Local wrestlers take on the big league
Kyle and René will be facing off against behemoths in the pro-wrestling league come 27 October.
Pro-wrestling has dominated the world stage for decades when it comes to main attraction fighting.
Bigger still than mixed martial arts (even if just by a small margin) and with a larger average fan base than boxing or any other fighting championship, wrestling is big business.
In America, often regarded as the gold standard in the sport, major wrestling events rack up tens of thousands more views on TV than football and basketball. Canada’s Impact Wrestling, Mexico’s Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and New Japan Pro-wrestling are a few of the big names in the industry. And, now, Slamforce Africa is clawing its way to the top, proving itself to be the premier wrestling federation on the continent.
Kyle Ripley and René Koen, known as Black Widow on stage, are a brother and sister duo from Krugersdorp who will soon be sharing the spotlight in the ring with names such as WWE’s Rob Van Dam and PJ Black, Impact Wrestling’s Katie Forbes, Chastity Cardona from Columbia and Matthew Hammar from the African Punishment Wrestling Association, to name a few.
Kyle and René will be facing off against these behemoths in the pro-wrestling league come 27 October, which leaves them with a little more than two months’ training time. Kyle will be taking on South African wrestler, Andro Perseus in the Continental Championship Qualifier, which will allow him to go on to the final championship later in the year, while René will face off against Chastity Cardona, Celeste Bonin and Katie Forbes in a four-way fight for the Women’s Championship title at the University of Pretoria’s Rembrandt Hall.
Kyle has been wrestling for ten years and his sister picked up the craft a year later after accompanying him to a few matches and being bitten by the wrestling bug herself.
“It’s always been a dream. You know, as a kid, you look up to the big wrestlers and, now, we’re fighting against them,” Kyle said.
The two are complete opposites from one another inside the ring.
“I always play the bad guy, so the Black Widow name was perfect for me. Kyle’s more like the John Cena of South Africa,” René explained. She will be going straight for the title in her division, whereas Kyle will, hopefully, have his shot at the title during Slamforce Africa 2. After this, the two hope to travel overseas and take on pro-wrestlers from all over the globe.
