Paul Robinson & Will Ospreay & Kris Travis & Martin Kirby vs. Ligero & Mark Haskins & James Davis & Rob Lynch
Michael Elgin vs. Noam Dar
Sha Samuels vs. Doug Williams
RevPro British Cruiserweight Title Match: Prince Devitt vs. Ricochet
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Davey Richards 20:11. Richards may not have exceeded Dynamite Kid the way Chris Benoit did, but he was still an excellent intense & aggressive performer. While the gymnastic armbar counters and matwork are a regular part of his arsenal, it's definitely to his credit that he totally embraced the opportunity to allow Zack to make a complete technical match out of what Davey normally reserves for his early match warmup. This still had some big spots & felt like a junior match, but definitely was a lot more submission & British oriented than you'd otherwise see from Richards. The key early spot was Zack ducking Davey's running kick on the apron & countering by slamming Davey's arm into the apron. The match then followed two stories that played well with one another, first both men working a body part for the submission - Zack attacking the arm while Davey answered attacking the leg - and second the idea that they had each other scouted and had answers to all the big spots. Davey would, in story, try to turn it into a match that was more to his liking, inserting enough brief running & striking exchanges to keep the action going & not make things just seemed forced, at the same time as they were able to unravel a contest where these sequences logically didn't last long because their favorite spots would invariably backfire. There were several nice counters such as Zack punting Davey when he did his handspring off the ropes, forcing both men to be ready to work harder to get things in. For instance, Zack ducked the enzuigiri, but Davey immediately jumped back in the opposite direction to catch him with the kick on the rebound. Zack has always been very creative, but his stuff varied from just being cute to really advancing his gameplan more in these earlier days, countering the flying move (in this case Davey's diving headbutt) with the triangle is the sort of perfectly suited spot that has endured. They didn't really discriminate in quality here, the striking exchanges were played even despite Davey having twice the impact, while on the other hand Davey was a lot more competitive on the mat than he deserved to be. One of the problems with the match is Richards leg attack was built around the cornball Angle ankle lock, with the usual silly transitions into it & then Zack being forced to pretend to be in huge trouble despite it being practically the easiest submission for any slug to counter, much less a mat master. In general though, both men added a lot & were able to improve the work in the areas they were stronger at & go along well enough in the areas they were weaker at that the end result was a well balanced match that was strong no matter where it was taking place. ***3/4
Andy Boy Simmonz & Rampage Brown vs. Colt Cabana & Grado
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Marty Scurll
Josh Bodom vs. Jay Lethal
Mark Andrews vs. Sha Samuels
RevPro British Tag Title Match: Paul Robinson & Will Ospreay vs. Rich Swann & Ricochet 24:21. An aerial exhibition, but it was pure spectacle both for better & for worse. The match was longer than they needed it to be, so the opening counter sequence wound up being more of a start & stop breakdance exhibition, and they just never found the pace, flow, or intensity. Their moves were impressive because their athleticism is off the charts, but they didn't constuct a match that elevated anything they did beyond the pure awe factor of their gymnastic ability. I don't want to make this sound bad, everything they did was impressive from an athletic standpoint, it's just that nothing was more impressive in implementation than it is practicing in the gym, and none of it added up to anything beyond the sheer force of throwing X number of high flying moves into a match. Ricochet was the best as he's the most polished, followed by Will who was amazingly good for a 2nd year wrestler, hitting a really sweet corkscrew lionsault among other highlights. ***
Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. Kris Travis & Martin Kirby
El Ligero vs. Sonjay Dutt
RevPro British Heavyweight Title 30 Minute Iron Fist Match: Colt Cabana vs. Marty Scurll
Paul Robinson & Will Ospreay vs. Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt
Falls Count Anywhere Match: Josh Bodom vs. El Ligero
Gideon Grey vs. Colt Cabana
Marty Scurll vs. Mark Andrews
RevPro British Tag Title Match: Rich Swann & Ricochet vs. Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson
RevPro British Tag Title Match: Rich Swann & Ricochet vs. Sha Samuels & Terry Frazier
Jay & Patrick vs. Tiger Ali & Wild Boar
Terry Frazier vs. Owen Phoenix
Martin Stone vs. Andy Boy Simmonz
Josh Bodom vs. Joel Redman
Prince Devitt vs. Doug Williams
RevPro British Tag Title Match: Sha Samuels & Terry Frazier vs. Joel Redman & Martin Stone 12:56
Bad Luck Fale vs. Dave Mastiff 7:34
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Marty Scurll vs. Kevin Steen 20:30
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 15:23
Jay & Patrick vs. Jake McCluskey & Will Ospreay 16:48. I almost didn't even watch this match I didn't notice any hype about after the supposedly excellent Nakamura/Sabre match was the typical uninspired Shinsuke stallfest where he stood around & made doofy faces after every strike, pretty much only going outside his nanometre-sized box because Zack's submission offense is no impact & therefore no different to him than the opponent using some rest holds on him. I actually wound up enjoying this more than The Swords vs. Ricochet & Swann from 3/15/14 though. Look, I'm not going to say there was nearly the level of talent in this match, and it was more than a bit sloppy, but my first criteria is that you are out there giving an effort, and these guys were mostly busting it whereas the more famous Ospreay tag was very much stop & go. These guys still screwed around a little, but in the end, it really felt like everyone was trying their best both to win the match & to impress the audience. This seems pretty close to their best level, whereas the Ricochet & Swann match could easily have been a * better. Mr. Moonsault McCluskey was a reasonable sub for Robinson, probably more interesting offensively with his variety of backflips including standing on the back of an opponent in tabletop, but not as good a catcher/bumper. 2 Unlimited were a very cohesive unit, with most of their best stuff involving 3 if not all 4 workers. Ospreay & McCluskey did have a Spanish fly & shooting star press combo, though McCluskey could have used Tiger Hattori to help him balance on the top rope. Will's highlight was hitting a space flying Tiger drop variation to Jay then running the floor & diving through the bottom rope inside the ring post for a tornado DDT to Patrick. 2 Unlimited got McCluskey with a crucifix roll into a 450 splash off the shoulders into a corkscrew moonsault combo. ***
Prince Devitt vs. Adam Cole 15:18
Bad Luck Fale & Prince Devitt vs. Josh Bodom & Sha Samuels 3:30
Jay Sammon & Patrick Sammon vs. James Davis & Rob Lynch
Mark Haskins vs. Martin Kirby
Gideon Grey vs. Martin Kirby
RevPro British Tag Title Match: Joel Redman & Martin Stone vs. Sha Samuels & Terry Frazier
RevPro British Cruiserweight Title Match: Josh Bodom vs. Jake McCluskey
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Marty Scurll vs. Kris Travis 17:29
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Marty Scurll vs. Martin Stone
10/18/14
Austin Aries & Rich Swann vs. Jay Sammon & Patrick Sammon
Karl Anderson vs. Dave Mastiff 11:23
Kazuchika Okada vs. Joel Redman
Rikishi & Brian Christopher & Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Josh Bodom & Sha Samuels & Terry Frazier
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Marty Scurll vs. Martin Stone
Matt Sydal vs. Will Ospreay
2/15/15
Rocky Romero vs. Josh Bodom 11:22
Jake McCluskey vs. Sha Samuels 9:10
Matt Classic vs. Gideon Grey 6:44
Jay Sammon & Patrick Sammon vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian 17:16
RevPro British Tag Title Match: Joel Redman & Mark Haskins vs. Roy Knight & Zak Knight 18:05
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Marty Scurll vs. Ricochet 21:19
AJ Styles vs. Will Ospreay 23:57
RevPro British Cruiserweight Title Three Way Match: Josh Bodom vs. Will Ospreay vs. Rich Swann
Sha Samuels vs. Joel Redman
Martin Stone vs. Karl Anderson
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Marty Scurll vs. Shelton Benjamin
Jay Sammon & Patrick Sammon vs. Jim Hunter & Lee Hunter
Kazuchika Okada vs. Austin Aries 15:46
11/9/14
RevPro British Cruiserweight Title Match: Will Ospreay vs. Josh Bodom
Gideon Grey vs. Martin Kirby
Martin Stone vs. Big Damo
Magnus vs. Andy Boy Simmonz
Jake McCluskey vs. James Castle
Jay Sammon & Patrick Sammon vs. Marty Scurll & Sha Samuels
6/14/15
RevPro British Tag Title Match: Jake McCluskey [Replacing Mark Haskins] & Joel Redman vs. James Castle & Sha Samuels 8:54
Big Damo vs. Tomohiro Ishii 13:07
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Roderick Strong 13:43
2/3 Falls RevPro British Cruiserweight Title: Will Ospreay vs. Matt Sydal 25:57 [7:12, 8:07, 10:38]
Colt Cabana & Matt Classic Grado vs. Gideon Grey & Rishi Ghosh 10:15
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Marty Scurll vs. AJ Styles 18:52
James Castle & Sha Samuels vs. Jake McCluskey & Lion Kid
Josh Bodom vs. Noam Dar
Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards vs. Jay Sammon & Patrick Sammon 13:27
Joel Redman vs. Zak Knight
Joel Redman vs. Roy Knight
Gideon Grey vs. The Flatliner
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Marty Scurll vs. Rocky Romero
James Castle & Josh Bodom & Sha Samuels vs. Jake McCluskey & Jonny Storm & Owen Phoenix 11:16
Matt Classic vs. Rishi Ghosh 9:38
EVOLVE, ICW World Heavyweight & Open The Freedom Gate Triple Title No Disqualification Match: Drew Galloway vs. Doug Williams 12:39
Big Damo & Psycho Phillips vs. Jay Sammon & Patrick Sammon 7:50
RevPro British Cruiserweight Title Match: Will Ospreay vs. Jimmy Havoc 11:40
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Marty Scurll vs. Davey Richards 19:39
Tiger Ali & Wild Boar vs. Eddie Ryan & Jason Larusso 13:16
Psycho Phillips vs. Ryan Hendricks 11:21
Doug Williams vs. Josh Bodom 8:33
Jake McCluskey vs. James Castle 10:20
RevPro British Tag Title Match: Joel Redman & Mark Haskins vs. Matt Taven & Michael Bennett
Marty Scurll vs. Tom Dawkins
Jody Fleisch vs. Sha Samuels
James Castle vs. Dan Head
Big Damo vs. Jonny Storm 8:18
RevPro British Cruiserweight Title Match: Will Ospreay vs. Josh Bodom 14:23
Jimmy Havoc vs. Flyin' Ryan
Jake McCluskey vs. Joel Redman
Marty Scurll vs. Mark Haskins
Morgan Webster vs. Josh Bodom vs. Mark Haskins
Big Damo vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Will Ospreay vs. PJ Black
RevPro British Tag Title Match: James Castle & Sha Samuels vs. Doug Williams & Jonny Storm
Marty Scurll vs. Jimmy Havoc
Ricochet vs. John Morrison
James Castle & Sha Samuels vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima 8:29
Martin Kirby vs. ACH 11:42
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Big Damo 15:10
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Gedo & Kazuchika Okada 16:30
Kyle O'Reilly vs. KUSHIDA 17:43. The much anticipated rematch of the Super Jr final was rolled out in the mid card with nothing at stake, and subsequently was only half the length, which would have been fine if they wrestled like their 5/21/16 rematch rather than doing half the match. Part of the problem with doing this match in the UK was there's no Brits, so it was behind a lot of stuff that was very obviously going to be vastly inferior, but it was interesting that they shifted the technical style even more toward their idea of a World of Sport match. Leaning less toward MMA in their submissions early on didn't improve the match, but they used legit stuff when it mattered, and apart from what I'd consider to be fundamental errors having O'Reilly repeatedly using the ropes for leverage when he had KUSHIDA in the abdominal stretch to get cheap heat after KUSHIDA readily shook hands with O'Reilly to start based on the honor he earned in the previous encounter & O'Reilly then KUSHIDA moving away from the real sports intensity & aura of the first match by clowning around a bit, it was okay in the sense that this at least felt like a different match rather than the radio edit of the original classic. The main story of O'Reilly wanting to win with the armbar & KUSHIDA wanted to win again with the Kimura was the same though, and despite the hamming it up early surrounding, and thus lessened the importance of these crucial finishers, there was some really intricate technical wrestling going on here, with a lot of sweet reversals back & forth. The match really took off when O'Reilly turned the handspring back elbow into his ARMageddon. From here the sequences were excellent as they both had one answer after another & were just chaining counters until something finally momentarily stuck. The striking was better in this encounter because it was less predictable & they weren't just waiting for another. Down the stretch, they exchanged discus elbows then instead of KUSHIDA standing there so O'Reilly could hit him with a 2nd discus elbow, they both landed one at once, & instead of O'Reilly letting KUSHIDA hit him with the Masahiro Tanaka, he countered with the guard pull guillotine. The match just rather randomly ended a little after that though with O'Reilly getting the submission with the triangle. I didn't expect the match to go 30 minutes or anything, but it seemed reasonable that if they were just going to pull the plug with O'Reilly catching KUSHIDA in something, it would be with the armbar, so this finish was surprising to say the least. ***1/2
Tetsuya Naito vs. Mark Haskins 12:58
RevPro British Cruiserweight Title No Disqualification Match: Josh Bodom vs. Jimmy Havoc 16:10
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Three Way Match: AJ Styles vs. Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay 18:22. Ospreay is all sorts of spectacular in his offense & his bumps. At one point he uses boosts himself off the top turnbuckle to somersault to the floor onto AJ, runs the floor & dives through the bottom rope for a swinging DDT on Scurll, then reenters with a corkscrew shooting star press. Unfortunately, the match includes Scurll, who can't help but destroy it by stopping after every move for more of his cornball cartoon mannerisms, turning an already contrived contest into a straight up exhibition. Liked the finish where Ospreay breaks up Scurll's chickenwing with his Oscutter, but that leaves him prone for the Styles clash.
2/22/15 Cockpit Theatre, RevPro British Cruiserweight Title Match: Will Ospreay vs. Rocky Romero 19:40
Tetsuya Naito vs. KUSHIDA vs. Martin Kirby 12:18. KUSHIDA & Kirby worked really hard & Naito stalled. KUSHIDA stole the show from a wrestling perspective, but Naito's disinterest still wound up being the story of the match.
Gideon Grey vs. Gedo 8:40
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Joel Redman & Mark Haskins 12:04
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Marty Scurll 17:20
Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. James Castle & Sha Samuels 7:09
Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay 15:49. Okada's matches are him following along with the opponent for a reason. This match really didn't work because Ospreay was too big an underdog to be able to do all the work for him & make the match. They opened with a series of athletic counters, which were fine but nowhere near the level Ospreay does with more athletic & flexible opponents. From there Okada took over with mostly uninspiring offense to set up the crowd really getting into it as underdog Ospreay made his comeback, but it was short lived, each and every time. Ospreay was given little more than hope spots, and unless you were delusional enough to believe he was going to flash pin Okada, he was never in this. Ospreay did take a fantastic bump to actually make Okada's silly diving European uppercut look like a reasonable maneuver, but while the match had its moments, it was really just a glorified jobber match. **1/2
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Big Damo 14:25
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: AJ Styles vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 15:04. AJ is one of the many who grew up idolizing Liger, and though today's Liger is obviously nowhere near his optimal mid '90s level, Styles both put him over heavily despite it being a heavy vs. a junior match & also really understood how to work around Liger's lessened athleticism & take sweet bumps to make his moves look better. Whether Styles was giving or taking, he was doing pretty much all the running & jumping so Liger wasn't tested too heavily physically. Liger was mostly working the back with submission moves, but he did just enough offense to keep it entertaining before Styles finally got going. Liger stepped it up in the 2nd half, which was mostly built around his shotei, unfortunately forgetting the back almost entirely, with Styles taking one awesome flip bump and countering one with an overhead kick only to have Liger answer with his abisegiri. This was hardly a blowout MOTY contender, but it was an effective match that made for a reasonable main event. It was just the opposite of Okada vs. Ospreay, with AJ succeeding in making me believe he could lose while giving a performance that showed he deserved to win. ***
Marty Scurll vs. Trevor Lee 17:15
Gideon Grey vs. Morgan Webster 11:08
RevPro British Cruiserweight Title Match: Josh Bodom vs. Andrew Everett 12:38
Big Damo vs. Mark Haskins 10:57
James Castle vs. Ryan Hendricks 12:14
Will Ospreay vs. Drew Galloway 18:33
Gideon Grey & Rishi Ghosh vs. Jake McCluskey & The Bruce
Dan Magee vs. Rob Carter
Drew Galloway vs. James Castle
Marty Scurll vs. Juventud Guerrera
Josh Bodom vs. Kurtis Chapman
Will Ospreay vs. Trevor Lee
Marty Scurll vs. Noam Dar 17:15
Pete Dunne vs. Martin Stone 12:27
Big Damo vs. Big Daddy Walter 13:01
Will Ospreay vs. Mike Bailey 17:21
Josh Bodom vs. Chris Hero 17:25
RevPro British Tag Title Match: James Castle & Sha Samuels vs. Charlie Garrett & Joel Redman 8:50
Kurt Angle vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 8:59
RevPro British Tag Title Four Way Match: Charlie Garrett & Joel Redman vs. Jody Fleisch & Jonny Storm vs. Bruce & Jake McCluskey vs. Gideon Grey & Rishi Ghosh 14:39
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Josh Bodom 11:28
Sha Samuels vs. Moose 10:28
RevPro British Cruiserweight Title Match: Pete Dunne vs. Will Ospreay 15:48. On the surface battle of Dunne's bruising vs. Ospreay's flying, with both doing a good job of setting each other up & using counters to shift from one style to the other, though clearly this was mostly an Ospreay showcase. Dunne was a solid old school roughhouser with a few powerbombs & piledrivers, but Ospreay was so spectacular from start to finish, doing crazy things such a springboarding off the guard rail into the crowd, that Dunne just had to do enough to be competitive while facilitating Ospreay's highlight reel. Eventually Dunne baited Ospreay into a striking exchange, which Dunne was winning until Ospreay somehow managed to land on his feet after getting nailed with a lariat & hit his Spanish fly. The match really picked up after that as Ospreay threatened to set the record for most flips in 30 seconds hitting a standing shooting star press (sort of) after landing on his feet for a suplex then missing a double moonsault but hitting another standing shooting star press then a phoenix splash off the 2nd for a near fall. Dunne had his moments such as catching Ospreay's no touch moonsault attack & hitting a tombstone on the floor & countering the cheeky nandos kick & managing to get into a tombstone position as he got off the ropes for a near fall. Dunne did this again, but this time Ospreay reversed the tombstone position but instead tossed Dunne face first onto the top turnbuckle so he could now hit his cheeky nandos kick into a reverse Frankensteiner. Ospreay hit a reverse Frankensteiner off the 2nd to set up taking the title with the Oscutter. Nothing deep here, but they had good chemistry & did a nice job of setting up Will's amazing high flying. ***1/2
Marty Scurll vs. Mike Bailey 15:56. As expected, Bailey put his energy into doing cool kicks & flying moves, while Scurll put his into cartoon mannerisms & walking in circles.
Matt Sydal vs. Big Damo 14:38
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuyori Shibata 16:02. These two should be very well matched, both having the technical wrestling & striking, though Sabre prefers to rely on technique while Shibata on striking. I'm a huge fan of both & was really interested to see what they had to offer. The match was fairly intense in a waiting to just explode kind of way with both struggling in the meantime to gain any advantage over an opponent who was also an expert in whatever style they employed. Sabre finally found an edge working over the arm, and even managed to maintain it when Shibata baited him into a striking exchange, as Shibata allowed Sabre to punch himself out before making his big comeback. They appeared to be building up an excellent 30 minute match, but then it just ended with Sabre scoring a flash pin before they ever ignited the wick. What they did was fine, but it was the beginning of a match not a match in & of itself, leaving you with the feeling that they just randomly pulled the plug suddenly realizing everyone was about to miss the last train home. **1/2
8/12/16
Jay White vs. Josh Bodom 14:28
Sha Samuels vs. Big Damo 9:39
Jake McCluskey & The Bruce vs. PJ Black & Ryan Smile 12:10
Chris Hero vs. Marty Scurll 22:20
Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne 16:11
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jeff Cobb 15:34
Vader vs. Will Ospreay 6:44
11/1/16
World Of Sport Title Decision Match: Dave Mastiff vs. Grado 5:35
Four Way Ladder Match: Kenny Williams vs. CJ Banks vs. Danny Hope vs. Sam Bailey 6:45
Viper vs. Alexis Rose 4:36
Joe Coffey & Mark Coffey vs. Ashton Smith & Rampage 9:11
El Ligero vs. Zack Gibson 8:50
World Of Sport Title #1 Contendership Battle Royal: Grado vs. Davey Boy Smith Junior. vs. El Ligero vs. Joe Coffey vs. Johnny Moss vs. Kenny Williams vs. Mark Coffey vs. Sha Samuels 8:27
World Of Sport Title Match: Dave Mastiff vs. Grado 3:38
Bloods Bruce & Jake McCluskey vs. Dan Magee & Rob Lias
Oliver Carter vs. James Castle
Trent Seven vs. David Starr
Ryan Smile vs. Shane Strickland
Alex Windsor vs. Zoe Lucas
The Big Guy vs. Gideon Grey & Rishi Ghosh
Marty Scurll vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 13:35
Tomoaki Honma vs. Sha Samuels 6:57
Yuji Nagata vs. Pete Dunne 11:55
Chris Hero vs. Tomohiro Ishii 13:35. Goofy violent fun that the crowd consistently went absolutely nuts for. Ishii typically tried to intimidate Hero at the outset, but Hero was quick to point out his huge size advantage while otherwise ignoring him, brushing him off, & swatting him away. Hero would willingly laugh off a series of shots from Ishii without budging then just level him with 1 of his own. The main problem with the match is once you establish Hero as the immovable force, how do you then make Ishii competitive given Ishii really only strikes & Hero already showed these were nothing? This question was not adequately answered, as suddenly Ishii could take Hero's shots & Hero was now hurting his hand punching Ishii's head just so they could eventually have a competitive match. The spot after this where Ishii avoided Hero's corner charge & followed with a lariat would have been a much better transition to Ishii's offensive rather than a segue into him finally hitting a suplex. I didn't mind Ishii's no selling in and of itself, the issue to me was more that he was blown off his feet by everything Hero did early, but now that he's battered & concussed he's suddenly popping up from piledrivers like the undead. That is, until the 3rd piledriver where instead of popping straight up he was pinned. There was really no rhyme or reason for when Ishii could do something & when he couldn't, or much else here for that matter, but Ishii typically gave a great effort, and the fans massively supported the underdog to the point if you just listened to it you'd be penciling this in as match of the year. In reality though, Ishii only came close to competing, not to winning. Hell, he only advanced to the point of even going for the pin 3 times, and none of those were attempts anyone believed he had a chance of converting. I'll take Hero over Okada any day, he actually brought good things to this match, but Okada is the much more dominant wrestler & Ishii was allowed to push him to the limit & then some in their G1 match on 8/6/16 whereas this was really just a high effort squash. ***1/4
Will Ospreay vs. BUSHI 11:11. Ospreay's greatest hits in between BUSHI lying on his stomach & choking him w/ his shirt. BUSHI did have a sweet backcracker counter for the Oscutter, but was only really competitive while Ospreay was recovering from getting mist spewed in his eyes.
EVIL & SANADA & Tetsuya Naito vs. David Starr & Trent Seven & Tyler Bate 14:50
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuyori Shibata 16:39. The effort & chemistry were much better in this rematch from 7/10, and they basically did the match you'd expect from them the first time, a really competitive technical brawl between two wrestler's wrestlers. This was a much more thoughtful & developed match, starting with parity segments where they quickly countered one another & moving into each finally gaining an edge, increasing the intensity & pace as the match unfolded. Advantages were seized early, but almost just as quickly taken away as they went back & forth on the mat. Shibata took over working the arm, but Sabre countered the armwringer & damaged Shibata's arm with an overhead kick. Shibata had a pre-existing shoulder injury, so Sabre was able to gain more traction working that arm & shoulder, getting the 1st extended segment of offense. Shibata was forced to change things up & try to get his striking going, but Sabre quickly countered a right hand with a flying triangle. Shibata eventually Hulked up & absorbed Sabre's best shots to the bad shoulder before leveling him with a single right then taking over with his strikes. Sabre held his own here though, and both hit their penalty kicks to further drive home the idea this was a mirror match. Shibata was able to slow Sabre down enough with his chokes though that he eventually put away an already almost unconscious Sabre with his penalty kick. Again the match was on the short side, but this swift & brutal meeting packed 3 times as much action into the same amount of time as their previous encounter. They're still definitely capable of a lot better, but there was no disappointment this time, as it really felt like a high end Shibata match as he swept us away in his whirlwind of violence & aggression. ***3/4
Charlie Garrett & Joel Redman vs. BUSHI & EVIL 9:44
Josh Bodom vs. Tomoaki Honma 10:35
Yuji Nagata vs. Trent Seven 10:50
Jushin Thunder Liger (Will Ospreay) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 9:49. Ospreay wore a homemade version of Liger's old CTU outfit & they did a comedy leaning mirror match with Ospreay using Liger's moves & mannerisms on him, often at the same time as Liger went for them himself.
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Pete Dunne 12:25. While not as good as the Ishii/Hero match from a wrestling perspective, these two short stocky wrestlers are well matched, and were able to do a much better job of telling a simple, logical story . Ishii is the stronger, tougher fighter who wins the striking exchanges, but Dunne can compete by shifting to his cheeky, cheaty small joint manipulation.
SANADA & Tetsuya Naito vs. Marty Scurll & Zack Sabre Jr. 18:44
RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Chris Hero 13:18. Shibata's match with Hero was more or less the same as Ishii's offensively, just beating the hell out of one another, with the crucial difference that Shibata was always able to hang with Hero in the striking department. Shibata was also in the match because he can rely on submissions, as he tried to do at the outset before Hero sucked him into the striking exchanges, and he can win by using his submissions to finish with his striking as he did to win this title the night before. The match followed Shibata's usual big match formula of continually escalating the intensity, violence, & pace through the striking. The primary quality of Shibata's style is his durability, the opponent will keep hitting him harder & harder until they've unloaded all they possibly could, and he'll just keep absorbing it & stepping forward to get in their face until he finally unleashes his own offense that's usually even more magnificently brutal than what he just withstood. Hero has 75+ pounds on Shibata though, and can absorb his best stuff as well though, so he was also eventually able to turn the tide back countering Shibata's charge with a knee & getting a near fall from a piledriver. Shibata not only managed to kick out, but locked a sleeper, and again this is where him having more tools than Ishii comes in as maybe Shibata can't KO Hero going strike for strike, but he can bring him to the point of nearly being unconscious & then finish him with the penalty kick. The finishing sequence was built around Hero having answers for the sleeper, establishing his own weapons during this portion that Shibata needed to answer in the Gotch style piledriver that took Ishii out the night before & rolling elbow, but Shibata had answers for both Hero's finishers & Hero's answers for the sleeper. The crowd wasn't as into this match as the Hero/Ishii match perhaps because Shibata was an equal to the big man rather than an underdog so the support was a lot more split if not now leaning toward Hero, who while also an outsider has been making stops in the UK since the early days of his career, but the match actually worked because of that & just has much more sweep & a much better dramatic arc. The only negative is the match was on the short side as both had done real matches the night before & Hero was flying back to the states for the EVOLVE shows the next 2 days. I was a bit surprised Shibata got the finish when he did even though the match built well & consistently to that exact moment, probably because the actual kick didn't have the expected oomph. They were really rolling once they got momentum going with Hero's barrage of strikes leading to Shibata's comback, and it was super physical & punishing with nice counters back & forth. Overall, I'd rate this slightly higher than Shibata/Sabre as the match of the Global Wars. ***3/4