Pro Wrestling EVE – Battle Cry!

Howdy!

When last we left our heroines in Pro Wrestling EVE, the WrestleQueendom lineup had come into focus, with challengers for the EVE title and tag titles being finalized. There’s one week and one show left to go before the big event, and it’s this one, so let’s go home before Queendom!

PRO WRESTLING EVE – BATTLE CRY! – The Resistance Gallery – January 4^th, 2020

We waste no time as Emily’s most radical mohawk (with the rest of Emily in tow) welcomes us to our first match, and we hear “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne to welcome Zoe Lucas to the ring! And if she wasn’t a heel before, she’s one to me now, because I have a 16 year old daughter who loved that fucking song the first time she heard it. And the second time. And the third. And, you know, the 633rd and still going strong.

Her 41 year old curmudgeon dad? Not so much.

ZOE LUCAS MUST NOW DIE.

Lucas redeems herself somewhat with her shirt, which is from the We the Independent group, a group dedicated to securing workers’ rights in professional wrestling amongst other artistic ventures. EVE is, of course, famous for actually pushing their workers to join a union, so it fits here. It’s a very cool group with David Starr as probably their most famous member, and it’s worth your time to check them out if it interests you as it does me: https://www.wetheindependent.com/

And there’s the music of her opponent – it’s Jinny!

Eh, forget all that crap I wrote above. I hope Jinny turns her into a pretzel. A delicious, salty pretzel.

What? We made pretzel bread a few nights ago. It was super good and I can’t wait to have it again….

….right. Recap. Queendom in mere days. Gotta get this done.

(It was really good bread, though. Just saying.)

Jinny soaks in the cheers of the crowd and while I know I’ve been a latecomer to the EVE party, having really come to the promotion since right before Queendom 2, I don’t remember Jinny being a face pretty much ever, and she seems to be enjoying it. Yas Queen!

Jinny vs Zoe Lucas

I’ve never seen Lucas work, so this will be an education for me. Jinny wins the initial battle on the mat, then we get a few more sequences with Lucas getting a headlock takeover, then escaping a headscissors back to the headlock. Back to their feet for a test of strength, Jinny takes her down again off that, but Lucas does a nice bridge to escape. Armbar by Jinny, Zoe into a wristlock, Jinny with a trip to get out of that.

Jinny takes her down AGAIN when they get to their feet, and I’m not complaining, as this is some very nice chain work with Jinny just being a step ahead. Nifty escape from Lucas leads to a hip throw and an armbar, which Jinny counters into a headscissors. Back to their feet and Jinny does a nice little fakeout, looking to shoot Lucas off and then countering to a rollup at the last second. Zoe’s face is awesome after that. Lucas offers a handshake but Jinny isn’t biting, kicking her hand away both times, because Jinny isn’t stupid.

They go into a series of wristlocks with each of them trying to show a different way to counter out of the other’s hold as the story of the match comes into focus. Lucas gets caught by the leg and escapes again, and now Jinny is impressed enough offer the handshake. Zoe thinks about it and accepts, just long enough for both of them to attempt a kick at the same time.

Well, being a babyface is kinda new to Jinny here, to be fair. Someone get Jamie Hayter on the line.

Both legs are gently placed on the mat – and Zoe is done playing around, hitting a cheap kick to the face and a throw across the ring on Jinny. She misses a corner charge and Jinny takes advantage, hitting her with a pair of running knees. ‘Rana hits from Jinny (ugly, but enough), and she returns the throw from earlier, but misses a blind charge and Lucas hits her with a big kick from the apron.

Back in and Lucas chokes with her boot in the corner. A few more throws by Lucas and stomps in the corner. Cross-corner whips by Zoe and Jinny is in trouble, Lucas with a running forearm. Another charge, but this time Jinny goes to the apron and just SMACKS THE HOLY SPIRIT outta her with a massive slap from there. Zoe returns fire with a head kick and finally tries for a pin, getting two. Pretty sure we’re heading for a draw here.

Jinny fires a stiff forearm, but Zoe hits a roundhouse kick and a delayed shot in the corner. Reversal and Acid Rainmaker attempt from Jinny is ducked and countered by a kick to the head. They get to their feet and slug it out and Jinny just murders her with a forearm and a chop. Jinny sits out into the surfboard, rocking back and forth as the crowd counts down the clock. Back up and Jinny hits the Acid Rainmaker, but doesn’t beat the time limit. JINNY/ZOE LUCAS TIME LIMIT DRAW, 15:00

THOUGHTS: ***1/2. Okay, now this is going to be a bit polarizing here, so let’s dig in. First off, this type of stuff is my SHIT, man. I love to watch technical wrestling and chain sequences so watching these two work was tremendously entertaining. However, let’s be real here – the opening 8-9 minutes of this 15 minute match is basically hold into counterhold into new hold into counterhold, and that’s a very specific style that some folks are going to like and some aren’t. Since it’s the majority of the match, that’s what I concentrated on. The second half of the match, where they ramped it up with speed and rope runs definitely contrasted well with the beginning, but I would probably have done a little less chain work at the beginning to make sure that the match flow was at a slightly faster pace, which they still could have upped for the finale. Lucas was fine here, even if some of her stuff felt a bit soft – she’s clearly got talent. And Jinny is, of course, one of the best female workers you’re going to find out there. All in all, I really liked this, but I have to give the caveat that it is absolutely the style of pro wrestling that I enjoy the most, so take my rating with that grain of salt.

Jinny gets up and says “I had that bitch.” And, as is wont to happen in EVE, the word bitch is uttered and Nina Samuels appears! She wants the mic and tells Jinny to back off. She’s had a conversation with Pro Wrestling EVE management, and due to her shoddy treatment as of late, she agreed to turn up for this show on one condition – that Jinny can’t lay a finger on her, or the match at Queendom won’t happen! Jinny turns to the balcony and says “You’re a fucking dick, Dann!”

Sorry, Dann. I laughed far more than I should have. You seem perfectly nice.

But Nina understands that Jinny is upset, because once again, she couldn’t get the job done. She knows that Jinny is mad, but maybe she should just calm down and take a seat? Jinny kicks the buckle and calls Nina a stupid bitch instead, but then goes and sits down. Tremendous. Nina is in the ring now and says that, as the wonderful human being that she is, she’s going to give back to women’s wrestling and offering a local competitor the chance to step in the ring against her. You can start the ‘Thank you Nina’ chants! Meanwhile, Jinny is mugging for the camera, giving Nina the finger and jerking off motions and it’s all just super awesome. Nina calls the crowd morons and says that they can stand with a loser (Jinny: I’m a fucking queen, you dickhead!), but she can see that Jinny is getting angsty. So let’s welcome Nina’s opponent.

And it’s…..Clementine! We’re told she’s a graduate of the London school of Lucha Libre, and that’s good enough for me. She’s very excited, so much so that she hugs the referee and gives her the lei around her neck. It’s like watching Bayley on meth, but not to be confused with Kris Wolf, who was like watching Bayley on crack. There are charts for this sort of thing.

Nina Samuels vs Clementine

Crowd attempts to sing “Sweet Clementine” to the tune of “Sweet Caroline”, which, you know – watch it, EVE crowd. I know that the ABBA is coming soon and I’m feeling an urge to kill rising. Luckily, they switch to ‘Fuck off, Nina’ soon enough. Lockup and Nina with a toss, then a big boot to level Clementine in the corner. Nina chokes her against the middle rope and hits a dropkick for two.

Dann joins us now on commentary, choosing not to address Jinny’s speculation that he is, in fact, a fucking dick. Come on, Dann! Don’t be silent on this issue! Anyway, Clementine mounts a brief comeback that Nina quickly snuffs out, with Samuels beating on her in the corner for two. More beatings from Nina ensue, into a full nelson. As expected, Nina has dominated the match so far.

Clementine finally makes a comeback with a couple of clotheslines and goes up, crossbody by Clementine! Nina takes back control and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Clementine won’t quit and keeps on coming, countering the GTS into a sunset flip for two. And Nina has finally had enough of this shit, hitting a spear in the corner and a corkscrew from the apron to get the pin. NINA SAMUELS OVER CLEMENTINE, PINFALL, 6:30

THOUGHTS: *3/4. A step slightly above a squash for Samuels, she gave Clementine enough to get the crowd thinking she actually had a very, very outside shot to win before putting her away. Clementine was green as grass here, but it was her first ever EVE match and we’ll have to see where she ends up going. Nina is so good at drawing heat, she can work a match like this and really get the crowd into it. The work was okay, a bit below average, but it meant nothing to the overall point of the match.

Post-match, Nina goes back to work beating on Clementine in front of Jinny, including setting her up for the GTS, but Samuels forgot that EVE actually knows how to make babyfaces and Jinny doesn’t just stand there impotently, instead getting in the ring and stopping Samuels from hitting the move by swinging wildly. Nina ducks and bails to the crowd as Jinny gets a mic. She kicks a turnbuckle and tells Nina that at Queendom, that’s going to be Nina’s fucking face. These people may like her now, but she’s still a ruthless bitch and at Queendom, she’s going to smash Nina’s face into the canvas, because Jinny is the real fucking Queen of EVE!

Okay, she MAYBE used the word ‘bitch’ a few too many times in that promo, but the counterpoint to that is now I WANT TO SEE JINNY BEAT NINA LIKE A BITCH.

Dann Read is in the ring now, and he tells us that WrestleQueendom is next week and sold out. And it will feature the first appearance in the ring of a hijab-wearing female wrestler and he’d like to welcome her to the Resistance Gallery now – Nor ‘Phoenix’ Diana!

Nor makes her way down the steps and into the ring. My goodness, she’s a bit on the short side. Dann says that the one thing they don’t have so far is an opponent for her, so he’d like to ask her who she would like to face in EVE? She can’t get a word out before the music hits and HOLY JESUS IT’S AVRIL GODDAMN LAVIGNE AGAIN!?

Ahem.

So, what I of course meant was that Zoe Lucas makes her way out for the second time tonight. Give me a moment for the throbbing to stop. She takes the mic from Dann and kicks him out of the ring, calling him ‘Disgusting Dann’. Man, Dann is getting piled on tonight. Keep your head up high, Dann! My wife likes your accent! Anyway, Zoe cuts a heel promo on Nor, wondering why everyone is talking about her when Zoe has also wrestled all around the world! Long and short of it is that Zoe challengers Nor to a match at Queendom and Nor accepts with a handshake, allowing Zoe hit a cheap shot. Nor doesn’t take that and fires back with some very nice looking forearms, then she goes off the ropes and takes Lucas over with a headscissors, so Lucas decides the better part of valor would be to bail here. And now we have our match for Diana at Queendom!

Up next, we’ve got ourselves a good ‘ol fashioned six woman tag! First up, it’s Millie McKenzie, who looks stricken before Emily announces that she is, indeed, still her best friend AND the Ace of Eve! Out next, it’s the Woke Queens, and Millie attempts to mimic their sweet dance moves with Emily, to decidedly mixed results. On the bad person side? Mercedez Blaze, always a welcome sight, is our first woman to hit the ring. One-half of the EVE tag champs, Gisele Shaw, is out next, and she demands that Emily introduce her as the real ‘Ace of EVE’, prompting a shoving match with Millie. Sammii Jayne finally makes her way out to get this match started.

Valkyrie gets the mic and calls out Millie, warning her that she needs to be on the same page as the Woke Queens tonight. Millie seems less than intimidated.

The Woke Queens (Valkyrie & Debbie Keitel) & Millie McKenzie vs Mercedez Blaze, Gisele Shaw, & Sammii Jayne

Gisele taunts Millie to start, saying that while Millie was gone, Shaw was winning championships. So Millie spears the shit out of her.

Perfectly reasonable response.

Shaw and McKenzie roll out to the floor battling as the Queens take over on Blaze and Jayne, hitting stereo elbows to send them out as well. We finally start the match proper with Gisele and Valkyrie, and Shaw hits double knees in the corner, then brings in Jayne for some of her own to get a 2 count. Blaze tags in for strikes and a neckbreaker, then tag to Jayne. Jayne with a suplex and a tag back to Shaw, who continues to torture Valkyrie as they cut the ring in half. Gisele Shaw has been an absolute revelation over these last few shows. Her glee at choking away on Valkyrie just brings a tear to my eye.

More tags in and out as they put on a clinic against Valkyrie, with a snap suplex from Shaw getting two. Valkyrie finally looks to escape with an enzuigiri, but Shaw recovers and takes Debbie and Millie off the apron before leveling Valkyrie with a chop. Consecutive clotheslines in the corner lead to Gisele absolutely destroying Valkyrie with a lariat for two. More kicks from Shaw, but Valkyrie hits a Pele kick to create just enough time to get to her corner, and it’s HOT TAG Debbie! Gisele tags in Jayne, but Keitel runs wild on both her and Blaze, dropping Blaze with a headscissors and then hitting running kicks in the corner on a slumped-over Sammii.

Northern Lights suplex on Sammii, but Blaze breaks that up and Debbie tags in Millie, who comes in with dropkicks for all. Jayne cuts her off with a big knee and Millie ends up bumping into Valkyrie in the corner as Shaw tags in. The Queens have issues with Millie, allowing Shaw to sneak in with a suplex on Valkyrie that Millie shoves Keitel into to break up a pin. Mercedez comes back in from behind on Keitel, hitting a dropkick and a butterfly suplex. Valkyrie saves with a kick to the gut and a standing Blockbuster, and I believe it is appropriate to announce that it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN BETHNAL GREEN!

Millie blind tags herself in as Valkyrie is coming off the ropes, Jayne comes in and hits the lungblower and sliding german suplex on Valkryie but doesn’t realize that Millie is legal. McKenzie with a waistlock now on Sammii, HIGH-ANGLE GERMAN SUPLEX ON JAYNE! Holy SHIT, Sammii looked like she landed on her goddamn HEAD from that angle. Dan yells “Holy shit!” on commentary. I yell “Holy SHIT!” in my living room. Somewhere, Kota Ibushi sees it and yells “HOLY SHIT!” and just shakes his head ruefully. His beautiful, beautiful head.

Blaze comes in and gets suplexed by Millie as Sammii clutches her neck and rolls out, and here comes Gisele for the showdown. Miscommunication leads to Millie lining up Gisele for the spear but hitting Valkyrie instead, which causes Debbie to level Millie. Shaw slaps the trailer hitch on McKenzie now, and Millie has nowhere to go and taps out. GISELE SHAW, SAMMII JAYNE, & MERCEDEZ BLAZE OVER THE WOKE QUEENS & MILLIE MCKENZIE, SUBMISSION, 9:27

THOUGHTS: ***1/2. This thing went a mile a minute with no resting, so that’s a good thing. Everyone got the chance to really get in there and do some work, and everyone looked good. Blaze has the potential to be scary good in the future, while I think the world of Millie already and Shaw has absolutely broken OUT this year. I am always impressed when I watch Valkyrie in the ring as well, as her timing is really a treat and her selling during her extended time taking a beating was top-notch. This was a really fun match with a terrifying bump from Jayne and a bit of confusion at the end, but overall I though it did the job it needed to do and worked on that level.

Shaw gloats as she’s now submitted Millie McKenzie twice. That doesn’t last long as the Woke Queens destroy everyone post-match, including Millie with a Decapitation. They hold up the straps because they want da belts!

Emily is about to ask who is ready for….well, something we may never know, because the music of Rhia O’Reilly hits and here comes the champ, Livvii Grace right behind her. She gets the mic and tells us that despite her title defense next week, she thought she would grace us with her presence tonight! You’re welcome. She put out to the EVE roster that she was willing to wrestle a non-title match tonight against anyone, and Skye Smitson answered that call. But after that, she will defend the EVE title at Wrestle Queendom against Laura Di Matteo! Laura has nothing and no one – while Rhia will have Nightshade and Livvii in her corner, Laura won’t have anyone, because no one believes in her.

Well, it appears that Laura would like to retort, because there’s the music of Laura Di Matteo! She makes her way down to the ring and gets a mic of her own. Rhia thinks that Laura is going to come out alone at Queendom, so Rhia can screw her over with her two goons? Laura isn’t that stupid, she went out and found herself some backup of her own! Play her music!

And it’s the music of Heidi Katrina! She hits the ring and Rhia retreats to the floor immediately, saying that she already has a match tonight, but Livvii doesn’t, so why don’t the two of them fight it out instead? Rhia heads back up the stairs and leaves Grace to fend for herself, which earns her points in my book for being a good heel and running away, leaving her lackey to take a pounding. I can always get behind that.

Livvii Grace vs Heidi Katrina

Livvii charges with a clothesline, but misses and Katrina hits a dropkick. Legdrop across the ropes from Heidi gets two. Heidi with an elbow in the corner, but Grace goes to the eyes. Grace with a forearm and a running knee for two. Katrina comes back with elbows and a dropkick, but Livvii cuts that off with a headbutt and a suplex for two. Heidi with a Stunner to set up the top rope legdrop for the pin. HEIDI KATRINA OVER LIVVII GRACE, PINFALL, 4:05

THOUGHTS: *3/4. Just a match to establish that Katrina can handle herself when she’s in Laura’s corner on the Queendom show.

Post-match, Heidi kicks Livvii to the floor as Laura raises her hand, with the commentary saying that Laura must feel much more confident having someone as powerful as Heidi in her corner for Queendom, and that the two look perfectly in sync.

Hmmmmm.

What? Nothing. Just…..hmmmmm. Interesting.

Up next, we’ve got the music of Chakara! She makes her way to the ring, having been seen in the 4-way at the last SHE-1 show. And her opponent is Aleah James, who had to withdraw from the SHE-1 after one match due to injury. Let’s see if she’s recovered!

Aleah James vs Chakara

Chakara stalls to start, then they lock up, with Chakara grabbing a headlock and riding it for a few. Shoulderblock knocks James to the mat and they run the ropes, with Aleah getting a sunset flip for two. Aleah does a Matrix dodge into a headscissors takeover that looked pretty neato. ‘Rana by James off the ropes, but Chakara catches her in the corner and hits a neckbreaker. Stomps from Chakara as the crowd thinks she’s a meanie, which, you know, come on crowd – that’s a real person in there. Tone it down.

A pair of T-Bone suplexes and Chakara looks to wrap things up, but James kicks out. Camel Clutch from Chakara, but James makes the ropes, so Chakara goes back to stomping. Hammerlock DDT gets two and Chakara is shocked. She trash talks James, who responds with a jawbreaker and a shotgun dropkick into the corner. Tilt-a-whirl DDT and Aleah goes up, but Chakara moves and hits a headbutt. Superkick by Chakara, but James hits a Codebreaker that Chakara does a crazy sell on, just bumping off her feet like nuts. That gets two.

Chakara hits James coming off the ropes with a forearm, then a Dragon Suplex and a seated forearm for two now as she can’t put Aleah away. James catches her coming off the ropes now with a ‘rana, then a double stomp. Aleah goes up, somersault double stomp off the top! Suh-weet. And that’ll be enough for the 1, 2, 3. ALEAH JAMES OVER CHAKARA, PINFALL, 10:14

THOUGHTS: **3/4. Okay, the first part of the match, where Chakara just beat on Aleah unmercifully, went on a tad too long, somewhere in the neighborhood of 7-8 minutes. James is green as hell and some of the moves were a bit off, but they held the match together just enough and that double stomp off the top was crazy cool to watch. Overall, there’s definitely potential here with James – she just needs more work, as the commentators pointed out this was only her 19th match ever. This turned out to be a bit better than I expected going in.

Post-match, Chakara yells at James before bailing from the ring.

Emily tells us that up next, it’s a triple threat! Out first, it’s Lana Austin! She’s followed by Jetta, who is followed by Laura Di Matteo!

Laura Di Matteo vs Jetta vs Lana Austin

Jetta makes sure to shake hands with both competitors, the referee, the cameraman, pretty much everyone, really, and then proposes the SUPER INDY TEST OF STRENGTH to the delight of the crowd. Oh boy! This gonna be…..a 3-way test of strength.

Take that, all other indy feds!

Jetta, of course, kicks away the hand of Laura and attempts to take both other women down, which initially fails but then inexplicably succeeds! Jetta is a powerhouse! Anyway, all three women take turns trading rolling pin attempts and we get a stalemate. Jetta tries to give everyone handshakes again, but it’s a trap for Lana, who sniffs it out and tosses Jetta. Laura now with a few armdrags and a dropkick on Austin, but Jetta breaks up the pin at two.

Jetta (and while I’m totally behind the job they’ve done with Di Matteo, I truly am, I can’t help but wonder if, had we known about Erin Angel leaving, it would have been the right call to put Jetta in that spot instead) hits 2 Amigos and a Perfectplex on Laura for two. People’s Princess elbow attempt is broken up by Austin with a Thesz Press and she wails away on Jetta. Crossbody by Austin gets two before Laura breaks that up. Jetta gets the bridging chinlock on Laura as Lana also puts on a half-crab, then thinks slightly better of it and sneaks under Jetta’s bridged body to crucifix her for two. Codebreaker by Jetta puts Austin down, allowing Laura to come off the top with a missile dropkick on Jetta. Lana drops Laura with a nasty forearm right after to put everyone down.

They slug it out from their knees and Laura and Jetta get into a slapfight, but Lana breaks that up, so they hit her with a double chop instead. She returns fire to Jetta with a headbutt. Then one for Laura to put everyone down again. Jetta is back up and runs Laura into a stunner from Austin, then hangs Lana in the Tree of Woe. Lana fights her off and Jetta ends up there instead with Laura’s help. Superkick by Di Matteo on Lana, Austin fights back and goes for a draping DDT, but Laura escapes that and rolls her over, stacking Austin up for the pin! LAURA DI MATTEO OVER LANA AUSTIN & JETTA, PINFALL, 9:04

THOUGHTS: ***. Laura needed a win before Queendom, and therefore this was the match to do it in. No one here is hurt from the loss and the match itself was fine with a few awkward spots. I maintain that Laura’s biggest strength as a wrestler is how unbelievably good she is at selling to get the crowd invested in her matches, something that triple threats aren’t the best at putting over a lot of the time. Laura really is a premier level worker though, as she made sure to put each move over strongly to give even the briefest sense that she might lose the biggest layup match of the night. I really, really hope that they don’t pull a swerve on us with Laura and Rhia at Queendom, because Di Matteo’s story really has led her to the belt and she needs to win it.

Post-match, Lana gets the mic and says that her match tonight was actually supposed to be against Nightshade, and the winner was supposed to get Yuka Sakazaki at WrestleQueendom, but that match didn’t happen. But here’s the deal – she can’t go wrestle in Japan, because to go to Japan to wrestle, you have to go for 3 months, and she can’t leave her children for that long. Crowd applauds her good parenting.

Pro Wrestling EVE: It’s all just wholesome fun when kids are involved! And not when Jinny is calling Nina a fucking bitch on repeat!

Anyway, so she can’t do it even though she’s always wanted to, so EVE is the place where she can wrestle the best, and she still wants the match at Queendom – can she still have it? Emily comes in and cuts a very emotional and quite awesome promo putting Lana over as an amazing woman and mother who is going to have a great match with Sakazaki at WrestleQueendom!

That was actually quite nice. Also, it was the moment when I realized something – does Emily remind anyone else of Janet from The Good Place?

They hug and the match is official for Queendom!

Emily has the mic and asks us to welcome our act for the night, Lynn Ruth Miller!

Main event time! Skye Smitson makes her way out after having been away from EVE for the last few months. And here comes Rhia O’Reilly with Livvii. Let’s see what happens here.

Rhia O’Reilly (w/ Livvii Grace) vs Skye Smiton – non-title match

They start by trading wristlocks, then headlocks and Rhia takes her to the mat, where Skye gets a headscissors. Rhia escapes that and we’re back to our feet. Smitson with an armbar now, and a few reversal sequences later ends up holding a wristlock on the mat against Rhia. Skye is very interesting as a worker; I feel like she’s THIS close to putting it together.

Skye with a dropkick, but she runs the ropes and Rhia flattens her with a clothesline for two. Skye comes back with a nice back elbow for two. Running elbow in the corner from Skye, Rhia counters with a Samoan Drop. Snapmare out of the corner and Rhia puts on a chinlock. Match has been okay but slow thus far. Rhia takes Skye to the corner for some trash talk, and Skye makes a comeback with kicks to the knees in a cool sequence where she alternates kicking each knee until Rhia falls into a seated position in the corner.

Running knee from Smitson and she sets up for a superkick, but takes too long and gets caught with a Finlay roll, followed by a senton from Rhia. That gets two. Rhia slaps her around some more and shoots off the ropes, but misses a clothesline and Smitson springs off the middle with a twisting uppercut. Strikes and kicks from Skye, but she gets sent to the buckle on a blind charge as Rhia takes back over.

Rhia with a curb stomp. She chokes Skye against the middle rope, then beats her in the chest with forearms. Charge from Rhia, but Skye moves and hits Rhia with a dropkick sending O’Reilly to the floor on top of Livvii. Skye looks to try a tope, but Rhia catches her coming in and rains down forearms. Draping DDT back in the ring gets two. Muscle Buster attempt by Rhia is countered by Skye with a boot, then a pump kick from Smitson. They trade reversals and Skye gets a superkick, but Rhia is in the ropes. Skye puts her on the top buckle and they trade blows, but Skye wins that battle and gets the superplex!

Skye kips up and hits a Crossroads on Rhia! 1, 2, no! She looks to finish but Livvii is on the apron – Laura Di Matteo is out and she pulls Grace off! But it turns out the minor distraction is all Rhia needed, as Skye turns around right into the Rhiadjustment for the pin. RHIA O’REILLY OVER SKYE SMITSON, PINFALL, 14:36

THOUGHTS: **1/4. This match felt very long. There’s just no other way to say it. Smitson looked fine, better than she had before with some good spots and moves, and the match was designed to let her show off a bit. Let’s move on to Rhia. So here’s my deal with O’Reilly – she has a great look. She ‘gets’ how to be a pro wrestler, in that she carries herself like a star and does a very good job at the intangibles of a match. But she’s just not an elite-level worker. She’s a passable worker. And when magic happens, like, say, the Jetta match during the SHE-1, she’s capable of doing her part to make a match excellent. But she’s not going to carry a match on her own into **** or more territory as a worker. And that’s fine – like I said, she’s got the presence and the ability to carry herself like a star. But when you stack her up against Jinny, or Laura, or Millie as an in-ring worker, I just don’t see her at that level, and I’d like to see that level in my main events and champions. That’s just one man’s opinion, though.

Post-match, Rhia gets the mic and tells Laura to save it for next week, then tells Dann and Emily that they have, once again, made a huge mistake by letting Laura challenge for the title – not that she has a chance, but potentially, Laura might end up with the title and get evicted from the country in a few weeks when Brexit comes into effect! That’s….interesting. A bit xenophobic, but Rhia is a heel and it’s a broad enough threat.

Then we get a bit weirder, as Rhia starts talking about Laura’s mother. Laura’s mother gave up her life’s savings to send her daughter to the UK so she could live her dream; but Laura came to the UK and squandered every single penny on a wrestling career that has gone nowhere. And every year, she writes home that she’s not an Ace, she’s not a champion, she’s just a total disappointment!

Well, Laura has had just about enough of this shit and the brawl is on! Dann and the crew hit the ring to break it up, but Laura keeps breaking free to go after Rhia and they have to separate them again. Rhia finally manages to escape and tells Laura she’ll see her next week as the crew holds Di Matteo back and we end the show.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This was the go home for Queendom and they nailed it. Jinny and Nina holds the most intrigue for me now, but the tag title match with McKenzie and Shaw having their tensions boil over will probably be good as well. Overall a good show here with a lot of it being setup for the big show coming soon.

With that in mind, here are your (probably wrong) Wrestle Queendom 3 predictions!

Queendom RUMBLE – Eh, I’m no good at Battle Royales. I’ll take Mercedez Blaze against the field, I suppose.
Zoe Lucas vs Nor Diana – Gotta be Nor in her debut, right? Maybe Lucas goes over after a hard-fought battle? Nah, I’ll take Diana.
Lana Austin vs Yuka Sakazaki – I suppose Lana makes the most sense here.
Killer Kelly vs Roxxy – Roxxy. It’ll be good to see Kelly again, though.
Session Moth Martina vs Maki Ito – Ito.
Jinny vs Nina Samuels – Jinny. Nina has been really ramping up over the last few shows, time for her to get a comeuppance. Although, if Nina wins, I’d feel a lot better about Laura’s chances, as she’ll need heel challengers.
Rhia O’Reilly (C) vs Laura Di Matteo – I expect that this is actually going to be pretty good, because Laura’s Steamboat-esque selling should mesh very well with Rhia’s punishing style, allowing Di Matteo to tell the story of her fighting up from underneath. I have a weird feeling about the late entrance of Heidi into the story – her turning on Laura would not shock me. That having been said, I’m going with Laura as the new champ, because I think the time to take the big swing with her is now.
Gisele Shaw/Sammii Jayne (C) vs The Woke Queens vs The Medusa Complex – it’s going to be great to see Charli Evans again. I’ve missed her over these last few shows. If Laura wins the title, I’ll go with the Medusa Complex, because I’m becoming a big believer in Gisele Shaw and would like to see her return to singles as a challenger for Di Matteo. My off-the-wall prediction for this one? Charlie Morgan returns to cost Shaw and Jayne the titles to pay off her confrontation with Shaw a few shows ago. Either way, I’ll take Medusa to win the straps.

And that’s that! This was longer than normal, but a lot happened on this show and I wanted to get it all in. The big show is Saturday – you can watch it on Fite TV for 10 bucks minus the Jinny/Nina match (NXT UK contracts prohibit EVE from showing that match on the PPV) or catch the EVE on-demand version of the show next week about Tuesday or so.

I’ll be back with my review when that happens. I’m excited and hope the show is great!

Remember to check out Pro Wrestling EVE and subscribe right here: https://eveondemand.pivotshare.com/

Take care all, and watch some wrestling.

As always, thanks for reading this thing I wrote,

Rick Poehling
@MrSoze on Twitter