Indiana’s Black Label Pro (BLP) has emerged as one of the bright new promotions on the US indie scene, since their debut last fall with the first annual Darkest Timeline tournament. Now a year old, BLP’s tournament returns, with many top indie stars and emerging stars competing once again, this time to try and wrestle away the BLP Heavyweight Championship from current champ Jordynne Grace. The Saturday event will be streaming live on iPPV on Powerbomb.tv.
Here’s a look at all the first round match-ups for the BLP Heavyweight Championship tournament, which will see Grace have to defend her title in each match she’s involved in.
5-Way Championship Tournament Match: Allie Kat vs. Rory Fox vs. PB Smooth vs. Kevin Ku vs. Josh Bishop
Five diverse talents from the Midwest and Southern scene battle it out in a five way encounter, with only person advancing in the tournament. Rory Fox is a 20-year veteran of the Midwest scene, with a lengthy run with Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA) in Ohio, as well as a 6x HWA Cruiserweight Champion, HWA Television Champion and 360-day reign as HWA Heavyweight Champion. He’s also the reigning 3x 3XWrestling (3XW) Heavyweight out of Iowa. Allie Kat is emerging as new breakout women’s star on the indie scene, working with Anarchy Wrestling (Texas), NOVA Pro (Virginia), IWA Mid South and Southern Underground Pro (SUP) to name a few. PB Smooth, a student of NXT Superstars Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae, is blossoming with Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW), as is Josh Bishop. Nashville’s Kevin Ku has been an emerging presence with the likes of Carolina Wrestling Federation (CWF) Mid Atlantic, BLP and others, including an appearance on the Dojo Pro TV series.
Triple Threat Championship Tournament Match: Everett Connors vs. Jeremy Wyatt vs. Kobe Durst
St. Louis, Missouri’s Everett Connors is looking to make a big splash as he enters a triple threat to advance. Everett is one half of the reigning Glory Pro Tag Team Champions, alongside DJZ. Jeremy Wyatt is a 15-year veteran of the Midwest indie circuit, with runs with National Wrasslin’ League (NWL) in Missouri, Metro Pro Wrestling (MPW) in Kansas, and Iowa’s 3XW, where he’s a 5x 3XW Heavyweight Champion and 4x MPW Heavyweight Champion. Toronto’s Kobe Durst is only 22 years old, but he’s becoming one of the brightest stars to emerge out of Canada in the past few years, working Alpha-1, Capitol City Championship Combat (C4) and Smash Wrestling in his home country, as well as working the US indies like Freelance Wrestling, AIW, Glory Pro and BLP.
Battle of the Giants: Marko Stunt vs. Swoggle
A non-tournament match, this battle of the heavyweights has seismic possibilities with the two “giants” involved. One is a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion in Swoggle, while the other is the hottest indie star of the past month, Marko Stunt. While it’s sure to be a fun match with some solid comedy, don’t underestimate the athleticism of Marko Stunt.
Fatal 4-Way Championship Tournament Match: Joey Lynch vs. Andrew Everett vs. Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Zachary Wentz
A tough draw for these four men, all of whom are worthy challengers for the BLP Heavyweight Championship, but only one can advance. Georgia’s Joey Lynch is best known to some as part of the Lynch Mob with his brother Matt Lynch, but he’s been emerging as a solid singles competitor in his own right – he won this year’s Scenic City Invitational Tournament and has appeared for both WWE (he faced Akira Tozawa on an episode of 205 Live) and IMPACT Wrestling on their IMPACT x NGW Twitch special. Andrew Everett has been a star with IMPACT Wrestling for a few years now, where he’s a former IMPACT Tag Team Champion with DJZ. He’s also a former tag team champion with Trevor Lee, both in PWG and All American Wrestling (AAW) and a standout singles wrestler. Brian Pillman Jr. is blowing up right now as part of the new Hart Foundation stable in Major League Wrestling (MLW) with Teddy Hart and Davey Boy Smith Jr., and Zachary Wentz is one of the brightest stars of the US indie scene right now, either solo or as part of The Rascalz with Dezmond Xavier. This will be a show stealer.
Championship Tournament Match: PCO vs. Josh Briggs
“Not Human” PCO continues to lay waste across the global indies, this time entering BLP’s Darkest Timeline tournament, where he faces young hoss Josh Briggs, a former Chaotic Wrestling (CW) Champion. This will be hard hitting and violent and the other competitors will be cheering them on – the more battle worn they are after the match, the better their opponents chances will be to get past them later on.
Championship Tournament Match: “Filthy” Tom Lawlor vs. “Warhorse” Jake Parnell
Former UFC fighter “Filthy” Tom Lawlor is on a mission to reclaim the BLP Heavyweight title he lost to Jordynne Grace back in April. The former MMA star has transitioned to pro wrestling with ease, becoming an impact player with MLW, AIW, Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), DEFY, and more. To get to the next stage of the tournament, he’s going to have to get through another of the bright new stars of the indie scene, “Warhorse” Jake Parnell. A 5-year veteran of IWA Mid South, ZERO1 USA (where he’s a 2x ZERO1 World Junior Heavyweight Champion), Glory Pro, Beyond Wrestling and more, Parnell has really broken out in the past year or so. Don’t sleep on this one as it’s going to be a good one.
BLP Heavyweight Championship/Tournament Match: Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Danny Adams
Jordynne Grace has taken not only women’s indie wrestling by storm the past year but the indie wrestling world in general. A standout in intergender tag team wrestling as part of Team PAWG with indie legend LuFisto, Grace has exploded as one of the indie scene’s top stars in the past year. She’s faced and defeated the likes of Mia Yim, David Starr, Keira Hogan, Rachael Ellering, and Shotzi Blackheart, and apart from defeating Tom Lawlor for the BLP Heavyweight title back in April, has defended it against both Tessa Blanchard and Ethan Page. She was one of the breakout stars from All In earlier this month, when she eliminated Brian Cage in the Battle Royal. “Thicc Mama Pump” has her work cut out for her in this tournament though, as every match will be for the title as she advances. Her opening round opponent is 5-year vet of the Midwest scene in Danny Adams, who has worked Glory Pro, NWL, Dynamo Pro Wrestling (DPW) and more.
Wtf @BLPMikey she's gonna beat my ass https://t.co/1Z0mh0blVy
— Dan the Dad ダン・ザ・ダッド (@ThanksDanTheDad) August 31, 2018
