RevPro Summer Sizzler 2016
RPW Summer Sizzler 2016 (7/10/2016)- Bethnal Green, Greater London
RPW BRITISH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Charlie Garrett & Joel Redman(c) vs. Jody Fleisch & Johnny Storm vs. The Legion of Lords vs. The British Young Bloods (Bruce & Jake McCluskey)- 6.25/10
We started off with a few minutes of your standard stuff, eventually leading to a series of dives, culminating on Jody Flesich appearing to smack his leg on the apron on the way down. He British Young Bloods brawled away with Storm & Fleisch, leaving the other two teams in the ring for a good final few minutes. A fun opener.
JOSH BODOM vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII- 6.75/10
Last month Josh Bodom called out Tomohiro Ishii… and now he actually had to try to stand face-to-face with Ishii. They did a great job of telling the story of Bodom trying to prove he was just as tough as Ishii, but I thought that the standard Ishii spot where just no-sells a bunch of forearms while walking across the ring was counterproductive, as it made Bodom look worse when the story of the match was Bodom proving that he could hang with Ishii. I also that that both the low blow spot and Bodom losing were missteps as well, although one of them would have been fine (either heel Bodom gets a cheap win or he doesn’t cheat and gets credit for being tough and hanging in there with Ishii even though he lost).
MOOSE vs. SHA SAMUELS- 6/10
Shouldn’t choking your opponent with a foreign object be a DQ? Especially after you’re already been warned about it?
RPW BRITISH CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Pete Dunne(c) vs. Will Ospreay- 8.5/10
They told an awesome story and also proved that Will Ospreay is the most athletic human being ever in history. If I had to nit-pick, I’d say this match would have been even better if they had taken a bit more time between the big moves, but it was still AWESOME either way.
WILL OSPREAY PROMO- he cuts a promo on Vader. Apparently they’re match will be â€"shoot style.â€
MARTY SCURLL vs. â€"SPEEDBALL†MIKE BAILEY- 6.75/10
Scrull was a dick, as usual. This time, he was mocking the respectful formalities of Bailey’s martial arts. Bailey made him pay for it, though. Well… at least until he went for a kick on the apron, Scurll avoided it and Bailey’s foot hit the ringpost and made a noise several degrees louder than I have ever heard that noise before. I don’t think the noise was that loud in the main event of ECW Ultraclash 93, and that was someone hitting the ringpost with a f*cking baseball bat!
As if this wasn’t enough, Scurll also took advantage of Speedball’s lack of footwear to try to break his toes in a very innovative way. He continued to work over Bailey’s foot and also did some work on his arms… and then Bailey started to make his comeback and completely stopped selling forever. In the end, this was a very good match that could have been awesome if Mike Bailey had sold.
MATT SYDAL vs. BIG DAMO- 6.5
The story here was Sydal needing to use his speed and agility and brains to overcome the size disadvantage, but Sydal got in so much of the offense that it felt like he was doing so too easily. It didn’t have that David vs. Goliath feel that these matches usually do because Damo barely got to throw Sydal around and they didn’t do enough to establish Damo’s physical dominance.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- okay
Big Damo starts to cut a promo thanking the company for giving him such big opportunities but he gets assaulted by Sha Samuels. Samuels then cut a promo claiming that Damo should be thanking him because he’s the one who drew the house, not these foreign guests that RevPro has been booking.
RPW BRITISH HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Zack Sabre Jr.(c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata- 7.25/10
Less action-packed than I would have liked, too many â€"I’ll let you hit me†spots by Shibata, and Shibata should have been DQed for not breaking in the corner and shoving the referee, but the finish was quite cool and fit into the story of the match perfectly. I also think the match would have benefitted from a few more minutes, as it didn’t feel like it really got out of first gear until Shibata kicked out of the penalty kick at one. Everything up until that point felt like part of the feeling out process, even the submissions.
A solid show from Revolution Pro, with another outstanding Will Ospreay match, but the top of the card didn’t deliver up to what I (and I think many others) had been hoping for.
RPW BRITISH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Charlie Garrett & Joel Redman(c) vs. Jody Fleisch & Johnny Storm vs. The Legion of Lords vs. The British Young Bloods (Bruce & Jake McCluskey)- 6.25/10
We started off with a few minutes of your standard stuff, eventually leading to a series of dives, culminating on Jody Flesich appearing to smack his leg on the apron on the way down. He British Young Bloods brawled away with Storm & Fleisch, leaving the other two teams in the ring for a good final few minutes. A fun opener.
JOSH BODOM vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII- 6.75/10
Last month Josh Bodom called out Tomohiro Ishii… and now he actually had to try to stand face-to-face with Ishii. They did a great job of telling the story of Bodom trying to prove he was just as tough as Ishii, but I thought that the standard Ishii spot where just no-sells a bunch of forearms while walking across the ring was counterproductive, as it made Bodom look worse when the story of the match was Bodom proving that he could hang with Ishii. I also that that both the low blow spot and Bodom losing were missteps as well, although one of them would have been fine (either heel Bodom gets a cheap win or he doesn’t cheat and gets credit for being tough and hanging in there with Ishii even though he lost).
MOOSE vs. SHA SAMUELS- 6/10
Shouldn’t choking your opponent with a foreign object be a DQ? Especially after you’re already been warned about it?
RPW BRITISH CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Pete Dunne(c) vs. Will Ospreay- 8.5/10
They told an awesome story and also proved that Will Ospreay is the most athletic human being ever in history. If I had to nit-pick, I’d say this match would have been even better if they had taken a bit more time between the big moves, but it was still AWESOME either way.
WILL OSPREAY PROMO- he cuts a promo on Vader. Apparently they’re match will be â€"shoot style.â€
MARTY SCURLL vs. â€"SPEEDBALL†MIKE BAILEY- 6.75/10
Scrull was a dick, as usual. This time, he was mocking the respectful formalities of Bailey’s martial arts. Bailey made him pay for it, though. Well… at least until he went for a kick on the apron, Scurll avoided it and Bailey’s foot hit the ringpost and made a noise several degrees louder than I have ever heard that noise before. I don’t think the noise was that loud in the main event of ECW Ultraclash 93, and that was someone hitting the ringpost with a f*cking baseball bat!
As if this wasn’t enough, Scurll also took advantage of Speedball’s lack of footwear to try to break his toes in a very innovative way. He continued to work over Bailey’s foot and also did some work on his arms… and then Bailey started to make his comeback and completely stopped selling forever. In the end, this was a very good match that could have been awesome if Mike Bailey had sold.
MATT SYDAL vs. BIG DAMO- 6.5
The story here was Sydal needing to use his speed and agility and brains to overcome the size disadvantage, but Sydal got in so much of the offense that it felt like he was doing so too easily. It didn’t have that David vs. Goliath feel that these matches usually do because Damo barely got to throw Sydal around and they didn’t do enough to establish Damo’s physical dominance.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- okay
Big Damo starts to cut a promo thanking the company for giving him such big opportunities but he gets assaulted by Sha Samuels. Samuels then cut a promo claiming that Damo should be thanking him because he’s the one who drew the house, not these foreign guests that RevPro has been booking.
RPW BRITISH HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Zack Sabre Jr.(c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata- 7.25/10
Less action-packed than I would have liked, too many â€"I’ll let you hit me†spots by Shibata, and Shibata should have been DQed for not breaking in the corner and shoving the referee, but the finish was quite cool and fit into the story of the match perfectly. I also think the match would have benefitted from a few more minutes, as it didn’t feel like it really got out of first gear until Shibata kicked out of the penalty kick at one. Everything up until that point felt like part of the feeling out process, even the submissions.
A solid show from Revolution Pro, with another outstanding Will Ospreay match, but the top of the card didn’t deliver up to what I (and I think many others) had been hoping for.