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.
As noted, attendance has been light for a lot of live entertainment lately (wrestling and comedy). This was probably the smallest turnout for WIA at the Swansea venue...they're doing their next show on a Saturday, so we'll see if that makes a difference. Running on the same evening as a WWE pay-per-view hadn't affected their turnouts in the past, but the crowd was decidedly lower than usual here. Blame it on nicer weather, playoff hockey, baseball, PointFest, or whatever you choose. The fans in attendance were into the show, at any rate. As a comedian, I've been in front of small crowds who were a lot of fun and big crowds who didn't give a crap...but at the end of the day, it's a business and ticket money is what counts.
Several notable names were missing from the show, including Interstate Champion Leone Mephisto and Tag Team Champions Adam Caster & Tony Kozina. Caster & Kozina had been scheduled to defend against Mike Outlaw & Justin D'Air, so Outlaw and D'Air had to be put in different bouts.
Your ring announcer was Ben Simon. Your referees were Jason Pemberton and Jaylin Davis, both sporting the head-mounted "Ref Cam". (Didn't WCW try something like that back in the day?)
Mike Outlaw vs. Paco Gonzalez vs. Da'Marius Jones: "2.0" was his usual arrogant self, drawing the ire of both the fans and his two opponents...so he did his best to stay out of the line of fire. That strategy came into play for the finish as Outlaw went for a middle-rope springboard into a European uppercut, but Paco countered by superkicking him in mid-air. Jones jumped into the ring and threw Paco to the floor, then stole the pin on Outlaw in 6:22. After the match, the fans seemed to feel like Outlaw should have won...Paco took exception to that and superkicked Outlaw again. All in all, not the best night for Mr. Outlaw in his WIA debut.
Justin D'Air vs. Rosko: This was my first time seeing Rosko as it was his debut appearance in the St. Louis area; he's from Peoria and has been wrestling for about two years. The low ceiling was a hindrance for any top-rope maneuvers...something D'Air discovered the hard way when he attempted a springboard move. They covered for it well as D'Air tumbled to the mat and Rosko kicked him down to establish the momentum shift. I thought it was a good matchup...D'Air overcame the adversity of both opponent and ceiling with a Buff Blockbuster in 6:58.
Heavyweight Champion Kevin Lee Davidson & Pro Wrestling Epic Heavyweight Champion Brandon Aarons vs. Barackus & "Infamous" Tyler Copeland(w/ The Landlord): This match placement surprised me as it was advertised as one of the main bouts for the evening. As General Manager, Landlord decided to put both singles belts on the line if K.L.D. or Aarons was pinned or submitted...that added a new wrinkle to the grudge tag match. Copeland got a whole lot of nowhere against K.L.D. in one-on-one situations, but his issue was with Aarons; Barackus was Landlord's countermeasure when Davidson turned down his offer to join his stable. Aarons was isolated for several minutes, but K.L.D. finally got the tag and cleaned house. The battle of the big men spilled to ringside and Landlord interjected himself, leading to the brawl traveling to the backstage area. That left Aarons and Copeland on their own in the ring...Aarons somehow survived Copeland's curbstomp finisher, but some referee manipulation allowed Copeland to deliver an undetected low blow. Copeland rolled up Aarons for the three-count in 13:27 and we have a NEWWWWW Pro Wrestling Epic Heavyweight Champion! Aarons' year-plus reign was over...but I suspect that issue is far from over.
Intermission~! No eating challenge this time around, sorry to say. Official Ben Simon Concession Count: Two root beers(Fitz's~!). Chatted with Gary Jackson as he stopped by the show; I don't throw the term "legend" around lightly, but he definitely qualifies as one in St. Louis wrestling. Everybody who puts on the tights and boots in this area should sit down with him at least once; he's good people.
Billy McNeil vs. Ace Hawkins: Both men challenged Mephisto for the Interstate Title in April with Mephisto edging out the win, but this would determine a single contender for the next championship opportunity. Mephisto had used questionable tactics to secure and win the title from Prince Moses a month or two before...Moses was in attendance, but is out of action with an injury. McNeil and Hawkins had teamed up at previous shows as "Fearless Bueller", but THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE when a singles belt is at stake. Both were fan favorites, but Billy was the clear winner in the popularity contest and Ace slowly moved into heelishness as the match continued. Hawkins even threw down McNeil's monkey mask...of course you all know, this means war. The match could have easily gone either way, but Ace missed a swanton bomb off the second rope and Billy pinned him with a modified Oklahoma roll in 10:40. Unfortunately, the post-match mutual respect was not to be as Hawkins snapped, attacking his recent tag team partner...it took a partial emptying of the locker room to restore order as Mike Outlaw, Rosko, and Jim Hoffarth had to separate the two.
"The Big Texan" Jim Hoffarth vs. Bodily Harm("The Enforcer" Jimmy D & Bobby D): Hoffarth made his return to Midwest wrestling by brawling with Jimmy D a few months ago at a WIA show, so Jimmy D brought in his brother as backup. This was the first teaming of any form of Bodily Harm in quite some time, to the best of my knowledge. It wasn't a technical classic and it wasn't supposed to be, though Jimmy D did perhaps the first and last suicide dive of his career. The Ds took turns playing hit-and-run with the larger Hoffarth, but it wasn't quite enough; Hoffarth pinned Bobby D in 10:23 after a double-underhook powerbomb as Jimmy D was slightly hesitant to break up the cover. Again, I suspect the issue may not be quite over...
Blake Belakis vs. Brandon Espinosa: This was an interesting choice for the main event; I wondered if they wanted to send the fans home happy since the rulebreakers won the earlier tag match. The local fans weren't too familiar with Belakis, so we got some dueling mic work to establish the prior history between these two; I saw them face each other at a St. Louis Anarchy show a few years back, but they've fought several times around the Midwest. It was a bit unusual to see Belakis as the face, though the fans were likely to support anyone who was facing Espy. They had a really good matchup as expected...I must note that Espinosa tends to use some colorful language in the ring nowadays, so cover your kids' ears. I hadn't seen Belakis since the last HRW Cahokia show; he forfeited the Heavyweight Title once High Risk Wrestling moved to western Missouri and Mike Sydal won that belt in a tournament. After a lot of near-falls were exchanged, Espinosa got the win via brainbuster in 12:58...well done.
Post-match: The Landlord came out in an attempt to recruit Espinosa, but Kevin Lee Davidson wasn't far behind...Espy was hesitant to accept Landlord's offer, but was provoked when Barackus hit K.L.D. from behind and sent him crashing into Espinosa. Barackus and Landlord headed for higher ground and left Espy to deal with the angry champion...Davidson dropped Espinosa with his trademark spinebuster to close out the show.
Thus ended a really busy weekend in St. Louis wrestling...thankfully next weekend won't be nearly as crowded as the only show in the area will be Dynamo Pro Wrestling at The Ready Room in St. Louis, MO. Of note, DPW's main venue may be in limbo as the Stratford Inn is reportedly up for sale/lease...will be interesting to see how things play out in that regard.
That's my special comment for this, the twenty-fourth 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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