Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's High Risk Wrestling show at the Community Building in Warsaw, Missouri.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
I had fully planned to go to the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance show at the South Broadway Athletic Club on Saturday night, but plans changed around mid-week when I got a message from Magic Man. I had given some thought to making the long trek to Warsaw for HRW as I hadn't been to one of their shows since they moved out of the area. The message wasn't exactly an invitation to attend the show...he offered me the opportunity to ring-announce at the show! I had only ring-announced one time in the past, at one of the last Gateway Championship Wrestling events...it wasn't a full-fledged spot as I did the job from the backstage area, essentially being the "invisible" ring announcer. I did the announcements from one microphone, then switched to the other for the video commentary that never saw the light of day. In this case, I would be there in the official capacity, so I had to pretty myself up for the occasion with more formal attire and a suit jacket. (Still have trouble tying a necktie.) Magic Man requested that I still wear the Wayne's World cap, so that remained part of the ensemble...bwahahaha.
The travel plans were arranged as I contacted Brandon Aarons about riding with him to the show...we would also be joined by Danny Adams and Paco Gonzalez for an eclectic group of personalities in the car. I had never been to the Lake Of The Ozarks before...maybe sometime I can spend a bit more time there instead of just passing through. I got the introduction info from the wrestlers and also made sure I got the opening bit about the Missouri Office Of Athletics correct. Promoter Frank Thurman handled the Missouri State Athletic Commission deal, so I'm licensed to ring-announce in Missouri for the next little while...woo. If I had one big worry, it was stepping through the ropes without incident...without practice, it can be a tricky prospect. Thankfully, no tripups occurred. It was good to see Doug Byrd in attendance as well as New Breed Wrestling promotter Scott Zei.
Your ring announcer was Patrick Brandmeyer; your referee was Jeff Edinger.
"The Millenial" Danny Adams vs. "The Simply Irresistible Master Of Hairflips" Brandon Aarons(w/ Magic Man), Mayhem Title Tournament: Previous champion "The Hybrid Ace" Jon Webb was unable to make it to the show, so the championship was vacated and decided in a one-night tournament here. Since we were a good distance away from the St. Louis area, the usual roles were reversed as Adams was the fan favorite and Aarons was the arrogant heel; it seems like Magic Man has reverted to his more nefarious ways since I last attended High Risk Wrestling. Aarons jokingly turned my hat around during the intros. Aarons did a lot of stalling, something which took up a good portion of the fifteen-minute time limit. (I did announce time limits for each match, as well as five-minute notations.) Adams gave him a good fight, but he made the mistake of going to the top rope...as Aarons occupied the referee's attention, Magic Man made his move and shoved Adams off the turnbuckles. Aarons capitalized with a double-underhook into a swinging neckbreaker onto the knee(is there a name for that?), getting the win in 12:14 to advance in the tournament.
"The Natural" J.A. Fair vs. Hollis Giroux, Mayhem Title Tournament: Despite seeing Fair around shows in this area, this was my first time seeing one of his matches in person; he and Jay Howard are still the Troy Athletic Club, though Roy Lewis is now doing his own thing. Fair was substituting for Fuego Del Sol, who was absent for unknown reasons. Giroux has competed for Cape Championship Wrestling(where he's the reigning Heavyweight Champion) as well as World Powerhouse Wrestling; this was my first time meeting him in person. This was a solid outing and I look forward to seeing more of both competitors in the future. Giroux didn't win over too many fans with his attitude, but he did win the match with a delayed Pedigree in 8:54.
"The World's Greatest Pop Icon" Donnie Peppercricket vs. "The Suplex Cyclone" Curt Gannon vs. "Chainsaw" Stephen M. King(w/ The Magic Man), Mayhem Title Tournament: This match had been scheduled to be Chainsaw King vs. Chandler "The Truth" Hopkins, but Hopkins wasn't there either. I mistakenly said it was a six-man tournament earlier in the show, but it was actually a seven-man tournament...whoops. King is a unique character; he backed me into the corner and replaced my cap with his top hat, then hung his scarf and key chain around my neck. I left them that way since he's a big guy and I didn't want to upset him...heh. This was a hoss battle to say the least...Gannon just barely got Peppercricket up and over in a German suplex at one point. A bit of Magic Man trickery led his man to victory...he slipped a package of hot pepper to King and he stuffed it into Peppercricket's mouth before locking on a Crippler Crossface! Peppercricket was in agony from the hot pepper as well as the hold, forcing him to tap out in 8:08...he quickly ran out of the ring to clear his throat. This means that Magic Man had two proteges in the tournament final...
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Mountain Dew, hot dog, and Pepsi. (The hot dog was my dinner because I'm a bad meal planner...) I plugged the merchandise tables and the next show(October 6th) coming out of intermission, then did the rough equivalent of crowd work as I asked the fans how I was doing in my first appearance as ring announcer. The response was mixed...heh.
"The Simply Irresistable Master Of Hairflips" Brandon Aarons(w/ Magic Man) vs. "Chainsaw" Stephen M. King(w/ Magic Man) vs. Hollis Giroux, Mayhem Title Tournament Final: Magic Man accompanied Aarons to the ring, then ran back up the aisle to accompany King as well. Giroux wasn't sure what to make of it as he was essentially in a two-on-one situation, making him a fan favorite by default compared to the two conspiring rulebreakers. Aarons told me to touch his hair, then backed up with a funny look on his face when I complied...it is outstanding hair and it's softer than it looks. (Just saying.) King once again altered my attire, saying "you never learn"...from experience, he would seem to be correct. Aarons was a bit perplexed by the situation as well, but he stayed outside the ring with Magic Man as Giroux and King fought it out. Once Giroux started gaining momentum by targeting King's leg, Aarons intervened and had his go-around with Giroux as King took a break. Of course, it eventually turned into a two-on-one situation. As King occupied the referee, Magic Man grabbed Giroux's foot to stop a Pedigree attempt on Aarons; that allowed King to break up the move with a pump kick. Aarons hit his double-underhook neckbreaker onto the knee but only got two-and-a-half. King teased some dissension with Aarons...but then turned and dropped Giroux with a tree slam. He backed off and allowed Aarons to cover Giroux for the pinfall in 13:02, making Aarons the new HRW Mayhem Champion! Magic Man's crew celebrated as Giroux wondered what hit him...
NWA Missouri Champion "The Freestyle Phenom" Jay Howard vs. Paco Gonzalez, best-of-three-falls match for the Heavyweight Title: Howard brought both of his title belts to the ring; NWA Central States Championship Wrestling representative Todd Humphrey(aka Garrett "Freakin'" Williams) was in attendance and would have done commentary if the video crew had been there. (No idea what happened there; I had no idea which way to face in the ring as there was no hard cam!) Howard was the fan favorite while Paco was in the odd position of being the rulebreaker for the night. He solidified this by hanging onto the ref to deliver a mule kick to the groin, then scoring a tainted first fall in 4:00. The champion had to fight from behind to retain his title, evening the score in 8:57 with a huge spinebuster. It was down to sudden death as each competitor tried to secure the victory, but Howard countered a suplex attempt into a small package for the flash pin in 10:59! That wrapped up the show...I plugged the next show(October 6th!), said good night, and thus ended my first night as a wrestling ring announcer.
Hey, that went fairly well...not TOO catastrophic. I think the worst verbal mistake I made was calling it a six-man tournament at the start of the night when it was actually seven...doubt anyone noticed. Also, paid gigs are cool AND I'm Missouri-licensed to ring-announce...so if anyone's looking for someone to fill that role AND all of the more experienced options are unavailable, drop me a line.
After parting ways with everyone, our merry band got back on the road for home...I rode shotgun on the way to the show, but sat in the back with a sleepy Paco for the return trip while Aarons and Adams chatted up front. We made a stop at McDonald's...it was funny that they were getting relatively healthy food options and I was all "MCGRIDDLE ME!" (Bacon-egg-and-cheese variety with hash brown and orange juice, if you MUST know.) We made it back to Aarons' place in one piece, parted ways, and I made it home around 2 A.M. Glad I had Sunday freed up...
That was quite the adventure...the MMWA show is up on YouTube and I should hopefully get to that in the next few days.
In the meantime, the rest of August looks like this:
-Saturday 8/19: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling 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 forty-first 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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