African champion of catch fetiche hoping to defend title in multiple countries in near future
Meet Zombie De Kibambi. Zombie De Kimbabi is currently recognized as the champion of Africa, holding a title that gives him that position that is governed by Belgium’s Brussels Young Wrestling Style promotion.
Zombie De Kibambi
The title itself was introduced to the pro wrestling world by Congolese wrestling legend and founder of Belgium’s BYWS, Shaolin. Shaolin is a Congolese wrestling legend in his own right, but does not practice the catch fetiche, or voodoo wrestling, style himself. Instead, Shaolin depends on a highly athletic style that is very entertaining to watch. While Shaolin himself has not competed for the African title that Zombie De Kibambi currently holds, it is important to note that while Zombie uses the catch fetiche style, it is not a style practiced by all wrestlers from the Congo. Future title defenses made by Zombie De Kibambi may take place against wrestlers that use a traditional pro wrestling style. Use of that style would not prevent a wrestler from qualifying for the title belt, it is just that the current champion uses the catch fetiche style. However, a wrestler using a traditional pro wrestling style would have to be able to overcome the champion’s use of fetiche techniques which could be hard to do. Zombie De Kibambi himself is not only a decorated catch fetiche wrestler but also proficient in the traditional pro wrestling style, making him a very difficult opponent to overcome.
Zombie De Kibambi’s African Championship title belt
Along with the African Championship, Shaolin and BYWS also introduced a few other championship belts to be defended. Two of them, a women’s and men’s single title, to be defended in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of The Congo. The women’s title was won by, and is still currently held by, Queen Shakira, who has been featured on this website before. The men’s title to be defended in Kinshasa was claimed by Turbo De Chasse, who also still holds the belt. A third title was to represent the African country of Angola and that title is currently held by Trovoada, the Olympic hopeful freestyle wrestler that has also been covered on this site. However, the African Championship currently held by Zombie De Kibambi is recognized as being the superior title of the four as it is meant to represent the entire continent of Africa, rather than just one country.
Zombie De Kibambi feasts on his opponent’s guts, living up to his name
Zombie De Kibambi’s road to become champion of Africa was not an easy one. When Maurice Loma became the inaugural champion after defeating the massive Master Kong, it was expected that Loma would protect the title for quite some time after overcoming such a difficult task in Kong to win it in the first place. However, that was not the case as Zombie was able to defeat Loma in their meeting, capturing the African title and returning to his native Angola as champion of Africa.
The champion shows off his title belt while dressed in street clothes instead of his intimidating ring gear
Zombie De Kibambi is the founder of Angola’s Clube Temperatura, a wrestling organization that features catch fetiche as well as traditional pro wrestling styles. This July, they’re planning to host an event that will feature wrestlers from Angola, the DRC and the Republic of Congo, giving Kibambi a chance to defend his title against a Congolese wrestler. However, Zombie De Kibambi has bigger ideas in mind and is intent on defending his African championship in both of the Congos and in other countries of Africa, creating a strong regional championship belt that will represent the Congos, Angola and beyond. Kibambi has set a goal of this summer to embark on this quest to elevate his African championship to make it amongst one of the most sought after on the continent.
A flyer for a previous Clube Temperatura event, the wrestling promotion founded by Zombie De Kibambi
All of us here at WrestleMap wish Zombie De Kibambi luck in defending his title around Africa this summer. Here’s to hoping some challengers will step up and try to take the title from the Zombie. It won’t be an easy task, but it will certainly help raise the profile of Kibambi’s African title in the process. In an area of the world that doesn’t receive much mainstream or international pro wrestling coverage, having a recognizable title and champion can only help further establish the legitimacy of African pro wrestling.
