Now, as promised, a special comment about Sunday's Wrestling Invades America show at the Improvement Center in Swansea, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
Saturday was an interesting night as I was booked for a comedy show in O'Fallon, MO(see recent blog), meaning I would be missing THREE local wrestling shows that evening. Results were posted with due credit given to Chris Roedel(Dynamo), Tommy Peterson on Twitter(PWCS), and Drew Abbenhaus(SICW). It sounds like a fine evening was had by all. Lux from 105.7 The Point stopped by the Dynamo show and it sounds like she had a blast...always cool to have local celebrities in the house.
The show had an early start time of 5:00 with an advertised preshow starting at 4; the preshow featured music by a local band(Welcome Home)...a bit above my comfort level, decibel-wise, but maybe I'm just getting old. They had a really good fan turnout for a Sunday evening show, especially with WWE Fast Lane running on the same night. Crowd energy was kinda iffy for some reason...it took some doing to get people to react as prompted by the wrestlers' actions.
The show's production was...hit-and-miss, I'll say. Music cues weren't always on the mark and they cut the lights at seemingly random points during entrances. Hey, it happens...sometimes it's better to keep things simple in wrestling.
Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referees were Jason Pemberton & Tim Givens.
The show officially started with a promo by The Landlord(w/ Clownman Jacko). I missed the previous show, but Landlord took over the General Manager's position from (Trystan) Brady Shadeux at some point. One of the night's featured matches was a tag team bout with brothers Darkside and Landlord on opposite sides, but Landlord said he was taking himself out of the match...despite that, he was still in the match when it occurred. (Didn't understand THAT part, but oh well...maybe some other authority figure in the promotion overruled him?)
Fearless Bueller(Billy McNeil & Ace Hawkins) vs. Leone Mephisto & Mike Everest: Billy was asking for team names on Facebook earlier in the day...I think they got a winner. McNeil and Mephisto have an ongoing issue; Canadian competitor Everest was making his St. Louis-area debut. They had a solid opening match with a slightly surprising finish; Hawkins got the clean pin on Mephisto after an Asai DDT by McNeil followed by a swanton bomb by Hawkins in 11:30. It made more sense a bit later in the show, however...
Battle Royal For The Interstate Title: Defending champion "The Enforcer" Jimmy D has wavered between face and heel status in his WIA tenure...he said he had brought in his brother Bobby D to watch his back and help him win. The battle royal only had five entrants; I believe Taylor Champion was scheduled to be involved but he wasn't at the show. The other participants were Prince Moses, Big Jim Hoffarth(who had a previous issue with Jimmy D), and Jax Daniels(from central Illinois). As expected, the Ds worked together for the most part...it was a really weird battle royal as guys brawled out of the ring on a few occasions. It even got to a point where the ring was literally empty as all five guys were fighting on the floor! The Ds finally double-teamed Daniels and eliminated him...it took considerably more effort to get Hoffarth over the top rope, but they finally accomplished that task. The Bodily Harm members nearly forgot about Moses, who re-entered the fray with some aerial moves but was cut off by the numbers. Out of nowhere, Jimmy tossed Bobby to the floor, declaring that it was HIS title...Bobby simply left the ringside area and Jimmy had to regain his focus to deal with Prince Moses. Moses was at a size disadvantage, but finally managed to eliminate Jimmy D in 11:24 to capture the Interstate Title!
Moses barely had time to celebrate before Mephisto interrupted his celebration...he talked down to the "six-month rookie" and asked him what championship status meant to him. Moses said it meant pride and fighting spirit...that was Mephisto's cue to slap Moses repeatedly, goading him into a fight. A few wrestlers and security guards separated the two, but Moses had lost his cool and demanded an impromptu match with Mephisto. He even offered to put the title on the line and G.M. Landlord was perfectly fine with granting his request...that was exactly what the veteran Mephisto was wanting to accomplish.
Prince Moses vs. Leone Mephisto for the Interstate Title: Moses managed to get in a few big moves on Mephisto, but the challenger was relatively fresh compared to Moses as he had just been through the battle royal. I thought the match was fine for what it was, a short competitive sprint...Mephisto rolled him up with feet on the ropes in 3:48 to end Moses' title reign in short order. Mephisto delivered a post-match Air Raid Crash and was all too proud to accept his ill-begotten championship, then let everyone know about it...
"The Young Thriller" Derek Moss vs. Da'Marius Jones: Had only seen central Illinois competitor Moss once before(at last year's Pro Wrestling Epic show in Brownstown); he's a pretty good-sized guy but is surprisingly agile. The fans didn't know Moss at first, but he seemed to win them over as the match progressed. Jones was the smaller and more agile of the two, plus he was more willing to bend the rules to gain an advantage. I heckled him a bit for wearing a belt over his trunks...but the belt's purpose would become apparent as he tried to use it as a weapon. The low ceiling made it difficult for Moss to attempt his signature brainbuster...Jones took advantage of a near-collision with the ref to wrap the belt around his fist and hit Moss with the buckle. That was enough for Da'Marius to get the cheap win in 12:20.
LaMarcus Clinton & Chase King vs. Adam Caster & Tony Kozina(w/ Tyler Copeland) for the Tag Team Titles: Copeland, Caster, & Kozina formed a new stable at the previous show; the referee ejected Copeland from ringside before the match even started. Caster & Kozina had joined forces at a High Risk Wrestling show last fall and seemed to work well together. Unfortunately, the match itself went a bit off the rails as King injured his knee in the early minutes...he delivered a double-axhandle off the top rope as L.M.C. was holding Kozina, but his leg buckled as he landed. That forced L.M.C. to do the lion's share of the ring work for his team...even when King entered the fray after the hot tag, he had to limp his way through the rally. Somewhere along the way, the referee lost track of who was legal in the match; as the ref was getting King out of the ring, Kozina superkicked L.M.C. into a schoolboy trip and rollup by Caster for the pin in 14:37. We have NEWWWWW Tag Team Champions...I don't recall if Caster was legal, but I'm almost certain that L.M.C. had never tagged back into the match. Oh well, such is life and instant replay is rare in professional wrestling...
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count: With the cash from a paid comedy gig in my wallet, I indulged a bit with two sodas(Mountain Dew and root beer), cheese fries, and a cheeseburger. Things went a bit askew as they had planned a burger-eating contest for intermission, but the burgers weren't done yet so they had one more match before doing the contest...
PWE Heavyweight Champion Brandon Aarons vs. "Infamous" Tyler Copeland, non-title: Copeland lost to Aarons at a previous WIA show, but he wanted a rematch and got it(despite the belt not being at stake). They had a relatively quick but solid matchup, ending with an interesting spot reminiscient of the old Shawn Michaels/Owen Hart angle with the face/heel roles reversed. Aarons delivered a flurry of offense ending in an enzuigiri, but Copeland stayed down and Kozina ran into the ring to check on him. They played it up as a serious head injury, but it was a ploy as Copeland delivered a low blow while the referee was occupied with Kozina. Copeland capitalized with the curbstomp to win in 6:39, presumably earning himself a future title shot whenever PWE has a show again. As a postscript, I will mention that Aarons' hair was on point as usual...I feel as though that goes without saying, but Brandon has requested that I reaffirm that observation.
Burger-eating contest~! The venue has a trademark "Big Big Burger"(two large burgers with three pieces of Texas toast assembled Big Mac-style, plus bacon). Four contestants attempted to eat as much of a burger as possible(along with fries) in a ten-minute time limit. I could have possibly eaten one of those in my younger days, but probably not today; at one time, I would get the Monster Burger at Hardee's! One of the band guys named Jose(I think) won, but he probably needed a shot of Pepto Bismol afterwards...
Gavin Alexander & Darkside vs. Jonathan Napier, Clownman Jacko, & The Landlord, no-DQ handicap match: Alexander called for the match to be no-DQ because...why not? Napier hadn't appeared in several months as he was out of action with a concussion, forcing him to forfeit the WIA Heavyweight Title to then-interim champion Kevin Lee Davidson. I found it weird that a manager like Landlord would fight on equal terms with the wrestlers(mostly Darkside) as I would have expected him to stay out of harm's way and hide behind his proteges. I don't know a whole lot about Darkside as I've only seen a few of his matches. This match was just...all over the place, to be semi-diplomatic about it. Guys would brawl out of the ring, brawl to the backstage area and brawl back out...it was tough to follow at times. I've seen decent stuff out of Jacko, but he hasn't had much direction in recent times...I do like the evil clown better than the good-guy clown, at any rate. The finish saw the numbers catch up to the good guys, but two masked characters made a big entrance...I presume the main one was the much-hyped "Vulum". Vulum took out Jacko, allowing Alexander and Darkside to hit stereo finishers on Napier and Landlord(Flatliner and reverse Stunner, respectively) for stereo pins in 14:43. That probably could have gotten the message across in half the time, honestly. Alexander dished out some severe post-match abuse on Landlord with an Umaga Smash, cannonball into the corner, and finally a Stinkface...err. Hey, the good guys got a decisive win, which is something you don't see nearly often enough in wrestling nowadays.
Kevin Lee Davidson vs. Brandon Espinosa for the Heavyweight Title, best-of-three-falls match: Was really looking forward to this one...I figured these guys would work well together as they've battled in the past, plus the stipulation is a personal favorite of mine. The contrast was obvious as K.L.D. is bigger and stronger, but Espy is faster and has far more experience. Would the endurance factor come into play in a longer match such as this one? Espy did his best to outmaneuver the champion, but he had trouble matching power with Davidson. The experience came into play as well as Espy's knack for bending the rules in his favor...as K.L.D. got Espy on his shoulders, Espy frantically reached out and raked the eyes of the referee in his efforts to escape. Espinosa brought a chair into play and whacked Davidson in the arm with it...after that, he maneuvered into a cross-armbreaker takedown from the top rope and K.L.D. had to tap out in order to preserve himself for the remainder of the match. Thus, Espy won the first fall in 5:52.
With the champion injured, Espinosa focused his attack on the bad limb in an effort to neutralize the power/strength advantage. Every time K.L.D. attempted a comeback, the left arm would give him problems...limb work can be very effective if a wrestler focuses on it and the opponent shows the effects of the damage. However, Davidson was able to gut it out and surprise Espy with a swinging uranagi into a modified Jackhammer, evening the score in 11:55.
Despite the pinfall, K.L.D.'s arm was still a problem and Espinosa had no problem with continuing his attack on the weakened body part. Davidson managed to rally but the referee was accidentally avalanched in the corner. Espy brought in a chair and missed his initial wild swing, but managed to recover and clock Davidson in the head with the chair...not once but three times. Espy got the cover and the ref counted...two. Espinosa hooked the cross-armbreaker again, but this time K.L.D. was able to break the hold by lifting Espy into a powerbomb. Espinosa, mocking K.L.D.'s "11:11" shirts, went old-school with a KICK WHAM STONE COLD STUNNER...for two. He attempted a Rock Bottom...um, no. K.L.D. fought out of that and delivered a spinebuster, then set up for a People's Elbow(no, really) but was caught in an F-U by Espinosa...for two. (Yup, that happened.) K.L.D. was finally able to deliver a last-ditch pop-up spinebuster for the final victory in 23:09(!)...nicely done!
The next show will be on Sunday, April 24th...I can only imagine that Napier will want a shot at the title he never lost in the ring, but I guess we'll see how things turn out. I also heard rumblings about a women's division...we'll see if that comes to fruition. The show had its hiccups, but this group has come a long way in the past year or two and they deserve credit for that...it certainly beats the attitude of some people who continue to do the same things that they've always done and refuse to change with the times.
Next Saturday has three shows: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Wood River, IL; World League Wrestling in Troy, MO; and World Powerhouse Wrestling in Collinsville, IL. It'll be another busy weekend...choose as you wish, wrestling fans.
That's my special comment for this, the seventh 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.
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