WAW North America invades Tinley Park
SARAYA KNIGHT, KAMILLE, THOM LATIMER AMONG STARS AT “A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER”
By Mike Pankow
August 4, 2023
The World Association of Wrestling was made famous by a documentary and a biopic of one of the most famous wrestling families in the world.
WAW, owned and operated by Ricky and Saraya Knight, looked to expand their brand into North America after dominating its home base of Norwich, England. With a card that included Saraya, the matriarch of the Knight family, NWA World Women’s Champion Kamille, NWA World Television Champion Thom Latimer, NWA rising star Samantha Starr and her mother, “The Perfect 10” Baby Doll, it was positioned to be a star-studded evening.
WAW came into the public limelight with a documentary called “The Wrestlers: Fighting With My Family,” focused on the Knight family – “Sweet” Saraya, “Rowdy” Ricky, their sons Zak and Ricky Jr. and famous daughter Saraya of AEW (fka Paige in WWE and Brittani in the UK). That documentary spun off into a feature film called, “Fighting With My Family,” starring Florence Pugh, Lena Headey, Vince Vaughn, The Rock and Stephen Merchant.
NWA World Women’s Champion Kamille, left, brawls with “Sweet” Saraya Knight as referee Justin King looks on in the main event of “A Knight To Remember” on Friday, July 28, 2023. (Photo: Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
The British Invasion continued last Friday night (July 28) at the Tinley Park Convention Center in South Suburban Tinley Park as “Sweet” Saraya, in more of an ironic sense, battled Kamille for the NWA Worlds Women’s Championship in the main event of a show that drew a crowd of 462.
Kamille emerged victorious in what was more a fight than a match as about 80 percent of the bout was contested outside the ring. After Kamille made her entrance and was about the get into the ring, Saraya jumped her from behind and referee Justin King called for the bell to start the match.
The women fought all over the convention center hall, going through the crowd, by merchandise tables, and near the ring entrance set before the brawl finally spilled into the ring. Saraya appeared to be on the verge of becoming the new NWA Champion, but Kamille overcame interference by Saraya’s agent Chazz Moretti, to reverse Saraya’s submission attempt into a version of the surfboard stretch. Saraya submitted as Kamille retained “The Burke,” the nickname for the belt honoring the great Mildred Burke.
NWA star Thomas Latimer, left, grapples with B.O.W. during their match for the WAW North American British Commonwealth Championship. (Photo: Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
Latimer, the Husband of Kamille, NWA star and former NXT and IMPACT Wrestling star, defeated the monstrous B.O.W. in a matchup of two power wrestlers. Latimer used his technical advantage to gain the victory by locking B.O.W. in a crossface submission to the dismay of B.O.W.’s manager, The Sinister Minister of Fear. The victory gave Latimer another title to go along with the NWA World Television Championship as Latimer was crowned the first WAW North America British Commonwealth Champion.
In a match to determine the first WAW North American Women’s Champion, NWA’s Samantha Starr survived a grueling affair against “The Midwest Slayer” Stacy Shadows. Shadows, who usually wrestles in the Midwest and sometimes with Melanie Cruise as “The Maidens of Iron,” was the babyface in the match as illustrated by Starr’s pre-bell attack on Shadows, thanks to a distraction by Baby Doll.
Starr continued to thwart Shadows with heel tactics such as standing on her hair and ramming her head the mat several times. Starr finished off the victory by hitting Shadows with a DDT (made famous by her uncle Jake “The Snake” Roberts) and getting the 3-count following another distraction by Baby Doll.
Arguably the best match of the night was Mustang Mike’s victory over “It’s Ya Boi” Mason Percs (with The Sinister Minister of Fear) for the vacant WAW North American Heavyweight Championship. The 52-year-old Mustang Mike, from Louisiana, was the last NWA North American Champion before the title was disbanded when Billy Corgan bought the NWA a few years ago.
Percs, who recently held the POWW Entertainment Midwest Championship before it was put in abeyance, showed why he’s one of the best up-and-comers on the Chicago scene. The Jimmy Blaze-schooled Percs demonstrated a great ability to tell the story of the match with great selling and showed off great skill in the ring.
Mustang Mike delivers a clothesline to “It’s Ya Boi” Mason Percs during the match to determine the WAW North American Heavyweight Championship (Photo: Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
The chemistry between Mustang Mike and Percs was perfect as they put a clinic with numerous believable near falls. Percs hit his leg lariat, but only got a 2-count. Mustang Mike rocked Percs with a spear, but he only got a 2-count. Mustang Mike sealed the victory with a version of The Final Cut (used by The Big Show during his WWE run).
“Golden Boy” Greg Anthony brought some West Tennessee flavor to Tinley Park and retained his AIWF World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Chicago-area veteran Scott Spade (with Mistress Misery). It was a good psychological affair with Spade using heel tactics, including stalling for water breaks.
Anthony got the victory when Spade traded to charge him, but Anthony broke free of the interfering Misery and Spade ran into her. Anthony took advantage and rolled up Spade for the 3-count. Misery and Spade argued for a brief moment, but they ended up embracing as Anthony celebrated his win.
The show opened with a fun match between “Hawaiian Hitman” Koa Laxamana and Moondog Murray. Before the match, Laxamana and Kallies Malia asked, “Who wants to get lei’d?” as they tossed leis to the crowd.
It was a battle of two popular wrestlers from the Chicagoland area as the veteran Laxamana used his breakneck style of hard-hitting and high-flying to eventually score the victory. Laxamana hit Moondog was a splash from the top rope and got the 3-count. Murray’s recently-won POWW Entertainment was not on the line.
In a David-vs.-Goliath-type affair, the 200-pound masked Yellowjacket got a rollup victory on Bull Bronson, who was billed as being twice the size of Yellowjacket.
The Amazing Velvet won a battle royal, last eliminating Gavin Alexander after Velvet’s manager, David Barnabas Spector appeared to turn on Velvet and align with Alexander after Spector berated Velvet for not listening to him. Spector grabbed the top rope in hopes of eliminating Velvet, but Velvet reserved the momentum and dumped Alexander over the top.
Among the others in the battle royal included Yakuza, Eric Schultz, VIP, Percs and Jack Monahan.
Another rising star in the Chicago area proved his worth at “A Knight To Remember” as “Da Kang” Myles Mercer (with C.Red) defeated Marco Cordova (with Sexy Sandra D.) Sandra tried to interfere, but she accidently grabbed Cordova and Mercer rolled him up for the 3-count.
To crown the new WAW North American Tag Team Championships, Da House of Payne (Nick Payne and Hakim Ali) defeated the team of Eric Schultz and VIP (accompanied by “The Symbols” Joey Roth and Roxi Heart). Schultz and VIP, who have history in Southland Championship Wrestling, gelled pretty well, but the established team of Payne and Ali made the trip back to New York a little sweeter with some gold.
After the Kamille-Saraya Knight match concluded, Moretti took the mic to state after 13 years, the Chazz Moretti Agency is closed in the United States and that he will continue as the booking agent for WAW North America and thanked Saraya for her support.
Check out a gallery of 350 photos from “A Knight To Remember”: https://www.windycityslam.com/waw-north-america-a-knight-to-remember.
Mustang Mike speaks to Windy City Slam's Mike Pankow following WAW North America's "A Knight To Remember" at the Tinley Park Convention Center in Tinley Park, Ill. on Friday night, July 28, 2023. Mustang Mike comments on his victory over "It's Ya Boi" Mason Percs to win the vacant WAW North American Heavyweight Championship.
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/.
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