Now, as promised, a special comment about the Rampage Championship Wrestling show from Sunday, October 28th at Granite City High School in Granite City, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
Sometimes I make interesting decisions with regards to my show attendance. Such was the case in the last weekend of October, which was oddly bereft of local wrestling events. New Breed Wrestling had a show that Saturday where the first Multi-State Tag Team Champions were crowned in the form of The Iceman & The Math Magician...I imagine I'll make it out that way eventually, but it's a lengthy trip to where they usually run. Cape Championship Wrestling had a show that Saturday as well. IWA Mid-South had scheduled a show in Belleville, IL for this particular Sunday several months ago, but that plan fell through. Outlaw Wrestling had a show in Lincoln that Friday, but it would have been another long trek.
That left one show for the weekend within a decent driving distance...RCW normally runs in Litchfield, but they were making a rare stop in the greater Metro East for an anti-bullying show. That's a cause that strikes a chord with me...plus I had heard that Savanna Stone and Rahne Victoria would be on the show, so that helped my level of interest as well. Sliding scale of expectations, ladies and gentlemen...
Your ring announcer was Chuck Kaboom(aka Chuck Maddox); your referees were Kenny Collins & A.J. Ryan.
Promoter Frank Root(Reed) kicked off the show with a few words from Heavyweight Champion "War" Chris Riot as well as P.T. Beckham regarding the anti-bullying fundraiser.
"Da Bomb" Brian James & Mark Morgan vs. The Fallen Angels(L-Ride & Zander Allen)(w/ Chris Exodus) for the Tag Team Titles: First things first: I have very little knowledge about the ongoing storylines in RCW, so I'm going in cold on just about everything. They seem to have a LOT of championships, so I may need a scorecard for that. Here, I know James and I think I saw Allen once at a Dynamo show; I recognized L-Ride's name from Cottage Hills Wrestling Alliance but hadn't seen him before. This was my first experience in a while with ongoing commentary over the house microphones...your mileage may vary, but it can expose the business (especially when they talk about cheating behind the referee's back). The challengers had several valets with them who weren't introduced, so I couldn't tell you who they were. It seemed to be a battle of fan favorite teams as neither side did a whole lot of outright cheating...but it's hard to tell sometimes as modern-day rulebreakers don't do nearly as much actual rulebreaking as they once did. I suppose that's a line of thought for another time (or even another match). At any rate, the champs retained when Morgan delivered a gourdbuster on L-Ride onto James' knees, then scored the pin in 12:31.
"The Freak" Pretty Boy Floyd(w/ Bradley Stevens III) vs. "The Pain Train" P.T. Beckham vs. Kaos for the Wild Card Title: Kaos had a championship belt with him and was apparently one-half of the Heart & Legacy Tag Team Champions, though I guess the titleholders are part of a stable since different people defended the belts later in the night (yay Freebird Rule). I don't know if the championship has any sort of gimmick attached to it; its name would seem to indicate that it might. I only knew Beckham going into this match and had never seen the other two; it was a tricky dynamic with a rulebreaking champion and two fan-favorite challengers. Of course, any sort of allegiance between the good guys would break down over who would get to potentially win the title...when Kaos hit a fireman's-carry double-knee gutbuster(which I routinely call the "Strongbuster" since it was first popularized by Roderick Strong) on Floyd, Beckham was able to steal the pin for the title in 7:30. Kaos blamed Bradley Stevens for his misfortune and beat him down with a chair, but Floyd attacked Kaos to save his manager and left him laying.
Kenny White vs. Chris Exodus(w/ Fallen Angels) for the Cruiserweight Title: I had seen Exodus once or twice in the past at Wrestling Invades America/Wrestling Over Everything, but I hadn't seen White before; I believe he once competed as "Crazy White Kenny". It wasn't quite as fast-paced as one might expect from a cruiserweight match as the two did more submission wrestling than high-flying. Exodus did get a near-fall after a springboard 450 Splash, then sought refuge on the floor only for White to take out him and his stablemates with a top-rope plancha. Exodus escaped most of the damage and took out White with a suicide dive. A few finishes seemed to be off as the referee hesitated on some pin covers when it didn't appear that a wrestler had kicked out...White delivered a fisherman buster into a Jackhammer for an (apparent) near-fall, then followed up with the good old Legdrop O' Doom and the ref finally made the three-count in 6:16. Nero(who had been originally booked for the match to make it a triple threat) shook hands with the two afterwards, only to lay out both men with cheapshots.
The White Trash Mawfya(Frankie D, Billy D, & Cage Cross)(w/ Uncle Shorty & Jenna D) vs. The Foreign Solution("The Irish Bomb" Douglas O'Shea, Victor Ivanov, & "Dirty" Juan Sanchez)(w/ Bully O'Shea, Marquis Vachon, & Voodoo King): Much appreciation to the commentators and the later battle royal for helping me with the names of the outside parties. I hadn't seen O'Shea in action in a long time and I hadn't seen Frankie D and Billy D at all in years. Of course, the Confederate flag-waving rednecks are the good guys (in a high school gym). I don't remember too much about this match...it was kind of a mess, to the best of my memory. With the 82nd Airborne outside the ring, there was plenty of outside interference...Vachon tripped Frankie D during a suplex attempt, allowing O'Shea to fall on top for the cheap pin in 12:03.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): One bottle of Mountain Dew. I feel like I should cut back on my sugar intake, lest I get a visit from Wilford Brimley...
After intermission, there was a confrontation between The Honky Tonk Kid(who looks a bit old to be called "Kid") and Alister Crowe...it ended with HTK bashing Crowe with his guitar.
U.S. Champion "Dirty" Dick Brody & Jeff Steeples vs. The Brute Crue(Kurt Alexander & Rowan Holms)(w/ "Mr. GQ" Matthew Wayne Schuyler III) for the Honor & Legacy Tag Team Titles: Nero was supposed to team with Steeples but he's out with an injury(as noted earlier) so Brody stepped up as the replacement. I only knew Brody out of these wrestlers and hadn't seen him in a long time; I did know Mr. GQ as the artist formerly known as The Mat Maniac. Steeples seemed to be very popular with the fans and withstood a ton of punishment from the more established tag team of Alexander & Holms...Brody got in and cleaned house, but Steeples found himself back in peril and was forced to tap out to a half-crab by Alexander in 10:07 for newwwww Honor & Legacy Tag Team Champions!
Savanna Stone vs. "The Empress Of Evil" Rahne Victoria: These two have known each other from the very beginnings of their careers, having faced off in each other's debut match. While the two have found a bit of common ground in recent times, they still find each other at odds on a regular basis...especially when there's a championship at stake. On this night, Savanna talked about how they had a "frenemies" thing going in recent times...Savanna has developed more of an edge, but not quite the extent of Rahne's attitude. Going into the show, my thought process was not whether these two would have the best match of the show, but by what margin...let's just say I was correct in my prediction. They had a good match, but nothing was settled as they brawled to a double countout in 7:25.
"War" Chris Riot vs. Playboy Double H(w/ Pimpin' Al Blundy) for the Heavyweight Title: Playboy has held quite a few championships in Midwest wrestling and I believe he's been RCW Champion in the past as well. War had the facepaint as he did at SICW, this time in full Finn Bálor "demon" style. Playboy nearly stole the win when Al Blundy hit War with his cane; he followed up with a Styles Clash but War kicked out at 2 1/2. War managed to turn the tables, locking Playboy in a Calf Crusher for the tapout in 15:24.
Rumble-Style Battle Royal: It was tough to keep track of everything in this matchup, but hey, YouTube. The first several entries were Tag Team Champion Brian James, Bradley Stevens III(who despite being a manager put in a competitive showing), The Honky Tonk Kid, Alister Crowe, Randy Dustry(of the Fallen Angels), Cage Cross, and Chris Exodus. Exodus and Dustry joined forces for a short time, but Dustry was the first man eliminated at the hands of Cross. Stevens threw out Crowe to end his night. Tag Team Champion Mark Morgan entered next and worked together with James to get Cross over the top rope...HTK kicked him the rest of the way to the floor for the elimination. Zander Allen joined the fray and went right after Morgan to get retribution for the Angels' earlier loss. The Voodoo King(another wrestler/manager) was the next to enter. The unusual partnership of Honky Tonk Kid and Bradley Stevens double-teamed Brian James and got him out. The next entrant was Travis Scott(who bore an odd resemblance to James Brady)...he didn't last long as he took shots at everybody before being clotheslined out by Voodoo King. Next out was L-Ride, putting quite a few Fallen Angels in the mix...but the partnership was thinned out as HTK threw out Zander Allen. Longtime area veteran Wicked entered the fray...he cleaned house and finally disposed of Voodoo King. Frankie D entered next as Wicked nearly got Stevens out, but he hung onto the ropes to avoid touching the floor. HTK added to his elimination count by sending L-Ride for a ride over the top. Nero ran out to pull Exodus over the ropes to the floor, just as Frankie D noticed Bradley Stevens on the apron and finally knocked him down to eliminate him. Exodus and Nero brawled outside the ring as the bored-looking ringside security guards just barely noticed. Victor Ivanov entered the ring next, followed by Foreign Solution stablemate Juan Sanchez...Sanchez joined Morgan in his fight with Honky Tonk Kid and finally eliminated HTK. Rounding out the entrants(and the Foreign Solution) was Douglas O'Shea, just as Wicked(showing no favoritism) threw out Mark Morgan.
Our field: Wicked, Frankie D, Victor Ivanov, Juan Sanchez, and Douglas O'Shea...the numbers weren't in favor of the good guys. O'Shea took his sweet time getting in the ring as Wicked continued to wreak havoc. Wicked and Frankie worked together until O'Shea finally got in the ring, but that didn't alter the momentum too much. O'Shea whipped Wicked into a rope pull by Sanchez, causing him to tumble over the top to the floor...that left Frankie in a three-on-one situation, but Wicked re-entered the ring to throw out Sanchez for retribution. So it was merely two against one, but Frankie D quickly low-bridged Ivanov out of the ring. O'Shea decided the proper strategy was to charge at his opponent as well, so Frankie D dealt him the same fate as his stablemate and low-bridged him out for the win in 17:05! They wrapped things up with a speech about bullying...all righty then.
Well, I'm through October...just in time for the first weekend of shows in January of 2019. I've got quite a bit to say in some of the upcoming commentaries...so stay tuned.
January looks like this:
-Saturday 1/5: Strictly Nsane Pro Wrestling in Crossville, IL
-Sunday 1/6: Glory Pro Wrestling in Collinsville, IL
-Friday 1/11: St. Louis Anarchy in Alton, IL
-Saturday 1/12: Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Saturday 1/19: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in DeSoto, MO; World League Wrestling in Troy, MO; Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Saturday 1/26: Dynamo Pro in St. Louis, MO(Concordia Turners); SICW in Cahokia, IL
That's my special comment for this, the sixty-seventh wrestling show I've attended in the year 2018. Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
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