WLW Special Comment

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

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

The choices for this particular Saturday were WLW and the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance at the South Broadway Athletic Club in St. Louis; I attended this event and caught up on the MMWA show via YouTube.  Going into the show, I only knew the main event...the Harley Race Invitational Tournament semifinals would take place, but the actual matches were up in the air.

Your ring announcers were Brian Thompson & Dane Horst; your referees were Martin Kattich & Richard White.

Second Chance Battle Royal-Harley Race Invitational Tournament:  Due to the disqualification finish in the Warwick Stephans-Steve Fender first-round bout, this battle royal would determine who would advance to the semifinals; Stephans and Fender were both in the bout along with first-round eliminations Brandon Espinosa, Rex Fults, and Orion Creed(w/ "Can-Do" Curtis Dearling).  Newcomers "The Heartthrob" Jaden Roller and Jordan "The Vision" Vinson rounded out the field.  Creed had big aspirations, but he was quickly sent to the floor in 2:59 by Fender and Vinson's double clothesline.  Vinson was the next to go; Roller stunned him with a superkick and sent him floorward in 4:51.  Espinosa took Roller out of the ring with a rana in 5:13.  An exchange between Espy and Rex led to Rex surprisingly eliminating Espy, giving him a Rock Bottom onto the ring frame while standing within the ropes; Espinosa fell out to the floor in 10:28.  Creed and Curtis ran back out to pull Rex to the floor in 12:20, continuing their feud.  That left Stephans and Fender to settle their issues...in a reversal of their previous match result, Fender eliminated Stephans in 12:51 to reclaim his spot in the tournament.

"The" Ace Hawkins vs. Flavio Augusto for the MWR Missouri Title:  Dane Horst ring-announced for this one match.  Augusto(or "Gusto" if you go by the entrance video) was making his first in-ring appearance to my knowledge.  He had a fine outing for his debut appearance(I honestly don't know if he'd had any matches prior to this); Hawkins got frustrated with his inability to put away the rookie, taking a walk for the countout in 10:03 (and thus retaining his title).  (As it turned out, he hung onto his title the exact same way at MMWA later in the night against Gary Jackson.)

"The Roman Dynasty" Karim Brigante(w/ Women's Champion Miss Monica Passeri) vs. Jayden Fenix, Harley Race Invitational Tournament Semifinal:  Brigante beat Orion Creed to advance in the tournament while Fenix defeated Brandon Espinosa.  Monica became a two-time WLW Women's Champion by defeating Lucy Mendez in Richmond, Missouri last month.  Fenix had his contingent of fans, but he broke their hearts by stomping on their replica belt...aww.  Brigante is a former Heavyweight Champion and the tournament would allow the winner to challenge for any belt of his choice, but Fenix was intent on challenging Jon Webb for the Jr. Heavyweight Title and settling their issue from the original tournament final.  Karim appeared to be on the verge of victory, but Fenix rolled out of the ring after being hit with the pop-up forearm smash.  Fenix somehow managed to recover, delivering his windup short-arm roundhouse kick for the upset win in 11:42!

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count:  Bottle of water, hot dog, Pepsi.  Hey, baby steps on the soda thing.

Kyle Roberts vs. "Superstar" Steve Fender, Harley Race Invitational Tournament Semifinal:  Roberts beat Rex Fults in Richmond to get to this point; Fender won the earlier battle royal(after having initially lost to Warwick Stephans by DQ).  These two have been at war for months, including their interference in each other's matches.  The experience edge was decidedly in the favor of Superstar Steve, but Roberts was motivated to get one up on his rival...after a hard-fought battle, Roberts scored the flash pin with a victory roll in 14:55!  The tournament finals have been set:  Kyle Roberts vs. Jayden Fenix.

Heavyweight Champion "The Legacy" Leland Race vs. Jr. Heavyweight Champion "The Hybrid Ace" Jon Webb, Non-Title 30:00 Ironman Match:  To the best of my knowledge, neither belt was at stake as this was a battle of pride...they fought to a twenty-minute draw at the previous Troy show, so they got more time on this occasion.  While Leland had been a steady fan favorite in recent times, he took on a more aggressive attitude against Webb..  However, his recent jaw injury may have been a weak spot as Webb stunned him with an early superkick, scoring the first fall of the match in 1:26!  Webb attempted to push his advantage and locked Race in a Crippler Crossface, but Race rolled him up into a cradle to even the score at 6:05.

Race attempted to slow the pace and keep Webb grounded...the weardown tactics worked and he was able to secure a submission fall in 11:40 with a sleeper(Webb's arm dropped three times in the hold).  Leland wasn't done as he went up 3-1 with the Go 2 Sleep in 14:05, giving Webb a huge deficit to overcome.  Webb was able to narrow the gap with a surprise small package in 16:19...he hit Sliced Bread #2 but Race was too close to the ropes, so he followed up with a pump knee strike to tie things up in 18:55.

Jayden Fenix decided to stick his nose into things, bringing one of the title belts into the ring...he teased hitting Webb, but instead hit Race to get Webb disqualified in 20:29.  That put Race up 4-3, but his temper got the best of him as he grew frustrated with the referee's counts...finally kicking the official in the groin and getting disqualified himself in 21:45.  That left the official out of it for the home stretch...and Can-Do Curtis came out to ring the bell himself, protesting Orion Creed's recent treatment.  Orion Creed attacked Webb until Race fended him off...so the battle continued as the clock wound down.  Webb hit a corner cannonball and seemed to have a visual pinfall, but the official still hadn't recovered...by the time the ref re-entered the ring, it only resulted in a two-count as the 30:00 time limit expired with a 4-4 draw.  The fans wanted overtime, but the show just ended on that note...it seemed odd for a time-limit draw to lead to a longer stipulation match that ALSO ended in a draw, but such is life and wrestling.

Anywho, the weekend wasn't over yet but that's another story for another time.  Tune in next time:  Same Pat-Time, Same Pat-Channel.

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