Since this was an "in-between" show of sorts(between Circus Maximus and Yuletide Terror), I was wondering how attendance would be...especially going against the Cardinals' playoff game and a Pearl Jam concert in St. Louis. As it turned out, attendance was solid for "Mayhem & Matrimony" and several fans dressed up for the occasion.
The announced lineup held up and the show also featured a dark match and an added four-way dance...bringing the total up to eleven bouts plus the wedding. As a result, this was a LONG show that clocked in at about four and a half hours. The GCW reunion show ran slightly over FIVE hours and probably holds the record for the longest wrestling event I have ever attended, but this one came pretty close. I may be getting a bit old for lengthy wrestling shows like this...heh.
I don't know the name of the semi-regular ring announcer for SLA or the name of the referee that wasn't Brandon Tolle...will probably find those out eventually.
"The Madman" Paco Gonzalez vs. "The New Hotness" Danny Adams: With trainer Michael Elgin on the show, his proteges got some face time. I suspect these two will wrestle each other a lot, similar to pairings like Matt Sydal/Delirious and Gary Jay/Pierre Abernathy when they traveled to other promotions. Solid bout for two newer competitors; Adams seems to have settled into his heel role. Adams won with a flying Codebreaker off the second rope. (For the record, I write down match times if they're announced or if I'm watching on my computer and can time it out that way; I'm personally not the type go to the stopwatch route.)
Jojo Bravo vs. Kyle O'Reilly: Kyle's been on the rise as it relates to the national independent scene; he and Bobby Fish are three-time Ring Of Honor Tag Team Champions and he recently won the Heavyweight Title in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Despite that and his traditional popularity in St. Louis Anarchy, Jojo was the clear crowd favorite in this one and O'Reilly played the subtle heel role as a result. Kyle was frustrated by Bravo repeatedly going back to the side headlock; of course, that only encouraged Jojo to keep doing headlocks. In the end, Bravo avoided the second half of Kyle's "Ax & Smash" combo and got him in a small package for the upset pinfall.
Bolt Brady vs. "Walking Reality" Dan Walsh(w/ Greg Jovi): Walsh had vowed to break Bolt's leg and that was his game plan for the majority of the matchup. Rule enforcement was a bit inconsistent as Walsh used a steel chair with no disqualifications called. Brady had a couple of opportunities to use the chair himself, but he threw it away and got a few boos from the audience as a result. Walsh took advantage of the hesitation and got the tapout win with a half-crab. Dan gave Bolt the opportunity to join Jovi's BOSS stable in return for sparing him...Walsh said that the fans turned on him in the past and they were starting to turn on Bolt as well. Thanks to that, BOSS got a new member...ladies and gentlemen, we have a heel turn.
"The Big Mustache On Campus" Mikey McFinnegan vs. Darin Corbin: Corbin's fan support varies wildly from show to show...he was definitely playing the heel here. This was Mikey's debut with the promotion; I had only seen him previously on Pro Wrestling Collision's TV show. Corbin laid down his ground rules, which are slightly different from Gary Jackson's; he STRONGLY DISAPPROVES of swearing and profanity. That led McFinnegan to start a "God damn" chant and generally curse up a storm, much to Corbin's chagrin. Corbin was also annoyed by Mikey's repeated armdrags, prompting Mikey to do a whole lot of them. McFinnegan pulled off a nice Fosbury Flop-style dive in the early going as well. Corbin won a competitive match with the Ginger Snap(Diamond Cutter); his night was going well, but things would take a downward turn...
"The Anarchist" Arik Cannon vs. Trevor Lee: Lee has had some recent high-profile matches for PWG on the west coast but hails from the Carolinas. This was his SLA debut and he was VERY vocal about being a "big deal", something that did little to endear him to the fans. Cannon has dropped some weight in recent months and was wearing more traditional wrestling gear; also, he hasn't been bringing the cooler of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer to recent shows and no longer has his traditional mohawk. Cannon picked up a hard-fought victory with the Glimmering Warlock.
A.C.H. vs. Cedric Alexander: Both men have become standouts in ROH in the past year; this was Alexander's first appearance for St. Louis Anarchy, which seemed to be a theme for this part of the night. This was face-vs.-face...A.C.H. wanted SPORTSMANSHIP~! with the pre-match handshake, but Alexander went the route of "BROTHERS GOTTA HUG~!" This was a fairly long match(a bit over twenty minutes) and I honestly wondered if they were going to a time-limit draw; I think this was the first SLA show where they kept tabs on the match times and announced thirty-minute time limits. They seemed to be working a slower pace than expected, which was another aspect that had me expecting the draw. However, A.C.H. won with the Hero's Grip(German suplex) and they shook hands afterwards(CODE OF HONOR~!).
The Brandon Espinosa/Angelus Layne wedding led into the intermission for the night; Alex Castle, Super Electro and Brandon Aarons(Espinosa's former tag team partner) made appearances as groomsmen. Espy tried to object to his own wedding, but Corbin ignored him and went on with the ceremony. However, he members of BOSS(Gerald James, Walsh, Christian Rose, new member Bolt Brady, and Jovi) broke things up and beat down the members of the wedding party(luckily the bridesmaids got away unscathed). Arik Cannon ran in with a chair and the heels retreated...he handed Corbin's "good book" to him as a peace offering to his occasional tag partner, but Corbin just stormed off rather than complete the ceremony. Layne was not happy AT ALL and vowed revenge on Gerald James in the night's main event...
(I, for one, am shocked and dismayed that a wrestling wedding would go wrong...ahem.)
"The Ace Of Anarchy" Davey Vega vs. "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin: Elgin did a heelish pre-match promo(though he's been a heel in recent appearances anyway) and made a few jokes about his baseball-playing ability. I've heard a lot of different stories about recent events in Elgin's life and career; I'll leave it at that since I only know second-hand info. With Vega's recent run of victories over notable independent names like Roderick Strong and Chris Hero, this seemed like the setup for Vega to score another huge win. It nearly happened as Vega escaped the setup for the spiral bomb and hooked Elgin in the Sharpshooter...Elgin seemed to be close to tapping out, but BOSS busted up the match for the Sportz Entertainment Finish(tm). (No-contest, for the uninitiated.)
The good guys fought back with the aid of Jojo Bravo, who was still trying to earn Elgin's respect. It looked like he had and Elgin shook his hand before leaving the ringside area...but then came back out to attack Bravo from behind. Ha ha. Elgin delivered a powerbomb in the ring, then wedgied his singlet to moon some ringsiders(err). I suspect the third time may be the charm for Jojo...perhaps at Yuletide Terror?
Zakk Sawyers vs. Christian Rose: As good as the matches were, the show seemed to be reaching the Heath Slater Threshhold where they were just filling the time until the main event. (So named by me because that point is usually reached on a three-hour Raw when Heath Slater appears. Alternate possibilities: Adam Rose, any midget.) These two have some history outside of SLA as Sawyers was an underling to Team Overkill(Rose & Matt Cage) in Pro Wrestling Collision. October must suck for heels since pink tights just make people think they're supporting the fight against breast cancer. Anywho: Fun match, Rose won with a Liontamer-style Boston crab.
Brandon Espinosa vs. Alex Castle vs. Arya Daivari vs. Code Name-Dangerous Deveroux, four-way dance: Deveroux recently made his debut with Jovi's Pro Wrestling Championship Series promotion, but this was his SLA debut. At least one fan thought the masked man was Mat Fitchett...I don't think that's the case but I could be wrong. Arya(Shawn's brother) has made a handful of previous appearences for this group. Castle got the vampire gimmick at a show where he and Matt Cage(Kentucky Buffet) were bitten by Gangrel, turning them into The Daywalkers; however, Cage has his own thing going and rarely uses that character nowadays. Deveroux eliminated Castle with a crucifix pin(HAHAHAHAHA CUZ VAMPIRES...*mic drop, walks away*). Espinosa pinned Deveroux with an O'Connor Roll that it looked like the masked man tried to kick out out...oh well. Daivari whiffed on his trademark Flying Carpet Splash and Espinosa got the final victory with the frog splash. Angelus Layne was NOT in Espy's corner as she had to prepare for her own big match.
The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter) vs. The Viking War Party("The American Viking" Alexandre Rudolph & "The Littlest Viking" Jake Parnell): Speaking of matches that travel all over the place, these guys have battled on a few occasions in other parts of the country; they've even traveled to Mexico in the past year. This was as wild and chaotic as expected; Rudolph nearly took out a whole section of chairs(and accompanying fans) with his suicide dive. Mason pinned Parnell after the Hooligans' wheelbarrow/second-rope flying DDT combo, though I'm almost positive Rudolph was legal for his team...again, oh well.
Evan Gelistico came out in a suit(dressed up for the wedding, I imagine); he said that he was St. Louis Anarchy Champion for a long time but hit a bad stretch and now he wasn't even on the card. He said his scheduled opponent didn't even bother to appear and he was reduced to asking for ANY role on the show, resorting to helping with setup before the event. He acted like he was ready to quit as he had his gear with him to leave in the ring...but then said he got a phone call and had found a new purpose.
Gerald James(w/ Greg Jovi) vs. Angelus Layne, best-of-three-falls match for the Heavyweight Title: This stemmed from an officiating controversy earlier in the year; Angelus Layne technically won the Lethal Lottery competition but was robbed of her victory by Christian Rose. (It's a long story; go back and read that blog for the full rundown.) As a result, SLA management ruled that Layne would get the title shot that she rightfully earned. The show was running really late at this point; the dark match started a bit before the advertised start time of 7 p.m. and we were past 11:00 by the time this one took place. Layne entered through the front door to ambush Gerald from behind...however, things turned around and James got the first fall with a rollup and handful of tights. Jovi nearly interfered in the second fall, which seemed to be overkill as his guy was already up 1-to-zip. Gerald hit a sick double-stomp from the top rope with Layne laid out on the ring apron; Angelus surprisingly kicked out at two after that, but James' Michinoku Driver finally ended her night in two straight falls.
This was the second title defense in a row where Gerald won two straight; in his post-match promo, he turned his attention to Davey Vega who was already penciled in for the Yuletide Terror title match. Notably, the two crossed paths in a Yuletide Terror main event once before(in 2009), though it was for the Lethal Wrestling Alliance Championship at the time. The champion(either LWA or SLA) rarely retains his title at Yuletide Terror, though Gerald James broke a long string of title changes at the 2013 event.
Anywho, it was a full weekend...more on that next time.
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
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