Atlanta, many consider the city the premier Chocolate City of today, so it only made sense that on a weekend dedicated to the memoriam of Martin Luther King Jr. that BattleSlam threw it’s latest event , “Battle Slam : Dream”, directly playing off of the speech that King Jr. was made famous for. A night prior in South Carolina, both Queen Aminata and Jada Stone had squared off at DPW, but on a mid-winter night in the A, the two athletes had brand new competitors in Shalence Royal and surprise guest Ashley D’Amboise.
The night’s action began with Royal hitting high notes in the vein of Sam Raimi’s Warrior Princess (a entertainingly distracting practice that she did throughout the night),with that, the warriors had an obligatory test of strength in the beginning lock up which Stone had got the best of taunting Royal with a falsified inquiry of concern asking Royal mockingly, “Are you ok?”. Royal wasn’t going to take that insult lying down and entered into another lock up with Jada Stone that was broken by her elbow. Kip ups from either side then devolved into taunts that looked like something off a videogame which added validity to BattleSlam’s likeness to it’s obvious inspiration from the popular Gamecube turned rare arcade port Def Jam Vendetta. Stone eventually took some shots that caused her to have to regain her stamina outside the ring, eventually coming back to pull a northern lights pin attempt early on that was swiftly broken by Royal. Royal was then able to deliver a boot followed by an elbow that resulted in Stone selling convinciably in the corner.
Pin attempts were then thrown back and forth between the competitors psyching Stone up enough to deliver a spinning roundhouse kick in the middle of the ring that Royal was lucky did not take her head off. Stone then ate some chops for her troubles, but used the strikes as fuel to perform a running attack that was sadly deterred by Royal, but Stone would not quit as she quickly scaled the ropes and ended up belly flopping from a high flying flip intended to connect with Royal who timed her defense properly to dodge Stone’s senton.
Stone might as well have had skulls dancing around her head at this point because Royal too easily took Stone out with a dive into the crowd through the second rope, but the action did not stop there as the violence spilled into the seats and Royal delivered several chops across the chest of Stone. Stone returned fire and finally turned the tide as the two competitors made their way back into the ring.
A pin attempt near the ropes was broken by Royal which was met with Stone’s smart mouth begging Royal with ire, exclaiming : “Stay down, I don’t want to beat you!”.
The strength of Stone’s mouth muscles could not meet the rest of her body’s muscles though as her attempt at a suplex was deterred.
Rolling from a clothesline, Stone showed off with a superkick and almost got the show stopped, but decided to add insult to injury and ran up the top turnbuckle to finish off a groggy Royal. But Royal only was playing possum, which became obvious to Stone as she launched herself off the top rope and landed onto Royal’s shoulders for Royal to deliver the killing blow with a fireman’s carry that shook the arena and punctuated the match.
Friendly in spirit, Royal and Stone embraced after. Though the results showed that Stone’s leg-heavy moveset was not a match for Royal’s powerhouse frame, both Stone and Royal were still able to garner an equal amount of praise from the crowd as they exited the arena for the next match on the bill to begin.
The Boricua Badass Tasha Steelz was initially slated to perform against Queen Aminata, a huge draw for members of the wrestling community who witnessed the two’s first meet up at the Oasis Center live or through playback; but as is the nature of pro-wrestling, Steelz’ unscheduled absence caused the match to change drastically as Ashley D’Amboise was called in to stand against the only Queen any respectable man should consider bowing down to. Arriving early, I was able to witness Aminata and Amboise train before their match and their prompt practice translated flawlessly into the ring by the time that the bell rang. Arriving showered with rose petals, Aminata (skilled at playing both the hero and villain) was the face of the night, while D’Amboise arrived playing into the crowds obvious disappointment of not being able to witness the proposed Aminata v. Steelz II.
One thing that I’ve noticed from playback’s of Aminata’s matches is that whether she is in the role of the protagonist or antagonist, she always takes the time to pride in “The Queen” in her title so it made sense that when she offered a regal hand to D’Amboise, the ungrateful antagonist swiftly slapped the gesture away. A test of strength in the form of a lock up was won by D’Amboise and broken, but Aminata was able to reverse several quick clinches D’Amboise attempted to synch in early, and Aminata locked in an armbar and gave D’Amboise a stinkface that left a majority of the crowd envious of the heels’ position. The two tested each other until there was a pause where D’Amboise spent her time interacting negatively with the crowd, claiming some foreign status to try and (unsuccessfully) one up the Guinea native that had already long won over the crowd.
“Your from Florida!” chants rang out through the arena in response to D’Amboise’s claims, and that night in Atlanta, the crowd’s jeers were more valid than any certification of birth. Angered, D’Amboise rolled out the arena to sit in the crowd, avoiding her superior competition. Aminata prompted a thunderous “Show us the JUICE” chant (a slogan coined in reference to Aminata’s ample African assets) which led to D’Amboise’s ego getting the best of her and arriving back into the ring for the contest at hand.
Aminata’s missed boot gave way to an exchange of chops primarily sold by The Queen. D’Amboise got around to locking a Sharpshooter that looked like it came straight from the depth’s of the Hart Dungeon. Aminata got to the bottom rope, and was able to transition into a neck-drag and a kick into D’Amboise’s back that landed with a thud. Aminata let a headbutt go with a snap that echoed throughout the crowd, and with the way that D’Amboise suffered from the attack, Aminata’s headbutt can very well be shaping up from a signature move in The Queen’s arsenal to being her new finisher.
Frustration from Aminata’s heavy hits, caused D’Amboise to battle back with a flurry of sloppy strikes. Doing everything within her power to take Aminata down, D’Amboise kicked The Queen into the ropes, but Aminata continued to rebuff her aggressor with virility.
Standing suplexes were exchanged, and as it looked like D’Amboise was poised to get the better of Aminata from one of these signature’s, the wily Aminata was able to reverse the pin attempt and etch another win for her scorecard at the upstart Atlanta promotion that she has been a main attraction of since BattleSlam had a Vendetta.
That night in Atlanta, the ingredient of improvisation in pro-wrestling won, and even though peripheral viewers or Queen Aminata or Ashley D’Amboise may only know them for their loss records on AEW or Smackdown!, the two created a chemistry that night on the fly that should make every major reconsider how they book these “local competitors”, especially the one who stood in that ring after the match with her hand raised in victory.
C.V.R. The Bard
Score : 4/5
* All photos taken by C.V.R. The Bard from the 4th Rope of The Dawn Event Center