Dynamo Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Dynamo Pro Wrestling show at the Stratford Inn in Fenton, Missouri.

DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.

My commentary schedule is putting me up against the wire as Dynamo has a very ambitious schedule for the first few weeks of May. They have a show at Off Broadway tonight with a lucha libre theme; the only announced match is a trios match featuring Mike Outlaw, Justin D'Air, and Keon Option against "Los Guerreros Mano Negra"(Black Hand Warriors). (Just added to that show: Ricky Cruz vs. Brandon Espinosa vs. Brandon Aarons and Bumrush Brothers vs. Bite Club.) Also, Dynamo makes its debut in Wood River on Saturday at the venue previously used by Metro East Championship Wrestling.

As for this past Saturday's event, only the two title matches were announced until a few days before the event. More was added in the previous week, including the long-awaited grudge match between Ricky Cruz and Brandon Espinosa. Attendance was noticably lower than usual...there were a few factors on Saturday night, including a Cardinals game in St. Louis and some boxing thing between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Chalk it up to an unfortunate scheduling coincidence and move on...the fans who were in attendance had a good time, at any rate. One of my comedian friends has been attending Dynamo shows lately and he's been having a blast.

Your ring announcers were Chris Roedel & Luke Roberts; your referees were Patrick Hook, Richard White, & Jay King.

The show started with Executive Director Mark Bland, Missouri Wrestling Revival's Brian Kelley, and Robert Hickman from Rollin' Around Food presenting the MWR Female Wrestler Of The Year plaque to Lucy Mendez...woo. Rollin' Around has several egg rolls varieties on the menu named after local wrestling personalities; these include Crase's Cordon Bleu(referee Michael Crase), The Danimal's Ham & Cheese(Dan Walsh), Mark's Buffalo Chicken(Mark Bland), and Lucy's Taco...err, no comment.

Outtkast vs. Michael Magnuson(w/ Travis Cook): This confirmed that it would be Dave DeLorean and Jayden Fenix defending the Tag Team Titles for the Black Hand Warriors later in the show under "Freebird Rules". (Technically all three did win the Tag Titles.) It's apparently trendy since it sounds like The New Day will be doing the same thing in WWE. World League Wrestling seems to be following a similar pattern as it's DeLorean & Fenix in their ongoing Tag Title tournament with Magnuson getting a singles push. These two have had plenty of battles in tag team competition but this was their first one-on-one meeting. Outtkast had it won with the Case Study, but Travis distracted the referee and Magnuson recovered to win with the Vertebreaker in 10:00. Don't see that move too often any more...

Brandon Aarons vs. Justin D'Air: This was a rare face-vs.-face battle for a Dynamo show. D'Air has been impressive in his recent outings, but Aarons had the experience and power edge in this bout. D'Air got some close near-falls, but Aarons took the win with a half-nelson suplex in 9:18.

"Young & Dangerous" Evan Morris & Keon Option vs. "The Millenial" Danny Adams & "The Alternative" Ozzie Gallagher: Two-two-two feuds in one! Adams turned on Morris earlier in the year, plus Option and Gallagher have been fighting recently. They had a solid matchup that told the intended story, setting the table for future singles bouts. The good guys cleaned house near the end as Gallagher took out Gallagher with a Side Effect, then Morris pinned Adams after the frog splash in 9:56. The heels attacked post-match and Gallagher choked out Option with a dragon sleeper...these feuds MUST CONTINUE~!

Mason Conrad vs. Elvis Aliaga(w/ Lucy Mendez): Conrad was making his Dynamo debut; he's from the Chicago area and competes for Galli Lucha Libre (where Ricky Cruz is a regular). Conrad looked good and I suspect we haven't seen the last of him in this region. Lucy's distraction led to Aliaga getting a cheap rollup pin with a handful of tights in 11:49.

Intermission~! Ate a good enough dinner that I wasn't feeling hungry on this night...their fries are excellent, though.

After intermission, Luke Roberts interviewed a representative from SHARE, a national non-profit organization that provides grief counseling and other support for families that have lost children during pregnancy or immediately after birth.  Dynamo will be holding a benefit show in July with the proceeds going to SHARE.

"The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz vs. Brandon Espinosa(w/ Lucy Mendez): These two were Wacky Mismatched Tag Partners Who Hated Each Other But Still Won The Tag Titles(tm), but the alliance fell apart after they lost the belts. After Ricky lost the title to Mike Outlaw, the two cost each other championship opportunities against Outlaw and that finally led to this matchup. Both guys came out swinging in this one...wasn't expecting a technical classic due to the previous grudge. Cruz won out of nowhere with a modified Anaconda Vice(didn't get a clear look at the hold) in 9:15.

The Black Hand Warriors(Dave DeLorean & Jayden Fenix)(w/ Travis Cook & Alexander P. Dixon, Esquire) vs. The Bite Club(Rocket Mapache & Jackal) for the Tag Team Titles: Rocket & Jackal came very close to capturing the Tag Team Titles, but Cruz & Espinosa robbed them of the opportunity at the last minute. When the time came for them to get their fair shot, Rocket was injured and Jake Dirden substituted, leading to Dirden & Jackal winning the belts. However, Dirden turned on Jackal and the Bite Club reunited when Rocket returned to action. I'm not sure why Travis' attorney is still around, though that question would be partially answered later in the evening (foreshadowing~!). The Warriors focused their attack on Jackal's arm for most of the bout, but Rocket finally got the hot tag to clean house. However, the superior teamwork went in the favor of the champions...DeLorean pinned Rocket after a Tombstone/top-rope double-stomp combo in 13:33.

Mike Outlaw vs. "Dirdey" Jake Dirden(w/ Travis Cook, The Black Hand Warriors, & Alexander P. Dixon, Esquire) for the Heavyweight Title: The deck was stacked against the champion for this one. Dirden's primary motivation had always been the Heavyweight Title that had been stolen from him by then-rulebreaker Ricky Cruz about a year ago. He teamed with Jackal to get his hands on Cruz, but the Tag Titles sidetracked him from his ultimate goal and he turned on Jackal once he realized that. His relationship to Travis Cook hasn't been made clear as Travis has been absent from his corner for a few recent matches. This was the standard David/Goliath bout as Outlaw had to chop the big man down to size...fortunately for the champion, Dixon was a bit too eager to interfere and got caught in the act. The referee ejected the lawyer from ringside, but that still left several outside parties to get involved. Late in the match, Outlaw dove off the top rope onto the crowd of humanity...then Justin D'Air and Keon Option came out to run off the BHWs. That left Travis Cook at ringside for the home stretch.

Outlaw seemed poised to come out on top once again, hitting the High Noon(top-rope elbowdrop). However, Travis physically stopped the referee from making the three-count...the official could have called for the DQ right there, but instead he argued with the manager. Outlaw grabbed Cook and decked him, but then Mark Bland encouraged him to use Dixon's forgotten briefcase as a weapon. Outlaw picked up the case and thought about hitting Dirden with it...but he didn't want to win that way and dropped the case. Bland argued with Outlaw, but that distraction led to Dirden getting the case and blasting Outlaw with it himself. This all happened right in front of the referee...the official moved to call for the disqualification, but Bland surprisingly ordered him to count the pin cover instead. As a result, the three-count was made and Jake Dirden became the first two-time Dynamo Pro Heavyweight Champion in 15:39! I don't know if this is a heel turn for Bland or what, but I guess we'll have to wait for the full explanation...perhaps as soon as tonight at Off Broadway.

Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.

P.S. We are all marks

P.P.S. I neglected to mention how eventful the rest of my evening was.  After passing on a post-show food run, I left Stratford to head home...only to discover that my right front tire had gone flat.  Luckily, I wasn't on the highway yet...I called Drew Abbenhaus and Gary Weiss and they helped me to put the spare tire on the car.  I had the car manual and some vague idea of how to do things, but I don't know if I could have done that for myself.  Much appreciation and the first beer is on me when we meet at another wrestling show.

I made it home on the spare despite a half-hour highway drive and planned to drive to Firestone on Sunday afternoon to get the tire fixed...only to have the SPARE go boom shortly after I got off my home street.  I called for a tow truck to get me and my car to Firestone...the tower recognized me from comedy, making it twice in as many days that that happened.  Bwahahaha.  I was overdue to get new tires anyway and the blowout happened on one of those tires, so I just asked to get those tires replaced while I was there.  They had to keep the car until late Monday afternoon, so my next destination was Enterprise Rent-A-Car for a truck to get me around in the meantime.  Whew.

All things considered, I was fortunate that neither blowout happened at a time when it would have put me in danger(on the highway, in the middle of traffic).  Also, the tire replacements were going to be happening anyway...hopefully my insurance will cover some of the towing and rental costs.  Quite the adventurous weekend, as it turned out...