Rocket Pro’s season ends on high note
FABULOUS IDOLS OVERTHROWN, AARON STONE CROWNED CHAMP
By Mike Pankow
June 10, 2023
The one-year reign in control of Rocket Pro Wrestling came to an end for The World Famous Fabulous Idols in the main event of “Kicks on 66” on Saturday evening, May 6, at St. Joseph Park in Joliet.
The Idols, themselves, may be going up in flames as well as RPW announcers Steve Ahrendt and Schelli defeated The Symbols, Joey Roth and Roxi Heart in a tag team match for all the marbles. Those “marbles” included Roth and Heart’s personalized championship belts and The Idols’ control atop RPW.
Steve Ahrendt, right, gets ready to deliver a blow to Joey Roth during the main-event tag team match at Rocket Pro Wrestling’s “Kicks on 66.” (Photo by Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
This story had a yearlong build since The Idols took control of RPW at the 2022 edition of Kicks on 66 when now-general manager Damien Saint aided The Idols’ victory in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series-style match. Ahrendt and Schelli were among those who were targeted by The Idols throughout the season.
Ahrendt came out with his face painted like the Punisher and he and Schelli, wife of RPW owner Bill Schelli, were intent on getting sweet revenge on Roth and Heart.
It wasn’t going to be a technical masterpiece from the start. It was a brawl as Ahrendt used his size advantage to get the jump on Roth, who utilized a low-blow on Ahrendt to turn the tide. With Schelli champing at the bit to get a piece of the action, Ahrendt rallied and used Dusty Rhodes’ flip, flop and fly to down Roth and make the tag to Schelli.
Schelli and Heart went toe-to-toe in a glorified catfight and that’s when things started to get crazy. Ahrendt went for a splash in the corner on Roth and referee Cristian Torrejon got caught in the fray and crumbled into a heap. That opened the door for a parade of Idols, starting with the loose cannon, Damien Grey, who beat Ahrendt with a baseball bat and threatened Schelli with the same.
The Idol’s Kevin Kade and Flash Harris then approached the ring, ready to give Roth and Heart a decisive advantage until RPW loyalists “Shogun” Chris L.O.G.A.N., Marshe Rockett, Kevin “Nuke” Palmer and Maximus Orion, son of Schelli, came out to chase away the Idols.
When the smoke seemingly cleared, The Idol’s Jonny Nigh came down the ramp with a referee’s shirt on. Nigh took Roth’s personalized championship belt and nailed Roth with it, getting revenge on Roth for hitting Nigh in an 8-man tag team earlier in the show that cost The Idols a victory in that match.
Schelli sinched in her son’s trademark triangle choke on Heart and Nigh signaled for the bell as Heart tapped out, sending the crowd into a frenzy and The Idols into complete disarray.
With the Idols’ loss, they lose control of RPW, but the future of GM Saint likely is firm as his contract is ironclad.
The other co-main-event was supposed to be grudge match between RPW Champion “Sexy Violence” Quinn Whittock and the “Rocket to the Top” briefcase holder “Dreambreaker” Aaron Stone. However, it was announced that Whittock was “hospitalized” due to an attack earlier in the day.
RPW Champion “Dreambreaker” Aaron Stone prepares to polish off THE Ryan Matthews to retain his title. (Photo by Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
Saint came out with the RPW Championship belt and presented it to Stone since Whittock couldn’t defend the title. Saint then said they will still have a championship match and The Ryan Matthews’ music hit. The beautiful member of The Undeniable came out to challenge the newly-crowned champ Stone.
In the latest chapter of a long-standing rivalry between the two, Stone came out victorious, but not without some shenanigans from The Undeniable. The Kings of the 6ix (Skylar Reed and Devin August) and Eric Schultz interfered on Matthews’ behalf and even J.Bek, who had been Matthews’ unwilling assistant (carrying the giant cardboard cutout of Matthews’ head), attacked Stone with his crutch.
Members of Those Damn Coyotes (Brooks Berna, Damien Deschain and Connor Hopkins) came out to offset The Undeniable and chase them to the back. Finally, back to a 1-on-1 affair, Stone hit his airplane spin into a sit-out powerbomb to get the pinfall victory on Matthews and the championship celebration ensued, much to the dismay of Saint.
“It’s been a hell of a ride,” Stone told Windy City Slam after the show. “But like I told you, I didn’t need to win, I had to win. Rocket Pro Wrestling, the landscape has changed. You can’t keep me down. You can throw whatever you want at me. I had to win this championship and I kept that promise.”
The card at “Kicks on 66” closed the chapter on some rivalries and opened the door for some questions on others.
After an outdoor fan fest, the show began with Rion Skillz defeating Orion for the RPW Inter-County Championship in a last-man-standing match. The match spilled into the crowd for a few minutes until they got back into the ring. Orion got a leg up on Skillz by using a medley of (toy) lightsaber strikes. The finish came when Skillz put Orion through a door held up by four steel chairs and Orion couldn’t answer referee Dev Anderson’s 10 count.
Joee Blues, left, and Brian Krazer leave the ring following their loss in the tornado tag team match to DC Shaw and Trevon Wolfe. (Photo by Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
Next, Davison Sarai came to the ring and called out the OG No Coast, Joee Blues and Brian Krazer, to give them certificates of completion to her counseling program. Blues and Krazer commented on how the certificates were cheap-looking and on notebook paper. Sarai took offense and said Blues and Krazer were on their own for their tornado tag team match against the other members of No Coast, DC Shaw and Trevon Wolfe.
Shaw and Wolfe ended up the victors in the wild brawl, which included weapons that the fans brought to St. Joe’s Park, which a Styrofoam head, a toilet seat, a stop sign and more. There was even a spot where Shaw and Wolfe executed a 3D on Blues on to a pair of action-figure-sized toy tables.
Chet Gunderson, Gunner Brave and Pat Ackerman and Tony Gabagool of the Lovely Intoxicated Men even had interactions in the match with Gunderson bringing a Thor magic hammer to DC Shaw for him to use.
Shaw hit Blues with a facebuster and scored the 3 count, but all wasn’t well with the winners. Wolfe attacked Shaw after the match as Shaw accidentally hit Wolfe in the closing moments of the bout.
The next match was the 8-man match that set the table for Nigh’s actions in the main event. The team of RPW Tag Team Champions Berna and Deschain, RPW Chicagoland Champion The Amazing Turtle and “Hot Rod” Daddy Andy (with Cactus Rack) defeated The World Famous Fabulous Idols (Grey, Kade, Harris and Nigh) when Joey Roth tried to hit “Hot Rod” with his personalized title, but “Hot Rod” ducked and Roth nailed Nigh, leading to “Hot Rod” getting the pin on Nigh.
After the match, Harris took the mic and started running down some of the RPW legends he has wrestled. Then “The Icon” Grin sauntered down to the ring and gave Harris a beating to the roar of the crowd.
In the final match before intermission, “Wild Child” Connor Hopkins finally overcame “The King of the North” Gunner Brave to win the RPW Outer Limits Championship in 2-out-of-3 falls match, ending Brave’s reign at over 500 days and concluding a chase that lasted multiple seasons at RPW.
Hopkins gained the first fall by countout after he made it back into the ring after he and Brave went through a stack of chairs on the outside of the ring. Brave evened things up at 1-1 when got a rollup pin on Hopkins. Hopkins took the decisive fall when he hit a Skull Crushing Finale-type maneuver from the top rope to get the pin on Brave.
“Wild Child” Connor Hopkins celebrates his RPW Outer Limits Championship victory after he defeated Gunner Brave in 2-out-3 falls match. (Photo by Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
“I’m living the dream. It’s been a fantastic evening,” Hopkins told Windy City Slam after the show. “The suitcase is a little heavier going home tonight. I’ve been chasing this for three years now, not even just the belt, but literally just beating Gunner Brave.”
Following intermission was the RPW Championship match, which Stone won.
The Final Level of Rockett and L.O.G.A.N. went wire-to-wire in a 5-team gauntlet match to win a future shot at the RPW Tag Team Championship held by Berna and Deschain. The Final Level quickly dispatched the team of Ruthless Rockin’ Rivera and Joey Dalton in the first match when Rockett got the pin on Dalton.
Shaq Jordan and The Ewokk were next and gave Rockett and L.O.G.A.N. a pretty good run before succumbing. The Kings of the 6ix came out next, but The Final Level basically squashed them to move on to the final match.
As The Scumbag Army of B.O.W. and Tommy Heisman (with Rat J. Flywheel) entered the arena, Reed and August jumped Rockett and L.O.G.A.N. That opened the door for The Scumbag to do some damage of their own. After a few minutes of taking a beating, The Final Level rallied for the victory as L.O.G.A.N. hit a superkick on Heisman and Rockett polished him with an M-80 to get the 3 count and a future shot at TDC.
In the semi-main event, “BuckNasty” Bucky Collins eked out a disqualification victory of “Old Evil” Christian Rose in a strap match. The rivals went tooth-and-nail in this grudge match using the strap as a weapon on each other. Rose grew frustrated when he couldn’t keep Collins down to touch all four corners and used a chair on Collins. After numerous warnings by referee Braylan Saunders, he had no choice but to DQ Rose for using the chair excessively.
Rose’s allies in TDC came out to calm him down, but in the process, Rose shoved Hopkins to the bewilderment of Berna and Deschain. Rose then looked conflicted as Collins continued to taunt him even after the bell.
“Rose is a bit of a hothead,” Hopkins said. “I thought he had kind of mellowed in his old age. It’s a weird touch-and-go situation. He won’t even talk to us in the back right now.”
Rocket Pro returns to Joliet for its sixth season on Saturday, Sept. 9 with a main event of Stone against Whittock for the RPW Championship in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match.
Check out a gallery of over 400 photos from “Kicks on 66” and RPW Fan Axxess: https://www.windycityslam.com/rocket-pro-wrestling-kicks-on-66-fan-axxess.
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.
