Prior to December 14th, 2011 Chance Prophet and the Tokyo Monster Kahagas had never met in the ring before. As a matter of fact they had never even wrestled on the same card before.
But sometimes all it takes is an unusual idea to create magic. For the NWA National Heavyweight Champion and his newest nemesis, all it took was one match to ignite a new feud and spark interest in a brand that in the Sunshine State had seen better times.
The Prophet-Kahagas pairing was the brainchild of matchmaker Larry Brannon (aka Vito DeNucci of New Heavenly Body fame and a three-time former NWA World Tag Team Champion), who thought having two wrestlers in face paint and presented as bad guys, would be an interesting matchup for the fans; a throwback to the classic heel versus heel battles. And even though Brannon has shown a creative prowess for visionary concepts as far back as 2001 when he was the first person to ever book Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles in a match together, he knew the Prophet-Kahagas match was a gamble as the outcome could’ve gone either way. Like the Daniels-Styles combination, the risk paid off.
Not since the days of Abdullah the Butcher and the Original Sheik Ed Farhat had fans seen such brutality from two competitors in what could best be described as an old school environment. The building itself that hosted the historic first meeting between Prophet and Kahagas was once a Mecca of sorts for Florida wrestling fans. The National Guard Armory in Fort Lauderdale, although not as famous as its Tampa cousin, the Fort Homer W. Hesterly Armory, had seen its fair share of historic confrontations as the Briscos (Jack and Gerry), the Funks (Dory Jr. and Terry), “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, “The Prince of Darkness” Kevin Sullivan, Bob Roop, Barry Windham, Blackjack Mulligan and a host of others have all called the building “Home” when in South Florida. So when Prophet and Kahagas took their battle out of the ring and into the crowd, it was as if they were tapping into the energy of the legends that had come before them – and the result was an old-school knock-down, drag-out, brawl.
Simply put it was that match, which ended in a wild double disqualification that took three referees and half the locker room to get under control, that got Florida wrestling fans talking again about the NWA – what it once was, and more importantly, under the Ring Warriors banner, what it could potentially be again.
Because of the amazing buzz the match produced on top of a card that easily qualified for Indie card of the year, NWA Ring Warriors immediately brought the match back for January 18th, this time with the stipulation of lumberjacks surrounding the ring to keep Prophet and Kahagas in check. But in the end all the lumberjacks did was add to the chaos and mayhem, creating another double disqualification scenario as veteran referee Bruce Michaels was left bleeding after accidentally being struck with a metal chair.
It was at that point that Brannon decided to put the pair inside a steel cage with the only way to win being to climb over the top. With the new scenario, there would be no count outs, no disqualifications, no referee stoppages or for that matter, no pins. To quote the old axiom, two men will enter, but only one will exit victorious – and to the winner will go the spoils.
Prophet recently had this to say about the upcoming match:
The Prophet-Kahagas Cage Match for the NWA National Heavyweight Championship is part of a nine-match card that will take place on Thursday, March 29, at the Fort Lauderdale National Guard Armory.
In addition to Prophet and Kahagas, the show will feature NWA World Heavyweight Champion “Scrap Iron” Adam Pearce, Ring of Honor’s Jim Cornette and an ROH competitor, NWA World Tag Team Champions The Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis & Kory Chavis), “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn, The Headbangers, Tammy Sytch, Jesse Neal and Christina Von Eerie, The Red Devil Fight Team, Vordell Walker, The Giant Titan, Santana Garrett and Chasyn Rance, “The Marquee” Bruce Santee and many others.
For tickets and details, click here
No comments:
Post a Comment