By Mark Worrall@hoohoowozza
Kamikaze Pro hosted their nineteenth instalment of their Pro Live shows which as always the case these days emanated from the Cadbury Club, Bourneville. These shows are basically academy shows, a chance for the Kamikaze Pro dojo trainees to get some ring time, learn their newly acquired skills and a chance to work in front of a live crowd. Mixed in with several main roster members, alongside some old faces returning to help out the youngsters, these shows are fast becoming must see shows with bigger crowds attending each show. These are my thoughts:
MJ Grayson opened the show facing White Tiger in a good opener that set the stall for the rest of the show. Grayson, the bigger man seemingly only had one intention and that was to keep the Tiger on his feet, wearing down his opponent with good rest holds, a reverse chin lock locking his knee to the spine of White Tiger, basically preventing the more athletic Tiger from flying. This worked for a while and Grayson looked really good working this way until Tiger found some offence and was too much for Grayson! In fact it needed Grayson’s regular tag team partner, Luka who had accompanied Grayson to the ring, to interfere in the match which worked to Grayson’s advantage when Luke pulled White Tiger off the turnbuckle whilst Grayson distracted the referee enabling Grayson an opportunity to deliver a tilt of the world slam giving Grayson the win.
Next up saw Kieran McQueen up against a George Lydon who was actually making his Kamikaze Pro Live debut! Both these guys looked a little lost at times and a feeling that these guys would have been better off with more experienced opponents would have been for their benefit. To be fair though, although there were some missed spots, both these guys worked really hard to perform, and let us not forget they are both young and trainees, and they need the ring time to learn. Lydon did look fast at times, athletic and able with decent pace. The fans were really behind the pair throughout the match and it was extremely pleasing to see McQueen pick up the win which will no doubt do his confidence a power of good.
Sean Devine brought a can of ‘woopass’ to the ring and gave his opponent Kenny Kilbaine two options, to share a can of ‘Woopass’ with him, or get a woopass! Kilbaine declined and he dominated Devine, as the bigger man should I guess, delivering two big centon’s Kilbaine style which had Devine barely kicking out. Devine worked from underneath waiting for his moment until he was finally able to hit a couple of Stunners on Devine who played homage to Stone cold Steve Austin! Not enough for Devine though as big Kenny fell onto Devine, this got the pin and Kilbaine chalks up another win. Loved this, Sean was great, he always is, great comedic timing with Kilbaine the perfect opponent for all his cheeky banter!
Deno Babic was up against Man Like Dereiss in the first half main event which stole the show for me. I mention it every time but I love the entrance from Man Like Dereiss, it works it really does! The timing, the actions as Dereiss makes his entrance always make him look a star for me. This match really was well worked, Babic wants the fans to respect him, he looks for their adulation, then turns a little nasty, a touch hot-headed at times which fits his character and enables him to work on certain parts of Dereiss, bending the rules a little as both these men went toe to toe until Babic caught a break as Dereiss seemingly had hurt his arm with even referee Steve asking if Dereiss wanted to quit, but we knew that was never going to happen as Dereiss sold the arm terrifically! A series of roll-ups towards the closing stretch saw Babic finally finding a three count and the victory he really wanted, although it did not seem that way as the Croatian applauded and showed respect to his defeated opponent, which he truly deserved and made an offer of another match, Babic not happy winning unconvincingly with a roll up. Great match!
Another debut as the second half began as Danny Reid faced the uphill task of facing Relentless Division champion The Elliott Jordan Experience in what started out as a non-title match until Colin Russell-Ames changing that decision, (he is the Kamikaze Pro Live general manager after all!) and made this a title match! Full credit to Jordan who simply guided the rookie through the match as Reid unleashed after hearing this would be for the title! Jordan though is a Kamikaze mainstay and really lifted this youngster who put up a decent showing, aiming all the time for his ‘Lights out’ finish that never came as Jordan never allowed the move to come which was a shame! Jordan, rubbing salt into the wound of Reid called ‘Lights out’ as he nailed his ‘Streamlined Aerodriver’ finisher to put an end to the debutante’s dreams of a debut victory.
The Hammer Heeley and Alan Carter were up next with Carter still looking for his first victory in singles competition. Heeley always antagonistic and especially here to Carter who unleashed with the full backing of the Cadbury Club who were willing on Carter to pick up his maiden victory. Things were looking up for Carter until a mysterious woman appeared, well to me anyway, this was the first time I had seen her as she leant onto team Heeley, finding his hammer which he used on poor Alan Carter and followed up by locking a Crossface. What followed has to be one of the most ridiculous finishes I have seen in Kamikaze up until now. Blinded, Lawrie could not see Heeley lifting the arm of Carter, forcibly making him tap against his will and Heeley took the win. Laugh out loud for me as far as finishers go simply great stuff. Lacie Adams showed up post match to assist poor Alan who was taking a beating setting up a possible mix tag somewhere soon?!
Six-man tag team action was the Semi-Final match for the show with Ender Kara, Hassan Ali and Jack Carny making up the one team, up against Lee Hunter, who was without brother Jim due to an injury, alongside Kamikaze Kid and Kay Jutler who had replaced Jim. This is where I have to give credit to Jutler, who being a last minute replacement; the former Kamikaze Pro champion really lifted not only this match but the entire show! He was great, the most enthusiastic I have seen him for a while and was a tower of strength that carried this match to another level and really delivered. The fans bought Jutler’s enthusiasm and this was a great contest that delivered. Some nice spots throughout, the team of Kara, Ali and Carny getting some control and showing some decent tagging until the crowd favourites rallied, crowd behind them and finally coming out on top as the winning trio with Jutler and Hunter enabling the kamikaze Kid (whoever he may be?!) to get the pin. All six performed well, crowd loved it, and I must give a special mention to Ender Kara who was, well let’s put it, superb. Brilliant fluidity with his offence sold and bumped like a star and really was the MVP of the show! Really hope he gets to show us more on future shows and could easily be a player on main roster shows.
KAMIKAZE PRO LIVE CHAMPIONSHIP
CHANTAL JORDAN def. LUKE DOUGLAS(c)
This was the rubber match; both had exchanged the title belt so the winner of this match was leaving as champion, and maybe the winner of this feud. Chantal’s performance’s of late have been breathtaking, then again Luke Douglas has been sublime too and both of these have been perfect main event fodder. This match was, well simply bizarre, not in a negative way, far from it! Scrapping to start Jordan showed her intentions by nailing a hurricanrana on Douglas who stumbled and showed his statement of intentions by nearly decapitating poor Chantal with a strong Lariat. This was a no DQ match which seems to follow these two at the moment, of course it went around the room, spilled outside with piledriver’s on the grass coming into play before spilling back inside with half the crowd following as they continued to go back and forth with Douglas looking to gain the upper hand as he sent poor Jordan through the announce table! Both took a battering, a little too much perhaps with thumb tacks finding their way onto the ring canvas! Chantal however recaptured the Pro live title after nailing Douglas with a destroyer sending poor Luke through a pasting table as a standing ovation followed, no doubt for both wrestlers! Super main event with little celebration as Elliott Jordan attacking post match, stating their is only room for one Jordan in Kamikaze and he left carrying not only Luke Douglas but also Chantal’s newly acquired championship belt.
These Pro Live shows simply always deliver; make sure to check out a show soon!
