It was quiet an eventful 2016 for Revolution Pro Wrestling/Rev Pro/RPW who presented three different types of shows in 2016. This promotion has presented the family friendly cards in Portsmouth, Sittingbourne and Reading this year. Over the top TV tappings in London at the Cockpit venue in Marylebone and the dream match shows at the world famous York Hall in Bethnal Green which is geared towards the Internet fans of this generation. Rev Pro probably offers in my opinion a great variety in terms of these three different types of shows they promote at present. You can't write a preview to 2017 without mentioning the four stars who Rev Pro build around to be there main drawing stars.
1. Pete Dunne: To start out the year 'the Bruiserweight' Pete Dunne beat El Ligero and Flash Morgan Webster to win the vacant RPW British Cruiserweight title at the Cockpit and his push continued throughout the year beating Webster again at High Stakes in York Hall, former TNA wrestler Sonjay Dutt at the Cockpit the next month. In Reading that April at the Epic Encounter event, he beat ACH in the match of the night. The next night he did the job to Matt Sydal in a match which was designed to protect the then NJPW wrestler. Dunne continued his winning ways in June first he beat Indy veteran worker 'M-Dogg 20' Matt Cross at the Cockpit and at the Angle vs Sabre card in York hall by beating Martin Stone in a rather disappointing contest. Dunne went in the next month to Summer Sizzler doing the job in a superb contest to Will Ospreay and their big feud was underway. Dunne did another job at the York Hall to Ricochet but was booked to get his heat back by helping Vader beat Will Ospreay on that very same show. Ospreay and Dunne's big title rematch was booked to take place in Portsmouth at the end of August which Ospreay won. Their feud was far from over as Ospreay stopped Dunne from cheating in his match with NJPW Tomohiro Iishi to end out the year. 2. Will Ospreay: Will finished 2015 by impressing NJPW brass in his match with then IWGP Heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada and went into 2016 red hot. To begin the year in Rev Pro he beat ACH in an Internet dream match which really delivered. He Went into High Stakes 2016 still red hot and delivered a bonafide 5 star performance against 'The Villain' Marty Scurll. He went down to RPW British Heavyweight champion Zack Sabre Jr. in month of February at the Cockpit which was kind of a disappointment. The next month Will got back to winning ways beating Pete Dunne and Marty Scurll in a 3 way. It was announced in the month of March that Will had joined NJPW and during a tour in Japan he got injured so missed the Reading and Sittingbourne shows. will got a heroes ovation following his NJPW BOSJ win which lasted throughout his match with 'Speedball' Mike Bailey which was currently something to experience live and in person. Will beat Pete Dunne at the Summer Sizzler in the month of July to became the second person to only win the RPW British Cruiserweight title twice. This was a very smart move by RPW owner and Booker Andy Quilan in my opinion as Will was super hot in the summer of 2016. Will continued his momentum in Rev pro with wins over Pete Dunne in Portsmouth, BUSHI at night 1 of RPW/NJPW Global Wars and Jushin Liger (under the hood as CTU liger) at night 2 of the RPW/NJPW Global Wars shows. 3. 'The Villain' Marty Scrull: Marty had a break out year in states in 2016 and will head Into 2017 as ROH TV Champion but in England he continued to be booked strongly as he teased a break up with long time partner Zack Sabre Jr. who are collectively known as the LDRS. Marty beat Will Ospreay in a classic to start the year which made him number one contender to the RPW British heavyweight title and also meant he got an action figure modelled in his likeness. Later that night his best friend and partner Zack Sabre Jr. won the title from AJ styles (who was off to WWE) and Marty vowed not to take his title shot while his best friend was champion. The two teamed in Reading in April at Epic Encounter to beat Matt Sydal and Ricochet. During the match, Marty cheated to pick up the win much to the horror of his partner Zack which only laid the seeds further for the two to break up. The break up angle was put on ice throughout the summer as Marty racked up wins over 'M-Dogg 20' Matt Cross, Noam Dar, 'Speedball' Mike Bailey and NJPW's Jay White. Marty went into Uprising at York Hall, like Ospreay, red hot which made it all the more puzzling when he did the job to Chris Hero in an instant classic. But then, Marty was probably just doing the honours to his friend Hero as Hero had put him over two months earlier in PROGRESS Wrestling. The LDRS would team again at Global Wars night 2 where they lost to NJPW Los Ingobernables duo of Tetsuya Naito and Sanada. Afterwards Marty cut an emotional promo claiming he was leaving RPW as he had just been signed by ROH (which was made official earlier that day but had been expected for months) and then turned on Sabre Jr. to kickstart their programme heading into 2017. 4. Zack Sabre Jr: Zack started out the year returning to Rev Pro after missing most of the summer of Rev Pro dates due to working Pro Wrestling Noah at the time, but he departed Noah at the end of 2015 and became more of a regular for the group and was immediately awarded with a title match with AJ Styles for Styles' RPW British Heavyweight Title which Sabre won, of course. Zack began the year teasing a break up with partner Marty Scurll (which was mentioned above) and went throughout 2016 working a number of great matches defending his RPW British Heavyweight Title. Zack had high profile victories defending his title against Michael Elgin, Katsuyori Shibata, Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb (Lucha Undergrounds Matanza) and Trent Seven throughout the year. Unfortunately he ended the year losing the title to Shibata in a shocker at the York hall at the RPW/NJPW Global Wars Night One show. Then his best friend Marty Scurll turned on him the next night in Walthamstow. Rev Pro have had a hell of a year in 2016 building these guys as their top draws and faces of the company but what about 2017? Well it's going to be a good one as owner and Booker Andy Quilan has already booked Sabre vs Scurll for the January 21st High Stakes card at the York Hall. Quilan has bulit these guys up as his stars and next year all four will again carry Rev Pro into 2018. But now the world wants his guys he's made such big stars in Rev Pro, at least with the WWE circling Zack Sabre Jr., ROH signing Marty, Will on NJPW books and Dunne also on WWE's radar having signed up for WWE UK Championship tournament. So Quilan may be forced to look elsewhere and push new talents on his smaller shows and then move them up to his York Hall shows. Guys like Trent Seven, Tyler Bate, Josh Bodom (who had an on-off push last year but fell off the map too as Quilan put it due to him "rubbing current people backstage the wrong way") Ryan Smile, Dave Mastiff and Newcomer Zack Gibson and more have all got shots to impress this year in Rev pro by being booked for the up and coming Cockpit shows to replace guys like the four mentioned above for their inevitable departures. The next RPW show is on January 8th at the Cockpit which will be headlined by the Villain Marty Scurll teaming with Pete Dunne to face Ryan Smile and Shane Strickland along with Dave Mastiff taking on Tyler Bate. The London Riots return to challenge Charlie Sterling and Joel Redman for the RPW British Tag Team Titles, Zack Gibson makes his long awaited debut facing Trent Seven and Eddie Dennis returns to Rev Pro to face Josh Bodom. Then it's onto York Hall for High Stakes 2017 where Villain (Marty Scurll) takes on the Wizard (Zack Sabre Jr). Also Katsuyori Shibata defends his RPW British Heavyweight title against Matt Riddle, Trevor Lee battles Trent Seven, Pete Dunne faces NJPW's YOSHI-HASHI, Jay White tangles with Martin Stone and the RPW British tag team titles will be on the line as ROH's War Machine (Hanson & Rowe) challenge the winners of the Sterling & Redman vs London Riots match. The show isn't quiet sold out yet with balcony seats and the cheap seats still available from www.revolutionprowrestling.com and if you can't make the shows then they will be available on rpwondemand.pivotshare.com for the low monthly price $8.49. @Billy_Jay83
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