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.
The local wrestling scene has exploded in the past year or so as the number of promotions has practically doubled. It started with World League Wrestling moving to Troy, Missouri and running shows closer to the greater St. Louis area. Several new promotions started in 2014 and early 2015: Pro Wrestling Championship Series, High Risk Wrestling, the revival of Pro Wrestling Epic, and now World Powerhouse Wrestling. The schedule will be very busy in the upcoming months, though not in the next two weeks.
Your ring announcer was Drew Abbenhaus; your referees were Terry Riley, Denny Thomas, and Keith Smith.
A little girl named Morgan sang the National Anthem...fine job.
Promoter Herb Simmons started the show with an update on Larry Matysik's medical condition, encouraging the fans to sign the giant get-well card for him. I wish I'd visited him at Memorial Hospital while he was there, but it sounds like he's being moved to a nursing home. It can't be easy to undergo such a drastic change in one's lifestyle and physical condition...all the best to him and hopefully we'll see him again soon.
"The Don Mega" Shorty Biggs vs. "Wildchild" Curtis Wylde(w/ Wyldefyre): This was Wylde's first one-on-one match in several years after returning in a tag match at the December show. It was mostly a comedy match in the early going, but it turned more serious once Wyldefyre's distraction allowed her man to take over. Shorty rallied, but a tripup by Wyldefyre allowed Curtis to get the small package pin in 8:17 and score his first win in SICW.
Keith Smith Jr. vs. "Dead Sexy" Daniel Gunner: This would explain the sudden influx of new officials...Jay King is still recovering from his heart surgery(he was in attendance for the show). I believe Terry Riley was a semi-retired South Broadway referee (he officiated at the John Blackheart benefit in November). This was Keith Jr.'s first one-on-one matchup; his pro debut was a few years ago at an SICW event where he teamed with his father against Sean Vincent & Travis Cook. He also teamed with his father and Chaz Wesson at the GCW reunion show in late 2012, defeating Ian Storm(aka Ken Kasa), Chris Hargas, & David Cox. Keith Jr. teamed with his father at the Blackheart benefit in a DQ win over Ricky Cruz & Attila Khan...and that was his entire in-ring history as far as I know.
Of course, singles competition is a different animal from tag matches; you can't just tag out to rest or collect your thoughts. I thought he did well for a first effort, but the slight experience edge made the difference on top of some underhanded tactics. Gunner won with a rollup and feet on the ropes for leverage...the rookie referee Denny Thomas didn't see the illegal tactic and counted the fall in 6:40.
Herb interviewed Big Daddy; the manager was accompanied by not only Red River Jack, but also Gary Jackson and Daniel Eads. It was interesting to see RRJ in the house as I was half-expecting him to disappear with Ron Powers' official return to action. Big Daddy talked about expanding his stable...he had a checkered past with Gary Jackson but respected him. Also, he wanted to guide the career of a young talent, so he recruited Daniel Eads as well. Big Daddy claimed to be a changed man, but you can never be too sure in the wrestling business. At any rate, Travis Cook came out with his guys: Ken Kasa, Attila Khan, and Bubba Troll(?). It had already been announced that Bull Bronson was absent and Khan would be replacing him in the match with Powers; the war of words grew in tension until the referees had to keep everyone separated. The promo segment segued directly into the next matchup...
"The Man Of Tomorrow" Daniel Eads(w/ Big Daddy) vs. Bubba Troll: Travis didn't stick around for the match and neither did the other parties from the previous interview...I guess Troll was just there to fill out the heel side in Bronson's absence. I have mixed emotions on Troll as he's a heel but wears the retro video game T-shirts. I get the feeling Eads will be on the radar of the big companies in a few years once he has more experience. Troll made the mistake of climbing the ropes...he missed a splash off the second rope and Eads won with a jackknife cradle in 4:34.
Cue intermission numero uno...the get-well card does bear my signature, yes.
"The Old School Warrior" Chaz Wesson vs. Ax Allwardt: The ongoing series between the "old school warriors" continued here. This seemed like their best match with each other...Ax tried a Flair pin with feet on the ropes, but this time referee Denny Thomas waved off the pin after noticing the illegal leverage. Nice bit of continuity there. Chaz fought back to win with a powerslam in 8:08.
"Your Canadian Hero" Sean Vincent vs. Brandon "Espy" Espinosa: Espy's nickname seems redundant. This was set up by last month's tag match where Vincent and Bobby D defeated Espy and Curtis Wylde...Vincent offered a handshake only for Espinosa to kick him in the groin. This was Vincent's first singles match in over two years and it was quite a trial by fire as they went long here. They had a solid match and I imagine their future bouts will be even better once Vincent works off more ring rust. I had a conversation with someone about how the different promotions have different audiences, so you'll see guys work differently in front of one audience than they would in front of another. Espy's a good example of that since he works for just about every group in the area. They traded near-falls until the match ended in a 15:00 time-limit draw...as you'd expect, Vincent wanted five more minutes and Espinosa didn't. Gosh darn it, they're just gonna have to wrestle each other again. Gosh darn it.
"Night Train/Great One/Gorgeous" Gary Jackson & Big Jim Hoffarth(w/ Big Daddy) vs. "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz & "Ironman" Ken Kasa(w/ Travis Cook): There seemed to be trouble in paradise at the beginning as Ricky took exception to Cook's introductions of the team. Ricky was never OFFICIALLY managed by Travis; it was just an alliance of convenience for his feud with Ron Powers/Red River Jack. Add in the fact that Kasa won the Classic Title from Ricky under dubious circumstances...that powder keg was bound to reignite at some point. Speaking of powder, that was the source of the problem in this matchup: Travis tried to throw powder in Jackson's eyes, but Gary ducked and Ricky was momentarily blinded by mistake. Cruz spent a minute or so at ringside cleaning his eyes...and then walked away from the match. Is he turning face across the board? Travis followed Ricky to the backstage area as he attempted to convince him to come back...but that left Kasa all by his lonesome against Gary Jackson and Jim Hoffarth. Kasa tried to keep Gary from making the tag, but that didn't last and Hoffarth finally got in to overpower Kasa. Hoffarth tagged Jackson back in for the finish and Kasa tapped out to the Texas Cloverleaf in 8:42.
Cue intermission numero dos...
Flash Flanagan vs. "Dirdey" Jake Dirden for the Classic Title: Dirden hadn't received a shot at the title since Kasa held it; he had a few battles with Flanagan in the past with the sides even at one win apiece. Dirden's pinfall over Flash was in a tag match with Ron Powers providing an assist; Flanagan's win was with the aid of the ropes for illegal leverage. These guys had a pretty solid matchup...I could see this turning into a long-term issue, but it's hard to tell exactly how the championship picture will work out. Flanagan's plan centered around damaging Dirden's hand in an attempt to neutralize Dirden's main weapons: The Asiatic Spike and the chokeslam. Oddly, Dirden made the same mistake that Troll did earlier by going for a move off the ropes...he missed the diving headbutt off the second turnbuckle and Flash DDTed him for the clean win in 10:06. That was the longest match of the night; they don't have to be marathons, is what I'm saying.
Ron Powers vs. Attila Khan(w/ Travis Cook): Interesting placement for this to be the finale. I didn't expect it to be a technical classic and it definitely fit that bill. It was an all-out fight and the referee seemed to allow a LOT of leeway for the first several minutes. Powers hit Khan with a chair outside the ring, then they brawled to the backstage area and re-emerged with Powers choking Khan with a rope. Once things were back in the ring, Khan and Cook passed the dreaded international object back and forth to keep the ref from seeing it...that allowed Khan to gain a sustained advantage by using the weapon. Travis got in at least one cheapshot with his cane, of course. This all led to Powers getting a hold of Khan's weapon and blatantly attacking Khan with it, drawing a DQ in 8:26. KHAAAAAN~!
Anywho, the top two matches for the next show have already been announced. Red River Jack will face Attila Khan(hmm...) and Flanagan will defend the Classic Title against Gary Jackson in Gary's "last shot at the title". Flanagan and Jackson traded wins late last year so this SHOULD settle the score...we shall see.
Nothing local in the next two weekends...Metro Pro Wrestling has a show on Saturday 1/31 in Kansas City.
February looks like this:
-Saturday 2/7: Dynamo in Fenton, MO; MMWA in St. Louis, MO
-Sunday 2/8: WIA in Edwardsville, IL
-Sunday 2/15: HRW in Belleville, IL
-Saturday 2/21: SICW in East Carondelet, IL; WPW in Collinsville, IL
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
P.S. We are all marks.
No comments:
Post a Comment