8/6/2025

© Rev Pro / Sarah BritWresPics

RevPro

Summer Sizzler 2025

July 25th, 2025
The Hanger, Wolverhampton, England
Watch On: RevPro on Demand
Review by Peter Edge

July 25th saw Revolution Pro Wrestling come to Wolverhampton for the second time in their “North of Watford” expansion effort. The big attractions for the event when the “Summer Sizzler” place and date were announced were the appearances of Rev Pro’s Undisputed British Women’s Champion Mercedes Moné and Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI’s first appearance in a wrestling ring since their divorce from New Japan Pro Wrestling. (Who had a nightclub in Wolverhampton in their ‘where will Naito wrestle next’ pool?)

The draw of Mercedes and Naito was enough to see a good attendance at The Hangar, despite the dreading prospect of having to spend a Friday night in Wolverhampton and a lack of local advertising (I saw plenty of posters for some kind of Chippendales night from the weekend before, but nothing about a wrestling event in the same building). At 5:15 when I turned up to the street where The Hangar is situated, the queue was threatening to go around the corner and onto the next road.

The evening would kick off in the ring with a fun, physical Sha Samuels vs Jay Joshua match where the pair no-sold chops, dropped each other on their heads, and put on a dumb jock match which Sha won after a Destroyer. JJ continues to show the signs of progress that have seen people get behind him in the last year. While Sha Samuels is in a spot to main event this year’s annual “Anniversary” show on the Bank Holiday Weekend when AEW comes to London (Rev Pro’s biggest show of the year), JJ also has the potential to be in that spot. In this writer’s opinion, he needs to change his music which is very anti-pop. ***¾

The not-so-annual Great British Tag League would continue with two matches. The Block B match between CPF and the Sons of Southampton (David Francisco and JJ Gale) would be the first GBTL match of the night. Seeing the odd couple S.O.S. team was interesting, on the basis that CPF’s underdog style led to JJ Gale working slightly heel in the control segments when he and Francisco worked over Danny Black. That was the best I’ve seen Gale be in a Rev Pro ring so far this year. The CPF win was a surprise to me considering the story of the Block is the Southampton duo. ***

In my run-down of the “Live in Coventry” show in the last issue, I made this comment:

As someone who likes to use my Can I Be Mean ticket regularly when writing about wrestling, I understand I can upset people sometimes in my efforts to be funny while being mean. I upset British podcaster extraordinaire (and TK Cooper and Sunshine Machine fan) Sarah “Awfully Waffly” with this mean joke.

As someone who has been stuck in a car park with Waffly (I won’t mention whose fault it was that me and my friend Chris got stuck in that situation with Waffly because I appreciate Trish for giving me the chance to write for this newsletter that she founded and also that she is my friend), I feel bad but we’re cool now after meeting up during the show. The heel turn of Chuck Mambo after the Cooper/Seven match also helped the healing (pun intended) process.

As someone who has not been as high on the singles push for TK as others (please don’t hit me, Sarah), this was his best heel performance so far against the hometown hero Trent Seven, who was very popular among the majority of fans – a contingent of spectators wearing shirts from WWE’s merchandise website in particular. One fan had not one but two full scale WWE belts, with one of them being the NXT UK Title. Next time I’m worried that wearing a wrestling shirt at a show makes me a mark, I’ll think of that guy.

Trent warmed himself more to the WWE fans in the audience by doing a leg drop just 24 hours after the death of Hulk Hogan. It was a moment that also earned him a chorus of boos from some, but not enough. My joke that nearly got me canceled actually hid the fact that I liked the Trent Seven and Chuck Mambo match in Coventry, and I just about preferred this to TK and Trent which went 5 minutes too long. But the post match angle worked perfectly. After Trent won with a Burning Hammer, Cooper attacked Trent and threatened to Pillmanize his arm. Chuck Mambo, his Sunshine Machine teammate, then attempted to stop TK’s journey to the dark side. But in the end, Chuck walloped Trent with a chair shot to join TK as a heel. A heel Sunshine Machine is an interesting proposition, especially with Chuck Mambo’s heel run back in Attack Pro Wrestling, that had potential but never got going because of creative mistakes. The pair would Pillmanize the arm of Trent which put him out of action for a total of 2 days as Trent would wrestle Jay Joshua at the Sheffield Rev Pro show. So technically Sunshine Machine did nothing wrong, right? ***

© RevPro

The Young Guns vs Grizzled Young Veterans Block A match was the match on the show that could have done with the 5 minutes that TK/Trent used up. With a slow start and a crowd that wasn’t sure who to root for, this match might have worked better in Sheffield. But in the world of British Wrestling, people are taking freelance gigs all round. So with Luke Jacobs booked for Progress on the same day as Rev Pro’s Sheffield show, promoters like Andy Quildan are forced to deal the hand they are given. The second half of the match was fun, especially Luke Jacobs’ work, showing that if WWE are not taking him after the mass tryout in the spring of this year, then a company like All Japan or NOAH should really make an inquiry. But I’d have loved to have seen them go 3-5 minutes more. Maybe we get that next time, because a win for Mystery Wrestling alum Zack Gibson and James Drake could see a title defence for tag champs Luke and Ethan Allen against Liverpool’s No.1’s. And considering Andy Quildan made a point on the Youtube channel commentary to mention the “Double Jeopardy” associated with being a champ going into a round robin based tournament, it is something that felt in the air when Luke and Ethan rejected post-match handshakes from their trainer. ***½

Before the second half of the show kicked off, lead commentator Dave Bradshaw, an upgrade on Quildan as the play-by-play guy since taking on the role from “Global Wars 2024”, announced the first name for the “Fantasica Mania” show in Wolverhampton on October 18th. With CMLL doing the now traditional hourglass emoji on their twitter account when breaking news is coming, it felt like it was going to be a big name. And there is no bigger name in lucha than Místico. When the graphic went up the pop was one of excitement. I for one hope to see Místico in Ocean’s Fryer just down the road from the Hangar.

Beast Mortos beat Robbie X to kick off the second half in a fun match up. While the Mortos booking was obvious (a ride on the Birmingham Metro Line can be romantic at sunrise I’ve heard), Robbie X was a good little opponent for the Beast. Robbie’s heel turn is the best thing that has happened to him. The Bullet Club association and his tenure in the Cruiserweight division of Rev Pro has been getting him bookings in CMLL, including the “Gran Prix Internacional” on August 29th. Robbie was the perfect fall guy for Beast and his offence, and showed great stuff on his own offence. The finish saw Robbie try to bring a chair into the ring because reasons, and Archie Cole – who is the most Contendy of Contenders (Rev Pro’s version of young boys/girls) – come out to foil Robbie’s plans, giving Beast the opening to take the victory after hitting a variation on a piledriver. While Archie’s rookie status in Rev Pro can easily play into the lack of reaction he got, judging by some moments on this night and the overall feel of Coventry and the noise levels at those events, the gut feeling is that subscription numbers for Rev Pro On Demand probably aren’t that high in the West Midlands. ***¾

© Los Tranquilos de Japon on X

Tetsuya Naito and Bushi’s first match after their departure from New Japan Pro Wrestling would be a first look at the template of a Naito match. Yes, we got T-Shirt Naito and I didn’t need a second hand to help me count the amount of bumps he took. BUSHI took the punishment while Naito took the hot tag. BUSHI gave Will Kaven, the second of Drew Lacey and Mark Trew, who were great stooges for Los Tranquilos, the mist and Naito hit a sick looking Destino for the 1-2-3. All over in less than 10 minutes. The new Naito match is going to be the greatest hits, comedy, and the tranquilo pose as the encore. And after everything Naito has done, he has earned the part-time, bumpcard friendly schedule with a meet and greet with people like me who might have the “only live once” mentality and are happy to spend 50 quid on such a moment when it comes to meeting wrestlers. ***

Once again on a card with Mercedes Moné, a Michael Oku title defence was in the semi-main event and would once again try to steal the show and put on an epic match; it would be a match played perfectly to the crowd in the arena but that I’d never want to watch again. It was also the kind of match you’d expect from a “Michael Oku losing the main singles title in a company” match. Both men ran the blade and there was an Oku high spot which for the second consecutive Ricky Knight Jr./Michael Oku match saw RKJ telegraph what was about to happen, but this time on a more egregious level.

Amira put in an unbelievable performance as Oku’s second. She took two bumps during the match, the second playing into the eventual Knight victory after three Good Knight Drivers, with the third being an Avalanche. In mentally planning this piece on the journey back home, I was planning to complain about the 30+ minutes that this match went that could easily have seen 5 minutes cut and added to the Mercedes-Safire match, but the match actually went 24. The amount of near falls, Amira related drama and overall ga-ga, it felt like it went north of 30, which isn’t a compliment. ****1/4

After the last Oku title loss to Luke Jacobs, speculation went around about Oku’s future in British Wrestling, and not just Rev Pro. But any confirmation of a move to the States was aborted quicker than access to a website after a failed password when Oku won the Rev Pro Undisputed British Title back from Luke Jacobs. It feels like second time lucky for Oku with impressive showings in ROH during the summer.

© Beyond Gorilla

The RKJ title victory also makes the booking of Sha Samuels’ Career vs British Title match even more intriguing. Knight Jr. playing the despicable heel who wants to destroy the world around him would be the perfect person to take the career of a long-time Rev Pro wrestler, but the RKJ style match is perfect for the underdog Sha to take the glory come August 23rd.

© Sarah BritWresPics

It was now main event time with Mercedes Moné and Safire Reed. A large percentage of the crowd were there for Mercedes, just like Doncaster on Easter Sunday. Kanji had a long road to Mercedes, beating AEW wrestlers in the months before “High Stakes”, while Safire getting the second Moné match wouldn’t have been the expected choice as Easter Monday rolled by. But Safire took her opportunity by the horns in the fortnight between the Coventry show and Wolverhampton, both in her promos during the build up to the match and in the 12 minutes she got in the ring with Mercedes.

While some people in the building might have felt that 12 minutes was too short, they packed in enough to show Safire’s strengths. This would have been the first time that some people had seen Reed. And in the two weeks before “Sizzler”, Safire made up for Rev Pro’s lack of promotion of the match (and the show in general) by knocking it out of the park with two promos. Especially the one filmed in association with Graps on Film that played heavily on her Radioactive nickname.

After the best ring introduction for the Belt Collector gimmick that I’ve seen so far, with Francesca going through every title in Mone’s collection (something AEW need to do when she’s back in an AEW ring), it was a different kind of match to the Kanji one in Doncaster. While Kanji’s style is one that should get her votes for the Bryan Danielson award for “Best Technical Wrestler” in the 2025 Wrestling Observer Awards, Safire’s is a strike heavy offense. And while Safire’s babyface turn is on its way, she was still the heel on this night. While a heel in wrestling canon, Mercedes was the star of the show, and the most popular woman on the night.

The story of the match saw Safire staying in the match early and then getting all her best shots on Moné. Mercedes needed to get a foot on the ropes to break up a pinfall and after a Warhead flying headbutt, Safire’s one last “killshot” ended up being her undoing, with Mercedes catching Safire mid-flight on a springboard, into the Gory clutch, into the best Moné Maker she might ever hit for the win.

The post match angle furthered the main story in the women’s division, with Safire’s stable, The Cut Throat Collective, attacking Moné after she and Safire had shook hands and hugged. While a conflicted Safire looked on, Kanji made the save. She and Mercedes fended off the heels, and more or less turned the British Champ face in the process. ****

It feels like we’re getting Kanji and Mercedes Moné versus two members of the CTC on Night 1 of the “Anniversary” double header shows on Forbidden Door weekend in Crystal Palace, since members of the CTC, Nina Samuels and Safire, are part of an EVE roster that are likely to feature on the “EVE x The World” show taking place on Night 2.

In all, “Summer Sizzler” was a fun show to attend live. Rev Pro are making slow improvements in their live presentation, even if the red spotlights around the Hangar flashing every time the ref did a two count really need to go (even if it’s a Hangar exclusive). There was no match on the card that went below 3 stars, and with stories being furthered as their biggest show is coming at the end of August, the excitement for Rev Pro has gone up one notch.

I’m still going to EVE on the Saturday night, though.

Full Results

Sha Samuels defeats Jay Joshua (12:35)

Great British Tag League Block B:
CPF (Danny Black & Joe Lando) [3] defeat Sons Of Southampton (David Francisco & JJ Gale) [0]

Trent Seven defeats TK Cooper (17:14)

Great British Tag League Block A: Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) [3] defeat Young Guns (Ethan Allen & Luke Jacobs) [3]

The Beast Mortos defeats Robbie X (10:10)

Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) defeat Kieron Lacey & Mark Trew (8:15)

RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title: Ricky Knight Jr. defeats Michael Oku (c) (26:16)

RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Title: Mercedes Mone (c) defeats Safire Reed (12:45)

© RevPro

RevPro News

Mistico and Hechicero are the top names announced so far for the “Fantastica Mania UK 2025” shows on October 18th, in collaboration with CMLL. There will be both an afternoon show and an evening show on that Saturday at The Hanger in Wolverhampton, with tickets currently only on sale in combo format.

The August 3rd “Live in London” event will be the final wrestling show at 229 The Venue, who will end their hosting of wrestling shows for the foreseeable future. The Great British Tag League will continue with CPF vs Connor Mills and Jay Joshua, Archie Cole takes on former Cruiserweight Champion Will Kaven and Alexxis Falcon will take on Dani Luna. Kanji will also face Anita Vaughan on the show.

© Michiko/ X

© Progress

PROGRESS

Chapter 182: Stay Humble

July 27th, 2025
Electric Ballroom, London, England
Watch On: Triller+

Progress returned to the Electric Ballroom for “Stay Humble” this past weekend, having lost the original main event of the show in the fortnight beforehand. Nina Samuels’ injury meant that her “Loser Leaves Progress” match with Kanji was postponed until a later date, and Kanji was therefore added to the Rhio vs Rayne Laverkusen match for the Progress Women’s World Title.

The new main event was a high paced affair that saw offense, pins and breakups exchanged between all three early on, before Leverkusen got some momentum after hitting a suplex on Kanji and a running kick on Rhio in the corner. The “Maiden of Metal” had captured the crowd from the minute she bit the head off a bat as an Ozzy Ozbourne tribute in her entrance (don’t worry, it was not a real one), and that only continued as she pummeled Rhio with fists in the corner to the tune of “Make It Rayne!” chants from the crowd.

She was taken aback suddenly though, as she was speared through the ropes from the outside by Kanji, who quickly targeted Leverkusen’s arm and shoulder after getting her onto the ground. Kanji lay in several stomps onto the shoulder, before standing on Rayne’s side and wrenching her arm back to the mat. There was a bit more viscousness to Kanji in this match than in previous bouts, as she also lay in some heavy kicks into the back of Rhio’s head just after this.

A series of headbutts from all three wrestlers evened things up before the closing stretch. Leverkusen must have thought she had the match won when she locked in a liontamer on Kanji, who was looking to tap to escape the hold, only for Rhio to then grab her hand in order to stop it happening. Kanji clawed at the face of Rhio before escaping the hold, only for Rayne to hit her with a roundhouse kick. Rhio immediately hit a ghettoblaster kick of her own onto Leverkusen, and followed it up by twisting her onto the mat. She went for the pin but was hit in the back of the head by a hidden blade from Kanji, who fell on top of both of them…. 

© Progress

The referee counted three and there was immediate confusion; has Kanji just won the Progress Women’s Title in Rhio’s first defense in the promotion? The match was declared a draw and no one really knew what to make of it, with an argument over the finish breaking into a brawl between Kanji and Rhio. They were eventually broken up by a host of red t-shirts before Rhio launched into a speech.

Rhio told Kanji how she believes no one in the locker room respects the new champion, and that includes Kanji. She went on to remind her that she was only added to the match at Rhio’s request (which Kanji had screamed at her whilst laying in some heavy kicks), before challenging her to a one-on-one match for the title on August 25th at “100 Hundred Volts”. Kanji accepted and the air was tense as they both left to end the show. The happiness the pair shared together after Rhio took the belt from Samuels back in May feels like the distant past at this point.

Setting up the key matches for the Bank Holiday Monday was very much the theme of this show, as the semi main event slot was taken by a face-to-face between Progress Men’s World Champion Luke Jacobs and Super Strong Style winner Man Like DeReiss.

Jacobs began with tag partner Ethan Allen in the ring alongside him as he listed off everyone he has beaten in his now year long reign, including seeing off DeReiss twice. That was enough for “Freed From Desire” to hit and bring out the man from Birmingham, complete with an “0121 It’s Coming Home!” shirt on the Lionesses Euro’s Final day.

Dereiss told Jacobs that he “didn’t need to bring his bitch out with him for this,” which got to Jacobs a bit, leading to him sending Allen to the back before the talking really began. DeReiss confirmed he is cashing in the shot for the Men’s World Title he earned by winning the Super Strong Style 16 Tournament back in May, and he will be doing so on the August 25th show.

© Progress

Jacobs accepted before launching into a story we have seen elsewhere as of late, that he has beaten DeReiss in all five championship matches between them (for various belts) and he does not think his challenger can win the big one. DeReiss promised victory this time (see “come buy your tickets for a babyface World Title Win” in the guidebook), and talked about everything he has done to get to this point. Jacobs had no time for anymore stories, though, and instead chose to up the stakes, laying out a challenge of his own, for a TLC match for the title. DeReiss agreed to that one before adding a no interference stipulation of his own.

Jacobs thought about that one before agreeing, noting he said nothing about tonight. DeReiss was then blindsided by the returning Allen almost immediately, with any fightback subdued by the numbers game. DeReiss managed to escape after taking some damage but should be 100% come the August Bank Holiday. This world title change feels telegraphed from space and I will be stunned if it doesn’t take place here. The TLC match is not an ideal end to a title reign like Jacobs’, but it could leave room for a rematch in the aftermath. (Editor’s Note: Now where have I seen this before?…)

A potential first challenger for DeReiss will be Charlie Sterling. The former tag champion scored the biggest singles win in the promotion when he beat former world title challenger Cara Noir.

Sterling had mocked Noir from the very start, playing into the frustration of “The Black Swan” coming into this bout having dropped two matches to Luke Jacobs and one to Minoru Suzuki in the run up to this one. Commentary have begun referring to it as a losing streak, and his lack of confidence, on top of wrestling solely on a base of frustration, were the themes of this match.

Sterling took full advantage of the distractions overtaking his opponent, adding to them by disrespecting him on numerous occasions, before punishing him for any mistake. Two attempts at a Black Out sleeper from Noir ended with him being shotgunned into the middle turnbuckle (the first of which looked like it was aimed for the top turnbuckle but Sterling slipped, leading to a very awkward landing). The second one of these was the one that really hurt Noir, though, leaving him completely vulnerable to the Smokin’ Ace Crusher.

Even Sterling appeared stunned to have picked up the victory, before his ego came back to him and he put his boot on Noir’s face before leaving. Cara Noir got up completely stunned, even shoving a referee away who tried to help. Very much back to the drawing board.

© Progress

Someone else who will be starting afresh is Axel Tischer, whose 426 day reign with the Progress Atlas Title came to an end in a lumbering tables match with Mike D Vecchio. This match had originally been set to take place in Las Vegas back in April (without the stipulation) but was rescheduled for this show when Tischer was unable to travel. Vecchio is now on his leaving tour with most other European promotions, so it was interesting to see him pick up a belt here, powerbombing Tischer through two tables from the top turnbuckle to secure the win. Mike’s foot slipped on the bottom rope as he came down, leading to him having a much more scary looking drop than his opponent, but he seemed to be OK after.

The crowd even cheered his Hogan routine in the middle of the match, which was a much different reaction to what Trent Seven got two nights before for the same schtick.

Fighting for a shot at the Proteus Title were Simon Miller and Charles Crowley. Crowley had stolen a pin from Miller at the end of a four way in Manchester last month and was looking to rub that in Miller’s face here. The crowd were surprisingly split at the start, perhaps more behind Crowley than they were the babyface, despite him slapping Miller repeatedly across the face and taunting him.

Crowley decided to go an unfamiliar route (at least for him) after getting powerbombed for his initial exploits, and attempted to turn this into a slugfest. Miller’s power made this a foolish exploit, but Crowley caught a break via an impaler DDT. He would climb to the top to attempt a springboard stunner that, I think, was supposed to be intercepted by a spear from Miller, but the timing wasn’t quite right and they both landed awkwardly on the mat instead.

That was the last big action in this one, though, as BULLIT returned to Progress by taking out both competitors with clotheslines, hitting a shotgun on Miller and putting Crowley down with a chokeslam. BULLIT grabbed a mic and ran down both men before setting his sights on Proteus Title holder Paul Walter Hauser. This one looks set for a four way, with BULLIT added to take the pin.

In the other undercard matches, Tate Mayfairs began to put a disappointing Super Strong Style tournament behind him, seeing off former “Love Island” man Adam Maxted in a pretty quick matchup ended with a Twist of Lemon. Maxted attempted to get his heat back by hitting Mayfairs in the back with a chair after the pinfall. Hollie Barlow found herself facing Session Moth Martina instead of Lana Austin, who ‘claimed’ to have pulled a muscle, and instead offered Barlow the spot, on the guarantee that if she won, Austin would be her best friend.

Barlow put up a spirited display, and will likely win over the crowd in this story pretty quickly. Her guts attempted to make up for her inexperience against Martina, even hitting a crossbody for two, almost making Austin nervous on the outside. Austin would see to it herself that Barlow would make no further progress, distracting her just enough for Martina to hit her with a jawbreaker for the win. Austin will face Alexxis Falcon on August 25th and it will be much more difficult to escape that one.

Full Results

Tate Mayfairs defeats Adam Maxted (6:41)

PROGRESS Proteus Title #1 Contendership Match:
Charles Crowley vs. Simon Miller – No Contest (9:01)

PROGRESS Atlas Title Tables Match:
Mike D Vecchio defeats Axel Tischer (c) (14:18)

Charlie Sterling defeats Cara Noir (18:28)

Session Moth Martina defeats Hollie Barlow (4:29)

PROGRESS Women’s Title:Rhio (c) vs. Kanji vs. Rayne Leverkusen- Draw (14:46)

Progress News

Nina Samuels’ injury meant that her “Loser Leaves Progress” match for “Stay Humble” has been postponed. The promotion aired a video across social media of Samuels promising that the match would take place upon her return. Will Kroos vs Gene Munny was also postponed to a later date. Kroos has been touring with Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan over the past month and is attending a WWE tryout in New Jersey this week.

“Chapter 184: Camden Lock Up” will be held on September 28th at The Electric Ballroom in North London alongside Josh Barnett’s “Bloodsport: London” on the same day. Tickets are currently only available for both shows in a combo format.
Paul Walter Hauser took his Proteus Title belt with him to the premiere of the new “Fantastic Four” film in Los Angeles.

UK and Ireland News

Warrington promotion Off The Page released a statement last week that sees the promotion go on hiatus. It reads as follows:

Off the Page last ran in Liverpool back in April, with Max Brooker (the Max mentioned numerous times in the statement above) their current heavyweight champion.

© Marvel

Richard Summers Calvert, who is better known in the UK as Charles Crowley, made his Marvel debut as a reporter in the new “Fantastic Four” film that is currently in cinemas.

ICW’s “I Assure You, We’re Open!” on August 31st in Glasgow is centered around a tag team gauntlet, which the teams of BT Gunn & Kez Evans, Landon Riley & Ben Rodgers and Dylan Thorn & Coach Trip have all been entered for. Lana Austin will defend the ICW Women’s Title against Daisy Jenkins and Dani Luna on the same show.

Pro Wrestling Chaos will celebrate their 12th anniversary on September 13th, with “12 Years of Chaos” at the Yate Leisure Centre in Bristol. Internet Champion Simon Miller will be defending against Nico Angelo. Undisputed Champion Brendan White will face Spike Trivet.

The For the Love of Wrestling Convention scheduled to take place in Manchester February 21st and 22nd, 2026, has added AEW’s Samoa Joe, Bobby Lashley, Dustin Rhodes and Orange Cassidy to their lineup.

90’s veterans Scotty 2 Hotty and Rhyno will both appear in the UK in the Autumn, with Scotty 2 Hotty in Canterbury on September 26th, whilst Rhyno joins Luke Hawx for “Frightmare 7” in Norwich on October 11th and 12th. The Norwich show will be for World Association of Wrestling – the promotion run by the Knight family.

TNT Wrestling’s next big weekend of shows will be across the 27th and 28th of September at the Fusion Nightclub in Liverpool. Sadie Gibbs and the She Wolves have been announced for “Siren’s Fury: Where The Big Girls Play!” on September 27th, whilst former AEW wrestler Sonny Kiss will challenge TNT Ultra X Champion Che Monet at “Effy’s Big Gay Brunch” on the 28th.

Veda Scott returns to the UK for NORTH’s “It’s ALL CAPS” show in Newcastle, England, on August 30th.

© wXw

wXw

News

Axel Tischer challenging Shotgun Champion Hector Invictus, Bobby Gunns vs Kidd Bandit, Marius Al-Ani defending the European Title against LJ Cleary and a farewell match for Mike D. Vecchio and Aigle Blanc on opposite sides of a six man match have all been added to the card for “Shortcut To The Top” in Oberhausen on August 16th.

Ahura is set to face wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion 1 Called Manders in the main event of the show but will be coming off a loss, as he was defeated in the main event of “Broken Rules” on July 19th by rival Elijah Blum in a dog collar submission match. Ahura had played a large part in Blum’s defeat to Manders a month prior and it feels like this story will continue beyond August. Ahura did not submit in the match, instead passing out from an anaconda vice using a chain.

Jane Nero got a major win in the promotion by defeating Stephanie Maze in a No Ropes match and has now set her sights on the “Femmes Fatales” Tournament in the last weekend in September. Another victor at “Broken Rules”, Joseph Fenech Jr., has announced himself for the men’s tournament in the same weekend. Fenech Jr. disposed of Anil Marik in a bodybag match to open the show, and then took out his former manager Robin Christopher Fohrwerk in the aftermath. It looks to be the end of Fohrwerk’s group, which had previously contained Fenech Jr. before turning on him.

Frankfurt has been added to the “25th Anniversary Tour” in the Autumn. They will visit the German financial hub on November 8th. The tour will run from October through December, with Shigehiro Irie, Leon Slater and Dani Luna all announced for dates within that run. Madison Marley, currently touring Japan with SEAdLINNNG, will be part of every date on the tour. The November 21st show at the Marthalle in Hamburg will also be broadcast live to a cinema in Essen.  

wXw has signed a deal with IWTV that will allow for a “curated” selection of their content to be streamed on the service, including all “Ambition” shows. The deal will run in addition to wXw’s current agreement with Triller TV, with whom they have returned to live streaming at this time. The promotion’s own subscription service, wXwNow remains in full operation with no changes.

American independent promotion West Coast Pro have entered into an exchange program with wXw that will allow for wrestlers to travel between the two for training in order to learn different styles and experience wrestling and learning in different environments.

© Mercedes Mone

Mainland Europe

Mercedes Moné extended her belt collection to eight titles on July 27th, when she became the inaugural Best Ya Women’s Champion and the First Prime Time Wrestling Women’s Champion. Moné defeated Diana Strong in the main event of PTW’s “All About The Moné” in Koslow, Poland, meaning she now holds belts in three separate countries across Europe.

Tetsuya Naito told Tokyo Sports that his next appearances post-New Japan departure will be in Europe, after failing to secure a US Visa and stating that Japan is “not an option” for him right now. The wrestler has stated that he has booked appearances in both Italy and Germany between August 15th and 18th, although the promotions and locations remain unannounced at present.  

The joint “French Touch” show between Banger Zone Wrestling and APC Catch continues to take shape, with a feud ender between APC Champion Kuro and Connor Mills, Celine facing AEW’s Megan Bayne and Georges Balzac defending the BZW Hardcore Title against Jack Sons Nom, Griff and Ravage all added to the card. The show takes place on August 30th in Gennevilliers, on the outskirts of Paris. Joey Janela has also been announced, whilst fellow import Bobby Lashley will face Mecca and the soon departing Aigle Blanc.

APC will hold a separate send off for Aigle Blanc the morning after this show. “The Last Dance” in Nanterre is already sold out. Blanc wrestled on the group’s last show, “Summer Hype”, putting over Mecca ahead of their three way on August 30th. Kuro successfully defended the APC World Championship against Zozaya on the same show, whilst the La Tactique trio of Nate Prince, Erin Ordo and Ad Leonis triumphed in a “winner takes all” match against Suplex Republik and JGU, meaning they now hold the APC Tag and Women’s Championships.

BZW have announced Super Crazy for their “Just an Illusion” show in September.

French all women’s promotion Freyja have funded JGU vs Cory Zero at United Wrestling’s “Summer on Tap” in Oxford, England, on August 17th. It will be JGU’s debut in the UK.

SLAM! have announced Aliss Ink defending their Women’s Championship against TNA’s Harley Hudson for August 23rd in Stockholm. The Scandinavian outfit have also announced shows in nearby Estonia in September and October.

RCW’s July 5th show from Barcelona, featuring RCW Women’s Champion and GHC Women’s Champion Takumi Iroha defending both titles against French wrestler Amale, is available in full on Cyberfight’s Wrestle Universe platform.

The Unwanted Ace

The Uncertain Redemption Of Shota Umino by David Hayter

G1 Diary- Nights 1-6

Night 1 of the G1 CLIMAX took place in Sapporo. Hokkaido has been the traditional opening spot for the tour for much of the past decade but was unavailable last year due to building renovations. With those completed, it was back to their standard start.

CMLL 72 Aniversario Arena Puebla

CMLL celebrated the “72nd Anniversary” of the Templo del Dolor in Puebla by putting on a surreal main event that pitted top técnicos Místico and Esfinge against one another as they teamed with the perennial rudo tandems of Los Guerreros Laguneros and Los Infernales.