Aaron Stone, Gunner Brave rise up at Rocket Pro
EMERGING YOUNG STARS STEAL SHOW AT ‘HARVEST HAVOC’
By Mike Pankow
November 18, 2022
Of all the great wrestlers that graced Rocket Pro Wrestling’s “Harvest Havoc” card, two men came out looking like future superstars.
“Dreambreaker” Aaron Stone and Gunner Brave delivered all-star performances in winning their main-event four-way matches at the Joliet-based promotion’s Nov. 5 show at St. Joseph’s Park.
Aaron Stone, left, tussles with Quinn Whittock during the Rocket to the Top ladder match at Rocket Pro Wrestling’s “Harvest Havoc” on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022. (Photo: Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
After being underestimated and criticized by Rocket Pro General Manager Damien Saint on a recent episode of Windy City Slam Podcast, Stone closed the show by proving all the doubters by winning the Rocket to the Top briefcase in a ladder match over an impressive field of Frontline Pro Champion Quinn Whittock, the athletic “Bad Buns” J. Fowler and the slick, rising Shaq Jordan. To do it, Stone had to overcome a pre-match assault from THE Ryan Matthews, who has quickly become a fierce rival over the last few months.
Brave retained his Outer Limits Championship in a can-you-top-this no-disqualification match over his Black and Brave Academy classmates Conan Lycan, Solomon Tupu and Campbell Myers in what was the main event of the first half of the show. And for Brave, the victory wasn’t the only newsworthy event of the night.
The Fabulous Idols confronted Brave and excommunicated him from the group as they attacked him following the match. Brave’s classmates Lycan and Campbell came to the rescue and fended off the Idols, who angrily retreated to the locker room.
After a pre-show battle royal warmed up the crowd, Saint came out to address former GM JBek and told him that he can join the commentary team along with Steve Ahrendt and Schelli. Ahrendt had to follow Saint’s orders from Rocket’s previous event “Darkness Falls,” stand while doing commentary or else he would be docked his pay.
In the opening contest, Marshe Rockett, fresh off his humbling loss to GRIN in a casket match last month, defeated “Wild Child” Connor Hopkins. Hopkins tried to keep Rockett off balance, but the veteran grappler snuck in an undetected mule kick to Hopkins’ “midsection” before hitting his signature M-80 (RKO, Diamond Cutter) to score the 3-count.
In a three-way tornado tag team match to determine the No. 1 contenders to the Rocket Pro Tag Team Championship, held by The Idols, Brooks Berna and Damien Deschain of Those Damn Coyotes defeated the duos of The Drinking Class (Jay Kross & Jack Carpenter) and The Bang Bros (Davey Bang & August Matthews).
It was a high-energy, high-intensity contest with all three teams coming close to victory on several occasions. The Bang Bros impressed in the debut with Rocket Pro and nearly stole the win, but Matthews was pinned by both Coyotes. The Drinking Class offered a handshake to the Coyotes, but Berna and Deschain refused.
Shogun Chris L.O.G.A.N. continued his war with the Idols by defeating Damien Grey in a strap match. Before the match officially started, L.O.G.A.N. had fend off an ambush on the outside by Grey and “Rockstar” Johnny Nigh. Once the wrestlers finally got the strapped in, L.O.G.A.N. took it to Grey, ending the match with a bat shot in Grey’s gut and a brainbuster leading to the pin.
Nigh and Ruthless Rockin’ Rivera then jumped L.O.G.A.N. and beat him before Maximus Orion emerged from the locker room to lend a hand. Then Rion Skillz made his return to Rocket Pro to even the odds. Orion then took the mic and challenged Grey, Nigh, Rivera and Kevin Kade to a 4-on-3 handicap match at “Christmas Chaos,” which is scheduled for Dec. 3.
After not getting a decisive winner between Rocket Pro Champion “Old Evil” Christian Rose and Cody James last month’s “Darkness Falls,” the two men had a rematch in a street fight. Rose and James brutalized each other in a brawl that went into the crowd, the bar and even the kitchen.
Rose dropped an elbow on James off the hard cam stand and on to the floor (ala Cactus Jack). James appeared close to securing the RPW Championship after he nailed his finish on Rose on a trash can, but somehow Rose was able to kick out at 2. After Rose staggered James with the trash can lid, he hit Big Iron (a trash-can-lid-aided kick to the face).
As Rose was celebrating his victory, a masked figure jumped into the ring and attacked Rose before Rose’s Those Damn Coyotes brethren made the save. A ticked-off Rose demanded answers from Saint, who came out and made the main event for “Christmas Chaos” with Rose defending his champion against Rockett and former Ring of Honor star Eli Isom.
Rocket Pro Outer Limits Champion Gunner Brave, left, listens to “Rockstar” Johnny Nigh. The Fabulous Idols kicked Brave out of their group following Brave’s successful title defense. (Photo: Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
Then to close out the first half of the show, Brave retained his Outer Limits Championship in a match filled with crazy spots with chairs and wooden doors. Tupu gave Brave a Uranage through a door lodged between the ring apron and the ringside barrier. Brave gave Lycan a Spanish Fly from the top rope through a door held up by chairs. After all of the craziness and high-impact maneuvers in the match, Brave caught Myers in a small package for the pin.
As the show was returning from intermission, members of former RPW Tag Team Champions No Coast, Joee Blues and Brian Krazer, started brawling at the bar, went through the crowd and ended up in the ring. Saint sent security from the back to break up the fight and demanded No Coast team up again next month in a tag match or they would be fired.
Rivera retained the Rocket Pro Chicagoland Champion despite losing to The Amazing Turtle by DQ when Rivera nailed Turtle with the belt. Then Shawn Danger staggered to the ring with canteen in hand in attempt to save Turtle after the match, but as he went to strike Rivera, Danger collapsed face first to the mat.
“The Mercenary” Garrisaon Creed made his return to Rocket Pro and powered his way to victory over Matthews. Creed recovered from a bicep injury and looked like he didn’t lose a step during his rehab. Matthews tried to run away on numerous occasions, but he couldn’t escape Creed’s knee strike as “The Mercenary” scored the 3-count.
Matthews tried to attack Creed after the match, but Stone came out to distract Matthews and Creed polished off the “Beautiful One.”
Orion successfully defended the RPW Inter-County Championship over the Idols’ Kevin Kade in a submission match. Nigh tried to provide a distraction at ringside, but Orion got Kade to pass out to Hell’s Gate (aka Gogoplata).
GRIN, right, teamed up with Maximus Orion, left, in an impromptu tag team match against Kevin Kade and Johnny Nigh of the Fabulous Idols. (Photo: Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
Nigh jumped Orion after the match until the music of “The Icon” GRIN blared out and the green face-painted wrestler emerged to challenge the Idols to a tag team match. GRIN and Orion made short work of Nigh and Kade. GRIN, who goes back to the days of the Lunatic Wrestling Federation and Pro Wrestling Blitz (Blitz frequently ran shows at St. Joe’s Park), used his version of Go To Sleep to knock out Nigh and record the pinfall and get the victory for Maximus GRIN.
Saint came out just before the main event and ejected Ahrendt from the broadcast table and took over on commentary for the Rocket to the Top ladder match.
As Stone came out for his entrance, he was ambushed by Matthews and beat down enough to be helped away from ringside. The match then began as a three-way with Jordan, Whittock and Fowler battling for the advantage. Whittock and Fowler attempted to form an alliance to take out Jordan.
As Whittock went to slide a ladder into the ring, Stone made his dramatic return to match and made his presence felt. Whittock set a ladder mid-ring to try and retrieve the briefcase, but Stone set up another ladder between the mid-ring ladder and the corner. Stone then drove Whittock through the ladder with a Uranage slam.
Fowler went for the briefcase, but Jordan ran across the straddled ladder (ala Shelton Benjamin) to thwart Fowler. Then Stone started to recover and make the long climb toward the briefcase. Whittock met Stone at the top as the two threw hands. Fowler and Jordan tried to crash the party, but they were kicked down by Stone and Whittock.
It came down to the ferocious Whittock and hungry Stone, but Stone was able to knock Whittock off the ladder with a shot the head of the briefcase which was still attached to the chain. Then Stone detached the briefcase and claimed victory.
As Stone celebrated in the ring, Jordan congratulated him before the leaving the spotlight on Stone. Stone now has up to a year to cash in the contract inside the briefcase for a championship opportunity.
Rocket Pro was an enjoyable experience from start to finish with its diversity of match stipulations, a mixture of veteran and young wrestlers, fun storytelling (which goes from show to show during the company’s September-to-May season) and rabid fanbase (including the Lovely Intoxicated Men and the Rocket Boys) providing the soundtrack around ringside.
For a gallery of over 400 photos from the event: https://www.windycityslam.com/rocket-pro-wrestling-harvest-havoc-2022.
Rocket Pro Wrestling's "Dreambreaker" Aaron Stone gave Windy City Slam an exclusive interview after RPW's "Harvest Havoc" on Nov. 5 in Joliet. Stone discusses his victory in the Rocket to the Top briefcase match, proving doubters wrong and winning the GALLI Lucha Libre Discovery Championship.
Rocket Pro Wrestling's Gunner Brave gave Windy City Slam an exclusive interview after RPW's "Harvest Havoc" on Nov. 5 in Joliet. Brave discusses his successful Outer Limits title defense victory in the in a four-way match over Conan Lycan, Solomon Tupu and Campbell Myers, being attacked by his former Fabulous Idols teammates and work with Freelance Underground.
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.
