Dynamo Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Dynamo Pro Wrestling show at the Sports Academy in Glen Carbon, Illinois.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

Dynamo's July show has become an annual charity event...last year was the benefit for stroke victims.  This year, a portion of the event proceeds(including several raffles) went to SHARE Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support.  It was a cause that hit close to home for Luke Roberts as he and his wife lost their twin daughters late last year.

The turnout was a great improvement from last month's Glen Carbon event, which I was glad to see.  The media blitz for the benefit certainly helped, but time will tell if they can keep the audience for future shows.

Your ring announcer was Chris Roedel, your secondary announcer was Luke Roberts, and your referees were Michael Crase & Richard White.

The show started with Luke speaking on the meaning behind the event and acknowledging those behind it.  It was an emotional topic for him and he was proud of his part in this event...Dynamo Pro Wrestling received several awards for it.

C.J. Berry & The Snitch vs. The Professionals(Shawn Santel & Mauler McDarby):  Berry and Snitch debuted at the Wood River show in May; Berry lost to Jake Dirden and the masked Snitch was defeated by Mike Outlaw.  Santel & McDarby have flown under the radar in terms of presence and allegiance to Travis Cook's Organization...of course, all it would take to insert them into the championship picture would be one question to their manager:  "Where's our title shot?"  The promotion is a bit heavy on the side of face tag teams, so having a few other heel duos is probably good for the moment.  As you might expect, The Professionals dominated most of the bout...they got a few "Amateurs" chants, har har.  They finished with a nice double-team combo:  A back suplex by Santel with a middle-rope elbowdrop by McDarby.  That allowed McDarby to pin Berry in 5:00.

Rachael Freeman vs. "The Queen Of Chaos" Lucy Mendez:  Cue exposition~!  I've followed Georgia's Anarchy Wrestling through their TV show on YouTube, dating back to their affiliation with the National Wrestling Alliance and even the Wildside days.  A few years ago, a heel manager named Miss Rachael debuted...nowadays, she's a part of the promotion's biggest heel stable.  I eventually discovered that she also wrestles(as a fan favorite) in other organizations in the southeast.  When she recently mentioned on social media that she was looking for out-of-state bookings, I mentioned that the St. Louis area was pretty busy these days...heh.  As it turned out, she grew up in this area so this was a homecoming of sorts.  It's always cool to see new faces on the wrestling scene, especially of the female persuasion.

Lucy Mendez is in an interesting spot as she's clearly and gleefully a heel, but the fans don't really want to boo her.  "I disapprove of your tactics while still appreciating your physical beauty!", or something.  Five hundred feet means five hundred feet and all that.  Anywho, the match was solid for a first-time encounter...going by the social media discussion of the outcome, I could see round two taking place on Rachael's adopted home turf in Georgia.  Rachael got Lucy in her inverted STF finisher but Lucy reached the ropes to force a break.  When Rachael got her in the hold again, Lucy raked the eyes to escape(HEEL~!), then finished with a Codebreaker in 8:04.  Hopefully these two will meet again...

The Black Hand Warriors(Michael Magnuson & Dave DeLorean)(w/ Travis Cook) vs. The Bite Club(Rocket Mapache & Jackal) for the Tag Team Titles:  Travis came out to gloat over the lack of competition, saying all of the other tag teams were tied up with the four-corner contenders' match later in the show so they had the night off.  That brought out Rocket & Jackal for an impromptu challenge, seeing as how they hold two previous wins over the champions(the four-way dance where they lost the belts to Ricky Cruz & Brandon Espinosa, then a later contenders' match).  DeLorean and Jayden Fenix retained the titles against the Bite Club a few months ago, but Rocket & Jackal have a pretty good record against the Magnuson/DeLorean combo.  Things got chaotic near the end of the bout, allowing Travis to BELT Jackal as he was setting up Magnuson for the Killswitch #2(turnbuckle-walk Tomakazi).  The Warriors finished off Jackal with the double-stomp-spike Tombstone(DeLorean providing the stomp-spike) in 10:19.

Brandon Aarons vs. Adrian Surge:  Surge was another competitor making his Dynamo debut; he competes in central Illinois for Strictly Nsane Pro Wrestling.  Aarons has been doing really well lately and he's someone who might benefit from the addition of a secondary singles title in Dynamo.  Aarons showed a more aerial style in this one to combat Surge's ground game, finishing with a double-stomp off the top rope in 10:05.

Intermission~!  Concession total for the night:  Two bottles of Gatorade.

Mike Outlaw vs. Jayden Fenix(w/ Travis Cook):  This was Outlaw's first step back up the ladder to a shot at Dirden's title, but Cook wasn't going to make it easy for him.  Hopefully the departure of ol' whatshisname will allow Outlaw to compete under better circumstances...with the redundance of two ring announcers, maybe Luke Roberts could become the resident authority figure?  (Okay, that didn't go down a good path in the Lethal Wrestling Alliance...)  This was a really fun matchup; these two seemed to work well together.  Outlaw got the clean win with the High Noon(top-rope elbowdrop) in 10:02.

"The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz vs. "Young & Dangerous" Evan Morris for the IWRG Rey De Ring Title:  These defenses of the Rey De Ring Championship have been interesting since a lot of them have been face-vs.-face battles; Ricky seems to play the subtle heel role as a result.  Morris has been putting in the road miles lately, working a lot of NWA-affiliated events across the country.  They had a good competitive matchup, though the fans weren't sure who to support...Cruz won with a pop-up Diamond Cutter in 7:53.

The Bumrush Brothers("The Don Mega" Shorty Biggs & Outtkast) vs. High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb) vs. Justin D'Air & Keon Option vs. "The Filipino Warrior" Elvis Aliaga & "The Freestyle Phenom" Jay Howard(w/ Lucy Mendez):  This was for the next shot at the Tag Team Titles; Shorty & Kast have feuded with the Black Hand Warriors for the past year and a half.  HLE's feud with the Warriors has gone through World League Wrestling as well as Dynamo.  D'Air & Option nearly won the belts at the last Fenton show, but a decision reversal left the belts on the Warriors.  Aliaga was scheduled to team with Brandon Espinosa, but Espy was reportedly injured; he worked the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance show but presumably didn't want to risk his physical well-being any further.

This was a chaotic matchup from the get-go and a bit imbalanced with three fan favorite teams as opposed to only one rulebreaking tandem.  Outtkast and Webb fought on the floor in the early minutes, leading to Outtkast being Irish-whipped into the sideboards of the soccer field and Webb diving off the sideboard onto him.  Several wrestlers hit planchas out of the ring...Lucy teased a dive off the turnbuckles, but the guys seemed all too eager to catch her so she backed off.  Bwahahaha...anywho, lots of finishers and near-falls ensued until Gamble hit D'Air with the Blue Thunder Bomb, then Webb finished with a second-rope moonsault in 17:31.  The Black Hand Warriors vs. High Level Enterprise feud continues...Magnuson & DeLorean attacked after the match and tried to set up for their stomp-spike Tombstone finisher, but Gamble & Webb nearly reversed the move into their own attempt before the Warriors bailed.  Nice tease of coming attractions...

"Dirdey" Jake Dirden(w/ Travis Cook) vs. "The Irish Luchador" Billy McNeil for the Heavyweight Title:  This was set up as an open challenge on Dirden's part...not sure what the endgame is for Dirden's reign unless they're building to Outlaw regaining the belt.  Billy threw everything at Dirden that he possibly could have thrown...he had to go aerial to counteract the size and power disadvantage.  His resilience kept him in the match as he survived a lot of power moves from Dirden, including his signature chokeslam.  At one point, McNeil got him down and hit two frog splashes in a row for his most convincing near-fall of the night...but it wasn't quite enough.  Dirden caught him in the Asiatic Spike and McNeil didn't surrender, but he passed out from the pain and the arm dropped thrice in 16:20.  That was all she wrote...

Next up are a pair of World League Wrestling events as part of the Lincoln County Fair in Troy, Missouri...they're on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and I'm planning to go on Tuesday(at least).  The rest of July looks like this:

-Saturday 7/18:  Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Saturday 7/25:  Gateway Elite Wrestling in Lake Ozark, MO; World Powerhouse Wrestling in Collinsville, IL
-Sunday 7/26:  High Risk Wrestling in Cahokia, IL

Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.

P.S. We are all marks.