Now, as promised, a special comment about Sunday's Wrestling Invades America show at the Improvement Center in Swansea, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
I do my best to have a good time at whatever wrestling show I attend. These guys don't have the best reputation, but they're using a better ring and better in-ring talent at recent shows. I seem to be developing the reputation of being fair and diplomatic to a fault...to the point where some people feel like I go "too easy" on stuff that deserves harsher criticism. At the end of the day, I'm one fan paying for one ticket and writing one whiny blog.
They had a really good turnout for this show and the fans were hot for most of it...good for them. Especially cool when you consider it was their first show in a new venue.
I didn't know the names of the ring announcer or two out of the three referees(Jason Pemberton was the one I recognized). Bud Locco was the deejay for the night, playing music between segments and occasionally adding a "GOT 'EM!" sound effect during matches.
Several promos started the show...some in the ring, others played via video projector(which was awkward for people who weren't facing that wall). I'll admit to being unclear on the big storylines of the group, but apparently Tyler Copeland seized control of the company from Robert Dorsey by siding with The Landlord and Dorsey is vowing to get it back. (Notably, The Landlord did not appear in an official capacity all night, but I briefly spoke to him after the show.)
Leone Mephisto did an in-ring promo where he complained about not getting a one-on-one match for the Pro Wrestling Epic Title against Brandon Aarons, but he vowed to win the belt anyway. He had a heated verbal exchange with an overenthusiastic ringsider...heh.
After a highlight video, we got another promo segment with Tyler Copeland(w/ Heavyweight Champion Jonathan Napier). Copeland did the talking and said that he had been removed from his position as C.E.O. of the company...apparently his post-match abuse of Kandi Kane at the previous show put him over the line. It's not finalized yet, but he brought out (Trystan) Brady Shadeux(w/ Nicholas Newman) as his nominee for the next C.E.O. Of course, Shadeux promised to do what was Best For Business^H^H^HThe Empire.
My personal opinion: Wrestling fans go to independent shows to see something different from what's on television. If they wanted to see a wrestling show with a whole lot of talking, they could watch one on Monday nights. That being said, they probably felt like establishing the main storyline for first-time fans at the new location. Always liked when the Lethal Wrestling Alliance(predecessor to St. Louis Anarchy) would do a video recap at the start of the show.
Da'Marius Jones vs. Brandon Espinosa vs. Kevin Lee Davidson: This was scheduled to be Jones vs. K.L.D. with Espinosa issuing an open challenge later in the show, but Espy inserted himself into this bout to make it a triple threat. (Notably, that situation happened at the WLW show as well.) I thought this match went really well; K.L.D. had a strong singles match with Jones at MMWA a few months ago. Espinosa pinned Jones in 10:01 with a sick move that started like a Blue Thunder Bomb but turned into a modified piledriver...the referee hesitated on the three-count but finally counted Da'Marius down for three (hate that awkwardness). After the match, everyone went for the Mutual Respect/Code Of Honor thing...but Espy cheapshotted Jones before leaving the ring. Notably, K.L.D. did shake hands with Da'Marius on the way out.
Battle Royal: This was scheduled to be a five-way contenders' match; only Clownman Jacko and Taylor Champion were involved out of the original listing of competitors. (Absent: Barackus, Symon Phoenix, and Joey Grunge.) Oddly, Tyler Copeland was in Champion's corner...I'll need to check their YouTube channel to find out if there was some kind of reconciliation between the two. The other battle royal entrants were MMWA rookie Austin Blackburn, Big Tex(Jim Hoffarth), Flaming Freddie Fury, and Chase Daniels(had never heard of him). Daniels entered with a breakdancing performance, earning him a big clothesline from Hoffarth...bwahahaha. Tex quickly disposed of Daniels, then the other four ganged up on Tex to get him out. Champion eliminated Blackburn, then he and Jacko momentarily joined forces to get rid of Fury. Copeland tried to help Champion win, but the interference backfired and Jacko threw him out in 7:09. The plot thickens...guess it'll be a slow burn to the actual split.
Brandon Aarons vs. Leone Mephisto vs. LaMarcus Clinton, three-way dance for the PWE Heavyweight Title: L.M.C. has really broken out as a personality in recent months...cool for him. These guys worked well together, as I expected out of any combination of the trio. L.M.C. took a sick bump when Aarons gave him a Snake Eyes and he was basically lawn-darted into the middle turnbuckle. Mephisto eliminated L.M.C. via rollup while holding the ropes in 4:55 and I momentarily forgot that it wasn't a one-fall match...heh. The two had a good closing exchange, ending in Aarons delivering a half-nelson suplex for the win in 7:25. I haven't heard much about PWE lately; their next scheduled show is at a Pontoon Beach music festival in August.
Intermission~! Had a root beer, burger, and Ski soda. Still working on that reduced sugar intake. Bud Locco performed one of his songs during this time and a bunch of kids were jumping around on the ring and ropes...hopefully security was been keeping an eye on everyone to make sure no one got hurt.
Chase King(w/ Kandi Kane) vs. "Infamous" Tyler Copeland(w/ Nicholas Newman), no-DQ match: These two faced each other at the December show with Copeland Cheating To Win(tm). Kandi upset Copeland at the February show and was in King's corner to counteract Newman's presence. (Newman seemed to be in The Landlord's usual role as the Empire's manager.) A lot of weapons came into play, including chairs and a chain with a dog collar attached...King hooked the collar around Copeland's neck at one point and dragged him around the ringside area. Newman interfered with a Diamond Cutter on King and that brought in Kandi with chair in hand. She fastballed the chair at Newman and then took down Copeland with a flying headscissors, but Copeland finally cut her off. Four chairs were set up, but King stopped Tyler from dropping Kandi and slammed Copeland across the chairs with a modified Death Valley Driver! The match really peaked at that point, but it continued for a few more minutes...King took out Newman with a cradle piledriver and then set up chairs at ringside. Tyler recovered with a series of low blows and then knocked Chase off the apron, causing him to fall on the chairs. King fought out of the Last Chancery this time around, but Copeland beat him down with a chair. A piece of plywood was set up across four chairs(in lieu of a table, presumably) and tacks were dumped on the setup...but King slammed Copeland off the turnbuckles and through the wood and tacks. That was enough for the win in 15:59...all righty then.
Robert Dorsey had a promo segment with Gavin Alexander and Jayson Virtue about the main event...I didn't hear all of the promo, but it sounded like Alexander & Virtue wanted to fight their own fight without Dorsey's allegiance. That left Dorsey despondent and even the fans were heckling him as he left the ring...
Darkside vs. "The Enforcer" Jimmy D for the Interstate Title: Darkside regained the title from Symon Phoenix at the February show; Jimmy D defeated Brady Shadeux to win their feud at that show. This match...wasn't very good, nope. I don't know anything about Darkside's background, but I haven't seen much out of him in the matches I've seen. The worst part was that they couldn't decide who the fan favorite and rulebreaker were in the matchup; Darkside has been a heel but he turned on Landlord at the previous show(maybe that's why Landlord was absent here?). Jimmy D was a face up to this point, but he made a point to trash-talk the local sports teams in comparison to his billed hometown of Boston (he even wore his Red Sox jersey). That just left the fans with no one to clearly support. In the end, Jimmy won by DQ when Jacko(who had earned a future title shot with his battle royal win)flattened Jimmy with his Big Top Drop(second-rope senton bomb) in 10:30. It wasn't clear who was on whose side by the end of this segment...
Gavin Alexander & Jayson Virtue vs. Heavyweight Champion Jonathan Napier & Jason Allen(w/ Trystan Brady Shadeux): Amongst all the big guys in the ring, the much smaller Allen stood out like a sore thumb. I'm not too familiar with his background either; he won a triple threat match at the December show but didn't wrestle in February at the SIUE event. I'll need to pull up some of his other work and watch more of his matches. Thought this was a solid tag match, all things considered...Napier is another guy that I haven't seen very often and need to research a bit more. Alexander got the hot tag, bonzo gonzo, backfired double-team by the heels, Gavin pins the champion Napier after the Paydirt in 14:00. Good setup for future attractions...
They announced their next show as being on September 20th at SIUE, so put that down on the already full calendar.
A very busy June looks like this:
-Friday 6/5: Ring Of Honor in Collinsville, IL
-Saturday 6/6: Metro Pro Wrestling in Kansas City, KS (feeling ambitious so I may bum a ride across Missouri for this)
-Sunday 6/7: Outlaw Wrestling in Centralia, IL (may check this one out)
-Saturday 6/13: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Fenton, MO; Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Friday 6/19: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Glen Carbon, IL
-Saturday 6/20: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Friday 6/26: World League Wrestling in Troy, MO
-Saturday 6/27: World Powerhouse Wrestling in Hartford, IL
-Sunday 6/28: High Risk Wrestling in Cahokia, IL
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
P.S. We are all marks.
No comments:
Post a Comment