SLAM PRO WRESTLING CANBERRA - 1 April 2023 Review
This was a strange show for SLAM Pro. It had their weakest on-paper card to date, given a couple of their regular talents were on the other side of the world trying to get WrestleMania Weekend bookings. A lot of the characters are at the midpoints of their current arc - it left this show feeling very transitory. Nonetheless, it was still a raging success (570+ seat sellout) and after intermission it was announced that SLAM will be running the National Convention Centre in December - a venue that can be set up to hold thousands. They are billing it as the biggest solely Australian show, and whether that’s true or not, it’s a very ambitious goal.
Match #1 – Dazza vs Dan Archer
Dan Archer keeps getting the short shrift of this promotion. He’s consistently one of the most over heels and continues to put on the best workrate matches in the promotion this side of the VeloCities. Yet he keeps being lumped into the opening match, going 50/50 with undercard talent.
But if he had to lose in this opening match at least it was to Dazza, who is one of the few consistently over babyfaces in this promotion. Canberra seems to love its working-class characters more than any other archetype, and Dazza is the perfect representation of that.
This was a decent little opening match, with some audience stalling (a running theme for the night). Dazza gets the rolling fireman’s carry for the win in 8 minutes and 12 seconds.
3 stars – A fun, if short, match to set the tone.
Match #2 – Chief Rig vs Mat Diamond
Rig is one of a handful of wrestlers who plays heel but gets cheered by SLAM regulars on a consistent basis. He tries to get cheap heat at every event (flipping off fans, feining handshakes, eye rakes, etc) but the Canberra crowd loves bigger-stature wrestlers and seems to detest cruiserweights of any kind.
Which leads to Mat Diamond. A standout worker in Australia (and one-half of a stellar tag team with Robbie Eagles), Diamond’s response as a plucky babyface in SLAM ranges from tepid applause to outright rejection. As a smaller guy, he seems to be largely ignored by the crowd whose habits are stuck in 2003 (complete with ‘we want tables’ chants and misogynistic heckling during any women’s match).
It’s a shame as these two have a great match in them, but the entirety of this one was spent trying to reinforce their intended crowd alignment - which is a Sisyphean effort at this point.
Rig gets the corner cannonball followed up by the rear naked choke for the submission win in 6 minutes and 30 seconds.
2.5 stars – A dull match that dug its heels in regarding crowd reaction instead of leaning in.
Match #3 – Albie Anne Troska vs Gymbro Jessie
It’s a women’s match in SLAM, so you can expect the crowd to be generally quiet or hostile. Thankfully this was mostly the former. Albie seemed shaky out there, but still an improvement over her last showing. Gymbro Jessie looks green but at least has some kind of gimmick for the crowd to get behind - by the end of the match, chants of ‘Bro’ were adopted and we have the first signs of momentum and progress for this division.
The work itself was a bit stilted and awkward (multiple botched slams and out-of-position spots), and relied a little too heavily on prop comedy. Still, anything that gets this crowd bought into this division is a step in the right direction.
Jessie gets the win with an airplane spin followed up by a Death Valley Driver for the pin in 8 minutes and 38 seconds.
2 stars - An okay first showing for Jessie, but slowed the night’s momentum down.
Match #4 – Slex vs Vinnie Bronson
Every time Slex (comma The Business) wrestles, it’s clear he’s operating on a higher level of experience and talent than any other regular on these shows.
This was the first match where Slex was an outright babyface in this promotion, following a year-long slow burn turn. I usually prefer Slex as a heel, but this crowd wants to support him so badly that he is absolutely electric as a face in Canberra.
Vinnie was a great pairing here, garnering consistent nuclear heat (despite being SLAM’s top merch seller), with a willingness to look silly and a methodical style that lends itself to numerous hope spots.
This was the best match of the night and had some really good work throughout. Slex hit a number of great suplexes, strikes and springboards - and Vinnie took some particularly nasty bumps to establish Slex as a viable babyface threat (including getting dumped out of the ring and onto his head on the floor).
Vinnie’s manager Josh gets ejected for interference, and Slex hits the cyclone kick for the pinfall victory in 10 minutes and 5 seconds.
3.5 stars – One of Australia’s best finds his footing in a new role.
Match #5 - The Original Greasers (Robbie Zucco & Tristan Slade) vs. The Prehistoric Conquerors (Caveman Ugg & Jengis Kong)
Everyone in this match looked and wrestled like complete shindie weekend warriors - except for Caveman Ugg who is excellent as usual.
The Greasers at least got the crowd bought into saying “Ayyy” every time they got offence, which was probably too often considering their opponents.
Ugg absolutely decimated these JAGs (Just Another Guy) with some of the loudest chops I’ve ever heard, but otherwise this match didn’t have too much going for it outside of some comedic crowd chanting. It wasn’t awful, it just existed.
The Conquerors get the win after a combination Razor’s Edge and top rope splash for the pinfall in 10 minutes and 58 seconds.
2.75 stars – A waste of Ugg, but not necessarily bad.
Match #6 – Crofty vs Ricky South
If you need a heel to get over as a heel in Canberra, put them against Crofty.
He’s a vet of the Canberra scene and is beloved by every type of fan in that audience. South debuted as a face on the last show but turned heel in the Rumble main event. Still, with the SLAM crowd having the memory of a goldfish, they pair him against Crofty to establish the turn.
This wasn’t particularly interesting, given Ricky’s heel schtick seems to follow the WWE model of cutting a mid-match promo in a resthold rather than actually wrestling like a heel. Even Crofty couldn’t break the quiet lull that this match put over the crowd at times. It took South badmouthing [local sports team] in a desperate case of cheap heat to get any crowd investment toward the end.
This one looked like it got cut short - the ref talked to both guys mid-spot, who then bailed out of the spot to let Crofy hit his sitout spike piledriver for the sudden win at 9 minutes and 14 seconds.
2 stars – A disappointing heel showing for South, who looks to be replicating his bland PWA heel run in another state.
Match #7 - Super Bison vs Hugh Beauty
Bison really struggles every time he’s in the ring - he’s either very green, very bad, or (most likely) both.
This was a surprise open challenge answered by a fellow rookie and it didn’t last very long. The only notable thing from this match was the hint of Bison finally starting to work a bit heel. Hopefully this means he can drop some of the sillier aspects of his schtick and undertake a heel run that will let him hone his pacing a bit better.
Hugh Beauty gets the unlikely win from a springboard crossbody in 2 minutes and 40 seconds.
2.25 stars – It did what it needed to, which wasn’t very much.
Match #8 - Mikey Broderick vs Luke Watts – Slam Pro World Championship
This was meant to be a big Face vs Face match that was built up over the last few months.
Mikey is the ever-defending hometown boy champion, who has held the title for over 500 days. Luke Watts is the sentimental favourite, who won a Rumble in January to set up this match.
The only issue? On this night, the crowd didn’t seem particularly interested in getting behind either guy.
The work was crisp, and the spots were fun (including some big dives to the outside and nasty strike exchanges). Unfortunately it fell to the same fate as many Face vs Face matches in wrestling history where the crowd didn’t know who they wanted to support, so every reaction became a muddled murmur struggling to garner any momentum. These two guys tried valiantly, but they were booked into a corner that they weren’t able to overcome.
Mikey gets the win in a controversial fashion. A ref gets bumped and replaced by another ref, Mikey rolls up Luke and uses the rope for leverage. One ref counts the pin, the other sees the rope grab. It all seemed like they were setting up for a Dusty finish, but they decide to let the pinfall be official (in 17 minutes and 12 seconds) to the chants of ‘Bullshit’.
Among all this confusion, Mikey attacks Luke with the title belt, cementing his heel turn. At least the crowd drowned him in boos after this. There is an announcement that at the next show, Mikey will face Crofty (the heel-maker himself) for the title, and the crowd get sent home… happy? Apathetic? Hard to tell.
3 stars – A good in-theory main event that struggled with its awkward dynamics.
AVERAGE RATING: 2.62 of 5 stars (or 5.24 of 10)
SUMMARY: This was easily the weakest Slam show yet, but it set up a number of directions they could go and ended on a hot angle - two things that Slam seems quite good at delivering after every event. Nothing on this show was particularly worth watching, but it was an enjoyable night all the same. While I’m sceptical of their ability to fill the National Convention Centre in December, their current success at least puts them in with a shot.
