Dynamo Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Dynamo Pro Wrestling show at the Sports Academy in Glen Carbon, Illinois.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

The two main choices for local wrestling in the greater St. Louis area were Dynamo Pro and Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling's monthly event in East Carondelet.  For the most part, a wrestling fan can't go wrong with the options in this area; I'm the type that likes to watch as much as I can.  I will do my best to catch up on SICW's particulars via Wrestling Explosion, of course.

The turnout for the show was looking light at first, but the audience filled out rather nicely.  It seems like DPW has had to rebuild its audience all over again with the departure from the Stratford Inn in Fenton, forcing them to focus more on the Illinois side of the river with shows in Glen Carbon and Wood River.  They do have at least one upcoming show scheduled for The Ready Room in St. Louis (October 1st, if I'm not mistaken).  I wouldn't call it a huge crowd and it took some doing to get the fans into the action at times, but they bought into the show as it progressed.

Your ring announcer was Chris Roedel, your assistant ring announcer was Luke Roberts, and your referees were Patrick Hook & Scott Ramsey.

C.J. Shine vs. "The Incredible Primal Prodigy" Matt Kenway (Look At Him)(w/ Sophie Darling):  This was Sophie's first appearance in Kenway's corner as she had previously only managed The Snitch.  Both guys are finding their footing in the wrestling industry in general and Dynamo in particular.  Sophie interfered at least once, but her charge may have needed a bit more help; Shine got the win with a spinebuster(Shinebuster?) in 6:40.

Jackal vs. "The Cowboy" Ric Maverick:  Maverick had been a solid fan favorite in the past, so it was a surprise when he attacked Jackal from behind before the opening bell.  Maverick was more aggressive than usual, perhaps frustrated with recent in-ring setbacks.  However, this would be another setback as Jackal floated over him in the corner to get the rollup pin in 5:16.  Maverick snapped and attacked Jackal again, but Rocket Mapache hit the ring with a chair to run him off.

Straps Down University("The Valedictorian" Keon Option & Justin D'Air) vs. The Midnight Society(Billy McNeil & Jayson Khaos)(w/ C.J. McManus):  I'm pretty sure this was a top-contenders' matchup to determine the next challengers for High Level Enterprise's Tag Team Titles.  D'Air had been on the shelf with a recent leg injury, which affected a scheduled title shot he and Option had against Jack Gamble & Jon Webb in July.  Big Jay Knight took his place at that time and HLE retained the titles under questionable circumstances.  With McNeil & Khaos on the same page, they provided a formidable obstacle for Option & D'Air...especially with D'Air still testing out his wheels and working off the ring rust.  McManus wasn't above a bit of interference on behalf of his team, either...but Option & D'Air picked up the victory on this night.  Option pinned McNeil after a wheelbarrow drop/Codebreaker combo with D'Air in 9:38...is the gold finally in their future?

"The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz vs. "The Filipino Warrior" Elvis Aliaga:  It had been a good week for Filipino wrestlers with T.J. Perkins being crowned the new WWE Cruiserweight Champion; Aliaga hoped to continue that trend.  However, he faced strong competition in the former Heavyweight and Tag Team Champion...they had crossed paths in the past with Ricky getting the upper hand.  After a strong matchup, Aliaga was able to sneak in a low blow; the rookie referee somehow missed it, despite it seemingly happening right in front of him.  Elvis capitalized on the cheapshot with a Flatliner for the surprise win in 11:20...didn't see that coming.  After the match, Aliaga said that he deserved a title opportunity and challenged the winner of the night's D-1 Championship match...I figured that he would want a shot at Mike Outlaw since he just beat the former Heavyweight Champ, but to each his own.  Cruz went under the ring and came out with a kendo stick, cutting Aliaga's promo short and sending him into retreat mode...

Before intermission, co-promoter Crystal Young brought the fan favorite side of the roster to the ring to acknowledge several recent birthdays...including that of Dynamo's youngest helper "Robo".  That kid's gonna be a contender some day...

Intermission~!  My Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm) only amounted to one root beer...I compensated after the show, as I hadn't eaten much in the way of dinner that evening.

It was announced that Angelina Love was scheduled to appear at the next Glen Carbon show on October 15th...woo.  I can only ass/u/me that she will be facing Lucy Mendez, but we shall see.

"The Don Mega" Shorty Biggs vs. Outtkast for the D-1 Title:  Shorty had ended Outtkast's inaugural D-1 Title reign in Wood River last month, so a rematch was quickly set up between the Bumrush Brother tag team partners.  Of course the two know each other very well and it showed in both of their encounters, so the question of killer instinct came into play: Who would be willing to take that extra little step to secure victory?  That didn't necessarily mean breaking the rules, but it could have meant a bit of rule-BENDING and exploiting a disadvantage on the part of one's opponent.  That opportunity came when Outtkast snapped Shorty's arm across the edge of the ring; he focused his attack on the champion's arm after that moment.

These guys had another lengthy matchup and showed that they are among the most underrated competitors in the area on the technical side of things.  The crowd was divided with a slight edge to Shorty, which only fueled Outtkast's desire to best his tag team partner of the past decade.  In the end, the attack on the arm was too much and Biggs was forced to tap out to a modified cross-armbreaker in 19:17, making Outtkast a two-time D-1 Champion!

There were no hard feelings after the match and the two embraced...but Elvis Aliaga ruined the moment by attacking both men.  He attempted to do further damage to Shorty's already-injured arm, then turned his attention to Outtkast so he could issue his challenge face-to-face.  The Bumrush Brothers reunited their efforts to drive Aliaga out of the ring and Outtkast had no trouble accepting Aliaga's challenge for a championship bout!

"The Wind Of Destruction" Makaze vs. "The Alternative" Ozzie Gallagher, mask vs. hair match:  Sadie Blaze had resurfaced at Dynamo Pro earlier in the year, taking a particular interest in his former protege Gallagher...in particular, he didn't approve of Gallagher's underhanded tactics.  Gallagher insisted that Blaze had written the book on such maneuvers, but Blaze said he had grown past that state of mind.  Blaze brought back his "old friend" Makaze to settle things in the ring, leading up to this grudge match with high stakes in the stipulation.

Previous encounters had seen Gallagher win with a low blow, get DQed for a low blow, and Makaze return the favor with his own cheapshot victory.  As such, each man knew the other extremely well and knew how to counter the opponent's signature maneuvers...as well as the underhanded tactics.  The fight spilled out of the ring at one point and Makaze dropped Gallagher to the floor with a running bulldog off the bleachers!  The masked man could still take to the air as well as he dove onto Gallagher with a plancha off the second rope.  Gallagher did his best to take the mask from his mentor, but Makaze survived a dangerous belly-to-belly superplex and then the Champagne Supernova(cradle backdrop driver).  In turn, Gallagher was able to kick out of Makaze's Blizzard Suplex(Northern Lights/fisherman suplex)...but Makaze finally trapped him in the middle of the ring with the Kyouhen(Sharpshooter) for the tapout in 17:43!

Gallagher tried to run away from his fate, but The Bite Club(Rocket & Jackal) carried him back to the ring for his trimming...Makaze took a pair of scissors and electric trimmers to Gallagher's long hair, but the process was taking a while so they dragged him to the backstage area to finish the job!

Mike Outlaw vs. MWR Missouri Champion Brandon Espinosa vs. Tag Team Champion Jon Webb for the Heavyweight Title:  Outlaw regained the title from "Dirdey" Jake Dirden last month, but Dirden had other obligations to uphold so the rematch between the two would have to wait.  On that same show in Wood River, Espinosa and Webb wrestled to a time-limit draw, putting both in prime position for a title opportunity.  Espy had scored a couple of prior victories over Outlaw(both in and out of the Dynamo ring) so he already felt like he deserved to be the champion.  The match was surprisingly short; I wondered if one of the previous segments had run long or something.  Espinosa and Webb seemed more focused on each other than on the championship, which led to Outlaw being able to bide his time on the floor.  When Espy hit Webb with a double-underhook brainbuster, Outlaw took the opportunity to throw Espinosa out of the ring and steal the fall on Webb in 6:47!  The champion had retained his title in the first defense of his second reign...after he took his leave, Espy and Webb shook hands.

Post-show, I met up with my esteemed colleagues Brian Kelley, Ben Simon, Jay King, and Gary Weiss at Denny's to compare notes from SICW.  I hesitated to order anything big, so I went with cheese fries and just water to drink.  This budgeting thing needs work, given the fact that my current income is approximately zero.

At any rate, the only local show next weekend is Wrestling Over Everything in Caseyville, IL on Saturday.  Cape Championship Wrestling has a show in Cape Girardeau next Saturday for the more adventurous types.  That'll wrap up the month of September and hopefully my employment status will have improved by then.

That's my special comment for this, the fortieth 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.