Now, as promised, a special comment about Sunday's Wrestling Over Everything show at the Improvement Hall in Swansea, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
The local wrestling scene is experiencing a shakeup, courtesy of a new organization called the National Wrestling/Wrasslin' League(NWL). The group has run a major advertising campaign as they'll be running shows in both St. Louis and Kansas City; it sounds like they have a lot of money behind them. They've signed some notable names to exclusive contracts, including Kevin Lee Davidson and The Riegel Twins(Logan & Sterling); they're even setting up alternate ring names for people who wrestle under their banner. Most notably, they are acquiring two particularly notable Midwest wrestling organizations: Metro Pro Wrestling and St. Louis Anarchy. The organization will begin official operations in the new year; we'll see how things shape up from there.
I knew almost nothing about this event beforehand; all that had been announced was a tournament to crown the first WOE Heavyweight Champion. A handful of talents were displayed on the event poster, but that was all I had for reference. Billy McNeil mentioned on Facebook that he was facing Leone Mephisto, so that was one match I knew ahead of time. The event page said Card Subject To Change and I joked that there was literally no "card" to change!
The show's turnout was all right and the fans seemed to be into the action for the most part. I hung out with Ben Simon, Mike Outlaw, and Tommy Peterson for a good portion of the night.
Your ring announcer was Sarah Rose; your referees were Jason Pemberton & Jared Kaylor (thanks to Jason for the name of the other ref).
The show started with a promo by The Landlord, who was accompanied by Chris Kaelin(to hold the new WOE Heavyweight Title belt) and secretary Krista Berner. Standard rulebreaking authority figure stuff...as always, I note that wrestling fans generally go to independent shows to see something different from what's on TV. (Translation: They don't want to see a lot of talking.)
Leone Mephisto vs. Billy McNeil for the WIA Interstate Title: This wasn't announced as a tournament match; Mephisto also had the Pro Wrestling Epic and Wrestling Invades America Heavyweight Title belts with him. I was unclear on whether the final WIA Champion would be left out of the tournament to crown the WOE titlist, but that was clarified(?) later in the show. These two have feuded off and on for the past several years, dating back to the days of Independent Hardcore Wrestling. Mephisto claimed to have run Kevin Lee Davidson and Brandon Aarons "out of town" in his pre-match promo...I presume those two won't be back in this particular promotion. These guys work well together and had a solid opener; McNeil got the surprise win after a flying tornado DDT off the second rope in 7:33, depriving Mephisto of one of his three precious championships. (It sounds like the Interstate and Tag Titles will carry over from WIA to WOE.) It looked like fences would be mended as Mephisto uncharacteristically raised Billy's hand and embraced him, but then he laid him out with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex.
LaMarcus Clinton vs. Trystan Brady Shadeux(w/ Papi Milla), Heavyweight Title Tournament(?): I'm almost positive this was announced as a tournament match; more on that later. Shadeux was an odd case in WIA as he appeared often but rarely wrestled. A few people had trouble with the ropes on this show; I recall LMC slipping while attempting his pre-match backflip at least once. The match was decent enough, albeit short; LMC won after a corkscrew standing moonsault in 3:34.
"Infamous" Tyler Copeland vs. Big Jim Hoffarth, Heavyweight Title Tournament: Landlord added his two cents before most of the tournament matches, particularly in this case due to his issues with former ally Copeland. Hoffarth dominated with his size and power advantage, but Copeland did his best to stick and move. A missed avalanche allowed Copeland to get the quick rollup pin in 4:30, advancing in the tournament.
Chase King(w/ LaMarcus Clinton) vs. Barackus, Heavyweight Title Tournament: Landlord had his obvious favorite in the form of the big man Barackus; King was returning from a knee injury that occurred earlier this year. The size and power advantage was too much to overcome in this case and Barackus won with the clawhold Flatliner in 7:19.
LaMarcus Clinton vs. "The Millenial" Danny Adams, Heavyweight Title Tournament: It was at this point that I had some questions. Was this a semifinal match and did Adams get a first-round bye? I would find out that this was a "first-round" match and the tournament "final" would be a three-way match, so LMC just randomly had an extra preliminary match. They clearly had enough people available for a full eight-man tournament, but went a different route...oh well, I'm not a booker. They had a good matchup with Adams nearly winning, but LMC countered a fireman's-carry move by escaping Adams' grasp and rolling him up for the pin in 4:45.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count: Bag of chips and a root beer(Fitz's!).
Rosko vs. Johnny Blade: I saw Rosko for the first time at a WIA show earlier this year in a loss to Justin D'Air. Blade worked as the rulebreaker in this bout; it was a decent contest and Blade won with the F-5 in 4:51.
(Trystan) Brady Shadeux(w/ Papi Milla) made another appearance, complaining about his earlier loss and issuing an open challenge...
Chris Exodus vs. Trystan Brady Shadeux(w/ Papi Milla): Several fans rather notably didn't appear in the audience until intermission or shortly thereafter; they were clearly only there for Exodus' match, as most of them left right after the bout. Said "match" didn't last long as the fight quickly spilled out of the ring; Shadeux countered a suicide dive by throwing Exodus into a row of chairs, prompting the referee to call for the bell in 1:38. It wasn't clear if the decision was a DQ win for Exodus(how I listed it) or a no-contest as nothing was announced, but the fight continued and re-entered the ring as if the bell hadn't rung. Exodus got the better of the fight and stood tall as Shadeux's bodyguard "held him back" from re-engaging.
WIA Tag Team Champion "The Enforcer" Jimmy D vs. Da'Marius Jones & B.T. Daramola: Jimmy D openly wondered if The Landlord had anything to do with Bobby D's absence, but said he was a fighting champion...notably, the Ds are fan favorites in this promotion. Landlord said the titles would not be on the line here, but the 2.0 team would earn a title shot if they won. This was your standard-issue handicap bout with an odd finish: The rulebreaking duo beat down Jimmy D on the floor and threw him back into the ring, but spent too much time celebrating and the referee's count reached ten in 8:16. Jimmy D technically won at that point, but Landlord decided that a decisive winner was necessary and ordered a restart. Jimmy D turned around into Jones' Paydirt for the real finish after about ten seconds of restart...all righty then.
"Infamous" Tyler Copeland vs. LaMarcus Clinton vs. Barackus, Heavyweight Title Tournament three-way dance: Barackus attacked Copeland from behind as he made his entrance, doing damage to both Copeland and LMC before the opening bell even rang. As a result, Barackus easily eliminated Copeland with the clawhold flatiner in 0:07. That left LMC at a huge disadvantage in size and power against the monsterous Barackus...the big man toyed with him at times, even pulling him up from pin attempts. However, his cavalier attitude got the best of him as he removed a turnbuckle pad to increase the damage...as a result, LMC was able to turn the tables and ram Barackus' head into the exposed turnbuckle twice. Barackus staggered backwards into a schoolboy trip and LMC got the rollup pin in 5:54! (The show had three schoolboy finishes in total.)
After the match, Landlord hesitated to present LMC with the title belt...he said that the winner of the tournament was supposed to face Mephisto to crown the first champion, but Mephisto had "left early" so that match would have to take place at the November 27th show. (So all we knew about the show was the championship tournament and they didn't even crown a new champion?) It looked like a standoff between the two, but then Landlord's estranged brother Darkside made his return and ran off the promoter. Darkside threw the belt to LMC, who celebrated with it to close the show(despite the fact that he's not officially the champion).
I was a bit late in my off-day requests for next weekend, so I am working on Friday night but am free on Saturday. On Friday, Pro Wrestling Epic has a show in Brownstown, IL and World Powerhouse Wrestling is in Jerseyville, IL. As for Saturday, World League Wrestling is in Troy, Missouri and Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling returns to Swansea, IL; will probably opt for SICW since it's closer to home.
The rest of November looks like this:
-Saturday 11/12: Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Friday 11/18: St. Louis Anarchy in Alton, IL
-Saturday 11/19: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Wood River, IL; Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Sunday 11/20: Pro Wrestling Resurgence in Swansea, IL
-Saturday 11/26: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO (Ready Room)
That's my special comment for this, the forty-sixth 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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