MMWA Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance show at the South Broadway Athletic Club in St. Louis, Missouri.

First off, R.I.P. Heather Savage.  World League Wrestling had a short-lived television show on PAX and she was a big part of the women's division at the time along with "Miss Natural" Heather Patera, holding their Women's Title on two occasions.  Never met her in person, sorry to say.

MMWA had another strong turnout; it hasn't been at the level of the standing-room-only crowds from earlier in the year, but still an attendance number that most independent promotions would love to have on a regular basis.

Last month, Brandon Espinosa just barely retained the Heavyweight Title in the Ironman Match with Da'Marius Jones.  The final fall took place in sudden-death overtime when A.J. Williams tried to prevent Espy from cheating, but accidentally got his tag team partner disqualified in the process.  Also, Laurence Johnson turned on Everett Connors to join the Elitism and Dave Osborne won a gauntlet match to earn the next shot at Espinosa.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referees were Jay King, Nick Ridenour, and Brian Stoltz.

At the start of the show, promoter Tony Casta and Co-Commissioner Jim Harris hyped the benefit show in two weeks for John Blackheart and Big Momma Love.  They brought Blackheart to the microphone to say a few words...he was a bit before my time as a regular indy wrestling viewer in this area, but I've heard a lot of good things about his work.

This endeavor will bring the MMWA and SICW together for one night only in Cahokia...from my observation, promotional cooperation tends to get messy in the long run.  It's the nature of the beast:  There will always be some level of ego and pettiness in any form of show business.  I've honestly thought that the MMWA/SICW split was good for both sides as it allowed them to establish their own separate identities.

Before the National Anthem, they did a ten-bell salute for Ox Baker and Bob Geigel.  The show didn't get started until 8:10 and it was around 8:20 by the time we got to the opening match.

"Risky Business" Everett Connors vs. Laurence Johnson for the Jr. Heavyweight Title:  As previously noted, Johnson turned on Connors after last month's six-man tag match, setting up this bout.  Johnson may have been slightly above the weight limit for this particular title, but I don't know the exact number.  Both men are rookies and I've seen a bit more of Connors than Johnson; Johnson is a shorter guy but very thickly built and throws a lot of suplexes.  It seemed like these two worked well together and I wouldn't mind seeing them face each other again in the future.  Connors got the clean win with the guillotine legdrop in 7:45.

Andrew "The Wolf" Wilder & Johnathan Zulu vs. Barackus & J-Mal Swagg:  This was set up as a top-contenders match for the next shot at the Tag Team Titles.  Wilder & Zulu have been the victims of several screwy losses in recent months.  Meanwhile, Barackus and Swagg haven't been on the same page as a result of some miscommunications...that has led to the big man suffering a few surprising defeats after being unstoppable at the start of his career.  I'd need to do the math, but I think Barackus outweighed both members of the opposing team put together.  This match featured a few unwanted blind tags on the Elitism side as their continuity broke down...that led to Wilder shockingly pinning Barackus after hitting his Call Of The Wild(inverted swinging neckbreaker) in 7:30.  I think a few laws of physics broke on that one...heh.  J-Mal blamed his partner for the loss and pushed him around...the big man finally had enough to laid out Swagg with his clawhold Flatliner(getting some good hangtime on the move).

"Night Train/Great One/Gorgeous" Gary Jackson vs. Evan Gelistico:  This was an interesting clash of styles, but in a good way(if that makes sense).  I always thought the mandible claw was an odd move for Evan to use, but he one-upped that by removing his boot and trying for a FOOT-applied version of the hold...eww.  Gary made it to the ropes to escape that move, then blocked it on the second try and turned it into the Texas Cloverleaf for the tapout in 11:53.  Afterwards, Gary vowed to work his way back up the championship rankings and reminded us of The Rules...presumably people haven't been following Rule #4(Don't Forget The Rules).

A.J. Williams & Da'Marius Jones vs. LaMarcus Clinton & Chase King vs. Andrew "The Wolf" Wilder & Johnathan Zulu for the Tag Team Titles:  Co-Commissioner Sean Orleans demanded that Wilder & Zulu's mandatory Tag Title shot take place here, changing the scheduled tag match into a triple threat bout.  I can only assume that he wanted to improve LMC and King's chances since they wouldn't have to beat the champions to win the belts.  A.J. and Da'Marius were in the King Of St. Louis Cable Tournament finals and Jones defeated Williams for the win...perhaps that was the start of the tension between the two.  The appeal of singles glory has broken up many tag teams, especially in an era where tag team wrestling has been de-emphasized to some extent.  A.J.'s involvement in last month's title match SEEMED to be a case of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time...but it turned into something more.  LMC has been doing some interesting things with his hair lately...he was sporting curlers last month and had a bunch of barrettes in his hair this time around.  His accessories tend to go flying whenever he takes a big hit...funny stuff.

Jones took a beating from LMC and King for most of the bout, then Jones got an opening to tag his partner only for A.J. to drop off the apron and walk away.  I was worried about the possibility of Jones winning anyway(thus forcing the two to continue teaming), but Wilder got the tag from Da'Marius and the tide turned in his team's favor.  Wilder pinned King after the Call Of The Wild in 13:13 for newwwww Tag Team Champions...woo.

Cue intermission~!

Survivor Champion "Da Bomb" Brian James & T.V. Champion Moondog Rover vs. "The Alternative" Brandon Gallagher & Kevin Lee Davidson:  Gallagher substituted for Tony Kozina in this one.  Rover retained his title in a no-DQ match against the large newcomer Davidson last month...I heard some interesting things about his chosen attire for that match and I'll leave it at that.  Orleans(who had been hovering around the broadcast/timekeeper table for most of the show) ran inteference just long enough to distract the good guys, leading to Davidson getting the upset pin on James after a spinebuster in 12:22.  With Orleans already "warmed up", Jim Harris decided that his match should start right away...

Jackson Whitechapel vs. Sean Orleans:  Whitechapel had a different look for the night:  More colorful ring attire, a top hat, clown facepaint, and balloons.  Suffice it to say that it wasn't the presentation I would have expected from a wrestler seeking revenge on the weasely manager-type that had stabbed him in the back.  I can understand an image change in the event of a face turn, but I don't know if this was the right place for this particular motif.  While Orleans does compete in the ring on a regular basis, he doesn't have a lot of credibility as a physical combatant and seems to do better when he's letting his charges do the dirty work before hogging the glory.  The fans weren't really buying into his run of offense as he targeted Whitechapel's leg; Jim Harris had ordered the other Elitism members to the backstage area to prevent interference.  Whitechapel made the comeback and Orleans ran away, but Whitechapel chased him over the guardrail and the match ended in a double countout in 4:43.

Brandon Espinosa vs. Big Dave Osborne for the Heavyweight Title:  As previously noted, Osborne won a gauntlet match at the October show to earn this opportunity.  These two had faced each other several times in the past and know each other pretty well.  Espy's had the title for a long time and I'm not sure who's in the cards to end his reign...Da'Marius, maybe?  They had a pretty good matchup until the Elitism and the face locker room got involved for the no-contest/Sportz Entertainment Finish in 13:55.

The big angle took place afterwards as Da'Marius led the fan favorite charge; A.J. Williams appeared to be back on his side as he threw a few Elitism members out of the ring...but then he turned on Jones for good with a superkick and stood with the Elitism at the end of the show.  The post-show video indicated that the December even will feature a five-on-five matchup to determine who becomes the sole Commissioner of MMWA.  The good guys' team appears to be Osborne/James/Da'Marius/Connors/Whitechapel...going by the events of this show, I imagine the Elitism side will be Espinosa/A.J./Davidson/Johnson/Orleans but don't hold me to that.

The next few weeks should be relatively cut and dry for me, but the first part of December will be crowded around here:

-Saturday 11/15:  SICW in East Carondelet, IL (Marty Jannetty); WLW in Troy, MO
-Saturday 11/22:  MMWA-SICW in Cahokia, IL (John Blackheart/Big Momma Love Benefit)

-Friday 12/5:  SLA in Alton, IL; PWE in Pontoon Beach, IL
-Saturday 12/6:  DPW in Fenton, MO
-Saturday 12/13:  SICW in East Carondelet, IL; MMWA in St. Louis, MO
-Sunday 12/28:  HRW in Belleville, IL

To wrap things up here:  Don't take my own show attendance to be a definitive endorsement of one show over another.  Different wrestling fans like different things and I have my own preferences.  I'm the type of person who wants to see everything, but that's impossible on evenings when there are multiple events.  I kept up on MMWA this year thanks to Timothy Miller's YouTube channel, though I would have liked to see last month's Ironman Match in full.  Until someone perfects Naruto Uzumaki's Shadow Clone Jutsu, I'll just have to choose one show in those cases.

(On that side note, a fond farewell to the Naruto manga which ended its 700-chapter run this past week.  Dattebayo~!)

Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.

P.S. We are all marks.