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.

With competition from Mardi Gras(a big thing in the St. Louis area), attendance was notably strong for this outing.  There were some pretty noteworthy matches on the show:  A well-built four-way title match as well as the triple threat to crown the first D-1 Champion.  A good time was had by all, though the crowd seemed subdued at times...they were energetic for the bigger matches on the show, at any rate.

Crossed paths with Kory Twist for the first time in a long time; he brought his son to check out the show.  Glad to see he's doing well; he had a run as GCW Heavyweight Champion back in the day (wow, that makes both of us sound old).

Your ring announcer was Chris Roedel, your assistant ring announcer was Luke Roberts, and your referees were Patrick Hook & Jay King.

The show started with a presentation by Missouri Wrestling Revival...Ben Simon represented the website (Brian Kelley was taking pictures at ringside) and special guest Brian Stull said a few words.  Stully hadn't been to a wrestling show in quite a while and was a big part of Gateway Championship Wrestling; he was their ring announcer at one time and did a lot to push independent wrestling on The Stranglehold radio show.

Co-promoters "Evil" Jim & Crystal Yount received the Lifetime Achievement Award from MWR...Brian Kelley contacted me around New Year's to do the writeup for the award announcement.  They have been a part of the local scene since the days of Midwest Renegade Wrestling, leading into GCW and then the group that is now known as Dynamo Pro.  They've played a big part of influencing many of the wrestlers that have competed in the St. Louis area...the roster came out to ringside to applaud the presentation.  Jim and Crystal don't often speak in front of the audience, but they thanked the fans for their support.  They also acknowledged Sadie Blaze in the audience as he was a big part of the MRW and GCW establishment in the early days.

High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb) vs. Alpha Class("The Millenial" Danny Adams & Paco Gonzalez) for the Tag Team Titles:  This match was scheduled for January, but Paco was unable to attend the show and Adams teamed with Michael Magnuson in a loss to the tag champs.  With the challengers on the same page, the fan-favorite duos had a really good competitive matchup.  I'm not sure what's next for Gamble & Webb since they've already fought the Black Hand Warriors ad nauseum and dealt with The Professionals(Shawn Santel & Mauler McDarby) not too long ago.  Gamble got the pin on Paco in 9:30 after Webb hit a solo Spanish Fly(!)...nicely done.

Brandon Aarons vs. Billy McNeil(w/ C.J. McManus & Jayson Khaos):  The fans don't really want to boo Billy, despite his association with McManus and company; C.J. preceded the match by berating McNeil over his continued use of the unicorn mask.  Only time will tell whether this turns into a full-fledged blowup of the group or Billy fully turns to the Dark Side; he hasn't wanted the outside interference, but he has recently benefitted from it.  Aarons had things going his way and delivered an electric chair German suplex(a la Kenny Omega), but C.J. distracted the ref.  As the official AND McNeil confronted McManus, Khaos decked Aarons behind their backs...Billy didn't see what happened, but small-packaged Aarons for the win in 9:22.  Once it became clear to everyone involved, McNeil profusely apologized to Aarons and they shook hands (much to the dismay of the Midnight Society members).

Rocket Mapache vs. "The Alternative" Ozzie Gallagher:  Gallagher was vowing to make an example out of Rocket...he had another brief ringside confrontation with Sadie before the match.  Gallagher's focus was on removing the mask of his opponent...Rocket was able to fight him off, but not forever as Gallagher finally removed the hood.  Rocket kept his face covered as Gallagher continued to assault him, leading to the referee calling for the bell in 6:23.  It wasn't clear at first whether the decision was a disqualification or something else, but it was announced that it was a referee stoppage and Gallagher was awarded the matchup.  Rocket's tag team partner Jackal ran off Gallagher, but the damage was done as Ozzie flaunted his "trophy", particularly rubbing it in the face of Sadie as he passed his seat.

"Young & Dangerous" Evan Morris vs. Jayson Khaos(w/ C.J. McManus & Billy McNeil):  This match seemed to go better than their Ready Room outing in November, but then Khaos has worked off some ring rust in the past few months.  Morris won that matchup to qualify for the D-1 Title tournament and Khaos was looking for some payback.  Despite the encouragement of his manager, McNeil refused to take any cheapshots at Morris when the opportunities arose.  Khaos was slow to cover after hitting the Unprettier and Morris kicked out of the pin attempt.  When Khaos attempted the move again, Morris escaped the setup and hit the TKO onto the knee for the win in 5:30; C.J. tried to jump in the ring to break up the pin cover, but McNeil pulled him back to the floor.

"The Don Mega" Shorty Biggs vs. Kiyoshi Shizuka(w/ Lucy Mendez):  Shorty randomly came out to Jushin Liger's theme music...bwahahaha.  Shorty's infatuation with Lucy continued; this was a rematch from last month when Shorty got the win over the masked newcomer.  I don't know much about Shizuka except that he debuted a few months ago in Gateway Elite Wrestling.  (Larry Zbyszko re: Mike Tenay:  "YOU don't know?  Fire him!")  Shorty nearly made it two-for-two, but Lucy put herself between the competitors to shield Shizuka from Shorty's attempted Junk In The Trunk.  That allowed Kiyoshi to poke Shorty in the eye and DDT him for the cheap win in 9:08...BOO~!  The masked man held Shorty for Lucy to slap...ouch.

Outtkast vs. "The Filipino Warrior" Elvis Aliaga(w/ Lucy Mendez) vs. Jayden Fenix for the D-1 Title:  All three men won six-way dances to reach this point as Dynamo finally established a secondary singles title for the promotion.  Outtkast hadn't held a singles championship since his GCW Light Heavyweight Title reign in 2002(!).  Aliaga had been a Heavyweight and Tag Champ in World League Wrestling but hadn't held any championships in Dynamo.  Fenix was a Tag Champ in both Dynamo and WLW but never held a singles championship.

Anywho...wrestling match~!  Aliaga and Fenix formed a temporary alliance which didn't last too long.  Both guys have been growing on me and I look forward to seeing the progress of Fenix in particular.  Finishers were exchanged near the end and Aliaga was taken out of the equation long enough for Outtkast to slam Fenix as he came off the top rope, then deliver the Case Study for the win in 12:37!  Ladies and gentlemen, we have a NEWWWWW Dynamo Pro Wrestling D-1 Champion!  (No, I don't know what "D-1" stands for...)  Brian Stull presented the title belt to the winner and Shorty Biggs congratulated his tag team partner...woo-hoo.

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Three Coca-Colas(thank Stratford's free refills for that).

"The Yoga Monster" Mike Sydal vs. Kevin Lee Davidson:  These guys had a really good David/Goliath bout...look forward to seeing both guys get bigger opportunities in the near future.  K.L.D. dominated a lot of the match with his size and power advantage, but a few well-placed kicks turned the tide in Sydal's favor.  In the end, Sydal was able to hit the Yogasault(yoga-mat moonsault) for the victory in 7:50.

"Miss Natural" Heather Patera vs. Lucy Mendez:  It was a pleasant surprise to see a women's match on the show; good to see that they're building a feud here.  As much as I joke about my previous social media snafus, I'm a big fan of Lucy and have said for a while that I'd like to see her compete in SHIMMER or some other higher-profile women's promotion.  The match had an unusual vibe with the fans as Miss Natural was in the odd position of being the fan favorite.  Moreover, the fans don't really want to hate Lucy, though it's for entirely different reasons than in Billy McNeil's case.  They had a match at Metro Pro Wrestling the previous weekend with Miss Natural dressed as Supergirl and Lucy dressed as Batgirl because...um, because why not?  (Okay, Batman vs. Superman movie coming out soon...)  Miss Natural had control after a swinging uranagi, but Kiyoshi Shizuka ran out to push Natural off the top rope behind the referee's back.  Lucy took advantage with a jumping DDT for the win in 11:36(!); Shorty Biggs made the post-match save, presumably setting up a mixed tag match in the near future.

"The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz vs. "Dirdey" Jake Dirden vs. Brandon Espinosa vs. Mike Outlaw for the Heavyweight Title:  Last month's Cruz-Dirden match ended in a non-finish due to Espy's interference; Espy had beaten Outlaw earlier in the night to become the top contender, but Outlaw pinned Dirden in an impromptu tag match to stake his own claim to a title opportunity.  At the beginning of the match, Dirden left the ring and grabbed the microphone, complaining about how the title shouldn't be decided in multi-way schmozz matches like this one.  He declared that he wasn't participating in the match and left out the side door...seemingly leaving the matchup as a three-way affair.  Espy was at a disadvantage against two fan favorites, putting him in an even worse mood than usual.  The finishing sequence saw Espinosa get Cruz in the cross-armbreaker, but Outlaw broke up the hold with the High Noon(top-rope elbowdrop).  Cruz tried to go to the top rope to finish things, but Espinosa knocked him to the floor with a chair (no disqualifications in a four-corner match!) and delivered the frog splash on Outlaw.  At that moment, Dirden decided to re-enter the fray...he pounced on his weakened opposition and attempted to steal the pin on Outlaw, but he kicked out of the cover.  That only served to infuriated the Intelligent Monster, who delivered a thunderous chokeslam to finish off Outlaw and win the title for a third time in 10:00!  Dirden celebrated his win with Michael Magnuson and Jayden Fenix to close the show...it seems like all three other guys have legitimate claims to the next championship opportunity.  Espinosa felt like he should have gotten a one-on-one title shot, Cruz was never pinned/made to submit in the title loss, and Outlaw got a clean pin on Dirden in January...we'll see how things shape up from here.

As previously noted, February will be a busy one in this area...the rest of the month looks like this:

-Saturday 2/13: St. Louis Anarchy in Alton, IL; Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Sunday 2/14: St. Louis Anarchy in Alton, IL
-Saturday 2/20: Pro Wrestling Championship Series in Granite City, IL; Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO(Ready Room); Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Sunday 2/21: Wrestling Invades America in Swansea, IL
-Saturday 2/27: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Wood River, IL; World League Wrestling in Troy, MO; High Risk Wrestling in Warsaw, MO; World Powerhouse Wrestling in Collinsville, IL

I have a comedy show on the 20th so I won't make it to any of those three shows...with the alleged comedy career gaining some momentum, it's something that may occupy my weekends a bit more.  Stay tuned, as they say.

That's my special comment for this, the fourth 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.