Sammii Jayne vs. Candyfloss
Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Jamie Hayter vs. Laura Di Matteo
Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Leah Owens vs. Charli Evans
Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Livvii Grace vs. Bea Priestley
Charlie Morgan & Kasey Owens vs. Chakara & Nina Samuels
Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Millie McKenzie vs. Toni Storm 12:17. It's odd seeing Storm as the veteran fending off the rising star, but she usually doesn't wrestle girls who aren't old enough to buy a ticket to the show. They did a nice job of playing their roles, with Storm seeming to want to do a British style technical match working the arm, but quickly starting to play heel double crossing Millie on a handshake & turning it into a high impact brawl. McKenzie's intensity is one of her best attributes, and though she was getting dominated early, she started to come to life with a schoolboy counter to Storm's 3rd ass to the face, & got her elbows going as well as hitting a tope and a body attack off the bar. Storm's bouts are almost always so short (12 minutes ranks it as one of her "long" ones) and seem to suffer from the same issue where she just cuts the developing portion off abruptly and goes right to the finishing sequence with the opponent surviving a big move and often the strong zero as was the case today. McKenzie escaped to the floor then back body dropped her way out of an apron version, so Storm set up a chair in the corner & tried to whip McKenzie in, but Millie reversed & countered with her German suplex. Storm made the mistake of trying to match German suplexes with Millie, and Millie not only won the battle, but scored the well deserved upset, which was pretty exciting. All the individual portions of the match were good, but they seemed just that; going from the brawling on the floor to the finishing sequence really left a gap. I enjoyed the match, the actual wrestling was high level, but at the same time it seemed choppy & oddly unsatisfying because the bridge to the finish is absent in Storm's matches so again they jumped to the finishers and just ended after each kicked out of one or two. ***
EVE Title Rumble Match: Sammii Jayne vs. Addy Starr vs. Bea Priestley vs. Candyfloss vs. Chakara vs. Charlie Morgan vs. Charli Evans vs. El Motho (Martina) vs. Erin Angel vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Kasey Owens vs. Laura Di Matteo vs. Leah Owens vs. Livvii Grace vs. Martina vs. Nina Samuels vs. Rhia O'Reilly vs. Session Goth (Martina). Rhia O'Reilly made Sammii Jayne defend the title in a rumble & be the 1st entrant & herself the last entrant. O'Reilly was ready to win, but Evans & Hayter saved Jayne & eliminated Rhia.
Addy Starr & Laura Di Matteo & Rhia O'Reilly vs. Ayesha Raymond & Charli Evans & Jamie Hayter. Brawl won by O'Reilly after slamming Raymond off the 2nd through a table.
Viper vs. Jawsolyn
Four Way Elimination Match: Kaitlin Diemond vs. Candyfloss vs. Erin Angel vs. Leah Owens
Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Nina Samuels vs. Session Goth Martina
Kay Lee Ray & Sammii Jayne vs. Charlie Morgan & Toni Storm 15:21. Jayne replaced Millie McKenzie, which wasn't to the benefit though she wound up giving the best performance in the match. They teased dissention in the ranks since Ray & Jayne aren't mates, but this was a wrestling match not a throwaway to set up the next throwaway, so Ray ultimately saved Jayne from the strong zero twice. This started pretty well with Jayne & Storm trading leverage holds & Ray & Morgan trading kicks then settled into Morgan getting dominated as Jayne tested how Morgan's broken collarbone has recovered, working the shoulder & arm. Morgan didn't seem near the level of the other 3, but she was mostly just selling & doing a few kicks. The match really took off with Storm's hot tag, ducking Jayne's enzuigiri & going into a released German suplex then starting a triple dive sequence where Morgan chickened out because she's still not confident of her health. Morgan then decided to try for a dive after all, but Jayne cut her off & gave Storm a tope. Storm also countered Ray's attempt to boomerang with a big released German. They did a couple more dives, but again Morgan wouldn't join. Instead she taunted Jayne & ran the ropes for a yakuza kick, but Jayne slipped behind her with a released Dragon then won with a fireman's carry driver, which is kind of a lame, toned down version of the Death Valley bomb where she places the opponent on their back rather than dropping them on their head. Not a major main event even by EVE's standards, but they did enough to make it good. Ray didn't contribute as much as normal since it was mostly Jayne, but had her moments put her athleticism to good use, and Storm was at home here because she didn't have to log that much ring time, but got to deliver some big highlights. ***
Millie McKenzie vs. Jimmy Havoc. Havoc was intimidated, and kept trying not to piss Millie off. Millie did her usual offense, but Havoc didn't add much beyond a few gags.
Jawsolyn vs. Gideon Grey
World Of Sport Match: Rocky Mac vs. Kosta K
Doug Williams vs. Charlie Morgan. Morgan was a lot better here than in the recent EVE, wrestling technically early then using her athleticism rather than mostly selling, pretending to be afraid of doing anything risky, & eventually winning with one move. Williams was really unselfish here, finding excuses to put Morgan & allow her to make the match.
Nina Samuels vs. Kaitlin Diemond
XWA British Heavyweight Title Match: Cara Noir vs. Rhia O'Reilly
Emi Sakura vs. Kaitlin Diemond
Charli Evans & Jamie Hayter vs. Addy Starr & Laura Di Matteo
Jayla Dark vs. Mischa East
EVE Title Match: Sammii Jayne vs. Rhia O'Reilly
Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Kasey Owens vs. Erin Angel
Charlie Morgan vs. Baynz
Viper vs. Jordynne Grace 10:17. Grace is something of a shorter version of Reggie Bennett before she blew up, but is a much better athlete. A better in ring comparison would be Chihiro Hashimoto as she can use all the power moves she needs to hang with a giant like Viper or to dominate normal sized athletes, but at the same time she can bump, pull out cartwheels, and generally do sequences with the smaller more athletic girls where she's more than just a base for their flying because she has good agility & body control. Viper has never been one of my favorites, she's imprecise, & while she gives an effort & tries to do impressive things for her size, she just doesn't have much grace or finesse. Grace really worked hard & pulled a good match out of her. It helped that Grace has enough size & strength that Viper had to respect her & put her over, as well as enough athleticism that the contest seemed somewhat flashy & skillful even regardless of their size. Viper's offense was still hit & miss, but Grace did a great job working circles around her, whether it be countering her with athletic moves or even powerbombing her, and Viper had to go out of her comfort zone & keep trying to step her game so as not to be completely shown up by the outsider. Viper pulled out a high cross body & something that was supposed to be a dive to match Grace's tope. Viper gave a good effort & kept her workrate up. The match was building well, but then just ended when Viper broke Grace's bearhug with a series of headbutts & hit a Michinoku driver II. ***
Kay Lee Ray vs. Millie McKenzie 16:15. McKenzie is one of the most promising wrestlers on the planet. Debuting at 16 under the tutelege of Pete Dunne & Travis Banks, she's already one of the better women two years later, and is virtually the only wrestler who will do a spear as an actual flying tackle that looks like it's doing something useful. Ray has been the standard bearer in the UK for a while even though she's still on the ascendancy, and while she has a striking game she can use on any slug, it's much better to now have someone who she can really work with to develop a counter laden match. These two gave a big show main event performance, just throwing bombs & beating the hell out of each other from start to finish. The action was pretty fast paced except on the floor because the venue is so tiny they don't bother with seats, and the wrestlers kind of need the fans to part and huddle together in order to have 5 feet to work with. Ray set up her reverse Gori special bomb near the bar, and just jerked back to ram Millie's head into the counter, while Millie hit her Canadian destroyer on the apron before they got down to Millie's killer suplexes in the ring. Ray eventually answered with her superkicks, but McKenzie caught one & climbed up Ray's back into a reverse Frankensteiner, which wasn't their best transition. Sometimes it could have been a little more fluid, I think we'll see that as they get more used to each other & continue to grow, and they could have told a better story with the offense they were using, but it was a great effort with heavy artillery from start to finish. Millie had an avalanche style German suplexes after hitting 6 almost uninterrupted regular versions earlier. Ray finally hit her Gori bomb & went back to her senton atomico, which would have been fine as the finish except she almost completely overshot McKenzie. ***1/2
EVE-Ster Death Match: Rhia O'Reilly vs. Nina Samuels. Comical Easter themed brawl including a choke with a rope of plastic eggs before Rhia wins with a powerbomb & Rhiadjustment onto a pile of candy mini eggs.
Charlie Morgan vs. Killer Kelly
Jordynne Grace vs. Livvii Grace
Jetta vs. Mischa East
Sammii Jayne vs. Kris Wolf 14:21. I really disliked Wolf at the start of her Stardom career because she was all gimmick with a little meaningless action thrown in between her annoying character work. Though the Tanny Wolf character is still present, I'm okay with her getting her tail pulled or putting the wolf face on the opponent since she was wrestling first here, & even these gags were done within the context of gaining & maintaining advantages. Jayne also kept her in check, following Wolf's dive with her own because she stopped to play to the crowd. Jayne looks like a throwback to Moolah's troupe, but she has a good mix of technique to go with her ring control & mind games. Though she's a rudo, she keeps progressing the match & taking it in different directions, taunting the crowd while she's taking the opponent apart rather than slowing things down to do so, and would much rather rely on her skill & cleverness with Wolf actually doing most of the cheating. Jayne can do a lot of styles over the course of a match, but it seems like what she does within a style isn't that vast, so you'll see it stuff match after match. Jayne had a considerable size advantage, so she was tossing Wolf around & winning the strike exchanges, but was just as happy trading flying headscissor variations and enzuigiris. The match was mostly the Sammii show, with Wolf using her speed enough to keep hope alive. Wolf finally made a run with a couple flying moves, but Jayne caught the second attempt at a flying double knee & powerbombed her into the turnbuckle, which quickly led to the finish. The problem with the match is Wolf wasn't really a threat to win it, making the whole non title stipulation a bit silly, but she was very over & the fans love to hate Sammii, so it was a successful reintroduction to EVE (she did 2 matches the year before but has now become a regular). ***
Hardcore Match: Kay Lee Ray vs. DASH Chisako 17:38. They brought a chair with their nicknames - Hardcore Daredevil & Hardcore Queen - so Ray proposed they shake on making it a hardcore match, only to get booted in the gut, which was just classic start to one of the best joshi matches of the year. DASH worked Ray over with the chair on the outside, but when she threw her in & went to reenter herself, Ray caught her with a tope & used the chair on DASH, including a front suplex onto it. This match was certainly top notch, considerably better than anything I've seen from EVE or Senjo so far this year, but given it's the first & so far only match DASH has wrestled for EVE, it's odd that they'd want it to be so weapons oriented. These two are a lot more notable for their skill than for choking the opponent with a ladder, and they've never wrestled each other before, so there's no actual reason to start with such an escalated level of violence, but given neither have wrestled more than a handful of these matches in their career, I guess it's just in their nature like the scorpion. DASH is certainly a spunky badass who incorporates chairs into all her matches, and the more time she gets in singles, the more she resembles the Queen of the Street Fight version of Mayumi Ozaki that was wrestling's most fantastic little bad ass before Chigusa & KAORU taught her to forget how to wrestle & get bailed out by the fuzz, so this is really the next progression forward for DASH's career. I'm dying to see DASH & Ray in a straight match, but it's possible this is actually the better match for them because they're creative enough to do their near-fall laden athletic contest around the gimmick spots, so while it was a bit less sequence & counter oriented than expected before the stipulation was announced, the props gave them more opportunity to add nasty twists to their already impressive arsenal & a reason to do a much more brutal, high impact match. DASH did her diving footstomp onto the chairs, but there was also some less predictable stuff such as Ray ramming DASH into a ladder leaning in the corner then using a 619 on the ladder to knock it into her face. Ray also tried one of her boomerang body attack off the ladder when DASH reversed her whip, but DASH had it scouted so Ray lept into a flying chair. This match was intense, particularly the striking, but one of the reasons it was so good is even in spite of the gimmick spots, they didn't make it about a few stunts & kept their usual high paced style. This was the rare hardcore match where out speeding each other was actually a thing, and they really only pausing to get the table then set it across two chairs for DASH to ultimately superplex Ray through. Granted, the pace was surely at least a half notch off what it would have been in a straight match, but that's still more spots than Naito does in an "active" month. Ray was the harder hitter (aside from DASH's headbutt that would make Shibata proud), putting more on her stikes than usual and really getting some great shots in, but DASH refuses to back down from anyone, and would answer by firing up with her own flurry. There was eventually some great back & forth action of all types, even straight wrestling, but that's not the match they were here to do. This was a really high impact match, and you knew it was going to take more than usual to get the finish, with Ray's Gori bomb on the chair finally doing DASH in. This win helped set up Satomura failing to defend Senjo honor against Ray at Queendom. ****
Kasey Owens vs. Millie McKenzie 13:54. This looked like a lesser show with no Kay Lee Ray, no Jetta on commentary to keep the dull matches interesting with her quick wit, & McKenzie buried in the opener. Though that was the case, luckily McKenzie & Owens didn't care when they came on, giving a main event effort & stealing the show anyway. The announcers said as much, wondering if the other workers were paying attention in the locker room because the bar was being set really high. The technical wrestling early on was a little more deliberate than I'd like after they weren't on the same page on the 1st counter, but they settled in quickly, & the match got good with McKenzie hitting a tope then Owens answering with her own when McKenzie threw her back in the ring. The match had a good sense of desperation & feeling of urgency. They really laid into each other, both with the strikes including Owens nearly breaking McKenzie's jaw with a sick sliding knee & big suplexes. Owens survived a Canadian destroyer, a cutter counter for her boomerang cross body, & a ridiculous amount of German suplexes before knocking McKenzie out. I'm not sure why you go from McKenzie beating Storm in the main event to losing to Owens in the opener, it felt like she should definitely win here given her main event loss to Ray, but it seems like they're content to keep jobbing her all year since she's the youngest. Owens was quite good here as well with her badass shoot strikes, and in any case, the fans were the real winners. ***1/4
Four Way Match: Laura Di Matteo vs. Leah Owens vs. Nina Samuels vs. Xia Brookside. Owens did a plancha off a ladder.
Gauntlet Match: Charlie Morgan vs. Jetta, Isla Dawn, Jayla Dark & Sammii Jayne
a) Morgan vs. Jetta. The bulk of the gauntlet was Jetta carrying Morgan, who she trained, to a good little match. Jetta worked Morgan's broken collarbone every way she could think of. Finally, she altered her stranglehold lungblower to target the collarbone & went into her Jetta Lock, adjusting it to just use one arm so it put more pressure on the weak side, but Morgan somehow survived & totally unconvincingly came back with her aces over for the flash pin.
b) Morgan vs. Isla Dawn. Again Morgan got beat up & essentially did nothing beyond her finisher.
c) Morgan vs. Jayla Dark. Dark got DQ'd for using a chair on Morgan, leaving Morgan ripe for the pickens.
d) Morgan vs. Sammii Jayne. Morgan had nothing left & quickly fell to Jayne's fireman's carry driver.
Jamie Hayter vs. Mischa East
Viper vs. Livvii Grace
Sammii Jayne vs. Erin Angel. Morgan only had 1 opponent for Jayne, but it was her frenemy Angel, further fracturing the tenuous relationship between Jetta & her proteges. Jayne did a good job of carrying this, but Angel isn't on the level for push or skill, so it's mostly one-sided with Angel coming up with a big move now & again but being "too tired" to capitalize. Jayne worked the arm a lot, and they had a great finish where she countered the diving shoulderblock with a wakigatame, except Jayne inexplicably released the submission & pinned the injured Angel instead of Angel just tapping. Jetta tried to keep Jayne from beating on Angel after the match, but Morgan wound up making the save then Jetta got Angel to the back.
10/7/17
Femmes Fatales 2017 First Round Match: Toni Storm vs. Jinny 7:05
Femmes Fatales 2017 First Round Match: Viper vs. Melanie Gray 4:55
Femmes Fatales 2017 First Round Match: Laura Di Matteo vs. Killer Kelly 5:08
Femmes Fatales 2017 Semi Final Match: Viper vs. Laura Di Matteo 5:15
Femmes Fatales 2017 Semi Final Match: Toni Storm vs. Wesna 8:10. Best bout of the tournament. Storm does the same thing in every match, but Wesna executes her power offense a lot cleaner & crisper than Viper.
Dirty Dragan vs. Jaxon Stone 7:37
Femmes Fatales 2017 Final Match: Toni Storm vs. Viper 7:46
5/5/18
War Games Cage Match: Addy Starr & Emi Sakura & Laura Di Matteo & Rhia O'Reilly vs. Blue Nikita & Charli Evans & Jamie Hayter & Jayla Dark 21:01
Wild Card Qualifying Match: Jetta vs. Kris Wolf 8:10
Wild Card Ladder Match: Nina Samuels vs. Jetta vs. Kasey Owens vs. Kris Wolf vs. Leah Owens vs. Livvii Grace vs. Millie McKenzie 10:18
Kay Lee Ray vs. Meiko Satomura 15:33. Satomura works a lot harder for her outside bookings than she does in her own promotion, doing a faster paced, more intense match with less filler. That being said, despite it being EVE's biggest show of the year, this was nowhere near the level of Ray's match with Satomura's protege DASH Chisako from 3/30/18, which is no surprise since those two have surpassed Satomura. Ray vs. DASH was a lot more original, unpredictable, & creative. The level here was still very high, and it was stiff & crisply executed, but it just wasn't nearly as captivating. Even though it was also new match, it just seemed like a generic high end Satomura match as Ray was so respectful she went along with whatever Satomura was doing rather than really delving into her speedier attacks or brawling. Ray proved herself with an impressive array of answers to Meiko's technical wrestling and aggressive striking, but never really made it her own match. It was nonetheless a very good match, but fell prey to the usual problems of Satomura's matches, the biggest at this point is the match is built up in an interesting enough manner, but then at some point they just leave all that stuff & spam the same few finishers over and over until it randomly ends. The early portion was built out of lock ups, with Satomura always starting off with the advantage, but Ray countering soon enough. They graduated to big strikes before Ray finally gained the first decided advantage when Meiko missed her cartwheel knee drop, though it was short lived and Meiko was able to land the cartwheel knee drop early in her comeback. In general, Ray was losing the majority of the match, but she'd almost get back to even before Satomura would take over again. Ray finally got Satomura into her element landing a Gori bomb on the apron, but Satomura topped her with the Death Valley bomb on the apron. The match was building well to a nice 20+ minute match, but then they just left everything for a finishing sequence where Satomura got near fall with the Death Valley bomb, but Ray somewhat clunkily turning the scorpio rising into her Gori bomb. Both kicked out of each others finishers again before Ray got the flash pin turning a Death Valley bomb into a schoolboy. Ray offered a handshake after the match, but Satomura instead bowed to her, which was a nice final touch. I don't think the length in and of itself was that far off as Ray often has shorter matches that are as satisfying if not more, but rather the final portion was too condensed and abrupt as they just rolled out the big moves rather than really setting them up or supporting them. While considerably better than the Satomura vs. Toni Storm matches because Ray can do the opponents thing rather than just repeating the same few patterns, it felt more like a match where Ray was supposed to increase her reputation by showing she could hang with the legend in the legend's style even though she ultimately lost than a match where she arguably scored the biggest win of her career. In theory, it's more impressive that she for the most part beat Satomura at her own game, but this isn't so much a match you'd show to someone to impress them with Ray as a match that shows Satomura is still one of the better wrestlers when she wants to be. The most impressive thing for Ray is that even though this isn't the ideal style for her, she's still proved a better opponent to plug into Meiko's typical match than almost anyone. ***1/2
Aja Kong vs. Viper 9:49. I get that this is an obvious matchup as the sort of battle of their countries top big women, but Aja has always worked much better against regular sized athletic opponents, especially in her later years. Aja carried it, but was mostly getting by with her charisma & antics in the 1st half, with Viper just standing & laying around while Aja beat on her & posed. Viper did finally pick it up with her comeback, and the second half was pretty good exchanging bombs including an impressive backdrop from Aja. Viper had a few moments, but mostly got owned by the superior big woman in a short match that didn't feel like a big show semifinal.
EVE Title Match: Sammii Jayne vs. Charlie Morgan 20:29. Wow! Just wow! This match so greatly exceeded my expectations I'm still dumbfounded. Jayne has been a fairly consistent good performer this year but never struck me as having a ton of ability to go far beyond that level, while Morgan is a very good athlete who has had her moments but overall has been struggling both in storyline & actuality to trust her body since breaking her collarbone last year. I knew this would be good, maybe even hit ***1/2, but I wasn't expecting it to be better than Ray vs. Satomura, much less to be consistently surprised by their brilliance as they delivered a match of the year & one of the great grudge matches I've witnessed. This is what a big match can be, and what a rivalry match can be when the performers know this is the moment they are going to be remembered for & do everything in their power to seize it. You kind of know what to expect from a main event title match whether it's the IWGP Heavyweight Title or JWP/PURE-J Openweight Title, every league kind of has their standard length, arc, etc that's almost regardless of the popularity of the promotion or the magnitude of the event. This was the biggest show in the history of EVE, and yes, 1000 fans was the Tokyo Dome for them, but while a bigger effort was certainly expected, this looked nothing like what I've seen before from EVE, and the wrestlers themselves were hardly recognizable half the time they did so many new & different things & fought with such anger & disregard for their bodies. They did a ton of stunts I've never seen from them before to make it special, but it wasn't so much that as how ridiculously energized they were. They wrestled with so much raw hatred to put over the reason they were wrestling as they were that they really elevated the rivalry, title, and promotion. This feud has been brewing since Morgan defeated Jayne & Satomura in the SHE-1 final on 11/12/17, earning this title shot as well as the monicker "The Ace of EVE". In the months leading up, Jayne, aided by Jetta, has tricked, tormented, bullied, and outsmarted Morgan, culminating at the previous EVE show on 4/14 where Jayne & Morgan got to pick each other's matches, so Jayne put Morgan through a gauntlet match where she was so worn out by the time she got to Jayne it was an easy win for the champion. Jayne started tonight's war with a taunting shove off the staredown, and Morgan was just on her like a rabid dog, tackling her & running and leaping after her when she'd manage to get away. The start perfectly set the tone of the match, but they also never relented, rather than having an adrenaline dump, the whole thing was a giant adrenaline rush, with Morgan really feeding off the support of the crowd. Morgan's Fearless nickname is based on her coming out at an EVE event last year, but today it was her wrestling style as well. Though earlier in the year Jetta made a big deal of Morgan shying away from following the others in doing a dive, today she went all the way in the other direction getting nuttier and nuttier as the match progressed. She was just throwing her body all over the place from start to finish. The early portion took place on the outside because no ring could contain them. While Jayne began the main thrust of the match working over the mending collarbone after each hit a dive, they mostly just wanted to kill each other and if a table or ladder seemed an easier or more interesting way to do that, they were happy to give it a try. This led to the signature stunt of the match where Morgan powerbombed Jayne off the ladder into the crowd then climbed the ladder to the balcony & did a somersault off the guard rail, which was up there in the are you out of your mind category even though they had an army of catchers. Again Jayne had some good shoulder work when she twisted out of Morgan's implant DDT finisher, dropping her down onto the shoulder & turning into a wakigatame, but it was interspersed with Morgan doing every flying move she could think of and exchanging big suplexes. Jayne ascended to the top rope, and Morgan seemed to be countering with a climb up move, but instead threw her onto a table they'd set up on the outside 10 minutes earlier. Jayne still kicked out of the implant DDT, leading to a great spot where Morgan tried a senton atomico, but Jayne lifted her legs up to avoid then brought them down into an armbar, which would have been a perfect finish if Jayne was retaining. Morgan just refused to submit though, and Jayne eventually switched into the wakigatame. Morgan came close to making the ropes, but Jayne pulled her back in the center with a reverse roll & reapplied the wakigatame, which again would have been a great finish. The actual finish wasn't as good because it wasn't really logical and took too long to set up, though it was different & I understand the need for something big in a match where they already threw everything they could think of at each other. Jayne got desperate after her submissions failed & left the ring to find the ladder, setting it up in the corner & climbing up, which would have given her an extra 5 feet over the top turnbuckle, but is that really worth suddenly giving Morgan all this time to recover in a match when they'd been on each other with no pause? They battled on the ladder until Morgan finally hit her implant DDT off it for the win. Nonetheless, a fantastic match & great culmination to their program. It's hard to imagine either wrestler topping this, though I'd love to see them try. All the other wrestlers flooded the ring after Morgan was presented with the title, with even Jetta clapping for Morgan. ****1/2
Millie McKenzie vs. Killer Kelly 11:56. Everyone was expecting killer suplexes & stiff strikes, but I liked that they held off on the obvious violence for quite a while, instead doing a technical match until tempers flared & the stakes were escalated. Even though they started off countering basic headlocks & hammerlocks, they always keep at it & their intensity is so high that they hold your attention no matter what they're doing. This lasted for the 1st half until Millie spun out of a headlock & landed an elbow. From here they tried their strikes & suplexes, but again everything was being countered or avoided so Kelly tried to go back to the technical wrestling with the cravate, only to have Millie trip her up & land some kicks to the back sending the message that she wasn't playing around anymore. The match picked up from here as McKenzie forced the more aggressive hard hitting style we expected from the outset, the biggest issue being her elbows too often don't have much impact. Kelly got the cravate again, and this time was able to land a series of essentially clinch knees. She landed the first German suplex then no sold Millie's German suplex, leading to Millie's usual series of them. Kelly came back with a high kick, but not long after Millie ducked another & finished her with a backdrop. An impressive match in general, but especially when you consider it was an opener with a 17-year-old against a wrestler who also had only been pro for two years. ***1/4
EVE Title Match: Charlie Morgan vs. Charli Evans 8:25. Impromptu title match that was good while it lasted, but unfortunately never really turned into anything more than Evans working the collarbone & Morgan making brief athletic comebacks. Evans stepped up her level quite a bit, and these two are definitely capable of a good match, but Morgan went all out winning the title in a great match the week before, so it's understandable that she was content doing a reasonable little match.
Kasey Owens vs. Nina Samuels
Jamie Hayter vs. Zoe Lucas
Toni Storm vs. Bea Priestley
Livvii Grace & Rhia O'Reilly vs. Erin Angel & Jetta
Charli Evans vs. Viper
SHE-1 Tournament 2018 Qualifying Match: Millie McKenzie vs. Addy Starr 9:25. This was going to be hard hitting regardless, but they did a good job of making the tournament seem important by being so zoned in from the opening bell & just blasting each other back & forth so aggressively. It was a short match, but they went so hard it felt complete at this length. Starr, who didn't wrestle in 2017, was good in her 1st singles match since returning to EVE, matching McKenzie's violence & intensity. McKenzie is looking more and more confident out there she she adopted her even more aggressive attitude, and did a better job of making her strikes look as damaging as her throws. She also added a diving Diamond cutter. When she did her first German suplex, Starr popped up & responded with "like a running, standing version of that sliding D." McKenzie hit the series after countering Addy's acid drop then got the submission with a cobra clutch with a body triangle. ***1/4
Kasey vs. Mischa East. Kasey showed her new rudo side just put the boots to East in between a few shoulder attacks to send a message to Morgan.
Laura Di Matteo vs. Jetta
Jamie Hayter vs. Erin Angel
Kay Lee Ray vs. Kris Wolf 10:28. They met each other half way really impressive high paced wrestling, but also quite a bit of comedy. Wolf is a good opponent for Ray because of how fast she can work, and although the match was mor than somewhat goofy, Wolf is even faster than Ray & they were able to go full speed with each other. The main comedy portion had Wolf bite Ray, so Ray bit her back. The ref broke it up & said no more biting, so they bit him. Then he scolded them & made them "shake hands, cuddle, do whatever" to make up, so they hugged & Ray patted Wolf's head, at which point she got annoyed & started the match after exclaiming, "I'm not a dog!" The match still had its share of stops & starts, but mostly resembled a High Speed title match with more stiffness & comedy. Unlike Millie vs. Starr, it didn't really feel complete at this length because a lot of the time was spent goofing. This was Wolf's last match of her UK tour, so she predictably fell to Ray's Gori bomb, then a few minutes later Hayter inexplicably came out & did Hayter things, otherwise known as a couple no technique strikes to Wolf & a lot of pointless circling. ***
Charlie Morgan & Martina vs. Bea Priestley & Chardonnay
SHE-1 Tournament 2018 Qualifying Match: Charli Evans vs. Laura Di Matteo
Rhia O'Reilly vs. Millie McKenzie. Millie really stepped up her game here using her athleticism to try to make up for Rhia's total lack thereof. Rhia is probably the worst worker in the company, and while it still wasn't quite a good match, it was actually a credible contest that was by far the most watchable thing Rhia has been involved in all year.
Three Way Match: Jamie Hayter vs. Addy Starr and Erin Angel
Nina Samuels vs. Mischa East
Kay Lee Ray vs. Killer Kelly 12:30. This was along the lines of what I was hoping for from Ray vs. Satomura, just a really aggressive, all out hard hitting affair. Satomura is certainly a better wrestler than Kelly, but these two worked hard from start to finish, doing a super intense match without any real filler. Kelly isn't the most athletic competitor, but she's thick & can make up for it by being a badass bruiser. She's a fan of Shibata, and there was a sick spot where they thudded heads with dueling Fujiwara headbutts. Ray still hits harder than Kelly even though she's a lot leaner, and was able to use her speed & athleticism to make the match more slick & dynamic than most matches you'll see in this striking exchange style. This had more of an all out big match feel than Kelly vs. Millie from 5/12/18, with Ray really standing above the other two in the quality & precision of her work. It wasn't as interesting or diverse as Ray vs. DASH, but while the scope wasn't that big, it's hard to argue against this being the most violent EVE match so far this year in terms of just blasting away at each other, and there was more to it than just that. It was kind of short & didn't tell a real story beyond who could survive the others best shots, but the level was really high & the effort was great. ***3/4
Toni Storm vs. Jetta
SHE-1 Tournament 2018 Qualifying Match: Kasey vs. Charlie Morgan 10:02. Violent brawl that had good intensity & some highlights, but was kind of short & never totally came together as more than a fight. Kasey scored the upset pinning Morgan after Charlie went through a table when Kasey avoided her swanton off the balcony.
Cara Noir vs. Buffalo Solider
Ray Presto vs. Sid Scala
XWA British Heavyweight Title Tag Match: Rhia O'Reilly (c) & Greg Burridge vs. Kosta K & Malik
Triple L Title Match: Mauro Chaves vs. Alex Cupid
Charlie Morgan & Laura Di Matteo vs. Jinny & Nina Samuels
3CW 10/12/18: Emi Sakura vs. Kanji
Rhia O'Reilly vs. Sierra Loxton
Addy Starr vs. Charli Evans. Not the most graceful contest you'll ever see, but high impact & effort.
SHE-1 2018 Qualifying Match: Viper vs. Kay Lee Ray 18:19. Viper gave Kay Lee a birthday present, but won it for herself playing pass the present. It turned out to be Connect 4, which they then played. Naito was getting ideas here, as almost 10 minutes elapsed without any real wrestling. EVE's commentary was great early in the year when Jetta wasn't wrestling, but once they started wrestling Leah Owens basically just raised her voice several octaves or screamed at everything because it was supposed to be the greatest thing ever then Dann Read started joining her in the "Oooh", and there was more moaning & groaning than a bad porn. The only good part was about 2 minutes into the actual action when Leah exclaimed "Ooh, she's still not down yet" after Ray's superkick then "She's still standing, Dann" after she escaped a Gori bomb attempt, and Dann finally just replied, "Well, yeah..." All the comedy early resulted in them skipping the actual wrestling lead in & just exchanging bombs once they finally got going. Ray scattered the Connect 4 pieces as if they were thumbtacks, but Viper gave her the electric chair onto some of the pieces. In the end, about half of the match was comedy & half was rolling out all their best moves with no rhyme or reason to them until Viper won with the avalance style Viper driver.
Laura Di Matteo vs. Zoe Lucas
Jamie Hayter & Jetta vs. Erin Angel & Martina
EVE Title Match: Charlie Morgan vs. Kasey 10:08. Kasey pinned Morgan last month in the SHE-1 qualifying match, prompting this title shot. That match was fine, but while the rivalry aspects were there, they didn't wrestle to anywhere near their capability. This time things came together, with stiff, aggressive, fast paced action to back up the grudge match aspects. The action quickly spilled to the outside of the bar where Morgan did the patented double axehandle off a dumpster. Morgan was motivated to avenge her loss, and provided a lot more offense here, with Kasey working the collarbone in between. It was another short match, but they were sprinting with a lot of emotion & intensity. They executed their strikes really well, and this just generally had the feel of a match where both were going for the early knockout. Morgan survived O'Rheilly's chairshot backfiring and countered Kasey's boomerang body attack, superkicking her out of midair for the flash knockout. Kasey got right up & put a beating on Morgan until Rhia saved, but of course Morgan didn't see this part & superkicked Rhia thinking she attacked her. You never know what you are going to get from Morgan, but her level was really high here, and Kasey is still good as a heel, having no trouble matching her. There isn't enough here to rate it too highly, but it was definitely a successful short match that made you want to see a rematch. ***1/4
Non Title Match: Charlie Morgan vs. Millie McKenzie 9:45. Normally with any kind of an impromptu match, the wrestler actually comes out to answer the open challenge because otherwise how does anyone know they are interested? Since wrestlers somehow have a subconscious psychokinetic link to every arena's PA system though, they just played Millie's music and she "made the champion wait", which was supposed to be some brilliant mind game. Luckily, both meant business once this non-title match that would earn Millie the next challenge on 9/29 if she won finally started. As with pretty much every McKenzie match, it was an intense sprint where they went at it aggressively from start to finish. Other than the big show classic against Sammii Jayne, this is the most engaged Morgan has been all year, and it showed the kind of talent she could be in a regular setting if she so chose. The match was built around their big moves, Millie's German suplex & Morgan's superkick, which they teased several times. Morgan was showing McKenzie up including surprising her with a springboard plancha, but McKenzie hit her new Diamond cutter out of nowhere to get into the match. I liked the sequence where Morgan countered the German suplex by kicking her feet during the deadlift & got them over the top rope, but Millie pulled her back through the middle rope to try again only to have Morgan elbow her way out. McKenzie finally got the German suplex and 3 more when Morgan pissed her off by going for it herself. This match was excellent while it lasted, but as with many Morgan matches, it literally just ended when she randomly hit a finisher. At least the match built to the superkick being a big deal, but Millie was on a big run and then just up and lost to what's not even Charlie's regular coup de grace. It's annoying that wrestling booking is normally so predictable, but I'd take predictable putting the phenom who is already their 2nd best wrestler into a big title match than sticking us with some silly 4 way with dreadful Rhia O'Reilly any day (though at least putting 2 other actual workers in it gave it potential over the original Morgan/Rhia). ***1/2
Kay Lee Ray vs. Jetta. Similar to Ray vs. Wolf, they did a blend of Ray's wrestling & Jetta's comedy. While the comedy was a lot better, it never moved beyond that realm into something that felt like a match we should care about rather than a fun goofy exhibition.
Viper vs. Sierra Loxton. Sprint exchanging bombs. Loxton mostly missed with some of her jumping moves down the stretch, but overall a pretty entertaining big women battle.
Erin Angel vs. Nina Samuels. Erin banished Jetta from her corner for costing her several matches in a row, but now as a "fan", she interfered leading to Erin actually getting a win.
SHE-1 2018 Qualifying Match: Kris Wolf vs. Bea Priestley. Wolf wrestled seriously since it was a tournament match.
Addy Starr & Rhia O'Reilly vs. Charli Evans & Kasey
8/12/18
Jetta vs. Nightshade
Rebel Kinney vs. Luna Rox
Rhia O'Reilly vs. Claudia Bradstone
Kay Lee Ray vs. Sadie Gibbs 9:29. Gibbs is strong & has some surprising athleticism. They wrestled technically early & building up to the striking & which was to Ray's advantage & & some power moves which were to Gibbs. Match was entertaining & miles above anything else tonight & but Gibbs is still trying to put her game together. Her flying was a bit clunky & & generally this wasn't as fluid as the usual Ray match.
Nina Samuels vs. Kanji
Rhia O'Reilly vs. Rebel Kinney
9/27/18
Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Millie McKenzie 8:56. I was really looking forward to this match pitting the UK's brightest young star against one of Japan's, but it just didn't deliver. They struggling in lockups & on the mat to wear each other down enough for their German suplexes then traded a few & that was about it. There was potential in the way they were working up to bigger & better things even though they weren't always on the same page, but it just kind of ended when it should have been getting good. It's possible it's not quite Millie's worst EVE match thusfar in 2018 because she did wrestle Rhia, but that was much better than anything with Rhia has a right to be, whereas this had a couple hot minutes at the end of what was ultimately filler.
Kay Lee Ray & Viper vs. Charlie Morgan & Laura Di Matteo 12:31. Ray's matches have been a bit more lighthearted & goofy of late with Viper & Wolf involved, but she worked the majority of the match to carry things, & Morgan is a good, comparable opponent for her. Supposedly Ray is the wrestler Di Matteo most wanted to finally work with. In any case, this brought out the best performance I've seen from Laura, more focused & precise, less hit & miss or mechanical. They did a good job setting up their first singles match later in the weekend. One of the highlights was Laura's surprise boomerang tornado DDT, though Morgan topped this turning Ray's whip into the corner into the old Jericho style catapult body attack to Viper on the floor. As with McKenzie vs. Hashimoto, the match ended when it was just getting good, but the fluke flash pin of Ray on Di Matteo when Viper interfered, while not the sort of finish I like, was more reasonable in terms of making the incomplete match "complete". ***
SHE-1 2018 Qualifying Match: Rhia O'Reilly vs. Holidead
SHE-1 2018 Qualifying Match: Sammii Jayne vs. Hana Kimura. Jayne was good carrying this in her 1st match since Queendom, but while Kimura showed some fighting spirit, she didn't do anything beyond rookie offense & you wondered why this was even competitive.
9/8/18: Kay Lee Ray vs. Jetta. Similar to Ray vs. Wolf, they did a blend of Ray's wrestling & Jetta's comedy. While the comedy was a lot better, it never moved beyond that realm into something that felt like a match we should care about rather than a fun goofy exhibition.
Alpha Female vs. Killer Kelly
Kris Wolf vs. Nina Samuels 14:43. Samuels best match so far this year, though still clunky at times. I like that they teased the draw the whole way only to have Wolf get the really late but not totally last second win.
SHE-1 2018 Qualifying No Time Limit Match: Toni Storm vs. Meiko Satomura 13:26. The more I see from Storm, the less impressed I am. She has a good formulaic WWE match, but that same short & repetitive match is literally all she does unless someone else can pull her into something different, which luckily Satomura, while marred by being highly formulaic herself, can still manage to do. Storm is certainly good for her age & experience level, but as much as I'm for the veterans putting over the young girls in general, it's pretty sad that a legend like Satomura has been taking everyone's money to put her over at every stop across the globe without getting any of these wins back. Though the finish was the same as most Storm matches where she pouts because the opponent "shockingly" kicks out of her piledriver only to almost immediately do it again for the win, Satomura did make it a fuller, more complete match before that. That being said, this was really just Storm following Satomura through Satomura's usual routine, which is also kinda tired at this point, & not really adding anything to it, so the bonus is that Satomura's routine is a lot better than Toni's random dabblings and Taguchi nonsense. Storm did have enough stiffness & impact to be a good opponent who could credibly stand up to Meiko, so the match worked. Storm did do a couple different things, the Ayako Hamada spinning high kick, except it looked 100 times better than any Ayako ever did, & a vertical suplex turned into a swinging neckbreaker at peak elevation. I liked that Storm avoiding Satomura's strike combo led to them wearing each other down with some chain wrestling before they started to pick things up, but this portion of Satomura's match isn't the strongest because it's not using moves that work in a shoot or quick, back & forth high cooperation sequences that are entertaining in a show wrestling sense, it's more like she's trying to be a credible catch wrestler without updating anything based on 3 decades of data of what actually works in a real setting. Satomura had a good level of intensity & aggression here, particularly any time she'd throw a strike. There was an interesting if a bit awkward spot where Storm caught her penalty kick, snuck through the legs, & answered with a lungblower. In the end, this was some good banging back & forth, but it didn't really build to any kind of climax so much as just end when Storm kicked out of the Death Valley bomb & hit two Strong zeros. ***
2/19/18 Defiant Women's Title #1 Contendership Match: Kay Lee Ray vs. Sammii Jayne 14:10. Jayne, who was making her Defiant debut, was better here than in EVE in that she wasn't the most hated heel, so she had more freedom to do more of her old school technical wrestling. She's not a great athlete, and that's all the more obvious against Ray, who thus executes more crisply, but she's well rounded, and with more time they were able to develop the back & forth sequences and have some substance to what they were doing rather than Jayne just being someone who dabbles in a bunch of styles as in her typical 10 minute EVE match. This was also a longer women's match than we usually see in Defiant, and they did a really good job of building it up & making the bout good from start to finish. What I really liked here was the early technical portion where were able to get more creative, and just kept countering each other back & forth. The whole match was built around action and reaction, it was never that generic you go through your stuff then I'll go through mine uninteractive boredom. Ray was really good here, and this had all the makings of a memorable match, but it was marred by terrible American booking where Jayne inexplicably was more worried about antagonizing the new champion Millie McKenzie, who may or may not have been watching in the back, than just beating the wrestler who has been above her for years to just earn the title shot at Millie. Both women had escaped each others finishers, and the match was ***1/2 level if it justed ended right there with literally any pinfall. Unfortunately, after Jayne countered Ray's boomerang move with a German suplex variant she tied her hair back like McKenzie & hit a couple German suplexes to taunt the champ, who then came out, took out the ref, and attacked Jayne for the DQ then got a German suplex on Ray after Ray attacked her for ruining the match. Apparently Vince didn't bother messaging them who was actually supposed to win, so the announcers decided the match was thrown out & they just cut to the backstage interviews before anyone had time to contemplate whether Millie could avoid ever defending by just doing her own runin any time they had a match to determine who she should defend against. ***
Kay Lee Ray vs. Laura Di Matteo
SHE-1 2018 Qualifying Match: Jetta vs. Nina Samuels
Viper vs. Bea Priestley
Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Alpha Female
Kris Wolf vs. Zoe Lucas
SHE-1 2018 Qualifying Match: Jordynne Grace vs. Sierra Loxton
EVE Title Four Way Elimination Match: Charlie Morgan vs. Kasey & Rhia O'Reilly & Sammii Jayne
Kris Wolf vs. Jinny
Kasey vs. Bea Priestley
Jordynne Grace vs. Charlie Morgan vs. Kay Lee Ray vs. Killer Kelly
Laura Di Matteo vs. Nina Samuels
Sammii Jayne vs. Toni Storm
Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Viper
EVE International Title Tournament Semifinal Match: Kasey vs. Addy Starr
EVE International Title Tournament Semifinal Match: Viper vs. Jetta
EVE International Title Tournament Semifinal Match: Laura Di Matteo vs. Zoe Lucas
EVE International Title Tournament Semifinal Match: Jordynne Grace vs. Sammii Jayne
SHE-1 2018 Qualifying Match: Jamie Hayter vs. Little Miss Roxxy
Emi Sakura vs. Kay Lee Ray
EVE International Title Tournament Final Four Way Elimination Match: Viper vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Kasey vs. Laura Di Matteo
SHE-1 2018 Block A Match: Viper [2] vs. Millie McKenzie [0]
SHE-1 2018 Block B Match: Charli Evans [2] vs. Erin Angel [0]
SHE-1 2018 Block A Match: Jamie Hayter [2] vs. Madison Eagles [0]
SHE-1 2018 Block B Match: Kris Wolf [2] vs. Rhia O'Reilly [0]
SHE-1 2018 Block C Match: Command Bolshoi [2] vs. Jetta [0]
SHE-1 2018 Block C Match: Toni Storm [2] vs. Kasey [0]
Marvelous 8/8/18 Korakuen Hall: Mayu Iwatani vs. Takumi Iroha
SHE-1 2018 Block A Match: Viper [4] vs. Madison Eagles [0]
SHE-1 2018 Block C Match: Command Bolshoi [4] vs. Kasey [0]
SHE-1 2018 Block C Match: Toni Storm [4] vs. Jetta [0]
SHE-1 2018 Block B Match: Charlie Morgan [2] vs. Erin Angel [0]
SHE-1 2018 Block B Match: Kris Wolf [4] vs. Charli Evans [2]
SHE-1 2018 Block A Match: Jamie Hayter [4] vs. Millie McKenzie [0]
SHEVOLUTION: Stage One Episode 2
Addy Starr vs. Rhio
Sammi Baynz vs. Sadie Gibbs
SHE-1 2018 Block A Match: Madison Eagles [2] vs. Millie McKenzie [0]
SHE-1 2018 Block A Match: Jamie Hayter [6] vs. Viper [4]
SHE-1 2018 Block C Match: Jetta [1] vs. Kasey [1]
SHE-1 2018 Block B Match: Kris Wolf [6] vs. Erin Angel [0]
SHE-1 2018 Block C Match: Toni Storm [6] vs. Command Bolshoi [4]
SHE-1 2018 Block B Match: Charlie Morgan [4] vs. Charli Evans [2]
SHEVOLUTION: Stage One Episode 1
Jetta vs. Bobbi Tyler
Louise Jane vs. Jayde
Madison Eagles vs. Charli Evans
Erin Angel & Jetta vs. Command Bolshoi & Millie McKenzie
Laura Di Matteo vs. Kasey
SHE-1 2018 Final Three Way Match: Jamie Hayter vs. Kris Wolf vs. Toni Storm
EVE Title Three Way Match: Charlie Morgan vs.
Nina Samuels vs. Kay Lee Ray
SHEVOLUTION: Stage One Episode 3
Charlie Morgan vs. Skye Smitson
Kris Wolf vs. Rebel Kinney