Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's St. Louis Anarchy show at the Knights Of Columbus Hall in Alton, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
This was an interesting show as very little was set up beforehand. Davey Richards was scheduled to get a shot at the SLA Heavyweight Title, but he cancelled to work the EVOLVE show in Florida. As a result, a multi-way match was scheduled with the winner to get a title shot later in the night. A handful of matches were announced after Friday's show, but the main feature was the Tag Team Title tournament final. Got to see former LWA manager Jewells; it was her first indie wrestling show in quite a while.
This time around, my trip to the show wasn't quite as adventurous...I made sure to use an ATM from my bank's branch so I wouldn't have to deal with the fee. There was an overturned flatbed truck across the median as I got onto Highway 64, but thankfully I was taking the ramp onto 255 so I wasn't delayed for very long.
Your ring announcer was Mullet Guy; your referee(who had a really long night) was P.J. Drummond.
Jojo Bravo vs. "The Big Mustache On Campus" Mikey McFinnegan: Both guys were looking to rebound from the previous night...Jojo came up a bit short against SLA Champion Gerald James while McFinnegan and Zakk Sawyers lost to A.C.H. and Davey Vega in the first round of the Tag Title Tournament. This was essentially face-vs.-face and a good fast-paced opener...Jojo won with a jackknife cradle in 6:21.
Ricky Starks vs. Brandon Espinosa: Espy was NOT liked by the fans after his actions toward Angelus Layne the previous night. Interesting, Layne came out during the bout and seemed to be rooting for Espinosa...she said she "forgave" him for his previous actions, but her attempts at interfering in the match seemed to misfire more often than not. Ultimately, her attempted blind trip caused her to hook Espinosa's leg by mistake...Starks got the win with Angel's Wings in 8:31. A post-match argument ensued...Espy nearly repeated his actions from Friday but Layne blocked the punch, then unloaded on Espinosa with forearms until he retreated from the ring. Looks like that honeymoon is over...but as long as she was in the ring, we might as well move on to her match...
Angelus Layne vs. "The Littlest Viking" Jake Parnell vs. "The Madman" Paco Gonzalez vs. Donovan Danhausen vs. Jordan Lacey(w/ Greg Jovi) vs. Alex Castle: This would determine Gerald James' challenger for the SLA Title later in the night. The face/heel balance was a bit off with four faces and two heels, but this style of match tends to be chaotic as a rule. It was a good move to give an "underdog" a title shot on a night when the Tag Title tournament finals would be the main event...it reminded me a bit of Dynamo's gauntlet-style six-way dance from November. Paco got the fall with a turnbuckle-walk DDT on Angelus in 10:51...interesting choice of contender.
Steve O. Reno vs. "The Millenial" Danny Adams: Adams is doing really well for his short time in TEH BIZ(less than a year)...good for him. Have only seen Reno a few times in recent months(he's from Texas); hope to see more of him in the future. Adams won with a double-leg pin and feet on the ropes(FLAIR~!) in 8:02.
Zakk Sawyers vs. Trik Davis: Given the youthful apperance of both participants, I wondered if this would be a winner-gets-his-driver's-license match. *runs* Anywho, they had a fun matchup with Trik as the heel for the weekend...things were starting to run together a bit in my head at this point(ugh). Sawyers scored the slight upset with a brainbuster in 11:24.
A.C.H. vs. Louis Lyndon: St. Louis Anarchy beat High Risk Wrestling to the punch by about a month on this one. A.C.H. brought a basketball and hoop to the ring, then actually had fans "hold" Lyndon while he dunked the basketball onto his head...heh. A fan returned the hoop to A.C.H. by placing it over his head...so would it be wrong to say that A.C.H. was "rimmed" in front of a bunch of people? *ducks thrown objects* We got a bit of "Stone Cold A.C.H." here as he went through the Steve Austin moveset, including the mudhole-stomping and Thesz Press. This was a lot of fun and one of the longest matches of the weekend...A.C.H. hit the Stone Cold Stunner and followed up with the Hero's Grip v2.0(German suplex into an O'Connor Roll pinning combinatino) for the three-count in 19:05.
Intermission~! Trying to mix up my beverage choices between soda and water...at the very least, root beer doesn't have caffeine. Yes, I've reached THAT age. :P
Davey Vega(w/ A.C.H.) vs. Jonathan Gresham: The Cthulhu motif continued to get over for Gresham...he's really stood out in his recent appearances. A.C.H. went to the backstage area at the start of the match, but he came back out to root for his tag team partner and roommate. Vega was hobbled by a recent knee injury(it was heavily braced at both shows) and Gresham targeted the bad limb...A.C.H. actually directly interfered at least one, which was unusual. They traded brainbusters in the finishing stretch(FIGHTING SPIRIT~!) until Vega finally got the win after a brainbuster onto the knee in 14:21...your opinion on this would probably depend on how you feel about the Japanese "jump up from big move" spots.
Mat Fitchett vs. Evan Gelistico: Gelistico had spoken about his new "Cause" but didn't elaborate at the time...this was Fitchett's official return to the ring for SLA after revealing himself to be the man behind the Dangerous Deveroux mask. I was banking on Fitchett being in the six-way match, but I'm guessing his title shot will happen at Circus Maximus. Fitchett won a competitive match with a modified flying headscissors in 10:27.
"American Viking" Alexandre Rudolph vs. Joe Heiken: Martial artist Heiken started by pulling his headband over his eyes as a makeshift blindfold...then blocking Rudolph's early strikes without the benefit of vision. Neat. The strategy only worked for so long, unfortunately...but it turned into a fun matchup with the contrast in styles. Rudolph won with the Goozleplex(half-throttle/half-waistlock released German suplex) in 6:13.
Gerald James vs. "The Madman" Paco Gonzalez, Heavyweight Title Best-Of-Three-Falls Match: These two had a fun match at Pro Wrestling Epic last month, so this promised to be another spirited affair. Gerald didn't have Dorian Victor in his corner, so the fans chanted for Gary's Mom and Gary's Dad in the early going...he wasn't taking his challenger too seriously. James won the first fall with a lariat(!) in 4:27...but Paco surprised him with an offensive flurry: Turnbuckle-walk DDT, superkick, exploder suplex, and another superkick for an upset pinfall in 10:53! Even if it wasn't for the title, it was a pretty big deal for Paco to score a fall on Gerald James in St. Louis Anarchy. Gonzalez put up a heck of a fight, surviving not one but TWO of Gerald's Michinoku Drivers...but Gerald finally had enough and beat him down with a "ground-and-pound" attack(did I get that right, MMA people?) until the referee stopped the match in 13:57. The champ retained once again...several of the fan favorites made their way to the ring to check on Paco after the bell and he was assisted to the backstage area.
The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter) vs. Team BOSS("The Rebel" Jeremy Wyatt & Christian Rose)(w/ Greg Jovi), Tag Team Title Tournament Finals: The Cutters defeated Brandon Espinosa & Angelus Layne and then The Viking War Party to reach the finals. Team BOSS got past Ricky Starks & Steve O'Reno, followed by The Roommates to get to this point. This one promised to be a classic battle and another good style contrast between the brawling Hooligans and more technical Wyatt & Rose. Team BOSS had a strategy as Wyatt bashed Devin Cutter with a chair and rammed him into the wall, leading to the Vikings assisting him away from ringside. That left Mason Cutter on his own for a large portion of the matchup, but he was able to withstand the assault. Gerald James ran him from the front door to blindside Mason with his title belt, but Mason surprisingly kicked out of Wyatt's pin attempt! (A fan nearly got his hands on Gerald as he ran back out the front door...eep.)
Devin finally made his way back to the ring to assist his brother, sparking the Hooligans' comeback...after a lot of close calls on both sides(including a wicked superkick/Lightning Spiral combo by Team Boss), Mason finally pinned Rose after the Hooligan Driver(wheelbarrow/second-rope flying DDT combo) in 24:08 and The Hooligans were the first St. Louis Anarchy Tag Team Champions!
The night wasn't quite over as a suit-clad Evan Gelistico made his way to the ring with a surprising cast of characters: Danny Adams, "Risky Business" Everett Connors, and the returning Adam Raw! They beat down the new champions in short order and fended off other wrestlers as well...Gelistico showed off a book labeled "THE RULES" and declared that The Cause would bring law and order to St. Louis Anarchy. I guess they're an offshoot of "The Commission" from Metro Pro Wrestling...Anarchy has operated with relaxed rule enforcement for most of its existence so this will be an interesting development...
The next month or so will be busy around here...
-Saturday 4/25: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Saturday 5/2: Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO (Cinco De Mayo Festival/afternoon); Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Fenton, MO
-Tuesday 5/5: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO (Off Broadway)
-Saturday 5/9: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Wood River, IL; Pro Wrestling Championship Series in Granite City, IL (new venue); MMWA in St. Louis, MO
-Saturday 5/16: SICW in East Carondelet, IL; World Powerhouse Wrestling in Hartford, IL
-Sunday 5/24: High Risk Wrestling in Cahokia, IL
-Sunday 5/31: Wrestling Invades America in Swansea, IL
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
P.S. We are all marks.
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