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.
Here's the thing, folks: I know that my type of fan has the reputation for "always complaining" and "focusing on the negatives". Thus, I try to go the other way and focus on the positives. If you're wondering why this is my style of commentary, there you have it.
Anywho, I knew that I would be seeing Dynamo Pro at least once this month, so I opted for PWCS last Saturday when Dynamo was in Eureka. No matches were announced for this show until the day before the event, at which point we found out about the two championship matches. They had a pretty good turnout despite the two-month break between Fenton shows and the fans were enthusiatic...sweet. (It looks like the show on the 29th is officially off, so I'll be going to World League Wrestling that night. FLAIR~!)
Several key players(including Ricky Cruz) were in Kansas City for Metro Pro Wrestling on Saturday and several titles changed hands at that event. Ace Steel beat A.C.H. for the Central States Title(a match I was hoping to see at High Risk Wrestling last year, but it was not to be) and Derek Stone lost the Heavyweight Title to Rebelucha in a shocking upset. However, Rebelucha unmasked and revealed himself to be Jeremy Wyatt! Truth be told, I had my suspicions about Rebelucha's identity...this stemmed from a St Louis-area show several years ago. After said show, I saw Wyatt in attendance despite the fact that he had not wrestled on the show, but Rebelucha had wrestled. I did the math from there("The Rebel" Jeremy Wyatt, see...).
(Jeremy Wyatt's response on Facebook: "Actually, some other guy is Rebelucha. I just beat him up and stole his gear. A little payback for him helping beat me the last 8 months. Sorry, Patrick, you haven't cracked the case just yet." DAMMIT!)
Your ring announcer was Chris Roedel, your assistant ring announcer was Luke Roberts, and your referees were Jay King, Richard White, & Patrick Hook.
The night started with the roster assembling at ringside for a ten-bell salute for Rowdy Roddy Piper. The female bartender was talking pretty loudly to someone at the bar, so someone in the audience yelled for her to shut up so they could do the ten-bell in silence...heh. As usual: I have been to too many funerals.
"The Valedictorian" Keon Option vs. The Snitch: Option would be the valedictorian of Straps-Down University, of course. Snitch is a new masked character seen at the Wood River show(vs. Mike Outlaw) and the recent Glen Carbon show(teaming with C.J. Berry against The Professionals). He was announced as hailing from "An Undisclosed Location" and had Chris Roedel tell the fans not to take any pictures of him or record any video...for his own protection, apparently. This was only the second Snitch match that I had seen, so I haven't got a good read on him yet. Option won a decent opener with the axe kick in 6:44.
The Bite Club(Rocket Mapache & Jackal) vs. Brandon Aarons & "Young & Dangerous" Evan Morris: This was a battle of fan favorite teams...we could use some heel teams in Dynamo, stat. The fans were into the match, which is usually a tough prospect for this setup. Aarons & Morris seemed to be the subtle heels for the evening. Rocket & Jackal are kid favorites, but Aarons & Morris would be a new challenge for the BHWs since they've faced The Bite Club a few times. Rocket & Jackal defeated Option & Justin D'Air at the Eureka show so they had momentum on their side. Fine matchup between the two tandems; it ended with Jackal's frog splash on Morris for the win in 8:36.
"The Madman" Paco Gonzalez vs. Brandon Espinosa: WWE's habit of shortening names seems to be infectious as Gonzalez is simply going by "Paco" these days. I hadn't seen him in a few months but he's kept busy with new bookings as a trainee of Michael Elgin. Espinosa is a guy who seems to add new aspects to his game on a regular basis, rarely sticking with the same gameplan and/or finisher for very long. He was a high-flyer early in his career, became a more well-rounded competitor, then started adding to his power game in the past few years. Now he's working on his submission arsenal; he focused his attack on the arm as he's done in several recent bouts. Paco had a really good underdog effort and they teased the upset on a few convincing near-falls. Paco went for the frog splash, but Espy got a hold of the arm on the landing and transitioned into the cross-armbreaker for the tapout in 11:32. He's gotten really good at quickly maneuvering into that hold...tremendous.
Justin D'Air vs. Tag Team Champion(?) Jayden Fenix(w/ Travis Cook): Chris Roedel is at the point where he just hands the microphone over to Travis for his personalized introductions. Both guys have really cool aerial moves and showed them in this matchup...have been seeing a bit more of Fenix's potential recently. They're both very young in their wrestling careers and I look forward to seeing how they progress. This one was a real tossup in terms of predicting a winner, something Ben Simon demands of me when we're both in the position of fans...heh. D'Air won with the 450 Splash in 8:15.
The Black Hand Warriors(Michael Magnuson & Dave DeLorean)(w/ Travis Cook) vs. High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb) for the Tag Team Titles: This would be Part MCMXVIII in the ongoing series between the two teams; their history extends across both Dynamo Pro and WLW and has involved the tag belts of both promotions. Notably, Gamble & Webb have never held the Dynamo Tag Titles and, if I'm not mistaken, had never beaten Magnuson & DeLorean in Dynamo. They're fresh off a tour of NOAH in Japan where they got to work with some of the most talented competitors in the world. Gamble & Webb won a four-corner match in Glen Carbon to earn this title shot.
Anywho...wrestling match, yay~! It's safe to say that these guys know each other pretty well and the fans were hyped. I felt like a title change was definitely possible as the Warriors have been champs for a while. Webb hit a reverse Frankensteiner on DeLorean with Gamble and Magnuson on the floor...Webb seemed to have it won, but Travis Cook pulled the referee out of the ring to stop the count. That caused a DQ in 14:12...aww. HLE win the match but not the titles...they got a couple of chairs(plastic) to take out their frustration on DeLorean, then delivered their own version of a double-team Tombstone to finish the job. These teams will meet again, I'm sure.
Intermission~! Only had a couple of sodas on this night.
It was announced that Davey Richards & Angelina Love would be in attendance for the next Fenton show on Saturday, September 5th. They will also be at a show on Sunday the 6th at the 4 Hands Brewery...so for the third year in a row, Dynamo Pro will have a wrestling show on my birthday. :-D
Mike Outlaw vs. "The Filipino Warrior" Elvis Aliaga: These two met earlier in the year when Outlaw was champion. Aliaga is a guy who has flown under the radar to some extent in the St. Louis wrestling scene; he's really underrated. Outlaw escaped the setup for the T.C.B.(Falcon Arrow) and got the win after a Mafia Kick in 12:15; good to establish an alternate finisher since the top-rope elbowdrop takes its toll when you do it regularly. Aliaga attacked Outlaw from behind after the bell, so I guess this'll be a full-fledged feud.
"Dirdey" Jake Dirden(w/ Travis Cook) vs. "The Don Mega" Shorty Biggs for the Heavyweight Title: I had just talked to both guys in the recent past about how they'd never had a singles match...well, there you have it. The first part of the match established that Dirden couldn't simply overpower Shorty due to his...I'll say "low center of gravity". Shorty is super-popular with the fans, especially the kids...it's hard to believe that he was a heel when I first saw him in 2004. Travis removed a turnbuckle pad behind the referee's back, leading to Dirden throwing Shorty into the exposed buckle and delivering a chokeslam...Shorty barely kicked out of the subsequent pin attempt. Shorty reversed things and sent Dirden into the exposed metal, then got his own near-fall after a spear. Alas, Dirden avoided a legdrop off the second rope and finished with the Asiatic Spike in 14:38...really good main-event matchup. Shorty speared Dirden so he could leave with his head held high. Co-promoter Crystal Young confronted Travis about his interference in both the Tag Title match and the main event, announcing that he was barred from the building for the September shows. All righty then.
Next weekend will be a busy one...Pro Wrestling Epic is running matches at the Party At The Beach music festival in Pontoon Beach on Saturday afternoon. The Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance has its monthly show at the South Broadway Athletic Club that evening. Also, Outlaw Wrestling has a show on Sunday night...not sure if I'm going to that one or not.
The rest of August looks like this:
-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: World League Wrestling in Troy, MO (Ric Flair appearing)
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
P.S. We are all marks.
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