Last night at Super Showdown VI in Toronto, Canada, Smash Wrestling crowned a new Smash Champion, as Canadian indie star TARIK defeated Joey Janela for the vacant championship. The title was previously held by Franky TM, the nefarious leader of the faction Malice (along with Vanessa Kraven and the Super Smash Bros), but “The Beast King” vacated the title when he departed from the promotion earlier this summer.
A heartfelt congratulations to our unexpected NEW Smash Wrestling World Champion – TARIK! pic.twitter.com/L6ABAod7WR
— Smash Wrestling (@smashwrestling) August 27, 2018
The match was originally scheduled to be #1 Contender Tyson Dux – one of Canada’s veteran indie stars, who has worked in the past for Ring of Honor, IMPACT Wrestling as well as representing the Great White North in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic – against Joey Janela, who was handpicked by Malice to represent the stable in the Championship match. Just prior to the match, Tyson Dux was attacked backstage by Malice and was deemed unfit to compete in the match, which opened the door for TARIK to stand in, after facing Sebastian Suave earlier in the evening.
The new @smashwrestling champion right here. @TARIKhatesyou pic.twitter.com/1PyKpfnw8G
— ringside with chops (@ringsidechops) August 27, 2018
From nearby Ajax, Ontario, TARIK has been wrestling on the Canadian indie scene since 2009, debuting with the now defunct Blood, Sweat & Ears (BSE) Wrestling promotion in Brampton as Alex Vega. He worked the Ontario indies, including Alpha-1 in Hamilton (Ethan Page‘s promotion), Capital City Championship Combat (C4) in Ottawa, and Border City Wrestling (BCW) in Windsor. In 2012, he joined Smash Wrestling, where he’s become a staple with the Toronto promotion (whose show airs Thursday nights after IMPACT Wrestling on the Fight Network, as well as on VOD on Powerslam Wrestling Network). In his earlier years, as Vega, he was the frequent tag partner of another emerging Canadian indie star, Brent Banks, in The Steady Ballers (at the August IMPACT tapings in Toronto, the team reunited to face LAX for the IMPACT Tag Team titles). In 2015, he was rebranded as TARIK, and as a singles performer broke out in the Ontario indie scene, working with more promotions such as Superkick’D, Deathproof Fight Club (DFC), Destiny World Wrestling, Quebec’s Federation de Lutte Quebecoise (FLQ), and more. He’s a former 2x DFC Champion and Superkick’D King of the 61X Champion.
You can catch Smash Wrestling at their own On-Demand service, or through Powerslam.tv.
