I'm not a big fan of heel authority figures in general...my philosophy is that people go to independent wrestling shows to see something DIFFERENT from what's on television. That applies to both heel authority figures and extended talking segments. They did add Jim Harris as Assistant Commissioner to keep Sean Orleans from abusing his power too much.
The table has already been set for the September show(which I SHOULD be able to attend); that show will feature the annual King Of St. Louis Cable Tournament. Six men have qualified: Tag Team Champions A.J. Williams & Da'Marius Jones, T.V. Champion Moondog Rover, Gary Jackson, Barackus, and J-Mal Swagg. I imagine the field will be completed by Survivor Champion Dave Osborne and new Jr. Heavyweight Champion Everett Connors, though Andrew Wilder could also be a candidate after his strong showing against Heavyweight Champ Brandon Espinosa.
The Tag Title match I had prognosticated last month came to pass as Williams & Jones defended against former champions LaMarcus Clinton & Chase King(who had never lost the titles in the ring). Both LMC and King had taken sabbaticals from wrestling and the titles just vanished from the MMWA picture; the titles were reactivated in April when Jackson Whitechapel & Sean Orleans defeated Jones & Jake Dempsey to become the new champions. Nice teamwork by both sides in this one.
The T.V. Title match had plenty of stipulations on top of being a championship bout; the winner qualified for King Of STL Cable AND Mephisto had to eat dog food if he lost. Mephisto went a bit more aerial than usual in this one with a suicide dive and (missed) Lionsault. Gary Jackson stopped Mephisto from walking away from the stipulation, so it looks like that issue isn't quite over.
Gary Jackson vs. Tony Kozina shaped up to be an old-school technical battle...and it was, despite Kevin Lee Davidson's interference on a few occasions. My esteemed colleague Drew Abbenhaus said that he'd never seen a tapout from a figure-four reversal and I don't think I had either.
There could be some trouble in Elitism paradise, judging by the battle royal. Jackson Whitechapel may be a bit tired of Sean Orleans forcing him to do the lion's share of the work in their tag matches and then hogging the glory at the end. They had some communication near the start of the battle royal that led to Whitechapel attacking Orleans, then Orleans low-bridging Whitechapel out of the match...hmm. Tag partners King and LMC got former Survivor Champ Stevie K out of the match only to be dumped one right after the other by Osborne. Evan Gelistico hung back and let the other guys battle it out...rookie Laurence Johnson got J-Mal Swagg out, only for Gelistico to send him to the floor. Osborne took great pleasure in eliminating Orleans...then had a pretty good exchange with Gelistico before finally winning to retain his title. This was the first time in a few months that the former Battle Royal Title had been defended in a battle royal...so there you have it.
After Everett Connors pinned Ace Hawkins in last month's gauntlet match, Hawkins claimed it was a fluke and Connors could never beat him in a straight one-on-one match. To be fair, Ace had been in the ladder match with Andrew Wilder earlier in the night and wasn't in the best of shape. The rookie Connors has been working quite a bit around the area, appearing for Dynamo Pro as well as PWCS. The match built up pretty well and I personally wasn't expecting a title change, but Connors finally hit the guillotine legdrop to score the huge upset! It sounds like Ace is taking a break from wrestling...going by the subtle hints of him throwing a tantrum and QUITTING after the loss.
The only match I didn't see on YouTube was Barackus & J-Mal Swagg vs. Brian James & Johnathan Zulu...Swagg pinned Zulu for the win. The loss meant that last year's King Of STL Cable winner was out of the running for this year's tourney...perhaps he'll challenge for Espy's title at the September show as I don't think he's had a one-on-one rematch since losing the title back to Espinosa. If I remember right, the tournament winner can get a shot at any title of his choosing whenever he wants...so if a member of the Elitism wins it, would that person challenge for Espinosa's title or not?
Andrew Wilder had a good showing against Espinosa in the main event, but Orleans' distraction cost him the match. Wilder is really good for his level of experience; it would probably do him some good to add a bit of bulk(he was announced at 145 lbs., if I remember right) and get some tights/trunks instead of the baggy shorts.
At any rate, I should finally get back to the South Broadway Athletic Club in September...looking forward to it. I'm a big fan of wrestling tournaments so that'll be a fun part of the show...
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