Now, as promised, a special comment about June 13th's Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance show at the South Broadway Athletic Club in St. Louis, Missouri.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
Looked like a pretty good turnout at the beautiful and/or historic venue...it looks like the next time I will make it there will be in August.
Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referees were Nick Ridenour, Brian Stoltz, & Jay King.
Da'Marius Jones vs. Sean Orleans: Jones was looking to rebound from his Heavyweight Title loss to A.J. Williams, but Orleans started by trash-talking him and his family...bad move. Jones went out to get him on the floor and things went downhill from there for Mr. Orleans. The ref called for the bell before the two even got back in the ring, but Da'Marius threw Orleans into the ring to dish out more punishment. The fans chanted for blood, but the Missouri State Athletic Commission might disagree. Jones hit a Johnny Mundo-esque breakdancing legdrop as this began to look like a glorified squash. Sean finally fired back, but his advantage was short-lived as Da'Marius shrugged off the attack and even pulled him up from a pin attempt. Jones finished with a gourdbuster in 3:28.
Moondog Rover vs. LaMarcus Clinton(w/ Survivor Champion Kevin Lee Davidson & Evan Gelistico) for the T.V. Title: This was the result of an open challenge by Moondog...good luck with that, L.M.C. Gelistico was wearing polka-dotted shorts(R.I.P. Dusty Rhodes). Lots of wagon-circling by the rulebreakers allowed for cheapshots both legal and illegal by the trio. L.M.C. took out the leg on a few occasions and added some FLIPPIES~! for good measure, but the power of Moondog OVAH~! was too much for him. L.M.C. got a triangle hold out of nowhere, but Moondog lifted him up into a powerbomb and that got the win in 11:36.
The St. Louis Connection(Andrew "The Wolf" Wilder & "Black Panther" Johnathan Zulu) vs. Brandon Espinosa & ? for the Tag Team Titles: Espinosa ran down his mystery partner's credentials and brought out someone we hadn't seen in a long time...Ace Hawkins! The fans chanted "You Look Stupid" in response fo Ace's new hairstyle. The champs took the early advantage on Hawkins, someone Wilder knew very well from their feud over the Jr. Heavyweight Title in 2014. Espy's luck wasn't much better, leading to a plancha by Wilder...Ace hit the suicide dive on Wilder and Zulu topped off the sequence with a somersault plancha onto both opponents. Wilder ended up on the wrong side of town as Ace broke up a springboard move by yanking him down to the floor. As noted in my previous commentary, Espinosa & Hawkins have plenty of experience as a team and have held Tag Titles in other promotions. A Wilder enzuigiri on Espy gave him an opening to tag, but Hawkins yanked Zulu off the apron. Wilder finally rallied and ran the challengers into each other, leading to the hot tag to Zulu...HOUSE AFIRE~! Zulu rana-ed Ace into a spear on Espy, that was unique. Zulu hit a frog splash on Espy but Ace broke up the pin.
Zulu got rid of Espy and tagged Wilder, but Ace broke up Zulu's side of their Samoan drop/swinging neckbreaker finisher. Wilder got a two-count off the standard Samoan Drop as Ace ran Zulu into the ringpost...Wilder hit the baseball slide, but Ace pulled him into the commentary table. Ace then suplexed Wilder from the floor and Espy picked him up into the ring for a turnbuckle powerbomb...followed by a Blue Thunder Bomb! Ace added a swanton bomb, but Zulu broke up the cover. Zulu cleaned house and leveled Espy with a Superman Punch off the second rope, then Wilder lifted Zulu on his shoulders to pummel both opponents. However, Espy nailed Wilder with the flying knee strike, sending both tumbling backwards over Hawkins in a major schoolboy trip. An Espinosa fallaway powerbomb/Hawkins Ace Crusher combo allowed Espinosa to pin Wilder and we had NEWWWWW Tag Team Champions in 12:53!
"Risky Business" Everett Connors vs. Denzell Vance for the Jr. Heavyweight Title: This was Vance's MMWA debut; I didn't get to see much of him in his quick match with Heath Hatton at SICW. Vance went to the top rope a bit early in this one and jumped right into a dropkick from Connors...ow. Everett rallied and hit Sliced Bread #2 for a two-count, but Vance avoided a Shining Wizard attempt to hit an inverted DDT for his own near-fall. The two slugged it out and Connors got the better of the exchange, ending in a released tiger suplex(!) for two. Vance had one last flurry of offense and hit a low-altitude DDT for another near-fall, but he argued with the referee and got caught with the Shining Wizard for the finish in 7:33.
Vance walked away from the offer of a post-match handshake, but Orleans jumped up from the broadcast table to attack Connors from behind. Orleans added the advanced curbstomp and pulled scissors out of his jacket pocket, cutting off a few pieces of Everett's hair! Commissioner Jim Harris threatened him with a suspension if he didn't stop what he was doing. He offered Orleans a deal for the July show: He gets his rematch for the title, but Orleans' hair will be on the line. Orleans was fine with those terms...
Austin Blackburn vs. Evan Gelistico(w/ Survivor Champion Kevin Lee Davidson & LaMarcus Clinton): One of these guys might win~! MY GOD~! They went the comedy route in the early going, even taking a page out of the El Generico/Delirious playbook on a rope-running spot. Blackburn kept teasing a dive and Evan kept ducking and covering, so Blackburn simply went out to the ring apron and dropped a double axhandle...har har. The 82nd Airborne made a nuisance of themselves, but Blackburn still hit the flying rana off the second rope for a near-fall. Gelistico finally got the edge by yanking Austin into the turnbuckles by the tights, then sending him to the floor for the Initial Squad to work over. General heelishness ensued, including another trip or two to the floor for Blackburn. Evan's attempt to flip-flop-and-fly went awry and Blackburn unleashed his own bionic elbow, followed by a spinning heel kick and Slingblade...for two. Evan hit the Ride The Lightning variation of the Go 2 Sleep...for two. Big roundhouse kick...for two. Alabama Slam attempt was countered into a Code Red by Blackburn...for two. Turnbuckle-walk DDT...but L.M.C. distracted the ref. Blackburn went for another Code Red, but K.L.D. entered the ring to grab him in a spinebuster. The ref turned around just in time to see Gelistico's pin cover for the win in 11:49...CHEAT TO WIN~!
Kevin Lee Davidson vs. Tommy Dallas for the Survivor Title: Apparently the Peanut Gallery was booted from ringside before this one started. K.L.D. has surprising agility for a guy of his size...I look forward to seeing what he'll be able to do with a few years of experience under his belt. He's also good at "wrestling like a big man" already. Dallas pulled off one of the better low-bridge spots in my recent memory, then nailed a nice suicide dive. K.L.D. caught a cross-bodyblock off the top, but Dallas fought out of his grasp...only to be yanked back by the tights and clubbed in the back of the head. Simple but VERY effective. Nice block of an attempted flying headscissors as K.L.D. dropped Dallas with a sideslam. Davidson notably has a decent fanbase at South Broadway. SBAC is the only place I've seen Dallas so far; I don't have as much material to study on him since he's so new. Dallas gets the ringside tour, but shows signs of life before being thrown into the guardrail. Regal/Finlay Roll on the hardwood floor! Davidson takes his sweet time in capitalizing, even stopping to pose with his belt and mock Dallas' hip-swivel. Dallas finally fired up with a dropkick, then a cross-body off the top...for two. K.L.D. blocked a Rude Awakening and planted Dallas with the spinebuster...that ended it in 11:14. Davidson had a staredown with "Da Bomb" Brian James at the broadcast table in a preview of coming attractions...
A.J. Williams vs. "Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson for the Heavyweight Title: A.J. has tights~! MY GOD~! Of course Gary is a perennial contender for the MMWA Title which he has held many, many times. Gary reminded everyone about THE RULES~!...if more people would follow Rule Four(don't forget the rules), he wouldn't have to keep doing that. The formula was simple: Hotshot arrogant punk champion vs. battle-tested veteran challenger. Williams got Jackson in the Sharpshooter, but the f'ing bell wasn't rung as Gary fought out of the hold...in turn, A.J. kicked Gary away as he attempted the Texas Cloverleaf. Williams hit a tornado DDT for an early two-count, then slipped out of the ring to seemingly hide SOMETHING in his kneepad...hmm. However, Gary got his second wind and dropped A.J. with a side backbreaker...focusing on the back to set up the Cloverleaf. Williams cut him off with an enzuigiri, but he missed a kneedrop and Gary rallied. The K.L.D./Gelistico/L.M.C. trio made their way to ringside at this point...Gary hit the swinging neckbreaker and Drop It Like It's Hot elbowdrop, then got the Cloverleaf only for L.M.C. to distract the ref from seeing the tapout. A.J. rammed Jackson back into the corner...and the referee, uh-oh. Gary went for a back suplex, but A.J. hit him with the international object from his kneepad and fell on top. Williams threw the foreign object out of the ring as the official recovered to count three in 10:18...the champ retained his title.
A few different things have been set up for July 11th...Da'Marius Jones gets his rematch with A.J. Connors faces Orleans in a title-vs.-hair match. Espinosa & Hawkins defend the tag belts against Wilder & Zulu who will now be able to prepare for both opponents. Moondog has another open challenge...and Ken Patera will be in the house for an induction into the St. Louis Wrestling Hall Of Fame. Good times.
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
P.S. We are all marks.
No comments:
Post a Comment