This was a full weekend with SLA on Friday, then MMWA on Saturday afternoon and Dynamo on Saturday night. Not sure if I'll do one show at a time or just do a double-shot of the Saturday events.
The original lineup was shaken up by Davey Richards' TNA commitments and a foot/ankle injury to Alex Shelley. Also, Jeremy Wyatt(scheduled for the Lethal Lottery) was booked for 3XW in Iowa. The scheduled six-man tag with Davey was changed to two singles matches. Darin Corbin withdrew from the Lethal Lottery(GAMBLING IS A SIN~!) to face A.C.H. in Shelley's place. The remaining spots in the Lottery were filled by Thomas Shire and Jake Parnell.
SLA announced on Twitter that they set a new attendance record for themselves...even with Davey and Shelley out, a lot of people came to see Chris Hero. Saw several local wrestlers in attendance; they could have done a whole separate show with those guys. :) My comedy/Kayfabe Poker Night compatriot Joel Vidakovich attended his first indy show and had a good time(though he had to leave early since the show ran pretty late).
Your ring announcer was...some new guy I didn't recognize. Your referee was Brandon Tolle.
They did the Lottery drawing not long after the doors opened...I missed it since I was still waiting in line. That was when Corbin officially withdrew from the Lottery; he was nice enough to reiterate his promo points later in the night when he came out to challenge A.C.H.
One story out of the show is that SLA will be enforcing rules again...they had been no-countout-no-DQ-all-the-time since their inception. AAW has that environment, albeit with a "referee's discretion" caveat. I've put it thusly: Are the rulebreakers bad guys for not fighting "honorably"...or are the good guys short-sighted for not using tactics that won't result in a disqualification anyway? It also made hardcore matches redundant since any match could become a hardcore match if someone chose to bring weapons into play. As usual: Minor smart mark nitpick. I didn't ask to be the resident smart mark of the area, but that seems to be the role I'm in...I just want to have a good time and enjoy the shows.
Jojo Bravo vs. "Dynamite" Danny Cannon: Good choice for the opener, a battle between...short guys who are really fun to watch? Cannon's been super impressive in the handful of times that I've seen him. Jojo's winning streak continues as he got the victory with the Samurai Driver...maybe there's a title shot in his future?
Brandon Espinosa & Angelus Layne vs. Alex Castle & Thomas Shire, Lethal Lottery: Random draw setups can be tricky to execute...I still remember WCW Slamboree 1996(BECAUSE I'M OLD). Despite the odds being against it, you can still get instances of a) allies/tag partners on opposite sides, b) enemies on the same side, or c) allies/tag partners conveniently on the same team. This would be C, for those keeping score...to be fair, the wrestler pool wasn't as deep here as it was for WCW's Lethal Lotteries. (Seriously, 32 names and Chris Benoit and Kevin Sullivan STILL ended up on the same team?) Anywho, no one seemed to be an overwhelming fan favorite in this one...I guess Castle and Shire were the "rulebreakers". Espinosa pinned Shire with his newest finisher(jumping DDT).
Zakk Sawyers & Evan Gelistico vs. Hooligan Mason Cutter & "The Littlest Viking" Jake Parnell: Sawyers upset Gelistico at the previous show so their team didn't work together too well...so this would be option B. I was fully expecting the Hooligans to be on opposite teams but that didn't happen. Evan was finally on the winning side but it was Sawyers that got the fall, pinning Parnell after a fisherman buster.
Mat Fitchett & Christian Rose vs. Arik Cannon & Hooligan Devin Cutter: Rose is associated with Gerald James' "BOSS" stable, so it's another option B. This was the match with the wacky finish, so bear with me...not entirely sure what I'm at liberty to write about. It was probably a slight adjustment for the wrestlers to deal with the sudden rule enforcement in effect. That being said, I've seen a few recent instances where the referee didn't QUITE miss a DQ-able offense...the refs in question acted like they DIDN'T see it and powered through to the planned finish. This was a case where the result reflected on another part of the show as the winners would advance to a six-way dance for a future Heavyweight Title shot.
Here's what happened: Rose was in trouble against both Cannon and Cutter. He hit a blatant low blow on one and then the other...the referee warned him on the first one, then called for the bell and the DQ on the second one, IMMEDIATELY leaving the ring and going to the backstage area. The wrestlers continued as if the match was still going on...that led to Fitchett hitting a tilt-a-whirl DDT on (I think) Cutter, then Rose throwing Fitchett aside and stealing the pin cover while making his own three-count. The ring announcer confused matters further by hesitantly announcing Fitchett and Rose as the winners.
This is mere speculation on my part: Fitchett and Rose were supposed to win with the above-stated finish, only with the referee making the count on Rose's cover. However, the referee chose to call what he saw even though it went against the planned finish. That led to the oddball situation in the Lottery finals when Rose and Fitchett inserted themselves into the situation, as they were supposed to be in that match all along. Should the referee have gone ahead to the planned finish, or was the onus on Rose for committing a now-DQ-able offense in full view of the official? Since the promotion only had one referee for the night, they couldn't do much about Tolle's actions and had to figure out a way to get Fitchett(and Rose) into the finals since it was Fitchett's Lottery to win. More on that later.
Davey Vega vs. Chris Hero: Hero tried to work as the "rulebreaker" but the fan support was still divided. Really good match with Vega refusing to stay down, even after several of Hero's trademark "knockout" shots. Joel saw the upset coming before I did; this makes two shows in a row where Vega has defeated a nationally-known competitor since he beat Roderick Strong on March 1st. Vega got the flash pin with a backslide after avoiding the Death Blow. Hero talked up Vega as a potential title contender...so that would seem to be the "long game". However, that might bring him into conflict with his regular tag partner Mat Fitchett as he has the next title shot.
A.C.H. vs. Darin Corbin: With Alex Shelley out, SLA teased that A.C.H. would name his own opponent...but Corbin took it upon himself to confront A.C.H. Corbin said that he's not the type to use the "N-word", but A.C.H. was acting like a real...Neanderthal. Bwahahaha. I didn't quite catch what happened with the finish; the ref was bumped and it looked like both men took swings at each other at the same time. Corbin fell on top of A.C.H. for the pin...I couldn't tell if an international object was involved, but I imagine SOMETHING underhanded took place that the ref wasn't supposed to see. Good luck getting the fans to boo Corbin, though.
"Dirdey" Jake Dirden & "The American Viking" Alexandre Rudolph vs. "Walking Reality" Dan Walsh & Gorgeous Jordan Lacey: The BOSS duo trashed Rudolph before the bout, saying Adam Raw was scared of them...things started as a handicap match, but Dirden made a surprise appearance as Rudolph's new partner. Dirden has now worked for all four St. Louis-area groups(as well as promotions in central Illinois and Texas); he's the Dynamo Pro Wrestling Champion and a regular contender in SICW with occasional appearances in MMWA. This was an all-out brawl and got out of control fairly quickly; it was definitely an instance where the ref was right to throw it out. Street fight in the future, perhaps?
Kyle O'Reilly vs. Jonathan Gresham: This one seemed lost in the shuffle of everything else, oddly enough. Good matchup that was essentially a battle of fan favorites; after a ton of false finishes, Kyle won with a rollup out of nowhere.
Brandon Espinosa vs. Angelus Layne vs. Zakk Sawyers vs. Evan Gelistico, Lethal Lottery finals/four-way dance: This was how it started out; they didn't really explain the setup and it seemed like they retroactively threw out the third tag match. Evan attacked Zakk during his entrance; Evan was the lone heel in this one, but tension surfaced between Espy and Layne due to a miscommunication spot or two. Espy eliminated Sawyers with the jumping DDT, then the miscued led to an Espy/Layne exchange and Layne eliminating Espinosa with a TKO. It looked like Layne was the underdog against Gelistico but she survived some of his best moves, including a Tombstone. Angelus got the surprise victory with a running senton...one of my friends suggested that Layne is being pushed as the "new Rachel (Summerlyn)" in STL Anarchy. However, things got complicated at this point...
Christian Rose ran in with a Brogue Kick and pinned Layne with the referee making a three-count. Rose handwaved it by saying that it seems like you can make your own rules around here...then Fitchett ran in and they had an impromptu matchup. Fitchett won with the cradle piledriver and was announced as the winner and number-one contender...they've been pushing the issue with him and Gerald James since Yuletide Terror so it made sense that he'd get the win here. It was just a slightly bumpy road to get there.
Gerald James(w/ Greg Jovi) vs. Takaaki Watanabe, Heavyweight Title best-of-three-falls match: There didn't seem to be much crowd reaction for this one, though the fans had been enthusiastic for most of the show. Watanabe was a virtual unknown and Fitchett's win made it a near-certainty that Gerald would retain here. The bad guys had be a LOT more discrete about their underhanded tactics, leading directly into the first fall as Jovi snapped Watanabe's throat off the middle rope. Watanabe won the second fall clean with a cradle back suplex. Oddly, Gary's Mom got a big reaction when "she" interfered...I guess the family's upset that they're being neglected? Gerald went on to win with the flying Flatliner/Paydirt off the second rope to hang onto the title...but he's got to deal with Fitchett again at Circus Maximus.
Good to see the July show already has a few matches set up; along with the title bout, they announced Young Bucks-Hooligans(take two) for the event. They had set that up for March 1st, but Matt Jackson was injured so A.C.H. took his place. Should be fun...WOO~!
That was just the start of the weekend...more in the next day or two, hopefully.
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
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