My Weekend of (British) Wrestling 14 - Pro EVW

Saturday 3rd August 2013 - Pro EVW - The Capital Venue, Gloucester

After a five week lack of British wrestling in my life it was a welcome return to The Capital Venue in Gloucester for Pro EVW's latest show. The last time that I, and Pro EVW, were here was for the emotional tribute show for the late Kamil. The hero of that show was 'The Saviour' JD Knight, but in a change of attitude this show would see the evil side of Knight as he would return to Pro EVW to insult the local crowd and challenge for the Pro EVW Heavyweight Championship - newly won by Justin 'The Hammer' Sysum at the last show; which drew an impressive 300-plus fans.

The attendance for this show was a little over 150 but they were ready and eager for the nights action. This show promised to be another great one as there was a double main-event on offer; first, the inaugural Pro EVW Women's Champion would be crowned as Germany's Alpha Female would take on Scotland's Kay Lee Ray and Carmel Jacob in a triple threat match. The second half of the main-event would see the aforementioned Pro EVW Heavyweight Championship match.

Gilligan Gordon

The opening match saw the new tag team of Gilligan Gordon and Matt Lomax; The Bruiser Street Brothers; take on the smaller pairing of Dan Splash and Kenny Williams. This was a bout very much controlled by the power and size of Gordon and Lomax with some great flashes of speed and high-flying from Splash and Williams. Chaos ensued towards the end and the evil manager Logan Blood managed to strike Splash with his cane to gift the win to The Bruiser Street Brothers.

The second and third matches of the evening saw lots of talent on display; firstly, the former Pro EVW Champion, 'The Shark' Chris Andrews would get his first outing without the belt as he took on one-half of the sleazy Pro EVW Tag Team Champions, 'The Filth' Chris Walker. This was a match that I firmly expected Andrews to win in record time. This didn't seem to be the plan of the sneaky Magnum (Walker) as he would use underhanded tactics as well as assistance from the Sister of Sleaze; Ratt, to get the better of Andrews. Ultimately, the bigger and stronger Andrews would be rubbed the wrong way too many times and come back to deliver an impressive looking Stalling Suplex before a devastating TKO finished things off.

The third match saw Gloucester's-own Iestyn Rees take on Scotland's Andy Wild. This one started off quite slow with Wild taking the cowardly way out of starting the match by bailing from the ring in order to avoid confrontation with Rees. The match itself was very back and forth, Rees coming close at various times to finishing Wild off with his favoured Spear/Spinbuster finish. An exciting end saw this finish take place as hometown hero Rees connected with both moves to send Wild back to Scotland defeated.

Scotland's Andy Wild

The usual interval was upon us and there was time for me to dwell on the first half of the show. I have to admit that the first half hadn't dazzled me as the previous two shows that I'd been to had. Maybe they were that good (and they were) that the only way was down [a little]. In hindsight, I have to say that despite doubts before the show, the Andrews vs Walker match was a lot better than I expected and that is down to the hard work by both men to eliminate the physical differences that they have. Also, after speaking with Iestyn Rees about his match I learnt that this was the first encounter that he and Wild had had. If this match were to happen again, I'm sure that it would have a much better flow to it.

The show restarted with MC Hank McCoy announcing the triple threat match for the Pro EVW Women's Championship match. This would pit the powerhouse Alpha Female against the quicker Carmel Jacob and more agile Kay Lee Ray. Despite the dominance of Alpha Female throughout the match, the other two ladies would cause her trouble in a way that I hadn't witnessed before - the opportunity of becoming the first Women's Champion was something that all three weren't going to pass up. There was a reason that this was one-half of the main event of the show as all three showed why they are three of the most sought after ladies in the UK today.

The finish would add an element of excitement and unpredictability as they all went for their finishes - Kay Lee Ray hitting a variation of a Widow's Peak on Carmel Jacob before Alpha Female would take advantage by hitting a Sidewinder (with a pin) on Kay Lee Ray for the win - the first ever Pro EVW Women's Champion!

Trademark pose from the NEW Pro EVW Women's Champion

The second part of the main event would be for the Pro EVW Heavyweight Championship. This would be Justin 'The Hammer' Sysum's first title defence since winning the belt at The Wotton Hall Club five weeks earlier. His opponent for the evening would be the tough JD Knight.

The thing I've liked about the last few Pro EVW Heavyweight Championship matches is that they have been wars. Not necessarily the most flowing of matches, but they have shown that both guys are willing to give absolutely everything in order to become the main man. This battle was no different, with the more experienced Knight taking Sysum to his limit. With a lot taken out of both men, Sysum was too weak to perform his usual 450 splash from the corner, instead reaching deep and executing a modified Black-Hole Slam for the hard-earned victory.

Results

• The Bruiser Street Brothers (Gilligan Gordon & Matt Lomax) w/ Logan Blood defeated The Elements (Dan Splash & 'Hot Shot' Kenny Williams)
• 'The Shark' Chris Andrews defeated Pro EVW Tag Team Champion 'The Filth' Chris Walker w/ Ratt
• 'Irresistible' Iestyn Rees defeated 'Unstoppable' Andy Wild
• Pro EVW Women's Championship: The Alpha Female defeated Kay Lee Ray and Carmel Jacob to become the first-ever Women's Champion
• Pro EVW Heavyweight Championship: Justin 'The Hammer' Sysum (c) defeated 'The Saviour' JD Knight

 Overall, a very good show in front of a smaller crowd due to outside factors. Still, this crowd let themselves be heard and enjoyed all the evening's matches. Some top talent came down from Scotland and it made for a nice change to the card. As I said before, the first half was missing something for me but that could just be that my expectations were through the roof after the last couple of shows that I'd been to. Both title matches were great to watch - congrats to Justin for retaining, and a huge congrats to Alpha Female for becoming the first-ever Pro EVW Women's Championship! Good luck on your travels to Japan!

Also, a little mention to Tom and Kayleigh (Pro EVW trainees) who were rewarded for their commitment to Pro EVW with special roles on the show. Valuable experience for both of them!

The next Pro EVW show will be at Lister Hall in Dursley (Gloucestershire) on Saturday 28th September... I urge everyone to get themselves along to it - for more details find Pro EVW on Facebook or Twitter - you will not be disappointed!

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