Now, as promised, a special comment about Sunday's Outlaw Wrestling show at the Community Youth Center in Centralia, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
I was flying solo for this hour-long drive, as opposed to my previous trip to Centralia when someone else was doing the driving. The trip was pretty straightforward, though one-way streets made the return trip a bit trickier than expected. More on that later.
At least it wasn't nearly as hot in the gymnasium was it was at the previous show in August. Attendance was kinda light, but the fans were energetic. Ran into Mike Sharona at the show; hadn't seen him in a little while.
Your ring announcer was Rolan Greene; your referees were Jason Pemberton and a guy I didn't recognize.
The Viking War Party("The Gordiest Viking" Frank Wyatt & "The Littlest Viking" Jake Parnell) vs. The Firm(Dustin LeVey & Slade Sludge): Manager Winston McNastybones was absent for unexplained reasons. This played out as a straight tag match, as opposed to both duos' previous outings here...Outlaw Wrestling's rulebook tends to be glossed over on a good day. One of these days, someone in a no-DQ tag match will realize that they really don't HAVE to wait for a tag since they wouldn't be disqualified. Parnell was isolated from his corner for a while, but fended off the Firm members and superplex LeVey ONTO a bent-over Sludge in a crazy spot. Wyatt got the hot tag and cleaned house, including an exploder suplex on both opponents at once. The finish saw Wyatt drop LeVey with an Oklahoma Stampede while Parnell hung Sludge in the Tree Of Woe and delivered a double-stomp off the top rope. The Vikings got stereo pins(Wyatt & LeVey were legal) in 11:35, though it looked like LeVey and Sludge kicked out...they called it the finish anyway.
Random note: It turns out that Winston(Kyle McNeil) is also the long-haired ring announcer for St. Louis Anarchy who I had been unable to identify...so there's one long-term obscure mystery revealed. Bwahahaha...
I don't know exactly what happened there, but the timekeeper's attention span wasn't the best as he spent most of the show playing around on his phone. He missed his cue to ring the bell on more than one occasion and may have jumped the gun on the bell-ringing in this instance...YOU HAD ONE JOB, as the saying goes.
Manimal vs. Weylin The Mangler: I didn't expect this matchup to be very competitive. The masked Weylin is not a small guy, but the insistently-billed "300-Pound Manimal" had the obvious edge in size and power. Manimal brought a bone to the ring, though he has more of a caveman motif than, say, a Moondog gimmick. It wasn't a technical exhibition and wasn't meant to be; Manimal won with a big splash in 6:35.
"The Sports-Entertainer" Nick Doepp vs. Farmer Billy Hills vs. Mike Outlaw vs. J.J. Garrett vs. "The Leader Of The Pack" Stephen Wolf vs. Justin D'Air, six-way dance: My first impression of Doepp: Good God, it's Steven Kennedy's long-lost twin brother. Garrett has a "Swag" motif these days and I didn't recognize him at first, but then I hadn't seen him in a long time. Doepp and Wolf were the only ones who I had never seen before; I think Doepp is aligned with Mikey McFinnegan and Zakk Sawyers in IWA Mid-South. Several suicide dives ensued, including one scary moment when Outlaw practically landed on his head after getting caught up in the ropes! Fortunately he was able to continue the match...that was a scary landing. Hills was the biggest man in the match and dominated for a short stretch, eliminating Doepp after a lariat in 4:17. D'Air tried his hand, but Hills took him out with a muscle buster in 5:55. The remaining competitors finally wore down the big man and Wolf delivered an advanced curbstomp off the top rope, then finished with a shooting star press in 6:50. Garrett quickly eliminated Wolf in 7:06 with an aerial move that I didn't catch as I was writing down the previous pinfall(frog splash?), leaving him as one of the final two with Outlaw. They had a good exchange to end it and Garrett finished with the frog splash in 8:52. This was a fun bit of chaos.
Guns & Beer(Bo Gott & Duke Cornell) vs. The Age Of Alternative(Danny Adams & Austin Blackburn)(w/ Ozzie Gallagher): Ozzie introduced Blackburn as his newest recruit, then left ringside to prepare for his later matchup. Adams and Blackburn are both trainees of Michael Elgin so they know each other well. Of course, Guns & Beer are the more established duo; I haven't seen them very often, other than the one Dynamo outing against the Black Hand Warriors. They had a solid matchup; tag team experience was the determining factor as Gott pinned Blackburn in 7:25 after a suplex/neckbreaker double-team reminiscient of La Resistance's Au Revoir finish.
Paco Gonzalez vs. "The Money" Matt Cage: Don't get to see Cage often enough, but his star is rising in the independent wrestling world; he's made appearances for EVOLVE in the past year on top of his AAW exposure. Cage made headlines a few months ago when he came out as gay; that's a decision that isn't easy under normal circumstances and especially difficult in an environment like the pro wrestling business. Thankfully it seems like he's received a ton of support in response; he's a talented guy who will hopefully go far. Paco seems to be dropping the last name in recent months (depending on the promotion). These guys had a really good matchup with a lot of near-falls; after several false finishes, Cage won with the Money Clip(fireman's-carry into a roundhouse punch) in 14:09. YAY WRESTLING~!
Intermission~! I had two sodas for the evening; luckily the vending machine had soda cans for 75 cents each instead of the usual dollar that sodas tend to cost at wrestling shows.
"The American Viking" Alexandre Rudolph vs. Big Chris Mac: This was set up at the previous show when Rudolph confronted Mac after his dominant victory over Jeff Gant. Neither guy was used to facing an opponent of the other's sheer size, so it was more of a fight than a wrestling match...a fight that spilled out of the ring relatively quickly. Security had a tall order in trying to keep the fans out of harm's way. Rudolph brought a chair into play, but that backfired on him and the 400-pound Mac hit his standing moonsault(!)...for two. Mac went to the top rope, but Rudolph cut him off and delivered a top-rope chokeslam(!). However, The Viking couldn't make an immediate cover and Mac kicked out of the pin. Mac was able to fight back with a turnbuckle powerbomb, then delivered a second standing moonsault to finally get the duke in 13:25...eep. Mac riled up some ringside fans, including one who nearly stormed the dressing room area and had to be held back by security!
Bull Bronson vs. "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin vs. Blake Belakis for the Heavyweight Title: Belakis won a triple threat match with Rudolph and Zakk Sawyers to earn his title shot, but Elgin was a last-minute addition to the show and this became a triple threat contest. This got me really interested in seeing a singles match between Elgin and either of the other two guys in this matchup. Bull's a big guy to the point where he practically dwarfs Elgin! A good chunk of the match was Elgin vs. Belakis with Bronson outside the ring, but he got back into the fray in due time. Elgin nearly had the match won after a turnbuckle powerbomb on Belakis, but Bull broke up a potential spiral bomb and threw Elgin out of the ring. Bronson delivered his own powerbomb on Belakis and locked on a Boston crab for the tapout in 10:14...Bull retained his title and Elgin shook his hand afterwards.
(NOTE: At this point, my cellphone's battery was getting really low so I stopped using the stopwatch feature to time the matches...all times are approximate from here, using the main clock display from my phone.)
Lethal Injection(Brad & Briar Mercury) vs. Roscoe Eat Lisa("The Big Mustache On Campus" Mikey McFinnegan & "Zesty" Zakk Sawyers): McFinnegan & Sawyers brought out a megaphone...wonder if they borrowed that from Evan Gelistico? Have liked what I've seen out of the Mercury brothers so far. I realize finishers aren't as big a deal on the independent level, but it still bugged me to see McFinnegan kick out after L.I.'s wheelbarrow/advanced curbstomp double-team finisher. Also, by this point in the show, suicide dives were getting to the point of being REALLY overdone. It happens in WWE as well: If everyone's doing them, they're not as special. One more pet peeve...can the hot tag guy go a bit longer before tagging his worn-out partner back into the match? I see it way too often and it doesn't make the team look that smart. I know Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady have turned it into an art form, but it happened here with Briar taking a ton of abuse, Brad getting the hot tag, and then Brad tagging Briar after a rally of less than a minute. Anywho, McFinnegan pinned Briar after an over-the-shoulder slam combined with a re-entry neckbreaker drop by Sawyers...the match went about fifteen minutes.
Cash Borden vs. Gary Jay vs. Jeff O'Shea vs. "The Alternative" Ozzie Gallagher for the Gunslinger Title: This four-corner one-fall match would decide the first holder of Outlaw Wrestling's new secondary singles title. Hadn't seen Gary Jay as a fan favorite in quite a while. Took me a second to recognize O'Shea as I hadn't seen him in a bit; he was subbing for Shank Barzini. The format had two guys in the ring and two in the corners with tags allowed...though that fell by the wayside in a hurry. Borden was the best-known of the group as a fan favorite while O'Shea worked heel. Cash rallied at the end of the matchup, but Gallagher rolled him up with a handful of tights in about eleven minutes to become the NEWWWWW Outlaw Wrestling Gunslinger Champion!
The main event was scheduled to be The Hooligans vs. The Tryout Show Rejects, but they both wanted a piece of The Goon Squad so they called them out. That kick-started a triple threat match for the titles...
The Goon Squad(Deadly Dale & Idol Bane)(w/ Luscious Leo) vs. The Hooligans(Devin & Mason Cutter) vs. The Tryout Show Rejects(Reed Bentley & John Wayne Murdoch) for the Tag Team Titles: I think The Hooligans' other tag belts(All American Wrestling and Full Impact Pro) were on the line as well, but I don't remember too clearly. I had only seen Bentley once or twice before this and I hadn't seen Murdoch at all except in YouTube videos. It can be hard to get a read on someone in this environment; hopefully I'll get to see more of Bentley and Murdoch in a more traditional match. This main event was essentially a hardcore match as the three teams brawled all over the gymnasium. Leo was wearing a hospital gown for some reason. Weapons included a rake, a vacuum cleaner, a VCR(I NEEDED THAT~!), a wooden board, and a wooden table...all of which were left in shambles by the end of the match. The rake was used for some literal eye rakes and back rakes...har har. I had to scramble to stay out of the way of the chaos, as did several wrestlers who were watching from a corner of the gym. The fight finally returned to the ring and ended with Devin Cutter pinning Murdoch after a sitout Tombstone/top-rope double-stomp combo in 13:55(got the time from the YouTube video)...we have NEWWWWW Tag Team Champions!
Bentley and Murdoch threw a tantrum after the match, throwing chairs and other debris(LOOK OUT~!). In the meantime, The Hooligans and The Goon Squad members shook hands...weird to see that after a hardcore weapon-swinging grudge match, but the Code Of Honor seems to be spreading across the independent scene regardless of context.
After the ring announcer wrapped up the show, the wrestlers got the word to break down the ring *ASAP*...as it turned out, the venue manager had called the cops! I don't know the exact reason for that...the venue was a mess from the main event, plus some venue tables appeared to have been damaged in that brawl. I didn't have much time to talk to people afterwards for obvious reasons, though I briefly chatted with Outlaw, D'Air, Gallagher, and Adams at different times during the show.
As I was surveying the situation, Gary Jay asked if I could give him a lift home, noting that it might be a good idea to leave right away...I did not have a problem with that. Luckily we had his smart phone to provide directions as I had to negotiate a few one-way streets to get on the right path...we passed at least one police car heading in the direction of the building. We talked each other's ears off about wrestling and other things on the trip...I've known him since the early days of the Lethal Wrestling Alliance and he's had an interesting career thus far. He recently made his EVOLVE debut and has also competed for Full Impact Pro, so he's been making some waves lately. In talking to some of the harder hitters on the independent wrestling scene, his name often comes up as one of the guys who hits the hardest...given his size, most people wouldn't expect that. He's come a long way from his days as a "Barn Owl".
At any rate, that wrapped up an eventful weekend...next Saturday will be Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling's monthly offering from East Carondelet, IL with Bill Apter in the house. World League Wrestling also has a show on Saturday in Troy, MO. Locally, October wraps up with Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Glen Carbon, IL on Saturday the 24th. Meanwhile, I'll be on my CHIKARA excursion...video reviews will happen once I get the DVDs of the Dynamo and PWCS shows.
Right now, November looks like this:
-Friday 11/6: Pro Wrestling Epic in Brownstown, IL; World Powerhouse Wrestling in Jerseyville, IL
-Saturday 11/7: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Fenton, MO; Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Friday 11/13: St. Louis Anarchy in Alton, IL
-Saturday 11/14: St. Louis Anarchy in Alton, IL; Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in Swansea, IL
-Saturday 11/21: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Saturday 11/28: Wrestling Invades America in Swansea, IL; World Powerhouse Wrestling in Collinsville, IL
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
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