RevPro Live at the Cockpit 35
DAVID STARR PROMO - Good for what it was. He's unhappy that he was only given twenty-four hours' notice for this title defense. That seems like a valid complaint. He then went on to blame referee Chris Roberts for him not winning the RPW Undisputed British Heavyweight Title from Tomohiro Ishii last month. I didn't see that show, but Roberts is terrible at enforcing the rules, so Starr might well be telling the truth about this, too. Starr said that he agreed to this match under the conditions that it be the main event and that Chris Roberts not be the referee. That all seems fair to me.
HxC jumped the bell on the Hunters to start things off. The match was fine for the time it got.
Lockhart definitely has potential. I'd like to see RevPro using him on a regular basis in the future.
Lucas win the belt, but this belt has been used so poorly that it's impossible to care.
This started out with some absolutely wonderful grapplef*ck, then turned into an awesome tag team match. The only real problem with it (aside from pulling the referee out of the ring not being a DQ) was that it felt like CCK- who won the match in the end- took about 90% of it, too.
NO FUN DUNNE PROMO - He lets us know that his best friend Lord Gideon Grey has paid for him to get a managerial license. I'm am now certain that Dunne will steal The Great O-Kharn out from under Lord Gideon's nose at some point.
It was nice to see O-Kharn have a regular match again.
This was entertaining for what it was, which was a babyface getting revenge on a heel manager with delusions of grandeur. Eventually the heel's buddies ran in for the DQ. Taylor made a good fight of it against Lord Gideon, No Fun Dunne, & Los Federales Santos Jr. until the heels go their gimmicks and started to hit him with them.
Rishi Ghosh eventually came out to make the save for Taylor, taking out his former best friend Lord Gideon and Lord Gideon's new best friend No Fun Dunne… but then Rishi's new best friend Los Federales Santos Jr. got into the ring and looked like he was going to punch Rishi but he hesitated, then pushed Rishi out of the way and hit a big running splash onto Lord Gideon and No Fun Dunne in the corner, then hugged Rishi Ghosh and everyone want NUTS.
RingKampf played the structural role of the heels were, which was definitely the right choice. The crowd is REALLY behind Aussie Open. When they finally win the belts, it's going to be something special.
RPW UNDISPUTED BRITISH CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH:
This match was… frustrating. The first two thirds or so just didn't feel like they had the intensity necessary a title match most of a year in the making finally coming to fruition. After that there were several very good minutes, but then we got the ref bump and Chris Roberts having to come out and be involved in the match, which…
Look: the thing they set out to do they did very well. They built up to the ref bump with several teases, they made Roberts relevant, established him feeling a need to get more physically involved when Starr showed that he was very happy to take advantage of the fact that Roberts wasn't going to DQ him to let him escape with the title, and the execution of the Bret/Shawn/Taker SummerSlam 1997 finish was very good and they set it up in a way where you didn't see it coming until it already happened (although I will note that unlike HBK at SummerSlam, there was no reason here why Roberts couldn't have just refused to count Starr's final pin on El Phantasmo. If you're going to refuse to DQ the guy so that he can't cheaply escape with his title, surely you can refuse to count a pinfall when you yourself were the one who accidentally knocked the other competitor out, right?).
But is this really what RevPro should be doing? What is this building to? David Starr vs. referee Chris Roberts? Is that really going to draw? Wouldn't it be better to take all of this time they've spent on building up that feud and spend it on having Starr get heat on El Phantasmo instead and then have El Phantasmo get the big win to dethrone Starr and solidify himself as a top name in Revolution Pro Wrestling? The part of this match that were great were great and the parts that were meh should have been better, but it's really the whole driving concept that worries me. That being said, I grade the matches on how well they tell the story they set out to tell (within the bounds of logical), and the finish, horrendous as I might find it, was something they built up to throughout the match, so I'm giving it a 7/10.
Final Thoughts
This was a very good show from RevPro, though my disappointment with the main event certainly bring it down. Although this was a "mere" Cockpit show and they had neither the heavyweight nor tag team champions on it, this still did manage to feel like something close to a big end-of-the-year show, and yet also managed to avoid stepping on High Stakes 2019's toes.
THE HUNTER BROTHERS vs. HxC (Dan Head & James Castle) - 4.5/10
HxC jumped the bell on the Hunters to start things off. The match was fine for the time it got.
DARIUS LOCKHART vs. JOSH BODOM - 6.75/10
Lockhart definitely has potential. I'd like to see RevPro using him on a regular basis in the future.
RPW UNDISPUTED BRITISH WOMEN'S TITLE MATCH: Jamie Hayter(c) vs. Zoe Lucas - 4/10
Lucas win the belt, but this belt has been used so poorly that it's impossible to care.
TEAM WHITEWOLF (A-Kid & Carlos Romo) vs. CCK (Chris Brookes & Jonathan Gresham) - 8/10
This started out with some absolutely wonderful grapplef*ck, then turned into an awesome tag team match. The only real problem with it (aside from pulling the referee out of the ring not being a DQ) was that it felt like CCK- who won the match in the end- took about 90% of it, too.
NO FUN DUNNE PROMO - He lets us know that his best friend Lord Gideon Grey has paid for him to get a managerial license. I'm am now certain that Dunne will steal The Great O-Kharn out from under Lord Gideon's nose at some point.
CHRIS RIDGEWAY vs. THE GREAT O-KHARN (w/Lord Gideon Grey & No Fun Dunne) - 6.75/10
It was nice to see O-Kharn have a regular match again.
SHANE TAYLOR vs. LORD GIDEON GREY (w/No Fun Dunne)- no rating, very good segment
This was entertaining for what it was, which was a babyface getting revenge on a heel manager with delusions of grandeur. Eventually the heel's buddies ran in for the DQ. Taylor made a good fight of it against Lord Gideon, No Fun Dunne, & Los Federales Santos Jr. until the heels go their gimmicks and started to hit him with them.
Rishi Ghosh eventually came out to make the save for Taylor, taking out his former best friend Lord Gideon and Lord Gideon's new best friend No Fun Dunne… but then Rishi's new best friend Los Federales Santos Jr. got into the ring and looked like he was going to punch Rishi but he hesitated, then pushed Rishi out of the way and hit a big running splash onto Lord Gideon and No Fun Dunne in the corner, then hugged Rishi Ghosh and everyone want NUTS.
AUSSIE OPEN vs. RINGKAMPF (Timothy Thatcher & WALTER) - 7/10
RingKampf played the structural role of the heels were, which was definitely the right choice. The crowd is REALLY behind Aussie Open. When they finally win the belts, it's going to be something special.
RPW UNDISPUTED BRITISH CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH:
David Starr(c) vs. El Phantasmo - 7/10
This match was… frustrating. The first two thirds or so just didn't feel like they had the intensity necessary a title match most of a year in the making finally coming to fruition. After that there were several very good minutes, but then we got the ref bump and Chris Roberts having to come out and be involved in the match, which…
Look: the thing they set out to do they did very well. They built up to the ref bump with several teases, they made Roberts relevant, established him feeling a need to get more physically involved when Starr showed that he was very happy to take advantage of the fact that Roberts wasn't going to DQ him to let him escape with the title, and the execution of the Bret/Shawn/Taker SummerSlam 1997 finish was very good and they set it up in a way where you didn't see it coming until it already happened (although I will note that unlike HBK at SummerSlam, there was no reason here why Roberts couldn't have just refused to count Starr's final pin on El Phantasmo. If you're going to refuse to DQ the guy so that he can't cheaply escape with his title, surely you can refuse to count a pinfall when you yourself were the one who accidentally knocked the other competitor out, right?).
But is this really what RevPro should be doing? What is this building to? David Starr vs. referee Chris Roberts? Is that really going to draw? Wouldn't it be better to take all of this time they've spent on building up that feud and spend it on having Starr get heat on El Phantasmo instead and then have El Phantasmo get the big win to dethrone Starr and solidify himself as a top name in Revolution Pro Wrestling? The part of this match that were great were great and the parts that were meh should have been better, but it's really the whole driving concept that worries me. That being said, I grade the matches on how well they tell the story they set out to tell (within the bounds of logical), and the finish, horrendous as I might find it, was something they built up to throughout the match, so I'm giving it a 7/10.
Final Thoughts
This was a very good show from RevPro, though my disappointment with the main event certainly bring it down. Although this was a "mere" Cockpit show and they had neither the heavyweight nor tag team champions on it, this still did manage to feel like something close to a big end-of-the-year show, and yet also managed to avoid stepping on High Stakes 2019's toes.