Time for 2017's revolution to start :)
Last Friday we went to Portsmouth for a Revolution Pro-Wrestling show; our first of their shows this year. Portsmouth is nicely easy to get to and we met up with our friend Joe on the train. He lives locally and often attends the same shows as us, though is unable to make PROGRESS shows due to money and time. He and Anthony know each other through ice hockey and he’s always good company.
First thing we realised once we got inside - after queuing outside for a bit and then being held in the downstairs cafe area of the venue - was many kids were there this time. There was a tremendous amount, because it was the end of half-term week. It was great to see so many families there and so many kids in wrestling shirts and masks, running around, all over excited. Sadly there were more than a few adults there who didn’t care about children being present and chanted stuff that really was not appropriate, to the point of being offensive. I don’t understand why people go to shows that are clearly marketed to being family-friendly show and acting like they’re at an adults-only one. It’s just awful and makes things really awkward and unpleasant.
The first match was Marty Scurll - our beloved villain - against ‘All Day Star’ Ryan Smile. We’ve only ever seen Ryan at Attack shows so it was good to see him wrestle somewhere else. He and Marty are both very athletically gifted and very charismatic and they didn’t disappoint in an exciting opener. It’s always such a pleasure to watch Marty whenever he wrestles as he never phones it in and will never not have fans. Ryan is very charismatic and talented and as many British wrestlers move to America, he’s definitely someone who has been stepping up to fill those main event slots. I feel like he needs to find more nuance and depth in his character though, because he’s so charming and funny and charismatic - as both villain and fan favourite - it’s like he doesn’t need to work hard to get the crowd onside. But he will have to if he wants to get further.
One of the reasons we were keen to go to this show was to support Trent Seven who was facing Dave Mastiff. Trent rarely does shows this far South, usually we have to travel to London to see him, so it was great to support him closer to home and he and Mastiff didn’t disappoint, at one point spilling into the crowd with Trent encouraging little kids to slap Mastiff before quickly getting back into the ring before that got out of hand. Smart! Mastiff is so incredible in the ring - powerful and very agile for such a big man. He’s a great grumpy villain too and Trent’s fabulous charisma and strong-style talent worked well with him. They’re a very good match up and as this feud started late last year at Global Wars, I’m hoping it’ll continue.
Now a truly ridiculous match and yet, my favourite of the night lol. It’s the comedy fun match - the Legion of Lords (Rishi Gosh & Lord Gideon Grey) vs. Hornswoggle & Colt Cabana. Hornswoggle is a dwarf wrestler who worked for the WWE for a long time and Colt Cabana is a very funny American wrestler, huge on the independent circuit, who is brilliant at comedy matches but can also wrestle really well. The Legion of Lords are very funny very talented villains, always sneering at the crowd and my goodness, they make me laugh lol. We went into this show thinking this match might be a complete disaster but actually it was really smartly put together, packed with genuinely hilarious moments and everyone looked really good out of it. Gideon Grey in particular has really shaped up physically - he’s a trainer at the RevPro academy which must help - and having cut his long hair, looks younger and much fitter. I did not expect to enjoy this match as much as I did but it was so funny and also featured good wrestling and made great creative use of the characters involved. Top marks, all four of you.
Sadly, the crowd really did not like Dan McGee vs. The problem was that these two are RevPro academy graduates, they’re decent wrestlers but are unknown to anyone outside of RevPro fans. Most fans at this show were here to see the names advertised, not this kind of match. It’s a feud between former friends, sparked at a recent Cockpit show - the shows RevPro are currently doing monthly and the match itself was not bad but it really did go on way too long. It was one of the longest of the night which seemed odd considering the pair were unknowns compared to everyone else on the show. And the crowd just chanted to amuse themselves, mostly about how both competitors were wearing black trunks. We felt so bad for both guys as they were trying hard but yeah, sadly, on the night, at this place in front of this crowd, it just didn’t work.
Weird tag team match time (again) RevPro Tag Team Champions Charlie Sterling and Joel Redman vs. the Spirit Squad (Kenny and Mikey). The Spirit Squad were a WWE stable quite a few years back, consisting of enthusiastic male cheerleaders, because WWE think men in ‘traditionally female’ roles are hilarious and should be laughed at, humiliated and booed. Yeah. Sterling and Redman are talented wrestlers - especially Sterling who has been blazing a trail in ICW with his ridiculous physical exploits in the ring for a man his size, unleashed like that he’s truly special. But these two together, they are plain fan favourites, what’s known as ‘white meat’ because they’re bland and try to get everyone cheering and don’t really have characters apart from the fact they’re happy to be here. The sort of character that often turns up on family shows but that has no depth or much interesting about them sadly. The match was decent; the Spirit Squad weren’t embarrassing but they weren’t exactly brilliant either. And we’d rather see Sterling in somewhere like ICW where he can really let go and show what he can really do. This was a solid match but it wasn’t anything special. We were hoping CCK (Chris Brookes & Travis Banks) who are feuding with Redman and Sterling (and getting vastly cheered more than them, whoops) would turn up for a run-in but they were wrestling in Germany that night.
Main event time saw ‘The Bruiserweight’ Pete Dunne vs. Pentagon Jr. Now, that isn’t the name Pentagon uses these days when he wrestles - he left the AAA promotion in Mexico who are trademarking all variations of that moniker so he can’t use them but that’s how he’s known best so that’s what I’m sticking with. Pentagon has become a huge star thanks to his work in Lucha Underground and rightly so. He’s a dark figure with a painted face and eerie contact lenses and is super powerful and vicious in his wrestling as well as able to fly when needed. He and Pete put on a great match, both being solid-built guys who can really pack a punch and get agile too. Pete is such a star now, rising thanks to his continued impressive work on the indies and making an impact in the WWE with his sneering ruthless villain act. It’s entirely deserved. They were a very good match up and I’d definitely watch them again.
As always at RevPro, there were a lot of wrestlers selling merchandise - the best way to make money on the independent circuit. Interestingly, Pentagon was not stood behind the tables but rather, in front of them. So once the rush had died down pre-show, I gathered my bravery and went down to talk to him. I knew, from a friend who’d met him before, that he spoke good English so I shook his hand, said how much I was looking forward to watching him wrestle and got a photo with him. He was wonderful with the many small children who walked up to peer at him in fascination and awe - they had no clue who he was, just that he looked scary. He’s very intimidating to look at; like many masked Mexican wrestlers, he keeps his real-life identity a secret hence why he was wearing all his gear pre-show. But I was so glad to meet him me and Anthony are huge fans of his Lucha Underground work and it was really quite an experience to finally get to see him wrestle live and to meet him.
Dave Mastiff was selling hats so I nipped over for a quick photo. He doesn’t look thrilled, does he? Lol. Well, he’s not one of the world’s natural chatters to fans but I do love his work in PROGRESS and elsewhere so it was grand to shake his hand and say hi anyway.
We also had a good chat with Trent Seven - understandably given his and Pete’s recent WWE work, their end of the table was rather busy but he still took the time to chat to us and catch up on things. You always get the feeling with him that he’s genuinely pleased to meet people and spend time with them. I know he’s that way with every fan and I appreciate it every time we chat to him. He’s absolutely one of the good guys and any time we get to support him is a good time.