Our latest dip into the offerings of (what was) Powerbomb.tv takes us to WWR’s Tournament For Tomorrow.
I’ve lost count of how many times Beyond’s promotions have done Tournaments for Tomorrow in 2018, but this was the last one of the year – a women’s tag team tournament, with the winners facing the winners of the men’s tournament from earlier this year.
Anyway, this show’s coming from the Electric Haze, with Paul Crockett and Skylar on commentary. We’re looking at the semi-main event – a non-tournament match featuring two names from the US scene that’s gotten quite some buzz…
Kylie Rae vs. Kris Stadtlander
With the ring announcer Rich Palladino telling us that she’s “happy to be here”, Kylie’s name may well hold her back if she ever makes a trip to Europe… particularly Scotland!
We start with some lock-ups, with Rae eventually scoring with a headlock takedown as she tried to keep the much taller Stadtlander on the mat. Kris is able to work herself free as commentary played up her extra terrestrial gimmick, before Stadtlander pulled Kylie down into a Fujiwara armbar, as she then opted to work the arm in a rather different way instead.
After that, Stadtlander cartwheels around the ring, eventually taking Rae down with some headscissors, before a waistlock takedown keeps Kylie on the mat. Another headlock takedown’s next as Stadtlander was asserting herself on Rae, but Rae turns it around with a shoulder block and an armdrag when Kris decided to take it to the ropes.
Kylie keeps up with the armdrags as the pair kept things simple, with the arm of Stadtlander continuing to be worked on as Kylie worked an armbar into a deathlock, before taking Stadtlander into the corner for an uppercut. The follow-up cannonball misses, allowing Kris to score an easy two-count from the remnants of that, before she switched up her game plan and worked a bridging deathlock to Rae’s left leg.
A leg sweep and an eventual handstand/legdrop from Stadlander keep her ahead for a near-fall, as a cravat slowed the pace down again. Some short-arms clotheslines kept Rae on a leash, but she’s able to duck one and respond with a German suplex, before Stadtlander kicked out of a Victory Roll and… blasted Rae with another clothesline. She drags Kylie into the corner as “it’s time to blast off”… but Rae catches her up top, only to get shoved back down as she eventually took Stadtlander down with a superplex!
Rae continued her fightback with some right hands and clotheslines, only for Stadtlander to return the favour before she got caught with a wacky lucha armdrag takedown for an eventual near-fall. A spinning heel kick from Stadtlander almost ends it right there, before Kylie clotheslined her to the outside as a low-pe took the pair into the VIP seating. Back inside, Rae scores with a Russian legsweep into a crossface – dubbed the Charity Case – but Kris rolls into a pinning attempt for a near-fall.
Stadtlander catches another kick and lifts Kylie into another Electric Chair, this time dropping her on her face before Kylie rebounded with another superkick for another close call. If anything that made Rae get a little cocky, as she started to trash talk Stadtlander, who looked for more high kicks, including a pump kick alongside Rae’s forearms, before catching Rae off the ropes with a Finlay roll.
The follow-up springboard moonsault misses (it turned out, you can escape…), allowing Rae to dropkick her back into the corner for the cannonball for another near-fall. From there, Rae goes back into the Charity Case crossface, but again Stadtlander gets free as her gangly frame easily allowed her to get into the ropes. Some indy’riffic pinning attempts follow for a string of two counts, before an axe kick from Stadtlander ended it all. A pretty good match between two women who are still pretty early on in their careers. ***
With the much written about shifts in the landscape expected in 2019, there’ll be a lot of spots opening up on cards, so I’d expect both Kylie and Kris to be around a lot more this year. Perhaps even internationally, depending on how much that landscape alters…