December Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about the upcoming month in St. Louis-area independent wrestling.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

Long story short, I really need to stop getting bronchitis.  Thanks to that, I missed seeing Gabriel Rutledge at Hey Guys Comedy Club and was also unable to attend the MMWA-SICW benefit show for John Blackheart.  Shoutout to Chris Roedel for providing the results from that show; looks like it was a good turnout.

The wrestling landscape is changing...TNA is moving to a new channel in 2015 and Ring Of Honor seems to be restricting its contracted wrestlers as it relates to their indy bookings.  As a result, Michael Elgin was pulled from Friday's St. Louis Anarchy show; Kyle O'Reilly and A.C.H. are still scheduled to appear at that event.  Final Battle is this coming weekend; maybe they wanted everyone to get to New York early to minimal travel issues.  As far as I know, High Risk Wrestling's show will go on as scheduled, but ROH's new guidelines may affect the talent roster for future events.

RUMBLINGZ~! say that Uhaa Nation may be WWE/NXT-bound...good for him if that's the case.

Was cool to see several familiar faces among the Rosebuds at Survivor Series and on Main Event, including Brandon Espinosa and Lucy Mendez.  Crazy Mary Dobson was among the Rosebuds and also appeared on Raw as Kane's concession stand manager.

It's unfortunate that St. Louis Anarchy's booking has been affected several times by factors outside of their control.  Their series between A.C.H. and T.J. Perkins was aborted by Perkins signing with TNA to become Manik.  They booked both Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards for shows earlier in the year, but that was cancelled due to their TNA commitments.  Now the feud between Elgin and Jojo Bravo has possibly been cut short(though MAYBE they'll be able to reschedule the Elgin-Bravo finale for a later date).

After two light weekends around here, the first weekend of December will be VERY crowded.  On Friday night, St. Louis Anarchy has Yuletide Terror in Alton, IL with Gerald James defending the Heavyweight Title against Davey Vega in a best-of-three-falls match.  Vega has scored big wins over notable opponents this year, including Roderick Strong and Chris Hero; he also appeared to have Elgin beaten before the members of BOSS interfered.

The show will also feature A.C.H. vs. Kyle O'Reilly, Arik Cannon vs. Ariya Daivari, Johnny Gargano vs. Zakk Sawyers, Mikey McFinnegan vs. Christian Rose, and the STL-area debut of Candice LeRae as she faces Angelus Layne.  Others scheduled for the show are Jojo Bravo, Darin Corbin, Brandon Espinosa, Bolt Brady, Dan Walsh, and Jordan Lacey.

Elsewhere on Friday night, Pro Wrestling Epic makes its Midwest debut in Pontoon Beach, IL.  Announced matches for the show:  Brandon Aarons vs. Mephisto, Makaze vs. Cameron Cage(Cage's first match in a few years), and Lucy Mendez vs. Stacey O'Brien.  Also announced as appearing:  Leland Race, Barackus, Billy McNeil, Dave Osborne, and Tyler Copeland.

Saturday will feature Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Fenton, MO as well as MMWA at South Broadway in St. Louis, MO(mistakenly listed as being on the 13th until Ben Simon corrected me).  The Dynamo main event will feature Ricky Cruz defending the Heavyweight Title against one of the most impressive rookies in the area, Mike Outlaw.  Outlaw won a modified gauntlet match at the November show to earn the title shot; the format of the match was that none of the six contenders had ever received a shot at the Dynamo Heavyweight Championship.  Looking forward to how that match plays out...should be a good one.  The Unlikely Duo Of Jake Dirden & Jackal(tm) will defend the Tag Team Titles against The Professionals(Shawn Santel & Mauler McDarby) and Brandon Aarons goes one-on-one with Brandon Gallagher.

At South Broadway, Team MMWA will face Team Elitism for full control of the Commissioner's role (Jim Harris and Sean Orleans are currently Co-Commissioners).  The good guys' team has been confirmed to be Da'Marius Jones, Brian James, Everett Connors, Dave Osborne, and Jackson Whitechapel.  A YouTube video had the Elitism team as Brandon Espinosa, A.J. Williams, LaMarcus Clinton, Laurence Johnson, & Sean Orleans; however, the current event flyer lists a mystery entrant for that side so I imagine things could be shuffled around.

Wrestling Invades America returns to its home base of Alton, IL on Friday the 12th...one of these days, I'll attend one of those shows.  In the interest of diplomacy and cautious editing judgment, I'll simply say that I have a morbid curiosity to see this group.

Onward to the 13th and SICW's final event of the year.  The Classic Title has seemingly been overshadowed in recent months compared to the ongoing issues between Red River Jack and Ricky Cruz.  Those two will finally square off in December with Jim Cornette as the special guest referee; Cornette is also promising to have an enforcer on his side to prevent outside interference.  Ricky has recently aligned with Travis Cook...where Travis goes, Ken Kasa and Bull Bronson(among others) aren't too far behind.  RRJ's mask is on the line amidst suspicion that RRJ is Ron Powers(who lost a loser-leaves-town match earlier in the year); the stipulation only lasts through the calendar year, so this is the heels' last chance to prove their theory before Powers can officially return to SICW competition.

Also on the card, new champion Flash Flanagan will defend against Chaz Wesson.  It sounds like Heath Hatton is taking a sabbatical to heal nagging injuries, so his rematch may be a few months down the road.  Gary Jackson and Mohamad Ali Vaez will hopefully settle their feud in an old-school Texas Death Match; if a wrestler is pinned or submits, they'll have a thirty-second count to answer in order to continue.

Daniel Eads will team with Shiloh Jonze against Kasa & Bronson.  Sean Vincent makes his return to wrestling after a two-year absence, as does Curtis Wylde(w/ Wyldefyre).  More info as it becomes available, as usual.

Wrapping up the year, High Risk Wrestling has a show on the 28th in Belleville, IL.  Yes, the ticket price is a bit higher than your average indy show, but the names on this lineup make it worthwhile if you're able to attend.  Even if you don't go, it'll be worth a view through video-on-demand (which you can use to watch the previous two shows as well).  I'm especially geeked for A.C.H. vs. Ricochet.  Elgin faces Uhaa Nation in a rematch from the previous show, reDRagon(Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) face The Colony(Fire Ant & Silver Ant), and Jigsaw goes one-on-one with Chuck Taylor.  The rest of the card has Arik Cannon vs. Jonathan Gresham; a six-way match with Moose, Blake Belakis, Shane Hollister, Justice Jones, Christian Rose, and Tony Kozina; and Bolt Brady & Mike Sydal face Bobby Eaton's "New Midnight Express".  Bob Holly & Bart Gunn could not be reached for comment...yes, I will keep doing that joke until someone laughs, shut up.

It's an interesting time to be a wrestling fan to say the least.  I accept that my kind of wrestling fan gets a rep for focusing on the negatives, so I try to emphasize the positives on here.  Sometimes that leads to the perception that I go too easy on some things, but that's okay.  I wouldn't have been aware of the independent scene around here if someone hadn't recommended it to me, so I do my best to get the word out about the shows.  There's no reason for a wrestling fan to restrict him/herself to one product; wrestling is more "available" than it's ever been.  Go with what works for you and support what you like; that may not necessariy be what works for me, but different people like different things.  Don't take my word as the gospel; it's not like my life is in any sort of legitimate order, so my decision-making prowess is questionable at best.  :)

Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.

P.S. We are all marks.