Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling show at the Community Center in East Carondelet, Illinois.
It had been a rough week with all the drama in Ferguson plus the death of Robin Williams...I was at the point where I considered staying home or doing something else for the evening. Nothing against SICW; it was a case of mental weight on my end.
Attendance was solid; it wasn't a TOTALLY packed house like it had been for previous shows this year. It had been rainy for most of the day; rain wasn't falling when I was driving to the show or when the show ended, but it was pouring when I left the building to go home.
At any rate: Your ring announcer was Drew Abbenhaus(who's getting more comfortable in his role...no substitute for experience and all that). Your referees were Jay King and Keith Smith Jr.
Joker vs. "All About Me" Mallaki Matthews: Mallaki gave Drew a personalized introduction to read...nice touch. Decent enough opener; Mallaki got the upset win in 3:26 after hitting a version of the Union Jack neckbreaker(jumping off the second rope to hit the move).
"The Man Of Tomorrow" Daniel Eads vs. "Money" Matt Cage: Was looking forward to this one; Eads has shown a lot of potential in his first year or so. Been a fan of Cage for a while; he had a busy weekend as he main-evented at AAW in the Chicago area, dropping the Heritage Title to Heidi Lovelace. Cage threw out a tribute to visiting guest Paul Orndorff with the boogie-woogie elbowdrop...bwahahaha. Nice finish that reminded me of Arn Anderson's punch-fake-DDT spot; Cage ducked and covered when Eads went for the Superman Punch, so Eads jumped over him into a sunset flip for the pin in 11:15. This match was an interesting example of context; elsewhere in the area, the result would be considered an upset with Cage's credentials. In SICW, Eads is an up-and-coming fan favorite and Cage is a relatively new rulebreaker.
Farmer Billy Hills vs. "Ironman" Ken Kasa(w/ Travis Cook & Bull Bronson): This was the only card change of the night as Hills subbed for Outtkast for unknown reasons. Travis had a laundry list of excuses for Kasa's title loss, claiming blatant interference on the part of Red River Jack & Big Daddy (and he hates outside interference!). I hadn't seen Hills in several years; he worked a few IHW shows but mostly sticks to central Illinois. Kasa had trouble dealing with his larger opponent, but Travis and Bronson got in a few shots behind the referee's back. Kasa got the win with the John Wu Dropkick(that needs an updated name) in 8:40.
Promoter Herb Simmons interviewed "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in the ring, fresh off his appearance on WWE Raw the previous Monday. I'm bitterly disappointed that they didn't have his mid-'90s WCW theme like they did on Raw (looking at you, Ben Simon). Anywho, Flash Flanagan made an appearance and Orndorff got a step ahead of him right away by grabbing his kendo stick...heh. Flanagan claimed that Orndorff once blew him off on an autograph request when he was a kid...to be fair, he WAS a bad guy at the time. Flash made a big production out of giving Orndorff HIS autograph on an 8x10...signing it to "Paula", a name used to taunt him in that '90s WCW stint. Orndorff proceeded to wipe his posterior with the 8x10 and tear it up...bwahahaha.
J.J. Garrett vs. Mohamad Ali Vaez: Vaez was making his SICW debut; he's a regular for Ohio Valley Wrestling. He attacked Garrett before the ring introductions, then enlightened the fans in his native language...not quite sure if it was Farsi or what, but IT WASN'T 'MURICAN, THAT'S FER SURE! Fine matchup here, largely controlled by Vaez...amazingly, I correctly predicted the finisher(camel clutch) without ever having seen one of Vaez's matches. That sealed the deal in 5:05, after which Vaez reiterated his sentiments in English.
Red River Jack(w/ Big Daddy) vs. Ax Allwardt: This was a tougher test for the masked newcomer; RRJ controlled the early stages of the bout, but Ax got in a cheapshot with his chain and turned things around for a bit. However, Jack fought back to win with the Double-R-J(Diamond Cutter, said to be named in homage to Randy Orton's RKO) in 5:10. Jack dished out some table abuse on Ax after the bell...not sure if Big Daddy can fully control this big guy.
"Night Train/Great One/Gorgeous" Gary Jackson, Big Jim Hoffarth, & "The Don Mega" Shorty Biggs vs. Flash Flanagan, Bull Bronson, & Waco, elimination tag match: Gary pinned Flash in a tag match at the July show, Hoffarth and Waco have their history, and Gary fought Bull a month or two ago...think I got all the history here. Hoffarth and Waco got each other eliminated; a cheapshot by Hoffarth allowed Shorty to pin Waco after the Shortcut in 6:36. Waco returned the favor by snapping Hoffarth's throat off the top rope, setting up a rollup by Bronson at 8:44. Bull continued his dominance by pinning Shorty after a Samoan Drop in 11:36, leaving Jackson in a two-on-one situation. A miscommunication allowed Jackson to counter Bronson's slam attempt into an inside cradle at 13:42, but Flash took out Gary with the dreaded international object for the final win in 14:32. I'm a big fan of this particular gimmick match, dating back to the traditional Survivor Series days...hey, St. Louis is getting Survivor Series this year for the first time since 1998! *cheap plug*
Before the main event, Travis Cook badgered Herb Simmons into guaranteeing Ken Kasa the next title shot...presumably that would happen at the next East Carondelet show on September 20th.
Heath Hatton vs. "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz for the Classic Title: This was Hatton's first title defense after ending Kasa's 13-month reign in July. Cruz lost the title to Kasa under controversial circumstances and only got one rematch which ended in a blatant disqualification; Ricky's frustration over his lack of opportunities led to his recent change in attitude. Nowadays he holds multiple championships, including the Dynamo Pro Heavyweight and Tag Team Titles. The fans seemed a bit subdued during this match for some reason and I'm not sure why...I don't think the show was running THAT late. Maybe they didn't expect a title change this early in Heath's title reign since the previous three reigns were fairly lengthy. Cruz pulled out some of his flashier offense as he said that Herb wanted to see the "old" Ricky Cruz on this night. Each guy survived some of the other's best moves, but the finish was controversial as the ref was knocked down by an errent spear by Hatton. Cruz appeared to have the match won after his third superkick of the match but there was no one to count...then Big Daddy distracted Cruz and Red River Jack entered the ring to drop Cruz with the Double-R-J. Hatton didn't see the interference and got the pin in 16:32 once the referee recovered. Red River Jack didn't DIRECTLY get involved last month...but this time was a different story and Ricky Cruz is understandably upset about how things turned out.
Upcoming shows:
-Saturday 8/23: DPW in Glen Carbon
-Saturday 9/6: DPW in Fenton
-Saturday 9/13: MMWA in St. Louis
-Saturday 9/20: SICW in East Carondelet
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
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