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Soleil will take to the skies on Saturday night during Awesome Championship Wrestling’s (ACW) Independence Day in a tag team match with Dante Casanova as they look to defeat the duo known as The Righteous.
Former WWE star Sidney Akeem is the man behind the mask. It will be his first appearance in ACW since 2025 at Mischief Night when he faced Casanova and AJZ in a triple threat match. Casanova was the winner of that battle and now teams up with Soleil.
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Soleil in an ACW ring. (Photography by Jay Adam)
He told Pak Gazette Digital that he was excited to have the opportunity to face Vincent and Dutch as they have progressed as one of the best tag teams in professional wrestling, primarily competing on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) on Thursday nights.
“I’m not going to say there are nerves. I’ve been in the ring with a lot of talent in my career,” he said. “This is my first time tangling with The Righteous and I’m excited. In fact, I was talking to the brothers not long ago, telling them how much I enjoy their work and that sharing the ring stage with them will be fun.
“It’s going to be different because Dante Casanova and I, you know, this came together unexpectedly, but I think we’re two guys who are done proving that we belong in this wrestling world, the ACW locker room. I think we’ve more than proven that we belong. I think now it’s about making a statement. Making a statement and making an impact and hope in this tag team division.”
The ability to reuse the mask is an important part for Soleil.
He said he has been working on the character for several years and tried to introduce it to WWE but it never took off. He was known as Scrypts and Reggie during his time at the company.
Soleil takes a turn in Awesome Championship Wrestling. (Photography by Jay Adam)
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“Yes, I mean this is the new me and also the real me,” he explained to Pak Gazette Digital. “Everyone knows Sidney Akeem, former WWE Superstar Reggie, NXT star Scrypts, and you know I never really found who I really was when I was in WWE and then when I got to the indies, I had a great run as Sidney Akeem, but something was missing. Something was missing not only in me, but in that connection with fans around the world. And so, I’ve had this character Soleil… I’ve been creating him for almost six years and they never came together because they just came together. It wasn’t the right time and in NXT this is what I wanted Scrypts to be, but there were too many chefs in the kitchen. I debuted this in Ring of Honor, but Soleil’s real debut with the music, the jumbotron, everything was in ACW.
“So the fact that I debuted this character, my true self, and in ACW. I think it’s only fitting that I move on. You might see Sidney Akeem again. But it’s Soleil because that’s what I represent and what it means not just to me, but to a lot of people around the world. This is a sign of courage to break those barriers of boxes that they tried to keep people in. I grew up in a place where you weren’t allowed to be a superhero. “You weren’t allowed to be your true self. me and then you put on these masks to be other people. Well, this mask was put on to show you who I really am. And it is Soleil, the dark sun that comes from the circus but is now becoming its statesman, its foot in the world of wrestling.”
Soleil said she wants to express to the audience that it was okay to express who you are as a person. You can be a superhero and fly through the air like he can.
“The world of wrestling is big and you can try to target a certain group of people or you can try to target everyone. I found who I want to be a symbol for and there are so many kids around the world that not only look like me, but go through things that I went through in my life and let them know that it’s okay to unlock the superhero in you,” he said. “It’s okay to dream big and sometimes a little crazy and extravagant because the world will tell us no. People will tell us no.
Soleil enters the ring. (Smoothlenz Photography)
“And Soleil is me telling everyone yes. It doesn’t matter where you come from or what you’ve done before or what your reputation might be. There’s a superhero inside everyone. And I want people to understand that I’m not putting on a mask as a trick. I’m putting on a mask because this is really who I am. I already move like a superhero. And the circus people are the closest thing to real-life superheroes that we have for all the things that we do. And I said I’m not in the circus anymore, I’m in the world of wrestling and wrestling started in the circus. So this is the story, there is a lot deeper than just putting on a mask as a gimmick.”
Even as a superhero character, Soleil wasn’t exactly committed to supporting a team that previously had a dangerous experience with The Righteous.
At Reckoning in May, The Righteous came out from behind and handcuffed Hale Collins to the cage while Vik Dalishus was being beaten by Sent 2 Slaughter’s Danny Maff and Shawn Donovan.
The Now and Sent 2 Slaughter will be on opposite sides of the ring again on Saturday as they take part in a lumberjack match between Tommy Dreamer and Josh Shernoff.
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“I’m also on my own journey and I understand that Dante has now entered my world, my journey. We just have to see how the cards are dealt because I can’t tell you right now that yes, I will have this person’s back or that person’s back,” Soleil told Pak Gazette Digital. “We, regardless of how confident we are, have a big task ahead of us. The Righteous, they’re not easy to do. We go into this game believing we can win, but we can’t do it half-heartedly and without focusing thinking that, oh, this is a piece of cake because they’re obviously not one of the best teams we have in this business. So, that’s a question we’re going to have to address once we get there.”
Independence Day takes place at the MJN Center on Saturday in Poughkeepsie, New York.
