Now, as promised, a special comment about Sunday's High Risk Wrestling show at the VFW Hall in Cahokia, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
Of the two shows last weekend, I would say that I had higher expectations for this one. I would also say that I expected WPW to have the better attendance. Simply put, I was accurate on both counts.
I wish I knew the answer to HRW's attendance woes, but if I knew how to draw people to a wrestling event, I'd probably be a promoter myself. (No matter how messed-up my head is, I still haven't seriously thought about running a wrestling promotion.) For what it's worth, the people who attend the HRW shows are enthusiastic about the action.
Your ring announcer was Frank Thurman; your referees were Jay King & Nick Ridenour.
"Eight-Pack" Jarrod Jaxx vs. Jayden Fenix vs. Thomas Walton III(TW3) vs. "Midwest Jackass" Dale Patricks vs. Justin D'Air vs. Brian Skyline: There were several new faces in the opener; had to look them up when I got home from the show. Jaxx and TW3 are both from Milwaukee. Recognized Skyline's name from previous IWA Mid-South lineups. This was originally scheduled as a triple threat match but Jaxx, TW3, and Skyline were added. Patricks made his HRW debut a few months ago; he came out to "YMCA" which flabbergasted the other competitors. Scorecard: Bad guys were Jaxx, Fenix, and TW3; good guys were Patricks, D'Air, and Skyline. This was a fun match, albeit too short to really get a read on the newer guys; it was my first time seeing three of them and only my second time seeing Patricks. D'Air won with the Buff Blockbuster on Fenix in 3:52. Magic Man scouted the match and talked to D'Air afterwards, perhaps looking to bolster the ranks of Magic Inc....
John E. Rock vs. Eli Machete: Machete is a student of The Black & The Brave Wrestling Academy; I'll get to his trainer in a moment. I've seen Rock a few times recently at World League Wrestling. The HRW roster has a lot of turnover, to the point where it gets tough to keep track of all the newcomers...and perhaps the fans have trouble connecting to people that may or may not be around for long. A solid bout ended with Rock's swinging-uranagi-into-a-DDT finisher(sort of a low-altitude F-5) in 5:32.
Marek Brave vs. Adrian Alexander: Brave was a rising star on the independent circuit several years ago in both singles and tag team competition; however, injuries put him on the shelf and he didn't return to the ring until fairly recently. His tag partner at the time was some guy named Tyler Black, who you might know nowadays as WWE Champion Seth Rollins. Alexander is another student from The Black & The Brave Wrestling Academy; I saw him once or twice on 3XW's YouTube show. Brave is also a regular at 3XW, recently capturing their Pure Wrestling Title from Kraig Keesaman. This was a really good matchup with Alexander as the heel...Brave won with a superkick in 12:36 (after the time limit had been announced as ten minutes...oops *sheepish grin*).
Mike Outlaw(w/ Magic Man) vs. "The Last Real Man" Silas Young: Silas continued to throw shade on the Wayne's World cap...aww. Outlaw's had a tough run of opponents in HRW lately: Takaaki Watanabe, Tony Kozina, and then Silas. This was another strong matchup, ending with the veteran blocking a re-entry sunset flip and holding the ropes(HEEL~!) for the tainted victory in 10:49. Given the lack of cheap heel moves in mainstream wrestling lately, it's actually refreshing when I do see them.
Intermission~! Concessions: Burger and can of Coke. Mmm, burger. Next show was announced as being on September 27th.
"Diamond Cut" Ace Perry vs. "Tornado" Tony Kozina: Speaking of the youngster/veteran dynamic, here we go again. One of my compatriots tried to start an "ACE PERR-EE" chant that left Ace slightly embarrassed...heh. It's a tried-and-true match formula for the veteran heel to outwrestle the upstart fan favorite...right up until the overconfidence allows the young punk to make a comeback. Kozina worked heelish though I don't recall him outright cheating. Perry got a near-win after a Diamond Cutter, but Kozina got the win with a Sister Abigail in 13:09. Respect? Perhaps.
Sugar Dunkerton vs. "The Blue-Eyed Devil" Tripp Cassidy: Cassidy made his St. Louis-area debut in the same match as Perry and Patricks; this was Dunkerton's first Midwest appearance other than one Beyond Wrestling taping. I first saw Sugar as Kareem Abdul-Jamar in NWA Anarchy; he would move on to CHIKARA as part of the original Throwbacks with Dasher Hatfield. He's scheduled for the next pair of St. Louis Anarchy shows, so I'll see him then as well; I look forward to seeing his bouts with Outlaw and Steve O. Reno. Dunkerton has great charisma and these two worked well with each other; Dunkerton won with a brainbuster in 9:58.
Team I.O.U.("Limitless" Nick Iggy & "The Music City Mutt" Kerry Awful) vs. High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb): This was my first time seeing Gamble since his trip to Japan; he and Webb weren't quite heels, but Iggy & Awful definitely had the popularity advantage. Iggy & Awful(and even referee Jay King) kept interjecting themselves into HLE's entrance pose, so they redid their entrance(twice!) until they could pose uninterrupted. Awful took the abuse for his side until Iggy could finally tag into the match; after several near-falls for each side, Iggy got the fall on Gamble after I.O.U.'s dropkicked Michinoku Driver double-team in 11:38. Well done. No word on the vacated Tag Team Titles as of yet.
"Bad Wolf" Blake Belakis vs. "The Supercharged Superstar" Bolt Brady(w/ Magic Man) for the Heavyweight Title: Brady defeated Silas Young by disqualification to earn this shot. Cool to see Belakis on a regular basis these days. They had a really good main-event matchup and I wasn't sure who would win(always a plus). The end came when Bolt delivered a Dominator and Silas Young showed up at ringside, grabbing Magic Man and threatening him. That distraction allowed Belakis to capitalize with a PALM STRIKE~!...for a close near-fall. Brady recovered to get his own near-fall with an O'Connor Roll, but Blake's kickout sent him right into a cheapshot by Silas with Magic Man's cane. That was enough for Belakis to cover for the pin in 13:21 and retain his title...D-OH!
Belakis and Young sought to do some post-match damage, but Magic Man rallied the troops to run them off: Outlaw, D'Air, Dunkerton, and Kerry Awful. Who will be next to challenge Belakis? Guess we'll have to wait until September to find out...
August looks like this:
-Saturday 8/1: Pro Wrestling Championship Series in Granite City, IL; Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Eureka, MO
-Saturday 8/8: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Fenton, MO
-Saturday 8/15: Pro Wrestling Epic in Pontoon Beach, IL(afternoon); Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Sunday 8/16: Outlaw Wrestling in Centralia, IL
-Friday 8/21: St. Louis Anarchy in Alton, IL
-Saturday 8/22: St. Louis Anarchy in Alton, IL; Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Saturday 8/29: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Glen Carbon, IL; World League Wrestling in Troy, MO
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
P.S. We are all marks.
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