Context matters.
Last month I got the chance to attend a Kraken Pro Wrestling event in person, which also happened to be the go-home show for the Kraken Classic, also the second anniversary show for the promotion. Meanwhile, in this review series, it feels like the first anniversary show just happened. Knowing where things end up provides a whole different perspective as I continue these reviews.
My goal is to be caught up this summer, so let’s get to it.
Here’s all the episodes that came out of this taping:
Episode 57
Donnie Harris and Diamond Duke do the opening in Gray Ghost Comics, a local business that sponsors Kraken. Duke is wearing a “Spaceballs” shirt, which earns him a grace period for complaining about slow counts and double teaming for, um, at least this episode. They hype up the Tides of War tag team tournament, which is set to play out over the next eight months. That’s an insane amount of time for a tournament, but not only did they pull it off, but they did it without any replacement teams brought in from outside, which is a huge achievement for an independent promotion.
The structure is round robin, with teams getting 1 point for a win, 2 for a submission, and three for a DQ victory. A pinfall loss costs a point, with a submission loss -2 points, and a DQ loss -3 points. This comes into play during this taping.
Kraken episodes are usually quick and short on talking segments, but the in-ring promo with The Business is the tentpole of this episode, as Josh Breezzyy gets added to the group and Jay 2 Strong gets added, Clever staging on the entrance, with Jay opening the ropes for everyone else in the faction. Breezzyy seems like an odd fit in The Business — and, after watching live, still does — but we should have known he was a heel at heart with the extra letters in his name. Justin Kayse does a roll call and Jay is conspicuous by admission. That sparks a beatdown initiated by Dom Stuckey because, as Kayse said, “We only have room for winners.” To me this made Breezzyy an even more curious choice since he hasn’t won really anything of note to date in Kraken. Nevertheless, this was a good bit of wrestling TV. Kayse carried this. He’s improved so much as a talker since Kraken first began.
First match on the card is for the Cash In Hand Title, with Joey Hyder defending against Kevin Kantrell, ERC, and JP Harlow. There’s a solid backstage interview with Harlow leading into the match that made me want to see more of him but I’m not sure if he ever comes back. This is probably the best scramble Kraken has done aside from the Ultimate scramble back at the Kraken Classic. Harlow followed up an entertaining introductory promo by being entertaining in the ring. ERC stays his sneaky self, and there’s some excellent camera work on his running hip attacks. Hyder eats a forearm while in the middle of a standing moonsault in a wild bit of timing. Kantrell and Harlow have a slick exchange before Kantrell taps him.
Last match on this episode (does it classify as a main event if it’s last?) puts Joe Black against Kassius King. This fell in the “Fun Squash” category for me. This is just the second appearance in Kraken for Joe, but he already feels like a big deal because of his general presence, his ability as a talker, and the excellent match with Kantrell back at the Kraken Classic. King gets a little offense in but mostly sells for Black — and sells well, especially on a lariat that wraps things up.
Episode 58
A pretty skippable episode. The highlight for me was the amusing backstage interview that kicked off this installment with Kay talking to Quick Drip: Nick Quick and Dante Dripp. They go on to lose to All Star Special in the first match of Tides of War that also felt like a foregone conclusion. Dante gets knocked out cold during this contest.
We also get the first match for Jaz Jones since she joined The Business against Alicia Love. Alicia has the upper hand and starts talking trash to Justin Kayse at ringside for some reason that eludes me and gets rolled up and pinned. Speaking of “Spaceballs” …
At least she didn’t get distracted in the middle of the match by someone’s music playing. That drives me crazy.
Episode 59
More Tides of War action, as The Business, represented by Breezyy and Stuckey, take on the Saturday Night Temptations. This is a decent little tag match. Duke uses up his mulligan with me by complaining about the double team. The Business win after Karl Hager takes a low blow and Dom hits his finisher on CJ Shine. We also get a rock-solid promo by Joe Black, which just adds to what I was saying about his strong presentation.
Charlie Kills faces Travis Ray in the episode main event. Charlie has his red mask and singlet again, continuing to give Spoiler vibes. The regular disclaimers by the announcers about Kraken being anti-murder in Charlie Kills matches consistently amuse me. Charlie gets the win with a reversal in a match that didn’t connect with me, or the crowd, as I would have hoped.
Episode 60
The two best matches of this set of episodes happen here. First up, Noir face Don Haylo and Jayy Wells in the Tides of War. Noir have really grown on me since they debuted in the early days of Kraken, and I’m still curious to see the journey from hated rulebreakers here to really strong fan favorites by this year’s Kraken Classic. Meanwhile, I’ve sung the praises of Haylo and Wells consistently in these pieces, so making them a regular tag team gets a big thumbs up from this corner. Vice Cream have a good energy, and a pleasant dynamic in interviews that makes them easy to like. Mrs. Wright is conspicuous by her absence. Mr. Wright has really sharpened his game in recent outings and that continues here. He even busts out a swank Bret Hart-style running clothesline. There’s a good battle between Haylo and Ehren Black, where Haylo even levels the much bigger Black with a running shoulder tackle. Haylo and Wright have a somewhat awkward exchange down the home stretch, but they make lemonade from lemons, as the result just made Haylo look like more of a powerhouse. Clever finish; Will Huckaby and Sam Hansin interfere and attack… Haylo and Wells? This disqualifies Noir, putting them in a three-point hole early in the Tides of War after the heels shaved Hanson’s head at the last taping. Clever.
In the main event of the episode and the taping, Trever Aeon defends the Kraken Pro title against Lamar Diggs of The Business. Diggs got a guaranteed title shot by winning the Kraken Classic a couple of months ago. I’ve written before about big-fight feel adding to the ambiance of matches, and some very good introductions by Kay go a long way to creating that aura. Kayse continues to show how far he’s come, fanning Diggs with his loaded briefcase early in the match when The Business’ big man powders out to the floor. Aeon has some slick moments here; see how he lured Diggs into a triangle choke while seeming to reel from previous offense. Still, this was the Diggs show for me for much of the match. He busts out a standing dropkick that’s impressive for a guy his size but my favorite was when he hits a fallaway slam that chucks Aeon to the floor, turns to the ringside fans, and bellows “He’s all yours!” Love it. Love everything about it. Aeon puts together quite the comeback, hoisting Diggs for three back drop suplexes. Chaos reigns at the finish. Kayse pulls Referee Clark out of the ring and whacks him with the briefcase before Clark can call for the DQ or eject Kayse from ringside. That brings the rest of The Business to the ring, but wait! Aeon, who teases he’s got reinforcements on Episode 58, gets that help when Eric Silva and Austin Towers, a/k/a the Left Hand head for the ring. The Path clean house, during which Towers, who’s enormous, Sparta kicks Jaz halfway to Alabama. Aeon hits his Kiss Kiss Bang Bang finisher on Diggs, which was an impressive sight, and the champ retains.
One complaint on commentary in this episode: Donnie refers to both Ehren Black and Diggs as “a wrecking ball in wrestling boots.” That was a phrase Donnie previously used just for Brother Azriel, who’s absent from this taping. I preferred it that way; referring to any big man on the roster by the same phrase, even if it’s clever, diminishes the impact of the phrase.
Miss any installments? Check out the index of Review the Kraken entries.
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