Part One –
Saturday 25th October – Pro EVW – Bourton-On-The-Water
Pro EVW (mainly
based in Gloucester) is one of my favourites. This might not be
reflected with how many of their shows I've been to this year but
that is due to my need and desire to get around more of the rest of
the country's shows and get a better taste for wrestling in UK.
Eventually, and not too far away, I'm going to have a good idea of
which ones I like, which ones are a stretch to travel to, and which
ones are the absolute sh*ts, and then I'll be a happy blogger who
doesn't bitch and moan about every little thing. This will be a
result of finding the promotions that make my whiny little brain
happy and SUSPEND MY DISBELIEF from start to finish... that's not
that hard to do, is it?
This weekend could
have been perfect if I could have gone to one of my other favourites;
Pro Wrestling Chaos (Bristol) on Friday night, but, unfortunately, my
working hours would get in the way of that one... b*stards...
Positive: The Guys
and Gals of Pro EVW
One of my favourite
things about Pro EVW is that when I get there I'm really happy to see
everyone. It's always nice to see everyone, from the wrestlers to the
trainees to the organisers, and it's usually long overdue (as I noted
earlier). All the wrestlers that appear on a Pro EVW show are
friendly and there doesn't seem to be an ego about them, unlike some
other shows that I go to. This is where I first got to see “behind
the curtain” and I'll always be grateful for that.
Positive: Waking New
Fans Up For The Night Ahead
I wasn't sure
whether to make this a negative, but it stays a positive due to the
effort made to get the audience 'into' this show and wake them up. MC
Hank McCoy always does his best to get the audience ready for the
matches, but it's always going to be difficult with a relatively
new-to-wrestling crowd, especially when there aren't as many as you'd
like in attendance. Hank did as best as he could before the opening
match. This is when some work was needed to be done by the wrestlers
in the opening match.
Luckily, this would
be in the form of The Magnums (Walker and Riley) and Fame &
Fortunate (Caine and Gordon). For the first five or so minutes, these
four would have great comedy that would get the audience into the
show and make them feel at ease. It was needed as small,
inexperienced audiences need as much encouragement as they can get to
realise that it's ok to make noise and it's ok to let yourself go at
a wrestling show. I'm still not sure if this comedy segment, before
the wrestling got going, was intentional but it worked better than if
they would have just started wrestling straight away.
 |
| Chardonnay |
Positive/Negative:
Girls Matches
I've only really
seen one good ladies match in my wrestling fandom. I don't even count
the abomination in the WWE at the moment in that. Generally, I really
want to like the ladies matches on UK shows but it's really difficult
to. That's not to say that they shouldn't try, but I think there's a
reason that they only get one match (if that) on most shows. It's a
harsh reality, but as one of the wrestlers said to me after the show,
it's not that 'believable' when girls are in the ring. The positive
to this match was that there were some decent wrestling sequences in
there. Some of the best of the night, in fact.
Positve: Justin vs
Lomaxx (And Justin's Sh*tty Springboard 450 Splash)
I really like
matches when there are two big men and one has that slight size
advantage – you know he's going to kick the sh*t out of the
slightly smaller guy for ten minutes! It reminds me of Iestyn Rees
matches against, say, Big Grizzly or Richtor. He's a big guy, but
he's up against someone bigger (and stronger?) and it's going to be a
mission to overcome the odds. Justin had the same situation. I
particularly liked Lomaxx vocalising how easy it was to shove Justin
away. I think it was needed to show how dominant he was, and was
going to be for the remainder of the match. It also made the audience
hate him and think he was a cocky, over-confident dick.
The match would come
to a close with Justin finally slamming Lomaxx after several teases.
This got quite a good pop, as was desired. The impressive looking
visuals continued as Justin finished the match with a Springboard 450
Splash.
Yeah ok Justin, You
did good. Show off!
Positive: The
Teacher and The Student
The System's Dom
versus Matt Ridler wasn't billed as such but this was that type of
feel. You had twenty-year veteran Dom taking Ridler to school at
times with some no nonsense moves along with some tasty chops that I
could feel in the back row. I was really looking forward to this
match in particular as I'd seen them putting it together before the
show. I kind of knew what was coming and it made complete sense to
me. Matt looked good throughout but got the sh*t kicked out of him by
the more experienced guy, who would pick up the somewhat dominant
win. It's how these matches should always pan out with experience
coming out on top nine times out of ten. As long as the younger guy
comes out looking better then it's job done.
Additional positve
for Tom (Logan) for his presence at ringside. At times I thought he
was a bit too much, but there was a lot of confidence in everything
he was saying (shouting) when getting the audience to cheer or boo.
He even cracked out an impressive, and unexpected, American accent to
berate one person in the crowd. Unlike a lot of trainees I see, Tom
is a bigger guy that, with the right training/guidance, can be a good
addition to the show in future. All the hair and facial hair helps in
my book, too. There's just not enough beards in wresting at the
moment...
 |
| 'Mr Wales' Iestyn Rees |
Positive: Bad Guy
Iestyn Rees
I did some pre-show
notes on Friday and one of them was about Pro EVW having the same
heels and babyfaces in all the time that I've seen them. This isn't
necessarily a bad thing as people will get fairly familiar with these
battle lines, especially when they want a little continuity from show
to show. For as long as I can remember, Iestyn has been a face for
Pro EVW mainly as part of The Alpha Males. On this night, Iestyn
would become 'Mr Wales' and attack 'The Swiss Pornstar', 'Fat Les',
'The Shark' Chris Andrews (Mr England) to set up the main event of
England versus Wales. It's a simple thing to do and a nice change to
see someone cross from face to heel (for one night only?).
Negative: The Champ
Isn't Here
or
Positive: Working
Around Setbacks
I don't know the
ins-and-outs of it and it's none of my business, but the new Pro EVW
Champion Charlie Garrett wasn't at this show. This disappointed me as
I was looking forward to seeing him before the show and also versus
Chris Andrews in the advertised main event. Regardless of this, the
show and set of matches that happened were more than good enough.
There were six matches with something for everyone. There were such
talents as Iestyn Rees, Chris Andrews, The Magnums and UK Dominator
along with up-and-comers Matt Ridler and Logan; trainees used in the
right way.
Again, in my
pre-show notes, I had this big speech about how Charlie being
champion sets up some nice possibilities. You could have him against
former champion Justin Sysum. There's also a match that could take
place against the guy that he beat for the title, Sam Bronson. The
most intriguing is if Iestyn were to stay heel (or turn heel on
Charlie) and there's a jealousy match between The Alpha Males. Some
good possibilities for those that like a bit of continuity with their
wrestling shows.
Results
- Pro EVW Tag Team Championship: Fame & Fortunate (Robbie Caine & 'Gentleman' Gilligan Gordon)(c) defeated The Magnums ('Filthy' Chris Walker & 'Dirty' Dick Riley)
- Chardonnay defeated Nadia Sapphire
- Justin 'The Hammer' Sysum defeated Lomaxx
- JD Knight defeated Sam Bronson
- Dom (w/ Logan) defeated Matt Ridler
- Team England; Chris Andrews & The Magnums defeated Team Wales; Iestyn Ress & Fame & Fortunate
Another nice little
show in a new venue. Not the biggest attendance; I'd have thought
around 80 were there, but that's not a bad thing for a new venue,
especially as they usually draw around 200 at their other, regular
venues. This show reminded me of how good a Pro EVW show can be and
that I need to get my ass down Gloucester way more often. As I said
before, when I've gotten around the majority of the country's
promotions I'll have a better idea of where is worth my time. I have
no doubt that Pro EVW will always be on that list.
 |
| Lomaxx |
Please check out Pro
EVW on Facebook and Twitter and look out for any future events. A
very good family show that does the simple things well and sends
everyone home happy, everytime.
Support British
Wrestling
@jimmosangle
COMING SOON - Part
Two - Sunday 26th October – Kamikaze Pro – Birmingham
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