Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Pro Wrestling Championship Series show from KG's Sportsbar & Banquet Center in Granite City, Illinois.
Disclaimer: I'm biased. Deal with it.
I'll be perfectly honest: I don't enjoy writing about wrestling nowadays. I have more pressing concerns in life and would rather just watch and attempt to enjoy it. Nowadays, the Internet side of wrestling fandom is terrible as everyone just seems to sling mud at everyone else for having different tastes. It's a business and I prefer to let the business aspect of wrestling determine who's doing it "right" or "wrong". I'm one fan and I highly recommend that each individual fan make his or her own decision about which wrestling shows to attend/watch.
I was able to get Saturday and Sunday off work so I could attend both events this past weekend. The show had a decent turnout, but the enthusiasm level left a lot to be desired. The fans seems lethargic for a lot of the show, even though the action seemed to deserve better than that. A LOT of fan favorite vs. fan favorite matches took place so that may have affected the energy level. Some of the later matches got the people into the action, at any rate.
Starting scoreboard for the evening: Resurgence 5-1, Blacklist 3-3, Submission Squad/Ego Busters 2-4. It would have taken a major slump by Blacklist and a huge rally by either of the cellar-dwellers to alter the top scores. As it turned out, the competition isn't QUITE over: The December season finale will feature the last few matches with the championship match taking place at the end of the night.
Your ring announcer was Tito McGee; your referees were Jason Pemberton & Evan Edvin (thanks to Sean Orleans for filling in that blank).
"The Incredible Primal Prodigy" Matt Kenway (Look At Him) vs. Richard Faith: This was a preshow match that occurred about fifteen minutes before the official start of the event. Faith had been wrestling in central Illinois under that name and had only recently begun competing consistently in this area. Faith dominated most of the match with his size and power advantage, but Kenway rallied to deliver a big dramatic bodyslam. He finished with a sliding lariat(which he called the "Primal-line") in 2:45...short and to the point.
Austin Blackburn(w/ Gary Jay, Evan Gelistico, & Pierre Abernathy)(Submission Squad) vs. "Lights Out" Adrian Surge(w/ Greg Jovi)(Ego Busters): I joked that the guy nicknamed "Lights Out" would wrestle in a lot of dark matches...I sincerely apologize for that horrible pun. In all seriousness, Surge is a solid guy who works in this area every once in a while, but primarily competes in central Illinois. Blackburn is getting over as an underdog fan favorite, which is a good sign for him; his highlight was a major no-hands plancha onto Surge on the floor. Blackburn notched the win with a wheelbarrow Diamond Cutter in 6:29, boosting the Squad to 3-4 and dropping the Ego Busters to 2-5.
Afterwards, Pierre called Makaze to the ring to officially mend their fences. It seemed like they were building to a grudge match between the two, but real life had other plans. Pierre said that he had signed a contract with another wrestling organization(National Wrestling League?), so his last match would be at the season finale on December 10th. He wanted to make amends for previous misunderstandings and, after some hesitation, the two shook hands without incident. Gary Jay was a bit miffed that he hadn't heard about Pierre's situation before this announcement, but they smoothed it over by agreeing to one last match between the two on 12/10. (Gary and Pierre went around the horn with each other at a bunch of U.S. indie promotions; they had their respective first matches in Gateway Championship Wrestling against each other.) Jovi decided to crash the party by sending in his troops: Surge, Danny Adams, Stevie Fierce, and Rob Matter. Makaze temporarily joined forces with the Squad to fight off the attack, ending the segment with the good guys standing tall.
Outtkast(Blacklist) vs. Paco Gonzalez(Resurgence): This was one of the evening's matches in which it might have been good for someone to "heel it up"; even though it was a solid bout, there wasn't much crowd noise in this one. Outtkast got the win with the Case Study(one of these days I'll look up the technical term for that move, but Outtkast holds the opponent across his back in a slightly lower position than a fireman's-carry and then spins them into a faceplant/bulldog drop) in 6:20. That got The Blacklist above .500 at 4-3 while The Resurgence dropped to 5-2.
Angelus Layne vs. Jason Roberts: This was a free agent showcase and Angelus Layne's PWCS debut; good to see her at more STL-area shows and hated to miss her Dynamo bout with Angelina Love. (Will hopefully watch the match video in the near future.) Davey Vega added an extra wrinkle to the match, saying that Resurgence had a spot to fill and announcing that the winner would become a member of the stable. That did seem to telegraph the finish as Roberts is more of a "local regular" than Layne, but it was still a fine bout. Roberts is still new but does some good limb/submission work; would be interesting to see him matched up against a similar technically-minded opponent. Layne's introduction poked fun at her recent injury record as she was announced as hailing from "the nearest E.R." Each wrestler targeted the other's arm as this was a more scientific bout than I expected (though strikes were exchanged as well). Roberts scored the slight upset with a modified triangle hold; Layne didn't tap out, but she apparently lost consciousness and the referee called for a stoppage in 9:32. Roberts earned a spot in The Resurgence with his win; post-match Mutual Respect(tm) ensued.
Evan Gelistico & Pierre Abernathy(w/ Shawshank The Inflatable Dolphin)(Submission Squad) vs. Beauty & The Beast("Sensational" Stevie Fierce & "Death Machine" Rob Matter)(w/ Greg Jovi)(Ego Busters): Evan had noted that this would be the last time he and Pierre would wrestle as a tag team; their extensive resume included Tag Team Title reigns in GCW and the Lethal Wrestling Alliance, among other promotions. Pierre had already been winding down his in-ring career as he had focused on promoting at St. Louis Anarchy shows; glad he got to do King Of Trios, in retrospect. The early part of the match focused on comedy as Fierce and Gelistico got into a hip-swiveling contest, then Matter had great difficulty in attempting to bodyslam Pierre. That led to an impromptu armwrestling challenge which ended in a Pierre cheapshot...Matter protested that "good guys" don't do that, but Evan and Pierre never claimed to be your traditional "good guys". Shawshank saw some action as the Ego Busters attempted to abduct the Squad's inflatable friend, only to seemingly be attacked by the otherwise-docile creature; Gary Jay had to run out to ringside and save the dolphin from any further potential abuse. The Submission Squad rallied, but Jovi distracted the ref at an opportune moment and Matter stunned Pierre with a low blow, then got the cheap pin in 16:28. That boosted the Ego Busters to 3-5 and dropped the Squad to 3-5, putting them in a tie for third. The Squad got a nice round of applause as they left.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Hershey Bar & Pepsi. It was announced that the Season Three finale in December would feature the returns of Arik Cannon(facing Mat Fitchett) and Darin Corbin. Sweet.
Makaze(Blacklist) vs. Mat Fitchett(Resurgence): This was another battle of fan favorites and an interesting bout of "old school vs. new school". Fitchett brought the St. Louis Anarchy Title belt to the ring as SLA is a sister promotion of sorts to PWCS. Makaze's experience was a factor as he attempted to slow down Fitchett and keep him grounded...after avoiding an aerial move off the ropes, Makaze mockingly asked if Fitchett expected him to just stand there. Makaze appeared to have the momentum and delivered a series of corner clotheslines, but Fitchett exploded out of the corner with a high-speed flying knee strike and got the duke in 10:38. That lifted Resurgence to 6-2 and Blacklist fell to 4-4; more Mutual Respect(tm) ensued.
Gary Jay(w/ Pierre Abernathy)(Submission Squad) vs. "The Millenial" Danny Adams(w/ Greg Jovi)(Ego Busters): This was scheduled to be Gary Jay vs. K.C. Karrington, but Gary's opponent was changed a few days before the event. I think Karrington has been M.I.A. since the last-man-standing match with Steven Kennedy; neither man has returned to action since that time and Kennedy may be done for good, sorry to say. This match had the definite purpose of elevating Adams; they had a really good competitive bout. With Adams billed from Thunder Bay, Ontario, some fans found a resemblance in his ring attire to Owen Hart's gear...that actually prompted a brief "Nugget" chant. Owen was one of my all-time favorites, so that's a good comparison to get. While Gary was the clear favorite, the match ended in surprising fashion as both men delivered simultaneous headbutts and the bout was ruled a double-knockout draw in 10:28! That put both teams at 3-5-1 in a tie for third...Gary proclaimed his respect for Adams, but told General Manager Jovi to sign a rematch ASAP. (Gary was a part of the only other draw finish in PWCS team competition as he had a double countout with Kennedy in Season Two.)
"Dad Bod" Sean Orleans vs. "Risky Business" Everett Connors(Submission Squad): This was a free-agent showcase match with Connors' Submission Squad spot on the line. When Connors entered with the cardboard cutout of Justin Beiber, it dawned on me that Orleans would be a fan favorite for the first time in my recollection. That put an interesting dynamic on this match since their previous encounters had the opposite scenario in place with Connors as the fan favorite and Orleans as the rulebreaker. I can remember the first time I saw Sean Vincent as a fan favorite and how unusual that was; a long-time GCW fan even remarked "I feel dirty" as we got used to applauding him. Orleans has been a jack-of-all-trades about the local wrestling scene as a wrestler, manager, ring announcer, referee, and even commissioner of Pro Wrestling Resurgence. A ringside child fan actually tried to run away with the Bieber cutout before Connors made the save, then had a member of ringside security "escort" Bieber to the backstage area for his own safety. These two work well together; I remember their best-of-three-falls match from a previous MMWA Cinco De Mayo event. Alas, victory was not in the cards for Orleans as Connors won with a Shining Wizard in 10:27; Orleans got a good response from the fans as he exited the ring.
Davey Vega(Resurgence) vs. Mike Outlaw(Blacklist): This was the most anticipated bout of the night between one of the most established members of the St. Louis wrestling scene and one of its top up-and-coming competitors. Vega has been making waves in Beyond Wrestling and currently holds the Tag Team Titles in both All American Wrestling and Metro Pro Wrestling with Fitchett. Outlaw is the current two-time Dynamo Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Champion and has been traveling quite a bit in his young career, recently making his debut for Why We Wrestle(fka NWA Anarchy, fka NWA Wildside) in Georgia. It was shaping up as another battle of fan favorites, but Vega turned up the aggression and cockiness just enough to solidify the fans in Outlaw's favor. They had a REALLY strong match built around counterwrestling as they avoided each other's signature moves...I'm a bigger fan of countering signature moves than just kicking out of finishers and other big moves, but that's just my own preference. Outlaw capped off a rally with a major somersault plancha, then they traded near-falls before Outlaw escaped Vega's brainbuster onto the knee and got the flash pin with an O'Connor Roll in 20:41! The ring announcer didn't mention the time, possibly because the match may have been announced as having a twenty-minute time limit...it was no big deal, as I think the fans would have wanted a decisive winner anyway. That ended the night with The Blacklist at 5-4 and The Resurgence at 6-3.
The scoreboard was largely unchanged and it looked like the championship finals would be Resurgence vs. Blacklist, but PWCS announcer that more team competition would take place at the December show before the championship bout at the end of the night. I had wondered if the announcement of Fitchett vs. Arik Cannon would be a factor; that will be another clash between the leading two teams. The Ego Busters and The Submission Squad are within striking distance, but as previously noted, it would take a serious slump by one of the top two teams combined with a hot streak by either the 'Busters or the 'Squad to alter the top rankings.
Of course, it was a doubleheader weekend so I had more rasslin to watch...but that's another story for another time. Tune in next time...Same Pat-Time, Same Pat-Channel.
That's my special comment for this, the forty-fifth 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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