WIA Special Comment

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

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

There had been a lot of rumors about WIA's future, especially with the emergence of Pro Wrestling Resurgence and particularly because PWR had scheduled a show in WIA's regular Swansea venue.  A day or two before this event, it was posted on Facebook that the promotion would be changing its name to "Wrestling Over Everything"(WOE)...that's a rather unfortunate acronym, sorry to say.  I haven't heard anything about the time and place of their first event under the new banner.

All things considered, this show had a really good turnout...the previous event struggled in terms of attendance, but this one showed a notable improvement.  There had been no local wrestling events on the previous two Saturdays...the only shows this past Saturday were High Risk Wrestling in Warsaw, MO and Stride Pro Wrestling in Marion, IL.  The schedule will get crowded in late August...

Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referee was Jason Pemberton.

The Landlord started the show by speaking to the fans "out of character" about the transition from WIA to WOE, promising a surprise at the end of the night.  My shocking-swerve sense was tingling right away...

"Infamous" Tyler Copeland vs. Billy McNeil for the Pro Wrestling Epic Heavyweight Title:  I don't know if PWE plans to run any of its own shows in the near future or not; they might as well turn this belt into a secondary championship for WOE at this point.  The match was good but surprisingly short; hopefully they'll be able to do more in the future.  Copeland got in a low blow that the referee missed, then won with the TKO in 5:52.  After the match, he called out Brandon Aarons in what seemed to be a moment of clarity; he said Aarons deserved a fair one-on-one rematch for the title.  Aarons said that Tyler had just wrestled and he had his own match with Danny Adams scheduled for later in the night, but he agreed to the rematch at a later date.  Aarons cautiously accepted Copeland's handshake...but then Tyler blindsided him with the title belt and the title rematch started right then and there.

"Infamous" Tyler Copeland vs. Brandon Aarons for the PWE Heavyweight Title:  Copeland's immediate pin attempt after the belt shot only resulted in a near-fall.  Aarons escaped a TKO attempt, stunned Copeland with a superkick, and regained his title in a brisk 33 seconds!  With WIA wrapping up its side of things, I can only assume they were hotshotting some existing storylines.  After the match, Aarons offered to put the title on the line in his scheduled match against Danny Adams; Adams was quick to accept that generosity.

LaMarcus Clinton vs. Da'Marius Jones(w/ Matt Kenway):  Kenway seems to be an honorary member of 2.0 and I wondered if it would be the right scenario for him to bring back the white-guy cornrows.  The stable appears to be in a membership drive; Brandon Aarons subbed for A.J. Williams as Jones' HRW tag partner on Saturday.  Jones was subbing for the injured Justin D'Air.  L.M.C. was as impressively athletic as ever, though the loss of his trademark hairstyle is a bit disheartening.  Buildings with low ceilings are not his friend.  At any rate, these two had a fine matchup; Kenway's distraction allowed Jones to trip up L.M.C. on the top rope, leading to a rather painful landing on the turnbuckle.  Jones capitalized with a rollup and handful of tights for the cheap win in 7:43.

B.T. Daramola & Chris Exodus vs. Bodily Harm("The Enforcer" Jimmy D & Bobby D) for the vacant Tag Team Titles:  At a previous show, Jake Capone subbed for Adam Caster as Tony Kozina's tag team partner in a title defense against The Submission Squad(Evan Gelistico & Pierre Abernathy); however, Capone turned on Kozina and that ended the match in a no-contest.  With both Caster & Kozina absent, the Tag Titles were declared vacant and this match would determine the new champions.  B.T. Daramola is the former Jackson Whitechapel/Clownman Jacko and has recently been a cornerman for A.J. Williams & Da'Marius Jones.  I hadn't seen Exodus before, but apparently he's from the Cottage Hills section of the Metro East; his Facebook profile pegs him as a "backyard wrestler".  That's not necessarily a bad thing on its own, as quite a few backyard wrestlers go on to get legitimate training and do well for themselves; it's simply a matter of whether the individual takes that particular step.  There are several places in this area where a person can get that training, whether it be Dynamo Pro, World League Wrestling, or South Broadway.

As for the match itself, Exodus was in a bad spot as the lone fan favorite(and a debuting one at that) amidst three rulebreakers.  Were there literally no other tag teams available?  I didn't see enough of Exodus to get a read on what he can do; I've seen B.T. in solid outings with the right opponents, but I don't know if this was a good example of that.  At any rate, B.T. and Exodus were not on the same page...heck, I'm pretty sure they were in entirely different libraries.  After a bunch of tag-myself-in spots, B.T. finally walked away from his partner and Jimmy pinned Exodus after he and Bobby hit a Hart Attack in 11:30(!).  They delivered a second Hart Attack after the bell for the fun of it.

Johnny Blade vs. "The Incredible Primal Prodigy" Matt Kenway (Look At Him)(w/ Da'Marius Jones):  Blade was originally scheduled to face Big Jim Hoffarth; I don't know why he wasn't at the show.  Kenway has looked good in his short career and has been working for several area promotions in the past few months.  Blade returned to the area fairly recently and has competed for SICW.  Jones interered a bit too freely and was ejected from ringside, so L.M.C. came back out to personally escort him to the dressing room area.  Blade went on to win with an F-5 in 8:20.

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  I kept myself to one can of Mountain Dew.  Gotta cut back on the sweet stuff at the risk of getting a lecture from Wilford Brimley.

Jason Roberts vs. Barackus:  Roberts is a new face on the St. Louis wrestling scene, having competed at the most recent St. Louis Anarchy double-shot and also the Pro Wrestling Resurgence debut event.  He was outmatched in many different categories against the big man, but he put up an admirable fight with several attempts at submission maneuvers.  Sheer size was the deciding factor in the end, as Barackus put him away with a clawhold chokeslam in 7:41.  After that, Barackus laid waste to ringside security guards who attempted to stop his post-match assault.

Flaming Freddie Fury vs. Taylor Champion:  Champion's ring introduction lauded his NCAA wrestling exploits; he issued an open challenge which was answered by the effeminate masked man.  For whatever reason, Champion's in-ring appearances have been few and far between; hopefully that changes soon.  I feel like the potential is there; he may just need a strong training environment to learn and grow as a performer.  I had mixed feelings about this match; I was disappointed that we didn't get to see more of what Champion can do, but I was also somewhat relieved that a Flaming Freddie Fury match didn't last very long.  Champion executed a waistlock takedown, hit a big jumping elbowdrop off the ropes, and got the three-count in 54 seconds.  (Some of my compatriots noted Champion's Kazushi Sakuraba-inspired ring attire...been catching up on my New Japan Pro Wrestling in recent weeks and have seen quite a bit of Sakuraba.)

Brandon Aarons vs. "The Millenial" Danny Adams for the PWE Heavyweight Title:  Both men are singles champions in the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance; Aarons is MMWA Jr. Heavyweight Champion and Adams recently captured the T.V. Title from "Da Bomb" Brian James.  These two main-evented a previous PWE show in Pontoon Beach(the county fair/Charlie Daniels Band event) with Aarons retaining his title at that time.  These guys had another really good match with Adams targeting the arm; he got a near-victory with a modified cross-armbreaker, but Aarons barely reached the ropes.  Aarons rallied to win a lengthy bout with the close-range superkick in 14:42, capping off the third PWE Title match of the evening.

Kevin Lee Davidson vs. Interstate Champion Leone Mephisto, no-DQ match for K.L.D.'s Heavyweight Title and Mephisto's Interstate Title:  K.L.D. suggested they wrap up WIA's final show with a bang by making it a no-disqualification match and Mephisto was fine with that.  The match stayed in the ring for the most part as new Tag Champs Bodily Harm watched the match from the sidelines...that would be known as "foreshadowing".  K.L.D. had control after a Regal Roll but Jimmy & Bobby D pulled him to the floor and attacked him(no-DQ!)...the Heavyweight Champion fought them off and re-entered the fray, but Mephisto kicked the middle rope to catch Davidson in the groin.  The Interstate Champ brought chairs into the fray, but was unable to lift the champion into a suplex onto the chair and K.L.D. retaliated with a spinebuster onto the chairs.  At that moment, Da'Marius Jones ran into the ring from the audience and stunned the champion with a low blow, then dropped him with the Paydirt(no-DQ!).  Mephisto went for the pin, but only got a near-fall...however, a title belt to the head was enough to put him down for the count in 16:15!  Ladies and gentlemen, we have a NEWWWWW WIA/WOE Heavyweight Champion...and Leone Mephisto left victorious on the shoulders of Bodily Harm!  One particularly enthusiastic(and drunk) fan nearly went into the ring after the new champion, but thankfully security kept him back.  Since the championships will carry over to Wrestling Over Everything, Mephisto and Bodily Harm will be the first titleholders of the rebranded promotion.

The show closed with The Landlord(Kenrock Chambers) and Tyler Copeland addressing the fans and thanking them and the wrestlers for their support.  That included Mike Outlaw, who was in attendance and on the event flyer but didn't have a match(whoops).  Oddly, I was acknowledged as well...when I first heard about Wrestling Invades Alton and watched the YouTube clips, the promotion was not well regarded(to put it diplomatically).  However, they made an effort to improve their product and talent roster and I give them a lot of credit for that.  Landlord said he had a surprise for Copeland...cue SHOCKING SWERVE~! as he put on his old Landlord ring jacket and blindsided Copeland with a baking pan, then dropped him with a Rock Bottom.  As it turned out, Landlord would be a part of Wrestling Over Everything after all...and rent is still due.

The show just ended with that; there was no official signoff.  A local musician sang a few tunes in the ring, but the fans were on their way out and it was just slightly awkward...ak.

Anywho...next weekend is MMWA at South Broadway Athletic Club for me.  From there, things get crowded in the second half of August.  Dynamo Pro has an early start time on Saturday the 20th at 5 PM.  That night also features the second Pro Wrestling Resurgence show at Pop's with K.L.D. vs. Moose as the main event, plus SICW's monthly offering in East Carondelet.  The following weekend has St. Louis Anarchy's Friday/Saturday double-shot on the 26th and 27th, but the 27th also features World League Wrestling's big summer show with Mark Henry appearing and Hurricane Helms in action.  Sunday the 28th rounds out the month with Resurgence holding a show at WIA's home venue in Swansea.

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