7/22/2025

© Peter Edge

UK and Ireland

Pro-Wrestling EVE 136: Mean Grrrls

July 4th, 2025
The Big Penny Social, London, England
Watch On YouTube
Review by Peter Edge

It’s ironic that on Independence Day an AEW wrestler who spent the first few months of her time in the company as an alien spent July 4th in a country away from home.

The big selling point of “Mean Grrrls”, Pro Wrestling EVE’s seventh show of 2025 and the second of the year to feature an AEW star as a headline attraction, was Kris Statlander being the first non-English wrestler to challenge for the EVE International Championship, as per the request of champ Anita Vaughan to wrestle international stars.

But this wasn’t going to be a one match show by any stretch as EVE’s two other titles on the line, with Nightshade defending her EVE Championship against Alexxis Falcon (the best thing to come from Hull since Dean Windass), and Hard Up North (Harley Hudson & Lucy Sky) defending their EVE Tag Team titles against Big Beefy Bitches (Emersyn Jayne and Rhio). The card was rounded out by a grudge match between Nina Samuels (who was profiled by Chris Gannon in issue 6) and Safire Reed, which was promoted as their final match of a years long feud. A four-way was announced in the days before the show between Session Moth Martina , Millie McKenzie, Sadie Gibbs (fresh off a couple of excursions in Japan) and Zoe Lucas (subbing for an injured Lucia Lee). It was looking to be a packed card. But while the wrestling was always going to be awesome, the reason I made the trek from my hometown of Solihull (not Birmingham, we actually get our bins collected here) to Walthamstow for the fourth time this year is a chance to meet friends made over the months, just enjoy the community that makes up the EVE fanbase and yes, to meet Kris Statlander.

The pre-show meet and greet meant an early arrival to The Big Penny Social, the home of EVE after many residences in buildings such as the ResGal and the 229. The Big Penny Social is a socialising complex with a main dining area with table tennis tables and a newly built games hall upstairs with pool tables, dartboards and shuffleboards there to play on. I’d recommend the food, especially the cheeseburger even if it’s London prices. The wrestling event takes place at the adjacent hall where concerts and comedy shows also take place.

One of the reasons I had time to look round the complex, eat and down a couple of blackcurrant ciders (halves of course) was that Kris Statlander was running late. Kris, who flew in overnight, landed in the UK on the morning of the show and would learn what London traffic looks like on a late Friday afternoon. Usually in the hours before the doors open on EVE day, The Big Penny Social plays highlights of EVE on the big screen in the dining hall, but I’m guessing it’s mandatory during Wimbledon fortnight that London establishments have to show the All England Championships on screens.

The Meet and Greet with Kris happened in the beer garden of Penny, which is very on brand for a company like EVE. The wrestling fans queuing up to meet Kris stood out like a sore thumb in such a trendy place like the Penny, hence the multiple tables of 18 to 30 year olds asking what was going on. But when they would have seen Stat, they would have been impressed. Stat looks every bit the star in person that she comes across as on TV, even in her casual gear.

One of the tables must have had a kid who watches AEW because the father of a kid asked if I could get Stat to sign a ping pong ball nicked from the hall for his son (I’m guessing the family were from the Chelmsley Wood area of Solihull).

© Peter Edge

As for the show itself, one of the things guaranteed with EVE is that you’re going to have fun. The wrestling is physical, the comedy spots hit and a great work ethic is a guarantee. In the four shows that I’ve been to I haven’t seen a wrestler take a night off, even in the Multiverse Rumble match. Also, you are guaranteed to have a Will Ospreay sighting (as long as AEW don’t have a PPV show the weekend of an EVE show. Will is a lead producer for EVE and he puts the work in. I have seen him at shows cleaning up the ring with a brush and dustpan, he’s been the guy to tell wrestlers selling merch at the interval to finish up, he instructs fans in certain sections of the arena that if a wrestler is near them to move. He even got on the mic to remind fans to hydrate on what was a baking evening at The Big Penny Social.

The show started with a Skye Smitson vs Myla Grace match. One of the themes of the show was the changing dynamics of the heel/face divide on the EVE roster. In Myla’s last match before wrestling dates for her main company, TNA, she was a babyface but she was very much a heel here, with the preview of the show hosted by Will Ospreay getting over the fact that Myla has come back with a billy-big time attitude. Skye won a fun opening match, which traditionally gets great reactions from the crowd.

While Statlander’s match against Anita Vaughan for AV’s International Title was always going to be the main event, it was a surprise that the EVE Championship, the main title in the company, was defended in the second match. It immediately became apparent why. The match technically never happened. The challenger for Nightshade’s EVE title, Alexxis Falcon attacked Nightshade during her entrance. A brawl between the pair couldn’t be contained. Ospreay, whose main duty on screen is to break up pull apart brawls, making him to EVE canonically what Rene Goulet was to the Hulkamania era, was visibly motioning to shush the crowd when we were chanting “let them fight” like we were naughty children encouraging wrestlers to be unruly. Next month will see a rematch (technically not a rematch) on the August 1st show, which will be Falls Count Anywhere. I hope they fight in the beer garden. Dann Read, EVE booker and co-promoter, will tell me that he doesn’t.

© Chris Gannon

The main event of the first half was Nina Samuels vs Safire Reed. It was a really good No-DQ match with callbacks to previous moments in their feud, with a focus on Safire Reed. When I started watching EVE, Safire was an out and out heel playing an angry young wrestler who didn’t want any part of being cheered. Six months later, she might have got the biggest cheers out of anyone that wasn’t an AEW employee. Now a face after costing Nina the EVE Title, in this match she was a fantastic underdog babyface, taking everything but the kitchen sink in weapon shots from Nina and her protege Abi Cartwright while still prevailing in the end in true babyface fashion. In a field of great wrestlers, Safire is somebody who has a bright future and she has a chance to show off her talents on the “EVE x The World” show on AEW’s Forbidden Door weekend, as after the match the lights went out. That could mean one thing, an announcement of an outside talent coming in. A Julia Hart vignette aired to a huge pop and then Skye Blue was also announced. The timing of the video suggests that Safire might encounter the AEW duo on August 23rd. I also had a chance to have a brief chat with Safire during intermission and she’s really nice when she isn’t being a ferocious gremlin when in the ring.

The “Absolute Chaos” 4-Way would start with the news that Session Moth Martina wouldn’t be there, with no news coming from Martina on her social media about the unfortunate non-appearance until a video posted on the EVE’s members section (£8.99 for live streams/archive/access to the discord server) saw Martina give her reasons for her no-show being that she needs to go away for awhile to find herself. Her replacement, Ollie Fern, impressed, especially her selling, but the MVP of the match was Amira, Zoe Lucas’ tag partner, who brandished a sign that claimed that ref Lauren was a horrible ref after a controversy in the No.1 contenders match with Emersyn Jayne and Rhio. The sign had two letters on the word “horrible” noticeably larger than the other six. The match – which saw an incredible springboard 450 stomp to Zoe, Ollie and Millie McKenzie – ended with Amira hitting Ollie with the “HOrrible” sign, turning the Pretty Psycho team heel.

The EVE Tag Team Title match between No.1 Contenders Big Beefy Bitches and the champs Hard Up North was a good match. It had a match structure looking very much like one of a modern tag match. Lucy Sky was the MVP of the match. Called “DeathMatch Lucy” by fans as a term of endearment, Lucy showed that she can be great without gimmicks needed. The title change might have been expected by some, with Harley Hudson’s TNA employment meaning that in date clashes EVE would come off second best, but it didn’t make the pop for the title change any less.

One of the traditions of EVE is the burlesque dancers that perform in between matches. This month, Amanzy performed a dance with more hula hoops than a crisp convention (or she nicked a bunch of rings from Sonic). I’m also guessing the Hot Stuff song that played during the performance was an Eddie Gilbert tribute. I only caught half of the second performance from Fou Fou Kaboom because to be blunt, I didn’t want to wet myself during Statlander vs Vaughan.

Fears that I’d make Stat/AV memorable for non-wrestling reasons were gone, so it was time for the main event. I expected the match to be hard-hitting and it was. Anita’s offence was really good with Statlander being very giving in her selling of what Anita brought to the table.

Kris’s victory was a big shock to those in the Big Penny judging by the pop in the building when Ref Lauren hit the mat for the third time after Staturday Night Fever. But it was a very pleasant shock judging by the reaction from one certain fan.

© Chris Gannon

“Mean Grrrls” was a fun night of wrestling but the biggest victory of the weekend for EVE might have come in the 24 hrs after.

Tickets for the “EVE x The World” show went on sale at 11pm on Friday 4th July. The front row was gone by the time me and my colleague Chris were back in Birmingham at 2am, even at a price point of £60, and the entire seated section was sold out 23 hrs and 54 minutes after they went on sale with a readjustment of the seating map needed to add more seats. Those seats sold out quickly.

EVE is the success story of Forbidden Door weekend. To sell all the seats in The Big Penny Social within 24 hours is an unbelievable achievement. If you want to go to EVE on Saturday of Forbidden Door Weekend and haven’t bought a ticket yet, you’re going to have to stand for 4 hours but it’ll be worth it. The view from the corners is really good. You might just have to do squats in hour 3 to get through hour 4.

Full Results

Skye Smitson defeats Myla Grace (7:45)

Fight To The Finish:
Safire Reed defeats Nina Samuels (17:51)

Absolute Chaos Match:
Zoe Lucas defeats Millie McKenzie and Ollie Fern and Sadie Gibbs (8:43)

EVE Tag Team Titles:
Big Beefy Bitches (Emersyn Jayne & Rhio) defeat Hard Up North (Harley Hudson & Lucy Sky) (c) (12:36)

EVE International Title:
Kris Statlander defeats Anita Vaughan (c) (20:23)

© BWR

UK and Ireland News

British Wrestling Revolution celebrates their 8th anniversary in Grimsby on July 18th, at “Viva La Revolution”. The main event of the show sees BWR World Champion Scotty Rawk defend against his trainer, Nathan Cruz. The winner could face Ace Matthews, if he is able to defend his Open Division Championship successfully for a fourth time on this show and earn a World Title shot. Ricky Knight Jr., Jack Jester and Sha Samuels will battle Joseph Connors and Bred 4 Better (Riley Nova and Brady Phillips) as part of an ongoing program between the two groups before a TLC match for the BWR Tag Titles between the Rowe Bros, Reece and Rogan and Champions Violence Party.

Pro Wrestling EVE have announced their show for “Forbidden Door” weekend in London, with “Eve x The World” set to take place in Walthamstow on Saturday, August 23rd. Seating tickets for the show sold out immediately, with only standing left available after the initial onsale. AEW talent Skye Blue (who appeared for RevPro last August) and Julia Hart have been announced for the show. The promotion has one more event ahead of that on August 1st, when Lana Austin and Hollie Barlow will continue their ‘complicated’ friendship debuting as a tag team against former tag champions Hard Up North.

“The Queen of the Ring” Priscilla will wrestle her last match for Yorkshire promotion True Grit on July 18th, in an event that is being held as part of Pride celebrations in the city of Leeds. The opponent for the match will be HT Drake.

EVW are running another all women’s show on August 29th at the Hanham Community Centre, with the first match announced a tag match between Hyperactive (Safir Reed and Anita Vaughan) vs Lizzy Evo and Alexxis Falcon.

TNA’s Harley Hudson will appear for Iron Girders Pro Wrestling on July 20th in Glasgow, Scotland. The card will also feature Luke Kyro vs Eddie Castle and Prince Levi vs Martin Macalistair.

Zack Gibson’s Burning Heart promotion will be holding a full day training camp in collaboration with Top Rope Wrestling Academy in Manchester on August 2nd. Gibson will take part in the training, alongside Isla Dawn and former ICW Champion Kenny Williams. The camp promises to focus on personal branding, social media training and safeguarding on top of more standard ring training and promo work.

Dawn will also wrestle on the promotion’s show in the city on August 3rd where she will wrestle Aleah James in her first UK appearance in 5 years. Gibson has also booked a debut for tag team Rapture against Lykos Gym as well as Wild Boar challenging Champion Mark Haskins. Boar earned his shot after defeating Mark Andrews back in March.

Alexxis Falcon had a successful return to NGW in Hull on June 30th, defeating Lizzy Evo to win the NGW Women’s Title.

© Peter Edge

RevPro

Live In Coventry

July 13th, 2025
HMV Empire, Coventry, England
Watch On: RevPro On Demand
Notes by Peter Edge

Revolution Pro Wrestling continued their push to the “Summer Sizzler” show in Wolverhampton on July 25th with their third Coventry show of a scheduled five for 2025.

The big talking points coming out of the show were a freak injury to Joshua James before a match against Sha Samuels – where he fractured his leg jumping off the middle rope during his entrance – and Jay Joshua beating Zozaya in a Last Man Standing which due to the conclusive nature of victory plus the post-match beatdown will only fuel rumours of Zozaya signing with WWE.

But the biggest moment to come out of the show was Safire Reed beating Emersyn Jayne in the No.1 contenders tournament final for a shot at the Undisputed British Women’s Title and a match against Mercedes Moné.

While Safire might be the surprise choice to some, it’s a reward for someone who has had a very good 2025 so far and has a high ceiling for what she can achieve in her fledgling career. Wolverhampton will be a showcase for Reed against the C.E.O.

That match will be part of a “Summer Sizzler” show that also features a Young Guns vs Grizzled Young Veterans British Tag League match, an Undisputed British Heavyweight Title match between Michael Oku vs Ricky Knight Jr. with appearances by Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI with opponents TBA. Rev Pro during “Live in Coventry” also booked an angle threatening a Trent Seven vs TK Cooper match at “Sizzler” which could be the worst thing to happen in Wolverhampton since Fabio Silva.

RevPro News

Rev Pro have announced that their relationship with their most frequented venue, The 229, has come to an end. The promotion explained the situation in a full statement:

“Revolution Pro Wrestling is excited to announce that starting this September, our Live in London events will have a new home – the stunning and historic Porchester Hall, located just 2 miles from our previous venue, 229 The Venue.

Last week, we were informed that 229 had made the decision to no longer host sporting events. This left us with no choice but to find a new venue for our London shows. At first, it felt like an impossible task to find somewhere suitable in central London with such a short space of time. But we are thrilled to share that we’ve done it – and not only have we found a venue that meets our needs, but one that offers the chance for us to grow, enhance the fan experience, and build something even more special.

The final RevPro event at 229 will take place on Sunday August 3rd. We’ll then kick off the new era at Porchester Hall on Saturday September 6th a day earlier than originally planned. From that point forward, providing all goes well in September, RevPro Live in London will come live from the Porchester Hall on the first Sunday of every month, starting with Sunday October 5th’s historic LIVE IN LONDON 100.

We’d like to thank Porchester Hall for their enthusiasm and support in welcoming Revolution Pro Wrestling to their venue. Their team has shown a real passion for helping us make this transition as smooth as possible and we look forward to repaying the faith they have shown in us!

To all current ticket holders – including season ticket holders – you will be contacted directly via email with full details of the changes. If you are no longer able to attend due to the new date or venue, you will be offered a full refund.

This is a huge step for RevPro, and we’re incredibly excited for what the future holds. We truly hope you’ll be part of the journey with us as we take Live in London to the next level.”

The statement ended a week of speculation in the run up to last Sunday’s “Live in London 97”, where the lineup was announced at a much later stage than usual.

This year’s Great British Tag League got underway in London on July 6th, with tag champions the Young Guns putting the first points on the board with a victory over the Bryant Brothers. Cowboy Way and the Grizzled Young Veterans round out the rest of the block and are yet to get underway.

B Block consists of Trew & Lacey, CPF, Connor Mills & Jay Joshua and the Sons of Southampton.

RevPro OnDemand is now available as an app on the Amazon Fire platform.

© Progress

PROGRESS

Chapter 181: Far From Ordinary People

June 29th, 2025
O2 Ritz, Mamchester, Ritz
Watch On: Triller+

Progress returned from their summer break on June 29th with a trip to Manchester for “Far From Ordinary People”. The show was headlined by a rematch for the Progress Men’s World Championship, as Cara Noir once more challenged Luke Jacobs after a controversial finish in London back in early May. Noir had locked in his Blackout sleeper on Jacobs, only for the champion to pass out on top of him, adding so much deadweight that he managed to pin Noir in the motion.

Noir’s rematch would occur in Jacobs’ hometown, adding an extra challenge for “The Black Swan”. Hometown man Jacobs was without Bon Jovi and his cowboy hat for this one but entered the O2 Ritz to large scale cheers, before beginning the match with the larger share of fan support. Noir was unfazed, though, immediately heading straight for another Blackout attempt. Jacobs was more prepared here than he was in London, however, immediately escaping the hold before reversing into a sleeper attempt of his own.

The two then embroiled in a slow paced, physical battle which almost appeared to frustrate Noir due to the level Jacobs was in control, even leading to the challenger resorting to biting his opponent. Jacobs gave him a sharp knock to the head for that one.

The pace and the crowd picked up as the match reached its closing stages, with a double clothesline evening things out before Noir managed a tombstone and locked in his latest Blackout attempt. The crowd, who the majority of had been behind Jacobs at the start, were now loudly chanting “tap!” towards their hometown wrestler in what was the high point of the match. Jacobs managed to survive, before countering with a viscous lariat and a Jay driller for a narrow two count.

© Progress

Cara Noir survived the pin but had little left, almost seeming to offer Jacobs a free shot after he got back to his feet. Jacobs duly complied, smashing Noir with a Northern Lights Lariat before locking in a Blackout of his own and forcing Noir to tap. The finish just narrowly missed the match peak but was close enough to still be pretty effective.

Any chance for Jacobs to celebrate such a statement win was quickly removed, as Super Strong Style 16 Tournament winner Man Like DeReiss hit the ring to make it known that he is ready to challenge for Progress’ top male championship going into the summer.

DeReiss had opened the show against Jacobs’ tag team partner Ethan Allen, who he had defeated in the opening round on the way to his tournament win in early May. Allen was a replacement for Chris Ridgeway, who withdrew from the card due to injury. Allen almost ended up working better, when you consider the show closing angle.

Man Like DeReiss has seemingly adopted football anthem “Freed From Desire” as a full time theme and has fit his signature entrance rap to the tune. The crowd weren’t as lively as you would have hoped for it at the show start, but they got more into it when he re-emerged at the end of the show.

© Progress

DeReiss was definitely energised at the start of the match though, with his speedy, hard hitting offense catching Allen on the backfoot immediately, with the local man going to the outside in order to recover. Allen managed to get back into the match by baiting his opponent to join him on the outside, leading to him being in control when the action returned to the ring. Any advantage was short lived, though, as DeReiss was able to chain together a blue thunder bomb and a 450 splash before hitting a driver on Allen, after holding him up for an age before hitting the impact move. This was as comprehensive a win as you could get for a semi competitive matchup.

The build to the “Loser Leaves Progress” match between Nina Samuels and Kanji later in the month continued on this show, with both wrestlers being tasked with facing opponents of the other’s choice. Kanji was first up, facing another local wrestler in the form of Lana Austin (a lot of local heels on this show). Lana was unwillingly accompanied by young Hollie Barlow, complete with fan sign.

Kanji punished Austin with some massive chops early but got caught on the outside and ended up being stomped down on the floor. Lana Austin should have followed up from here but was distracted by the presence of Barlow, telling the young wrestler to go to the back and taking her sign and stamping on it. Austin’s lack of focus led to her being caught in several submission attempts, with her power just about saving her from losing the match.

Kanji began to run through a further series of holds, attempting a triangle from mid-air and an ankle lock as the crowd chanted “Yes she Kanji!” Lana managed to escape again and even got a nearfall after a hangman DDT onto the apron. That was pretty much her last hurrah, though, as Kanji hit a hidden blade before locking in a dragon sleeper, forcing Austin to tap.

© Progress

Kanji gave her “Stay Humble” opponent an import to contend with, as Shotzi Blackheart made her first post WWE appearance in Europe, despite an injury that left her working with one arm in a cast. Shotzi worked the injury into all her offense and her selling, having to come out of the gate fast to highlight that she knew she was at a disadvantage. It eventually became too much, though, and Samuels took control.

From that point on, Shotzi was just trying her best to survive, using the bad arm to block offense and countering with a slingblade bulldog and a cannonball, before hitting a divebomb from the top for a narrow two count. This would prove to be the highlight of the match for Blackheart, who fell to the cartwheel knee and was pinned.

Samuels continued to beat on her American opponent after, putting her injured arm inside a chair and kneeling on it as she cut a promo. Nina climbed to the top rope, feigning that she would jump from the top onto the chair, replicating how she injured Kanji in the past. Kanji comes in to make the save to stop that from happening.

© Progress

There was one title change on the show, as Lykos Gym took the Progress Tag Championships from Sunshine Machine, thanks to Kid Lykos hitting Chuck Mambo with a busaiku knee with something in his knee pad, before the pair hit a double brainbuster to get the win. The story of the match was the increasingly heel behaviour of Kid Lykos, which ended with him using an additional object to effectively steal the belt.

Charles Crowley stole a win from Simon Miller in a 4 way alongside Adam Maxted and Jack Morris, when he threw Miller out of the ring after he had hit a spear on Maxted, while Charles Sterling continued his singles adventure by defeating debuting talent RPD. RPD is an ex-boxer, who uses some southpaw style offense. It confused Sterling early on but he was eventually able to make his power advantage count, using the Smokin’ Ace crusher to pick up the victory.

Progress Women’s Champion Rhio made a surprise appearance on the show, adding commentary for the Hollie Barlow vs Alexxis Falcon match. Barlow was effectively cost the match by a Lana Austin appearance on the stage, leaving her susceptible to a hangman DDT from Falcon. Austin entered the ring after the finish, headbutting Alexxis before turning to talk to Barlow. Falcon retaliated with a big forearm forcing Austin to retreat.

Full Results

Man Like DeReiss defeats Ethan Allen (8:52)

Kanji defeats Lana Austin (13:13)

PROGRESS Tag Team Titles:
Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II) defeat The Sunshine Machine (Chuck Mambo & TK Cooper) (c) (13:16)

Nina Samuels defeats Shotzi Blackheart (10:37)

Charles Crowley defeats Adam Maxted and Jack Morris and Simon Miller (6:16)

Charlie Sterling defeats RPD (9:04)

Alexxis Falcon defeats Hollie Barlow (2:42)

PROGRESS World Title:
Luke Jacobs (c) defeats Cara Noir (21:38)

© Progress

Progress News

The promotion’s return to The Electric Ballroom in North London on July 27th will be headlined by a “Loser Leaves Progress” match between long term rivals Nina Samuels and Kanji. The program between the two accelerated in the wake of Samuels losing the Progress Women’s Championship to Rhio in a match where Kanji acted as the special referee back in May.

The undercard likely sees one of the final (if not the final) appearance of Mike D. Vecchio before he heads to WWE. The Belgian wrestler will face Axel Tischer in a tables match. This is a makeup bout following the cancellation of their match in Las Vegas, when Tischer was unable to make the show.

Women’s Champion Rhio will make her first home defense in her current champion run against Rayne Leverkusen, whilst Charles Crowley and Simon Miller face off for the number 1 contendership to the Proteus Title, with Miller looking to gain revenge following Crowley stealing a victory from him in Manchester.

Progress will return to Manchester on November 16th for “Chapter 186: Noisy Neighbours”. The show will be held at a regular venue, the O2 Ritz.

© wXw

wXw

News

wXw have filled out the top of their August 16th Oberhausen card “Shortcut To The Top” over the past fortnight. The show will be headlined by 1 Called Manders defending his wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship against Ahura, who attacked Manders after his Texas Death match with Elijah Blum, having assisted the American to victory just moments before.

Also announced for the card is a farewell match from the promotion for Aigle Blanc and Mike D. Vecchio. Vecchio vacated the wXw European title after returning from All Japan’s “Champions Carnival” in order to rehab several injuries before he and Blanc join WWE in the autumn. LJ Cleary will also return to Germany for this show.

Before the Oberhausen show comes “Broken Rules” on July 19th, a card predominantly made up of stipulation matches and feud enders. Joseph Fenech Jr. continues his revenge tour against Anil Marik, after causing Marik’s wXw Tag Title loss on the previous show, in a body bag match, whilst Stephanie Maze will face Jane Nero in a No Ropes match.

There is a spot for a few standard style matches, as Zozaya travels to Frankfurt to face Axel Tischer and former Tag Champion Noram Harras turns to Aleksander Bellamy in his efforts to regain the belts, in (somewhat of) a rematch with new champions Planet Gojirah. wXw European Champion Marius Al-Ani will face Bobby Gunns in an answer to Gunns’ latest open challenge.

Emersyn Jayne has been added to the “Femmes Fatales 2025” Tournament lineup on top of wrestling Matthew Justice and 2 others in a Four Corners of Pain match on the first night of the wXw Pro Wrestling Grand Prix weekend from September 26th-28th.

Aaron Insane has been diagnosed with a double herniated disc and symptoms of paralysis, meaning he will be away from the ring for the considerable future at bare minimum. Aaron will be part of the commentary team for the upcoming Frankfurt show on July 19th. wXw have also announced that Tim Koslowski will be sidelined for several months after sustaining a fibula fracture.

© APC Catch

Mainland Europe

APC Catch – Final Storm

June 28th, 2025
Studio Jenny, Nanterre, France
Watch On: Youtube

APC Catch were sold out for “Final Storm” in Nanterre (on the outskirts of Paris), headlined by Aigle Blanc taking on first time arrival Nic Nemeth in the main event. The event was streamed live, and for free, in both French and English on Youtube, with the intro videos and the commentary doing an excellent job of introducing new viewers to the stories currently being run in the promotion and to the wrestlers they may not have been familiar with beforehand.

The show opened with a three way for the Progress Women’s Title, as Rhio defended the title she won back in early May from Nina Samuels in France before her first defense for the title’s home promotion. She faced off with French talents JGU and Celine, with a video before Celine’s entrance highlighting that she has previously beaten former Progress Champions Kanji and Emersyn Jayne.

The story of the match was both Rhio and JGU underestimating Celine, with Rhio completely not selling any offense from her at the start before being tossed to the outside. JGU and Rhio battled in between repeated attempts by Celine to land some offense before being batted away like a fly. Eventually, Rhio became fed up with the constant interruptions, taking Celine out from her perch on the turnbuckle before giving her repeated shotgun dropkicks into the corner. Rhio launched a narrow fightback – hitting headscissors on the champion before catching JGU with an arm drag. Rhio hit back with a fireman’s carry on Celine, before literally throwing her at JGU.

At this point Rhio was very much in control of the match, punishing Celine with backbreakers, a run of nasty forearms in the corner and a vicious knee. JGU took advantage of Rhio’s focus on Celine to hit Rhio with a suplex; Celine hit JGU with a falling star and Rhio had recovered by then to hit Celine with a headbutt, leaving all three down across the ring. Celine got up with momentum, hitting a messy bulldog, double knees into the corner before hitting a dive on Rhio to the outside just as the crowd got behind her. She locked in her Faeryland submission on JGU back in the ring but Rhio broke it up. Celine was disposed to the outside once more, leaving JGU and Rhio for one final face off, where Rhio came out on top, putting JGU away with her package piledriver before Celine could get back in the ring.

The follow up match saw the return of Joseph Fenech Jr. to APC after a five month absence post-losing the APC World Title. The devil returned bathed in red to face Josh-T on this night and was clearly still angered by his previous loss, as he came out full of fury at the start. Josh-T took advantage of Fenech’s bull-like attacks at the start, dodging much of the unfocused anger and replying with arm drags, leaving Fenech Jr. brooding in one corner. Josh-T continued to avoid and evade until being caught on the outside from a speedy tope, followed by a cannonball through the air that successfully took out the front two rows of the crowd. Josh-T did manage to get one near fall with a cutter, but it was very much a final flurry, as he was planted with a massive DDT, leading to Fenech Jr. returning with a win. The frustration that the former Champion returned with seemed to have only been heightened by the events of the match, as he began beating on Josh-T right after the bell was rung. Tag team La Tactique made the save for Josh and ran off Fenech Jr.

© APC Catch

La Tactique would be in action right after, in a three way match alongside Suplex Republik and tag champions Top Dawgs Family. There was a blow for the champions prior to the match as stablemate A-Buck came out on crutches to announce he was unable to compete on the show and was withdrawing from other dates in order to recover. A-Buck is aiming to return for the joint BZW/APC show at the end of August to face Bobby Lashley.

Ricky Sosa and Mecca would try to put the injury to the back of their minds for the tag title defense, and they got off to a fast start, with Sosa taking out La Tactique on the outside, before Mecca hit a pounce and a flip onto all five other competitors in the match to the floor. The big man of the Dawgs team was running rampant until La Tactique’s Erin Ordo caught him with a dropkick from the top. Ricky Sosa attempted to take out Ordo in response, but mainly managed to take down the chandelier from the roof of the venue with the impressive height he got in the jump. (Hopefully that one didn’t come out of his paycheque.)

The match continued at a frenetic pace from there, with Suplex Republik becoming more involved and unsurprisingly suplexing everyone they could, while Mecca showed off his own power with a double slam on La Tactique after failing with an attempt at a triple suplex. Suplex Republik took advantage of the chaos to catch Ordo in a double armbar after removing Mecca from the ring, but Ricky Sosa was able to break up the submission. That was to be Sosa’s undoing, though, as he found himself facing Suplex Republik with no backup and was subsequently hit with a double Styles clash. That was enough to get the pin and the championships for the team of Cuma Bolat and Zack Eriti, ensuring that all three members of the Suplex Republik faction ended the night holding gold in the promotion.

The crowd were very happy with the title change, cheering and applauding loudly for the finish, as well as for all the post match celebrations. They almost insist on Suplex Republik lifting the belts one final time on the stage before exiting, and the duo were happy to oblige.

After an interval played out to current euro football anthem “Freed From Desire”, APC were back to open the second half with another three way match, that this time saw APC contract holder (think Money In The Bank) Thiago Montero taking on local talent Griff and American import Gringo Loco. Whilst the Portuguese leader of La Tactique was the favourite going in, it was Loco who was very much the star of this match, with a flood of aerial and innovative offense, culminating in a great looking spot as Loco hit a sunset flip that then caused Montero to suplex Griff, as well as a triple Spanish fly.

Montero, frustrated with the match’s direction of travel, picked up his contract from the outside, only to get decked by it himself thanks to Griff. Griff hit a moonsault off the top onto Loco and seemed to be carrying huge momentum as he went up top for a shooting star press on Montero, but ‘El Capitán’ was able to move out the way and hit Griff with a penalty kick before he could recover from the fall. Thiago Montero came away with the win, and he remains the obstacle that Griff finds himself unable to overcome. This was arguably the match of the night overall, with a major reason behind it being the excellent performance of Gringo Loco, who showed all of his experience and creativity in this one.

© APC Catch

APC Catch World Champion Kuro took the semi main event slot on this night in a personal match up against former best friend and stablemate Ravage in an “I Quit” match. This one, understandibly, developed straight into a scrap. It quickly went outside and up to the production area on the second level, where Kuro smashed Ravage’s head into the DJ plates. The champion demanded some music on a microphone and got it for a short period until the action returned to the ring, not quite a New Jack style audio accompaniment for this one. The referee was very much overbearing at the start, asking each competitor if they wanted to quit after every single bit of offense. Thankfully, they calmed down from there and it led to the match feeling a little less clunky from that point on.

Ravage took control in the next stage of the match after hitting a cutter on Kuro and then laying the boots in. The masked man then pulled out a doll, took off its head and pulled out a fork that was subsequently stabbed into Kuro’s forehead and mouth. Kuro was asked if he wanted to quit and responded by calling his former friend a bitch. He got bit on the head for that one.

The next part of the match was massively interference heavy, beginning with the first appearance of La Krass in over three years. The crowd and the commentary team expected him to step up to Ravage over his string of attacks on his former stablemates, but it quickly became apparent that the two were aligned, after La Krass launched a chair at Kuro and both set in on the champion. The crowd went very quiet while Krass hit a stomp from the top, before Ravage began to use a shirt to choke out Kuro in the ropes.

This brought out Cosmic Ben and Celine, who both have suffered at the hands of Ravage since his turn. Celine tried to calm things down but found herself unable to do so after provocation from La Krass, and eventually gave up the calm front to him with a stunner. This led to a weird part of the match where heel Ravage ended up in a three on one against his old teammates in the middle of the ring. Whilst the intention was for them all finally to get justified retribution on the man that betrayed them, it did not come across that way to me or the crowd.

Celine and Ben tied La Krass up on the outside to prevent him from further interference before Cosmic Ben dragged him away from the ringside area. Celine returned to the ring to aim a kick at Ravage, but she was tossed into Kuro before becoming Ravage’s target herself. Ravage put her face onto a chair, threatening to crush it if Kuro didn’t quit. Celine pleaded with him not to and was faceplanted into the weapon for her defiance. Kuro spit at him to grab his attention, with Ravage distracted long enough for him to be caught with a low blow from Celine, followed by a kick to the head.

Kuro used the time to find some extra weaponry, bringing in a graffitied bit of plasterboard before smashing Ravage hard over the head with a chair. The champion used another couple of chairs to awkwardly lay his plasterboard on but took too long and turned around into a rocket lariat. The pair dueled it out thereafter, throwing chairs at each other’s heads as well as forearm shots before Ravage fell back into the table like structure, in a spot which was probably planned to be much more impactful than it was. Kuro was able to get Ravage’s neck in a chair, forcing the referee to ask Ravage if he wanted to quit. Ravage told him he “[did]n’t have the guts”, and the champion responded, wrenching his opponent’s head back against the chair back before picking up the fork Ravage introduced earlier and sticking it into his eyes. Ravage immediately quit and Kuro fell into the corner, a crazed look on his face caused by the lengths he had to go to in order to retain his title. This was a strange match where the structure and interference did nothing to help it, but it did bring the Ravage/Kuro program to a close.

Any other match following this one would probably have been met with a slightly subdued crowd at the start, but next up here was the main event of Aigle Blanc vs TNA’s Nic Nemeth, with both competitors receiving big responses from the crowd in attendance. The audience set off into a “This is awesome!” chant before the match had even begun and was further encouraged at the start as the two traded strikes, dropkicks and counters in a tactical battle fought at speed.

Nemeth took control after catching Blanc with a knee to the back, putting the Frenchman into a sleeper, and then a choke after he was able to make the ropes in fending off the first submission attempt. The crowd got behind their local favourite to help him escape the choke, hitting a corkscrew in the counter. Blanc was gasping for air as he climbed to the top, but Nemeth rolled to the outside. Blanc wasted no time in hitting him with a dive to the outside, pulling him back into the ring for a 450 attempt, only for Nemeth to avoid that one as well.

The two were scrapping for control, with superkicks and fameassers for near falls as the match entered its closing stretch. The crowd was brought to its feet as Aigle Blanc finally hit a 450 on Nemeth, but the TNA man managed to kick out just before the three count, causing dueling chants to break out. Nemeth hit him with a Danger Zone to come away with the victory in the end, as the fans circled the ring to bash the mat. The finish just missed the peak of the excitement, but this was a good main event that very much sent the crowd home happy, despite the import win.

Full Results

PROGRESS Women’s Title:
Rhio (c) defeats Celine and JGU (15:53)

Joseph Fenech Jr. defeats Josh T (10:39)

APC Tag Team Titles: Suplex Republik (Cuma Bolat & Zack Eriti) defeat Top Dawgs Family (Mecca & Ricky Sosa) (c) and La Tactique (Erin Ordo & Nate Prince) (13:58)

Thiago Montero defeats Griff and Gringo Loco (16:18)

APC Title I Quit Match: Kuro (c) defeats Ravage (23:16)

Nic Nemeth defeats Aigle Blanc (17:37)

© BZW

Mainland Europe News

Trent Seven worked his last date with French promotion Banger Zone Wrestling in Lille on July 5th, losing out to BCW World Champion Joseph Fenech Jr. in the main event in a title vs BZW career match. In the undercard, Georges Balzac captured the BZW Hardcore Title from Big ‘n Joe, and MAO and Yoshihiko retained the BZW Tag Titles against CPF. Bishop Dyer made his debut for the promotion on this card, winning a four way against Kuro, Robbie X and Cara Noir.

The APC Catch show on August 31st has been renamed from “Battle in Paris” to “The Last Dance”, in acknowledgement that this will be the final appearance by Aigle Blanc for the promotion before he joins WWE.

Marvelous’ Takumi Iroha retained her RVW Women’s World Title as well as the GHC Women’s Championship at RCW’s “Summer Fever 2025” show in Barcelona, Spain, on July 5th. ‘The General’ defeated highly rated French prospect Amale in the show’s main event. The match is set to stream on Wrestle Universe on a later date. The show was attended by an official from Pro Wrestling NOAH, and also included NOAH regular Jack Morris unsuccessfully challenging Zozaya for the RCW Men’s Championship. It was Zozaya’s first defense of the belt.

Scandinavian promotion SLAM! Wrestling will run Lahti, Finland, on July 19th, with Toni “Loisto” Lane and English wrestler Killdozer listed as the main attractions. They will also run in Stockholm, Sweden, on August 23rd, where SLAM! Women’s Champion Aliss Ink will defend her title.

Squash A Jobber Pro Wrestling will return from their truly Italian summer break on October 4th in Milan, with Dragon Kid, Dragon Dia and Tony Deppen all set to visit Milan. Cara Noir has been announced for the group’s November 29th date.

French women’s promotion Freja have announced JGU vs Connor Mills for their “Combat of the Realms” show on September 27th, whilst FURY All-Women Pro Wrestling have added Amy Heartbeat to their “Brawl4Glory” lineup in Stuttgart, Germany, on October 4th.

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