MMWA Special Comment

EDIT 9/17: Elimination times added for the four-way match.

Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance show at the South Broadway Athletic Club in St. Louis, Missouri.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

As my previous blog post indicated, the King Of St. Louis (Cable) Cup Tournament has become an annual tradition in MMWA.  The winner gets Money In The Bank privileges to get a Heavyweight Title shot at a time and place of his choosing...and the previous four winners(Brandon Espinosa, Dave Osborne, Brian James, & Da'Marius Jones) won said championship within a few months of their tournament victories.  Last year's tourney changed the format from a straight eight-man tournament to four first-round matches leading into a multi-way final.

The weather has cooled down considerably, meaning it wasn't nearly as stuffy in the beautiful and/or historic SBAC as it had been in previous months.  I did see a few people leave the show early, though that can just be the occasional product of a show running long.

Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referees were Brian Stoltz, Nick Ridenour, & Jay King.

Jr. Heavyweight Champion J-Mal Swagg vs. "Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson, Non-Title, Tournament Round 1:  This was a rematch from last year's tournament, but Swagg's stock has risen since his championship victory a few months ago.  Moreover, Gary went into the match with some sort of knee injury; his knee was bandaged under his kneepad and he was visibly limping after this matchup.  Swagg gave him a good fight, but Gary was able to get him in the Texas Cloverleaf for the tapout in 6:58.  My picks to advance to the finals were Gary, Swagg, Brian James, and LaMarcus Clinton, but those guys were all matched up with each other in the first round...

Andrew "The Wolf" Wilder vs. Clownman Jacko vs. Brandon Aarons, Tournament Round 1:  Aarons was a last-minute addition to the show in general and the tournament in particular; it was the first time in several years that I had seen him in the heel role.  The tournament had been a bit lopsided with five fan favorites and three rulebreakers on the list of participants.  Since triple threat matches generally have no countouts, Aarons tried to stall outside the ring in the early going.  The match mostly consisted of Aarons fighting with one of the faces while the other was out on the floor.  Unfortunately, Wilder's recent issues with "Wild Child" Billy Diamond surfaced as Diamond made his way to ringside for a distraction.  Wilder had hit the Call Of The Wild(inverted swinging neckbreaker) on Jacko, but abandoned his pin attempt to go after Diamond.  Aarons was able to capitalize and hit the Go 2 Sleep on Wilder for the win in 6:11.

Barackus vs. "The Enforcer" Jimmy D, Tournament Round 1:  I wasn't sure which way this one would go...the big man has been a bit more vulnerable in recent months and I could have seen Jimmy D cheating to win.  Barackus won a relatively short match(3:51) with a clawhold into a modified chokeslam.

"Da Bomb" Brian James vs. LaMarcus Clinton, Tournament Round 1:  I leaned toward L.M.C. on this one to even out the face/heel balance in the tournament final.  Wouldn't mind seeing a rematch in the future as they seemed to work together really well, but the match ended right when it was starting to pick up steam.  Attila Khan made a random appearance and snapped James' throat off the top rope, leading to L.M.C. getting an ultra-cheap rollup pin with feet on the ropes in a mere 4:10.

Intermission~!  Concession count:  Two Mountain Dews.  At different points in the night, I chatted with Drew Abbenhaus, Ben Simon's friend Matt, and visiting Dynamo wrestlers Mike Outlaw & Justin D'Air.  Outlaw & D'Air are facing A.J. Williams & L.M.C. at High Risk Wrestling in a few weeks, so they got to do some scouting as they enjoyed the show...

The Eternals(Brandon Espinosa & "The" Ace Hawkins) vs. Tommy Dallas & Varik Morgan for the Tag Team Titles:  Newcomer Morgan was Dallas' mystery partner; Dallas upset Espinosa in a singles match in August to set up this bout.  From what I understand, this was Morgan's second match ever; he made his pro debut in Memphis(as did Austin Blackburn before him).  Given the limited experience of the challenging team, I thought the match came off well.  The underdogs rallied near the end of the match and Varik set up for a suicide dive onto Hawkins, but Espy blatantly bashed him with a chair for the cheap DQ in 13:21.  BOO~!

Cue the heel beatdown, but Commissioner Jim Harris was unimpressed by the title retention...he announced a rematch for October, but the belts would change hands on a disqualification.  LINEAR BOOKING~!

"Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson vs. Barackus vs. Brandon Aarons vs. LaMarcus Clinton, Four-Way Dance Tournament Final:  It was announced that eliminations could occur via pinfall, submission, or disqualification...but nothing was said about countouts, so the match started with all four men brawling outside the ring.  Aarons took a painful-looking Barackus bodyslam on the hardwood floor, but the ref politely explained to the big man that pinfalls had to take place in the ring.  Aarons would get some payback once the match re-entered the ropes...Barackus missed an avalanche and Aarons rolled him up with a handful of tights to eliminate him in 6:02.  (I don't have times on anything but the ending; it was after Ben Simon's five-minute announcement, so the falls took place within a few minutes of each other.)  The heels briefly ganged up on Jackson, but the you-hold-while-I-superkick setup worked as well for Aarons and L.M.C. as it once did(repeatedly) for Shawn Michaels and Diesel.  Aarons accidentally dropped L.M.C. with the kick and Gary pinned Aarons with a small package in 7:47, then shortly thereafter got the final fall on Clinton with a backslide in 8:27.  WOO~!

Gary pulled no punches after the match:  He wanted the big belt back, the one he had held many previous times but hadn't held since early 2013.  CUE THE RULES~!

Moondog Rover vs. Attila Khan, no-DQ match for the T.V. Title:  These two had fought to a no-contest in July and then a time-limit draw in August, so we were guaranteed a winner in this one.  On top of the no-DQ stip, the time limit was extended to thirty minutes.  Just like their previous bouts, there was very little in the way of technical wrestling; they just brawled in and around the ring and hit each other with whatever weapons were available to them.  Khan's trademark fork came into play as well as Moondog's bone and a steel chair.  This match ended with another random interference spot as Jimmy D made his way out to ringside to distract Moondog, then choked him down with a towel(apparently soaked in ether, going by the accounts of ringsiders).  That left Rover dazed and Khan capitalized with a DDT for the win and the championship in 10:42!  Brian James hit the ring to get some payback for Khan's earlier interference...Jacko and Andrew Wilder tried to assist as well, but they weren't in the best of shape from their earlier action and were fended off relatively quickly.  Jim Harris announced that Khan would defend his newly-won title against Brian James at the October show...I believe L.M.C. has a title shot in the future as well(earned from his triple threat match victory in August).

Survivor Champion Kevin Lee Davidson vs. Da'Marius Jones vs. A.J. Williams for the held-up Heavyweight Title (Survivor Title not on the line):  Then-champion Williams and Jones fought to a double-fall draw in July; Jones had Williams in a triangle hold and A.J. maneuvered Jones' shoulders to the mat, but he tapped out as the referee counted three on Jones.  They had a one-on-one rematch in August to settle the dispute, but K.L.D. interfered and laid out both men...leading to this matchup.  A.J. had still been carrying the title belt with him, insisting he was never beaten for it.  K.L.D. had an obvious size advantage over both men, but they were able to work together on a few occasions to knock the big guy down and get him out of the ring.  Jones and Williams had some impressive offense as each hit major dives to the floor in the early going.  However, this led to several big power spots for Davidson as he gave both men a released German suplex at the same time.  Later in the bout, he got both men on his shoulders at the same time for a Regal Roll!  My compatriots agreed that the Regal Roll would probably be a good finisher for him as opposed to the frequently-used spinebuster.  I thought this was a really good match and the fans had a lot of energy even at this late stage of the evening.  K.L.D. had been steamrolling the competition lately, including an impressive wrestle-royal victory in which he pinned both Barackus and Gary Jackson to get the win.  The finish saw Davidson Irish-whip Jones into Williams to knock him off the ring apron...one spinebuster later, Davidson pinned Da'Marius to win the championship in 12:43!  K.L.D. has a dedicated cheering section at South Broadway and the finish got a mixed reaction that leaned in the positive direction...Jones has been hinting at a heel turn on social media in recent months, so maybe that's the direction he'll take.  Meanwhile, A.J. was not pinned in this matchup, so I imagine he'll still think of himself as the titleholder.  Of course, Gary Jackson is waiting in the wings...he nearly beat K.L.D. in a tag match last month, but LaMarcus Clinton broke up the Cloverleaf for the DQ.  I imagine that K.L.D. will forfeit the Survivor Title since you can't hold two championships at once in the MMWA...but then being a dual titleholder seems to be what all the KEWL KIDZ are doing nowadays(WWE/U.S. Champion Seth Rollins, ROH Heavyweight/T.V. Champion Jay Lethal).

Post-show:  Denny's!  It was just myself, Ben, and Matt...I wasn't overly hungry so I just had the cheese fries...always a great choice when one has to get some shut-eye upon arriving at home.  (Err...)

The rest of September looks like this:
-Saturday 9/19: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Sunday 9/20: Wrestling Invades America in Swansea, IL
-Sunday 9/27: High Risk Wrestling in Cahokia, IL

October will be busy as well...for my part, I will apparently be making a road trip to CHIKARA!  More on this as it develops...

Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.

-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991

P.S. We are all marks.