RISE of the Knockouts Brings the Best of IMPACT to RISE

Credit: RISE-wrestling.com

Next up was one of my favorite RISE Talents, Kikyo, vs Madison Rayne. Rayne is the wrestler I was the least aware of coming into the show (ironic, since she’s from my hometown), but I knew she was a five-time Knockouts champion and a force to be reckoned with. Kikyo is a home-grown RISE talent whose greatest influences in the ring are joshi heels like Bull Nakano and Aja Kong. She’s big, she’s mean, and she has had a chip on her shoulder ever since she lost out on the Phoenix of RISE championship to Delilah Doom.

The match against Rayne was a good way to help introduce Kikyo to a new audience. Kikyo’s had an incredible dominant streak at RISE lately, so it was fun to watch her go from confident to desperate as Rayne provided a much larger challenge than she’d anticipated. It also left me impressed with Rayne, who brought it to Kikyo’s strongman style with a quick, brutal offense.

I am not sure if I was more impressed with Kikyo’s powerbomb or Rayne’s awesome enzuigiri, but I do know I want to see them tangle again soon. From the way Kikyo screamed and chased Rayne backstage after the match, I feel like my chances are pretty good.

Another highlight of the night was Shazza McKenzie vs Kimber Lee. Lee works as a particularly nasty and entitled heel in RISE. Lee’s promos have hinted at the fact she resents the fact she’s not starting with RISE in the championship picture, and her match with McKenzie was a calculated attempt to show she could easily one-up the Heart of SHIMMER Champion with her established skills.

In all fairness, Lee might really be that good. She’s enormously talented, a terrifying striker, and does great work off the top rope. She’s also great at in-ring storytelling, and seeing her play dirty and bounce off of McKenzie’s bright and eager do-gooder persona was a lot of fun. McKenzie is also a great live wrestler- extremely physical and energetic, with big crowd-pleasing moves and a fun personality that audiences immediately respond to.

McKenzie is starting to get more well-deserved attention from American audiences, and I have to say she more than held her own against Lee, which is no easy feat. In the end Lee had to cheat to win, and McKenzie called her out, furious that Lee wasn’t willing to play fair for a win. I hope these two are going to be feuding in the future.