RevPro Summer Sizzler results: Tomohiro Ishii vs. WALTER

Submitted by Matt Dagnall

– Promoter Andy Quildan opened the show at a nearly sold out York Hall to advertise the upcoming Revolution Pro Wrestling television tapings in September at the venue, announcing KUSHIDA and Jushin Thunder Liger in addition to the already advertised Zack Sabre Jr. and Roppongi 3K.

– Josh Bodom defeated Dan Magee

This grudge match was a very hot opener with the crowd clearly invested in their ongoing and well-crafted blood feud. Magee, a RevPro trainee, was making his York Hall debut and got over very well with the crowd as an excellent babyface in peril.

The match was hard hitting from start to finish. There were numerous near falls, and both men played their respective roles to perfection, ensuring the crowd was very engaged. Bodom won with a penalty kick before the two bitter rivals shook hands after.

– The Great-O-Kharn defeated Shane Strickland

Great-O-Kharn (Tomoyuki Oka) has a Mongolian gimmick that struggled to get over in his United Kingdom debut at Strong Style Evolved UK, and it only fared a bit better here. He is clearly improving, but the match was incredibly slow.

O-Kharn took 80 percent of the match, with Strickland barely getting anything in early on. It got better later when Strickland finally came into his own, but he was often cut off immediately by O-Kharn when making a comeback. O-Kharn won with an impressive reserve exploder suplex.

This was a criminal misuse of Strickland, with the EVOLVE Champion getting essentially jobbed out to a trainee. It would have been fine had O-Kharn not taken almost all the match.

– KUSHIDA defeated Adam Brooks

KUSHIDA was massively over with the crowd, and Brooks was playing a jerk as per usual and working the audience. The story was that Brooks wants to face Will Ospreay, so he was fighting one of Ospreay’s greatest foes.

As with the previous match, the heel took around 80 percent of the offense — with any comeback from KUSHIDA being scouted by Brooks. Finally, the match picked up the pace as KUSHIDA got in some offense and won very quickly with Back to the Future in about 12 minutes.

This was disappointing as this match definitely had the potential to be as good as Brooks’ classics with Strickland and Ryan Smile at previous York Hall shows.

– Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) defeated CCK (Jonathan Gresham & Chris Brookes)

This started comedically, with Gresham being noticeably smaller than all of the other competitors in the match. He chopped away at Fletcher, who didn’t even flinch. And whenever the bigger Davis came near, he fled up the ramp. This was perfect comedy wrestling and the crowd was in fits — Gresham played his role perfectly.

Then Brookes came in and the match got serious. Brookes and Aussie Open know each other so well that this was bound to be a clinic — and it was. When Gresham finally got back in, it was even better. The match built to an effective crescendo at around the 15-minute mark with everyone going 100 percent. They continued in top gear for another 10 minutes with an insane amount of near falls over that time. This was incredible stuff and the crowd lapped it up willingly, cheering all involved.

After another crazy series of near falls, Aussie Open finally won with Close Your Eyes, and this 25-minute match was one of the best I’ve ever seen. Gresham was the real star of the show, blurring the lines between comedy and incredible talent perfectly. Despite being a change to the card due to Davey Boy Smith Jr. not being able to come, this was easily the match of the night. The teams got a standing ovation and hugged it out.

– Titan defeated El Soberano Jr.

They had a very different style of match to what York Hall is used to, but it worked very well. Early on, both wrestlers showed off their high-flying ability and were seemingly equal to each other. To heavy boos from the crowd, Titan tried to get the better of Soberano by taking off his mask — and Soberano attempted the same in response. There was no clear face/heel dynamic here — it was just two wrestlers seeing who was better. The crowd was loud and enjoyed the change in style to the rest of the show and cheered for both guys.

After some effective near falls, Titan won with a roll-up. Both embraced after. I’d expect to see them back.

– Lance Archer defeated Jurn Simmons

This match suffered from its placement on the card. And with both guys making their York Hall debut, it was never going to steal the show. The two big men worked a slow but stiff match that was fine. Archer did all he could to be hated by the crowd, while Simmons was the hero, getting a strong reaction by the end of the match.

Archer won this, but Simmons was the star, with the crowd chanting “please come back” as he left. With a different opponent and a different placement on the card, Simmons could be a key player at RevPro.

– Undisputed British Cruiserweight Champion David Starr defeated El Phantasmo to retain his title

Starr cut his standard promo at the start about the conspiracy against him in RevPro, and he had his standard independent official to officiate the match. There were loud dueling chants for both wrestlers throughout. Starr tried to walk out with the title, but Phantasmo stopped the official counting to 10. And for some reason, Starr came back down.

They brawled on the ramp and stage (with no count from the official). El Phantasmo was thrown off the stage but made it back in for the eventual count. What followed was a solid match, but it was way too long given that the shtick before it was long as well. Starr was aggressive as ever, with Phantasmo using his aerial ability to equal him.

The official was knocked down. Phantasmo got the visual pin, but Starr was able to give him a low blow and a shot with the title to retain the belt.

The match was impressive as both men were clearly giving their all, but it would have been better kept to 15 minutes instead of 20. It felt very WWE-esque with all the shenanigans, ref bumps, and over-dramaticism. Keeping the belt on Starr was the right call.

– Tomohiro Ishii defeated WALTER to become the number one contender to Minoru Suzuki’s Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship

The crowd was mostly behind Ishii. WALTER even got a handful of boos, which surprised me. This started slow, but Ishii soon woke up and started fighting WALTER back despite being constantly knocked down. They had the hard-hitting heavyweight bout one would expect, with them exchanging chops, suplexes, and shoulder tackles.

Ishii finally gained the upper hand after no-selling WALTER’s offense and won with a single brainbuster.

This was very good but not at all on the level of the series of matches Ishii had with Keith Lee. For all of WALTER’S strengths, he doesn’t have the same charisma as Lee, has a more limited move set, and the match was only 15 minutes as opposed to the usual 25-minute York Hall main event.