Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling show at the St. James Parish Center in Millstadt, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
The weekend was a tale of two wrestling products and audiences, to say the least. I went from NXT on Friday night to SICW holding a small-town fundraiser. Attendance tends to be really strong for one-shots such as these; I'm sure the big May show in East Carondelet(hyped as the Wrestling At The Chase anniversary) will be a big deal as well. I saw at least one epic blond mullet on a gentleman in attendance.
Your ring announcer was Drew Abbenhaus; your referees were Terry Riley, Jay King, and Nick Ridenour.
"The Enforcer" Jimmy D vs. Ax Allwardt: This show was a bit closer to home for Ax, as his home base seems to be Stride Pro Wrestling in Marion nowadays. Small-town crowds can be a fun bunch as they're more likely to "go along with the program", so to speak. The good guys get cheered, the bad guys get booed, and there's no "bizarro world" for the most part. Ax got the win in 5:30 after the piledriver.
Bobby D vs. "Volatile" Curtis Wylde(w/ Wyldefyre): With more headroom in the venue, we saw a few guys take to the air...Bobby D launched an impressive moonsault at one point, but unfortunately Wylde wasn't there for the landing. Wyldefyre, as usual, wasn't shy about getting involved in the match...Curtis picked up the victory after the Wylde Ride(Flatliner) in 8:34. After the match, both Wyldes spoke their minds...and Wyldefyre called out Miss Monica for their match right then and there.
Miss Monica Passeri vs. Wyldefyre(w/ "Volatile" Curtis Wylde): Wyldefyre has been around the business for a while but hasn't had a whole lot of full-fledged matches; despite that, she does very well in the rulebreaking role. Wylde got involved almost immediately, sliding in the ring to deliver a Russian legsweep behind the referee's back...Monica just barely kicked out of the ensuing pin attempt. Wyldefyre pressed her advantage and Wylde tried to interfere once again by propping his boot up on the turnbuckle...but Monica reversed Wyldefyre into Curtis' boot and got the pin in 5:12! Wylde protested the finish and received a roundhouse kick from Monica for his efforts. Drew tried to get a post-match interview with the Wyldes, but he found himself in the middle of an argument as they blamed each other for the loss...
"The Roman Dynasty" Karim Brigante vs. "Can-Do" Curtis Dearling: Can-Do Curtis did a pre-match promo about his previous exploits...I had seen him in World League Wrestling in a managerial role for Stacey O'Brien (and I had mistakenly identified him as "Camden Curtis"...whoops). Brigante made relatively short work of him, finishing with the roaring elbow in 3:56 and then doing a quick interview with Drew to thank the fans for their support.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Pretzel with cheese sauce. Indie fan tip: Inspect venue for functional water fountains.
"Your Canadian Hero" Sean Vincent & "Big Country" Clint Poe vs. Superstar Steve Fender & Waco(w/ Travis Cook): Vincent and Poe have become a fairly consistent tag team in recent months. On the other hand, the rulebreaking side of this bout seemed to be thrown together; I thought I saw The Big Texan in attendance but he did not compete on this night. I'd be interested in seeing a Vincent-Fender singles matchup. While Travis talked a big game on behalf of himself and his client, the duo took a walk in the late stages of the match. That left Waco on his own against two opponents; Poe planted the masked man with a running powerslam and Vincent hit the elbowdrop off the top rope to finish in 11:04.
Moondog Rover vs. "The Unstable" Dave Vaughn(w/ "Volatile" Curtis Wylde): Suffice it to say that I didn't expect a technical classic here. To his credit, Vaughn has been dropping weight and looking good; the talent was always there and he's come a long way in the personality and character department. Wylde couldn't resist a cheapshot on his recent rival, tripping up the Moondog in full view of the referee for the disqualification in 5:53. Wylde tried to bring a chair into the ring to do more damage, but some of the young ringside fans actually tried to stop him! Wylde got into the ring with the chair so he and Vaughn could gang up on Rover, but Wyldefyre entered the picture and actually protected Moondog! When Drew attempted to get an interview with Wyldefyre, she said that Curtis could mistreat other men all he wanted, but she couldn't stand to see him treat "a dog" like that. Okay then.
Flash Flanagan vs. Cowboy Marc Houston: This will be two-thirds of the Classic Title tournament semifinal on May 20th; Curtis Wylde will be the third man and the winner of that match will face Chris Hargas in the finals. This was a good solid feature bout, though the storyline was simply to push the upcoming tournament matches. Flanagan hit a middle-rope springboard legdrop and seemed to have the match won, but Curtis Wylde made yet another appearance for the night and pulled out the referee before the three-count. That could have easily been ruled a DQ win for Flanagan, but the official word was a no-contest at 10:20. Wylde teased an alliance with Houston to double-team Flanagan, but instead turned around and dropped Houston with the Wylde Ride. Flash got his kendo stick and laid out Wylde with it...promoter Herb Simmons brought out the referees to restore order and push the upcoming tournament matches. Flash challenged Wylde to fight him on the spot, so Wylde jumped in the ring and got another taste of the kendo stick. Ouch.
"Night Train/Glorious/Great One" Gary Jackson & "Ironman" Ken Kasa vs. "The Icon" Chris Hargas & Bubba Troll(w/ Travis Cook): Travis attempted to take a walk with Hargas, saying they weren't going to risk an injury so close to the tournament finals; however, Herb notified them that Hargas would forfeit his spot in the tournament if they did abandon the match. Jackson & Kasa took the fight to Hargas & Troll and they brawled all over the building in the opening minutes. It finally settled down into a standard tag match with Jackson and Kasa seeking retribution for being eliminated by Hargas earlier in the tournament. Things broke down (as they are wont to do in tag team competition) and Kasa bulldogged the super heavyweight Troll onto Hargas! Kasa quickly pressed his advantage and got the pinfall on Hargas with an Oklahoma roll in 10:38...that'll slow Hargas' momentum going into the Classic Title tournament finals.
I talked to a few people before departing, particularly Karim and Monica...I got a picture with the Italian duo, who have been making an impact across the Midwest wrestling scene. The stage was set well for the upcoming show on May 20th...it's hard to pick a winner in the title tournament as any of the four has a legitimate chance of victory.
May looks like this:
-Saturday 5/6: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO (afternoon/Cinco De Mayo Festival)
-Sunday 5/7: Glory Pro Wrestling in Alton, IL (afternoon) (The National Wrasslin' League show in St. Louis, MO was cancelled due to the weather and flood conditions.)
-Friday 5/12: Pro Wrestling Resurgence in Sauget, IL
-Saturday 5/13: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO(Concordia Turners Gymnasium); World League Wrestling in Troy, MO; Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Saturday 5/20: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL; Wrestling Over Everything in East St. Louis, IL
-Sunday 5/21: National Wrasslin' League in St. Louis, MO
-Friday 5/26: Glory Pro Wrestling in Alton, IL
That's my special comment for this, the seventeenth 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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