Europe & Africa

© Chris Gannon

Revolution Pro Wrestling

High Stakes
20/04/25
The Doncaster Dome, Doncaster, England
Watch On: Rev Pro on Demand

“High Stakes” was Revolution Pro Wrestling’s second show at the Doncaster Dome in South Yorkshire, as promoter Andy Quildan hoped the attraction of Mercedes Mone would help in his continued efforts in making the town a mainstay location for the promotion that was home to several iterations of import heavy (and financially failing) 1PW in the past. This was to be Mercedes Mone’s first defense of the Undisputed British Women’s Championship that she won from Mina Shirakawa at “Wrestle Dynasty” back on January 5th in the Tokyo Dome and her first opponent would be Nottingham based wrestler Kanji.

The Undisputed Title is made up of belts from both RevPro and the now defunct Southside promotion (that Rev Pro purchased a half decade back), so it almost felt fitting that a former Southside Champion would be the first challenger in this instance. Southside promoter Ben Auld was in the crowd to watch the match alongside Styxx, who trained Kanji at his Nottingham based school, and both were highly energised in support of their wrestler throughout the contest.

Rev Pro ran an excellent bit of promotion prior to the start of the show, showing a sit down interview with the lesser known wrestler on the big screen, giving background and emotional resonance to the match from Kanji’s perspective. It went over well with the crowd and it felt like it helped with her reception later on in the night. Kanji appeared quite moved by the reaction to her entrance and to the crowd really getting behind her throughout the bout with the AEW star.

© Chris Gannon

Mone was in control of the bout from the early going but Kanji remained competitive, challenging the Champion by countering holds into some of her own and grounding her faster opponent on occasion. Mone used her speed and power to stay one step ahead but still managed to get caught in a rear naked choke before the end. This was to be Kanji’s final flurry though, as a gutbuster into a bank statement (once fully applied) would get Mercedes Mone the win and a successful first title defense.

Mercedes was full of praise for her opponent in the aftermath and Kanji can be proud of the level she worked up to.

© Chris Gannon

The semi main saw Michael Oku defend the Undisputed British Men’s World Title against Leon Slater. The Yorkshireman had trainer Liam Slater (no relation) in his corner for what was a tense battle from the start.

The match centered around Oku’s knee (in an odd repetition of the previous match between Leon Cage and Nino Bryant), with Oku grabbing the joint after an abandoned moonsault. The Champion would battle with the impairment throughout the rest of the match and it would be central late on as he was caught in a submission by Slater, as the Doncaster crowd cheered for a potential title change. In the end, it was Amira who gave Oku the encouragement to continue, appearing just at the moment he was losing hope after not accompanying him for the rest of proceedings.

A ‘rana and a folding pin ended up enough for Oku to retain the title by the skin of his teeth in a match that built well to gather the reactions it did by the end.

The rest of the card saw Will Kraven successfully defend his Undisputed Cruiserweight Title against Lio Rush (be it by low blow and referee distraction), as the American failed to turn his British J Cup win from September last year into further gold, as well as a chaotic scramble where JJ Gale came out the victor.

© Chris Gannon

The undercard highlight (at least in the building) was the Women’s Gauntlet match that was won by Dani Luna and featured the likes of Serena Deeb, LA Taylor, Charli Evans, Skye Smitson and Mercedes Blaze. It was Safire Reed who was the star of the match though, with a mix of aggression and comedic timing making her stand out amongst all the other competitors.

Full Results

 J.J. Gale defeats David Francisco and Jay Joshua and Robbie X and Stephen Wolf and Zozaya

R.K.J. defeats Donovan Dijak

RevPro Undisputed British Cruiserweight Championship:
Will Kaven (c) defeats Lio Rush

Women’s Revolution Gauntlet:
Dani Luna defeats Amira Blair and Anita Vaughan and Charli Evans and Emersyn Jayne and L.A. Taylor and Lizzy Evo and Mercedez Blaze and Safire Reed and Serena Deeb and Skye Smitson

Leon Cage defeated Nino Bryant

RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship:
Michael Oku (c) defeated Leon Slater

RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championship:
Mercedes Moné (c) defeated Kanji

Rev Pro News

Revolution Pro Wrestling have begun a Tournament to determine a new Number 1 Contender for the Undisputed Heavyweight Title after Michael Oku retained against Leon Slater at High Stakes. The other two quarter finals are planned for May 11th in Coventry whilst the semi finals and final will take place in Sheffield on May 25th for a title shot at the “Revolution Rumble” show in June.

The 8 man tournament began last week in London, with Ricky Knight Jr. defeating David Francisco to advance. Zozaya got by Jay Joshua by count out in order to join him in the semi finals.

The promotion confirmed during their weekly Question and Answer session on X that Fantasticamania will return in October with more details to follow.

© Progress Wrestling

Progress

Chapter 179: Progress Las Vegas
17/09/25
Pearl Theater, Las Vegas, USA
Watch on: Triller+

Chapter 179 saw Progress head to Las Vegas for a show that was of a decent quality in the ring but also lacked any distinctions that would separate the promotion from its American counterparts.

This was, however, a rare Progress show under 3 hours in length, clocking in at 2 hours, 15 minutes of constant action up until the Michael Oku- Luke Jacobs main event. The timely nature of the bouts would have been most welcome to much of the audience as the show began at midnight and followed on from a whole day of other shows under “The Collective” banner in the same venue.

The show opened fast with a high flying battle between Lykos Gym and Boisterous Behaviour (the team of Leon Slater and Man Like DeReiss) and rolled quickly into a 3 way where Marcus Mathers and Tate Mayfairs were unsuccessful in their attempts to upset wXw Unified World Champion, 1 Called Manders.

© Progress Wrestling

Manders’ presence on these shows and his style of offense is an interesting one as you could not help but recognise how similar his offense is in a lot of ways to Progress World Champion Luke Jacobs and how it often appears to be more hard hitting in the process. The point was hammered home in an even more bizarre way when Manders entered to Bon Jovi’s “Dead or Alive” and you are instantly reminded of Jacobs using the same anthem for the biggest entrance of his young career so far, as well as at the end of the match when Manders left yet another wrestler riveting on the mat (this time Mathers) following his stiff armed lariat.

Aigle Blanc trainee Kuro, in town for French promotion BZW, stepped in to face another member of the Champion Carnival in Mike D Vecchio. Vecchio was originally booked to challenge Axel Tischer for the Progress Atlas Title, but with Tischer unable to make the show, he faced up against the young French highflyer instead. Kuro had his moments but was unable to overcome Vecchio’s strength, in what was a decisive win for the Belgian wrestler.

© Progress Wrestling

In a 3 way for the Progress Women’s World Title, Nina Samuels was able to successfully escape with the belt once more as Vert Vixen and Rhio were unable to make a number advantage finally in the contenders favour count. The best opportunity for a new champion was hampered by Vixen pulling the referee out of the ring during a count where Rhio looked to have Samuels beaten.

Progress then went to their more comedy leaning part of proceedings with a scramble for the Proteus Championship featuring the likes of Paul Walter Hauser on top of Champion Simon Miller. It was Hauser who pulled off the shock, pinning Adam Priest to capture the belt on his first appearance with the promotion.

The crowd began to tire (understandably with the time) during the semi main event between Minoru Suzuki and Cara Noir, which was Noir’s only wrestling appearance in Las Vegas. The match was leaps and bounds better than Suzuki’s ‘encounter’ with Butterbean earlier on in the day but also just about passable. Suzuki pinned Noir after a long holding up of his opponent for the Gotch style piledriver in what was a somewhat surprising outcome considering Noir is challenging for the Progress World Title back in London over the weekend.

© Progress Wrestling

The show rounded off with Michael Oku challenging Luke Jacobs for the Progress World Title, with the match going on just before 2am. It started out slow before picking up with a chop/ forearm battle in the corner before waking up the crowd following a vicious lariat from Jacobs that saw Oku smash his head on the apron on the way down to the floor outside the ring.

The action found its way to the stage, where Jacobs delivered a suplex to Oku but the Champion lacked follow up, instead getting into a shouting match with Oku’s manager Amira that allowed his opponent with a dive springing from the stage over 3 rows of the audience.

Oku would momentarily gain the upper hand, hitting his signature frogsplash for a close nearfall before applying a series of submissions that the resilient Champion was able to escape. Jacobs had just enough left to deliver a lariat that would put Oku away.

Whilst not on the level of their previous 3 Championship matches, it was still a solid effort between the two on a show that went late into the night.

Full Results

Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II) defeat Boisterous Behaviour (Leon Slater & Man Like DeReiss) (11:19)

wXw Unified World Title:
1 Called Manders (c) defeats Marcus Mathers and Tate Mayfairs (8:20)

Mike D Vecchio defeats Kuro (7:15)

PROGRESS Women’s Title:
Nina Samuels (c) defeats Rhio and Vert Vixen (11:45)

PROGRESS Proteus Title:
Paul Walter Hauser defeats Simon Miller (c) and Adam Priest and Charles Crowley and Effy (8:44)

Minoru Suzuki defeats Cara Noir (13:31)

PROGRESS World Title:
Luke Jacobs (c) defeats Michael Oku (17:08)

Progress News

Luke Jacobs defends against Cara Noir on the 2nd night of the Super Strong Style 16 Tournament on May 5th. Rhio will challenge Progress Women’s Champion Nina Samuels on the first night of the weekend, with her Progress career on the line. A special referee will be appointed for the later match. With both Jacobs and Rhio part of the recent WWE European tryouts, there will be more eyes on the results of these two matches than usual.

The final line up for SSS 16 at the Electric Ballroom in North London has now been confirmed.

Charles Crowley, Simon Miller, Tate Mayfairs, Kid Lykos, Kid Lykos II, Will Kroos, Charlie Sterling, Trent Seven, Marcus Mathers, Leon Slater, Man Like Dereiss, Ethan Allen, Zozaya, Masa Kitamiya, Jack Morris and Michael Oku will all participate in the two day Tournament.

UK and Ireland News

Preston City Wrestling are more of a training school based promotion in 2025 compared to their glory years in the 2010s, however, they still pull out the occasional surprise. This week they announced they were bringing in former WWE and AEW wrestler Jake Hager to take on the promotion’s own 7 foot giant in the form of Big T. The match will take place at the Layton Institute in the outskirts of Blackpool on May 3rd.

Fight Factory Pro Wrestling “Grapple Games” on May 16th has announced the participants for the event’s signature match. CBL will defend his Irish Junior Heavyweight Championship against Renzo Rose, Omari, Fabio, Michael May and Zozaya in the Grapplegames match. Also booked for the show are NOAH’s Jack Morris and Rich Swann.

Swann will be making his first appearance with the promotion but will also be travelling over a few days earlier to hold training seminars at the Fight Factory in Dublin on the 13th and 15th May as well as a third seminar in Limerick on May 14th for Blackout Pro Wrestling.

Yorkshire promotion True Grit will hold their first cage match on May 9th as Kemper will challenge Brady Phillips for the True Grit Championship inside the steel structure. “Left Bank Lockup” in Leeds will also host Sean Only vs Billy O’Keefe, Ollie Burns vs HT Drake and a True Grit Pride Title defense by Adam Bolt against Tony Wright.

Jake the Snake Roberts and Trish Stratus will be part of Comic Con Wales on the 9th and 10th of August.

Mainland Europe

Banger Zone Wrestling
Viva Las Vegas
17/04/25
Swan Dive, Las Vegas, USA

Banger Zone Wrestling was the only company from mainland Europe to run during Wrestlemania week, with a mix of regulars and indie talent which were debuting in the promotion.

The main event saw BZW Champion Joseph Fenech Jr. successfully defend his Championship against luchador Arez.

The promotion will return to more familiar surroundings for “Fight Forever” on May 10th in France with Ricky Sosa vs LJ Cleary, Elijah debuting in the promotion against George Bejzae and a Carnival Hardcore match, where Charles Crowley will challenge Big Joe for the BZW Hardcore Title. Millie McKenzie will also be in action.

Results

Connor Mills defeats Heddi Karaoui and Zak Patterson

BZW Tag Team Titles:
MAO & Yoshihiko (c) defeat Alec Price & Marcus Mathers

MBM defeats Santana Jackson

Gravity defeats Aerial Van Go and Kuro and LJ Cleary and Ultima Sombra

BZW Hardcore Title:
Big F’n Joe (c) defeats Jimmy Lloyd

BZW Title:
Joseph Fenech Jr. (c) defeats Arez

Parisian wrestler R1 (yes, it is a gaming gimmick) will debut for Romanian Pro Wrestling on May 17th for their “Uphill Battle” show at the Premier Resort in Feleacu. Millie McKenzie’s opponent will be “Polish Powerhouse” Diana Strong.

Fred Rosser will head to Italy before travelling to Chile the following week. He will be holding a seminar for the Italian Wrestling Association in Rome on May 23rd before appearing on their show a day later.

Riot Wrestling Ultimate Champion TJ Charles will attempt his own “classico” style victory as he takes on Johan for the Triple W Absolute Championship on May 10th in Madrid whilst representing the Barcelona based promotion. Johan will be looking to defend his title and his city at the “Zona de Guerra” event.

Fury have announced a full line up for their “Breaking Barriers” show in Stuttgart, Germany on May 24th. The all women promotion will call upon Baby Allison, Mila Smidt, Julia, Diana Taro, Warchild Saga, Jessy FN Jay, Kira Chimera, Nicky Foxley, Sultan Suzu, LA Taylor, Cory Zero and Rosalia to fill out the night’s card.

Violence is Forever will return to the wXw Grand Prix for the first time since 2022 as they look to win the tournament on their 3rd attempt. Their return to Oberhausen will occur on September 26th through September 28th.

They will be joined by Dragongate’s Dragon Kid and former trainee Dragon Dia. Kid was forced to withdraw from this year’s “16 Carat Gold” tournament through injury but will now head to Germany in September.

South Africa

World Association of South Africa presented “WRESTLEMONSTER 7” from Nelson Mandela Bay on April 19th.

The show was headlined by a last man standing match for the WAWSA/ WWP World Championship between TJ Tremor and Canadian veteran Joe Legend. The two battled for 42 minutes to earn the title that was vacated back in March following Mr Wrestling’s diagnosis with a serious illness.

Mr. Wrestling was on hand for the match despite undergoing treatment over recent weeks, opening proceedings by placing the vacated Title in the ring just before the match began and congratulating TJ Tremor in victory.

There was also fresh gold for the Fighting Springboks, as the team of Ryan Cage and Ananzi captured the WWP/WAWSA Tag Team Titles by defeating Alex Desire and Matthew Haniker.

India Pro Wrestling Champion Tiger Rapta defeated CROW earlier on the day, with the pair setting up a return bout in India to follow this one and Chris Kotze earned himself a title opportunity that can be used anytime over the next year.

48 hours in Las Vegas

Chris Whitehead takes us along with him on a whistle stop tour of the independents and global promotions who made Las Vegas their home during Wrestlemania week.

Naito

It is hard not to overemphasize how much this week feels like a truly momentous one for New Japan Pro Wrestling as the top draw for most of the last decade and the most popular wrestler in the company…

Wrestlemania 41

The first night of this year’s Wrestlemania was a mostly subdued affair, with a crowd that lacked energy, noise and motion for most of the proceedings. For a lot of the matches, it reflected issues in the builds that the performers were unable to turn around in the ring.