REVIEW: RevPro - Live In Sheffield
Credit: @revpro
RevPro: Live In Sheffield
Network, Sheffield
Sunday, June 18, 2023
Reviewer: David South (@davidsouth1980)
When Rev Pro last graced the Steel City, back in March, there was still snow on the ground. The conditions are very different for their return though, with the Network nightclub’s air conditioning working overtime.
That poor weather back in March contributed to Lance Archer being unable to make that show, Andy Quildan promised us that he’d make sure he was back for the next time they came to Sheffield and was good on his word today – he also brought someone else who hasn’t always made it to Sheffield when advertised, fresh from attacking Kenny Omega just a few days earlier.
Rayne Leverkusen vs Hyan
Credit: @revpro
We opened with an encounter between two popular competitors and one that began in a relatively good-natured manner but got increasingly competitive as the match ran on.
Leverkusen’s “Make it Rayne” chops in the corner probably contributed to that as much as anything, she would get an early two count off a dropkick following those.
Hyan would respond with a Northern Lights suplex and then apply a unique submission hold that Rayne would struggle to eventually escape.
Leverkusen probably had a slight physical edge over her opponent and a series of moves involving a German and Pumphandle suplexes, then a Spinebuster would get her another near fall.
The pair would fight up from the mat, trading forearms after another Leverkusen suplex. She would get another two count, following a matrix style-duck under Hyan’s kick which she transitioned into a cutter.
It would be her last offence though, as Hyan recovered and hit a big spear and then a “Road to Valhalla” style slam for the victory.
Excellent match that set the tone for the rest of the event.
Will Kaven and Leyton Buzzard vs Cameron Khai and Michael Oku (With Amira)
Credit: @revpro
Kaven and Khai kick off for their respective teams. Khai recovers from their early distraction tactics and Kaven can’t get near him as the again impressive young athlete lands blow after blow without slowing down.
Buzzard tags in and he does manage to catch Khai with a clothesline and takes great delight in making sure Oku sees him hit a backbreaker.
Khai manages to make a tag and Buzzard and Oku stare each other down, Buzzard asks the crowd if this is what they want to see and they say yes… so he tags out.
His distraction tactics work again though and once Kaven has Oku down, then El Capitan does return to the ring. They double team Oku for a long time, until he manages to tag the now recovered Khai.
Khai hits two Northern Lights suplexes on Buzzard and then catches Kaven and hits a third on both of them. Kaven and Buzzard though would yet again swing the match in their favour with distraction and double team tactics.
Khai makes the tag to Oku who very nearly wins the match with a big DDT on Kaven. He then crouches for Khai to hit a flip splash on Kaven, using him as a springboard, then Oku hits his own moonsault off the ropes and only Buzzard’s intervention stops the match from ending there.
Another near fall from Oku’s running heel strike, but then Buzzard would catch him on the top rope and throw him back into the ring, then a pop up powerbomb but Oku would kick out.
With the ref involved with a brawl between Kaven and Khai, Buzzard would then tell Amira on the outside that this next move was for her. She climbed onto the apron to get in his face and Buzzard dragged her into the ring.
Amira would slap him and continue to hit him until the referee and ring crew would get in between them and manoeuvre her back out the ring. She’d lost a shoe in the melee though, and with the referee still sorting out that situation, Buzzard would crack Oku in the skull with it, then hit a second pop up powerbomb for the victory.
With Oku the current number one contender, Buzzard felt that his victory, despite the manner of it, should give him that chance instead.
Will Osprey vs Callum Newman
Credit: @revpro
This one-on-one encounter was highly anticipated, and it did not disappoint.
It starts technically as they battle for wrist control and but the mood changes when Osprey doesn’t break clean out of the ropes, he adds further insult to injury applying an Octopus lock and slapping him in the face with his spare hand. He’d then get a two count with a spinning backbreaker.
Newman would respond though. He kicked off a charging Osprey and used his momentum to roll back over the top rope to the apron, then hit him with a springboard clothesline.
He’d climb the ropes again for a stomp and then hit an underhook suplex for his first near fall. Osprey turn to rally now though and hits a forearm off the top.
Twice he offers himself for an unprotected forearm, but both times blocks the blow at the last minute and counters. Then followed a sequence of high spend counters from both men that was as impressive as it was indescribable in a written form (sorry about that).
The ending of both that, and the match came when Newman dodged a hidden blade and went to bounce of the ropes, but Osprey countered into a seatbelt style pinning combination and held on for the victory.
The pair shake hands after the match and Kelly Marshall comes into the ring to interview Osprey. She asks about Dan Moloney’s recent defection from the United Empire to The Bullet Club. Osprey says that he’ll do the interview later as right now he and Callum need to talk.
Lance Archer vs Rampage Brown
Credit: @revpro
If the previous match was speed and technique, this is the quintessential Big Hoss Fight. The crowd again are a bit split on who to support, Archer has the AEW prestige, but Rampage Brown is a Yorkshire boy (even if it is the wrong part of Yorkshire).
The pair start by charging each other several times, Archer eventually coming out on top then the pair brawl on the floor, Archer using his forearms to knock Brown around.
Rampage would return to the ring, with Archer after him, but then duck out the far side back to the floor and when Archer follows, he sweeps out his legs and pushes him into the corner post.
Brown is in the ascendancy now and a shoulder block from the top would see Rampage get a near fall. He tries the running shoulder block again, but this time Archer is ready and stop him with a punch.
Archer hits a suplex and gets another two count and then, following another exchange, hoists him up from the floor into a chokeslam which again Rampage somehow kicks out of.
Desperate to turn the match, Brown climbs to the top to try the shoulder block again, but Archer catches him with another punch. With Brown caught in prime position, Archer hits the Blackout Crucifix Powerbomb and claims the victory.
Wild Boar Mike Hitchman and The Greedy Souls (Brendan White and Danny Jones vs David Francisco, Leon Slater and Robbie X
Credit: @revpro
Couple of notes on this one. Luke Jacobs was originally scheduled to be in this match but was substituted for David Francisco. It wasn’t mentioned by anyone from RevPro crew so I’m hoping it was just a transportation issue that meant he wasn’t there.
Also, the bout was an Elimination Tag Match, and participants could be eliminated by pinfall, submission, or disqualification but also by going over the top rope to the floor.
Robbie X and The Wild Boar have had their issues recently and this one starts by X diving through the ropes onto him before the bell has rung.
Once it has properly started and settled down, Brendan White is double teamed by Leon Slater and Robbie X for a long period, before the Wild Boar comes in and follows X into he corner with a gore and it all breaks down again.
In this confusion, Wild Boar rolls up Francisco and he’s eliminated. Slater comes in and reasserts control for his team, but distraction and double teaming has the Greedy Souls back on top.
They repeatedly knock Robbie X to the floor to extend Slaters beating. Robbie eventually gets the tag and cleans house for a while, but can’t get any decisive eliminations.
He goes for a handspring off the ropes, but Boar charges him, they become interlocked and tumble over the top rope together both being eliminated.
So, the ‘Youngest in Charge’ is alone against the RevPro tag team champions and despite the Yorkshire crowd cheering for one of our own again, he’s getting a bit of a pasting.
He kicks out of the springboard sidewalk slam double team though and hangs on to the top rope when they throw him over. Slater tries to pin Danny Jones, but then moves out of the way and White comes crashing down on his partner with a senton.
Slater whips White over the top rope, and he crashes to the floor then climbs to the top rope to hit a 450 splash on Jones and complete the unlikely win.
Kelly returns to the ring to ask him about the win. Slater says that he believes at just 18 he’s the best in the world and having just beaten the tag team champions on his own, he deserves a shot at those titles with his 0121 teammate, Dan Moloney.
On mention of Moloney, Callum Newman jumps the barrier and attacks Slater. Having beat him down and tied his hands behind his back with wrist tape.
Osprey comes sauntering casually back too. He tells Kelly that he’ll do that interview now and she returns to the ring (in a style charitably described as ‘unique’).
Whilst posting live on Instagram he tells us that Newman is the new United Empire apprentice and that whilst he agrees that Slater is one of the best in the world, what will happen to him next is Moloney’s fault.
He hits repeated forearms to a defenceless Slater and then a Hidden Blade. On his way out he stops to tell Slater again that “he’s sorry, but this isn’t over for him yet and he’ll see him at York Hall”.
Trent Seven vs Shigehiro Irie
Credit: @revpro
Our main event is a second match of big strong bois against each other. They shake hands before the match and then start grappling to determine who is strongest boi.
They are fairly even, charging off the ropes into each other until Seven hits a crossbody instead of a shoulder block and takes over.
They fight to the floor, where Seven chops the ring post when Irie ducks. They chop each other around the ringside, but the chops of Seven are hurting his damaged hand.
They fight up onto the stage and Seven pushes Irie off it, into the hastily evacuated chairs below. He then looks to walk back down, but decides instead to jump off after him, splashing both more chairs and Irie.
Ironically, it’s poor ‘Dynamite’ Lee Dawson, who is working on the ring crew, who comes off worst and struggles to the back.
Back in the ring, Irie pushes Seven through the ropes until he’s sitting on the apron, then hits a running splash crashing him face first into the barricade.
He pulls him back in and hits a cannonball for a near fall. Then a big splash off the top for another one. It looks like Trent can’t defend himself and the referee checks on him, but he’s playing possum and hits the distraction punch and a Tyler Driver for a two count.
The pair exchange forearms until Irie hits an elbow, cannonball and Clothesline combination for what must be the finish but no! Seven kicks out again.
He ducks a wild swing and hits a snapdragon suplex and lifts Irie into the Burning Hammer to win.
Having lost his wXw championship the day before, it closed out a bad weekend for Irie, but still the pair shook hands and embraced at the conclusion.
This was a really great show from RevPro. Six matches, all of which were excellent and what might be a key element of an ongoing multi-promotional storyline.
The next event in Sheffield is scheduled for the October 22 and I’ll certainly be there.