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.

After the previous show was cancelled due to weather/flooding conditions, the scheduled six-man tag team main event was postponed to this event.  NWL has not drawn as well in St. Louis as in Kansas City, possibly because of the oversaturation of this market compared to only one or two promotions in the K.C. area.  On that note, they were hoping to rebound.  One notable absence from the show was NWL President Major Baisden, presumably preparing an extra-special PowerPoint for the next show on June 4th.

Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referees were Michael Crase & Sean Orleans.

The show started with the debut appearance of a new tag team called "Five Direction" comprised of Chippy & C-Note.  (Some might note a passing resemblance to Beauty & The Beast:  Stevie Fierce & Rob Matter.)  Their literal song-and-dance routine was interrupted by NWL KC's Thor Theriot, who seemed to be warmly received before he noted his regional allegiance...whoops.  Theriot was looking for a fight, but Chippy & C-Note were decidedly uninterested.  They took their leave and randomly passed by Party Crasher Spike on the way out...Spike had run out of beer money and was looking for a fight himself, so he figured he might as well face Theriot.

Party Crasher Spike vs. Thor Theriot:  In retrospect, the St. Louis roster was fortunate that this was NOT, in fact, declared to be an I-70 Series match...they were already taking a drubbing in that department.  While the Party Crashers have found success in alternate universes, they haven't had the same luck in the NWL...Thor got the win with the Ragnarok(fireman's-carry double-knee gutbuster) in 5:01.

Next up was Marti Belle's "Marti Party" talk show segment; she seems to have borrowed Dominick Butler's old theme music.  However, she was quickly interrupted by "The Billion-Dollar Brother" Emmett DuBois(w/ Clayton Fox).  Marti has been very vocal with her criticism of DuBois' methods during interview segments and DuBois took exception to her attitude, literally backing her into a corner.  Marti was not intimidated and even removed her earrings and high-heeled shoes in preparation for a potential fight...but help arrived in the form of Neon Iverson.  Iverson challenged DuBois to a match and so it came to pass...

Neon Iverson vs. "The Billion-Dollar Brother" Emmett DuBois(w/ Clayton Fox):  DuBois tried to seek refuge outside the ring, but Iverson stunned him with a dropkick to the back from an adjacent turnbuckle as DuBois was sitting on the ring apron!  Iverson continued his aerial assault, but Fox took the bullet for his boss when Neon delivered a suicide dive that nearly caused him to wipe out on the floor.  Iverson managed to rebound from that setback and went to the top rope, but Fox distracted him by throwing money...when the referee turned his attention to the accountant, DuBois clocked Iverson with the ring bell and got the screwy win in 7:05.  DuBois and Fox continued the abuse after the match, but Iverson's tag team partner Dez Wellston returned from injury to make the save.  (The reunited Soldiers have challenged DuBois & Fox to a tag match at the June 4th show, adding to a stacked lineup.)

Party Crasher Boulder vs. Xavier Church(aka Connor Braxton):  Church established himself as an unfavorite with the St. Louis fans with his pre-match promo.  He's got good size and has been competing all over the Midwest(including the All-American Wrestling show I attended in December); I think he could be a great addition to the NWL roster.  As noted earlier, the Party Crashers should probably stick to tag team competition.  Church got the win in 5:42 with a suplex dropped into a Diamond Cutter (don't think I'd seen that before).

The Buddy System(Skyler Beckett & "Takedown" Javy Torres) vs. The Underground(Adam Ryan & Jackie Lee Bosch):  Buddy Shepherd had invented a new app to meet up with his Buddies, but his first meeting led to a sneak attack by Ryan and Bosch; Buddy hadn't been seen since that time.  Ryan & Bosch were carrying Shepherd's trademark white blazer and claimed that we would never see him again, but Beckett and Torres kept the faith as they fought on his behalf.  The Underground members kept up the trash talk, but Buddy finally ran through the audience and jumped the guardrail to encourage his Buddies!  Bosch chased him away, but that left Adam Ryan alone in the ring...Javy stunned Ryan with an enzuigiri and Beckett got the pin with an O'Connor Roll in 10:13!  The Buddy System stood reunited...but I suspect the issue is far from over.

Jack Foster vs. "High On Life" Ken Dharma, I-70 Series:  St. Louis has been behind the proverbial eight-ball in this series, but they somehow manage to stay within reasonable striking distance.  Dharma acknowledged that St. Louis was actually his hometown, but added that he was glad he left...despite that, his father and girlfriend were in attendance to support him.  Of course, he had an uphill battle against Foster...he managed to focus his attack on the arm after one of Foster's chops met the ringpost.  Foster fought back into the match, scoring the victory in 7:53 after IT'S THE BIG FOOT in the corner; that improved St. Louis' record in the I-70 Series to seven wins (against Kansas City's eleven).

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Two Coca-Colas.  Oddly, I was charged two dollars for the first one and three dollars for the second one...guess it was different bartenders.

"The Hanover Hooligan" Jay Lutz made his entrance and threw out a challenge to "Greatness" Marcellus Gaines...Gaines was not in the house, but his manager Drew Gold came out instead.  In fact, Gold claimed that he told his protege to stay at home so he wouldn't be goaded into a fight.  Gold said that Gaines WOULD face Lutz at the next show on June 4th...but only if he can beat the man that Gold hand-picked for the match...

Kansas City Champion "The Mile-High Magnum" Dak(ota) Draper vs. Jay Lutz, non-title I-70 Series match:  Draper's attitude seems to change like the wind with regards to the STL/KC rivalry.  Obviously the fans were on Lutz's side for this one.  Draper got a laugh out of me when he teased a suicide dive, only to step through the ropes and execute a HEADLOCK TAKEOVER on the floor.  Lutz gave the K.C. Champ a great fight, scoring a near-fall after his sliding forearm smash, but Draper put him away with the Mile-High Doctor Bomb in 9:11.  Lutz's sober showdown with Marcellus Gaines will have to wait a little longer.

"The Raging Bull" Maverick & The Blood Brothers(Davey Gibson & Mathew Grundy) vs. St. Louis Champion "The Five-Star Phenom" Todd Letterman, "The Bull City Boss" Cornell Douglass, & Brother Castle:  The battles between the men on either side have been raging for the past several months; the match also featured the final four in the St. Louis Title tournament(Letterman, Maverick, Douglass, and Grundy).  The match was a good preview of coming attractions...I'd be interested in seeing Letterman vs. Gibson down the line.  The referee was barely able to maintain control and things only got more chaotic when an errant Maverick kick took out the official by mistake.  Maverick hit the Death Valley Driver on Douglass but there was no one to count; there was also no one to count when Douglass recovered and took out Maverick with the heart punch.  Douglass brought in a chair, but Letterman stopped him and said he didn't need to cheat to win...that partnership seemed doomed from the start.  (*whispers* DOUGLASS DOESN'T LIKE WHITE PEOPLE.)  Letterman relieved him of the chair and the verbage escalated until Letterman took a swing at his partner with the chair...Douglass avoided the swing and the champion took out Maverick instead.  Douglass and Castle were quick to pounce on their "ally" as Castle held Letterman for Douglass' heart punch...the ref had finally recovered and Douglass covered Maverick for the three-count in 20:54.  Curtain down, that's our show for the night.

A lot was set up for the next St. Louis show:  Letterman vs. Maverick vs. Douglass in a triple threat match for the St. Louis Championship, Davey Gibson gets a rematch with Kyle O'Reilly, Mathew Fitchett challenges Marcellus Gaines, and The Soldiers face Emmett DuBois & Clayton Fox.  They'll have a lot of competition on June 4th with Ring Of Honor in Collinsville, plus Metallica's concert at Busch Stadium numero dos.

This coming weekend is oddly devoid of immediate-area shows.  There isn't anything on Saturday or Sunday, but Glory Pro returns to Alton, Illinois on Friday with the tournament to crown the first United Glory Tag Team Champions.

June looks like this:
-Friday 6/2: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Grafton, IL
-Sunday 6/4: Ring Of Honor in Collinsville, IL; NWL in St. Louis, MO
-Saturday 6/10: Pro Wrestling Championship Series in Alton, IL; Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Sunday 6/11: Wrestling Over Everything in Centreville, IL
-Saturday 6/17: World League Wrestling in Troy, MO; SICW in East Carondelet, IL
-Sunday 6/18: NWL in St. Louis, MO
-Sunday 6/25: Pro Wrestling Resurgence in Swansea, IL

That's my special comment for this, the twenty-third 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.