Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Dynamo Pro Wrestling show at The Ready Room in St. Louis, Missouri.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
A relevant news story in the past few weeks has been the closing of the Stratford Inn, one of Dynamo's primary venues in the past few years. DPW built a really good audience there, but they will presumably be shopping around for new buildings in the future. According to the Riverfront Times story, special events will be honored; however, Dynamo cancelled their June 4th show since it was on the same weekend as the Ring Of Honor show in Collinsville(though that will be on Friday the 3rd). They still have The Ready Room, Wood River, and Glen Carbon for the time being; they may even be able to run at Stratford in the near future, at least until the venue falls under new ownership. Apparently people were talking doom and gloom since the promotion was potentially losing its main building; it's obviously not a GOOD thing, but I wouldn't make funeral plans just yet.
At any rate, this show had a pretty good turnout; Memorial Day weekend can be a tough sell, but they did all right for themselves last night (especially with the lower draws of the shows I attended the previous week). I like this venue and hope they can run in that building more often in the future.
Your ring announcer was Chris Roedel, your assistant ring announcer was Luke Roberts, your special guest timekeeper was Larry Nickel, and your referees were Jay King & Patrick Hook.
The show started with Heavyweight Champion "Dirdey" Jake Dirden addressing the unwashed masses...he hadn't appeared for Dynamo in a few shows, but said that any challenger would have to earn their shot at the title. He noted that Mike Outlaw was conveniently on vacation after running his mouth in Fenton, so he would have to wait for his opportunity.
"The Wind Of Destruction" Makaze vs. "The Alternative" Ozzie Gallagher: This was a rematch from the last Fenton show when Gallagher cheated to win. It's hard to believe that Makaze is the only wrestler from my first indie show in May of 2000 who's wrestling regularly today (Sean Vincent was a referee on that show, so he gets partial credit). Gallagher wasn't quite as sneaky with his underhanded tactics this time around; a blatant low blow caused his disqualification in 8:01. Gallagher thought he had gotten away from his rival and former mentor, but Makaze dove off the second rope onto Gallagher on the floor...I suspect this issue is not yet settled.
The Bite Club(Rocket Mapache & Jackal) vs. Straps Down University("The Valedictorian" Keon Option & Justin D'Air) vs. Alpha Class("The Millenial" Danny Adams & Paco Gonzalez): The winners would get the next shot at the Tag Team Titles held by High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb); it was originally scheduled to be a four-corner match with The Midnight Society included, but none of the stable(Billy McNeil, Jayson Khaos, C.J. McManus) was in attendance at the show despite C.J. teasing a new member of the stable on social media. All three teams were fan favorites, putting Alpha Class in the position of being the "bad guys" by default as they isolated Jackal. Jackal got a haircut, which was one of the bigger shockers of the night. After the standard multi-way schmozz carwreck dive sequence, Rocket and Jackal attempted to hide under the ring to confound their opponents; however, the terrain turned out to be their downfall as they tried to exit on the wrong side and got stuck between the entrance stage and the ring. That left SDU and Alpha Class to battle it out; D'Air got Paco in wheelbarrow position and Option delivered an axe kick, getting the three-count in 11:36. They had teased Option & D'Air as the next challengers in Fenton and now it's official...thankfully Rocket & Jackal got themselves un-stuck before the next match.
Brandon Aarons vs. "Young & Dangerous" Evan Morris vs. Kevin Lee Davidson: The winner would earn a shot at Heavyweight Champion "Dirdey" Jake Dirden; it hadn't been specified beforehand, but that shot would take place later in the evening. Aarons had challenged Dirden at a previous show, but he was the only fan favorite in this match. K.L.D. presented the most imposing potential challenge, but I figured they would want to build up that HOSS BATTLE~! rather than hotshotting it. Most of the match saw K.L.D. and Morris double-teaming Aarons as Dirden took a seat on the entrance stage to personally observe the proceedings. After several backfired double-teams in a row, the communication broke down completely between K.L.D. and Morris, but then THERE COULD BE ONLY ONE anyway. Aarons and K.L.D. had plenty of history in recent months, giving one the impression that Morris could sneak out a win if the opportunity arose. However, it was Aarons that was the opportunist; K.L.D. delivered his signature spinebuster on Morris and Aarons broke up his pin attempt with a double-stomp off the top rope. That allowed Aarons to steal the pin on Morris in 8:40...woo. However, the result didn't sit well with the big man and he obliterated Aarons after the bell...he even laid out Garrett Shanks and Ric Maverick when they tried to intervene. Dirden applauded Davidson's actions, as Aarons would be in rough shape for his title shot later that night...
Brandon Espinosa vs. C.J. Shine for the MWR Missouri Title: Espinosa had been scheduled to team with "The Filipino Warrior" Elvis Aliaga to challenge High Level Enterprise for the Tag Team Titles...but, well, card subject to change. Espy presented himself as being extremely generous to be granting a title shot to a "nobody" like Shine. Shine's dancing entrance has gotten over with the fans; he'll keep improving over time as he gains experience. This was one of Shine's longer matches to date but I thought he handled himself well; the only way to get better is to work with experienced opponents. Espinosa scored the tapout win with the cross-armbreaker in 12:05 for a successful first defense of the semi-controversial MWR Missouri Title.
Intermission~! Not sure why I was indulging on this night...probably just overstressed as usual. Suffice it to say that I may have overestimated my personal budget as it relates to my new car...hopefully I can get that situation worked out in the near future. Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Two Cokes(plus some water from the available dispenser), a bag of potato chips, and a leftover hot dog after the show.
Outtkast vs. "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz for the D-1 Title: A young fan named A.J. was chosed as the special guest bell ringer; he had done a recent interview with Outtkast for his YouTube show. This was a tough one to call; Ricky won their previous encounter when he was defending the Heavyweight Title, but here he was in the odd position of being the challenger. If Cruz won, he would become the first person to hold all three of DPW's championships; Outtkast(as the first and only D-1 Champion) would need to capture the Heavyweight belt to accomplish the Triple Crown. I really liked this match; it was a battle of two experienced fan favorites and could have gone either way. I was wondering if we'd get some sort of non-finish...my guess was that Espinosa might get involved, though he seemed to feel like his business with Ricky was completed. Referee Patrick Hook was knocked down when Ricky moved out of the way of Outtkast's corkscrew moonsault off the top rope; Cruz got Outtkast in a figure-four leglock and Outtkast was seemingly tapping out, but there was no official to see it. Ricky checked on the ref and went for the figure-four again, but Outtkast small-packaged him for the flash pin in 13:29! Ricky was shocked by the outcome but was respectful toward Outtkast in defeat...all righty then.
"Dirdey" Jake Dirden vs. Brandon Aarons for the Heavyweight Title: Elsewhere in the area, Aarons is the current Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance Jr. Heavyweight Champion and was Pro Wrestling Epic's Heavyweight Champ until dropping the belt to Tyler Copeland last Sunday. Aarons had some time to rest, but was still obviously hurting as he made his way to the ring. Dirden had beaten Aarons once before in a competitive matchup and Aarons was already dealing with the obvious size and power disadvantage, but he gave the overconfident champion more of a fight then he was expecting. Aarons rallied, but K.L.D. made his entrance to throw a wrench in the works. Aarons stopped him with an enzuigiri and dropped Dirden with a close-range superkick for a CLOSE near-fall. Dirden caught him in the Asiatic Spike out of nowhere and it looked like the match was all but over, but Aarons barely made it to the ropes to force a break. Aarons showed impressive power in his own right with a released German suplex on the much larger Dirden...but K.L.D. got in a cheapshot behind the referee's back. That was enough to shift the momentum of the match; Dirden finished with a chokeslam in 14:53 to retain his title. Despite the loss, Aarons looked like a true contender on this night and I could easily see him in main events in the near future. (Also, his hair was in pristine condition as usual...that should never go unsaid.)
Next weekend just has Ring Of Honor at The Gateway Center in Collinsville on Friday night...nothing local on Saturday, though I may check around to see if I can bum a ride to Metro Pro in Kansas City.
Other upcoming shows in June:
-Saturday 6/11: Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Saturday 6/18: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL; Wrestling Invades America in Swansea, IL
That's my special comment for this, the twenty-fifth 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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