So another year has finished in the land of Pro Wrestling Chaos and it was arguably their most successful year to date. There were 11 shows in total, four Kings of Chaos, four different Knights of Chaos and the first ever Maiden of Chaos. Along with that, four non-Chaos Championships were defended throughout those 11 shows. With all of that, and more in mind, here is my Chaos top ten talking points and moments from the year.
10. The Return of a Prince OK, so up until this year, Drew Parker had only made one appearance in a Pro Wrestling Chaos ring. That appearance came at Heir to the Throne 2015 but he has since made his way back into Chaos via several other promotions. Unfortunately for Parker, his first two matches back ended in defeat however after a victory in the Knights of the Squared Circle match at All or Nothing alongside tag partner Mike Bird, Drew has a Knights of Chaos championship match in his sights. It's fair to say, the future is certainly looking bright for the 'The Urchin Prince' and 2018 could...no, WILL be a huge year for this extremely talented individual. 9. Team H8 Reunites At January's Mysterious City of Chaos, after a gruelling tag team contest featuring Gideon and Sierra Loxton against the team of Jetta and Jeckel, the group known as The Brotherhood looked to target 'The Red Emperor' and 'The Freaky Princess'. Jeckel, not liking the idea of someone capitalising on his carnage came back to the ring to dispose of Nathan Bane, ELIJAH and Joe Mezinger. Similar scenarios took place at Chaos B' Ballin' in February and Total Chaos in March before Jeckel finally accepted Gideon's offer to re-unite Team H8 at April's Sweet Dreams. Over the coming months, the two teams would go back and forth, with Team H8 enlisting the help of their good friend Mikey Whiplash to even the numbers. After a brutal assault by The Brotherhood on Whiplash, Jeckel and Gideon, as well as their ally Sierra Loxton at Heir to the Throne, Chaos owner Dave Mercy set the stage for August's event Unleashed where Team H8 & Mikey Whiplash would go on to face, and defeat, The Brotherhood inside of a steel cage putting an end to the violent feud. The feud may be over, but with Team H8 have remained together picking up a victory over Mike Bird and Drew Parker at The Sound of Violence as well as being a part of the Knights of the Squared Circle match at All or Nothing. It looks as though Team H8 is here to stay and that can only mean bad things for anyone wishing to stand in their way. 8. We Love Dick! After his former tag team partner, Chris Walker, turned on him at Let Them Eat Chaos to close out 2016, Dick Riley emerged as one of the most loved and revered wrestlers on the roster in 2017. Starting the year with victories over his former Magnums teammate as well as Charlie Sterling, many thought that Dick would continue on that hot streak. With great performances against the likes of Pete Dunne, Marty Scurll and Mike Bailey, it became clear that Riley was indeed a very, very special talent. Unfortunately, he tasted defeat more often than not but he was able to capture the ATTACK! Pro Wrestling 24/7 Title from Nixon Newell at Chaos' Sweet Dreams event in April. One has to wonder what's in store for 2018 for the man who recently went through WWE tryouts. He's got an extremely bright future, let's hope for a more successful 2018 for Dick! 7. Wa You Sayin, Grizz? After Grizzly's Heir to the Throne win in July, he set out an open challenge for Unleashed which was answered by Dragon Pro Academy graduate, Beano. In a real David vs. Goliath battle of the two Welshmen, it was the underdog who came out on top and left Yate with Grizzly's Heir to the Throne briefcase in hand. Over the coming months, Beano would show up during Grizzly's matches against Mark Andrews and Keith Lee with the Heir to the Throne briefcase. After Grizz's win over Keith Lee at Coalition of Chaos, escaped once again with the briefcase in hand as Grizzly looked to attack his nemesis. The conclusion to the rivalry was set for All or Nothing in a ladder match. Beano more than held his own but it was the monstrous Grizzly who walked away victorious in this rivalry. 6. This is the Modern World If any one faction could say they ruled the Chaos landscape in 2017, then surely The Modern Culture are the one team that can make that claim. It all started at January's Mysterious City of Chaos when Morgan Webster cashed in his Heir to the Throne briefcase to dethrone Wild Boar as the King. Unfortunately for the King of the Mod's, Dave Mercy didn't recognise this title change and instead held up the title and made a seven man elimination match for the King of Chaos title at Chaos B' Ballin'. Webster would be included alongside Jimmy Havoc, Mike Bird, Eddie Ryan, Dave Mastiff, Big Grizzly and former King, Wild Boar. Webster would last eliminate Mike Bird to become the new King of Chaos. Earlier on in that show, his Modern Culture stablemates Danny Jones and Edwin Ricci defeated The Steele Dragons and Project Lucha to become the Knights of Chaos. Over the following months, both the King and Knights of Chaos had successful title defences, Jones and Ricci even faced the ICW Tag Champs, Bird & Boar at Sweet Dreams with both championships on the line. The Knights held the titles up until Heir to the Throne where they lost to Project Lucha and Jones soon ventured out to Japan for a successful tour with All-Japan Pro Wrestling while Ricci lost his rematch for the titles alongside Matthew Horgan at The Sound of Violence. Webster's reign went through several challengers such as Wild Boar at Total Chaos, Alex Steele at Sweet Dreams and Eddie Dennis at Heir to the Throne. With Unleashed upon the horizon, and a triple threat main event set between Webster, Dennis and Steele, 'The Modfather' challenged both men to a stipulation where the man who was pinned would have to leave Chaos. The man not involved in the decision would not be able to compete for the title for the rest of 2017. Unfortunately for Webster, it was he who took the pin from Eddie Dennis and was forced to leave Chaos. As unpopular as he was among the Chaos fans, Webster left to a huge ovation. Whether we see him down the line or not is another matter, so for now we say thank you, Webster! 5. And the Award for Best Actor Goes to... ...Alex Steele! Yes ladies and gentlemen, Alex Steele put on a great acting performance at The Sound of Violence. Eddie won the King of Chaos title at Unleashed in a triple threat match. In the following weeks, Alex announced that he had indeed re-injured the same ankle he'd broken previously. Eddie called Alex into the ring at The Sound of Violence where Alex spoke about his career, his love for wrestling and how fans should keep supporting independent wrestling as he announced his retirement from the sport. Eddie returned to the ring to embrace his friend and assisted Alex in picking up the crutch he'd dropped in the ring. As Eddie bent down to pick it up, Alex turned on his best friend, the fans, the promotion and every single person he'd just thanked by striking Eddie with the crutch he had in his left hand. The tears were soon wiped away by those shedding them and the emotion turned from sadness to anger as Alex started a new chapter in his career. 4. Pride Becomes King Seldom before 2017 had we seen Eddie Dennis in a King of Chaos title match. Perhaps that's why after his non-title victory over Morgan Webster at UnBroLievable, there was a huge outpouring of support for Eddie Dennis going into Heir to the Throne. Eddie had just resigned from his day job as the headmaster of a junior school in London to pursue a full-time career as a professional wrestler. Unfortunately, Eddie wasn't able to capture the title on that night in July after miscommunication between himself and then tag partner Alex Steele. The triple threat title match at Unleashed sent the fans in Yate through every emotion possible as Eddie Dennis became the King of Chaos for the first time as Webster departed the promotion and Alex was no longer able to compete for the title in 2017. 3. Grit Your Teeth! Cut The Canvas! For months, The Brotherhood teased that "He" was coming to the land of Chaos. After several performances that an apparent higher power within The Brotherhood wasn't happy with, Nathan Bane, Joe Mezinger and ELIJAH were caught several times on camera talking about the fact that this gentleman would be coming to Chaos. After the conclusion of the Knights of Chaos main event match at The Sound of Violence, The Brotherhood came out to clean house. Once the apparent carnage had come to an end, The Brotherhood's music blared through Thornbury Leisure Centre and "He" was revealed as WWE UK Superstar James Drake! With a lack of care, Drake then created arguably the most symbolic moment in Chaos history when he cut the Chaos logo from the ring canvas and paraded it as a championship. It's safe to say that The Brotherhood are here to stay and they will take anything they want! That was fully evidenced when Bane and ELIJAH captured the Knights of Chaos titles at Coalition of Chaos in October. Moving into 2018, one has to wonder: Who can stop The Brotherhood? 2. The Maiden of Chaos What a success that day was, right? The October double header Coalition of Chaos saw the crowning of the first ever Maiden of Chaos. The afternoon show saw the quarter and semi final matches while the evening show was headlined by the final. Eight women fought for the right to compete in that main event. The eight women named were Session Moth Martina, Dahlia Black, Sierra Loxton, Jinny, Ayesha Reymond, Viper, Jamie Hayter and Jetta. After an action packed quarter final round, Jinny vs. Sierra Loxton and Jamie Hayter vs. Session Moth Martina were confirmed as the semi final matches. Jinny shocked the Hanham audience by defeating the crowd favourite Loxton while Martina overcame Hayter to reach the final against Jinny. In a hard hitting encounter, it was 'The Fashionista' who left Hanham as the first ever Maiden of Chaos. All eight women would've been worthy winners that day, however there can only be one and for now, Jinny rules the women's division in the land of Chaos! 1. BRO! If Matthew Riddle hadn't had such a huge impact in his two matches at Pro Wrestling Chaos this year, then the Maiden of Chaos tournament would've easily made the number one spot. Alas, it wasn't to be. Riddle's first appearance came at the UnBroLievable event at Westbury-on-Trym in June where he defended his PROGRESS Atlas Championship against Mike Bird in what many have called the Pro Wrestling Chaos match of the year. Hell, some have even called it the match of the year from any British promotion in 2017. Both men tore each other apart in that particular contest, however, unfortunately for one of the Chaos Club's favourites, it was the 'King of Bros' who emerged victorious. Fast forward a couple of months and Chaos teased that somebody would be returning and at The Sound of Violence, it was announced that that someone would be Matt Riddle. After Eddie Dennis successfully defended his King of Chaos title against Eddie Ryan at Coalition of Chaos, he demanded a match with Alex Steele. Dave Mercy rejected his request so Eddie instead chose to face Riddle at All or Nothing. After a back and forth battle, it was Riddle who was able to make 'The Pride of Wales' submit to become the new King of Chaos. Riddle has taken the belt back to America with him, and what's to say that there won't be a title defence across the pond? So that's my Pro Wrestling Chaos top ten for 2017. It's been a great year for this promotion and they're constantly getting bigger and better!
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By Darren Dyer17 year veteran of viewing graps. Archives
February 2018
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