Dynamo Special Comment

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.

The start of my year's wrestling odyssey was postponed when I got the hosting spot at Hey Guys Comedy on the 2nd.  This was a full weekend as the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance also had their first show of the year at the South Broadway Athletic Club.  Despite the temperature dropping over the weekend, the show had a good turnout...the entrance door was slightly different due to a musical act performing in the main bar section of the Stratford venue.

I am back on the Dynamo commentary crew as I recently recorded for a few show DVDs; I hadn't called a DPW event since the December 2014 event video.  I recently worked with Jeffrey Wilson as well as Luke Roberts; I look forward to doing more in the near future.  I hung out with Jeffrey for most of this show and we had a good conversation over the course of the evening.

Your ring announcer was Chris Roedel, your assistant ring announcer was Luke Roberts, and your referee(who had a long night) was Patrick Hook.

"Cowboy" Ric Maverick vs. Bahamut:  This was a rematch from the 4 Hands Brewery show; that match ended in a quick no-contest when Jake Dirden attacked both men.  These two were virtually unknown to the Fenton crowd as they hadn't wrestled at this venue before; as such, there wasn't much crowd reaction to either guy.  Bahamut now has ring gear that makes him look like a distant relative of CHIKARA's Swamp Monster.  Bahamut won pretty quickly with a Vader Bomb in 2:30.

C.J. Shine vs. Jayden Fenix:  Shine is the artist formerly known as C.J. Berry...had to confirm his name with Crystal.  He made his debut at last year's first Wood River show in a one-sided loss to then-new champion Jake Dirden.  He's still pretty new and hasn't developed a character yet, so the fans weren't too familiar with him either.  Fenix did a good job of running his mouth to get the fans against him...he's a better talker than I would have thought.  Fenix won by reversing an O'Connor Roll into his own rollup for the pin (holding the tights...HEEL~!) in 6:02.  On top of that, the guys were practically in the ropes during the fall...but then Patrick Hook had a long night anyway.

Jackal vs. "The Alternative" Ozzie Gallagher:  This was the revival of one of Gallagher's earliest feuds.  Gallagher was greeted at the guardrail by Sadie Blaze...he hadn't been at a Dynamo show in several years and, in fact, had a rocky parting of ways with the promotion.  It was a surprise to see him in attendance at all, let alone playing a role in the show.  After a competitive match, Gallagher blocked the Killswitch #2(turnbuckle-walk Tomakazi) and rolled up Jackal with feet on the ropes for the cheap victory in 5:40.  Gallagher went over to Sadie to celebrate, but Sadie took exception to Gallagher's tactics and told him in no uncertain terms...hmm...  Rocket Mapache came out to check on his partner, but the damage had been done.

"The Don Mega" Shorty Biggs vs. Kiyoshi Shizuka(w/ Lucy Mendez):  Shorty had a reunion with Sadie before the match, so it seems as though the red-haired one is changing his attitude in general.  The masked newcomer Shizuka had previously competed for Gateway Elite Wrestling but this was his Dynamo debut.  Shorty's recent infatuation with Lucy continued; I jokingly suggested that Shorty should have a match with Elvis Aliaga for the right to take Lucy out on a date.  (That would lead to some entertaining vignettes...bwahahaha.)  I wish there were more female wrestlers in the area so we could see Lucy in the ring, but such is life.  The match was longer and more competitive than I was expecting; Lucy tried to slap Shorty but hit her own man by mistake.  That led to Shorty finishing with the Shortcut(corkscrew snapmare driver) in 14:06.

Dave DeLorean vs. Justin D'Air vs. "Young & Dangerous" Evan Morris vs. Rocket Mapache vs. Billy McNeil(w/ C.J. McManus) vs. Outtkast, D-1 Title Qualifier:  The winner will join Jayden Fenix and Elvis Aliaga in next month's triple threat match to determine the first holder of Dynamo's new secondary singles championship.  McManus was announced as being part of the "Midnight Society", which is the group that includes Jayson Khaos(D'Mon G) and Shawn Reel(Shawn Almighty)...he and Billy even used the original Midnight Express theme.  Rocket was a last-minute replacement for Shawn Santel, leaving the match with five fan favorites and one rulebreaker(DeLorean).  It was non-stop action, as you would expect from this kind of schmozz match...of course we got the requisite multiple dive sequence.  Rocket was the first to be eliminated as he was superkicked and pinned by Morris in 5:34.  D'Air pinned Morris after a Buff Blockbuster in 7:06.  D'Air got one of the most impressive moves of the match:  DeLorean was laid out and it looked like D'Air was setting up for a top-rope move on him, but he jumped completely over DeLorean to deliver a Van Terminator-style dropkick on McNeil in the far opposite corner!  Unfortunately, D'Air was the next to go as DeLorean pinned him after a sleeper suplex(a la Kevin Steen) in 9:37.

McNeil and Outtkast had an exchange for old times' sake (they had battles over the GCW Light Heavyweight Title in 2002), but McManus' interference backfired as he accidentally tripped his own man.  That led to Outtkast pinning Billy after the Case Study in 11:15, leaving Outtkast and DeLorean as the final two.  The two know each other well through the feud between the Bumrush Brothers and the Black Hand Warriors; Outtkast edged out the final win via small package in 14:32.  Shorty congratulated his partner after the matchup...so it'll be Outtkast vs. Aliaga vs. Fenix next month to crown the first D-1 Champion!

Intermission~!  Thanks to free refills, I had three Coca-Colas on this evening.  I know Ben Simon cares.

"The Yoga Monster" Mike Sydal vs. "The Filipino Warrior" Elvis Aliaga(w/ Lucy Mendez):  This promised to be a good match; I figured they would work well together.  Aliaga is kinda underrated as he's not overly flashy, but he's a good foil for someone like Sydal.  Jayden Fenix made his way to ringside during the bout; he didn't go out of his way to distract anyone, but Aliaga did get sidetracked a few times by Fenix's presence.  As a result, Sydal was able to score the upset(in my mind) via Yogasault in 9:10!  After the match, Fenix talked some trash to Aliaga...that brought out Outtkast to add his two cents to the proceedings.  A semi-oblivious Elvis proclaimed himself to still be the greatest despite the loss...heh.

High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb) vs. Michael Magnuson & "The Millenial" Danny Adams for the Tag Team Titles:  This was scheduled to be Adams teaming with fellow Michael Elgin protege Paco Gonzalez as "The Alpha Class"; the teams had a match for Proving Ground Pro in central Illinois a few months ago.  However, Paco wasn't there(not sure why) and Adams threw out an open call for a tag team partner to volunteer his services; Magnuson was the one to step up to the plate.  It seems like the three Black Hand Warriors are being positioned to do their own individual things these days; as good as any two(or three) people are as a tag team, eventually many wrestlers will move past that point.  Magnuson and Adams have been good tag team wrestlers...just not with each other, as they weren't on the same page at several points in this matchup.  The final miscommunication led to the downfall of the challengers as Webb superkicked Magnuson into a fireman's-carry spinebuster by Gamble, allowing Gamble to get the fall in 14:41.  Afterwards, Magnuson took issue with his partner and ate a double superkick from the champs for his efforts...then Adams laid out Magnuson with a reverse Stunner.  Ladies and gentlemen, we have a face turn.  Magnuson ranted afterwards about how Adams had blown the match and how the Black Hand Warriors were the true dominant team...all righty then.

Mike Outlaw vs. Brandon Espinosa, no-DQ match:  The first encounter between these guys was in February of 2015; Ricky Cruz cost Espy the match to then-champion Outlaw.  They had a match in November where Espinosa got disqualified for a blatant low blow and they were scheduled to fight again at the Ready Room show, but Outlaw had "mysterious" transportation problems and wasn't able to make it to the venue.  That led to this no-DQ showdown and it was billed as a top-contender match on top of that...the plunder was readily available for both men to use...Outlaw brought a steel chair to the ring.  Throughout the fight, a kendo stick came into play along with more chairs and a stop sign(Madman Pondo!).  Espinosa targeted the arm in an attempt to set up the cross-armbreaker, but Outlaw wasn't the type to surrender so easily.  I really liked this matchup and thought it went well...the crowd was definitely into it.  Outlaw went for the High Noon(top-rope elbowdrop) but Espy blocked it with a chair, doing more damage to the arm...then Espinosa went to town with the kendo stick.  He delivered several strikes to the arm, two deliberate shots to the groin, and then finished with a kendo stick shot to the head in 15:19!  Ruthlessness was the difference-maker in this one and Brandon Espinosa become the top contender to the Heavyweight Title!

"The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz vs. "Dirdey" Jake Dirden(w/ Black Hand Warriors) for the Heavyweight Title:  The history ran deep in this one; they first crossed paths in April of 2013 with Dirden scoring a huge (albeit questionable) win.  The battles continued with each man transitioning between the fan-favorite and rulebreaker sides, leading up to this grudge match with the title at stake.  Dirden had Magnuson, DeLorean, and Fenix by his side from the opening bell...the interference came early, but Ricky took them all out with a somersault plancha and they retreated to the backstage area.  They had one of their best battles to date, but it was doomed to another indecisive finish as Espy made his way to ringside for a closer look at the title belt.  Cruz confronted Espinosa and decked him before re-entering the ring...he seemed to have Dirden beaten after the Cruz Control(swinging fisherman buster), but Espy ran in for the DQ/no-contest in 9:01...D-OH!  Mike Outlaw, still hurting from the earlier matchup, ran in for the save and all four men battled it out until Dirden & Espy bailed out of the ring...so Ricky challenged Dirden and Espy to an impromptu tag match.  Dirden and Espy weren't interested and were both trying to leave with the championship belt, resulting in an argument over possession of the gold.  However, Dynamo co-promoter Crystal Yount was fed up with all of the non-finishes to recent main events and ordered the match to happen...even threatening to fire Dirden if he didn't get back in the ring!

Heavyweight Champion "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz & Mike Outlaw vs. "Dirdey" Jake Dirden & Brandon Espinosa:  This was a good quick brawl...the rulebreaking duo tried to work together, but Dirden BOOTed Espy in the mush by mistake and Outlaw rolled up Dirden for the flash pin in 2:40!  That was Outlaw's first Dynamo victory over Dirden...and I would suspect that it puts him right back in the running for a potential title shot.  Hmm...four-way dance?  We shall see...

Next weekend will be interesting for a few reasons.  Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling starts its year in East Carondelet, IL on Saturday, but Ring Of Honor will be in Collinsville that night as well.  The two groups had been on the same page in the past, though ROH had usually run on Friday nights when they were in the area.  I suspect that ROH and SICW draw different audiences of wrestling fans, though...

Rounding out the month of January, Dynamo returns to Wood River, IL on Saturday the 23rd.  There's nothing in the immediate area on the 30th, but I may bum a ride to Metro Pro in Kansas City or something...

That's my special comment for this, the first wrestling show I've attended in the year 2016.  Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.

-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991

P.S. We are all marks.