Review: Pro Wrestling EVE - Thursday Night Riot

Pro Wrestling EVE: Thursday Night Riot
The 229, London
Thursday, September 1, 2022
Reviewer: Dave Lovell (@itsdavejavu)

Thursday nights. Some of my favourite times have come from going out with work on Thursday nights, with the challenge of coming into the office the following morning, nursing a coffee in one hand and a rager of a hangover.

Now I'm older and wiser, Thursday nights on the booze seem far less appealing, but one night out I'll always be up for on a school night - a night at the wrestling.

Now the fare on THIS Thursday night came courtesy of EVE, and if my memory serves me right, the last time I attended one of their shows on a Thursday was the inaugural Global Women Strike event back in September 2018, and for about a billion reasons, it's one of my favourite EVE shows ever.

But fast-forwarding to nearly four years later, and I started September 2022 at work. Then after I finished there, I headed to Great Portland Street, firstly to the Green Man pub to meet a couple of mates, then to Nandos up the road to meet everyone else and pick up a bit of munch.

Next, it was off to the 229 and I sat front row for EVE's first show back since SHE-1 back in June. Deputising for the absent Lolo Brow on MC duties was Dann Read himself, and we kicked off what was on paper, an excellent looking card.

Harley Hudson and Rayne Leverkusen vs The Uprising (Rhia O'Reilly & Nightshade)

Opening proceedings was the debuting Harley Hudson, who's impressed me in the short time she's been on my radar, teaming with the impressively mulleted Rayne Leverkusen, another hot prospect who will go far in years to come.

Would they impress in their first match as a team? Well… not on this given night.

The stakes were raised prior to this bout as the winning team would earn an opportunity to travel to Japan and compete in Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling. Well with both Uprising members having made that trip to Japan in the past, this lit a fire under them, leaving their opponents somewhat wanting when the bell rang.

If you have watched The Uprising (or in the case of my mate Liam, are a huge fan of them), you'll have figured out their formula - overwhelm their opponents with constant, aggressive offence and by all means, not so much bend the rules but downright fold them in half. Well, it worked here rather well.

Harley and Rayne looked good here, doing enough to allay any fears that they were mere lambs to the slaughter, but in this humble wordsmith’s opinion, the result was never in question as their more experienced opponents scored the win - Rhia pinning Rayne after a savage looking double team DDT in a shade under ten minutes.

And off to TJPW go Rhia and Nightshade - and not only are they looking to cause chaos, they're looking for gold! As I write this, it was announced that they'll be the challengers to the TJPW Princess Tag Team Championship – currently held by Saki Akai & Yuki Arai - at the upcoming Wrestle Princess III event on October 9th at Tokyo Dome City Hall.

Looks like my mate Liam's borrowing my sodding Wrestle Universe subscription then, the cheeky rascal...

Alexxis Falcon vs Kanji

Two of the UK's best wrestlers regardless of gender squared off here. Kanji's starting to find her groove after a torrid few years plagued by injuries, while Alexxis has had a hell of a 2022 so far, taking part in some show stealers across the country.

With the 229 crowd firmly in Kanji's corner. both women started this match in a high gear and worked incredibly hard to keep the intensity at a certain level. Alexxis was brilliant at riling up the EVE Faithful in attendance, the crowd berating the Iron Queen anytime they weren't rooting for Kanji, who in turn had some great spells fighting from underneath, her fire on the comebacks are always great to see.

If I had one gripe about this match, it was that it started to sag a little at the tail end, but this may have been the crowd, myself included, tiring a little. However, I noted that like Kanji's match at SHE-1 against Nightshade, this almost went the distance, and with a 15-minute time limit, they nearly did, until Kanji hit a knockout elbow on Alexxis for the pin in thirteen minutes and change.

After the bell, Darcy Stone interviewed Kanji, who now moves up the EVE rankings from #15 by defeating Alexxis, ranked #9. Surmising that she had beaten the #9 ranked wrestler in EVE, Kanji should go for the #8 ranked wrestler - that being Takumi Iroha - and Kanji made no hesitation in challenging the Marvellous ace to a match at WrestleQueendom 5 on November 13th!

Emersyn Jayne, Lizzy Evo and Nina Samuels vs Jetta, Charlie Morgan and Millie McKenzie

Two words really personified this first-half main event: Star Power. With Nina Samuels and Millie McKenzie out of dark match hell in EVE and on opposite sides of this match, the teams were rounded out by a who’s-who of EVE's best, including the EVE Champion, no less.

And as expected, IT really did hit the fan. Once Charlie Morgan entered with a chair, you know it was going to be a pier-sixer. And it was exactly as one would have expected it to be - a near fifteen-minute bundle of chaos. And crazy as it sounds, I feel like this could be run back down the line and you'd see a match just as insane and enjoyable.

My fellow Grapple Theory contributor Iwan pointed out to me that in a clever bit of continuity from SHE-1, Charlie Morgan, if possible, made a beeline for Emersyn Jayne, the two old rivals rekindling their feud in their SHE-1 Block match.

The end came with a little (translation: a lot) of dissention between Nina and Lizzy, and within all this, Jetta nailed Lizzy with the Clothesline from HRH, before Millie scored the fall on Evo after a spear.

I LOVED this match, this reminded me of the absolutely bat-guano crazy brawls seen in the old Resistance Gallery days of EVE, the same energy, intensity and downright unpredictability.

Before we went to a well needed interval, Dann Read addressed Millie, and made a blockbuster suggestion for a match for the former Ace of EVE at WrestleQueendom. The fans approved, and with a nod, Millie agreed, and we will see Mille take on Tokyo Joshi Pro's ace, Miyu Yamashita, on November 13th!

That interval was well needed, to say the very least, just to take in that huge news!

The Ava Open Challenge

I tend to temper my expectations for open challenges, because setting them high inevitably leads to disappointment. And even what happened in the next few minutes showed to be not quite what we were expecting.

First, we saw the newcomer, Maya Matthews, take on the challenge... but about half a minute in, Ava took the mic, noting that Maya was at an 18+ show... at the age of 17. Oops.

Cue cult hero of the 229, Sexy Viking, turning completely heel to give Maya her marching orders from the building. Utter shithousery...

Then in another twist, interviewer for the night Darcy Stone stepped up to the challenge, claiming she was sick of waiting for her turn. Well, this went down well with Ava, as a cheap shot on Darcy later, Ava bailed for the back in double quick time.

It was indeed what it was, but one would guess that Ava and Darcy will meet in the future.

Laura Di Matteo (c) vs Skye Smitson - EVE International Championship match

The Uprising's Skye Smitson, also a co-holder of the EVE Tag Team Championship, hoped to become a dual champion on this night, and so confident was she in her victory, she had "arranged" for her cohort Nightshade to acquire the physical belt from the back, which left Laura somewhat light upon her entrance.

I'll start with a negative, and that's Skye just overshadowed Laura as far as being a character goes, her sometimes over the top shithousery, compared to Laura's more stoic demeanour, left some of the fans cheering for her, and not just my mate Liam.

But one of Laura's strengths comes when she's under the cosh, as she's able to fire up incredibly well. I also find that she meshes far better with certain opponents as well, which explains why, for example, I think her series with Kanji at PROGRESS recently has left me - and others - rather cold, while this match with Skye was engaging and left the 229 crowd invested.

Laura earned a hard-fought win with the Veni Vidi Vici submission to keep the title in about eleven and a half minutes, a rare occasion where she's actually gotten one over on the Uprising...

I'll mention that just before the main event, Dann Read addressed the crowd, talking (well, it led to a passionate rant, to be fair) about his challenge to other promoters to dedicate one hour of a three or four hour show to women's wrestling.

Personally, I think the sentiment is solid, and yes, there are other factors as to why some promotions (particularly smaller, local promotions) may not be able to do an hour, but as a women's wrestling fan, I do feel incredibly underwhelmed by the larger, more mainstream promotions mere lip-service to women's wrestling.

Dann then also announced that WrestleQueendom will also take place over two shows on November 13th. I did notice that what has been announced so far seemed too stacked for just one show, so it will be fun to see what takes place on each show.

Alex Windsor (c) vs Hikari Noa - TJPW International Princess Championship

Since you've gotten this far in the review, I'm sure you'll indulge me for a super quick history lesson: EVE is the place to be for Joshi championships being defended.

From the ICEx60 (now Infinity) Championship being defended by Hikari Minami against Shanna in October 2011, to Emi Sakura retaining the old JWP Openweight title on the same night she won the EVE Championship in November 2012, to more recently, Command Bolshoi and Leon putting on a MOTY candidate for the PURE-J Openweight title in March 2019, I've witnessed all those title bouts myself and a lot of times, they were draws for myself and for others.

And that would be no exception going into 2022, as we saw the working relationship between EVE and TJPW truly bearing fruit with this main event.

Hikari Noa, a member of TJPW's in-house idol group, the Up Up Girls, is a promising talent on a roster full of promising talents in Tokyo Joshi Pro. In May 2021, Noa captured the International Princess Championship from Yuki Kamifuku, holding the title until January 4th 2022, when she lost the title to Maki Itoh.

In turn, Itoh lost the title at Summer Sun Princess on July 9th to the debuting Alex Windsor, just three weeks removed from winning the 2022 SHE-1.

So Noa wanted to do what Windsor did and regain the title on away territory - while Alex, having nursed a minor knee injury throughout August, would hope to make her first title defence a successful one.

The table was therefore set on in my opinion a deserving main event, and a match that quite frankly lived up to my expectations once the bell rang.

I noticed early on, as both wrestlers began at a deliberate pace, that everyone in the crowd, whether rooting for champion or challenger, were invested, either transfixed on the action, clapping or cheering and chanting for their favourite.

The back end of this was of a remarkably high gear with both champion and challenger delivering some crisp offence and trading near falls.

As both Windsor and Noa were perched on the top rope around the 14-minute mark, Windsor was able to escape and hit a powerbomb for two, followed by a huge knee strike, before hitting the Liberty Driver for the fatal three seconds before the 15-minute mark. Windsor had nearly won it with the Liberty Driver earlier, but Noa had put a foot on the rope, but this second one was good to seal "V1" for the Ace of EVE, and the standing ovation among the 229 crowd was well deserved.

I must confess, Hikari felt like a bit of a left-field choice for this show at first, but making myself aware of the story behind it, she was a logical choice to put in this match.

To close the show, we would find out what championship Alex would be challenging for at WrestleQueendom after winning SHE-1. Originally, she was sent to tag with Charlie Morgan to go for the EVE Tag Team Championship, but considering the good singles run she's been on recently, Alex nominated instead to challenge Jetta for the EVE Championship. When questioned about challenging her best friend's fiancée for the championship, Alex assured the EVE Faithful that this was "just business".

So that wraps up Thursday Night Riot, and overall, this delivered. The main matches delivered as far as quality was concerned, we had a lot of announcements for WrestleQueendom, and even after a six-week break, EVE hit the ground running on the road to the fifth instalment of their biggest show of the year.

It may not have been as memorable as that Thursday night show I mentioned at the top of this review, but that was in the halcyon days of Resistance Gallery-era EVE, and quite frankly, sentimentality takes over there. But in 2022, this will go down as one of my favourite shows when the year is though, and Thursdays will still be one of my favourite days for a night out...

That's it from me, I'm on the socials that matter at @itsDaveJaVu, and you'll be sure to see me at the wrestling wherever it takes me! Also, shoutout to EVE, be sure to give them a follow at @ProWrestlingEVE.

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