Hello my name is Iwan Mackenzie and how good would this show name be if it was narrated by Steven Toast.I’m back again with another review, this time taking me back to the Resistance Gallery (known as the ResGal) and to the Girl Gang of Pro Wrestling: EVE.
Previously in EVE, Kay Lee Ray had become the new number one contender to the EVE Title, and it looks like her and Charlie Morgan are on a collision course with one and other; Nina Samuels is still the EVE champion after defeating Emi Sakara in the main event of Global Women Strike 2; The Medusa Complex (Charli Evans and Millie McKenzie) are causing havoc and have made enemies out of Jetta and Erin Angel; and Jamie Hayter was returning after her excursion in Japan with Stardom. Now going into this show all we knew is that Command Bolshoi would have her final match in Europe before her retirement in a month’s time as she defends the Pure J Openweight Championship against her protege Leon, so more or less a mystery card. They did run a show the night before called ‘She Fights on Fridays’ and was on International Women’s Day (This show was also part of the IWD Weekend celebrations) but I decided to just do this show as I went to my local promotion Battle Pro due to not going for ages, it ending earlier for me because of an early start at work the next day and for variety of promotions which does help my viewing experience.
After a pretty nice day at work, I grabbed myself some dinner (meat feast pizza if your wondering, plus the second Saturday in a row where I have pizza before a show) and met up my mate Nick at Bromley South before meeting up with Andy on route to Victoria where we then eventually got to Bethnal Green, quick pre-show stop off in Starbucks (cheeky hot chocolate) and then got in Que where we met up with fellow mates Joe and Paul and I got to eat a custard cream which is always nice. Once inside, took our usual space and was joined my another mate of ours Meg for the majority of the whole show, quick side note: a few regulars were missing, some of them being in Germany for 16 Carat Gold, which was sad to a degree as its always nice to see your mates at wrestling. After a short run down of the rules from Emily, it was time for the show!
In our opening match we had the Ace of EVE Jamie Hayter face AEW star Dr Brit Baker DMD. This match started quite humerously it has to be said which I wasn’t expecting but it did the job as people got into the match and was consistent throughout the entire show, the reason why I wasn’t expecting this was because last time Jamie was in EVE, she was pretty much a killer and wouldn’t let anybody get in her way of her goal which is my favourite version of Hayter. Very good match to start proceedings, both had a good chemistry with one another, which is very good to see. Jamie controlled the majority of the match but Brit did fight back and at one point hit a fantastic superkick, honestly the sound and angle it was at was perfect, but this couldn’t keep the Ace down for long as Jamie hit the Blackout Stomp to pick up the win.
Credit: @ChrisxMoyse
Second up we had Chardonnay take on favourite Laura Di Matteo in a rematch from their RevPro Queen of the Ring encounter in January, its funny I’ve seen Chardonnay twice now and she’s been against Laura both times, next time its a mystery show with Chardonnay on, I know she’ll be facing Laura, I kid of course. This started off with both of them going hold for hold but then Laura started to throw some mean looking arm drags followed by a scissors pin for a two count, Chardonnay was able to use her strength advantage to gain the advantage and try to grind Laura down, it should be noted at this point that despite Laura being a favourite amongst the EVE faithful, we did have some new fans in and they were chanting for Chardonnay, there was one woman who shouted really loudly “COME ON CHARDONNNAY!” and my mind just though of her down the local Weatherspoons shouting that down the end of the bar. Laura did get back to offence on her side and was able to hit what seemed to be like a new finisher from her (EDIT: I’m sorry I can’t remember what it was, I forgot to take notes and I’m too tired to remember it) to pick up the win. After the match she got on the mic and said “Jordynne Grace, where you at Bro?” indicating that she still wants a match against Grace at some point which was set up all the way back in December. Good match (better than their match at RevPro) and post-match promo afterwards, Laura is very good at promos and because she doesn’t speak much when she does it means something, I know my mate Andy was a big fan of this.
Next up we had Kasey who hasn’t been at an EVE show since the She-1 Final back in November, as she faced former EVE champion Emi Sakara who was announced as a Big Fan of Queen (The British rock band not the monarch of this island) so obviously we had to chant Emi’s name into the tune of several Queen songs, a few of them didn’t really take off but I was proud of singing Emi’s name to Another One Bites the Dust and we also played it safe with Emi’s name to the tune of We Will Rock You. But back to the actual match, this was the best match of the first half of the show, it had a good heel and face dynamic even though Kasey is that good of a wrestler its hard to boo her now, so I have to remember that she turned by attacking Charlie Morgan which is criminal. They really went full throttle and the highlight of the match was Emi hitting a big side splash through the ropes onto Kasey which bounced of the wall at the ResGal, the match was won by Emi a few moments after this. This was probably my favourite match of Emi’s in ages and Kasey should be in more places, she’s that talented
We then went into our interval, didn’t do much just spoke a bit. Was tempted to go out and grab a drink but I knew I’d lose my space and I ain’t taking that risk.
Back from the break and we had a singles match between the Greggs Ambassador Roxxy (because she’s from Newcastle) face the always talented Viper. These two have faced off a few times in a few different promotions and its clear to say they have top notch chemistry with one another and clearly having fun with the big and small dynamic, they even recreated one of their famous spots from their ICW match where Roxxy escapes a wristlock by doing the splits and then Viper does the splits as well, just as impressive to see live as it is online. This was a really good match overall, and a lot of cool little moments like Viper hitting a couple of big splashes back to back and Roxxy hitting the sunset flip powerbomb into the corner, but Viper was able to pick up the win in the end after the Viper Driver. Really fun match overall, Viper can have so many different kinds of matches in EVE and its always great to see her but it should be said that in her brief appearances with EVE, Roxxy has been a key player and always impresses, hopefully she’ll pop up even more soon.
Credit: @ChrisxMoyse
We then get Charlie Morgan out who cuts a promo about still wanting to challenge Kay Lee Ray even after the comments Kay Lee made last month, she said that she needs to beat Kay Lee and she knows that Kay Lee feels the same about Emi Sakara (who Kay Lee has never beat) so she decides to challenge Emi for a match on the next show and said she’ll do what Kay Lee can’t and beat her. More fuel being added to the already huge fire between Charlie and Kay Lee here and I for one can’t wait to see what happens next. I am going to say at this point that the microphone wasn’t having the best night, it cut out during ring intros and sometimes the flow of a promo would be interrupted due to it, Charlie nearly had that but styled it out.
Our next match is a grudge match between the team of Millie McKenzie and Charli Evans known as the Medusa Complex against Jetta and Erin Angel who are now officially dubbed as WrestleFriends. This started off very heated from a verbal standpoint as Charli and Millie gave a bit of pre-match jabber but scampered from the ring as soon as the ring bell rung, Jetta (who had brand new gear as well) then said that they would attack them if their backs were turned and she then gave them a free shot, Millie and Charli the re-entered the ring but Erin and Jetta was wise to it and a big old scrap ensued. The Complex was able to isolate Erin eventually though and kept control of the match for a lot, some very nice double team moves from Complex here it should be noted. Jetta eventually got in and layed into both of them with some heavy strikes and a exploder suplex onto Millie, her and Charlie briefly had a bit of a chop battle back and fourth before Millie went for Jetta and Erin went for Charli but Charli and Jetta got their receptive opponents tag partners in half crabs and then decided to slap each other silly. There was a really cool double team move where Jetta would hit a suplex, Erin would hit a senton then Jetta would roll through Three Amigos style and this happened twice but Millie knocked Erin out before the third one. In the end though WrestleFriends got rid of Charli from the equation before Jetta took Millie out perfectly in place for a Frog Splash from Erin to pick up the win for WrestleFriends; very heated match that I enjoyed a lot, its nice to see a more serious side from Jetta and Erin as well. After the match Millie speared referee Lauren and layed in the punches, Rhia O’Reilly took issue with this and suspended Millie for 90 days as a result, outside of storyline this is probably to cover for Millie going out to Sendai Girls in Japan to go on tour. It will nice to see what Charli gets done on her own and how their gonna figure out the tag team championship storyline going into Queendom, if my calculations are correct, Millie should be back at the June show before Queendom.
Credit: @ChrisxMoyse
We then got to our penultimate match and the only pre-announced match as the Pure J Openweight Championship is on the line as champion Command Bolshoi in her last match in Europe faces off against her protege Leon. Now on the whole, this was my favourite match of the night and one of the best matches EVE has ever put on, they had the crowd in the palm of their hands the whole time and it was cool to see people’s reaction to this match from my vantage point, I know I was freaking out and gushing over this match. They started off with a really good technical exchange almost akin to the old World of Sports days, Bolshoi took wrist control over Leon and and went for the ropes and then rope walked backwards and forwards on the ropes which is always so impressive to see, Leon come back with some pretty full on blows as per the Japanese Strong Style that both women were working during this match with Leon hitting a lot of spears (all of them were awesome) and at one point hit a wonderful missile dropkick, the hang time and the impact was something that I’ve never seen done so well together before. Both of them went full throttle towards the end of the match, the last five minutes were electric, in the end Bolshoi was able to tie Leon up in a crazy pinfall to win the match and retain the title. Right where do I even start with this match, it was one of the best matches I’ve ever seen live and one of the best in the 7 years that I’ve been going to Indy shows; it was my first time seeing Leon and I though she was great, someone I could defiantly see EVE bringing back over at some point as she left a big impression (maybe even the She-1 Series) and on the subject of Command Bolshoi, in the short time that I’ve got to see her work and find out the influence that she’s had on a lot of people has been great, it was Bolshoi who inspired Emily to form EVE in the first place and show how awesome female wrestling could be, so for that I’m eternally thankful to her. This match is my favourite Bolshoi match and even better than Bolshoi vs Toni Storm from last years She-1 Show 3, I highly recommend you watch this match when it hits on-demand.
So after that we had the usual space of the Female performance act, I don’t recall her name but the act in general was very entertaining. I’m not normally a fan of this part of the show as it’s not really my cup of tea personally but they do a good job in keeping the crowd entertained and making sure to get momentum back for the main event slot.
So we arrive at our main event which sees #1 Contender Kay Lee Ray take her title shot against champion Nina Samuels. Before the match, Nina gets on the mic and says that Kay Lee being the known as one of the best female wrestlers in the world is just hype, mockingly made out that she’s scared of Emi Sakara and Charlie Morgan and said she’s the SuperStar. Kay Lee seemed to take this all on the chin before she clocked Nina on the chin with a superkick as soon as the bell rung, she immediately went for the Dirty Bomb but Nina was able to get out of it and hit a GTS for a nearfall, Kay Lee got back to her feet just a few moments later and hit the Dirty Bomb but got a nearfull. These two went at it full throttle on one another and you could clearly see the crowd was massively behind Kay Lee, Nina got a lot of abuse from the crowd with chants of “If you all hate Nina, Clap your hands” “We hate Nina” and “Stand up if you hate Nina” and EVE is a all-standing show so everybody hates Nina offically. Kay Lee threw Nina to the outside and hit a massive suicide dive onto Nina before rolling her back in and hitting a front missile dropkick for a nearfall; Nina caught Kay Lee and hit the Dream Maker which got a very close nearfall but Nina got arrogant and said that she’s a star but Kay Lee caught her and hit the Dirty Bomb and win the match!
A result that nobody saw coming but everybody wanted, I jumped up for joy in the air as some people will know Kay Lee is one of my Top 5 wrestlers in the world and to see her win the EVE championship was one of the best things in EVE history, I haven’t felt like this since Charlie Morgan won the title back at WrestleQueendom 1, I was so glad that I was wearing my Kay Lee t-shirt for this show. They had a hell of a main event, and both performed excellently, Nina in her short reign with the title did a lot and showed why she should be a top draw in most promotions but this was Kay Lee’s night and she did the one thing I’ve been wanting her to do since my first EVE show in August 2017 and that’s win the championship. Big babyface celebration afterwards with all of them hoisting Kay Lee above their heads, Charlie Morgan did get on the apron afterwards possibly teasing a confrontation but Charlie merely congratulated her and left, now Kay Lee’s champ, Charlie is eligible for a title shot again…
Post show, I grabbed a picture and congratulated Kay Lee on her title win, I was very emotional for this; spoke to Dr Brit Baker and grabbed a pin badge from her as well (they are pretty sick); spoke to Kasey at length about everything and anything as we get on really friendly, unfortunately she had sold out of XL in tees so I’ll wait till she’s restocked and then I’ll pick mine up, because she’s one of my favourites and its an awesome Motley Crue style design; I then met Bolshoi, I brought an 8×10 from her which allowed me to grab a pic with her as well, the 8×10 is really cool and feels personalised; and finally I met Leon and told her that it was a great match. I also picked up the brand new Charlie Morgan tee and my first ever Jetta tee as well, both are very nice.
So overall thoughts on this show. It was a good show throughout, as my mate Steve said, EVE is always interesting and never boring but the last two matches helped make this show a great one. The top two matches of Bolshoi/Leon and KLR/Samuels were both great in their own ways and lead to very genuine reactions from me, I thought Sakara/Kasey was great as well, and yeah everything was interesting and the road to WrestleQueendom 2 is heating up.
If you want to follow EVE on Twitter and Instagram then it’s @ProWrestlingEVE
If you want to follow me on Twitter and Instagram then it’s @IwanMack
Thank you for Reading
Iwan Mackenzie
