Now, as promised, the remainder of my special comment about Friday's St. Louis Anarchy show at the Spaulding Hall Club in Alton, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
This was an eventful show, so I had to split this commentary into two parts...oh yeah, almost forgot one important thing:
INTERMISSION~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Mountain Dew, Pepsi, and root beer. Ben somehow got a hold of two free drink tokens and passed them along to me, so that was cool of him. I also borrowed a piece of his world-famous Spaulding Hall Club pizza.
I was fortunate to sit with Trina for most of the second half, which I'm sure prompted the same "PATRICK'S SITTING WITH A GIRL!" looks as when I was sitting with Jesse Favre at a Dynamo Pro Wrestling show earlier this year. Heh.
Angelus Layne & Austin Blackburn vs. The Cause(Evan Gelistico & Danny Adams): After Rachel Summerlyn quietly retired from the business, Angelus Layne became one of SLA's most featured female wrestlers; she even main-evented against Gary Jay in a match for the title. Blackburn had been The Cause's rule-enforcing referee in the past, but he split from the group and had been at odds with them ever since. Blackburn debuted with the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance but has branched out quickly in his short career. Adams is a trainee of Michael Elgin and debuted in a Ring Of Honor dark match in Collinsville against Paco Gonzalez(the first of many bouts between the two). With Adam Caster's retirement and Everett Connors' departure from the group, the stable was down to two members...and with the promotion coming to an end, it remains to be seen if The Cause will still be around in the future. (We will see their Kansas City counterparts, The Commission, at Metro Pro on December 3rd.)
The real story of the match had nothing to do with the match itself(which was as good as expected); about midway through the bout, the power went out in the building! One spotlight near the door illuminated the room to some degree, but several fans promptly held up their cellphone lights and the match continued without much of a hitch. It was definitely a memorable portion of the show and the first time I'd ever seen a power outage in the middle of a match. (A Dynamo show once experienced a power outage during intermission and they had to cancel the rest of the show's matches.) The good guys...err, guy and girl...took control of the match and a lot of near-falls ensued; it ended with Blackburn getting his final revenge with a Code Red on Gelistico in 13:10. Layne and Blackburn dished out some post-match damage for the fun of it; Adams did everything he could in an attempt to revive Gelistico, including mouth-to-mouth...err.
The fans were cool with the continuation of the show...good thing everyone had their phones charged. Sarah Rose did her announcements with a handheld megaphone...play with the cards you're dealt, I always say...
Aaron Solow vs. Jason Roberts vs. Paco Gonzalez: Paco was HATED in that building, given his home town of Chicago and fandom of the World Series Champion Cubs. (It seems like every time I see him after a show, he's decked out in Cubs gear.) I'd seen Solow around these parts in the past; he had been a regular in the area under the training of Davey Richards and teamed with Darren Dean(R.I.P.). As previously noted, Paco is an Elgin trainee and has already been making waves in the area. Roberts is a newer face in the area, but I've quickly become a fan of his technical style. The wrestlers in this match and the previous one deserve a lot of credit for working through the unusual scenario of the power outage. Solow pinned Roberts after a cradle DDT in 9:53; he said a few words after the match about working in St. Louis Anarchy during the early part of his career. However, he turned things around and trashed the fans, saying he had moved on to better things.
The power was restored at this point, much to the relief of everyone in the building...woo-hoo.
Roscoe Eat Lisa("Zesty" Zakk Sawyers & "The Big Mustache On Campus" Mikey McFinnegan) vs. Team I.O.U.("The Down-South Dandy" Nick Iggy & "The Music City Mutt" Kerry Awful) for the Tag Team Titles: Sarah got Iggy & Awful's names mixed up and they took it upon themselves to correct her. It was a divided crowd as the champs and the "carnies" each had their share of supporters. Iggy & Awful have been getting notice on the national stage, which is cool to see. It sounds like Sawyers & McFinnegan will be a part of the NWL. After a tremendous bout and a lot of near-falls, the champs retained as Zakk pinned Awful after R.E.L. hit their Air Raid Crash-with-spike finisher in 16:38. The final St. Louis Anarchy Tag Team Champions thanked the fans for their support before departing...the belts only came into existence about a year and half ago, but they were briefly held by The Hooligans before being captured by The Cause(Gelistico & Adam Caster). Sawyers & McFinnegan won them in August and will retire the championships...fare thee well.
Matt Kenway hit the ring and staged a one-man sit-down strike, complaining about being left off the show and issuing an open challenge. He got a response from a Lethal Wrestling Alliance original...
Gorgeous Jordan Lacey vs. "The Incredible Primal Prodigy" Matt Kenway (Look At Him): Trina got a lapdance from the returning Lacey, as did several other fans...bwahahaha. We got a FAT GUY OUTTA CONTROL SUICIDE DIVE before Lacey finished with the Jenna Jameson(swinging uranagi) in a brisk 2:02. Gelistico & Danny Adams hit the ring to attack Lacey, but the save was made by two other LWA originals: Adam Caster(Raw) and Frankie Big Balls! Caster said he was no longer drinking Gelistico's Cause Kool-Aid and his mind was clear again. He brought out three men who were a big part of the LWA: President Jordan Taylor, ring announcer Mad Dog Daffronian, and tech guy Tim Pickerill. The newer fans weren't familiar with those guys and had little patience for the mic work, wanting to get to the main event...Tim sensed that and kept his words short and sweet.
Mat Fitchett vs. "The Ace Of Anarchy" Davey Vega vs. Gary Jay(w/ Dorian Victor & Mrs. Victor) for the Heavyweight Title: This championship was carried over from the LWA Title and the WCWF Title before that, meaning its lineage goes back over a decade. "Nightmare" Nick Tyson defeated Frankie Big Balls at the first LWA show on October 25th of 2003 in a match for the WCWF Championship, renaming it the LWA Title at that time. Other LWA titleholders included Frankie, Adam Raw, Ryan Ash, Gary Jay(then Gary The Barn Owl, later Gary The Night Owl and Gerald James), Pierre Abernathy, Shorty Biggs, "The Future" Donovan Ruddick, Jordan Lacey, Jeremy Wyatt, K.C. Karrington, Vega, and Evan Gelistico(who was the last LWA Champion and first SLA titleholder). From there, the title was held by Gelistico, Dan Walsh, Darin Corbin, Gary Jay(for over two years!), and Fitchett. Despite being one of the final LWA Champions, Vega was the only one in this match who hadn't held the SLA version of the gold; while he won the LWA belt from Gary, he was never able to capture the SLA Title when Gary held it. Those matchups included a sixty-minute draw last December! Daffronion did the ring announcing duties for old times' sake.
The match was as wild as expected as they took it to the floor in short order. One of the craziest spots of the match took place when Vega attempted to sunset-bomb Gary to the floor and Fitchett nailed Gary with a suicide dive as Vega held Gary up in the move! Each man had their chance to walk away with the belt, but Vega was not to be denied again on this night. Vega hit his signature brainbuster onto the knee on Gary Jay and then Mat Fitchett, pinning the champion for his title in 17:02! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a NEWWWWW St. Louis Anarchy Heavyweight Champion and Major Baisden presented the belt to the new titleholders...
...BUT WAIT A MINUTE. Several unfamiliar men stormed the ring to attack all three men...upon closer inspection, they all wore the colors of the Kansas City side of the NWL. I made out Logan & Sterling Riegel(now Jet & Jax Royal), Jake & Ryan King of the Killer City Kings(now Rudy & Geno Mancini), Kiyoshi Shizuka, and MICHAEL STRIDER! The Riegels had only appeared in this area a handful of times, but the Kings had never been here and Strider hadn't been at a St. Louis wrestling show in several years. The locker room emptied as wrestlers with NWL STL shirts fan off the K.C. interlopers; they were joined by Baisden and Lucy Mendez(now Carolia Rodriguez) as Baisden read them the riot act about interfering with the event. The STL side clearer the ring, capped off by K.L.D. Awesome-Bombing a Riegel over the top rope onto his compatriots!
Things settled down and the three participants in the main event had a chance to speak on the situation at hand. Vega was particularly emotional as the final SLA Champion (though the championship will continue in Pro Wrestling Championship Series as the Gateway Heritage Championship). (NWL name update: Vega & Fitchett will be a tag team as Davey Gibson & Mathew Grundy; Gary Jay will be Jay Lutz and Dorian Victor will be Emmett DuBois.) The show finished with the three men crowd-surfing around the ring, courtesy of the fans; I'M NOT STRONG!
Post-show, I touched base with a lot of people. I officially met Mr. Baisden and introduced myself; if he ever needs a consultant on the St. Louis scene, I know a guy. Talked to Ryan King, who teams with Mark Sterling in Metro Pro. Wish I'd had a chance to talk to Strider, but I'll see him at Metro Pro in a few weeks. Myself and Ben Simon met up with Brian Kelley and Gary Weiss at Denny's; I had blueberry pancakes along with hash browns and scrambled eggs. I just had water to drink since I was going to be up late as it was...heh.
I'm doing my best to compile the NWL name changes. Jake Dirden will be Jack Foster and I noted a few others above. I'm not as familiar with the Kansas City crew so that part will be trickier. A lot can happen between now and the new group's debut in January...nn that note, here's how the rest of the year shapes up.
-Saturday is Dynamo Pro Wrestling's final show of the year at The Ready Room in St. Louis. Mike Outlaw defends the Heavyweight Title against Brandon Aarons. Ricky Cruz faces Jake Dirden for the final time(as Ricky is retiring at the end of the year and Dirden is off to NWL). Brandon Espinosa defends the MWR Missouri Title against Matt Kenway. Much appreciation to my co-workers who are covering my Saturday shift, so I will be there...woo. For those in the Cape Girardeau area, Cape Championship Wrestling is in Delta, MO with Brandon Barbwire defending the Heavyweight Title against Hollis Giroux.
-Sunday is Wrestling Over Everything in Swansea. LaMarcus Clinton faces Wrestling Invades America Heavyweight Champion Leone Mephisto to finally crown a WOE titleholder. Billy McNeil defends the WIA/WOE Interstate Title against Jake Parnell. Bodily Harm(Jimmy D & Bobby D) defend the WIA/WOE Tag Titles against 2.0(Da'Marius Jones & B.T. Daramola).
-Friday 12/2: High Risk Wrestling returns to Warsaw, MO with Mike Sydal defending the Heavyweight Title against Davey Richards, plus Justin D'Air defends the Mayhem Title against Mike Outlaw in a last-man-standing match. Also Babewatch(Brandon Espinosa & Brandon Aarons) defend the Tag Titles against Danny Adams & Matt Kenway, Angelina Love faces "Miss Natural" Heather Patera, and Jay Howard defends the NWA Missouri Title against Paco Gonzalez.
-Saturday 12/3: Metro Pro Wrestling has its final show in Kansas City, Kansas and I will finally make it to one of their events. Ace Steel defends the Central States Title against Nate Redwing in a lumberjack match. The Heavyweight Title tournament wraps up with Devin Thomas facing Sterling and Dirden locking up with Mike Sydal in the semifinals; the winners meet later in the night to decide the champion. Vega & Fitchett defend the Tag Titles against The Commission(Gelistico & Abernathy) in one of Pierre's last in-ring appearances. Also, The Honky Tonk Man will be in the house. Closer to home, the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance has its monthly event at the South Broadway Athletic Club with some vacant championships to fill...
-Saturday 12/10: There will be three choices in the greater St. Louis area. PWCS has its Season Three finale in Edwardsville, IL(moved from Granite City) with the undercard matches determining which teams will square off for the season championship. The show will feature Arik Cannon vs. Mat Fitchett, Darin Corbin vs. Danny Adams, and the final encounter between long-time opponents Gary Jay and Pierre Abernathy. SICW has its monthly offering in East Carondelet, IL with Ron Powers defending the Classic Title against Vic The Bruiser and Hall Of Fame manager "The Mouth Of The South" Jimmy Hart in the house. Finally, World Powerhouse Wrestling is in Collinsville with The Searcher & Scar defending the Tag Titles against Curtis Payne & Damian Blade.
Well, this took a while to finish...I was sick as a dog for the first part of the week and needed my energy for other concerns. Glad to finish it up before this weekend's events, after which I'll be writing once again. See you at the wrestling shows, all.
That's my special comment for this, the forty-ninth 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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