NWL Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Sunday's National Wrasslin' League show at the Casa Loma Ballroom in St. Louis, Missouri.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

NWL had a solid turnout for their Sunday show, though I'm sure they would have liked more fans in attendance for their tournament final.  At any rate, the audience was enthusiastic and kept the energy level high.

Your ring announcer was Ben Simon, your referees were Sean Orleans & Michael Crase, and your ring girl was Laynie Luck.

"The Raging Bull" Maverick vs. "The Bull City Boss" Cornell Douglass(w/ Brother Castle), St. Louis Title Tournament Semifinal:  Due to Maverick not being cleared to wrestle at the previous event, the semifinal was postponed until this show.  Douglass didn't see why HE had to wrestle twice in one night, so he was able to negotiate a compromise with NWL President Major Baisden:  The tourney final would be a no-DQ match, something he felt would be in his favor.  To recap, Maverick defeated Dominick Butler and Dez Wellston to reach this point; Douglass got past Davey Gibson and Jay Lutz to reach the semifinals.  Maverick had the fans on his side, but he had to deal with Castle's presence outside the ring.  Douglass pulled out all the stops, even delivering a Cactus Jack-style elbowdrop off the ring apron.  Maverick fought back into the match and nearly won after a lariat, but Castle put his compatriot's foot on the bottom rope.  The double-teaming would finally backfire as Castle held Maverick for an attempted heart punch, but Maverick escaped his grasp and Douglass accidentally took out Castle with the lethal blow.  Maverick took advantage of the opportunity, hitting a Death Valley Driver for the victory in 14:55!

Party Crasher Spike(w/ Boulder) vs. Tommy Flagg of the Anti-Social Network(w/ August Marshall):  Flagg continued to make friends with his gift of gab, referring to a section of African-American spectators as "the entire population of East St. Louis".  Marshall got involved a few times, prompting Boulder to enter the fray and spear Marshall.  Despite the sides being evened, Flagg was able to score the victory after a modified Flatliner in 6:14.

NWL President Major Baisden made his entrance for his biweekly PowerPoint presentation.  (BUY THE SHIRT~!)  He talked up the NWL's TV deal in Kansas City and encouraged the fans to contact KPLR-11 about a television spot in the St. Louis market.  (DO EEEEET.)  Of course, an interruption had to happen and it came in the form of "The Billion-Dollar Brother" Emmett DuBois & Clayton Fox.  The duo took credit for running "Super Soul" Coco Rumble out of the NWL; he hasn't appeared since being powerbombed through a table by DuBois, causing him to miss his quarterfinal title tournament match.  DuBois wanted to talk business with Major and brought his own PowerPoint to connect with him...but Fox apparently screwed up the setup as we only saw a few templates(plus a funny slide with a picture of Fox giving the thumbs-up).  Finally, the buffoonery was interrupted by the arrival of Jack Foster...going by his entrance video, he was the one behind the "THIS IS NOT PRO WRESTLING" manifestos.  He declared the segment to be "NOT PRO WRESTLING"...DuBois went into retreat mode, leaving Fox to take the brunt of Foster's aggression.  IT'S THE BIG FOOT and a chokeslam left Fox laying in the ring...

"The Hanover Hooligan" Jay Lutz vs. "Greatness" Marcellus Gaines(w/ Drew Gold):  Lutz was a bit too inebriated in his previous encounter with Gaines, leading to a humiliating 59-second defeat.  For this rematch, he had every intention of walking into the ring sober(as the big-screen video displayed)...but SOMEONE left him a gift of booze in the backstage area.  As a result, he was in even WORSE shape than the last time, swinging wildly at Gaines and being easily dodged.  (My advice to "HIT THE ONE IN THE MIDDLE!" fell on deaf ears.)  Gaines finished with the Southpaw Shooter(knockout punch) in 1:48...so at least he lasted longer than the first match?  Post-match, Gold took credit for the liquor gift and said that Gaines didn't need it to win, but it made his night a lot easier.  This didn't seem to sit well with Gaines in the post-show interview, as he felt he was great enough to win on his own merits and warned Gold to NOT do something like that again.

The Blood Brothers(Davey Gibson & Mathew Grundy) vs. The Royal Blood(Jet & Jax Royal), I-70 Series:  Kansas City led the series 5-3 going into this match; this was a rematch from K.C. where Gibson & Grundy scored a victory.  I was wondering if the Royals would even the score, but that would widen Kansas City's lead and they were already comfortably ahead.  The fan favorite/rulebreaker dynamic was reversed from the K.C. outing, given the home-turf factor...it was a tremendous matchup, though I personally liked their first encounter better.  I'm sure they'll have plenty of future outings, of course.  Gibson got the winning fall on Jet after the brainbuster-onto-the-knee/flying knee strike combo with Grundy, narrowing the gap to 5-4 in favor of Kansas City...we'll see how things pan out on the other side of Missouri this weekend.

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Two Coca-Colas.  I should stick to water for both my physical and financial health.

The Buddy System(Buddy Shepherd & Skyler Beckett) vs. The Underground(Adam Ryan & Jackie Lee Bosch):  Ryan & Bosch had attacked Buddy and Skyler a few weeks before, leading to this matchup.  The Underground continued their previous tactics by attacking their opponents on the entrance stage, then throwing Shepherd into the ringpost...that forced Beckett to fight on his own for several minutes.  Buddy was able to recover and enter the match for his side, leading to Beckett rolling up Ryan in 8:13 after escaping The Underground's back suplex/top-rope double-stomp finisher.  The Underground weren't done as they continued their attack, but "Takedown" Javy Torres made the save...Beckett had made him an offer to join The Buddy System and his actions spoke for themselves.  However, Javy showed off his new Buddy System T-shirt, confirming that he had allowed the Buddy System to come into him...all righty then.

Neon Iverson vs. Christian Adonis:  This was Iverson's first solo match in the NWL (his Soldiers partner Dez Wellston is out with an injury); he was facing a man who was intent on proving his worth without Carolina Grizelda Esmeralda Rodriguez in his corner.  Unfortunately, one would argue that Carolina was one of the main points of interest in Adonis' matches.  Despite that, they had a good dynamic; Adonis attempted to ground the high-flyer Iverson by attacking his previously-injured leg.  Iverson rallied, but his 450 Splash hit the raised knees of his opponent and Adonis hit a reverse neckbreaker to win in 5:47.

"The Raging Bull" Maverick vs. "The Five-Star Phenom" Todd Letterman, St. Louis Title Tournament Final, No-DQ Match:  Letterman defeated Skyler Beckett, Marcellus Gaines, and Mathew Grundy to reach the finals.  Major Baisden sat at ringside to observe the main event.  Ben almost forgot about the stipulation until the plunder came into play, at which point he reminded the audience about it.  The fight spilled out to the floor and continued for several minutes; I imagine the referee allowed a lot of leeway in the interest of a decisive winner.  I suspected that the fan support would be divided in this match, though it wasn't nearly as partisan as I feared; I was worried that the fans would totally side with the local guy Letterman and boo Maverick.  Maverick did his best to take out the leg after a missed corner cannonball by Letterman, then brought in chairs and a piece of the guardrail to do more damage; both were put to good use by both participants.  Letterman delivered not one but TWO spinebusters onto the railing as it was propped in the corner, then hit a third spinebuster in the middle of the ring...but only got a two-count.  Maverick powered Letterman up onto his shoulders for a Death Valley Driver(that's how he beat Douglass~!)...but that was only good for a two-count.

Letterman came back with his Endzone Spike(pumphandle Michinoku Driver) and Maverick incredibly kicked out of that pin attempt.  Out of desperation, Letterman pulled off a turnbuckle pad...but it nearly backfired on him as Maverick reversed him into the exposed metal.  Letterman was stunned, but regained his bearings in time to throw Maverick into the turnbuckle as well.  Letterman dropped Maverick with a second Endzone Spike and that was finally enough to score the win in 27:20!  Todd Letterman had become the first NWL St. Louis Champion!  Major presented the title to the winner and that closed out the show...

Now that a champion has been crowned, we will see which contenders will line up for a title shot.  Maverick has a case for a rematch as he had already competed earlier in the night.  Others who haven't faced Letterman in NWL competition will be looking for their opportunities as well:  Names that come to mind include Davey Gibson, Dez Wellston, Jay Lutz, Jack Foster, and perhaps even Kyle O'Reilly.  As always, time will tell...

Tonight, I'll make my way to the wrestling metropolis of East Carondelet, IL for Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling.  Next weekend doesn't have a lot on the table in terms of the immediate area, but Cape Championship Wrestling in Cape Girardeau, MO has a Friday-Saturday doubleheader.  Friday features the Luna Vachon Memorial Tournament with notable names such as "Blue Pants" Leva Bates and Mickie Knuckles in the brackets.  Saturday has several notable names:  Colt Cabana, Joey Ryan, and Jeff Cobb.  Will ponder whether I'll make that lengthy road trip in due time.  The weekend wraps up with the NWL's St. Louis offering on Sunday the 23rd in St. Louis.  On Saturday the 29th, SICW returns to Millstadt, IL and I may actually make it to the show...woo.

That's my special comment for this, the fourteenth wrestling show I've attended in the year 2017.  Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.

-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991

P.S. We are all marks.