REVIEW: Everything Patterned 4

Everything Patterned
The Pleasance, London
Friday, April 14, 2023
Reviewer: Jamie Walker (@walker_this_way)

Wrestival is one of the most exciting weeks in the British wrestling calendar. Although relatively new, the mix of wacky and wonderful shows creates a certain buzz in the London wrestling community.

Over the course of the week The Pleasance in Islington played host to the incredibly historically accurate Wrestling With History, by TK Cooper and Damon Moser; Resurgence’s first ever London show and the wild Bingo Rumble; Rob Brazier’s Head Drop bringing the technical wrestling; Rhia O’Reilly debuting Galzilla and Fist Club having a birthday bash.

All incredible shows, all doing themselves proud, but the one I’m here to talk about is Roy Johnson’s Everything Patterned. A celebration of the BAME community in British wrestling.

And what a celebration it was; four matches, 12 amazing wrestlers and a great atmosphere made for one heck of a show.

Our host for the evening was South London based comedian Sikisa, who does a brilliant job. She is clearly really excited to be there, it’s lovely to see.

As any good comedian does, she makes sure she banters with the crowd. She even gives me a bit of a death stare when I tell her then me and my partner have been together six years and aren’t married. If she’s reading this, Sikisa let me ease your mind, neither of us want to get married so it’s all good.

She is also convinced that at least two or three guys are flirting with her, I wonder if she left with any digits?

Anyway, onto the action…

Bruno Brown vs Harrison Leon vs Remi Adetunji vs KM Lane

We started with a bang in the form of a fatal four way involving a quartet of the UK’s absolute best rising stars; Harrison Leon, Remi Adetunji, Bruno Brown and KM Lane.

This was just as brilliant as you’d expect it to be from these four. Fast paced, frantic, fun and some fucking good wrestling.

Bruno and KM were on hand to deliver the speed and quick actions, some nice roll ups and sequences really helped the flow on the match.

Both Remi and Harrison, whilst being bigger competitors size wise, proved they have more than enough athleticism to keep up. But also got one of the reactions of the night when they squared off themselves for a battle of chops.

Everyone got their moment to shine which was nice to see.

This match proved you don’t need anything fancy to make a good four way match, just four good wrestlers doing the basics well.

Leon picked up the win, the crowd seemed somewhat surprised by this, and to be honest so did I. But I can’t argue that he didn’t deserve it.

This was a really nice way to open the show and would set the tone perfectly.

Leon Slater got his big break following his first appearance at Everything Patterned, and look where he is now. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of these four guys went the exact same way!

The 87 (Roy Johnson and Alexander Roth) vs The East City Sovereigns (RJ Singh and Jordan Saeed)

Coming out in their sparkly trunks, sorry ‘glittery’ trunks, Jordan made it very clear that there was in fact a distinction (there isn’t), the Sovereigns were the perfect heel team to play against the baby faces of Roth and Johnson.

Complaining the entireeee match about everything, they just couldn’t handle how against them the crowd was - and it was hilarious.

RJ started the match against Roth and fared pretty well, until Johnson got tagged in, then he legged it to his corner and tagged in Saeed.

This match up, like the last, was a lot of fun. It had all your typical tag team tropes; the two-on-one beat downs, referee distractions, the hot tag, just the good, simple wrestling that we all love.

RJ got thrown out of the ring about four or five times which was brilliant, especially nearly then end when they paid that joke off and, as it looked like he was destined for the outside again, he turned the tables and threw Roth out the ring while shouting ‘not this time’. It resulted in a near fall for the Sovereigns, but it wouldn’t be enough to put the 87 away.

It was the baby face pair that won the contest and took the plaudits of the crowd, as RJ and Jordan sulked their way to the back.

Livvii Grace vs Ronnie Knocks

Next up we had a battle of two women at opposite ends of their careers. Livvii is a star, she’s been in the business for a while and has had some excellent moments. Ronnie is a rising talent, someone destined to have those same stand out memories, but you feel that she just needs that one big break.

This match was originally scheduled to be Livvii vs Mercedez Blaze, but with Blaze not available it was a great chance for Ronnie Knocks to shine.

These two go at it hard; Livvii has the size advantage but Ronnie is agile and tactically savvy, using her diminutive stature to gain the upper hand at times.

She jumps on Livvii’s back for a sleeper, works her way out when trapped in the corner and puts Livvii down on the canvas a fair few times. But Livvii is too experienced, she’s too strong and she overpowers Ronnie when it matters most.

She lands the big knee for the three count and the victory.

As I said before Livvii’s been around long enough for you to know how good she is by now. But Ronnie, I’d love to see her a few more places, I reckon a few more promotions need to take a chance on her and she could be on to something.

Warren Banks vs Levi Muir

And so we come to our main event, and the match I was most looking forward to when the card was announced. Warren is a seasoned pro, while Levi is one of the hottest rising stars in the British wrestling scene - and boy does he know it.

He come out so sure of himself, so displeased with the reaction Warren was getting, so confident he was going to win the match. He kept putting Warren down, nagging him about his injuries, pushing and prodding until Warren had enough and launched himself at Muir in a barrage of strikes.

The pair brawled to the outside where Banks smashed Muir’s head into one of the Cabaret tables - thankfully nobody was sitting there - which I think may have legitimately broken the table, or at least given it a new wobble.

Both showed a brilliant amount of athleticism and wrestling ability and told a great story; Levi, while the less experienced in years was so sure that he was already on Warren’s level; Banks was determined to prove him wrong.

But in a surprising turn, no matter what Banks tried, Muir had an answer for it. The Nigerian Kaiju was on top for plenty of the match but he just couldn’t get the vital pin fall.

I think it was a shock to everyone when Muir picked up the one, two, three for the win. It’s a huge statement from him and a sign that if you haven’t been taking notice yet, you should be now.

Muir then continued the beat down after the bell, prompting the rest of The 87, plus Harrison Leon, to come to Banks’ aid. They easily fended him off, and Banks got some payback with a big spear to send Muir out of the ring.

It was at that point that Johnson and co. made Leon the newest member of The 87, complete with an armband of his own - which Roth handed to him after having his second match of the night vs the plastic wrapping it came in.

They celebrated with a dance in the ring before the rest of the wrestlers came out and thanked everyone for coming.

RJ, so heelish and badly behaved before, got on the mic and praised Roy Johnson for his hard work putting the show together and helping to shine a light on people of colour in British wrestling.

This is a sentiment I’ve echoed many times before, but Big Wavy is truly one of the unsung heroes of British wrestling. He does so much for the scene and he truly deserves his flowers. He’s a legend!

And that brought an end to a really fun hour and a bit of wrestling. It was a great show and a perfect representation of what Wrestival is all about.

REVIEW: Everything Patterned 4

REVIEW: PROGRESS Wrestling - Heavy Metal

REVIEW: Sovereign Pro Wrestling - Warpath