My Weekend of (British) Wrestling 13 - Pro EVW

Saturday 29th June 2013 - Pro EVW - Wotton Hall club, Gloucester

Justin Challenges for the Pro EVW Heavyweight Championship

After going to the last show in Trowbridge, Wilts, I decided that I was going to drive along to this show in Gloucester to see if Pro EVW could hit another home run... I was not disappointed as another excellent show was put on and was capped off by a great main event; which pleased the red-hot local audience no end. I also took my nephew as I wanted to show him how a good show is presented!

The challenger, Justin 'The Hammer' Sysum

This show was all about one man - Justin 'The Hammer' Sysum - and his first attempt at challenging for the Pro EVW Heavyweight Championship in front of his home town. This factor alone would place a huge amount of pressure on the young shoulders of Sysum who has been working hard to get to this position.

The Wotton Hall Club filled up with what I believe was around 180 people - with a huge amount of Justin fans - all anticipating a great show and performance from their local hero.

The first match saw Birmingham native Dan Maloney challenging the popular T-Bone. Although Maloney gave up a lot of experience to T-Bone he gave a good showing, causing a lot of trouble to T-Bone's arm throughout the contest. With the support of the audience, coupled with his determination, Bone was able to get Maloney up for a Jackhammer to score a hard-earned opening victory. It was good to see Maloney look strong in defeat.

The second match was not as expected, though. Scotland's Jocky Saltire would go up against Newcastle's Paul J Knox in a very odd and, at times, awkward match to watch. There never seemed to be any flow about this match; high impact move after high impact move were hit but often with no pinfall attempt. This baffled me as some of the moves would end a normal match. Unfortunately, the only positive that I could draw from this bout was that some of the moves were executed very well and looked impressive; it was just a shame that the match itself lacked something.

Iestyn Rees took on Magnum 'Dirty' Dick Riley

The third, and last match before the interval pitted one half of the Pro EVW Tag Team Champions, 'Dirty' Dick Riley against the always impressive Iestyn Rees. Without his sleazy tag partner Chris Walker, Riley would have to rely on their errand boy, Big Daddy Bainsley for underhanded assistance. After the disappointment of the previous match it was up to Riley and Rees to get the fans back onside and they managed to do so before the bell even rang; Riley gaining the hatred of the Gloucester audience before (another) home town hero, Rees, gave everyone something to cheer for. This match was very flowing and resulted in a final twenty seconds that had me more excited than any match that I've seen on (WWE) Raw in recent memory. Riley and Bainsley attempted to gain the victory in the sleaziest way possible before Rees would outwit them both to gain a well deserved win after delivering a devastating Spinebuster slam.

Before the interval started, Rees stayed in the ring to hype the main event and brought out the Pro EVW Heavyweight Champion 'The Shark' Chris Andrews. A fairly warm reception for Andrews along with a few boos from the pro-Justin crowd; something to be expected and accepted by the confident champion. Andrews would go onto hype the main event, reminding everyone that he has defended against some of the best and that Justin is definitely a threat to him on this night.

UK Dominator

The next two matches after the interval were very entertaining and contained some of the best that Pro EVW has to offer. Firstly, The Ultimate Rulebreaker, UK Dominator and 'The Winner' PJ Jones would take on the impressive and popular Hunter Brothers. After several acts of cowardice and sneaky ways to win the match, the 'Ultimate Winners' would be outsmarted as they were pinned at the same time with double roll-ups from the Hunters. The penultimate match of the night saw The Monstrosity known as Richtor take on 'The Daredevil' Matt Ridler in a 'Richtor Rules' match; meaning that Richtor would give the advantage to his opponent - only needing a two-count against him - whilst Richtor would have to score a five-count over Ridler to be victorious. After toying with the smaller Ridler, Richtor moved in for the kill; delivering an Earthquake splash for the easy five-count. Impressive.

The main event was set and ready to start. The crowd were on edge and ready to cheer their home town hero on throughout the final bout of the evening. This was the match that I had come to see; both men physically gifted and also extremely popular amongst Pro EVW fans - it had all the makings to be a great local wrestling match that would send everyone home happy. But who would come through as the champion when it was all said and done?

The Champion came out to a mixed reaction as he had done earlier in the night. Faithless' 'Insomnia' then blared from the sound system to signal the arrival of the man of the hour; the first appearance of the night by the challenger, 'The Hammer' Justin Sysum. Out he came, oozing excitement and nerves for his big night... what followed should make both guys proud of what they do.

Both men gave it their all and it showed. It was hard-hitting, physical and competitive - Andrews, at times, desperate and even heel-like in his approach to hold onto what he holds dearest; Sysum, confident and out to show that he can overcome the slightly larger champion. After kicking out of some of Andrews' signature moves - including an excellent TKO (possibly the best looking move of the night) Justin managed to counter another top turnbuckle attempt at the TKO to deliver a perfect 450-splash to capture the Pro EVW Heavyweight Championship for the first time! An AWESOME main event that capped of a great show for the local Gloucester crowd.

'The Shark' Chris Andrews

Results

• T-Bone defeated Dan Maloney
• Jocky Saltire defeated Paul J Knox
• Iestyn Rees defeated Pro EVW Tag Team Champion 'Dirty' Dick Riley (w/ Big Daddy Bainsley)
• The Hunter Brothers defeated The Ultimate Winners; UK Dominator & 'The Winner' PJ Jones
• Richtor Rules match: Richtor defeated 'The Daredevil' Matt Ridler
• Pro EVW Heavyweight Championship: Justin 'The Hammer' Sysum defeated 'The Shark' Chris Andrews (c) to become the new champion

The last two weeks have shown me that British Wrestling has a very bright future. There have been some top talents on display and that was evident with some of the performances from last nights (Saturday) show. Everyone should be proud of the job they did in putting on the show, from the wrestlers, to the ring crew to the guys running the promotion. A great night of wrestling was had by all; a super hot crowd cheering Justin on through the match and after, too.

Special thanks to Smudger for his kind words to me before the show; it really is appreciated when I get any kind of feedback but your words gave me more confidence and less doubt over what I (try to) do! Also a well done to the Ring Announcer who did a fine job on the night in front of a very appreciative crowd.

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@jimmosangle