It was another packed house at SICW with a well-built title match. Ken Kasa had passed the one-year mark of his championship reign and manager Travis Cook had a bottle of champagne all ready to celebrate the milestone. For his part, Heath Hatton was riding a wave of momentum that included an endorsement from Jim Cornette, a battle royal win, and a tapout victory over the champ in last month's tag team main event.
Your ring announcer was Drew Abbenhaus, your referees were Jay King and Keith Smith Jr.
The start of the show featured an oddly-extended segment...it began with a replaying of Larry Matysik's over-the-phone acceptance speech for the Natioanl Wrestling Hall Of Fame in Iowa this past week. The audio wasn't the best and they finally faded it out. After that, promoter Herb Simmons talked up the new sponsors for SICW Wrestling Explosion as well as the upcoming events(Paul Orndoroff will be the special guest for the August show).
Joker vs. "Dead Sexy" Daniel Gunner: This was Gunner's SICW debut; according to his Twitter bio, he had previously wrestled in the southeastern part of the country. Thought the match was solid for what it was; Joker won after a superkick in 3:49.
Outtkast vs. J.J. Garrett: Another SICW debut; I had previously seen Garrett at PWCS and he mostly competes in Iowa. This was Outtkast's second appearance for SICW as he debuted last month in a loss to Ax Allwardt. Kast has shown a bit more of his technical skill at these shows; his matches elsewhere are usually brawls and hardcore-style bouts. Outtkast picked up the victory after the Case Study(modified fireman's-carry into a bulldog-ish drop) in 4:00.
Big Jim Hoffarth vs. Frankie "The Thumper" Wyatt & Waco: Waco had apparently been griping about Hoffarth being a lousy tag partner, so Hoffarth told him to find a new partner and he'd face both of them...thus this Very Special Handicap Match(tm). I'm not too fond of handicap matches in general, mostly since heel authority figures tend to overuse them in other promotions. If nothing else, it's refreshing to see the loaded side actually winning as opposed to the outnumbered side taking advantage of a contrived set of circumstances to OVRECOM TEH ODDZ. A cheapshot by Waco set up a big clothesline by Wyatt, then Waco tagged in to hit a Macho Elbow for the win in 5:58. This feud...MUST CONTINUE~!
"Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson & "Dirdey" Jake Dirden vs. Flash Flanagan & Ax (Allwardt): Dirden and Flanagan had a few clashes in the recent past, but that was about all of the backstory here. This seemed fairly short for some reason...Flanagan took out Dirden with his kendo stick behind the ref's back, but Gary rolled up Flanagan for the pin. in 7:33 Don't see Flash lose too often, so maybe that'll be the next feud...
Before the first intermission, Herb interviews visiting legend Ox Baker. The guy's as oldschool as it gets and has a unique look with the giant mustache. He was infamous for his trademark heart punch(or "Hurt Punch") and the move was even blamed for killing two opponents! He said that people truly believed in the wrestling in his day, so when he told fans to "SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP"...they did. I noticed the fans quiet down when he raised his voice to say that quote...bwahahaha.
Bobby D vs. "The Money" Matt Cage: Hadn't seen Bobby D in a little while. Cage has made two prior appearances for SICW: A loss to Heath Hatton and a time-limit draw with Shorty Biggs. He competes pretty regularly for central Illinois promotions but appears in this area every once in a while. Cage got the win out of nowhere after a jumping leg lariat in 5:17.
Red River Jack(w/ Big Daddy) vs. Mallaki Matthews: Yes, I had a theory as to the identity of Red River Jack...from my observation on Saturday, my guess was incorrect. I don't know if the masked man is an experienced competitor or someone totally new, but he's definitely a big boy. For reference: "Red River Jack" was an alias previously used by King Kong/Bruiser Brody when he competed under a mask. Jack made short work of Matthews, finishing with his version of the Diamond Cutter/RKO in 2:38.
"The Man Of Tomorrow" Daniel Eads vs. "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz: Ricky kindly informed Drew of his accolades so that he could repeat them in his ring introduction. These two were the other half of last month's tag match; Eads played a crucial role in holding off Cruz so that Hatton could get the win over Kasa. This was a proving ground of sorts with the upstart Eads taking on the experienced former champion...Eads had a fine showing and it took not one but two superkicks to keep him down for the count at 12:29. There will be another day for The Man Of Tomorrow, to be sure...but Ricky's gunning for another title shot.
"Ironman" Ken Kasa(w/ Travis Cook) vs. Heath Hatton for the Classic Title: I already covered the history here...Hatton had a close call against Kasa in Caseyville earlier this year, but Travis BELTed him and cost him the match via countout. Travis got more and more involved as the situation grew desperate...Heath speared Kasa and went for the cover, but Cook put Kasa's foot on the bottom rope. That brought out Big Daddy with Red River Jack in tow...but Kasa got the opening to hook the Iron Maiden Torture Lock. Kasa had won the title with that hold and no one had escaped it, but Heath kept fighting and attempting to roll out of the hold. He was finally able to counterwrestle his way into the Crippler Crossface and Red River Jack held off Travis when he tried to interfere with a steel chair. With no more shortcuts to take, Kasa finally tapped out at 19:12 and his thirteen-month reign as champion came to an end! Hatton celebrated his title win with several young fans to close the show...good for him. WOO~!
Onward to Dynamo at Off Broadway tonight...hope to see you there.
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
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