31.05.2019, Coventry
By Ciaran James@TheCiaranJames
Tornado Tag – Gabriel Kidd/NIWA def. Sugar D/Man Like Dereiss
The evening kicked off with this lively tag team opener, the team of Kidd and NIWA were excellent here and really got the audience riled early on. It’s always great to see rising star Man Like Dereiss, plus after seeing Sugar D in mostly comedic performances it was intriguing to see him in more of a serious role here. NIWA and Kidd attacked before the bell rang looking for the advantage. The match flowed well with each participant managing to get their time to shine, when the match settled Dereiss and Sugar D came into their own. They had great chemistry and worked well together, playing to the audience and dispatching the heels. Kidd and NIWA did take over again and really stamped their authority on the match, NIWA is always excellent but Kidd here was especially good. Gabriel Kidd has improved greatly in the last two years, from his in-ring work to physical appearance, the young bull is looking on top of his game and his heel gimmick is money. The two teams worked very well together and produced a very competitive tag match.
Last Women Standing – Gisele Shaw def. Xia Brookside
This was very much a match of two halves, the early going was fundamentally a straight wrestling match with both exchanging holds. They started slowly and built the contest, both women told a story and upped the ante move by move. Gisele has been firing on all cylinders this year, if there is a promotion close to you, she’s there, she was again excellent here and put together a great match with Xia. Gisele was the more aggressive of the two early on, however that changed as Xia came into her own and traded strong strikes. Gisele’s aggression certainly spurned on Xia who relished the competitive streak in Shaw, they went toe to toe and didn’t hold anything back. Both women were solid fan favourites here, the audience were split but both received great reactions, the action spilt to the outside where the match really got physical. Both again traded blows before Gisele got the upper hand and risked her safety by flying off the top turnbuckle to take out Xia for the ten count.
Relentless Division Title – The Elliot Jordan Experience © def. Kay Jutler
With fellow Bled stable mate Luke Douglas locked in a lift, Elliot Jordan had to seemingly fight this one all alone. Jutler was super pumped for this one, he even received a healthy response from the Coventry audience. The over confident but highly skilled Elliot Jordan withstood the tirade from Jutler, he was on the ropes a few times but managed to find a way to counter Kay. Elliot is arguably the MVP of Kamikaze Pro, the current Relentless Champion has huge potential, his character work is flawless, and his ring work is solid. His interactions with the audience lift the atmosphere and most are always eager to hurl abuse. Jutler was impressive here, he imposed his power and manhandled the champion throughout the contest. Like most recent encounters with Bled members, it was again the numbers game that decided the result. After Elliot grounded Jutler, he quickly moved to release Douglas, this then started a spiral of events that signalled the end for Jutler. With Jutler not having the best of years, it continued here with The Experience taking advantage and delivering the win to retain his title.
No DQ – Sean Kustom def. Dan Maloney
This was for me the match of the night, from start to finish this was a strong style, hard hitting fight. Dan Maloney is finally now getting the recognition he so rightfully deserves, in 2019 there have been few better than him. He looks dominant, strong and powerful and his ring work is very watchable, Tomohiro Ishii comes to mind when watching him work a match. For Sean Kustom this performance was another tick in the box, the plucky Australian native has worked his socks off to become one of the best workers on the Indy’s and is in my opinion still a hugely underrated wrestler. These two traded, strong strikes, kicks and big moves on route to producing one of the best matches of the evening, the atmosphere was high for these two. As the contest went on the guys fought outside the ring as they crashed into the barricade, as the action returned to the ring chairs were introduced. They duelled with the chairs before Sean got the advantage, they traded blows again before Dan slammed Kustom throat first into the chair frame. Kustom recovered and fought through the pain to finally dispatch Dan and bag the big win, just a solid, strong match that both should be proud of.
Falls Count Anywhere – Joey Janela def. Chantal Jordan
Well what can I say, wild, crazy, absolutely nuts, this match stole the show. This was easily one of the craziest wrestling matches I have ever witnessed live, it started in the ring and ended in the ring but what happened in between will be talked about for a very long time. The match started with Joey trying to kick Chantal’s head off, he then proceeded to throw her out of the ring and then over the barricade, she landed very hard. Joey then followed and subjected Chantal to further punishment, he threw her into the booth then hit a Brainbuster on a wooden frame. The fight continued to the bar; Chantal fought back as they brawled on the bar top and exchanges strikes. The audience followed as the competitors fought onto the streets of Coventry, with traffic flowing and people going about their business Chantal and Joey just continued brawling. As we followed the fight raged on, literally onto a bus! Janela DDT’d Chantal on the bus stairs, the passengers just looked on in amazement.
With the audience following their every move, the competitors moved towards phone boxes across the street, Chantal fought back and dropped Joey, she then with the assistance of a fan, jumped atop the phone box. To the delight of the crowd she then flew and again floored Janela, the audience chanted “You sick f**k” They recovered, and the brawl moved on. A Ford Focus nearly took them out as they walked across the road, the driver jumped out as Joey bumped Chantal off the bonnet and then rolled her body on top. He then picked her up and positioned her for a Sit-down Piledriver on the car! The audience were in shock, the brawl then moved on to the local Kebab shop, where inside they exchanged blows, this was truly out of this world. The competitors finally returned to the arena, both Janela and Chantal had taken a lot of punishment, the atmosphere was at fever pitch as the audience cheered on Chantal. Joey was furious that he couldn’t put her away, his last act was a devastating Neckbreaker of sorts on the ring apron to take out Chantal and get the KO victory.
Following the match, Joey paid his respect and shook her hand, after he departed current Kamikaze Pro Live Champion Luke Douglas hit the ring. He attacked Chantal until GM Colin Russell intervened, he explained to Douglas he would be defending his title at the 6th anniversary show in June. Douglas said not to wait, to have the match now.
Kamikaze Pro Live Title – Chantal Jordan def. Luke Douglas ©
With Chantal just about moving, Douglas saw fit to attack her early and put the match away. He Superkicked her several times but Chantal wouldn’t give up, she rallied with the audience behind her. She had enough left to hit Douglas with a Roundhouse Kick and take the title off him.
Kamikaze Pro Tag Team Titles – Anti Fun Police © def. The Hunter Brothers
There was no following the match that proceeded it, however the two super talented teams did their best to produce a contest worthy of our attention. It was thankfully a comedown from the wild antics of the match before, the AFP introduced the ‘No Fun Rulebook’ which I flashbacked to Regal vs Jericho, and their infamous Queensbury Rules match, circa 2001. Whenever the Hunters made a move, Chief Dunne would bring a stoppage to proceedings, there was no running, no jogging, no walking, no punches, no kickouts, that was until Chief tagged in and went against all his rules. No matter the confusing rules of the AFP the Hunters battled on and came close a few times, this was as you would expect a crisp exchange of moves and ring psychology. The audience appreciated the work of all four men, it mustered up multiple comedic moments and built to a nice finish.
Kamikaze Pro Championship – Clint Margera © def. David Starr
I was a little miffed Kamikaze gave away the title match for next month ahead of this contest, however we still got a solid back and forth title match that once again saw Margera retain. Starr as expected was superior here, he wrestled Margera and looked to be in control early on. That was the flow of the match until it went to ringside and Clint punished Starr, he threw into the barricade and into the steel structure near the stage. Starr took some punishment as Clint peppered him with hard strikes, this was better than expected to be honest, with Clint’s long list of no disqualification matches mean it’s been a while since we saw him in a straight wrestling match. The audience were behind Starr as he fought back into the match, he rallied and had the momentum, unfortunately for Starr he made that one mistake which cost him dearly. He mistimed a Clothesline and caught himself on the ropes, Clint pounced and retained his title via a Death Valley Driver.
2 out of 3 Falls Luch Rules – Drago (2) def. Jody Fleisch (1)
The main event was highly anticipated, and although good in parts it lacked that spark to push it beyond being just a good main event. I felt the two out of three falls stipulation overall hurt the contest, I’m not sure if it was a language barrier or the fact, they aren’t familiar with one another, but the contest just fell apart. The first fall took a while to get going and at times appeared to drag, however when Fleisch and Drago were on the same page the match flowed beautifully. The wrestling in the first fall was technically sound, some of the sequences were so crisp, Jody especially looked excellent here. After seven previous matches and the high we had seen the atmosphere did seem a little flat for this one, and unfortunately, I don’t think Drago was as fluid as people remember. Jody got the first fall, which was followed by a quick rollup and second fall victory for Drago. It was a long night by the time the third fall commenced, the atmosphere had dropped a little and the wrestlers were struggling to keep the tempo up, the wrestling also suffered. There were some mistimed moves as the third fall neared its’ conclusion, the match lost its way as both struggled to recover the momentum. Drago won to make the match two falls to one.
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Thank you to Wrestleography for the imaged used @wrestleography
