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In a storybook ending to what has been a crazy year for ProSouth Wrestling, Chris Kamikaze is the new ProSouth Champion. Kamikaze won the Gold Rush briefcase in June but never got a chance to cash it in. The following week, Kamikaze announced he was stepping away from ProSouth due to a shoulder injury but if he didn't win the ProSouth Championship before the year was over, he would retire.
Kamikaze was never spoken off again...until he appeared tonight, cashed in the briefcase and pinned Scott Spade with his signature 450 to win the title.
Kamikaze was not done for the night, however. Moments later, he proposed to his fiancee, Kera in the middle of the ProSouth ring.
Spade and the Commission's Patrick Gilbert screwed Cameron Keast out of title at the conclusion of Lion's Cup opeing round, ending Keast's reign in seven days. Spade's reign as the third grand slam champion in ProSouth history lasted less than seven minutes.
In Young Lion's Cup action, Douglas Sanders, Hunter Hendrix, Aiden Pierce, Wyn Brantley, Joe Wood, Joey Jones, Larry Lazard and Justin McKenzie advancing to second round matches tonight as the Cup tournament concludes. Lisard and Christian Pierce had the most interesting match of the night in a non-tournament bout. McKenzie, a ProSouth trainee, was impressive in his debut match as a pro wrestler.
Wood and Sanders have the inside track to the Cup with Lazard and McKenzie as the likely dark horse candidates.
Wicked Nemesis and Mathias Darkthorne were in nearly award winning from on commentary. Darkthorne and Amy Haven split the ring announcing. Joseph Void, Jeremy Blackson and Kevin Tubbs were the referees.
"The Fabulous One" Douglas Sanders (with Tsunami & Patrick Gilbert) defeated Samuel Dean in 4:30. Sanders (4 years experience, trained at Jacobs Prichard Wrestling Academy) was making his return after being out of action for months due to a medical issue. Wicked said he had place a $50 bet on Sanders. He targeted Dean's leg. Tsunami distracted Dean while Gilbert interfered and Sanders hit a draping DDT.
More Commission shenanigans. Good to see Sanders able to wrestle again. Dean showed why selling the leg while using aerial tactics is a bad mix.
ProSouth peculiar brand of humor in full effect. The way the skit poked fun at Wood's deadpan manner was extremely amusing.
"The Prodigy" Hunter Hendrix defeated BK Bennett in 7:27. Hendrix reminded me of Doug Gilbert He's got three years in the business and was trained by three guys I never heard of. Bennett has one year in. He started with Papa Marko, currently training under Joe Black and Murder One. Bennett got on a roll. He threw in a crotch chop and ran his mouth. Crowd got behind Hendrix. A Hendrix famouser looked terrible. His implant DDT was fine but Bennett got a shoulder up. Bennett used the ref as a shield to set up a springboard cutter. Hendrix kicked out. An exasperated Bennett tried for a one winged angel. Hendrix countered with double arm DDT for the win.
Crowd liked Hendrix. Bennett has got the heel attitude down and was world's better than is previous ProSouth appearance.
"Circle City Samurai" Aiden Pierce defeated "Sublime" Jasper Reid in 6:42. Both men trained at Flatback (under Shawn Spears and Tyler Breeze). Reid has 10 months experience, Aiden with 3 years. Caeden Ooten and Harley Haven came out to scout the match. Aiden pulled hair as Reid went for the Stroke and pinned him with a flying knee. Ooten nodded in approval.
Aiden has polish to his entrance. Wicked liked his mustache. Same body part worked on two matches in a row.
Wyn Brantley upset "Wrestling Sensation" AJ Black in 5:26. Brantley is another Flatback trainee with eight month in. Black was laying his stuff in. Referee Void caught Black using the tights. As Black jawed at Void, Brantley rolled him up.
Black was a last minute substitute. He's only 18 but was the class of the field owing to his wealth of experience and background coming from a wrestling family.
Joe Wood defeated "The Pale Rider" Cory James in 3:48. James is a Mike Golden trainee who works the NAWA Classic shows in the Rome area. Wood picked up his first ProSouth singles win with the Woodchipper.
After the match, Wood said he would make sure Sanders did not win the Cup on night two.
This was another match.
Joey Jones (with LVHNDLZ) defeated The Big Bad Wolf in 3:51. Jones (another Mike Golden trainee with seven months experience) entered looking like Orange Cassidy on meth with his personal photographer LVHNDLZ. Wolf trained under AR Fox and at Spartan under Joshua O'Hagan. Wolf snatched Jones clean off the mat for a powerslam and used series of sledgehammer blows. LVHNDLZ grabbed Wolf by the foot. Jones used his wrist tape for a garrot legsweep to pin Wolf.
Amy Haven informed Larry Lazard his scheduled opponent (D'Angelo LaFlame) was not there. Lizard's open challenge to anyone in the back was answered by Christian Pierce.
Larry Lazard defeated Christian Pierce by DQ in 8:55. Lazard has been around the block a few times, training with WWA4, Nightmare Factory and Speedball Mike Bailey. Lazard rejected Pierce's handshake. They wrestled. Christian appeared to tweak his knee. Lazard offered to shake hands and tried to pull a fast one. Lazard's ventures to the top rope did not pay off. He tried for a double springboard and Christian caught him in a crossface. Christian evaded Lazard's 450 and took his head off with lariat. Pierce connected with the cannonball but Lazard got a foot under the ropes. Ayden Andrews hit the ring with a flying knee intended for Christian but he ducked and Lazard ate it. Christian and Andrews brawled to the back. Lazard was left laying on the floor in a daze.
Postmatch, Lazard took the mic back from Amy impromptu to tell the crowd he said he was going to win and there was going to be wrestling.
An intriguing clash of styles. The match wasn't smooth sailing by any means but a a clear cut above the tournament matches. The controversial Lazard, never short on ego, was true to form. Of the outside talent brought in for the tournament, Lazard and Wolf are the guys I would love to see come back.
"Hot Sauce" Justin McKenzie defeated X-Alater in 10:48. Both men making their pro wrestling debuts. Before the match, X-Alater thanked his trainers - Ace Haven, Cameron Keast, Pierce and Andrews. McKenzie is also a ProSouth trainee.McKenzie's slingshot DDT earned the 2 and 15/16 call. X-Alater shoved referee to ropes to drop McKenzie into tree of woe for a draping reverse draping bulldog and applied an anaconda vise. McKenzie used sliced bread to set up an alleged tornillo double stomp but he ended up in a sitting position on X-Alater.
Postmatch show of sportsmanship.
Like an early NXT 2.0 match, highly choregraphed, rushing to pack as much stuff in their 10 minutes as humanly possible. McKenzie has the requisite athletic ability to be a really good pro wrestler. Nice attention to detail by referee Jeremy Blackson selling his arm as he made the three count.
ProSouth Champion Cameron Keast addressed the faithful. Keast put the young lions' competitors over and said he was proud to be part of a place that provided a platform for them. Gilbert came out and said he was sick of hearing about Keast's title win. Champions defend their titles. Scott Spade appeared on the ramp dragging referee Blackson with him.
Scott Spade (with Patrick Gilbert) defeated Cameron Keast to win the ProSouth Championship in 1:58. Gilbert gave Keast a low blow. Spade immediately tried to pin Keast with a stunner. Keast kicked out at two. Keast locked in the move that won him the title, the Koji clutch but Gilbert put Spade's foot on the ropes. Keast tried to snap Gilbert's fingers. Spade clubbed Keast from behind to save Gilbert and pinned Keast with the Copenhagen kick.
In the heat of the moment, Keast losing the title in this way sucked. With the benefit of hindsight, Keast hoisted onto Ace and Donnie Primetime's shoulders holding Big Blue at the end of last week's show was what really mattered.
A video depicting snippets of the last four times the ProSouth Championship had changed hands was shown. The image of the top gun fighter jet was the tell. Kamikaze appeared to an explosive pop. He saluted the crowd. The fans responded with chants of "Kamikaze" and "welcome back". Kamikaze said he left something somewhere months ago and pulled the Gold Rush briefcase from underneath the ring and dusted it off. Keast threw a fireball in Spade's face.
Chris Kamikaze defeated Scott Spade (with Patrick Gilbert) to become the new ProSouth Champion in 33 seconds. Kamikaze planted Spade with the Danger Zone Olympic slam and pinned him with the 450 off the top.
Kamikaze kissed the title and celebrated with the crowd, then brought Kera into the ring. He said he had been contemplating this for a month and half. Kamikaze thanked the fans for their support and Ace Haven for giving him the opportunity. He put Wicked and Darkthorne over as the best commentary team in the Southeast regardless of awards. Kera told him this was his moment but he wanted tonight to be about their moment. On bended knee, Kamikaze pulled out the ring asked Kera to marry him.
I cannot imagine a more fitting ending to what has been a tumultuous 2024 for ProSouth Wrestling: from the lowest of lows to absolute ecstasy in a matter of minutes. This segment brought tears of joy to this old writer's eyes, a seemingly long forgotten story exquisitely paid off with the return of one my favorite ProSouth personalities to do what he said he would do and Kamikaze tops it off with a marriage proposal in the ring. Of all people, I should have known Ace Haven and company always finish the story. After two years of being involved in some of ProSouth's best matches and stories and never tasting gold, Kamikaze ends 2024 with the ProSouth Championship, standing in the ring with the love of his life.
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