SLAM PRO WRESTLING CANBERRA - 27 May 2023 Review
While this show was fairly consistent throughout, this follows the typical SLAM pattern of also not presenting anything particularly remarkable. For an indie that is this well-presented and seems to have access to some of the nation’s best talent (alongside a burgeoning training school of local workers), it’s hard not to leave the shows without feeling like they aren’t reaching near the potential they could achieve. They have their niche carved out (lapsed fans of the early 2000s bringing their kids along to a family-friendly show) and I can’t begrudge them for chasing what is clearly working, but they have a ripe opportunity to create something that could form some buzz for the Australian scene - but instead they’ve chosen to be a clone of PWA/MCW’s family shows. It’s a shame really.
Still, there are a number of bright spots throughout their roster and shows. You just have to look a bit harder than the audience should need to. Let’s see how the night panned out!
Match #1 – Mick Moretti vs Tommy Knight
I've waxed lyrical before about Tommy Knight being the future of the Australian wrestling scene, and I'm glad to see he's being rotated into SLAM's regular roster. Why he hasn't been swooped up as a recurring monster gaijin for a Japanese company, I'll never know. Moretti's schtick rarely ever does it for me, but he's undeniably a good worker underneath the layers of tired Blackpool-era carnival worker tropes and horrid Wyatt-esque storyline tendencies.
This is about exactly what you'd expect, these two have quite a good match. Like every good Knight match, it's full of chops, strikes and throws, with Moretti getting some fun hope spots. This is a good pairing for a reason - Knight's matches inevitably have a "Keep It Simple Stupid" psychology sadly lost from modern wrestling (especially in Moretti's work). It's such an easy story to tell, big guy is a dominant force and the babyface has to try and find an opening, but Tommy always does it so well.
Tommy gets the win after a fun sequence, countering Moretti's attempted Curb Stomp with a Fisherman's Brainbuster followed up with a big Powerbomb.
3.5 stars – A simple story, executed with style.
Match #2 – Luke Watts vs Jengis Kong
Luke is coming off of an unsuccessful challenge for the Heavyweight title at the last show followed by being on the receiving end of the Mikey Broderick heel turn, and this was a by-the-numbers rebound match. It again was worked as a big guy heel vs underdog babyface but nowhere near as engaging as the opener. Jengis is frankly not very good, but is serviceable as an imposing-looking heel who can take losses on just about every show. Watts got the win with the Shooting Star Press.
The story here was Mikey Broderick running in after the match to attack Luke Watts again, to remind the crowd of his heel turn before the main event and set up the end-of-night angle to come. This also set up the main event being changed to a No Disqualification match between Broderick and Crofty, which is probably for the best.
2.5 stars - A forgettable match that existed to give Watts some momentum back and set up the main event.
Match #3 – Vinnie Bronson vs Lee Morrow
This was not very good, riddled with overused cliches and tropes, and a whole lot of stalling. The dynamic here is obvious - crowd-favourite patriot gimmick against slimy foreign heel with a despised manager. Morrow continues his streak of low effort matches that rely on lots of posing and posturing to the crowd (I swear Morrow is working a rib to see how long he can go without anyone in his matches taking a bump), pulling a child out of the crowd to use as a weapon, and yawn yawn yawn. Vinnie continues to be an effective heel, and it was smart to pair him with Josh, as Bronson has started to get a non-zero amount of cheers. Unfortunately Vinnie is far from compelling when working a control period, his offense primarily consisting of rest holds and overly weak looking strikes that always kills the momentum of an otherwise hot crowd.
Vinnie gets the win when after Josh interferes, leading to a weapon shot and Lee passing out in the London Eye (a Rings of Saturn) in a 7.5 minute match that felt like 30 minutes.
2 stars - Low energy work that slowed a high energy crowd.
Match #4 – The VeloCities (Jude London & Paris De Silva) vs. Big Rig Express (Carter Deams & Rig)
This was great, and one of the better SLAM matches to date. I was unsure how the heel/face dynamic would work here - VeloCities are understandably the perennial high-flying underdog babyfaces but often get a noticeable and bewildering negative reaction in Canberra, whereas Rig is the asshole heel that usually gets cheered. Thankfully the crowd here mostly played along with the intended alignments, which allowed for some great work.
I hadn't seen much of Deams prior to this match, but he stood out on the night as looking like an absolute star. He was the one person in this match that got consistent heat, his workrate was fantastic (showing more effort than most interstate workers do when coming to Slam), and his teamwork with Rig was interesting and fluid.
These two teams had great chemistry with each other and this felt like a breath of fresh air in a company that is starting to feel like it's presenting the same rote card each time. Please SLAM, more matches like this and fewer matches like Vinnie/Morrow.
VeloCities get the win with dual 619s/dual frog splashes in a great match.
3.75 stars - A glimpse into what this company could be, exciting stuff.
Match #5 - Dan Archer vs Caveman Ugg
This match was originally meant to be Dan Archer vs Slex, The Business (which I was very much looking forward to), but Slex was taken off the card due to a purported injury. Archer entered, cut a heel promo to nuclear heat, as Archer is very skilled at getting, and then did an Open Challenge gimmick which was answered by the unadvertised Ugg.
This wasn't particularly long and played out as one might expect - Ugg overwhelmed with dominating force, while the Archer scampered for any opening or way out of this predicament.
Archer gets the win by rolling up Ugg and putting his feet on the ropes out of the referee's eyeline. This was a fun little match to see a cowardly heel hoisted on his own petard, but didn't last long enough to reach beyond 'good'.
3 stars - A fun enough way to keep up Archer's momentum ahead of his Slex match.
Match #6 – Kingsley vs GymBro Jessie
On only her second showing, Jessie is already the most over wrestler in the women's division in Slam. Usual Australian crowd favourites like Jessica Troy and Cherry Stephens have been poorly received during their showings in Canberra, but Jessie has carved out a niche with an overly stylised gimmick that, if nothing else, gets the crowd involved. She may not be a particularly developed work as yet, but at least she makes the crowd care - which has been an issue with SLAM's women's division to date. Kingsley is the division stalwart here and is a decent enough heel foil for Jessie. They even do a spot where Kingsley accidentally takes some of Jessie's preworkout and comedically hulks up.
Kinsley gets the win with a Codebreaker in a match that won't blow you away but didn't kill the crowd before the main event.
2.25 stars - Gimmick heavy comedy match.
Match #7 - Mikey Broderick vs Crofty - SLAM Pro Wrestling Championship - No Disqualification Match
Look, Crofty isn't some kind of amazing worker, and I think he'd be the first person to admit that. But he is undeniably the most over babyface regular on the SLAM roster, and is the perfect character to pair against Mikey to solidify the latter's still-fresh heel turn as the 500+ day world champion. Making this No Disqualification earlier in the night was also a clever choice made to provide some smoke and mirrors for Crofty's abilities and provide a slightly plausible chance for him to prevail here.
The plunder was pretty tame - trash cans, a chair, and a table were the extent to which they worked the stip, but it was enough to keep the crowd engaged throughout (unfortunately this is still a crowd of the "we want tables" persuasion as well as other passé chants stuck in the early 2000's).
Right when it looked like Crofty was going to claim victory, Vinnie and Josh ran in to play interference. Josh unsuccessfully tried a chairshot on Crofty, but it was enough of an opening for the brass knuckles from Vinnie to lead to a Mikey Broderick elbow drop for the victory.
After the bell, a beatdown on Crofty continued until Luke Watts ran out to make a save and set up the main event for the next show - a tag match between Vinnie/Mikey vs Luke/Crofty. It's great that the company continues to build stories and main events around all local Canberra talent, however it does seem like a bit of an anaemic main event - especially as it will be SLAM's first time running a new building (which also seems like a poor fit) and trialling livestreaming. Hopefully that main event sets up the build for the December National Convention Centre show, which has felt underbuilt for its level of ambition (where I'm expecting a Mikey/Slex main event with the face/heel alignments reversed from the first ever SLAM main event).
2.5 stars - An underwhelming brawl that existed purely to set up future angles.
AVERAGE RATING: 2.79 of 5 stars (or 5.58 of 10)
SUMMARY: A consistent night of action that built an angle for their penultimate show before their National Convention Centre big show in December, but nothing that would make you upset if you didn’t manage to get a ticket. Skippable, inessential, but better than sitting on your couch I suppose.
