SICW Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling show at the Community Center in East Carondelet, Illinois.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

Marty Jannetty had been scheduled to be the special guest for the show, but promoter Herb Simmons made this Facebook post on Saturday afternoon:

"As the promoter for SICW for the past 40 years I have always been up front and honest with the great fans of SICW. As you know we have been promoting the appearance of WWE Legend Marty Jannetty to appear tonight at the huge SICW match in East Carondelet Illinois. Up until 7am this morning when I received a call from Marty's lady friend, I was feeling good about him living up to his agreement. Then at 1:30pm this afternoon he called and stated he had a problem at the airport and they wouldn't let him board the plane. This even after I sent him the confirmation and my wife pre-registered him yesterday, 24 hours before his scheduled flight. In checking with the air line it was determined he was a no show. Over the years in this business I had only one other no show, and that was a guy by the name of Buddy Landell, so over these years only two isn't a bad record. But I have always stated that being a good (promoter) is one who is honest with the fans. That's why instead (of) waiting until tonight and making some lame excuse, I wanted to let you know now that Marty Jannetty has no showed us. I can assure you the wrestling action is going to be great as always and I hope you will come out and enjoy yourself. I regret if this has cause anyone an inconvenience. I had been told by a dear friend that this was a possibility, but I'm one that likes to give a person the benefit of a doubt. Now I know Marty Jannetty isn't on my trust list. Again I apologize to any of the fans that were making the trip to see him."

It would have been cool to meet Marty...too bad.  I appreciate Herb being honest with the fans ahead of time; it was a definite contrast to another recent show where Moose was advertised to appear and his absence was only acknowledged as a passing mention in someone's promo.  Attendance was still solid despite Jannetty's absence and the weather...winter seems to have arrived early as it was snowing for most of the day.

Your ring announcer was Drew Abbenhaus; your referees were Keith Smith Jr. and Jay King.

Karen Sommerhalder sang the National Anthem...fine job.  *thumbs up*

Herb started the show by reaffirming Jannetty's absence(the building marquee still had Marty's name on it), offering refunds to anyone who wanted one.  I didn't see any takers.  He did a brief interview with John Blackheart and Big Momma Love to promote next week's MMWA-SICW benefit show for them, then segued into the ten-bell salute for Ox Baker and Bob Geigel.  Ox was just at SICW a few months ago and unfortunately I didn't get a chance to officially meet him...

"The Don Mega" Shorty Biggs vs. Ax Allwardt:  This was a comedy match for the most part as Shorty goofed around to raise the ire of his more serious opponent.  Once things got more competitive, Shorty nearly got the win after hitting the Paydirt...but Ax got a foot on the bottom rope and the referee had to wave it off.  Ax got an international object out of his trunks(didn't catch if it was a chain or brass knuckles) and used it to knock out Shorty for the win in 8:43.  Boo that man!

Herb interviewed Ron Powers in the ring, drawing out Ricky Cruz and Travis Cook for a confrontation over the identity of Red River Jack.  These two have an extended history and have been feuding off and on for several years...but they seem to keep crossing each other's paths.  Powers hyped up SICW, saying people from other promotions buy tickets to their shows.  He also said that Ricky has been wrestling all over the area to establish his legacy...but he(Ron) already has a legacy firmly in place.  The ruling in place is that Ron will be banned for life if he turns out to be under the RRJ mask...Big Daddy came out and Ricky theorized that he was on his own(since Ron Powers was in the ring), so he went after him.  However, Red River Jack came out from behind the curtain to stand behind Big Daddy...Herb declared that all the proof he needed that RRJ and Ron Powers were not one and the same.  (Yes, as Travis Cook claimed, it could have been someone with a similar build in the mask and poncho...)

The Red Scorpion vs. Attila Khan:  The masked newcomer Scorpion subbed for Farmer Billy Hills in the only change to the announced lineup; I initially thought it was The Tornado but Scorpion was noticably taller.  My friend and I had a theory about his identity, but that would be telling.  At any rate, snow was on the ground outside but squash was still in season.  I'm not sure if it was ironic or not, but Khan finished off Scorpion with a Scorpion Death Drop(inverted DDT) in 2:12.  Khan stopped his post-match assault JUST long enough to avert another decision reversal.

"The Old School Warrior" Chaz Wesson vs. Mohamad Ali Vaez:  This was Vaez's toughest test to date, obviously.  I was very concerned that Chaz might chop the chest hair right off our Persian visitor, but it was not to be.  Gary Jackson came out to cheerlead for Wesson midway through the match...understandably, this diverted M.A.V.'s attention just a bit.  Vaez ran his mouth to his ringside rival and it cost him the bout as Chaz small-packaged him for the flash pin in 8:00.  That ended Vaez's undefeated streak in SICW, but his night wasn't quite over...

Cue intermission numero uno...

Shiloh Jonze vs. Bubba Troll:  I have corrected the spelling of Bubba's official last name.  This was a definite David vs. Goliath situation as Jonze's offense didn't seem to faze Troll in the early going.  Jonze's Trouble In Paradise-style flying roundhouse kick usually finished off opponents, but here it merely staggered the big man.  Shiloh went to the top rope and connected with a flying forearm to finally put him down for the count in 6:33.

Herb brought out "Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson, one of several area wrestlers who has served in the military.  Herb presented him with an award for his service in honor of Veteran's Day and all seemed well...but Vaez attacked Gary on his way out, still upset about Gary's involvement in the earlier matchup.  Vaez beat down Gary with a chair, locked him in a camel clutch, then trashed the award and walked away with Gary's camouflage jacket.  "Of course you realize, this means war..."  Some of the older fans in attendance was seriously ticked off at Vaez...as easy as it would be to throw out the joke about "it's still real to them", it's pretty cool to see a wrestling angle work to that level.

"The Man Of Tomorrow" Daniel Eads vs. Waco:  This match was fine but they didn't seem to click at a few points.  I've seen both in better outings so maybe that was just a blip on the radar.  The finish was a sort of discus Superman Punch and Eads got the win in 8:50.

Cue intermission numero dos, after which Herb Simmons announced that the Jackson-Vaez match in December would be a Texas Death Match.  Herb outlined the bout as the more old-school variant of the match:  As opposed to the ten-count that we see nowadays in last-man-standing matches, a wrestler would have a thirty-count to rise after a pin or submission.

Red River Jack & Big Jim Hoffarth(w/ Big Daddy) vs. "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz & "Ironman" Ken Kasa(w/ Travis Cook):  This started off as a standard tag match but broke down in a hurry.  Jack and Cruz brawled to the backstage area as Hoffarth and Kasa battled in the ring...somewhere in here the ref completely lost control as Kasa stopped Hoffarth with a low blow and Attila Khan emerged to help Cruz double-team RRJ.  It looks like Khan is a new recruit for the Travis Cook Organization as Travis seemed to be giving him instructions.  The bad guys came VERY close to getting RRJ's mask completely off, but Eads ran in with a chair and they had to retreat.  It was called a no-contest in 12:39.

Heath Hatton vs. Flash Flanagan for the Classic Title:  Flanagan got Hatton's attention by dishing out a beating on his protege Daniel Eads, then nearly cheated him out of the title in Fairmont City only for the decision to be reversed.  Flash worked on Heath's arm for most of the contest, but Heath made the comeback only to accidentally take out the referee with a blind cross-body off the second rope.  Hatton got Flanagan in the Crippler Crossface but the ref was down and didn't see the tapout...after that, Flash superkicked Heath and then hit him in the head with the kendo stick(which was how he beat him in Fairmont City).  The referee recovered to count...two and a half.  A steel chair came into play and Heath reversed an Irish whip into the chair, then attempted a rollup...only for Flash to block it and hold the ropes for the tainted win in 15:21!

The title change was a surprise as the previous three SICW Classic Title reigns were fairly lengthy...Heath only held it for four months, but they were busy months with the extra shows in Fairmont City and Swansea.  From the sound of things, he may be taking time off to heal nagging injuries.  All the best to Hatton and hopefully we'll see him back at SICW in the future.

The Wrestling Explosion TV show broke the news on the December show:  Jim Cornette will be back in the house as the special guest referee for the Red River Jack vs. Ricky Cruz grudge match.  No countouts, no DQs, and the mask will be on the line.  This will be the last chance for someone to unmask RRJ before the end of Ron Powers' forced hiatus from the SICW ring.  It'll be a stacked card with that matchup, the Jackson-Vaez Texas Death Match, and Flash Flanagan's first appearance as the new SICW Classic Champion.

Next Saturday is the MMWA-SICW benefit show in Cahokia for John Blackheart and Big Momma Love.  Jeremy Lightfoot and Billy Diamond will renew their old rivalry, plus it was just announced that Keith Smith and his son Keith Jr. will team up to face Ricky Cruz and Attila Khan.

High Risk Wrestling just released the full card for their December show.  The ticket prices may be a bit higher, but there are some legitimate indy dream matches on that show...A.C.H. vs. Ricochet, anyone?

December looks like this:
-Friday 12/5:  St. Louis Anarchy in Alton, IL ; PWE in Pontoon Beach, IL
-Saturday 12/6:  Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Fenton, MO
-Saturday 12/13:  SICW in East Carondelet, IL (Jim Cornette appearing); MMWA in St. Louis, MO
-Sunday 12/28:  HRW in Belleville, IL

Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.

P.S. We are all marks.