Andy Quildan Interview: RevPro 11th Anniversary, 11 years in the making
RevPro’s owner talks All In Wembley weekend, Copper Box plans, NJPW and AEW involvement, ticket sales, aspirations, legacy, and more in Part 1 of my in-depth interview.
Sat in his sun soaked Portsmouth back garden, surrounded by the chirping of birds and ruffle of his dog, Andy Quildan looked ahead to the grandest day in Revolution Pro Wrestling’s history: their 11th Anniversary at London’s Copper Box.
“I thought, we need to create a big show, a destination event, a must see-event. I didn’t want it to be a standard show you could see at any time,” Quildan said.
Remarkably, the event is exactly 11 years to the day of their debut show. RevPro have come a long way from their debut in the Swallows Leisure Centre, in Sittingbourne, Kent.
On Saturday, August 26th, 2023, British wrestling fans will congregate at the Copper Box, one day before they descend down Wembley Way for AEW All In. Quildan sees this as a much-needed weekend for British wrestling, “the UK’s been crying out for a WrestleMania style event for so, so long.”
“This is a good opportunity, with so many wrestling fans being in one area. My mentality is like Ring of Honor’s big arena shows on a WrestleMania weekend.”
This is something wrestling fans have been saying themselves, especially since AEW confirmed they wouldn’t be running any other shows across that weekend. RevPro has the spot of being second only to the main attraction of the weekend, much like ROH’s Supercard of Honor at this year’s WrestleMania weekend.
So far, RevPro have announced only a single match for the show. Will Ospreay vs Shingo Takagi. He gleamed: “We wanted to announce Shingo vs Ospreay as a statement of intent.”
This leaves open a lot of speculation as to who else might wrestle on the show. Quildan put some of these to bed, but was tentative to spoil any potential surprises for his fans: “You can definitely expect to see more New Japan [Pro Wrestling] names and stars from the world of pro wrestling.” This comes as no surprise given RevPro’s long-standing relationship with NJPW and the many stars that have stepped into a RevPro ring, like Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio.
He said: “It’s about striking a balance [between RevPro talent and imports]”, adding, “at the end of the day it is going to be an authentic RevPro show.”
Fans wait with baited breath to hear if AEW stars will make an appearance the day before Wembley Stadium, as PAC and Lance Archer have had their names on RevPro shows before.
RevPro’s owner was sure to say, “if you want AEW talent, AEW All In is at Wembley. This is a Revolution Pro show.” However, he added that: “As we get closer to the show, more talent will be revealed.”
He thanked AEW for taking a big leap with their UK debut and for creating what he called a “unique opportunity” for British wrestling. He said, AEW’s optimism has meant a celebration, akin to a WrestleMania weekend, can take over London.
This opportunity has meant RevPro will be running a show in a venue bigger than any other they have used. It has the potential to surpass PROGRESS Wrestling’s most well-attended show, Hello Wembley (4,750), and the biggest UK independent wrestling show of all-time, ICW’s Fear & Loathing IX (6,193).
The Copper Box isn’t any old venue, a legacy of the 2012 London Olympics, it played host to NJPW Royal Quest, in 2019. Having produced that show for NJPW, Quildan said: “I know how to run big arenas.”
That show was attended by 6,119 people, though Quildan doesn’t have this number as a target. He said: “I don’t have a target. What will be, will be. If we reach that number I would be ecstatic.”
Quildan didn’t lay out a specific number of ticket sales so far, but just under three months from the show he said he was very happy with the number. He added: “If we were running York Hall, we would have sold it out twice over.” This puts ticket sales around an estimated 2,000, given the capacity of that venue,
He did confirm that the show will be streamed live on RevPro’s on-demand service for people not making the trip to the Copper Box. About this strategy, he said: “We could take this show to someone like FITE, but we’re about long term growth and we want to grow our on-demand service.”
Interestingly, a big event like this hasn’t been marked as a goal for his promotion. Instead, Quildan says “continual growth is our aspiration”. As the birds in his garden chirped even louder, he said: “Everything I do is about legacy. It’s about making a high quality product that people can be proud of.”
Quildan is very clearly pleased with the process his company has made from its humble beginnings 11 years ago, and rightfully so. However, he isn’t one to rest on his laurels, “the next step would be to do it without the 60, 70, 80,000 fans in Wembley the next day.”
He takes great pride in the journey that RevPro has gone on. He compared his successes to the infamous FWA, which he believed paved the way for modern British wrestling, saying, “they ran 3 shows in York Hall, none of which were as highly attended as even our lowest attended show in York Hall and traded off that for years.” He sees this as a possible benefit of his soirée into the Copper Box, the idea of being able to ‘dine out’ on his successes.
He seems to be driven by his legacy, a desire to make an impact on the world of wrestling. He remarked: “I want to see us grow and expand, but if we don’t get to where we want to, if I can leave a legacy of fingerprints all over the wrestling world that is just as much of a reward.”
RevPro is near and dear to his heart, “it is a labour of love, it’s a real passion.” It’s no wonder that he says he will do everything he can to make the 11th Anniversary show the best in-ring show of that weekend.
The 11th Anniversary show is important for a number of reasons, not only is it RevPro’s most ambitious, but it’s one of British wrestling’s largest. AEW’s venture into the world-famous Wembley Stadium will steal the spotlight, but Andy Quildan wants to make sure some of that shine reaches the other side of London: to the Copper Box and to Revolution Pro Wrestling.
In Part 2, Andy Quildan talks RevPro’s expansion, his relationship with NJPW, NXT UK, Yota Tsuji, and his hatred for the term ‘internet wrestling fan’. He also reveals the story behind his and Yota Tsuji’s appearance on ITV show In For A Penny, In For A Pound.
Image Credit: RevPro, Beyond Gorilla