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.

After recent health issues, promoter and Hall Of Famer Harley Race was back in the house for this month's WLW offering in Troy.  It featured the start of the Harley Race Invitational Tournament, though it was a bit unclear which matches were a part of the tourney.  From what I understand, the first three matches were first-round bouts; the fourth first-round match will take place in Richmond this weekend between Kyle Roberts and Rex Fults.  Since I did the driving the previous night for the Dynamo Pro show, Ben Simon did the honors for this evening's carpool.

Your ring announcer was Dane Horst; your referees were Martin Kattich & Richard White.

"The Roman Dynasty" Karim Brigante(w/ Miss Monica Passeri) vs. Orion Creed(w/ "Can-Do" Curtis Dearling), Harley Race Invitational Tournament:  Creed & Curtis began the show by calling out Monica; they had issues with her after a recent tag team match with Monica and Curtis' client Stacey O'Brien went south.  As a result, the Italian couple trended toward fan favoritism for the evening...to be fair, I would have a difficult time booing Monica.  Creed is fairly new but I've been impressed by what I've seen of him so far; we'll be watching his career with great interest.  Monica slapped the taste out of Can-Do Curtis' mouth at one point...bwahahaha.  Creed gave the former Heavyweight Champion a good fight, but an ill-fated leap from the top rope landed him on the receiving end of Karim's signature forearm smash.  That sealed the deal in 8:56 as Brigante advanced in the tournament.

Brandon Espinosa vs. Jayden Fenix, Harley Race Invitational Tournament:  Espy as a fan favorite is still an adjustment for me.  I don't THINK these two had faced each other prior to this(since they'd usually both been rulebreakers).  Fenix is another guy(along with Jon Webb) who doesn't wrestle nearly as often as he should in this area; I saw him at the Dynamo show in Grafton but he didn't work.  Fenix has had a good run in WLW lately, including a high-profile feud with Leland Race in which he took an Olympic Slam from special guest referee Kurt Angle.  With the promise of a guaranteed future title shot to the winner of the tournament, Fenix was aiming for another crack at Race(who now holds the Heavyweight Title); Espinosa was hoping to win his first championship in a promotion where he had never held gold.  Fenix scored a hard-fought win after the windup short-arm roundhouse kick in 9:45.

Warwick Stephans vs. Superstar Steve Fender, Harley Race Invitational Tournament:  These two crossed paths at the previous WLW show in Troy with Stephans scoring the upset victory; Fender was focused on evening the score on this night.  Fender offered him a chance to lay down and spare himself the beating, but Warwick didn't take him up on that generous offer...they had another fine outing, ending in a DQ when Fenix attacked Warwick in 7:30.  Kyle Roberts made the save and we had an impromptu tag match...

Kyle Roberts & Warwick Stephans vs. Superstar Steve Fender & Jayden Fenix:  Fender has had issues with Roberts in recent months as well; Fender helped Fenix beat Roberts in June, leading to Roberts returning the favor and costing Fender his match to Stephans.  It was tough to pick a winner in this one as it could have gone either way; the good guys' teamwork made the difference as they hit Fender with a Rockerplex(vertical suplex/top-rope cross-bodyblock combo), allowing Roberts to pin Fender in 8:35.  Woo.

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Pepsi, Mountain Dew, macadamia nut cookie.

"Miss Natural" Heather Patera vs. Stacey O'Brien(w/ "Can-Do" Curtis Dearling):  This was Match MCMXVIII in the eternal series between the two, as both women are making their case for the next title shot at Women's Champion Lucy Mendez.  They're experienced pros and are both capable of putting on solid matches with different opponents; I look forward to seeing them work with the new crop of female talent like Savanna Stone and Rahne Victoria.  Miss Natural's had a few bouts with SHIMMER; I've always wondered why Stacey and Lucy hadn't worked SHIMMER themselves.  Stacey initially won with a rollup and feet on the ropes in 14:08, but Monica made an appearance to tell the ref what happened and the bout was restarted.  A distracted Stacey was immediately O'Connor Roll-ed for the flash pin in five seconds (14:13 total)...most tremendous.

Heavyweight Champion "The Legacy" Leland Race vs. Jr. Heavyweight Champion "The Hybrid Ace" Jon Webb, non-title:  Webb issued a friendly challenge to Race after his successful title defense against Mark Sterling, but Race had suffered a jaw injury in that match and wasn't in a particularly good mood while accepting the challenge.  That surly attitude carried over to this match as Race was more aggressive than usual...he even used the old Bret Hart tactic of playing possum by faking a knee injury to gain control.  The finish to the match was telegraphed somewhat as this was the only match with an announced time limit and time announcements as the match progressed.  That didn't take away from the match too much as it was tremendous as expected...Webb had a late rally with near-falls after a flying knee strike and then another after a moonsault over the second rope, but the 20:00 time limit expired before he could potentially beat the WLW Heavyweight Champion.

The fans wanted five more minutes...and as it turned out, they would get it!  Race quickly hit a Go 2 Sleep but Webb fell through the ropes to the floor, thus escaping defeat at that point.  In a unique move, Race sunset-flipped Webb into the turnbuckles!  Alas, neither man could put the other away on this night as the extra five minutes expired without a winner (25:00 total).  Race said they would have to settle things in an Ironman Match(!) at the "next show," thought it wasn't clear if he meant the Richmond show or the next show in Troy...since Race is defending against Orion Creed in Richmond, it's safe to guess that the Ironman Match will be at a different show in the near future.

I am WAY behind on these commentaries, but I'm almost done with this past weekend...just one more show to go!  Tune in next time:  Same Pat-Time, Same Pat-Channel.

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