With their ties to New Japan and some stellar homegrown/UK based talent in tow, Revolution Pro definitely brought some of their big guns to New York. Would that be enough to provide a great show for the expectant audience? Let’s find out
Karl Fredericks and Clark Connors versus CCK (Chris Brookes and Jonathan Gresham)
What I know: Fredericks and Connors are from New Japan’s LA Dojo, so it’ll be interesting to see what they offer. CCK with Gresham might arguably be the best version of the team.
Match: The opening exchanges are all about showing that Fredericks and Connors are capable on the mat, whilst also having a hunger to compete as Fredericks shoved Gresham into the corner to force a tag to Brookes. Brookes does end up briefly double teamed, but a blind tag allowed Gresham to dump Connors from a leapfrog into a German suplex in a great move. Fredericks was given a nice chance to shine with a hot tag, whilst stereo Boston crabs had CCK in trouble. Connors’ big moment saw him win a chop exchange with Brookes, but he required Fredericks to save him after a paying mantis bomb. The young lions continued to show resilience, only for Gresham to take Connors out with a spinkick for three.
Verdict: A decent showcase for the young lions as they were given a few chances to shine against the more established duo.
Carlos Romo versus A-Kid versus Kid Lykos versus Flamita
What I know: Be interesting to see A-Kid and Romo go at it, whilst I’ve seen less Lykos than I probably should have done due to his history of injuries.
Match: Fatal Four Way rules allowed for all four men to be in the ring at the same time. Initially, Team Whitewolf looked to work together, passing up the opportunity to fight each other…only for Kid to take out Romo by mistake with a dive. This sparked a sequence of dives, the most impressive being a corner dive by Flamita. Kid saved Romo after a Flamita Spanish Fly to suggest things were fine between them, whilst Lykos came closest to victory at this point with a splitlegged corkscrew splash. Kid and Romo almost fell out once more as Romo tried to capitalise on Kid’s work to pin Lykos, yet once again Kid had to save Romo from a Flamita pinfall attempt…only for Romo to steal the victory from Kid after he had landed a Canadian Destroyer variation on Flamita.
Verdict: The match felt a bit disjointed at times, but the Team Whitewolf narrative was at least interesting, especially the ending.
The O.J.M.O. versus Brian Cage
What I know: I’ve seen The O.J.M.O. live once only, so am interested to see a bit more of him. However, I’m not a huge fan of Cage, though this environment (big guy versus little guy) might play into his strengths.
Match: Unsurprisingly, the opening exchanges were all about Cage showcasing his power, including blocking a headscissors attempt and throwing O.J.M.O. with reckless abandon. Any small hints of a comeback are snuffed out quickly as Cage just bullied O.J.M.O. around the ring. The set up for several of O.J.M.O’s aerial spots later on in the contest felt prolonged to the point that Cage was just standing around for way too long, whilst Kevin Kelly defended some weak looking offense as well. The execution on a few spots also leaves a bit to be desired as there are a few issues. O.J.M.O. got a couple of nearfalls out of nowhere, but a Steiner Screwdriver gives the win to Cage.
Verdict: Just an ugly match. One of the worst I’ve seen this weekend, and I feel sorry for both involved as nothing clicked whatsoever.
Will Ospreay/Hiroshi Tanahashi versus Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki/Zack Sabre Jr.)
What I know: One of the most interesting matches of the whole weekend, no question about it.
Match: After a tentative start, Suzuki whacked Ospreay illegally to stop a dive attempt which sparked into life Suzuki-Gun as a team and gave the fans what they wanted – Ospreay getting the shit beaten out of him as he bled from the nose and was mugged by both members of Suzuki-Gun. Sabre Jr. even targeted the nose to add a bit of a flourish to his unique submission offense, as did Suzuki with several elbows. Tanahashi didn’t fare much better as he was also isolated with Gun’s no-nonsense offense. A fresh Ospreay did finally manage a flurry that dropped Suzuki, only for Suzuki to stand straight back up to the roar of the crowd.
Stereo Gun Octopus Holds halted a brief change in control, yet Ospreay wiped both Sabre Jr. and Suzuki out with a handspring spinkick. The production team for the show chose the worst angle for the Cheeky Nandos as it showed how clearly Sabre Jr. blocked it. Ospreay was twice unable to land his Storm Breaker finisher, the second of which saw Sabre Jr. turn it into a pin for the victory.
Verdict: A great match – what else did we expect? The Suzuki/Ospreay interactions were the best as Suzuki just mauled him for the most part. Post-match, Suzuki – having teased it all match – beat up Chris Roberts.
Rocky Romero versus Ryusuke Taguchi
What I know: I haven’t seen anything from these guys in the past few years. Any viewing of them will have been at least three years ago, if not more. Never been overly bothered by either, though prefer Romero if pushed.
Match: Some early exchanges mostly played out to very little interest from the crowd, though Romero using a handshake as a means to cheat did earn him some boos. Taguchi began to use his bum to good effect, but was cut off before a dive and caught with a Romero suicide dive instead. This didn’t halt his buttock bashing work, whilst a Three Amigos earned Taguchi a nearfall. A sequence of bum attacks in the corner were halted by a hand jammed into the crevice by Romero in an interesting spot. Multiple strike exchanges and sequences aimed to get the crowd fired up, but only half succeeded. Taguchi ended up picking up the win with a modified facebuster.
Verdict: They tried, but it was often played out in silence and just never really got going for me.
David Starr versus Tomohiro Ishii
What I know: Starr had an absolute belter against Lucky Kid already and I almost thought it must have been one of his only matches as he went balls to the wall on that one. Ishii isn’t exactly going to take things easy – should be brilliant.
Match: This is my first proper chance to see a heel David Starr, so his early attempts to patronise Ishii are laughable and earn him the beating he deserves. However, he managed to use the top rope to stagger Ishii, allowing him to methodically work over his opponent until Ishii walked straight through his trademark chops/forearms in the corner and unleashed some of his own. Sporadically, Ishii did just seem impervious to Starr’s offense, dropping him hard with a clothesline and hitting a well-executed second rope superplex. Even with Starr’s biggest offense (Han Stansen; Blackheart Buster), Ishii wasn’t staying down. One sliding lariat and a vertical drop brainbuster later, Ishii was the winner.
Verdict: Not as good as the Starr/Kid match. It was good in sporadic moments, but it felt like a match that would have been better if Starr was playing the fiery babyface from underneath. Him being heel hurt this if anything.
Roppongi 3k versus Aussie Open
What I know: Roppongi 3k were a team that came about at a time that I stopped watching New Japan. However, all I’ve ever heard is good stuff, so I look forward to checking them out.
Match: The opening felt tentative in a way that suggested this was going long, whilst it was Roppongi 3k who threw the first real bombs with dual tope con hilos. I was waiting for Mark Davis to exert his power and it was Sho who felt the brunt of it as Open effectively began to cut the ring in half. A hot tag allowed Yoh to come in and primarily put a beating on Kyle Fletcher, targeting the leg in order to slow him down. It didn’t quite work as Yoh almost was pinned following an assisted cutter from the second rope by Fletcher. A fired up Davis went to town on Sho moments later, yet the young junior showed fighting spirit as he took the fight back to his much bigger opponent, including a German suplex into a bridge.
Yoh also managed to grab a couple of nearfalls on Fletcher with flash cradles that looked like they could steal a win for Roppongi 3k. Another schoolboy after a Davis/Fletcher collision came close to ending the match, but a Sliding forearm, Close Your Eyes and Count To Fuck and a Fidget Spinner put Yoh away.
Verdict: The crowd never took to this in the way you might have hoped, so whilst the work was decent – good in places – it just never quite reached that next level for me.
What I now know: Whilst this wasn’t a bad show, it is hard not to feel like the best match of the night came before the intermission and the crowd were burned out past that. Serviceable semi and main events just didn’t get the reaction you’d have wanted to help take them to the next level.
Best match: Suzuki-Gun versus Tanahashi/Ospreay – a really easy choice.
Less good: The O.J.M.O. versus Brian Cage – sadly, another easy choice.
