with Ibushi.  Expectations will be through the roof.  I may be watching this one through my fingers, though, considering how many injuries Kenta has sustained and how quickly Kota has burned through his nine lives.  Kenta should get the win here, but the real point is whether they can steal the show from Okada/Tanahashi.

Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. SANADA - Sabre is the RevPro British heavyweight champion, but again titles aren’t at stake in the G1.  The match should be decent, but these are two middle-of-the-pack heavyweights.  They occasionally build up these guys as serious threats to the top stars, but it never lasts and they end up fighting each other in the midcard.  The winner will have momentum in the early going of the tournament but I don’t expect either man to be a major factor in the endgame.  A bigger issue for Sabre is his opponent for the London show shortly after the G1, since that could be a major challenge to his title.  If Sanada wins here, it would make sense to give him that spot.  But I’m kinda thinking Sabre will get the two points this time.

EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale - Fale is a big fat man and his G1 tournament matches are generally lowlights.  He’s in there so that not every match is about lean well-conditioned dudes killing themselves for a four-star rating.  The idea is that each of the wrestlers in the block get “a night off” selling for Fale’s power moves.  This probably won’t be a mat classic but somebody has to work with Fale on this show so the other matches can be good-to-great.  Evil is one of the bigger guys in this tournament so even if this Fale match won’t be a technical marvel, it can be a good BIG MEAN GUY MATCH~! and that’ll be a fun change of pace on this show.  Evil will probably finish the block with more points, but he doesn’t have to win here--I could see Fale coming out ahead here to hype his upcoming matches.

Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer - Ospreay is the IWGP junior heavyweight champion and the winner of the 2019 Best of Super Jr. tournament, the junior heavyweight equivalent to the G1.  He’s been lobbying to do double duty as a junior and a heavyweight, and being in this tournament fulfills that dream.  He’s at the top his game this year, but he’s in Dallas, Texas, with hometown boy Lance Archer, who is big and tall and scary.

This is Archer’s first big match since news got out that his tag team partner Dave Boy Smith, Jr. decided to quit New Japan.  It’s also his first appearance in the G1 in several years, since he’s been primarily a midcard tag team guy for so long.  He’s got a lot to prove, then.  More to the point, Ospreay eliminated Archer in the New Japan Cup tournament earlier this year, so Lance has revenge on his mind.

My guess is that, at the end of the tournament, Ospreay will have a much nicer score than Archer.  But for right here and now, the story should be that this won’t be as easy as Ospreay might have hoped, and he should struggle in the early going to find his footing.  Also it’s pretty clear the local fans are going to vocally support the most American/Texan guy on this entire show.  Lance Archer really ought to win.

Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi & BUSHI vs. Juice Robinson & Toru Yano & Jushin Thunder Liger - Since Naito vs. Yano and Juice vs. Shingo are the tournament matches scheduled for July 13, here’s a sneak preview.  Aside from Archer, Juice is the biggest American name on this show, so he may be unusually popular here.  Of course, Naito’s LIJ stable is the cool thing these days, but in the US it’s more of an underground sensation so far compared to Bullet Club.

Let’s talk about Jushin Thunder Liger.  He looks like the Ultimate Warrior had a baby with a Power Ranger, and the baby was a villain on the Japanese Spider-Man TV show.  This old dude’s been around forever and he’s cool as fuck and he’s retiring in January 2019.  This won’t be his last match in the US but it’s pretty much my last chance to see him live and I’m kinda stoked.  I hope they play his entrance music and he showboats for the crowd and stuff.

The LIJ team should probably win, but fuck that.  Give me Liger.

Jay White & Chase Owens vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI - White and Goto have been feuding of late, and they’ll be meeting in a tournament match on July 13.  Chase and Yoshi are here to carry the load and lose falls.  This should be a pretty basic match but at least it ensures we get to see White on this show.  Chase is the biggest jobber here so I think he’ll probably get pinned by Goto.

Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino vs. Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita - Ishii is facing Cobb on July 13.  Ironically the biggest storyline here may be Shota Umino, the young boy that Jon Moxley “adopted” to be his tag partner in this tour.  Moxley himself can’t appear on this date (AEW has exclusivity on his US appearances), but he’ll be here in spirit through Shota.  I don’t expect much advancement of the story on this show, but the Dallas crowd might have some amusing chants about Moxley’s curious, one-sided relationship with Umino.  Obviously Umino and Narita are there to lose, but I can’t decide which of them will get beat so it could go either way.

Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. SHO & YOH - Tama and Loa, the Guerillas of Destiny, are currently the IWGP heavyweight tag team champions and the ROH tag team champions, but neither title as at stake here.  I hadn’t expected them to be on this show at all, let alone wrestling a non-title match with a junior heavyweight team like Roppongi 3K.  R3K have held the junior tag belts several times, and you’d figure a win over GOD would be an unexpected turn to propel them in the heavyweight division.  So this match is kinda out of left field, and it’s hard to guess what the purpose of it is.  The simplest explanation, though, is that New Japan wanted to showcase two top tag teams (albeit from separate divisions) for the US audience.  If that’s all it is, the Tongans should easily cruise to victory in a hot opener.

[solarsonicsoda]

Rebbie's Wrestling Reviews - Matches I Loved

Zack Sabre Jr. def. Connor Mills by pinfall in 21:25

This was technical wizardry as you expect from Sabre Jr. and Mills met him every step of the way. Great strikes and just beautiful submission offence that was truly mesmerising to see live. I don't have a clue how they do it. Mills gave just as good as he got here, and he didn't look out of place. In fact, they had a match that I loved, and I fully appreciate ZSJ’s matches now. It's hard to truly sum up what happens in one of these matches but it was simply awesome. Great finish, and the Zack Driver was wild! I just love the way he peppers his foes with shots and is always shifting with these submissions. Amazing stuff. We also got to chant “Fuck the Tories”, and that was pretty awesome! 

[frentique]

[hazyheel]

10 Ways WWE can improve their weekly TV

WWE has a bit of a problem on their hands: the other major wrestling promotions around the world are making a serious run at their product. New Japan has proved on several occasions that they can sell out buildings in the United States, and their incredibly powerful alliance with Ring of Honor, RevPro and CMLL gives them a huge talent pool to work with, without overexposing them. Lucha Underground (if it is staying afloat) is an interesting alternative to a lot of main stream wrestling due to its unique style of storytelling. Impact Wrestling has been improving steadily since the beginning of 2018, and they are becoming a bigger threat every year. And of course, AEW is premiering next month, and indy fans are already saying that they will revolutionize the wrestling business, and could even bring a new form of the Monday Night Wars. Now, I don’t know how accurate that is, but WWE needs to be concerned about these other companies. The reason why I took a week or two off of WWE in March was because I was watching the New Japan Cup, and I couldn’t even stand watching Raw or Smackdown because of the high quality of wrestling I was watching every day. That is a serious problem that I couldn’t watch their programing because I knew it would be a lot worse than a competitor. It will be a while before WWE falls to another company, but they need to get ahead of the curve on this. Several companies are coming for their position as number 1, and the first step to defending their turf is improving Raw, Smackdown, and hell, even NXT and Main Event. 

1. Make Raw 2 hours again: this point has been beaten to death, but that is because it sooooooooo needs to happen. A 3 hour show is incredibly difficult to watch every week, and we end up watching a bunch of low card matches that we do not care about, and the people that we do care about get overexposed because they need to be on the show every week. 205 Live and NXT work really well, because their talent does not wrestle every week, which gives them a sense of specialness and mystery that is not present on the main roster. So, why two hours instead of one like the “developmental” brands? Well, those brands simply couldn’t sustain a monthly pay per view schedule with that little air time. It works perfectly for the bi-monthly schedule of NXT Takeover, but they could not do 12 big shows a year. So, a two hour show for Raw, where all of the important storylines and title scenes are addressed in each episode, will be enough to craft good stories.

2. Form some stables: this is a very New Japan style, but there is a reason it works. Forming some large stables in WWE would give a tangible reason to put lower and midcard guys on the show. Put them in a big, multi person tag match when they need to fill time. This creates the option to have feuds between stables, allowing for actual reasons for interesting feuds on the undercard, without matches getting too competitive. It also provides relationships between wrestlers, a necessity for interesting storytelling that is not used nearly as much as it should be. In a bigger tag match, it allows for lower card guys to wrestle possible main eventers. It even would help for pay per views, giving an organic style of match to put on the pre-show: a fun 6 or 8 man tag between stables, possibly with big stars on the teams who don’t have anything real to do at the show. It shows good wrestling without showing off major storylines for free. Moving away from the booking for a bit, putting these less popular wrestlers on the show more in a capacity that fans may care about means that they have less of a reason to jump ship to another company. There are a lot of diverse benefits to creating a larger atmosphere of gang warfare, not unlike the way things were in the late 90′s

3. Clean up the announce team: another point that has been beat to death, but I am so damn sick of a three person team. There is better chemistry in a two person booth, again creating a relationship for fans to enjoy, while allowing the commentators to have organic conversation without feeling the need to chime in. Renee Young and Corey Graves have great chemistry together, and it pains me to say that Michael Cole gets in the way of that, often. He is just redundant on the team. The same goes for Byron Saxton and Aiden English. Saxton sucks, so Tom Phillips and Corey Graves would be a fun and refreshing commentary team without Saxton desperately trying to get Graves to respect him. Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuiness work great together on NXT UK, so there is no reason why they can’t on 205 Live as well. As for NXT, I actually like the team they have, but Nigel McGuiness doesn’t really need to be there. Percy Watson and Mauro Renallo would be fine on their own. Also, going in a bit of a random direction, the main roster commentators need to take a page out of NXT’s book of announcing a match or two for next week, to get fans excited a week before the match even happens. I always liked that, but it is really just a random suggestion. A two person booth genuinely works better. And though I criticized Michael Cole, that does not mean that I don’t have an idea for him outside of commentary.

4. Very professional General Managers: Drake Maverick, William Regal and Johnny Saint are phenomenal in their performances as GM. Smackdown and Raw really need something like that. This is where Cole comes in. He, as a professional babyface, would be a welcome change to the constant annoyance that is the presence of an authority figure at every turn. Cole could run the show from behind the scenes, appearing for important segments but nothing more. I think that the McMahons have far overstayed their welcome, although having them around for a few weeks at a time to abuse power is a pretty good idea. But in between those stretches, Cole has a good idea of how to come across as an authority, and he has a subtle charisma about him that would benefit him in that role. He isn’t the kind of guy WWE would want to shove down our throats, and that is the kind of GM Raw and Smackdown need right now. 

5. Fewer non-finishes: these are just infuriating, and they happen all the time. Now, not every count out is necessarily a non finish, but DQ’s tend to be, and they are maddening. I would even lump in the distraction-roll-up finish in here too, because that is waaaaaay overdone. I mean, shouldn’t the faces of the company start to realize what their rivals are doing by playing their music? I hate when the heroes just look dumb. Non-finishes is mostly just a lazy storytelling crutch, and they should be fazed out for competitive matches with actual booking.

6. Better main events: I am just kinda sick of rushed together main events that don’t end up meaning anything. WWE is normally pretty decent with this on Smackdown, but Raw’s main events seem to be repetitive and boring. Why watch a throwaway match like Baron Corbin vs. Rey Mysterio when there was a tag team championship match earlier in the night? That seems ass backwards. WWE needs to respect their belts more, and that includes those in the midcard. If there is a championship match on the card, there is no reason why it shouldn’t be the main event. It will give the final match of the night a sense of stake, and it will elevate the belts. The tag titles are never in the main event slot, and they would get a huge bump for being in that top slot on Raw. Better booking of the main events, in ways that aren’t so repetitive and pointless, will help the shows overall.

7. Keeping track of wins and losses. Because then, we will be able to understand how people are progressively moving towards a title belt. Keeping track of the wins and losses in this manner will give the audience a real sense of where things are going. It will make random title matches and open challenges feel a bit more like a great opportunity, because anyone could challenge even if they aren’t on the list. It will also be an interactive thing with the fans. It will be easier to show people on the rise as they go from contender 5 to number 1. It will just be an easier way to book Becky Lynch’s meteoric rise to the women’s championship, because people could follow it. It will make things feel like a real sport, and that is a good thing in a product that feels oddly in between a sport and soap opera.

8. Weekly press conferences with the on screen GM’s. Speaking of making things feel more like sports, this is a very interesting way to progress storylines. Gm’s come out for a little press conference things, and fake reporters ask questions in kayfabe about certain stories. For example, if there was an attack backstage on Raw, a reporter can ask about it, and the GM can talk about what he or she will do, such as keeping them apart for the night, or booking them in a match. This will be an interesting way to keep on screen authorities involved in the shows without really shoving them down our throats all the time. We don’t need to see someone like William Regal every week, because he will show up on this show and talk about the various feuds. It could also be a great way for champions, or controversial superstars to have a place to cut a promo. It will feel very professional, and interesting, to see the champions speak about their various feuds and such. And yes, an extra hour for fans to watch on the network could be tedious, but given that we are rolling back an hour for Raw, I am not too worried.

9. Use stipulation matches correctly. WWE is very weird about how they book stipulation matches. A few years ago when I started watching, they would not often book a stipulation match, but when they did, it could be anything from a no DQ match to a cage match. This era was around 2011-2012. Then I stopped watching, and I picked up again in early 2017. And boy was there a change on TV. They do more stipulation matches now, but almost all of them are multi-man matches. They happen about once every 2 weeks, whether it is on Raw or Smackdown. And I am not opposed to things like this happening, I just don’t think we need it as often as we are getting it. A good example of a triple threat was on the Smackdown after Elimination Chamber 2017. Now, if you don’t remember, Bray Wyatt won the WWE championship in the chamber that night, and it was only 2 weeks after John Cena beat AJ styles for it at the Royal Rumble. So, on Smackdown, Cena wanted a rematch, and AJ wanted a more fair rematch than he got the sunday before. So, they booked a triple threat main event. That makes sense. But last year and bleeding into this year, they have been throwing together multi-man and multi-team matches to fill out the card and get a lot of bodies on the show. And I understand that impulse to do that,  but it devalues those types of matches and makes them feel a lot less special. When they happen in New Japan, it feels like a huge occasion, because the happen so infrequently. So, if WWE wants multi person matches to feel interesting and special, we can’t have them every two weeks. But at the same time, throwing in a different type of stipulation every once in a while spices things up.

10. Make NXT a real brand. Triple H has already gone on record saying that he wanted to make this a reality, so why not go for it? Given the crazy amount of talent on each roster, having a third brand that is equal but different would really help. If a superstar is too overexposed on the main roster, draft them to NXT. Down there, they feel special, and can get their mojo back. Same goes for 205 live, if a superstar is a cruiserweight. But say someone like Finn Balor or Ricochet or Johnny Gargano just do not work on the main roster, 205 live will give them a fresh start. Now, I get that is disappointing to a lot of people, but given the quality of 205 Live lately, it would only make it and the superstars better. Then they can do some interesting things with titles crossing brands and such, maybe even an NXT vs. Smackdown show or something. It is just interesting.

So, that is how I would improve WWE tv. Not all of these things need to go together, although some of them do, but each one of them would definitely help. Hopefully, WWE can start to implement these and make their shows even better.

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#RevPro La promoción Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) en el Reino Unido ha anunciado que Will Ospreay ha dado positivo por COVID-19 y, como resultado, está fuera de sus eventos este fin de semana. La promoción reveló que Ospreay está completamente vacunado y experimenta síntomas leves, pero por lo demás está sano y aún se espera que pueda competir en su evento High Stakes el 19 de septiembre. El propio Ospreay realizó un breve video confirmando la noticia, señalando que estará aislado durante 10 días. https://www.instagram.com/p/CTSS9WXA1aZ/?utm_medium=tumblr