Review the Kraken: I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

Telling a long-term story in pro wrestling is not easy, especially at the independent level. Injuries, politics or flaky talent can disrupt even a rather simple plan.

Kudos to Kraken Pro Wrestling. then, for pulling it off.

Kraken’s one-year anniversary from May of 2025, the Kraken Classic, also represented the culmination of a one-year storyline. At the first Kraken Classic, Jay 2 Strong won the tournament to become the first-ever Kraken Champion, then bequeathed the championship to his manager, Justin Kayse, the leader of The Business. Kayse held the title for a year and never defended it. Instead, he used members of The Business as proxies against any aspiring challenger. Win against one of The Business — first Jay, then Dominic Stuckey – and earn a three-minute match against Kayse for the title. Except actually reaching Kayse was a hurdle that no one could clear. Kayse went a full year and never had to actually defend the title, mostly due to trickery and shenanigans by him and the members of The Business.

In this review, we tackle the culmination of that storyline, which came with an incredibly satisfying payoff.

It took a long time for me to fully digest this review to the point where it coalesced as a written piece for me. Part of that is that I’ve been busy writing about other things, both here and elsewhere. I’ve also been busy on the family front. And the work front. I also wanted to make sure I did justice to all the work that went into building what I consider the “season 1 finale” of Kraken. Not just the traditional concept of work as it pertains to wrestling and what happens in the ring. Work in interviews and backstage segments and commentary to develop characters and drive the story. Hopefully, this end result reflects and honors the amount of work that went into this climactic chapter.

With all that said, let’s dive right into the review.

Episode 50

The final match of the Kraken Classic puts Charlie Kills against Lamar Diggs after each won a four-way match earlier in the taping. Charlie has shaken up his usual look, and I’m getting Spoiler vibes — in a good way — from the red mask. Charlie has leaned increasingly into his “friendly neighborhood maybe-a-serial-killer” persona in Kraken. I greatly enjoyed the little touches here: the fish hooking, the joint manipulation, pulling on Diggs’ nose, and even an ankle stomp.

Diggs is also a favorite of mine on the Kraken roster. He’s the most physically imposing wrestler on the entire roster and he sells well. Diggs busts out some great facial expressions in this one. Meanwhile, he goes deep into the ol’ moveset. He uses some open-handed palm strikes to break a submission hold by Charlie, and later, I certainly didn’t expect a cross face out of the heavy hitter of The Business. Diggs wins out of nowhere with a flash pin, flipping forward out of a double leg bridge (the big guy is nimble!) and perfectly planting his feet on the bottom rope for the extra leverage. I cracked up after the match when Diggs is holding up the Kraken Classic trophy with one hand and a screaming child with the other. This was a very good match that was well worth seeing, and having Diggs win the tournament — and the guaranteed shot at the Kraken Title — scoops some extra drama onto the Aeom-Stuckey match, and the prospect of The Business having total control of the championship scene if Aeon falls short.

This is a very good match that is worth seeing, and also an important plot point if you’ve been following Kraken from week to week like I have. There is untapped potential for both Diggs and Charlie coming out of this tournament. I still look forward to the potential day when Diggs and Kayse split, and Diggs is able to get his hands on the manager.

A few other notes… The camera work here in this match shows how full the crowd is, and it’s a pretty packed house. The commentary could have been better. Diamond Duke goes back to complaining about the speed of the referee’s count, because it’s anytime. Meanwhile, the “Make a name for yourself!” line by Donnie Harris before a near-fall pin by Charlie. Note to self, guys and girls… not every wrestler is Jeff Hardy in a ladder match with The Undertaker from 2001.

Episode 51

This might be my favorite episode yet of Kraken TV. in the entire run. Kevin Kantrell is one of the MVPs of the promotion and he takes center stage in this episode. He has a good interview with Kay Casiano. We then get a “hidden camera” segment backstage involving ERC and Brandon Whatley, where, maybe for the first time in televised wrestling, the hidden camera actually makes logical sense.

Those were the appetizers. Let’s dig into the main course, the one-on-one match between Kantrell and Joe Black. I’ve known Joe for more than a decade and seen him evolve, grow, and change as a wrestler but more importantly as a character and a presence. He’s a guy I always felt warranted an opportunity on a larger stage. Maybe one day …

There’s a big fight feel for this match. It’s Joe’s debut in Kraken but previous episodes have done a good job establishing him and he already feels like a rather well-known quantity even before the bell rings. Some people reading this are going to roll their eyes at the comparison I’m about to make, but the way Joe carries himself during this match reminded me of Samoa Joe during his run as ROH Champion, which I mean as quite a high compliment. Joe is here for a match and a payoff; he’s also here to test the mettle of Kantrell and see how good he truly is. The actual wrestling here is quite good, and though these holds and exchanges are things a longtime wrestling fan like me has seen a thousand times, they crackle with intensity. Meanwhile, audible trash talk by Joe during the match is the fuel that propels the narrative. The announcers diminish their presence so these words can be heard clearly on the footage.

After an initial hold-for-hold exchange, Joe dismisses Kantrell as “light work.” Later, when they transition from mat wrestling to striking, Joe taunts Kantrell as a “big fish in a small pond”, goading Kantrell to administer a forearm but instead poking Kantrell in the eye — a bait and switch that I enjoyed immensely — before the blow can be delivered. When Joe follows up with some wicked-sounding chops in the corner, Kantrell piefaces Joe in response in a tremendous distillation of his defiance and resolve.

This feels like more of a back and forth match than the traditional structure with heat and shine. At one point, and I’m not sure if it was intentional or not, Joe busts out a bridging variation of the Mutalock — the same old Kantrell used to tap Will Huckaby (Joe’s longtime friend turned nemesis) at the end of 2024. A spinning forearm is delivered with a healthy amount of strong style. Kantrell unleashes an Avalanche Samoan Drop. Later, Kantrell strings together an Alabama Slam into a Styles Clash, leading to a convincing near-fall where both men’s shoulders are down — a detail I wish was made more of on commentary. The payoff comes when Kantrell delivers a brain buster, then rolls into his cross face hold to force Joe to tap. In the aftermath, Joe offers a handshake to Kantrell — the same gesture Kantrell offered and Joe refused in a backstage interview from earlier in this taping.

Tremendous.

Episode 52

This episode, the finale from the Kraken Classic event, is all about Justin Kayse and his ill-begotten Kraken Title reign. With Diggs winning the tournament earlier, it’s positioned — and rightfully so — as a last-chance, all-or-nothing scenario if there is to be any integrity at all in the championship scene. The episode begins with the contract signing between Aeon and Stuckey from earlier that day, which I mention only to note the moment where Donnie — who doubles as GM and lead commentator — mentions he wouldn’t mind seeing Dom as champion one day and Stuckey flashes a brief but very purposeful glance at his manager and the title slung over one shoulder.

Kay Casiano brings it up a notch on her introductions for this one, and once again a big-fight feel is established right off the bat. Once again, the rules here are that, if Aeon beats Stuckey, he gets a three-minute title match with Justin Kayse. The Aeon-Stuckey match is also no disqualification. The two combatants lean right into the stipulation, starting out hot with back-and-forth blows and then spilling to the floor. Kraken doesn’t do brawls outside the ring very often (Huckaby and Diggs had a memorable one way back) so it stands out when it does happen. Aeon pursuing Stuckey around the ring on all fours is a nice, novel touch.

I don’t think it’s possible for me to pick just one favorite wrestler on the Kraken roster, but both these guys are in the conversation. Stuckey really shines in this match with his facial expressions and trash talk. The no-DQ stipulation flows in both ways. Aeon takes Kayse’s loaded briefcase across the back, then spills to the floor to really get the heat of the match boiling. Then, when Stuckey puts Aeon in a modified cross face looking for the submission, Aeon pulls Kayse into Dom to break up the hold. Justin Kayse oversells this fairly modest impact like he’s been hit with a tranquilizer dart, to my profound amusement.

Dom follows up with a package piledriver (I added a couple of exclamation points to this in my live notes), but Aeon kicks out strong. Dom doesn’t like it, confronts Referee Clark, and decks him. Aeon hits his finisher, and here comes Referee Pee Wee, only to have Kayse wallop him with the briefcase. We’re out of referees… and that means the chaos begins.

This taping had The Business referring to a “Plan B” for this match throughout, and Jay 2 Strong looks to be the cornerstone of that plan, running in and blasting Aeon with a superkick. What proceeds is a long-running series of run-ins involving every wrestler on the card. Sometimes they come out one at a time, sometimes two at a time. On each occasion, the new entrant to the chaos drops whomever came in right before, a quick-hitting, lengthy series of interference spots that I won’t dare to attempt to recap in full here. The sequence does get a little wonky at times and reflects the overall population imbalance between fan favorites and rulebreakers on the roster, as there are a few instances of babyface-on-babyface-violence during the series of run-ins. The crowd, however, loves every bit of it.

The run-in parade eventually circles all the way back around to Jay, who goes to superkick Aeon and hits his stablemate Dom by mistake. This single moment escalates everything. The crowd goes wild. Babyface wrestlers surround the ring and are banging on the apron as Jak Myles dispatches Jay with a Russian legsweep (because he’s the Sweeper, you see), and then, Superman-style, sheds his coveralls to reveal referee gear underneath, calling back to the very first Kraken tapings where a down on his luck Sweeper had to referee matches as well for extra money. Aeon hits his finisher again on Stuckey and Sweeper counts the pin, to an absolutely insane crowd reaction. For a minute there, I thought I was watching mid-1980s Jim Crockett Promotions. (Tip of the hat to Diggs, who timed it so he was oh so close to breaking up the pin).

The focus immediately shifts to Justin Kayse, who goes running out of the building. He’s pursued, and there’s a fantastic visual where several of the fan favorite wrestlers carry a protesting Kayse back into the arena and dump him into the ring. Now the ring is entirely circled, with wrestlers and fans pounding on the apron. In another nice touch, Diggs and Jay are being held back on the floor so they cannot interfere. Kayse offers Aeon a literal fist full of dollars to try and avoid what’s coming. Diamond Duke, who roots endlessly for The Business on commentary, is apoplectic throughout all of this.

Aeon answers Kayse’s bribery offer with controlled violence. He destroys Kayse with two moves and is quite safe with him in the process, especially considering Kayse is a non-wrestler. Sweeper counts the pin, and there’s another eruption from crowd and commentary alike as the Justin Kayse reign (of terror?) comes to a definitive end.

Final Thoughts

I can’t count the number of times I see or hear someone explain that a wrestling outcome is “predictable.” Some of the best stories ever told, in various mediums, have a predictable conclusion. Even if you see the final destination coming from miles away, the joy comes in the journey, and the precise route taken to reach the end point.

These three episodes represent Kraken at its greatest heights to date. The final two episodes, featuring Kantrell vs. Black and the Aeon-Stuckey-Kayse drama, stand head and shoulders above anything the promotion has done. Which one is better? I would say that the Kantrell-Black episode has more of a standalone element of quality; you can enjoy it thoroughly without having any significant context or prior knowledge or viewing of Kraken. The final episode from this taping, however, feels like the last chapter of a long, compelling book you’ve spent quite some time reading through. If you’ve been following along this whole time like I have, there’s a satisfaction in the conclusion that can’t be reached without knowing all the players, twists, and turns that led to that moment.

Check out all three episodes, embedded below:

From the Crow’s Nest: November, 1977

Welcome to the third installment of From the Crow’s Nest, a series of articles looking back at Pacific Northwest Wrestling and the history of wrestling in Portland, Oregon.

In this week’s installment, we cover available footage from November of 1977. Most of the footage comes from a pair of episodes, two weeks apart. You can find everything in this installment on YouTube and I’ve embedded a playlist at the bottom of this article.

November 5, 1977

We’re two weeks removed from the rather fantastic angle and turn involving Sam Oliver Bass (aka Ron Bass), Buddy Rose, and Ed Wiskowski. Bass and Rose faced each other on last week’s episode, which is not available, but we get this entertaining rematch., which also recycles the trope of Rose wrestling a match with a fan favorite positioned as the special referee, although Dutch Savage isn’t nearly as entertaining in that role as Jonathan Boyd was for Rose’s match with Jay Youngblood back in September.

Savage promptly kicks out Wiskowski from ringside, on the threat of disqualifying Rose if Ed doesn’t skedaddle. Bass focuses in on the left arm of Rose, who submits to what Frank Bonnema calls an arm scissors. Rose gets minimal offense in this fall, it’s minimal. He spends much of the fall begging off and running away, which only serves to make Bass come off that much stronger.

After the usual mix of live-to-tape and pre-recorded commercials for sponsors (Tom Peterson has 20 Monte Carlos on the lot for $5,400 each!), Bonnema interviews Wiskowski, who has a match on the upcoming loop against Savage for the heavyweight singles title. What ensues is a very good example of how to do a promo as a confident and arrogant heel wrestler without making your foe look weak.

Rose comes out for the second hall and honors the wrestling gods by still selling the arm. He’s back to stalling and running away, before finally getting the upper hand in Bass after a spot you’ve seen thousands of times: the heel lures their foe into a chase around the ringside area, then cuts off his opponent when they go back into the ring. Rose targets the back of Bass and levels the match on his version of the backbreaker, which has been established in Portland as a strong finisher.

Between falls, Bonnema interviews the plucky babyface duo of Skip Young and Gino Hernandez. I found it interesting that, to me, Gino comes off like a long-lost member of the Von Erich family in what footage of him exists from Portland.

The third fall is brief and high energy, like many of these best of three falls main events tend to be as the show is usually running short on time by this point. Bass kicks out of another backbreaker by Rose and makes his comeback, capped by a punch with some extra mustard that Rose sells with his trademark slipped-on-a-banana-peel bump. While Savage scolds Bass for the punches, Rose comes up bleeding. The match ends shortly thereafter, with Wiskowski coming out to attack Savage and add some heat to their upcoming title match.

This is all pretty good, but we’ve already seen much better so far in this project.

After the match, Savage heads to the crow’s nest and tells Bonnema he’s putting Rose in a cage match against Bass the coming Tuesday. He cites “Don Owen’s power of attorney.” Bonnema’s subsequent verbal gymnastics to justify a wrestler having the authority to book this match come off pretty funny, which is likely not the intended effect. Rose’s reaction is pretty great — full of bloodstained outrage as Wiskowski proclaims, “he is a human being!” The promo work by the heels is good enough to make me wish that footage of the cage match existed.

November 19, 1977

The video quality of this episode is pretty poor, so be prepared.

It’s been a busy two weeks in Portland. Wiskowski has dethroned Savage as the heavyweight champ. Bass and Anson remain the tag champs, but in footage from this episode that apparently has been lost to the sands of time, Anson suffers an injury that’s going to put him on the shelf. This plot point anchors what footage survived from this week.

The main event is a rematch of last month’s great bout between Rose and Mayne. This is still good but doesn’t come close to the energy and crowd heat of the October match. After Mayne wins a pretty straightforward first fall with his flying knee drop, which does not evoke vomit this time — Rose just sells like he’s dead — Bonnema reviews the upcoming seven-day (!) loop.

Next we hear from Bass about the tag title situation. He’s down a partner now and championship matches have been booked on the upcoming loop. Bass’ straightforward, relatable delivery works here.

This is an outlier main event for Portland, as it ends in two straight falls. There’s some noteworthy improvisation that takes place around an equipment malfunction, when Mayne fires Rose across the ring and the impact breaks the top rope. Each wrestler attempts to use the dislodged turnbuckle against the other. Rose wins the fall with his back breaker but stays on the attack, to the point Sandy Barr disqualifies Rose and reverses the decision. Bass comes to make the save for Mayne, so you can probably guess where things are leading.

There’s still time in the episode so we get some filler content. First up an interview with Savage, who becomes more unlikable the more footage I watch of him. He engages in some very dry mockery of Anson for his injury, shits on the San Francisco territory, and then starts talking about his son’s high school football team.

These episodes fall into a certain predictable rhythm. As part of that rhythm, Bonnema has one or two plugs a week about how to get tickets. He seems borderline frustrated at having to explain time and time again, but I find it charming how the best way to get them is to go to the referee’s stand at the flea market.

Next, Gino Hernandez wrestles Skip Young in a standby match which, if you’ve watched old wrestling previously, usually means that the competitors go out there and durdle until the time limit expires. This match follows that pattern. Even Bonnema can’t disguise his boredom, referring to the usually vocal Portland Sports Arena crowd as “quiet but enjoying.” This is a snooze for sure, but at least the matchup is unique.

We conclude with Mayne joining Bonnema in the crow’s nest, only for Bass to interrupt and ask the Moondog to be his partner. As simple as much of the storytelling in Portland can be, there’s no attempt to insult the audience’s intelligence. Bass openly acknowledges the past hostile history with Mayne, saying “I thought this day would never come.” Mayne dons Bass’ cowboy hat as the answer, and we’ve got a new tag team.

Up Next: We wrap up 1977 with a look at the available footage from December.

Miss Something?: Check out the full index of articles in the From the Crow’s Nest series.

From the Crow’s Nest Index

Featured

From the Crow’s Nest is our series of articles reviewing the Portland Wrestling territory.

Introduction

September, 1977

October, 1977

November, 1977

From the Crow’s Nest: October, 1977

Welcome to the second installment of From the Crow’s Nest, a series of articles looking back at Pacific Northwest Wrestling and the history of wrestling in Portland, Oregon.

In this week’s installment, we cover available footage from October of 1977. It’s a pretty good haul for this month, with at least some footage from three out of four episodes in the month from the Saturday night Portland TV show. Most of the footage is on YouTube and is embedded at the end of this article. The video quality on some of this is pretty poor, but the action holds up.

October 1, 1977

Gino Hernandez vs. John Anson

We pick up in the early stages of a match between Anson, who is one half of the tag champs with Sam Oliver Bass (you know him better as Outlaw Ron Bass), and a very young Gino. This is, to my knowledge, the earliest existing footage of Hernandez and seeing him as a plucky young babyface is quite the change of pace considering he’s best known from his years as an arrogant heel for various promotions in Texas.

Like the two out of three falls match between Buddy Rose and Jay Youngblood, a good bit of this match is based around the headlock — only there’s far less sizzle as this encounter lacks both the crowd engagement or the type of selling Rose does in the hold. I wouldn’t call this a good match, but it’s decent and gets significant time. It feels like desperation when Anson starts throwing headbutts, and at one point the two start trading fatigued punches from their knees. Gino comes close to scoring the win a few times, reminiscent of a modern-day New Japan match with a young lion going against a wrestler on the main roster. Hernandez and Anson go the distance, and in the aftermath, commentator Frank Bonnema waxes on how much wrestling in the territory has improved in the past decade.

2/3 Falls: Lonnie Mayne vs. Buddy Rose

This is, in my opinion, the first great match in this project. What makes it great? It encapsulates the entire style of the promotion, and, to a greater extent, wrestling in the 1970s. It’s gritty, brutal, and bloody. It also matches up the territory’s biggest fan favorite in Mayne against Rose, unquestionably the most hated man in Portland.

There’s a story here, and you don’t need to have a literature degree to understand it. Rose has kept hurting other wrestlers in the territory. Mayne, who was friends with many of those injured, wants revenge.

Mayne and Rose get right down to business, with Rose trying for a cheap shot while still wearing his entrance robe. Mayne cuts him off and Rose pays the price. Mere seconds later, Mayne launches off the top with a nasty-looking flying knee drop that catches Rose square in the stomach for the pin to end the first fall. Rose doubles over and vomits in the ring after the fact — which is either proof that knee was very snug or a supreme moment of selling by Rose to be able to vomit on cue. I don’t know which is true, and I actually enjoy the uncertainty.

The little touches elevate what happens between the ropes. In the introduction to this series, I wrote about the unique setting of the Portland Sports Arena, with many fans who come out every week for the TV shows. This creates a level of investment from the crowd that is hard to replicate and even harder to truly explain unless you see it for yourself. After the first fall, Mayne picks up some little girl on his way back to the locker room and no one bats an eye at it. Heading into the second fall, one of the several old ladies who sit in the front row starts chasing Rose around the ring with her cane. Then Mayne takes her cane and tries to use it on Rose. After Rose takes the second fall, bloodying Mayne in the process, fans flock to Mayne as he sits slumped in the corner waiting the third fall; encouraging pats on the back ensue and someone even offers Mayne their drink.

By now, blood (and vomit) have been spilled, creating a heat and hatred for the third fall that feels visceral. A mistake by Rose leads Mayne to attack his arm, looking to make good on last week’s vow to break the arm of the Playboy. Mayne is so relentless that he shoves and then punches referee Sandy Barr when he attempts to intercede, getting himself disqualified. The attack continues around the ringside area until Rose retreats to Bonnema’s crow’s nest broadcast position. I enjoyed this quite a bit, while the main purpose is to serve a street fight rematch between the two a few days later that, sadly, was not televised.

October 8, 1977

Buddy Rose vs. Cocoa Samoa

This is a rematch from their TV bout back in August. Rose does his best Gorgeous George impression in the pre-match, meticulously folding his T-shirt as part of an extended stall. Cocoa ensnares Rose in a headlock and wrenches on it, like Youngblood did last month. Once again, the way Rose sells this is everything. When Cocoa takes down Rose, the Playboy tries to reverse into a pin with a handful of tights but the granny at ringside is on the case, hollering at the referee. Rose attacks the arm of yet another opponent and hooks what looks like a modified kimura to get the submission. Neat.

Mayne is set to wrestle Ed Wiskowski, Rose’s partner, in the main event but that match is absent from the surviving footage. What we do get is a 10-man battle royal for $1,000. Considering that promoter Don Owen tended to maintain a tight crew, this is probably the entire active roster in Portland at that time. The highly invested crowd makes this a fun watch and Gino Hernandez gets a chance to shine as one of the final wrestlers left standing — and takes a pretty spectacular plummet to the concrete floor on his elimination.

October 22, 1977

Dutch Savage, Lonnie Mayne & Skip Young vs. Buddy Rose, Ed Wiskowski & Sam Oliver Bass

Frank Bonnema sets the scene, mentioning some issues between Bass and Rose when they teamed together at a recent event. The theme of dissension is established and plays out in what looks more like a comedic farce on stage than a wrestling match at times. Rose and Wiskowski leave Bass hanging to start the match and, on two occasions in the first fall, Bass gets drilled by mistake by one of his partners. Later, when Savage is working over Bass’ left arm, Rose and Wiskowski deliberately pull back as Bass reaches for the tag. The crowd hoots, hollers, and applauds with delight at each of these moments, and Bass’ facial expressions and body language project his increasing sense of frustration and fury. Despite all the issues within their team, the rulebreakers score the first fall when Wiskowski catches Skip Young with his diving headbutt, a strongly established finishing move in the territory.

After the usual round of live-to-tape commercials between falls (buy a Pinto for $1,000!), we’re back and the dissension between Bass and Rose and Wiskowski continues. Another miscue — this time Rose accidentally dropkicking Bass — leaves him prey to get pinned by Skip and even the match at one fall apiece. The heel team falls apart, with Rose and Wiskowski assaulting Bass. What had, to that point, been played often for laughs turns deadly serious as Bass gets turned into a bloody mess.

Make that a very bloody mess.

It’s an effective beatdown, showing there’s no honor among thieves for the heels in Portland — or, at least, when it comes to Rose and Wiskowski. The break between falls really gives this attack time to breathe. Bonnema interviews Mayne, whose disgust at what happened to Bass adds extra zest to a delicious bit of business. I also greatly enjoyed the little touch by Rose before the third fall, smearing Bass’ blood into the mat with his boots. The third fall is reduced to a straight two on two tag, with Savage and Skip the opposition, and time expires fairly quickly in the fall. That’s all precursor to the post match, when Rose and Wiskowski go to the crow’s nest for an interview and a blood-soaked, bandaged Bass attacks! The crowd is molten hot for this as Bass slams Rose on the wooden commentary desk. Bass is out for blood and vengeance and demands a match with Rose on next week’s episode. The footage of that is unavailable, but it makes you want to tune in next week regardless, and isn’t that the point of any wrestling show — or TV show, period?

Somewhat lost in the shuffle of this blood-soaked tale of dissension: this is the debut in the Portland footage of Skip Young. When you think about wrestlers from prior decades who would have succeeded in the current era, Young definitely classifies. I could see him being a great fit for any modern promotion. He gets a few months to shine here: most notably, in the short second fall, when he busts out an impressive high leapfrog, then a sweet standing dropkick, and kips up ready to keep bringing the fight. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of Skip Young in this territory, but some enjoyable matches lie ahead nonetheless…

From the Crow’s Nest: September, 1977

Welcome to the second installment of From the Crow’s Nest, a series of articles looking back at Pacific Northwest Wrestling and the history of wrestling in Portland, Oregon.

In this week’s installment, we will cover available footage from September of 1977. Most of it’s on YouTube and is embedded at the end of this article.

2/3 Falls,: Jay Youngblood vs. Buddy Rose, 9/10/77

The September footage is anchored by two matches between Rose, a Portland mainstay, and Youngblood. Jay is best known for his time in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling — especially teaming with Ricky Steamboat in The Final Conflict cage match that’s widely considered the predecessor to Starrcade. He’s still in the fairly early stages of his career here.

Both Rose and Youngblood are entertaining in the ring, and this matchup doesn’t disappoint. However, the special referee that’s “assigned” adds an extra level of enjoyment. That referee is Lord Jonathan Boyd, another Portland fixture. Boyd was in and out of the territory throughout the 1970s, primarily as a heel and often teaming with Norman Frederick Charles III in The Royal Kangaroos, a team that borrowed its gimmick and base name from The Fabulous Kangaroos, maybe the first great tag team in wrestling. Boyd also was part of an iteration of The Sheepherders, who begat The Bushwhackers in WWF.

But I digress … Boyd is a fan favorite in Portland by 1977, and when he’s revealed as the referee, the crowd loves it while Rose throws a fit.

We’ve all seen matches with a special referee, but the lengths to which Boyd goes to chew the scenery — and officiate being entirely one-sided for Youngblood — truly go the extra mile. Every count that Boyd makes on Rose, be it for a pin or being outside the ring or even in the ropes, is rapid fire. Later, when Rose grabs a handful of Youngblood’s trunks, Boyd twists Playboy Buddy’s thumb to break the hold. The capacity crowd in the Portland Sports Arena cheers and laughs along throughout, creating the atmosphere more akin to a theater audience watching a farce on stage than a wrestling match. The fans are also red hot in their support of Youngblood, and their hatred for Rose. A “We Want Jay!” chant bellows through the building on a few occasions over the three falls.

There are certain sports and sequences that were pretty standard in wrestling years ago that have fallen by the wayside in 2025. The criss-cross is one of them, and Rose and Youngblood bust out a high-speed version of it here. Rose busts out a couple of nice leapfrogs during this, showing the athleticism that a lot of people might overlook from his frame and physique. Jay ensnares Rose in a sunset flip and scores the pin on a three count Boyd makes in less time than it took me to type these words (and I’m a fast typer).

Now we go to the content between falls, which is part of the retro charm of these episodes. It starts with commentator Frank Bonnema, whose outfit tonight is an epic example of late 1970s fashion.

Other highlights that a modern viewer might find fascinating:

A plug to get tickets to the next taping of Portland TV, either at the concession market or visiting the flea market stand run by Sandy Barr, a referee for the promotion. And today people wait in angst in a TicketMaster queue …
The sponsors then take their turn. On many Portland episodes, these were live-to-tape commercials, and we get one of those here from Friendly Chevrolet. Granted this was almost 50 years ago, but the prices are mind-boggling in this era of soaring costs. $5295 for a truck! $5695 for a truck with four-wheel drive and a V8 engine! A 77 El Camino for $5595!
Bonnema also shares the schedule for the next week of shows in the Pacific Northwest… and there literally are no days off.
We also get a delightful interview with fan favorites Lonnie Mayne and Dutch Savage (the latter was also a longtime booker for the promotion) where Bonnema reads a letter presumably from a 91-year-old widow who wants to help Mayne run out all the rulebreakers from the territory. Adorable.

A sample week of shows in Pacific Northwest Wrestling in September of 1977. Wrestlers, especially those still learning the business, sought out that territory for the busy schedule and better paydays.

Around all the schtick with Boyd, Youngblood and Rose work the bulk of this match around the side headlock, usually with Youngblood ensnaring Rose. The crowd is so loud and engaged that they buy right in when Jay goes right back to the headlock and he starts wrenching on the hold, as the crowd counts along! Rose, meanwhile, is paying homage to the Wrestling Gods with the way he sells the hold, slumped against Jay and hanging lifeless like a limp dishrag.

In the first fall, Rose shot Youngblood off into the ropes to counter the headlock and initiate the criss-cross that led to the pin. Rose tries again, but learns from his mistakes and counters with a fine-looking backdrop on Youngblood. Bonnema, who does a quality job as a TV host and brings a late-night DJ vibe to his commentary, calls this a “shoulder throw”, for reference.

Rose focuses in on the back, then finishes Youngblood using the same back suplex into a backbreaker that he used to beat Cocoa Samoa in the first installment of our series of articles. For the record, it still looks like something from the Roderick Strong arsenal of moves. Boyd is still in full schtick, making a very deliberate and slow three count. Rose demands his hand be raised, and Boyd ignores it … but he does make sure to stomp on Rose’s hand when the Playboy starts pounding the mat in frustration.

Another between-fall break with commercials and live-to-tape advertising, which includes a razor commercial that must be seen to be believed. There’s also some footage of Jimmy Snuka, who’s promoted as making appearances in the territory that coming week and shows up in surviving footage from the end of the year. The best part of these clips for me is that legendary wrestler Danny McShain is the referee for one of the matches.

Before the third fall begins, Bonnema interviews John Anson and Sam Oliver Bass (you probably know him better as Ron Bass), the current tag champs in the territory. Bass and Anson are set for a death match tag that same night that won’t make TV, and Bonnema urges fans to check their newspaper for the results. Weird, wild, and very different times …

The third fall is joined in progress and time is running out on the show. Rose takes control but every pin attempt is met by another glacial count by Boyd. The Playboy snaps and starts stomping Boyd, who comes up swinging off the mat to the unfiltered delight of the crowd. The opening salvo of blows ends with Rose getting sent flying in that style of bump I wrote about in the first installment of the series. The blood starts to flow from Rose’s head and Boyd continues to hammer him as the footage ends.

This is a Very Good match that you should go out of your way to watch. The final two falls are available on YouTube, but definitely track down the first, which also is available online if you know where to look, because of all the antics with Boyd’s biased officiating serving as a method to torment Rose. Yes, the third fall is rushed, but it also shows how Rose had just reached his tipping point. All told, the match weaves a compelling and entertaining story with several well-executed bits of humor. You just don’t see wrestling like it today.

Jay Youngblood vs. Buddy Rose, 9/24/77

This match is on the undercard of this TV broadcast, so it’s just one fall and what ensues is more of an angle than a match. To be fair, it’s a good angle, as Rose and his running buddy Ed Wiskowski injure Youngblood’s left arm. This is just the latest victim for Rose; on commentary early in this footage, Bonnema refers to Boyd getting taken out of the territory by the Playboy. There’s a nice bit of misdirection as the match begins with Rose distracting Sandy Barr while Wiskowski, who is seconding Rose, grabs Youngblood’s leg and wrenches it from the floor. Rose focuses a relentless assault on Youngblood’s left arm, to the point Mayne runs in for the save and removes his own boot to club at Rose. Sandy Barr eats shit to the floor during the chaos and, in one of my favorite bits of this, ringside fans go to help him up.

Jay really sells the attack and injury. He’s got a cut dripping down the injured left arm and is alternating between writhing in pain and screaming. The camera stays right with the scene and that hot capacity crowd in the Portland Sports Arena watches in a hush. Mayne and Jay’s older brother, Rick Youngblood, are out to help Jay to the back and he collapses while they’re in transit. Fantastic.

After another car commercial (all the vehicles for sale have AM radio, you guys!) Bonnema interviews Mayne from the Crow’s Nest. Moondog Lonnie vows vengeance and that he’ll break Rose’s arm next week the way Rose has done to so many. Mayne is wild and fiery here. He also lived hard; he’s 33 here and this footage is filmed less than a year before his death, but he looks 50. Given what I’ve read about Mayne’s life, when he drops his “There’s excitement in the air!” phrase, I can’t help but wonder if the excitement and whiskey have the same aroma.

As for the Mayne vs. Rose match? It will kick off the next article.

Check out the introduction to this series.

From the Crow’s Nest: Introduction, and a 1977 Exposition

Welcome to From the Crow’s Nest! This will be an ongoing series of reviews looking at the history of wrestling in Portland, Oregon … specifically Pacific Northwest Wrestling.

The history of Portland Wrestling goes as far back as 1925 (we won’t go that far back), but it’s best known for the multiple decade run under Don Owen, whose father, Herb, founded the promotion.

The Portland territory was unique, in a few ways.

It was small. Owen usually kept an active roster of just 10 to 12 wrestlers, and worked a busy loop of shows in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia in Canada. You’ll see this on some of the TV segments where they break down the upcoming calendar.
Because of the small roster, episodes of Portland’s TV program had a structure that was unique but also seems a perfect fit for a television show. The main event of most episodes was best two out of three falls. Between falls, wrestlers typically went back to the locker room, and during these brief intermissions, they would either hold interviews with wrestlers or cut to commercials with sponsors. It’s a hoot watching the latter, and seeing both the style of the time and some of the prices that seem insanely low, especially by 2025 standards.
Portland’s TV program was an institution in the region. Owen ran his TV every Saturday night out of the Portland Sports Arena — a renovated bowling alley that the promotion owned. Eddie Graham followed a similar tact in Florida, running his promotion out of a building he owned. The show aired live — and then, live to tape — on KPTV Channel 12 in Portland for decades, on nothing more than a handshake deal.
The crowds, at least on these initial episodes, were red hot. Owen offered “season passes” to the TV tapings, which, combined with the regular loop of towns, forced his wrestlers to shake up their routine and not work the same kind of match time after time. “The first several rows of ringside, you couldn’t buy a ticket, because they were all permanent reservations,” Dave Meltzer once said about Portland crowds to Slam Wrestling. “The first six rows had the same people sit in those chairs for 52 weeks a year for years on end. The only way to get a ringside ticket was if one of them died, you literally had to be in their will.”
The Portland product is, in some ways, a harbinger of what changed in wrestling in the 2000s. The promotion emphasized more smaller wrestlers and a fast-paced style. Owen also had a reputation for paying well, which left no shortage of individuals who wanted to make their way through the territory. Consequently, a who’s who of talent makes appearances in Portland over the years.

With that introduction out of the way, let’s dive right into the footage.

We pick up with what I believe is the oldest existing video from Portland’s TV show.

Lonnie Mayne vs. Jesse Ventura, 5/7/77

You may know the Moondogs more as the tag team that worked throughout different territories in the U.S., but Mayne was actually the original Moondog. He also would have a much larger legacy in wrestling if he hadn’t been lost too soon. He died in 1978 at the age of just 33 in a car accident en route to a booking in California. Mayne worked almost exclusively as a heel in the early 1970s, and challenged Pedro Morales for the WWWF Title at Madison Square Garden. By 1977, though, Mayne was a beloved fan favorite of the Portland Sports Arena crowd. There’s an excellent bio of Mayne at Pro Wrestling Stories if you’d like to know more about him.

In this match, a best-two-out-of-three fall affair as was the custom on Portland TV, Mayne wrestles Ventura, who was at this point a fixture in the territory before going on to bigger stages in the AWA and WWF. The surviving footage starts with the first fall in progress, then jumps ahead to the third fall, with no finish. Mayne had a reputation for being wild in and out of the ring; at one point, he heads to ringside and throws a drink in Ventura’s face. One punch later and Ventura goes sprawling to the floor.

Between the ropes, Mayne was rather fearless. In the third fall, he takes a variation of what I know best as the Harley Race bump to the floor: hooking his feet on the ropes then dropping down on his head. As if the beverage wasn’t enough, Jimmy Snuka — another wrestler who became a regular in Portland in the 1970s before moving to bigger stages — comes to ringside and tosses Mayne a cowbell to start laying waste to Ventura. Somehow, this isn’t a DQ.

This one falls in the Worth Watching category for me. There’s nothing earth-shattering here but the crowd is hot, the action is entertaining, and there’s some significant historic value here.

Cocoa Samoa vs. Buddy Rose , 8/13/77

This is the earliest footage in Portland of Buddy Rose. If there’s an all-time MVP of the territory, it’s probably him. I also think Rose is one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time and, if you follow me through this journey, don’t be surprised if you end up agreeing. Rose can chain wrestle, brawl, and fly. He takes these fantastic heedless-looking bumps, and gives enteraining interviews as a villain who is either talking trash or extremely aggrieved at some perceived injustice. Meanwhile, he has a willingness to bleed buckets that I found endearing. This match with Cocoa is just the tip of the iceberg on the footage of Rose, who personally is responsible for most of the surviving footage from Portland in this era, because he had a habit of recording episodes of Portland’s TV program so he could go back and review his matches.

The video quality is not the best and Portland commentator Frank Bonnema — whose broadcast position is referred to as The Crow’s Nest (get it?) — pooh-poohs what he perceives as a light crowd. Adding greatly to the atmosphere, there’s a granny in the front row who’s vigilant as Rose repeatedly pulls on Cocoa’s trunks while ensnared in a headlock. At one point in the match, Cocoa delivers his leaping headbutt and Rose takes what I consider his signature bump: an explosion of movement where he pushes off with his legs and sends himself flying back to the mat. The landing is more reminiscent of a cartoon character who slipped on a banana peel. It’s ridiculous taken as a snapshot, but it works because it’s so over the top. It’s a regular part of Rose’s matches and it often serves the purpose of making the opposing wrestler’s offense look devastating, which, really, is one of the major points of a wrestling match, isn’t it? Rose wins the match clean with a modified backbreaker that looks like something out of the Roderick Strong arsenal, but the decision gets overturned when he keeps attacking Cocoa, ultimately shoving referee Sandy Barr.

This is honestly Skippable, but if you’ve never seen Buddy Rose in action, it’s a fine introduction with a low investment of time.

Up Next: We continue the journey in 1977.

Family, Wrestling and What to Expect Here in 2026

You would not be reading these words right now if it wasn’t for my dad.

When I was but a wee lad, my mom didn’t want me exposed to such scurrilous things as pro wrestling. This created quite the conundrum for dear old dad, who had been watching since his childhood himself. Apparently, I had a habit of waking up from my nap on Saturday afternoons right in the middle of the main event for World Wide Wrestling. Ric Flair or Greg Valentine or both would be in some mortal peril when my father would hear a meek, “Daddy?” as I stumbled sleepily from the bedroom.

*click*

Keep in mind this was well before streaming and back when even VCRs were not a fixture in every household.

When I was nine, around the time that my grandmother died, I stumbled upon an episode of All American Wrestling. I vaguely remember Hillbilly Jim was involved in the match I was seeing. The details are sketchy nearly 40 years later, but I was quickly hooked… I don’t remember how Dad reacted at the time but he must have been delighted. At long last he had the opportunity to share the wacky wild world of wrestling with me. Since this was 1987, there was a good bit of variety in the available footage in east Tennessee.

The weekends were full of options. WWF had Superstars, Wrestling Challenge, and All American Wrestling. The NWA (which was Jim Crockett Promotions but, to 9- and 10-year-old me, was just “the NWA”) had World Championship Wrestling on TBS at 6:05 every Saturday night. You could catch World Wide Wrestling and Pro on the weekends in syndication. ESPN aired AWA on weekday afternoons (much better than game shows or soaps) and soon added World Class, including past episodes of the latter, which introduced me to the fantastic Von Erichs-Freebirds feud.

Mom tolerated the hobby but mostly didn’t care for it, although in the latter years of her life she became a fan. I always wondered if the only reason that she only got sucked into watching wrestling because, as her mobility declined, it was more difficult to just get up and leave the room whenever Dad turned the channel to something she did not want to watch… and he watched a lot of wrestling. Bianca Belair (a fellow Vol alum like my parents) was a favorite of hers. She was a big fan of Roman Reigns and Damian Priest as well. She literally shed tears when Reigns returned to WWE in the summer of 2024. I guess it was still real to her.

Mom passed away that November, about a week before Thanksgiving. On July 30, Dad joined her. I can’t really express to you the shock that happens, the void that suddenly forms, when you lose both of your parents in a span of about eight months. I recognize that not all families are the same, and not all children are close with their parents, but we were. Normal routines are no longer normal.

In daily and weekly chores, in plans for holidays, and yes, in watching wrestling.

Even as my dad became bed bound, and it was clear that he did not have much longer left, he wanted to watch All In. And so, on a sweltering July afternoon in Tennessee, I made shrimp and scallops sauteed in lemon butter with Red Lobster cheddar biscuits and 10-year-old Bushmills to wash it down. Dad’s awareness ebbed and flowed and he fell asleep long before the show ended, but he enjoyed it.

It’s strange watching wrestling now with the both of them gone. There’s still good stuff out there to be had — past and present.

Going forward into 2026, I’d like to write more here, and said good stuff will be explored in a variety of ways.

Here’s the plan:

Mat Quest is back, baby! My plan to chronicle everything on Peacock before it eventually left the streaming service (which is happening in a matter of days now) got scuttled by my dad’s health issues. I’ve decided to resume my chronological journey through the world of wrestling, first by taking a step back to June of 1973 where I started and catch the good stuff that wasn’t part of the content drop on Peacock.

That means more stuff from Jim Crockett Promotions, the territories, and overseas. You won’t see any Portland stuff included, however, because…

Portland Wrestling gets its own special series! I find this to be one of the most overlooked territories out there in terms of reviews and general coverage, and it’s high time that changes. Might it devolve into a continuing series of articles praising the greatness of Buddy Rose? Entirely possible! Look for the first installment to drop on January 2.

But wait! There’s more!

We also will continue to Review the Kraken as I keep recapping episodes of Kraken Pro Wrestling’s YouTube show … maybe I’ll get caught up to real time by the summer!

And, an occasional What I’m Watching piece, with thoughts on whatever I end up watching that doesn’t fall into one of the above categories.

I’m hopeful for a fun and busy year in 2026. I hope you’ll join me.

Review the Kraken: Multiple Multi-Man Matches, Man

Kraken Pro Wrestling celebrated its one-year anniversary with the Kraken Classic. The event also represents the climax of stories that have been cultivated since Kraken first started running. Whereas usual installments of this series focus on an entire set of episodes from a single taping, while watching these matches, I decided that breaking up the Kraken Classic into two parts made more sense.

Episode 48

The original Kraken Classic was an eight-man tournament that played out over the first several episodes of Kraken’s show on YouTube. The format’s been changed; the first round now consists of a pair of four-way matches, with the two winners advancing to a one-on-one match for the finals and a guaranteed shot at the Kraken Title.

The first four-way involves Lamar Diggs of The Business, Ehren Black, Joey Hyder, and Jayy Wells. Black is the biggest man in Kraken and Diggs is not far behind him. To no surprise, the story revolves around the two monsters. Hyder and Wells try to join forces against them, then get pummeled by them, only to see the inevitable breakdown and battle between the two behemoths. This is a fun match that is sloppy in places but it’s one of those where the flaws in execution go to serve the inherent chaos of a four-way match that is one fall to the finish.

This is a good match and it is laid out well, giving everyone a chance to shine. Hyder shows his toughness, taking some chops early that leave his chest a gruesome shade of purple. He hits his “Razzle Dazzle” combo (a Finlay roll into a standing moonsault) on Diggs in an impressive athletic display. Later, he throws a knee trembler that I’d like to see become part of his usual arsenal.

I wrote about Wells and his steady progression in Kraken as part of the last review. He’s a hometown guy with a ton of crowd support at these shows in Tifton and he strings together some big offensive moves down the stretch that made me buy that he was going to win even though I already knew the outcome of this match. It’s always a slick feat when a match draws you in to that extent. Wells hits Hyder with a cutter and I adored what comes next: Wells, feeling the effects of the beating he’s taken thus far, uses his head to slowly roll Hyder onto his back for the pin because he’s too fatigued to use his strength and put Hyder’s shoulders on the mat.

This is a real battle that felt like it had stakes and some surprises. Donnie Harris on commentary at one point proclaims the match “is lasting longer than some marriages” (a weird remark when we were about 10 minutes in), but I thought this one breezed by, especially compared to another match on this card. Diggs and Black have a few scraps, and their interactions just provide a tantalizing tease of what a singles match between them would look like. Diggs ultimately scores the win over Hyder, with manager Justin Kayse (who also happens to be Kraken Champion) helping out his charge by taking his briefcase and blasting Black in the head with it outside the ring. Credit to Diamond Duke for pointing out this bit of interference after the fall, noting the “smart move” by Kayse. I actually missed it watching live and caught it on a rewind. It happened fast, and in the background, so calling it out like that was welcome. That’s good commentary.

The second Kraken Classic first-round match involves Sam Hanson, Charlie Kills, Hitta K of the H-Town Hittas, and Brandon Whatley. These four had a tough act to follow after a hot, action-packed opener and this match definitely felt a step or two below the first one as a result. I tend to run cold on multi-man matches because I feel like they fall into the trap of a couple guys in the ring doing something while everyone else is selling or just waiting outside the ring. This match delved into that dicey territory at times. My single top highlight was when Hanson ensnares Hitta K in a bulldog choke, and the amazing expression on Hanson’s face as he exhorts his opponent to tap. Kudos to the camera operator for being in the perfect spot to capture this, too. Charlie gets the duke and Hitta K takes the fall, which pleasantly surprised me given the Hittas entered this match undefeated as a team in Kraken.

In between the two four-ways, we get a short interview segment involving the debuting Joe Black, who is set to face Kevin Kantrell later on the card. I first met Joe more than a decade ago and I’ve been a fan of his work ever since, so I’ve enjoyed getting to see him receive the plaudits he deserves as of late on the Southeastern scene. Joe is smooth and succinct on his comments, which serve as a perfect introduction for him in Kraken. Kantrell steps in, words get exchanged, and Joe departs without shaking Kantrell’s hand, which is a nice callback to the Kantrell-Will Huckaby match that ultimately caused so many problems at the end of 2024.

Episode 49

This episode revolves entirely around the latest Kraken Championship, the Cash In Hand Title. If you’ve been reading these reviews, you know about the Cash In, Cash Out Scramble concept. This is the extrapolation of that: an actual title that the winner then will defend in future scrambles. Defend successfully three times and you get a shot at the Kraken Title. This is billed as the “ultimate” Cash In, Cash Out Scramble. It’s more of a mix between a scramble and a rumble. Five wrestlers start out, and as participants get pinned or submit, a new competitor joins the fray.

There are 13 (!) wrestlers in this match at some point or another, so I feel it would be counterproductive — and a slog to read, for that matter — to do a straight recap. Instead, I wanted to share my major takeaways from this scramble.

Nick Quick is one of the first participants and also the first elimination. He continues to win me over as a small underdog and he takes a beating well, which elevates whomever is going against him.
Kraken’s core fan favorites are all very over. The Saturday Night Temptations get good reactions for each of their entrances and, when Jak Myles joins as the final entrant, he quickly gets the crowd chanting, “Sweep!” In a time when many crowds sit on their hands just waiting to react to the next big move, it’s endearing to see several Kraken wrestlers connecting with their audiences to such a degree.
If you haven’t seen this yet, or you already have, go back and watch and pay attention to what C.J. Shine does. Shine comes in early in the order and is there for most of the match, doing a fine job directing traffic and keeping the match flowing. Shine gets pinned late in the match by ERC, which is probably the best moment yet for ERC in Kraken.
Each wrestling promotion has to build its own narrative or, if you’ll indulge my nerdy Dungeons & Dragons side, lore. Establishing certain moves as all-but-unbeatable adds to that lore, and the Woodgrain jumping piledriver by Brother Azriel certainly qualifies. Azriel uses the Woodgrain to defeat Hitta J, who gets pinned for the first time in Kraken. A tough night for the identical twin Hittas …
Jay 2 Strong puts on a tour de force performance in this match. One of the first five entrants, Jay goes the duration. Not only that, he bumps and sells for just about every other participant when they join the fray. I was really impressed with his work here.
Once everyone has entered, the match switches to a “one fall to a finish” format. The participants at that time are Sweeper, Jay, Huck, and Don Haylo. Myles, appropriately, gets the win after hitting each of the other three with his Russian legsweep finisher. It’s a great story moment as well as the first real signature win for Myles, who was a lovable hard-luck loser on the early Kraken shows, had one of his Cash In Cash out Scramble payouts stolen by The Business, and gets some revenge here by pinning Jay from The Business — even though Jay is somewhat on the outs from the rest of the group heading into the scramble.

I think there’s enough in this scramble to appeal to most wrestling fans but for maximum enjoyment, you’d need to be pretty familiar with Kraken’s product. Fortunately, getting familiar is made easier with my full set of Kraken reviews.

Here are both episodes:

Review the Kraken: Counting Down to the Kraken Classic

My journey through the Kraken Pro Wrestling TV timeline has reached the second Kraken Classic, which also marked the one-year anniversary of Kraken opening. If you’ve been following along throughout this run, you’ve joined me in seeing what I would consider a rare degree of long-term storytelling for an independent wrestling company. You’ve also seen this narrative grow, coalesce, and adapt to the always unpredictable twists and turns that happen with trying to maintain a roster.

This review covers the “go-home” taping for Kraken before the Kraken Classic and finalizes the eight-man field for the tournament. The central story of the taping, however, involves Will Huckaby and Kevin Kantrell as GM Donnie Harris does his best to deus ex machina Kantrell’s predicament. There’s no single match in these four episodes that rises above the level of “good” but some solid build throughout just the same.

I tend to focus in on the commentary on these reviews, since I’ve been in that role previously for other promotions. I try nitpick too much, really I do, but the commentary was pretty rough on this taping at times, between Donnie misidentifying some moves and trying to make several awkward verbal segues. Meanwhile, Diamond Duke’s heel commentator schtick has devolved to either complaining about the referee’s count being too fast or slow, or babyface tag teams double teaming illegally. I’m not sure how either of these is supposed to generate heat, unless being annoying through repetition counts as heat.

Enough blabbin’! On with the review!

Episode 44

One of Kraken’s biggest positives is that the promotion has a very diverse roster without being overt about it or pausing to praise themselves for how diverse they are. Edward Draven, who wrestles Joey Hyder in the main event of this episode, is an excellent example. It’s pretty obvious that Draven exists somewhere on the LGBT spectrum but that’s not his entire identity within the Kraken realm. He can be who he is, without it being made a major issue in and of itself.

Draven had a Kraken coin, then lost it to Jak Myles, who lost it to Hyder, and now tries to win back said coin. Draven’s early antics against Hyder are an homage to Adrian Street and Goldust matches: kissing Hyder’s hand and spanking him among, er, other things. Hyder gets frustrated but refrains from really pummeling Draven, eventually winning clean with his “Razzle Dazzler” finisher — a Finlay roll into a standing moonsault. This is pretty good, and easily the best match in Kraken for Draven, whose selling after the fact with an aggrieved series of “Ow” exclamations got me. I like Hyder quite a bit but he needs some sort of hook to really reach the next level.

This episode also includes a forgettable Tsu Nami vs. Alicia Love match that sets up an in-ring talking segment with Donnie to schedule a strap match showdown with Rose Gold at the Kraken Classic, which didn’t even end up happening on that card. To get the match with Tsu, Rose had to relinquish her Kraken coin. Moving on…

Episode 45

Donnie’s back in the ring and brings out Huckaby, who beat up a referee at the last taping after a bad call by the official cost Huck and Hanson in a tag match against the H-Town Hittas. Again, Donnie makes Huck go stand in the corner, after he did this with Tsu Nami on the previous episode. I realize I’m seven months behind real time on my Kraken viewing, but I really hope this doesn’t become a recurring bit for in-ring talking segments involving Donnie … unless the goal is to make Donnie look like a petty and childish authority figure, in which case, mission accomplished. Anyhow Donnie then brings out Kantrell, who was fired and had to receive 10 lashes from The Business at the last taping in an excellent piece of work. Donnie, who was absent at that taping, makes a tag gauntlet and forces Huckaby and Kantrell to team together. Win the gauntlet and they keep their jobs. This is a nice callback to the singles match between these two where Huckaby’s current grumpy grizzled character shift first manifested after Kantrell tapped. I like the long-term storytelling and the continuity, but not so much the segment that gets us here.

Jayy Wells was the standout of the episode for me. His slow progression in Kraken reminds me of the way New Japan brings along its young lion trainees. Throughout his time as a Kraken regular, Wells gets stronger and hits harder with every outing. Seeing Wells get his first win in this scramble, and earn a Kraken coin in the process, was clearly by design and nicely done from a booking perspective. The scramble also includes Don Haylo, an economy-sized hoss who I’d like to see more of in Kraken.

Speaking of hosses, I had high hopes for this episode’s main event between Lamar Diggs and Brother Azriel both ranked among my top candidates for Kraken MVP from 2024 but they didn’t get to turn loose as I would have liked. I did appreciate how the match was structured, with neither man leaving their feet much, until Diggs uncorks a standing dropkick (!) to take control. Azriel busts out a fallaway slam later in a nice feat of strength. Business manager Justin Kayse pulls Diggs’ foot into the ropes to break up a pin, gets caught by the referee, and ejected. Diggs proceeds to win the match cleanly anyway, strongly suggesting that Diggs doesn’t even need Kayse in his corner in the first place. They’ve been teasing dissension with Jay 2 Strong being on the outs in The Business but I’ll go on record now that Kayse eventually getting wrecked by Diggs needs to happen.

Episode 46

Three matches on this episode, which is a rarity when most have one or two bouts.

The Hittas win again and this week’s victims are Josh Breezzyy and Kassius King. It’s more of an even match than I expected, but the Hittas prevail. One of them has a Kraken coin, but no one knows which because identical twins. Donnie relishes the way he hits the inflection on “Hittas” throughout.

Aeon wrestles Jay 2 Strong in the episode main event. Kraken could use a continuity editor because the commentators call this a rematch, although this is the first time they’ve wrestled here in singles. Jay is also solo for the match, after a backstage segment in The Business locker room straight out of an old Three Stooges short in which Diggs gives Jay a chop (for good luck?) and Jay drops Justin Kayse’s briefcase on Diggs’ foot. Aeon and Jay are two of the top hands on the Kraken roster, and combine for just a good, solid match that feels effortless. Jay busts out the big-match offense (a Spanish Fly!) but Aeon won’t be denied and comes back for the victory. Afterward, Donnie awards Aeon a match against Dominic Stuckey, the “ace” of The Business who is absent from this taping, at the Kraken Classic. If Aeon wins, he gets a three-minute match with Kayse for the Kraken Title.

Next, Charlie Kills returns to face Nathaniel Vanderbilt for the final Kraken coin. This is a good solid match and easily the best Kraken work yet from Vanderbilt, who appears to be a wrestling footage nerd like me. He nearly wins the match with his version of the cross-legged Michinoku Driver — or, as he calls it, the Tax Exemption. Because he’s a rich guy, get it? Vanderbilt kicks out of a piledriver along the way before an avalanche choke bomb finishes it for Kills to the crowd’s delight. It still amuses me greatly that there’s a small independent wrestling promotion running in the buckle of the Bible Belt in southern Georgia and arguably its two most popular wrestlers are a serial killer gimmick (Kills) and pretty much Satan himself (Aeon). Speaking of gimmicks, Vanderbilt’s rich-kid persona seems better suited for the heel side of things.

Episode 47

The main focus of this episode is the tag gauntlet, with Huckaby and Kantrell’s jobs on the line. As such, they’re the first team in and have to run the entire gamut. There’s a lot of “can they coexist?” talk surrounding this, which would mean more if three of the four teams Huck and Kantrell face weren’t also teaming together for the first time. Travis Ray and Nick Quick are up first, and this doesn’t last long. I know every wrestler aspires to be a headliner these days, but Quick does some good work as an enhancement guy in Kraken and that continues here. Brandon Whatley and ERC are next and last a little bit longer before Huck smashes ERC with a spinebuster. This segment of the gauntlet did make me hanker for a Kantrell-Whatley singles match, though.

Noir is the third team up in what represents the bulk of the match and the best part of this gauntlet. I found Noir pretty bland in their first several matches in Kraken, but they’ve really found their groove as vicious rule breakers. Noir goes right for the heat with Mrs. Wright spraying Huck in the eyes upon Noir’s entrance. Referee Clark struggles to take control of things as Kantrell gets put through a door propped up in the corner. Donnie points out, relentlessly, that the bell never rang so all this is legal. Fair point, but it makes me wonder why everyone in Kraken doesn’t just bushwhack their opponent with every weapon they can? After several minutes of beat down on Kantrell, a half-blinded, punch-drunk Huck staggers to his feet in the corner with fists clenched. He didn’t hear no bell! Mr. Wright dips deep into the heel playbook of dastardly tactics, and I’m here for all of it. Huck does his part, selling like he’s being tortured in an Inquisition dungeon. When Ehren Black tags in and eventually goes for a cover, Huck screams as he kicks out — in pain? Frustration? Maybe both? Noir get a little too confident, and a flash pin by Huck sends them packing, and provokes another beat down after the bell.

Sam Hanson and Jak Myles are out as the final foes. Hanson and Huck of course team together in All-Star Special. In character, Donnie is kind of a jerk by forcing these two partners to face off. Then again, that never happens, as Kantrell scores a pin on The Sweeper in seconds. That’s… it? Huck and Kantrell win the gauntlet and keep their jobs, but the muted response from the crowd tells me they don’t know how to take the sudden result. Join the club.

After a smiley happy good guy interview from Jayy Wells about making the Kraken Classic, Donnie gets in the ring for yet another talking segment — his fourth of the taping if you’re keeping score. Donnie brings out the entire field for the Kraken Classic: Hyder, Wells, Diggs, Charlie, Hanson, Ehren Black, Whatley, and one of the Hittas although both comes out. Once everyone is in the ring, a brawl breaks out within seconds and that ends up pretty enjoyable and culminates with Hanson the last man standing.

I’ll be driving into the Kraken Classic next week, and already knowing some of what happens there, I think multiple reviews will be in order to give everything due diligence.

For other entries in the Review The Kraken series, here is a master index.

Check out all four of these episodes, in the below playlist:

Review the Kraken: Whipping Post

Welcome back to my continuing series of reviews of Kraken Pro Wrestling’s TV show on YouTube.

This piece technically covers the entire taping that generated Episodes 39-43. However, I’m deviating from the usual format for these reviews to focus entirely on the story that plays out in the final two episodes between The Business and Kevin Kantrell here, because the tag match and ensuing post-match stand out as the best thing Kraken has done yet. And I’ve seen it all to this point.

A simmering story with Kantrell and his son, Referee Clark, going against Justin Kayse and his faction reaches a boiling point here. Clark had established himself as a quality referee in Kraken even before getting involved in this angle, which all started with the young official flooring Kayse with a punch when he tried to interfere in a match. This was also the first time anyone on Kraken had inflicted any sort of violence on Kayse, who remains Kraken champion but never defends the title.

A couple of noteworthy firsts for Kraken emerge as part of this story. Episode 42 is “headlined” by an extended interview segment with all parties involved, something that is rare for Kraken and also the first time a promo has taken such a prominent spot on one of the relatively short, fast-paced YouTube episodes. Kayse has threatened all sorts of litigious consequences on Kraken after what Kantrell did at the last taping. And with GM Donnie Harris absent from these episodes, Kayse is running amok and makes a match where Kantrell and a partner of his choice face The Business’ Dominic Stuckey and Lamar Diggs. If The Business win, Kantrell is fired and Clark must take 10 lashes. Oh, and the match is happening right away.

Trever Aeon comes out to team with Kantrell — a solid but pretty obvious choice, considering Aeon’s ongoing issues with The Business and the fact he had yet to wrestle on this taping. There’s a weird cut where Episode 42 ends in the middle of the match introductions, but that’s a minor quibble. With all the pieces in place, Episode 43 tells a compelling self-contained narrative, while also priming the pump for several future matches and setting up a fine cliff-hangar. The whole thing came off to me as a love letter to the days of territory wrestling in TV studios.

Let’s start with the match itself, which flips the traditional American tag team structure with very little heat on the fan favorites and an extended opening period where Stuckey gets knocked around by Aeon and Kantrell. Stuckey takes a fantastic beating here and solidifies his status as one of the best bell-to-bell wrestlers on the roster. He sells like he’s being bludgeoned, murdered, and tortured all at once. Kantrell and Aeon appear to take special relish in their chance to really bring the thunder in their beat down of Stuckey, and it’s one of the few occasions yet where The Business truly seems to be on their heels. The pummeling continues until Stuckey blatantly rakes Aeon’s eyes to change the momentum of the match.

With the eye rake, Diggs takes center stage. There are several big men who wrestle in Kraken but none of them come off more intimidating or hard-hitting than Diggs. Everything Diggs does in the ring has an intentional malevolent brutality to it. This isn’t just mindless smashing by a monster heel, either; Diggs shows fine ring awareness when he counters Aeon’s attempt at his finisher with a gnarly looking Samoan Drop. Even when Aeon counters Diggs with a DDT, Diggs sells mostly to his knees, since it’s the only significant offense he’s taken the entire match. As an aside to this portion, Kody Madden, who’s back on commentary for this set of episodes, refers to Diggs as “The Big Decision” while he’s walloping Aeon. That’s a new one to me, but I like it.

As happens often in Business matches, the numbers game proves overwhelming. Jay 2 Strong, who’s been ringside with Kayse, smashes Aeon with Kayse’s briefcase while the lawyer/manager/leader has Referee Clark distracted. Aeon shows his mettle by not succumbing right away, countering Diggs’ first attempt at his sit-out powerbomb with a back drop. Diggs holds on, rolls through, and drops the boom on Aeon to win the match and Trever’s “Pieces of 8” coin. The coin changing hands gets lost in the shuffle, and rightfully so, during a brutal — in a complimentary way! — post match.

With a four-on-two advantage, The Business grab hold of Clark and Kantrell to set up for the lashes. There’s a fantastic moment where Kantrell, restrained in the corner, screams out “Let me take them!” repeatedly until Kayse and his cronies agree. Once more, the father steps up to protect his son, but with direct consequences on Kantrell. This is an incredibly relatable event, with Clark pleading with his father as Kantrell grabs hold of the top rope and turns his back to his enemies as the lashes begin.

Everyone plays their part perfectly in this. You have Kantrell, stoic and defiant throughout. He completely shrugs off the initial lashes by Kayse (more on him later), and fights through the ensuing whipping by Diggs, defiantly screaming his “Kantrell Rules!” catch phrase even when Diggs starts laying in some much nastier shots with the belt. As the last few lashes drive Kantrell to his knees, he stands each time and resists crying out. Only when it’s over, and Aeon places a hand of comfort on the shoulder of his partner, does Kantrell scream in pain.

Then you’ve got Clark, forced to stand by and watch his father make this sacrifice for him. Once the lashing is complete, seeing Clark tearfully repeat “I’m sorry” to his dad provides a palpable emotional twist of the knife that punctuates the entire affair. Aeon also sells the unfairness of the beating well. At times, he’s physically restraining — or maybe shielding? — Clark in the corner. Trever also goes nose to nose with Diggs (a singles match that Kraken has yet to do at this point, but would be high on my list) and Stuckey as the emotions of all come to a boil and even threatens to put hands on Kayse, a brief moment but one that delights the Tifton crowd.

Then you’ve got the various members of The Business. Seeing Diggs flog Kantrell with the leather strap only adds to his aura as the dominant heavy hitter of The Business. Jay is on the periphery of all this, but his heckling of Kantrell during the lashes (captured in the image that accompanies this piece) underscores the dastardly deed happening in the ring. It’s also worth noting that Jay, who’s increasingly coming off as the “weak link” of this group and loses his own “Pieces of 8” coin earlier in the taping, is the individual responsible for Diggs and Stuckey winning the match and setting all of this into motion. Stuckey alternates between physically restraining Clark and verbally sparring with Aeon.

And then there’s Justin Kayse, who is relishing being the ringleader of all this chaos and misery. Kayse has improved by leaps and bounds since first appearing as a manager in the very first few episodes of Kraken TV. He’s more confident on the microphone and just with his general presence in front of the crowd. He’s also found ways to compound his status as the undeserving champion; the lashes he delivers to Kantrell have no effect, once again underscoring how poorly Kayse will fare if someone on the roster is able to get him in a straight-up match for the title.

The final image (which, in hindsight, should have been allowed to stand on its own with the commentators laying out) is of a fired, beaten but unbowed Kantrell getting helped out of the ring by Aeon and Clark. His fate, and awaiting the long-overdue comeuppance for The Business, provide fuel leading into whatever comes next in Kraken.

I feel like this piece is already too long, but when looking at this entire set of episodes, I did want to point out one more thing. I’ve been writing these reviews for more than a year now. Maybe you’ve been following along this whole time (which, if so, you’re a very patient person), or you’re reading one of these Kraken articles for the first time. If you fall into the latter category, I strongly recommend that you check out the five episodes covered in this review, because they represent a perfect “jumping on” point to follow this small but growing promotion in South Georgia.

You can check out all of these episodes below: