Now, as promised, a special comment about last Saturday's Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling show at the Community Center in East Carondelet, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
With Saturday night open, I made my way to East Carondelet for SICW's monthly offering. The semifinals of the Classic Title tournament were up in the air as Cowboy Marc Houston had interfered in the Flash Flanagan vs. Curtis Wylde quarterfinal to cause a no-contest. The other semifinal would take place on this night with Ken Kasa(having beaten Superstar Steve Fender and Dave Vaughn) squaring off with old friend and rival Chris Hargas(who had defeated The Big Texan and Gary Jackson to reach this point). For his part, Houston would be in a battle of super heavyweights with Bubba Troll.
The attendance was pretty good, though not a packed house as with some of their bigger shows. I could see people saving themselves for the big show in May; that one will probably be loaded.
Your ring announcer was Drew Abbenhaus; your referees were Shaft, Jay King, and Nick Ridenour.
The show actually started about ten minutes before 8:00 with the announcements from Drew and promoter Herb Simmons. They announced a ten-bell salute for a longtime fan who had recently passed away. Sean Vincent came out to push a new SICW promotion where the wrestlers would visit hospitalized children. Herb pushed the big May show as the anniversary at Wrestling At The Chase...on top of Barbara Goodish and Charlie Thesz(widows of Bruiser Brody and Lou Thesz, respectively), Brody's old rival Abdullah The Butcher would be in the house as well!
Steve Davis of "Memories Of Elvis" sang the National Anthem, then it was tournament update time. Herb said that Flanagan was not in attendance(said to be injured in March) and the semifinal would take place as a triple threat match in May: Flanagan vs. Wylde vs. Houston. The finals would take place at the end of the night with the winner of the three-way facing the winner of tonight's Kasa-Hargas match. (I assume Flanagan's absence was the reason for this little do-si-do.) We were told that he would be at the Millstadt event, at any rate. Herb also teased a special guest referee for the tourney finals. Larry Matysik once again did television commentary for a few early matches...last month was his first live ringside commentary in many years.
Bubba Troll vs. Cowboy Marc Houston: So who was the fan favorite in THIS one? They started brawling right out of the gate, so it was a good thing that I didn't expect a technical classic in the first place. Before things could even get going, Curtis Wylde attacked Houston from behind and caused a no-contest in 2:15...this was presumably revenge for Houston's interference in Wylde's match the previous month. Wylde retreated after getting his proverbial pound of flesh, leaving both match participants in a bad mood.
Flaming Freddie Fury vs. Johnny Blade(w/ Big Daddy): Blade defeated Fury's close personal friend Purple Passion in March; Fury brought Passion's mask with him and hung it on the ringpost for inspiration. Other than Fury's usual schtick, Blade controlled the majority of the matchup and won with the figure-four leglock in 6:48.
"Your Canadian Hero" Sean Vincent & Moondog Rover vs. "Volatile" Curtis Wylde & "The Unstable" Dave Vaughn(w/ Wyldefyre): Moondog presented Wyldefyre with candy before the match, but Wylde knocked the box out of her hands...aww. The referee had to scramble to clear the chocolates off the wrestling mat before any of them got squashed. Vincent's history with both opponents is well-documented. Wyldefyre attempted to interfere in the match but Curtis accidentally elbowed her off the ring apron. Curtis didn't seem to care too much about the well-being of his #1 Ginger at that moment...in the meantime, Vincent cleared the ring and pinned Vaughn after the Death Valley Driver in 13:45. For the second time, Moondog carried Wyldefyre away from ringside...that left Wylde frantically searching for her, but he still had time to speak to Drew at ringside about his Classic Title tournament chances.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Pepsi, cheeseburger, Coca-Cola, and a freebie cheeseburger at the end of the night. Woo.
"Big Country" Clint Poe & "The Enforcer" Jimmy D vs. Guerrilla Warfare(The Big Texan & Waco): Former MMWA Tag Team Champions Texan & Waco reunited in March but lost to the team of Poe and Sean Vincent. I haven't seen a whole lot of Poe thus far but he seems decent; he regularly competes in Indiana and Ohio where he occasionally teams with Marc Houston. Unfortunately, the more experienced tandem was able to keep him out of this match for the most part. Jimmy D was in the ring for most of the match...even after Poe got a hot tag and cleaned house, he quickly re-entered the ring for a Rocket Launcher with Poe. I didn't see a tag, but D took the fall not long after that...Waco pinned him in 11:23 after he and Texan hit a sideslam/top-rope elbowdrop combo.
Heath Hatton vs. Ax Allwardt: This was a surprise return for former Classic Champion Hatton, who had been primarily focusing on his home promotion of Stride Pro Wrestling in Marion, Illinois. Despite being a fan favorite in recent months, Ax wasn't going to beat out Hatton in popularity and reverted to his more aggressive attitude. These two know each other VERY well and have faced each other often, dating back to All American Pro Wrestling and continuing through Pro Wrestling Collision, SICW, and Stride Pro. Ax focused on the arm after Hatton hit the ringpost shoulder-first; he nearly got the win after a mule kick and piledriver(he can now use it here since Ron Powers retired) but Hatton rolled out of the ring to escape defeat. When Ax finally brought him back into the ring for a pin attempt, Heath got a foot on the bottom rope. Hatton was able to rally and trap Ax in the Crippler Crossface(that's how he beat Ken Kasa for the Classic Title!), but the time limit expired in 15:00 (give or take a few seconds, going by my stopwatch...but I defer to the announced time).
Bobby D vs. Superstar Steve Fender(w/ Travis Cook): Travis has scored a formidable acquisition, bringing his New Breed Wrestling protege to his stable in SICW. This was a good solid matchup with Bobby D putting up some resistance, but Fender finally got him down for good and delivered a swandive headbutt to win in 5:18. (It was especially impressive when you consider the low ceiling and the fact that D was over halfway across the ring!)
Intermission numero dos~! This led into Herb's official announcement of the special guest referee for the tournament final, and it turned out to be a true surprise: "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz! The former Classic Champion was making his first official appearance at a wrestling show since his retirement; it was especially notable since he didn't seem to part with SICW on the best of terms. He promised to call the match down the middle, despite his prior history with most of the remaining tournament participants. It was also announced that the tourney final would be best-of-three-falls with a sixty-minute time limit for full OLDSCHOOL~! points.
"Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson vs. Jayson Khaos: Jackson delivered THE RULES~! before the opening bell, which is usually a bad sign for him(a la Kane's pyro). Khaos had posted on Facebook about his excitement going into the match, as Jackson was his mentor early in his career. Unfortunately, the match was derailed by an early groin injury to Khaos, leaving him to stall and retreat for most of it. Khaos resorted to underhanded tactics like manhandling the official and delivering an unseen low blow. The bout ended with Khaos trapping Jackson in a sleeperhold while both were in the ropes, drawing a DQ in 6:34 when Khaos refused to release the hold at the five-count (despite Drew accidentally announcing it as a countout). Jackson vowed to get revenge on Khaos...hopefully Khaos will be able to bounce back from his injury for an eventual rematch.
"Ironman" Ken Kasa vs. "The Icon" Chris Hargas(w/ Travis Cook), Classic Title Tournament Semifinal: I was just waiting for Travis to proclaim Hargas to be a born-again Syrian, but nope. Despite the hand-to-ringpost spot that ended the March show, the injury focus was on Kasa's ribs after Dave Vaughn's previous spear on the edge of the ring. They did a slow build since they were going for a long match, but the crowd was somewhat partisan in favor of Hargas so it made for an odd atmosphere. Both guys delved into their submission hold arsenals to wear each other down...Hargas was able to deliver the F-5, but took too long to cover and only got a near-fall. He got Kasa in the Sharpshooter in the middle of the ring, only for The Ironman to make his way to the ropes. Kasa was able to hang Hargas upside-down from the turnbuckles, then deliver a Van Terminator-style dropkick from the adjacent middle turnbuckle! However, Hargas was able to get to the ropes to escape defeat. The fight spilled out of the ring and Kasa kicked away an approaching Travis Cook, but the momentary loss of focus was costly as Hargas delivered a modified F-5 into the ring steps! Hargas dragged Kasa back into the ring and delivered one last F-5 for the hard-fought win in 22:06!
Hargas had cemented his place in the tournament finals and would be the fresh man at the end of the night...whoever his opponent would be(Flanagan, Wylde, or Houston), he would have already competed in the triple threat semifinal earlier in the evening. Travis was even more vocal than usual, claiming Herb had rigged the game with Cruz as the referee...but we'll see how things play out in May.
Sadly, this weekend will be wrestling-free for me as I've had to work on Friday and Saturday nights and am also scheduled to work on Sunday evening. That meant skipping the Cape Championship Wrestling doubleheader and I'll also miss the National Wrasslin' League event on Sunday night. My job situation has been a work in progress as I will start training on Monday to work for American Income Life Insurance...I don't know if salesmanship is my thing, but I guess I'm ging to find out. I would like to get to a point where my evenings aren't taken up by my job, so I'm hoping for the best.
Next Friday, WWE's NXT brand has its first St. Louis-area house show at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri. The timing was unfortunate as the post-WrestleMania callups meant that Shinsuke Nakamura(among others) would not be on the show. Despite that, I'm looking forward to seeing a bit more of the developmental crew in action, as well as competitors from the cruiserweight division. As for Saturday, SICW returns to Millstadt, Illinois and I should be able to make it to that show.
That's my special comment for this, the fifteenth wrestling show I've attended in the year 2017. Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
No comments:
Post a Comment