DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
Thankfully, the weather forecast was WAY better than it was for Dynamo's first show of last year. Rather than the threat of "Snowmageddon" hanging over our heads, it was just a little rainy with a cold snap on Sunday. As such, attendance was really good and the fans were into the show.
Your ring announcer was Chris Roedel and your referees were Patrick Hook & Richard White. Best wishes to Jay King who is recovering from open-heart surgery and was in attendance for the show.
The show started with Executive Director Mark Bland interviewing new Heavyweight Champion Mike Outlaw. We made it a whole show in December without Mark so we HAD to start with him here...heh. Anywho, Travis Cook came out with most of his proteges...I guess he only manages The Professionals in certain situations. He told Outlaw to polish up the belt for Ken Kasa and gave him a late Christmas gift: A bottle of polish and a towel. Outlaw decided to put his hands on Travis Cook...that was a rookie mistake with four other guys in the ring and he took a beating in response. That brought out Jackal and The Bumrush Brothers to even the odds and Mark Bland ordered a six-man tag for later in the show. All righty then, productive segment. Outlaw seems to be a bit nervous on promos in front of a live audience, so it was good that he had others to help carry the load. There's no substitute for experience in that department, as I've found in standup comedy...it's one thing to talk to a mirror or a video camera, but it's another to talk in front of people and get that instant feedback. I still get nervous in front of an audience, even after eight and a half years of comedy performances.
High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb) vs. Mauler McDarby & "Risky Business" Everett Connors: Don't know why Shawn Santel was absent; maybe a Missouri licensing thing? McDarby has a good deal of tag team experience...Connors, not so much. They got it together for a little while and isolated Webb, but a miscommunication led to Connors hitting McDarby by mistake and Gamble got the hot tag. McDarby finally got fed up with his substitute partner, threw him to the wolves, and walked away...that led to Webb superkicking Connors into Gamble's Blue Thunder Bomb for the win in 7:55.
Keon Option vs. "The Alternative" Ozzie Gallagher: Gallagher got the upper hand in his feud with Dan Walsh last year but has been inconsistent since that time. Option has been impressive in his first few months but hasn't scored a win yet. This was one of Option's longer matches to date and I thought he accounted himself well. Option missed a top-rope splash(rookie mistake~!) and Gallagher rolled him up with a handful of tights(moon over Fenton...) in 10:40.
Brandon Aarons vs. "The Bosnian Warchild" Spi-Ral: Spi-Ral has faced both fan favorites and rulebreakers in Dynamo and I think they're still figuring out what role would fit him better. He seemed to be in the subtle heel role here...I wasn't sure who was winning since Aarons has picked up a few victories lately while Spi-Ral hasn't been a regular on the shows. If Spi-Ral competes around here more often, I could see him becoming a breakout player on the Midwest wrestling scene...I've seen some impressive stuff in his match videos from other parts of the country. The St. Louis area has a pretty significant Bosnian population, so that's a potential new audience to draw in to the shows. Aarons has been consistently solid since returning to action about a year ago...I've seen quite a few of his T-shirts in the crowd. I guess I would consider this an upset on some level...Spi-Ral won with the splash off the top in 10:23.
Dustin Bozworth vs. Brandon Espinosa(w/ Lucy Mendez): I'll get the lechery out of the way and say that Lucy looked quite lovely on this evening. Bozworth's been getting some press from his participation in "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge show on CMT. He's a regular for World League Wrestling but I had only seen him in person one other time(at High Risk Wrestling last year against Arik Cannon). I seem to see Espinosa on a near-weekly basis and I'm probably biased since I've seen the course of his improvement over the past several years (dating back to a UWA match in early 2006 against Jack O'Grady). He's one of those guys who always seems to be working on his craft and adding new facets to his style. Solid matchup here; Lucy distracted Bozworth and Espinosa knocked him out with an international object for the cheap win in 9:16.
Espinosa sought to do more damage but "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz hit the ring to stop that...wait, is this a face turn? Lucy tried to stop Ricky with a low blow, but he saw it coming and blocked it...can't cheapshot a cheapshotter! Lucy occupied Ricky's attention long enough for Espy to attack from behind...but Bozworth recovered to clear Espy out of the ring and Ricky raised his hand. The plot thickens...Ricky's focused on his feud with Espinosa, but time will tell how he interacts with people like Mike Outlaw or Jake Dirden.
Cue intermission~! Saw a few familiar faces in the crowd on this night, some of whom may be getting the itch to return to in-ring competition...more on that as it develops.
"The Bloodthirsty Vixen" Marriah Moreno vs. Lucy Mendez: I had only seen Moreno one other time...that was a few years ago at the Underground Wrestling show at Pop's. She simply went by "Amanda" at the time and won a hardcore casket match against Mickie Knuckles, so this was my first time seeing her in a standard bout. For the uninitiated, Marriah is one of the only transgender wrestlers in the business. Lucy has competed in the Midwest for a few years and only recently moved to the St. Louis area. I'm surprised she and Stacey O'Brien haven't made a move to compete for SHIMMER or other promotions of that stature; "Miss Natural" Heather Patera has been to SHIMMER a few times. Lucy seems to be on WWE's radar as she appeared as a Rosebud at Survivor Series and again on Main Event that week. The ending had a nice bit of continuity as Lucy tried to use the same weapon that Espinosa had used earlier, but this time the referee caught her in the act. That allowed Moreno to capitalize with a Northern Lights Bomb(Al Snow's Snowplow finisher) for the victory in 9:34.
Tag Team Champion Jackal & The Bumrush Brothers("The Don Mega" Shorty Biggs & Outtkast) vs. The Black Hand Warriors(Michael Magnuson, Dave DeLorean, & Jayden Fenix)(w/ Travis Cook): This was a chaotic affair with bodies flying all over the place. I lost track of who was legal by the end of it and I think the referee may have lost track as well. Several guys hit dives out of the ring, including DeLorean...hey, it's 2015, it was only appropriate that we saw a flying DeLorean. *ducks thrown objects* I haven't tracked down too much info on the newcomer Fenix; I'm guessing he's a WLW trainee but don't hold me to that. Jackal's usual tag partner "Dirdey" Jake Dirden wasn't in attendance as he was participating in Ring Of Honor's Top Prospect Tournament...look for him on television in a few weeks(WOO~!). The teamwork of the BHW trio made the difference; DeLorean pinned Outtkast after a spike Tombstone by Magnuson and Fenix in 19:53(!).
Mike Outlaw vs. "Ironman" Ken Kasa(w/ Travis Cook) for the Heavyweight Title: Kasa has held gold elsewhere in the area(he was SICW Classic Champion for slightly over a year) but has never been a titleholder in Dynamo(or GCW). This was his first opportunity at Dynamo's Heavyweight Championship; he and Dave Vaughn challenged the Bumrush Brothers for the Tag Team Titles in 2013. The story was basic but effective: Outlaw may be impressive, but he's still a rookie and made mistakes that come with that territory. Kasa had the experience edge, but was also overconfident and that led to HIM making a few mistakes. Travis got in his cheapshots, as you might expect. Outlaw had the momentum and went to the top rope, but Kasa had the referee's attention and Travis tripped Outlaw on the turnbuckles. Kasa picked him up from there into position for a Razor's Edge, but took forever to taunt the crowd and tease an Awesome Bomb-style throw over the ropes. That allowed Outlaw to escape Kasa's grasp and slide down the back into a nicely-executed sunset flip pin in 13:45.
Match over, time for the post-match. Travis struck down the champion from behind with his cane and the Black Hand Warrior trio hit the ring for a beatdown. Aarons and Option came out to help but the numbers were against him. Travis held out Outlaw's arm for Kasa to deliver a knee smash from the top rope, injuring the limb...a classic Anderson move. The heels brought in a chair to do even more damage, but Jackal and the Bumrush Brothers finally ran them off. Outlaw's hurting but he's still the champion...the road has just begun for his title reign.
Next Saturday will be busy with three area shows. Along with PWCS's season finale in Granite City and MMWA's monthly offering at South Broadway in St. Louis, a new group called World Powerhouse Wrestling has a show in Jerseyville at the American Legion. The talent lineup seems to consist of wrestlers from Midwest Powerhouse Wrestling/Full Throttle Wrestling. Hopefully I'll get a chance to check them out on a weekend that's not as busy.
Oddly, January's not too busy after that. SICW is in East Carondelet on the 17th, but I don't know of any area shows in the two weekends after that. Dynamo returns to Fenton on February 7th.
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
P.S. We are all marks.
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