Pro Wrestling EVE – Dawn of a New Era

Howdy!

It’s our first EVE show since WrestleQueendom! I know that the whole ‘everything changes’ saying is severely overused, but in this case, it’s more than accurate.

Let’s see what our favorite kickass women in EVE are up to now, shall we?

So, this show is called “Dawn of a New Era”, and as I stated above, it’s very appropriate. More than half the women on WrestleQueendom are no longer with EVE or are international talents. Kay Lee Ray and Viper are gone from EVE to NXT. Charlie Morgan is retired. Jamie Hayter won the International title, and she’s off to Japan until the end of the year. Special attractions like Su Yung and Jordynne Grace weren’t on the show, and neither was Jinny or Moth Martina. Japanese talent like Kagetsu, Mayu, Utami and Hoshiki are back to Japan now.

In short, a LOT of things in EVE are changing fast. Time to see what this promotion does about it.

PRO WRESTLING EVE – “DAWN OF A NEW ERA” – The Resistance Gallery – July 13th, 2019

Your hosts are Dann Read & Nina Samuels tonight. Big ‘ol WrestleQueendom recap video starts us off. Jamie Hayter winning is still the best moment of that show for me. She’s a fucking star.

To the show proper and we are not dicking around here, as Emily tells us that the opening match tonight is a quarter-final match in the EVE #1 Contenders tournament.

Charli Evans is out first, and she’s facing a woman I’ve never seen before named Kanji. Let’s go.

Charli Evans vs Kanji – 1st round match, EVE #1 Contenders tournament

Evans dominates early, but Kanji comes back with kicks. Evans with a big ‘ol forearm to take back over. Charli tortures her on the mat with some arm work, then more kicks. Evans just continues the beating until Kanji hits an STO to stem the bleeding. Fast strikes by Kanji and God bless Charli, who just sells the shit outta them. Kanji hits a crazy Alabama Slam for two. This match is going far better than I thought it would, honestly. She goes up, but Charli catches her and slams her head into the stairs, then hits nasty looking Kamegoye for two. Series of counters lead to a superkick from Charli, but no sale from Kanji. Another, same result, and she spears Evans. Gory stretch into a modified Gory Bomb from Evans gets two. I was SURE that was the finish. Tornado DDT from Kanji and she goes up, big splash gets two for Kanji. Springboard stunner from Kanji, but Charli rolls out. Kanji goes for a Penalty Kick off the apron, but Evans catches her and slams her into the side of ring, then hits the Rampaige for the pin. CHARLI EVANS OVER KANJI, PINFALL, 12:09

THOUGHTS: ***1/4. This was far, far more than I expected from a 1st round match, especially as Dann stated on commentary that it was Kanji’s first match as a single. Charli Evans deserves a lot of credit for how good she is, as she sold her ass off to make Kanji look good; some of Kanji’s stuff looked a bit soft, but not too much. Kanji had some really good fire-up babyface comebacks in the match, I just wish the match had felt like a bit more than a mere series of moves on a certain level. Regardless, I enjoyed this muchly.

Next up, another quarterfinal! Millie Mckenzie makes her way out, smiling and bowing to the crowd as they lustily boo her. Out next, it’s Laura Di Matteo to a big ovation.

Millie Mckenzie vs Laura Di Matteo – 1st round match, EVE #1 Contenders tournament

Crowd chants for Laura, who is clearly the biggest babyface in the promotion right now. Lockup goes to the corner and Laura gives a clean break. Again, same result. Again, but this time it’s Millie who can end the lockup clean, and if you need to guess whether or not she slaps the shit outta Laura, you’re nuts. A pissed-off Laura beats her in and out of the ring, dropkicking her against the wall. Millie comes back with a neckbreaker and Millie rains down fists as Nightshade and Livvii Grace join us at ringside. They yell for Laura as Millie beats her up some more and Dann speculates on Laura possibly having a bit of a dark side. Laura makes the comeback with clotheslines and a headscissors. Fisherman’s suplex by Laura, but she misses a dropkick and Millie comes off the ropes, but she gets tripped by Livvii for the DQ. MILLIE MCKENZIE OVER LAURA DI MATTEO, DQ, 5:39

THOUGHTS: *1/2. Match was all storyline here. Nina and Dann were speculating that Livvii and Nightshade were here to help Laura, but I think it’s pretty clear that we’re going for the exact opposite – as Dann was citing the history of Laura with Rhia O’Reilly, including Rhia choosing Laura to be on her Wargames team at Queendom last year, you can see that the story is that Rhia does not want to wrestle Di Matteo. This 100% felt to me like the heels are getting Laura DQ’d so she won’t go farther in this tournament, because Rhia is afraid of wrestling another EVE original in Laura, especially considering the tenor of Rhia’s speech a bit later. The longer they keep Laura away from the title shot, the more this is going to become clear, and I think that’s a good thing. A good story is a good story, and forcing the babyface to fight her way through extra obstacles into the title match is a good story. They can go a long way around with it if they want, with Laura calling out Rhia and saying ‘hey, we’re friends, why did your cronies do that?’ and then we hit the heel beatdown. And that can work through several shows, especially with the SHE-1 coming up. While I still think the long-term money is in Hayter as an edgy babyface, Laura is definitely the more traditional one and if they chose to go that route for the storyline, I’m completely fine with that.

Millie is more than happy with this result, while Laura is obviously more than a bit confused about this turn of events.

Another quarterfinal? Don’t mind if we do! Out first for this one, we’ve got Raven Creed, and with the dark makeup, tattoos, and her intro as hailing from an insane asylum, she’s like if all my mistakes in my twenties got together and became a wrestler. Out next is Little Miss Roxxy, who has to be considered a very plausible favorite in this thing.

Roxxy vs Raven Creed – 1st round match, EVE #1 Contenders tournament

A bit of clowning to start, as they can’t quite decide how to lock up. Roxxy dropkicks her and does a spiderwalk to send her bailing to the floor. Raven back in and she takes over with some Greco-Roman biting. Creed grapples her to the mat and cuts off the comeback with more biting. Chops in the corner by Raven. Roxxy bites back and chops, but runs into a lariat from Raven. Slugfest and a simultaneous headbutt drops both women. Back up and Roxxy gets an STO. German suplex and a running knee from Creed gets two. Awkward roll through ends in a double stomp for two for Roxxy. Samoan Drop by Raven, but Roxxy gets another double stomp and a sunset flip into the buckles gets the three count. ROXXY OVER RAVEN CREED, PINFALL

THOUGHTS: **3/4. This was fine. I’m not sold on Roxxy, I won’t lie, but there’s something there. I want to give her a little more time to grow on me. Creed was okay.

At this time, Emily welcomes Rhia O’Reilly to the ring. She’s out with Livvii and Nightshade, and this crowd is not having any of her bullshit. “Fuck you Rhia!” sayeth the crowd, and Rhia knows that hey, they all have a lot of questions; ever since Queendom, everyone’s been asking why, Rhia, why? Well, guess what? You all deserve an explanation!

Hang on. We do? A heel is going to explain their actions? For reals? What kind of weird-ass, no-bullshit universe did I accidentally stumble into here? Vince would so not approve!

Anyway, Rhia did it for the fans! She did it for the future of pro wrestling EVE! She was on the first EVE show and she’s given everything she had to this company for 9 years, unlike Charlie Morgan, who got hurt and walked out on all of you!

WHOA. Rhia went FULL-FUCKIN’-BITCH-MODE right there. Goodness.

And when Kay Lee and Viper came to her and wanted that match, Rhia jumped on the hype train. They wanted that spotlight, that main event. They believed in this company so much that as soon as a paycheck was thrown in their faces, they couldn’t get out of here fast enough! And Dann and Emily were happy to have them take the EVE title to a corporation that was the antithesis of EVERYTHING they believe in! Someone had to step up and do what needed to be done, and it was Rhia!

Now, she’s an active member of the roster and isn’t the matchmaker, but her last act as matchmaker was to create this tournament for the #1 contendership for the title, and she did it because she believes that no one in that locker room deserves a shot at her title! Now Roxxy, Millie, and Charli – they all won their matches tonight, but when the spotlight was on them in title matches at WrestleQueendom, they couldn’t get the job done! O’Reilly is on FIRE here. It’s gonna be up to the three of them to hold up the company until someone steps up. Good luck to everyone left (key word here is ‘left’, I think) and she’ll see the winner in September.

In his first book, one of the things that Mick Foley talks about is the need for the heel to be justified in their actions, no matter how heinous the pursuit of those actions may be. So let’s break this down: Rhia O’Reilly has been with EVE since the beginning of the promotion and never left. Meanwhile, at their second ever WrestleQueendom, the biggest show of their year, Dann and Emily were more than willing to give the entire main event over to two women, Kay Lee Ray and Viper, who they knew for a fact were leaving as soon as the match was over. In fact, the entire promotion and a lot of the UK has been raided by the WWE, and now here EVE was, allowing these two women that were walking out of the company the spot in the main event before they left, while women like Rhia and other EVE wrestlers who stayed were relegated to the undercard.

This was a betrayal of the people who made pro wrestling EVE what it was. This was kowtowing to corporatism, to being blinded by the shine of the bright lights. And so Rhia did what she had to do while she still had enough power left to do it.

That? That’s a goddamn GREAT explanation of why she did it, even though it was heinous as fuck and super shitty. I LOVED this, because it was as perfect a reason for a heel turn that you’ll ever see, while still keeping Rhia, in her own mind, completely justified in her actions. So now, as I said earlier, when she ends up continually ducking Laura, one of the ones that did stay, it will expose her as the hypocrite that she is, along with the fact that now, all of her decisions as matchmaker, which was the main reason for the Wargames match at last year’s Queendom, can be called into question, especially when Jamie Hayter comes back from Japan.

This promotion has their wrestling storytelling down, folks.

Time for our last quarterfinal match in this thing. Kasey is out first as Dann mentions her history with Rhia and the fact that she would probably very much enjoy taking O’Reilly’s title away. Out next, it’s Yuu!

Kasey vs Yuu – 1st round match, EVE #1 Contenders tournament

Crowd gives us a “We love Yuu, yeah, yeah, yeah” set to the dulcet tone of the Beatles. I don’t say this enough, but EVE crowds kind of rule. Kasey decides to sit it out for a moment and we find the Kasey fan in the audience who chants for her. Chain wrestling to start and Kasey goes to an armbar, but Yuu gets out of that easy enough, and we end up at a draw there. Kasey tries a springboard, but Yuu catches her and drops her with a sideslam and a senton for two. Corner to corner chops by Yuu, but she eats boot on a blind charge and Kasey hits a missile dropkick for two. Running knee in the corner by Kasey gets two. Kasey with kicks, but Yuu fires up and buckle bombs her, then a cannonball for two. They kind of hit a stunner spot in the corner, but a judo throw sets up the Last Ride to send Yuu to the semis. YUU OVER KASEY, PINFALL, 7:59

THOUGHTS: **3/4. There were a few communication issues here to be sure. I don’t have a ton to add to that, except to say that I did not care that much for the match. I like Yuu as a character, am still working out how I feel about her as a worker. Kasey did a great job here.

Up next, Emily tells us that we have a non-tournament match!

And out first, we’ve got Nightshade. She’s out with Livvii Grace, and she’s cuh-razy, don’t you know? And up next, making her EVE debut, it’s Shazza McKenzie! She’s from Australia, and she’s Heartcore! Get it? HEARTcore!

Shazza McKenzie vs Nightshade

Couple of lockups and a lot of posturing on both sides make up the first few minutes here. Some wrestling and Shazza gets control with kicks and a seated legdrop. Nightshade comes back with a right and she makes faces at the crowd. I’m not really a huge fan of how ‘big’ Nightshade makes every expression or sound in the ring. I’d rather see it build a bit more in intensity as opposed to everything being overdone from the jump. Shazza sells the beating pretty well, though. Shazza tries a ‘rana out of the corner and that does not go well, to the point where Dann says “I don’t know what that was”, which, you know, me either, Dann. Headbutt and a big German by Nightshade, and double knees in the corner for two. Seated stretch by Nightshade, Shazza escapes and wears her out with kicks in the ropes. McKenzie goes up, crossbody gets two. Nightshade gets her turn to hang Shazza in the ropes and hits her with a hip attack for two. Victory roll by Shazza into a Saito suplex. And now, Livvii is on the apron for the distraction, and that eventually leads to Nightshade chokebombing her for the pin. NIGHTSHADE OVER SHAZZA MCKENZIE, PINFALL, 10:09

THOUGHTS: **1/2. I was not impressed with Shazza all that much here, to be perfectly honest. Her strikes seemed soft in several spots and I guess I just expected more from her for some reason. She sells really well, though. Nightshade….she’s got a lot of potential, but as I said in the match, she really comes across to me like she’s an actor trying to chew scenery out there, and maybe that’s the point of her character, I don’t know – I just know that it isn’t working for me right now. It may in the future. Overall, I was really hoping for more from this match than I got. Just an average match, you know? Nothing I’d really pan too hard, but nothing I’d go out of my way to watch again, either.

Up next, it’s a tag team match! Out first, we’ve got Lana Austin, whose name sounds familiar to me but I can’t totally place it. Out next, we’ve got Mercedez Blaze, who will be teaming with Lana tonight. And now, the dulcet tones of one Carly Simon can only mean one thing – it’s Wrestle Friends time! Jetta and Erin Angel make their way out, and Jetta is kind enough to let Blaze check out her tag title belt up close and personal by shoving it in her face. Goddamn, I love that woman. And after we run through Jetta’s full intro, Lana grabs the mic and gives us her rendition of “Let it Go” from Frozen, to which I say nothing, because I’ve heard myself sing along in the car to that song and people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Blaze, however, is not a fan of the work of art taking place in the ring, and she takes the mic away. BOOO.

Wrestle Friends (Erin Angel & Jetta) vs Mercedez Blaze and Lana Austin

Blaze and Angel look to start us off, with Jetta laying in some quality trash talk from the apron, pointing out that at least Lana didn’t lose at WrestleQueendom. Jetta for president of the universe, people. Blaze lays into Erin in the corner with some nice forearms, but gets caught with a boot on a blind charge. Angel with a crossbody for one. Tag to Jetta and they each grab a leg and invite Lana to sing, this time a rendition of “Row, row, row your boat” while they use Mercedez as practice. This leads into a tour de force performance by the Wrestle Friends of “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”, using Blaze in a kneeling position for the titular clapping bits.

While Lana seems to be into this duet, she seemingly remembers that she’s in a wrestling match all of a sudden, and headbutts Angel to break up this very weird karaoke performance. And now Jetta is YOUR Wrestle Friend in peril as Blaze beats her down. They cut the ring in half and Austin gets two off a seated dropkick. Jetta comes back with a stunner and both women are down. More beatings are handed out from Blaze, including a double underhook suplex on Jetta. Blaze tags out and needs a break, refusing to tag back in, and that allows Jetta to get a Perfectplex for two. She still can’t tag and Blaze is back in with a full-nelson. Jetta gets an exploder and it’s hot tag Erin, but Austin has the ref tied up and the ref doesn’t see it, so Jetta gets dragged back to the heel corner.

Jetta with the comeback but Lana has the ref again, so Erin decides to take matters into her own hands and she comes off the top with a high cross to Mercedez. And now, finally, it’s hot tag Angel and she comes in with a missile dropkick on Lana. Sunset flip by Erin and Blaze saves it, but it’s a double noggin knocker from Angel as a result. A little more back and forth ensues, but Blaze refuses to tag Austin back in, and that leads to Erin hitting a Killswitch to finish. WRESTLE FRIENDS OVER LANA AUSTIN & MERCEDEZ BLAZE, PINFALL, 12:02

THOUGHTS: ***1/2. Crikey, I love me some tag team formula. This was just fun, with the Austin/Blaze stuff being egged on by Jetta, who is still an absolute shit (but loveable now), and they worked a very nice tag here.

Post-match, Austin wants a handshake from Erin and Jetta, and then just decides ‘fuck it, I’m going for it’ and throws her arms around them in a big hug. Erin smiling while Jetta grimaces is just primo stuff. Lana tries to do the same with Mercedez, but Blaze decks her in response. Can’t win ‘em all.

Time for the semifinals in the #1 Contenders tournament!

Millie McKenzie makes her way to the ring and flips Emily the double bird when she gets in the ring, prompting the crowd to want Emily to take her on, to which Emily responds “Have you seen her wrestle? She will KILL me”, which made me giggle like a schoolgirl in my living room.

Millie McKenzie vs Yuu – Semi-Final match, EVE #1 Contenders tournament

Yuu offers a handshake, so Millie gives her the finger instead right in her face, and we get ANGRY YUU~!, which is kind of awesome. Yuu tosses her like a ragdoll as Millie tries to figure her out. Sidewinder slam and senton gets two for Yuu. More beatings for Millie as she sells like nuts for Yuu, until a misstep in the corner allows Millie to take over. Crucifix by Millie gets two, she follows that up with a superkick. McKenzie tries a German, but walks into some judo throws by Yuu. Another senton by Yuu. Strike/chop combo by Yuu into an elbow and cannonball in the corner as Millie sells it like death. This is like the best Yuu match I’ve ever seen. Yuu goes up, but Millie slams her and hits the German! That only gets two and Millie gets caught in the cross-armbreaker, She breaks with a pin attempts and blocks a throw (with the bad arm, which is either a) inexcusable or b) shows how tough Millie is), hits a stunner and spears her for the pin! I really thought Yuu was winning here. MILLIE MCKENZIE OVER YUU, PINFALL, 8:42

THOUGHTS: ***3/4. I really liked this match a lot. McKenzie’s facials are out of this world for her age and experience level – Dann at one point likened them to a teenager throwing a tantrum, and he’s not far off there. Considering the accumulated damage they took in the first matches they had, I have no problem with the match going under ten minutes, because they told the story in that timeframe, so why drag it out? Yuu showed fire here and I was much more into her and her reactions to Millie being a little shit than I was in her previous matches. Made me want to watch a little more from these two. Good match.

Our burlesque show this week appears to be Theresa May, but it is, in fact, a performer named Lolly Jones (sp?).

Main event time! It’s our other semifinal match in the #1 Contenders tournament. Charli Evans is out first, with Roxxy following. Let’s see who goes to the Final!

Roxxy vs Charli Evans – Semi-Final match, EVE #1 Contenders tournament

They start off quick as Roxxy hits a shotgun dropkick and a headscissors takeover. Charli snuffs that pretty quickly and chokes her against the ropes. Running kick in the corner gets two. They fire it up with a chop battle, but Charli ends that by slugging her down. More back and forth ends with a terrific headbutt by Roxxy, Charli responds with a lariat and both of them are down. Roxxy fires up and rolls through a wheelbarrow into a double stomp for two, and Evans bails. Charli tosses a chair in the ring and nails Roxxy with it, which the ref allows (Spirit of EVE, baby!) and grabs the taped-together kendo sticks, but Charli cuts that off and gets the stick for herself. Shot with the sticks by Charli! Another! Then a third….goes HORRIBLY FUCKING WRONG and Evans absolutely nails Roxxy in the goddamn face. I mean, she just leveled her, to the point that Dann just audibly yelled “Oh SHIT!” on commentary. Roxxy comes up and her face looks buh-roken, blood all over her mouth. Dann leaves commentary to go down to the ring to see if they need to end the match, but these women are professionals and they handle it professionally, going immediately to the finish as Roxxy pins Evans with a cradle to advance to the Finals. ROXXY OVER CHARLI EVANS, PINFALL, 7:12

THOUGHTS: ***. This was heading higher, I think, until the match had to basically just end out of nowhere. It felt like there were at least five or so more minutes in here that had to be understandably cut out after Roxxy’s injury. It looked like a complete accident to my eyes, with there being a miscommunication about positioning between them or something, but either way, the match itself was really quite good. Evans is an excellent wrestler and Roxxy showed a bit more than I’ve seen from her so far, similarly to Yuu. It’s just hard to really ‘rate’ a match that felt like it just ended with no build, but again, I can’t blame them for just finishing with what happened.

Post-match, Roxxy is sitting in the corner bleeding, Dann is in the ring. Roxxy finally gets up after checking on her teeth through the blood. That looked rough.

And now, Dann is back in the ring. He introduces himself and reminds us that at WrestleQueendom 2, Charlie Morgan retired. He talks about how brave Charlie has been in her career, what with her being the first wrestler to come out in the ring, to how difficult it is now, knowing that she has to do something else now. He puts over how she’s an inspiration to all of the people in EVE. He knows that it’s late and everyone, including Charlie, wants to go home, but let’s bring her down for her last appearance in the Resistance Gallery in a wrestling capacity, Charlie Morgan!

Charlie makes way to the ring, the picture of resolve and stoicism beneath her visage. Crowd chants for Charlie as she begs them not to make her cry anymore. Dann thanks her for everything she’s done for EVE, and the entire business in fact, making it a safer space for doing what she did. Dann puts over her breaking her collarbone and still coming back early, because she “fucking lied to me!”, which Charlie kind of apologizes for.

He runs through Charlie stories and talks about how, in January, EVE and NXT Takeover were running on the same night. Two days before that show, WWE called Charlie and told her that they wanted her at the Takeover show. Charlie said no. Dann says that if you want to talk about being fearless, you don’t need any other fucking examples.

So, Dann says, we did this for Kris, so we’re doing it for you, but first, let’s take a look at the career of Charlie Morgan. Video plays of her announcing her retirement, then segues to the highlights of her career.

Back in the ring, Charlie is sitting down, a look on her face. A look, a little bemusement it seems; how can a career be encompassed by a video package? How can a career ever really be ‘summed up’ as the parlance goes, especially when there’s a feeling of incompleteness that will surely linger beyond the moment that is right now?

Because it really isn’t fair, is it? There’s a scene in The Sandman, Neil Gaiman’s magnum opus of comics, where Death takes a baby and the baby says “Is that it? Is that all I get?” And there really isn’t much to say beyond that. The idea that the world is unfair has been discussed ad nauseum, for sure; but the bitterness that is the knowledge that the world not only moves on, but that the world moves BEYOND you, no matter your importance in your chosen work. It’s not as though there will be no more wrestling, but surely it would be lovely, if, on a completely selfish yet wonderfully human level, the wrestling just wasn’t quite as good as it was when you were doing it?

Standing on nothing more than the knowledge that what you did in the brief time you did it may have helped many people beyond your own perceptions and even your own understanding may be the only thing to keep someone sane who is forced to leave the world they love far, far too early. And from what I’ve seen of Charlie Morgan on-screen, she seems to posses that quality.

At least, I hope beyond hope that she does. Because while she may have been a brief comet in our sky, she fired across the blackness of that motherfucker like the brightest of any flame you’ll ever see, and if any pretty words that I can vomit here make clear, she was one in a million.

Anyway, all poetic nonsense aside, Charlie takes the mic and said that she said in her retirement speech that she never expected to be in this position at such a young age, but shit happens. And even if the future is scary, Dann is right – she’s fearless. At Queendom, she said she wouldn’t retire heartbroken, but she did – but tonight is a different story. She’s had time to reflect, to think, and tonight, she can walk out of here at peace. She doesn’t have to beat herself up over what she didn’t do or where she didn’t go, but rather be proud of what she did do and the places she went.

She’s gonna go away now for awhile, but she’s sure that she’ll be back someday to do something stupid. After all, she’s always leaving her gear behind anyway. She said it and she’ll say it again – in life, be fearless, be brave, and most importantly, be you!

The EVE roster hits the rings, hugs all around for Charlie. Dann calls for the bell to toll, and it does, ten times. They bury her in streamers, Charlie holds up the Pride flag, and the crowd roars to send us home.

Thanks, Charlie. Thanks for being fearless, thanks for being brave, thanks for being you.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This felt like the big reset show post Queendom, and there’s nothing wrong with that. They lost a lot of wrestlers and need to recircle the wagons here in EVE, and I think they’re going to do well with that. There’s still a lot of talent in this promotion – it’s obvious that losing workers the caliber of Kay Lee Ray doesn’t really HELP any company, but I’m sure they’ve got things planned out. One thing about EVE is that they really do understand wrestling storytelling and from what I’ve seen so far, they tend to care very much about their stories making sense and that makes them worthy of attention when so many other promotions don’t. There’s a lot of real love in EVE, and you can’t knock that.

Take care all, and watch some wrestling.

As always, thanks for reading this thing I wrote,

Rick Poehling
@MrSoze on Twitter