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.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

It was another packed house at the SBAC for their monthly rasslin offering...from what I've seen of the show videos, they've been drawing really well for the past several months.  Shoutouts to both Timothy Miller and the Dirty Heinous crew for the videos from MMWA events.  Fans were loud for a good portion of the show...I hung around the MWR merchandise table with Brian Kelley, Dubray Tallman, Drew Abbenhaus, and Gary Weiss.

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

Steve Davis(of "Memories Of Elvis") sang the National Anthem...well done.

Ten-Man Battle Royal:  This would determine the top contender to Brian James' Survivor Title.  The only participants who didn't work other matches were Clownman Jacko, Jimmy D, and newcomer Tommy Dallas.  Dallas made a quick impact by throwing out J-Mal Swagg, then Kevin Lee Davidson threw out Jacko with help from A.J. Williams.  A.J. was the next to go at the hands of Tag Team Champ Andrew Wilder, then Dallas low-bridged K.L.D. to the floor.  LaMarcus Clinton went floorward thanks to Tag Champs Wilder & Johnathan Zulu.  The champs tried to double up on Jimmy D, but Brandon Espinosa dumped all three over the top rope.  That left Espinosa and Dallas...Wilder & Zulu stuck around ringside and low-bridged Espy, but he caught himself on the apron.  However, Dallas springboarded from the middle turnbuckle with a dropkick to send Espy to the floor for real in 3:48.  As far as I know, this was Dallas' debut...he seems to have a ready-made schtick with a bowtie and tearaway entrance attire.  Look forward to seeing what else he has to offer...he had a brief confrontation with Brian James afterwards.  (EDITS 4/15 after watching the YouTube video of the show for the eliminators I missed.)

"Risky Business" Everett Connors vs. Super Electro:  I miss "Electric Avenue" as Electro's theme music.  So sad to see former tag partners(from last year's Cinco De Mayo show) fight like this.  This match went a bit long for something that seemed to be a foregone conclusion.  It had been scheduled to be Connors vs. Laurence Johnson and I don't know why they changed it; Johnson was in the building as he came out for the Casta award presentation, so I don't know if it was an issue with injury or Missouri licensing.  The finish was weird as Electro appeared to get a shoulder up at the three-count but the ref called for the bell anyway...it was a blind cross-body off the second rope that led to the pinfall in 7:40.  Ben interviewed Connors after the match in Everett's first(to my knowledge) live promo...he said he was using his rematch clause to challenge Sean Orleans for the Jr. Heavyweight Title on May 2nd(MMWA's second annual contribution to the St. Louis Cinco De May Festival).

The St. Louis Connection(Andrew "The Wolf" Wilder & "Black Panther" Johnathan Zulu) vs. Brandon Espinosa for the Tag Team Titles:  Espinosa had beaten both men in one-on-one encounters and had manhandled both men at once on a few occasions, so he got it into his head that he could win the belts on his own.  (Notably, Espinosa has held every championship in MMWA except the Tag Titles.)  Wilder and Zulu are both smaller competitors and Espinosa has bulked up quite a bit in the past year, so it made for an interesting contest.  I'm personally not a fan of handicap matches, but they made this work as well as possible.  It took a double-team finisher(Samoan Drop/swinging neckbreaker combo) that finally sealed the deal as Wilder pinned Espinosa in 11:50.

Intermission~!  Missouri Wrestling Revival's Brian Kelley and Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling promoter Herb Simmons, along with SBAC President Al Bauman, presented promoter Tony Casta with the MWR Lifetime Achievement Award.  Independent promotions come and go, but MMWA(dating back to the days when SICW was under the same banner) has been running shows at South Broadway for literally decades.  Very few wrestling companies have that kind of longevity.  Bauman insisted that the Athletic Club would NOT be closing its doors any time soon, despite all the hubbub about financial issues.

Sean Orleans vs. Austin Blackburn for the Jr. Heavyweight Title:  Blackburn is another rookie out of MMWA training; I'm told he wrestled his first match in Memphis the previous night, so this was only his second matchup.  Orleans is in an odd place as a heel manager with no stable; the Elitism members seem to have gone their separate ways in MMWA.  As such, he's still building credibility as an active competitor.  Orleans is still relatively new to the in-ring game...given the experience level of both guys, this was fine for what it was.  Orleans won with the advanced curbstomp in 7:00.  Not sure how the rookie Blackburn got a title shot, but the championship committee was in an odd mood this month...

Moondog Rover vs. J-Mal Swagg for the T.V. Title:  Case in point...I honestly can't recall the last time Swagg won a match, but he got a title shot here.  I affectionately refer to the titleholder as Moondog OVAH~! as he's always very popular with the fans.  I recently learned that Rover was a part of the Moondog group in the USWA and briefly held their Tag Titles with Spot in 1996.  Swagg tried to work on the leg to get the big guy down, but it was all for naught; Rover got the win with the World's Strongest Slam in 6:17.  Moondog dished out a post-match beatdown with his trademark bone after the bell.

Barackus vs. A.J. Williams:  This was another interesting matchup as both guys are working their way up the rankings.  A.J. was slightly taller but obviously at a huge weight disadvantage.  He tried to go toe-to-toe with the big guy and that...didn't...go...well.  Williams turned it around when the fight spilled out of the ring and he ran Barackus into the ringpost...he definitely had an edge in the experience department.  The match ended out of nowhere with a sleeperhold...Barackus was still standing, but wasn't responding and the ref called for the bell in 6:26.  The big man slumped to the mat after A.J. released the hold...big win for him.

Heavyweight Champion Da'Marius Jones, "Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson, & Survivor Champion "Da Bomb" Brian James vs. Kevin Lee Davidson, Evan Gelistico, & LaMarcus Clinton:  Include Gary's SICW Classic Title and the face team were all singles champions.  It took the match a while to get started as the heels jumped the faces on the floor and they brawled for several minutes before Jay King FINALLY restored order for the opening bell.  Once things settled down into the standard tag formula(apparently it was originally scheduled to be a tornado-style six-man tag but was changed to a regular affair), the heels took control by isolating James.  K.L.D. has the size to make an impact once he has more experience...will be interested to see how he progresses.  Jones got the hot tag against Gelistico and I expected the good guys to cruise to victory...but Evan blocked the Paydirt finisher and got a jackknife cradle for the flash pin in 9:31.  Wow...I don't know if Evan had ever won an MMWA match before this and now he's pinned the champion.  They even announced him as the new number-one contender as a result of his victory...who'da thunk it.

Things will be busy for the next little while...here's how the next few weeks shape up:

-Friday 4/17:  SLA in Alton, IL
-Saturday 4/18:  SLA in Alton, IL; SICW in Millstadt, IL; WLW in Troy, MO
-Saturday 4/25:  SICW in East Carondelet, IL
-Saturday 5/2:  MMWA in St. Louis, MO(afternoon Cinco De Mayo Festival); Dynamo Pro in Fenton, MO(evening)
-Tuesday 5/5:  Dynamo Pro in St. Louis, MO(Off Broadway)
-Saturday 5/9:  Dynamo Pro in Wood River, IL; PWCS in Wood River, IL; MMWA in St. Louis, MO(South Broadway)

Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.

P.S. We are all marks.