PWR Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about last Sunday's Pro Wrestling Resurgence show at the Improvement Hall in Swansea, Illinois.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

The Midwest has been oversaturated with promotions in recent times...given that and the close assocation between Resurgence and Glory Pro Wrestling, something had to give.  This was advertised as a joint show with Glory Pro and they had planned a title unification bout between Crown Of Glory Champion "Hot Fire" Myron Reed and Resurgence Champion Everett Connors.  However, it was announced before the show that Reed had to miss the show due to travel issues; as a result, the scheduled bout between Donovan Dijak and Shane Sabre became a triple threat title match with Connors added.  Hopefully we'll see Reed vs. Connors at some point down the line.

Sarah did in-ring interviews with several competitors prior to the official start of the show, which was a nice touch to build up the event.  Sabre isn't well known in this area, but he did a good job of getting the fans on his side.

Your ring announcer was Sarah Rose; your referee was Jason Pemberton.

The Besties In The World("The Miracle Worker" Davey Vega & "The Dirty Rook" Mat Fitchett) vs. The Pride("The Incredible Primal Prodigy" Matt Kenway(Look At Him After Dark) & Aaron Dzinic) for the Glory Pro Wrestling United Glory Tag Team Titles:  The Pride had defeated "The Roman Dynasty" Karim Brigante & Isaias Velazquez at the Glory Pro show in Belleville to gain momentum heading into this match.  The Besties have been making their mark all over the Midwest, including the National Wrasslin' League and All-American Wrestling; they retained their titles against The Boys From Jollyville(T-Money & Nasty Russ Myers) in Belleville.  Kenway remains not all that popular in the Midwest; a friend noted that it was an afternoon show and he gets more cheers After Dark(tm).  Fitchett started calling Dzinic "Jeremy" for some reason...my best guess was that the lion logo on his tights resembled that of "The Monarch" Jeremy Wyatt in NWL.  The Pride didn't win on this night, but they put up a great fight against one of the top teams in the Midwest(and arguably the country).  The Besties retained after hitting their double-team Braineater(brainbuster onto the knee/flying knee strike combo) on Kenway, allowing Vega to get the pin in 11:44.

Sarge came out for a scheduled match, but Evan Gelistico(who was seated at the merchandise table) lost his cool and attacked the military man before he could enter the ring.  Gelistico ranted about being left off the card while Sarge got to wrestle and said he would face whoever Sarge was scheduled to face...that brought out Space Monkey!

Space Monkey vs. Evan Gelistico:  Gelistico was willing to use any means necessary to achieve victory; he repeatedly threw Space Monkey out of the ring in an attempt to win by countout, each time dragging him farther and farther away from the ringside area before stepping back through the ropes.  He even tied his tail to the middle turnbuckle before beating him down in the corner!  Evan had things going his way, but made the mistake of giving Space Monkey a "last meal" in the form of one of his bananas.  The Monkey chowed down, ignoring Gelistico's attempts to continue his attack...he was Monkeying Up!  Monkey finally delivered a high-pitched "YOUUUUU!" before rallying on offense, but Evan cut him off and locked on his Gory Special/chicken wing hold.  The bitter hand of irony would rear its ugly head as Gelistico slipped on the discarded banana peel and hit the mat hard; Space Monkey capitalized with the tail whip to get the win in 10:39!

Despite being defeated, Gelistico was not at a loss for words...he vented about how Michael Elgin didn't deem him worthy to be booked at Glory Pro and how guys who he promoted at St. Louis Anarchy were getting opportunities while he was left behind.  Will this lead to anything in the long run?  Who knows...

Cornelius Wyverstone vs. "Lights Out" Adrian Surge:  These men were tag team partners but the union quickly fell apart, leading to several clashes prior to this matchup; Surge didn't feel the "circus freak" was worthy of a spot in Resugence.  Wyverstone's bullwhip came into play on a few occasions, though Surge couldn't successfully crack the whip like Wyverstone could.  The match was solid despite a mistimed landing on a leapfrog out of the corner...they worked through it and that's all you can do sometimes.  Surge went for his spinebuster finisher but Wyverstone blocked it, taking Surge down into a Texas Cloverleaf.  Surge struggled to escape, but Wyverstone cinched in the hold in the middle of the ring and Surge tapped out in 11:53!

"The Stiff Robo Ginger" Gary Jay vs. Brandon Aarons vs. "The Diamond Tiger" Kobe Durst vs. Jason Roberts vs. Donovan Danhausen vs. "The Warhorse" Jake Parnell:  Gary Jay and Parnell have been wanting a match in Zero-1 USA for the past several months, so they teased a few confrontations before finally getting a chance to lock horns...that match will happen in Mattoon, IL in September and a road trip may be in order.  I hadn't seen Durst since the inaugural Glory Pro show in February.  I've only seen Roberts at Resurgence since he moved to Florida; hopefully PWCS or Glory Pro will bring him in.  I haven't seen a whole lot of Danhausen, but he seems like a solid guy.  One of Gelistico's earlier complaints was that Gary Jay was only seen as a "multi-man match guy" in Glory Pro...and here he was in a multi-man match.  At any rate, the match was action-packed and could have gone in any man's favor...Durst got the duke in 10:54 after a piledriver on Aarons.

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Ski soda, cheeseburger, and potato chips.

Kevin Lee Davidson vs. "All Ego" Ethan Page:  Despite K.L.D.'s actions at the previous Glory Pro show, he seemed to be the crowd favorite against the arrogant Page; "All Ego" is a big dude but Davidson is just a bit bigger.  Page had the advantage in experience, at any rate...it looked like he had gained the upper hand with a re-entry Diamond Cutter, but Danny Adams appeared out of nowhere to pull the referee out of the ring.  As Adams argued with the official, K.L.D. delivered an unseen low blow before finishing with the spinebuster in 11:31 (HEEL~!).  The new buddies congratulated each other, then stuck around as Danny's match was up next.

Paco Gonzalez & "The Dad Bod" Sean Orleans vs. "The Millenial" Danny Adams & Brandon Espinosa(w/ Kevin Lee Davidson):  The rulebreakers attacked Orleans right away, leading to Paco storming the ring with a chain to run them off (dog collar match on August 20th!).  The Paco-Danny feud has become a major part of the St. Louis wrestling scene as their careers have been inextricably linked since the beginning.  Orleans and Espy have their own issues from Glory Pro and I imagine a rubber match is in our future.  Both teams seemed to work well enough together until the closing moments of the match as Espy hit Adams by mistake.  As a result, Adams and K.L.D. took a walk and left Espinosa high and dry...Paco lifted Espy into a Gory Special and dropped him into a knee strike, then Orleans did the schoolboy trip for the rollup pin in a brisk 6:10!  Espy was in disbelief that Orleans had beaten him with the same trick twice...it was not a good weekend for the now-former MWR Missouri Champion.

"The Neon Icon" Justin D'Air(w/ Lady D'Air) vs. Barackus:  While D'Air had a competitive showing against Surge at Dynamo Pro, he wasn't so fortunate here as Barackus dominated the bout.  I feel like D'Air will be getting on the right people's radars in due time.  Barackus is in a good position in several promotions and I feel like he'll do better than people might think in a big-match situations with Glory Pro.  Barackus won with the splash off the second rope in 4:56.

Everett Connors vs. Donovan Dijak vs. Shane Sabre for the PWR Title:  With the low clearance in the Swansea venue, Dijak couldn't take to the air like he's normally capable of doing.  Of course, he had the clear edge in size and power.  Perhaps Connors should have stayed out of the way while the bigger challengers fought it out, but that hasn't been his style in recent times.  Dijak press-slammed Connors over the top rope from the floor at one point, then later delivered a double chokeslam on both opponents!  Connors and Sabre momentarily joined forces for a Dudley Death Drop on Dijak to take him out of the game for a while.  Connors delivered a Bieber Driver(hanging piledriver) to Sabre into the ring apron(#HARDESTPARTOFTHERING), but Dijak re-entered the fray at that point...Connors was able to hit a running Destroyer DDT on Dijak, but Dijak returned fire by chokeslamming Sabre onto the ring apron(#HARDESTPARTOFTHERING) before chokeslamming Connors onto Sabre!  In triple-threat matches, the third man is always a factor to break up pins, so someone has to be taken out of the game long enough for a finish to occur...in this case, Dijak was able to hit the Feast Your Eyes(torture-rack Go 2 Sleep) on Connors but Sabre hit Dijak with a slingshot spear for a CLOSE near-fall.  Dijak withstood the damage and came back with a chokebreaker on Sabre to win in 13:40, becoming the NEWWWWW and final Pro Wrestling Resurgence Champion!

After the match, K.L.D. thanked Dijak for appearing at the show and Dijak spoke highly of his experiences in the St. Louis independent scene, saying this match was one of the best triple threat bouts he'd ever had!  Most tremendous...the rumor mill has been buzzing that he'll be making a trip to Orlando, FL in the near future.

HEY, I finally got these done.  Score.  I declined to make the trip to Cape Championship Wrestling last night, though it sounds like they had a fine show.  World Powerhouse Wrestling also had a show on Collinsville, IL last night along with a seminar from Cowboy Bob Orton.

A very busy August looks like this:
-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
-Friday 8/25: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO(Concordia Turners Gym)
-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-sixth 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.