What: Combat Fights Unlimited "Shoot To Thrill
Where: IWTV.Live
When: June 24th, 2021 @ 8PM
Official Hashtag: #ShootToThrill
I'll admit, growing up, I was NOT into women's wrestling at all. Now, granted it was during a really down period for women's wrestling when I was a kid.
WWE didn't really focus on women's wrestling in the mid-80's (with exception to Wendy Ritcher/Cindy Lauper). So I grew to see women wrestlers as "add-on's" or "snack breaks,".
Fast forward to 2021 and my favorite thing about indie wrestling has become the women's division. There are so many great women's wrestlers on the indie scene right now that promoters are finally taking the chances on what many have asked for, for quite some time.
All womens' shows ...
Combat Fights Unlimited is taking it to the NEXT level - putting eight of the hardest hitting women in a cage to find out who the baddest of the bad is. Now, let's look at the match ups and do a little predictin!
ROUND ONE MATCH UPS:
Kennedi Copeland vs. Zoey Skye
Copeland is on a run right now - propelling out of Limitless Wrestling into the madness and chaos only found in H20 wrestling and parlaying that onto shows all over the IWTV dial, she's a front runner for this tournament. But looking past Zoey Skye COULD cost her a deep run. Skye is the veteran of the tournament, putting fourteen years on the road, with succesfull runs in AIW as well as Shimmer, to her credit.
I think the youthful exuberance and "no quit," attitude that Copeland possesses will help her find a way to beat Skye.
Notorius Mimi v. Masha Slamovich
Trained out of the Monster Factory, Mimi comes into this match with just two years under her belt and the unfortunate reality of opening up against the craziest chick on the planet, Masha Slamovich. She does go into the match with some experience against Slamovich, who defeated Mimi at GSW's "High Voltage" show, winning the GSW Soul of Syndicate championship in February.
Since February, Slamovich has been a bull in a china shop, destroying everything in her path - not always winning, but always making a mark.
To me it's a no-brainer to go with Masha to move on to the next round.
Lady Frost v. Jordan Blade
Now this match up is one that could really go either way. I cannot believe taht Frost has only been in the ring for a few years - she has the poise of a veteran; I've never seen her rattled in the ring.
That streak however may come to a deadly stop as Jordan Blade is a wrestler who thrives on this kind of destruction and she's seeking out that one win that will put her in the mouths of all the fans.
The tough thing about this is both wrestlers are on such a hot run that you don't want to see either sidetracked with a loss here - that said, I think Jordan Blade wins - but it's going to be a fight that may just take too much out of Blade for a championship run.
Ray Lyn v. Janai Kai
So here's the thing - I think Janai Kai is riding under the radar and that's a dangerous place for Ray Lyn - because eventually Kai is going to show the world what many already know - this kind of environment is perfect for Kai's skills.
One other fact that might be Lyn's undoing - she holds a victory over Kai - from 2019, and this could be a motivator as well for Kai.
Lyn does come in with more experience and the teachings of Al Snow, I just think she'll be over matched in this style of match against Kai.
SEMI-FINAL ROUND
Kennedi Copeland v. Masha Slamovich (Arm-Chair Booker: @OlSkoolOlFool)
With both of them having quite a bit of MMA-style experiences under their respective belts, if this one goes to the ground it's anyone's fight to win.
That being said, what if it doesn't?
If it stays standing, and I have a gut feeling it will, Kennedi will get a KO. Masha's a strong Bulldozer but Kennedi's strong precision striking will punch her ticket to the finals.
Prediction: Kennedy Copeland by 1st round KO
Jordan Blade v. Janai Kai (Arm-Chair Booker: @DonHalliwell)
The match between Jordan Blade and Janai Kai is sure to be a very hard-hitting match. Both combatants are very well versed in the martial arts. Kai has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and is also well versed in kickboxing and Muay Thai, while Jordan Blade is more submission based and comes from a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu background.
They are both very successful tag team wrestlers as well as singles wrestlers. Blade teams with Eel O’neal to form the Kings of the District and Kai teams with Yoya as Yokai. Jordan is going to want to bring this match to the mat and look for a submission while Kai will try to keep it upright and knock Jordan out with her striking ability.
I feel that Jordan is going to have to withstand an early barrage of strikes from Kai and if she can do that, she will be able to take Kai down and slow down the pace of the match.
I see Jordan Blade winning by submission but feel that she will be worse for the wear going on to the next round of the tournament.
FINAL ROUND
Kennedi Copeland v. Jordan Blade
So the finals come down to a lanky Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu hardcore ass kicker in Kennedi Copeland and Jordan Blade - also a BJJ ass kicker.
Both have gained a tremendous amount of respect from both fans and peers over the last fifteen months, with Copeland going the route of blood and death match madness where Blade has methodically transformed from power to submission mat based beast.
Whomever takes the least amount of damage in their first two matches of the night is going to be the one with the biggest advantage - it size won't be an advantage after two battles in the books.
With Blade having to go through Frost & Kai to get to Copeland, It's going to take a miraculous effort - and will test Blade like she's never been tested before.
In the end, I believe Copeland takes this match and the tournament, and goes down in the history books as the first CFU champion.