:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/51873863/allaboardthebutttrain.0.png)
The show went up on RPW On Demand this afternoon, folks, so let's break it down together.
Charlie Garrett & Joel Redman vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI & EVIL)
EVIL makes to start with Garrett but it's a ruse and BUSHI clobbers him from behind! Redman gets a tag fairly quickly, so no extended beatdown segment, instead he and BUSHI go grappling. BUSHI cuts him off with a Pele kick in the ropes and goes for a crossbody, but Joel catches him into a fallaway slam and the action spills outside as EVIL yanks the former NXT superstar out of the ring.
BUSHI hits a suicide dive on both Garrett and Redman, giving the King of Darkness leeway to engage in his usual chair shenanigans, ramming Redman's head into the ringpost. In the ring, LIJ continue to put the boots to Joel, quick tags and shortcuts aplenty, including BUSHI's trademark t-shirt choke into the STF. Redman finally makes the tag after a pair of suplexes lay the Ingobernables out and Charlie cleans house, finishing with a moonsault on EVIL and a tope con giro!
BUSHI dives into a spinebuster from Redman into a short swing and a catapult into a powerslam from Garrett, awesome sequence. EVIL clears Redman out again and he and BUSHI go to town on Garrett but they can't quite put him away. BUSHI looking for MX, Garrett dodges, the Englishmen hit an excellent running neckbreaker / Emerald Flowsion combo but it's not enough to end the match.
They're getting fired up, EVIL distracts referee Chris Roberts while BUSHI hits a low blow, but he goes for the mist in full view...
Charlie Garrett & Joel Redman win by disqualification when BUSHI spits mist on Garrett.
Fun opener. Finish was a bit disappointing (but understandable on these kind of interpromotional shows), but Garrett & Redman make for a nice mix of athletics and grappling.
Drew Galloway comes out to an awesome cover of his WWE theme, Broken Dreams. He talks about how healthy UK wrestling is and how the best part is watching homegrown talent keep up with and outshine international superstars. He spoke the Mark Sloan about the days when the UK wrestling scene was unhealthy, and it's eating him alive that he can't wrestle again yet. But ever since he started he had a clear plan of what Drew Galloway was going to do, and that was start in the UK and go to America for the big indie scene, but now it's the UK that has the big indie scene. After that, he was going to go to Japan, but fortunately (or unfortunately, he acknowledges) he got signed by WWE when he was 21 and spent 8 years there.
When he was released he thought “finally, I'm going to Japan,” but when he looked into it, he was told they had too many foreigners now. So instead, he took to the rest of the independents and became the biggest star he could be, and when he saw Global Wars, he reached out to Andy Quildan to get his Japanese wrestling in. But two months ago he was recklessly dropped on his neck and was lucky that he wasn't out for a full year. He wanted to have this be his first match back but his doctor advised him to take a little bit of extra time off and recover completely.
Josh Bodom vs. Tomoaki Honma
Honma in control early but Bodom rolls away from a Kokeshi and Honma ends up outside. Suicide dive connects and Josh pummels Honma with chops to follow up. Bodom continues to pummel the Big Japan trainee in the ring, Honma tries a comeback and misses the Kokeshi again. Boots connect and Honma fires up, yelling that broken glass yell of his and hitting a big spike DDT. Forearm and a bulldog, Kokeshi connects!
Diving blockbuster nearly wins Honma the match but Bodom kicks out. They go chop for chop, Bodom winning the exchange and dazing Honma with a forearm and an enzuigiri besides. Josh looking for a piledriver but Honma blocks, a whip later, missile Kokeshi! Honma up top for the diving Kokeshi but Bodom rolls out of the way. Charging blows exchanged, Honma locks a Stranglehold Gamma in but Bodom gets the ropes.
Fire Thunder blocked, Josh levels Honma with a knee but he's out at one! Superkick gets a nearfall, a big knee sets Honma up on the apron...
Josh Bodom wins by pinfall with the slingshot piledriver he calls the Bliss Buster.
Bit of a Honma greatest hits compilation, right down to the loss, but a solid match.
Trent Seven vs. Yuji Nagata
A bit of comedy early, Nagata taking a walk when the crowd sings Seven's entrance theme. They compromised, singing "Yuji Nagata" to the theme as the two men circle before locking up. Break against the ropes and Blue Justice twirls Trent's mustache for him, but from there we get serious with the grappling. Tough guy strike exchanges, Nagata wins and gets fired up, stomping the bearded one to the mat.
Seven ducks a roundhouse and lands a back suplex that sends Nagata outside, but Yuji is ready to cut him off on the dive and takes him to the woodshed outside, literally booting him into the front row at one point. Trent gets back in it with chops against the ringpost but Nagata ducks one and Seven breaks his hand against the cold steel of the post.
Blood in the water, the 3rd Generation man starts working the arm, sending him back in the ring for a standing wristlock and stomping his wrist in. Nagata Lock II applied, Seven gets the ropes so Nagata just stomps his arm in more. On his knees, Trent Seven is defiant, begging Nagata for more. He blocks a kick, hits a spinning backfist, eats a forearm but manages to drop Nagata with a lariat for two.
Nagata ducks a piledriver but Trent shifts to a fireman's carry Michinoku Driver for a nearfall. Seven up top, Blue Justice cuts him off and climbs to the second, Trent tries to knock him down with fists... AVALANCHE EXPLODER SUPLEX! NOT ENOUGH! Yuji Nagata stomps angrily, looking for the back suplex, nearly getting Shirome but Trent slips away. Backfist!
Nagata ducks a short-arm lariat, low kick, release back suplex gets two... SHIROME IS IN! Wrenching back on the fingers...
Yuji Nagata wins by submission with Shirome.
Awesome sprint. Little bit of fun and games to start but when it became all business it was great. Would love to see a rematch somewhere, seems ripe for escalation.
Post-match, Trent is celebrating on the turnbuckles when "The Bastard" Dave Mastiff runs out to suplex him clean off the turnbuckles!
Jushin Liger vs. Will Ospreay
Ospreay's music cuts out halfway through and Liger's music starts up again... Ospreay's dressed as Liger in his CTU gear!
Grappling early, Liger gets the reverse surfboard chinlock but Ospreay reverses to one of his own... or tries to, as he can't quite get Liger up and settles for a pinning predicament. Jushin gets a Romero Special and young Will bails outside after he breaks it. Back in the ring both men go for Shotei at the same time and end up mirroring each other through Liger's signature flex & spin taunt!
Ospreay then uncorks on Liger, taking him outside and throwing him into the wall. The veteran junior heavyweight barely breaks the count and Will goes for the Romero Special style knee stomp. Ospreay eats a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and Liger follows up with the Shotei and the avalanche Frankensteiner for two! Will with the Koppo kick, Liger ducks a Shotei, and they end up trading blows until they're laid out by double lariats.
Slap for slap now, Liger pulling ahead but Will hits the ropes for the handspring gamengiri and he runs into a Shotei! Liger going back to the ropes, Ospreay sets him up for Cheeky Nando's but hesitates, choosing instead to wind up and jam his thumb in a legend's bum! But Liger has superior gluteal control and traps him! Referee Chris Roberts' thumb ends up jammed in Ospreay's butt somehow and Liger leads the butt train merrily across the ring before flipping them away, Joey Ryan style.
Liger Bomb! Ospreay connects with the Shotei! OsCutter and he goes up top...
Will Ospreay wins by pinfall with a shooting star press.
I, uh... That was... I mean. First of all, butt stuff. That happened. Second of all, the whole thing with Will dressing as Liger and doing his stuff was really cool though. And hey, two good wrestlers having a wrestle. Good times, just watch out for the butt stuff.
Ospreay offers his mask up to Liger in thanks after the match and they have a nice little moment.
Pete Dunne vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Right to the bull moosery out the gate, with Dunne eventually goading Ishii to charge him again only to immediately head to the ropes for the break in an attempt at mindgames. It doesn't particularly work and the Stone Pitbull starts throwing chops. Dunne with some of his own and Ishii looks mildly annoyed before dropping Pete to the mat. The Bruiserweight looks for an advantage by wrenching Ishii's nose and follows up with running forearms until he ends up on the mat.
To the arm now, wrenching and stomping, before absolutely taking it to Ishii with forearms. The Stone Pitbull wrenches the nose as a receipt and Dunne goes back to it himself, keeping Ishii on the defensive. He's not done yet, though, coming back with a dynamite shoulder block and popping right back to his feet after Pete German suplexes him. Scoop powerslam for two, Ishii goes for the brainbuster but Dunne bites his fingers!
Clubbing forearms take Ishii to a knee, he reverses a suplex, Pete slips away and locks a sleeper on, biting the top of Ishii's head! Running enzuigiri sets up the Crash Landing for two and Dunne goes up top for a diving double stomp and another nearfall. Ishii's out of it, Dunne sets him up top, and brings him down with a superplex, but he's right back up! Forearms just make him mad now and he forces the Bruiserweight into the corner and to the mat with a single forearm. Ishii to the second... DELAYED VERTICAL SUPERPLEX!
Pete slips out of a powerbomb with wrist control and bites the fingers, but Ishii has teeth too! Dunne firing headbutts but they hurt him more than they hurt Ishii, he fires that Tenryu-style enzuigiri of his and they come off the ropes at each other for lariats until both men are down on the mat. Ishii charges into a boot and just gets fired up, dropping Dunne with a single headbutt and setting up the sliding lariat for a tight nearfall.
Pete reverses a brainbuster attempt to a small package, Ishii off the ropes with a lariat but Dunne dropkicks the striking arm and hits a Tombstone piledriver... OUT AT ONE! Dunne throws the ref in front of Ishii and uses the distraction to hit a low blow into Drop Dead, it's gotta be over... WILL OSPREAY! Ishii's fellow Chaosman runs interference and lets the Stone Pitbull get a low blow of his own...
Tomohiro Ishii wins by pinfall with the vertical drop brainbuster.
Great match. Was a little surprised Dunne got to dominate Ishii so hard early on but the Stone Pitbull is a natural underdog and it all went swimmingly.
Leaders of the New School (Marty Scurll & Zack Sabre, Jr.) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA & Tetsuya Naito)
Mindgames early, with Naito and Scurll unwilling to get their hands dirty so soon. So Sabre and SANADA go at it, Zack quickly getting control with a cravate and SANADA, unable to break it, forces Zack into his corner. Quick tags from the Leaders working SANADA's arm over until the Ingobernable breaks out with a rake to the Villain's eyes. Scurll sends him outside and hits the apron superkick before sending him back in the ring for all hell to break loose.
Naito trips Sabre and LIJ go to work, beating the Leaders up on the outside. Things normalize with ZSJ in the ring as SANADA and Naito work him over. Scurll tries to save his buddy a few times but between happenstance and cunning, Los Ingobernables foil him at every turn and the Villain is left to fume on the apron. Zack gets a few uppercuts off for separation and locks the guillotine on but SANADA is right in the corner and knocks him down.
Tag to Scurll, he knocks Naito off the apron and takes SANADA to the woodshed. Fakeout superkick into the knee strike gets a nearfall for Marty but SANADA blocks the chickenwing and levels him with a dropkick. Going for the TKO, Scurll reverses to the crossface chickenwing, SANADA goes for Skull End but Scurll slips away. Villain with a waistlock, Cold Skull throws Chris Roberts away and kicks him square in the balls.
Naito in, inside-out dropkick, looking for Gloria but doesn't get it, off the ropes into an eyepoke from Scurll but his eyes are wide open. The Villain with his trademark finger snap, Naito playing it cool until the moment his joints pop. Sabre in, tornado DDT transitioned into a Dragon sleeper and then a crucifix pin for two, a boot, roll-through, bridging Gedo Clutch gets another two! Octopus locked on but SANADA breaks it up.
The Leaders run an uppercut train on Naito, brainbuster into a Penalty Kick... NOT ENOUGH! Naito with a Manhattan Drop, Sabre returns with a flying triangle as Scurll has the chickenwing in on SANADA! Sabre shifts to a modified crucifix armbar but Naito gets the ropes. Step-up tornado DDT and everything breaks down again, leaving all four men out on the mat. Out of gas, Naito and Sabre trade strikes, Naito wins the exchange and hits Gloria!
Marty breaks the pin up, Zack reverses Destino to a bridging pin, Pele to the arm but Naito spinebusters him when he goes for the guillotine choke and follows it with an inverted DDT...
Los Ingobernables de Japon win by pinfall with Destino from Tetsuya Naito on Zack Sabre, Jr.
I dunno, something about that one didn't hit for me. I wouldn't say it was bad or anything, just never quite came together after spending a little too long trading quick tag domination sequences early.
Marty Scurll gets on the mic afterwards, saying it's tradition for a wrestler to wear blue when he's leaving the territory. He says it's no secret that Zack Sabre, Jr. is moving to America next year and he admits that he has in fact signed an exclusive contract with Ring of Honor. He says it's the end of the road for the Leaders of the New School, and that while everybody always wants him and Zack to fight, this reunion has been the most fun he's had in wrestling for a long time. He thanks each and every one of the crowd for supporting them and says he's proud for his part in making RevPro what it is today. He says it's not goodbye and Zack grabs the mic to finish for him, saying it's see you later.
Of course, the Villain can't help himself and attacks Zack Sabre, Jr. as they go to leave.
Chris Hero vs. Katsuyori Shibata (c) (RPW British Heavyweight Championship)
Man, what an atmosphere! Shibata takes his back right away, shades of Antonio Inoki vs. Muhammad Ali! Shibata immediately on Hero's back for the sleeper but he gets the ropes and a break. Big right hand, Hero misses the senton and barely dodges a Penalty Kick! Shibata looking for an armbar but the Knockout Artist doesn't make it easy for him.
The champion uses leverage to wrench him to the mat and starts wrenching and locking, falling back in a spinning armlock and grabbing a short armscissors. Chris tries to deadlift him out, Bob Backlund style, but Shibata stays on him and shifts to attempting a cross armbar. Hero to the ropes for a break, and throws a chop back on his feet. Shibata nose-to-nose, chop-for-uppercut, the Young Knockout Kid gets fired up and asks for more and gets a huge open hand chop that leaves him trembling!
Hero fires a bicycle kick so hard in return that Shibata falls to the outside. Elbows, Hero breaks the count but the delay gets the champion back into it, throwing hard forearms of his own until Hero winds up and drops him with an elbow, heading back in the ring and kipping up. A straight elbow gets two in the ring and Hero follows with the senton. Shibata to his feet just in time to eat another elbow.
In the corner, Hero throws chops and Shibata decides he's had enough, standing defiant and going forehead-to-forehead. A volley of uppercuts give way to stomps and the hesitation dropkick from the champion, he follows with the half-halch suplex and calls for the Penalty Kick. He hits a short one and the self-proclaimed Greatest of All Time fires up. Hero catches a second PK and hits a knee strike, going for Death Blow but Shibata ducks and hits the headlock STO.
Chris Hero hits a straight right with a crack like bones snapping, running boots exchanged, Shibata reverses a suplex with one of his own. They slug it out on their knees, going headbutt-for-uppercut, elbow-for-forearm when they get to their feet until Hero drops him with a knee and hits the short piledriver! SHIBATA KICKED OUT AND INTO THE SLEEPER!
Hero drops him with a suplex but Shibata gets right back on him, turning it into a full nelson and then a German suplex on the big man! Back to the sleeper, rolling elbow! Jumping piledriver... NOT ENOUGH! Hero goes for a suplex, Shibata out with a knee and into the sleeper hold again, this time with bodyscissors. Chris gets the ropes, fires off a huge elbow, sets up the ripcord rolling elbow but Shibata blocks, back to the sleeper! Hero's fading!
Katsuyori Shibata wins by pinfall with a Penalty Kick, retaining the RPW British Heavyweight Championship.
Incredible match. From the atmosphere early on, building and building, and doing it so efficiently, without any meandering or unnecessary repetition... Between Ishii, Shibata, Hot Sauce, and Riddle, Hero has had one of the best four match runs anybody has ever had in pro wrestling.
Overall
I feel like Night One was a bit better of a show, but Night Two has plenty going for it, and if you have access to one, you almost certainly have access to both. You'll absolutely want to watch Shibata/Hero, but Dunne/Ishii and Nagata/Seven were both also pretty darn good. Get RPW On Demand and check 'em out!