WLW Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's World League Wrestling show at the Race Wrestling Arena in Troy, Missouri.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

I waffled on my decision for last Saturday's wrestling show between WLW and Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling; I finally chose World League Wrestling and carpooled with Ben Simon to the event.  Big Van Vader was in the house for autographs and pictures, but one person who was not in attendance was the promotion's founder Harley Race.  Harley suffered several injuries earlier in the week and still hadn't recovered; all the best to the Hall Of Famer!  It was a packed house and they had to start turning people away at the door who didn't have advance tickets...glad I ordered mine ahead of time.

The show began with the roster assembling at ringside for a salute to Harley Race...he's still tougher than your average ham-and-egger, I would imagine.

Your ring announcer was Brian Thompson; your referees were Martin Kattich & Richard White.

Kyle Roberts vs. Jayden Fenix:  Both men have been in contention for the Jr. Heavyweight Title; that belt has been held by inaugural champion Jon Webb for almost a year.  In the meantime, Roberts has had other issues with Superstar Steve Fender...because of that, Fender came out to ringside and attacked Roberts while the referee's attention was on Fenix.  Fenix capitalized on the situation, delivering two wind-up short-arm roundhouse kicks to the head before scoring the pin in 7:02.

Warwick Stephans vs. Superstar Steve Fender:  I didn't recognize Stephans at first, but I had seen him in the past; he once had a big mohawk and competed as Mizfitt Manners for Metro East Championship Wrestling.  Fender had the experience advantage and seemed to have the match in control, but Kyle Roberts re-entered the scene in search of payback.  The distraction allowed Stephans to regain his composure and he delivered a fisherman suplex for the upset win in 11:46!

Jack Gamble vs. Brandon Espinosa vs. "The Roman Dynasty" Karim Brigante(w/ Miss Monica Passeri):  Espy is the only one of the three who hasn't held a championship in WLW; Brigante was Heavyweight Champion until recently losing the title to Leland Race.  Gamble and Jon Webb were Tag Team Champions but are now focusing on singles competition.  The MWR Missouri Title is only on the line in one-on-one competition, so Espinosa's belt was not at stake here; he was the "tweener" in the middle of this bout between clear fan favorite Gamble and clear rulebreaker Brigante.  Everyone had something to prove, but Brigante may have had extra motivation from his recent title loss; he was able to take out Espinosa with a pop-up forearm smash and score the pin in 8:59.

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Pepsi, Mountain Dew, bag of Lays potato chips, and bottle of water (to balance out the soda, or something).

"The Hybrid Ace" Jon Webb vs. "The" Ace Hawkins for the Jr. Heavyweight Title:  Notably, Hawkins was in the original title tournament but was never "officially" eliminated; he defeated Kyle Roberts in the first round via underhanded means and the decision was reversed after the fact.  (As a result, Roberts suffered the indignity of being eliminated twice from the same tournament!)  Ace hadn't competed for WLW in a little while but he wasted no time in targeting the championship gold.  Webb has been impressive in his recent outings and I'm surprised he isn't booked more often in the St. Louis area; he primarily works for either WLW or Dynamo Pro Wrestling.  Webb caught Hawkins on the top rope and, despite a bit of shakiness, managed to hit his solo Spanish Fly finisher to retain his title in 15:17!

Rex Fults vs. Orion Creed:  Creed is a newcomer to the ring wars and recently battled Rex to a time-limit draw, but tension surfaced between the young lions when Creed turned down the post-match handshake.  That led to this bout for the sake of respect...but the bout was briefly interrupted by the ringside arrival of Stacey O'Brien and manager "Can-Do" Curtis Dearling.  Curtis seemed to be scouting both men as future prospects for his stable, but didn't show his hand until late in the match.  The referee was accidentally knocked down, so there was no one to count after Creed hit a leapfrog Fameasser.  Rex came back with a Bossman Slam out of nowhere but the official was still down.  Curtis entered the ring and made his sales pitch to Rex, but Rex turned him down...finally clotheslining him when he refused to take no for an answer.  However, Orion took the opportunity to hit Rex from behind with Curtis' briefcase...the ref finally recovered to count three in 14:41(!).  It looks like Can-Do Curtis has acquired the services of the newcomer Orion Creed...but the post-match attack was stopped when Big Van Vader made his way to the ring!  Vader had donned his signature mask and entered the ring to clothesline Creed, then left him laying with a massive chokeslam before declaring that it was VADER TIME!

"The Legacy" Leland Race vs. "The King Of Crossfit" Mark Sterling for the Heavyweight Title:  This was a big opportunity for Sterling in a featured singles bout; he hasn't been featured heavily in the National Wrasslin' League as Max Edwards of the Swoll Patrol tag team.  As previously noted, Leland recently regained the Heavyweight Title from Karim Brigante and wasn't about to rest on his laurels.  Sterling focused his attack on the arm after Race hit the ringpost shoulder-first...and at some point in the bout, Race suffered a jaw injury of some kind.  Despite Sterling getting a few close calls, Leland finished him with the Go 2 Sleep in 20:17!

After the match, Race stayed down on the mat and favored his jaw; the referee and Jon Webb checked on him and brought him some ice.  Webb said the match inspired him...so he wanted to make a friendly challenge to Race for a champion-vs.-champion match at the next Troy show on May 5th.  While Race understandably had trouble speaking, he let Webb know that his challenge had been accepted...all righty then.

Post-show, myself and Ben Simon joined Brian Kelley and Timothy Miller at Denny's just up the road; I went with the Grand Slamwich and water to drink.  As we prepared to leave, rain started pouring down and it made for a harrowing drive back to Ben's place to return me to my vehicle...eep.

My main rasslin-related plan for this weekend is Pro Wrestling Resurgence on Sunday in Swansea.  As for Saturday...I haven't decided yet.  Cape Championship Wrestling is a long drive away.  Ben Simon is going to NWL in Kansas City so we wouldn't be carpooling.  The only Saturday option in the immediate area is World Powerhouse Wrestling in Madison, IL.  I'll figure out July when I get past this weekend...

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