Kurtis Chapman is quickly becoming the wrestler that every promotion in the country is looking to bring in and have perform on their shows.
He has recently been highly recommended by wrestlers like Chris Brookes after some top level performances, but it wasn’t always like this.
I first saw Kurtis wrestle in 2017 at a small barn in Totton, Southampton. At this point Kurtis had made a few appearances for Revolution Pro in his underdog Super Contender persona, mostly tagging alongside his partner at the time Kelly Sixx, and having one match in Riptide Wrestling, teaming with Gideon Grey, against Eddie Dennis and Session Moth Martina.
At this time Kurtis was still working on making a name for himself and working on developing his persona. About three months after his Totton appearance, Kurtis won Revolution Pro’s “British Cruiserweight Title.” Kurtis held onto the belt for five months before losing it to rival David Starr, after a run of receiving mixed responses from the crowd.
During this time, Kurtis had started developing his Keyboard Warrior persona in Riptide Wrestling, something that would lead to the Mad Kurt character he now uses. Kurtis also made an appearance for Progress Wrestling, alongside his Riptide tag partner at a ‘Live At The Dome’ show. His behaviour at that show may have hurt his chances of further bookings after he decided to stomp on the Progress Wrestling logo declaring it was “for Andy”, owner of Revolution Pro Wrestling. He is yet to make another appearance for Progress as of writing.
The next chapter in Chapman’s career came after an unfortunate accident at a Revolution Pro show in The Cockpit against NJPW star Great O’Khan. During his match with O’Khan, Kurtis took a spot which saw his face colliding with a ringpost that unfortunately went wrong and meant Kurtis smashed his teeth into the post. Due to the injury Kurtis now has to wear a mouthguard to help protect his teeth from further injury. However, Chapman has managed to turn the incident into a positive, making his mouthguard a part of his arsenal and a way to really add to his character – shoving it in other wrestlers’ mouths during a camel clutch, for example.
Kurtis then put effort into developing himself and his character. In Riptide Wrestling, Kurtis managed to really get over the Keyboard Warrior and become one of the company’s top heels who could be relied upon to put on great matches. Whilst in Revolution Pro, Kurtis graduated from the Contenders division and would start putting on top level performances in singles matches or tagging alongside fellow former contender, Dan Magee.
2019 would become a big year for Kurtis Chapman. He would start to become a regular for promotions such as IPW and ATTACK whilst picking up new bookings with WrestleGate and GOOD wrestling.
In Revolution Pro, Kurtis would come close to becoming half of the RevPro Tag Team Champions, losing in the final of their tag team tournament to Rampage Brown and Great O’Khan. In Riptide Wrestling, Kurtis ended up being the runner up in Riptide’s inaugural Pride Of Brighton tournament, losing to Cassius in a match which received some of Riptide’s biggest reactions ever.
With all the character work Kurtis has been doing, he would need a crazy move to use as his finisher and that is something Kurtis has definitely managed to create. Kurtis uses a move he’s dubbed the Sega MegaDriver. A headscissor destroyer then can be assisted with a tag partner lifting Kurtis into place and helping to apply extra speed to the manoeuvre. It is a move that needs to be seen to be believed.
The future for Kurtis looks very bright if he can continue to grow his MAD KURT persona which he has started using for most promotions now. A keyboard welding madman whose crazy acts show that he’s scared of nobody, no matter how big or aggressive they are.
If this article has inspired you to check out any of Kurtis’ matches in person then I recommend you head over to YouTube and watch Chapman’s match against OJMO in Riptide’s Pride Of Brighton tournament, or the five way match at RevPro Uprising of Chapman Vs Smile Vs Starr Vs Phantasmo Vs Morgan Webster. Both matches are must watches and will have you on the edge of your seat throughout.
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You can find the author of this article on Twitter @ThisIsLeggett. Thanks for reading!