It was another packed house at the SBAC...don't know if the numbers were quite at the level of last month's turn-away crowd as they didn't announce the attendance, but it was still a lot of people. Finding a seat was a tough prospect. Don't know if things will drop off a bit when the weather gets nicer, but I guess we'll see.
Your ring announcer was Ben Simon, your referees were Nick Ridenour and Jay King.
Brandon "Espy" Espinosa vs. A.J. Williams for the Heavyweight Title: Odd card structure for the night as the top title match was on first. On top of that, it was tough for anything to follow this matchup as they went all out for over fifteen minutes. This show had a lot of mic work as Espy, Mephisto, Ace Hawkins, and Sean Orleans all did pre-match promos. I was shocked that Espy pulled out the turnbuckle brainbuster(a la El Generico). After some of the huge moves leading up to the finish, the standard brainbuster that ended the match seemed like an anticlimax...but this was still a fun match to watch. The masked man who interfered was later identified as Kuro Neko...and his identity opened up a whole can of worms.
Moondog Rover vs. Rock Lobster: Moondog's opponent was literally a guy in a lobster costume. Rover was originally scheduled to face Jimmy D(who was absent from the show). This was a fairly quick matchup...some finisher coordination might be a good thing as there are two MMWA guys who finish with spinebusters(Moondog and Stevie K).
Everett Connors vs. Barackus: Connors' entrance had the general feel of a man walking to his execution. Surprisingly he got some token offense, but it didn't have much effect on the big man. Barackus was returning from a one-month suspension but it didn't seem to affect his attitude...he continued his assault after the bell until another newcomer(later identified as Laurence Johnson) confronted him. Barackus left when he felt like leaving, essentially...
Big Dave Osborne vs. Lynn Mephisto for the Television Title: These two had been tag partners in other promotions but I don't think they had ever faced each other. They seemed to lose the crowd a bit during this one, sorry to say...don't know if their styles clicked that well. Barackus screwed over Osborne once again...the T.V. Title has been a hot potato in the past year or so.
Ace Hawkins vs. J-Mal Swagg for the Junior Heavyweight Title: Ace said he felt like the fans were beginning to supporting other wrestlers over him, so he "dumped them before they could dump him"...okay then. Good matchup with Hawkins focusing on the arm...there was an intermission between the two matches, but this was still the second cheap rollup finish for the night.
Da'Marius Jones vs. "The Morbid Messiah" Jackson Whitechapel & Sean Orleans: They continued to push the issue between commentators Orleans and Jake Dempsey. Whitechapel threw his hat at Dempsey at the broadcast table...Jake made a nice catch only to immediately toss the hat to the floor. Ha ha. Orleans played his role well(staying out of the action, tagging in and tagging RIGHT back out, etc.). Had a feeling they were setting up a tag match and so it came to pass. LINEAR BOOKING~!
Webmaster Stevie K vs. Andrew "The Wolf" Wilder vs. Kuro Neko vs. Laurence Johnson, four-way dance for the Survivor Title: RIP Battle Royal Title...I guess this solves the problem of the belt that rarely got defended. I ass/u/me it will still be on the line in battle royals; this just adds elimination-style multi-way matches to the mix. This was Johnson's debut and also Neko's(or so it seemed). Wilder had a bad landing on an overhead belly-to-belly suplex from Johnson and had to roll out of the ring for a bit; he did return to finish the match. Wilder pinned Neko with an O'Connor Roll that nearly caused him to pin himself...in fact, Ben had to check with the referee to be sure it wasn't a double elimination! Neko returned to cost Wilder the final fall, then revealed himself to be Ace Hawkins...so it was Hawkins that screwed over A.J. Williams earlier in the night. Also, this means Wilder got a pinfall on the Junior Heavyweight Champion...I imagine rematches are forthcoming.
"The Great One/Gorgeous/Night Train" Gary Jackson vs. "Da Bomb" Brian James: This was not to be as Barackus and Mephisto attacked Gary before the match...James made the save and Commissioner Jim Harris(who had more than one headache on this night) ordered an impromptu tag bout. Hope we do get Jackson vs. James at some point; don't think I've seen those two face each other.
Gary Jackson & Brian James vs. Lynn Mephisto & Barackus: This broke down in a hurry...it took a double flying shoulderblock from the good guys to finally take Barackus off his feet. The floodgates opened with Espinosa and Hawkins...then Whitechapel and Orleans...then practically everyone on the roster hit the ring to brawl. I thought it was a DQ win for Jackson & James but it was announced as a no-contest...I'll go with that. Commish Harris set up the following month's main event as Jackson /James vs. Espinosa/Hawkins(with Jackson/James earning title shots if their team wins). On top of that, he announced Osborne-Barackus...so we've already got three matches on tap for April.
There's nothing local next weekend, oddly enough...SICW is in East Carondelet on the 22nd. I haven't heard anything one way or the other about the Caseyville show on the 29th...CSCW is in Richland, Missouri on that date.
Next few months will be busy as Dynamo returns to Glen Carbon. May will feature the first show for PWCS(Pro Wrestling Championship Series); it's a unique concept built around competition between stables rather than individuals. Look up their social media sites for the full info.
Good night, good luck, and YAY WRESTLING~!
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