December Special Comment

Guess I should catch up on December...heh.

Good turnouts to the three shows in question(SLA, MMWA, SICW)...no problems in that area.

Hadn't noticed at the previous Alton show but the venue ceiling is REALLY low...slight issue for anyone wanting to jump off the top rope.

Billy McNeil: From featured match at Dynamo to the preshow at SLA in the span of a week.

With all of the high-caliber wrestlers that SLA books, some talented people tend to get overshadowed...Shane Hollister and Bolt Brady immediately come to mind. Bolt's been traveling a lot lately...even saw him on notNWA Anarchy TV a few weeks ago.

Solid match between Rachel Summerlyn and Angelus Layne(who I hadn't seen before)...would be nice to see more women's wrestling around these parts.

My exact reaction to T.J. Perkins defeating A.C.H.: "...okay then." It set up a future rematch, so that works. It's funny to think about how wins and losses have been de-emphasized in wrestling nowadays...I don't think TJP had won a match in the St. Louis area before this.

Good to see Espinosa wrestling in the area again...he's back with both SLA and MMWA and has occasionally worked MECW in recent months. Him winning the MMWA Jr. Heavyweight Title was an odd move as it seems like he'd be above that belt right now, but maybe he can elevate its standing a bit.

Also good to see Fitchett back from his injury as well as Dingo returning to action in the area...tremendous.

I figured Walsh's SLA Title reign was ending and my sentimental favorite to win in that scenario was Corbin, so I'm cool with that outcome. It was a surprise that Dan got eliminated first, though.

LaMarcus Clinton has been MIA so the Tag Team Titles are more or less vacant...Chase King recovered from that nicely by winning the Battle Royal Title. It was an unusual finish as Dave Osborne simply didn't enter the battle royal and found out after the fact that his belt was on the line...he was disqualified for not entering the ring.

MMWA's title situation is in a bit of chaos...on top of the Tag Title scenario, T.V. Champion Dave Vaughn hasn't wrestled for them in months. Honestly, they have a bit of belt overload so it may actually be a positive in the short term.

Matt King is one of the new faces at South Broadway...good size and physique, plus he's got proper wrestling gear. He's still a bit green, but he could do well if he sticks with it.

Wait, Gary Jackson vs. Big Texan had a decisive finish? That doesn't happen!

The SICW show was full of gimmick matches as well as appearances by several local favorites...some of whom I wasn't all that familiar with. Heard some interesting stories about the managerial exploits of Big Daddy...heh. Only saw Randy "Krazy Kid" Curry a few times on South Broadway's old TV show but he had some good matches when he was around.

MMWA and SICW have old-school backgrounds...they're among the only groups to still utilize the time limit to any great extent. With other groups, you know they're doing a draw if the time limit comes up at all. It was a unique way to do the best-of-three-falls match between Dave Vaughn and Chaz Wesson...the time limit expired with Vaughn having scored the only fall of the match, thus Vaughn won.

Too bad about Sean Vincent's knee injury...I think he landed badly after a missile dropkick off the top rope, though Ron Powers' chair attack after the match probably didn't help matters.

After a fairly dominant reign as Classic Champion up to this point, it was a surprise to see Ricky Cruz suffer a defeat...it was basically a clean pin by Ken Kasa but Ricky fought most of the match by himself against two tough opponents. I imagine both Powers and Kasa will be staking their claims to future title shots.

2012 was an eventful year around here. There were a few downers, unfortunately...Evan Bourne's injury, D.T. Porter's release from WWE, IHW shutting down, etc. We also saw MMWA and SICW further their split into separate entities as well as the whole deal with AAPW and Pro Wrestling Collision. MECW had a rocky period where they didn't run many shows and were shorthanded when they did, but they seem to have bounced back well and are set for some big shows in early 2013.

Anywho...good times, see ya around.