Revolution Pro Wrestling return to the world-famous York Hall, Bethnal Green this Sunday with Epic Encounter, headlined by the winner of March’s Revolution Rumble, receiving his epic encounter, as he challenges Great-O-Khan for the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship.
Epic Encounter is the final major show before the biggest show in company history, the 11th Anniversary taking place on the eve of AEW All In across London from Wembley Stadium at Copper Box Arena, headlined by the sixth singles meeting between Will Ospreay and Shingo Takagi, an iconic pairing in the recent history of New Japan.
Will Ospreay vs Leon Slater
Ospreay will be at Epic Encounter also, stepping into a ring for the first time since his Forbidden Door classic against Kenny Omega. He faces Leon Slater, a super-prospect that everyone should have their eyes on and an 0121 ally of Drilla Moloney, which is how he caught the ire of “The Kingpin”. As a British Wrestling observer, this is a dream match for me. Leon’s rise as a teenager is highly reminiscent of that of Ospreay, not to mention Slater’s unique high-flying offense and natural athletic ability. With all this plus charisma and aggression in spades, Slater is the biggest prospect the UK has to offer and will be a household name with wrestling fans in the future. York Hall will be hot for this match, and it has all the potential in the world to be the talk of social media in the days following the event.
RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship: Great-O-Khan (c) vs Michael Oku
At Revolution Rumble, Michael Oku was victorious over twenty-nine other men. His reward: he got to call his shot for this event, and he threw out the gauntlet to the champion. Oku again will vie for the championship in the promotion he calls home, after taking Will Ospreay to the limit in a title match over a year ago, it is now the faction-mate of Ospreay holding the gold in Great-O-Khan, who poses a completely different challenge to the man sometimes known as “The OJMO”. The grappling and martial arts background of O-Khan, as well as his size, is a different stylistic challenge for Oku, but Oku’s fire and never-say-die attitude keeps him in the fight against any opponent. Oku has been the top star wrestling consistently for the promotion since the pandemic, and having lost his cruiserweight title over a year ago now, it feels like the time to give him a run with the British Heavyweight Championship. This allows the title to be defended more frequently, as O-Khan has only been appearing at York Hall shows, rewards the output that Oku has shown in the last two years making him one of the top independent names in the world, and puts the spotlight on a (somewhat) homegrown guy ahead of their biggest ever show. All positives, so if it were down to me, we would have a new champion.
Luke Jacobs vs “Filthy” Tom Lawlor
The man who defeated Oku for the RevPro British Cruiserweight Championship was Luke Jacobs, who has a big match of his own at Epic Encounter. The assignment? “Filthy” Tom Lawlor. A New Japan import that RevPro fans have been waiting for finally makes his UK debut in a matchup set to prove the saying “styles make fights”. This will be as hard-hitting as it gets and is another opportunity for Luke Jacobs to face a worldwide name following on from matches this year against Will Ospreay and Shigehiro Irie. A match with UFC-Vet Lawlor is another opportunity for Jacobs to receive the eyeballs from New Japan following on from the aforementioned Ospreay match and an appearance at last year’s Royal Quest. He is someone perfectly aligned with that style of wrestling and this is one of the most exciting matches on the card in my opinion.
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Jordon Breaks
That phrase “styles make fights” is a theme of the event as Zack Sabre Jr. comes home to compete with arguably the top technician on the British scene, Jordon Breaks. The two collided in the Revolution Rumble and gave just a taste of what they could create together and from that moment on a singles York Hall clash between the two was inevitable. This is set to be a technical masterclass and gives the opportunity for Breaks to…Break out as one of the top technical wrestlers in the world. One thing RevPro does well is match the young up-and-coming Brits against the best in the world at their style, as they also are with Jacobs and Lawlor.
RevPro Undisputed British Tag Team Championships: Greedy Souls (c) vs Subculture
The RevPro British Tag Team Champions are on the line as dominant champions The Greedy Souls (Danny Jones and Brendan White) face Subculture (Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster). Since returning from NXT UK, Andrews and Webster have been more of a consistent presence on the scene than some of their former compatriots and this recently saw them take a trip to Canada to compete in IMPACT Wrestling, the former stomping ground of Andrews. With that said, they have noticeably added life to a RevPro tag division that was looking a little light, and with the match featuring four Welsh competitors, they will surely be working hard to make this great, so it absolutely has the potential to steal the show, as well as the potential for new champions.
RevPro Undisputed British Cruiserweight Championship: Robbie X (c) vs Connor Mills
Robbie X will put his RevPro British Cruiserweight Championship on the line against Connor Mills in what is a matchup that has been brewing for a couple of months at the 229 and on the tour shows. This again has show-stealing potential as any Robbie X match does, and with Connor Mills still carrying heat from turning on Michael Oku, the crowd could be quite hot for this, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Mills were to leave with the championship.
RevPro British Women’s Championship/Southside Women’s Championship Unification Match: Alex Windsor (c) vs Skye Smitson (c) vs Hyan vs Dani Luna
Alex Windsor is back and is finally able to unify her RevPro British Women’s Championship with the Southside Women’s Championship held by Skye Smitson. Since being unable to unify the championships with then-Southside Champion Kanji in December and subsequently being on the shelf, the Southside Championship has acted as an unofficial Interim Championship for the women’s division with Dani Luna defeating Kanji before losing the championship to Skye Smitson. Hyan quickly found herself in the mix when returning to the UK in June, and all three women were surprised when Windsor made a surprise return last month at the 229. So, now we naturally find ourselves with a four-way to unify the belts held by Windsor and Smitson. This should be fun. Skye Smitson in particular is someone that a wider audience should be seeing.
Trent Seven vs Sha Samuels
The final match to be added to the card is a singles match between Trent Seven and Sha Samuels. Two veterans who both made their RevPro return in the Revolution Rumble after extended runs in NXT UK. Both men are character-heavy performers who can grab the crowd so this should be a great early match to work the crowd and kick off the event while also being pretty damn good in the ring too.
There are a lot of questions to be answered this Sunday at Epic Encounter. Can Michael Oku wrestle control of the British Heavyweight Championship away from Great-O-Khan and the United Empire. Is Alex Windsor at 100% after a long period on the sidelines? Is Will Ospreay sufficiently recovered from his brutal encounter at Forbidden Door, and on the biggest stage of his career to date, what can Leon Slater do to enhance his rapidly growing reputation? We will find out the answer to all of these in a matter of hours.
The event gets underway at 4 p.m. GMT/11 a.m. EST on Sunday 9th July. Tickets are still available here. If you are not in London, the event can be streamed live and on-demand on RevPro’s On Demand service.
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