24/03/19 The Roadmender, Northampton
By Jake Clarke@JakeCCK
On this day, I went down the poohole that is Northampton for my 10th show of the year and my 1st RevPro experience. RevPro is regarded as one of the top promotions in the country and after this show I understand why. Aswell as heralding an excellent roster with top stars from around the globe such as Zack Sabre Jr, PAC, Minoru Suzuki and more, they also have some excellent storylines and some genuinely excellent matches every show and it was no different here.
Before the show:
So as I walked in to this venue I noticed a certain Geordie fella getting pictures and honestly, you don’t realise how huge is until you see him in person. Christ his muscles are big. Anyway, I walked into the room, a small room which in turn pushed the crowd a bit closer to the ring as it was an all standing venue. This gave it a rather intimate feel due to wrestlers brawling through a sea of people later on. Eventually it was time for the show and this might be my favourite show of the year so far but I’m yet to decide.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) def. TK Cooper
The show began with the standard beginning, with the ring announcing introducing the fans to the show. We were then shown that excellent TK Cooper promo, the one that was to hype a return to Progress it seemed but it looks like RevPro are trying to inherit it into a storyline with him. After the promo, MJF came out, I’m assuming this was supposed to draw heat towards MJF which it did but it didn’t really make sense. After cutting a generic heel promo which resorted to him being called a ‘Primark wanker’, TK Cooper then came out and the match began. The match began with TK stealing MJFs scarf, wearing it and using it to mock him. This also made little sense, purely because in the promo TK came across as focused however he played along with the shenanigans. Anyway, what followed was a really great opening match. It began with both men trying to outwrestle each other, MJF gaining the upper hand and mocking TK. MJF controlled the proceedings throughout, not allowing TK to take the upper hand. After controlling TK in the corner, MJF walked away allowing TK to regain control. What followed this was an excellent sequence, ending in a huge Spanish fly from TK to a near fall. May I just add the crowd were excellent most of this night. Once MJF noticed he would struggle to beat TK, he laid him out with a lariat and proceeded to leave the ring to get the ring bell. TK countered this attack grabbing the ring bell for himself until he put it down, allowing MJF to get the small package roll up from the distraction to get the win. After the match, MJF brought up TKs relationship, talking about how his girlfriend cheated on him, which led to a brawl between the two. This looked like it might be leading to something else, but I doubt it will be as MJF isn’t over here all the time.
The Velocities def. Kurtis Chapman and Dan Magee
This match exceeded my expectations massively. This was my first time seeing all these guys and they really impressed. The match started off slow, Kurtis Chapman controlling Jude London on the mat. Kurtis looked like a killer. The mouthguard enhances his look for me. It’s the little things and the mouthguard made him look legitimate. Dan Magee and Paris De Silva then locked up. Dan Magee really impressed me throughout. After this, both teams exchanged tag team moves which is when the match began to take a faster pace. The Velocities who have just came to the UK, really made a name for themselves here. After a really fun hard-hitting match, which the crowd really enjoyed, The Velocities hit Chapman with a springboard codebreaker followed by a shooting star press. The teams embraced afterwards.
El Phantasmo def. Brendan White, MK McKinnan and Kid Lykos
This match was originally advertised as Phantasmo vs McKinnan so when Brendan White came out, I was delighted. Multi man matches are great if done right like this one. Kid Lykos obviously came out to a huge reaction with it being only his 2nd match back. This match began with Lykos being laid out from the babyfaces. What followed were bodies all over the place. The 1st memorable spot of the match was Phantasmo walking across the ropes which is always an impressive spot. When he dodged multiple swipe attempts, Lykos brought him down to a boo from the crowd. After this everyone brawled outside into the crowd which is when Phantasmo did a stage dive off the stage which was an amazing sight as it happened right in front of me. After this was when Brendan White really shone. He took control, lariating the heads off of everyone in the match. MK came in, flooring Brendan and hitting him with a superkick when Brendan fired back. Phantasmo then came in and put Brendan away to get the win ahead of his ladder match against David Starr in a couple of months. Phantasmo then took to the mic, calling out Starr for hardly defending his cruiserweight belt in his year long reign and for not showing up despite him claiming to be the face of the promotion. Really good stuff all around.
Kip Sabian def. Shigehiro Irie
This match was babyface vs babyface. It was different to see Kip be a face, but he just acted the same really but with more adulation from the fans. I expected Shig to come out to a larger pop with him winning the ambition tournament in Germany and really becoming a big name over the last couple of months but surprisingly to me, Kip received the bigger pop. The wrestling in this match was great, it started off technically but developed into an absolute war. The raw power of Shig vs the speed of Kip. Shig dominated the beginning of the match, with him using his large stature to his advantage, repeatedly using hip attacks in the corner on Kip. Kip managed to regain control, using his pace and displaying great athletiscm to gain control. A memorable spot that came out of this match was Kip hitting a huge Tope onto Shig on the outside. He then rolled him in only to turn around to a tope suicida from Shig which was impressive to say the least. He then hit a standing Sabian with a cannonball in the corner and then went for a cannonball again but missed allowing Kip to hit the double foot stomp to Irie to get a huge win. This result surprised me. With Kip obviously going away to America soon and him not exactly being a regular on the RevPro roster, I expected Irie to get the victory. This result did not take away from the quality of the match though. The match was brilliant and I’d personally recommend you check it out when it hits RevPro on demand.
After this match was a 15-minute interval in which I got myself a drink and raved to my dad who came along to this show about how good Kip vs Irie was.
Josh Bodom def. Brad Slayer
This was a battle between two of the most underrated wrestlers on the UK scene. Both men came out to cheers from the crowd, albeit a little bit quiet cheers as they were almost treated like relative unknowns by the Northampton crowd and I can certainly say they weren’t unknowns afterwards. This match was hard hitting and fun with Bodom making Brad Slayer the 2nd most popular man on the show. After a few fun exchanges Bodom got the win with a Bodom Buster. Josh then got into a verbal exchange with a fan squaring up to him. Brad left to huge cheers, gaining massive respect from the crowd. I really like Brad Slayer and I think he deserves to be everywhere, he’s incredibly capable and a great babyface, he is so easy to get behind. Bodom is incredible at being a dick and also should be everywhere. Of course, there a lot of rumours that have gone about with him apparently having an attitude problem but that is all hearsay. In my eyes, he deserves an opportunity and promoters shouldn’t choose to not book him because of rumours and I understand that attitude backstage and likeability does matter but hopefully he’s grown up. He should get an opportunity because he’s really good at wrestling. What I’m trying to get across is I really like both guys; they put on a great showing and deserve to be given chances in more places.
Jamie Hayter def. YUU
This was the least memorable match on the card for me. It’s a shame because I really like Jamie, she’s got a great look and she’s a polished wrestler. YUU just didn’t do it for me and I know this has been the case for a few people. She’s technically fine, but the match never really got into the next gear. There were also a few idiots in the crowd shouting things like ‘spread your legs’ and calling Jamie a ‘shit Paige’. Get in the bin lads. Derogatory comments like that shouldn’t be and I know aren’t in most places accepted. Hopefully, I get to see more of Jamie in the year because she impressed me personally, she is the full package and could be a big star in the future.
PAC def. Chris Brookes accompanied by Kid Lykos
The big RevPro heel Chris Brookes came out first to a large pop, this crowd were pro Brookes the whole way through. Out next was the Open the Dream Gate champion, PAC to a massive pop. This was an incredible main event and looking back on it now, it may be one of my favourite matches I have witnessed live this year so far. The matchbegan with Chris Brookes using his length to control PAC and this led to some great technical wrestling. You tend to forget when watching Chris Brookes how fantastic he is technically; he might be the best technical wrestler on the BritWres scene today. Brookes took control on PAC from this point onwards, hitting him with his patented senton onto a standing PACs back. Brookes then followed this up by attempting to wet willy PAC until PAC grabbed his finger and took him out. They then proceeded to brawl around the outside, with PAC eventually rolling back in under Chris Roberts order. Brookes then distracted the ref allowing Lykos to interfere with a springboard hurricanrana and a dropkick. Brookes then threw PAC outside and hit him with a tope suicida. They then proceeded to brawl some more when PAC hit Brookes with a moonsault to the outside. The two men then fought for control in the ring this led to PAC low blowing Brookes and Brookes low blowing him back. When PAC got back up to his feet, he was met with a baking tray shot from Lykos which led to a very good near fall. They had me on that one, I thought Brookes got the victory. Brookes went for the brainbuster next, which PAC countered into his own, following up with a 450 splash and a rings of saturn to make Brookes tap. This was genuinely fantastic and this is another match I urge you to check out when it hits on demand.
My Overall thoughts:
I thought this show was really good, it’s not one that was absolutely phenomenal but there were a couple of really memorable matches on the card.
Matches to check out:
Kip Sabian vs Shigehiro Irie
Brad Slayer vs Josh Bodom
PAC vs Chris Brookes
Follow me on twitter @JakeCCK were I discuss wrestling and give my general opinion on things and give coverage from shows I attend.
Special thanks for the image to Beyond Gorilla @BeyondGorilla
