PWR Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Sunday's Pro Wrestling Resurgence show at the Improvement Hall in Swansea, Illinois.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

I hadn't been to a PWR show yet, as the first two events conflicted with others; I planned to go to the second one(last Saturday), but the ticket price was a bit rich for my blood so I opted for Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling instead.  I was definitely going to this one, as it was close to home and had a pretty significant main event.  The turnout was pretty good, though probably not at the level they were hoping to attain with their amount of advertising.

Your ring announcer was Ben Simon, your referees were Jason Pemberton & Jay King, and your commissioner was Sean Orleans.

"The Incredible Primal Prodigy" Matt Kenway (Look At Him) vs. Kody Krash:  The rookie Kenway had an uphill battle against his larger opponent in the opener.  While Krash controlled a lot of the bout, Kenway was finally able to take him down to the mat, forcing him to tap out to the Anaconda Vise in 4:39.

Aaron Solow vs. Tyler Colton:  Solow was on a roll after wins in St. Louis Anarchy over Curt Stallion and Jojo Bravo; Colton was on the winning side of the preshow six-man tag on Saturday.  The Swansea fans weren't too familiar with either guy, unfortunately.  They had a solid bout, but a near-collision with the referee allowed Colton to sneak in a mule kick to the Universal Weak Point.  After that, Colton scored the tainted win with a Northern Lights Bomb(a la Al Snow's Snowplow) in 7:34.

Mike Outlaw vs. Jojo Bravo vs. "Risky Business" Everett Connors vs. Jason Roberts:  Connors was the lone rulebreaker in this matchup; outside of SLA, Bravo was his traditional cheerful self.  I already went over my thoughts on these multi-way schmozz matches...I'll probably leave it at that.  It was fun for what it was, at any rate; Outlaw hit the Mafia Kick on Roberts, but Jojo pulled Outlaw out of the ring to break up the pin.  Connors took advantage of the situation to steal the pin on Roberts in 5:14...leaving the fan favorites a bit miffed at Jojo for unintentionally helping Connors get the victory.  (Guess they REALLY don't like Justin Bieber's music.)

Kevin Lee Davidson vs. "Absolute" Ricky Starks:  This was billed as the latest stop on Starks' eternal "farewell tour" before heading to WWE/NXT.  Starks had to step out of the ring at one point to take a phone call from "Paul"...see, he calls him Paul.  At any rate, they had a really fun match...Starks somehow managed to kick out after K.L.D.'s spinebuster, then got a surprise near-fall with a crucifix bomb.  A second spinebuster was enough to seal the deal for Davidson in 11:32...of course, Starks took his sweet time in leaving.  He didn't speak to the audience on this night, but he did a few "curtain calls" before leaving ringside for good.

The Viking War Party("American Viking" Alexandre Rudolph, "Gordiest Viking" Frank Wyatt, & "Littlest Viking" Jake Parnell) vs. The Submission Squad(Gary Jay, Evan Gelistico, & Pierre Abernathy):  Gelistico had already drawn the ire of the fans by heckling with his megaphone before the start of the event (especially since the show began a bit late).  It didn't take long for this to get out of hand as the six men brawled all over the place...it just barely settled down into standard tag rules as the Squad isolated Parnell.  The Squad went through their usual shenanigans, including "kiss tags" and Pierre actually baby-birding water from his mouth onto Parnell's face as he held him in a chinlock.  One older fan actually left the show as a result, saying that it was "bull$#!+"...ouch.  Wyatt got the hot tag and chaos broke loose as everyone fought everywhere, resulting in a double countout in 12:28.  That didn't keep the trios from continuing their battle, even as Orleans got on the microphone and called for them to stop...Orleans finally threw caution to the winds and suicide-dove into the fighting competitors at ringside!  Amazingly, that somehow calmed things down and order was restored...

Yes, it was a good time for an intermission.  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  I kept myself to one root beer and some potato chips.  Brian Kelley said that saw me with the glass bottle and thought I had a real beer...bwahahaha.

The Besties In The World(Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett) vs. Alpha Class("The Millenial" Danny Adams & Paco Gonzalez):  Both teams were fan favorites in this one...Fitchett and Paco had just crossed paths at Anarchy the previous night.  Vega and Fitchett are Tag Team Champions for both All American Wrestling and Metro Pro Wrestling, so one would give them the advantage on paper.  Of course, things don't always go the way one would expect them to go...both teams had a lot of close calls, but it was the teamwork of Alpha Class that was the deciding factor.  As Vega set up for a brainbuster on Paco, Adams helped him block the move and then cut off Fitchett as Paco got the small package pin in 11:03!  Cue the mutual respect all around afterwards.

IWGP Intercontinental Champion "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin vs. MWR Missouri Champion Brandon Espinosa, non-title:  Elgin's New Japan career has taken off in the past year as he had strong showings in the last two G1 Climax Tournaments; on top of that, he's been NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champion alongside Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yoshi Tatsu.  Just a few months ago at Dominion, he defeated Kenny Omega in a ladder match to claim the I-C Title.  This main event was a tale of two trainers, as both men had a hand in the progress of many up-and-coming Midwest competitors...however, Espy felt like Elgin hogged the credit for guys who he had gotten out of the blocks.  Espinosa's placement in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500 list is always hyped by the man himself, so Elgin had Ben Simon announce that he is ranked #3 in this year's list...bwahahaha.  They had a solid matchup, but I hope it won't be the only time these two cross paths...I think they could have an even better bout down the line.  Espy targered the arm in an attempt to set up the cross-armbreaker, but Elgin was just a bit too strong for that to work.  Elgin powered Espinosa up into his signature sitout powerbomb for the victory in 12:41...afterwards, Elgin commended Espy for his desire to improve himself, as Espy himself had trained under Elgin in recent years.  In a rare moment of humility for Espinosa, the two shook hands to close the show.

That was a long weekend, so I won't feel too bad about taking it easy for the Labor Day holiday...sleep is the main thing on the agenda for yours truly.

Quick look at the September agenda:

-Saturday 9/3:  Stride Pro Wrestling in Marion, IL
-Saturday 9/10:  Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Saturday 9/17:  Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Glen Carbon, IL; Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Saturday 9/24:  Wrestling Over Everything in Caseyville, IL; Cape Championship Wrestling in Cape Girardeau, MO

That's my special comment for this, the thirty-eighth 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.