BRM Reviews RevPro Monday Night Mayhem (awesome!)

[Big Red Machine]

RPW Monday Night Mayhem (10/23/2017)- Porstmouth, UK

THE CONTENDERS (Kurt Chapman & Josh Wall) vs. AUSSIE OPEN (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis)- 6/10
A very good babyface vs. heel match with a great finish. This felt like a really big moment for Wall & Chapman, and they were both excellent babyfaces. Aussie Open continue to impress in the ring, and I can definitely see them being the next big, in demand all over the world tag team from the Commonwealth. Fletchever even managed to do a Canadian Destroyer that looked 100% believable.

VEDA SCOTT vs. ZOE LUCAS- 4.75/10
Zoe Lucas brought a cupcake, presumably to share with a lucky fan before the match. Veda Scott knocked the cupcake out of Zoe’s hand and onto the floor. A small child picked it up, but Veda convinced the child to give her the cupcake, which she then took a bite out of, only to spit it in Zoe’s face to gain an unfair advantage to start the match. Now that’s a f*cking HEEL for you! The match itself was fine, but the babyface heel dynamics did not live up to the expectations the opening spot set.

EL PHANTASMO vs. ROB LIAS- 6.5/10
During this match the heel announcer (whose name I have once again failed to remember) explained to us that anyone who buys a Bullet Club t-shirt automatically becomes an honorary member of Bullet Club. The match itself was another solid babyface vs. heel match. I’d definitely like to see more of El Phantasmo. Lias is also a good wrestler but I don’t want to ever see him again because he’s a such a jerk.

RPW BRITISH CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Josh Bodom(c) vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey- 8.75/10
This match was AWESOME, Bodom is cheating piece of sh*t who should have been DQed but instead managed to win, and I cannot wait for the rematch that Speedball so rightfully deserves! Watch this match now!

DAVID STARR PROMO- he buries Portsmouth, then expresses his frustration with all RevPro fans for getting excited for outsiders like her rather than a “regular” like himself.

TIMOTHY THATCHER vs. DAVID STARR- 6.75/10
Starr was a total heel here, complaining about things Thatcher did but then doing other illegal things himself. They had a very good babyface vs. heel match and told their story well, with Thatcher trying to get the win with the sleeper hold and Starr working over Thatcher’s leg’s and picking up the win via illegal leverage in a pin out of a sleeper. Unfortunately, the way things played out it wound up looking completely preposterous that the referee somehow didn’t see Starr’s feet on the ropes.


DAVE MASTIFF vs. MOOSE- 6.75/10
Mastiff beat the snot out of Moose for a while. Moose made a good comeback but was cut off again by a low blow from Mastiff, which led to the finish. This was good “big men beating pm each other” match.

RPW BRITISH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: CCK(c) (w/Kid Lykos) vs. Mustache Mountain- 9/10
This was crazy tag team action, but it was the crazy tag team match that only these two teams could have. This was not one of those matches in the NJPW Jr. Heavyweight Division or PWG or ROH, or the any number of random places that just throw matches where there are a bunch of different teams that you might see facing off against each other in some combination (Young Bucks, Sydal & Ricochet, Lucha Borthers, Roppongi 3K, Hiromu & BUSHI, MCMG, EYFBO, Ospreay & whoever the booker teams him with) where, if you take the personalities out, the actual action in the match is going to be pretty much the same hno matter which of those teams are involved. This was not that match. This was a match where everything they did felt like it just wouldn’t have worked as well with any other combination of wrestlers in there. It was glorious, and you should watch it right now, because otherwise I’ll have to spoil the ending for you, and you don’t want that.






Okay, has everyone seen the match?



This title change was extremely shocking (and the small package finish was perfect for that), and there are a few reasons for that. The first one is that it really hadn’t been built up in any way at all. All we got was a brief stare-down at the end of last night’s show. Part of the reason for that is connected to the second reason I found this title change so shocking, which is that Moustache Mountain are not as readily available for UK promotions to their WWE contracts.
But Mustache Mountain haven’t been the only ones less available this year. Contracts with ROH and/or New Japan have made guys that RevPro have relied heavily on for the past few years- Zack, Scurll, and Ospreay- available on a much less regular basis (and the fact that when those promotions aren’t running those three are usually off working for PWG or Gabe or WCPW hasn’t helped, either), and as a result it has been CCK who have really stepped up to carry things on the home front for RevPro this year (PROGRESS has faced similar issues, and I think that between his work for RevPro and PROGRESS there is a strong argument to be made that no one wrestler has been so essential to his or her home promotion(s) in 2017 that Travis Banks. I’m not saying he has been the best wrestler of the year, but I think he has definitely been an MVP of sorts as far as how irreplaceable he has been to his home promotions. If you take any one of Okada, Omega, Naito, Tanahashi, or Ishii out of the mix in New Japan and the others still have plenty of guys to tear down the house with. Take Banks out of RevPro and PROGRESS and look how much you’d be missing). Last night the commentators told us that CCK had “made the tag division their own,” but really they came in and made all of RevPro their own, and because of this, I don’t think anyone saw their reign ending any time in the near or even medium-range future. But whether you saw the title change coming or not, CCK deserve a hell of a lot credit for the way they’ve held down the fort this year. If they don’t step up the way they did, pretty much every single show at the Cockpit suffers greatly.

This was an AWESOME show from RevPro, with both title matches delivering on a grand scale, and the rest of the card being filled with simple, solid, fun professional wrestling.