11/30/2025

© Chris Gannon

UK and Ireland

Pro-Wrestling EVE 139: Strong Women Style 2025

5th September 2025
The Big Penny Social, London, UK
Watch On: YouTube
Review by Peter Edge

EVE’s 3rd show in 5 weeks saw Kris Statlander back at the Penny Social to defend the International Title against Nina Samuels in what was a cracking match and contender for the Top 3 matches in EVE in 2025. Statlander kept a focus on Nina’s arm, which was pointed out on commentary as a part of the body that had affected Samuels in the past. This resulted in a sell job from Nina so good that the crowd went into stunned silence when an attempt at an Irish Whip from Samuels resulted in Samuels collapsing to the mat in agony.

After a missed moonsault, Kris cinched in her new submission finisher focused on the ailing arm of Samuels to get the win. The hurried nature of Kris’ exit from the EVE Zone (ok, I made that one up) was a big alert that something was about to happen in the ring. Nina showed signs of frustration, taking her anger out on anything that wasn’t nailed down as well as ring ropes, with Jetta, EVE’s main play-by-play commentator, asking where Nina would go from here.

Well, she went to “Global Strike IV” on October 3rd where she teamed with VENY against Millie McKenzie and DASH Chisako, but long term is another answer: with Nina dropping the Women’s Title in Progress and her title loss to Nightshade, and rumours running around about Nina’s future in the business, the post match scenes after the Kris loss felt more the beginning of the end rather than the end of the beginning for British Women Wrestling’s most decorated star of the last few years.

On a card that also showcased two new faces and a return of an old one, Lucy Sky faced a returning Chantal Jordan in the opener, with the Liverpool native taking the spoils over the Brummie in a hard hitting contest with the traditional lights going out before a big announcement. This time it would be announced that Willow Nightingale, who was already slated for November’s “Elite Encounters” – an homage to the working relationship between AEW and EVE – would face Lucy at the show. While not on my shortlist of possible opponents when Willow’s name was announced, upon realisation that it would be Lucy in the Willow match, it does make for a banger come November 7.

The tag team title match was up next with Lallie (Hollie Barlow and Lana Austin, the tag team champions) facing the Real EVE Tag Team Champions, Pretty Psycho (Amira Blair and Zoe Lucas). This bout resulted in Lallie retaining the titles after a snafu that saw Lana and Hollie find a way to use Pretty Psycho’s belts against them to get the pinfall. Amira and Zoe are hitting it spot on with their gimmick of believing that they are really the champs – despite losing the belts in early August – while Lallie are Lallie. It’s a quintessential booking of a love/hate relationship with Hollie loving Lana and Lana hating Hollie, and they are a perfect fit in the roster jigsaw in EVE.

© Chris Gannon

Safire Reed and Anita Vaughan rounded off the first half with a singles match, and the out-of-the-wrestling-bubble best mates had great chemistry in their match, which was no surprise. Almost hitting the 15 minute time limit, Anita picked up the win after a bruising match. Vaughan is now in the rhythm of being a heel, evidenced in her pacing of her control of the match. The best friends worked out a match full of hard hits, good sequences and a finish which was a basic “heel cheats to win” ending but was executed well.

The second half saw the two debuts in back-to-back matches, with Violet Nyte really impressing in her first time at the Big Penny as replacement for a scheduled Session Moth Martina, whose passport problems in the aftermath of “Forbidden Door” weekend meant she couldn’t get to the UK from her home base of Ireland. Her opponent, Skye Smitson, also showed why she is (lowkey) one of the best female workers in the UK today. With focus on the injured knee of Skye after a Nyte chopblock, Violet’s limb work was top notch and Skye’s selling of said knee made Violet look great. The biggest compliment I can give Violet was that I set up a quick playlist on YouTube of matches that feature Violet.

The second debut included Melissa Fierce, a regular on the North West scene against Rhio, the No.1 contender who turned heel at the end of “EVE x The World” when she spoiled Nyla Rose’s celebration after winning the EVE World Title in the main event. Any expectation that this was going to be a squash was denied, with Melissa getting more offense in than I expected. Whether that is a good thing can only be answered in a few months, depending on the result of Rhio’s challenge of Nyla Rose’s title at “Elite Encounters” and if Fierce becomes a more featured act. But both performed to the the top of their ability in an enjoyable contest.

© Chris Gannon

Pro-Wrestling EVE 140: Global Women Strike IV

3rd October 2025
The Big Penny Social, London, UK
Watch On: YouTube
Review by Peter Edge

Global Strike IV would take place on the 3rd of October seeing names from all over the globe descend on Walthamstow on a Friday night. Marquee names such as DASH Chisako and VENY would be on opposite sides in the most publicised match of the card with Safire Reed and Nina Samuels in their respective corners. Safire was a replacement for Millie McKenzie who has had to take a step back from competing due to a deterioration of a rare form of liver disease that Millie has suffered from from birth. Session Moth Martina was a main focus of the show with her current character arc, culminating with her victory over Su Yung being her first win in EVE for 14 months. The above two matches were ‘notebook’ matches being ****¼ and were highlights of what was an inconsistent show at times.

The opener was an Absolute Chaos match which is now the branding EVE gives their multi-woman matches that feature more than three wrestlers. Three ways are very rarely seen in EVE as it’s a match type that Dann absolutely detests to book. Lucy Sky bested Skye Smitson, Violet Nyte, Alexxis Falcon, “The People’s Tag Team Champion” Zoe Lucas and Australian Lil’ Marz to set her up for her match with Willow Nightingale at Elite Encounters. Zoe’s tag champion partner, Amira, stole the show in costume as Dobby (the house elf not Mark Corrigan’s love interest) even getting a hot tag at one point to clean house in the ring until she didn’t clean house.

Double team work by the pair of Smitson and Nyte might as well have had flashing signs saying “they are teaming together in the tag division soon” displayed, as they looked at each other impressed by each other’s work. It was almost an absolute disaster as Marz got caught in the ropes while going for a tope, but all in all it was a fun ***½ scramble.

Anita Vaughan beat the American freelancer Vipress in a solid match in which Vipress got over with the crowd. Anita is getting a handle on her villain role in EVE, wrestling in a calculated style that she has adopted within the last year in EVE. With that victory, Anita would go on to Elite Encounters and get her rematch against Kris Statlander for the International Title which included Yuu in her EVE farewell match in a three-way (editor’s note: I bet Dann detested booking this).

The DASH/Safire vs. VENY/Samuels match was a wonderfully executed, jaw-dropping encounter, which being at the Big Penny Social live standing in the corner and seeing DASH’s speed and just how crisp VENY is in her profession, was just an absolute pleasure to see. The home wrestlers, Safire Reed and Nina Samuels, played their part with the developing Nina/Abi Cartwright storyline taking up speed with Abi being sent to the back by Nina before the match. Safire looked like someone who is getting better by the match in what has been the breakthrough year of breakthrough years with the winner of wXw’s Femme Fatales looking primed for a big moment in her future in EVE.

© Chris Gannon

The second half kicked off with a six-minute match with Rhio and Nightshade which ended via DQ after Rhio used a chair on Nightshade, making this the first disqualification in the EVE ring since December last month (Samuels vs Smitson) with the last three before that being also in Nina Samuels matches. The DQ being called by ref Oscar Harding, who was the ref in all those Nina DQ’s, was as popular as you expected it to be and the post-match angle which saw Nightshade use the spare capsule lying around that wasn’t used by Su Yung in the main event was supposed to make Rhio into a hot heel going into her challenge of Nyla Rose’s EVE Title but didn’t come off that way.

Rayne Leverkusen’s victory over B3cca in what was built on a rock vs pop premise based on their gimmicks proved two things. First, that B3cca is better than Taylor Swift at singing but not as good as a heel as Swift (TS called Charli XCX a cokehead on her latest album and is engaged to a Kansas City Chief, she’s a bigger heel than MJF) and second that Rayne is so good at building a match, even on the fly. The first half of the match disappointed by Rayne’s very high standards and the match screeched to a halt with what looked like an injury scare but when Rayne got back up, the direction of the match changed and business picked up with the final stretch working out well.

With Rayne having been to two tryouts for WWE and being the MVP of the second, her future is still something that is up in the air as of writing but Rayne should easily have a future in the business away from the ring in helping layout a match, a skill some seasoned wrestlers still haven’t grasped yet (yes, I’m looking at you Adam Copeland)

The main event delivered and then some. With an undercurrent story of Session Moth Martina and her losing streak, her loss of confidence and depression plus the chance to avenge a loss to Su Yung from pre-pandemic after a segment in between the Absolute Chaos and Anita Vaughan matches which told of the story of Martina in 2025 and introduced Millie and had Millie explain her life altering situation.

It was a great brawl between Martina and Yung with Martina getting a crimson mark with the blood from Martina making a mess on the floor and my positioning in the crowd meaning I ended up almost getting run over by Su Yung when taking Martina for a tour of the Big Penny’s event hall and then nearing the end when Su hit a mist spot on Sesh, a large portion of that mist landed on my arm and onto my Medusa Complex shirt.

Thumbtacks would become a feature of the match with the implication that Su had hidden them under the ring and putting them into a Ryman carrier bag which means in EVE canon, Su Yung shops at Ryman (I wonder if she popped into the British Heart Foundation two doors away) The cameo appearance of Millie McKenzie and Martina’s victory meant the crowd would leave with a feel-good ending which is quite frankly the norm for EVE: Riot Girls of Wrestling.

© Chris Gannon

Pro-Wrestling EVE 141: Elite Encounters

7th November 2025
The Big Penny Social, London, UK
Watch On: YouTube
Review by Peter Edge

The Big Penny Social’s main event room was sold out for a highly anticipated show named “Elite Encounters” on November 7th. The name probably gives away the theme of the show with wrestlers from EVE’s main core of talent clashing with stars from All Elite Wrestling’s women’s division.

The first announcement of an AEW talent for Encounters came at “EVE x The World” on Forbidden Door weekend with Willow Nightingale, who has been known for a while to be someone that has wanted the invite, to enter the Secret Girl Gang Clubhouse. Her opponent at Encounters, announced the next month, would be Lucy Sky. Sky is a stalwart of the northern UK wrestling scene and a low key candidate for MVP for EVE in 2025 for her work in the Hard Up North tag team with Harley Hudson. The duo were tag team champs for the first half of the year and her performances in the title loss to Rhio and Emersyn Jayne and the Riot of Violence match on the Anniversary show deserve plaudits.

The match with “Death Match” Lucy and Willow was a hard hitting match which was a very good showcase for Lucy on a show that would have many new eyes. They were both hitting bombs in the final stretch before Willow hit the pounce to set up the Girl With the PowerBomb (Doctor Bomb) for the win. ***¾

© Chris Gannon

The most frequent Elite visitor to the Big Penny since EVE joined the alliance of promotions that go through the “Forbidden Door” has been Kris Statlander. A one-time visit that many (ok, just me) thought was to just help put over Anita Vaughan as International Champ has turned into a multi time visit. The EVE International champ returned for the second defence of her title in a three way against Anita and the longest reigning International champ of all time, the retiring Yuu. With booker Dann Read’s dislike of three-way matches being as publicly known as Nixon Newell’s aversion to losing matches in three minutes, the fact that the match was advertised as a three-way got those who like fantasy booking in their spare time (or is that just me) wondering what the result will be, especially as Kris came to the ring wearing the “two best looking belts in women’s wrestling” to quote Dann on commentary, one of those signifying her place as the queen of AEW’s Women’s Division right now.

The intrigue to the result amplified when the words “Alex Windsor” showed on the screens. The depths that a man will go to not have a triple threat match on his wrestling television show meant another AEW star turned up to make it a four-way. Alex’s first appearance in EVE since the Syuri match in June, which was the night she announced she was All Elite, was an extra tonic to make this the match of the night. With non-stop action befitting the Absolute Chaos branding that EVE put on multi-woman matches, it would be left to Kris and Yuu after Alex and Anita brawled to the back, teasing a potential clash in the future. Kris locked Yuu in her demon submission finisher to make Yuu tap in what was her final match outside Japan and maybe the final 4-star plus match of Yuu’s career. ****¼. The post-match saw the European retirement ceremony of Yuu, which was befitting of EVE, with the talent coming out in appreciation of the Japanese wrestler but also EVE playing various songs with the word “you” in it which would put a smile to many a face on what was an emotional occasion.

The main event saw Nyla Rose defend her EVE Championship against Rhio. Almost going the full 30 minute time limit, the pair went for an epic without quite going to their desired destination. The action was intense and descended into a weapons match with the shots hitting hard. The chairs especially played their part with Rhio hitting the cradle piledriver onto the chairs for the title change in a ***½ match. Post match, Alexxis Falcon, who beat Melissa Fierce in the opener, joined Rhio in the ring and formed a union with the new EVE champ which helped close out a story which started at the the start of the show, with Alexxis and Session Moth Martina being put into opposite tag teams with both being asked to find ‘dream partners’ for the match at December’s “Let’s Slam Santa”.

Millie McKenzie, who is still on the shelf with her liver issues, came to the ring and is now acting as Martina’s coach (as a Coventry native, she’s hoping to be more Frank Lampard than Russell Slade) and announced that Martina’s partner will be Jamie Hayter, closing out a 2025 which has seen EVE as the breakthrough promotion of the year with Hayter’s cameo in March at Multiverse Rumble being a launchpad for said progress. But that wasn’t the big news of the night, as teased by producer Will Ospreay on his Twitter on the day of the show.

After Safire Reed’s win in a She-1 qualifier against Dani Mo and the team of Pretty Psycho (Amira Blair and Zoe Lucas), Nina Samuels and Abi Cartwright beating Lallie (Hollie Barlow and Lana Austin) and the pair of Skye Smitson and Violet Nyte with Abi, the perennial laughing stock of EVE shows pinning Hollie of the tag team champs in a massive shock, the event hall went dark, which in EVE lore can only mean one thing. A voiceover from Will Ospreay played, talking about his pride of being an EVE producer with an orchestral arrangement of “Elevated” in the background. The AEW star talked about the ambitions he has for EVE and that in 2026, EVE would get “Elevated” (get it) with the announcement being that EVE would put on a show, its annual Wrestle Queendom, on March 8th, International Women’s Day, at the O2 Indigo. The O2 Indigo is a smaller room in the same building that served as the site of Forbidden Door, the O2 Arena in London.

© EVE

Of course, the usual people online were quick to point out that the graphic for the announcement had Will Ospreay presents at the top and somehow equated it to Will being a “glory hog” but any knowledge of EVE shows that Will in his role as a producer is anything but. In the six shows I have attended in 2025, I have seen Ospreay pitch in with disassembling the ring, helping sweep up thumbtacks in the intermission after a death match, being the person who tells wrestlers to wrap up their merch selling (Will once pointed at me and said “he’s the last one” when I said hello to Medusa Complex in May) and at various times, he is the guy who gives instructions to fans pre-show to run for their lives when wrestlers are near them. He’s also very happy to pose for pictures with fans post-show all that time, wearing the “staff” green shirt that all the behind the scenes workers wear. On-screen, he is essentially the chief breaker-up of pull-apart brawls, making him the modern day Rene Goulet.

Will being the face of this event also makes sense as this is his baby. Ospreay has pushed for EVE to bring a big event onto its calendar and the announcement was the climax of his and Dann Read’s search for the perfect arena for this big landmark and you have to expect that Will will be on a press tour hyping up this event, with 5k tickets to sell in standing and seated sections.

It’s a big goal and a big mountain for EVE to climb, especially with a show like Elite Encounters being a sell out at the 600 people mark, but with potential help from allies in the business and the work ethic of the team behind the scenes, the 3,000 seats on offer has a good shot of selling out, leaving standing room only. If they climb their Everest and fill the whole Indigo out, it’ll be one of the great achievements in modern wrestling promotion history and that is a bet I’m willing to take.

© RevPro

RevPro

LIVE IN LONDON 99

6th September 2025
Porchester Hall, London, UK
Watch On: RevPro on Demand
Review by Peter Edge

Rev Pro made their debut in the Porchester Hall in the Bayswater area of London with their 99th “Live in London” show.

The first match to be held in the art deco surroundings would see Callum Newman back in a Rev Pro ring, reuniting with JJ Gale to beat the CPF team of Maverick Mayhew and Danny Black in a good match, with Callum showing more of a heelish attitude in what looks like will be a part of the Sons of Southampton storyline with Gale and David Francisco. Meanwhile, Maverick cashed in his wish as part of being in the winning trio at the Trios Grand Prix last year (Andy Quildan must have remembered that that is a thing) to face Callum, as as opposed to requesting a title shot at the “Raw Deal” show the following week in Stevenage.

Trent Seven beat Robbie X with the Birminghammer (despite the fact he’s from Wolverhampton) in what you imagine a Trent Seven match in 2025 looks like. The second longest match on the card, which went 16 minutes, was the most three starry of three star matches. After the match, the duo of TK Cooper and Chuck Mambo, The Machine without any Sunshine in their lives, attacked Trent in what a Machine beatdown of Trent has been each time they’ve done this angle, targeting Trent’s arm.

The Machine would go on to beat Leland and Zander Bryant in a further showcase of the new “and improved” attitude of TK and Mambo.

Lizzy Evo beat Kanji in what maybe wasn’t a surprise, considering the push of the new era of The Cut Throat Collective, but the fact that Evo won clean after a running knee was.

In the first of two returns of wrestlers most associated with Progress in the last couple of years, Lykos Gym, who had last wrestled for Rev Pro in the 2023 Great British Tag League, wrestled the 2025 winners of the GBTL, Connor Mills and Jay Joshua. After a tease of dissension between Lykos Gym, Mills and Joshua picked up the win. Post match, Liam Slater turned up ringside to talk to Lykos Gym to further continue the Varsity Cl…. I mean Team Slater recruiting people storyline.

Liam Slater would then beat Cruiserweight Champion Nino Bryant in a non-title match with a roll up and pull of the tights, before newest Team Slater member Cameron Khai attacked Nino post-match.

The tag team champs Young Guns beat Heavyweight Champ Sha Samuels and Harry, with Luke pinning Sha after a Doomsday Device to set a Undisputed British Heavyweight Title match for Stevenage, with Sha telling Harry that he wants to go his separate ways from his protege for the time being.

The main event of the show saw Rhio, in her first match back in Rev Pro since the “Anniversary” show in 2023 facing Emersyn Jayne in a match that, while good, could have done with five minutes shaved off its 23 minute run length. After Rhio won with two package piledrivers, the Cut Throat Collective, now under the leadership of Safire Reed, attacked both Jayne and Rhio in a repeat of the first angle that introduced the CTC to Rev Pro. But before they attacked ring announcer Francesca, much to the delight of the PA systems of Rev Pro host buildings all over the UK, Alex Windsor, the former leader of CTC who was kicked out of the group at the 13th “Anniversary” show on “Forbidden Door” weekend, saved the day – clearing the ring of all 4 members of the group.

© RevPro

Raw Deal 2025

13th September 2025
Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage, UK
Watch On: Rev Pro on Demand
Review by Peter Edge

The Sons of September team of David Francisco and JJ Gale beat The Machine in a half decent match with the help of Trent Seven, who prevented Chuck and TK from doing the Money Inc. special of walking out of the match.

In Safire Reed’s first singles match as the leader of the Cut Throat Collective, she faced TNA’s Myla Grace, in what commentator Andy Quildan claimed was the UK debut of the Northern Irish native. I guess that must have been Myla’s twin that I saw at EVE all those times so far this year. Safire bumped like a boss throughout the match making Myla look really good. Safire’s aggressiveness was put over on commentary and despite Safire winning with the Warhead headbutt, the attention put onto Myla tells that it won’t be the last we see of Belfast’s finest in Rev Pro.

Maverick Mayhew’s cash in of his wish (the reward of his part of winning the Trios GP last year) saw him face Callum Newman as a chance to prove he could hang in the singles division of Revolution Pro, something he showed he could do until the final few minutes, which were nonsensical from a logic standpoint when Callum’s weak clotheslines turned suddenly into a fearsome lariat which paved the road to victory. Until then, it was a good match which showed that Callum could actually do with spending more time in Rev Pro to fill in what is currently missing right now in his overall presentation.

One of the main attractions of “Raw Deal” were the Good Brothers and one of the main questions fans were asking was, would Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows go higher than second gear in their efforts in Stevenage…? The answer was no.

Mark Trew and Kieron Lacey, in their perennial role as fall guys to outside talent coming in, bumped like crazy and were great in their roles, and their third Will Kaven is a revelation as the third stooge in their act. But they could only do so much, as Gallows went around the Gordon Craig Theatre slower than a car in a newly implemented 20mph zone in Stevenage town centre before The Good Brothers hit The Magic Killer for the 1-2-3.

While Trent Seven’s match against Jay Joshua didn’t go north of 15 minutes, it was north of the usual three star fare from Seven in 2025, to the point that it was a contender for Match of the Night until the main event. Seven lost the bout, and the traditional weekly Machine beat down Trent Seven angle took place post the JJ match.

The penultimate match of the night saw the CTC duo of Lizzy Evo and Nina Samuels beat Kanji and Emersyn Jayne, in which the latter played the “tag partners that don’t get along” trope all match long and was of the more entertaining variations of it, with the end actually babyfacing the CTC with how ingenious it was as Nina took advantage of a fighting shagger and her former donny used a stack pin to get the win.

The really interesting thing with Sha Samuels’ reign as Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion is that every time he defends the title, it feels like it could be the last, and that couldn’t be told better than the finish which saw Sha use the Bulldog Summerslam pin to beat Luke Jacobs in a very good hard hitting match, which did see shortcuts in the way of a brawl into the stands and fists and kicks galore.

Post match, Ethan Allan – who had been on commentary all night and did a decent job, but not great enough that when he turns 40 he should go into training wrestlers instead of wearing a headset – attacked Sha, and he and his tag champion partner Luke beat down Samuels until Michael Oku made the save.

© Chris Gannon

Fantastica Mania UK 2025

18th October 2025
The Hangar, Wolverhampton, UK
Watch On: Rev Pro on Demand
Review by Peter Edge

Matinee Show

The third annual Fantastica Mania UK (FM UK) show took place in Wolverhampton on 18th October and while the FM UK haven’t had a reputation for being great ticket sellers, The Hangar in Wolverhampton had an impressive amount of people inside the nightclub for both the matinee and evening show – the customary experience for the Rev Pro x CMLL collaboration. As a fun fact, the El Hijo del Santo produce shows in York Hall in October last year sold more tickets than both Fantastica Mania UK shows in the same building earlier in 2024.

The vibes were positive from the start. While I was queuing outside the building, fans would see CMLL stars turn up and do the Black Country red carpet walk – basically walking down the road which was closed off, which must have delighted the MOT garage (Editors note: this is British English for a car mechanic) that shares Pearson Street with the Hangar. Many luchadors YouTube channels were getting fresh content and Ultimo Guerrero and I did the head nod of acknowledgement, which under UK law means we’re now best mates.

The opening match of the matinee saw Esfinge and Robbie X compete in a Lightning match and, despite the pace of the first 5 minutes being akin to those Harley Race NWA Title matches in the 70s, Esfinge got the W before the 10-minute time-limit expired.

The tag team of Connor Mills and Jay Joshua both competed in singles matches, with the pair getting wins over Xelhua and Difunto respectively. The Mills/Xelhua matchup was the best match of ‘Tag 1’, to use Cagematch parlance, and was a very good showcase of how Mills would be my vote for Most Improved Wrestler in the Wrestling Observer Awards if I was still subscribed. Not many in world wrestling have seen an upwards trend like Mills has in 2025. That improvement has also come in a Rev Pro which is seeing uncertainty in its roster, with the man pushed as the new Rev Pro ace, Leon Slater, in the NXT/TNA vortex and the Fed being the Fed, probably reluctant to let him see his old friends like any company that isn’t a cult (“we are your new friends, Leon”). On top of that, with Michael Oku feeling like he’s All Elite sooner rather than later, Connor is someone in 2026 who is an interesting bet to be a British Heavyweight Champion.

It’s obvious that Andy Quildan thinks the world of Jay Joshua with his booking the last few months and the massive out he was given in his British Title challenge defeat to Sha Samuels. While his match with Difunto was clunky at times, with someone getting as popular with the Rev Pro faithful as Jay Joshua is, and Difunto’s over the top character being perfect for fans, the action was over the Wolverhampton masses.

Those masses reacted most to the CMLL names that they have seen in an All Elite ring, with Hechicero being a babyface on this night. Hechi with babyface fire is one of the unexpected treats in wrestling, especially after his slot on the AEW roster as a heel, but even a prime Hechicero performance couldn’t make the contest between him and Chris Ridgeway a Match of the Matinee. The 18 minute match didn’t hit like Connor and Xelhua did. Maybe the fact it was twice as long as Mills’ match played into it but also, the fact that Mills has overtaken Ridgeway as a performer was very much on show in these matches against two of the best llave practitioners in lucha today.

The semi-main event of the matinee show saw the dream team of Michael Oku, Mistico and Mascara Dorada against Mark Trew, Kieron Lacey and Will Kaven. The latter are the perfect trio for a showcase match of a dream team. Will Kaven especially has slotted in perfectly as the fall guy in the Three Stooges act of Trew, Lacey and Kaven. Kaven received a lot of hostility in his time as the Cruiserweight champ. Whether it was because it was case of ‘too soon’ for the 25 year old, a division that lacked depth, challengers that seemed better fits as holder of the belt or just how long the reign was – it felt like the heat Kaven was getting was ‘go away heat’ but since losing the belt, Kaven has come into his own as fodder for worldwide superstars coming in, such as Sky Team on this afternoon or Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI. Dorada, Mistico and Oku would beat Trew, Lacey and Kaven in the most house showy of house show matches (laudatory) with a big tease of the evening cards main event, Oku vs. Mistico, in the post match.

The main event of the matinee saw Ultimo Guerrero face British Heavyweight Champion Sha Samuels. The fans in Wolverhampton were behind Ultimo more than Sha with ‘the singing section’ unleashing their version of “do, do, do, Ultimo Guerrero” to the tune of Black Lace’s ‘Do the Conga’ (if only the Arena Mexico faithful had picked that up). The favouritism towards Guerrero got to the point that Sha was booed at times, which led to the question, was Sha Samuels and his ‘East’ gimmick ever going to work North of Watford.

In places like Coventry and Wolverhampton, Sha didn’t have the momentum of the runaway train heading into the Anniversary show where he was to contend for the Undisputed British Title. Post title win, the reactions for Sha Samuels in Coventry, where its crowd is so casual you’d think there were a bunch of WWE fans at the HMV Empire, were lacking for someone with the promotions’ main title. While Coventry could be seen as an exception considering that 60% of the audience for the Live In show in September seemed not to know who Tetsuya Naito was (who appeared in that show’s main event), Wolverhampton was a glaring focus to the argument that the East London shtick doesn’t translate in areas that aren’t London Town.

The match itself was enjoyable, with it seemingly looking like Sha played into the boos as he played a heelish role in the match on his way to victory. The face/heel alignment was rectified by Ultimo joining in with Connor Mills and Jay Joshua in their post match beat down of Sha, which would build up to Sha vs.Jay for the British Title in Lyon the next weekend, a match that Samuels won by putting his feet on the rope in a stack pin , which could be seen as the early leanings to a heel turn for Sha.

© Chris Gannon

Evening Show

The evening show is in contention as the best show I’ve seen live from a British Indy company this year, with EVE’s Anniversary show the other contender for that award. The final four matches were of such high quality that the main event of Mistico vs. Michael Oku was the least good of the four at 3.75 stars.

CPF (Danny Black, Joe Lando & Maverick Mayhew) versus Connor Mills, Jay Joshua and Ultimo Guerrero, the first of the fab four matches in the night, stole the show with high spots galore and opportunities for Mills and Joshua to showcase themselves. It seemed obvious that Ultimo took a shine to the Great British Tag League winners, and if Mistico can get Austin Aries work in CMLL in 2025, why not Mills and Joshua (be honest with me guys, am I too obvious in my love of Mills?)

Before the Trios matches, the issue between JJ Gale and David Francisco was an underlying theme of the day with Francisco costing Gale his match with Titan and then the pair opening up the evening show in a tag match with Fuego and Okamura, Gale’s and Francisco’s partners respectively. Fantastica Mania would be the first show since Francisco’s attack on his now former friend Gale after they lost a tag match against The Bryants which meant they could no longer team up. The odd couple storyline (a guilty pleasure of mine) was never going to end well but it has achieved its goal in making David a hotter heel, with Southampton, a place where Francisco was a cult favourite, booing the Portuguese native feverishly after the heel turn. The only person in The Hangar cheering on the man that Dave Bradshaw (Rev Pro’s lead announcer) called a sociopath, was a friend of the newsletter – Awfullywaffly. Sometimes your friends make bad choices and you have to stick with them during the decision making process.

The Cruiserweight picture was on full display on this night with Nino Bryant involved in a tag match teaming with Fuego, who was a popular man in The Hangar, against Felino and Okumura. Nino got the pin on Felino, with Felino still insisting on a title shot against Nino for his British Cruiserweight title. Leon Cage would also be showcased in a match against Esfinge on route to his challenge of Bryant’s title on Live in London 101, in a rematch of their captivating match in Doncaster although Esfinge would get the victory on this night. Booking weirdness aside, the talents on display in Wolverhampton show that the Cruiserweight division is in its rudest health in years with a champ booked differently from the ‘go away heat’ associated with Kaven, and the ‘partner promotion wrestler as champ’ trope that booker Andy Quildan has favoured at times with all his champions. The Cruisers in the ring feel fun again with Nino Bryant as champ, wrestlers such as Leon Cage also ascending even with the setback of a leg injury, and Robbie X, whose heel turn 12 months ago was the best thing that happened to him – to the point that he is a regular appearance in New Japan Jr. Heavyweight tournaments and got a bow in the Zero Hour at the Forbidden Door London PPV.

Third from the top was the match with a year in the making, Lio Rush vs. Mascara Dorada. Originally set for Global Wars at the Doncaster Dome last year, but cancelled because of transportation issues on Rush’s end, Fantastica Mania seemed like the perfect place to try it again and it was worth the wait. The odds of the first five minutes being a comedy match would have been bigger than the odds of Hearts winning the SPL this season, but in those first five minutes we saw one of the most amusing moments in in-ring action in 2025 when Rush and Dorada did a criss-cross spot which went longer than the expected length of time for such a moment. That caused Lio to shrug his shoulders as to ask why this was happening, which got a collective laugh from the audience. The middle section saw no real control segment as both men got their stuff in but as the final third occurred, CRU Lio turned up with closed fists, eye rakes and the ultimate rudo move of trying to take Mascara’s mask off. But with a Dorada Shooting Star Press, the Mexican making waves all over the world took the victory. The post match angle saw Lio take a Mexican flag from a fan in the front row, who was very popular with the lucha wrestlers at the show. But thankfully, Lio didn’t get Rev Pro cancelled and used the moment to wrap the bandera nacional de México over Dorada’s shoulders and embrace his opponent. Lio Rush might be a heel in the wrestling canon but he is a heel who has socially progressive thoughts which is good to see.

Hechicero vs. Xelhua was a lovely executed llave match in which the atmosphere looked to have been misconstrued by even the smartest people in the wrestling circle. Luchablog called the crowd cold, but being in the Hangar, while it was quiet, it was observant quiet. Not many went to the bar or the smoking area and it seemed that those people that went to the toilet went because they had to or unwelcome scenes would happen. The people in the Hangar were attentive and enjoyed the action. Hechicero going 2-0 on the day, while not a major surprise considering the status of the opponent, was still a shock considering a Hechi win outside Mexico is as common as a Last 16 win from the Mexico national team in the Men’s Soccer World Cup.

The main event of Mistico and Michael Oku was good and was very crowd-pleasing, starting with Mistico coming out to ‘Me Muero’ which actually might have induced the biggest pop of the night. It wasn’t the ‘traditional’ Michael Oku affair from a Rev Pro main event in that it didn’t have the drama you associate with an Oku match, which in the last few years has been an Undisputed British title defence. Mistico would win what was a CMLL Light Heavyweight Title match with his signature, La Mistica, resulting in a very rare clean loss for Oku.

Finally, there was a curtain call to close the show that involved the entire set of performers throughout the day coming out. The feeling coming out of the show was something that you rarely feel coming out of a Rev Pro show in 2025, 100% good vibes. While not a sense of deflation, the feeling coming out of the previous six Rev Pro shows I’ve been to this year has been one of “it’s been fine”, but unlike the EVE shows I’ve been present at (six in 2025) – I haven’t been buzzing on the way back. Whether it’s been the presentation, in which Rev Pro comes across as an indie from 2015 still, or the lethargic storytelling, something has been missing from Revolution Pro this year. But that wasn’t the case on October 18th.

Yes, some of Rev Pro’s small but weird problems still frequent the promotion. Oscar Harding, the premier referee in British wrestling was the official for all 16 matches on both cards. Whilst he was on point all night, asking someone to do a job of what is usually two men on these cards isn’t a great look. Hearing Andy Quildan on commentary talking about all the multi-tasking he was doing (playing the audio, commentating and even ringing the bell) confirmed the thoughts of people who have thought that Andy is taking on a lot with the North of Watford expansion. But, on this night leaving the Hangar, you couldn’t help but be buzzing on the train back from Wolverhampton station. It was a day to celebrate wrestling, it was a day to showcase the wonders of wrestling outside the “leader in sports entertainment” and a chance to see the alliance against the Death Star (yes, I’m talking about WWE) in action. In all, Fantastica Mania UK was what wrestling should be. Fantastic.

© RevPro

RevPro News

The trio of Leon Slater, Luke Jacobs and Ethan Allen, dubbed ‘The Youngest Guns in Charge’, were the victors of this year’s RevPro Trios Grand Prix tournament on September 21st. In the final, they defeated Plan B (Iker Navarro, Junior Martinez and Lozano) to earn title shots for each competitor of their choosing. Slater, Jacobs and Allen had defeated last year’s champions CPF in the earlier rounds. The tournament was the main draw of a double header weekend of shows for the promotion in Barcelona, Spain.

Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI made appearances for the promotion in Coventry on 28th September, facing Connor Mills and Jay Joshua in the main event. Sha Samuels successfully defended against former champion Michael Oku on October 5th, with the Undisputed British Heavyweight Title defense the top attraction for the hundredth “Live in London” event in the English capital. At “Live in London 101”, Leon Slater faced Liam Slater, Nino Bryant defended his RevPro Undisputed British Cruiserweight Title against Leon Cage and Young Guns successfully defended their Tag Team Titles against Kuro & Sha Shamuels. Young Guns would go on to defend against Connor Mills and Jay Joshua just a week later in Sheffield. Also in Sheffield, Leyton Buzzard returned from a strong run in BJW in Japan, where he won the Ikkitousen Strong Climb but did not manage to take the title from Daichi Hashimoto.

RevPro’s most recent show was “Live In Coventry” at the HMV Empire on 23rd November, where Leyton lost to 1 Called Manders, notable Japanese freelancer Shigehiro Irie lost to Jay Joshua, Leon Slater defeated Robbie X and Nino Bryant defended his Cruiserweight Title against Lio Rush, who was doing a string of extended appearances in the UK. Kanji picked up a big win in a special singles match against TJPW’s Miyu Yamashita.

Rev Pro’s On Demand streaming service is now available as an app on the Roku platform.

Tickets for Rev Pro’s annual August anniversary show are on sale. It is the first time that Rev Pro will be running Wembley, with the venue set for the OVO Wembley Arena on 29th August 2026.

© PROGRESS

PROGRESS

PROGRESS held Chapter 184: Camden Lock Up on 28th September in their usual venue of the Electric Ballroom. Three titles were defended on the show, as PROGRESS World Champion Man Like DeReiss successfully defended against Charlie Sterling in the opener, PROGRESS Atlas Champion Will Kroos defeated Gene Munny and PROGRESS Women’s Champion Rhio defended against UK’s rising star Lucy Sky, who was making her debut for the promotion. At Chapter 185, of the three aforementioned champions, only Rhio did not manage to defend her title as she lost to Rayne Leverkusen. DeReiss beat Lio Rush in a marquee match while Kroos defended against Charles Crowley, who made an appearance in NOAH’s Monday Magic show, getting over with the crowd in his short match with Danny Duggan days prior. The main event of 185 was Diamond Eyes (Connor Mills & Nico Angelio) capturing the Tag Team Titles in a three-way ladder match against Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II) and Sunshine Machine (Chuck Mambo & TK Cooper).

Chapter 186 was held on 16th November at the O2 Ritz in Manchester, as Lio Rush lost to Cara Noir, Will Kroos successfully defended his Atlas Title against Jay Joshua and new champion Rayne Leverkusen held onto her title against Session Moth Martina, who alongside Gene Munny had aligned themselves with NOAH’s wrestler on excursion, Owadasan, who would now be going by the name Kouga.

The promotion’s upcoming shows are Chapter 187 on 30th November and Chapter 188 on 28th December, both at the Electric Ballroom and rounding off the year. Chapter 188 will not have a card announced in what PROGRESS are billing as “the most unpredictable night in British Wrestling.” Michael Oku and Miyu Yamashita have been announced for Chapter 187.

DeReiss defended his PROGRESS World Title in House of Glory in Philadelphia on 4th September, JCW in New Jersey on 21st September and BODYSLAM on 24th October.

© wXw

wXw

News

wXw held their four-day extravaganza Grand Prix at the end of September with the trio of tournaments, the Femmes Fatales, the König Der Catcher and the World Tag Team Tournament, all with eight wrestlers/teams each.

In the World Tag Team Tournament, the Dragongate team of Dragon Dia and Dragon Kid fell in the Tag Team Tournament quarter finals to now champions Greedy Souls (Brendan White & Danny Jones). The US was represented by Violence is Forever (Dominic Garini & Kevin Ku) who lost to Greedy Souls in the semi finals. Greedy Souls beat The Grind (Laurence Roman & Nick Schreier) in the finals of the tournament and then went on to win the wXw World Tag Team Titles during the 25th Anniversary tour in Leipzig on 16th November. Their victory against Planet Gojirah (Robert Dreissker & Marc Empire) can be seen for free on YouTube. They would then lose the titles in a three-way, with Planet Gojirah re-capturing the gold. The tour is building up to wXw’s big show of the year on 13th December in Oberhausen.

In the Femmes Fatales tournament, rising star in the UK scene, Safire Reed, made her way through the tournament before defeating a familiar face from EVE in Anita Vaughan. Anita had knocked out Emersyn Jayne in the quarters and Orsi in the semi finals, while Safire fought her way through Stephanie Maze and Leyla Hirsch. While she wasn’t in Femmes Fatales, Danish wrestler Madison Marley, who completed a tour in SEAdLINNNG during the year, will compete on the 25th Anniversary Tour.

Finally, Ahura overcame the rest of the field in the König Der Catcher tournament to pick up a momentous win for the 31-year-old German star. During the same weekend, 1 Called Manders dropped the wXw Unified World Wrestling Title to Peter Tihanyi. Tihanyi has gone on to rack up defences during the 25th Anniversary tour against Metehan, Joseph Fenech Jr., Shigehiro Irie, Axel Tischer, Hektor Invictus and former champion 1 Called Manders, as at the time of writing. He also faced his Hungarian countryman and student, Zoltan, in a singles match. Zoltan was paired with Dragon Dia and Dragon Kid during the Grand Prix, in a sign of his potential.

wXw have been announcing talent for the next 16 Carat Gold tournament to be held in March 2026. The first three announcements were Dragongate’s YAMATO, off the back of an amazing Dream Gate Title reign in 2025, Chihiro Hashimoto, in the midst of her own excellent Sendai Girls World Title run and the first joshi wrestler to compete in the tournament, and Arez, who has signed with AEW and is performing as El Clon. Erick Stevens was announced as the fourth participant. Stevens is a former ROH wrestler that returned to wrestling in DEADLOCK Pro-Wrestling, a promotion which has since announced they intend to cease operations in early 2026. He had a great match with long-time friend Roderick Strong on 19th October at DPW Super Battle.

Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI were pulled from the 14th November show in Madeburg and future wXw bookings briefly following a dispute. Fightful Select reported that the pair were working with a new assistant that had demanded more money from wXw, and leading up to their planned appearance the assistant would demand an EU work visa which was not required to work the wXw shows. wXw subsequently pulled the booking and, briefly, any plans for future events and notified other promotions in Europe. Tokyo Sports later reported that Naito and BUSHI had terminated their contract with the assistant. Naito and BUSHI were subsequently announced for the 16 Carat Gold tournament.

© BZW

Mainland Europe News

Aigle Blanc, Zozaya and Mike D Vecchio were all announced by WWE as part of their new class of trainees. Blanc is unmasked and all were announced by their real names.

APC Catch held a show in Nanterre on 5th October. JGU retained her APC Evolution Title and Suplex Republik (Cuma Bolat & Zack Eriti) retained their APC Tag Team Titles. In a marquee main event, Kuro defended his title against AEW star Kevin Knight on a technicality as they went 25 minutes before the match ended with a double pin. Joseph Fenech Jr. attacked Mecca on this show, setting up a match between them on the next show.

The next show on 7th December, titled “Winter Shock” will be main evented by Kuro and Man Like DeReiss in an APC World Title match. DeReiss’ PROGRESS Title was not on the line as at the time of writing. Further PROGRESS representation will be on that show as Lykos Gym will challenge Suplex Republik for the APC Tag Team Titles. Lio Rush and Session Moth Martina will also make appearances.

Andrade El Idolo was announced for the “Anniversary XXII” show on 10th January 2026.  

In Banger Zone Wrestling (BZW), Jordan Oliver, who has been working ROH dates, won the one-day Miracle 2025 Tournament, defeating Ricky Sosa, Gustave Le Brun and then Connor Mills in the final on 1st November. He defended the cup against AEW star Jay Lethal later on the same day. Ultima Sombra faced TLB in a Hardcore fight on the same “Miracle” show that kicked off the weekend.

The next day on 2nd November, BZW held “Deadline”. After winning a six-way ladder match for the #1 Contendership, Jacob Vadocq went on to defeat Joseph Fenech Jr. and end his 638-day reign as BZW Champion, continuing his rise in the French wrestling scene. Very importantly, they also held a segment celebrating the one year BZW Tag Team Title reign of DDT’s MAO and Yoshihiko.

BZW’s next show will be “Enter The Zone” on 24th January, with Tetsuya Naito already announced.

Man Like DeReiss made an appearance in relatively new French independent promotion, KHAO, at their “Anarchie” show on 16th November. He competed in a three way match against Joseph Fenech Jr. and Ricky Sosa. Connor Mills, Emersyn Jayne and Kuro were among the other names on the show.

MBM and Ultima Sombra made their debuts in DDT on 22nd November in Yokohama. They faced Kazuma Sumi and one half of the BZW Tag Team Champions, MAO. They looked like they were having the time of the lives, and the DDT audience is very welcoming of new foreign talent so they got over well.

BODYSLAM held their 10th Anniversary show on 20th September, where Michael Fynne defeated Tank in the main event (not the Tank known for her Marigold run). After beating Bam Bam Quaade by DQ on 10th October, Fynne lost the title to Bam in a no DQ match the day after. Bam then defended the title against Xander on 8th November. Mercedes Mone won the BODYSLAM Women’s Title, defeating Aliss Ink in a critically acclaimed main event on 10th October. In a great move, BODYSLAM made the match available on YouTube for free.

German Wrestling Federation’s (GWF) “Legacy 30” show on 2nd November in Berlin is free to watch on YouTube. As well as title matches up and down the card, Ahura was crowned the new GWF World Title #1 Contender, solidifying his rise in the German independent scene and Peter Tihanyi faced Mustafa Ali in a marquee singles match. Rambo became the new GWF World Champion, beating defending champion Axel Tischer and Metehan. Jane Nero won the Independent Women’s Title in a winner-takes-all match, holding onto her GWF Women’s Title. Sunshine Machine (Chuck Mambo & TK Cooper) retained their GWF Tag Team Title against Gulyas Bros (Atilla & Vilmos).

GWF’s next big show, “Final Countdown”, will be held on 7th December in Berlin. Rambo defends the GWF World Title against Peter Tihanyi, Jane Nero defends both her new titles against Madison Marley and Sunshine Machine defend against Rott & Flott (Michael Schenkenberg & Nikita Charisma).

Squash A Jobber (SAJ) returned from their summer hiatus on 4th October. NOAH’s Owadasan was on the show, losing to Tony Callaghan, while Sebastian De Witt defended his SAJ Openweight Title against Spencer before he would depart to participate in NOAH’s Monday Magic series. The show was main evented by Dragon Dia & Dragon Kid before they would return to Dragongate. They were in Europe for wXw’s Grand Prix Weekend. SAJ’s next show in Milan, “Final Bout 4”, takes place on 29th November and will include Maki Itoh’s only European appearance so far as she debuts against Flamingo. Owadasan, Miyu Yamashita and JJ Gale will also be working the show. Tetsuya Naito continues making the European rounds, as he was announced for SAJ’s show on 31st January in Milan. The show sold out within a week.

DREAM Wrestling, an independent promotion based in Italy, ran a show in Salerno on 5th October. One of the reasons they’re on the radar is because VENY, one of the best Japanese freelancers, is their champion and she has defended the title in Japanese promotions such as Gokigen Pro. They’re also known for training many of the Italian scenes’ young wrestlers. Their next show is on 7th December, with VENY already announced.

A Wrestler You Should Know About: Millie McKenzie

by Chris Gannon

NOAH

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