Now, as promised, a special comment about Sunday's Wrestling Invades America show at the Improvement Hall in Swansea, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
Real life intervened in a few regards in these past few weeks; I had rented a vehicle the previous weekend with the intention of using it for a day or two, not a week and a half. As of Monday, I am the proud leaser of a 2016 Nissan Sentra...my first new car and my first vehicle lease. The 2009 Chevy Aveo served me well for the past six years, but when things go kablooey like they did and one gets overcharged at one's traditional place of vehicular maintenance, one has to make big decisions.
The two wrestling shows on Saturday(Dynamo and High Risk) were on the other side of Missouri, so I took a pass and went to the comedy club on Saturday night after my compatriot Brandon Barr made a last-ditch attempt to fix the Aveo. Thankfully WIA's Sunday offering was close to home so the trip was negligible. Attendance was a bit lighter than usual, but live entertainment in the St. Louis area is battling the double-whammy of nicer weather and an overload of sports (Cardinals baseball season starting, Blues hockey season continuing)...I've seen it in local comedy as well.
Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referees were Jason Pemberton & Jaylen Davis.
Big Jim Hoffarth wanted to get some revenge on Jimmy D & Bobby D, but neither was in the house...as a result, Hoffarth issued a challenge for the May 22nd show to get one or both of them in the ring.
The promo cavalcade continued as The Landlord attempted to recruit Heavyweight Champion Kevin Lee Davidson, but K.L.D. turned him down in no uncertain terms. I have trouble keeping track of who's in charge at WIA...I think Landlord is General Manager, but Tyler Copeland is occasionally acknowledged as the real-life promoter. Landlord seemed to take the champion's decision in stride, but we would see later that that was not the case...
Prince Moses vs. Da'Marius Jones: These two are on opposite sides of the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance's tag team division as Moses is one-half of the Tag Champs there and Jones is a former titleholder. My dumb idea is that Moses' axe kick should be called something along the lines of the "Red Sea Parting". (See, cuz Moses...*ducks thrown objects*) Moses debuted in October and has been progressing nicely in his rookie year, from what I've seen. The ceiling of the Swansea venue is not very cooperative when it comes to the high-flyers...Moses had to deliver his finishing Meteora(flying double-kneedrive) off the second rope, scoring the victory in 9:23. It looked like he may have hurt his knee on the landing, but he seemed okay later in the evening. Moses challenged Interstate Champion Leone Mephisto to defend his title against him in a straight-up match, rather than challenging him after he'd just competed in a tough battle royal...we'll see if that comes to fruition.
Ben Simon welcomed Kandi Kane back to WIA for the first time in several months...but she didn't get to say much before "Infamous" Tyler Copeland interrupted her. Kandi upset Copeland in her debut about a year ago, but that didn't seem to change Copeland's misogynist attitude as he told her to go make him a sandwich. She seemed ready to leave peacefully to shut him up, but LaMarcus Clinton stood up for her and the impromptu match was set up...
LaMarcus Clinton(w/ Kandi Kane) vs. "Infamous" Tyler Copeland: L.M.C. got his hair cut short and no longer has the wig...I am shocked and saddened by this. These two had a good matchup at Pro Wrestling Epic last year with Copeland picking up the victory...they got a bit more time in this rematch. The referee was knocked down(it was the only match officiated by Jaylen Davis as Pemberton handled the rest of the card) and Copeland brought in a chair, but Kandi took it away from him...only to set it down on the mat, allowing Copeland to deliver his finishing curbstomp onto the chair. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a heel turn...and Copeland revived the referee to count three in 8:27. The turn produced an audience reaction of essentially "Huh?"...I had a feeling it might happen, then realized it when she didn't immediately attack Tyler with the chair. I'd heard rumors of WIA starting a women's division and I imagine Kandi would be one of the main players in that...I've been wanting to see women's wrestling get a higher profile on the local scene, especially since World League Wrestling is the only area promotion with a Women's Championship. Hopefully that'll happen in the near future.
Adam Caster & Tony Kozina vs. Beauty & The Beast(Stevie Fierce & Rob Matter) for the Tag Team Titles: Fierce & Matter didn't get much pre-show hype for this appearance, unfortunately. I had seen Fierce once or twice before(at St. Louis Anarchy?) but hadn't seen Matter before. I had commented to a friend that Caster & Kozina looked like a before-and-after picture of SOME kind...the friend suggested "father and son", which seemed fitting. Caster is a Tag Champ in two area promotions with different partners; he co-holds the St. Louis Anarchy Tag Team Titles with Evan Gelistico in The Cause. One of the challenged slipped on the ropes as they executed a spike version of the Unprettier on Kozina, but they still managed to hit it well enough for a near-fall as Caster broke up the pin. A blind tag allowed Caster to spear Matter for the win in 13:25 after my current pet peeve of a guy rallying after a hot tag, only to immediately tag his banged-up partner back into the fray...oh well.
Everett Connors vs. Brandon Espinosa: Hadn't seen Connors in a few months, but he was looking to make a statement in this matchup against one of his mentors. Espy didn't seem to take Connors seriously in the early going, but Connors made him pay for that cavalier attitude. The low ceiling was a hindrance in this match, but they made the most of the environment they had. Connors survived the best of Espinosa's arsenal and kept coming back for more, but a brainbuster finally ended the battle in 16:23(!). After the match, Espy noted that Connors started out as one of his trainees but, like others before him, moved on to train under former Ring Of Honor Heavyweight Champion Michael Elgin. Espinosa congratulated Connors on a hard-fought battle, but told Connors to make a choice between himself and Elgin...
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Fitz's root beer, Ski soda(I support local businesses~!), and pepperoni/sausage pizza. A few years ago I might have partaken in the "grenade"-style chicken wings, but not nowadays...a bit too spicy for my taste. Wasabi AND horseradish among other incendiary ingredients? Eep.
Trystan Brady Shadeux made a big entrance with his new protege Paulie Ravastelli, but they were interrupted by Vuluum and his cornerperson under a similar robe. Shadeux didn't seem to take the getup seriously, but Vuluum proceeded to "Force-choke" Ravastelli: He held out his hand and clenched his grip as Ravastelli fell to the mat like he was being throttled. Shadeux ran away from the masked man, who threatened to continue his pursuit of the evil forces in WIA...the fans didn't seem to know what to make of all of that.
Leone Mephisto vs. Billy McNeil vs. Ace Hawkins for the Interstate Title: McNeil came out in sailor's garb and said that he was planning to buy a boat with the winner's/champion's share of the purse money. After a few choice words for Prince Moses(during which he emphatically denied him another title opportunity), Mephisto attacked Billy before Hawkins could even make his entrance. Oddly, that was probably a sound strategy as McNeil and Hawkins have been allies in recent months. (Their tag team name is "Fearless Bueller".) Each pairing out of the three wrestlers had a turn in the ring, with McNeil and Hawkins being more sportsmanlike toward each other as opposed to Mephisto's win-at-all-costs mentality. The no-countout-no-DQ environment of a triple threat match eliminated Mephisto's championship advantage, but the titleholder took advantage of the format by handcuffing Hawkins to the ropes. With one opponent taken out of the situation, Mephisto was able to finish off McNeil with the Air Raid Crash and pin him with feet on the ropes in 12:08. Ace was furious afterwards and challenged Mephisto to face him one-on-one...he even directed his rage at the video commentary crew of Taylor Champion and Trystan Brady Shadeux.
Heavyweight Champion Kevin Lee Davidson vs. Pro Wrestling Epic Heavyweight Champion Brandon Aarons, non-title: I could have sworn this was originally billed as a title-vs.-title bout, but I guess not. It played out as a battle of fan favorites despite their encounters in other promotions where K.L.D. is a rulebreaker...it could have realistically gone in either direction, but politics abound when the champions of two independent promotions square off (even if the promotions in question are on friendly terms). I'm honestly wondering about the status of PWE as they haven't had a show since November. At any rate, the non-finish was probably a necessity as Tyler Copeland and Barackus attacked both guys for the no-contest in 12:48. They hated each other not too long ago, but I guess money talks as they were both wearing Landlord T-shirts and were accompanied by the man himself. Landlord got his payback on K.L.D. for rejecting his allegiance and I imagine Aarons just happened to be in the crossfire...so the two champions now have common enemies.
A lot was set up for the next show on May 22nd, which was a nice touch and cool to see...it's always good to have at least one match(preferably the main event but not always) to hype for the next event. Next Saturday has Pro Wrestling Championship Series in Granite City, IL and Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in Millstadt...on the Missouri side, there's New Breed Wrestling in Sedalia and Gateway Elite Wrestling in Camdenton.
That's my special comment for this, the sixteenth 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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