By Mark Worrall@hoohoowozza
Cadbury Club, 14/04/2019
Kamikaze Pro returned to their spiritual home of the Cadbury Club on this spring afternoon to play host to their first ever tournament, well one day tournament that is and a first for this promotion as the Fighting Females of Kamikaze Pro were the entire spotlight of the show that was based around the new Fighting Females Championship belt. Kamikaze Pro in their wisdom finally brought a female belt to the company that has been enriched with some of the best female talent around not only the UK Independent scene, but also the world over and this one day eight person knockout tournament was the best way to find the inaugural Fighting Females champion.
However this tournament had already been with faced the proposition of disaster as three of the named competitor’s running up to the show had for whatever reasons had to withdraw that left Kamikaze having to rush to find suitable replacements, and that they did has the new revamped tournament line-up lived up to the billing and this tournament not only made history, but a new Fighting Females champion was crowned. This is my take on all the drama from the days show.
Quarter-Final
LANA AUSTIN def. CHARDONNAY
A great way to open the show and the actual tournament as two well known faces to the British wrestling scene had the crowd into the match from the bell. Lana really had the fans on her side throughout the match and could do no wrong against the more powerful Chardonnay, recently plying her trade in the rings of Japanese promotion Stardom and who took exception early in the bout when Austin, with the support of the cheering fans double slapped the chest of the Worcester native who, seemingly pissed by this used the rope to gain leverage and controlled, methodically a portion of the match. Austin remained resilient and used the fans support to rally to the first victor of the night with some nice striking finishing off her opponent nailing a DDT off the second rope. Impressive match with Austin advancing and Chardonnay looking strong throughout, just the start the tournament needed.
CHANTAL JORDAN def. CHARLI EVANS
At the mere age of Fifteen Jordan enters the tournament as the underdog, although enjoying a terrific run in the Pro Live ranks, Jordan really had a lot to live up to against the more experienced wrestlers in this tournament including her first round opponent, the Australian Charli Evans who, to be fair dominated most of the match and wrestling a very skilful bout which had Jordan constantly fighting from underneath, as the story was no doubt meant to be. The crowd were split as local girl Jordan took a lot of punishment only managing to rock her opponent with her patterned kicks that would eventually be her success as a really great roundhouse kick to the head of Evans connected as Jordan sneaked her way into the semi’s!
CHAKARA def. SIERRA LOXTON
So Chakara was added to the tournament a couple of days back and Loxton replaced the replacing Candyfloss! Confused? Well things happen I suppose, however I did get to see two new wrestlers for the first time so all is well. Chakara showed her intentions from the bell as she lunged at the unsuspecting Loxton from the chime and made herself known from the off as a bad attitude would play a role for Chakara throughout the night and she played the role well and seemed well crafted against the ‘freaky Princess’ who rallied on the back of Chakara’s bad attitude finding support from the locals who enjoyed her hip bumps and a couple of exploders during the match. Chakara was fairly dominant, even though she attempted to use the referee as leverage at one point. Chakara’s sit down power bomb from the top turnbuckle gave her the win as she advanced to the Semi’s. Good effort from Loxton but Chakara’s no shit attitude had her in the next round from the bell.
SHANNA def. GISELE SHAW
My match of the night as the first half of the show draws to a close with two of the biggest names on the card facing up for the last semi-final spot. Kamikaze favourite Shanna, with full backing of the crowd was my favourite for the tournament and no doubt the odds-on favourite with most Kamikaze regulars. Facing Shaw, a Canadian native trained by former WCW/WWE mainstay Lance Storm and recently making appearances on Impact shows this passage for Shanna was definitely not guaranteed as Shaw showed what a class act she is, working the hands and wrist of Shanna, who herself countered with a Northern Lights suplex that had Shaw telling Shanna to ‘Suck it’! This changed the attitude of the match that had the fans compelled with Shanna controlling to a point until Shaw, impressing with a standing Spanish fly that saw this match was becoming a Kamikaze classic. Shanna seemingly hurt from a Shaw spear found a way to hit the Canadian with her patterned off the top turnbuckle double stomp which she followed with a German suplex to advance her way through the tournament. Chakara’s bad intentions came into play has she attacked Shanna post match making a statement for their Semi-Final match up. Terrific!
Semi-Finals
CHANTAL JORDAN def. LANA AUSTIN
Lana’s second round opponent Chantal Jordan continued her Cinderella story as Austin, sharing the crowd adulation as the chants split between the two competitors was tremendous here. Seemingly carrying the gutsy Jordan through the match even played scared of the ass-kicking Jordan, Lana really dominated and enjoyed the fan support as she really made Jordan work from underneath to find anything. Simple storytelling with the dominant Austin almost dominating her opponent has Jordan scrambled a roll up to find herself in the final that really had the crowd starting to believe the young fifteen year old may actually do this! Enjoyable match with Lana really making Jordan look great!
SHANNA def. CHAKARA
Both ladies enjoyed some crowd interaction at the start, both looking for reactions with Shanna finding the cheers leaving herself open to Chakara’s blindsided attack as she degraded the Portuguese star and continued to gain the crowd heat she so desperately wanted. Chakara impressed, she gained heat really easily and the crowd instantaneously took to fully supporting Shanna which seemingly saw Chakara’s job done. Shanna’s biting of her opponents hand was her only avenue to escape an impressive Camel clutch as the tired Shanna tried desperately to roll up Chakara on several occasions to find the win, which she actually did by stunning Chakara leading her to a double stomp off the top and a Final berth against Chantal! Really good babyface/heel match, putting the tiring veteran Shanna over and I hope to see Chakara again in this promotion sometime soon.
Fatal four way
NADIA SAPPHIRE def. NIGHTSHADE, KAT VON KAIGE & JADE
With the tournament final looming a chance for the finalists to take a break I guess as Nadia Sapphire, a Welsh freelancer makes her way to the ring telling the viewing audience how beautiful she is and proclaiming that she was the first ever fighting female to have a match in Kamikaze Pro! This is confirmed by ring announcer Colin a little later but this interruption is a set up for a fatal four way as Nadia is joined by Nightshade, Kat Von Kaige(someone I have seen before!) and a gothic wrestler in Jade. This was pretty good, much better than I expected as this was merely a filler match, however these ladies worked really hard and the crowd seemed interested. There was a point to the match too, jade nailed an awesome looking One winged angel on Kaige that looked to have put this match to bed, however Sapphire saw an opportunity and threw Jade from the ring stealing the pin for herself! This set up Sapphire, who demanded a future shot at the new upcoming champion as she was, indeed the first fighting female of Kamikaze. Clever!
Final
SHANNA def. CHANTAL JORDAN
So Shanna decides to slightly change her character for this one! Before the bell rings the Portuguese star tells her opponent that this match was morally wrong and she should not be wrestling a fifteen year old, so she really needs to ‘bring it’ if she has any hope of winning the match. For me this showed what a class act Shanna really is, switching persona slightly gaining a modicum of heat in an attempt to rally the fans behind Chantal, although as popular as Chantal had became throughout the night, Shanna fans stayed loyal to the veteran who screamed about being in the business for thirteen years and Chantal had no place in this match. Shanna took the youngster around the room as they exchanged ridiculous moves trying to top one another until Shanna took an even nastier turn controlling Chantal using a ‘wet floor’ sign destroying the back of her opponent methodically pinning Jordan who kicked out in one and sent this match into a different direction as Jordan rallied back into the match hitting a Michinoku driver on Shanna which certainly shut the idiot up in the crowd declaring Chantal only had one move! Jordan’s comeback saw some crazy exchanges with both ladies getting near falls and in the end Shanna’s dragon suplex on Jordan through a pasting table brought earlier into the match was the only way this match was going to end. Excellent main event with the veteran Shanna showing she still had a little too much for the youngster who really put herself on the map throughout this tournament and Shanna becomes the inaugural Kamikaze Pro Fighting Females champion as streamers filled the ring as the two finalist hugged it out.
Kamikaze Pro has a promotion in the past two years has really grown and continues to do so. Enjoying what is their sixth year Kamikaze rose as a local promotion pretty quickly enjoying the labour of certain young stars such as Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Nixon Newell, Dan Moloney just to name a few. These wrestlers, as you know went on to bigger things and this promotion had to rebuild and find new talent, which they have done and now the promotion looks the best it has done for some time. Personally I love this promotion, I have followed them from day one going to as many shows as I can, sometimes not as many as I would like, however watching this promotion bounce back to where it is today is a credit to all involved with Kamikaze Pro. My point is today saw a show that Kamikaze had not done before in an all woman show, clearly designed to spotlight the best in Female wrestling action and highlight just how good the female independent scene is in the UK. As WWE swallow up much of the world’s best female talent we have to remember there are still some excellent female wrestlers in the UK and this show was evidence of that with twelve ladies putting on an excellent show. The tournament was classic booking with a well toldstory with Shanna, an ever present on Kamikaze shows for a number of years deservedly being rewarded for her time by becoming the first champion and her losing opponent Chantal Jordan enjoying a Cinderella type story just falling at the final hurdle, however she really put herself over throughout this tournament showing with her current push in this promotion and how she has handled all that has come before her that her future looks a certainty in the wrestling business.
Just a side note for me, a member of the audience who was sat a couple of chairs from myself, someone I had not seen before at a Kamikaze show decided to spend most of the show not only berating the company, but poor Chantal Jordan too. Without going into too much detail, this kind of fan is not needed at ANY wrestling promotion never mind Kamikaze itself. The abuse he threw at Chantal was completely uncalled for and I know there were many in the room that saw this shit chanting nonstop throughout the show. I hope I never see him again and credit to Chantal who seem to take it all in her stride showing just how much of a class act she is already becoming. I do believe Kamikaze have dealt with this individual.
