PROGRESS

News Round-up

By Trish Speirs

Nikki Storm, formerly known as Nikki Cross in WWE, has been announced for “Chapter 196: Scorchio” in Camden, London on July 26th. This is the first wrestling appearance to be announced for recently released WWE talent, with Cross reverting back to the name she previously used on the independent scene prior to joining the American company. The Velocities and Ricky Sosa have also been announced for the show.

Sosa, a recent TNA signee, was originally scheduled to appear at Chapter 195: Wonderbrawl II” in Manchester on June 7th but was pulled from that show due to scheduling conflicts and therefore moved to the London card instead.

Announced for the June 7th show at the O2 Ritz is Nico Angelo vs Tom Thelwell, Nathan Black vs Simon Miller, Scott Oberman against Men’s Super Strong Style 16 winner Charles Crowley and a “family” affair over the Atlas Championship, as Gene Munny defends against Kouga. Hometown tag champions the Young Guns will also defend on the show whilst Hollie Barlow and Lana Austin will face The Experience, who have tormented Barlow over recent shows.

“Super Strong Style 16 Tournament 2026”

May 3rd and 4th, 2026
Electric Ballroom, Camden, London, UK

Review By Trish Speirs

Former two time Progress Women’s Champion Rhio became the inaugural winner of the women’s Super Strong Style 16 after defeating Gisele Shaw in the final, which closed out Progress’ biggest weekend of the year. The 29 year old will now challenge once friend, now foe, Alexxis Falcon for the Progress Women’s World Title. Falcon watched the tournament’s last match from commentary and stared down her next challenger from the entranceway upon the bouts conclusion. The tension between the two would not be the closing moment of the show though, as the women’s roster emptied out from the locker room, bypassing Falcon on the way, in order to celebrate with the winner, as well as celebrating that tournament had taken place.

Rhio told an excellent story through the course of the tournament, working with a damaged right arm for both the semi final and the final after the limb had been the subject of a sustained attack in her quarter final against striker Stephanie Maze. The Preston native had managed to overcome her wXw opponent by evening things up to take out the legs of Maze alongside her powerful kicks (with some of the best usage of dragon screws I can think of) but worked with the impairment to her power game for the rest of the tournament.

Nowhere was this more apparent than in her semi final against Shotzi, who was able to have longer periods of control then someone of her size normally would be because of the restrictions the worked injury played on hampering Rhio’s power game. It wasn’t all Shotzi though, as Rhio was still able to demonstrate her strength with just one arm alone. The highlight of this was Rhio using a one armed package piledriver, after picking Shotzi off of the top rope and that was enough to get her the three count. Doing that from the corner, so that Rhio didn’t have to pick her up from the floor, was just another little example of how well the limb selling psychology was part of this match whilst still allowing Progress’ top homemade babyface to still look impressive.

The final saw her face off against another former Progress Women’s Champion, this time in the form of Canadian Gisele Shaw, who fully embraced her role as the heel to be overcome from her first match. Shaw arrived in London having received a bye in the first round after her proposed match with Billie Starkz was pulled due to scheduling issues, with fans taunting her about not qualifying before her quarter final with Skye Smitson started off. Her relationship with the crowd, who were more than happy to boo her, meant that her match with Smitson was the most lively on Night One up to that point, and they kept that energy for her semi final with former rival Kanji.

Kanji was a good setup opponent for Shaw before the final, offering a different type of match up from the more high impact match with Smitson, as this one was understandably a more technical affair, given Kanji’s ground game, with some mind games also thrown in. Shaw showed plenty of technical skill of her own in this one, but ultimately had to rely on her power advantage in order to get the victory, with her running knee strike known as the Denouement.

This brought us to the final, which was worked initially at a bit of a slower pace then both competitors previous matches, as they sold the damage they had incurred through the earlier rounds whilst also looking to gradually recapture the crowd after a frantic end to the men’s final which preceded it. This was a pretty even affair for most of its duration, and they managed to get the crowd fully by the end as they built well to the finish, where Rhio survived a high knee from Shaw before hitting a massive lariat and taking the match with her trusty package piledriver. Shaw acknowledged Rhio in the post match celebrations, and the crowd then applauded her efforts over the previous two days in return.

Whilst this was the first year where both men’s and women’s tournaments were held, it certainly did not feel like it, and it can absolutely be argued that the women’s tournament matches far outweighed the men’s in terms of match quality, strong finishes and match structure, with one of the best matches of the weekend not featuring either Rhio or Shaw. Instead it was a quarter final match between Kanji and Hollie Barlow which may well have stolen the show. Barlow (yes the name is inspired by UK soap opera Coronation Street), has won over the Progress fans since joining the promotion last year, and really excels in the role as the loveable underdog whenever it is asked of her. She had originally been knocked out of the tournament in the first round by Emersyn Jayne but an injury to Jayne, alongside being the fan’s choice for a replacement, meant she was placed in a quarter final matchup against Progress stalwart Kanji.

This one worked so well not just because of how much the crowd were willing to root for Barlow, but also because Kanji fully embraced her role as an antagonist from the start, hitting her immediately with a superkick on the bell. The crowd panicked that it would be over immediately, similar to the match with Jayne which saw Barlow put away almost immediately, and therefore celebrated immediately at the first kick out at two. Kanji would hold control for most of the bout from there, but there were enough small fightbacks from Barlow and kickouts just when you thought it was over that they never lost the investment of the crowd, leading to them going completely crazy when they thought Barlow had it won after an elbow from the top. It was not to be for the plucky northern upstart though, as Kanji eventually saw her off with a kimura lock in what was a really great matchup that played perfectly to the strength of both competitors.

So, what of the men’s tournament then? Whilst the women’s tournament was won by a previously multiple time World Champion, the men’s saw a new arrival to the top of the card with a win for Charles Crowley. The carnival man had been very much part of the Progress mid card for much of last year but had found himself heading into a face turn after fans began cheering for him more than they were booing him. This meant that by this year’s tournament Crowley had become everybody’s favourite “twat” (his word, not mine), christening the final as “Super Twat Style” as he set out to take on Charlie Sterling in the final.

Crowley had been weakened coming into the final due to a post match attack in his semi final with Jay Joshua, after pulling off the underdog victory with a bit of a stolen pin. This led to the final being a story of survival, with Crowley running on fumes against a relatively fresh Sterling, who had arrived into the final via a foot on the ropes assisted pin win against Lio Rush in the quarters and a Bullit assisted win against Spike Trivet in the last four. Sterling would pay for not putting Crowley away early though, choosing to focus on pulling apart Crowley’s ringmaster hat rather than focusing on putting down his opponent for three and not hooking the leg on his covers.

Crowley would find an unusual aid when it came to finding some extra energy when he needed it in this match, as well as across the course of the tournament, through the power of helium, as the balloons he brought to the ring would help to pull him up or even keep him up when he needed the extra boost. In the final, it was a single balloon that helped him to reenergise just when it looked like all was lost. Sterling realising that Crowley was actually gaining something from his Marie Poppins impression attempted to pop the balloon but missed in his elbow drop, meaning Crowley somehow survived.

It would be another one of his props that played into the finish though, as his clapping monkey statue became Sterling’s latest focus when it should have been set on his opponent. It was the monkey that would have the last laugh though (and that is a phrase that I thought I would never write), and it somehow managed to spray powder in Crowley’s eyes, leaving him open to a run of cutters from Crowley followed by the Merry-Go-Down. That was enough for Crowley to pull off the unlikely victory, and led to some emotional celebrations by both the wrestler and the crowd after the bell was rung.

© Chris Gannon

The victory was perhaps not quite the shock it could have been due to the result of the Progress Men’s World Title match at the end of night one, which saw the babyface Champion Man Like DeReiss lose his title to Cara Noir in a no disqualification match. DeReiss had been somewhat staked by Noir during the course of his run, having been attacked during his celebrations right after winning the belt by “The Black Swan”. Noir has successfully managed to get into the champion’s head ever since, leading to DeReiss becoming much more aggressive in other matches and less focused as a whole.

This one began with a long brawl on the outside, similar to thenon-sanctioned match that took place in the same building a month earlier, with chair bowling, chairs straight to the head and throws across various bits of ringside furniture proceeding the match eventually reaching the ring, alongside a whole stack of chairs. The long outside brawl meant that the match had lost some of the heat that it started out with, but the crowd were still very much behind DeReiss as the match headed into its final spell.

Whilst a clapping monkey statue and balloons played a key role in the men’s tournament final, it was a sledgehammer that had the starring role in this one. The weapon had been used by Noir to destroy DeReiss’ custom title belt a month before and Noir had attempted to knock the champion’s head straight off with it in the middle of the match, only to find a chair instead. He would offer it to DeReiss late on, whilst laying across a stack of chairs that he had just been piledriven onto, playing one final mind game with his opponent. No matter his hatred for Noir, DeReiss could not bring himself to do it, instead looking for his trusty 450 splash, which ultimately missed. Noir had no problem using the sledgehammer himself though, throwing it at the ribs before hitting a package piledriver and getting the pin.

With the way this program has been laid out since last August, it always seemed destined that Noir would win the belt from DeReiss, but also felt like it would then be a setup for the babyface to ultimately triumph upon return. The post match didn’t exactly make that feel like it would be the pathway at this point, and instead ends up leaving the Noir interferences in DeReiss’ reign feeling a little bit of a crutch that the Birmingham based wrestler has had to endure during the course of an often strangely booked reign. The decision to do it now may be down to schedule, however, it felt very strange to do it on a weekend where it would be the third biggest story to come out of the shows and just after DeReiss had received a tonne of press for the very cute story involving the friendship he had struck with three Welsh nanas during his recent travels to Las Vegas for Wrestlemania week. It meant that it was another promotion’s belt that the rapper was wearing in national television appearances in the UK the day after this show.

© Chris Gannon

Pro Wrestling EVE

Round Up

by Peter Edge

After “Wrestle Queendom”, which was a breakthrough event for EVE, we would have a five week period without any shows thanks to Easter weekend, as the first Friday of each month is the usual spot for an EVE: Riot Grrrls of Wrestling event. But after this long break, EVE would put on three explosive events over three consecutive weeks.

“Bruised, Battered and Hungover”, “EVE x TJPW 2” and their 16th anniversary show would sell over 1000 tickets across those 21 days, meaning over exactly 8 weeks between March 6th (“Women Behaving Badly”) and May 1st (“Resist & Riot – The 16th Anniversary Show”), over 2700 tickets will have been distributed across those 5 EVE shows. There is a reason why we’re talking about EVE in this newsletter.

The main theme of “Bruised, Battered and Hungover” would be Safire Reed and Anita Vaughan’s final matches before their three-month excursion to Japan and Sendai Girls. Both women would have final tests before their trip in the name of talents from the Tonyverse: Anita Vaughan would face Billie Starkz, a regular visitor to EVE before becoming All Elite, and Safire would go one-on-one with Megan Bayne, someone that EVE had wanted to bring in the previous year.

Both matches would happen in the first half of the show with Anita/Billie opening the event.

A fun match showed how Anita has evolved in heel control segments since her heel push started a year ago to the present day. Billie Starkz is Billie Starkz, always fun as a babyface worker, with the question coming out of this match being, “When are they going to have Billie beat Athena for the ROH Championship then?”

Billie would take the win with a crucifix bomb.

Safire’s ‘farewell for now’ (might be forever if her tryout with WWE works out) saw her face Megan Bayne in what was a really great David vs. Goliath type match.

Safire with her Scrappy Doo energy threw everything at Megan and Megan got plenty of opportunities to show what brings her to the dance. This included a spectacular rag-doll spot in the collar and elbow tie up where Safire was thrown about in the lock and Reed really did a great job in selling it. The contrast in size and styles made for an excellent match, as Safire threw herself at Megan, and Bayne was a steady base.

Bayne would pick up the win with the Mega Bomb and head to the back, leaving the ring for Safire.

If you were watching the event on YouTube and not a regular internet wrestling news browser, you might not have been aware of the impending excursion of Safire and Anita. If you were a person that watched EVE and EVE alone, you might not be aware that Saf and Anita are IRL best friends, with the Hyperactive pair only teaming once in EVE in the Riot of Violence match at the 15th anniversary show last May. But they tied a bow on both packages in the post match festivities.

The former EVE champ Rhio, who may or may not have been on the end of a “where’s your title gone” chant on this night, had a very good match against Emersyn Jayne that nearly went the 20 minute distance but ended on a flurry of violence using the ring steps, a signature of Rhio’s story for the last 8 months. (Look, she started it by giving me the finger when I booed her during her entrance.) She came out with Alexxis Falcon to berate Safire for not joining their “New EVE coalition” to prevent Session Moth Martina from winning the EVE Title, and she brought out the other members of said coalition — including Anita — to persuade her to apologise.

Safire’s refusal – with an added point that three members of this coalition lost to Martina in the She-1 with extra emphasis on Anita for her finals loss – caused a minor dispute between Vaughan and the rest of the group (which also included Molly Spartan and the French Art team of Cory Zero and JGU). Anita end up surrounded with Safire by the “New EVE coalition” and were beat down before Martina, Melissa Fierce and Euro Smash (Aliss Ink and Chantal Jordan) made the save, with the segment seeing Safire and Anita leave arm in arm through the curtain, hopefully to be seen again.

The second half of the show gave an insight to the evolution of EVE: Riot Grrrls of Wrestling in what the presentation of their product is.

The idea of “Spirit of EVE” rules basically see wrestlers being given significant leeway, so long as all competitors in the match are consenting. Low blows and foreign objects are not automatically grounds for disqualification, there are no count-outs and disqualifications may still occur in the event of outside interference, attacking the referee, or disobeying the referee’s instructions.

It has led to very few disqualifications in the company in the years since the pandemic. Yet we saw two in an hour.

The latter one came in the main event, a non-title match between Session Moth Martina and Lucy Sky, when Alexxis Falcon and Molly Spartan jumped Moth and Melissa Fierce and Abi Cartwright saving the day, leading to a trios match. It was decent, with the majority of the focus being on Abi, now a babyface without a visual turn but certainly a nod to the developing support she has garnered amongst the Big Penny faithful during her time as Nina Samuels’s assistant in EVE, an employment that ended after the loss Nina had to Willow Nightingale at “Wrestle Queendom 8” and an aftermath that won’t be dealt with in all probability on screen, given the news that Nina is pregnant with twins (there is a chance she did that 450 at “Queendom” while unknowingly pregnant) and will be spending the next number of months on commentary and doing a better job on comms than anyone else in the UK.

Alexxis would win the trios match for her team with the Falcons Fury pinning Abi, setting her up for the EVE World Title match against Martina at “EVE 150” in June, but while that DQ played against the spirit of the ethos of EVE, the other one was one of the finest executed in a long while.

The EVE Tag Team Championship match between Lallie and NyteSky had heat, a babyface in peril and all round brilliant performances from everyone involved, and I don’t mean just the 4 wrestlers actually participating in the match.

Violet Nyte and Skye Smitson are tremendous heels. Skye has embraced the “Villaness” nickname again and Violet is a star that you will see in big time scenarios in British wrestling in the future. It’s also very easy to get their team name wrong.

For the second show in a row, the host got their name wrong. Loose Willis, the host on this night called them Violet Skye and the wrestlers sold it (I think). Loose proceeded to hide behind me (while Skye gave a review of her announcement of her team), which made no logical sense as I’m 5’6 and Loose is taller than me and was also wearing heels. But the unintentional mistake from a great announcer like Loose actually helped the heat, with the beloved duo of Hollie Barlow and Lana Austin seeing the entire crowd behind them as the boos serenaded NyteSky, whose heel antics were notched up to 11. But as the match hit its final stanza, it was one act of chicanery that ended the match.

With Violet distracting Ref Oscar Harding, Skye hit Hollie with one of the title belts, but it turned out that while the distraction was happening Oscar saw what Skye was up to on the big screen and gave a great performance in ringing for the bell to DQ NyteSky, which invoked a big pop – maybe pound for pound the biggest pop I have heard for a DQ at a show, certainly the most positive at one I’ve been to live.

A pull-apart brawl would follow with a massive tease of a future match extenuated by the interviews given after the match by the teams with the words ‘street fight’ being mentioned.

In all, the hangover after “Wrestle Queendom 8” was very quickly cured with the wrestling version of a full English Breakfast.

The 148th EVE show was a fun show with a fantastic show-stealer and also some heated affairs and started the 3 shows in 5 weeks positively. “EVE x TJPW 2” certainly didn’t have the chaos that the first EVE/TJPW crossover had in its build up (seriously, you could write a book about that show) but with major events in the capital (FA Cup semi-finals and the London Marathon) on the weekend of the show – meaning that hotels in the North London area being stupid pricey – it was a show that had to be missed by me, but the viewing of the show at home would be enjoyable but with some caveats.

The theme of the show would be a 4-woman tournament, with the prize being a shot at Kris Statlander’s EVE International Title. The semi-finals on offer saw Shoko Nakajima vs Hollie Barlow and Miyu Yamashita vs Aliss Ink, with the battle of the titans of 4’ 8” Shoko vs. 4’ 8” Hollie being the better of the two and taking MOTN honours in the process as well.

It was a split crowd with EVE regulars behind Hollie, given how beloved Lallie are, but there were certainly Shoko supporters in the crowd happy to cheer her on in her second appearance in the UK. But with Lallie being pushed as, statistically, the greatest tag team champs in EVE history after achieving milestones at the 16th Anniversary the week after with the most successful defences and longest reign in days amounted, it is easy to forget that Hollie can bring it in singles action.

Far from the comedy shenanigans in Progress when Barlow wrestles there, Shoko and Hollie got into a straight up match very quickly and the 13 minute match impressed a lot of people, including people from the visiting promotion to the Big Penny Social on this night. Shoko, however, took the honours.

Yamashita vs Ink was built as the battle of the kick demons and it was good. But a Cagematch review which said, “Another enjoyable match with consistent flow and decent intensity. It builds well and maintains attention, though it lacks a truly standout moment to separate it from the rest,” might have got it right.

Wow, a Cagematch review being sensible. What’s next, Arsenal winning the Premier League?

Miyu’s win with her Skull Kick would set up a final that would end up being their eighth match in a 1 vs. 1 scenario. But before that, the faithful at the Big Penny got some more EVE/TJPW crossover action.

Rhio vs Hyper Misao was what you think it was. Rhio being a bully heel, Misao doing hijinks. Yes, there was a bike involved, which was actually the property of one of the staff members that helps the EVE experience go smoothly.

Before the match, Misao got on the mic and claimed she was here to save the United Kingdom. Is she going to kidnap Nigel Farage?

The fun match saw Rhio take the win after a dominant final few minutes but also saw Misao kick out of multiple big moves. Afterwards, Rhio showed that travelling to London so often has rubbed off on her by nicking Misao’s bicycle, which means we saw Rhio ride a bike before GTA 6 came out.

The other non-tournament match saw Session Moth Martina and Aliss Ink, returning after Emersyn Jayne pulled out of the show, against Lucy Sky and Yuki Aino.

The match started with some comedy with Session Moth Martina offering Yuki Aino a beer, who downed the can faster than me on a bad mental health night. My dad, who was watching the show with me, pointed out that the beer probably wasn’t real. I’d hope not or we’d end up with a situation like Sting vs Jeff Hardy.

It was a good match that helped make Martina look like the champ of the company and progressed some storylines, such as Ink vs Skye. Aino, who had been picked on by her partner all throughout the match, got her revenge by costing Lucy any chance of the win, and then Martina hit her Jaeger Bomb finisher to beat Sky.

The final of the tournament between Yamashita and Nakajima would, in my opinion, be the least good of the four matches the pair have had since the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the four stars I gave the match in my “Book of Star Ratings”.

The pair had “connection” issues with some Miyu kicks having air between foot and target, but away from those issues the pair still had an exciting match in probably the most unusual setting for their series of matches over their decades-plus careers, especially since the music from next door and the social area of Big Penny Social could be heard from inside the event hall, giving a unique soundtrack to the match.

The Skull Kick once again brought victory to Miyu and set up another dream match in Kris Statlander’s reign. It will be a massive surprise if it doesn’t hit the 4 star+ page of my notebook, right alongside Kris’ matches with Charlie (TAFKA Dakota Kai) and Nina Samuels in her reign as EVE International Champion.

The third show in 5 weeks celebrated the “16th Anniversary” of EVE. It showcased the home grown talent in the company, with Golden Week in Japan meaning that no joshi talent would be available. A good show overall, it opened up with Aliss Ink beating Lucy Sky in a good match made notable for an absolutely gnarly back suplex from Lucy. Aliss is going to be someone to watch in 2026 and beyond, as she has a cool look (her back is filled with tattoos) and really good work.

Next up saw NyteSkye put up an open challenge, which was accepted by Abi Cartwright, as well as Alexis Lee, in a surprise appearance which wasn’t a surprise to anyone who saw the tweet that morning saying Lee was in London and tagged the EVE: Riot Grrls of Wrestling twitter account in the post.

Alexis would get over strong with the crowd during the match and after as well, with many talking about how fantastic she was in the merchandise selling periods on the night.

It was a decent match with NyteSkye hitting a Skye brainbuster/Nyte kick combo. After the match, NyteSkye complained about being overlooked as contenders for the tag titles in the main event. More on that later.

Cory Zero beat Melissa Fierce in 16 minutes in a match that had its fun moments was enjoyable. Cory Zero is a fun singles wrestler to watch and Melissa Fierce is someone who has plenty of potential and it is quite stunning that her EVE debut in September was her first match south of Milton Keynes. But I didn’t enjoy it as much as the next match after the intermission, which was a very different match in its structure.

The intermission was supposed to last 15 minutes. It didn’t. It went almost three times as long after a board slipped in the ring meaning extensive work needed to be done to the ring, the same ring that also broke at Riot Cabaret earlier that week. According to my correspondent at the Big Penny (that’s a fancy word for ‘friend’, Pete?), the boards in the ring shifted and they couldn’t get them back into place and obviously no one can work in a broken ring. The canvas and foam had to be pulled back and the ring crew had to relay the whole thing, which pushed the show back by forty minutes.

When we were back, Molly Spartan vs Leah Raven was next up. On its presentation live on YouTube, I loved this match. The story was akin to David vs. Goliath, with Molly being a brilliant bruiser in throwing around Leah and Leah showing great fire in her ‘hope spots’ which really got me into the 6 minute match. The match did its job. Molly is being put in place for big things for the second half of 2026 and Leah showed that she has a future and could end up being my favourite thing to come out of Wolverhampton since…… actually I don’t like anything out of Wolverhampton. (If your city’s best restaurant is a fish and chip shop then you have problems.)

So when I went on Cagematch to look this event up, mainly for match lengths and match order (I’m 40, I’m getting forgetful), I saw that Molly Spartan vs Leah Raven got a 4.25 from Cagematch. I had to watch the match again to see that my first impression wasn’t clouded by the cider I had drunk that Friday night and it wasn’t.

It was really good. Obviously, I had watched a different match from those people reviewing it, especially the commenter on the match page who said it was pretty botchy (there were none) and that it was badly produced (someone likes back and forth matches I guess). This person said that it was too short. Which might also be a problem with Cagematch reviewers on a whole. Not every match has to be 10 minutes plus. This match did everything it needed to do and then some.

The main event saw Lallie defend the tag team belts versus Rhio and Alexxis Falcon. A fascinating match on paper, not just because of the quality of the workers – but in my mind at the time, someone who thinks he’s smart about wrestling, I genuinely wondered who was going to win.

Lallie are the one of the two most popular acts in EVE alongside Session Moth Martina, and a street fight against NyteSky with the tag titles on the line seems to be the play. Rhio is a heavily pushed act in the company and Alexxis Falcon is going to be the first woman to contend for Session Moth Martina’s EVE World Title at “EVE 150”. So not much to give.

A really good match with all four living up to their high standards entered its final ten of the 30 minute time limit of the match with that anticipation building. Holly kicked out of a Falcon Burning Hammer and a Rhio Muscle Buster and needed Lana to make the save after a Falcon’s Fury, as the clock on the screen went to red, flashing 5:00 to go on the countdown. There were teases of disqualifications and a ref bump, when Hollie accidentally hit Ref Oscar with a cutter (the thanks you get for helping fix the ring), which did for a moment make me think, “Do titles change hands via DQ in EVE?”

Oscar being down saw run ins from NyteSky and Melissa Fierce and Aliss Ink. When everyone cleared and Oscar was back up, there were 2 minutes left that became 90 secs by the time Rhio and Lana were on the turnbuckles. Lana would slip out, hit the powerbomb, and Hollie would hit the elbow from the top for the 1-2-3, which prompted the thought in my head, “Hollie is destined for big things in EVE, isn’t she?”

Hollie was the MVP of the 3 shows in 21 days after the two tag title matches and a Shoko Nakajima MOTN at the TJPW crossover show. In a company that uses talent from Japan and America as special attractions, there is a core of British talent that is helping EVE become one of the hottest companies in independent wrestling, and it’s not hyperbole to call this generation of British women’s wrestlers a golden generation. Hollie has a shot at going down the inside rail and leading the pack in a couple of years.

While she made her debut in 2018 and is 25, she also had a three year break from wrestling so she has less bumps in her bumpcard than many, and without wanting to plug the SoSu Women’s 50, it’d be a massive shock if she wasn’t in it by next International Women’s Day.

© Chris Gannon

RevPro

Round Up

by Peter Edge

“Epic Encounter in Cardiff” had some big news stories, such as Dani Luna’s return to one of her main stomping grounds before her move to TNA. There were also a couple of fun tag team matches in Subculture (Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews) vs Leon Cage and Tommy Vril in a Welsh wrestling dream match (no, that isn’t an oxymoron) and the tag title match between Young Guns (Ethan Allen & Luke Jacobs) and the CPF duo of Maverick Mayhew and Tommy Black. “Epic Encounter” would also see the semi finals of the Revolution Road tournament, as well as the RevPro British Title match as the main event between Jay Joshua and the now artist FKA Will Kroos, which would result in a broken guardrail.

This was a situation that could have ended up a lot worse for the fans in the area where the guardrail landed – and for RevPro, if the fan that was struck hadn’t been such a loyal attendee. Someone at the Vale Arena told me that said fan actually refused to have the medical staff look at her because she wanted to see the Joshua/Kroos match to its conclusion. But the real feeling in the week after was that “Live in London 107” was a bigger show, what with having the final of the two months long tournament, plus the Michael Oku vs Connor Mills non-sanctioned match that was booked as consequence of Mills’ interference in the Oku/TK Cooper semi final match in Cardiff.

The first match in the 107th “Live in London” saw the trio of Will Kaven, Mark Trew and Keiron Lacey beat Contenders (Isaac Murray, Chicago Desailly, Elvin Narayan). Yes, that is the name of the trio.

Murray, Desailly and Narayan all wore black trunks, black boots and black kneepads, replicating the young New Japan wrestlers look before they go on excursion – which, if I was being mischievous, I would say this is the only connection RevPro has to New Japan Pro Wrestling these days.

Lacey, Trew and Kaven got the win as expected with an elevated powerbomb/stomp. My main takeaway is that Desailly has something about him and he looks to be the stand-out prospect of the Rev Pro dojo groups coming through.

Leyton Buzzard beat Cameron Khai in a decent match and promptly challenged Joe Lando for a shot at Revolution Rumble. Alexxis Falcon beat JGU in a fair match played to near silence, barring the soul who tried to get a JGU chant going to barely any success. This comes to no surprise because it’s Revolution Pro Wrestling and it’s the RevPro audience.

In the first of two breaking news announcements, RevPro revealed that they are going back to the York Hall in November for “Homecoming”, which was treated with so much gravitas that you’d think that they’ve been away from one of the grand halls of fight sports in the UK for many years. Let me just check my notes for how long they’ve been away…..

Oh, the last show at York Hall was in June 2025.

The crowd livened up for two actual stars in Luke Jacobs vs. Leon Slater. This afternoon, the ongoing saga of Leon not being sure if he’s a face or heel continued.

He slapped the hands of fans despite being associated with a heel group (Slater Dojo), whose member Cameron Khai had earlier acted as an outright heel in the match against Buzzard. Then Slater started acting hellish and then they did the “wrestler doesn’t know his manager interfered” spot.

The match was really good as expected, as Slater is seen as a big future star and Luke Jacobs is the best male independent wrestler in the UK. Jacobs would take the win here, however.

After the match, head of the Slater Dojo, Liam Slater (no relation) brought out the Trios GP trophy that can be cashed in for a “wish” (because everyone needs to copy the cash in concept in wrestling) and cashed it in for Leon, challenging for a tag title match for the Slaters versus Luke Jacobs and Ethan Allen, much to chagrin of Leon. The match will take place at Revolution Rumble at the Doncaster Dome, because I guess Carlos Silva won’t permit Leon to be eliminated from the Rumble match that will main event the show.

Dani Luna’s first match back at RevPro after her return at “Epic Encounter in Cardiff” did get a pop from the RevPro faithful, and Luna’s opponent would be Aluna, which must have been booker and promoter of RevPro, Andy Quildan, popping himself.*

*(Editor’s Note: The other day I was listening to the Waffly Bollox podcast and Sarah Awfully Waffly mentioned that Quildan is always putting same-named people in matches and now this happens and I’m reading it. Stop confusing me in print!)

I’ll be honest, I don’t see it with Dani. Great in matches with stipulations, but take away the stipulations for a straight 1 vs. 1 and I haven’t seen her in a 4 star plus match, and this match didn’t even threaten to hit that mark with how sloppy it was at times. After Dani got the expected win, she challenged Alexxis Falcon for the Donny Dome.

The next breaking news reveal saw Eddie Kingston announced for the next “Live in London” show, his next stop in the ‘Tony Hasn’t Anything For Him’ World Tour.

Top Tier vs. The Freshnas was total comedy, and it sounded like Dave Bradshaw and Andy on commentary enjoyed it as much as I enjoy a wasp buzzing around me. Top Tier won to rise up the ranks in the tag division.

The Revolution Road final was set at Cardiff, with JJ Gale beating Connor Mills and TK Cooper beating Michael Oku after interference from Mills. The final would be at “Live In London”. The 20 minute match would be the most 3.5 star of 3.5 starry matches you’ll see until the final 5 minutes of the contest, which might have been the theme of RevPro in 2026, had “The Road to Wembley” theme not come into their sphere, thanks to the Wembley Arena anniversary show. Gale would win with his spinny Oscutter finisher to take the popular win amongst the Porchester Hall faithful and set up the challenge for Jay Joshua’s RevPro British Title.

© Chris Gannon

In RevPro canon that Gale/Cooper match was the main event, because the next (and last) match was the Michael Oku vs Connor Mills Non-Sanctioned match, a fight so non-sanctioned that RevPro broadcast a promo package to hype up the match before the entrances.

I really enjoyed this match as a street fight but we obviously couldn’t call it a street fight because non-sanctioned matches are in vogue right now.

Yes, it had a few too many gnarly weapon moments, including a brainbuster on Oku on a seated chair, but the violence worked well in the context of the match. There were moments of unintentional comedy when Oku got on Dave Bradshaw’s headset to apologise to Andy for the violence that was happening, and then Mills choked Oku with a cable and we heard Oku screaming in pain; Oku got out of the hold with use of a ringbell, to maybe prove that Re Pro actually have a physical ringbell and don’t use the YouTube video of a ringbell sounding.

There were moments of RevPro fans being RevPro fans by insisting on chanting “We want tables!” while Oku and Mills were hitting each other with every other weapon that is usually under a ring, like a kendo stick. This caused a duelling chant between a bunch of men with their table chant and a set of women chanting “Shut the fuck up!” which confirms my belief that we should have more women at wrestling events.

Michael Oku would get a dominant win after hitting multiple frog splashes (which did cause a kick out at one) and Oku choked out Mills, resulting in a ref stoppage immediately after.

But maybe the most notable thing of the whole segment was Oku carrying out a post-match beatdown on Mills with the half crab, ignoring his partner Amira Blair’s pleas after she came back to the ring after Oku angrily told her to go to the back during the match. He then beat down the Contenders with emphasis on Oku attacking Isaac Murray, who commentary said was Oku’s protégé. The boos that rang out towards Oku were not isolated to the corner of the room that were Connor Mills fans during the match, but we did fade to black on those chants (from fans of Connor fucking Mills!).

The post match angle had the fingerprints of Hart and Austin at “WrestleMania 13” but was it a double turn. We’ll see.

One of the themes of RevPro in 2026 is that it is the land of the tweeners, with so many wrestlers acting as faces one show and then heels the next, so maybe Oku and Mills have joined the club of shades of grey. But does having so many wrestlers in that “shades of grey” category actually work? That’s an argument for another day, but what we know is that what felt according to the advertising as the ‘final showdown’ between Michael Oku and Connor Mills most definitely isn’t.

The next week in Sheffield saw that this feud must continue. Oku got booed during his appearance, which ended with a brawl between him and Mills. So maybe Oku is a heel.

Whatever the alignments in this feud are going forward, Oku vs Mills is the hottest feud in Revolution Pro Wrestling, but it’s the only feud that is worth watching in what feels like a cold company, even with a big destination at hand.

This is the usual point where I put down a pun about the “Road to Wembley” but after months of jokes about the “Road to Wembley”, I’ve actually run out.

Maybe that’s the problem. I’ve called RevPro a company that ‘serves up meat and potatoes’ in its production, but the problem is that they’ve ran out of meat and it feels like we’re getting nothing but starch for a while, at least in the undercard.

UK & Ireland

ATTACK! Wrestling News

Since winning the ATTACK! Title on 21st March, Dani Luna has gone on to defend against Thomas Shire on 3rd April and Tommy Vril on 19th April. Her next defence is a big one on 19th June at “Can You Feel My Heart?” as she faces one of the UK’s top stars, Rhio. On that same show, Greedy Souls (Brendan White & Danny Jones) will defend their ATTACK! Tag Team Title against Subculture (Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews), Pete Dunne returns to ATTACK! for the first time since 2018 in a singles match against rising star Leon Cage, and Drew Parker takes on 1 Called Manders. The show will take place at The Great Hall in Cardiff.

Steph De Lander debuts in ATTACK! at the next show on 6th June at PlayFight in Woolwich, London.

ATTACK! cancelled their 14th June show at The Loco Klub in Bristol due to circumstances beyond their control. Tickets were refunded and they will return on 25th October.

Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) News

ICW are back at The Garage on 24th May for “Wubba Lubba Dub Dub” where Rhio will defend her ICW World Heavyweight Title against Dylan Thorn and Jason Reed, who went to a double knockout in their #1 Contender match on the last show. The Dangerous Brothers (Kez Evans & BT Gunn) defend against Kemper & Hunter and Wolfgang defends his ICW Zero-G Title against Austin Brookes. Mark Coffey and Landon Riley will fight for the rights to the “Square Go” contract, which Mark won at the annual “Square Go” show on 12th February.

ICW’s collaboration with NORTH Wrestling, “Insane North Weekender”, takes place on 20th June at Anarchy Brew Co in Newcastle, and on 21st June the two promotions will be at The Garage in Glasgow. ICW has further announced that The Coffey Brothers will take on Cowboy Way (1 Called Manders & Thomas Shire) on the 21st June show.

© wXw / BeautyInCombat

wXw

On 16th May at “True Colors 2026”, former IWGP Heavyweight and Global Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji beat Peter Tihanyi in a well-regarded main event. Dennis “Cash” Dulling and Axel Tischer went to a 15-minute time-limit draw for the wXw Shotgun Title, which meant that Axel held onto the title. Following that, Axel defends against Dulling, Dieter Schwartz and Katsuya Murashima at “Drive of Champions 2026”. That show takes place on 6th June in Oberhausen, with Elijah Blum defending the wXw Unified World Wrestling Title against Laurence Roman, Eddie Kingston taking on Peter Tihanyi, Planet Gojirah (Marc Empire & Robert Dreissker) defending their wXw World Tag Team Title against Greedy Souls (Brendan White & Danny Jones) and CSI (Luca de Leone & Nordino).

On 30th May in Mendig, Ricky Sosa gets his rematch against Zoltan for the wXw European Title.

All reigning wXw champions, Cowboy Way, Dani Luna, Ricky Sosa and other wXw regulars have been announced for “Broken Rules 2026” on 11th July in Frankfurt.

Best Bros (Baliyan Akki & Mei Suruga) and Hyperactive (Anita Vaughan & Safire Reed) have been announced for the World Tag Team Tournament at the Pro-Wrestling Grand Prix from 25th September to 27th September. Meanwhile, Katsuhiko Nakajima will perform in the König der Catcher Tournament during the same weekend. Following Chihiro Hashimoto’s announcement for the Femmes Fatales Tournament on Grand Prix weekend, her entire promotion, Sendai Girls, will be taking over the 12pm event on Saturday 6th March during “16 Carat Gold” weekend.

Mainland Europe

Joseph Fenech Jr. returned to wrestling on 8th May at Rixe’s show. Fenech Jr. announced a hiatus from wrestling due to an accusation levied against him towards the end of 2025. As reported in our last issue, the Twitter account that began publicising the movement launched allegations against the Rixe owner, known as Jack Sans Nom, in April. They alleged that he had “supported fascist ideologies and repeatedly made racist, homophobic and transphobic remarks”. The account said that the allegations were supported by several public testimonies, including from Jazze Parry (owner of Drag Attack Wrestling). As part of those allegations, there was also an allegation of rape by wrestler Kira Chimera. Kira worked in Rixe between the years 2020 and 2024 and stated that she made the complaint on 26th November 2025. Despite that, Jack Sans Nom not only ignored the controversy but doubled down by booking Fenech Jr. on the 8th May show while advertising his appearance, saying, “They thought they made him disappear, some tried to exclude him, to erase him, bad idea.” The post by the promotion finished by saying, “The fragile people can stay at home”, essentially calling all accusers snowflakes. Fenech Jr. then won their vacant title.

Banger Zone Wrestling (BZW) News

BZW held a joint show with GCW titled “Now Or Never” on 23rd May, which saw BZW Tag Team Champions MAO & Yoshiko make a rare appearance to defend their title against Jeffrey John & Jimmy Lloyd and Rivality (MBM & Última Sombra), who are familiar with MAO from their DDT tour in 2025. MAO & Yoshiko finally dropped their titles after over a year to Rivality. MAO brought along the DDT Universal Champion Kazuma Sumi, who will be defending against Gringo Loco and Leedz Lewis. MAO presented the match to Sumi as a surprise following their King of DDT Tournament match on 4th May at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. In the main event, Trent Seven will defend the BZW Title against Joey Janela.

APC Catch News

APC’s next show is on 30th May, with all titles on the line. Starboyz (Jadon Carter & Lio Jayce) will try to win the #1 Contendership for the APC Tag Team Title against Bad Terms (Andre Levissieux & Vinzo), while the champions themselves Suplex Republik (Cuma Bolat & Zack Eriti) defend against La Tactique (Griff & Thiago Montero). Connor Mills comes into the promotion to challenge Erin Ordo for his APC European Title, while the big marquee match is Kuro defending the APC Title against AEW’s Ricochet.

TNA International Champion Mustafa Ali will appear at “Triumph in Paris” on 5th July, defending his title against Erin Ordo. The event will be held at Palais Des Sports Maurice Thorez, which is the home arena of basketball club Nanterre 92, so they will be looking to put on a big show. Ricky Sosa will also return to APC following his TNA breakout.

© KHAO

KHAO News

On 2nd May, KHAO was in the southern suburbs of Paris with their show “Nemesis”. In the main event, Lashka (also known as Mecca) defended his KHAO Title against Michael Oku. One of the interesting storylines in the promotion is that Lashka wrestles elsewhere on the card as Mecca, and in fact, Mecca has been announced for the six-way ladder match at “Commando” where the winner will become the #1 Contender for the KHAO Title. If he wins, what happens then?

German Wrestling Federation (GWF) News

On 19th April, Ahura defeated Andrade El Idolo to become the new GWF Champion, beating wXw to the punch in crowning Ahura as their top star. Elsewhere, Toni Harting beat Kouga (Owadasan from NOAH) to win the GWF Berlin Title.

The annual World Cup began across two days on 9th May, with Kouga winning the tournament, defeating Arez, Metehan and Rambo in the main event. During the first night, Axel Tischer became the #1 Contender for Ahura’s title. On the second night, Violent Nyte won the GWF Women’s World Title in a three-way with defending champion Jane Nero and Sultan Suzu. Blutsbrüder (Erkan Sulcani & Evil Jared) won the GWF Tag Team Title in a four-way, dethroning Sunshine Machine (Chuck Mambo & TK Cooper).

Mustafa Ali has been announced for 12th July at “Summer Smash 2026”.

BODYSLAM Wrestling News

BODYSLAM were back in action after a lengthy break, with back-to-back shows on 15th May and 16th May. The BODYSLAM Women’s Champion Alexxis Falcon defended her title on both shows against BODYSLAM’s top talent, Aliss Ink. Emersyn Jayne was due to participate in a three-way for the title but had to pull out due to injury.

Squash A Jobber Wrestling (SAJ) News

On 26th April, SAJ held a joint show with TJPW in Milan, with Yuki Aino, Shoko Nakajima, Hyper Misao and Miyu Yamashita all making an appearance. There were a few EVE talents on the show, too, given that TJPW held a show with EVE the night before.

SAJ will run a joint show with GCW in Milan on 24th May. GCW are in France on 23rd May with BZW, so this marks a weekend in Europe for the American promotion. Lupo will defend his SAJ Openweight Title against Gringo Loco and Atticus Cogar will defend his GCW World Title against Mirko Mori.

SAJ will host a mystery vortex show on 4th July named “Morgana”.

SAJ announced that Katsuhiko Nakajima, Baliyan Akki & Mei Suruga will be part of the 3rd October show “Abnormal” in Milan.