As the 'Insider' of DOA, I like to think I know about most things that are going on - the news and all the gossip. However, one thought provoking thing I did not pick up on until the 10 year anniversary show was the so called 'curse' of the Adrenaline division championship. It was not until our man with the microphone AK asked then champion Ty Hazard about the rumors of a curse on the title that I really took note. I am the kind of guy who refuses to walk under ladders and always salutes at magpies, I guess I am superstitious to an extent, so this rumor of a curse could have something in it...or not.
DOA's Adrenaline division features some of the UK's hottest prospects, it can be high flying, fast paced and most of all exciting. The title history of the Adrenaline championship alone tells you all that you need to know with the list of people who have held that belt. Jody Fleisch, Ashley Dunn, Banker Marc Lloyd, Peter Nixon and Ash Draven just to name a few. When Ty Hazard won the championship from Cali Grey at Fury Road in September, he was the 13th holder of the title - at this point, the number 13 and curses could go hand in hand, but that is not the thread I am going to take here - promise.
Looking back at the history of the Adrenaline championship it is hard to see where curses could come in to the picture. The title has always been stable with some good reigns during its history and some long ones. The longest serving Adrenaline champion was Dexter who defeated Kelly Sixx for the belt before losing it to CJ Carter in late 2021. It could be argued that the reason for this long reign was helped in a big way by the Covid Pandemic and various lockdown's. Dexter won the title pre pandemic and obviously there was no live wrestling for a year or so, which meant the days stacked up in Dexter's favor to give him the accolade of the longest running Adrenaline Division Champion.
Another long reign was in more recent memory when the fan favorite AJ Boogie Benjamin took DOA by storm by winning the title very early on in his DOA career after it was vacated due to CJ Carter's retirement. He was a fighting champion making several top defenses of the championship in a reign that lasted nearly a year up until Beach Ball Mania in August 2023. At this point you may be reading this and stating that there is no sign of a supposed curse so where does that actually come in to it? Well it is in fact Beach Ball Mania when things took a bit of a turn.
In a very unique match, AJ Boogie teamed with Karama against Cali Grey and Women's champion Leia Elise where both the Adrenaline and Women's championships were on the line - meaning either way a new champion would be crowned. This match was nothing but frustration for AJ Boogie because Elise pinned Karama which meant that Cali Grey was the new Adrenaline champion. After such a long reign, Benjamin had lost his title without even being pinned, and he had to watch Cali Grey parade around as the new champion.
What happened next though caught everyone by surprise when Grey traveled to Fury Road in September to make his first defense against Ty Hazard. At this point, despite producing some top matches including against Robbie X, Hazard had not exactly grabbed the victories that would make him a favorite to win the championship. Cali Grey looked confident but could simply not keep Ty Hazard down who caused a huge upset and pinned Grey to become the champion. Within the matter of just a month, AJ Boogie, Grey and Ty had all held the Adrenaline title, such a quick turn around. The fact that Boogie lost it and had not been pinned and then Grey lost it in his first defense is where the talk of a curse came from.
DOA's Adrenaline division features some of the UK's hottest prospects, it can be high flying, fast paced and most of all exciting. The title history of the Adrenaline championship alone tells you all that you need to know with the list of people who have held that belt. Jody Fleisch, Ashley Dunn, Banker Marc Lloyd, Peter Nixon and Ash Draven just to name a few. When Ty Hazard won the championship from Cali Grey at Fury Road in September, he was the 13th holder of the title - at this point, the number 13 and curses could go hand in hand, but that is not the thread I am going to take here - promise.
Looking back at the history of the Adrenaline championship it is hard to see where curses could come in to the picture. The title has always been stable with some good reigns during its history and some long ones. The longest serving Adrenaline champion was Dexter who defeated Kelly Sixx for the belt before losing it to CJ Carter in late 2021. It could be argued that the reason for this long reign was helped in a big way by the Covid Pandemic and various lockdown's. Dexter won the title pre pandemic and obviously there was no live wrestling for a year or so, which meant the days stacked up in Dexter's favor to give him the accolade of the longest running Adrenaline Division Champion.
Another long reign was in more recent memory when the fan favorite AJ Boogie Benjamin took DOA by storm by winning the title very early on in his DOA career after it was vacated due to CJ Carter's retirement. He was a fighting champion making several top defenses of the championship in a reign that lasted nearly a year up until Beach Ball Mania in August 2023. At this point you may be reading this and stating that there is no sign of a supposed curse so where does that actually come in to it? Well it is in fact Beach Ball Mania when things took a bit of a turn.
In a very unique match, AJ Boogie teamed with Karama against Cali Grey and Women's champion Leia Elise where both the Adrenaline and Women's championships were on the line - meaning either way a new champion would be crowned. This match was nothing but frustration for AJ Boogie because Elise pinned Karama which meant that Cali Grey was the new Adrenaline champion. After such a long reign, Benjamin had lost his title without even being pinned, and he had to watch Cali Grey parade around as the new champion.
What happened next though caught everyone by surprise when Grey traveled to Fury Road in September to make his first defense against Ty Hazard. At this point, despite producing some top matches including against Robbie X, Hazard had not exactly grabbed the victories that would make him a favorite to win the championship. Cali Grey looked confident but could simply not keep Ty Hazard down who caused a huge upset and pinned Grey to become the champion. Within the matter of just a month, AJ Boogie, Grey and Ty had all held the Adrenaline title, such a quick turn around. The fact that Boogie lost it and had not been pinned and then Grey lost it in his first defense is where the talk of a curse came from.
After the quick changes of champion, it came as no surprise that the ten year anniversary show featured a triple threat match where Ty Hazard would defend the title against Cali Grey and AJ Boogie. In his pre match interview when asked about the so called curse by AK, Ty Hazard played it down and seemed confident that he would put an end to that talk and leave the show still champion. In retrospect, that confidence could have been misplaced because sure enough AJ Boogie Benjamin won the match and became the first ever two time Adrenaline champion. This created a unique situation where both Grey and Ty had lost the title in their very first defense. Ty showed respect to AJ after the match and shook his hand but the look of shock on his face said it all - maybe the comments about a curse were playing on his mind? Cali losing it in his first defense was one thing but for it to then happen to Ty too?
So is the title cursed? The first logical questions to ask are why would it be cursed and who cursed it? I mean lets face it, DOA is no stranger to curses, poor Ben Hull was cursed years ago by the Voodoo Queen and that is why he ended up as Hex, but what reason would she have to curse a belt she had no contact with during her time in DOA? Maybe just doing it for a laugh? Cali Grey has quite a dark personality so it really would not shock me to learn that he was in to the dark arts or something. However, I doubt he would conjure up some kind of curse that would cost him the title (twice) as that would make no sense - unless he is new to it all and did it by accident?
As you can see, I find no logical reason for the belt to be cursed or who would have cursed it. However, I think the key here is going to be Boogie's next title defense because if he were to lose it, I think I would be a believer that there is something really dark happening here. Even then though, that could be a psychological barrier due to these rumors, but if he wins his first defense, it is safe to say this all just happened by chance and he is now back on track, picking up where he left off before the title was taken from him without even being pinned. Still though... what if?
Photographs by Mark Ashley Films
So is the title cursed? The first logical questions to ask are why would it be cursed and who cursed it? I mean lets face it, DOA is no stranger to curses, poor Ben Hull was cursed years ago by the Voodoo Queen and that is why he ended up as Hex, but what reason would she have to curse a belt she had no contact with during her time in DOA? Maybe just doing it for a laugh? Cali Grey has quite a dark personality so it really would not shock me to learn that he was in to the dark arts or something. However, I doubt he would conjure up some kind of curse that would cost him the title (twice) as that would make no sense - unless he is new to it all and did it by accident?
As you can see, I find no logical reason for the belt to be cursed or who would have cursed it. However, I think the key here is going to be Boogie's next title defense because if he were to lose it, I think I would be a believer that there is something really dark happening here. Even then though, that could be a psychological barrier due to these rumors, but if he wins his first defense, it is safe to say this all just happened by chance and he is now back on track, picking up where he left off before the title was taken from him without even being pinned. Still though... what if?
Photographs by Mark Ashley Films
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