Newsworthy night for Fusion Wrestling
AXEL RICO ADDS TO BELT COLLECTION; JORDAN KROSS SPLITS MATCHES
By Mike Pankow
May 18, 2023
Fusion Wrestling Chicago is starting to get hot again just before the summer weather hits the area.
Axel Rico became the Fusion Wrestling Chicago Champion by winning a rumble-style battle royal and now holds four championships in the Chicagoland region, a collection that also includes the top titles in Chicago Style Wrestling, Rockford Damage Inc. and Janesville Wrestling Alliance.
Axel Rico is saved from elimination in a rumble match by his associate Counselor Eric Schultz. Rico won the Fusion Wrestling Championship by last elminating Cody James. (Photo: Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
Jordan Kross wrestled two main event matches, losing to Missa Kate by nefarious means and then knocking off his mentor Doug Simmons in a 30-second impromptu match to close “Kings and Queens” on Friday night, May 5 at GALLI Arena inside the Five Star Swap Mart in West suburban Villa Park.
The show opened with Axel Rico with the championship, claiming he found it in the trash. He was accompanied by his girlfriend and Counselor Eric Schultz. Rico was making his claim to being the championship before he was interrupted by Fusion Commissioner Steve Ahrendt.
Ahrendt said that the Fusion Championship would be decided in a rumble match and that Rico would be the No. 1 entrant and Schultz No. 2 and would begin the match. Several CSW superstars, including Doom Montgomery, Hans Carden of Alpha Zeta Zeta, were in the match as well as some young talent from the CSW school. An interesting entry was masked luchador by the name of Kinome Ito, who lasted quite a long time in the match.
The final four came down to Metalhead, Cody James, Rico and Schultz. James clotheslined Metalhead out of the ring, leaving James to fend off the united duo of Rico and Schultz. After James dumped Schultz, Rico was the only one in the way of “Cody Country.” James appeared to have won the match by tossing Rico over the top rope, but Rico’s feet never hit the floor thanks to the convenient body of Schultz, who was still on the floor outside the ring.
Schultz helped Rico back into the ring and Rico rushed toward James and dumped him over the ropes to get the victory and become the Fusion Champion. After the match, Ahrendt came out to spoil the celebration and make a championship for the next Fusion show on Friday, June 23 with Rico defending his newly-won title against James.
“Hawaiian Hitman” Koa Laxamama, left, looks to deliver a kick to Steve Boz during their match at Fusion Wrestling. (Photo: Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
In a battle between two seasoned veterans in their 40s, “Superstar” Steve Boz, portraying the diabolical B-O-Z rather than his beloved character from his home promotion CSW, defeated “Hawaiian Hitman” Koa Laxamana, who was accompanied by his girlfriend, Pretty Reckless.
The two veterans put on quite a show with some hard-hitting maneuvers and high-flying action you would usually see with 20-somethings. Boz’s second, Mr. Television, distracted referee Kevin Woods, opening the door for Boz to nail Laxamana from behind and hit the Twist of Fate, resulting in a 3-count for Boz.
Boz and Mr. Television reveled in their victory while Laxamana showed the wound of battle with a bloody nipple and swollen left hand. Laxamana said afterward that he wants a rematch with Boz.
Mateo Valentine looks to deliver a Widow’s Peak to Pauly Thomaselli. However, Thomaselli countered into a GTS and scored the victory. (Photo: Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
In a spotlight match, 20-year veteran Pauly Thomaselli got the best of rising star Mateo Valentine by hitting a GTS after countering Valentine’s attempt at a Widow’s Peak. The reigning CSW Tag Team Champion and former All Heel Wrestling Valentine took it to “The Midwest Bully” even as Thomaselli laid in some stiff knife-edge chops that reddened the chest of Valentine.
Valentine tried to keep Thomaselli off balance with his finesse offense and histrionics, but Thomaselli kept answering with impactful maneuvers and strikes. As Valentine went for his finish, Thomaselli was just too powerful and countered out of it to hit his own finisher and scored the pinfall.
Simmons and Mr. Television came to the ring, looking for some competition as his original match had to be changed due to the absence of Shelly “The Bombshell” Benson. The original main event was scheduled to be Simmons and Missa Kate against Kross and Benson.
Apocolypto, a regular at Fusion shows, answered Simmons’ challenge and the match was on. Mr. Television took advantage of Simmons distracting referee Woods and got some cheap shots in on the outside of the ring. After a few minutes of action, Simmons grew frustrated with his inability to finish off Apocolypto and low-blowed his opponent right in front of Woods, causing a disqualification and the bout being awarded to Apocolypto.
Simmons and Mr. Television tried to administer a post-match beatdown of Apocolypto until “Dog-Faced Bastard” Greg Murray came out with chair to chase them out of the ring. After the smoke cleared, Ahrendt came out and made official a tag team match for next month with Murray and Apocolypto facing Simmons and Mr. Television, much to the dismay of the heel duo.
In the semi-main, Schultz, accompanied by Rico and his girlfriend, defeated an impressive up-and-comer Rafael Quintero in a very good match. Quintero surprised Schultz on numerous occasions with his high-flying, Lucha-inspired style.
Quintero looked to polish off Schultz with a dive off the top rope, but the crafty attorney hit a cutter out of nowhere to stun Quintero and score the 3-count.
In the new main event, NWA Women’s Tag Team Champion “Chicago’s Sweetheart” Missa Kate defeated “The Punk Rock Prince” Jordan Kross after some undetected interference, thanks to Simmons and Mr. Television.
Missa Kate, left, and Jordan Kross grapple during their main-event match that Kate eventually won after some help from Doug Simmons. (Photo: Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
Kate and Kross started off exchanging some holds before the action got hot. Kross, the babyface in the match, gave Kate an enziguri. As Kate distracted Woods, Simmons and Mr. Television took liberties on the Kenosha native, choking him on the ropes.
Kross got a couple of near falls on Kate, including one after a leg lariat (Matt Cardona’s Radio Silence), but Simmons took matters into his own hands. As Mr. Television provided a distraction, drawing Woods over to him, Simmons blasted Kross with Kate’s NWA Tag Team Championship belt and Kate followed up with the pinfall.
After the match, Simmons took the mic and started to berate Kross. Kross said he wanted to have a match with Simmons immediately and quickly rattled Simmons with some strikes. As Simmons stumbled toward the center of the ring, Kross nailed his mentor with a Kross Cutter from the top rope and scored a 3-count within a half-minute.
Kross acknowledged Simmons for being his mentor, but it said it was time for the student to rise as Simmons, Kate and Mr. Television retreated to the back to close out the show.
Check out a gallery of 275 photos from “Kings and Queens”: https://www.windycityslam.com/fusion-wrestling-chicago-kings-and-queens.
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.
