TNA Impact
-Commentators: Josh Mathews & D'Angelo Dinero.
-King Of The Mountain Champion Bram Cameron d. Bobby Lashley by DQ(non-title) when Lashley hit Bram in the midsection with a chair (6:24). Lashley laid out Bram with two spears until Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway ran him off. However, Eli Drake decided to cash in his Feast Or Fired briefcase...
-Eli Drake d. Bram Cameron after a kneelift and lariat to win the King Of The Mountain Title (1:06).
-The Bro Mans(Robbie Eckos & Jessie Godderz)(w/ Raquel Castrovinci) d. Tyrus Clay & Rockstar Spud when Godderz made Spud tap out to the Adonis Crab (4:03); Mike Bennett was the special guest referee.
-Women's Champion Mia "Jade" Yim & Gail Kim(w/ Ethan Carter III) d. Sienna Kay & Allie Dennis(w/ Maria Kanellis-Bennett) when Jade pinned Allie after the package piledriver (5:26).
-Mike Bennett(w/ Maria Kanellis-Bennett) d. James Storm via rollup with a handful of tights after Maria slapped Storm behind the referee's back (6:06). Storm laid out Bennett after the match with the Last Call superkick.
-Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway d. Tag Team Champions The Decay(Abyss & Crazzy Steve) & Rosemary Rush in a non-title handicap match; Bobby Lashley tried to interfere but accidentally speared Lashley, leading to Galloway pinning Steve after the Future Shock(double-underhook DDT) (6:25).
World League Wrestling TV Episode 11
-Commentators: Brian Thompson & Leland Race.
-WLW alumnus Curtis Axel welcomed us to WLW TV.
-Jr. Heavyweight Title Tournament: Jon Webb d. "Kickin'" Kyle Roberts after a flying knee strike to the back of the head. Jayden Fenix congratulated Webb, but then dropped him with a cheapshot and declared that he would no longer be in the shadow of the other Black Hand Warriors.
-----
WWE(www.wwe.com)
Main Event this week has:
-Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady vs. The Vaudevillains(Aiden English & Simon Gotch)
-Zack Ryder vs. Rick Viktor
-Sasha Banks vs. Summer Rae
NXT this Wednesday has:
-Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano vs. The Revival(Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)
-Austin Aries vs. Elias Samson
-Tye Dillinger vs. Buddy Murphy
Superstars this week has:
-Jack Swagger vs. Rick Viktor
-Paige Knight vs. Summer Rae
Smackdown on Thursday has:
-Kofi Kingston vs. A.J. Styles
-Dean Ambrose & Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens & Alberto Del Rio
-Alexander Rusev vs. Jack Swagger
-Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch
-The Golden Truth(Goldust & "R-Truth" Ron Killings vs. The Dudley Boys(Buh-Buh Ray & D-Von)
NXT Takeover on Wednesday 6/8 has:
-Samoa Joe vs. Finn Bálor - NXT Title Cage Match
-Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Austin Aries
-American Alpha(Jason Jordan & Chad Gable) vs. The Revival(Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) - NXT Tag Team Titles
-Asuka Urai vs. Nia Jax - NXT Women's Title
Money In The Bank is on Sunday 6/19:
-Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins - WWE Title
-Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Sami Zayn, Antonio Cesaro, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens, Alberto Del Rio
TNA(www.tnawrestling.com)
Impact next Tuesday has:
-Drew Galloway vs. Matt Hardy
-Ethan Carter III & Gail Kim vs. Mike Bennett & Maria Kanellis-Bennett
-Trevor Lee vs. Eddie Edwards - X-Division Title
-Mahabali Shera, Grado, & The Bro Mans(Robbie Eckos & Jessie Godderz) vs. Eli Drake, Abyss, & The Tribunal(Basille Baracca & Baron Dax)
-Madison Rayne vs. Sienna Kay
-In action: Braxton Sutter, Allie Dennis
Slammiversary is on Sunday 6/12:
-Drew Galloway vs. Bobby Lashley - Heavyweight Title Knockout-Or-Tapout Match
-Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy - Full Metal Mayhem Match
-Ethan Carter III vs. Mike Bennett
-The Decay(Abyss & Crazzy Steve) vs. The Bro Mans(Robbie Eckos & Jessie Godderz) - Tag Team Titles
-Gail Kim vs. Maria Kanellis-Bennett
RING OF HONOR(www.rohwrestling.com)
ROH TV next week has:
-Jay Lethal vs. Donovan Dijak
-Kazuchika Okada vs. Matt Sydal
-Colt Cabana vs. Adam Page
Next show is Friday 6/3 in Collinsville, IL:
-Jay Briscoe & War Machine(Todd Hanson & Raymond Rowe) vs. Jay Lethal & The Addiction(Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian)
-Roderick Strong vs. Stevie Richards vs. Moose vs. Silas Young
-Kamaitachi vs. Adam Cole
-A.C.H. vs. "Beer City Bruiser" Matt Winchester
-Chris Sabin vs. Adam Page
-Lio Rush vs. Alex Shelley
-Mark Briscoe vs. Jason Kincaid
-Jessica James vs. Taeler Hendrix
ROH has a show on Saturday 6/4 in Indianapolis, IN:
-The Motor City Machineguns(Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs. Adam Cole & Adam Page
-Jay Lethal vs. Mark Briscoe
-Jay Briscoe vs. Moose
-Todd Hanson vs. Frankie Kazarian
-Raymond Rowe vs. Christopher Daniels
-Roderick Strong vs. Kamaitachi vs. Jason Kincaid vs. A.C.H. vs. Lio Rush vs. Will Ferrara
-Jessica James vs. Kelly Klein
ROH has a show on Sunday 6/5 in Columbus, OH:
-The Addiction(Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs. War Machine(Todd Hanson & Raymond Rowe) - Tag Team Titles - No-DQ Match
-Jay Lethal vs. Adam Page
-Jay Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong
-Lio Rush vs. Adam Cole
-Dalton Castle vs. Kamaitachi
-Mark Briscoe vs. Stevie Richards
-The Motor City Machineguns(Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley vs. The All Night Express(Kenny King & Rhett Titus)
-Crazy Mary Dobson vs. Veda Scott
NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING(www.njpw.co.jp/english)
Information on upcoming episodes will be posted when it becomes available.
LUCHA UNDERGROUND(www.luchaunderground.com)
This week's episode has:
-Matanza Cueto vs. Brian Cage - Heavyweight Title
-Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans, & P.J. Black vs. Rey Misterio Jr., Prince Puma, & Dragon Azteca Jr. - Trios Titles
-Son Of Havoc vs. Daga
-----
ST. LOUIS ANARCHY(www.stlanarchy.com)
Next show is Friday 8/26 in Alton, IL:
-Gary Jay vs. Martin Stone
SLA has a show on Saturday 8/27 in Alton, IL.
DPW(www.dynamoprowrestling.com)
Next show is Saturday 7/22 in Collinsville, IL as part of NatsuCon:
-Appearing: Davey Richards, Delirious
SICW(www.sicw.org)
Next show is Saturday 6/18 in East Carondelet, IL:
-Ron Powers vs. Attila Khan - Heavyweight Title
-Gary Jackson & Ken Kasa vs. Chris Hargas
-Jim Hoffarth vs. Bubba Troll
-Jason Vaughn vs. Ax Allwardt
MMWA(www.southbroadwayac.com)
Next show is Saturday 6/11 in St. Louis, MO:
-Gary Jackson vs. Da'Marius Jones vs. A.J. Williams - Heavyweight Title
-Brandon Aarons vs. Tyler Copeland - Jr. Heavyweight Title
PWCS(www.pwcswrestling.com)
Next show is Saturday 7/9 in Granite City, IL:
-Arik Cannon(Blacklist) vs. K.C. Karrington(Ego Busters)
-Davey Vega(Resurgence) vs. Darin Corbin(Submission Squad)
HIGH RISK WRESTLING(www.facebook.com/hrwstl)
Next show is Saturday 6/25 in Warsaw, MO:
-Tony Kozina vs. Elvis Aliaga vs. Tyler Copeland
-Mayhem Title Tournament
PRO WRESTLING EPIC(www.prowrestlingepic.com/)
Information on upcoming shows will be posted when it becomes available.
METRO PRO WRESTLING(www.metrowrestling.com)
Next show is Saturday 6/4 in Kansas City, KS:
-Demolition(Ax & Smash) & The Commission(Evan Gelistico & Pierre Abernathy) vs. Davey Vega, Mike Sydal, Geek Singh, & Kiyoshi Shizuka
-Jake Dirden vs. Kraig Keesaman - Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1
-Jon Webb vs. Kiyoshi Shizuka - Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1
-Rory Fox vs. Mark Sterling - Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1
-Jaysin Strife vs. Derek Stone - Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1
-The Riegel Twins(Logan & Sterling) vs. The Kansas City Wolves(Graham Bell & Luke Langley)
-Ace Steel vs. Superstar Steve Fender - Central States Title vs. Kansas Title
-Nate Redwing & Jay Howard vs. The Killer City Kings(Jake & Ryan)
-Angelus Layne vs. "Miss Natural" Heather Patera
3XW(www.3xwrestling.com)
Information on upcoming shows will be posted when it becomes available.
WLW(www.harleyrace.com)
Next show is Saturday 6/25 in Bell, MO.
GATEWAY ELITE WRESTLING(www.facebook.com/TheGatewayElite)
Next show is Friday 6/3 in Camdenton, MO.
STRIDE PRO WRESTLING(www.facebook.com/Cmaprowrestling/)
Next show is Saturday 6/4 in Marion, IL:
-Ax Allwardt vs. Farmer Billy Hills - Heavyweight Title
-Cowboy Bob Orton & Bull Bronson vs. Cash Borden & Dalton Diamond
-Heath Hatton vs. Jake Capone
OUTLAW WRESTLING(www.facebook.com/outlawwrestling01)
Next show is Sunday 6/19 in Tullahoma, TN.
WRESTLING INVADES AMERICA(wrestlinginvamerica.wix.com/wrestlinginvamerica)
Next show is Saturday 6/18 in Swansea, IL:
-Kevin Lee Davidson vs. Barackus - Heavyweight Title
CENTRAL STATES CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING(nwaccw.x10.bz)
Next show is Saturday 6/11 in St. Robert, MO:
-Deven Spade vs. Evan Morris - NWA Central States Title
WORLD POWERHOUSE WRESTLING(sites.google.com/site/worldpowerhousewrestlingstl/home)
Next show is Saturday 7/9 in Collinsville, IL:
-Curtis Payne vs. Uriah Eleazar - Heavyweight Title
NEW BREED WRESTING(www.facebook.com/NewBreedMO)
Next show is Saturday 7/16 in Sedalia, MO.
NBW has a show on Saturday 7/23 in Eldon, MO.
CCW(www.facebook.com/CapeChampionshipWrestling/)
Next show is Saturday 7/16 in Cape Girardeau, MO:
-Leland Race vs. Trevor Murdoch
-Osby Tomlin vs. Chris Jones
-Sarge O'Riley vs. Brandon Barbwire
-Billy Hills vs. Jason Vaughn
-Jake Dirden vs. Tony Kozina
-Little Bit vs. Stacey O'Brien
-----
EVOLVE(www.wwnlive.com & www.dgusa.tv)
Next show is Friday 6/10 in Tampa, FL:
-Timothy Thatcher vs. Chris Hero - EVOLVE Title
-Johnny Gargano & T.J. Perkins vs. Drew Galloway & Ethan Carter III
-Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams vs. The Bravado Brothers(Harlem & Lancelot) - Tag Team Titles
-Matt Riddle vs. Cedric Alexander
EVOLVE has a show on Saturday 6/11 in Orlando, FL:
-Ethan Page vs. Drew Galloway - Anything-Goes Match
-Timothy Thatcher vs. Tracy Williams
-Johnny Gargano vs. Drew Gulak vs. T.J. Perkins vs. Lince Dorado vs. ?
-Matt Riddle vs. Trevor Lee
-Fred Yehi vs. Cedric Alexander
-The Bravado Brothers(Harlem & Lancelot) vs. Jason Cade & Darby Allin
PRO WRESTLING GUERRILLA(www.prowrestlingguerrilla.com)
Information on upcoming shows will be posted when it becomes available.
CHIKARA(www.chikarapro.com)
Next show is Saturday 6/11 in Philadelphia, PA:
-"Mr. Touchdown" Mark Angelosetti vs. Juan Francisco De Coronado
-N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) & Fire Ant vs. Hallowicked & The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama)
-Eddie Kingston vs. Jaka
-Missile Assault Man vs. Icarus
WHY WE WRESTLE(www.anarchy-wrestling.com)
Next show is Saturday 6/11 in Cornelia, GA.
HOUSE OF HARDCORE(www.houseofhardcore.net)
Next show is Friday 6/24 in East Burwood, Australia.
SHIMMER(www.shimmerwrestling.com)
Next shows are Saturday 6/25 and Sunday 6/26 in Chicago, IL.
SHINE(www.shinewrestling.com)
Next show is Friday 6/17 in Ybor City, FL.
IWA MID-SOUTH(iwamidsouthwrestling.webs.com)
Next show is Thursday 6/2 in Clarksville, IN:
-Reed Bentley vs. Joseph Schwartz vs. Tracey Smothers - Heavyweight Title
-Matt Cage vs. Kevin Lee Davidson
-John Wayne Murdoch vs. Brock Landers
-Zodiak & Aidan Blackhart vs. The Viking War Party(Alexandre Rudolph & Jake Parnell)
-Randi West vs. Amazing Maria
-J.J. Garrett vs. Curt Stallion
-Franklin Isaac Anderson vs. Shad O'Satu
AAW(www.aawrestling.com)
Next show is Friday 6/17 in Merrionette Park, IL:
-Sami Callihan & Dave Crist vs. Eddie Kingston & Homicide
-A.R. Fox vs. Aero Star - Heritage Title
-Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett vs. The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter) - Tag Team Titles
-Drago vs. Chris Hero
-Johnny Gargano vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
-Drew Gulak vs. Silas Young
ACW(www.anarchychampionshipwrestling.com)
Next show is Sunday 6/26 in Austin, TX featuring the Queen Of Queens Tournament:
-Tournament Participants: Christi Jaynes, Jessica James, Baby Dumplins, Allie Kat, Laynie Luck, Claudia Del Solis, Sage Sin, Erica Torres
-Raymond Rowe & ? vs. Curt Stallion & ?
-The Hole F'n Team(Johnny Axxle & Mr. B) vs. The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter) vs. The Unholy Complex(Gregory James & Jason Silver) vs. The Bad Boyz(Li'l Tony & Seph Anunnaki)
-Darin Childs vs. Jack Jameson vs. Sky DeLacrimosa vs. Killah Kash
Missouri Wrestling Revival: http://www.missouriwrestlingrevival.com/
St. Louis Wrestling: http://www.saintlouiswrestling.com/
St. Louis Wrestling Community: http://community.livejournal.com/stlwrestling/
Leave a comment or e-mail: patrickab7@yahoo.com
Follow me on Twitter or Facebook at: @patrickab7
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Monday, May 30, 2016
WWE Raw
-Commentators: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, & John Bradshaw Layfield.
-Tag Team Champions The New Day(Big E Langston & Kofi Kingston)(w/ Xavier Woods) d. The Vaudevillains(Aiden English & Simon Gotch) by DQ(non-title) when Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows attacked New Day (joined in progress; 5:21 aired).
-Jimmy & Jey Uso d. Breezango(Tyler Breeze & Johnny Fandango) when Jey pinned Fandango with a crucifix (1:44); The Golden Truth(Goldust & "R-Truth" Ron Killings) did commentary and fought with Breezango after the match.
-U.S. Champion Alexander Rusev(w/ Lana Perry) d. Zack Ryder(non-title) with the Accolade(camel clutch) (2:33). Titus O'Neil interrupted Rusev's post-match promo for a war of words, then a fight.
-Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady d. The Dudley Boys(Buh-Buh Ray & D-Von) when Enzo pinned D-Von after he and Cass hit the Rocket Launcher (6:06 aired).
-John Cena made his return to WWE and was welcomed back by A.J. Styles. While Styles and his running buddies Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows had seemingly parted ways the previous week, Anderson & Gallows came out to make fun of Styles' "sucking up"...but then A.J. turned on Cena with a cheapshot and the former Bullet Club stablemates beat down Cena.
-Dana Brooke(w/ Women's Champion Natalya Neidhart) d. Natalya Neidhart with the fireman's-carry Michinoku Driver (1:21). Becky Lynch saved Nattie from a post-match attack.
-Baron Corbin d. Dolph Ziggler by DQ after a blatant kick to the groin by Ziggler (0:33).
-Dean Ambrose, Antonio Cesaro, & Sami Zayn d. Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, & Alberto Del Rio when Ambrose pinned Owens after the Dirty Deeds v2.0(double-underhook DDT) (13:13 aired).
-Tag Team Champions The New Day(Big E Langston & Kofi Kingston)(w/ Xavier Woods) d. The Vaudevillains(Aiden English & Simon Gotch) by DQ(non-title) when Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows attacked New Day (joined in progress; 5:21 aired).
-Jimmy & Jey Uso d. Breezango(Tyler Breeze & Johnny Fandango) when Jey pinned Fandango with a crucifix (1:44); The Golden Truth(Goldust & "R-Truth" Ron Killings) did commentary and fought with Breezango after the match.
-U.S. Champion Alexander Rusev(w/ Lana Perry) d. Zack Ryder(non-title) with the Accolade(camel clutch) (2:33). Titus O'Neil interrupted Rusev's post-match promo for a war of words, then a fight.
-Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady d. The Dudley Boys(Buh-Buh Ray & D-Von) when Enzo pinned D-Von after he and Cass hit the Rocket Launcher (6:06 aired).
-John Cena made his return to WWE and was welcomed back by A.J. Styles. While Styles and his running buddies Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows had seemingly parted ways the previous week, Anderson & Gallows came out to make fun of Styles' "sucking up"...but then A.J. turned on Cena with a cheapshot and the former Bullet Club stablemates beat down Cena.
-Dana Brooke(w/ Women's Champion Natalya Neidhart) d. Natalya Neidhart with the fireman's-carry Michinoku Driver (1:21). Becky Lynch saved Nattie from a post-match attack.
-Baron Corbin d. Dolph Ziggler by DQ after a blatant kick to the groin by Ziggler (0:33).
-Dean Ambrose, Antonio Cesaro, & Sami Zayn d. Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, & Alberto Del Rio when Ambrose pinned Owens after the Dirty Deeds v2.0(double-underhook DDT) (13:13 aired).
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Dynamo Special Comment
Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Dynamo Pro Wrestling show at The Ready Room in St. Louis, Missouri.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
A relevant news story in the past few weeks has been the closing of the Stratford Inn, one of Dynamo's primary venues in the past few years. DPW built a really good audience there, but they will presumably be shopping around for new buildings in the future. According to the Riverfront Times story, special events will be honored; however, Dynamo cancelled their June 4th show since it was on the same weekend as the Ring Of Honor show in Collinsville(though that will be on Friday the 3rd). They still have The Ready Room, Wood River, and Glen Carbon for the time being; they may even be able to run at Stratford in the near future, at least until the venue falls under new ownership. Apparently people were talking doom and gloom since the promotion was potentially losing its main building; it's obviously not a GOOD thing, but I wouldn't make funeral plans just yet.
At any rate, this show had a pretty good turnout; Memorial Day weekend can be a tough sell, but they did all right for themselves last night (especially with the lower draws of the shows I attended the previous week). I like this venue and hope they can run in that building more often in the future.
Your ring announcer was Chris Roedel, your assistant ring announcer was Luke Roberts, your special guest timekeeper was Larry Nickel, and your referees were Jay King & Patrick Hook.
The show started with Heavyweight Champion "Dirdey" Jake Dirden addressing the unwashed masses...he hadn't appeared for Dynamo in a few shows, but said that any challenger would have to earn their shot at the title. He noted that Mike Outlaw was conveniently on vacation after running his mouth in Fenton, so he would have to wait for his opportunity.
"The Wind Of Destruction" Makaze vs. "The Alternative" Ozzie Gallagher: This was a rematch from the last Fenton show when Gallagher cheated to win. It's hard to believe that Makaze is the only wrestler from my first indie show in May of 2000 who's wrestling regularly today (Sean Vincent was a referee on that show, so he gets partial credit). Gallagher wasn't quite as sneaky with his underhanded tactics this time around; a blatant low blow caused his disqualification in 8:01. Gallagher thought he had gotten away from his rival and former mentor, but Makaze dove off the second rope onto Gallagher on the floor...I suspect this issue is not yet settled.
The Bite Club(Rocket Mapache & Jackal) vs. Straps Down University("The Valedictorian" Keon Option & Justin D'Air) vs. Alpha Class("The Millenial" Danny Adams & Paco Gonzalez): The winners would get the next shot at the Tag Team Titles held by High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb); it was originally scheduled to be a four-corner match with The Midnight Society included, but none of the stable(Billy McNeil, Jayson Khaos, C.J. McManus) was in attendance at the show despite C.J. teasing a new member of the stable on social media. All three teams were fan favorites, putting Alpha Class in the position of being the "bad guys" by default as they isolated Jackal. Jackal got a haircut, which was one of the bigger shockers of the night. After the standard multi-way schmozz carwreck dive sequence, Rocket and Jackal attempted to hide under the ring to confound their opponents; however, the terrain turned out to be their downfall as they tried to exit on the wrong side and got stuck between the entrance stage and the ring. That left SDU and Alpha Class to battle it out; D'Air got Paco in wheelbarrow position and Option delivered an axe kick, getting the three-count in 11:36. They had teased Option & D'Air as the next challengers in Fenton and now it's official...thankfully Rocket & Jackal got themselves un-stuck before the next match.
Brandon Aarons vs. "Young & Dangerous" Evan Morris vs. Kevin Lee Davidson: The winner would earn a shot at Heavyweight Champion "Dirdey" Jake Dirden; it hadn't been specified beforehand, but that shot would take place later in the evening. Aarons had challenged Dirden at a previous show, but he was the only fan favorite in this match. K.L.D. presented the most imposing potential challenge, but I figured they would want to build up that HOSS BATTLE~! rather than hotshotting it. Most of the match saw K.L.D. and Morris double-teaming Aarons as Dirden took a seat on the entrance stage to personally observe the proceedings. After several backfired double-teams in a row, the communication broke down completely between K.L.D. and Morris, but then THERE COULD BE ONLY ONE anyway. Aarons and K.L.D. had plenty of history in recent months, giving one the impression that Morris could sneak out a win if the opportunity arose. However, it was Aarons that was the opportunist; K.L.D. delivered his signature spinebuster on Morris and Aarons broke up his pin attempt with a double-stomp off the top rope. That allowed Aarons to steal the pin on Morris in 8:40...woo. However, the result didn't sit well with the big man and he obliterated Aarons after the bell...he even laid out Garrett Shanks and Ric Maverick when they tried to intervene. Dirden applauded Davidson's actions, as Aarons would be in rough shape for his title shot later that night...
Brandon Espinosa vs. C.J. Shine for the MWR Missouri Title: Espinosa had been scheduled to team with "The Filipino Warrior" Elvis Aliaga to challenge High Level Enterprise for the Tag Team Titles...but, well, card subject to change. Espy presented himself as being extremely generous to be granting a title shot to a "nobody" like Shine. Shine's dancing entrance has gotten over with the fans; he'll keep improving over time as he gains experience. This was one of Shine's longer matches to date but I thought he handled himself well; the only way to get better is to work with experienced opponents. Espinosa scored the tapout win with the cross-armbreaker in 12:05 for a successful first defense of the semi-controversial MWR Missouri Title.
Intermission~! Not sure why I was indulging on this night...probably just overstressed as usual. Suffice it to say that I may have overestimated my personal budget as it relates to my new car...hopefully I can get that situation worked out in the near future. Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Two Cokes(plus some water from the available dispenser), a bag of potato chips, and a leftover hot dog after the show.
Outtkast vs. "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz for the D-1 Title: A young fan named A.J. was chosed as the special guest bell ringer; he had done a recent interview with Outtkast for his YouTube show. This was a tough one to call; Ricky won their previous encounter when he was defending the Heavyweight Title, but here he was in the odd position of being the challenger. If Cruz won, he would become the first person to hold all three of DPW's championships; Outtkast(as the first and only D-1 Champion) would need to capture the Heavyweight belt to accomplish the Triple Crown. I really liked this match; it was a battle of two experienced fan favorites and could have gone either way. I was wondering if we'd get some sort of non-finish...my guess was that Espinosa might get involved, though he seemed to feel like his business with Ricky was completed. Referee Patrick Hook was knocked down when Ricky moved out of the way of Outtkast's corkscrew moonsault off the top rope; Cruz got Outtkast in a figure-four leglock and Outtkast was seemingly tapping out, but there was no official to see it. Ricky checked on the ref and went for the figure-four again, but Outtkast small-packaged him for the flash pin in 13:29! Ricky was shocked by the outcome but was respectful toward Outtkast in defeat...all righty then.
"Dirdey" Jake Dirden vs. Brandon Aarons for the Heavyweight Title: Elsewhere in the area, Aarons is the current Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance Jr. Heavyweight Champion and was Pro Wrestling Epic's Heavyweight Champ until dropping the belt to Tyler Copeland last Sunday. Aarons had some time to rest, but was still obviously hurting as he made his way to the ring. Dirden had beaten Aarons once before in a competitive matchup and Aarons was already dealing with the obvious size and power disadvantage, but he gave the overconfident champion more of a fight then he was expecting. Aarons rallied, but K.L.D. made his entrance to throw a wrench in the works. Aarons stopped him with an enzuigiri and dropped Dirden with a close-range superkick for a CLOSE near-fall. Dirden caught him in the Asiatic Spike out of nowhere and it looked like the match was all but over, but Aarons barely made it to the ropes to force a break. Aarons showed impressive power in his own right with a released German suplex on the much larger Dirden...but K.L.D. got in a cheapshot behind the referee's back. That was enough to shift the momentum of the match; Dirden finished with a chokeslam in 14:53 to retain his title. Despite the loss, Aarons looked like a true contender on this night and I could easily see him in main events in the near future. (Also, his hair was in pristine condition as usual...that should never go unsaid.)
Next weekend just has Ring Of Honor at The Gateway Center in Collinsville on Friday night...nothing local on Saturday, though I may check around to see if I can bum a ride to Metro Pro in Kansas City.
Other upcoming shows in June:
-Saturday 6/11: Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Saturday 6/18: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL; Wrestling Invades America in Swansea, IL
That's my special comment for this, the twenty-fifth wrestling show I've attended in the year 2016. Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
A relevant news story in the past few weeks has been the closing of the Stratford Inn, one of Dynamo's primary venues in the past few years. DPW built a really good audience there, but they will presumably be shopping around for new buildings in the future. According to the Riverfront Times story, special events will be honored; however, Dynamo cancelled their June 4th show since it was on the same weekend as the Ring Of Honor show in Collinsville(though that will be on Friday the 3rd). They still have The Ready Room, Wood River, and Glen Carbon for the time being; they may even be able to run at Stratford in the near future, at least until the venue falls under new ownership. Apparently people were talking doom and gloom since the promotion was potentially losing its main building; it's obviously not a GOOD thing, but I wouldn't make funeral plans just yet.
At any rate, this show had a pretty good turnout; Memorial Day weekend can be a tough sell, but they did all right for themselves last night (especially with the lower draws of the shows I attended the previous week). I like this venue and hope they can run in that building more often in the future.
Your ring announcer was Chris Roedel, your assistant ring announcer was Luke Roberts, your special guest timekeeper was Larry Nickel, and your referees were Jay King & Patrick Hook.
The show started with Heavyweight Champion "Dirdey" Jake Dirden addressing the unwashed masses...he hadn't appeared for Dynamo in a few shows, but said that any challenger would have to earn their shot at the title. He noted that Mike Outlaw was conveniently on vacation after running his mouth in Fenton, so he would have to wait for his opportunity.
"The Wind Of Destruction" Makaze vs. "The Alternative" Ozzie Gallagher: This was a rematch from the last Fenton show when Gallagher cheated to win. It's hard to believe that Makaze is the only wrestler from my first indie show in May of 2000 who's wrestling regularly today (Sean Vincent was a referee on that show, so he gets partial credit). Gallagher wasn't quite as sneaky with his underhanded tactics this time around; a blatant low blow caused his disqualification in 8:01. Gallagher thought he had gotten away from his rival and former mentor, but Makaze dove off the second rope onto Gallagher on the floor...I suspect this issue is not yet settled.
The Bite Club(Rocket Mapache & Jackal) vs. Straps Down University("The Valedictorian" Keon Option & Justin D'Air) vs. Alpha Class("The Millenial" Danny Adams & Paco Gonzalez): The winners would get the next shot at the Tag Team Titles held by High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb); it was originally scheduled to be a four-corner match with The Midnight Society included, but none of the stable(Billy McNeil, Jayson Khaos, C.J. McManus) was in attendance at the show despite C.J. teasing a new member of the stable on social media. All three teams were fan favorites, putting Alpha Class in the position of being the "bad guys" by default as they isolated Jackal. Jackal got a haircut, which was one of the bigger shockers of the night. After the standard multi-way schmozz carwreck dive sequence, Rocket and Jackal attempted to hide under the ring to confound their opponents; however, the terrain turned out to be their downfall as they tried to exit on the wrong side and got stuck between the entrance stage and the ring. That left SDU and Alpha Class to battle it out; D'Air got Paco in wheelbarrow position and Option delivered an axe kick, getting the three-count in 11:36. They had teased Option & D'Air as the next challengers in Fenton and now it's official...thankfully Rocket & Jackal got themselves un-stuck before the next match.
Brandon Aarons vs. "Young & Dangerous" Evan Morris vs. Kevin Lee Davidson: The winner would earn a shot at Heavyweight Champion "Dirdey" Jake Dirden; it hadn't been specified beforehand, but that shot would take place later in the evening. Aarons had challenged Dirden at a previous show, but he was the only fan favorite in this match. K.L.D. presented the most imposing potential challenge, but I figured they would want to build up that HOSS BATTLE~! rather than hotshotting it. Most of the match saw K.L.D. and Morris double-teaming Aarons as Dirden took a seat on the entrance stage to personally observe the proceedings. After several backfired double-teams in a row, the communication broke down completely between K.L.D. and Morris, but then THERE COULD BE ONLY ONE anyway. Aarons and K.L.D. had plenty of history in recent months, giving one the impression that Morris could sneak out a win if the opportunity arose. However, it was Aarons that was the opportunist; K.L.D. delivered his signature spinebuster on Morris and Aarons broke up his pin attempt with a double-stomp off the top rope. That allowed Aarons to steal the pin on Morris in 8:40...woo. However, the result didn't sit well with the big man and he obliterated Aarons after the bell...he even laid out Garrett Shanks and Ric Maverick when they tried to intervene. Dirden applauded Davidson's actions, as Aarons would be in rough shape for his title shot later that night...
Brandon Espinosa vs. C.J. Shine for the MWR Missouri Title: Espinosa had been scheduled to team with "The Filipino Warrior" Elvis Aliaga to challenge High Level Enterprise for the Tag Team Titles...but, well, card subject to change. Espy presented himself as being extremely generous to be granting a title shot to a "nobody" like Shine. Shine's dancing entrance has gotten over with the fans; he'll keep improving over time as he gains experience. This was one of Shine's longer matches to date but I thought he handled himself well; the only way to get better is to work with experienced opponents. Espinosa scored the tapout win with the cross-armbreaker in 12:05 for a successful first defense of the semi-controversial MWR Missouri Title.
Intermission~! Not sure why I was indulging on this night...probably just overstressed as usual. Suffice it to say that I may have overestimated my personal budget as it relates to my new car...hopefully I can get that situation worked out in the near future. Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Two Cokes(plus some water from the available dispenser), a bag of potato chips, and a leftover hot dog after the show.
Outtkast vs. "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz for the D-1 Title: A young fan named A.J. was chosed as the special guest bell ringer; he had done a recent interview with Outtkast for his YouTube show. This was a tough one to call; Ricky won their previous encounter when he was defending the Heavyweight Title, but here he was in the odd position of being the challenger. If Cruz won, he would become the first person to hold all three of DPW's championships; Outtkast(as the first and only D-1 Champion) would need to capture the Heavyweight belt to accomplish the Triple Crown. I really liked this match; it was a battle of two experienced fan favorites and could have gone either way. I was wondering if we'd get some sort of non-finish...my guess was that Espinosa might get involved, though he seemed to feel like his business with Ricky was completed. Referee Patrick Hook was knocked down when Ricky moved out of the way of Outtkast's corkscrew moonsault off the top rope; Cruz got Outtkast in a figure-four leglock and Outtkast was seemingly tapping out, but there was no official to see it. Ricky checked on the ref and went for the figure-four again, but Outtkast small-packaged him for the flash pin in 13:29! Ricky was shocked by the outcome but was respectful toward Outtkast in defeat...all righty then.
"Dirdey" Jake Dirden vs. Brandon Aarons for the Heavyweight Title: Elsewhere in the area, Aarons is the current Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance Jr. Heavyweight Champion and was Pro Wrestling Epic's Heavyweight Champ until dropping the belt to Tyler Copeland last Sunday. Aarons had some time to rest, but was still obviously hurting as he made his way to the ring. Dirden had beaten Aarons once before in a competitive matchup and Aarons was already dealing with the obvious size and power disadvantage, but he gave the overconfident champion more of a fight then he was expecting. Aarons rallied, but K.L.D. made his entrance to throw a wrench in the works. Aarons stopped him with an enzuigiri and dropped Dirden with a close-range superkick for a CLOSE near-fall. Dirden caught him in the Asiatic Spike out of nowhere and it looked like the match was all but over, but Aarons barely made it to the ropes to force a break. Aarons showed impressive power in his own right with a released German suplex on the much larger Dirden...but K.L.D. got in a cheapshot behind the referee's back. That was enough to shift the momentum of the match; Dirden finished with a chokeslam in 14:53 to retain his title. Despite the loss, Aarons looked like a true contender on this night and I could easily see him in main events in the near future. (Also, his hair was in pristine condition as usual...that should never go unsaid.)
Next weekend just has Ring Of Honor at The Gateway Center in Collinsville on Friday night...nothing local on Saturday, though I may check around to see if I can bum a ride to Metro Pro in Kansas City.
Other upcoming shows in June:
-Saturday 6/11: Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Saturday 6/18: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL; Wrestling Invades America in Swansea, IL
That's my special comment for this, the twenty-fifth wrestling show I've attended in the year 2016. Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
Weekend wrestling
ROH TV
-Commentators: Kevin Kelly & Nigel McGuinness.
-A.C.H.(in Monkey D. Luffy attire) d. Lio Rush with the Midnight Star(450 Splash) (4:12); Silas Young did commentary and attacked A.C.H. after the match.
-The Motor City Machineguns(Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) won a non-title triple threat match with Roppongi Vice(Rocky Romero & Trent Barreta) and Tag Team Champions The Addiction(Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) when Shelley pinned Daniels after a Rude Awakening/frog splash combo with Sabin (8:58 aired).
-IWGP NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Kenny Omega(IWGP Intercontinental Champion) and The Young Bucks(Matt & Nick Jackson) d. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, & Yoshi Tatsu(non-title); Matt Jackson blinded Tatsu with cold spray and Omega pinned Tatsu after the One-Winged Angel(electric chair Michinoku Driver) (9:01 aired). Matt Taven did commentary; other members of The Bullet Club(IWGP Tag Team Champions The Guerrillas Of Destiny(Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa) & Adam Page) joined their stablemates after the bell.
SICW Wrestling Explosion
-Due to last week's episode not airing on Charter(it was posted on YouTube), they ran both episodes back-to-back this afternoon.
-Commentator: Drew Abbenhaus & Herb Simmons
-Brandon Espinosa & "The Icon" Chris Hargas(w/ Travis Cook) d. "Ironman" Ken Kasa in a "St. Louis Handicap Match" when the match went to the time limit without Kasa scoring a fall.
-Attila Khan d. Classic Champion Ron Powers by DQ when Powers shoved the referee and hit Khan with a trash can in front of the ref. (Barbara Goodish threw the trash can into the ring.) Travis Cook complained about Powers getting disqualified to save his title, earning himself a slap from Barbara Goodish.
-Travis Cook(w/ Chris Hargas) enlightened us...he continued his rant against Powers, saying Khan would get another shot in June. Hargas challenged Kasa to choose any partner to face him in a handicap match in June, vowing to do what Kasa couldn't do in May. Travis wasn't so sure about Hargas' chances in that kind of match...
-Commentators: Kevin Kelly & Nigel McGuinness.
-A.C.H.(in Monkey D. Luffy attire) d. Lio Rush with the Midnight Star(450 Splash) (4:12); Silas Young did commentary and attacked A.C.H. after the match.
-The Motor City Machineguns(Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) won a non-title triple threat match with Roppongi Vice(Rocky Romero & Trent Barreta) and Tag Team Champions The Addiction(Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) when Shelley pinned Daniels after a Rude Awakening/frog splash combo with Sabin (8:58 aired).
-IWGP NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Kenny Omega(IWGP Intercontinental Champion) and The Young Bucks(Matt & Nick Jackson) d. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, & Yoshi Tatsu(non-title); Matt Jackson blinded Tatsu with cold spray and Omega pinned Tatsu after the One-Winged Angel(electric chair Michinoku Driver) (9:01 aired). Matt Taven did commentary; other members of The Bullet Club(IWGP Tag Team Champions The Guerrillas Of Destiny(Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa) & Adam Page) joined their stablemates after the bell.
SICW Wrestling Explosion
-Due to last week's episode not airing on Charter(it was posted on YouTube), they ran both episodes back-to-back this afternoon.
-Commentator: Drew Abbenhaus & Herb Simmons
-Brandon Espinosa & "The Icon" Chris Hargas(w/ Travis Cook) d. "Ironman" Ken Kasa in a "St. Louis Handicap Match" when the match went to the time limit without Kasa scoring a fall.
-Attila Khan d. Classic Champion Ron Powers by DQ when Powers shoved the referee and hit Khan with a trash can in front of the ref. (Barbara Goodish threw the trash can into the ring.) Travis Cook complained about Powers getting disqualified to save his title, earning himself a slap from Barbara Goodish.
-Travis Cook(w/ Chris Hargas) enlightened us...he continued his rant against Powers, saying Khan would get another shot in June. Hargas challenged Kasa to choose any partner to face him in a handicap match in June, vowing to do what Kasa couldn't do in May. Travis wasn't so sure about Hargas' chances in that kind of match...
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Saturday DPW Results From St. Louis, MO
-"The Wind Of Destruction" Makaze d. "The Alternative" Ozzie Gallagher by DQ after Gallagher delivered a blatant low blow (8:01). Makaze dove off the second rope onto Gallagher after the match as their battle continued after the match.
-Straps Down University("The Valedictorian" Keon Option & Justin D'Air) won a triple threat match with The Bite Club(Rocket Mapache & Jackal) and Alpha Class("The Millenial" Danny Adams & Paco Gonzalez); Option pinned Paco after a wheelbarrow/axe kick combo with D'Air (11:36).
-Brandon Aarons won a triple threat match with Kevin Lee Davidson and "Young & Dangerous" Evan Morris; K.L.D. hit the spinebuster on Morris, but Aarons broke up his pin with a double-stomp off the top rope and covered Morris for the three-count (8:40). K.L.D. destroyed Aarons after the match and even laid out Garrett Shanks and Ric Maverick when they tried to restore order; Heavyweight Champion Jake Dirden watched the match from ringside.
-Brandon Espinosa d. C.J. Shine with the cross-armbreaker to retain the MWR Missouri Title (12:05).
-Outtkast d. "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz to retain the D-1 Title. The referee was knocked down by Outtkast when Ricky avoided Outtkast's corkscrew moonsault off the top rope; that led to Outtkast tapping out to Cruz's figure-four leglock and the official not being there to see it. Cruz went for another figure-four once the ref recovered, but Outtkast countered with a small package for the three-count (13:29).
-"Dirdey" Jake Dirden d. Brandon Aarons to retain the Heavyweight Title. Despite being banged up earlier in the night, Aarons gave the champion a strong fight. K.L.D. attempted to interfere and Aarons stunned him with an enzuigiri, then scored a near-fall after a close-range superkick. Dirden came back to hook the Asiatic Spike, but Aarons barely survived and reached the ropes. Aarons delivered a huge released German suplex, but K.L.D. punched Aarons while the referee was with Dirden and Dirden capitalized with a chokeslam for the victory (14:53).
-Straps Down University("The Valedictorian" Keon Option & Justin D'Air) won a triple threat match with The Bite Club(Rocket Mapache & Jackal) and Alpha Class("The Millenial" Danny Adams & Paco Gonzalez); Option pinned Paco after a wheelbarrow/axe kick combo with D'Air (11:36).
-Brandon Aarons won a triple threat match with Kevin Lee Davidson and "Young & Dangerous" Evan Morris; K.L.D. hit the spinebuster on Morris, but Aarons broke up his pin with a double-stomp off the top rope and covered Morris for the three-count (8:40). K.L.D. destroyed Aarons after the match and even laid out Garrett Shanks and Ric Maverick when they tried to restore order; Heavyweight Champion Jake Dirden watched the match from ringside.
-Brandon Espinosa d. C.J. Shine with the cross-armbreaker to retain the MWR Missouri Title (12:05).
-Outtkast d. "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz to retain the D-1 Title. The referee was knocked down by Outtkast when Ricky avoided Outtkast's corkscrew moonsault off the top rope; that led to Outtkast tapping out to Cruz's figure-four leglock and the official not being there to see it. Cruz went for another figure-four once the ref recovered, but Outtkast countered with a small package for the three-count (13:29).
-"Dirdey" Jake Dirden d. Brandon Aarons to retain the Heavyweight Title. Despite being banged up earlier in the night, Aarons gave the champion a strong fight. K.L.D. attempted to interfere and Aarons stunned him with an enzuigiri, then scored a near-fall after a close-range superkick. Dirden came back to hook the Asiatic Spike, but Aarons barely survived and reached the ropes. Aarons delivered a huge released German suplex, but K.L.D. punched Aarons while the referee was with Dirden and Dirden capitalized with a chokeslam for the victory (14:53).
Friday, May 27, 2016
Show results
Thursday IWA-MS results from Clarksville, IN:
-Brandon Espinosa d. Franklin Isaac Anderson.
-Shad O'Satu d. Aidan Blackhart.
-Thunderkitty d. Amazing Maria.
-Sugar Dunkerton d. Curt Stallion.
-J.J. Garrett d. Kevin Lee Davidson by reversed decision.
-Zodiak d. Alexandre Rudolph.
-Randi West d. John Wayne Murdoch in a dog collar match.
-Reed Bentley d. Joseph Schwartz to retain the Heavyweight Title.
Friday CHIKARA results from Birmingham, England:
-Pete Dunne won a seven-way match with Clint Margera, Jim Hunter, Lee Hunter, Dan Moloney, Nixon Newell, and Chris Brookes.
-Travis Banks fought Tyler Bate to a double-knockout draw.
-Lucas Calhoun d. Stewie Scrivens.
-Frightmare & The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama) d. Campeones De Parejas N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) & Heidi Lovelace.
-Ophidian d. Mark Andrews.
-Fire Ant d. Hermit Crab.
-Drew Gulak d. Warren Barksdale.
-Grand Champion Princess Kimber Lee & Eddie Kingston d. Hallowicked & Icarus.
-Chuck Taylor(tm) d. Mr. Azerbaijan.
Saturday CHIKARA results from Manchester, England:
-Nixon Newell won a four-corner match with Travis Banks, Dan Moloney, and Chris Brookes.
-Trent Seven & Tyler Bate d. Jim & Lee Hunter.
-Campeones De Parejas N_R_G(Raxe Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) d. Rich Mahogany(aka Chuck Taylor) & Drew Gulak.
-Ophidian d. Hermit Crab.
-Icarus d. Lucas Calhoun.
-Eddie Kingston d. Chuck Taylor(tm).
-Hallowicked, Frightmare, & The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama) d. Grand Champion Princess Kimber Lee, Heidi Lovelace, Fire Ant, & Soldier Ant.
-Mike Quackenbush fought Johnny Kidd to a draw in a World Of Sport Rules match.
Saturday WWW results from Cornelia, GA:
-Kevin Blue d. Troy Hunt.
-Tag Team Title Tournament: The Lynch Mob(Joey & Matt Lynch) d. Anthony Henry & Blackheart.
-Gunner Miller d. Corey Hollis.
-Nemesis d. Slade Sludge.
-Bobby Moore d. Timmy Lou Retton.
-Tag Team Title Tournament: The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter) d. Sound & Fury(William Huckaby & Joe Black).
-Heavyweight Champion Stryknyn d. Bill The Butcher in a non-title bounty match.
Sunday CHIKARA results from North Shields, England:
-Jason Prime & Alexander Henry d. The Sons Of Ulaid(Rory Coyle & Bas Ban).
-Soldier Ant d. H.T. Drake.
-Heidi Lovelace d. Lucas Calhoun.
-Slim Perkins(aka Chuck Taylor) d. Warren Barksdale.
-Soldier Ant d. Chuck Taylor(tm).
-Eddie Kingston d. Hermit Crab.
-Fire Ant d. Ophidian.
-Grand Champion Princess Kimber Lee, Campeones De Parejas N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell), & Los Ice Creams(El Hijo Del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr.) d. Hallowicked, Icarus, Frightmare, & The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama).
-Drew Gulak won a triple threat match with Travis Banks and Dan Moloney.
Monday CHIKARA results from Glasgow, Scotland:
-Jim & Lee Hunter d. Keiran McCall & Solar.
-Mustache Mountain(Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) & Nixon Newell d. Joe Coffey, Lewis Girvan, & Viper.
-Heidi Lovelace d. Nixon Newell.
-Chuck Taylor(tm) d. Warren Barksdale.
-Campeones De Parejas N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) won a non-title four-way dance with The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama), The Colony(Fire Ant & Soldier Ant), and Los Ice Creams(El Hijo Del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr.).
-Lucas Calhoun d. Hermit Crab.
-Icarus & Frightmare d. Ophidian & Eddie Kingston.
-Hallowicked d. Princess Kimber Lee to win the Grand Championship.
-Howie Do-In(aka Chuck Taylor) d. Orange Cassidy.
-Brandon Espinosa d. Franklin Isaac Anderson.
-Shad O'Satu d. Aidan Blackhart.
-Thunderkitty d. Amazing Maria.
-Sugar Dunkerton d. Curt Stallion.
-J.J. Garrett d. Kevin Lee Davidson by reversed decision.
-Zodiak d. Alexandre Rudolph.
-Randi West d. John Wayne Murdoch in a dog collar match.
-Reed Bentley d. Joseph Schwartz to retain the Heavyweight Title.
Friday CHIKARA results from Birmingham, England:
-Pete Dunne won a seven-way match with Clint Margera, Jim Hunter, Lee Hunter, Dan Moloney, Nixon Newell, and Chris Brookes.
-Travis Banks fought Tyler Bate to a double-knockout draw.
-Lucas Calhoun d. Stewie Scrivens.
-Frightmare & The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama) d. Campeones De Parejas N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) & Heidi Lovelace.
-Ophidian d. Mark Andrews.
-Fire Ant d. Hermit Crab.
-Drew Gulak d. Warren Barksdale.
-Grand Champion Princess Kimber Lee & Eddie Kingston d. Hallowicked & Icarus.
-Chuck Taylor(tm) d. Mr. Azerbaijan.
Saturday CHIKARA results from Manchester, England:
-Nixon Newell won a four-corner match with Travis Banks, Dan Moloney, and Chris Brookes.
-Trent Seven & Tyler Bate d. Jim & Lee Hunter.
-Campeones De Parejas N_R_G(Raxe Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) d. Rich Mahogany(aka Chuck Taylor) & Drew Gulak.
-Ophidian d. Hermit Crab.
-Icarus d. Lucas Calhoun.
-Eddie Kingston d. Chuck Taylor(tm).
-Hallowicked, Frightmare, & The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama) d. Grand Champion Princess Kimber Lee, Heidi Lovelace, Fire Ant, & Soldier Ant.
-Mike Quackenbush fought Johnny Kidd to a draw in a World Of Sport Rules match.
Saturday WWW results from Cornelia, GA:
-Kevin Blue d. Troy Hunt.
-Tag Team Title Tournament: The Lynch Mob(Joey & Matt Lynch) d. Anthony Henry & Blackheart.
-Gunner Miller d. Corey Hollis.
-Nemesis d. Slade Sludge.
-Bobby Moore d. Timmy Lou Retton.
-Tag Team Title Tournament: The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter) d. Sound & Fury(William Huckaby & Joe Black).
-Heavyweight Champion Stryknyn d. Bill The Butcher in a non-title bounty match.
Sunday CHIKARA results from North Shields, England:
-Jason Prime & Alexander Henry d. The Sons Of Ulaid(Rory Coyle & Bas Ban).
-Soldier Ant d. H.T. Drake.
-Heidi Lovelace d. Lucas Calhoun.
-Slim Perkins(aka Chuck Taylor) d. Warren Barksdale.
-Soldier Ant d. Chuck Taylor(tm).
-Eddie Kingston d. Hermit Crab.
-Fire Ant d. Ophidian.
-Grand Champion Princess Kimber Lee, Campeones De Parejas N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell), & Los Ice Creams(El Hijo Del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr.) d. Hallowicked, Icarus, Frightmare, & The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama).
-Drew Gulak won a triple threat match with Travis Banks and Dan Moloney.
Monday CHIKARA results from Glasgow, Scotland:
-Jim & Lee Hunter d. Keiran McCall & Solar.
-Mustache Mountain(Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) & Nixon Newell d. Joe Coffey, Lewis Girvan, & Viper.
-Heidi Lovelace d. Nixon Newell.
-Chuck Taylor(tm) d. Warren Barksdale.
-Campeones De Parejas N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) won a non-title four-way dance with The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama), The Colony(Fire Ant & Soldier Ant), and Los Ice Creams(El Hijo Del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr.).
-Lucas Calhoun d. Hermit Crab.
-Icarus & Frightmare d. Ophidian & Eddie Kingston.
-Hallowicked d. Princess Kimber Lee to win the Grand Championship.
-Howie Do-In(aka Chuck Taylor) d. Orange Cassidy.
XPlosion + Superstars
TNA XPlosion
-Commentators: Josh Mathews & Jeremy Borash.
-Mike Bennett(w/ Maria Kanellis-Bennett) d. Mark Andrews with the Miracle In Progress(fireman's-carry Michinoku Driver) (5:53 aired).
WWE Superstars
-Commentators: Tom Phillips & Byron Saxton.
-Natalya Neidhart d. Summer Rae with the Sharpshooter (4:50).
-Zack Ryder vs. Rick Viktor after the top-rope El-Bro Drop (8:20 aired).
-Commentators: Josh Mathews & Jeremy Borash.
-Mike Bennett(w/ Maria Kanellis-Bennett) d. Mark Andrews with the Miracle In Progress(fireman's-carry Michinoku Driver) (5:53 aired).
WWE Superstars
-Commentators: Tom Phillips & Byron Saxton.
-Natalya Neidhart d. Summer Rae with the Sharpshooter (4:50).
-Zack Ryder vs. Rick Viktor after the top-rope El-Bro Drop (8:20 aired).
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Comedy Part 693: Hey Guys, No More Hockey Blues
Location: Hey Guys Comedy
Emcee: Me
Lineup: Lucas Hinderliter, Chris Cyr, Andre Jackson, Stryker Spurlock, Wayne Wiskow, Joe "The Animal" Lancey, Ryan Heston, Jerome Johnson, Jamie Fritz, Andrew Frank
I need to write more...I keep telling myself that, but I have trouble doing it unless I get an idea in my head. At any rate, I was hosting on this show so I didn't have much time to prepare my set...I worked on a few newer bits and got in some shorter jokes between comedians. While I was eliminated from the Westport Funny Bone's comedy competition, I'm in the Helium contest and my first-round show is on Tuesday, June 7th...hope to see you there!
Emcee: Me
Lineup: Lucas Hinderliter, Chris Cyr, Andre Jackson, Stryker Spurlock, Wayne Wiskow, Joe "The Animal" Lancey, Ryan Heston, Jerome Johnson, Jamie Fritz, Andrew Frank
I need to write more...I keep telling myself that, but I have trouble doing it unless I get an idea in my head. At any rate, I was hosting on this show so I didn't have much time to prepare my set...I worked on a few newer bits and got in some shorter jokes between comedians. While I was eliminated from the Westport Funny Bone's comedy competition, I'm in the Helium contest and my first-round show is on Tuesday, June 7th...hope to see you there!
Main Event + Smackdown
WWE Main Event
-Commentators: Tom Phillips & Jerry Lawler.
-Tag Team Champions The New Day(Big E Langston, Kofi Kingston, & Xavier Woods) d. The Social Outcasts(Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, & Bo Dallas); Kofi pinned Slater after he and Woods hit the Midnight Hour(Big Ending/second-rope flying DDT combo) (8:04).
-Paige Knight d. Summer Rae with the Ram-Paige(cradle DDT) (4:26).
-Baron Corbon d. Jack Swagger via End Of Days(mid-air Flatliner) (8:18 aired); Dolph Ziggler did commentary.
WWE Smackdown
-Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Byron Saxton, & Jerry Lawler.
-Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Alberto Del Rio d. Zack Ryder with the cross-armbreaker (5:57 aired).
-Alexander Rusev(w/ Lana Perry) d. Kalisto with the Accolade(camel clutch) to retain the U.S. Title (5:53 aired).
-Natalya Neidhart d. Dana Brooke by DQ when Women's Champion Charlotte Flair interfered (0:44).
-Breezango(Tyler Breeze & Johnny Fandango) d. The Golden Truth(Goldust & "R-Truth" Ron Killings) when Fandango pinned R-Truth after a Supermodel Kick by Breeze (1:36).
-Mike Mizanin(w/ Maryse Ouellet-Mizanin) d. Antonio Cesaro to retain the Intercontinental Title; a blind charge by Cesaro hit an exposed turnbuckle due to Miz removing the pad, then Miz finished with the Skull-Crushing Finale (7:29 aired).
-Commentators: Tom Phillips & Jerry Lawler.
-Tag Team Champions The New Day(Big E Langston, Kofi Kingston, & Xavier Woods) d. The Social Outcasts(Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, & Bo Dallas); Kofi pinned Slater after he and Woods hit the Midnight Hour(Big Ending/second-rope flying DDT combo) (8:04).
-Paige Knight d. Summer Rae with the Ram-Paige(cradle DDT) (4:26).
-Baron Corbon d. Jack Swagger via End Of Days(mid-air Flatliner) (8:18 aired); Dolph Ziggler did commentary.
WWE Smackdown
-Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Byron Saxton, & Jerry Lawler.
-Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Alberto Del Rio d. Zack Ryder with the cross-armbreaker (5:57 aired).
-Alexander Rusev(w/ Lana Perry) d. Kalisto with the Accolade(camel clutch) to retain the U.S. Title (5:53 aired).
-Natalya Neidhart d. Dana Brooke by DQ when Women's Champion Charlotte Flair interfered (0:44).
-Breezango(Tyler Breeze & Johnny Fandango) d. The Golden Truth(Goldust & "R-Truth" Ron Killings) when Fandango pinned R-Truth after a Supermodel Kick by Breeze (1:36).
-Mike Mizanin(w/ Maryse Ouellet-Mizanin) d. Antonio Cesaro to retain the Intercontinental Title; a blind charge by Cesaro hit an exposed turnbuckle due to Miz removing the pad, then Miz finished with the Skull-Crushing Finale (7:29 aired).
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 18
-Commentators: Matt Striker & Vampiro.
-Backstage: Pentagon Jr. insisted to Vampiro that he was ready...but Vampiro disagreed and grabbed him in an arm hold to prove his point. Vampiro told him he could go to the temple, but he wasn't ready to face the monster(Heavyweight Champion Matanza Cueto) yet...
-Joey Ryan d. Mascarita Sagrada(w/ Famous B & Brenda) after a turnbuckle-walk DDT (3:19).
-Elsewhere: King Cuerno talked to Mil Muertes(still confined in his casket), telling him that he(Mil) thought he was king of the jungle, but it wasd HIS jungle...and now he's just another trophy in his collection.
-Brian Cage d. Chavo Guerrero Jr. with the Lucha Destroyer(Steiner Screwdriver) to win the Gift Of The Gods Title (7:59). Cage wasted no time, issuing his challenge to Matanza for a title shot on next week's show!
-Backstage: Taya Valkyrie met with Jack Evans & P.J. Black and led them to a fallen Fenix...who will team up with them tonight? Johnny Mundo was quick to take credit and
-Backstage in promoter Dario Cueto's office: Cortez Castro & Joey Ryan went through the absent Cueto's office for evidence against him...but Mr. Cisco walked in on them. He didn't figure out their deal, but was upset that they were robbing the boss without him and went to tell Dario. Cortez/Officer Reyes and Ryan had no choice and pounced on Cisco to arrest him.
-Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans, & P.J. Black(w/ Taya Valkyrie) d. Rey Misterio Jr., Prince Puma, & Dragon Azteca Jr. to win the Trios Titles. Puma had Black pinned after the 630 Splash, but Mundo pulled the referee out of the ring. While the ref was out of commission, the rulebreaking challengers delivered low blows on the three champions and Mundo had Puma covered after the Fin Del Mundo(split-legged corkscrew moonsault), but Puma kicked out when a second referee ran in to count. Azteca got a hot tag and rallied, but Taya distracted the ref as Azteca had Mundo pinned with a sunset flip. Evans hit Azteca in the back with a chair, allowing Mundo to reverse into a jackknife cradle for the pin (11:31).
-Backstage: Pentagon Jr. insisted to Vampiro that he was ready...but Vampiro disagreed and grabbed him in an arm hold to prove his point. Vampiro told him he could go to the temple, but he wasn't ready to face the monster(Heavyweight Champion Matanza Cueto) yet...
-Joey Ryan d. Mascarita Sagrada(w/ Famous B & Brenda) after a turnbuckle-walk DDT (3:19).
-Elsewhere: King Cuerno talked to Mil Muertes(still confined in his casket), telling him that he(Mil) thought he was king of the jungle, but it wasd HIS jungle...and now he's just another trophy in his collection.
-Brian Cage d. Chavo Guerrero Jr. with the Lucha Destroyer(Steiner Screwdriver) to win the Gift Of The Gods Title (7:59). Cage wasted no time, issuing his challenge to Matanza for a title shot on next week's show!
-Backstage: Taya Valkyrie met with Jack Evans & P.J. Black and led them to a fallen Fenix...who will team up with them tonight? Johnny Mundo was quick to take credit and
-Backstage in promoter Dario Cueto's office: Cortez Castro & Joey Ryan went through the absent Cueto's office for evidence against him...but Mr. Cisco walked in on them. He didn't figure out their deal, but was upset that they were robbing the boss without him and went to tell Dario. Cortez/Officer Reyes and Ryan had no choice and pounced on Cisco to arrest him.
-Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans, & P.J. Black(w/ Taya Valkyrie) d. Rey Misterio Jr., Prince Puma, & Dragon Azteca Jr. to win the Trios Titles. Puma had Black pinned after the 630 Splash, but Mundo pulled the referee out of the ring. While the ref was out of commission, the rulebreaking challengers delivered low blows on the three champions and Mundo had Puma covered after the Fin Del Mundo(split-legged corkscrew moonsault), but Puma kicked out when a second referee ran in to count. Azteca got a hot tag and rallied, but Taya distracted the ref as Azteca had Mundo pinned with a sunset flip. Evans hit Azteca in the back with a chair, allowing Mundo to reverse into a jackknife cradle for the pin (11:31).
WWE NXT
-Commentators: Tom Phillips & Corey Graves.
-General Manager S. William Regal opened the show from his office. Bayley Rose is not cleared to compete at Takeover due to the injuries suffered in last week's match with Nia Jax. Therefore, tonight's main event will determine who will challenge Asuka Urai for the NXT Women's Title at that special.
-Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano d. TM-61(Nick Miller & Shane Thorne)(aka Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste of The Mighty Don't Kneel); Gargano pinned Thorne after a close-range superkick while Ciampa delivered a running knee strike to the back of Thorne's head (9:21 aired).
-Backstage: Cathy Kelley interviewed Bayley Rose; she's upset about being on the sidelines and Nia Jax stopped by the interview area to gloat about "breaking" her. Carmella Van Damme stood up for her friend, but Alexa Bliss heard her name dropped and paid a visit as well.
-Coming soon(finally!): Andrade "Cien" Almas.
-Austin Aries said that he made an impact by debuting in NXT, but timing is everything and other people have been grabbing all the attention. He wants a piece of whoever holds the NXT Title after Takeover, whether it be champion Samoa Joe or top contender Finn Bálor...but Shinsuke Nakamura showed up to voice his own aspirations for the gold. Enter Regal to make that match for Takeover...woo.
-Backstage: Cathy interviewed NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha(Jason Jordan & Chad Gable) about their Takeover rematch with The Revival(Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder).
-"No Way" Jose Valenzuela d. Jonathan Ortagun after the cobra clutch slam (3:21).
-Backstage: Cathy Kelly interviewed NXT Women's Champion Asuka Urai about the main event...she said no matter who wins, she will defeat them.
-Next week: Corey Graves conducts a sitdown interview with Joe and Bálor. Also, Austin Aries faces Elias Samson.
-Nia Jax won a triple threat match with Alexa Bliss and Carmella Van Damme when she pinned Carmella after the Legdrop O' Doom (8:48 aired). Afterwards, NXT Women's Champion Asuka Urai made her entrance to confront her next challenger.
-General Manager S. William Regal opened the show from his office. Bayley Rose is not cleared to compete at Takeover due to the injuries suffered in last week's match with Nia Jax. Therefore, tonight's main event will determine who will challenge Asuka Urai for the NXT Women's Title at that special.
-Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano d. TM-61(Nick Miller & Shane Thorne)(aka Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste of The Mighty Don't Kneel); Gargano pinned Thorne after a close-range superkick while Ciampa delivered a running knee strike to the back of Thorne's head (9:21 aired).
-Backstage: Cathy Kelley interviewed Bayley Rose; she's upset about being on the sidelines and Nia Jax stopped by the interview area to gloat about "breaking" her. Carmella Van Damme stood up for her friend, but Alexa Bliss heard her name dropped and paid a visit as well.
-Coming soon(finally!): Andrade "Cien" Almas.
-Austin Aries said that he made an impact by debuting in NXT, but timing is everything and other people have been grabbing all the attention. He wants a piece of whoever holds the NXT Title after Takeover, whether it be champion Samoa Joe or top contender Finn Bálor...but Shinsuke Nakamura showed up to voice his own aspirations for the gold. Enter Regal to make that match for Takeover...woo.
-Backstage: Cathy interviewed NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha(Jason Jordan & Chad Gable) about their Takeover rematch with The Revival(Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder).
-"No Way" Jose Valenzuela d. Jonathan Ortagun after the cobra clutch slam (3:21).
-Backstage: Cathy Kelly interviewed NXT Women's Champion Asuka Urai about the main event...she said no matter who wins, she will defeat them.
-Next week: Corey Graves conducts a sitdown interview with Joe and Bálor. Also, Austin Aries faces Elias Samson.
-Nia Jax won a triple threat match with Alexa Bliss and Carmella Van Damme when she pinned Carmella after the Legdrop O' Doom (8:48 aired). Afterwards, NXT Women's Champion Asuka Urai made her entrance to confront her next challenger.
TNA Impact
-Commentators: Josh Mathews & D'Angelo Dinero.
-Ethan Carter III d. Matt Hardy by DQ when Mike Bennett interfered (6:42).
-Al Snow d. Grado in a street fight; The Tribunal(Basille Baracca & Baron Dax, formerly Sylvester Lefort & Marcus Louis) attacked Mahabali Shera at ringside, distracting Grado and leading to Snow winning with the Snowplow (3:34).
-Trevor Lee(w/ Gregory Shane Helms) won an Ultimate X Match with Eddie Edwards, D.J. Shiima Xion, and Andrew Everett to retain the X-Division Title. Helms distracted the ref as Edwards retrieved the belt from above the ring, but Lee grabbed the belt ouf of Eddie's hands and the referee turned around to see Lee with the belt (6:00).
-Gail Kim d. Sienna Kay(w/ Maria Kanellis-Bennett & Allie Dennis), countering the Yokosuka Cutter by going up and over into a Code Red for the pinfall (4:11).
-Jeff Hardy won a handicap ladder match against Tyrus Clay & Rockstar Spud by retrieving the contract for a Full Metal Mayhem Match with his brother Matt from above the ring (joined in progress; 5:11 aired).
-Ethan Carter III d. Matt Hardy by DQ when Mike Bennett interfered (6:42).
-Al Snow d. Grado in a street fight; The Tribunal(Basille Baracca & Baron Dax, formerly Sylvester Lefort & Marcus Louis) attacked Mahabali Shera at ringside, distracting Grado and leading to Snow winning with the Snowplow (3:34).
-Trevor Lee(w/ Gregory Shane Helms) won an Ultimate X Match with Eddie Edwards, D.J. Shiima Xion, and Andrew Everett to retain the X-Division Title. Helms distracted the ref as Edwards retrieved the belt from above the ring, but Lee grabbed the belt ouf of Eddie's hands and the referee turned around to see Lee with the belt (6:00).
-Gail Kim d. Sienna Kay(w/ Maria Kanellis-Bennett & Allie Dennis), countering the Yokosuka Cutter by going up and over into a Code Red for the pinfall (4:11).
-Jeff Hardy won a handicap ladder match against Tyrus Clay & Rockstar Spud by retrieving the contract for a Full Metal Mayhem Match with his brother Matt from above the ring (joined in progress; 5:11 aired).
WIA Special Comment
Now, as promised, a special comment about Sunday's Wrestling Invades America show at the Improvement Hall in Swansea, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
As noted, attendance has been light for a lot of live entertainment lately (wrestling and comedy). This was probably the smallest turnout for WIA at the Swansea venue...they're doing their next show on a Saturday, so we'll see if that makes a difference. Running on the same evening as a WWE pay-per-view hadn't affected their turnouts in the past, but the crowd was decidedly lower than usual here. Blame it on nicer weather, playoff hockey, baseball, PointFest, or whatever you choose. The fans in attendance were into the show, at any rate. As a comedian, I've been in front of small crowds who were a lot of fun and big crowds who didn't give a crap...but at the end of the day, it's a business and ticket money is what counts.
Several notable names were missing from the show, including Interstate Champion Leone Mephisto and Tag Team Champions Adam Caster & Tony Kozina. Caster & Kozina had been scheduled to defend against Mike Outlaw & Justin D'Air, so Outlaw and D'Air had to be put in different bouts.
Your ring announcer was Ben Simon. Your referees were Jason Pemberton and Jaylin Davis, both sporting the head-mounted "Ref Cam". (Didn't WCW try something like that back in the day?)
Mike Outlaw vs. Paco Gonzalez vs. Da'Marius Jones: "2.0" was his usual arrogant self, drawing the ire of both the fans and his two opponents...so he did his best to stay out of the line of fire. That strategy came into play for the finish as Outlaw went for a middle-rope springboard into a European uppercut, but Paco countered by superkicking him in mid-air. Jones jumped into the ring and threw Paco to the floor, then stole the pin on Outlaw in 6:22. After the match, the fans seemed to feel like Outlaw should have won...Paco took exception to that and superkicked Outlaw again. All in all, not the best night for Mr. Outlaw in his WIA debut.
Justin D'Air vs. Rosko: This was my first time seeing Rosko as it was his debut appearance in the St. Louis area; he's from Peoria and has been wrestling for about two years. The low ceiling was a hindrance for any top-rope maneuvers...something D'Air discovered the hard way when he attempted a springboard move. They covered for it well as D'Air tumbled to the mat and Rosko kicked him down to establish the momentum shift. I thought it was a good matchup...D'Air overcame the adversity of both opponent and ceiling with a Buff Blockbuster in 6:58.
Heavyweight Champion Kevin Lee Davidson & Pro Wrestling Epic Heavyweight Champion Brandon Aarons vs. Barackus & "Infamous" Tyler Copeland(w/ The Landlord): This match placement surprised me as it was advertised as one of the main bouts for the evening. As General Manager, Landlord decided to put both singles belts on the line if K.L.D. or Aarons was pinned or submitted...that added a new wrinkle to the grudge tag match. Copeland got a whole lot of nowhere against K.L.D. in one-on-one situations, but his issue was with Aarons; Barackus was Landlord's countermeasure when Davidson turned down his offer to join his stable. Aarons was isolated for several minutes, but K.L.D. finally got the tag and cleaned house. The battle of the big men spilled to ringside and Landlord interjected himself, leading to the brawl traveling to the backstage area. That left Aarons and Copeland on their own in the ring...Aarons somehow survived Copeland's curbstomp finisher, but some referee manipulation allowed Copeland to deliver an undetected low blow. Copeland rolled up Aarons for the three-count in 13:27 and we have a NEWWWWW Pro Wrestling Epic Heavyweight Champion! Aarons' year-plus reign was over...but I suspect that issue is far from over.
Intermission~! No eating challenge this time around, sorry to say. Official Ben Simon Concession Count: Two root beers(Fitz's~!). Chatted with Gary Jackson as he stopped by the show; I don't throw the term "legend" around lightly, but he definitely qualifies as one in St. Louis wrestling. Everybody who puts on the tights and boots in this area should sit down with him at least once; he's good people.
Billy McNeil vs. Ace Hawkins: Both men challenged Mephisto for the Interstate Title in April with Mephisto edging out the win, but this would determine a single contender for the next championship opportunity. Mephisto had used questionable tactics to secure and win the title from Prince Moses a month or two before...Moses was in attendance, but is out of action with an injury. McNeil and Hawkins had teamed up at previous shows as "Fearless Bueller", but THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE when a singles belt is at stake. Both were fan favorites, but Billy was the clear winner in the popularity contest and Ace slowly moved into heelishness as the match continued. Hawkins even threw down McNeil's monkey mask...of course you all know, this means war. The match could have easily gone either way, but Ace missed a swanton bomb off the second rope and Billy pinned him with a modified Oklahoma roll in 10:40. Unfortunately, the post-match mutual respect was not to be as Hawkins snapped, attacking his recent tag team partner...it took a partial emptying of the locker room to restore order as Mike Outlaw, Rosko, and Jim Hoffarth had to separate the two.
"The Big Texan" Jim Hoffarth vs. Bodily Harm("The Enforcer" Jimmy D & Bobby D): Hoffarth made his return to Midwest wrestling by brawling with Jimmy D a few months ago at a WIA show, so Jimmy D brought in his brother as backup. This was the first teaming of any form of Bodily Harm in quite some time, to the best of my knowledge. It wasn't a technical classic and it wasn't supposed to be, though Jimmy D did perhaps the first and last suicide dive of his career. The Ds took turns playing hit-and-run with the larger Hoffarth, but it wasn't quite enough; Hoffarth pinned Bobby D in 10:23 after a double-underhook powerbomb as Jimmy D was slightly hesitant to break up the cover. Again, I suspect the issue may not be quite over...
Blake Belakis vs. Brandon Espinosa: This was an interesting choice for the main event; I wondered if they wanted to send the fans home happy since the rulebreakers won the earlier tag match. The local fans weren't too familiar with Belakis, so we got some dueling mic work to establish the prior history between these two; I saw them face each other at a St. Louis Anarchy show a few years back, but they've fought several times around the Midwest. It was a bit unusual to see Belakis as the face, though the fans were likely to support anyone who was facing Espy. They had a really good matchup as expected...I must note that Espinosa tends to use some colorful language in the ring nowadays, so cover your kids' ears. I hadn't seen Belakis since the last HRW Cahokia show; he forfeited the Heavyweight Title once High Risk Wrestling moved to western Missouri and Mike Sydal won that belt in a tournament. After a lot of near-falls were exchanged, Espinosa got the win via brainbuster in 12:58...well done.
Post-match: The Landlord came out in an attempt to recruit Espinosa, but Kevin Lee Davidson wasn't far behind...Espy was hesitant to accept Landlord's offer, but was provoked when Barackus hit K.L.D. from behind and sent him crashing into Espinosa. Barackus and Landlord headed for higher ground and left Espy to deal with the angry champion...Davidson dropped Espinosa with his trademark spinebuster to close out the show.
Thus ended a really busy weekend in St. Louis wrestling...thankfully next weekend won't be nearly as crowded as the only show in the area will be Dynamo Pro Wrestling at The Ready Room in St. Louis, MO. Of note, DPW's main venue may be in limbo as the Stratford Inn is reportedly up for sale/lease...will be interesting to see how things play out in that regard.
That's my special comment for this, the twenty-fourth wrestling show I've attended in the year 2016. Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
As noted, attendance has been light for a lot of live entertainment lately (wrestling and comedy). This was probably the smallest turnout for WIA at the Swansea venue...they're doing their next show on a Saturday, so we'll see if that makes a difference. Running on the same evening as a WWE pay-per-view hadn't affected their turnouts in the past, but the crowd was decidedly lower than usual here. Blame it on nicer weather, playoff hockey, baseball, PointFest, or whatever you choose. The fans in attendance were into the show, at any rate. As a comedian, I've been in front of small crowds who were a lot of fun and big crowds who didn't give a crap...but at the end of the day, it's a business and ticket money is what counts.
Several notable names were missing from the show, including Interstate Champion Leone Mephisto and Tag Team Champions Adam Caster & Tony Kozina. Caster & Kozina had been scheduled to defend against Mike Outlaw & Justin D'Air, so Outlaw and D'Air had to be put in different bouts.
Your ring announcer was Ben Simon. Your referees were Jason Pemberton and Jaylin Davis, both sporting the head-mounted "Ref Cam". (Didn't WCW try something like that back in the day?)
Mike Outlaw vs. Paco Gonzalez vs. Da'Marius Jones: "2.0" was his usual arrogant self, drawing the ire of both the fans and his two opponents...so he did his best to stay out of the line of fire. That strategy came into play for the finish as Outlaw went for a middle-rope springboard into a European uppercut, but Paco countered by superkicking him in mid-air. Jones jumped into the ring and threw Paco to the floor, then stole the pin on Outlaw in 6:22. After the match, the fans seemed to feel like Outlaw should have won...Paco took exception to that and superkicked Outlaw again. All in all, not the best night for Mr. Outlaw in his WIA debut.
Justin D'Air vs. Rosko: This was my first time seeing Rosko as it was his debut appearance in the St. Louis area; he's from Peoria and has been wrestling for about two years. The low ceiling was a hindrance for any top-rope maneuvers...something D'Air discovered the hard way when he attempted a springboard move. They covered for it well as D'Air tumbled to the mat and Rosko kicked him down to establish the momentum shift. I thought it was a good matchup...D'Air overcame the adversity of both opponent and ceiling with a Buff Blockbuster in 6:58.
Heavyweight Champion Kevin Lee Davidson & Pro Wrestling Epic Heavyweight Champion Brandon Aarons vs. Barackus & "Infamous" Tyler Copeland(w/ The Landlord): This match placement surprised me as it was advertised as one of the main bouts for the evening. As General Manager, Landlord decided to put both singles belts on the line if K.L.D. or Aarons was pinned or submitted...that added a new wrinkle to the grudge tag match. Copeland got a whole lot of nowhere against K.L.D. in one-on-one situations, but his issue was with Aarons; Barackus was Landlord's countermeasure when Davidson turned down his offer to join his stable. Aarons was isolated for several minutes, but K.L.D. finally got the tag and cleaned house. The battle of the big men spilled to ringside and Landlord interjected himself, leading to the brawl traveling to the backstage area. That left Aarons and Copeland on their own in the ring...Aarons somehow survived Copeland's curbstomp finisher, but some referee manipulation allowed Copeland to deliver an undetected low blow. Copeland rolled up Aarons for the three-count in 13:27 and we have a NEWWWWW Pro Wrestling Epic Heavyweight Champion! Aarons' year-plus reign was over...but I suspect that issue is far from over.
Intermission~! No eating challenge this time around, sorry to say. Official Ben Simon Concession Count: Two root beers(Fitz's~!). Chatted with Gary Jackson as he stopped by the show; I don't throw the term "legend" around lightly, but he definitely qualifies as one in St. Louis wrestling. Everybody who puts on the tights and boots in this area should sit down with him at least once; he's good people.
Billy McNeil vs. Ace Hawkins: Both men challenged Mephisto for the Interstate Title in April with Mephisto edging out the win, but this would determine a single contender for the next championship opportunity. Mephisto had used questionable tactics to secure and win the title from Prince Moses a month or two before...Moses was in attendance, but is out of action with an injury. McNeil and Hawkins had teamed up at previous shows as "Fearless Bueller", but THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE when a singles belt is at stake. Both were fan favorites, but Billy was the clear winner in the popularity contest and Ace slowly moved into heelishness as the match continued. Hawkins even threw down McNeil's monkey mask...of course you all know, this means war. The match could have easily gone either way, but Ace missed a swanton bomb off the second rope and Billy pinned him with a modified Oklahoma roll in 10:40. Unfortunately, the post-match mutual respect was not to be as Hawkins snapped, attacking his recent tag team partner...it took a partial emptying of the locker room to restore order as Mike Outlaw, Rosko, and Jim Hoffarth had to separate the two.
"The Big Texan" Jim Hoffarth vs. Bodily Harm("The Enforcer" Jimmy D & Bobby D): Hoffarth made his return to Midwest wrestling by brawling with Jimmy D a few months ago at a WIA show, so Jimmy D brought in his brother as backup. This was the first teaming of any form of Bodily Harm in quite some time, to the best of my knowledge. It wasn't a technical classic and it wasn't supposed to be, though Jimmy D did perhaps the first and last suicide dive of his career. The Ds took turns playing hit-and-run with the larger Hoffarth, but it wasn't quite enough; Hoffarth pinned Bobby D in 10:23 after a double-underhook powerbomb as Jimmy D was slightly hesitant to break up the cover. Again, I suspect the issue may not be quite over...
Blake Belakis vs. Brandon Espinosa: This was an interesting choice for the main event; I wondered if they wanted to send the fans home happy since the rulebreakers won the earlier tag match. The local fans weren't too familiar with Belakis, so we got some dueling mic work to establish the prior history between these two; I saw them face each other at a St. Louis Anarchy show a few years back, but they've fought several times around the Midwest. It was a bit unusual to see Belakis as the face, though the fans were likely to support anyone who was facing Espy. They had a really good matchup as expected...I must note that Espinosa tends to use some colorful language in the ring nowadays, so cover your kids' ears. I hadn't seen Belakis since the last HRW Cahokia show; he forfeited the Heavyweight Title once High Risk Wrestling moved to western Missouri and Mike Sydal won that belt in a tournament. After a lot of near-falls were exchanged, Espinosa got the win via brainbuster in 12:58...well done.
Post-match: The Landlord came out in an attempt to recruit Espinosa, but Kevin Lee Davidson wasn't far behind...Espy was hesitant to accept Landlord's offer, but was provoked when Barackus hit K.L.D. from behind and sent him crashing into Espinosa. Barackus and Landlord headed for higher ground and left Espy to deal with the angry champion...Davidson dropped Espinosa with his trademark spinebuster to close out the show.
Thus ended a really busy weekend in St. Louis wrestling...thankfully next weekend won't be nearly as crowded as the only show in the area will be Dynamo Pro Wrestling at The Ready Room in St. Louis, MO. Of note, DPW's main venue may be in limbo as the Stratford Inn is reportedly up for sale/lease...will be interesting to see how things play out in that regard.
That's my special comment for this, the twenty-fourth wrestling show I've attended in the year 2016. Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Comedy Parts 691-2: Helium Warmup
Location: Helium Comedy Club(garage)
Emcee: Chris Cyr
After: Kenny Warner
Before: Rafe Williams
Location: Helium Comedy Club
Emcee: Jon Venegoni
After: Gregory Mark
Before: Jeremy Essig
Having been at the Funny Bone the previous night, I went to Helium as the open-mic was catered to those who had entered that club's comedy contest. I did the usual double-header with the "bucket mic" beforehand, trying out a handful of new bits. I went with an all-around stronger set for the main show, doing one particular joke that J.C. Sibala said I should have done in the Funny Bone contest. Thought about doing Joe Lancey's contest show in Highland tomorrow night, but next up for me will probably be the open-mic at Hey Guys Comedy on Thursday.
Emcee: Chris Cyr
After: Kenny Warner
Before: Rafe Williams
Location: Helium Comedy Club
Emcee: Jon Venegoni
After: Gregory Mark
Before: Jeremy Essig
Having been at the Funny Bone the previous night, I went to Helium as the open-mic was catered to those who had entered that club's comedy contest. I did the usual double-header with the "bucket mic" beforehand, trying out a handful of new bits. I went with an all-around stronger set for the main show, doing one particular joke that J.C. Sibala said I should have done in the Funny Bone contest. Thought about doing Joe Lancey's contest show in Highland tomorrow night, but next up for me will probably be the open-mic at Hey Guys Comedy on Thursday.
This week in wrestling
WWE(www.wwe.com)
Main Event this week has:
-Jack Swagger vs. Baron Corbin
-The New Day(Big E Langston, Kofi Kingston, & Xavier Woods) vs. The Social Outcasts(Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, & Bo Dallas)
-Paige Knight vs. Summer Rae
NXT this Wednesday has:
-Carmella Van Damme vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax
-Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano vs. TM-61(Nick Miller & Shane Thorne)
-"No Way" Jose Valenzuela vs. Johnny Vandal
Superstars this week has:
-Zack Ryder vs. Rick Viktor
-Natalya Neidhart vs. Summer Rae
Smackdown on Thursday has:
-Mike Mizanin vs. Antonio Cesaro - Intercontinental Title
-Alexander Rusev vs. Kalisto - U.S. Title
-Zack Ryder vs. Alberto Del Rio - Money In The Bank Qualifier
-Goldust & "R-Truth" Ron Killings vs. Tyler Breeze & Johnny Fandango
-Natalya Neidhart vs. Dana Brooke
Money In The Bank is on Sunday 6/19:
-Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins - WWE Title
-Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Sami Zayn, Antonio Cesaro, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens
TNA(www.tnawrestling.com)
Impact next Tuesday has:
-The Decay(Abyss & Crazzy Steve) vs. Drew Galloway
-Bram Cameron vs. Bobby Lashley
-The Bro Mans(Robbie Eckos & Jessie Godderz) vs. Tyrus Clay & Rockstar Spud
-Gail Kim & Mia "Jade" Yim vs. Sienna Kay & Allie Dennis
-In action: Eli Drake
RING OF HONOR(www.rohwrestling.com)
Next show is Friday 6/3 in Collinsville, IL:
-Jay Briscoe & War Machine(Todd Hanson & Raymond Rowe) vs. Jay Lethal & The Addiction(Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian)
-Roderick Strong vs. Stevie Richards vs. Moose vs. Silas Young
-Kamaitachi vs. Adam Cole
-A.C.H. vs. "Beer City Bruiser" Matt Winchester
-Chris Sabin vs. Adam Page
-Lio Rush vs. Alex Shelley
-Mark Briscoe vs. Jason Kincaid
ROH has a show on Saturday 6/4 in Indianapolis, IN:
-The Motor City Machineguns(Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs. Adam Cole & Adam Page
-Jay Lethal vs. Mark Briscoe
-Jay Briscoe vs. Moose
-Todd Hanson vs. Frankie Kazarian
-Raymond Rowe vs. Christopher Daniels
-Roderick Strong vs. Kamaitachi vs. Jason Kincaid vs. A.C.H. vs. Lio Rush vs. Will Ferrara
ROH has a show on Sunday 6/5 in Columbus, OH:
-The Addiction(Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs. War Machine(Todd Hanson & Raymond Rowe) - Tag Team Titles - No-DQ Match
-Jay Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong
-Lio Rush vs. Adam Cole
-Dalton Castle vs. Kamaitachi
NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING(www.njpw.co.jp/english)
Information on upcoming episodes will be posted when it becomes available.
LUCHA UNDERGROUND(www.luchaunderground.com)
This week's episode has:
-Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Brian Cage - Gift Of The Gods Title
-Mascarita Sagrada vs. Joey Ryan
-----
ST. LOUIS ANARCHY(www.slawrestling.com)
Next show is Friday 8/26 in Alton, IL:
-Gary Jay vs. Martin Stone
SLA has a show on Saturday 8/27 in Alton, IL.
DPW(www.dynamoprowrestling.com)
Next show is Saturday 5/28 in St. Louis, MO(Ready Room):
-Outtkast vs. Ricky Cruz
-High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb) vs. Brandon Espinosa & Elvis Aliaga - Tag Team Titles
-Brandon Aarons vs. Evan Morris vs. Kevin Lee Davidson
-The Bite Club(Rocket Mapache & Jackal) vs. Keon Option & Justin D'Air vs. Alpha Class(Danny Adams & Paco Gonzalez) vs. The Midnight Society(Billy McNeil & Jayson Khaos)
SICW(www.sicw.org)
Next show is Saturday 6/18 in East Carondelet, IL.
MMWA(www.southbroadwayac.com)
Next show is Saturday 6/11 in St. Louis, MO:
-Gary Jackson vs. Da'Marius Jones vs. A.J. Williams - Heavyweight Title
-Brandon Aarons vs. Tyler Copeland - Jr. Heavyweight Title
PWCS(www.pwcswrestling.com)
Next show is Saturday 7/9 in Granite City, IL:
-Appearing: Arik Cannon, Darin Corbin
HIGH RISK WRESTLING(www.facebook.com/hrwstl)
Next show is Saturday 6/25 in Warsaw, MO.
PRO WRESTLING EPIC(www.prowrestlingepic.com/)
Information on upcoming shows will be posted when it becomes available.
METRO PRO WRESTLING(www.metrowrestling.com)
Next show is Saturday 6/4 in Kansas City, KS:
-Demolition(Ax & Smash) & The Commission(Evan Gelistico & Pierre Abernathy) vs. Davey Vega, Mike Sydal, Geek Singh, & Kiyoshi Shizuka
-Jake Dirden vs. Kraig Keesaman - Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1
-Jon Webb vs. Kiyoshi Shizuka - Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1
-Rory Fox vs. Mark Sterling - Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1
-Jaysin Strife vs. Derek Stone - Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1
-The Riegel Twins(Logan & Sterling) vs. The Kansas City Wolves(Graham Bell & Luke Langley)
-Ace Steel vs. Superstar Steve Fender - Central States Title vs. Kansas Title
-Nate Redwing & Jay Howard vs. The Killer City Kings(Jake & Ryan)
-Angelus Layne vs. "Miss Natural" Heather Patera
3XW(www.3xwrestling.com)
Information on upcoming shows will be posted when it becomes available.
WLW(www.harleyrace.com)
Next show is Saturday 6/25 in Bell, MO.
GATEWAY ELITE WRESTLING(www.facebook.com/TheGatewayElite)
Next show is Friday 6/3 in Camdenton, MO.
STRIDE PRO WRESTLING(www.facebook.com/Cmaprowrestling/)
Next show is Saturday 6/4 in Marion, IL:
-Ax Allwardt vs. Farmer Billy Hills - Heavyweight Title
-Cowboy Bob Orton & Bull Bronson vs. Cash Borden & Dalton Diamond
OUTLAW WRESTLING(www.facebook.com/outlawwrestling01)
Next show is Sunday 6/19 in Tullahoma, TN.
WRESTLING INVADES AMERICA(wrestlinginvamerica.wix.com/wrestlinginvamerica)
Next show is Saturday 6/18 in Swansea, IL.
CENTRAL STATES CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING(nwaccw.x10.bz)
Next show is Saturday 6/11 in St. Robert, MO:
-Deven Spade vs. Evan Morris - NWA Central States Title
WORLD POWERHOUSE WRESTLING(sites.google.com/site/worldpowerhousewrestlingstl/home)
Information on upcoming shows will be posted when it becomes available.
NEW BREED WRESTING(www.facebook.com/NewBreedMO)
Next show is Saturday 7/16 in Sedalia, MO.
NBW has a show on Saturday 7/23 in Eldon, MO.
CCW(www.facebook.com/CapeChampionshipWrestling/)
Next show is Saturday 7/16 in Cape Girardeau, MO:
-Leland Race vs. Trevor Murdoch
-Osby Tomlin vs. Chris Jones
-Sarge O'Riley vs. Brandon Barbwire
-Billy Hills vs. Jason Vaughn
-Jake Dirden vs. Tony Kozina
-Little Bit vs. Stacey O'Brien
-----
EVOLVE(www.wwnlive.com & www.dgusa.tv)
Next show is Friday 6/10 in Tampa, FL:
-Timothy Thatcher vs. Chris Hero - EVOLVE Title
-Johnny Gargano & T.J. Perkins vs. Drew Galloway & Ethan Carter III
-Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams vs. The Bravado Brothers(Harlem & Lancelot) - Tag Team Titles
-Matt Riddle vs. Cedric Alexander
EVOLVE has a show on Saturday 6/11 in Orlando, FL:
-Ethan Page vs. Drew Galloway - Anything-Goes Match
-Johnny Gargano vs. Drew Gulak vs. T.J. Perkins vs. Lince Dorado vs. ?
-Matt Riddle vs. Trevor Lee
PRO WRESTLING GUERRILLA(www.prowrestlingguerrilla.com)
Information on upcoming shows will be posted when it becomes available.
CHIKARA(www.chikarapro.com)
Next show is Friday 5/27 in Birmingham, England:
-Princess Kimber Lee & Eddie Kingston vs. Hallowicked & Icarus
-Mark Andrews vs. Ophidian
-Drew Gulak vs. Warren Barksdale
-N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) & Heidi Lovelace vs. The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama) & Frightmare
-Fire Ant vs. Hermit Crab
-Stewie Scrivens vs. Lucas Calhoun
CHIKARA has a show on Saturday 5/28 in Manchester, England:
-Johnny Kidd vs. Mike Quackenbush
-Princess Kimber Lee, Heidi Lovelace, Fire Ant, & Soldier Ant vs. Hallowicked, Frightmare, & The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama)
-N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) vs. Stewie Scrivens & Drew Gulak
-Eddie Kingston vs. Chuck Taylor(tm)
-Ophidian vs. Hermit Crab
-Icarus vs. Lucas Calhoun
CHIKARA has a show on Sunday 5/29 in North Shields, England:
-Princess Kimber Lee, N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell), & Los Ice Creams(El Hijo Del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr.) vs. Hallowicked, Frightmare, Icarus, & The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama)
-Fire Ant vs. Ophidian
-Heidi Lovelace vs. Lucas Calhoun
-Soldier Ant vs. Chuck Taylor(tm)
-Eddie Kingston vs. Hermit Crab
-Stewie Scrivens vs. Warren Barksdale
CHIKARA has a show on Monday 5/30 in Glasgow, Scotland:
-Princess Kimber Lee vs. Hallowicked - Grand Championship
-N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) vs. The Colony(Fire Ant & Soldier Ant) vs. The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama) vs. Los Ice Creams(El Hijo Del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr.)
-Heidi Lovelace vs. Nixon Newell
-Ophidian & Eddie Kingston vs. Icarus & Frightmare
-Lucas Calhoun vs. Hermit Crab
-Warren Barksdale vs. Chuck Taylor(tm)
WHY WE WRESTLE(www.anarchy-wrestling.com)
Next show is Saturday 5/28 in Cornelia, GA:
-Stryknyn vs. Bill The Butcher
-Corey Hollis vs. Gunner Miller
HOUSE OF HARDCORE(www.houseofhardcore.net)
Next show is Friday 6/24 in East Burwood, Australia.
SHIMMER(www.shimmerwrestling.com)
Next shows are Saturday 6/25 and Sunday 6/26 in Chicago, IL.
SHINE(www.shinewrestling.com)
Next show is Friday 6/17 in Ybor City, FL.
IWA MID-SOUTH(iwamidsouthwrestling.webs.com)
Next show is Thursday 5/26 in Clarksville, IN:
-Reed Bentley vs. Joseph Schwartz - Heavyweight Title
-Randi West vs. John Wayne Murdoch - Dog Collar Match
-Kevin Lee Davidson vs. J.J. Garrett
-Alexandre Rudolph vs. Zodiak
-Amazing Maria vs. Thunderkitty
-Sugar Dunkerton vs. Teddy King
AAW(www.aawrestling.com)
Next show is Friday 6/17 in Merrionette Park, IL:
-Sami Callihan & Dave Crist vs. Eddie Kingston & Homicide
-Johnny Gargano vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
-Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett vs. The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter) - Tag Team Titles
-Drago vs. Chris Hero
ACW(www.anarchychampionshipwrestling.com)
Next show is Sunday 6/26 in Austin, TX.
Missouri Wrestling Revival: http://www.missouriwrestlingrevival.com/
St. Louis Wrestling: http://www.saintlouiswrestling.com/
St. Louis Wrestling Community: http://community.livejournal.com/stlwrestling/
Leave a comment or e-mail: patrickab7@yahoo.com
Follow me on Twitter or Facebook at: @patrickab7
Main Event this week has:
-Jack Swagger vs. Baron Corbin
-The New Day(Big E Langston, Kofi Kingston, & Xavier Woods) vs. The Social Outcasts(Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, & Bo Dallas)
-Paige Knight vs. Summer Rae
NXT this Wednesday has:
-Carmella Van Damme vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax
-Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano vs. TM-61(Nick Miller & Shane Thorne)
-"No Way" Jose Valenzuela vs. Johnny Vandal
Superstars this week has:
-Zack Ryder vs. Rick Viktor
-Natalya Neidhart vs. Summer Rae
Smackdown on Thursday has:
-Mike Mizanin vs. Antonio Cesaro - Intercontinental Title
-Alexander Rusev vs. Kalisto - U.S. Title
-Zack Ryder vs. Alberto Del Rio - Money In The Bank Qualifier
-Goldust & "R-Truth" Ron Killings vs. Tyler Breeze & Johnny Fandango
-Natalya Neidhart vs. Dana Brooke
Money In The Bank is on Sunday 6/19:
-Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins - WWE Title
-Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Sami Zayn, Antonio Cesaro, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens
TNA(www.tnawrestling.com)
Impact next Tuesday has:
-The Decay(Abyss & Crazzy Steve) vs. Drew Galloway
-Bram Cameron vs. Bobby Lashley
-The Bro Mans(Robbie Eckos & Jessie Godderz) vs. Tyrus Clay & Rockstar Spud
-Gail Kim & Mia "Jade" Yim vs. Sienna Kay & Allie Dennis
-In action: Eli Drake
RING OF HONOR(www.rohwrestling.com)
Next show is Friday 6/3 in Collinsville, IL:
-Jay Briscoe & War Machine(Todd Hanson & Raymond Rowe) vs. Jay Lethal & The Addiction(Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian)
-Roderick Strong vs. Stevie Richards vs. Moose vs. Silas Young
-Kamaitachi vs. Adam Cole
-A.C.H. vs. "Beer City Bruiser" Matt Winchester
-Chris Sabin vs. Adam Page
-Lio Rush vs. Alex Shelley
-Mark Briscoe vs. Jason Kincaid
ROH has a show on Saturday 6/4 in Indianapolis, IN:
-The Motor City Machineguns(Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs. Adam Cole & Adam Page
-Jay Lethal vs. Mark Briscoe
-Jay Briscoe vs. Moose
-Todd Hanson vs. Frankie Kazarian
-Raymond Rowe vs. Christopher Daniels
-Roderick Strong vs. Kamaitachi vs. Jason Kincaid vs. A.C.H. vs. Lio Rush vs. Will Ferrara
ROH has a show on Sunday 6/5 in Columbus, OH:
-The Addiction(Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs. War Machine(Todd Hanson & Raymond Rowe) - Tag Team Titles - No-DQ Match
-Jay Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong
-Lio Rush vs. Adam Cole
-Dalton Castle vs. Kamaitachi
NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING(www.njpw.co.jp/english)
Information on upcoming episodes will be posted when it becomes available.
LUCHA UNDERGROUND(www.luchaunderground.com)
This week's episode has:
-Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Brian Cage - Gift Of The Gods Title
-Mascarita Sagrada vs. Joey Ryan
-----
ST. LOUIS ANARCHY(www.slawrestling.com)
Next show is Friday 8/26 in Alton, IL:
-Gary Jay vs. Martin Stone
SLA has a show on Saturday 8/27 in Alton, IL.
DPW(www.dynamoprowrestling.com)
Next show is Saturday 5/28 in St. Louis, MO(Ready Room):
-Outtkast vs. Ricky Cruz
-High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb) vs. Brandon Espinosa & Elvis Aliaga - Tag Team Titles
-Brandon Aarons vs. Evan Morris vs. Kevin Lee Davidson
-The Bite Club(Rocket Mapache & Jackal) vs. Keon Option & Justin D'Air vs. Alpha Class(Danny Adams & Paco Gonzalez) vs. The Midnight Society(Billy McNeil & Jayson Khaos)
SICW(www.sicw.org)
Next show is Saturday 6/18 in East Carondelet, IL.
MMWA(www.southbroadwayac.com)
Next show is Saturday 6/11 in St. Louis, MO:
-Gary Jackson vs. Da'Marius Jones vs. A.J. Williams - Heavyweight Title
-Brandon Aarons vs. Tyler Copeland - Jr. Heavyweight Title
PWCS(www.pwcswrestling.com)
Next show is Saturday 7/9 in Granite City, IL:
-Appearing: Arik Cannon, Darin Corbin
HIGH RISK WRESTLING(www.facebook.com/hrwstl)
Next show is Saturday 6/25 in Warsaw, MO.
PRO WRESTLING EPIC(www.prowrestlingepic.com/)
Information on upcoming shows will be posted when it becomes available.
METRO PRO WRESTLING(www.metrowrestling.com)
Next show is Saturday 6/4 in Kansas City, KS:
-Demolition(Ax & Smash) & The Commission(Evan Gelistico & Pierre Abernathy) vs. Davey Vega, Mike Sydal, Geek Singh, & Kiyoshi Shizuka
-Jake Dirden vs. Kraig Keesaman - Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1
-Jon Webb vs. Kiyoshi Shizuka - Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1
-Rory Fox vs. Mark Sterling - Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1
-Jaysin Strife vs. Derek Stone - Heavyweight Title Tournament Round 1
-The Riegel Twins(Logan & Sterling) vs. The Kansas City Wolves(Graham Bell & Luke Langley)
-Ace Steel vs. Superstar Steve Fender - Central States Title vs. Kansas Title
-Nate Redwing & Jay Howard vs. The Killer City Kings(Jake & Ryan)
-Angelus Layne vs. "Miss Natural" Heather Patera
3XW(www.3xwrestling.com)
Information on upcoming shows will be posted when it becomes available.
WLW(www.harleyrace.com)
Next show is Saturday 6/25 in Bell, MO.
GATEWAY ELITE WRESTLING(www.facebook.com/TheGatewayElite)
Next show is Friday 6/3 in Camdenton, MO.
STRIDE PRO WRESTLING(www.facebook.com/Cmaprowrestling/)
Next show is Saturday 6/4 in Marion, IL:
-Ax Allwardt vs. Farmer Billy Hills - Heavyweight Title
-Cowboy Bob Orton & Bull Bronson vs. Cash Borden & Dalton Diamond
OUTLAW WRESTLING(www.facebook.com/outlawwrestling01)
Next show is Sunday 6/19 in Tullahoma, TN.
WRESTLING INVADES AMERICA(wrestlinginvamerica.wix.com/wrestlinginvamerica)
Next show is Saturday 6/18 in Swansea, IL.
CENTRAL STATES CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING(nwaccw.x10.bz)
Next show is Saturday 6/11 in St. Robert, MO:
-Deven Spade vs. Evan Morris - NWA Central States Title
WORLD POWERHOUSE WRESTLING(sites.google.com/site/worldpowerhousewrestlingstl/home)
Information on upcoming shows will be posted when it becomes available.
NEW BREED WRESTING(www.facebook.com/NewBreedMO)
Next show is Saturday 7/16 in Sedalia, MO.
NBW has a show on Saturday 7/23 in Eldon, MO.
CCW(www.facebook.com/CapeChampionshipWrestling/)
Next show is Saturday 7/16 in Cape Girardeau, MO:
-Leland Race vs. Trevor Murdoch
-Osby Tomlin vs. Chris Jones
-Sarge O'Riley vs. Brandon Barbwire
-Billy Hills vs. Jason Vaughn
-Jake Dirden vs. Tony Kozina
-Little Bit vs. Stacey O'Brien
-----
EVOLVE(www.wwnlive.com & www.dgusa.tv)
Next show is Friday 6/10 in Tampa, FL:
-Timothy Thatcher vs. Chris Hero - EVOLVE Title
-Johnny Gargano & T.J. Perkins vs. Drew Galloway & Ethan Carter III
-Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams vs. The Bravado Brothers(Harlem & Lancelot) - Tag Team Titles
-Matt Riddle vs. Cedric Alexander
EVOLVE has a show on Saturday 6/11 in Orlando, FL:
-Ethan Page vs. Drew Galloway - Anything-Goes Match
-Johnny Gargano vs. Drew Gulak vs. T.J. Perkins vs. Lince Dorado vs. ?
-Matt Riddle vs. Trevor Lee
PRO WRESTLING GUERRILLA(www.prowrestlingguerrilla.com)
Information on upcoming shows will be posted when it becomes available.
CHIKARA(www.chikarapro.com)
Next show is Friday 5/27 in Birmingham, England:
-Princess Kimber Lee & Eddie Kingston vs. Hallowicked & Icarus
-Mark Andrews vs. Ophidian
-Drew Gulak vs. Warren Barksdale
-N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) & Heidi Lovelace vs. The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama) & Frightmare
-Fire Ant vs. Hermit Crab
-Stewie Scrivens vs. Lucas Calhoun
CHIKARA has a show on Saturday 5/28 in Manchester, England:
-Johnny Kidd vs. Mike Quackenbush
-Princess Kimber Lee, Heidi Lovelace, Fire Ant, & Soldier Ant vs. Hallowicked, Frightmare, & The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama)
-N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) vs. Stewie Scrivens & Drew Gulak
-Eddie Kingston vs. Chuck Taylor(tm)
-Ophidian vs. Hermit Crab
-Icarus vs. Lucas Calhoun
CHIKARA has a show on Sunday 5/29 in North Shields, England:
-Princess Kimber Lee, N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell), & Los Ice Creams(El Hijo Del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr.) vs. Hallowicked, Frightmare, Icarus, & The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama)
-Fire Ant vs. Ophidian
-Heidi Lovelace vs. Lucas Calhoun
-Soldier Ant vs. Chuck Taylor(tm)
-Eddie Kingston vs. Hermit Crab
-Stewie Scrivens vs. Warren Barksdale
CHIKARA has a show on Monday 5/30 in Glasgow, Scotland:
-Princess Kimber Lee vs. Hallowicked - Grand Championship
-N_R_G(Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell) vs. The Colony(Fire Ant & Soldier Ant) vs. The Batiri(Obariyon & Kodama) vs. Los Ice Creams(El Hijo Del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr.)
-Heidi Lovelace vs. Nixon Newell
-Ophidian & Eddie Kingston vs. Icarus & Frightmare
-Lucas Calhoun vs. Hermit Crab
-Warren Barksdale vs. Chuck Taylor(tm)
WHY WE WRESTLE(www.anarchy-wrestling.com)
Next show is Saturday 5/28 in Cornelia, GA:
-Stryknyn vs. Bill The Butcher
-Corey Hollis vs. Gunner Miller
HOUSE OF HARDCORE(www.houseofhardcore.net)
Next show is Friday 6/24 in East Burwood, Australia.
SHIMMER(www.shimmerwrestling.com)
Next shows are Saturday 6/25 and Sunday 6/26 in Chicago, IL.
SHINE(www.shinewrestling.com)
Next show is Friday 6/17 in Ybor City, FL.
IWA MID-SOUTH(iwamidsouthwrestling.webs.com)
Next show is Thursday 5/26 in Clarksville, IN:
-Reed Bentley vs. Joseph Schwartz - Heavyweight Title
-Randi West vs. John Wayne Murdoch - Dog Collar Match
-Kevin Lee Davidson vs. J.J. Garrett
-Alexandre Rudolph vs. Zodiak
-Amazing Maria vs. Thunderkitty
-Sugar Dunkerton vs. Teddy King
AAW(www.aawrestling.com)
Next show is Friday 6/17 in Merrionette Park, IL:
-Sami Callihan & Dave Crist vs. Eddie Kingston & Homicide
-Johnny Gargano vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
-Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett vs. The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter) - Tag Team Titles
-Drago vs. Chris Hero
ACW(www.anarchychampionshipwrestling.com)
Next show is Sunday 6/26 in Austin, TX.
Missouri Wrestling Revival: http://www.missouriwrestlingrevival.com/
St. Louis Wrestling: http://www.saintlouiswrestling.com/
St. Louis Wrestling Community: http://community.livejournal.com/stlwrestling/
Leave a comment or e-mail: patrickab7@yahoo.com
Follow me on Twitter or Facebook at: @patrickab7
WWE Raw
-Commentators: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, & John Bradshaw Layfield.
-Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Sami Zayn d. Sheamus O'Shaunessy after the Helluva Kick (6:30 aired).
-An angry Sheamus attacked Apollo Crews during a backstage interview.
-Tag Team Champions The New Day(Big E Langston, Kofi Kingston, & Xavier Woods) d. The Social Outcasts(Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, & Bo Dallas) when Kofi pinned Slater after the Midnight Hour(Big Ending/second-rope flying DDT combo with Big E) (joined in progress; 1:57 aired).
-Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Antonio Cesaro d. Intercontinental Champion Mike Mizanin(w/ Maryse Ouellet-Mizanin)(non-title) after the Neutralizer (7:56 aired).
-Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Chris Jericho d. Apollo Crews via Codebreaker (7:46).
-Colin Cassady(w/ Enzo Amore) d. Buh-Buh Day Dudley(w/ D-Von Dudley) after the Empire Elbowdrop (3:16).
-Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Dean Ambrose d. Dolph Ziggler with the Dirty Deeds v2.0(double-underhook DDT) (8:38 aired).
-Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Kevin Owens d. A.J. Styles with the pop-up powerbomb (12:59 aired).
-Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Sami Zayn d. Sheamus O'Shaunessy after the Helluva Kick (6:30 aired).
-An angry Sheamus attacked Apollo Crews during a backstage interview.
-Tag Team Champions The New Day(Big E Langston, Kofi Kingston, & Xavier Woods) d. The Social Outcasts(Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, & Bo Dallas) when Kofi pinned Slater after the Midnight Hour(Big Ending/second-rope flying DDT combo with Big E) (joined in progress; 1:57 aired).
-Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Antonio Cesaro d. Intercontinental Champion Mike Mizanin(w/ Maryse Ouellet-Mizanin)(non-title) after the Neutralizer (7:56 aired).
-Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Chris Jericho d. Apollo Crews via Codebreaker (7:46).
-Colin Cassady(w/ Enzo Amore) d. Buh-Buh Day Dudley(w/ D-Von Dudley) after the Empire Elbowdrop (3:16).
-Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Dean Ambrose d. Dolph Ziggler with the Dirty Deeds v2.0(double-underhook DDT) (8:38 aired).
-Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Kevin Owens d. A.J. Styles with the pop-up powerbomb (12:59 aired).
SLA Special Comment (Part 2)
Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's St. Louis Anarchy show at the Spaulding Hall Club in Alton, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
Went over the extracurriculars in the Friday commentary for the most part. Attendance was about the same; the show was going against Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, which had its annual Wrestling At The Chase anniversary show with Barbara Goodish and Lee Warren in the house. Also, Saturday evening festivities were competing with Blues playoff hockey AND PointFest.
Your ring announcer was Greg Jovi, who was vocally unhappy about being relegated to that role; Jovi promised to choose a new protege by the end of the night. Your referees were Sean Orleans & Austin Blackburn.
Nick Cutler & "The Outlaw" Ken Phoenix vs. Team I.O.U.("The Down-South Dandy" Nick Iggy & "The Music City Mutt" Kerry Awful): Cutler & Phoenix were the obvious fan favorites, though the fans didn't really see them having a legitimate chance of winning against the more established duo. Still, they gave it the old college try and I.O.U. had to earn this victory. Cutler & Phoenix hung in there, bu Cutler finally tapped out to Awful's Boston crab in 8:29.
"The Littlest Viking" Jake Parnell vs. Mr. (Danny) Adams(w/ Mr. (Evan) Gelistico): This was a rematch of sorts from the recent elimination tag match with The Cause against The Hooligans and The Viking War Party; these guys were the final two remaining and Adams picked up the victory at that time. While Gelistico wanted to play by THE RULES~!, Adams noted that they had beaten the Vikings at their own game and wanted an Anarchy Rules match. The result was a wild hardcore-style brawl that also saw Alexandre Rudolph run off Gelistico with a metal French fry basket. Lots of steel chairs were used, including a pileup on the floor that led to Parnell hitting Sliced Bread #2 onto the chair pile...then a swanton bomb off the apron with Adams laid out on the chairs. A kendo stick came into play and Adams attempted to target Parnell's arm, but the smaller Viking fought his way back into the match. Parnell won in 12:46 after a double-stomp off the second rope with Adams' head trapped in a set-up chair...yup, that would do it. Strong showing by two of the newer Midwest talents on the block...well done, gentlemen. Mr. (Everett) Connors hilariously tried to revive Adams with mouth-to-mouth...heh.
Roscoe East Lisa("Zesty" Zakk Sawyers & "The Big Mustache On Campus" Mikey Mcfinnegan) vs. The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter), Tag Team Title Contenders Tournament: R.E.L. defeated The Viking War Party on Friday to advance to this match; The Hooligans defeated long-time rivals Team I.O.U. Shenanigans ensued early as Sawyers & McFinnegan convinced the ref to compare the size of their...members...and Orleans raised Mikey's hand afterwards. After that, a lot of butt-grabbing ensued with each side demonstrating their case on the referee...I imagine Orleans didn't think that would be in his job description for the night. The Hooligans were the obvious favorites here, though they seemed to be in heel mode for some odd reason. McFinnegan somehow survived the Cutters' wheelbarrow/second-rope flying DDT finisher, which was a shock as that's usually the finish. R.E.L. went on to score the huge upset in 12:48 when McFinnegan pinned Devin after the assisted/spike Air Raid Crash(with Zakk jumping off the second rope for the assist as McFinnegan hit the move). Mutual respect ensued...the Hooligans' time will come again, but Roscoe Eat Lisa are now the top contenders to The Cause's Tag Team Titles.
Angelus Layne vs. Mr. (Everett) Connors(w/ Mr. Gelistico): Conspicuously Mr. (Austin) Blackburn was the referee for this match and no others for the night(Orleans officiated the rest of the card). He hung back for the most part and wasn't overly biased...it can really kill a match when the official is that slanted. Layne nearly won the match after a corner cannonball, but Blackburn conveniently got a cramp in his arm before making the three-count. The Rulebook came into play and Layne got a hold of it, bashing Connors with it despite repeated warnings by Blackburn...that drew a disqualification in 8:04. Layne decked Blackburn with the book for good measure...all righty then.
Davey Vega vs. Jonathan Gresham: These two met once before in SLA with Vega scoring the victory; since Vega lost to TJP on Friday, he faced Gresham here. Despite my video gaming knowledge, I didn't make the Street Fighter connection until Vega pointed it out(thus the sash and occasional white mask)...I'm slipping. I hereby dub the Vega-Cheeseburger ROH tag team the "Veggie Burgers". This was fun to watch, Maggle...Gresham's gained a lot of momentum and popularity in this area. Gresham got the surprise win in 24:57(!) with an octopus hold...big win for him, but tough weekend for Vega with two submission losses.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Root beer and Mountain Dew.
Ricky Starks vs. Mike Outlaw vs. "The Lone Star" Curt Stallion vs. Jason Roberts: Thankfully, Ricky's good friend Paul permitted his appearances this weekend. I have trouble keeping track of indie wrestler's entrance themes, so it throws me off when someone uses different music(i.e. Outlaw not coming out to DMX). Outlaw and Stallion have history in other promotions(which was briefly touched upon in Dynamo Pro), so they had an exchange in this matchup. We had fan favorites Outlaw and Roberts, heel Stallion, and heel-who-people-still-like Starks in this one. During the match, Jovi approached the ring area with a cellphone and told Starks "You got THE CALL!" Ricky immediately left the ring to take THE CALL...apparently it was someone named "Vince". As a result, Starks was M.I.A. for the remainder of the bout...Outlaw took advantage and pinned Roberts after the High Noon(top-rope elbowdrop) in 5:48. Afterwards, Starks entered the ring and told the other wrestlers to "take a knee"...I took a knee and bugged nearby fans for not doing the same. Starks told everyone that he wouldn't be around forever and that these other guys were the future of Midwest wrestling...of course, Ricky Starks is the future of wrestling everywhere. He'll be back for the next set of SLA shows...tremendous.
Gerald James(w/ Dorian Victor) vs. "American Viking" Alexandre Rudolph: Gerald and Dorian commented that Trik Davis couldn't make it to the weekend shows and issued an open challenge. That brought out Rudolph and they gave us a history lesson about Rudolph being a fan, dating back to the days of the Lethal Wrestling Alliance and Gerald's earliest matches. I was a bit too chatty during this promo segment as I commented on the history to a friend, so Rudolph turned and said "Shut the f*** up, Patrick". Ak...my bad. Gerald was sporting a "Caturday" jacket...I'm more of a dog person, but 'tis cool. The match was really good, as expected from these two...pretty sure this was their first singles match with each other. James won with the knee kick/sliding forearm combo in 8:12...well done.
Jojo Bravo & Paco Gonzalez vs. Mr. (Evan) Gelistico & Mr. (Austin) Blackburn(w/ Mr. Adams): This was set up on the previous night's show; Paco had been scheduled to face "Dirty" Andy Dalton who was M.I.A. this weekend. Jojo was hoping to build momentum after his win on Friday, seeing as how he had finally ended his recent losing streak...he even dubbed his team the "Midnight Pacos". The already-banged-up Gelistico had Blackburn do the lion's share of the work in this one while Adams trolled ringside fans...apparently he asked one person for a slice of pizza and then threw it on the floor. Ha ha. Gelistico utilized the dreaded trapezius claw, leading to a moment where everyone in the match had the trapezius claw on everyone else...even the referee felt the pain of the devastating hold. Sadly, Jojo's luck turned sour once again as the referee missed a punt to the Universal Weak Point by Blackburn...Paco attempted to intervene, but his superkick caught Jojo by mistake and Blackburn rolled up Bravo for the three-count in 12:59.
Paco apologized, but Jojo was inconsolable as he ranted about how it was an "accident" just like all of the other "accidents" that had gone against him lately. Cooler heads seemed to prevail...but then Jojo attacked Paco from behind as he turned to leave the ring. Jojo beat down his tag team partner, ending with the Samurai Driver(cross-legged fisherman driver)...ladies and gentlemen, we have a heel turn.
Before the main event, Jovi called Mike Outlaw to the ring and proclaimed him to be his new chosen protege...however, Outlaw declined his offer. Jovi grew more and more insistent, prompting the fans to start a "No...Means No" chant(think "New...Day Rocks"). Outlaw's come a long way on the mic work...he told Jovi in no uncertain terms that he didn't want him as a manager. Jovi blew his top in an epic tantrum, unleashing a string of non-PG verbage as he vowed to bring carnage to Circus Maximus weekend in August. Hoo boy.
Mat Fitchett vs. T.J. Perkins for the Heavyweight Title: TJP defeated Davey Vega on Friday to earn this shot. Yes, the match was really good, why do you ask? They had a really good false finish when Perkins blocked a Pele Kick attempt and got Fitchett in the heel hook that won him the Vega match, but Fitchett barely made it to the ropes. (Fitchett gets ridiculous air time on that Pele, for the record.) At any rate, Fitchett rallied to win with the cradle piledriver in 19:33...nicely done.
Afterwards, Fitchett acknowledged that there was a target on his back and contenders were coming out of the woodwork, but one name stuck out in his mind. The last time that person was at a St. Louis Anarchy show, he expressed his desire to contend for the title...so Fitchett called out Chris Hero, saying he welcomed the challenge!
A lot is on the table for the next set of Anarchy shows...Fitchett vs. Hero seems likely, but the champion also has his pending issue with Christian Rose(who had to be postponed due to a schedule conflict on Rose's part). Cause vs. Roscoe Eat Lisa is set up for the Tag Titles, Paco will likely seek revenge on Jojo Bravo...and what does Greg Jovi have in store for Anarchy? The next pair of shows is set up as "Us vs. Them" with Gary Jay taking on recent indie rival Martin Stone...that'll be a hard-hitting affair to say the least.
My weekend wasn't quite over yet, but that's another story for another time...tune in next time. Same Pat-Time, Same Pat-Channel.
That's my special comment for this, the twenty-third wrestling show I've attended in the year 2016. Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
Went over the extracurriculars in the Friday commentary for the most part. Attendance was about the same; the show was going against Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, which had its annual Wrestling At The Chase anniversary show with Barbara Goodish and Lee Warren in the house. Also, Saturday evening festivities were competing with Blues playoff hockey AND PointFest.
Your ring announcer was Greg Jovi, who was vocally unhappy about being relegated to that role; Jovi promised to choose a new protege by the end of the night. Your referees were Sean Orleans & Austin Blackburn.
Nick Cutler & "The Outlaw" Ken Phoenix vs. Team I.O.U.("The Down-South Dandy" Nick Iggy & "The Music City Mutt" Kerry Awful): Cutler & Phoenix were the obvious fan favorites, though the fans didn't really see them having a legitimate chance of winning against the more established duo. Still, they gave it the old college try and I.O.U. had to earn this victory. Cutler & Phoenix hung in there, bu Cutler finally tapped out to Awful's Boston crab in 8:29.
"The Littlest Viking" Jake Parnell vs. Mr. (Danny) Adams(w/ Mr. (Evan) Gelistico): This was a rematch of sorts from the recent elimination tag match with The Cause against The Hooligans and The Viking War Party; these guys were the final two remaining and Adams picked up the victory at that time. While Gelistico wanted to play by THE RULES~!, Adams noted that they had beaten the Vikings at their own game and wanted an Anarchy Rules match. The result was a wild hardcore-style brawl that also saw Alexandre Rudolph run off Gelistico with a metal French fry basket. Lots of steel chairs were used, including a pileup on the floor that led to Parnell hitting Sliced Bread #2 onto the chair pile...then a swanton bomb off the apron with Adams laid out on the chairs. A kendo stick came into play and Adams attempted to target Parnell's arm, but the smaller Viking fought his way back into the match. Parnell won in 12:46 after a double-stomp off the second rope with Adams' head trapped in a set-up chair...yup, that would do it. Strong showing by two of the newer Midwest talents on the block...well done, gentlemen. Mr. (Everett) Connors hilariously tried to revive Adams with mouth-to-mouth...heh.
Roscoe East Lisa("Zesty" Zakk Sawyers & "The Big Mustache On Campus" Mikey Mcfinnegan) vs. The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter), Tag Team Title Contenders Tournament: R.E.L. defeated The Viking War Party on Friday to advance to this match; The Hooligans defeated long-time rivals Team I.O.U. Shenanigans ensued early as Sawyers & McFinnegan convinced the ref to compare the size of their...members...and Orleans raised Mikey's hand afterwards. After that, a lot of butt-grabbing ensued with each side demonstrating their case on the referee...I imagine Orleans didn't think that would be in his job description for the night. The Hooligans were the obvious favorites here, though they seemed to be in heel mode for some odd reason. McFinnegan somehow survived the Cutters' wheelbarrow/second-rope flying DDT finisher, which was a shock as that's usually the finish. R.E.L. went on to score the huge upset in 12:48 when McFinnegan pinned Devin after the assisted/spike Air Raid Crash(with Zakk jumping off the second rope for the assist as McFinnegan hit the move). Mutual respect ensued...the Hooligans' time will come again, but Roscoe Eat Lisa are now the top contenders to The Cause's Tag Team Titles.
Angelus Layne vs. Mr. (Everett) Connors(w/ Mr. Gelistico): Conspicuously Mr. (Austin) Blackburn was the referee for this match and no others for the night(Orleans officiated the rest of the card). He hung back for the most part and wasn't overly biased...it can really kill a match when the official is that slanted. Layne nearly won the match after a corner cannonball, but Blackburn conveniently got a cramp in his arm before making the three-count. The Rulebook came into play and Layne got a hold of it, bashing Connors with it despite repeated warnings by Blackburn...that drew a disqualification in 8:04. Layne decked Blackburn with the book for good measure...all righty then.
Davey Vega vs. Jonathan Gresham: These two met once before in SLA with Vega scoring the victory; since Vega lost to TJP on Friday, he faced Gresham here. Despite my video gaming knowledge, I didn't make the Street Fighter connection until Vega pointed it out(thus the sash and occasional white mask)...I'm slipping. I hereby dub the Vega-Cheeseburger ROH tag team the "Veggie Burgers". This was fun to watch, Maggle...Gresham's gained a lot of momentum and popularity in this area. Gresham got the surprise win in 24:57(!) with an octopus hold...big win for him, but tough weekend for Vega with two submission losses.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Root beer and Mountain Dew.
Ricky Starks vs. Mike Outlaw vs. "The Lone Star" Curt Stallion vs. Jason Roberts: Thankfully, Ricky's good friend Paul permitted his appearances this weekend. I have trouble keeping track of indie wrestler's entrance themes, so it throws me off when someone uses different music(i.e. Outlaw not coming out to DMX). Outlaw and Stallion have history in other promotions(which was briefly touched upon in Dynamo Pro), so they had an exchange in this matchup. We had fan favorites Outlaw and Roberts, heel Stallion, and heel-who-people-still-like Starks in this one. During the match, Jovi approached the ring area with a cellphone and told Starks "You got THE CALL!" Ricky immediately left the ring to take THE CALL...apparently it was someone named "Vince". As a result, Starks was M.I.A. for the remainder of the bout...Outlaw took advantage and pinned Roberts after the High Noon(top-rope elbowdrop) in 5:48. Afterwards, Starks entered the ring and told the other wrestlers to "take a knee"...I took a knee and bugged nearby fans for not doing the same. Starks told everyone that he wouldn't be around forever and that these other guys were the future of Midwest wrestling...of course, Ricky Starks is the future of wrestling everywhere. He'll be back for the next set of SLA shows...tremendous.
Gerald James(w/ Dorian Victor) vs. "American Viking" Alexandre Rudolph: Gerald and Dorian commented that Trik Davis couldn't make it to the weekend shows and issued an open challenge. That brought out Rudolph and they gave us a history lesson about Rudolph being a fan, dating back to the days of the Lethal Wrestling Alliance and Gerald's earliest matches. I was a bit too chatty during this promo segment as I commented on the history to a friend, so Rudolph turned and said "Shut the f*** up, Patrick". Ak...my bad. Gerald was sporting a "Caturday" jacket...I'm more of a dog person, but 'tis cool. The match was really good, as expected from these two...pretty sure this was their first singles match with each other. James won with the knee kick/sliding forearm combo in 8:12...well done.
Jojo Bravo & Paco Gonzalez vs. Mr. (Evan) Gelistico & Mr. (Austin) Blackburn(w/ Mr. Adams): This was set up on the previous night's show; Paco had been scheduled to face "Dirty" Andy Dalton who was M.I.A. this weekend. Jojo was hoping to build momentum after his win on Friday, seeing as how he had finally ended his recent losing streak...he even dubbed his team the "Midnight Pacos". The already-banged-up Gelistico had Blackburn do the lion's share of the work in this one while Adams trolled ringside fans...apparently he asked one person for a slice of pizza and then threw it on the floor. Ha ha. Gelistico utilized the dreaded trapezius claw, leading to a moment where everyone in the match had the trapezius claw on everyone else...even the referee felt the pain of the devastating hold. Sadly, Jojo's luck turned sour once again as the referee missed a punt to the Universal Weak Point by Blackburn...Paco attempted to intervene, but his superkick caught Jojo by mistake and Blackburn rolled up Bravo for the three-count in 12:59.
Paco apologized, but Jojo was inconsolable as he ranted about how it was an "accident" just like all of the other "accidents" that had gone against him lately. Cooler heads seemed to prevail...but then Jojo attacked Paco from behind as he turned to leave the ring. Jojo beat down his tag team partner, ending with the Samurai Driver(cross-legged fisherman driver)...ladies and gentlemen, we have a heel turn.
Before the main event, Jovi called Mike Outlaw to the ring and proclaimed him to be his new chosen protege...however, Outlaw declined his offer. Jovi grew more and more insistent, prompting the fans to start a "No...Means No" chant(think "New...Day Rocks"). Outlaw's come a long way on the mic work...he told Jovi in no uncertain terms that he didn't want him as a manager. Jovi blew his top in an epic tantrum, unleashing a string of non-PG verbage as he vowed to bring carnage to Circus Maximus weekend in August. Hoo boy.
Mat Fitchett vs. T.J. Perkins for the Heavyweight Title: TJP defeated Davey Vega on Friday to earn this shot. Yes, the match was really good, why do you ask? They had a really good false finish when Perkins blocked a Pele Kick attempt and got Fitchett in the heel hook that won him the Vega match, but Fitchett barely made it to the ropes. (Fitchett gets ridiculous air time on that Pele, for the record.) At any rate, Fitchett rallied to win with the cradle piledriver in 19:33...nicely done.
Afterwards, Fitchett acknowledged that there was a target on his back and contenders were coming out of the woodwork, but one name stuck out in his mind. The last time that person was at a St. Louis Anarchy show, he expressed his desire to contend for the title...so Fitchett called out Chris Hero, saying he welcomed the challenge!
A lot is on the table for the next set of Anarchy shows...Fitchett vs. Hero seems likely, but the champion also has his pending issue with Christian Rose(who had to be postponed due to a schedule conflict on Rose's part). Cause vs. Roscoe Eat Lisa is set up for the Tag Titles, Paco will likely seek revenge on Jojo Bravo...and what does Greg Jovi have in store for Anarchy? The next pair of shows is set up as "Us vs. Them" with Gary Jay taking on recent indie rival Martin Stone...that'll be a hard-hitting affair to say the least.
My weekend wasn't quite over yet, but that's another story for another time...tune in next time. Same Pat-Time, Same Pat-Channel.
That's my special comment for this, the twenty-third wrestling show I've attended in the year 2016. Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
Monday, May 23, 2016
Comedy Part 690: Westport Contest Blues
Location: Westport Funny Bone
Emcee: Joe Murray
After: Joe Murray
Before: Christopher Williams
I drew the unlucky spot of number one, though I felt like I had a decent set. It was a testament to the strength of the area's comedy scene that any four people could have realistically advanced on this night. Congrats to those that did: Reggie Edwards, J.C. Sibala, Rex & Echo Selix, and Shon Don. As for myself, there's still the Helium contest ahead in a few weeks and I'll probably go to their open-mic tomorrow night. Given my current budget situation, I'll probably scale back on the comedy schedule to save on gas...we'll see.
Emcee: Joe Murray
After: Joe Murray
Before: Christopher Williams
I drew the unlucky spot of number one, though I felt like I had a decent set. It was a testament to the strength of the area's comedy scene that any four people could have realistically advanced on this night. Congrats to those that did: Reggie Edwards, J.C. Sibala, Rex & Echo Selix, and Shon Don. As for myself, there's still the Helium contest ahead in a few weeks and I'll probably go to their open-mic tomorrow night. Given my current budget situation, I'll probably scale back on the comedy schedule to save on gas...we'll see.
SLA Special Comment (Part 1)
Now, as promised, a special comment about Friday's St. Louis Anarchy show at the Spaulding Hall Club in Alton, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
I accept that I'm socially awkward to the point that I probably have some sort of undiagnosed autism or Asperger's. That being said, I apologize if I've ever done anything to offend or put off someone in my vicinity. I have far less common sense that you'd probably think...given our current Presidential election, common sense should no longer be a given when dealing with people in everyday life.
I've been on the receiving end of the question on a few occasions, but I was asking it to a handful of friends in attendance at the show: Why are you here if you hate it so much? Since the proverbial EYE DUBYA SEE is paintbrushed as hating everything and watching anyway, that's a question that gets thrown around a lot. I watch just about everything at some point so I probably oversaturate myself to some degree, but there's a lot of good wrestling out there to watch. However, there are people who decidedly dislike the style of groups like St. Louis Anarchy or Ring Of Honor, yet they still watch and, more importantly, pay money for a ticket to the shows. I went five years between WWE shows because I lost interest (on top of my own financial constraints, but if I really wanted to go to a show, I would find a way to do it). I try to take wrestling for what it is, for better or for worse...your mileage may vary as it relates to the current positives and negatives of the business. My viewpoints are my own but I try to avoid wearing my opinions on my sleeve...nowadays people are very stubborn and argumentative, so it's not worth the bother.
With the weather getting nicer and the Blues lasting far longer in the playoffs than is tradition, live event attendance has suffered for both comedy and wrestling. Anarchy's numbers were noticably down from their usual level on both shows this past weekend. On top of that, the crowd's energy level was a lot more subdued than usual. I don't know if it's an issue that needs immediate attention or if it's just a product of other factors, but it's something that I noticed all weekend. (Reportedly Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling did fine in that department on Saturday, though it was one of their bigger shows with several special guests in the house.)
Your ring announcer was Sean Orleans; your referee was Brandon Tolle.
Jojo Bravo vs. Sammy Guevara: Young Texas standout Guevara was making his SLA debut here. Jojo had been frustrated in his recent outings as officiating miscues had led to several losses. While the traditional face-vs.-heel structure often falls by the wayside in Anarchy(more on that in a bit), Sammy was decidedly the arrogant punk as opposed to the longtime favorite Jojo. After a fine opener, Jojo won with a modified backslide in 9:33 and proclaimed "I still got it!" Good for him.
Angelus Layne made her first SLA appearance in quite some time...she had been plagued by injuries in recent years, plus she recently got hitched so that took some degree of priority. I'm a fan...she's a cool person with a unique look compared to a lot of female wrestlers. Would like to see more women's wrestling in the area in general, but I seem to mention that approximately once a commentary. At any rate, she said that her goal was to win the St. Louis Anarchy Title as she only had one prior title shot(when Gerald James was champion). I'm somewhat conflicted on intergender wrestling and it depends HEAVILY on the context...I'll leave it at that. That prompted an interrupted by The Cause(minus Adam Caster) and words were exchanged over who truly deserved a title shot(Angelus or Mr. Gelistico), setting up Angelus vs. Mr. (Everett) Connors for the following night's show. Gelistico officially took up Heavyweight Champion Mat Fitchett on his open challenge for the evening.
"The Outlaw" Ken Phoenix vs. Kevin Lee Davidson: Phoenix has made a handful of appearances on Ring Of Honor television and this was his St. Louis-area debut. He had a rough time of it as he was attempting to be the fan favorite against K.L.D., who was decidedly the heel of the match but gets a lot of fan support in this area. The match was good otherwise, but it had to suck for Phoenix as he did his best to play to the fans only to get a lot of boos from the K.L.D. supporters. Davidson won with his signature spinebuster in 6:25; that move tends to disrupt ceiling tiles in low-clearance buildings such as the Alton venue.
Heavyweight Champion Mat Fitchett came out to set the ground rules for his title reign. (Previous Gerald James had set it up that his defenses would be best-of-three-falls.) Fitchett's rules were simple: No countouts, DQs, or time limits so a decisive winner would be established. Okay then...SLA has relaxed rule enforcement anyway, though they do have time limits(as established in the Gerald James-Davey Vega sixty-minute draw).
Paco Gonzalez, Mike Outlaw, Nick Cutler, & Jason Roberts vs. The Cause(Tag Team Champion Mr. (Evan) Gelistico, Mr. (Danny) Adams, Mr. (Everett) Connors, & Mr. (Austin) Blackburn): I don't think co-Tag Champ Adam Caster was specifically advertised for the SLA weekend, but Blackburn probably saw more in-ring duty than anticipated. This was advertised as Paco recruiting a team of "upstarts" to fight The Cause; Outlaw was the only other known quantity on that side. I think I had heard Cutler's name in the past(central Illinois guy?) but hadn't seen much of him; apparently he and Roberts are both trainees of Michael Elgin. The match was more competitive than I would have guessed and Blackburn tagged into the match out of a desire to prove himself...but that backfired as Paco pinned him after a Death Valley Driver in 10:40. Paco's teammates left ringside as Paco confronted Gelistico, saying HE deserved a title shot(having given Gerald James a good fight recently)...that prompted a gang attack by The Cause until Jojo Bravo made the save. Jojo and Paco challenged The Cause to a tag match for the following night's show.
Roscoe Eat Lisa("Zesty" Zakk Sawyers & "The Big Mustache On Campus" Mikey Mcfinnegan) vs. The Viking War Party("American Viking" Alexandre Rudolph & "Littlest Viking" Jake Parnell), Tag Team Title Contenders Tournament: This was part of a mini-tournament to determine the next challengers for The Cause with four fan-favorite duos competing for that right. While Sawyers has done week in recent months for both SLA and PWCS, he and McFinnegan were probably the underdogs in this matchup against the Vikings. The Vikings were their usual rambunctious selves, throwing chairs into the ring before the bell...Parnell headbutted the top turnbuckle until the pad fell off, then he threw the pad into the crowd and they played keep-away with it...heh. Parnell tried to hide the pad in his tights...um, no. When he pulled the pad out of his tights, his driver's license fell out...har har. (Do Vikings drive?) The Vikings tried to bum a smoke from Zakk before things officially got underway, to no avail. I've only recently seen more of the Sawyers/McFinnegan tag team, though they've been working together for quite a while now. They had a lot of false finishes between them, ending with McFinnegan getting the surprise pin on Parnell after an assisted Air Raid Crash in 12:40.
"The Leader Of The Pack" Stephen Wolf vs. "The Lone Star" Curt Stallion: Wolf was scheduled to face Trik Davis who was M.I.A. for the whole weekend as far as SLA was concerned. (This wasn't directly addressed until the following night's show.) All things considered, this show was pretty good about having face/heel matches as Stallion was in rulebreaker mode. This was a solid bout, though fans weren't too familiar with either guy; Wolf won with a Blue Thunder Bomb in 12:40.
Gerald James(w/ Dorian Victor) vs. Jonathan Gresham: This was a battle of fan favorites as James has effectively turned face in SLA. Gresham has been getting a lot of attention in the Midwest in the past few years and also made a few appearances on Ring Of Honor television, upsetting Cedric Alexander and wrestling Roderick Strong for the T.V. Title. This shaped up to be a good battle between two smaller strikers, with Gresham having a slight edge in the technical aspect of the game as he focused his attack on James' arm. After the standard fighting-spirit exchanges and near-falls, Gerald got the win after a kick to the knee followed by a sliding forearm smash in 12:18. That seemed oddly short, all things considered. Cue mutual respect and all that.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): One root beer and one Pepsi.
Ricky Starks vs. Alex Castle: Starks made a lone appearance on NXT several months ago(as an unnamed-on-TV enhancement talent), so he's gotten the big head and believes he's inevitably WWE-bound. However, he competes on the indies FOR THE FANS~!...he's clearly disingenuous, but he's entertaining enough that the fans like him anyway. That set him up as the fan favorite against the more traditional heel Castle. Starks blatantly copped a few familiar-looking moves and sequences, even saying "I'm sorry, I love you" before a superkick attempt(which missed). Starks won clean with a ropewalk DDT in 9:26, but the highlight was the post-match promo: Starks told Paul, err, TRIPLE H that his return to NXT would have to wait because he wanted to wrestle FOR THE FANS OF ST. LOUIS ANARCHY! He wants to continue to compete for the fans...wait for it...then, now, and forever. Forever...forever...forever...forever...forever...etc. Tremendous.
The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter) vs. Team I.O.U.("The Down-South Dandy" Nick Iggy & "The Music City Mutt" Kerry Awful), Tag Team Title Contenders Tournament: These teams have gone around the proverbial horn with each other on the Midwest independent scene, but this was my first time seeing one of their battles in person. This was the all-out brawl that you would expect, complete with one of the Hooligans' favorite sequences: They sit in chairs in a circle with the opponents and they just punch each other in the face as hard as possible. I know some people look down on the fighting-spirit sort of exchanges("I'm going to let you hit me!"), so your mileage may vary on stuff like that. The exchange took place on the floor, leaving poor Brandon Tolle in a quandary about whether to count them out. I.O.U. have worked as rulebreakers in St. Louis Anarchy despite being fan favorites in other promotions(which was how they competed in High Risk Wrestling last year), but then the Hooligans are likely to get cheered either way. I always joke that I lose track of which Hooligan is which, so I have to rely on the Bella System to figure it out: Wait for one to yell out the other's name. (This was before the Bellas became distinctly different-looking.) This eventually got back into the ring and they traded the standard high-impact offense, ending out of nowhere as Devin pinned Awful with a sunset flip off the second rope in 11:31. The Hooligans were set to face Roscoe Eat Lisa on the following night's show for the next shot at The Cause.
Mat Fitchett vs. Mr. (Evan) Gelistico for the Heavyweight Title: Gelistico seemed to play it straight for a while, despite being the obvious rulebreaker in the match, but SHENANIGANS~! were afoot in the big picture. Fitchett appeared to be on the verge of victory after a piledriver but Mr. Adams and Mr. Connors distracted the ref. Brandon Tolle ejected them from ringside, to the point that he physically chased them out the front door! In the meantime, Fitchett tilt-a-whirled into a DDT and went for a pin; that prompted Mr. Blackburn to make his entrance in a referee's shirt to count two before stopping short. Gelistico decked the champion with the Rulebook and Blackburn nearly made the three-count, but Angelus Layne pulled him out of the ring and dealt with him in short order. Evan brought in a chair, but Fitchett turned the tables and hit a cradle piledriver on the chair...OW. Tolle returned to the ring just in time to make the three-count in 15:42...woo. Fitchett would go on to face the winner of the night's main event...and he crossed paths with his longtime friend and tag partner Davey Vega in the aisleway.
Davey Vega vs. T.J. Perkins: TJP's career has taken some interesting paths in recent years...he competed for Anarchy a handful of times, but TNA commitments took precedence as he held their X-Division Title as Manik(formerly Suicide). Since departing from that company, he has competed for EVOLVE and recently qualified for WWE's Cruiserweight Classic...cool for him. Vega currently holds the All-American Pro and Metro Pro Tag Titles with Fitchett and recently made his Ring Of Honor debut in a dark match. However, the SLA Title has eluded him...he hasn't held singles gold in quite a while(he's been Lethal Wrestling Alliance Champion and NWA Missouri Champion in Dynamo Pro). Vega's recent track record against national stars has been pretty good as he holds wins over such names as Chris Hero, Roderick Strong, and El Generico(whatever happened to THAT guy?). It was a really good competitive battle between fan favorites and the audience wasn't as invested in the match as I would have thought...hmm. In what came as a surprise to some in attendance, TJP got the tapout win with a modified heel hook in 16:14 and earned the title shot at Fitchett the following night...leaving Vega frustrated once again.
Quite a bit was set up for the following night's show, but that's another commentary for another time...tune in next time. Same Pat-Time, Same Pat-Channel.
That's my special comment for this, the twenty-second wrestling show I've attended in the year 2016. Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
I accept that I'm socially awkward to the point that I probably have some sort of undiagnosed autism or Asperger's. That being said, I apologize if I've ever done anything to offend or put off someone in my vicinity. I have far less common sense that you'd probably think...given our current Presidential election, common sense should no longer be a given when dealing with people in everyday life.
I've been on the receiving end of the question on a few occasions, but I was asking it to a handful of friends in attendance at the show: Why are you here if you hate it so much? Since the proverbial EYE DUBYA SEE is paintbrushed as hating everything and watching anyway, that's a question that gets thrown around a lot. I watch just about everything at some point so I probably oversaturate myself to some degree, but there's a lot of good wrestling out there to watch. However, there are people who decidedly dislike the style of groups like St. Louis Anarchy or Ring Of Honor, yet they still watch and, more importantly, pay money for a ticket to the shows. I went five years between WWE shows because I lost interest (on top of my own financial constraints, but if I really wanted to go to a show, I would find a way to do it). I try to take wrestling for what it is, for better or for worse...your mileage may vary as it relates to the current positives and negatives of the business. My viewpoints are my own but I try to avoid wearing my opinions on my sleeve...nowadays people are very stubborn and argumentative, so it's not worth the bother.
With the weather getting nicer and the Blues lasting far longer in the playoffs than is tradition, live event attendance has suffered for both comedy and wrestling. Anarchy's numbers were noticably down from their usual level on both shows this past weekend. On top of that, the crowd's energy level was a lot more subdued than usual. I don't know if it's an issue that needs immediate attention or if it's just a product of other factors, but it's something that I noticed all weekend. (Reportedly Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling did fine in that department on Saturday, though it was one of their bigger shows with several special guests in the house.)
Your ring announcer was Sean Orleans; your referee was Brandon Tolle.
Jojo Bravo vs. Sammy Guevara: Young Texas standout Guevara was making his SLA debut here. Jojo had been frustrated in his recent outings as officiating miscues had led to several losses. While the traditional face-vs.-heel structure often falls by the wayside in Anarchy(more on that in a bit), Sammy was decidedly the arrogant punk as opposed to the longtime favorite Jojo. After a fine opener, Jojo won with a modified backslide in 9:33 and proclaimed "I still got it!" Good for him.
Angelus Layne made her first SLA appearance in quite some time...she had been plagued by injuries in recent years, plus she recently got hitched so that took some degree of priority. I'm a fan...she's a cool person with a unique look compared to a lot of female wrestlers. Would like to see more women's wrestling in the area in general, but I seem to mention that approximately once a commentary. At any rate, she said that her goal was to win the St. Louis Anarchy Title as she only had one prior title shot(when Gerald James was champion). I'm somewhat conflicted on intergender wrestling and it depends HEAVILY on the context...I'll leave it at that. That prompted an interrupted by The Cause(minus Adam Caster) and words were exchanged over who truly deserved a title shot(Angelus or Mr. Gelistico), setting up Angelus vs. Mr. (Everett) Connors for the following night's show. Gelistico officially took up Heavyweight Champion Mat Fitchett on his open challenge for the evening.
"The Outlaw" Ken Phoenix vs. Kevin Lee Davidson: Phoenix has made a handful of appearances on Ring Of Honor television and this was his St. Louis-area debut. He had a rough time of it as he was attempting to be the fan favorite against K.L.D., who was decidedly the heel of the match but gets a lot of fan support in this area. The match was good otherwise, but it had to suck for Phoenix as he did his best to play to the fans only to get a lot of boos from the K.L.D. supporters. Davidson won with his signature spinebuster in 6:25; that move tends to disrupt ceiling tiles in low-clearance buildings such as the Alton venue.
Heavyweight Champion Mat Fitchett came out to set the ground rules for his title reign. (Previous Gerald James had set it up that his defenses would be best-of-three-falls.) Fitchett's rules were simple: No countouts, DQs, or time limits so a decisive winner would be established. Okay then...SLA has relaxed rule enforcement anyway, though they do have time limits(as established in the Gerald James-Davey Vega sixty-minute draw).
Paco Gonzalez, Mike Outlaw, Nick Cutler, & Jason Roberts vs. The Cause(Tag Team Champion Mr. (Evan) Gelistico, Mr. (Danny) Adams, Mr. (Everett) Connors, & Mr. (Austin) Blackburn): I don't think co-Tag Champ Adam Caster was specifically advertised for the SLA weekend, but Blackburn probably saw more in-ring duty than anticipated. This was advertised as Paco recruiting a team of "upstarts" to fight The Cause; Outlaw was the only other known quantity on that side. I think I had heard Cutler's name in the past(central Illinois guy?) but hadn't seen much of him; apparently he and Roberts are both trainees of Michael Elgin. The match was more competitive than I would have guessed and Blackburn tagged into the match out of a desire to prove himself...but that backfired as Paco pinned him after a Death Valley Driver in 10:40. Paco's teammates left ringside as Paco confronted Gelistico, saying HE deserved a title shot(having given Gerald James a good fight recently)...that prompted a gang attack by The Cause until Jojo Bravo made the save. Jojo and Paco challenged The Cause to a tag match for the following night's show.
Roscoe Eat Lisa("Zesty" Zakk Sawyers & "The Big Mustache On Campus" Mikey Mcfinnegan) vs. The Viking War Party("American Viking" Alexandre Rudolph & "Littlest Viking" Jake Parnell), Tag Team Title Contenders Tournament: This was part of a mini-tournament to determine the next challengers for The Cause with four fan-favorite duos competing for that right. While Sawyers has done week in recent months for both SLA and PWCS, he and McFinnegan were probably the underdogs in this matchup against the Vikings. The Vikings were their usual rambunctious selves, throwing chairs into the ring before the bell...Parnell headbutted the top turnbuckle until the pad fell off, then he threw the pad into the crowd and they played keep-away with it...heh. Parnell tried to hide the pad in his tights...um, no. When he pulled the pad out of his tights, his driver's license fell out...har har. (Do Vikings drive?) The Vikings tried to bum a smoke from Zakk before things officially got underway, to no avail. I've only recently seen more of the Sawyers/McFinnegan tag team, though they've been working together for quite a while now. They had a lot of false finishes between them, ending with McFinnegan getting the surprise pin on Parnell after an assisted Air Raid Crash in 12:40.
"The Leader Of The Pack" Stephen Wolf vs. "The Lone Star" Curt Stallion: Wolf was scheduled to face Trik Davis who was M.I.A. for the whole weekend as far as SLA was concerned. (This wasn't directly addressed until the following night's show.) All things considered, this show was pretty good about having face/heel matches as Stallion was in rulebreaker mode. This was a solid bout, though fans weren't too familiar with either guy; Wolf won with a Blue Thunder Bomb in 12:40.
Gerald James(w/ Dorian Victor) vs. Jonathan Gresham: This was a battle of fan favorites as James has effectively turned face in SLA. Gresham has been getting a lot of attention in the Midwest in the past few years and also made a few appearances on Ring Of Honor television, upsetting Cedric Alexander and wrestling Roderick Strong for the T.V. Title. This shaped up to be a good battle between two smaller strikers, with Gresham having a slight edge in the technical aspect of the game as he focused his attack on James' arm. After the standard fighting-spirit exchanges and near-falls, Gerald got the win after a kick to the knee followed by a sliding forearm smash in 12:18. That seemed oddly short, all things considered. Cue mutual respect and all that.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): One root beer and one Pepsi.
Ricky Starks vs. Alex Castle: Starks made a lone appearance on NXT several months ago(as an unnamed-on-TV enhancement talent), so he's gotten the big head and believes he's inevitably WWE-bound. However, he competes on the indies FOR THE FANS~!...he's clearly disingenuous, but he's entertaining enough that the fans like him anyway. That set him up as the fan favorite against the more traditional heel Castle. Starks blatantly copped a few familiar-looking moves and sequences, even saying "I'm sorry, I love you" before a superkick attempt(which missed). Starks won clean with a ropewalk DDT in 9:26, but the highlight was the post-match promo: Starks told Paul, err, TRIPLE H that his return to NXT would have to wait because he wanted to wrestle FOR THE FANS OF ST. LOUIS ANARCHY! He wants to continue to compete for the fans...wait for it...then, now, and forever. Forever...forever...forever...forever...forever...etc. Tremendous.
The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter) vs. Team I.O.U.("The Down-South Dandy" Nick Iggy & "The Music City Mutt" Kerry Awful), Tag Team Title Contenders Tournament: These teams have gone around the proverbial horn with each other on the Midwest independent scene, but this was my first time seeing one of their battles in person. This was the all-out brawl that you would expect, complete with one of the Hooligans' favorite sequences: They sit in chairs in a circle with the opponents and they just punch each other in the face as hard as possible. I know some people look down on the fighting-spirit sort of exchanges("I'm going to let you hit me!"), so your mileage may vary on stuff like that. The exchange took place on the floor, leaving poor Brandon Tolle in a quandary about whether to count them out. I.O.U. have worked as rulebreakers in St. Louis Anarchy despite being fan favorites in other promotions(which was how they competed in High Risk Wrestling last year), but then the Hooligans are likely to get cheered either way. I always joke that I lose track of which Hooligan is which, so I have to rely on the Bella System to figure it out: Wait for one to yell out the other's name. (This was before the Bellas became distinctly different-looking.) This eventually got back into the ring and they traded the standard high-impact offense, ending out of nowhere as Devin pinned Awful with a sunset flip off the second rope in 11:31. The Hooligans were set to face Roscoe Eat Lisa on the following night's show for the next shot at The Cause.
Mat Fitchett vs. Mr. (Evan) Gelistico for the Heavyweight Title: Gelistico seemed to play it straight for a while, despite being the obvious rulebreaker in the match, but SHENANIGANS~! were afoot in the big picture. Fitchett appeared to be on the verge of victory after a piledriver but Mr. Adams and Mr. Connors distracted the ref. Brandon Tolle ejected them from ringside, to the point that he physically chased them out the front door! In the meantime, Fitchett tilt-a-whirled into a DDT and went for a pin; that prompted Mr. Blackburn to make his entrance in a referee's shirt to count two before stopping short. Gelistico decked the champion with the Rulebook and Blackburn nearly made the three-count, but Angelus Layne pulled him out of the ring and dealt with him in short order. Evan brought in a chair, but Fitchett turned the tables and hit a cradle piledriver on the chair...OW. Tolle returned to the ring just in time to make the three-count in 15:42...woo. Fitchett would go on to face the winner of the night's main event...and he crossed paths with his longtime friend and tag partner Davey Vega in the aisleway.
Davey Vega vs. T.J. Perkins: TJP's career has taken some interesting paths in recent years...he competed for Anarchy a handful of times, but TNA commitments took precedence as he held their X-Division Title as Manik(formerly Suicide). Since departing from that company, he has competed for EVOLVE and recently qualified for WWE's Cruiserweight Classic...cool for him. Vega currently holds the All-American Pro and Metro Pro Tag Titles with Fitchett and recently made his Ring Of Honor debut in a dark match. However, the SLA Title has eluded him...he hasn't held singles gold in quite a while(he's been Lethal Wrestling Alliance Champion and NWA Missouri Champion in Dynamo Pro). Vega's recent track record against national stars has been pretty good as he holds wins over such names as Chris Hero, Roderick Strong, and El Generico(whatever happened to THAT guy?). It was a really good competitive battle between fan favorites and the audience wasn't as invested in the match as I would have thought...hmm. In what came as a surprise to some in attendance, TJP got the tapout win with a modified heel hook in 16:14 and earned the title shot at Fitchett the following night...leaving Vega frustrated once again.
Quite a bit was set up for the following night's show, but that's another commentary for another time...tune in next time. Same Pat-Time, Same Pat-Channel.
That's my special comment for this, the twenty-second wrestling show I've attended in the year 2016. Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
Sunday, May 22, 2016
WWE Extreme Rules
-Baron Corbin d. Dolph Ziggler in a no-DQ match after a blatant low blow, followed by the End Of Days(mid-air Flatliner).
-Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows d. Jimmy & Jey Uso in a tornado tag match when Gallows pinned Jimmy after the Magic Killer(double-team elevated neckbreaker with Anderson).
-Alexander Rusev(w/ Lana Perry) d. Kalisto with the Accolade(camel clutch) to win the U.S. Title.
-The New Day(Big E Langston & Xavier Woods)(w/ Kofi Kingston) d. The Vaudevillains(Aiden English & Simon Gotch) to retain the Tag Team Titles; Kofi kicked Gotch behind the referee's back, allowing Woods to finish with a Shining Wizard.
-Mike Mizanin(w/ Maryse Ouellet-Mizanin) won a four-corner match with Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Antonio Cesaro to retain the Intercontinental Title; Zayn hit the Helluva Kick on Cesaro, but Owens pulled Zayn out of the ring and Miz stole the pin on Cesaro.
-Dean Ambrose d. Chris Jericho in an Asylum Match(cage with weapons) after dropping Jericho on thumbtacks, then finishing with the Dirty Deeds v2.0(double-underhook DDT).
-Charlotte Flair d. Natalya Neidhart in a submission match to retain the Women's Title; Dana Brooke distracted Natalya, allowing Charlotte to capitalize with the Figure-Eight Leglock(bridging figure-four) for the win. Ric Flair(who had been banned from ringside) celebrated with Charlotte and Dana.
-Roman Reigns d. A.J. Styles in an extreme-rules match to retain the WWE Title. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows interfered on Styles' behalf, which brought out the Usos to even the odds. Reigns countered a springboard forearm attempt with a mid-air spear for the win. Seth Rollins returned to drop Reigns with a Pedigree after the match.
-Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows d. Jimmy & Jey Uso in a tornado tag match when Gallows pinned Jimmy after the Magic Killer(double-team elevated neckbreaker with Anderson).
-Alexander Rusev(w/ Lana Perry) d. Kalisto with the Accolade(camel clutch) to win the U.S. Title.
-The New Day(Big E Langston & Xavier Woods)(w/ Kofi Kingston) d. The Vaudevillains(Aiden English & Simon Gotch) to retain the Tag Team Titles; Kofi kicked Gotch behind the referee's back, allowing Woods to finish with a Shining Wizard.
-Mike Mizanin(w/ Maryse Ouellet-Mizanin) won a four-corner match with Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Antonio Cesaro to retain the Intercontinental Title; Zayn hit the Helluva Kick on Cesaro, but Owens pulled Zayn out of the ring and Miz stole the pin on Cesaro.
-Dean Ambrose d. Chris Jericho in an Asylum Match(cage with weapons) after dropping Jericho on thumbtacks, then finishing with the Dirty Deeds v2.0(double-underhook DDT).
-Charlotte Flair d. Natalya Neidhart in a submission match to retain the Women's Title; Dana Brooke distracted Natalya, allowing Charlotte to capitalize with the Figure-Eight Leglock(bridging figure-four) for the win. Ric Flair(who had been banned from ringside) celebrated with Charlotte and Dana.
-Roman Reigns d. A.J. Styles in an extreme-rules match to retain the WWE Title. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows interfered on Styles' behalf, which brought out the Usos to even the odds. Reigns countered a springboard forearm attempt with a mid-air spear for the win. Seth Rollins returned to drop Reigns with a Pedigree after the match.
Sunday WIA Results From Swansea, IL
-Da'Marius Jones won a triple threat match with Paco Gonzalez and Mike Outlaw; Paco countered a middle-rope springboard move by superkicking Outlaw in mid-air, but Jones threw Paco out of the ring and stole the pin on Outlaw (6:22). After the match, Paco took offense to some vocal fans saying Outlaw should have won, so he dropped Outlaw with another superkick.
-Justin D'Air d. Rosko after the Buff Blockbuster (6:58).
-Barackus & "Infamous" Tyler Copeland(w/ The Landlord) d. Wrestling Invades America Heavyweight Champion Kevin Lee Davidson & Pro Wrestling Epic Heavyweight Champion Brandon Aarons; as General Manager, Landlord ruled that K.L.D. and Aarons' title were at stake if one of them was pinned or submitted. K.L.D. and Barackus brawled to the backstage area, leaving Aarons and Copeland in the ring; Copeland won the PWE Title after a low blow that went unseen by the referee followed by a rollup for the three-count (13:27).
-Billy McNeil d. Ace Hawkins to earn the next title shot at Interstate Champion Leone Mephisto; Hawkins missed a swanton bomb off the second rope and McNeil won with a modified Oklahoma roll (10:40). Ace snapped and attacked his recent tag team partner after the bell, leading to the locker room emptying to restore order.
-Big Jim Hoffarth won a handicap match against Bodily Harm("The Enforcer" Jimmy D & Bobby D) when he pinned Bobby D after the double-underhook powerbomb (10:23).
-Brandon Espinosa d. Blake Belakis after a brainbuster (12:58). After the match, Landlord asked Espy to join his stable...before Espinosa could answer, Kevin Lee Davidson came out to confront the manager. Barackus blindsided K.L.D., knocking him into Espinosa...provoking Espy into attacking Davidson. The champion turned the tide and planted Espy with a spinebuster as Barackus and Landlord retreated from the ring.
-Justin D'Air d. Rosko after the Buff Blockbuster (6:58).
-Barackus & "Infamous" Tyler Copeland(w/ The Landlord) d. Wrestling Invades America Heavyweight Champion Kevin Lee Davidson & Pro Wrestling Epic Heavyweight Champion Brandon Aarons; as General Manager, Landlord ruled that K.L.D. and Aarons' title were at stake if one of them was pinned or submitted. K.L.D. and Barackus brawled to the backstage area, leaving Aarons and Copeland in the ring; Copeland won the PWE Title after a low blow that went unseen by the referee followed by a rollup for the three-count (13:27).
-Billy McNeil d. Ace Hawkins to earn the next title shot at Interstate Champion Leone Mephisto; Hawkins missed a swanton bomb off the second rope and McNeil won with a modified Oklahoma roll (10:40). Ace snapped and attacked his recent tag team partner after the bell, leading to the locker room emptying to restore order.
-Big Jim Hoffarth won a handicap match against Bodily Harm("The Enforcer" Jimmy D & Bobby D) when he pinned Bobby D after the double-underhook powerbomb (10:23).
-Brandon Espinosa d. Blake Belakis after a brainbuster (12:58). After the match, Landlord asked Espy to join his stable...before Espinosa could answer, Kevin Lee Davidson came out to confront the manager. Barackus blindsided K.L.D., knocking him into Espinosa...provoking Espy into attacking Davidson. The champion turned the tide and planted Espy with a spinebuster as Barackus and Landlord retreated from the ring.
Weekend wrestling
TNA Victory Road
-Andrew Everett(w/ Trevor Lee & Gregory Shane Helms) d. D.J. Shiima Xion(w/ Eddie Edwards).
-Velvet Sky d. Marti Belle.
-Chris Melendez d. Beauregarde.
-James Storm d. Bram Cameron.
-The Bro Mans(Robbie Eckos & Jessie Godderz) d. The Tribunal(Basille Baracca & Baron Dax, formerly Sylvester Lefort & Marcus Louis).
-Bobby Roode d. Braxton Sutter(aka Pepper Parks)(w/ Allie Dennis).
-Trevor Lee(w/ Gregory Shane Helms) d. Eddie Edwards.
-Ethan Carter III d. Eli Drake.
ROH TV
-Commentators: Kevin Kelly & Steve Corino.
-This episode was a clipshow dedicated to the Bullet Club.
-From February 2016: IWGP Intercontinental Champion Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks(Matt & Nick Jackson) d. The Briscoe Brothers(Jay & Mark) & Toru Yano to win the IWGP NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Titles; Omega pinned Yano after an enhanced version of More Bang For Your Buck(Omega Regal Roll, Omega second-rope moonsault, Nick Jackson swanton bomb, Matt Jackson 450 Splash) (12:16 aired).
-From February 2016: IWGP NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata, Hirooki Goto, & reDRagon(Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) d. Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Bad Luck Fale, & Tama Tonga when Shibata pinned Gallows after the Penalty Kick(running punt to seated opponent) (8:53 aired).
SICW Wrestling Explosion
(The show didn't air on Charter Cable in its usual timeslot; YouTube just put up the episode.)
-Commentator: Drew Abbenhaus.
-"The Fury" Jason Vaughn & "Dead Sexy" Daniel Gunner d. Britton Tucker & Waco; Earl Hebner and Jay King were the referees for the bout. Hebner was accidentally knocked down, but King entered the ring to count the fall as Vaughn small-packaged Tucker.
-Promoter Herb Simmons interviewed Terry Funk, Cowboy Bob Orton, and Larry Matysik about the history and current state of St. Louis wrestling.
-Andrew Everett(w/ Trevor Lee & Gregory Shane Helms) d. D.J. Shiima Xion(w/ Eddie Edwards).
-Velvet Sky d. Marti Belle.
-Chris Melendez d. Beauregarde.
-James Storm d. Bram Cameron.
-The Bro Mans(Robbie Eckos & Jessie Godderz) d. The Tribunal(Basille Baracca & Baron Dax, formerly Sylvester Lefort & Marcus Louis).
-Bobby Roode d. Braxton Sutter(aka Pepper Parks)(w/ Allie Dennis).
-Trevor Lee(w/ Gregory Shane Helms) d. Eddie Edwards.
-Ethan Carter III d. Eli Drake.
ROH TV
-Commentators: Kevin Kelly & Steve Corino.
-This episode was a clipshow dedicated to the Bullet Club.
-From February 2016: IWGP Intercontinental Champion Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks(Matt & Nick Jackson) d. The Briscoe Brothers(Jay & Mark) & Toru Yano to win the IWGP NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Titles; Omega pinned Yano after an enhanced version of More Bang For Your Buck(Omega Regal Roll, Omega second-rope moonsault, Nick Jackson swanton bomb, Matt Jackson 450 Splash) (12:16 aired).
-From February 2016: IWGP NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata, Hirooki Goto, & reDRagon(Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) d. Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Bad Luck Fale, & Tama Tonga when Shibata pinned Gallows after the Penalty Kick(running punt to seated opponent) (8:53 aired).
SICW Wrestling Explosion
(The show didn't air on Charter Cable in its usual timeslot; YouTube just put up the episode.)
-Commentator: Drew Abbenhaus.
-"The Fury" Jason Vaughn & "Dead Sexy" Daniel Gunner d. Britton Tucker & Waco; Earl Hebner and Jay King were the referees for the bout. Hebner was accidentally knocked down, but King entered the ring to count the fall as Vaughn small-packaged Tucker.
-Promoter Herb Simmons interviewed Terry Funk, Cowboy Bob Orton, and Larry Matysik about the history and current state of St. Louis wrestling.
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Saturday SLA Results From Alton, IL
-Team I.O.U.("The Down-South Dandy" Nick Iggy & "The Music City Mutt" Kerry Awful) d. Nick Cutler & "The Outlaw" Ken Phoenix when Awful made Cutler tap out to a Boston crab (8:29).
-"The Littlest Viking" Jake Parnell d. Danny Adams(w/ Tag Team Champion Evan Gelistico) in an "Anarchy Rules"(hardcore) match after a double-stomp off the second rope with Adams' head wedged in a set-up chair (12:41).
-Tag Team Title Contenders Tournament: Roscoe Eat Lisa("Zesty" Zakk Sawyers & "The Big Mustache On Campus" Mikey McFinnegan) d. The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter); McFinnegan pinned Devin after a spike Air Raid Crash with Sawyers (12:48).
-Everett Connors(w/ Tag Team Champion Evan Gelistico) d. Angelus Layne by DQ when Layne hit Connors with the Rulebook in front of Cause official Austin Blackburn (8:04). Angelus decked Blackburn with the book after the bell.
-Jonathan Gresham d. Davey Vega with an octopus hold (24:57).
-Mike Outlaw won a four-corner match with Ricky Starks, "The Lone Star" Curt Stallion, and Jason Roberts when pinned Roberts after the High Noon(top-rope elbowdrop) (5:48); Starks was sidetracked from the match by a phone call from someone named Vince...
-Gerald James(w/ Dorian Victor) d. "American Viking" Alexandre Rudolph after the sliding forearm smash (8:12).
-Tag Team Champion Evan Gelistico & Austin Blackburn(w/ Danny Adams) d. Jojo Bravo & Paco Gonzalez. The referee missed Gelistico stunning Bravo with a low blow, then Paco accidentally superkicked Jojo leading to Blackburn getting the rollup pin (12:59). Frustrated with his recent slump and yet another accident going against him, Jojo blindsided Paco as they left the ring and dropped him with the Samurai Driver(cross-legged fisherman driver).
-Ring announcer Greg Jovi called out Mike Outlaw and offered him a spot as his newest protege...but Outlaw turned him down and Jovi blew his top, vowing to bring carnage to St. Louis Anarchy at Circus Maximus in August.
-Mat Fitchett d. T.J. Perkins with the cradle piledriver to retain the Heavyweight Title (19:53). Afterwards, Fitchett said there was a target on his back and that he hadn't forgotten about Chris Hero's title aspirations...so he told the Knockout Artist that he welcomed the challenge!
-"The Littlest Viking" Jake Parnell d. Danny Adams(w/ Tag Team Champion Evan Gelistico) in an "Anarchy Rules"(hardcore) match after a double-stomp off the second rope with Adams' head wedged in a set-up chair (12:41).
-Tag Team Title Contenders Tournament: Roscoe Eat Lisa("Zesty" Zakk Sawyers & "The Big Mustache On Campus" Mikey McFinnegan) d. The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter); McFinnegan pinned Devin after a spike Air Raid Crash with Sawyers (12:48).
-Everett Connors(w/ Tag Team Champion Evan Gelistico) d. Angelus Layne by DQ when Layne hit Connors with the Rulebook in front of Cause official Austin Blackburn (8:04). Angelus decked Blackburn with the book after the bell.
-Jonathan Gresham d. Davey Vega with an octopus hold (24:57).
-Mike Outlaw won a four-corner match with Ricky Starks, "The Lone Star" Curt Stallion, and Jason Roberts when pinned Roberts after the High Noon(top-rope elbowdrop) (5:48); Starks was sidetracked from the match by a phone call from someone named Vince...
-Gerald James(w/ Dorian Victor) d. "American Viking" Alexandre Rudolph after the sliding forearm smash (8:12).
-Tag Team Champion Evan Gelistico & Austin Blackburn(w/ Danny Adams) d. Jojo Bravo & Paco Gonzalez. The referee missed Gelistico stunning Bravo with a low blow, then Paco accidentally superkicked Jojo leading to Blackburn getting the rollup pin (12:59). Frustrated with his recent slump and yet another accident going against him, Jojo blindsided Paco as they left the ring and dropped him with the Samurai Driver(cross-legged fisherman driver).
-Ring announcer Greg Jovi called out Mike Outlaw and offered him a spot as his newest protege...but Outlaw turned him down and Jovi blew his top, vowing to bring carnage to St. Louis Anarchy at Circus Maximus in August.
-Mat Fitchett d. T.J. Perkins with the cradle piledriver to retain the Heavyweight Title (19:53). Afterwards, Fitchett said there was a target on his back and that he hadn't forgotten about Chris Hero's title aspirations...so he told the Knockout Artist that he welcomed the challenge!
Main Event + Superstars
WWE Main Event
-Commentators: Tom Phillips & Jerry Lawler.
-Titus O'Neil & Jack Swagger d. Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas(w/ Heath Slater) when O'Neil pinned Axel with the Clash Of The Titus (8:10 aired).
-Apollo Crews d. Rick Viktor via delayed Blue Thunder Bomb (4:32).
-Alberto Del Rio d. Zack Ryder with the Tree Of Woe double-stomp (11:27 aired).
WWE Superstars
-Commentators: Tom Phillips & Byron Saxton.
-Titus O'Neil & Jack Swagger vs. Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas(w/ Heath Slater) when O'Neil pinned Bo after the Clash Of The Titus (4:13).
-Zack Ryder d. Stardust with the Rough Ryder (7:35 aired).
-Commentators: Tom Phillips & Jerry Lawler.
-Titus O'Neil & Jack Swagger d. Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas(w/ Heath Slater) when O'Neil pinned Axel with the Clash Of The Titus (8:10 aired).
-Apollo Crews d. Rick Viktor via delayed Blue Thunder Bomb (4:32).
-Alberto Del Rio d. Zack Ryder with the Tree Of Woe double-stomp (11:27 aired).
WWE Superstars
-Commentators: Tom Phillips & Byron Saxton.
-Titus O'Neil & Jack Swagger vs. Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas(w/ Heath Slater) when O'Neil pinned Bo after the Clash Of The Titus (4:13).
-Zack Ryder d. Stardust with the Rough Ryder (7:35 aired).
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