Paid Members JLM Posted January 31 Paid Members Posted January 31 More great announcements for EVE Wrestle Queendom over the past couple of weeks. Harley Cameron vs Amira Blair is a perfect match up. I wonder if there will be any wrestling at all in that one or if it’ll be a 20 minute variety show. I’m on board either way. Willow Nightingale has been announced! Ospreay also put up a trailer for the Sudden Death 16, which is a casino gauntlet that also has Rumble style eliminations. In concept that just sounds like a slightly worse Casino Gauntlet buuuut I am all for a 16 woman gauntlet-esque match to get everyone on the show and hopefully throw in some surprise entrants. In sadder Indy/Puro news, Bozilla has suffered a full ACL tear and is out for the forseeable future. Such a shame as she’s so young and her rise was looking unstoppable. Hope it’s a full recovery but with her size I have to imagine serious knee injuries are an even bigger concern than they would be for anyone else. Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted February 8 Paid Members Posted February 8 EVE 144: Multiverse Rumble EVE Championship: Rhio vs Nightshade Nightshade out at the start of the show, calls out Rhio, straight into it as the opening match! Great heated start to this as it's wrestled at a sprint. The story is that Nightshade is all fired up and full of emotion, letting her overwhelm Rhio but also causing her to make mistakes. Rhio survives the punishment and capitalises when Nightshade slips up, a drop toe hold onto the steps, kicking a chair into her face when Nightshade spends too long embracing the "one more time!" chants. Couple of good power spots in this, Nightshade hitting a powerslam from the top rope and Rhio with a seriously impressive powerbomb for a near fall. A heroic effort from Nightshade but she gives Rhio too many openings and ultimately passes out to a Moxley-esque bulldog choke, which Rhio holds onto for way longer than necessary Rhio vs Martina confirmed for Wrestle Queendom main event as expected, really looking forward to it! Wrestle Queendom hype video announces Syuri for the show! Every announcement for this show is a banger. God damn. Amira Blair w/Cassius vs Lil Marz I bloody love Amira Blair. Her vs Harley Cameron is going to be wonderful. She is now managed by Cassius The Neon Explosion. If I were a talent agent I'd sign her too. Lil Marz returning, classic under-sized underdog. Also Australian, which I'm sure is not a coincidence going into the Wrestle Queendom match. Fun little scrap, with Cassius interfering at every opportunity and Marz doing her best to fight through all the nonsense. Post match promo "I've just thrown a shrimp on the barbie, and Harley Cameron, I'm about to do the same to you. On International women's day, I'm going to eat you alive... ya cunt." Tremendous. Dakota Kai/Charlie vignette! Short and sweet and really nicely produced. Still feels a bit surreal to hear Dakota Kai doing a promo on Kris Statlander. Love it. EVE Tag Titles: Lallie vs French Art French Art the team Cory Zero and JGU, who each hold three singles titles and are, as the team name suggests, French. Never seen either of them before. Corey Zero has the Killer Kelly MMA fighter look. I am enjoying the gradual softening of Lana's reactions to Hollie as this team continues to win, occasionally stifling a smile at Hollie's nonsense. Hollie gradually winning her over with her results and ever increasing in-ring competence and usefulness to the team. This was great! Definitely the most serious business Lallia match I've seen. All of the fun comedy antics aside, they're just a really strong babyface tag team. Naturally likeable, Barlow the underdog and Lana the enforcer. They both do a fine hot tag as well. French Art were perfect opponents for them; both bringing a violent in-ring style, both significantly taller and stronger, and both very clearly understanding their role of dominant heel bullies against their beloved babyface opposition. Cory Zero in particular really impressed me. Great look, nice mean streak with the facial expressions to match, and then some spectacular athleticism including a beautiful rope walk moonsault. Very strong tag team wrestling 101 stuff, denying the fans the hot tag with all the classics; ref not seeing the tag, partner pulled from the apron at the last second etc. Plenty of heat for the closing stretch and I was genuinely absorbed and briefly bought into the title change despite it being the least likely thing imaginable. Did not expect as 20 minute banger here, definitely an evolution for the Lallie team to put in such a gritty performance. Would love to see a rematch. Post match Lallie say they have proved they're the best in the UK, now the best in Europe and they're ready for the world. Vignette for Charlie Evans plays. Wrestle Queendom tag title match will be Charlie Evans/??? vs Lallie. So glad Lallie are having a big defense on the show, was starting to get worried there hadn't been an announcement for them. Nina Samuels (without Abi Cartwright) vs Violet Nyte Violet has looked so solid in her previous EVE matches that I had no idea she's only 21. Unfortunately her inexperience showed a bit at this one with some rough looking moments and spells where her timing was off. Masterful performance from Nina though, bullying her mercilessly and getting the crowd fully behind the underdog. Nina had a couple of amazing feats of strength as well, having to deadlift Nyte with raw core strength on multiple occasions when a move looked like it might go wrong. Nyte got better as this went on too and looked good in the closing stretch, but this match still being good was largely thanks to Nina being such a seasoned pro. Abi turned up at the end doing the black hoodie gimmick, interfering to help Nina win. Very fun send up of this very tired wrestling trope too, as she was still wearing her signature neon pink joggers, leaving zero doubt as to who it was. She then did a promo saying she asked Chat GPT how to get back in Nina's good books and it told her to run in as a masked man and help her win the match. This also prompted a thunderous "Fuck AI!" chant which was also pretty funny. Anyway, Abi's real gift to Nina is a match at Wrestle Queendom 8, where it will be Nina Samuels vs Willow Nightingale! Love this very much. Session Moth Martina/Skye Smitson/Safire Reed vs Anita Vaughan/Molly Spartan/Alexxis Falcon Absolutely triumphant entrance for Martina. Felt like a victory lap for the SHE-1 win, running through the crowd, dancing all over the building, looked every bit the star babyface the company. This of course made it the perfect time for Rhio to appear outta nowhere and hit her with the big package pile driver. Martina carried to the back, so this is looking like a 3 on 2 handicap match. This was really good. Reed and Smitson fighting their hearts out but overwhelmed by the numbers any time they started to build momentum. Brilliant scrappy bad ass performance from Smitson, and Reed is always at her best when she's fighting for her life against the odds. Was great to see Reed and Spartan have some exchanges after their singles match didn't go ahead last month; they are indeed perfectly matched opponents. Very much enjoying everything I've seen from Molly Spartan so far. Proper no nonsense powerhouse heavyweight. Vaughan and Reed are a babyface tag team in other promotions, but Vaughan is definitely full heel in EVE and is also an excellent match for her best friend, physically dominating her and providing a strong base for Reed's high flying moves. Then Falcon brings the excellent mean girl shithousery and loves to wind up the crowd. I like that they didn't do the usual finish where the missing babyface team member returns at the last minute to save the day. The heroes fought bravely but they were overwhelmed and ultimately lost. Made Rhio's attach that much more impactful that the crowd had to see two of their other favourites suffer as a result of it. Multiverse Rumble Some HUSTLE-esque non-canon madness to finish the show. Will Ospreay joining on commentary for a Rumble with no set timers ("every once in a while" according to the announcer) and everyone in alternative gimmicks or playing characters from different universes and timelines. Nina Samuels as RTC Ivory and Alexxis Falcon as Mr. Bean to kick things off. Tremendous line on commentary here "Will Ospreay you've won titles and competed across the globe for both New Japan and now in your home promotion AEW... what advice would you give to Mr. Bean?" No exchanges before the next entrance because Mr. Bean took 2 minutes desperately trying to get into the ring. Lana Austin as Freddie Mercury followed by Hollie Barlow, who has misunderstood their team's agreement to come as Queen and is instead dressed as the late great Queen Elizabeth II, complete with inflatable corgis. Zero in ring action here until Mr. Bean levelled the Queen with a devastating headbutt and Ivory stomped out and burst all the inflatable corgis. Fun sequence where various pop stars entered, culminating in Britney Spears going on a rampage and spearing everyone, purely so the commentators could call "Britney Spears!" each time. The pop star segment was interrupted by the legitimately very surprising arrival of Parappa The Rapper. Would never have predicted that one in a million years. Someone who looked suspiciously like Martina in a fake beard entered as Will Ospreay. This was fantastic as she had Ospreay's actual gear, entrance jacket, theme song and lighting. Also did the most hilariously laboured head stand back flip type thing into the superhero pose. John Cena with the late entry, prompting Safire Reed and Anita Vaughan (as Michaels and HHH) to fight against an invisible Cena, nailing him with a superkick and pedigree, only for Cena to fire up and eliminate them both. Amira Blair as Clauia Winkleman. Specifically Traitors Claudia Winkleman. Pretty spot on impression. She selected her traitors and then determined that the one faithful to be eliminated would be John Cena. She said his time is up and his time is now, then choked him out and re-retired him. Molly Spartan as Bowser performing his Princess Peach ballad from the Mario Movie in full was a very worthy final entrant. Winkleman and her army of traitors looks set to win it before they, naturally, betray her. Final three is Ivory vs Bowser vs Bean. Audience firmly behind Bean. Ivory overcomes Bowser but makes the mistake of attacking Bean's teddy bear, prompting Bean to explode with fury and hit a dazzling flurry of offensive moves before chucking her out. Bean wins. 25 minutes of complete nonsense.. I'm sure a lot of it went over better with the live crowd as it seemed like a very fun party atmosphere. Even on Youtube though the sheer commitment to the bit from so many of the performers made parts of this very entertaining, particularly Martina's Ospreay, Falcon as Mr. Bean and Spartan's Bowser. Also if I'd been there live I'd have popped huge for Parappa. I don't watch The Traitors but Amira Blair's Claudia Winkleman impression was also very good. Could definitely complain about Martina being in it, but it seemed more like a dark match/non-canon side show attraction for the live crowd and completely separate from the main show, so I'll allow it. Good show overall, highlighted by an excellent tag title match and a very good handicap tag match. Wrestle Queendom/Other bits Rayne Leverkusen received the "try out MVP" award at her WWE try out last summer and has reportedly signed with them. Promos still need work but she has a ton of fire and physical charisma and is an exciting in-ring performer. I think the Iron Maiden tie-in/Maiden of Metal gimmick is pretty cool too, I'll miss her from these shows but not at all surprised she's been signed up. Disappointingly for me, Jamie Hayter vs Miyu Yamashita has been bumped off Wrestle Queendom onto the Friday show on the 6th of March, which I am sadly unable to attend. Miyu Yamashita apparently "has other plans" for Wrestle Queendom though. Will have to settle for watching their match on Youtube. On the plus side, Safire Reed vs AZM has been added to the card! Very excited to see AZM live, she is spectacular. Updated card: EVE Championship: Session Moth Martina vs Rhio EVE International Championship: Kris Statlander vs Charlie FKA Dakota Kai EVE Tag Titles: Lallie vs Charlie Evans/??? Willow Nightingale vs Nina Samuels Amira Blair vs Harley Cameron Safire Reed vs AZM Sudden Death 16 Rumble/Gauntlet match Syuri, Miyu Yamashita and DASH Chisako all announced with no matches confirmed as yet. I'd hope Hayter is still on the card too if she's in town that weekend anyway. Quote
Paid Members BomberPat Posted February 9 Paid Members Posted February 9 I think Jamie, Miyu and Dash were all confirmed for the Sudden Death 16. My suspicion for Syuri is a rematch with Alex Windsor. Quote
Paid Members waters44 Posted February 10 Author Paid Members Posted February 10 I’ve been catching up on some GCW from the start of the year and was pleasantly surprised by something. As a match was about to start a fan shouted out a homophonic slur. Both wrestlers stopped what they were doing while a security guard leapt into action and threw the fan out of the building within seconds I know it’s the smallest of small wins and something that should be normal practice, but as we all know this industry isn’t the cleanest and it’s good to see something decent happen (no matter how small) Quote
Tim Healys Chutney Spoon Posted February 11 Posted February 11 Small clip of 'John Cena' entering the rumble at EVE https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUcC1_vjb57/?igsh=eDNiaTFnNnF3OWho Quote
Paid Members ReturnOfTheMack Posted February 11 Paid Members Posted February 11 On 2/10/2026 at 1:07 PM, waters44 said: As a match was about to start a fan shouted out a homophonic slur. Vile/vial? Quote
Paid Members waters44 Posted February 11 Author Paid Members Posted February 11 Haha good spot! Quote
Paid Members ReturnOfTheMack Posted February 11 Paid Members Posted February 11 Its rare for me to spot a typo, especially in my own posts. Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted March 8 Paid Members Posted March 8 (edited) EVE 145 - Women Behaving Badly Wrestle Queendom weekend has arrived, making this a very stacked card with all the talent in town for Sunday. Amira Blair hijacks the show opening before the intro spiel can even finish. She's here to debut her new song, entitled "Harley Cameron is a little pussy bitch and I'm going to eat her alive on Sunday and she has terrible tits." I wonder what it's about. We will never know, as she is interrupted by Harley Cameron! She likes Amira's work but she cannot tolerate the tits comment, so she beats up Amira and Cassius using her boobs. It was funny to see a massive swarm of security rush the ring to break up a forced motor boating. Thank god they intervened when they did. I cannot begin to imagine what these two will get up to on Sunday. Lallie vs Johnnie Robbie and Miko Alana Enjoying this ongoing series of Lallie facing teams from all over the world to prove they are the best tag team. This time the opponents are both from West Coast Pro Wrestling in Northern California, where Johnnie Robbie is currently the women's champion. Fun opener this, took a while for the visiting team to find their groove but the last five minutes were an enjoyable sprint. Lallie are getting better and better as a team, adding more double team offense and developing that sense of fluidity and timing you need for tag team matches to hit a higher gear. Miko Alana didn't get to do much here but I was impressed with what I saw from Johnnie Robbie, carrying herself with a ton of swagger and nailing some great looking power offense towards the end. Charli Evans vignette after the match, revealing that her partner for the tag title match on Sunday is Jessica Troy, one of Australia's finest. Nina Samuels w/Abi vs Lil Marz Ahh Nina is so good. Routine win for her, bullying the plucky Australian underdog, losing her shit at the crowd chanting for Abi and generally being as mean as possible. Post match promo from Nina reveal added stakes for her match with Willow on Sunday. It's now for the TBS title AND if Nina fails to win the title then Abi is fired as Nina's assistant! Huge. Jamie Hayter vs Miyu Yamashita Oooh boy what a delicious match up. Cannot stress enough how sad I am that this got bumped from the Wrestle Queendom card. This was everything I hoped it would be, and I guess the silver lining of this being on this card instead of Sunday is that they may not have been given so much time at the O2. Some lovely technical wrestling to start with Yamashita on top, a middle section of brawling where Hayter had the edge, then it ended up being a scrappy all out war for the remainder, both of them laying in shots and fighting tooth and nail to stay in it. The heat of the venue really added to this one as they both looked utterly ruined by the end of it, faces red from the open handed slaps they traded but also from sheer exhaustion. Incredible final five minutes as the time limit drew near, the desperation building and both of them running on fumes, ending with Hayter landing Hayterade juuust as the time expired. Big "five more minutes" chant, Will Ospreay running down to the ring to milk this for all it was worth before giving the people what they demanded. The five more minutes was the best bit. It cannot be overstated how completely fucked they both seemed by the end. A mixture of brilliant selling and I'm sure some very real tiredness, they looked thoroughly punch (or indeed kick) drunk and it made for a thrilling sudden death ending. Favourite spot of the whole thing was Yamashita landing her tremendous skull kick finisher, almost decapitating Hayter, only for Hayter to land under the ropes. Yamashita grabbed Hayter's boot to try and pull her into the middle of the ring but didn't have the strength left to do it, collapsing onto her back as the time ran out for a second time. Perfect finish. Really loved having the five more minutes ending in a second draw but with the roles reversed make them as even as possible. Excellent post match too, both of them clearly needing help to leave the ring but stubbornly refusing it. Begrudging handshake of respect followed by shoves, a departing fist bump that almost turns into another fight as security keep them at bay, then both of them flip flopping all over the place trying to drag themselves to the back without assistance. Devastated I couldn't be there live for this, what an absolute banger. French Art vs Dani Mo and Melissa Fierce Happy to see French Art brought back. Can see potential in a Dani Mo and Melissa Fierce babyface tag tam too. Would like to see them build up some more regular teams and establish a proper division. Cory Zero was impressive again here and Melissa Fierce also looked good on her hot tags. Dani Mo had a bit of an odd performance, not sure if she got her bell rung or simply had an off night but there were some weird moments where she looked a bit lost. This ended just as it was getting going, as it was interrupted by Skye Smitson and Violet Nyte, turning heel and making their unofficial team name of Nyte Skye official. A permanent heel tag team is definitely needed and Nyte seems much better suited to working heel, so I'm all for this. Alex Windsaaaaah and AZM vs Syuri and Safire Reed What a great line up this is. Also a preview of two singles matches we're getting at Wrestle Queendom. Cracking tag match with lots of fun little teases of Syuri/Windsor and AZM/Reed. Really enjoyed the exchanges between Reed and Windsor too; hope we get a singles match between them some time soon. Syuri is such a star, she looks great, has tremendous presence and is a machine in the ring. The opening exchange between Reed and AZM gave me confidence that they'll be able to do some fun high speed stuff on Sunday. They weren't going at AZM vs Starlight Kid speed, but Safire was definitely hanging in there with her. This definitely did the job of making me more excited to see the singles matches it was promoting while avoiding giving away too much. Rhio out for an in-ring interview. She is not concerned about Martina, she's not excited about headlining Wrestle Queendom because her opponent is an embarrassment. Martina out to confront her. Loved Martina wearing an Eve Tracksuit and in full serious business mode. Still a can of Heineken in hand but no dancing, no leopard print, set a much better tone for the go home promo. She says Rhio doesn't give a fuck about Eve, Rhio says she doesn't care about Martina's 10 year sob story or the old days of Eve when Martina was a big deal in front of 50 people. Martina smacks her with the beer can, shoves her, gets in her face. Rhio doesn't respond to any of it because she knows Molly Spartan and Alexxis Falcon are on the way to beat Martina down. Rhio says these three represent the new generation of Eve and they intend to eliminate the weak. Nightshade tries to make the save but is also overwhelmed and beaten down. Rhio ends with a very simple "Martina, you're FUCKED on Sunday." Solid go home segment. I also like Rhio acknowledging that Falcon and Spartan will be after her title if she does retain on Sunday, but for now they're aligned to make sure the "embarrassing" Martina doesn't make it to the top. Good logic for the champion to address that, makes her seem smarter and also makes Falcon and Spartan look less like lackeys. They all hate Martina so they're aligned for the time being. Absolutely fine with that. Hardcore/Falls Count anywhere match: DASH Chisako vs Anita Vaughan My favourite part of this was DASH offering a steel chair duel at the start which Vaughan declined, so they start off doing some old fashioned wrasslin'. As soon as Vaughan starts to lose she immediately grabs a chair and cheap shots DASH with it. Neat way for the heel to get heat for a weapon shot in a match where they're legal. Nice entertaining and hart hitting scrap here, with DASH keeping the crowd behind her and Vaughan continuing to grow into this heel bully role. DASH's double foot stomps always look so great. She does them from all different heights in many different scenarios and I'm not quite sure how she does them without hurting the opponent. She is small but still, it looks like she straight up stamps on them with all of her weight. Everything in this match was pretty snug, it moved at a good pace and it had a spectacular finish with DASH landing a huge splash from the top rope through a table on the outside. An enjoyable change of pace to end the show with a very memorable ending. Excellent show! Hayter/Yamashita was fucking outstanding, one of my favourite matches of the year so far and I cannot wait for the rematch. The star studded tag match and the main event were very enjoyable as well. A very effective go home show for Wrestle Queendom and I wish I could have been there live. Attending the big show tomorrow though, I am extremely excited. Wrestle Queendom final card: Four way tag match for a shot at the EVE Tag titles: French Art vs Nyte Skye vs Aliss Ink and Chantal Jordan vs ??? (I think Dani Mo and Melissa Fierce but not certain) Amira Blair vs Harley Cameron AZM vs Safire Reed EVE International Championship: Kris Statlander (c) vs Charlie FKA Dakota Kai EVE Tag titles: Lallie (c) vs Charli Evans and Jessica Troy TBS Title: Willow Nightingale (c) vs Nina Samuels - If Nina loses Abi is fired New Japan STRONG Women's title: Syuri (c) vs Alex Windsor Sudden Death 16 for a shot at the EVE Championship: Jamie Hayter/Miyu Yamashita/DASH Chisako/Amale/Alexxis Falcon/?????????????? EVE Championship: Rhio (c) vs Session Moth Martina Check out this superb hype video for the main event: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVl_CApDOFi/?igsh=ZzB4ZXl5bTBkZWNu Edited March 8 by JLM Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted March 9 Paid Members Posted March 9 EVE Wrestle Queendom 8 Did this show as a one day trip from Leeds to London and back. Knackered now but what a show! Comfortably my second favourite live wrestling experience ever. Nothing is topping Swerve and Danielson at All In, but it beats everything else, an amazing time and beautiful to be a part of the biggest women's wrestling show Europe has ever seen. 1200 fans in the Indigo at O2, seemingly the entire EVE faithful but also a really encouraging number of first timers and wider audience wrestling fans who, as far as I could tell, had a blast. Excellent venue for this show, with seating on the floor and balcony and then a mass of standing tickets with good views of the ring wherever you were stood. Unless you were very short and very unlucky. Screen access was good and the stage with its enormous video wall was tremendous. Beautiful new look ring ropes, buckles and canvas for the show, loads of special entrances and almost everyone on the card wearing very fancy new gear. The presentation and overall production was leaps and bounds ahead of the usual monthly shows and it was lovely to see this promotion on a much grander stage. Apologies for the quality but these show the big screen and the snazzy new green and white ring: Opening burlesque act was an amazing fire eater. Throwing fireballs between her hands, eating fire and then breathing fire back onto the sticks to re-light them. Hell of a spectacle! Sikisa the host for the evening and she was fantastic. She always bring the energy and jokes but you could tell she as fired up by the bigger stage as she was on fire here. Then it was straight into it with the Sudden Death 16! Sudden Death 16 for a shot at the Eve Championship: Alexxis Falcon vs Abi Cartwright vs Aluna vs Anita Vaughan vs Charlie Morgan vs DASH Chisako vs Emersyn Jayne vs Jamie Hayter vs Lil Marz vs Lucy Sky vs Miyu Yamashita vs Molly Spartan vs Nightshade vs Nyla Rose vs Princesse Lauriana vs Yuu So this the Royal Rumble/Casino Gauntlet hybrid match, with rumble staggered entrances, over the top eliminations but also the Casino Gauntlet rules where the first pinfall or submission wins the whole thing. Red hot start as, predictably, Miyu Yamashita and Jamie Hayter were number 1 and 2, picking up where they left off from Friday and kicking the hell out of each other. After them this definitely fell into that Rumble trap or doing New entrant - > Everyone feeds for them - > People disappear - > New entrant. It got really silly at one point as we were half way through the entrants with no eliminations but pretty much the entire field was missing, even leaving the ring completely empty at one point. Hayter and Yamashita disappeared for about a third of the match after their initial scrap, then sort of awkwardly eliminated each other and that was that. Thankfully it righted itself as it went on and had some excellent multi person moments and more carefully laid out beats. Nyla Rose was a nice unadvertised surprise entrant, huge pop for Abi entering as well. Yuu was also a wonderful surprise, probably the highlight of the whole thing as she's retiring at the end of this year and already had her final/send off match for EVE. A totally unexpected bonus appearance, but in keeping with the theme of this show being a celebration of EVE's history and women's wrestling around the globe. Nice to see some Emersyn Jayne and Charlie Morgan return after long absences and Lucy Skye back in action after her injury. Lots of entertaining stuff in the second half, particularly Abi trying and failing to eliminate all of the monsters in the match only to be destroyed by them as a mob moments later. The meat exchange between Nyla, Nightshade, Molly Spartan and Yuu was great. Really fun cameo from Aluna, who landed a beautiful top rope poison rana for one of the most memorable spots of the match. Insane high spot towards the end as Abi managed to eliminate DASH Chisako, prompting DASH to drag her onto the stage, produce a massive ladder and murder Abi with a gigantic splash through a table. I was very smug at the end of this because I called Alexxis Falcon winning it from the start. She is the perfect candidate to be Martina's first challenger and is also exactly the sort of heel who would steal the win in a match format like this. Some issues with the layout at the start but this turned into a really fun opener, plus the nice mix of surprise and returns and the countdown clock made for an exciting live experience as rumble and gauntlet matches usually do. AZM vs Safire Reed Liked this match on paper and it delivered on the night. It was definitely AZM at 80% of her maximum speed and intensity, but her at 80% is still faster and more exciting than most wrestlers in the world. Safire Reed did an extremely admirable job hanging with her; I'd say it was one of if not the best performance I've seen from her in terms of timing and technical prowess. Was also an interesting novelty to see Safire NOT wrestling as the undersized underdog. Instead it was bright and breezy ten minute back and forth sprint between one of the best in the world and one of the UK's brightest prospects. Also I like that for AZM's EVE intro they always point out that she's an 11 year pro at 23 years old, because that is a bonkers stat which bears repeating. Four Corners Tag match for a shot at the EVE Tag titles: French Art vs Dani Mo and Melissa Fierce vs Aliss Ink and Chantal Jordan vs Nyte Skye The crowd was heavily into French Art for this one. They're still working as heels but they were so impressive in their first EVE outing that the people have fully embraced them. Cory Zero in particular has such crowd pleasing offense that it's hard to keep the people against her. Violet Nyte and Skye Smitson, were the villains, cementing their heel turn on Friday wrestling like right dickheads here. I instantly love this team by the way. Smitson is an excellent heel, Violet Nyte is clearly more comfortable working heel, the team name writes itself AND could be the name of an NXT wrestler, they have a new theme song and entrance video AND they have brand new matching ring gear. Matching gear for a tag team shouldn't be praiseworthy but too many teams don't get this right. Dani Mo and Melissa Fierce did NOT have matching gear and therefore I did NOT want them to win. This had some fun spots, particularly Cory Zero's swanton from the top to a mob on the floor, but also an odd dynamic because the way it was worked wasn't in step with the crowd. The assumption was that the Mo/Fierce team were the babyfaces, so Nyte Skye basically wrestled them in a textbook heel vs babyface tag match for most of the match. The problem was that French Art were then left standing on the apron for absolutely ages as the people cheered for them to be tagged in. They did embrace this by the end but it was a bit late. Aliss Ink is great and has a tremendous look but had a bit of an off night, plus her team were overall a complete afterthought sadly. Her and Jordan as a regular team doing lots of stiff kicking would be fun though, I hope they do it again on a future show. This was more like a standard smaller EVE show match than a big stage one, but it did the job of establishing Nyte Skye, the obvious and correct winners and perfect foils for Lallie. Harley Cameron vs Amira Blair The first ever 16 star women's match in recorded history. What a privilege it was to witness it. Harley tried to up it to 17 stars later on but I think 16 is fair because there were house mic issues and it was hard to hear Amira's nose flute. This was ridiculous and wonderful and a masterpiece of live entertainment. Harley out first to a huge pop. Amira out second, full entrance with Cassius, a life size standee of Zoe Lucas and some dancers. The big dance routine, the pyro, like her usual entrance but turned up to 11. She then complains that she didn't get a big enough reaction, goes back up the ramp, and performs/lip syncs a 4 minute completely original song called "My Wrestle Queendom moment" complete with a cast of semi naked male backing dancers. It was like a song a Disney princess might sing except with more obscene lyrics and a long spoken word segment slagging off Harley Cameron. Harley Cameron retorts with accusations of lip syncing and then performs Sweet Caroline live because she is of course an outstanding vocalist amongst her million other talents. Amira jumps her half way through, which was a babyface move for me because I fucking hate that song. They have a 3 minute match, there are puppets involved, it is very silly. Promo battles after this, more singing. They eventually settle their differences via a duet of Careless Whisper, Amira mesmerised and captivated by the end and they leave as best friends. It is often said that Harley Cameron is too good for wrestling and this was another showcase of that. Difficult to do any of this justice by recapping it in text but it was a powerhouse performance from start to finish. Amira is also an absolute treasure. They left this with a tease of a rematch and/or a tag match in future. Cannot wait. AEW TBS Title: Willow Nightingale vs Nina Samuels w/Abi Once again for Willow in Eve it takes several minutes for the match to start due to the outpouring of love from the fans. Excellent entrance for Nina, filling the stage with very obviously fake fans, photographers and autograph hunters. Poor Abi also out, barely able to walk after the brutal table spot. This was a cracking match. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it is criminal that Nina Samuels isn't working for one of the major promotions. Great heel, confident promo, can have a good match with anyone, really polished and well crafted look, gimmick and character, seemingly never has an off night and always in incredible shape. These two have excellent chemistry too; I can't imagine a character or personality type that would annoy Nina Samuels more than Willow Nightingale. Nina is deceptively powerful too, able to hang with Willow in feats of strength and doesn't look out of place going toe to toe with her. Classic formula here with Willow red hot out of the gate, Nina eventually cutting her off and with her sneakiness and beating her up for a bit, then Willow firing up to get the job done in the end. Good hard hitting action, some great power spots and feats of strength from both, a particularly delightful pounce and Nina busting out a picture perfect 450 splash that I don't recall seeing from her before. Poor Abi's bad night continued, as her main interference in the match ended up being a ref distraction where Nina had actually reversed the situation and had Willow's shoulders down, so she cost Nina her best chance to win the thing. Guessing Abi's formal firing is going to happen on the next show. NJPW STRONG Women's title: Syuri vs Alex Windsor Superb video package before this one, highlighting their previous match, various career highlights for both and voice over promos discussing their rivalry. Excellent big match feel for this, helped by both sporting some top notch entrance gear: This was excellent. Syuri has lived up to the hype every time I've watched her. She carries herself like a star, she is so serious and so believable in-ring and everything she does looks fantastic. This was stiff, hard hitting and it was impossible to choose between them until the end. It wasn't quite as good as Syuri vs Athena from the New Japan show last month but it was still a belter between another paring who have outstanding chemistry. Genuinely had no idea who was going to win this and was very chuffed to see Windsaaah get the win. Eve Tag titles: Lallie vs Charli Evans and Jessica Troy Bit gutted for Lallie here as this ended up being the death spot on the card. They still got a very strong reaction and the match was good, but I could tell the rest of the crowd was as exhausted as I was by this one. The amazing Amira/Harley spectacle followed by two star studded bangers was tough to follow. It's a tricky one to solve too; the natural solution would be to swap this with the 4 way tag match, but then the post match here was very effective and was reliant on Smitson and Nyte being the number one contenders. So yeah, a good tag match, was cool to see Evans and get a glimpse of why Jessica Troy has been known as "the arm collector" but it didn't get the same response it would have done elsewhere on the card. That said, our section was still cheering loudly for Barlow. She's such a good babyface in peril with her size and plucky persona, you'd have to be lacking a soul to not root for her when she's getting beaten down. Post match was a lovely moment as Lana Austin finally admitted after a year that she does love Hollie and that she IS her best friend. Extremely well earned moment and the perfect stage for them to finally do it, which also made it the ideal time for them to be jumped by the new heel tag team on the scene. Great heat for Smitson and Nyte there, already looking forward to that match. Kris Statlander vs Charlie Back to the regularly scheduled star studded bangers we go, with the crowd energy right back up to full strength. Made me very happy to be there live for Charlie's return. Had a soft spot for Dakota Kai since the NXT days, going from a timid babyface trying to find her voice and character to a surprisingly effective and vindictive heel. She also has the Mercedes factor where her frame seems to be custom made for bumping like an utter maniac. Definitely got a bit of a warm and fuzzy feeling seeing her do her little stretch she does on the entrance ramp, genuinely chuffed to see her back. Then of course Statlander is one of my absolute favourites and literally the reason why I bought my first Eve ticket last year. This was so much fun, Charlie obviously outmatched in size and power but trying to make up for it with her refusal to die, willingness to take big risks and of course her array of delightful kicks to the face. They kept this to a tight twelve minutes, which is unsurprising given how long Charlie's been out of action, but if she was rusty I couldn't see any signs of it. With the short timeframe they really got straight into it, straight up sprinting from bell to bell. Massive spots, massive bumps and big time near falls. Statlander did a great job of showing her increasing frustration at Charlie's refusal to stay down, initially surprised but then ending on a sort of steely resolve, highlighted by her hitting two tombstones before finally landing the Staturday Night Fever. Cosmic Killer Statlander unleashed. Was both a bad ass finish for Statlander and a show of respect for Charlie that such a triple tap was necessary to ensure she was dead. No idea what Charlie's plans are as she has been cursed with recurring injuries but she looked to be in top form here. Most people do against Statlander of course, but she more than held her own and, again, did not show any signs of ring rust whatsoever. Go on Tony, give her some cash. EVE Title match: Session Moth Martina vs Rhio Stellar hype video before this. Not the same one that was posted on Instagram either. I don't know who does these videos for Eve but they are exceptionally good. Nuclear heat for this match, I bloody loved it. A lot of the matches on this show were 50/50 because they were dream matches/international pairings etc. but this was good old fashioned underdog babyface vs big mean heel. I have loved every bit of this Martina story and Rhio has been a perfect villain for her. Martina's entrance was pure joy. Glow sticks handed out to everyone in the building, everyone belting out Cascada, absolutely incredible atmosphere. The crowd didn't let up for the entire 30 minutes either, booing the hell out of Rhio and chanting their hearts out for Martina. Brilliant entrance for Rhio as well, with her theme song being performed live and an amazing new ring jacket with a full lion's head hanging off the shoulder. This match went for both the Hangman/Mox AND Cody/Roman approach, delivering an insanely violent hardcore match and then going for the full on Avengers-Assemble preposterously overbooked closing sequence. Ridiculous, logic defying, and not a single person cared because it was well set up, well earned and exactly what we wanted. The hardcore stuff really was mad. Martina is at her absolute best with the crimson mask fighting for her life, so they went all in on that here. It was also the only use of blood on the show, which was made even better by some of the first timers around me audibly gasping at the sight of it. One particularly great visual where Rhio put a bin on Martina's head that had holes in it, and when Martina had taken several kicks and bumps while inside it you could see some of the blood had come through the holes onto the outside. Rhio at one point produced a pair of bats that had tacks glued to them but also seemed to have a glass/shattering component to them. I still don't know exactly what they were but I have never heard a sound quite like the sound they made when hit Martina with them. Rhio was fantastic whenever she was in control, moving slowly and purposefully, being as sadistic and cocky as possible and riling up the crowd at every opportunity. Alexxis Falcon started the run-in madness. It did make me laugh that her initial interference was to hand Rhio a chair. At this point Rhio had already used tack/glass/bats of death, a bin, kendo sticks, a different chair, a table and a bag of thumb tacks. I reckon she's good for weapons. Her more impactful interference was to pull the ref out of the ring for a great near fall. Then there was a ref bump, which prompted loads of heels to interfere. All of Martina's established haters plus some other assorted villains who joined for the fun of it. This then led to a procession of babyface entrances that was pretty magical. Some big hitters (and Eve veterans themselves) in Hayter and Windsor, old school returning Eve legends and veterans including Jetta who was on commentary for the show but must have quietly left during the broadcast to get ready for this. The highlight was of course Millie Mckenzie, who got a thunderous reaction and even busted out some of her amazing suplexes. Maaaan I hope she's able to make a full return one day, always a treat to see her and so glad she was given a featured role on the biggest Eve show ever. It didn't make sense, the heels stopped attacking Martina for aaaages while they waited for all of these people to arrive on the stage, but again it was hard to care about any of that. It was a celebration and acknowledgement of the promotion's history on the biggest stage they've ever had and it was lovely. What was great about this is that, after the big "Eve" chant, the second everyone else left the ring the whole place erupted in "Martina" chants as it was time for her to bring it home. The biggest distraction imaginable but it didn't detract from or overshadow Martina's moment in the slightest. Final Martina rally, Jaeger Bomb, Martina wins, the place goes wild. Wonderful. What a triumph of a show. I know the Avengers Assemble ending is in danger of becoming an overdone finish, but this was a perfect occasion for it and the entire main event was a near euphoric experience. A feel good show all round with a totally joyful ending. Then on the undercard Harley/Amira, Willow/Nina, Statlander/Charlie, Windsor/Syuri and Reed/AZM were very good to excellent, Sudden Death 16 was good fun despite some layout issues and both tag matches were solid if not quite at the standard of the rest of the show. An exhausting day but very much worth it! Quote
Paid Members BomberPat Posted March 9 Paid Members Posted March 9 I was on the balcony at Queendom - it was friends/family/guestlist only up there, and a good thing too, as the sightlines were appalling. There was maybe one corner you could see most of the ring from if you stood up, otherwise you were having to watch on screens. I'd have been pissed if I had paid for that, and they were wise not to sell tickets up there even after they recognised they could sell out downstairs. When I saw Clash Of The Comics in the same venue, the ring was on the stage rather than the floor, and I just assumed it would be the same here - better vibe for a wrestling show the way it was laid out, and just seeing how much better everything looked with that degree of lighting and camera access was really fun. I don't like the "Avengers Assemble" thing either, and it becoming such a staple of main event booking now is one of those things that make me think that wrestling has passed me by. What I did like about this one, though, was the choice of wrestlers - in the pre-match video package, there was a soundbite of Riho telling Martina that nobody cares about the past, about Martina wanting to "bring things back to the ResGal days", and they showed a group photo of a load of the roster sat outside the closed Resistance Gallery. Every wrestler that came out to make the save was someone who worked for EVE at the ResGal, while none of the heels involved in that match did. I thought that was a nice note to end on, and a bit of a send-off to that era as EVE is clearly starting to become something quite different. Loved Nina and Willow, just a perfect pairing of heel and babyface acts, and Amira vs. Harley Cameron exceeded expectations as to how silly it was. Some fun surprises, and most of the wrestling was fantastic. I loved seeing Aliss Ink in the four-way tag - I've been following her career basically since day one as I have a real soft spot for the Scandi scene, and have been badgering EVE to bring her in for years - and while she didn't completely nail her spots, she looked great, and I hope they have her back for a more focused role to showcase her better. One note on the tag match, as to why it was at that point on the card, and possibly why it didn't get into third gear as well as it might have done - Chevs and Jessica's flight landed in the UK at 2pm on Sunday. Doors for the show were 3pm. They had a cage match against each other in Australia on Friday. They were travelling for 37 hours straight before that match. Quote
lanky316 Posted March 10 Posted March 10 23 hours ago, BomberPat said: One note on the tag match, as to why it was at that point on the card, and possibly why it didn't get into third gear as well as it might have done - Chevs and Jessica's flight landed in the UK at 2pm on Sunday. Doors for the show were 3pm. They had a cage match against each other in Australia on Friday. They were travelling for 37 hours straight before that match. I knew Chevs plan (and figured Jessica would be the partner before confirmed) was to basically leave the ring after the cage match, shower and get straight to the airport but I hadn't fully appreciated quite how close they were likely to have to cut it. Complete insanity but glad they were able to make it happen. I can't really sum up my full thoughts on the card, hard to top JLMs one but what a fantastic weekend of wrestling EVE put on. Friday was very good but Sunday was incredible. Not fully come down from that high but everyone involved knocked it out of the park. Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted April 18 Paid Members Posted April 18 (edited) EVE 147: Brused, Battered and Hungover. Live and in person for this one. Attended with my two regular casual fan friend Eve attendees and this time a new person who had never watched pro wrestling. Was great to see him growing increasingly engaged as the show went on. His biggest take aways were that he was utterly blown away by Megan Bayne and that he doesn't like Alexxis Falcon's shit talking. "She is just AWFUL, I don't like her at all!". Love to hear it. Even better than that though was a group in the front row of our section who had clearly never been to wrestling or burlesque before. They looked like a group of stereotypical wine moms from an American TV show where people would use the term wine mom. Initially quite cynical and snarky about the whole thing, but again over the course of the show they were getting more and more sucked into it. I could easily rewatch the entire show with a camera pointed at this group. Megan Bayne's big flying clothesline caused one of them to recoil in her seat and then stay frozen in that position for several seconds, one of them shrieked "WHAT THE FUUUCK?" and hid behind her hands in horror when a burlesque act stripped down to a very tiny thong. The best bit of all though was one of them legit biting on a near fall for the first time and nearly falling out of her chair, then sitting leaning so far forward for the rest of that match that she was literally on the edge of her seat. Live pro wrestling really is a different experience and it was beautiful to see this group of newbies get completely swept up by the energy and madness of it all. Two main things I was looing forward to on this show: First one was Megan Bayne vs Safire Reed. Simply a perfect match up. Guaranteed banger and a chance to behold The Megasus in the intimate setting that is the Big Penny. The other was wanting to see the direct follow up from Wrestle Queendom. The Martina storyline has been the best bit of long term storytelling I've seen from the promotion so far, so was very keen to see this continue and not have the next show be a series of exhibition matches with international guests dropped in. It's easy to fall into this habit when doing monthly shows, and I am all for the big name guests of course, but I also want to get behind the characters and get into the stories and be rewarded for tuning in/turning up regularly. Anita Vaughan vs Billie Starkz So of course we open with an exhibition match featuring an international guest! I had no issue with this though; AV vs The World has been an ongoing thread and Billie Starkz is a suitably scrappy opponent for her. Also a good choice for an opener as these two set a nice quick pace and had a clear heel (AV) vs Babyface (Billie) dynamic. Really fun breezy opener built up to an exciting closing stretch. Neat finish too with Billie reversing the black hole slam into a crucifix bomb outta nowhere. This match was also a hit with the new casual friend (NCF) and wine mom crew (WMC)) because they hit each other harder than people who haven't seen live wrestling would expect and Biillie is a suicide divin'/swanton bombin' nutter. Skimming through the show on Youtube, I see that they immediately cut to a Billie Starkz backstage post-match interview! Love that. I'm not sure how long that's been a thing as I usually watch the shows in person or live on Youtuibe, but if this is a regular thing I'll make a point of watching them going forward. French Art vs Euro Smash Huge babyface reaction for French Art. They're still nominally heels but the people have decided they're too entertaining to boo. Euro Smash is the team Chantal Jordan and Aliss Ink teaming up again after Wrestle Queendom. So happy to see Aliss Ink back and she was spectacular here. Fantastic look, great presence, delightful kicks and phenomenal to watch during the closing stretch when things sped up to a sprint. Love that this team is going to be a regular thing, love that they have a name, minus points for lack of matching gear. I will never shut up about this. They don't even need to wear the same outfit as Aliss Ink's look is obviously unique to her, but at least go for matching colours! Anyway this was a cracking tag match. Some great brawling and hard hitting strikes to start, then gradually building the pace as the crowd brought up their energy to match. Good heat, hard to call the winner at any point and the crowd pleasing result with French Art picking up the win. They did a mutual respect handshake after the finish, which I thought was French Art finally admitting that they're babyfaces, but I was proven wrong later on the night. Would love to see both of these teams back for more; with these two plus Lallie, Nyte Skye and some further developments later on in the show there is a nice tag division developing. Post-match interview with Euro Smash, who vow to come back from this setback and dominate the tag division. Megan Bayne vs Safire Reed Amazing to see Megan Bayne in a venue this small. I've seen her wrestle live before but it's something else when she walks right past you. Radiating star power, an action figure come to life: As I mentioned before, the new first timer in the group was genuinely astonished by her and it was all he talked about during the interval. This was by far my match of the night. David vs Goliath, pro wrestling 101 and they knocked it out of the park. Bayne dominating and throwing Reed all over the shop, working to her size and taking her time. Safire firing up for flurries of hope spots and launching herself against the brick wall with reckless abandon, finding success when she was able to up the pace and inject some chaos into the match. An opponent this small is such a gift for Bayne and she took full advantage; at one point lifting Reed for a vertical suplex and strolling around ringside with her, then seemingly trying to launch her into space with overhead belly to belly suplexes. The crowd was red hot for Safire and she showed brilliant fire and intensity whenever she was given the chance. Particularly great near fall towards the end when Reed kicked out of Bayne's F5 at 2.9. Good near fall for Reed as well with her springboard flying headbutt. Ultimately Bayne's power proved too much, eventually finishing the job with her spectacular running powerbomb. This was everything I hope it would be. Very rare to get to see Megan Bayne in a 15 minute singles match and she was excellent, while Reed continues to be one of Eve's most consistent and promising talents. Post match angle: Rhio, Alexxis Falcon and the new generation heel posse come out to confront Safire, ask why she hasn't joined them in the crusade against Martina and the Old Guard and prepare to give her a beatdown. French Art are in on this too, confirming that they are still heels. Or maybe they're babyfaces but they still hate Martina. It is not for me to say, French Art is subjective I suppose. Anita Vaughan also out with the new gen heel posse, but they turn on her for failing to stop Martina from winning the SHE-1 and it ends up with AV and Reed surrounded. They throw each other a knowing glance and all of us nerds in the crowd did a cheer as AV turns babyface and we get a Hyper Active team up in Eve. It has been a bit odd that these two are a babyface tag team in most promotions, but in Eve they don't team up and AV is a heel. Was nice to see them reunited here. It also writes them both off because they're off to Japan to tour with Sendai Girls. Will definitely be checking out their matches over there and look forward to them coming back to Eve to join the war against Rhio's crew and enter this new tag division. Eve Tag team titles: Lallie vs Nyte Skye Loose Willis had a 'mare ring announcing this match. Skye Smitson and Violet Nyte, they are... VIOLET NYTE! No, VIOLET SKYYYYE! then a big pause, then "VIOLET SKYYYYYYYYE" again. I must admit I did laugh out loud at the third one. Got it right on the fourth! Fun match this, with added tension as I genuinely thought Lallie were going to lose the titles here. Fundamental heel tag team stuff here, with the heels isolating the uber-sympathetic Barlow and cheating/double teaming whenever they got the chance. Lallie had some excellent hot tags as they always do, but the heels kept finding ways to scam their way back into it. I liked the finish a lot as it was good use of the venue/layout. The heels grabbed the tag titles and did the classic "one heel brings a weapon in right in front of the ref so the other one can do the real cheating" move. This initially appears to work, as the ref is arguing with Nyte while Skye hits a belt shot with the other tag title. However! Looking over Nyte's shoulder the ref can clearly see the video wall, and because this feed is delayed by a couple of seconds, he clearly sees Skye's cheap shot and calls for the DQ. A sort of wrestling VAR decision that, crucially, was very obvious to the live crowd so avoided falling flat as this type of finish sometimes can. Very hot post match brawl, security in, chaotic scenes etc. Post match backstage interviews with both teams. I really liked that it was Lallie challenging for the rematch because they were so furious with the shitty attempt to steal their belts. The champions winning and then demanding a rematch with the challengers doesn't normally make sense but I completely buy that reasoning. They want a street fight with Nyte Skye. Tremendous promo from Skye Smitson in return! By far the best promo on the show, they definitely need to get her on the mic as often as possible to help establish this new team. Calls Lallie a comedy act, says it's laughable that they want a street right, raises some grievances her and Nyte have had about their position in Eve, drops the classic "where has being nice got us" heel turn justification and then storms out of there. I think they accept. Rhio vs Emersyn Jayne I had assumed this would be very short, likely with Rhio using a weapon early and then doing a prolonged post match beatdown to take out one of the Eve old guard as revenge for Queendom. It ended up being a real slobberknocker that went nearly 20 minutes and nearly stole the show. Personally I wouldn't have made it this competitive as I'd like to see Rhio destroy Martina's support network in dominant fashion to build to their rematch. However, as a match this was a blast to watch and it was cool to see what Emersyn Jayne can do. Speed vs Power match up for the most part, with Jayne hitting her fancy high flying offense and Rhio trying to swat her. Got increasingly violent and nasty as it went on, culminating in Rhio hitting an utterly devastating package pile driver on the ring steps, then one more in the ring for good measure to finish it off. Definitely the ending I was expecting but the match massively over-delivered. Non title match: Session Moth Martina vs Lucy Sky Martina's entrance was pure joy here. Wonderful to see her post-Queendom victory lap at the Big Penny and the crowd was rabid for her. This barely got started as Alexxis Falcon and Molly Spartan interfered immediately and it was called off. Melissa Fierce out for the save but she is taken down as well. One of the highlights of the show here as Nina Samuels' music hits! Superb moment of tension here as the crowd is buzzing to see which side she's going to be on, then a massive pop as the video wall reveals it is in fact Abi! Martina on the mic, we are officially Teddy Longing this shit: Session Moth Martina, Melissa Fierce and Abi vs Lucy Sky, Alexxis Falcon and Molly Spartan So this is basically a handicap match as poor Abi can't do anything. Tags herself in, gets thoroughly battered for about ten minutes. Is legal again briefly at the end, makes the mistake of climbing up the ropes for a big dive, is caught by Falcon and dispatched for the loss. Good babyface fire both Martina and Melissa Fierce, loads of heat for Abi and typically excellent bullying from Falco and Lucy Sky. Spartan is also a perfect fit for Rhio's heel posse, herself a natural shit talker and powerhouse bully. Post match Abi says she did her best but she fucked it like she always does and she doesn't know what to do but desperately needs a job. Martina takes pity on her and the losing babyface team have a bit of a consolation dance off. I love that they've folded the Abi story into the Martina and pals vs Rhio and pals war. Martina taking Abi under her wing a bit and trying to give her the confidence she's had to find in herself recently is a perfect babyface champion side plot. Intrigued to see where Nina Samuels ends up in all of this too. Loved this show. Martina heavily involved, Alexxis Falcon heated up as her next challenger, more focus on the tag division, more promos, it had pretty much everything I wanted to see to follow up Wrestle Queendom, plus a belter of a special attraction match from Bayne and Reed. There is a bonus extra show this month at the end of April: Eve X TJPW, which will feature a tournament to find the next contender for Statlander's international title. Then in May and June it's back to back landmark shows with the 16th anniversary and show 150. Really hoping to get to the June one if real life/finances allow, can't be missing a Statlander live appearance. Edited April 18 by JLM Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted May 13 Paid Members Posted May 13 (edited) Lots of interesting Eve developments going on at the moment. I saw on social media that Safire Reed temporarily put her Sendai Girls tour on hold to fly back to the UK for a WWE try out. She definitely deserves the shot but man I would miss her a lot from these Eve shows. Also Nina Samuels is pregnant with twins! Amazing news for her obviously but she will also be a big miss. In news that I am VERY happy about, they're teasing Molly Spartan vs Kay Lee Ray for Eve 150 . KLR is excellent and it's been sad to watch her doing very little of note as Alba Fyre for the past few years. Her coming back on the scene with a big chip on her shoulder sounds fantastic. Also catching up with some viewing: EVE 148: Eve X TJPW An extra Eve show in April for the cross over card with Tokyo Joshi Pro, featuring a one night tournament to find the next challenger for Kris Statlander's International title. International title number one contender's tournament Semi Final: Shoko Nakaima vs Hollie Barlow Very cool to see Hollie Barlow in a featured singles match for the first time in Eve, facing off against TJPW's monstrous 147cm Big Kaiju. Good match, though it didn't quite kick into high gear and become a great one. Barlow's greatest strengths for me are how funny she is and how good she is as under-sized underdog. Here she was mostly serious and was actually the larger of the two. I'd have liked a bit more silliness but it was nice to see Hollie showcase more of what she can do in a 13 minute singles match; definitely saw plenty of offense I haven't seen from her before, highlighted by a lovely looking top rope elbow drop. A solid opener, good chemistry for two first time opponents and again nice to see that Hollie Barlow can hang in this setting. International title number one contender's tournament Semi Final: Aliss Ink vs Miyu Yamashita No brainer match up here between two expert strikers. I bloody love Miyu Yamashita. I've said this before but for me she has that Bret Hart quality where she carries herself like a completely believable serious athlete and feels totally convincing from the moment she walks through the curtain. She also has great fire, brilliant facial expressions and a ton of poise and physical charisma. That's before even getting to the delightful array of kicks and ability to have a quality match with any opponent. It's easy to forget that she's still only 31 as well. Enjoyed this match a lot. 10 minutes, no bullshit, quick feeling out process and then they were swinging for the fences. Few minor miscommunications but none of them detracted as it added to the feel of this being a chaotic and scrappy fight. Strong showing from Aliss Ink once again, she has quickly made me a fan and I'm glad she's appearing for Eve so regularly. Rhio vs Hyper Misao Brilliant pairing. Hyper Misao is a comedic nutter with a very capable wrestler underneath it all. Creative and hilarious and a natural babyface to go up against Eve's resident bully. I liked that they mostly went for a David vs Goliath match here. There was some silliness because it's Hyper Misao and she did get her bike involved, but for the most part this was a fan favourite underdog trying to survive the monster heel. Really good match, loads of sympathy for Misao and Rhio is so good in this role. Session Moth Martina and Aliss Ink vs Lucy Sky and Yuki Aino Aliss Ink on double duty to replace Emersyn Jane in this match. Bit of an unfortunate one as I'm assuming this continuation of the war between Martina and Rhio's respective crews would have worked better with Jayne in there. A very entertaining tag match regardless though, with a strange dynamic as everyone involved was a babyface aside from Lucy Sky. Sky was the star of the show for me here, bullying Ink and Martina and showing nothing but contempt for her bubbly and affable guest tag partner. Great performance from Aino, showing off her charisma and how deceptively strong she is for her size. She was so over that it led to one funny moment where Ink made a hot tag to Martina, who rallied and beat up Lucy Sky, then when Sky tagged out the crowd treated that like a hot tag as well because everyone wanted Aino to get in so badly. None of it ever resulted in the crowd turning on Martina though; it was clear Lucy Sky was the villain and everyone else was there to have a good clean wrestling match. Some fun silliness at the start too with Aino appearing to be hammered after sharing a pre-match beer with Martina. Martina helped to save Aino from a post-match beatdown from Sky as well, allowing all three babyfaces to celebrate together. As I said last month, I'm glad Martina is being featured on every show and getting good babyface hero moments to show that she is taking her new role as locker room leader seriously, ruling with respect and taking people under her wing in contrast with Rhio's iron fist. International title number one contender's tournament final: Shoko Nakajima vs Miyu Yamashita Hell of a main event, long time rivals, Yamashita beating Nakajima to crown the first ever TJPW champion in 2016, Nakajima later beating Yamashita for that title in 2021. This was superb, comfortably the best match on a show full of solid matches. Nakajima overwhelmed by Yamashita's strikes and power advantage, but using her speed and creativity to hang in there and rally with flurries of offense and unconventional counters/escapes. Both babyfaces but by the half way point the entire crowd was behind Nakajima because how could you not be? High drama, big twists and turns, was hard to believe this was only fifteen minutes because they packed in so much and it felt like such a war. Some of the sequences they used to shift the momentum back and forth were brilliant; one bit where Yamashita was following Nakajima running at the ropes, only for Shoko to slip through them and hit a 619 under the bottom rope to sweep the legs, another where Yamashita caught Shoko midway through a top rope 'rana, then hoisted her up onto the shoulders for a top rope death valley driver. Spectacular stuff, showing just how familiar these two are and what amazing chemistry they have. Superb closing stretch, Nakajima with the surprise kick out from Yamashita's trusty skull kick, then Yamashita exploding into her highest gear to finish her off. What was even better about this was that they still threw in some twists right at the end, Nakajima still managing to duck a few of the final attempts to finish her off, delaying the inevitable and still keeping you guessing right until the final one landed. Excellent match, and this now gives us Yamashita vs Statlander at Eve 150 for the International title! God damn. Very enjoyable show. The undercard was all good to very good and the main event was outstanding. I also like that this didn't replace the May show and was an extra one in between, so it didn't have the Forbidden Door effect of putting the promotion's main stories on hold for a prolonged period to accommodate the cross over. Edited May 13 by JLM Quote
NeverYield Posted May 23 Posted May 23 4 hours ago, Ralphy said: Anyone else on here watch maple leaf pro? A few days back I watched an event on YouTube and found it very enjoyable, it kind of reminded me of the older, prime ROH I certainly recommend it Yeah I watch a bit of MLP they've uploaded lots of full events to their channel lately haven't they, it's been very good. Quote
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