Pro Wrestling EVE

EVE’s Big Weekend

By Peter Edge

When the lights go out at an EVE show, it means one thing: big announcement time. In the last year we have seen the likes of Syuri and The Sisters of Sin get video packages to announce their upcoming appearances at an EVE: Riot Grrls of Wrestling show but in November 2025, after Willow Nightingale beat Lucy Sky in a banger, the lights going out wasn’t for another talent maybe from AEW coming in for a shot but for something else altogether.

A Will Ospreay narrated video would inform the crowd that on International Women’s Day, March 8th 2026, EVE were going to do a show at London’s O2 Indigo theatre, just metres away from where Will had wrestled his last match before his operation at “Forbidden Door” 2025.

The months before this weekender of shows in March would see EVE commit to a big build for both events, with a result producing the two of the current frontrunners for the European show of the year.

EVE: “Women Behaving Badly”

6th March 2026
Big Penny Social, London, England

Before the host for the evening Sisika introduced the viewing public to the show, Amira Blair and Cassius came to the ring, where Amira decided to give an interpretive dance to the EVE theme tune before refusing to let the wrestling start, slagging off Harley Cameron’s chest, ahead of their Wrestle Queendom 8 match, with comments so heinous that the Aussie had to do something about it.

The surprise of hearing “FEEL THE WRATH!!!!” burst forth from the speakers was overtaken by the joy from the EVE patrons that Harley was in town. What followed was chaos: chaos that looked like it was inspired by the hype associated with the eagerness that fans had for Steve Austin vs. The Rock at WrestleMania X-7. This showdown with Amira and Harley more or less reenacted the famous go-home show angle between the Fed’s two titans before that 2001 PPV, but instead of beers the two women on this night used breasts as the angle’s centerpiece with Amira and Harley chest bumping each other before Harley got into the mount and buried her ample bosom into Amira’s face which led to a pull apart brawl.

Once the show commenced, there were an opening pair of matches which first saw Lallie (Hollie Barlow and Lana Austin) beat Johnnie Robbie and Miko Alana in a non-title match, a match that showed that Johnnie and Miko are going to appear at a big time promotion in America sooner rather than later. Second, Nina Samuels beat Lil Marz, after which it was announced that the Willow Nightingale vs Nina match at “Queendom” would be for Willow’s TBS Title.

Then the eagerly awaited dream match of Jamie Hayter vs. Miyu Yamashita would close up the first half of the show. As a fan of both, my head canon had this match as a Women’s MOTYC before I even got to Big Penny Social before my usual pre-show burger but the fear always is that the hype I mentally give something never lives up to the hype (yes, I’m looking at you Sin City) but in this case, that hype was justified: Miyu and Jamie beat the living piss out of each other for 25 minutes, to the point that Miyu’s right eye swelled up during the final 5 minutes. Those 5 minutes weren’t supposed to happen, with the contest scheduled to have a 20 minute time limit. After the feeling out process of the first five minutes, with a lot of mat work, the match turned into the pair wrestling the match vertically with a high quantity of strikes. This was a match that flowed really well and while a lack of urgency during the final minute would be the only nitpick I would have at the time, the “five more minutes” wish from Jamie and the BPS crowd came true, and the second wind from the pair and subsequent energy dump that followed sold that a lot was exerted in the regulation time of 20 minutes, at least in my own head canon.

Both bells were almost beaten by each wrestler and their finisher, Hayter’s Hayterade clothesline before 20:00 and Yamashita’s Skull Kick at 25:00. The post-match saw a handshake but a willingness to continue fighting with the green shirt security that is a frequent sight at EVE shows, trying to separate them as they left the ringside area.

The lucky thing about the break was that it was a good time for a smoke break or in my case a trip to the bathroom with the words “what a great match” being heard in the stalls and a lot of people agreed with the match being the top rated match on Cagematch from the period of time between February 14th and March 14th.

A tag match between Melissa Fierce and the popular US indie wrestler Dani Mo against French Art, who are getting a cult following especially with a section of the crowd who with the “Deux” shout out after every near fall in the match would end in a very rare no-contest with the team of Skye Smitson and Violet Nyte interrupting proceedings to attack both team and then Skye did a promo which signified a heel turn telling the fans that she was returning to her villainous roots.

Part of the theme of this night was that while the O2 show was going to see a packed show, the Friday night was never going to be forgotten and the regular fans for the traditional first Friday of a month show would be rewarded with a packed card. Safire Reed and Syuri versus Alex Windsor and AZM was your typical Road To… match on paper, with a pinch of Incredible Partners put into the dish, leading to a great match being cooked up. Fast and frantic, it was an enjoyable 15 minute ride with some pinch me moments. Seriously, who had Syuri and AZM having contact on a wrestling show in Walthamstow in their 2026 bingo card? The match did everything it needed to: get the fans excited about the Safire/AZM match and build up the existing rivalry of Windsor and Syuri ahead of their NJPW Women’s Strong Title match at “Wrestle Queendom”. Windsor would get the win for her and AZM with a “Made In Japan” on Reed.

The main event would be DASH Chisako and Anita Vaughan in a Falls Count Anywhere match, with that stipulation only being revealed in the announcements during entrances. With a knackered crowd, DASH and Anita deserve all the credit for getting them into the match. Anita is a great heel and DASH with her style is always going to be popular, not just with the regulars at EVE but any first-timers, and the pair managed to close the really fun match with a very crowd pleasing moment of DASH hitting a splash from the top rope to a prone Vaughan through a table for the 1-2-3 (so that’s why the match was a Falls Count Anywhere match.) You also realised who the first timers this night were, when as the fans were filing out, some people had pictures taken with them lying in the table wreckage at ringside.

“Women Behaving Badly” was a great show with three 4+ Star matches, with the general feeling from those in attendance that had tickets for “Queendom” being ‘beat that’ for Sunday’s show.

© Chris Gannon

EVE: “Wrestle Queendom 8”

8th March 2026
O2 Indigo, London, England

The feeling going into the O2 Indigo was “we’re not in Kansas anymore”. This wasn’t the Big Penny and its punk vibe. It certainly wasn’t the Tufnell Park Dome, a building so bad that it almost killed the company; nor was it the 229, a building synonymous with wrestling in London but about as popular with London wrestling fans as someone standing on the left hand side of an escalator at a tube station; nor was it the ResGal, the original spiritual home of EVE, something that played into multiple matches on the show, on the biggest night in company history.

The show would kick off with the Sudden Death 16, a hybrid of the Casino Gauntlet match and the Royal Rumble match. The match ruleset, dreamt up by EVE’s head producer Will Ospreay, would see the staggered entrances associated with Rumbles combined with a single fall deciding the match winner associated with the Casino Gauntlet, but with over the top eliminations (that eliminate the wrestler thrown out, but don’t win the match) also added to the equation. It would lead to a fun match and a fun idea that can have legs going forward.

Jamie Hayter and Miyu Yamashita would start the match, picking up where they left off on the Friday, because coincidences are about as frequent in wrestling as a wrestler kicking out of a finisher. They were joined by DASH Chisako, leading to us seeing a TJPW wrestler clashing with a Sendai Girls wrestler, something that is very unusual for how insular Tokyo Joshi are. Such a clash also shows how good the head man at EVE is at talking to joshi promotions to get such a thing done.

Anita Vaughan would enter fourth before the first of the returns/surprises Lucy Sky, who weeks after her breakout appearance against Willow Nightingale injured her knee at TNT in Liverpool returned, followed by Nyla Rose, who got a big pop from the crowd. Alexxis Falcon was the middle of the sandwich of returnees and surprises and was seventh out followed by Aluna, who was back after 10 months away from EVE and would clash with Anita (the person who put her out of EVE in storyline and IRL.) Aluna has shown that she has an upward trajectory in her progress in her career since the May EVE show where she was last in the company. Lil’ Marz was ninth out (calm down Eric) and hit a dropkick on Sky in the midst of self made confetti (or “glitter warfare” as it was coined by Ross Noble at his comedy show at the Palladium, where I saw him the night before) which got a holy shit chant from the 1,200 strong at the Indigo.

Emersyn Jayne was another returnee after eight months away. It was during her hot 90 seconds on her entry to the ring that we saw the first over the top elimination of the match when Jayne dispatched Lucy Sky. Not long after, Hayter and Yamashita would clash. Jamie averted elimination and then when Jamie lowered the top rope, Miyu couldn’t get over seamlessly, launching herself over the top rope but ended up making it seem that she was deliberately doing it so she could have more of Jamie. A Hayterade later and both the competitors in that absorbing match just 48 hours earlier were on the floor, eliminated. The pair chased each other to the back, right past my vantage point, which probably means we are getting Miyu/Jamie II, which I endorse.

Next out were Princess Lauriana from France, Yuu (whose cameo appearance from retirement would have made Terry Funk go “really?” so soon after the farewell in the last week of December), Molly Spartan and Nightshade, with foursome of Rose, Spartan, Nightshade and Yuu seeing the “monster” stanza of the match that must have alerted the authorities at Monarch, before Abi Cartwright was #15. To paraphrase commentator Jetta, in a world of beef, Abi was a dry nut roast. But, her comedic act is so popular with the EVE faithful that when the 4 monsters stomped a hole into Abi, the crowd booed (and it looked like Yuu was genuinely surprised when that happened.) When Abi was eliminated from the match, more boos rang out.

That elimination happened after the sixteenth and final entrant, who was Abi Morgan, a resident fixture of the ResGal days and who retired at the beginning of the Big Penny era. (For a glimpse of Morgan, I would recommend the No-DQmatch she had with Alex WIndsor, that can be found for free on YouTube on the EVE: Riot Grrls of Wrestling channel)

Morgan eliminated Anita (setting something up?) and then they called back to the first Queendom main event with Abi and Emersyn (then known as Sammy) Jayne, before more eliminations happened, Molly Spartan had plenty of them and DASH was actually eliminated by Cartwright to a shocked cheer, which turned into a boo when her first namesake Morgan hit her signature superkick to eliminate her. One of the big spots of the night would then see DASH take Abi and splash her through a table, jumping off a ladder on the stage which made for a great spectacle. A flurry of near falls would end with Alexxis Falcon taking over and pinning Abi with her Falcons Fury finisher which means she now has the opportunity to challenge for a singles title of her choice.

A singles match with Safire Reed and AZM was next up and was a ten-minute sprint that was great and showcased why AZM was 12th in the SoSu Women’s 50, and also why Safire was in the Top 20 list and the highest ranked Brit.Reed showed her potential by matching her fellow top tier under-25 wrestler stride for stride in what was a Four Star match. AZM would take the victory with a Destroyer into her Azumi Sushi cradle but it showed that if “The British are coming”, as Rich Latta said in his reaction to our Women’s 50 list, that Safire could well be the leader of the armada. I also wouldn’t be surprised if AZM is an ace of joshi down the line

The fourway to determine a No.1 contender for the EVE tag titles would see the NyteSkye team of Skye Smitson and Violet Nyte (with a banger theme) beat Dani Mo/Melissa Fierce, Aliss Ink/Chantal Jordan and French Art (JGU/Cory Zero) in a fun match but one that was never going to match the insanity that was to come next from Amira Blair and Harley Cameron.

© Chris Gannon

Their match lasted less than 5 minutes. That meant it wasn’t eligible to be rated on Cagematch, which set off a whole different thing. The whole Amira/Harley deal will be best remembered for vibes, singing and people just smiling at the end. Amira’s “Wrestle Queendom Moment” performance was typical Amira, and a reminder of why she’s in the SoSu Women’s 50, with her ability to make the best use of her time. Harley would sing pre and post-match with the Aussie leading the crowd with a rendition of Careless Whisper but Amira would do one of the most hellish things of not just this night but of the year by interrupting Harley singing the national anthem of the UK when she attacked Harley whilst she sang “Sweet Caroline”. The sub-5 minute match was won after a Cassius attempt to blind Harley (for the second time) backfired and blinded his charge giving Cameron the opportunity to roll Amira up for the win. While the talk of the match being rated as sixteen stars is a sign of the match living up to the expectation of fans with the Rock/Austin Mania 17 build vibes that this match had, I can’t in good conscience give the match sixteen stars. If I was to be hyper critical, I had it at fifteen and three quarter stars

Willow Nightingale vs Nina Samuels for the AEW TBS Title was a perfect example of getting the basics right. The pair didn’t get anything wrong and Nina even brought something to the party that she has never done before by hitting a stupendous 450 splash which, while she did do some damage to her thumb on landing, it was flawless in her execution. A portion of the story of the match was on the working relationship between Abi Cartwright and Nina Samuels, which in storyline is as good as the one between the Tottenham Hotspur FC dressing room and Igor Tudor. Selling her damage from the show opener and that DASH spot, Abi was ringside but was quickly ejected when an interference attempt was caught by the ref (it happens sometimes in wrestling you know!) The Apuesta put forward would see Willow put the TBS Title on the line with the provision that if Nina lost, Abi would be sacked in the morning, to quote a very regular chant at Tottenham games this season. A really good match ended when Willow hit a beautiful pounce which Nina sold brilliantly and followed up by hitting the “Babe with the Power” Bomb for the win.

© Chris Gannon

Alex Windsor’s challenge for the NJPW Strong Women’s Title might actually have been the one match that broke the containment and got spoken of in wrestling media circles (by wrestling media circles, I mean Wrestling Observer Radio and Dave Meltzer wondering aloud how you get to watch the show.) The sequel to their first match would be slightly better than their very good June 6th match from last year, with the pair engaging in crisp strikes with an excellent slap exchange, a perfect ebb and flow and a final act which took this match to the 4.25 Star range. Syuri and Alex have been proved to be great match partners and a third match to break the tie would be very welcome.

The tag team title match between Lallie and Charli Evans and Jessica Troy might not have taken place thanks to the real world events after the US/Iran war and the closure of airspace in the middle east meant Charli and Jess needed to take an alternative route, which took them from Australia to the UK via Houston instead of Dubai, and with subsequent delays it meant the Australians got to Heathrow at 2pm on show day. With Heathrow and North Greenwich being on completely opposite strands of London, they arrived at the building just as the show started. Given all that, it’s easy to understand why things didn’t mesh as easily as the four had wished. It also may not have helped that Troy appeared to suffer a knee injury in the final stanza, which from my vantage point she seemed to struggle with. However, when catching up with her at the post-show VIP get together (am I bragging here), she told me that she was fine. The 50/50 atmosphere in terms of support helped the match a lot and it was the Lallie supporters that were happy after they took the win but maybe more importantly was an important plot point in the Lallie story. Lana Austin, who was the more reluctant partner to say the very least at the start of the team, post-match told Hollie that she loved her and that she was her best friend which got a massive pop. But the feel good moment was short-lived as NyteSky took out Lallie on the stage to massive heat, setting up the title match coming in April at the “Bruised, Battered and Hungover” show back at Big Penny.

Some people’s most eagerly awaited match was the International Title match with Kris Statlander vs Charlie (fka Dakota Kai). Charlie’s following is big, so much so that she was the second most popular person at the Meet and Greets post-show after Harley Cameron. Personally, I’ve never been convinced by the Kiwi, even before the knee problems she suffered in Orlando, but following a years break after her release from the Fed, the curiosity about Charlie and her return saw big interest in the match. Did Charlie, and Kris by proxy, deliver? Yes.

They had a match that I had at 3¾ in my book of ratings (yes, I really do have one.) Charlie did have visible ring rust and a Kairopractor attempt looked really gnarly, but she kept up the pace and showed at times that maybe a handbrake was inserted into her work by forces at WWE. The finish of the match was great, with Kris hitting not one, not two, but three Sunday Night Fevers to take the win and her third defence of the International belt.

The main event of Rhio defending the Eve Title against Session Moth Martinia was preceded by a sensational hype package, which I will admit got me in the feels. The story was very easy to follow on paper. Martina is one of the stars of EVE who had come up from the ResGal days, when EVE put on events at the Resistance Gallery (a beloved building for live events, that closed thanks to COVID) and the effects the resulting lockdown had on her, against Rhio – a former fan favorite hero who had turned heel and begun openly mocking the history of EVE in her promos.

They proceeded to have a match filled with brutality, from a dustbin shot to Martina which caused a crimson mask, to a couple of shots to Martina’s body with a plastic bat with thumb tacks which sounded unbelievable in the building. The story of the match was that Martina would refuse to lose no matter what Rhio threw at her, literally at times in the case of a flying bin.

After a comeback Martina had in the middle section, came the final act, which saw a ref bump, a gang of heels coming out to attack Martina in scenes similar to 90’s WWE when the heels would come out en masse to prevent The Undertaker from getting the WWF Title. However, unlike Taker, Martina had friends: Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor came out along with ResGal veterans such as Erin Angel (with her “Bring It All Back” by S Club theme), as well as Kasey, Jetta, Abi Morgan and last but not least, Mille McKenzie, who might have got the biggest pop of this “magnificent seven”. The endgame, following a ring clearing brawl, would leave Rhio and Martina alone, with Session Moth hitting Rhio with a cavalcade of her big moves, ending with a spiking Jaeger Bomb for the win and the title.

The scenes at the end saw the ResGal Resistance, or EVEngers, depending on what name you wanted to give the babyfaces that helped save the day, hoist Martina on their shoulders in joyous scenes to bring a great event to a happy end.

© Chris Gannon

While “Women Behaving Badly” might have edged it on in-ring with three of my Top Five matches of the weekend coming on Friday, the feels were so much more at “Wrestle Queendom” on Sunday at the Indigo. From Alex Windsor’s Strong Title win to the emotion of Session Moth Martina’s EVE World Title and with other great moments such as Lana Austin’s embrace of Hollie Barlow and all the returns and welcome surprises in the Sudden Death 16.

Recommended Matches from the Weekend:

• Yamashita vs Hayter (WBB) ****½
• Windsor vs Syuri (WQ) ****1/4
• AZM vs Safire (WQ) ****
• AZM/Windsor vs Syuri/Safire (WBB) ****
• Chisako vs Vaughan (WBB) ****

“Wrestle Queendom” was a celebration of the women’s graps game on International Women’s Day. It was also a celebration on what I believe is a golden generation of British Women’s Wrestling that we are seeing right now. Queendom was also a high water mark, for a company that broke through in 2025.

Yes, EVE has been around for more than a decade, but thanks to Will Ospreay and his contacts book – and the hard work of the talent that are at the Big Penny Social monthly – the stories being told in the product have rarely been matched in the last year. EVE is a company that almost went the same way as its old home of the ResGal after Covid, but has come out of the other side and thoroughly deserved their big day out at the O2 Indigo, the biggest stage they have ever been on. All around, it was a massive success for EVE, a show that celebrated its past and laid foundation stones for its future.

Now, all we need is for no-one to post anything that took the attention away from the in-ring success to backstage personnel hires.

Oh.

EVE News Round-up

EVE’s landmark show was overshadowed somewhat in the aftermath by a social media post made by producer Will Ospreay. The AEW wrestler put together a thread celebrating everyone involved in the success of the show and included a picture of himself alongside his former tag partner Paul Robinson, who was also acknowledged as a producer for the promotion in the accompanying text. This led to Robinson’s presence becoming the lead story the day after the show, with the social media outrage enough that EVE promoter Dann Read addressed the situation in a post on the company discord:

Robinson had been accused of kissing a 16 year old girl who had been drunk thanks to drinks brought by former IPW promoter Daniel Edler (a man with a string of allegations of his own) when Robinson was 25. The alleged victim detailed that the two had become “comfortable with each other” whilst exploring Oberhausen as part of a group prior to the show, and they had both gone for a cigarette during the evening’s wXw show where:

Robinson responded to allegations with the following:

Robinson saw his bookings drop dramatically when the above became public. Ospreay, who has supported him publicly throughout in the aftermath, pushed for him to return to Progress Wrestling in May 2023, with the two reforming their Swords of Essex team for the show. Progress stated that their decision to use Robinson once more came after the completion of an investigation that included receiving written endorsement for the parents of the alleged victim for Robinson to continue wrestling and cleared him of any wrongdoing. Prior to that, Robinson had worked as a producer for the promotion in early 2021 but Progress chose to not use him again in that role after fan pushback, a move which was criticised by Ospreay in social media posts at the time. Ospreay has made no further comment in regards to Robinson in relation to the feedback received in relation to the post. EVE has also made no further comment up to this point.

Robinson’s situation is not to be confused with other Swords of Essex member Scott Wainwright, who was accused of assault by fellow wrestler Pollyanna, who believed she was then blackballed from several promotions after she made the situation public.

© Chris Gannon

Progress

“Chapter 192: Cause and Effect”

Date: March 29th, 2026
Location: The Electric Ballroom, Camden, UK
Watch On: Triller+

By Trish Speirs

Progress returned to Camden for “Chapter 192: Cause and Effect”, their final spring show before heading to Las Vegas. They opened up with recent returnee Spike Trivet, who has been paying for past misdemeanours in recent months, leading to an 0-4 record since the autumn. Trivet found himself on the backfoot right away in the opener, with opponent Charlie Sterling attacking him during his entrance poses, having kept the element of surprise by dressing as a member of the ring crew. Sterling beat Trivet around on the outside, leading to a scoop slam onto the concrete before rolling him back into the ring for the bell to be rung.

Sterling went heavy on the power moves in his opening period of control but was caught by taking a little too long to follow up on his other offense, leading to him being caught with a Saito suplex; Trivet’s first offensive move in the contest. Sterling attempted to cut him off from gaining any momentum through biting the arm and raking the eyes, and even found some flashiness of his own, running up the turnbuckle to attempt a moonsault that Trivet managed to avoid.

Sterling pushed the referee off of the apron whilst her back was turned to open up the final stretch, where Trivet really did get the better of him, hitting a sunset flip powerbomb before the tower of silence. This was the moment you expected a visual pin with no referee available, but she was able to roll back in and make the count. It was a real shock, both in terms of the suddenness of the match finish and that Trivet had ended his losing run by beating Sterling, who had only lost previously in singles competition against Cara Noir and current Men’s World Champion Man Like DeReiss.

Next up was a first round matchup for the Women’s Super Strong Style 16 tournament between Emersyn Jayne and Hollie Barlow. Barlow has won over the crowd since debuting in Progress, so fans felt very much shortchanged when Jayne met Barlow’s trash talk to open the match followed straight away by her Crunchie (it’s a chocolate bar) bomb finisher. The match went under a minute, leaving the audience stunned.

Hollie’s reluctant friend, Lana Austin, turned her back on her when Barlow looked for comfort, but turned around at the noise of the crowd after Jayne returned to the ring and attacked Barlow from behind. Austin watched on at first as the Scot continued pummeling, but eventually chose to get in the ring. Fans weren’t sure who Austin would attack at first, but it was Jayne who received a forearm to the head as the crowd cheered. The crowd wanted more though, they wanted the hug of friendship they had been waiting months for and began chanting for it. Lana waited a moment, but eventually embraced her younger protege as the theme song from TV show “Friends” began playing. I would put money on Austin being behind that music call, and honestly, it was a pretty cute moment.

© Chris Gannon

Gene Munny arrived at the ring shortly after, with his identical twin brother (some things are better off left unexplained) Kouga alongside. Munny declared that he wished to defend his Atlas Championship against a “big lad” in the “Gene Munny Big Lad Open Invitational” before Session Moth Martina interrupted. The two family members bantered back and forth about Munny wanting someone with size before Nathan Black’s music played. Black is a comedian and owner of Pursuit Pro Wrestling and uses “SIIIIZEyeah ” as a catchphrase. This was his first appearance in Progress, and his first actions were to throw abuse at Session Moth and hit Munny with a cheap shot to open proceedings.

This was a cross between a serious defense and comedy match that you would expect to see with Munny as the title holder, who had control early enough to carry out a very long airplane spin into a fallaway slam. Black changed the tide by copying Sterling from earlier and biting Gene’s fingers before getting in an elongated spot of his own, gorilla pressing Munny over his head before letting him fall to the mat.

Things sped up when Munny launched himself out of the corner with a meat javelin spear, followed by a diving shoulder tackle, but the champion was distracted by Martina and Kouga’s appearance on the apron in response to more abuse being thrown towards Session Moth by Black throughout the match. As the referee was urging them down, Black caught Munny with a belt shot for the big heel near fall of the match. Black continued to throw more abuse right after, but this time the reply to it came directly from Munny, through a series of headbutts before finishing him off with an Ainsley Lariat (which is the type of move name that Zack Sabre Jr. would be proud of). Munny disposed of Black to the floor as the Family celebrated, with Session Moth naturally stealing the place in the centre of the trio, conducting the show runners to throw on Queen’s “We Are The Champions” in the process. It is a good job they weren’t required to pay music royalties for this show.

Munny’s successful Atlas Title defense was followed by a Paul Walter Hauser promo recorded from his home in Los Angeles. This was a long warble where he listed his recent US indie appearances before eventually declaring he would be defending his Proteus Title in Las Vegas. It was monotone, often without point and funny in that the audio was way off from the visuals. Simon Miller’s skit outside Wembley early on in the show is something Hauser should probably watch for comparison on how to do these spots effectively. Hauser decided to make some additional “fans” amongst the Progress community later in the week when he quoted criticism of his promo being longer than the first women’s match on the show. Anyway, I think the message was that his defense in Vegas also sees him putting up $100,000 on the line. “Some say he is still doing the promo now” says the ring announcer as they cut back to the venue. Harsh but fair, that one.

© Chris Gannon

The last match up before the interval saw Charles Crowley meet Cara Noir. It is kind of insane the differences in a year that both men have seen; with Crowley becoming a crowd favourite and Noir turning to the darkside. Both are characters who liked to play mind games as well as being, quite frankly, on the weirder side of the gimmicks on the Progress roster.

Their mind games with each other began in the entrances, with Noir appearing behind Crowley as he posed in a spotlight mid ring, before the lights went on and off only to find Crowley ready to low blow Noir. These continued after the bell rung, with Crowley opting to match Noir in being barefoot. It felt like he fell into a trap though, with Noir punishing him for it by whipping the feet, stomping on the ankle before biting Crowley’s foot. (There was a lot of biting in the first half of this show…)

Cara Noir thought he had it wrapped up from there, but his pin after a tombstone saw Crowley kick out at two. Noir pretended to walk away, but this was another trap, as he hit Crowley with a burst of offense. He did not go for what looked like a certain pin after a package piledriver though, instead setting up for a punt kick before the lights went out. They came back on to reveal Noir’s feud rival, Man Like DeReiss, in the ring donning a referee’s shirt. DeReiss hit the stunned Noir with a superkick before rousing Crowley into action. Crowley caught Noir with the Merry Go Round piledriver before going for the pin which DeReiss happily counted. Commentary exclaimed it as the biggest win of Crowley’s career so far, but it was clear that this was all about DeReiss and Noir’s ongoing issues over the Progress Men’s World Title.

The Progress World Tag Team Titles were up right after the break as Diamond Eyes (Nico Angelo and Connor Mills) looked to defend their belts against the Young Guns team of Ethan Allen and former singles champion Luke Jacobs. This was the Young Guns’ first tag match in the Electric Ballroom, and it began with split crowd support and cagey exchanges before the power of Nico Angelo allowed the champions to slow the match down, with Mills targeting the leg of Ethan Allen which had led to his injury absence last year. The referee missing a tag to Jacobs only led to more punishment being inflicted on Allen, who remained the target for Angelo and Mills for most of the match.

Allen eventually got the tag and Young Guns some sustained offense, with a doomsday device looking to have won the titles for the challengers, only for a late break up of the pin. The chaos and speed change brought in by Jacobs entering the match really did flip the momentum. For the first time, Diamond Eyes were without the man advantage and it proved costly, as Jacobs was able to submit Mills with an STF after subjecting him to a series of submissions whilst Allen blocked Angelo from reentering the ring.

The crowd, who weren’t perhaps into cheering fully for the men who were heels for much of last year, were won over by the end, with the front row rushing to bash the apron in celebration of their new tag champions.

© Chris Gannon

Alexxis Falcon had more success when it came to returning her gold, as she successfully defended her Progress Women’s Title against Mercedes Martinez. Martinez was visiting Progress as part of her retirement tour and received a strong show of appreciation from the crowd, who then made her smile with the chants of her name. That was as good as it got for Martinez early on though, as she was brutalised early on by Falcon, who rubbed in her advantage by brushing her foot against Martinez’s head repeatedly as it rested on the ropes. The viscousness on display by the champion comes from her recent turn on former best friend Rhio and feels much more better placed for the wrestler than the lukewarm babyface she was before her turn.

Martinez caught her out with a suplex where she threw Falcon from the top rope, and later with an exploder suplex, but these were brief replies in what was a dominant win for the champion, who finished off her challenger with a twisted hangman DDT after a brutal knee strike.

The main event of the show saw Man Like DeReiss put up the World Title against former friend Kid Lykos. DeReiss has found himself lashing out and taking more risks as his title reign has gone on, especially down to the continued harassment he has endured from Cara Noir since the night he won the belt. This rashness led to him accidently laying out Lykos II as he and Kid Lykos got into an argument, as well as Amira Blair being knocked to the floor during the recent tag match, where he and Michael Oku tagged against Lykos Gym. Kid Lykos capitalised on DeReiss’ mixed emotions, pinning the champion in order to earn a title shot.

Lykos is not without his own issues either, with his use of underhanded tactics coming at the disapproval of tag partner Lykos II, who was not there to second him at the start of the match but did come out to sit on the stage shortly after the start. Lykos II was probably better off seeing the actions of his elder tag partner before the match, where Kid Lykos blindsided the champion with a shot from his loaded elbow brace during the ring introductions that he has been banned from wearing during matches.

Lykos was onto DeReiss to follow up as soon as the bell rang, with consecutive brainbusters for consecutive two counts, as the champion fought to survive his early disadvantage. DeReiss eventually came into the match, launching a ground and pound attack on Lykos as he let his frustrations out. Things went back and forth from there until Lykos went for a Busaiku knee on DeReiss in the corner, only for the referee to take the high speed impact instead. With the referee out, DeReiss got the visual pin we had expected in the opener after a piledriver, before Lykos had one of his own with still no official to count. Lykos took a moment before heading out of the ring to find a hammer, and that was enough for Lykos II to rise from his seat on the ramp and come down to the ring. The younger tag partner calmly explained to his elder that if he used the hammer they were done before dropping down to the floor, leaving Kid Lykos to make the choice. The crisis of conscience eventually saw him opt to not use the weapon and of course, this ended up costing him as the time taken up with this had allowed DeReiss to recover, allowing him to hit a cutter straight into a pop up powerbomb and then into his trusty sharpshooter. Lykos looked into the eyes of his tag partner on the outside whilst locked into the submission before tapping out.

The post match was tense, as fans wondered whether Kid Lykos would attack his tag partner or accept that he had made the right decision with the hammer. Calmer heads prevailed here, with the tense stare left for the champion as Lykos Gym left the ring. There still wasn’t time for DeReiss to celebrate though as straight to the ring came Cara Noir, with a sledgehammer in hand. Strangely, the road crew swarmed to move DeReiss out of the ring rather than trying to get Noir to put down the hammer, leaving ‘The Black Swan’ standing over the champion’s custom belt he hadn’t left the ring with. With a dozen red shirts blocking DeReiss from entering the ring, he could only watch on as Noir took a sledgehammer to his prized belt, as he continued to succeed with his mind games ahead of the eventual title match between the two.

Progress News

By Trish Speirs

Progress Wrestling will return to the Horseshoe in Las Vegas on April 16th at 11:00 a.m. The early morning slot will mean that they avoid having to run at 11pm again like they did last year. The show will be headlined by Man Like DeReiss defending the Progress Men’s World Championship against Michael Oku. DeReiss and Oku tagged together again a month back against Lykos Gym, but found themselves on the losing side after Oku’s manager Amira Blair had been knocked off the apron to the floor.accidently by DeReiss. Tensions from that situation led to the pair losing the match.

Also announced for the card is (the ever popular with Progress fans) Paul Walter Hauser, who will be defending his Proteus Championship against Big Damo. Ethan Allen will also face Lio Rush in one of the final first round matches for this year’s Super Strong Style 16 tournaments, whilst former women’s champion Rio takes on Vert Vixen. On the lower end of the card, Subculture will wrestle Tommy Tanner and highly rated French youngster Kuro, whilst also hosting a women’s four-way between Emersyn Jane, Lena Cross, Renee Michelle and recent title challenger Mercedes Martinez. Simon Miller has also been announced for the event. The event will stream live on Triller+ and Hooked On Wrestling TV.

The Promotion will return to the UK on the 3rd and 4th of May for the finals of the Super Strong Style 16 tournament, which this year will feature both men’s and women’s tournaments for the first time, meaning that the finals will begin at the second round stage. The second rounds are almost fully decided for both the men and women. In one half of the bracket in the women’s tournament, Kanji will face Emersyn Jayne and Skye Smitson will take on the winner of Billie Starkz and Gisele Shaw who fight in Canada on 26th April. The half of the bracket will see Smitson’s tag partner LA Taylor against Shotzi Blackheart, and Stephanie Maze against the winner of Rhio and Vert Vixen in Las Vegas. For the men’s tournament, one half of the bracket sees Spike Trivet against Peter Tihanyi, and Charlie Sterling faces the winner of Lio Rush and Ethan Allen in Las Vegas. Finally, the other half of the men’s bracket has Jay Joshua against Simon Miller and Elijah Blum against Charles Crowley.

Progress has also announced follow-up dates in Manchester for the 7th of June, entitled “WonderBrawl II”, and for July 26th back at the Electric Ballroom in Camden for “Scorchio”. Australian tag team The Velocities, whose matches in Rev Pro against Aussie Open were much lauded a few years back, are the first talents to be announced for the later show. Despite his brand new TNA contract, Ricky Sosa will be competing in PROGRESS on 7th June in Manchester at “Chapter 195: Wonderbrawl II”.

© Chris Gannon

RevPro

Round-up

By Peter Edge

Revolution Pro Wrestling had a double header on the weekend of 21st and 22nd March on either side of the West Midlands with “High Stakes” in Wolverhampton’s Hangar and a “Live In…” show at the Empire in Coventry.

All the Rev Pro titles would be on the line over this weekend but split between the shows and on paper it seemed that Coventry looked better than Wolverhampton.

“High Stakes” had the main attraction of Mercedes Moné coming and with a Revolution Rumble match (basically a Casino Gauntlet match without the fun involved) to get the chance to have a match with Mercedes, a ‘Moné In The Bank’ Match if you will… (dust balls have suddenly emerged for some reason.) That match was won by Alexxis Falcon, putting her into the match with Moné’s Discovery and Europe Bodyslam Titles on the line. Given this Saturday afternoon show was part of the third leg of Mercedes World Tour that has seen her lose her titles everywhere she goes, the result of this match felt obvious.

“Live In Coventry” meanwhile would get a Young Guns vs Cowboy Way Tag Title Match, Michael Oku Vs Ricochet and a Alex Windsor Vs Safire Reed match for the Women’s Title in a match that had been coming since August last year, and the Cut Throat Collective turning on Alex at the anniversary show during “Forbidden Door 2025” weekend.

Ok, Coventry would also get a Ricky Knight Jr. match, so Coventry couldn’t get all the nice things, but still.

TK Cooper will be facing JJ Gale in a #1 Contenders match for the Undisputed British Heavyweight Title, held by Jay Joshua. The winner will face Joshua in Doncaster on 17th May. TK Cooper has unsuccessfully challenged Joshua for his title previously on 1st February.

Leon Cage has received a WWE tryout.

On 12th April, Rev Pro were in the Vale Arena in Cardiff for “Epic Encounters”. During the show there was an incident where a fan was hit on their head by the ringside railing during a brawling segment in a match. Jay Joshua was Irish whipped into a railing quite hard, and the issue was that the railings were not connected at the corners, which is what allows wrestlers to get thrown into them and they don’t budge that often, which is very common at All Japan shows, for example. So with the railings not being connected, they went tumbling into the front row. According to live reports from our very own contributor Chris Gannon, there were injuries to some fans in the front row as the railing collided with their heads. The fans were treated by local EMTs before receiving an ice pack to apply it to the forehead and they continued watching the show. The fans who were struck by the railings appeared to not make a big deal out of the situation, which is extremely fortunate for RevPro and the venue, and there should be questions as to how the spot was allowed without the railings connected, OR why the railings were not connected and the wrestlers thought they were.

© Chris Gannon

Rev Pro High Stakes 2026

Date: March 21st, 2026
Location: The Hanger, Wolverhampton, England
Watch On: RevPro OnDemand

Review By Peter Edge

The show would start 15 minutes late because this is British Wrestling we are talking about and even more bizarrely would start with a match between Isaac the Contender and Tom Therwell. Therwell made his debut the show before inSheffield, making this the kind of opening match vibes you’d get from a 1980’s WWF house show match. The match had something in common with Amira/Harley at EVE’s “Wrestle Queendom” by going less than 5 minutes, and hence being ineligible for a Cagematch rating. Even then it would have struggled to get more than 6.00.

It was when “Now We Play” started that the show really felt like it started, and in storyline Michael Oku was as in the dark as the fans as to who he was wrestling. It was supposed to be Ricky Sosa but Sosa had “travel difficulties” which might be TNA-speak for “you fucking work for us now” so a last minute replacement was needed and was found by the local competitor A Man Like Dereiss.

The match went 21 minutes, almost as long as DeReiss’ entrance and was deserving of “notebook” territory but the whole shenanigans of a late replacement for this Revolution Road tournament match was suboptimal, just like the week before when Therwell replaced a “travel difficulties” plagued Jack Morris. This suggests that going for a sixteen man field for a single elimination tournament based on the FA Cup football competition, part of the “Road to Wembley” theme for the first 8 months of Rev Pro’s 2026 heading into their Wembley Arena show on “All In” Weekend, was fraught with danger. Especially when it also included using people outside the Rev Pro bubble that they have built up in the last year.

The 4-star DeReiss/Oku match saw the match be concentrated around the pairs big submission moves, but Oku’s half crab would beat DeReiss’ Scorpion Death Lock to win the bout.

A Revolution Tag Match (Rev Pro’s name for one of those New Japan style elimination tag matches that has eliminations by pin, submission or over the top rope) saw Young Guns, Slater Dojo and some bloke called HMD face CPF, their close personal friend Leyton Buzzard and some bloke called Taylor James. In the trusted convention of friendship in wrestling, I expect Buzzard to turn heel on Joe Lando, the Cruiserweight champ, sometime soon.

Ok, that’s harsh on Taylor. Unlike HMD (or Cameron Khai actually) he has a Cagematch profile, but research tells me that James did wrestle five times for the company in the past but only once in a non “Live In…” show (“Revolution Rumble 2025”) but the the lack of issues in this match, with only Lando and Khai having something that resembles strife at the moment, made this a weird match to go on one of the big shows on the Rev Pro calendar.

Francesca the ring announcer announced the match would be no-DQ but you’d barely know it with the a) the lack of no-DQ things that happened, bar a prolonged brawl involving all ten on the outside, and b) the insistence that everyone stand on the apron for tags despite the no disqualifications in the ruleset. Seriously, I can do twenty minutes about how stupid it is that tags are a thing in No-DQ matches.

What turned out to be an average match would end with Lando and Buzzard as the survivors, and with Young Guns falling out with the Slater Dojo, leading to Allen and Jacobs to get pinned by members of CPF (another tag title match incoming?), and Liam Slater getting eliminated after a mishap with Khai further enhancing the dissension storyline in the dojo.

Mercedes Moné and Alexxis Falcon would finish off the first half of the show in what was the weakest of the five singles matches Mercedes had had in Rev Pro but the end result seeing this opponent coming out of Wolverhampton with the biggest shine of the Moné quintet. The pre-match was interesting in that Alexxis and Mercedes had some hijinks during the ring announcer, which was barely audible because the Wolverhampton PA vs live feed feud will go on for many years to come. The bants between Moné and Falcon did seem to genuinely piss off Andy Quildan, the Revolution Pro promoter who was on commentary, because fun is something we are not allowed to have at Rev Pro shows unless it is in the shape of 4 star matches.

The pair would have a good match, and arguably the best of Alexxis’ career, but it didn’t hold a candle to the Kanji, Emersyn Jayne and Rhio matches and didn’t have the rip-roaring end that the Safire match at Wolverhampton had. That end saw Alexxis bring both the Bodyslam and Discovery belts into the ring only for the ref to stop her, take ages to give one of the belts back – meaning Alexxis could hit Mercedes with a kick to the fanny (UK slang fanny) – and then hit the Falcons Fury onto the other belt for the win.

Alexxis being picked as the person to beat Moné and take belts off her is quite the endorsement and Falcon should use the Moné shine to make her standing in Rev Pro greater and become the greatest thing to come out of Hull full stop. (I’m sure the original plan was for Moné to lose the Undisputed British Women’s Title was going to be on a Rev Pro show and not on a taped Collision that went out at 7pm on a Saturday)

Post match saw Mercedes have a farewell moment, with her getting a standing ovation in what looks like being her final Rev Pro appearance, after a year of showings that impressed and helped the women’s division get traction like never before. (Even if those women didn’t get any showcases on International Women’s Day, when the Rev Pro Sheffield show on March 8th had an all men’s matches card.)

A 35 minute intermission followed, mainly because Mercedes went to the merch table and did a meet and greet. It was a very long queue, to the point that they had to tell Moné to stop the M&G, even with the queuing still happening, despite her needing to leave not long later to leave.

They would have been better off continuing with the Moné Meet and Greet rather than the first match back from the interval. That match was your typical Trent Seven match. It went north of 19 minutes, it was 3.25 stars and Trent won. Standing in a queue sounded like a better option.

Leon Slater vs Connor Mills was a really good match that showed why a lot of people think Leon will accomplish great things in his career even with the massive handicap of having to learn the WWE “playbook” when it comes to how to present himself on wrestling television. While Leon has the world at his feet and is seen with Michael Oku as potential standard bearers for British Wrestling in the future, people really shouldn’t sleep on Connor Mills. A Top Ten talent in Britain right now, Connor is vastly underrated with his control work. In this match, he focused on the leg of Leon, working very crisply and his strikes looking suitably stiff. Slater continued storyline with the Slater dojo and it’s leader Liam (they aren’t brothers), which with the infrequency of Leon’s appearances in Rev Pro, might be going into 2027. This would factor into the match with Cameron Khai interfering in the match and Leon using a small package to get the win, making a point to say that the strategy to win was cooked up by him and not his “coach”.

Ricochet would make another appearance for a promotion he did a lot of shots for in his independent career and would continue his skirmishes with The Bryant Brothers, teaming up with his Demand stablemates, Gates of Agony to face the Bryants. A good match, which was more Southern Wrasslin’ than a Party Match was a great showcase for Gates of Agony who got to throw around the less than 170 pound wrestlers around like they were action figures in a showcase for their strengths, which is their strength. The Demand would win out and post-match offered handshakes only to deliver stereo kicks to the dick, just like what happened with Ricochet and Nino in Cardiff last December, in what was the most obvious thing to happen at a Rev Pro event since turning up to a building at a Rev Pro show half an hour before the show and seeing the queue was round the block. Michael Oku with a steel chair would come out to chase The Demand away, only for Sha Samuels to sneak past Oku like he was Dick Dastardly and go to the ring to hit all three Bryants with steel chair shots to continue their feud.

Jay Joshua vs One Called Manders was your typical Rev Pro British Championship match. Full of twists and turns and a captivating battle but went a little too long, actually a lot long. A description of this match I read of being a hoss battle was very accurate with big hits and some very fun spots including a Oklahoma Stampede on the outside with the ring post replacing the turnbuckle in that spot. The final act saw Manders throw everything but the kitchen sink at Joshua and Joshua kicking out of everything to the point that it felt like they were going for a AJPW Kings Road finish where Joshus shows the fighting spirit but Manders is the dominant victor but Joshua hit a Screwdriver out of nowhere to take the win.

In all High Stakes was a good show with a multitude of strong matches but you also came away from the show thinking “I’d like more on this wrestling diet than meat and potatoes.” Rev Pro always brings it on their big shows and this wasn’t any exception but can we please sometimes put something onto the dinner table that isn’t protein or starch. (Editors Note: I dunno, Peter, that sounds like standard British cuisine to me?)

© Chris Gannon

Live In Coventry

Date: March 22nd, 2026
Location: HMV Empire, Coventry, England
Watch On: RevPro OnDemand

Review by Peter Edge

The “Live In…” shows in Coventry have always been an interesting experience. The atmosphere has been peculiar at times, non-existent at others. Whether it’s because a) there’s no real bounce from the ceiling that radiates around the hall, b) a percentage of the crowd are fans of more mainstream companies and don’t know the Rev Pro product or actually, c) Rev Pro are low-key the most inactive fans when it comes to making noise in British wrestling is something that can be debated. I’m more of b) person judging by the fact that when Tetsuya Naito did a shot at The Empire in Coventry and no-one went to his merch line to the point that when I bought a cap from him, the look in his eyes made me want to give him a hug. It later became clear that 60% of the patrons in the Empire didn’t know who Naito was when he came out to wrestle.

Nevertheless, “Operation: Let’s Make Coventry a Thing” would get its biggest push on the day after “High Stakes” with not just a Women’s Title match which saw the Alex Windsor/Safire Reed story come to a head after seven months, a Tag Team Title match involving Young Guns and Cowboy Way, and an intriguing match up with Michael Oku and Ricochet. When the show ended, the matches did deliver to their hype but also some big things would happen and some of those things would expose the fragilities in Rev Pro’s directions and USP.

Jay Joshua would beat contender Elvin Narayan in the opening match in what was a squash. The big story was a man in a balaclava coming out and attacking Jay. Having been to Coventry way too many times in my life, I’d be forgiven for thinking that the person was one of those teenagers that seems to make their local bus station a frequent haunt, but actually it was Will Kroos, who last was in a Rev Pro ring in 2022. It was an unmasking that sounded like it got a miniscule pop but that was probably Rev Pro’s production mics not being able to pick anything up. What is also interesting is that someone is being added to the world title picture during a No.1 Contenders Tournament, and while the idea of having multiple people gunning for a world title is a good booking trope, adding someone to the mix during a weeks long tournament just makes things complicated.

Speaking of the Revolution Road tournament, the final two matches of the eight match first round took place. Ricky Knight Jr. beat Danny Jones from the tag team Greedy Souls in a half decent match, in which I will give all the credit to Danny for that despite the complete lack of logic in psychology as the match hit its final third. Connor Mills would beat Tate Mayfairs in the final first round match. It was a fun sprint that threatened to become a middle distance race, until Connor’s attempt to lock in his ankle lock morphed into a half crab which got the submission win at the 11 minute mark and was a nod to Connor’s Rev Pro career rival Michael Oku. I’d do another 500 words on how great Connor is, especially his selling in this match but I think our editors would despise me considering how many words this weekend review is getting to. (Editor’s Note: Please always write the extra words, especially if it’s about someone or something that is good)

These results mean that Connor Mills, RKJ, Oku and Seven would join Kuro, Guido Buriani, TK Cooper and JJ Gale in the quarter-finals of the Revolution Road tournament.

Leon Slater and Cameron Khai would beat the CPF pair of Joe Lando and Danny Black with Khai pinning Lando in that “bloke pins champion so that means he is next in line for a title shot” trope that Andy Quildan liked as much the “Suzuki-gun wrestler holds a title forever” trope he used from 2018-2020. A post-match angle saw Khai, with Slater egging him on, carry on the attack until Leyton Buzzard made the save.

Melissa Fierce beat her second Cut Throat Collective member in consecutive shows in Coventry when she pinned Anita Vaughan and also Gates of Agony would beat Lykos Gym in an ok match.

© Chris Gannon

This all led to the triple main event of the show. Alex Windsor and Safire Reed’s Undisputed British Women’s Title match came first. Upon announcement of this match, I thought it could be a main event but was upended on that note which was disappointing, until I remembered that this is the company that had all men’s matches card on International Women’s Day earlier in the month. A fast and frenetic match which really didn’t feel like it went the 15 minutes that it went. It was the quality of match you’d expect from two of the Top 3 British wrestlers around today. A Made In Japan won it for Alex, and this match had the best atmosphere on this Coventry show – which some nights is like asking for the best Tottenham Hotspur win in the Premier League in 2026 – but everything came together for a really good match.

The question to ask next, given this looked like a definitive feud-ender, was “what is next for Windsor”. Turned out the answer was something quick to nothing at all: Alexxis Falcon would come out and challenge Alex to a title vs. title match with Alexxis’ newly acquired Bodyslam and Discovery Titles on the line as well. That challenge was accepted and we were on. In the next 3 minutes, we got a ref bump, a kick to the fanny and Kanji, the current feud that Falcon is involved in coming in and trying to hit Falcon with one of the belts, only for Falcon to duck and Windsor get hit, leading to a Falcon’s Fury, allowing her to add the Rev Pro Title to her growing collection that also includes the Progress Title. How Sports Entertain-y was that angle, especially after Saf vs Alex.

The whole segment really told me a couple of things: 1) Safire winning, which always seemed the long game – with Saf becoming the Cut Throat Collective leader in 2025 and Alex winning the Women’s belt in December – was off the books after it was found out that Safire and Anita Vaughan would be going to Japan for a couple of months after Easter. 2) Windsor’s situation with Rev Pro and her dates is something outside my knowledge, but Alexxis coming in and doing a “cash-in” type deal without having to cash in, via an impromptu title challenge was very un-Rev Pro. Revolution Pro Wrestling is a meat and potatoes style of wrestling product to the point that the chances you get increased cholesterol when you leave a show is very high. That made this whole segment stand out and be so stark and let’s me ask this: Would this kind of title change happen in any of the men’s title divisions?

The dream match of Michael Oku vs. Ricochet only really started to threaten be over the whelming mark in the final third with some cool counters and some story beats involving Oku which included Oku putting on the ankle lock move that Connor Mills uses which led to his downfall as Ricochet reversed his way out of it and hit the Spirit Gun for the win.

© Chris Gannon

The decision to put the Young Guns/Cowboy Way tag title match as the main event might have been an interesting decision on paper but to the four’s massive credit, they put on a hell of a match and the best match on a Rev Pro show so far this year and in my opinion the best men’s match on British soil in 2026 so far and a probable Top 5 UK match this year when the year-end lists get formed come Christmas time. A brawl between the two teams went round the stage area before a bell was rung until an Ethan Allan dive off the stage gave he and Luke Jacobs the advantage and the in-ring action started. A hell of a match formed which saw Luke with a crimson mask and Ethan playing face in peril this time round in the constant roulette wheel that is which alignment in the face/heel divide Young Guns are when in Rev Pro. A compelling final act would see Shire tapping out to a Jacobs submission in a 4.5-4.75 star match.

Young Guns are in the category of the “Best Team everyone in the UK knows about, but actually the Best Team in the world that people in the US, Japan and Mexico don’t know about”. That might change with their upcoming match at RevPro’s 14th Anniversary Show at Wembley Arena against FTR during “All In” weekend in August. Right now, they remind me of where Aussie Open were in 2021, with this match against the Cowboy Way team of One Called Manders and Shire being to Young Guns what the Velocities match in PWA in ‘21 was to Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis. The attention for this match and this show was much more muted however.

For a company that has made their theme for the first half of the year about the “Road to Wembley”, a famous phrase used during the FA Cup, and one that has a relationship with AEW that allows them access to world class talent, and delivers really good in-ring wrestling, Rev Pro has still lost the magic and relevancy they once had.

UK & Ireland

ATTACK! Wrestling News

ATTACK! Held their 15th anniversary show in The Great Hall in Cardiff on 21st March. Greedy Souls (Brendan White & Danny Jones) won the Tag Team Title, but the main event of the show was free agent Dani Luna defeating Kanji for the ATTACK! Title.

Over The Top (OTT) Wrestling News

Trent Seven defended his OTT European Title against Frankie Vendetta in Belfast on 8th March.

Charlie Sterling advanced to the second round of PROGRESS’ “Super Strong Style 16” tournament, defeating Cian Noonan at “Paddy’s Day Bash” on 14th March. On the same show, Big Damo defended his World Title against Irish Heavyweight Champion Daragh Lynch. There was an international offering as Moose defeated 1 Called Manders, but the main event saw Luke Frehill score an upset over Jay, Renzo Rose and Matthew Bullet Smyth to win the Golden Briefcase.

OTT uploaded a full show, “Super Showdown”, for the first time ever to YouTube. The show was held at the Barbican Centre in Drogheda on 28th March. The show was main evented by Drogheda hometown hero Calum Black defending his No Limits Title against TJ Charles.

Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) News

ICW were back at The Garage in Glasgow on 29th March for the quaintly-named show “So’s Yer Maw III”. The Dangerous Brothers (BT Gunn & Kez Evans) became the new ICW Tag Team Champion, while Rhio defeated Leyton Buzzard to defend her World Heavyweight Title. It was her fourth defence since winning the title in August 2025. ICW’s next show is “Wubba Lubba Dub Dub” on 24th May at the same venue.

ICW announced a collaboration with NORTH Wrestling based out of Newcastle titled “Insane North Weekender”. The show on 20th June will be held at Anarchy Brew Co in Newcastle, while on 21st June, the two promotions will be at The Garage in Glasgow where the NORTH Title held by Gene Munny will be defended in Scotland for the very first time. NORTH stream their shows on TrillerTV+.

© wXw / BeautyInCombat

wXw

Ahura, now dubbed the “Gold King” on his way to becoming the face of wXw, won the 16 Carat Gold 2026 tournament, defeating Peter Tihanyi in a final that had a certain feeling that none of the earlier matches possessed, having previously beaten Tetsuya Naito in a rare clean pinfall loss for the latter and Thomas Shire in the semi-final. The victory made Ahura a back-to-back major wXw tournament winner following his König der Catcher triumph in September 2025, setting up a showdown with Unified World Wrestling Champion Elijah Blum, who retained on night two against 1 Called Manders in a strong match built around Manders’ weakened arm, while Planet Gojirah won the wXw World Tag Team Titles from The Grind in a street fight with help from the returning Robin Christopher Fohrwerk. As an introduction to wXw as a new fan, the weekend was a worthwhile investment, with the final and the Chirhiro Hashimoto against Dani Luna match on the third night being the clear highlights, the latter slightly let down by a lack of in-ring micing. The second night’s pacing could have improved, but the final show was well-paced and delivered where it mattered most.

One other news story coming out of the weekend was Ricky Sosa being taken out of the “16 Carat Gold 2026” tournament due to “career opportunities”. That turned out to be TNA, with Sosa dropping his European Title to Zoltan in April and making his TNA TV debut on 6th March.

Following his defence against Manders, Elijah Blum followed it up by defeating Manders’ tag team partner, Thomas Shire, on 11th April in Dresden. On the same show, Axel Tischer became the new Shotgun Champion after defeating Dennis Dulling. This was also the show that Sosa dropped his European Title on.

Eddie Kingston and Jun Akiyama will be appearing at “Drive Of Champions 2026” in Oberhausen on 6th June. Chihiro Hashimoto will be returning for the Pro-Wrestling Grand Prix in September.

Peter Tihanyi and Zoltan received WWE tryouts.

© wXw / BeautyInCombat

“16 Carat Gold 2026” – First Round

6th March 2026
Turbinenhalle 1, Oberhausen, Germany

In the main event, the magnetic, charismatic, dynamic tournament and crowd favourite Ahura faced wXw Shotgun Champion Dennis Dullnig. In 2023, Ahura lost in the semi-finals to eventual winner Shigehiro Irie and followed up in 2024 with a finals loss to 1 Called Manders. Ahura, who also won the “König der Catcher” tournament in September 2025, has put his career on the line by saying that if he does not win the “16 Carat Gold” tournament this year, then he would retire, adding some drama to each of Ahura’s matches. Given the predictability of the story, Ahura is relying on his storytelling ability and charisma to create a compelling-enough hook for each round. The jury is out whether he succeeded with the first round.

Ahura, who said that he would fill the hole left behind by WALTER and Ilja Dragunov, made his entrance to the adoring fans chanting his name as he looked every part the König der Catcher that he is. Once the bell rang, the match took some time to get going before Dullnig targeted Ahura’s previously injured shoulder by slamming it into the apron. The next 10 minutes were quite slow without much drama or tension building up, before Dullnig thumbed Ahura in the eye. Ahura, who was now blinded, almost hit the ref with his finisher before coming to his senses. There was then a ref bump anyway as Ahura booted Dullnig into the ref. The referee was knocked out cold for several minutes after. Ahura was stupid enough to leave his legs open near Dullnig and was lowblowed. Dullnig then grabbed a belt and a hammer. The referee woke up and saw the belt and got rid of it, but didn’t see the hammer. Dullnig knocked Ahura out with the hammer and then hit a brutal gutwrench piledriver. Somehow, the fans bought that as the finish as they erupted when he kicked out. The referee then found the hammer and argued with Dulling for about three minutes. This gave Ahura enough time to gain enough energy to hit an incredible Divine Sandstorm onto Dulling before following up with Salamander for the win. The ref bump and the amount of time spent not wrestling took me out of this a bit. I am fine with periods of no wrestling when used as a story device, but it did not feel as if the tension was building, which is what is supposed to happen. Clearly, it worked for the crowd, so this may just be a “your mileage may vary” moment.

YAMATO returned to Germany after 16 years to take on Axel Tischer in the first round. YAMATO was the ace of Dragongate throughout 2025, and is generally considered to be on the Mount Rushmore of Dragongate. One funny moment was that no one knew YAMATO’s suplex spot, including the commentators. YAMATO basically says he’s going to suplex the guy, tries a few times, fails and normally gets suplexed himself. The Dragongate crowds love it. Here, YAMATO kept saying it to total silence from the crowd. Not everything translates well! Axel kicked out of the first Galleria from YAMATO. Despite the crowd being fully behind Axel, YAMATO squeaked out a win with a huricanrana pin.

Tetsuya Naito made his “16 Carat Gold” debut against Dieter Schwartz. This felt pretty much like any other Naito match in 2026. There were some miscommunications where they didn’t seem on the same page. I believe Naito was put with Schwartz in the hope it would help hide some of Naito’s deficiencies, and it mostly did, but not enough to not be noticeable. Naito hit a clean Destino but Schwartz kicked out which shocked the crowd. Naito hit another one for the victory.

In one of the major upsets of the first round, Hungary’s young starlet Zoltan scored a flash pin over BUSHI in what was otherwise a quite standard match. Calling this an upset would be an understatement, actually. I’m not sure this was on many people’s bingo cards and it instantly made Zoltan the crowd favourite to go very deep into the tournament.

One of the best prospects (the best?) on the US independent scene, Titus Alexander, faced fellow North American US indie wrestler Alan Angels in a match that elicited “Fight Forever!” chants. I won’t say that it ever reached that level for me, but Titus is a genuine in-ring talent. It is mind blowing to me that he has not made it to any of the major US companies yet. Alan Angels was replacing Ricky Sosa. I’m not sure if they just decided to let Angels go through because Sosa was going to, or if this was a consolation for Angels making the trip to help fill the gap. Either way, Angels advanced, pinning Titus with the Angel’s Wings.

Since the closure of Deadlock Pro-Wrestling (DPW) in the US, DPW regulars have been trying to find a new home. Former ROH veteran Erick Stevens restarted his career at DPW and had several great performances before he was hit with the news. He was entered into the “16 Carat Gold 2026” tournament as a way to build himself back up and continue to get his name out there. In the first round, he beat Bobby Gunns to advance to the quarter finals in a solid bout.

Chihiro Hashimoto made her Germany debut in a losing effort to Thomas Shire. As someone who thinks Hashimoto is legitimately one of the best wrestlers on the planet, I was hoping that she would get more in this match, and possibly even advance given the circumstances and how rarely she travels out of Japan. However, Shire is a featured wXw act so the result made sense and this is the same spot a lot of Japanese talent are in each year in the tournament. They exchanged a lot of great looking suplexes, but something felt off about the match in which it was not the version of this match that I would do. Hashimoto was treated seriously, but I do not believe it showcased her full range of skills, especially the chain wrestling which was only featured for a short period of time.

Arez (El Clon in AEW) took on Peter Tihanyi in the opener. It was a solid match, with Arez impressing so much that the crowd was almost upset that he did not advance.

© wXw / BeautyInCombat

“16 Carat Gold 2026” – Quarterfinals

7th March 2026
Turbinenhalle 1, Oberhausen, Germany

wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion Elijah Blum defended his title against his nominated challenger, the former champion 1 Called Manders. Elijah was looking to get revenge on Manders after having felt disrespected when Manders won a Texas Deathmatch by a count of 10 rather than using the Boss lariat to put Elijah down. Elijah worked over Manders’ arm in this match. There was a nasty spot where Manders powerslammed Elijah into the chairs and broke them. During the spot, Manders hurt his arm and was bleeding from it. He either got caught on some plastic from the exploding chair, or he pulled a Mark Davis and bladed his arm to sell the weakening arm even more. Either way, it added a lot to the match. Manders even switched to his left arm for a lariat, but when that wasn’t enough, he powered through with his injured arm. The referee started counting, but this time, Elijah did a kip up. Manders tried again, this time with a pinfall but Elijah kicked out. Manders tried one more time, but Elijah absorbed the lariat completely and countered with Sliding D for the win.

The Grind (Laurance Roman & Nick Schreier) lost their wXw World Tag Team Title in a Street Fight against Planet Gojirah (Marc Empire & Robert Dreissker). Robin Christopher Fohrwerk returned for the first time since January and aligned himself with Planet Gojirah to help them win after taping up Laurance Roman.

The tournament continued on day 2 with the quarterfinals. The show had a subdued feel to its matches. There were some great finishes, but it felt like the matches were meandering on their way to the finish and certainly failed to capture my engagement compared to the matches on the first show. It wasn’t helped by the fact that the show went quite long as it started 30 minutes late and went three and a half hours. There were no bad matches, but none that stood out. First the show opened up with YAMATO against Erick Stevens. YAMATO’s suplex spot got some polite applause this time. This match was… pedestrian. YAMATO won with an awesome looking huricanrana pin, the same way he had beaten Axel Tischer in the match before. Zoltan’s debut “16 Carat Gold” tournament came to an end at the hands of Thomas Shire as his dreams were powerbombed away. The match was not as good as you might expect. Alan Angels was knocked out of the tournament by Peter Tihanyi, who made the “16 Carat Gold” finals in 2024. Tihanyi won as he caught Alan Angels with a mid-air cutter. The crowd, who had booed Tihanyi prior, popped for the finish and the win and even got some Tihanyi chants going.

The marquee match up in the tournament was Ahura taking on Tetsuya Naito. It was interesting to see how the result would be booked. Ahura attempted a Divine Sandstorm to the outside but Naito moved out of the way so Ahura crashed into the chairs. As soon as Ahura beat the count and got into the ring, Naito hit Destino but kicked out to a large pop. Ahura hit Salamandra for the win which got an even larger pop. This was a rare clean pinfall loss for Naito, and likely Naito’s best singles match since Zack took the title off him at King Of Pro-Wrestling in 2024. It hid Naito’s weaknesses well and got the crowd invested in the result.

On the undercard, the Crush Boys (Starboy Charlie & Titus Alexander) were beaten by Rambo and Metehan. Rambo pinned Titus with a frog splash. Rambo was a huge crowd favourite and there was a pop as he won.

Jane Nero and Alex Duke took on New Japan young lion Katsuya Murashima and Chihiro Hashimoto. Nero is wearing the inactive wXw Women’s World Title, last held by Masha Slamovich in 2023. Murashima won with the German suplex on Alex Duke.

© wXw / BeautyInCombat

“16 Carat Gold 2026” – Semifinals & Finals

8th March 2026
Turbinenhalle 1, Oberhausen, Germany
Recommended Match: Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Dani Luna, Ahura vs. Peter Tihanyi

The final show of the weekend was by far the best, with multiple great matches and not as long as the second night which felt never-ending in comparison. The opener of the show saw Ahura continue his determined run to “16 Carat Gold” victory against Thomas Shire. Ahura lost in the finals of the tournament in 2025 to 1 Called Manders in a harrowing loss that has plagued Ahura for the past year. Shire is 1 Called Manders’ Cowboy Way tag team partner, so he played into the story beat and played the heel as he dominated Ahura from the start and attacked Ahura’s injured shoulder. Shire attempted to finish Ahura off with the same lariats that lost Ahura last year’s tournament. That time around, Ahura crossed his arms as Manders delivered the final blow. This time, Ahura once again crossed his arms. Shire ran the ropes to deliver the same final blow but Ahura caught him with a flash pin for the win. This was a smart finish. Shire destroyed Ahura’s shoulder again after the match to give him some more obstacles to overcome in the final. They really laid Ahura’s story on thick in the lead up to the final.

In the other semi-final, Peter Tihanyi knocked out YAMATO to set up a finals bout with Ahura. This was another predictable outcome given that Tihanyi was a much more credible tournament winner than YAMATO seeing as Tihanyi had made it to the finals of the last four tournaments that he was a part of. This was a fine match. YAMATO had a nearfall with the same huricanrana he advanced in the last two previous rounds with. Tihanyi won with the 450.

The final was the first match in the tournament that felt quite important to me. It had a gravitas that none of the other matches did. This was it. Ahura needed to beat the former wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion Peter Tihanyi. The beating that Shire gave Ahura earlier in the night was not a key story of this match. In fact, Ahura was mostly on top of things early on in the match as he attacked Tihanyi with Salamandra and Divine Sandstorm. Ahura hit the Boss lariat that beat him last year, but Tihanyi kicked out. Then, Tihanyi showed solidarity that Ahura wasn’t the only one dealing with traumatic past losses as Tihanyi hit a bunch of elbows onto Ahura that were shades of Shigehiro Irie in 2023 (courtesy of the excellent commentary team). Ahura returned the favour of the big kick outs as he survived the 450 splash. Tihanyi locked Ahura in an agonising, dramatic kimura lock. At one point, Ahura banged the mat twice which scared the fans. He somehow powered Tihanyi up into a Salamandra to win the tournament. This was the best match of the tournament by quite some distance and set up Ahura nicely for a showdown with Elijah Blum having won both major wXw tournaments back-to-back (“König der Catcher 2025” and “16 Carat Gold 2026”). Ahura closed the night, anointing himself the “Gold King” as he looks to become the new face of wXw.

wXw made my whole weekend of investment into their product as a new fan worth it as they booked Chihiro Hashimoto against Dani Luna in a match made for wrestling sickos. I did not know I needed this match until I saw it booked and then thought “that makes too much sense”. This made my new wXw sub all worth it. The fans knew it too as they chanted “Holy shit!” However, knowing these two wrestlers and how hard they hit, the production let this match down. I could not hear any of the strikes, forearms and clubbing blows that I know these two use, because I’ve heard them before. Knowing what I was missing out on actually made this match more frustrating for me than it might have for others, because this was a “dream match” for me, but it was snatched away by a ring that was not properly mic’d up. In any case, this was still one of my favourite matches of the weekend. But it could’ve been more! After the match, Hashimoto announced that she was returning for the “Femmes Fatales” tournament during Pro Wrestling Grand Prix weekend on 25th September 2026.

In a “Lucha Rules” tag, Spider Fly, Titus Alexander & Zoltan faced Arez, Ricky Sosa & Toxin. Sosa was returning from his trip to the US where he lost to Jason Hotch on an Xplosion taping. This was an incredibly fun party match. Just wrestling that makes you smile. Don’t think too deeply about it. Just watch the cool shit and nod your head, then move on.

© BZW

Mainland Europe

Banger Zone Wrestling (BZW) News

BZW held “Enter The Zone” on 24th January in Faches-Thumesnail, France, near Lille in the north of the country. The show was notable for the appearance of Tetsuya Naito, who took on Connor Mills in a singles match. In the main event, Jacob Vadocq defended the BZW Title against Jordan Oliver. After the match, Trent Seven returned to BZW and attacked Jacob. He previously lost a “Loser Leaves Town” match to Joseph Fenech Jr. in July 2025.

BZW’s next big show is on 14th March, held in conjunction with fellow French promotion Rixe. Connor Milles, Georges Balzac and Minoru Suzuki will face off in a three-way, while Mercedes Mone has been announced.

BZW will also hold a show with Pursuit Pro Wrestling in Sheffield, United Kingdom. The BZW Tag Team Champions MAO & Yoshihiko have been announced for the show. Yoshihiko had been on a recent tear in DDT having challenged Kazuki Hirata for the KO-D Openweight Title on 28th September in one of the best matches of the year in DDT. The Pursuit Pro show is “pay what price you want” and is fully sold out at the PPW Facility.

APC Catch News

On 14th March at “Apogee”, a joint event with Rixe, it was all change at the top of the BZW card as Trent Seven defeated Jacob Vadocq to become the new BZW Champion and Mercedes Mone lost her EWA Title to Mila Schmidt, who also had her Rixe Title on the line.

There continues to be fallout from the “Speaking Out” movement in the French independent scene, which we reported in Issue 12. The Twitter account that began publicising the movement launched fresh allegations against the Rixe owner, known as Jack Sans Nom. 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). Additionally, there was 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. The allegations were made public after “Apogee”, with Rixe not having held an event since, but there is a scheduled show on 8th May.

In related news to “Speaking Out”, Joseph Fenech Jr. will be wrestling again on 16th May in the promotion Catch Prod, concluding his hiatus that came after an allegation levied at him.

KHAO News

KHAO launched the first episode of their main show title “Volume 1” on 1st March in a critically acclaimed show in Nogent-sur-Marne in the suburbs of Paris. The show was a one-day tournament won by Ricky Sosa who became the inaugural KHAO Champion. Sosa was immediately defeated by Lashka (Mecca’s gimmick in KHAO) in an impromptu match to close out the show. Mecca had been knocked out earlier in the day by his former tag team partner Sosa. It is available to watch on YouTube for free. There was a viral clip shared of Cory Zero being powerbombed off of a balcony and being caught by like twenty wrestlers which caused controversy among fans thinking it was unsafe. (I think it was awesome.) Their next show is “Nemesis” on 2nd May in Wissous, in the southern suburbs of Paris, with Emersyn Jayne taking on Cory Zero in a marquee match.

German Wrestling Federation (GWF) News

The GWF World Champion Andrade El Idolo will be back in Germany at GWF’s “Mystery Vortex” show on 29th April.

BODYSLAM Wrestling News

Alexxis Falcon is the new BODYSLAM Women’s Champion after beating Mercedes Mone in RevPro at “High Stakes 2026” on 21st March. BODYSLAM’s next show is on 16th May at Pumphauset in Copenhagen.

Madison Marley has received a WWE tryout. Madison has been on tour with SEAdLINNNG in Japan twice, with her most recent tour ending with the SEAdLINNNG show at Korakuen Hall on 17th April.

Squash A Jobber Wrestling (SAJ) News

On 14th March at “Grandeur Warped”, Lupo became the new SAJ Openweight Champion, defeating Sebastian De Witt and El G in a three-way. SAJ has announced matches for their joint show with TJPW in Milan on 26th April. Lupo will defend his newly attained title against NOAH’s Kouga, who, you may not know it, will return to NOAH as one of the most over wrestlers on the roster considering he left at his peak. Shoko Nakajima will face Kanji and Miyu Yamashita takes on former SAJ Openweight Champion Sebastian De Witt. Finally, EVE Champion Session Moth Martina will team with Flamingo against Hyper Misao and El G.

The collaborations don’t stop there, as SAJ will hold a joint-show with GCW on 24th May with 1 Called Manders, Atticus Cogar, Drew Parker, Gringo Loco, Jeffrey John, Joey Janela, KJ Orso, Nick Gage, Shotzi Blackheart and Vipress all announced. The show will be live on Triller if you want to catch the SAJ style for the first time.