Exodus Pro’s “Heat of the Moment” took place October 16, 2026 at the Collision Bend Brewery in Euclid, OH. It was another great show that had a mix of great independent wrestlers from the Cleveland area and beyond. The main event was a 5 on 5 elimination match. Other than the matches there was a very emotional promo from Duke Davis and a surprise birthday party for Pretty Boy Smooth.
The first match was one that I was not expecting, but it was very entertaining, as Dante Cassanova defeated Devious Cass. J Bouji was not able to make the show, so Cass had his first singles match in Exodus. Cass looked great and was very exciting as usual, but the veteran of Exodus, Dante was just too powerful and was able to get the win.
The extremely annoying Fun Police came to the ring next with their loud sirens and megaphones. They said that there was to much fun in Exodus and they were going to bring a stop to all of this. This brings out the very fun Exobros, Johnny Mahalo and Connor Knox. Johnny is a fast, high energy wrestler, while Connor is a himbro who is very powerful, especially whenever he gets mad. Connor and Johnny are always making very entertaining clips online, which has garnered them quite a fan base. The Exobros looked really good in this match, but the Fun Police cheated A LOT and were able to get the victory.
Duke Davis comes out with a very serious tone to talk about his future in Exodus and beyond. This is not the typical Duke that is dancing around the ring, but someone that really needs to get something off his mind. He says that he has had a really bad couple of months. First, he lost his job of 10 years, and while that may not be the worst thing in the grand sceme of things, it left him wondering how he was going to provide for his family. Then came the night in Pittsburgh when he and his partner, Gannon Jones Jr, took on a tag team that he was really excited to face in the Butcher and the Blade. That was the night that The Butcher, aka Andy Williams, passed away following their match. Then a few days later he got the call that Gannon would be stepping away from wrestling. The reason for this was that Gannon’s wife and daughter were at that event in Pittsburgh, and his daughter did not want him to wrestle again. So this leaves Duke in the ring, on his own, as he has never been before. He knows what he is going to have to do and that he is going to pick himself up and he is going to go after the Exodus Championship. After the powerful speech Cristano Argento comes to the ring making fun of Duke’s situation. This was not a smart move for Cristano, as he is quickly chokeslamed and the crowd chants for Duke.
In our next match we have LJ Cleary defend his Irish Jr Heavyweight title against Ashton Day. This was a fun match, as LJ Cleary was using his speed to throw Day off, but Day kept trying to keep the match grounded. Day was getting the advantage until Dante Cassanova came out and took care of Day’s crew. This let LJ pick up the submission victory and LJ celebrated the win in the ring with Dante.
We have a no DQ match between the long time Cleveland area veteran J- Rocc and Brandon Barretta. They fought all around the outside of the ring and Brandon ended up getting the win. Brandon checked one more item off of his giant checklist and only has one left, “defeat a legend”.
Cowpoke Paul’s Crown Royal 3-way Hoe Down for the Crown Royal Championship is up next, as Cowpoke Paul successfully defends his title against Handsome Harley T Morris and Gunner Cain. This was a fun match, as all Cowpokes matches are. He uses innovative moves like having both of his opponents in the tree of woe, to get the advantage and to get laughs from the crowd.
Marti Belle defended the Exodus Pro Women’s Championship in what looked to be a great match against J-Rod, until the always unpredictable Scotti Sosa is announced as the special guest referee. Scotti has a very stylish referee outfit, but I am not sure that she had taken any referee classes as she did not want to do much, including counting falls. This upset both Belle and J-Rod, so they both hit Sosa and threw her out of the ring. We got a new ref and things were going well until Sosa came to and came back in the ring. She hit both Belle and J-Rod with her purse and called for the bell. She said that they were both disqualified and since they both hit her, she was taking the championship belt and giving herself emergency custodial authority of the title for its protection.
Pastor C-Lo comes to the ring with his offering plate. The Pastor has been using this gimmick for years and he just perfects it. He tells us that this is Pretty Boy Smooth’s surprise birthday party and he is in the back with headphones and a blindfold, so he does not know what is happening. Smooth comes out with the help of a beautiful young woman, as he is blindfolded. They take off the blindfold and everyone yells surprise. Now we get to the presents, the first present is the beautiful woman, the next one is a giant stick of ChapStick, as Smooth always has to have his ChapStick and the third present is a painting akin the painting of God and Adam where they are touching fingers, except it is Smooth and Pastor C-Lo with very little clothes on. This was incredible. We bring out Man Bun Jesus, Sam Beale and the Tie-Dyed Bears to sing Happy Birthday, but Smooth says his birthday was yesterday, but it is a young fan in the crowd’s birthday. They bring the fan in the ring and sing him Happy Birthday, while the wrestlers put him up on their shoulders. Man Bun and Beal lay out the challenge to Holy Grail for the tag titles at the next show and Smooth and C-Lo gladly accept.
We have a hoss matchup next between Lord Crewe and Zack Nystrom. Nystrom is from Pittsburgh, which gets him some early heat. They battle back and forth and lay in some of the hardest strikes of the night. Crewe gets the win and challenges Johnny Bravo to a match for the next show.
The main event is Team Cleveland (VNDL48 of Atticus Cogar, Otis Cogar and Christian Napier, joined by EC3 and Joshua Bishop) against Team Northeast (TJ Crawford, Love Doug, Richard Holliday, Anthony Greene and Hayden Bakland). Team NE gets and early elimination when Holliday uses his signature move (hitting someone in the crotch). Then Hayden gets himself eliminated when he hits Bishop with a chair right in front of the referee. Atticus and Otis, along with Anthony Greene get eliminated, but Bishop returns after going to the back after the chair shot. That leaves Shot Through the Heart (Love Doug and TJ Crawford) and The Exodus Midwest Champion, Richard Holliday against Bishop and Napier. Bishop takes out both members of Shot Through the Heart at the same time and Napier faces off against Holliday. The ref’s back is turned and this time Napier turns the tables and hits Holliday with Holliday’s own Signature Move and Napier gets the win for Team Cleveland. It was then announced that Christian Napier will be facing Richard Holliday for the Exodus Midwest Championship at their next event.
This was a really entertaining show with a little bit of something for everyone. I have been to events from almost every wrestling promotion in Western PA and Eastern OH and Exodus is consistently putting on the best events.
Both of the non-wrestling segments were completely different and both did exactly what they wanted to do. Duke Davis was very serious and told everyone exactly what he has been through. With no frills he demanded respect as a singles wrestler. Then the surprise birthday party was just insane and something that you would expect from the Pastor. The main event was great and it is always fun when the VNDL48 family is there, as they are always loud and bring the wholesomeness to the violence. I was surprised that Christian got the win and the title shot, but he really deserves it. I have seen him wrestle on many independent shows in Ohio and he is a great singles wrestler and that sometimes gets lost when you are on a team with stars like Atticus and Otis.
The next event will be “Home for the Holidays” on December 4. It will feature Richard Holliday defending the Exodus Pro Midwest Championship against Christian Napier, EC3 against Brandon Barretta, The Holy Grail (Pretty Boy Smooth and Pastor C-Lo) defend the Exodus Pro Tag Team Championships against MBealeJ (Sam Beale and Man Bun Jesus), a Christmas Story Battle Royal, and more.
