Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday afternoon's Dynamo Pro Wrestling show at the Cinco De Mayo Festival on Cherokee Street in St. Louis, Missouri.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
In the last two years, it was the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance who held wrestling matches at the Cinco De Mayo Festival, but this year it was Dynamo Pro who had the ring set up at the event. I didn't have to hike QUITE as far to get to the rasslin this time around, at any rate...I usually park at Foam since a lot of the neighborhood is barricaded. The show attracted quite a few enthusiastic onlookers, as the MMWA's offering had done in previous years.
Your ring announcer was Luke Roberts; your referee was Jay King.
Mike Outlaw vs. C.J. Shine: Shine is showing some fancy footwork during his entrance music nowadays...he's still new in terms of in-ring experience, but the personality aspect is progressing nicely. If you want to market yourself, you have to stand out from the pack instead of just being Generic Wrestler MCMXVIII..."dancing guy" is a start. Outlaw has been in this weird purgatory between midcard guy and Heavyweight Title contender, but the evening show seemed to be a step in the right direction for him...more on that in the next commentary. (That's what's known in The Biz as a "teaser".) Outlaw delivered a Dick The Bruiser-style atomic stomp from the second rope before finishing with the High Noon(top-rope elbowdrop) in 6:38. (I figured the matches would be shorter due to the heat...it was about eighty degrees outside but the wrestling mat gets REALLY hot in the sunlight.)
Rocket Mapache vs. Da'Marius Jones: Several MMWA guys worked the show as not all of the Dynamo crew was available for the afternoon festivities. Given the "lucha libre" hype of the show, it was only natural that one of Dynamo's masked competitors would get some spotlight. Jones got some pre-match mic time to extol his virtues...I wouldn't mind seeing him on Dynamo shows more often. In fact, it seems like there's a lot of talent crossover between Dynamo and MMWA lately and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Get your ring time and learn, you know? I understand that some people have issues with one promotion or another, but you only get better by working. Anywho, the match worked well...Rocket delivered a Stone Cold Stunner and followed up with a flying boot(a la Roderick Strong's Sick Kick) to win in 6:24.
Justin D'Air vs. Brandon Espinosa: As usual, Espy was not at a loss for words; he proclaimed Cinco De Mayo to be a "fake holiday" that was made up as an excuse to drink. Onlookers probably saw no problem with that, given the number of frosty beverages in circulation on Cherokee Street. D'Air won their previous encounter in Pro Wrestling Epic back in November; Espy was looking for some payback as well as momentum heading into his MWR Missouri Title match with Ricky Cruz later in the day. D'Air hit some impressive aerial maneuvers, but Espy turned the tide by running D'Air shoulder-first into the ringpost. That set up Espinosa's attack on the arm and he finally locked on the cross-armbreaker, but D'Air's feet were in the ropes and the referee had to call for a break. D'Air was sufficiently weakened to the point where Espinosa was able to follow up with a brainbuster for the pin in 9:21; the referee hesitated a bit on the third count which drew the ire of Espinosa, but the win still went to Espy in the end.
Intermission~! With the events scheduled to take place at 2 PM and 4 PM, that meant the break went slightly over an hour. My comedian friend Angel Kircher no longer works at I Scream Cakes so I wasn't able to pay her a visit this year. I did cross paths with a festively-attired gal named Heather who lent a hand in distributing souvenirs to the fans at ringside...she does some stuff on the local comedy scene, particularly with Jeremy Essig's "Loser" show. I didn't recognize her at first due to her face paint, but she knew who I was...it's the Wayne's World hat, it's always the hat.
Official Ben Simon concession count(which he can verify as he wasn't "working", so he was partaking in margaritas): One bottle of water and one orange soda. I got the water at a concession stand for two dollars, then saw the concession stand that had water bottles for one dollar each...*grumble grumble*
Makaze vs. J-Mal Swagg: Swagg worked the most recent Ready Room show, so he's no stranger to the Dynamo ring. Makaze recently returned to Dynamo competition at the show in Columbia, Missouri; he and his close personal long-time friend Sadie Blaze are at war with "The Alternative" Ozzie Gallagher. This bout was a lot longer than expected but it went pretty well...Swagg controlled a lot of the match, but Makaze won with the Blizzard Suplex(Northern Lights with leg hook a la Perfectplex) in 11:28.
"The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz vs. Barackus for the MWR Missouri Title: As a fan, I like the idea of a "traveling" championship...it's similar to the Heritage Wrestling Coalition Title that was once defended in this part of the country. I imagine the politics involving the different promotions would be a tricky factor in maintaining said championship, but it's a neat concept. This was a good matchup of Ricky's experience against Barackus' sheer size and power...of course Ricky was the crowd favorite on Cinco De Mayo. Ricky delivered his signature superkick, but Espinosa & Jones ran in for the DQ in 5:56...Outlaw and Rocket made the save, leading to an impromptu six-man tag(LUCHA~!)...
MWR Missouri Champion "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz, Mike Outlaw, & Rocket Mapache vs. Brandon Espinosa, Da'Marius Jones, & Barackus: This was the only match where I didn't get a time; to be fair, greater priorities were in order. The sky had clouded up during the previous matchup...while it cooled things off in the ring area, there was a desire to wrap things up before the weather got bad. I'd ballpark this somewhere between five and ten minutes total...I'll amend this commentary if I get an official number or watch video. At any rate, things broke down at the end of the match as everyone fought, leaving Cruz and Espinosa in the ring...Cruz got the upper hand and pinned Espy after the superkick to wrap things up on a high note. They teased an impromptu MWR Missouri Title match, complete with the ref holding up the belt and the bell being rung, but Espinosa backed out of the ring and said the fans would have to pay to see his championship victory. Bwahahaha.
Literally minutes after the show ended, the rain started pouring down and it got REALLY windy on top of that, so everyone went into emergency mode to get the ring broken down as quickly as possible. Myself and Ben Simon lent a hand when we could, though the heavy lifting was better off done by other people. All in all, it was the quickest ring breakdown I'd ever witnessed that didn't involve the cops being called and Gary Jay asking me for a lift home. (Har har.)
Of course the day wasn't done as it related to wrestling in general and Dynamo Pro in particular, but that's another story for another time...tune in again soon. Same Pat-Time, Same Pat-Channel.
That's my special comment for this, the nineteenth 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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