Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance show at the South Broadway Athletic Club in St. Louis, Missouri.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
I had to work last Saturday night, so I drove straight from my job to the SBAC and joined the show in progress. I arrived during the intermission, which was preceded by the St. Louis Wrestling Hall Of Fame ceremony; I will fill in the earlier blanks via YouTube. The attendance seemed to be slightly better than normal (and, as is often noted, normal attendance for South Broadway is something most independent promotions would love to have).
Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referees were Nick Ridenour and Jay King.
Big Jim Hoffarth vs. Barackus(w/ Sylvester J. Fox): The show opened with a battle of heavyweights and Barackus had a new manager in his corner; it didn't take long for Fox to draw the ire of the rowdy fans in attendance. Barackus impressively lifted Hoffarth into a fallaway slam at one point. Fox's interference backfired and Hoffarth was able to slam Barackus, but it only got him a near-fall. Barackus countered a chokeslam attempt with the claw, turning it into the clawhold Flatliner for the win in 6:49; the match was a lot better than I was expecting it to be, so kudos to them in that regard.
The Eternals(MWR Missouri Champion Brandon Espinosa & "The" Ace Hawkins) vs. The Raw Dogs("The Incredible Primal Prodigy" Matt Kenway (Look At Him) & "Freebird" Jason Roberts) for the Tag Team Titles: It had been scheduled to be Evan Gelistico teaming with Kenway, but Gelistico had other obligations so the newcomer Roberts took his place. Espinosa claimed that Hawkins was not in the building(he had been absent from MMWA for several months), but Ace ran to the ring and dove off the top rope onto Kenway & Roberts. As the lesser of two evils, Espinosa & Hawkins were the fan favorites by default against Kenway & Roberts...and they were the more experienced team by a comfortable margin. Espy took out everyone with a moonsault off the second rope, but Ace took exception to accidentally taking the brunt of the move...that led to a cheapshot by Roberts and the challengers took control on Hawkins.
Ace finally got away from the Raw Dogs long enough to make the hot tag to Espinosa...Espy cleaned house, but the referee got occupied with a fight between Hawkins and Roberts and missed a visual tapout when Espy caught Kenway in the cross-armbreaker. That led to another argument between the Tag Champs and the challengers took advantage once again. After several minutes of abuse, Espy cleared a path to make the tag but Hawkins walked out on his partner...Espinosa tried to fight but the numbers caught up to him. Kenway shoved Espy off the top rope, then Roberts delivered a released German suplex with Kenway adding a neckbreaker in mid-air! Roberts got the surprise pin on Espy after that double-team maneuver in 19:34...ladies and gentlemen, we have NEWWWWW Tag Team Champions!
"Risky Business" Everett Connors(w/ cardboard cutout of Justin Beiber) vs. J-Mal Swagg for the Jr. Heavyweight/Bieberweight Title: Swagg has a T-shirt that advertises his favorite things: Chicken and big women. (Yup, that's his thing.) Connors regained the title from Brandon Aarons in August and then cost Danny Adams the T.V. Title to Brian James later in the night; that led to a September tag match in which Adams & Swagg defeated James & Connors. Connors held onto the ref to conceal a mule kick to J-Mal's Swagg, then followed up with a Trouble In Paradise-style flying roundhouse kick for the win in 10:54.
"Da Bomb" Brian James vs. "The Millenial" Danny Adams for the T.V. Title: These two have battled over the Television Championship for most of the year; Adams won the title in July but James regained it a month later. This match had not yet been posted on YouTube at the time of this commentary, but Ben Simon informed me that Adams regained the title after the reverse Stunner in 7:19.
The St. Louis Wrestling Hall Of Fame inductions took place before the intermission. Kerry Von Erich's daughters Lacey(formerly of Total Nonstop Action) and Hollie accepted on behalf of their father and uncles Kevin & David. Lacey was emotional as she talked about her father, who passed away when she and Hollie were very young; she commented that her brief time in the wrestling business was an attempt on her part to understand her family. Longtime manager Big Daddy accepted on behalf of Big Bill Miller, who competed regularly in the Midwest during the 1960s. Another inductee was John Paul Henning, who was a major fan favorite in the St. Louis area and competed in the '50s and '60s. The final inductee was Wrestling At The Chase-era referee Charlie Venator.
During the intermission, Hawkins commandeered the microphone and challenged his former tag team partner Brandon Espinosa to an MWR Missouri Title match on November 12th. All righty then.
Official Ben Simon Concession Count: Cheeseburger and a Pepsi, since I hadn't had any dinner before work.
Kevin Lee Davidson vs. Da'Marius Jones: K.L.D. had won last month's King Of St. Louis Cup Tournament, entitling him to a shot at any championship in the MMWA at any time of his choosing. Jones hit his Paydirt finisher within a few minutes of the opening bell, but K.L.D. was able to kick out of the ensuing pin attempt. These guys work well together and had a good matchup, but Heavyweight Champion A.J. Williams stuck his nose into things at a key moment. Davidson fought him off, then decided to cash in his contract on the spot. I suppose that would have turned the match into a triple threat, but we'll never know as Jones clipped his knee and rolled him up with a handful of tights in 9:41. The contract remains valid, though...
Moondog Rover & Damion Cortess vs. "The Enforcer" Jimmy D & B.T. Daramola: I didn't see this bout as a proverbial "five-star" affair, but it wasn't intended to be. Rover and D have been fighting each other for the better part of this calendar year and the hostilities continued here. Jimmy D brought a chair into the fray and took out Cortess on the arena floor, but he was a bit late in breaking up Moondog's pin of B.T. after the World's Strongest Slam in 8:01. D took out his frustration on Moondog with the chair and got into another confrontation with Commissioner Jim Harris...D had been disregarding his previous stipulation match which had forced him to wear a dress during his matches. Jimmy D wanted a one-on-one match with Rover and the stipulation was set for November: Dog collar match!
A.J. Williams(w/ Da'Marius Jones) vs. "Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson for the Heavyweight Title: As Gary Jackson is a competitor with a notable fashion sense, I am starting a new feature here in the Special Comment: The Gary Jackson Fashion Watch. On this night, he sported a sleeveless purple robe with stars, along with purple trunks with gold fringe. Gary has been MMWA Heavyweight Champion on numerous occasions; the true number of title reigns has probably been lost to the ages. However, the 2.0 combo of Williams and Jones ended his most recent title reign in a triple threat match in June when Jackson tapped out to a double submission hold. That left the championship vacant, but Williams captured it in a scramble match in July. Jackson entered the King Of St. Louis Cup Tournament, but Jones eliminated him from the competition thanks to a low blow.
It seemed like a bad omen when Gary informed everyone of his RULES~! prior to the contest, similar to when Kane detonates his ringpost pyro before a match. Jackson had the experience advantage on the arrogant champion, but A.J.'s speed and agility allowed him to stay a step ahead of his challenger on a few occasions. Williams connected with his signature superkick, but went for one move too many and Jackson blocked a monkeyflip attempt...Gary dropped him to the mat with a modified spinebuster and hooked the Texas Cloverleaf, but Brian James came out to the ringside area to distract Jackson. I'm not sure what issue James has with Jackson, but Jackson abandoned the hold to confront James. The momentary loss of focus proved costly as Williams hit a second superkick, scoring an ill-begotten win in 7:49.
Enter Kevin Lee Davidson, King Of St. Louis Cup Tournament contract in hand. Williams was quick to back out of the ring, not wanting to take on a second challenger for the night. K.L.D. had something else in mind...he wanted to regain the title in a fair fight, so the title match would take place at the November show. Adding that to the dog collar match and the MWR Missouri Title bout, November 12th is shaping up to be a busy night at the South Broadway Athletic Club!
Myself and several others(including Ben Simon and a few of the wrestlers) hung out at the bar for a while after the show had concluded, but we didn't go out to eat on this night...I opted for my recent vice, random junk food from a convenience store close to home. It's a good thing my diet doesn't start until tomorrow...err...
As previously noted, my weekend schedule is a bit marred by my current employment...as it stands right now, I am working on Saturday night until 10:30 so any wrestling show attendance is unlikely. If I can trade shifts with someone or take off early, I will probably make my way to Glen Carbon, IL for Dynamo Pro Wrestling. Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling has its monthly offering in East Carondelet, IL that evening as well. The rest of October looks like this:
-Saturday 10/22: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO (4 Hands Brewery/afternoon show)
-Saturday 10/29: Pro Wrestling Championship Series in Granite City, IL
-Sunday 10/30: Wrestling Over Everything in Swansea, IL
That's my special comment for this, the forty-third 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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