BRM Reviews RPW Live at the Cockpit 43 (BORING AS HELL)

[Big Red Machine]

RPW Live at the Cockpit 43 (7/7/2019)- Marylebone, Greater London, UK


JAMES MASON vs. KENNETH HALFPENNY- 4/10
This was well over ten minutes of nothing but grappling. I like this style more than most, and even I thought this got boring after a while.

MK MCKINNAN & DAN MOLONEY vs. KURTIS CHAPMAN & DAN MAGEE- 4.5/10
A one-sided obliteration with a few hope-spot nearfalls by Chapman & Magee. The announcers pushed that Magee & Chapman are not on the same page right now. Moloney looked absolutely dominant in his RevPro debut.

ROB LIAS vs. JAXON STONE- no rating, never happened
T.K. Cooper jumped Rob Lias as revenge for Lias doing it to him at a previous show. He then ripped up Rob Lias’ fancy jacket.

JAXON STONE vs. GABRIEL KIDD- 5.25/10
Stone was upset about not getting a good reaction when he came out and threatened to not wrestle tonight. He eventually called out Gabriel Kidd from among the Contenders working at ringside to be his replacement opponent. Stone was a very good heel on the mic. The story of the match was the fired-up underdog Kidd vs. the arrogant bully Stone. Kidd picked up the shocking win via submission.

JOSH BODOM vs. KYLE FLETCHER- 6.75/10
These two had what started out as a good brawl but slowed down too much by the end. We can also add Josh Bodom to the list of people who are making the Canadian Destroyer mean absolutely nothing. Fletcher caught Bodom with a flash pin for the victory and Bodom attacked Fletcher after the match.

SHAZZA MCKENZIE vs. SELEZYIA SPARKX- 4.75/10
This was good at times, but at other times it was way too slow to be believable.

MARK DAVIS vs. SHA SAMUELS- DUD!
They started off okay, but like most Sha Samuels matches, this just got slower and more boring the longer it went on. There were long stretches were the crowd was dead silent. Cue ref bump, various shenanigans and interferences, followed by the Contenders, seemingly of their own accord, deciding to come in and just pull Aussie Open and Bodom & Samuels apart, resulting in yet another non-finish in this feud. They could have done this in five minutes, but instead they went thirteen (which felt like twenty) before giving us a non-finish.

AUSSIE OPEN PROMO- They’re angry that they’re not the tag champs anymore and know that they’ll win the titles if they get another shot. So basically they told us nothing new.

BULLET CLUB (El Phantasmo & Hikuleo) vs. TEAM WHITE WOLF (Carlos Romo & A-Kid)- 7.5/10
This was easily the best match of the night. It was basic babyface in peril stuff, but executed very well. The finish saw A-Kid go up to hit El Phantasmo with a moonsault press but while he was going up Carlos Romo locked El Phantasmo in an octopus stretch so A-Kid couldn’t hit the move without taking out his own partner. Hikuleo then shoved A-Kid off the top rope and broke up the submission, allowing El Phantasmo to hit the CR2 for the win. The two Spaniards got into a shoving match afterwards, and Romo stormed to the back without A-Kid.

DAVID STARR vs. PAC- 5.75/10
They started out like Starr was supposed to be the babyface, but I’m not sure how anyone expects me to cheer for David Starr after all of the bullsh*t he has pulled in this company over the past eighteen months.
Starr shoved the referee into the ropes to knock PAC off balance on the top rope. Even though when this exact same situation occurred almost six months ago to the day in the Zack Sabre Jr. vs. PAC match this resulted in a DQ, in this match Chris Roberts decided to not call for a DQ. After all of the bullsh*t David Starr has pulled this year, Roberts has just decided to let him get away with cheating.
The match had been going slowly before this point. After this point it began to get smothered by refereeing shenanigans and other similar things. At point Starr grabbed the Dragon Gate Open the Dream Gate Title and asked PAC if his various cheating ways and DQs this year have been about “protecting” the title and went to stomp the belt but Chris Roberts pulled the belt out of the way for some reason. Also important was Starr getting a visual pinfall on PAC after a ref bump. PAC eventually cheated to win, making Starr angry and leading to the…

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
Starr demanded that Andy Quildan come out. Starr claimed to have gotten screwed again and demanded that the decision be overturned. Quildan pointed out that if he did that, he would have to do the same to all of Starr’s dirty Cruiserweight Title defenses and pointed out that Starr wants a different set of rules for himself than for everyone else. They argued, with Quildan proving his pro-indy bona fides. Unfortunately, though, despite all of the evidence over the past year and a half in this company, the fans are inexplicably all siding with Starr. Platitudes about being “independent” and getting the chance to “create real change” and insults about being subservient to New Japan were thrown around before Starr offered to put his career on the line in order to get Quildan to book a match where if Starr won, he would get full control of the company.


This was a PAINFULLY BORING show from RevPro. The good news is that it did at least move some storylines forward, but why the hell can’t RevPro manage to do that on a show where they also give us great wrestling? Every other promotion has figured it out, so why can’t RevPro?