Tag: All Star Special

Review the Kraken: Episodes 31-34

Review the Kraken: Episodes 31-34

I started doing these Kraken Pro Wrestling reviews last fall, a few months after this promotion first debuted in South Georgia. Work and life and family responsibilities have made it difficult to keep pace or post reviews regularly, but we’re finally into 2025 with this taping.

These four episodes remain consistently watchable, thanks to a new overarching plot device, the Pieces of 8. As explained in one of the final episodes of 2024, the Pieces of 8 are eight coins, each of which guarantee the holder a spot in the Kraken Classic tournament to take place in May. The coins are awarded randomly to match winners; however, the coin holders become targets from there. If someone with one of the Pieces of 8 is pinned or submitted in any type of match, that wrestler gains possession of the coin — and then has to defend it.

The question of “who gets a coin” is the dominant story of this taping and it makes matches that are otherwise skippable at least worth catching the finish. Six of the eight coins get doled out in these four episodes, and I’m interested to see where this goes.

Episode 31

Hey, we’ve got a new opening video! Meanwhile, Donnie Harris, Jr., remains the lead commentator but is now the official general manager (no more “acting” tag after he assumed that role after the predecessor just vanished from Kraken).

We get right to the action, and assigning the coins, with Ehren Black capturing the first Piece of 8 by scoring the pin in a short tag match pitting Noir against Gabe Norton and Jayy Wells. Once tagged in by Mr. Wright, Black makes quick work of Jayy and Gabe. They’re hitting the ground running with the unpredictable, and quite creative, concept of allocating these coins.

Will Huckaby takes on ERC in the episode main event, which fell in the “fun while it lasted” category for me. I’ve been enjoying ERC’s antics as a crafty, undersized heel. Huckaby has been foul tempered ever since he was submitted by Kevin Kantrell at the last taping and then refused Kantrell’s following the match. That saltiness leads to Huck ultimately getting himself disqualified here.

Episode 32

The highlight of this episode is the singles match between Sam Hanson and Travis Ray. I like what I’ve seen out of Ray, who with the right moves could make his way to the top of the card in Kraken down the road. Ray gets a good showing here in defeat. I particularly liked him yanking on Hanson’s beard to pull him into grasp for a uranage and a pair of avalanches in the corner provoke a full-fledged “daggum” from Donnie on commentary. Hanson gets the win, and a coin, with a backslide pin out of nowhere.

The main event of the taping sees Trever Aeon and Jak Myles join forces against The Business duo of Jay 2 Strong and Diggs, This match was just OK — though it did feature a nice hot tag by Aeon — and had another sudden conclusion, this time with Jay, who’s been portrayed as more of the “weak link” in The Business recently, pinning Aeon on a rope-assisted schoolboy and earning himself a coin.

This episode also includes a Diamond Den segment featuring Jayy Wells, the introduction of Joey Hyder, and another chapter — albeit a very rough one — of the Rose Gold-Tsu Nami feud.

Episode 33

Liked the different opening to this one, as the camera follows Chad Skywalker to retrieve an envelope that contains his “assignment” to defeat Brandon Whatley. I just hope someone remembers to check that oven before they try to use it!

Skywalker and Whatley headline the episode. It’s a good, solid match, but one that struggles from the absence of a clear fan favorite. Who’s the crowd supposed to root for: the hired gun in Skywalker, or Whatley, who jumps Chad from behind to start the match? There’s a cool visual down the stretch where Skywalker kicks Whatley’s glove off his hand. Skywalker scores the win and, fitting the theme of this taping, a coin.

The Cash In, Cash Out Scramble returns and Edward Draven gets the somewhat surprising result in a taping with several surprising winners. Draven also gets a coin and, at this point, has to be considered the most vulnerable of the coin holders. Joey Hyder is also in the field, making his Kraken debut, and he’s easily the standout of the match.

A segment outside the building sets up a future tag match between All Star Special and Wells and Norton fueled in large part by Huckaby’s hatred of … ketchup? Since tapping out to Kantrell, Huckaby has become the bitter, salty veteran who gets mad over nothing and I’m here for it. It’s the type of thing you probably have encountered in the workplace and definitely have encountered if you spent any time in wrestling. I realize I am several months behind but maybe a future segment will have Huck getting mad at someone for not shaking his hand while purposely avoiding that person so they can’t ever shake his hand. Not that I am speaking from experience…

Episode 34

Apparently there can be only one as Kassius King (not to be confused with Cassius King) is now the lone wrestler with that homonym name now on the Kraken roster. King teams with Don Haylo against the H-Town Hittas, who win in less time than it took me to write and format this paragraph. The twin that scores the pin gets a coin. How will his brother react? The idea of both Hittas getting coins is intriguing.

We get another Diamond Den segment (now with theme music!) and it might be the best of the bunch overall. Karl Hager is the guest and has the schtick turned all the way to 11. I laughed out loud several times, not just at his answers to some of Diamond Duke’s questions but his mannerisms and fidgets.

Once again, the main event of the taping is the best match of this set of episodes. Dominic Stuckey takes on Charlie Kills and, if Charlie wins, he gets a three-minute match against Justin Kayse for the Kraken Title. Stuckey is a very good wrestler who has a knack for doing different things in each of his matches. That trend continues against Charlie in an old-school match with some wrinkles I did not expect: stomps to the foot and hand, and at one point manipulating the ankle joint to reverse a hold. The finish is hot. Kayse yanks young referee Clark out of the ring to break up a three count, and Clark decks Kayse with a punch! This is the first time that anyone in Kraken has struck Kayse and it’s a very interesting choice to give that spot to a referee. Stuckey ends up scoring another tainted win, but this was a nice addition to the ongoing story.

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

Looking for something more retro? I’m also working on Mat Quest, a chronological viewing guide to the WWE archive on Peacock.

You can watch all four episodes here:

Review the Kraken: The Kraken Classic

Review the Kraken: The Kraken Classic

Pro wrestling is more accessible than ever. Between streaming services, in-house online broadcasts, and good old-fashioned TV deals (a few still exist), fans have more ways to watch more wrestling from around the world than at any point. 

Imagine telling the you from two decades ago – even the you from 10 years ago – “some day there will be so much wrestling available to watch that you will never be able to keep up with it all.” And yet, today, WWE puts out six hours of content per week – and that doesn’t count the feeder shows like Main Event and Level Up. AEW cranks out five hours of TV wrestling each week — and that does not include the weekly Ring of Honor episodes. If there is a pay-per-view / premium live event that week, tack on another three hours. Full shows are available from a host of international promotions, especially in Japan, but those are usually three hours or more, requiring a real investment of time if you intend to watch the whole thing. 

And so, the approach that Kraken Pro Wrestling has chosen feels fresh in its convenience. This neophyte promotion located in southern Georgia breaks down its live events into snack-sized installments of TV for its YouTube channel. Each episode lasts 30 minutes, at most. A couple of episodes clock in closer to the 10-minute mark. 

But, with so many wrestling promotions out there, is Kraken worth watching? I think it is. And hence, welcome to my efforts to Review The Kraken! We kick off this endeavor by looking at the first eight episodes of TV, where the first Kraken champion was crowned in an eight-man tournament called the Kraken Classic. 

These shows happened back over the summer and so given that fact, I won’t attempt to bore you with a match-by-match or segment-by-segment breakdown. Instead, I wanted to take a look at some of the standout wrestlers on these early Kraken shows. They all have one commonality – each left me wanting to see more of them, whether it be here or elsewhere.

Big Business – This three-man faction comprises the top heel act in Kraken. The manager, Justin Kayse, actually came out of the tournament holding the title, as Jay 2 Strong won the Kraken Classic only to see Kayse declare himself as the champion. Jay was incredibly solid in his three tournament matches and the final against Michael Walker is the best match of the tournament. Lamar Diggs is the enforcer of the group and has the physical presence and requisite menace to fill that role. You could plug him right into the middle of the Mid-South territory in its heyday and he would fit right in with those sluggers. I like the concept of a heel manager holding the title everyone is chasing but, through these first eight episodes, I found Kayse somewhat lacking both as a talker and during interference spots sometimes self-sabotaged by poor timing. We will see how Kayse rises to the occasion in future installments.

Michael Walker – Probably the purest babyface on the roster through these first eight episodes. He acquitted himself well in all three tournament matches, all against opponents of different styles, including both wrestlers in Big Business. His match with Diggs was a fine example of one of my favorite tropes, pitting a smaller, speedy wrestler against a powerhouse. Even with the loss in the finals, Walker emerged from the Classic portrayed as a fine never-say-die underdog who you wanted to root for.

Trever Aeon – I have seen Aeon in person a couple of times and followed his work online in recent years. He is one of the more underrated wrestlers on the Southeast scene to me and stands out through his look, his versatility, and the explosion he demonstrates in some of his offense. 

Trey Shaw – I knew nothing about Shaw before his first-round match in the Classic (found in episode 4 of Kraken), but immediately was impressed. Again, these are short episodes, but in the span of about 15 minutes, he stood out with his combination of look, size, promo ability, and snug offense. 

All Star Special – Will Huckaby and Hold My Beer Hanson are one of the more popular teams in Georgia and probably the merch champions of the independent scene in that state. Hanson is also the promoter of Kraken, something that is readily acknowledged on commentary. While this is hard to deny when Hanson is doing local TV spots to promote Kraken using his real name, I emerged from these eight episodes unsure if this was a little too much “behind the curtain” for me. A tip of the cap to Hanson and Huckaby (who is the booker) and not following in the footsteps of so many of their predecessors and making themselves the focal point of the shows.

Kevin Kantrell – Kantrell is not part of the Kraken Classic but he stands out with a rugged, intense style. In his one match in the first eight episodes, he carries a green opponent to a solid effort and then, after the result does not go his way, beats down the referee like the official handed him a light envelope at the end of the night. I came away wanting to see more of him, for sure.

Kody Madden – Having done wrestling commentary in the past, I know how difficult the job is. Kody is the lead broadcaster for Kraken and does a good job with the juggling act of calling the action, telling a greater story, and directing traffic in a three-man booth – although the other two members of that booth are both heels and have similar-sounding voices.

One of the most common, widespread — and often deserved — criticisms of professional wrestling as we sit almost halfway through the 2020s is the sameness of it all. Matches up and down the card, regardless of whether the promotion is located on the globe, see everyone working a similar style. Hanson and Huckaby have done a solid job assembling a roster of different characters with different styles. I will keep watching through their archive of episodes and came away from these first eight shows wanting to see what happens next, and really, isn’t that the first goal for any wrestling promotion?