British J Cup 2023 Preview

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WHAT. A. WEEKEND. WE. HAVE. IN. STORE. FOR. YOU! As part of a HUGE two part weekend, we visit Stevenage on Saturday and Sheffield on Sunday for the biggest weekend of British Pro Wrestling of the Autumn. With the 6th annual British J Cup to be determined on Saturday and a stacked eight match card for Sunday, let's break down the weekend one night at a time, starting with the British J Cup, live from Stevenage's Gordon Craig Theatre. Remember to visit LINK for tickets and, if you can't be there live and in person, you can catch all the action live on RevPro On Demand. Now, without further adieu, let's look ahead as RevPro returns to Stevenage...

Where better to begin than with the British J Cup 2023! Following last year's triumph, can Robbie X be the first ever J Cup holder to successfully defend his crown? Last year Robbie defeated Leon Slater, Will Kaven and Lee Hunter to join Jushin Thunder Liger, El Phantasmo, Michael Oku and Speedball Mike Bailey on the esteemed list of British J Cup holders. Previous winners have struggled to take back to back trophies, with Oku and El Phantasmo coming closest by reaching the final four way elimination match but neither were able to prevent the trophy passing in to new hands.

Robbie X has his work cut out for him if he is going to be the first; not only is the field absolutely stacked, but he faces stiff competition in his qualifying match, facing the debuting, globetrotting veteran, the 'King of the Ropes', Mascara Dorado. Dorado has represented just about every company in North America, from CMLL to WWE, from AEW to IMPACT, as well as appearing for NJPW along the way, and we are delighted to see him make his debut in Revolution Pro Wrestling. The winner of this match could well be the favourite to win the entire tournament and, with Stevenage deep in Robbie X country, can the King of the Cruiserweights use home field advantage to his favour?

Opposing Robbie X in last year's final was both Leon Slater and Will Kaven and the two face off in the qualifying round this year. 2023 could not have been different for these two - after Kaven picked up breakout wins over Robbie X, Michael Oku and Luke Jacobs last year, and having two shots at winning Cruiserweight gold at both Uprising and Seasons Beatings, he has struggled for form since. Leon, on the other hand, has picked up 12 wins in the 12 months since last year's J Cup, including scalps over Dan Moloney (twice), Callum Newman and Michael Oku. He has braced the "win or learn" mentality, taking much from his high profile defeats to Will Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr and Rich Swann along the way. Slater will be a favourite for the tournament but the deceptive tactics and ruthless nature of Kaven, and his willingness to lean into the dark arts of pro wrestling, mean he's definitely not one to overlook.

The J Cup attracts stars from across the globe and this year is no different with France's Senza Volto returning to RevPro for the first time in three years and 'The Sauce' Alex Zayne making his debut. Volto, who has appeared for eleven different companies across Europe in 2023 alone, is no stranger to the J Cup, having appeared in 2019, losing to El Phantasmo in the qualifying round. He does however know how to win in a RevPro ring, boasting career wins for us over Robbie X, Speedball Mike Bailey and Callum Newman. Senza returns and faces Wales' Harrison Bennett in the qualifying round, a man who made a splash in Southampton earlier this year, attacking then Cruiserweight Champion Robbie X before unsuccessfully challenging for the title in both Cardiff and London later in the year. Bennett will look to be more successful facing Volto and will be hoping for third time lucky when it comes to challenging for the Cruiserweight Championship, the prize which awaits the winner of Saturday's tournament.

Zayne, on the other hand, will be thrown in at the very, very deep end, facing the 'Cruiserweight Monster', 'Wild Boar' Mike Hitchman. Zayne is no stranger to Cruiserweight action, despite being the largest man in the tournament, having competed in the 2022 Best of the Super Juniors for NJPW as well as the Super Junior Tag League with El Lindaman. However, is there a Cruiserweight in the world like Hitchman? A man nearly as wide as he is tall, who appears at times to be unhinged and wrestles with the power of a heavyweight and the speed of a Cruiserweight, Zayne will need to lean into all of his experience and world travels to find a way to get last the 'Monster'. With the winner of each qualifier facing off in a four way elimination match to crown an overall winner, the J Cup will be MUST-SEE, a real premier event in the pro wrestling calendar.

Elsewhere on the card, we bring you two championship defences and a rematch from one of last year's RevPro MOTY contenders. Starting there, get ready to strap in for Luke Jacobs Vs RKJ. Their first encounter, back at High Stakes in January of last year, was a seminal moment in both men's careers; with a show that was headlined by Will Ospreay and Michael Oku, RKJ and Luke Jacobs set out to show out and did just that, showing the world that they are both future world champions, with RKJ achieving that feat seven months later. Now it is Jacobs who has the British Heavyweight Championship in his sights and it is with that in mind that he challenged RKJ, wanting to redeem the defeat last year and prove his is the worthy challenger to current champion Michael Oku. Ricky didn't hesitate to take the challenge, reminding the RevPro crowd and officials that he was never pinned or submitted for his championship. This match hasn't been billed as a number one contenders match but it certainly has that feel and, one thing is for sure, this will be hard hitting, full throttle pro wrestling.

And, if a championship pursuit is the next step for either RKJ or Luke Jacobs then the next question has to be, who will leave Stevenage as the British Heavyweight Champion? Michael Oku has a tall, tall task ahead of him against 'War Ready' Gabe Kidd. This is the man who scalped Leon Slater in the 229 last month, who left Will Ospreay unconscious in the aftermath of this past week's NJPW Royal Quest III and, most importantly, dominated Michael Oku at The Mill in Birmingham back in February. Think back to that match, and Gabe Kidd had Oku locked in a half crab seconds into the match and never let up from thereon in; strike after strike flawed Oku as the 'Young Bull' took liberties with the 'Master of the Half Crab'. The match ended in a double countout following a very scary double suplex over the top rope that hurt both men and led to both receiving medical attention backstage. As we said earlier about Leon Slater, you have to "win or learn" in Revolution Pro Wrestling and Oku will need to show he has learnt from Birmingham and come with a different game plan or his reign may just end very abruptly.

Finally, whilst we see a rematch from one of 2023's most intense matches for the British Heavyweight Championship, we also get a long awaited and much anticipated encounter for the Undisputed British Women's Championship as Alex Windsor faces Kanji in a match we have all wanted for well over a year now, dating back to Kanji's reign with the Southside Women's Championship. After winning the belt in 2019 in the very same venue she faces Alex Windsor on Saturday, she held it throughout the pandemic and through to December of last year when Dani Luna defeated her at Uprising. Prior to that it looked like Alex Windsor and Kanji were on a collision course but the damage of both champions' respective title defences took their toll on their bodies and prevented this match from happening. When Kanji finally returned to RevPro earlier this month to face Safire Reed she took no time at all to seize her opportunity, challenging the 'Iron Willed' Champion following Windsor's most recent tittle defence, in the main event defeat of Dani Luna at Risky Business in St Neots. After such a long wait and with such a storied build, this match will deliver in spades.

And there we have it. We may be biased, of course, but you won't see a better card this year in British wrestling than this. Tickets remain available below and as always you can catch all the action live on RevProOnDemand. We look forward to delivering you Pro Wrestling At It's Best.

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