WLW Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Friday's World League Wrestling show at the Race Wrestling Arena in Troy, Missouri.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

The weather forecast for the past week seemed to be "torrential downpour"...thus, there were some slightly altered parking accommodations.  Fans had to go around the other side of the building to reach the lot, then park in a way that wouldn't require wading boots to reach the front door.  Good times.

The show actually started late(by about a half-hour) since some fans were having trouble getting to the venue.  The highway north of Troy was closed off and that may have forced some people to make detours; they had a decent turnout by the time the event officially got underway.  Ben Simon brought a friend to his first independent wrestling show who hadn't seen any wrestling at all in a long time...I feel bad for the collective infodump we imposed on him throughout the night.  (BWAHAHAHA~!)

Your ring announcer was Brian Thompson and your referee was Richard White.

They started with a ten-bell salute for Dusty Rhodes, Tommy Rogers, Buddy Landell, and Cora Combs(mother of former WWF competitor Debbie Combs).  The roster came out to ringside for the memorial tradition.  "I have been to too many funerals." -Batman.

Jon Webb vs. Michael Magnuson:  Hey, look who's back from Japan!  No sign of Jack Gamble on this night.  Magnuson's been getting the big singles push out of the Black Hand Warriors, but I didn't see Webb losing his first match back in the States.  Of course these guys are no strangers to each other; High Level Enterprise and the Black Hand Warriors have locked horns for the past few years or so.  Webb scored the upset with a rana into a flash pinning combination in 9:45...well done.

John E. Rock vs. Dangerous Derek McQuinn:  Steve Fender was conspicuous by his absence.  Rock has had trouble getting over the hump of title contention in WLW, though he still maintains his popularity.  McQuinn was Heavyweight Champion at one point, but he took a long break from wrestling before recently returning.  I think WLW's short-lived TV show on PAX was my first real exposure to independent wrestling before I attended any shows; McQuinn was one of the regulars around that time.  They had a solid matchup; the finish saw Rock climb the turnbuckles only for Derek to shove the ref into the ropes to knock him off-balance(HEEL~!).  That gave him the opening to end it with the spear in 13:12.

Cue they're-never-brief intermission~!  (Except for the first one at SICW last week, anyway.)  Concession count:  One Mountain Dew, one bottle of water.

"The Legacy" Leland Race vs. "The Ego" Dustin Bozworth for the Heavyweight Title:  Odd placement for the Heavyweight Title match, but the big push for this show was the tag tourney final so that would be the show-capper (or so we thought...).  I didn't expect Bozworth to have much of a chance here, though I figured it would be a good match prior to that conclusion.  There's so much wrestling content available nowadays that I think we sometimes take things for granted that fall into the realm of "solid but unspectacular".  Wrestling fans are definitely more difficult to please nowadays and I include myself in that category as well.  Bozworth had control when "Superstar" Steve Fender and Derek McQuinn ran in to attack Race, causing an indirect DQ win for Race in 17:31.  Bozworth didn't participate in the beatdown so he clearly wasn't aligned with the two(after all, they just ruined his title shot).  Fender teased cashing in his Harley Race Invitational Tournament trophy(which works like Money In The Bank)...but then he and McQuinn just left the ring instead.  I don't know if Bozworth's presence had persuaded him to wait for a better opportunity, but that wasn't made too clear here.

Stacey O'Brien vs. "Miss Natural" Heather Patera for the Women's Title:  These two have battled each other many times, including a matchup at the first High Risk Wrestling show last summer.  They had a best-of-five series for the belt which was won by Stacey, but the feud continued here.  As previously noted, the pool of female wrestlers is shallow compared to the guys...add in Missouri licensing and it gets downright miniscule.  From what I understand, the blood work and other such procedures required for a Missouri license get rather pricey...if a female wrestler isn't from the area, she probably has to weigh the cost-effectiveness of something they may only use a handful of times.  At least there are a few more options for wrestling promotions in Missouri nowadays, though WLW is the only one with a Women's Championship (MMWA's was dropped several years ago).  Saw Lucy Mendez in attendance and I wondered if she would do a run-in...heh.

This match was surprisingly short compared to the other bouts on the card...maybe the late start was a factor in that?  This was my first time seeing Stacey in her more traditional wrestling attire; she had used the plaid-skirt motif until recently.  Stacey countered a waistlock into a victory roll, but Miss Natural re-reversed into a pinning combination that left both women's shoulders on the mat.  I thought it was a double pin at first, but apparently Stacey got a shoulder off the mat and was declared the winner in 5:12.  (I wasn't in a good vantage point to see exactly what happened.)  Miss Natural grabbed the belt from the referee and challenged Stacey to a best-of-three-falls rematch for the August 29th show (featuring Ric Flair!).  Stacey agreed to it and they shook hands...but Miss Natural kicked her in the midsection and dropped her with the Natural Disaster(swinging fisherman buster).  This feud...MUST CONTINUE~!

Intermission numero dos...I am of the opinion that Harley Race could still kick just about anybody's ass if he so chose.  Don't mess with oldschool.

Brandon Espinosa & Justin D'Air vs. The Black Hand Warriors(Dave DeLorean & Jayden Fenix), Tag Team Title Tournament Final:  High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb) forfeited the belts before their trip to Japan and NOAH, leading to a four-team tournament for the belts.  DeLorean & Fenix defeated John E. Rock and Matt Creed while D'Air and "Kickin'" Kyle Roberts upset Fender & McQuinn.  However, Roberts suffered a broken collarbone in that matchup and has yet to return to action...Espinosa was the substitute partner for the tourney finale.  All four men have plenty of tag team experience, if not necessarily with each other.  Espinosa recently won the MMWA Tag Titles with the returning Ace Hawkins; they were also Pro Wrestling Collision Tag Champs a few years ago.  If I'm not mistaken, this was the first time he and D'Air had teamed up; D'Air has been teaming with Keon Option in Dynamo lately.  DeLorean & Magnuson were multi-time Tag Champs, but DeLorean & Fenix have been teaming more often recently as Magnuson moves into singles contention.  At the May show, Espinosa lost to DeLorean while D'Air fell to Magnuson in one-on-one bouts.

Espy established his character right away by turning the mutual handshakes into hand-kisses for both DeLorean and Fenix, then one-upped himself by kissing his tag team partner on the mouth...all righty then.  Espinosa and D'Air worked fairly well together as a unit, but the Black Hand Warriors subset had a slight advantage in that department.  They gained the advantage when DeLorean dropped Espy onto the ring apron with a Death Valley Driver...ouch.  D'Air got the hot tag and hit an insane somersault plancha onto (I think)DeLorean.  The good guys rallied with D'Air hitting a sweet Van Terminator-style dropkick onto DeLorean in the corner from the adjacent turnbuckles.  The closest near-fall came when Espinosa hit his powerslam variant(out of the Tombstone position) and D'Air followed up with the 450 Splash...I forget if Fenix broke up the pin or DeLorean kicked out on his own.  The Black Hand Warriors came back and DeLorean finally pinned D'Air after the Tombstone/top-rope double-stomp combo in 16:57...whew!  We have NEWWWWW Tag Team Champions!

Handshakes all around and DeLorean & Fenix celebrated...only to be jumped from behind by Fender and McQuinn!  This touched off an impromptu brawl with the former Gold Exchange partners getting the advantage on the worn-down titleholders...notably, Fender was in his wrestling gear after appearing in street clothes earlier.  As Fender & McQuinn gained the advantage, Fender delivered a series of strikes on Fenix(the less experienced member of the team)...and Derek followed up with the spear!  At that point, Fender lowered the boom...the trophy could be cashed in for ANY title shot, so he was using it to challenge for the Tag Team Titles!

The Black Hand Warriors(Dave DeLorean & Jayden Fenix) vs. Superstar Steve Fender & Dangerous Derek McQuinn for the Tag Team Titles:  The referee called for the bell and Brian Thompson didn't even have time to ring it before Derek simply covered Fenix for the pin...I'll just say 0:03 for the match time.  Once again:  We have NEWWWWW Tag Team Champions!

There's a lot of fallout from that show ending...are the Black Hand Warriors officially faces now or simply the lesser of two evils?  Will they be on the same page as their old rivals Gamble and Webb?  Where does Michael Magnuson stand, as he was nowhere to be found when his partners were being blindsided and screwed out of the belts?  We shall see...I haven't seen the results from the Saturday show in Chilicothe, so maybe something developed there.

Post-show Denny's run saw me discover my limit as it relates to chicken strips with buffalo sauce...I'm getting old, folks.  Blarg.

At any rate, it was another full weekend...Saturday was a rare open day, but there was still Sunday.  More on that next time...same Pat-Time, same Pat-Channel.

Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.

P.S. We are all marks.