Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Dynamo Pro Wrestling show at the Cinco De Mayo Festival in St. Louis, MO.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
After a week of heavy rain, the skies cleared up in time for the outdoor festival on Cherokee Street. Parts of the St. Louis area were flooded (including some of the neighborhoods where I deliver pizza)...that's the peril of living near a major body of water like the mighty Mississippi River. The National Wrasslin' League cancelled their Sunday event a few days beforehand, but the action seemed to be premature as the area seemed okay on Saturday. It was slightly awkward that Dynamo Pro's setup was VERY close to Casa Loma Ballroom, though one could suggest that it may actually be a blessing in disguise for the NWL. ("Hey, local wrestling, wonder where I can see more of this...*notices NWL flyers on Casa Loma*...HEY NOW.")
This will be a half-commentary in a sense, as I had to leave at the halfway point for work (I did see the YouTube video of the main event). It was set up as "two mini-shows" at 3:00 and 5:00 and I had to leave during the interim. I parked at the nearby Save-A-Lot and made it to the ring area as the opening match was starting; the matches attracted a LOT of curious onlookers.
Your ring announcer was Luke Roberts; your referees were Scott Ramsey, Jay King, & Richard White.
"The Warhorse" Jake Parnell vs. Brandon Espinosa for the Zero-One USA Jr. Heavyweight Title: It's great to see Parnell making waves as a singles competitor. On one hand, I wonder what's left for Espinosa to do in Midwest wrestling...on the other hand, I wonder if he makes the weight limit for this particular belt. (He hasn't held singles gold in Dynamo, I must note.) I don't THINK these two had crossed paths in the St. Louis area before this, but I'm getting old and stuff kinda runs together in my head. Parnell fought out of a superplex attempt and hit the double-stomp off the top to the back of the head, scoring the win to retain his title! (I didn't get a chance to time all of the matches.) They teased a post-match handshake, but Parnell took a cheapshot instead (playing into the VERY pre-Espinosa sentiment in the Cinco De Mayo crowd).
C.J. Shine vs. Mauler McDarby: I've been a big fan of the McDarby/Shawn Santel Professionals tag team for a while and I hope they get another run with the titles. Shine already connects well with the audience and I look forward to seeing his career progress. McDarby brought his shillelagh into the ring only for the referee to confiscate it...but that was a mere feint as he got out brass knuckles and decked Shine with them. That allowed him to score a tainted victory, but the day wasn't over for either man...
Frodo "The Ghost" Meyer vs. "The Wind Of Destruction" Makaze: Makaze seemed to be in the rulebreaker role for the afternoon...at the very least, he was in a cranky mood compared to the more fan-friendly Meyer. Meyer's still new to the game compared to the veteran Makaze, who's been a part of the area's wrestling scene in some form since the late '90s! Makaze can still fly when he chooses to do so, as he dove off the top rope onto Meyer as he was outside the ring! Frodo whiffed on a 619 attempt and Makaze's experience made the difference, as he scored the pin with his Northern Lights Perfectplex finisher in 10:58 (I FINALLY got my phone's stopwatch into gear).
Heavyweight Champion Brandon Aarons vs. "Lights Out" Adrian Surge, non-title: It wasn't initially clear if this was a title match and that bit of info was important at the end. I feel like Surge and The Professionals could be a solid set of rulebreakers for Dynamo in 2017, given the proper focus. TEH WERKRAETZ are fine and all, but the "face/heel" dynamic is important to wrestling so the fans can solidly root for one person over the other. Aarons took a cue from Makaze with a flying shoulderblock off the top rope, taking out Surge on the nearby asphalt. Surge got desperate and grabbed the title belt AND the ring bell from the sound booth (similar to McDarby's earlier actions)...the referee took away the bell and Surge prepared to BELT Aarons. However, he changed tactics and threw the belt to Aarons, pretending he had been hit with it...and the referee turned around and called for the DQ in 12:16. Bwahahaha. Surge's post-match promo was well done as he complained about Aarons taking the low road and using the belt as a weapon. He said that he held a win over the champion, so he deserved a title shot later in the afternoon...a no-disqualification match was set up for the second half.
Intermission~! I had to leave for work, so no Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm)...*sob*
In the second half of the show, Parnell once again retained his title against Draco Verdadero(mistakenly identified at first as "El Drinko"), finishing with the top-rope double-stomp to the back of the head. Shine & Frodo defeated the makeshift tandem of Makaze & McDarby when Shine pinned McDarby after a DDT; my sight-unseen prediction for the finish was some kind of miscue between Makaze and McDarby, seeing as how Makaze is technically a fan favorite. Tag Team Champion Justin D'Air defeated "The Alternative" Ozzie Gallagher(making his return to the ring after an absence of several months) with the 450 Splash...where HAS "The Valedictorian" Keon Option been, anyway?
Brandon Aarons vs. "Lights Out" Adrian Surge for the Heavyweight Title, no-DQ match: Surge dedicated his win to our GREAT President Donald Trump (which went over about as well as you'd expect at a Cinco De Mayo festival). Surge came prepared with a steel chair and it was the main weapon used in the matchup. Of course, the bitter hand of irony went against him and Aarons picked up the victory after a close-range superkick sent the chair back into Surge's face...that ended things in 13:44 and Aarons retained his title. All righty then.
Hopefully I'll get to see the other matches I missed on YouTube, but time will tell on that. Of course, my weekend wasn't quite over and 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 eighteenth 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.
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