New Champions Crowned at Cruel Summer

COLLEGE STATION, TX - The landscape of Lions Pride Sports saw a significant shift at Cruel Summer, with both of the promotion’s titles changing hands.

SHIMBASHI achieved his goal and dream of becoming Lions Pride Sports Champion in true “Canadian Dragon” fashion: with incredible skill and a lot of help from his friends. The main event match with defending champion MIA FRIDAY was the expected classic between two of Texas’s best, with “The Weekend Wonderchild” Mia showing the trademark tenacity which has defined her reign and coming close to retaining multiple times. But beyond his in-ring prowess, Shimbashi benefited from help from his cohorts in Pandemonium, most notably when the referee was knocked out. A turnbuckle exposed by manager DEVON DEVILLE led to Friday’s face being planted into it, with Shimbashi soon-after scoring the win to the shock of the sold-out crowd at Smitty K’s. DeVille, MATHAYUS and PRINCE LY celebrated with the new champ to close out a chaotic evening.

The record books show Shimbashi as the second competitor to have held both the Lions Pride Sports Championship and the Lions Den Championship, though on July 9, 2022, he was the one to end ZANE VALERO’S Lions Den Championship reign in just minutes by executing a title match contract he had won earlier on the night. One day short of a year later, “The Canadian Dragon” is the holder of the biggest prize in The Pride, bringing gold to Pandemonium’s grasps for the first time.

The reign of Friday, the first woman to hold the Lions Pride Sports Championship, ends at 239 days, the second-longest in the title’s history. Her six successful defenses are tied for the second most in a single reign.

More gold changed hands at Cruel Summer, as HASTUR earned the Lions Den Championship in a nine-wrestler gauntlet match. “The King in Yellow” certainly benefited from being the last competitor to enter the match, but had to overcome CHAVY CHULO in the final stage. Chulo had eliminated the man who entered the match with the title, TRENT MERCER, along with three additional wrestlers before colliding with Hastur. However, Chavy’s momentum in the match and quest to become the first two-time Lions Den Champion was ended, and Hastur’s year-and-a-half journey to gold was completed. From joining The Lions Den Training Facility as part of treatment for his split personality, he now stands as one of Lions Pride Sports’ most intimidating title holders ever.

Mercer’s time with the Lions Den Championship began on the same night as Friday’s time with hers. His 239-day reign is the longest in Lions Den Championship history by 105 days, and his five successful defenses of it are the second-most ever. Two of the five were in multi-person matches, a display of his fighting spirit. Mercer requested to enter the Cruel Summer gauntlet first and advanced through three wrestlers.

Here are the stage results from the gauntlet:

In other action at Cruel Summer:

  • While Pandemonium’s night ended with a title win, it was unsuccessful before that. Leading up to Cruel Summer, Mathayus had been chastising ZAE CARTER, who had a future championship opportunity in his possession. To shut Mathayus up, “The Level” put that title shot on the line and won their hard-hitting contest. After the match, Prince Ly joined his Pandemonium cohorts in a beat down of Zae.

  • Later, Ly would face Valero in The Pride’s first blindfold match. DeVille was on hand to help verbally guide Pandemonium’s Prince around the ring, but it was when Valero got his hands on an interfering Devon that things drastically changed. Ly assaulted and pinned who he thought was Valero, but was instead DeVille. Zane dropped Ly and scored the win.

  • HOSTAGE HIRSCH made JAK CALLOWAY his latest target weeks ago, but Calloway amped up his aggression heading into their Cruel Summer match. Hirsch attempted to use a chair on “The X Factor,” but was stopped by the referee. An angered Calloway would not be stopped, though, showing no mercy when Hirsch offered himself up for a chair shot that Jak took. The disqualification gave Hostage the win.

  • Party Train’s DRAKE DURDEN and CANNONBALL CARMICHAEL joined forces with RODZILLA and defeated one of the state’s top trios, Culture Shock. All six wrestlers showed their strengths throughout the match, though Culture Shock’s experience as a team had them close to closing things out. On the verge of victory, Party Train’s pal, Coleman & Patterson’s Bret Richards, shouted down OLI SUMMERS, DANNY ORION and CJC, opening the door for Durden to drop Culture Shock and score the win.

Houston Carson