MMWA Special Comment

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.

Plans for the weekend changed due to my acceptance of a job at the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville; I couldn't exactly spend the night in Kansas City if I had to be at work at 7:30 the following morning.  (As it turned out, my warehouse experience was short-lived as I quickly realized that the job wasn't going to be for me; I resigned on Tuesday afternoon and it looks like Pizza Hut is stuck with me for the moment.)  As such, I stopped by the beautiful and/or historic SBAC for their monthly offering on the heels of the mass defections to the National Wrasslin' League.  The crowd was a bit down from the November event which boasted a packed house, but then South Broadway is more of a social hangout that just happens to host wrestling once a month; it's usually factors outside of wrestling that affect their attendance.

I was in good company as I shared a table with "Evil" Jim & Crystal Yount, Chris Roedel, Luke Roberts, and a guy I hadn't seen in quite some time:  Dingo.  He's been living in Chicago recently but was in town for a few days; good to touch base with him.

Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referees were Nick Ridenour & Jeff Edinger.

Ben started the show by announcing that all of the championships were vacant due to circumstances beyond the promotion's control, so a round-robin tournament of sorts would be held to determine the next Heavyweight Champion.  Brandon Espinosa & Da'Marius Jones are in the Heavyweight Title tournament and the other four entrants would be decided by qualifying matches.  (It sounds like some form of round-robin tournament.)  The Jr. Heavyweight Title(now rebranded as the Cruiserweight Title) would go to the winner of a match later in the evening.  (From what I understand, the T.V. Title has been retired and the Tag Team Titles will be left on the shelf until the tag division is redeveloped.)

J-Mal Swagg vs. Damion Cortess, Heavyweight Title Qualifier:  Cortess was more heelish than usual in this opener, solidifying Swagg as the fan favorite.  Cortess was briefly a Tag Team Champion with Prince Moses, but had to adapt to singles competition when Moses suffered an injury.  Swagg is rebounding from his loss of the Jr. Heavyweight Title to Brandon Aarons and hoped to step up into the Heavyweight Championship picture with a win here.  Swagg won a competitive match with the Zigswag in 6:50...Cortess congratulated him after the match, but then laid him out...ladies and gentlemen, we have a heel turn.

The Big Texan vs. "The" Ace Hawkins, Heavyweight Title Qualifier:  As of the most recent Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling show, Big Jim Hoffarth has donned a new mask and gone back to his previous monicker.  (He was still billed as "Big Texan" by a lot of groups anyway.)  Given the matchup, he was a fan favorite against Hawkins (though the SICW angle seemed to turn him back into a rulebreaker).  Hawkins used his speed and agility to counteract Texan's size and strength, though Texan was able to overpower him on several occasions.  Ace was able to counter a chokeslam attempt with a mid-air DDT, then hit a running somersault Ace Crusher for the three-count in 5:47.

Garrett Shanks vs. "The Enforcer" Jimmy D:  Jimmy D has been the source of some recent controversy in the St. Louis wrestling scene and I'll leave it at that.  Shanks is a rookie out of the Dynamo Pro dojo with a surfer look and I have no idea how wrestlers still do the barefoot thing.  Moondog Rover got involved and stopped D from using his baseball bat in the match(this is the feud that never eeeeends...oh it goes on and on my frieeeeends...); that allowed Shanks to capitalize with a Diamond Cutter for the upset win in 4:04.  (Was that his first win?)

Intermission~!  As it was the December show, Santa Claus was in the house to meet the kids.  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Pepsi, Mountain Dew, cheese fries.

Moondog Rover vs. B.T. Daramola, Heavyweight Title Qualifier:  This was a standard-issue heavyweight fight and Moondog OVAH~! was as popular as ever.  B.T. has been trying to diversify his offense as he actually dove out of the ring onto Moondog at one point.  Experience would win out in the end as Rover dropped Daramola with the World's Strongest Slam in 5:12.

"Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson vs. Barackus, Heavyweight Title Qualifier:  This was scheduled to be Jackson vs. "Da Bomb" Brian James, but James was absent for unknown reasons after picking fights with Jackson in recent months.  Gary Jackson Fashion Watch(tm):  Red fringed vest and red hunting cap for the holidays, plus yellow trunks with red fringe.  Once again Gary talked about The Rules(tm) prior to the match, which is like Kane triggering his pyro before a bout:  It's not a good sign for him.  Jackson was already fighting an uphill battle against a larger and stronger opponent, though his experience served him well against the big man.  It took a Herculean effort to get Barackus off his feet and Jackson set up for the Texas Cloverleaf, but Brian James' theme music played over the audio system.  Jackson dropped the hold to look for a potential sneak attack, but James was nowhere to be seen...however, the loss of focus was costly to The Night Train.  Barackus mowed down Jackson and dropped him with a gourdbuster, then finished with the clawhold Flatliner in 8:24.  That set the Heavyweight Title field as:  Brandon Espinosa, Da'Marius Jones, J-Mal Swagg, Ace Hawkins, Moondog Rover, and Barackus.

Varik Morgan vs. Deacon Cash for the vacant Cruiserweight Title:  Morgan returned at last month's MMWA show, as did Cash; Cash had made several attempts at the Jr. Heavyweight Title but never quite got his hands on the gold.  Cash settled into his more natural rulebreaking role, using his size advantage to overpower Morgan; Varik had to use his agility to outmaneuver Cash.  During an exchange on the ropes, Cash accidentally elbowed the referee, leaving the match without an official for a few moments before a second official took over.  Morgan capitalized on his opening to deliver a flying knee strike and Codebreaker, then lifted Cash on his shoulders for a Ricochet/T.J. Perkins-style Detonation Kick!  That got Morgan the three-count from the second ref in 12:21...but the original official called it as a DQ win for Morgan instead (due to being struck by Cash).  No matter, same result...but Commissioner Jim Harris said he didn't want the newly-rebranded championship to start with a disqualification finish(similar to how World League Wrestling treated their new Junior Heavyweight Title).  As such, a rematch will take place in January to determine an undisputed champion.

Brandon Espinosa vs. Da'Marius Jones for the MWR Missouri Title:  These guys have a lot of history as they've fought over the MMWA Heavyweight Title in the past, including a 60-Minute Ironman Match...but the popularity contest may be a bit different than it was at that time.  B.T. was indisposed after his previous battle with Moondog Rover, so Jones was flying solo.  (Speaking of which, why wasn't recent champion A.J. Williams in the mix?)  They had a lengthy competitive bout to top off the card, but Espy seemed to have the advantage as he locked on his signature cross-armbreaker.  However, Ace Hawkins ran in with a swanton bomb onto Espinosa for the DQ finish in 15:23 (two DQs in a row to end the show?).  Chaos broke loose as Hawkins and Jones double-teamed Espy until Moondog hit the ring and dropped Ace with the World's Strongest Slam.  Next, Barackus entered the fray with the clawhold on Rover...but J-Mal Swagg jumped into the action with the Zigswag on his former tag partner Barackus!  The fan favorites(Espy, Moondog, Swagg) stood tall to close out the event...

Saturday the 10th will be busy in this area with three shows:  Pro Wrestling Championship Series in Edwardsville, IL (moved from Granite City due to venue issues), Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL, and World Powerhouse Wrestling in Collinsville, IL.  That'll be it for the greater St. Louis area for the year, though if I'm free, I may check out Proving Ground Pro on the 17th and All-American Wrestling on the 30th...gotta bum a ride, though.

That's my special comment for this, the fifty-first 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.