Perry’s Perspective: RevPro/NJPW Global Wars UK 2016 Night 1

This double shot of shows are two that I have been greatly looking forward to since they were announced in July. Combining my favorite promotion out of the UK, with my favorite promotion out of Japan in two big supercards. There are a number of dream matches happening over the two nights that you will not see anywhere else!

Date: November 10, 2016
Location: London, England

Jushin Liger vs Marty Scurll
Starting out with quite a bang here! The ultimate villain, Scurll comes to the ring wearing a mask and rips it off before the contest. Commentary noted that Liger is 52 years old, and even though I know this, it still astonishes me at the quality of matches this man can produce. Scurll started off with a lot of cockiness, which soon back fired as Liger was able to get in a few minutes of offense. Once Scurll gained control he began to work on Liger’s arm, setting up for the cross arm chicken wing. The match was smartly worked and allowed Liger to get in the top rope superplex, chops from the knee and of course the Liger Bomb. The crowd was incredibly into anything that Liger did, a true legend in this sport. Scurll focused his offense on the arm throughout the match and would get the win with the crossface chicken wing. They shake hands post match.
RESULT: Marty Scurll by submission @ 13:44 (***1/2)
Exactly what you want to see out of an opening contest, a well worked and super fun match.

Sha Samuels vs Tomoaki Honma
If I had to pick one match on this card to drop, it would be this one. I like Honma, but Sha Samuels does little-to-nothing for me. Both guys played their rolls in the match very well. Much like the last match with Liger, the fans loved everything that the NJPW veteran had to offer. If you have ever seen a Sha Samuels singles match, that was exactly this match. Samuels’ tag partner James Castle got involved when the ref went down and took out Homna. Homna would recover though, knockout Castle with a headbutt and then finish Honma off with a top rope headbutt. NJPW ties the series up at 1-1.
RESULT: Tomoaki Honma by pinfall @ 6:55 (**1/4)
Basic contest, about what you would expect.

Pete Dunne vs Yuji Nagata
Another match that pits a young, rising European talent against a top notch veteran of NJPW. This is a rare non-NJPW appearance for Yuji, I can not recall seeing him in the joint shows with ROH in the US. Commentary notes that Nagata made his pro debut a year before Dunne was born, wow. Some good chain wrestling from both men for the first few minutes of the contest. This quickly turned into a strike fest. Dunne tried working his “bruiserweight” style on Nagata on the ground but Nagata just became more enraged and laid in a series of stiff kicks. Nagata was able to lock the arm but Dunne made it to the ropes before Nagata’s eyes could roll back. Nagata would get the win with a bridging back suplex.
RESULT: Yuji Nagata by pinfall @ 11:56 (***1/4)
I enjoyed this a lot. A fun contest with lots of stiff strikes, it was like a fun preview for what is to come next.

Chris Hero vs Tomohiro Ishii
YES! Two of the wrestlers in contention for the “Wrestler of the Year” category facing off here. Ishii has had a slow second half of the year thanks to the NJPW booking, but whenever placed into a singles match he brings it. This is night 1 of an incredible 4 night stretch that Hero would wrestle Ishii, Shibata, Tracy Williams & Matt Riddle across two continents. WWE can claim “fantasy warfare becomes reality” all they want for Survivor Series, but this match fits the billing better than anything booked for Survivor Series. The crowd was crazy into the contest from the second Ishii’s music hit. Ishii hit some strikes to start and Hero responded with a huge strike that took Ishii down. Ishii tried a bunch of different ways early but could not take Hero off his feet. After a few minutes in the ring the brawl went to the entrance stage and the crowd didn’t lose a beat. Hero hit Ishii with the Gotch Piledriver, but Ishii hulked back up. Hero’s facials were amazing, Hero would try delivering a stiff boot but Ishii shook that off and knocked Hero down to the eruption of the crowd. Every near fall was so believable as these two men looked like they were trying to murder each other with headbutts and elbows. Hero finally hit Ishii with two more Gotch Piledrivers before he would get the pin. Post match Hero got on the mic and put over Ishii in a big way. The series is tied at 2-2.

RESULT: Chris Hero by pinfall @ 13:37 (****3/4)
If you like hard hitting, stiff brawls that we have come to expect from Ishii than you will love this encounter. Seriously, the crowd was on fire for every second of the contest from the entrances and the pace never slowed. A different match, but right on par with Ishii’s near five star against Okada at G1 this year. This was a 14 minute slug fest that told the story of two of wrestling’s toughest men trying to kill each other for the win. I am so thankful that WWE didn’t like Chris Hero’s body type when he was in NXT, because there is no way he would be putting on matches like this in WWE.

BUSHI vs Will Ospreay
The only match of night one that features two talents that compete regularly in NJPW. Ospreay is representing his home country promotion tonight though with RevPro. Ospreay is currently the RevPro British Cruiserweight champion, but his belt is not on the line. When this was originally booked BUSHI was the holder of the Junior Heavyweight title. This is also a battle of two of the biggest groups in NJPW with Ospreay representing CHAOS and BUSHI representing LIJ. Lots of fancy flips and the fast paced offense you would expect from both men. The referee took a bump and allowed Bushi to cover Ospreay’s face in black mist, followed by a flip piledriver. The combo only got a 2 count though and then Ospreay went on the offensive with a comeback. Ospreay would hit the OsCutter and pick up the victory.
RESULT: Will Ospreay by pinfall @ 11:13 (***1/2)
Very good contest with lots of crisp moves, but I think these two are capable of something even better down the line.

David Starr, Trent Seven & Tyler Bate vs Los Ingobernables
Ingobernables are represented here by EVIL, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito. Starr is a guy who I have really enjoyed on the American indies, and I am thrilled to see him here in RevPro. Seven & Bate go by the tag team name of Mustache Mountain, as they have phenomenal mustaches. Starr painted a mustache on with a sharpie so that he would fit in with his mates. In a strange move LIJ entered separately. The contrast in styles here added to the fun. The Brits are fun loving and here to have a good time, LIJ are here to kick ass and collect their checks. At one point Mustache Mountain teased tossing the referee onto the fallen LIJ, LIJ rose and stopped before that could happen though. Later in the match as Naito was doing is trademark taunt, Seven grabbed Naito’s hand and moved it to Seven’s face and begin twirling his mustache with Naito’s hand. Naito was not impressed. Mustache Mountain got more serious down the stretch and proved to be tough competition for LIJ with some near falls. EVIL would win the contest for his team with the STO on Starr.
RESULT: Los Ingobernables by pinfall @ 15:00 (***1/2)
All six men looked great in this match. There was a little bit of British comedy which was a nice comedown from the action we had seen so far tonight. Everything all six men did looked great.

RevPro British Heavyweight Title: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs Katsuyori Shibata
This is Shibata’s second shot at Sabre’s title. The first came in July at Summer Sizzler and was honestly a little bit of a let down for me at ***1/4. Technical wrestling right out of the gate for both men as they both attempt to work over the other’s arms. Sabre shows some heel tactics early as he begins to rip the athletic tape off Shibata’s shoulder. Sabre continued to work the shoulder in the most technical way through the match, making himself the villain while representing RevPro in their own promotion. The late portion of the match saw a phenomenal series of Sabre pines, countered into Shibata submission attempts. The match finish came out of no where when Shibata hit the PK and won the RevPro title. This match felt really similiar to their match in July. Sabre worked the shoulder over for 10 minutes, but the shoulder work never really came into play at the finish. This was worked more at Sabre’s styles than Shibata’s. The finish felt very flat to me and not the moment I wanted. Post match Hero came out and called Shibata out for the following night.
RESULT: Katsuyori Shibata by pinfall @ 16:35 (***1/4)
No matter how good some guys are, they just don’t have great chemistry together. After watching these two face off twice this year, I feel that is the case for them. The match really never came out of third gear.

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8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Overall I would give this show the slight edge over Uprising as the best RevPro show from this year. With the exception of the low outlier in Samuels/Honma and high outlier of Hero/Ishii everything was a 3.25-3.5 on the show. You really can not go wrong sitting down and spending 2.5 hours with this show. If you are not familiar with the talent from either company it will be a great way to introduce you, especially with commentary doing a great job at giving backgrounds of everyone. The $8.49 price tag is worth it alone to see Hero vs Ishii, plus you can check out other great RevPro matches from this year like ACH vs Ospreay (1/3), Scurll vs Ospreay (1/16) and Hero vs Scurll (8/16).