An upcoming live professional wrestling show from KCXW
My crazy pro wrestling weekend, which also includes a show by Tri States Wrestling, will come to a close with KCXW Unleashed at Soccer Nation KC. This will be my first time attending a show at this venue, but I know this is basically the company’s primary home in Kansas City, and I’ll be pumped to check it out. After thoroughly enjoying my time at KCXW Destiny in Independence, MO last January, I knew I was going to have to at least try to make it to Unleashed. So far, there appear to be eight matches announced that we will be taking a look at, that way if you are on the fence, you can get a good idea of what to expect. I hope to see some of my readers there at the show!
This show will have a silent auction, and it’s cool to see some of my show pics being included as part of one of the prizes (The Tobias Storm Jacket Bert Candy ripped)! As you all know, my photography isn’t the greatest, but being part of KCXW history, in even the smallest way, is pretty awesome!
Some of the big attractions for this event include the return of a KCXW star from the past, the culmination of the Season of Xcellence Tournament as well as two gigantic title matches. There’s going to be a little bit of everything for everyone, so without further ado, let’s take a look at what to expect next weekend!
For More about KCXW, check out their Facebook Page HERE, Their YouTube HERE. KCXW is also on Cagematch, HERE (although missing a few years). If you are a fan, make sure to drop likes, and reviews, or join their social media pages! For more pro wrestling content, click HERE.
The Card:
About a month ago, KCXW released a video teasing the introduction of a new wrestler named Rad Rico. Armed with an old school boom box and a style pulled directly out of the 80’s hip-hop community, Rico was living it up in what one can assume is one of his favorite haunts – an old school skating rink. Dubbed “Too Hip, Too Fresh….Too Rad Rico!”, Rad Rico seems poised to make a name for himself in KCXW and I am pretty excited. I love seeing when new talent pops up and this has every hallmark of a classic debut.
There is currently no word on who Rad Rico will be facing at Unleashed, but with the wide array of talents on the roster, I’m sure it will be a solid debut. Let’s see if Rico lives up to the hype or if this will just be another one-hit wonder.
As I mentioned before, Destiny 2024 was my first KCXW show, and I was in the front row for the utter travesty that was Bigg Dogg losing the Kansas City Championship to Hard Luck Hal Rogers through questionable means. I’m still hoping he gets a rematch from his contract (unless this has happened on their YouTube show that I am admittedly behind on), but until then it seems as if he has tumbled down the ladder a bit and will be facing CK Cosmic at KCXW Unleashed. That isn’t to say CK Cosmic is not championship material, but Bigg Dogg isn’t the only one that has fallen on some challenging times as of late.
After losing to “All Slay” Angel Shay at Destiny, CK Cosmic went on to the February 10th episode of KCXW Showcase only to lose once again to Blaire Dior. Commentary reminded the fans that he was unfortunately racking up losses on a prolonged losing streak at this point. After shrugging off an offer for help from The Marksman, CK almost seemed on the verge of hanging up his boots for the last time before Bigg Dogg gave him a pep talk going into their big upcoming match. Bigg Dogg took exception to how mopey he was being, and wanted to face the best version of CK Cosmic he could. Bigg Dogg pointed out that he’s had losing streaks before, but he always climbs back up, and CK should try to do the same. CK seems to now have a bit of a renewed sense of vigor, and with any luck this will be a hell of a match!
That’s why I sponsored this match for KCXW Unleashed, because I want to see both of these guys pull themselves back up and claim what they are owed!
Next up involves a HUGE return to the Kansas City area as Unleashed will be showcasing an appearance by Camron Bra’nae, fka NXT’s Amari Miller! Bra’nae left WWE a few months ago, and at that time she didn’t seem sure of what her future held. Luckily for her, the Kansas and Missouri wrestling scenes in 2024 are wildly different than they were back in 2019, and she is a sought-after worker. My first exposure to her was a co-branded NBW/KCXW show back in 2018 (I believe), and it was a show where a match between her and Tootie Lynn blew me away and was easily the best match of the night.
At Unleashed, she will be fighting none other than former KCXW Kansas City Champion “The Realist” Calvin Aldridge. Considering his astonishing record (and his buddies), I’d normally be somewhat worried about Camron Bra’nae, but The Realist has a second match on April 20th, and as a result I’m not sure he’s going to be able to make it through untouched!
Camron will also be on tap for an additional special engagement, a Fan Q&A Meet and Greet that will be held before the show for those that pay a little extra on top of their ticket price. Be sure to head over to KCXW’s ticketing site for more information.
The Main Attractions (Blaire Dior and James Moore) have their sights set on “All Slay” Angel Shay and Bert Candy at Unleashed, and honestly this could go either way. I say this because there is absolutely no way Bert Candy is at 100% after the brutal beating that he sustained at the hands of Lady Pride, David Cattin, and Jude Vice at Destiny (the newly formed Xtremists). He was beaten mercilessly and unceremoniously hurled onto a very rigid painters’ table, clearly suffering, at the very least, bruised ribs and a head injury. This was all part of their plan to rid KCXW of “everything that makes the company look soft”, which they see Bert as the epitome of.
While Shay can likely carry herself against anyone, if necessary, this could be the story of a three on two encounter assuming Aldrige is at ringside, as well as an injured partner. The Main Attractions are like sharks, and a situation like this is basically blood in the water for them, and I’m pretty worried it’s just going to be too much.
This is going to be a real treat! I saw these two men face off back in Gladstone, Missouri last summer with Tri States Wrestling, and it was a crazy introduction to El Diablo for sure. After seeing a few matches online, I’ve come to the conclusion that any showdown between “The Hypothetical Specialist” Dr. Isin and “The Aztec Demon from the Year 3000” El Diablo is going to be hard to beat, likely to be the low-key match of the night for me. Dr. Isin is notorious for kind of “blurring the lines” between right and wrong during his matches, and despite being a fan-favorite, I’d be hard-pressed to say that The University of Guadalajara Online’s most famous surgeon is always in the right.
On the other hand, El Diablo has fought many battles through time and space and knows that, due to his smaller stature, he sometimes has to put his body on the line to secure wins. This often results in him hurling every shred of his humanity through things like tables and diving out of the ring onto his opponents. He has had a hell of a run so far as the Metro Champion, and I seriously doubt he’s going to be willing to let his championship gold go anytime soon. We saw him get beat down by Calvin Aldridge and his goons, The Main Attractions, at Destiny, so it will be interesting to see if that is fully in the past and just a result of Calvin being a sore loser. This is definitely a match to look out for!
After what happened at KCXW Destiny, I would not want to be on the other side of the ring from The Xtremists (Jude Vice, David Cattin, and Lady Pride) in any way. They have said many times that they are seeking a rebirth of the “X” in KCXW and won’t stop until everything deemed “soft” has been pushed out of the company. I mentioned before that a three-way tornado tag match became an absolute car-crash as Lady Pride flipped sides and helped beat The Guff, Dragon Ninja, and Bert Candy to a pulp. Bert was obviously the main target of the attack, and I’m hoping this match doesn’t descend into similar circumstances.
They will be facing the team of “Big” Clay Huna, Atlas Armstrong, and Tyler, a somewhat rag-tag group that separately is very skilled, but likely has not gelled as a cohesive fighting force. Clay Huna is last year’s Season of Xcellence Tournament winner, so that pedigree speaks for itself in many ways. Two men accompany him, with the first being XWC trainee Tyler, who I am not too familiar with as well as Atlas Armstrong who I am. I have seen a lot of Atlas Armstrong through his appearances at TSW and KCXW Destiny, and I know he can do some impressive stuff, so I at least know this team has the potential to bring it home. Can the young upstarts pull in together and stop this new “Age of Xtreme” from going any further, or will they just end up statistics on the long list of attacks by these demented people?
This year’s Season of Xcellence Tournament has boiled down to this very moment, the final match between Tobias Storm and “The Realist” Calvin Aldridge. Ever since the first qualifying matches held at Destiny, the KCXW roster has been battling it out to get to this point, and boy does this promise to be a banger. Depending on how this pans out, I feel like Tobias has a slight advantage for the reasons mentioned above – Calvin has two matches at Unleashed. While I’m sure that he is definitely up to it, and I’m aware that his entourage will likely be involved, that still takes a lot out of a competitor, especially when coming toe-to-toe with somebody that is arguably pound-for-pound one of the strongest members of the KCXW roster.
If Tobias Storm can navigate all of the perils involved with not only the other members of The Main Attractions, but even The One Percenter” Richard Goldman who has been trying to woo Storm into his care, my bet would be on him. That’s honestly a tough order, and a lot of lesser men would crumble under the pressure, but after witnessing Tobias do his thing in the Kansas City wrestling scene all year, I think he might just be able to pull it off. Will Calvin’s past as a KCXW champion and his various helpers get the job done, or will Tobias be able to push past the adversity and seal the deal?
The main event for KCXW Unleashed is none other than “Hard Luck” Hal Rogers against “The Marksman” Gerard Jaworski for the Kansas City Championship. This is somewhat of a rematch from Destiny 2024 in that one of the preliminary matches of that show was a quick matchup between these two men that abruptly ended after Rogers got himself disqualified to conserve energy for this main event match later in the evening. That’s one thing I’ve seen Hal Rogers do really well – manipulate the officials to bend them towards his goals. It’s also how he won the title from The Bigg Dogg, as he was able to create a situation where the referee got hurt and Hal capitalized on it. The Marksman is really going to have to keep his eyes open and watch out for any hinky little tricks or secret wrenches around the ring, because if you give Rogers and inch, he’ll take that proverbial mile, and then some.
This ought to be an awesome main event by two astounding athletes that have really impressed me so far in my brief time keeping up with this company. That’s right, even though Hal pisses me off, the dude knows how to win, and one really can’t fault him in that considering that’s the whole point of professional wrestling. I’m not saying I’ll root for Hal, but it’s really The Marksman’s match to lose and he better be willing to possibly twist the rules himself in order to get the job done.
