diff --git a/py/test/dist/dsession.py b/py/test/dist/dsession.py
index 4620cabb0..4775fbf14 100644
--- a/py/test/dist/dsession.py
+++ b/py/test/dist/dsession.py
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ class LoopState(object):
             self.dsession.handle_crashitem(crashitem, node)
             self.colitems.extend(pending[1:])
 
-    def pyevent__rescheduleitems(self, event):
-        self.colitems.extend(event.items)
+    def pyevent__rescheduleitems(self, items):
+        self.colitems.extend(items)
         self.dowork = False # avoid busywait
 
 class DSession(Session):
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ class DSession(Session):
             if isinstance(next, py.test.collect.Item):
                 senditems.append(next)
             else:
-                self.bus.notify("collectionstart", event.CollectionStart(next))
+                self.bus.notify("collectionstart", next)
                 self.queueevent("collectionreport", basic_collect_report(next))
         if self.config.option.dist == "each":
             self.senditems_each(senditems)
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ class DSession(Session):
         tosend[:] = tosend[room:]  # update inplace
         if tosend:
             # we have some left, give it to the main loop
-            self.queueevent("rescheduleitems", event.RescheduleItems(tosend))
+            self.queueevent("rescheduleitems", tosend)
 
     def senditems_load(self, tosend):
         if not tosend:
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ class DSession(Session):
                     break
         if tosend:
             # we have some left, give it to the main loop
-            self.queueevent("rescheduleitems", event.RescheduleItems(tosend))
+            self.queueevent("rescheduleitems", tosend)
 
     def removeitem(self, item, node):
         if item not in self.item2nodes:
diff --git a/py/test/dist/testing/test_dsession.py b/py/test/dist/testing/test_dsession.py
index 2ad080e41..8b6efa8cb 100644
--- a/py/test/dist/testing/test_dsession.py
+++ b/py/test/dist/testing/test_dsession.py
@@ -101,8 +101,8 @@ class TestDSession:
         assert session.node2pending[node2] == sent2
         name, args, kwargs = session.queue.get(block=False)
         assert name == "rescheduleitems"
-        ev, = args 
-        assert ev.items == [item]
+        items, = args 
+        assert items == [item]
 
     def test_keyboardinterrupt(self, testdir):
         item = testdir.getitem("def test_func(): pass")
@@ -125,9 +125,8 @@ class TestDSession:
         session = DSession(item.config)
         node = MockNode()
         session.addnode(node)
-        ev = event.RescheduleItems([item])
         loopstate = session._initloopstate([])
-        session.queueevent("rescheduleitems", ev)
+        session.queueevent("rescheduleitems", [item])
         session.loop_once(loopstate)
         # check that RescheduleEvents are not immediately
         # rescheduled if there are no nodes
@@ -298,17 +297,15 @@ class TestDSession:
         remaining = session.filteritems(items)
         assert remaining == []
         
-        event = evrec.events[-1]
-        assert event.name == "deselected"
-        assert event.args[0].items == items 
+        event = evrec.getevents("deselected")[-1]
+        assert event.items == items 
 
         modcol.config.option.keyword = "test_fail"
         remaining = session.filteritems(items)
         assert remaining == [items[0]]
 
-        event = evrec.events[-1]
-        assert event.name == "deselected"
-        assert event.args[0].items == [items[1]]
+        event = evrec.getevents("deselected")[-1]
+        assert event.items == [items[1]]
 
     def test_testnodedown_shutdown_after_completion(self, testdir):
         item = testdir.getitem("def test_func(): pass")
diff --git a/py/test/event.py b/py/test/event.py
index f056c7a59..1900c1907 100644
--- a/py/test/event.py
+++ b/py/test/event.py
@@ -12,9 +12,6 @@ class BaseEvent(object):
            for key, value in self.__dict__.items()]
         return "<%s %s>" %(self.__class__.__name__, " ".join(l),)
 
-def timestamp():
-    return time.time()
-
 class NOP(BaseEvent):
     pass
 
@@ -22,10 +19,6 @@ class NOP(BaseEvent):
 # Events related to collecting and executing test Items 
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-class Deselected(BaseEvent):
-    def __init__(self, items):
-        self.items = items 
-
 class BaseReport(BaseEvent):
     def toterminal(self, out):
         longrepr = self.longrepr 
@@ -73,9 +66,6 @@ class ItemTestReport(BaseReport):
             self.shortrepr = shortrepr 
             self.longrepr = longrepr 
             
-class CollectionStart(BaseEvent):
-    def __init__(self, collector):
-        self.collector = collector 
 
 class CollectionReport(BaseReport):
     """ Collection Report. """
@@ -108,30 +98,6 @@ class LooponfailingInfo(BaseEvent):
         self.failreports = failreports
         self.rootdirs = rootdirs
 
-# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Distributed Testing Events 
-# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-class RescheduleItems(BaseEvent):
-    def __init__(self, items):
-        self.items = items
- 
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Events related to rsyncing
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-class HostRSyncing(BaseEvent):
-    def __init__(self, host, root, remotepath, synced):
-        self.host = host
-        self.root = root
-        self.remotepath = remotepath
-        self.synced = synced
-
-class HostRSyncRootReady(BaseEvent):
-    def __init__(self, host, root):
-        self.host = host
-        self.root = root
-
 # make all eventclasses available on BaseEvent so that
 # consumers of events can easily filter by 
 # 'isinstance(event, event.Name)' checks
diff --git a/py/test/plugin/api.py b/py/test/plugin/api.py
index 80f47a533..ce63ed9d1 100644
--- a/py/test/plugin/api.py
+++ b/py/test/plugin/api.py
@@ -82,10 +82,10 @@ class Events:
     def pyevent__itemtestreport(self, event):
         """ test has been run. """
 
-    def pyevent__deselected(self, event):
-        """ item has been dselected. """
+    def pyevent__deselected(self, items):
+        """ collected items that were deselected (by keyword). """
 
-    def pyevent__collectionstart(self, event):
+    def pyevent__collectionstart(self, collector):
         """ collector starts collecting. """
 
     def pyevent__collectionreport(self, event):
diff --git a/py/test/plugin/pytest_terminal.py b/py/test/plugin/pytest_terminal.py
index 4a081d347..b0524104c 100644
--- a/py/test/plugin/pytest_terminal.py
+++ b/py/test/plugin/pytest_terminal.py
@@ -158,8 +158,8 @@ class TerminalReporter:
         if self.config.option.debug:
             self.write_sep("!", "RESCHEDULING %s " %(event.items,))
 
-    def pyevent__deselected(self, event):
-        self.stats.setdefault('deselected', []).append(event)
+    def pyevent__deselected(self, items):
+        self.stats.setdefault('deselected', []).append(items)
     
     def pyevent__itemtestreport(self, event):
         fspath = event.colitem.fspath 
@@ -309,8 +309,8 @@ class CollectonlyReporter:
     def outindent(self, line):
         self.out.line(self.indent + str(line))
 
-    def pyevent__collectionstart(self, event):
-        self.outindent(event.collector)
+    def pyevent__collectionstart(self, collector):
+        self.outindent(collector)
         self.indent += self.INDENT 
     
     def pyevent__itemstart(self, item, node=None):
@@ -627,7 +627,7 @@ class TestCollectonly:
         rep = CollectonlyReporter(modcol.config, out=linecomp.stringio)
         modcol.config.bus.register(rep)
         indent = rep.indent
-        rep.config.bus.notify("collectionstart", event.CollectionStart(modcol))
+        rep.config.bus.notify("collectionstart", modcol)
         linecomp.assert_contains_lines([
            "<Module 'test_collectonly_basic.py'>"
         ])
diff --git a/py/test/session.py b/py/test/session.py
index 95a80a25b..3450e87ad 100644
--- a/py/test/session.py
+++ b/py/test/session.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ class Session(object):
                     yield next 
             else:
                 assert isinstance(next, Collector)
-                notify("collectionstart", event.CollectionStart(next))
+                notify("collectionstart", next)
                 ev = basic_collect_report(next)
                 if ev.passed:
                     for x in self.genitems(ev.result, keywordexpr):
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ class Session(object):
                     continue
             remaining.append(colitem)
         if deselected: 
-            self.bus.notify("deselected", event.Deselected(deselected, ))
+            self.bus.notify("deselected", deselected)
             if self.config.option.keyword.endswith(":"):
                 self._nomatch = True
         return remaining 
diff --git a/py/test/testing/test_genitems.py b/py/test/testing/test_genitems.py
index bb39d4570..722b2e7c7 100644
--- a/py/test/testing/test_genitems.py
+++ b/py/test/testing/test_genitems.py
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ class TestKeywordSelection:
             passed, skipped, failed = sorter.listoutcomes()
             assert len(failed) == 1
             assert failed[0].colitem.name == name 
-            assert len(sorter.getnamed('deselected')) == 1
+            assert len(sorter.getevents('deselected')) == 1
 
         for keyword in ['test_one', 'est_on']:
             #yield check, keyword, 'test_one'
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ class TestKeywordSelection:
             passed, skipped, failed = sorter.listoutcomes()
             assert len(passed) == 1
             assert passed[0].colitem.name == "test_2"
-            dlist = sorter.getnamed("deselected")
+            dlist = sorter.getevents("deselected")
             assert len(dlist) == 1
             assert dlist[0].items[0].name == 'test_1'
 
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ class TestKeywordSelection:
         passed, skipped, failed = sorter.listoutcomes()
         assert len(passed) == 2
         assert not failed 
-        dlist = sorter.getnamed("deselected")
+        dlist = sorter.getevents("deselected")
         assert len(dlist) == 1
         item = dlist[0].items[0]
         assert item.name == "test_one" 
diff --git a/py/test/testing/test_session.py b/py/test/testing/test_session.py
index 50d66bb84..cd547ba67 100644
--- a/py/test/testing/test_session.py
+++ b/py/test/testing/test_session.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ class SessionTests:
         assert len(itemstarted) == 4
         colstarted = sorter.getevents("collectionstart")
         assert len(colstarted) == 1
-        col = colstarted[0].event.collector
+        col = colstarted[0].collector
         assert isinstance(col, py.test.collect.Module)
 
     def test_nested_import_error(self, testdir): 
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ class TestNewSession(SessionTests):
         itemstarted = sorter.getnamed("itemstart")
         assert len(itemstarted) == 3
         assert not sorter.getnamed("itemtestreport") 
-        started = sorter.getnamed("collectionstart")
+        started = sorter.getevents("collectionstart")
         finished = sorter.getnamed("collectionreport")
         assert len(started) == len(finished) 
         assert len(started) == 8