Project M.O.N.I.X. executes ultimate swerve at Freelance Underground
By Mike Pankow
October 28, 2021
Project M.O.N.I.X.’s farewell story came with an unexpected twist – it turned not to be his farewell.
A tale of a beaten-down professional wrestler looking to find closure after several years of grinding on Chicago’s independent scene took quite the turn at Freelance Underground’s “Final Phase” on Saturday night, Oct. 23 at Church Street Brewing in Itasca.
It was masterful execution of storytelling that began 20 months ago at a Freelance Undergound show (“We’re Just Getting Started”) in Joliet, where mere hours after losing a match to Jesus Bryce, M.O.N.I.X. took to social media, saying he needed to take a break from wrestling. Then a few weeks later, the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States, shuttering most independent wrestling for several months and putting the M.O.N.I.X. story on the backburner.
Project M.O.N.I.X. connects with a forearm to the face of Freelance Underground Champion Calvin Tankman during their main event match at “The Final Phase” on Saturday, Oct. 23 in Itasca. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
Then at FU’s return to Itasca on June 19 at “Back to Church Street: Part Brew,” M.O.N.I.X. stunned the crowd by walking out to the ring after Kylie Rae’s match with Angel Escalera. M.O.N.I.X. said he needed closure to his wrestling career and that a match with Kylie would be the ultimate final chapter. FU booked the match that night for October, creating a four-month hypetrain.
M.O.N.I.X., who said on a recent Windy City Slam Podcast that he was chasing the ghost “he couldn’t catch” in Kylie Rae, was finally in a main event, which provide proper closure to his career.
He prepared for his return to the ring with Joe and Connor Phelan at BETA House of Wolves in Southwest suburban Justice, finding himself physically and getting right mentally.
Leading up to “Final Phase,” M.O.N.I.X. created a small bucket list of places he wanted to work one more time, including IWA Mid-South, GALLI Lucha Libre and Freelance Wrestling. He worked Freelance the night before FU in what was advertised as his last match at Logan Square Auditorium, losing to Freelance Academy rookie Alfonso Gonzalez when Gonzalez held the ropes for leverage during the pinfall.
Hours before M.O.N.I.X. was set to enter the ring for that final match, another wrinkle came up when Kylie Rae announced on her Twitter that she was taking a step away from wrestling to concentrate on her mental health after suffering a relapse. So, a new opponent was needed for M.O.N.I.X.
In another twist, Freelance Underground Champion GPA, who just passed two years as the titleholder, opened “Final Phase” with his Open Enrollment Challenge, and “Heavyweight Hustle” Calvin Tankman came out to accept the challenge. Tankman took GPA to the limit back in June before the longtime champion escaped with the victory.
Tankman avoided a potential belt shot from GPA and finished off the incumbent champ in less than 30 seconds with the Tankman Driver. After not even breaking a sweat, the 350-pound Tankman said he wanted to be in the main event, which led to M.O.N.I.X. coming out and accepting Tankman’s challenge for a championship match.
So, the new main event became M.O.N.I.X. against new champion Tankman for the Freelance Underground title.
Freelance Underground Champion Calvin Tankman tosses a bloody Project M.O.N.I.X. during their main event match at “The Final Phase.” (Photo by Mike Pankow)
After a montage of pictures and highlights from his career were shown on a screen, M.O.N.I.X. entered to a standing ovation from the jam-packed sellout crowd and received a Ring-of-Honor-style welcome with red, white and black streamers being thrown into the ring.
As for the match, Tankman utilized his strength to take control. M.O.N.I.X. wrestled from underneath and had the crowd eating out of his hand, hitting sometime trademark moves such as his double-stomp, a “312” and several DDTs. M.O.N.I.X.’s head was busted open after Tankman rammed him into the steel ring post while he was outside the ring.
M.O.N.I.X. seemed to exhaust everything in his arsenal, yet Tankman continued to kick out. Tankman finally squashed M.O.N.I.X.’s dream by hitting the Tankman Driver and scoring the three count, taking the air out of Church Street.
Tankman briefly celebrated his victory before ceding the ring to M.O.N.I.X. Moments later, Freelance management “2 Juice” Andy Long and Matt Knicks came into the ring and presented M.O.N.I.X. with the original Freelance Underground Championship belt as a going-away present.
M.O.N.I.X. took the mic and started to reflect on his career, but midway through his promo, his tenor began to change.
“It’s funny, because I knew during this entire farewell tour, I knew how every single one of you was going to react,” he said. “And you vile, stupid, disgusting motherfu—ers fell for it. … I’m in the main event now. This is not a closure, retirement, farewell tour, this is a motherfu—ing return. And for once, please all of you, just shut the f—k up!
“Welcome to the Final Phase!,” he said as he bashed Long with the title belt.
When Knicks stepped in to question M.O.N.I.X.’s tactics, he got punched and put into a “Rings of Saturn” submission hold.
M.O.N.I.X. then delivered his grand finale: “I hope you all fu—ing die. Ismael (Chico Suave) get the fu—ing car keys, let’s go!” as he jetted from the building to end the show in shocking fashion.
Storm Grayson celebrates after winning the Freelance Underground Independent Championship in a six-person scramble. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
While the M.O.N.I.X. was the dominant theme of the night, there was more great action delivered on this night, including Storm Grayson’s crowning moment of winning the Freelance Underground Independent Championship in a six-person scramble over defending champ Laynie Luck, who held the title for nearly two years, Trevor Outlaw, Dan The Dad, Wes Barkley and Cole Radrick.
The match featured plenty of spots from all involved, but the emerging star Grayson, from Chicago’s Western suburbs, hit a V-Trigger on Barkley to lead to the three count. After recovering from some nagging injuries, Grayson has wrestled some of his best matches within the last year against names such as Robert “Ego” Anthony and Simon Gotch.
The Bang Bros (Davey Bang and August Matthews) retained their FU Tag Team Championships with a victory over The Philly-Marino Experience (Philly C and Marino T), who were a solid presence during FU’s “Phase In” tapings during the summer. After that match, Bang and Matthews could receive a challenge from a team that’s building serious momentum in Pick n’ Pop.
In the semi-main, “One Man Dynasty” Darius Latrell and Koda Hernandez notched a critical win over the veteran Coco Buffs (Acid Jaz and Marshe Rockett) in a Prison Yard Rules tag match.
Pick n’ Pop, comprised of Koda Hernandez (foreground) and Darius Latrell, walk to the ring for the Prison Yard Rules tag team match against the Coco Buffs. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
Both teams came out in some sort of prison attire and the team quickly degenerated into a brawl where any weapon was legal, including several foreign objects, lunch trays, chairs and tables. And it was a table that provided the impetus for the finish as Latrell delivered a spinebuster to Jaz through the table, leading to the pin. It capped an impressive weekend for Latrell, who also won a six-man scramble at Freelance Wrestling’s Killer Klown on Friday night.
In a strong match on the mid-card, “Iron Demon” Shane Mercer, who possesses the Check to the Championship,” good for a future title shot in FU, defeated New Texas Pro Champion Bryan Keith in a non-title bout after a Moonsault and Battery.
In the two women’s matches on the evening, Harlow O’Hara defeated Blair Onyx after a “Last Rites” DDT and Australian Charli Evans bested Billie Starkz following a Saito suplex-lariat combo.
It was another great night from Freelance Underground, and now with M.O.N.I.X. back in the mix, things are bound to get even better.
Photo gallery coming soon.
Also, check out a Freelance weekend recap as part of Episode 90 of Windy City Slam Podcast: https://bit.ly/3Ez3iCf.
Catch Windy City Slam editor Mike Pankow talking local and national pro wrestling every week with Chicago-area wrestling guests on Windy City Slam Podcast, part of the Broadcast Basement On-Demand Radio Network. Episodes drop early Tuesday morning wherever you download podcasts or at https://windycityslam.podbean.com/.
We are looking for guests to appear on future episodes of the Windy City Slam Podcast! Please contact Mike at mikepankow@windycityslam.com, message him on Facebook or DM him on Twitter.
