Calvin Tankman, Storm Grayson retain titles in Freelance Underground’s Joliet return
By Mike Pankow
March 24, 2022
It had been 25 months since the wrestlers of Freelance Underground performed in Joliet.
Much has changed since February 2020 with both singles titles changing hands several months ago, Project M.O.N.I.X. taking a hiatus and a retirement tour before swerving everyone, and several young wrestlers emerging as bigger stars.
Freelance Underground Champion “Heavyweight Hustle” Calvin Tankman pounces GPA during their main event title match at “Double Back” at Cantigny VFW in Joliet on Saturday, March 19, 2022. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
Calvin Tankman, who has held the Freelance Underground Championship for five months, turned back the challenge of GPA in the main event at Cantigny VFW last Saturday night. Tankman, who ended GPA’s two-year reign as Freelance Underground Champion on Oct. 23, 2021, in Itasca, overcame an injured left arm and hand to defeat the “Academic Standard” in a lengthy match.
Tankman hurt himself early in the match and GPA smelled blood and ruthlessly attacked the appendage, displaying a masterclass of psychology and technical wrestling to disarm Tankman of his brute strength.
Despite controlling a significant portion of the bout, GPA just couldn’t put away the 350-pound “Heavyweight Hustle.” GPA resorted to a high-risk maneuver, but when he jumped off the top rope, Tankman caught him with a vicious back elbow. Tankman then mustered the power to hoist up GPA and sent him crashing to the canvas with the Tankman Driver, leading to the decisive 3-count.
In the semi-main event, Freelance Underground Independent Champion Storm Grayson retained his title over Alan “V” Angels of AEW’s Dark Order in what probably was the match of the night.
Freelance Underground Independent Champion Storm Grayson, right, delivers a forearm blow to Alan Angels, who wrestles in AEW as part of the Dark Order faction. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
The last time FU was in Joliet, Grayson was toiling in undercard matches while trying to overcome injuries. Now the Naperville native is in the best shape of his career and looks polished in the ring to the point where he could be Chicagoland’s next wrestler to sign with a major promotion after Elayna Black (Cora Jade) and Joey Ariola (Tony D’Angelo) signed with WWE last year.
Angels, who recently was able to display his skills in televised AEW matches against Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson, brought the fight to Grayson and appeared close to unseating the five-month champion.
Angels paid tribute to his fallen comrade Brodie Lee by using his famous clothesline and hit a tremendous standing Spanish Fly, but he couldn’t quite put Grayson away after either move. Grayson hit most of his signature maneuvers, including the Falcon Arrow and Blue Thunder Bomb, but was only able to put Angels away with a crucifix pin.
It was another hotly-contested match for Angels, who also lost to Freelance World Champion Robert “Ego” Anthony at Freelance’s “A Shift in Power” at Logan Square Auditorium last Friday night in Chicago, thanks to some timely interference from Frank the Clown.
Joliet native Gunner Brave controls JJ Garrett in a headlock. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
In another spotlight match, JJ Garrett defeated Joliet native Gunner Brave, who was making his debut at Freelance Underground. Garrett has seen his share of success with the promotion and earned a big win with a bulldog headlock takedown from the top rope, thwarting Brave’s efforts despite a decent cheering section of family and friends.
Brave, a graduate of the Black and Brave Academy (run by WWE Superstar Seth Rollins and Marek Brave), came into the match as Rocket Pro Wrestling Outer Limits Champion – a title he won in December at St. Joseph’s Park about a mile away from the Cantigny VFW.
Speaking of a change in fortunes, the last time Laynie wrestled in Joliet, she was the FU Independent Champion. Since then, she dropped the title to Grayson in a six-person scramble last October and recently dropped her last name, Luck.
Armed with more serious attitude, Laynie wrestled a more aggressive and heelish style in defeating upstart the fun-loving, Salsa-dancing Angel Escalera.
Escalera tried to dazzle Laynie with his high-flying, high-energy arsenal, but Laynie hit the cutter off the top rope and recorded the pinfall with her feet on the ropes for leverage to add a little more humiliation.
The building feud between Marvelous Matt Knicks and Project M.O.N.I.X. continued to escalate Saturday night as each man picked the opponent for his rival. Knicks faced Kayla Kassidy, who has been making her name in the Midwest, including a pair of matches Freelance Underground last year with a win over Blair Onyx and loss to Billie Starkz.
Knicks, who earned a future match against M.O.N.I.X. with a recent victory over M.O.N.I.X.’s close friend and confidant Chico Suave, had the experience advantage against Kassidy. However, Kassidy fearlessly took it right to Knicks and the two combatants exchanged some impactful maneuvers.
While official Devin Anderson was checking on Kassidy, M.O.N.I.X. came out in disguise – in a Tom Brady jersey (perhaps ironically) and a hoodie and mask covering his face – and attacked Knicks from behind, hitting him with a “312,” clipping his legs and then smashed Knicks in the head with the original Freelance Underground Championship belt (a token given to him at “The Final Phase” last October).
After the damage was done, Kassidy snatched Knicks as he was trying to re-enter the ring and nailed him with a DDT that led to the 3-count and the victory.
A little later, M.O.N.I.X. received his match against Knicks’ hand-picked opponent, Joey Marx, who was making his return to FU for his first match with the company since Oct. 2019.
Is this it for Project M.O.N.I.X. in Freelance Underground? (Courtesy @ProjectMonix on Twitter using photo by Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
A person dressed similarly to how M.O.N.I.X. was dressed during his run-in in Knicks’ match came out to try and jump Marx, but Marx saw it coming and fended off the impostor. However, the real M.O.N.I.X. rushed to the ring and attacked Marx to initiate the match.
Marx seriously pushed his opponent, but the cunning M.O.N.I.X. pulled one over on Marx and Knicks. When Knicks tried to confront his rival during the match, M.O.N.I.X. took advantage of the referee’s attention being diverted as he gave Marx a low blow. Then M.O.N.I.X. showed no mercy in gaining a submission victory with the Nagata Lock.
M.O.N.I.X. quickly left the ring when Knicks tried to even the score, then made his way out the front door of the VFW and seemingly walked away again from Freelance Underground and into the parking lot on a cold, damp night.
“Iron Demon” Shane Mercer showed off his strength and power, throwing Alfonso Gonzalez around the ring pretty much at all before hitting the Moonsault and Battery to get the pinfall victory. Gonzalez, one of Freelance Academy’s emerging students, has had some solid outings recently as his fledgling career gets underway, including a surprise victory over Project M.O.N.I.X. last fall at Freelance.
After finally chasing down the elusive Gonzalez, Mercer often manhandled the rookie with some vicious chops while out on the floor around ringside before eventually polishing off the promising member of the “Team Alfonso” dojo.
In the only match that wasn’t a singles contest, The Bang Bros (Davey Bang and August Matthews) threw their hat into the ring for The Brothers of Funstruction’s FU Tag Team Championships with a triple-threat victory over Pick N’ Pop (Darius Latrell and Koda Hernandez) and the tandem of Golden Dragon and Atomico Jr., who wrestle regularly for GALLI Lucha Libre.
It was an exciting match with the blend of styles of The Bang Bros’ high flying, The Golden Gods’ Lucha Libre technique and the brute power and brawling of Pick N’ Pop. Latrell unleashed his combination of speed and power with several Stinger Splashes on The Bang Bros and his trademark Ball-in Elbow.
The Bang Bros, the one-time Freelance Underground Tag Team Champions, pulled out the victory after an assisted spear by Bang on Atomico Jr., then Bang and Matthews recorded the pin as Pick N’ Pop was taken out of the match and on the floor after a suicide dive by Bang.
Freelance Underground returns to action when they travel to Thornton Distilling Co. in South suburban Thornton on Saturday, April 30. The next show in Joliet is scheduled for Saturday night, July 2, back at the Cantigny VFW.
For a gallery of nearly 300 photos from Freelance Underground’s “Double Back”: https://bit.ly/3ulm24s.
Listen to Ep. 110 of Windy City Slam Podcast with special guest Matt Knicks: https://bit.ly/3CJWRMN.
Listen to Ep. 111 of Windy City Slam Podcast with special guest Gunner Brave: https://bit.ly/3qqQZDf.
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.
