Around the ring: Twists and turns at Zelo Pro, POWW Entertainment
By Mike Pankow
May 5, 2021
Pro wrestling is starting to heat up around the Chicagoland region, including Southeast Wisconsin.
Zelo Pro Wrestling’s WrestleFest produced two new champions and introduced a new alliance during its red-hot nine-match card last Saturday night at Turner Hall Ballroom in downtown Milwaukee.
GPA became the first-ever Zelo Pro Champion on Saturday, May 1, adding that title to the Freelance Underground Championship that he has held for nearly two years. (File photo by Mike Pankow)
GPA, already enjoying a lengthy reign as Freelance Underground Championship ascended up the ladder – literally and figuratively – to become the first Zelo Pro Champion, outlasting multiple contenders in what was advertised as a six-man ladder match to crown the first titleholder.
GPA won the match which also featured Joliet native Egotistico Fantastico, Chicago veteran Bryce Benjamin, Zelo mainstay Mason Conrad, and Central Illinois standouts CJ Esparza and “Filth King” Brubaker.
Brubaker was taken out of the match after he was attacked during his entrance by Jacob Dean. No one immediately replaced Brubaker as the other five men continued without him. Newly-crowned Zelo Pro Women’s Champion Jordynne Grace appeared to be staking her claim late in the match, but she was jumped from behind by the new No. 1 women’s contender Hyan.
Moments later, the crafty GPA climbed the ladder and grabbed the shiny-new belt. GPA’s real-life fiancée Laynie Luck came out to celebrate with him, which was a bit of surprise as they don’t usually acknowledge their relationship in the ring. However, Luck showed some heelish tendencies at the end of her championship-match loss to Grace earlier in the evening, so maybe this is a new leaf for Luck.
Grace ended Luck’s over-600-day reign as Zelo Pro Women’s Champion by simply overpowering Luck. It capped a strong week for Grace, who also won the IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Tag Team Championship with Rachel Ellering at the Rebellion pay-per-view.
Hyan became the top contender for Grace’s championship by winning a triple-threat over “Chicago’s Sweetheart” Missa Kate and Blair Onyx. All three women brought a high-level of intensity to the critical bout. The move of the night came from Onyx, who locked up both Kate and Hyan in a double Spider Lock for about a half-minute, wowing the crowd in Milwaukee. Unfortunately for Onyx, she couldn’t register a tap from either opponent and Hyan recovered to win the match.
Despite losing to Colt Cabana, “Yours Rudely” Trevor Outlaw cemented himself as a top player in Zelo Pro by aligning himself with Frank the Clown at WrestleFest on Saturday, May 1. (File photo by Mike Pankow)
Another big headline of the night came from the Colt Cabana-Trevor Outlaw match. The up-and-coming #YoursRudely has shown well in previous matches with the likes of EFFY at “Chicago’s Secret Stash” and a main-event triple-threat contest against Dean and Davey Bang at the “Future of Freelance.”
Outlaw gave the veteran Cabana all he could handle before the Chicago legend and AEW star scored the pin on the young upstart. As Cabana celebrated, a familiar tune rang out over the public address. Frank the Clown came out and said he was looking for “Championships” and “main eventers.” Outlaw low-blowed Cabana from behind and Frank announced his alignment with Outlaw and they vowed to take over Zelo Pro.
In other matches at WrestleFest, Country Air (Zach Hendrix & Doc Simmons) defeated The Bang Bros. (Davey Bang & August Matthews) in a thrilling opening tag team match, Brooke Valentine defeated Charlie Kruel, Storm Grayson (accompanied by Blackheart Battalion teammate Brubaker) defeated Dean, four-foot-nine Heather Reckless kept up her recent momentum with a victory over Milwaukee native Sierra, and Big Jon Crowley picked up a significant victory over Joey Jet Avalon.
Zelo Pro returns to Milwaukee for “Ballroom Brawl” on July 31. They will also several one-hour shows after Thursday night Windy City ThunderBolts games this summer at Ozinga Field in Crestwood, Ill., starting June 5.
POWW Entertainment: POWW Entertainment continued a solid run of monthly events at Rumpoles in Twin Lakes, Wis., with “Day of Reckoning” last Saturday night (May 1).
POWW Champion Pauly Thomaselli maintained his strong run with the belt with a non-title victory over Ruthless Ramon. Thomaselli will defending the title against Scott Spade at POWW’s next event “Summer Xplosion” in Twin Lakes on Saturday night, June 5.
POWW crowned new tag team champions as IPA (Meathooks O’Bannon & Kavan O’Reilley) defeated Joey Roth’s Bruiser Mass Index (Jamie Race & Mike Idol) as their long-standing rivalry wrote even another chapter.
The main event saw Revolution (Jimmy Blaze & Eric Freedom) defeat Noise Booze and Tattoos (Ruff Crossing & Spade, with Tiny) after a crazy brawl. IPA will defend their newly-won titles against Revolution in a Rumpoles Pub Crawl next month.
In other bouts, Kyzyle beat the returning Matt Dewar, who has fought through injuries over the last year. Former POWW Champion Tylor Sullivan beat Axel Abrayo to set up Sullivan’s street fight next month against Vic Capri. POWW Midwest Championship Max Holiday defeated Nick Headford.
AAW returns to 115 Bourbon Street: AAW Pro is set to return to its Southside home, 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park, with “Take No Prisoners,” which airs live on Friday night (May 7) on FITE.
The main event will see AAW Champion Mance Warner face the challenge of Fred Yehi, a rivalry that has built during AAW ALIVE episodes on Twitch over recent weeks.
In other featured matches, Davey Vega takes on ACH, Skye Blue, the current Chicago Style Wrestling Women’s Championship, takes on veteran Allysin Kay and former NXT Cruiserweight Champion Lio Rush takes on Laredo Kid. Also advertised are Ace Austin & Madman Fulton, Hakim Zane, Jake Something, One Called Manders, Matthew Justice, PACO, Travis Titan and more.
More legends to grace GLCW: Milwaukee-area’s Great Lakes Championship Wrestling, promoted by David Herro, presents “Too Sweet 2” this Saturday night (May 8) at Circle B Recreation in Cedarburg, Wis.
Six weeks after former WWE Superstar Val Venis worked a double shot for GLCW, former WCW and WWE star Buff Bagwell and one-half of The Heavenly Bodies and respected wrestling trainer Dr. Tom Prichard are special guests. GLCW is also bringing in IMPACT Wrestling stars Rohit Raju and Jake Something.
In the main event, Raju faces Ruff Crossing. GLCW Champion Backwoods Brown puts the title on the line against Jake Something. GLCW Tag Team Champions The Express (Ryan Kross & Dr. Jeff Luxon) take on the challenge of “All Day” Marshe Rockett & TW3. “The Ice Pick” Vic Capri takes on Jordan Kross and Koda Jacobs faces OVW star “The Fanny Pack Kid” Kal Herro.
Ringside chatter: GALLI Lucha Libre hosts “Tribute to Discovery” on Saturday (May 8) in Villa Park, featuring Laredo Kid, Ricky Marvin, Gringo Loco and Golden Dragon. Discovery was an instrumental figure in helping many local wrestlers in the craft of lucha libre. … Warrior Wrestling announced the main event for their return show on June 5 at Dave Mattio Field at Marian Catholic High School will be a War of Attrition match to crown the first-ever Warrior Wrestling Lucha Champion, featuring Chicago’s Gringo Loco, Laredo Kid, Golden Dragon, Aramis, Arez, Canis Lupus, Dragon Bane and Black Taurus. … SSW and Sports n’ Signings announced their return to action with “Face Your Fears” at The Brat Stop in Kenosha, Wis. on Oct. 9. Already announced are Shogun Chris Logan, The Brothers of Funstruction and Salem Crane, plus SnS social media has teased the appearance of a “King.”
Catch Windy City Slam editor Mike Pankow talking local and national pro wrestling every week with Chris Lanuti on The Windy City Slam Podcast, part of the Broadcast Basement On-Demand Radio Network. Episodes drop early Thursday morning wherever you download podcasts or at https://windycityslam.podbean.com/.
We are looking for guests to appear on future episodes of the Windy City Slam Podcast! Please contact Mike at mikepankow@windycityslam.com, message him on Facebook or DM him on Twitter.
