The Canon Review's Tribute to Kenny Kaos

Last night, while watching Kenny Kaos's finest hour when Rick Steiner handed him one of the tag team belts, I found myself thinking, hey, what if I watch a few of his matches and see if he's any good. Well, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to that already, but nevertheless, here is The Canon Review's tribute to the blond guy from the WCW tag team High Voltage, Kenny Kaos.

Match 1: High Voltage (Rage and Kaos) vs. Villano IV and Super Calo, WCW Pro, June 1, 1997

What a strange matchup this is, as two luchadores face off against the youngsters High Voltage. Four and Calo start off with the advantage on Kaos, but that changes once Kaos whips Calo into Rage, who promptly delivers an overhead belly-to-belly on Calo. High Voltage dominates for a minute, until Kaos misses an elbow in the corner which allows Calo to get the hot? tag to Villano. Villano beats on Rage and backs him in the corner, but Kaos catches him and puts Villano on his shoulder. Are they going to do the Doomsday Device? No, instead Rage springboards from the apron to deliver a spinning heel kick on IV while he's sitting on Kaos's shoulder. According to the announcers, that move is called the Power Plant, which makes no sense to me, but that's a very good finisher none the less. Rage gets the three and the two muscleheads celebrate. Rage in particular is just juiced to the gills in this match. Short match which I doubt anyone remembers, and I'm quite surprised it's on YouTube. I'll give it a 1.6903 out of 5.

Match 2: High Voltage vs. Disorderly Conduct (Mean Mike and Tough Tom) WCW Thunder, September 3, 1998

The great lost tag team of the 1990s makes a rare Thunder appearance against High Voltage. Tony Schiavone gives a shout out to all the kids staying up late to watch Nitro and Thunder, even though they have school the next day. High Voltage takes control early, as Rage uses a belly to belly suplex on one of the mean tough guys and other power moves as well. Kaos comes in, keeps it up, but eventually the veteran duo get Kaos in a compromising position with heel tactics. One of the Disorderly Conduct (I can't remember which one is which, to be honest, and the announcers are no help) tries to hold Kaos for a double team maneuver, but instead Kaos moves, and the Disorderly Conduct run into each other. Hot tag to Rage, who dropkicks both of his opponents with some good hangtime on those dropkicks. Rage gets one of the Conduct on his shoulders, and Kaos springboards from the apron to deliver a clothesline, which is kind of like the Doomsday Device but instead of diving off the top turnbuckle, Kaos springboards himself and then leaps from the top rope. According to an internet site, this move is called the Circut Breaker, but whatever it's called, it's good enough to get the win. Bobby Heenan and Lee Marshall were really putting over High Voltage during the match, and Heenan even compared them to the young Steiner Brothers. I think Heenan was drunk. This match was really a showcase for High Voltage, but it never did anything for them since WCW brass never seemed interested in giving them a push. Nevertheless, it was decent for what it was. I'll give it a 2 out of 5.

Match 3: High Voltage vs. The Steiner Brothers, WCW Monday Nitro, February 10, 1997

Well, since the comparison was made, why not see these two teams against each other. Scott and Rick come out to a big reaction. An interview is played before the match where the Steiners say they'll win some four way tag coming up at Super Brawl. Match starts. Scott takes control of Rage, but Rage clips him in the knee. Rage comes off the top, but gets caught and Scott overhead belly to belly suplexes him. Scott then lifts Rage up and Gorilla Press slams him. Tag out to Rick, and his future tag team partner Kaos is also tagged in. Rick stays in control to the surprise of no one, and Scott gets back in to powerslam Kaos into the corner. Tag back to Rick, who atomic drops Kaos, and follows with a Steinerline, but Kaos is able to tag out just before taking the move. Rage is in, tries a springboard senton from the apron, but gets caught and powerbombed by Rick instead. The two set Rage up, and Rick delivers his finisher, the bulldog off the top rope onto the opponent, which is on Scott's shoulders. Rick gets the pin and the crowd roars in appreciation. Pretty much a squash, but an entertaining one at least. I'll give it a 2.2 out of 5.

Match 4: Kenny Kaos vs. Goldberg, WCW Monday Nitro, April 12, 1999

I wonder who's going to win this match. Goldberg comes out and punishes Kaos with a few moves, including a leg submission and a gorilla press into a powerslam, which Heenan decides to call the Goldberg Slam. Holy moly, Kaos gets some offense in after a jawjacker against the top rope. He gets a couple of punches into the midsection and a fireman's carry into a slam that looked as if neither man knew what to do there. Kaos to the top, and he hits the guillotine legdrop! Come on Kaos! Kaos attempts a springboard clothesline, but gets swatted away like a fly by Goldberg. Damn it, he was so close! Goldberg takes control with a pumphandle suplex, spear, and the Jackhammer in rapid succession to get the win. Match was kind of sloppy, to be honest. I'll give it a 1.6 out of 5.

Finally, I would not be doing my due dillegence if I didn't include this video. Somebody, apparently a huge fan, decided to make a tribute video to the team of High Voltage, in the style of those "My Sacrifice" videos that the WWE made a few years back. It starts out well, but eventually it's a minute and a half of High Voltage taking a beating. Still, I found it entertaining, so check it out for yourself.




So, what did I learn from this? That Kenny Kaos is not a man to be trifled with, unless you are Goldberg. In all honesty, both Rage and Kaos had some of the tools to be good wrestlers, but never quite put the whole puzzle together and even if they did, it's unlikely that WCW would have given them a chance anyway. Oh well. Today Kaos no longer wrestles. I don't know what he does, but he isn't in wrestling as far as I know. I will say this, Kenny Kaos was better than a lot of guys to step into the ring for WCW.

Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future posts, than let me know about them either by leaving a comment or by contacting me via e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com