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RevPro HIGH STAKES 2024 Review (Feb 18th, Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London, UK)

AEW International Championship Scramble - Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Flash Morgan Webster vs. Sha Samuels vs. Spike Trivet vs. Richard Holliday vs. Cameron Khai vs. Shigehiro Irie ***

RevPro Undisputed British Women's Championship - Dani Luna (c) Safire Reed ***

Young Blood vs. Trew & Lacey ***1/4

Luke Jacobs vs. JJ Gale ****1/4+

Mustafa Ali vs. Robbie X ***1/2

Shingo Takagi vs. Trent Seven ***1/2

Ricky Knight Jr. vs. Anthony Ogogo **1/4

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Connor Mills ****1/2

RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship - Michael Oku (c) vs. Will Ospreay *****

Photos - BritWresPics

This was an excellent show from the premier BritWres promotion, that featured great action up and down the card, a whole load of good, nothing bad, and the best match of the year so far.

Things kicked off with a fun, but unspectacular Scramble match, that had the surprise inclusions of Shigehiro Irie and AEW's Global champ, Orange Cassidy, who got a huge pop and put his belt on the line here. Which left the finish in no doubt really. This only went 8 minutes, and was essentially just a collection of high spots, and many of the guys didn't do much. I'm a fan of Big Shig, but honestly, he might as well not have been here as his contributions came to one spot. Same with Cassidy to be fair, he was AWOL most of this thing, selling a lowblow from Holliday, but it was still fun stuff. Orange pinned Holliday with the Orange Punch to retain. The RevPro Women's Title was on the line next. This was another good match, but I wasn't a massive fan of the finish, which brought it down slightly for me. Despite seemingly having the match won, Reed inexplicably went to use Dani's title belt, but payed for it as she ate an Elevated German into the ring and a Luna Landing for the champion to retain in 9:44. Alex Windsor Jumped Luna after the match and beat her down and dragged her around with a chain, which one would presume is leading to a dog collar match.

The NJPW Dojo graduates Yuto Nakashima and Oskar Leube took on heel duo Mark Trew and Kieron Lacey in a really good little traditional tag bout next. The heels worked over stocky babyface Yuto, before he made the hot tag to his Germanic Skyscraper of a tag partner, who ran wild and they bumped around like crazy for him. After taking Lacey out with a verion of Total Elimination, Leube caught a Trew crossbody attempt, and deadlifted him onto his shoulders, allowing Nakashima to come off the second rope with a jumping knee, and Oskar hit a massive multiple rotation F-5 for the win at 9:25. They announced a UK Fantasticamania show for May 19th before the next match, which was an excellent slugfest between Luke Jacobs and JJ Gale. This was grand hard-hitting violence, with both guys hitting forearms, kicks and suplexes. After Jacobs caught Gale's leg from a roundkick attempt, he captured his arm too and hit a sickening headbutt. JJ scored a nearfall with a flash small package, then got another super close nearfall with his Gale Force spinning Oscutter as the crowd went crazy. Gale missed a 450, before eating a serious of stiff Lariats from Jacobs, which lead to Luke scoring the win at 17:02 with a Steiner Screwdriver. Great stuff here, and I hope we see more from both guys at the top of the card in 2024. Jacobs vowed to win the Revolution Rumble in the post match.

Mustafa Ali took on Robbie X in a very good flippity spot fest next. This was all-action, with a non-stop stream of flying and springboard moves. The finish came when both guys fought in the top, Ali hit a Sunsetbomb off the top, then a match winning 450 Splash to win at the 13:08 mark. Ali looked super happy to be here, and put on a good showing, so I'm under no doubt that he'll do great in New Japan and the Indys, after years of being in wrestling purgatory. Shingo took on Trent Seven next in a match that was made less than 24 hours before they came through the curtain. Originally Takagi was to take on Gabe Kidd (which I would have been all in on as that sounds awesome), but Kidd suffered an undisclosed injurey in the insane Cage Match he was in in Osaka. If I were a betting man though, I'd say it was likely a concussion from that insanely stiff Henare slap he took near the end, not to mention the crazy chairshots. This was ultimately a very decent match, but at 21:58, it was way too long, and it was another of those matches where too much stuff was kicked out of. There was no need to work this like it was a Tokyo Dome main event; Shingo kicked out of a Pump Handle Emerald Flowsion, Trent kicked out of a sitout Burning Hammer, Takagi kicked out of a middle rope Emerald Flowsion, then a short piledriver, Shingo then escaped a Seven Star Lariat and hit a Last of The Dragon... but after a delayed cover Trent kicked out(!). Seven kicked at one from a Sliding Bomber, but ate a few more Pumping Bombers to finally allow Shingo to win. This would likely have been great if it was around 14 minutes, but it outstayed it's welcome a little and they just kicked out of way too much for no reason.

Next up, Anthony Ogogo defeated RKJ in what was by far the weakest match of the night. This was perfectly fine, nothing was bad, the crowd were respectably hot, and RKJ tried his damndest to have a good match, but this ultimately didn't click. Former Olympic Boxer Ogogo scored the win at 13:30 with two great looking punches. Which were the best looking things he'd done all match. What followed was an excellent technical wrestling match, as Zack Sabre Jr. took on Connor Mills, which was my second favourite of the night. This featured exemplary mat work, as both guys exchanged submission holds, with Mills aggressively working over the left leg, and Zack focussing on the left arm. After both failed to tap the other out, frustrations flared and this broke down into a nasty strike battle, with some seriously stiff slaps back and forth. In the end, after Mills kicked out of a Zack Driver, Sabre Jr. turned up the pace and put the younger wrestler away after a series of PK's at the 21:25 mark. Great, great stuff.

Then the Main Event, which was Will Ospreay's RevPro swan song before going fulltime with AEW, and was one of the best matches you'll ever see. I loved their match at High Stakes 2022, but this one was considerably better than that classic, with off the charts drama, heat, storytelling and big fight feel. This was outstanding. The stipulations were that there were no referee stoppages allowed, but if Amira threw in the towel (like she did in their last match), then Oku would lose the title, and Ospreay threw the bloody towel from the forst match at her to use. The crowd were white hot from the off, and neber cooled down once during this epic battle. There was way too much to reasonably recap here, but everything was great. Oku worked over Will's knee in preperation of the Half Crab, but came up bloody from going into the ringpost. Ospreay worked him over, taunting Amira to throw the towel, but she responded by spitting on him, which Ospreay responded by kicking her into the guardrail to loud boos. Oku went crazy with a fiery comeback that included hitting the old El Generico Tornado DDT through the ropes to the floor, which Ospreay juiced from, then locked on the most dramatic Figure Four since Muto/Takada, but Ospreay made the ropes. Will hot the Oscutter for a nearfall, and Oku hit a reverse rana which spiked Ospreay, but as he celebrated, Ospreay popped up and hit a Hidden Blade to the back of the head for the double down. Oku then turned a Storm Breaker attempt into a package tombstone, but missed a Frog Splash. He landed on his feet though and hit Ospreay with his own Hidden Blade. In a callback to their 2022 match, Oku started hitting numerous Hidden Blades, but pulled Ospreay up at two every pin attempt. He tried another but The Ariel Assassin countered with the real deal Hidden Blade. Ospreay hit the flip out of a clothesline into a powerbomb spot, then transitioned into a Styles Clash for a near fall. Amira is dragged into the ring and she pushes Oku out of the way of a Hidden Blade, taking the move herself, leading to Ospreay pushing her unconscious body out of the ring. Oku rolls through another Hidden Blade into the Half Crab, but as he leans back into the bridge, Ospreay pulls him out of it, flips him over and hits a devastating Tiger Driver 91, another Hidden Blade and finally the Storm Breaker, but Oku kicks out at 2.9999, which blows the roof off the National Sports Centre. Oku then turns a Tombstone attempt into a Sega Mega Driver, in tribute to Mad Kurt, finally hits the Frog Splash to the back, goes back up and hits a second to the front, but Ospreay kicks out at the last minute. As he does, Oku grabbed his leg and turned it into the Half Crab as the fans went crazy. Ospreay fought to the ropes, but a revived Amira flipped him off, Oku pulled him to the centre, bridges back, and Ospreay finally tapped at the 47:12 mark, giving Oku the biggest win of his career. This was all brilliant.

In the post match, Ospreay handed Oku the title, symbolically passing the torch, Oku offered the handshake, which was expected, and Ospreay cut an emotional promo to say goodbye to a scene he's invested so much into. He thanked New Japan and RevPro, as well as the fans, for all they've done for him, and he promised his best stuff was still to come. He then said teary fairwells, before nemsis Zack Sabre Jr. appeared at the curtain to give him a hug and a kiss. All in all, this was an excellent show that's well worth checking.

NDT

#rev pro #high stakes #review #will ospreay #michael oku #revolution pro wrestling #british wrestling #wrestling #aew #all elite wrestling #orange cassidy #wrestling review #njpw #puroresu

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