Wrestle Gate Pro: Open Gate Review (Jan 26th 2019)

On the 26th of January, myself, my son (Reuben) and my fellow contributor, James Biddles, attended what looked to be one of the most impressive debut shows for a new promotion in the UK, Wrestle Gate Pro: Open Gate. I'd been attracted to the show by the fact that they'd got Triple A/Lucha Underground star Mil Meurtes on the card as well as one of the fastest rising stars in the UK, Jake McCluskey (you may recall us giving you the run down on Jake during our review of Impact vs. The UK). Anyhoo, the three of us arrived at the Rushcliffe Arena in Nottingham at around 4pm and went straight in to Wrestle Gate's dedicated Media Centre, where we got to chat with the "Session Moth" Martina, WWE NXT UK/Mae Young Classic Star Xia Brookside, Sean Kuston, Ricky Knight Jr and Niwa prior to the show (more on that to follow). Following that, we were allowed into the arena early, where we could get a good look at the show's impressive set-up:

We were then told to take out seats as the show was about to begin.

The Show opened with Wrestle Gate's owner, Gary Ward, entering the ring to welcome everyone to the debut show and introduced everyone to a screening of their documentary chronicling what went into putting Wrestle Gate Pro together

Gary then left the ring and the ring announcer - Jade - announced the first match

WAW Television Championship

Ricky Knight Junior (Champion) vs El Phantasmo

The opening match saw the WAW Television Champion, Ricky Knight Junior, put his title on the line against El Phantasmo. The last time I saw RKJ compete was at Haven in Mablethorpe around 4 years ago - he was talented then and has come along leaps and bounds since. I've not seen El Phantasmo compete prior to this show either but had heard good things and was blown away by his pure athleticism (especially when he walked along three sides of the ring ropes prior to hitting a beautiful hurricanrana on RKJ). This was an incredibly fast-paced contest and set the bar high for the rest of the show and came to a conclusion when RKJ hit a brutal-looking piledriver to pick up the 3 count.

Winner and still Champion, Ricky Knight Junior

Shax vs. The Session Moth, Martina

Martina was in full session moth mode and kicked things off by having her own mini-rave around the ring (and even got the referee involved). After the match started, Martina backed herself into Shax, only for the lights to go out and Rory Coyle to be standing in her place. Martina turned around and discovered this, only to carry on! Coyle and Shax then attacked Martina, leading to the Troublemaker, Terry Isit to make the save and challenge them to a tag match. Following this, Jack Sexsmith and Visage came out and insisted this got turned into a triple threat match so they could all have a little "fun" which prompted the Anti-Fun Police (Chief Deputy Dunne and Lil Cadet Joe Nelson) to join the party and turn this into a 4 corners tag match which would be competed under lucha rules. This quickly devolved into pure chaos and saw some beautiful outside dives (including Lil Cadet Joe Nelson hitting a beautiful top rope moonsault to everyone) but finished when Jack Sexsmith assaulted his team mate, Visage, allowing Shax and Coyle to pick up the win.

Winners: Shax and Rory Coyle

After the match, myself and JB discussed how difficult it would be for anyone to follow that and we were treated to an unexpected delight as the very next match kicked off with British Wrestling Legend, James Mason, coming out to face Danny Duggan.

James Mason vs. Danny Duggan

This started off with a great display of old school technical wrestling from Mason and featured some beautiful back and forth sequences throughout. There was some brilliant near falls on both sides and came to a conclusion when Danny Duggan used the ropes for leverage to get the three count.

Winner: Danny Duggan

After the match, British Wrestling personality, Rob Maltman (who's exclusive interview with us from yesteryear can be read here) came out to get Duggan's thoughts on beating the veteran, James Mason. Danny took the mic and made Rob leave the ring then proceeded to cut a masterful promo, putting Mason over as one of the all-time greats and then reminding everyone that since he beat Mason that meant that he was better.

Yuu vs. Ayesha Raymond

At the start of the bout, Yuu extended her hand to Ayesha, only for Ayesha to turn her back in a brilliant display of disrespect. This then set the tone of the match as the pair proceeded to have a nice, hard-hitting contest. There were some beautiful spots but utimately Ayesha came out victorious following a brutal-looking powerbomb (it was later revealed that Yuu had been sent to a hospital following this but is now said to be recovering fine).

Winner: Ayesha Raymond

Sean Kustom vs. Niwa

I've heard a lot of good things about both men but, prior to this evening, I hadn't actually seen any of their matches. Damn, had I been missing out.

These two put on such a good match that I didn't start making notes until after the match finished - I was completely invested in this match from start to finish and can easily see why there's such a huge amount of buzz around these two. Kustom picked up the victory via a beautiful neutraliser in what would be an incredibly close contest and saw some vicious spots (including the pair smashing through a crowd control barrier and nearly taking out an audience member as a result). I think what was especially telling of how good these two are was that international superstar Joe E. Legend (who had been giving a seminar earlier in the day at the Rushcliffe Arena) snuck his way into the crowd to get a better view of this match up (he was seated on the row behind us so we were quietly marking out)

Winner: Sean Kustom

After the match, Maltman hit the ring again to get Sean's thoughts on the match when suddenly the lights went out and a video played of Dragon Gate's Eita annoucning that he'd be coming to Wrestle Gate Pro in March. After the video Sean said on the mic that he'd happily fight Eita and WG's second show.

Millie McKenzie vs. MK McKinnan

These two put on a brilliantly intense, back and forth contest that showcased exactly why Millie's been featured in the WWE. There was some great chain wrestling and some vicious kicks from MK McKinnan that made this bout uncomfortable to watch at times but finished up well with Millie locking in a beautiful crucifix submission to make MK tap out.

Winner: Millie McKenzie

Callum Newman vs. Joe Lando vs. Harrison Bourne vs. Maverick Mayhew

This was a very fast paced match from four young, relatively unknown competitors who absolutely made the most of their exposure from this match. Bourne and Lando (who also team together as "Addicted 2 Adrenaline") showcased some fantastic double team moves and worked well together before one broke up the other's pin attempt and caused the duo to lose focus, leading to Maverick picking up the win.

Winner: Maverick Mayhew

After the match, all four men celebrated with each other as the crowd gave them a standing ovation when suddenly Lucas Steel hit the ring and proceeded to destroy all four guys (including hitting a fantastic double chokeslam on A2A).

Mil Muertes vs. Bad Bones

I've been a fan of Muertes since Wrestling Society X (he was their last champion) so had been looking forward to seeing him compete all night. Usually with "imported" talent you don't expect too much - normally one or two big moves to send the crowd home happy - but this wasn't the case here. These two put on one of the best matches I've seen live in my 15+ years of attending these shows. Notable moments saw the pair fly over the crowd barriers and into piles of chairs (and Muertes inadvertently smash what appeared to be some poor sod's smartphone). Following a ref bump, Muertes put Bad Bones down for what felt like a ten count, only to fall to Bad Bones' top rope elbow when the replacement referee came down.

Winner: Bad Bones

After the match Bad Bones started to show Mil Muertes respect by offering him a handshake only to kick him full-pelt below the belt then proceed to batter Muertes with one of the chairs from the audience. After heading up the entranceway, Rob Maltman came out to get Bad Bones' explanation for what he just did, only for Bones to lay Rob out with a microphone shot. We then saw Bones throw one of the ringside medics around before getting in the face of Wrestle Gate Pro's owner, Gary Ward, then eventually heading to the back.

Main Event: Jack McCluskey vs. Chris Ridgeway

I didn't think these guys would be able to follow the Bad Bones/Mil Muertes contest as that felt like a show-ending main event, but boy did these guys deliver. As mentioned at the start of this review, I've been a fan of McCluskey since he first started appearing at HOPE shows a few years ago and have been delighted to see him go from opening shows, to main eventing those shows to then being headhunted by Impact Wrestling for their Impact vs. The UK show back in September, so I was automatically expecting this to be a classic. These two went balls-to-the-wall and showcase exactly why Wrestle Gate Pro's management had decided to put them in the main event. Ridgeway was every bit as fantastic as expected too and eventually got the win via submission after locking in a modified "Rings of Saturn" on Jake McCluskey.

Winner: Chris Ridgeway

Overall Thoughts: This was easily one of the best indie shows I've been to in recent years. Every single wrestler on the show went all out and the crowd was invested in every single match up. It's very difficult to try and single one match out as the match of the night as each match had a contrasting style to the next. Overall I'd give this show a solid 10/10 and will be booking tickets for March's show shortly.