WLW Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's World League Wrestling show at the Race Wrestling Arena in Troy, Missouri.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

I hadn't been to WLW since last August's Night Of Champions event; matches from that show were featured on the first few episodes of their new YouTube show.  It's a matter of simple geography; their closest venue is an hour drive from me, so I tend to choose an option that's closer to home if there's another show on the same night.

It was a long day as I had been to a show at Hey Guys Comedy the night before, woke up early for a five-hour work shift, and then went straight to the grocery store from there.  I barely had time to walk the dogs and eat some leftover pizza casserole before I was back out the door to drive to the show.  I was overly amused by the fact that the WLW training center featured the sign "Harley Parking Only - Violators Will Be Crushed".  (...see, since it means Harley RACE...)  It's still surreal to see the man himself in the front office, especially since he seems to recognize me from attending previous WLW shows.  (Stupid hat.)  I manned the Missouri Wrestling Revival merchandise table for the night as Brian Kelley took photos at ringside, so I was occupied for most of the night.

Since I was last there, Trevor Murdoch captured the Heavyweight Title from Leland Race under controversial circumstances as Steve Fender interfered to cause the title change.  New General Manager Matt Murphy had made the questionable decision to book Race for two title defenses in the same night; one has to wonder about Murphy's loyalties, as he was once closely associated with Fender and Derek McQuinn in the Gold Exchange stable.  (In fact, Murphy & Fender were WLW's first Tag Team Champions.)  That's just idle speculation on my part, of course...but you never know.

Your ring announcer was Dan Gier; your referee was Richard White.

Justin D'Air vs. Mike Outlaw, Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament:  WLW hadn't created a new championship since 2001(!) when the Tag Team Titles were started.  At the previous show, Jon Webb defeated Danny Adams and Ace Hawkins pinned Kyle Roberts to advance in the tournament; Webb vs. Hawkins will be one semifinal and this night's matches would determine the other semifinal.  This was the first meeting between these two in the St. Louis area, though they had faced each other in other parts of the country.

Outlaw was oddly reserved in his entrance and then went into full rulebreaker mode once the bell rang...it was the first time I had seen him in that role in person.  Notably, Outlaw turned on D'Air after they lost the High Risk Wrestling Tag Team Titles to Logan & Sterling Riegel, so there was some backstory even if it was on the other side of Missouri.  D'Air looked really good with several impressive aerial moves, including a ropewalk into a plancha off the top rope...these two work really well together.  D'Air rallied and went for the 450 Splash, but Outlaw raised his knees to block the move and rolled up D'Air with his feet on the ropes for the cheap pin in 11:51.  Afterwards, Outlaw told the ringside fans that it was just what "outlaws" do...

Jon Webb vs. Karim Brigante(w/ Miss Monica Passeri):  Good to see Brigante and Monica again...they had gone back to Italy for a little while, but recently returned to the Harley Race Dojo.  They're both very cool people from my brief experiences with meeting them in person.  Webb is an odds-on favorite in the Jr. Heavyweight Title tournament and has been expanding his arsenal in recent months; he pulled out an impressive rana counter to a vertical suplex in the match with Leland Race that just aired on their YouTube show.  These guys have a really solid matchup; Monica did a fine job of jawing with the fans and interfering when the referee's back was turned.  She has wrestled in Italy(saw a few clips on YouTube) but I don't think she's competed in the States yet; I can only imagine the Missouri licensing headaches.  Monica's interference prevented a few chances for Webb to close things out, but it finally backfired as Webb knocked Karim into his valet, knocking her off the apron.  A few exchanges later, Webb finished with a superkick and Sliced Bread #2 in 8:39...woo.

Trevor Murdoch(w/ Tag Team Champions Steve Fender & Mark Sterling) vs. Roy Lewis for the Heavyweight Title:  Per General Manager Matt Murphy, Murdoch has contractual freedom to hand-pick his challengers...notably, former champion Leland Race did not wrestle on this show(though I'm pretty sure I saw him in attendance).  Murdoch gave a big verbal buildup for his challenger (he's WLW's first Eagle Scout!), but it was obvious that he had picked the inexperienced Lewis with the expectation of an easy night.  Lewis was psyched just to get the opportunity to be in the ring with the former WWE Tag Team Champion, but the enthusiasm went away in a hurry as he took a serious beating.  The "welcome to wrestling, kid" initiation is continuing for Lewis, obviously.  The fans chanted "We Want Leland", prompting Murdoch to ask "What about Roy?"...heh.  Lewis got a late rally, but Murdoch rolled through a cross-bodyblock for the win in 5:36...I think he was in the ropes and may have had a handful of tights as well, but I had trouble seeing from my vantage point.  The post-match beatdown ensued...all three Black Hand Warriors ran in to brawl with Murdoch and company, but they got the worst of the exchange and were a bit dinged up heading into their matches later in the night.

Intermission~!  Due to my stomach woes, I only had a bottle of water on this night.  Apologies to Ben Simon for this uneventful edition of the Concession Count(tm).

"Miss Natural" Heather Patera vs. Stacey O'Brien vs. Lucy Mendez for the Women's Title:  There was an altercation at the previous show that set up this match.  Miss Natural and Stacey had battled for the past year or so, but Lucy is also a former WLW Women's Champion and started her wrestling career with this promotion.  In contrast to Dynamo Pro's alignments, Miss Natural was the rulebreaker in this match while both challengers were fan favorites.  As noted earlier, Missouri licensing is a particularly big headache for female wrestlers; I remember hearing at one point that a negative pregnancy test had to be submitted for every show.  Unfortunately, that makes the female talent pool extremely limited, especially since WLW is the only area promotion with a women's championship.  (MMWA's title was quietly retired several years ago.)

I was honestly disappointed that this match didn't get more time; the match was good for what it was, but I think they're capable of doing even better.  Lucy and Stacey started fighting before Miss Natural was even introduced, kick-starting the bout as the champion bided her time and let the challengers fight it out.  There were some really good triple threat exchanges, including the obligatory Tower Of Doom spot with Miss Natural powerbombing Stacey as she superplexed Lucy.  The finish saw Stacey hit the backcracker on Lucy, only for Miss Natural to toss Stacey out of the ring and steal the pin on Lucy in 6:15.  When you see a lot of three-way matches, that finish becomes a bit cliched...just one idiot fan's view, as usual.

Jayden Fenix vs. "The Yoga Monster" Mike Sydal, Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament:  The winner would move on to face Mike Outlaw in the semifinals.  With Sydal in rulebreaking mode for the night, the winner seemed obvious; the Black Hand Warriors have built a pretty strong fanbase in Troy since even before their official turn to fan favoritism.  There were a few scattered "Derek Jeter" chants for Fenix but they didn't last.  I haven't seen Sydal in the heel role as often in recent years, but he's very effective at it as he focused his attack on the arm.  Sydal never had an opportunity to go for the Yogasault; Fenix won with a flying knee strike(a la Mr. Brie Bella) in 10:41.

Intermission numero dos~!  Suffice it to say that I may have left that pizza casserole in the fridge for a bit longer than I should have...urgh.

They played a video on the TV monitors in the building to announce the special guest for the May 14th show:  Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat!  Very cool...will need to check the schedule and see if I'm free for that.

Elite Aggression(Superstar Steve Fender & "The Fittest Wrestler On Earth" Mark Sterling)(w/ Trevor Murdoch) vs. The Black Hand Warriors(Michael Magnuson & Dave DeLorean) for the Tag Team Titles:  This feud stemmed from Fender and Dangerous Derek McQuinn cashing in Fender's Harley Race Invitational Tournament opportunity after DeLorean and Jayden Fenix had won a four-team tournament for the vacant tag titles; Fender & McQuinn defeated the worn-down champions for the belts immediately after the tourney final.  McQuinn suffered a recent injury and Sterling was allowed to substitute as Fender's tag partner; I had honestly forgotten that Fender & Sterling had been Tag Champs in their own right in the past.  Magnuson only recently returned to action, reuniting the original Black Hand Warriors tandem for this grudge match.

The match was clearly going long as they did the slow build, starting with a lot of quick tags on the Warriors' side.  While Fender & Sterling would seem to be the less-experienced duo, they had teamed in the past so their own continuity was on point as well.  The champs were able to isolate DeLorean(disposing of his ever-present T-shirt) and then Magnuson, but the challengers finally regained control and cleaned house.  They were able to get Sterling out of the game long enough for Magnuson to hit a Codebreaker on Fender, followed by DeLorean dropping Fender with a superkick and getting the pin in 25:12!  We have NEWWWWW Tag Team Champions...Jayden Fenix came out to celebrate with his partners...I don't know where he was DURING the match with Murdoch out at ringside, but oh well.

Post-show:  Touched base with a few people who I don't see as often as others, particularly Sterling and Sydal.  With a lot of the usual crew elsewhere for the night, it was just myself and Brian Kelley who made the late-night food run to Steak 'N' Shake in Wentzville.  I had hoped to take it easy for the night, but since I had coupons in my car, I had the bacon-lovers' double steakburger with cheese plus fries.  I did opt for water instead of soda, if nothing else.

Next Saturday will have two shows in the area:  Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Wood River and Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet.  Either event is a good option for indie rasslin fans, so go wherever your preferences lead you.  At the end of the day, I'm one fan and I only speak for myself; go to shows and judge for yourself.

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