Now, as promised, a special comment about last Sunday's Glory Pro Wrestling show at the Bel-Clair Fairgrounds Expo Center in Belleville, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
It's safe to say that this was a huge show for Glory Pro. With a bigger audience expected and more headroom required for the high-flyers on the show, they had their first event away from the Spaulding Hall Club in Alton, IL. The presence of Cody Rhodes was a major drawing point, even before he captured the Ring Of Honor Heavyweight Title from Christopher Daniels. The show was already loaded and the late addition of Naomichi Marufuji vs. Donovan Dijak just put it over the top. It had over four hundred advance tickets and they actually had to turn away fans at the door once the attendance number hit six hundred! Fans traveled from all over the country for this one...I never thought such an event would take place in my hometown. Tony Patrico from The Rizzuto Show on 105.7 The Point was in the house, as well as my comedian friends Landon Meyer and Matthew Rude.
Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referees were Richard White & C-Lo.
Michael Elgin addressed the fans to start the show; he's like a less-scarred and less-verbose Ian Rotten.
The Pride("The Incredible Primal Prodigy" Matt Kenway (Look At Him After Dark) & Aaron Dzinic) vs. "The Roman Dynasty" Karim Brigante & Isaias Velazquez(w/ Miss Monica Passeri): This preshow bout was scheduled to be Velazquez teaming with Joey O'Riley, but O'Riley was absent for unknown reasons and Brigante took his place. Isaias is a regular competitor in the Chicago area and has appeared for All-American Wrestling in the past. It was initially tough to tell who the fan favorites were supposed to be, as local fans have gotten used to hating and heckling Kenway. Despite that, the fans got behind The Pride as the match progressed; the bout had a few hiccups but otherwise went fairly well. The Pride won after Kenway did a forward-roll re-entry to the ring to deliver a running knee strike on Brigante as Dzinic hit his own knee strike from the other side; after that, Kenway pinned Brigante in 9:56 to score the victory for his team.
"The Guvnor" Martin Stone vs. "The Lone Star" Curt Stallion: I dubbed Stallion "The Southern Shibata" this past weekend since the New Japan competitor seems to be a significant influence on him. Despite having impressive performances in Glory Pro, he had yet to score a win under that banner and was looking to gain momentum...however, Stone is a tough customer and had defeated Gary Jay and Davey Vega in St. Louis Anarchy last year. He also participated in WWE's United Kingdom Championship tournament under the name Danny Burch and has once again become a regular on NXT TV. This was a hard-hitting battle, as one might suspect...Stallion is one of those guys who isn't the biggest in the world but can take a ridiculous amount of punishment. It turned into a battle of headbutts, a territory in which both men excel...Stone has finished a few matches with his step-up headbutt. In this case, it wasn't quite enough to keep Stallion down...given Katsuyori Shibata's recent fate, the headbutts have become a bit more cringeworthy to observing fans. One would normally pick Stone in a war of attrition such as this one, but Stallion survived and took out Stone with a flying headbutt that caught him right in the jaw! Stone went down and Stallion collapsed on top for the hard-fought win in 12:31! As one of the video commentators said: Welcome to the winner's circle!
"The Dad Bod" Sean Orleans vs. Brandon Espinosa: Espinosa embarrassed Orleans with a quick win at the inaugural Glory Pro event and Orleans has been trying to prove himself worthy of a spot on the shows ever since. That resulted in a few altercations with Espinosa and Espy dropping Orleans with a brainbuster on the floor! This was the long-awaited rematch; while Espy saw this as light work for the evening, Orleans had everything in the world to prove. The bell rang and Espy charged at Orleans, but Orleans moved out of the way and Espy hit the turnbuckles chest-first. Orleans dropped down into a schoolboy trip and rolled up Espinosa, scoring the flash pinfall in five seconds! Orleans celebrated with the fans as he had gained his retribution...not only had he avenged his previous defeat, but he had scored an even faster win over his rival and embarrassed him in front of a huge audience!
"Risky Business" Everett Connors vs. "The Leader Of The Pack" Stephen Wolf(w/ D.J. Shiima Xion): The match had been scheduled to be D.J. Z vs. Connors, but Xion had tweaked his knee in a recent matchup and was not cleared to compete. Xion introduced Wolf as his replacement and someone he had known from the Chicago wrestling scene; Wolf had appeared in this area a handful of times, but I feel like he hadn't really had the platform to shine like he did on this show. The end came when Wolf missed a shooting star press; Connors followed up with a running Destroyer DDT(a la Drago) and the torture-rack Diamond Cutter to win in 7:47. Wolf will have another day, I'm sure. After the match, Connors reminded everyone that he is challenging for the Crown Of Glory Title at Pro Wrestling Resurgence on July 23rd...plus he had earned a shot at the United Glory Tag Titles by winning a gauntlet match. He had to choose his tag team partner for that title shot, so he chose his trainer Michael Elgin!
"The Real-Life Ben Affleck" Alex Daniels vs. "Mr. '70s Kung Fu" Louis Lyndon vs. Kevin Lee Davidson vs. Gringo Loko vs. "The Mad Dragon" Hakim Zane vs. "The Warhorse" Jake Parnell: This six-way bout had quite a variety of talent with high-flyers and brawlers as well as the big powerhouse K.L.D. The rest of the field tried to gang up on Davidson a few times...it worked for a while, but he eventually overpowered everyone. Daniels took a walk near the end of the bout, figuring that he already had a guaranteed Crown Of Glory Title shot in the bank and didn't want to risk further damage. K.L.D. picked up the victory in 14:13 when he pinned Parnell after the spinebuster. Parnell got a nice ovation as he exited the ringside area.
Gary Jay vs. Jake Something: This was a battle of heavy hitters; Gary had the experience and speed advantage, but Something had the size and power. Both guys seemed particularly inspired on this night. Something controlled the action for a while after a spinebuster into the edge of the ring apron(#hardestpartofthering). He tried to do more damage in that particular area of the venue, but Gary countered a powerbomb attempt with a rana that spiked Something's head into the ring frame(#hardestpartofthering)! Gary rallied, but Something scored the win in 8:50 after a lariat to the back of the head while Gary was on his knees. As with Parnell before him, Gary got plenty of respect from the fans after the bout.
"The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes vs. "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin for the ROH Heavyweight Title: Cody nearly walked into Glory Pro with two major championships, but he came up short against IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada at last week's G1 Special in California. Cody graciously offered to put the ROH Title on the line against the two-time former champion. In a homage to the old feud between Dusty Rhodes and Terry Funk, Elgin showed off a T-shirt that said "Cody Sucks Eggs". I was conflicted on the title match stipulation as it didn't seem likely that Elgin would win the championship. The matchup was tremendous as expected; Cody has added moves from several previous tag partners to his current repertoire (primarily Goldust and Hardcore Holly). Elgin survived the Crossrhodes(inverted swinging neckbreaker), but Cody edged out a win in 14:31 after a series of pin reversals ended with a sunset flip block and double hook of the legs. Cue mutual respect, though Elgin admitted to being preoccupied with a seating situation in the venue (fans had claimed front-row seats who had paid for cheaper tickets, apparently). Elgin remains winless in Glory Pro...hang in there, slugger.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Coca-Cola, Mountain Dew, and bottle of water. Added to the August 20th show: "The Kentucky Gentleman" Chuck Taylor(who recently won the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Heavyweight Title from Zack Sabre Jr.) and Fred Yehi! Side note: If you're going to a wrestling show, make some effort to research what kind of show you're attending so you don't spent a good chunk of the show complaining about it.
Paco Gonzalez vs. "The Millenial" Danny Adams: The history between these two extends all the way back to June of 2014 when they faced each other for the first time in a Ring Of Honor preshow match; the two became regular competitors for several area promotions after that. While they fought each other on several occasions, they also formed a solid tag team combination when they were on the same page..."Alpha Class" previously held the Proving Ground Pro Tag Team Titles. As noted in the Proving Ground Pro commentary, they gave one more shot to their tag team exploits in the United Glory Tag Title tournament but fell to the Besties In The World in the finals. The individual egos(particularly on Danny's part) boiled over and Danny challenged Paco to this grudge match.
As you might expect, the two knew each other very well and were able to counter each other's signature moves. Each man had something to prove in front of the largest audience in Glory Pro Wrestling history. Adams' highlight was a fisherman driver(aka Ki-Krusher) onto the ring apron (#HARDESTPARTOFTHERING). Paco incredibly survived that devastating move and fought back to win with his version of the Cradle Shock(fireman's-carry fisherman driver) in 17:37!
It looked like the partners would make amends after the match as the partners embraced...but it was a setup by Adams as Kevin Lee Davidson hit the ring to plant Paco with a ring-shaking spinebuster! Chaos ensued as K.L.D. and Adams beat down Paco and even hung him over the top rope with a chain! It looks like a new unholy alliance has been formed in Glory Pro... (Side note #2: The dude who tried to start a one-man "build the wall" chant after this match can kindly fall dick-first into a beehive of flaming AIDS.)
The Besties In The World("The Miracle Worker" Davey Vega & "The Dirty Rook" Mat Fitchett) vs. The Boys From Jollyville(T-Money & Nasty Russ Myers) for the United Glory Tag Team Titles: The newer fans weren't quite sure what to make of The Besties' theme music ("Truly Madly Deeply" by Savage Garden, for those of you who came in late). The Jollyville team had been impressive in a four-corner match at the Glory Pro show in May, thus earning this title shot. I hadn't seen T-Money's dreaded POUNCE~! at Proving Ground Pro the previous night, but he absolutely blasted Vega with it on this night and sent him completely out of the ring! Despite the power disadvantage against T-Money, the Besties were able to isolate Myers; Vega got the pinfall on Nasty Russ in 14:10 after he and Fitchett hit the Brain Eater(brainbuster onto the knee)/flying knee strike combo. Most tremendous...they'll defend their titles against The Pride at Pro Wrestling Resurgence on the 23rd, as Kenway & Dzinic have momentum from their own win earlier in the night. Whoever wins that match will face the duo of Michael Elgin and Everett Connors on August 20th, so no rest for the weary.
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Donovan Dijak: Marufuji was scheduled to be in the States for Global Force Wrestling's Slammiversary and Impact tapings, so Glory Pro was able to book this marquee matchup. Dijak is a big dude who won Ring Of Honor's Top Prospect Tournament a few years ago, beating St. Louis favorite Jake Dirden in the first round en route to the victory. I'm not as familiar with Marufuji as I would like to be; my main exposure to him was last year's NJPW G1 Climax Tournament. He had a strong showing highlighted by his huge upset win over IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada; that led to a title shot later in the year in which Okada evened the score. Dijak had a distinct size advantage over the Pro Wrestling NOAH legend, but Marufuji didn't gain his hard-hitting reputation for nothing. Dijak is also exceptionally agile for his size, capable of pulling off some eye-popping aerial moves. As for Marufuji, he's known for his striking ability which primarily centers around his chops and kicks. I would definitely recommend seeking out this match if you haven't seen it...it was fun to watch, Maggle. Marufuji managed to survive Dijak's Feast Your Eyes finisher(torture-rack flipped down into a knee strike, sort of a modified Go 2 Sleep). Marufuji rallied and finished with the Shiranui(better known in the States as Sliced Bread #2) in 19:40...outstanding.
Before the main event, we were graced by the presence of Jason Saint & Barackus. Saint complained about being left off the biggest show of the year and said that Elgin was protecting his champion Myron Reed...after all, how could Reed have any chance against the super heavyweight? Reed didn't feel like he was ducking anybody and hit the ring to confront his accusers...the fight led to Reed low-bridging Barackus out of the ring and then taking him out with a huge somersault plancha! Reed's challenger for the night decided to add his two cents as A.R. Fox made his entrance, delivering a springboard somersault plancha onto BOTH men! This kickstarted the night's main event...
"Hot Fire" Myron Reed vs. A.R. Fox for the Crown Of Glory Title: I only recent became familiar with Fox, who made a name for himself in AAW and recently became a regular on Lucha Underground as Dante Fox. Reed made a splash in his Glory Pro debut and earned a title shot at then-champion "The Gift" Jason Kincaid, upsetting him for the title in May. Since that time, the young titleholder has turned heads across the country and has been defending his title against all comers, including Elgin himself at Wrestle Circus in Texas. Fox presented a tough challenge as someone who could match Reed in agility...both guys pulled out some heavy weapons in their arsenal. I don't mind that style as much as some people, but it does reach a point where it's tough to fathom a person surviving that level of punishment. Fox actually delivered a package piledriver on the ring apron at one point(#HARDESTPARTOFTHERING)! He nearly scored the win after the Lo Mein Pain(ropeflip variation of the Spanish Fly) followed by a 450 Splash, but Reed somehow kicked out of the pin attempt! Reed cut off Fox as he went to the well once too often, hitting his version of the Spanish Fly to win in 16:37! Cue Mutual Respect(tm) and that was our night at the wrestling matches.
Glory Pro had an official post-show party at Hooters in Fairview Heights, so Jeff Milovich rode with me to that venue. Oddly enough, it was only my second time at a Hooters restaurant...the first time was on an Althoff Catholic High School class trip and we went to the one in Union Station. (Yes, true story.) I drove Jeff home to north St. Louis county so he was cool enough to pay for my food...I got boneless buffalo wings and curly fries with water to drink (I AM TRYING TO CUT BACK ON SODA, SERIOUSLY). We were joined by Trina The Marky Smark as well as Sam Johner and Sarah Rose...the wrestlers gradually got there as well as the fan turnout was pretty decent. Cody, Elgin, Marufuji, Dijak, Reed, and Fox were there along with K.L.D., Adams, Paco, and Connors. A good time was had by all.
Whew...I had a good time, how about you? This past weekend saw Dynamo's scheduled Friday show in Richwoods, MO cancelled due to a venue power outage. Saturday's options were the National Wrasslin' League in St. Peters and Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL (still awaiting results from SICW). I went to three shows last weekend and am just now catching up, so the commentary on NWL will probably be a day or two.
Upcoming weeks look like this:
-Saturday 7/22: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO(Concordia Turners Gym)
-Sunday 7/23: Pro Wrestling Resurgence in Swansea, IL
-Saturday 7/29: World Powerhouse Wrestling in Collinsville, IL
-Friday 8/4: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in Grafton, IL
-Saturday 8/5: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in Hillsdale, MO(afternoon); World League Wrestling in Troy, MO
-Sunday 8/6: Wrestling Over Everything in Centreville, IL
-Saturday 8/12: Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Saturday 8/19: SICW in East Carondelet, IL
-Sunday 8/20: Glory Pro Wrestling in Alton, IL
-Saturday 8/26: National Wrasslin' League in St. Peters, MO
-Sunday 8/27: Pro Wrestling Championship Series in Alton, IL
That's my special comment for this, the thirty-third wrestling show I've attended in the year 2017. Good night, good luck, and #yaywresting.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
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