I should really say more in these commentaries. Would I speak/type more freely if some of the wrestlers didn't know who I am? Stupid Wayne's World cap.
In recent conversations about the local wrestling scene, the topic of championship importance has come up a few times. I noted that SLA books a lot of top-level wrestlers but only a few of them seem to be actively pursuing the Heavyweight Title. With only one belt in play on a regular basis, should there be more focus on it?
There's also the matter of the Medallion. Kyle O'Reilly won it in September but we haven't seen it in a while. The LWA's version of the medal was defended like a championship along with its Money-In-The-Bank-esque privilege, but the SLA medal seems to only have the MITB stipulation attached to it. Kyle has been on a winning streak in SLA since that win...and he beat Davey Vega on the heels of Vega's recent victory over Kyle's mentor Davey Richards.
Most of this is smarkity-smart-mark nitpicking, of course...the action is always top-notch at SLA shows with varying levels of Ring Of Honor-style finisher spam. There are enough groups in the area that a wrestling fan has a good chance of finding a product that fits his or her taste...this is just one of those groups.
The only card change was on the preshow as the ACW Tag Team Title match was originally set to be a four-way dance with Evan Gelistico & Gerald James included. The Submission Squad duo had another match on the main show, but so did Jojo Bravo(the only person to work twice). Notably this was the second SLA show in a row that featured The Business in a three-way dance with..."B-Team Ambition", I'll call them. Yes, I will continue to joke about the fact that the guy named Aaron SOLO is almost always in tag matches...that's a promise.
It's odd to see Alexandre Rudolph as a comedy face in SLA when he's a strong heel everywhere else.
Had heard good things about Barrett Brown but this was my first time seeing him in a match. He and Bolt Brady had a few shaky moments, but they got it together and had a solid bout.
The thumbtack match will be a tough sell...with Rachel Summerlyn injured, Khris Wolfe will be facing Gerald James. Wolfe has only worked for SLA a handful of times and I'm only familiar with him from those shows. Dorian Victor's a good talker, not sure why he stopped wrestling.
The intergender tag match was the sleeper match of the night. Going into the match, I was only familiar with Espinosa...I had only seen Angelus Layne a few times and I hadn't seen Reed Bentley or Heidi Lovelace at all. They put on a really good show...Bentley nailed Heidi with a killer pop-up forearm smash(Reed Awakening?) at one point. They also had a great comedy spot with stereo kisses...same-gender, that is. Espy: "See, it works!"
Was looking forward to Raw-Future...it was Future's first match in the St. Louis area in over two years. Unfortunately, knee problems kept him on the shelf for most of his time on the WWE/FCW roster...he's been wrestling in Florida under the name Donovan Terrell. He definitely hits a lot harder...Adam Raw can attest to that after those chairshots he took! Hopefully Future will get another shot with WWE down the road. Raw's looked good in his recent two matches...hope he does stick around.
Interesting to see the revival of the feud between Vega and K.C. Karrington. K.C. spoke the truth about Vega's previous actions, though Vega was a heel and a member of the Submission Squad when those events took place. It was an unusual feud as they were both heels but the fans supported Karrington as the lesser of two evils. Looking forward to what they'll do this time around.
Yup, that was definitely a unique finish to Arik Cannon vs. Jojo Bravo. Notably, I first saw referee Kurt Styles in the LWA under the name "Kiwi Jello"...so he was returning to his roots in a way.
Out of the ACW imports from Texas, A.C.H. definitely made a lasting impression on the Midwest wrestling fans...and he's been moving up in the world lately. He's wrestled for CHIKARA, won the AAW Heritage Title and Metro Pro Central States Title, and become a consistent part of Ring Of Honor's roster. He comes up with innovative maneuvers in a wrestling era where it feels like everything has "been done" at some point. Needless to say, I'm a big fan...heh.
With Gerald James being set up for a big match at the next show(Circus Maximus), I was surprised that he took the fall in the tag match against the Hooligans. One of these days I'll come up with a reliable way to keep Devin and Mason straight...
Dan Walsh said some inflammatory things about those gosh-darn smart marks...I am TOTALLY deducting a quarter-star from his match rating for that. The match was surprisingly quick thanks to Walsh using a low blow to set up his finisher...but Darin Childs' manager Hardcore Andy assured me that payback was forthcoming.
I didn't hear all of Davey's post-match promo, but apparently he said something about Connecticut...hmm.
Was surprised that Corbin-Fitchett went on last instead of Richards-A.C.H....it was definitely a different style of match. There were several comedy spots involving MORALITY~!...including Fitchett getting his tights yanked down and the use of a sex toy as a weapon against Corbin. Fitchett's former manager Greg Jovi got involved along with Evan Gelistico to screw Fitchett out of his title opportunity...
Corbin and Cannon may be tag partners elsewhere, but Corbin's anti-alcohol stance in St. Louis Anarchy seems to conflict with Cannon's Pabst Blue Ribbon affiliation. Sounds like a title match to me...Circus Maximus is loaded already!
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