NWL Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about last Sunday's National Wrasslin' League event at the Elks Lodge in O'Fallon, Missouri.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

I hadn't been to an NWL show in a few months due to comedy obligations...your mileage may vary on NWL in several different respects, but they had a strong lineup for this event and it resulted in a good attendance turnout.  Nowadays I consider NWL to be a Kansas City promotion that occasionally runs in this neck of the woods...if they're successful elsewhere, then more power to them.  NWL KC manager Roscoe Leech was working the concession stand...cool to meet him.

Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referee was Michael Crase.

Thor Theriot vs. Leonel Howlett:  It seems like Leonel travels a bit more than Marco as he's been getting more singles matches in recent months.  While most of the fan favorite/rulebreaker alignments have steadied between the St. Louis and Kansas City sides, the STL fans are still a bit lukewarm toward Theriot.  Leonel worked on the leg for most of the matchup, including an innovative enzuigiri variant to target the injured limb.  Thor made the comeback, but Leonel clipped the knee and finished with a Rock Bottom in 9:02.  Leonel vowed to capture singles glory in NWL down the line...

Anthony "Sharkbait" Gutierrez vs. Christian Rose:  Sharkbait has looked impressive in the early stages of his career, transitioning from mixed martial arts competition to the squared circle; he's done well in both singles competition and in his tag team with Jack Foster(affectionately dubbed "JackBait").  Rose is always a joy to watch, both in terms of in-ring talent and jaw-jacking with the fans.  Sharkbait has been known to score knockout wins out of nowhere(which happened in his recent bout with Dingo)...Rose had the experience edge, but Sharkbait caught him with the Dead In The Water spinning kick and got the pin in 7:15.

"The Mile-High Magnum" Dak(ota) Draper vs. Jack Foster for the Kansas City Title:  This was a pretty huge match to be on the undercard.  Foster seemed to be positioned as a contender to Maverick before the NWL STL thing went south, but he's been occupied in a feud with Jeremy Wyatt since that time.  Draper has been impressive from what I've seen of him, showing great agility for his size as well as charisma...he did some restaurant-quality mic work before the bout to trash the fans.  (WHAT'S WRONG WITH GOLDEN CORRAL?!?  I've had some enjoyable Thanksgiving dinners there!)  In fact, Draper is completely undefeated in NWL singles competition; his only pinfall loss was in a tag match at the hands of Blaine Meeks.  These guys threw some bombs and even exchanged dropkicks...give it a good build and these guys could deliver an outstanding main-event quality matchup.  The finish happened out of nowhere as Draper delivered a running forearm smash(I think he beat Lakota Red Cloud with a running forearm recently) and tied him up on the mat in a modified crucifix pin in 14:10...don't think the fans expected it to end that way.  We did get a post-match handshake; I'm sure it won't be the last time they cross paths.

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  One Coca-Cola.  Some evenings are more indulgent than others in that regard...

"Takedown" Javy Torres vs. Skyler Beckett(w/ Buddy Shepherd) vs. "Privilege Personified" Rasheed Ali vs. Jet Royal vs. Mike Outlaw:  This was scheduled to be a six-way match, but "The Incredible Primal Prodigy" Matt Kenway(Look At Him After Dark) was injured.  It's notable that Kenway going by his regular name in NWL nowadays instead of "Clayton Fox"; that may not be a good sign as it relates to Emmett DuBois.  Buddy is still popular in the St. Louis area, despite being hated in the Kansas City region of NWL...to be fair, Buddy still holds a grudge over his grandpappy drinking that tainted lemonahd.  This was Ali's first appearance in the St. Louis area...Ariya Daivari on line one.  Jet Royal is making an effort to win over this area's fans after getting off on the wrong foot in previous appearances.  I've said my piece about multi-way schmozz matches...they're fun to watch(Maggle), but it's tough for them to have meaning on most occasions.  Ali was on an island as the lone rulebreaker in the match, earning him an early beating from all four opponents.  The Buddy System members Beckett and Torres worked together for the most part, but only one man could win the bout...in the end, a miscommunication between the partners led to their downfall.  Outlaw scored the pin on Torres after the High Noon(top-rope elbowdrop) in 5:58...as Buddy consoled Javy, Beckett suddenly turned on his partners by superkicking Buddy and Javy!  Ladies and gentlemen, we have a heel turn...

"Dominican Dynamite" Marti Belle vs. Savanna Stone:  This was destined to be a battle of fan favorites as neither woman was likely to get booed.  Savanna had a full weekend as she faced Mia Yim at Zero-One USA the previous night, so she faced both founding members of the Dollhouse stable in one weekend.  Savanna's been turning a lot of heads and has been rewarded with some good opportunities for her efforts...she participated in the Chicago RISE seminar the weekend after this show(along with Rahne Victoria) and wrestled on the pre-show of their Friday event.  Getting on the radar of the powers-that-be of SHIMMER is a good thing, especially at this early stage of her career.  A high risk did not pay off as Savanna crashed and burned on a missed cross-body off the top rope...Marti capitalized with a Russian legsweep faceslam(a la Jeff Jarrett's Stroke)...for two and a half.  Savanna had one last burst of offense, but it wasn't quite enough as Marti won with the Protect Ya Neck(Pedigree) in 8:27.  Cue mutual respect...

The Besties In The World("The Miracle Worker" Davey Vega & "The Dirty Rook" Mat Fitchett) vs. "The Monarch" Jeremy Wyatt & Tag Team Champion Ace Steel(w/ Carolina Grizelda Esmeralda Rodriguez):  While The Foundation apparently has the privilege of invoking Freebird Rules for Tag Team Title defenses, the belts were NOT on the line here(as was clarified earlier in the night).  I joked with Fitchett that they were worried since the Besties had been on a roll, recapturing the All-American Wrestling Tag Team Titles as well as winning the Pro Wrestling Revolver Tag Titles.  Michael Strider was not in the building on this night, but Carolina was in the corner of The Foundation.  She provided a key distraction, occupying the referee when the Besties hooked the Foundation members in stereo Sharpshooters...Wyatt & Steel nearly scored the underhanded win, but it was not to be; Fitchett pinned Wyatt after he and Vega hit the brainbuster to the knee/flying knee strike combo in 16:07!

"The Raging Bull" Maverick(w/ Drew Gold) vs. "The Stiff Robo Ginger" Gary Jay for the St. Louis Title, Anarchy Rules:  Maverick had decorated the championship with a Texas flag over the STL logo...well played.  He put that belt to good use, whalloping Gary with it right out of the gate to nearly score a quick victory.  Gary managed to fight back into the match, delivering a double-stomp to the back of the head from the top rope to the floor!  He rolled Maverick in and nearly got the pin, but Gold pulled out the referee before the three-count.

Several weapons came into play, including a piece of the guardrail and a steel chair...Maverick delivered a sick Death Valley Driver onto the set-up chair but Gary somehow survived the pin attempt.  Gary fought back and hiptossed Maverick onto the railing, leading to Gold physically interjecting himself to break up the pin.  Gary punched out the manager, but Maverick took advantage of the loss of focus to deliver a fireman's-carry sitout spinebuster...for 2 1/2.  Gary got a small package out of nowhere...for two.  Gary hit a flying Flatliner off the second rope and then a jumping double-stomp to drive Maverick down into the chair on the mat...that finally sealed the deal in 17:08 and we had a NEWWWWW NWL St. Louis Champion!  Gary wrapped up the show with his victory speech and that was the ballgame.

Much credit to the NWL for having some satisfying conclusions to the big matches on this night...how it'll fit into the big picture remains to be seen.  In the meantime, the wrestling world marches on...A.C.H. is scheduled to return at next month's NWL show so I'm looking forward to that one.

As noted, I'm behind on these commentaries and I just wrapped up another weekend with two shows...but those are stories for another time.

The remainder of the year looks like this:
-Saturday 11/19: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in Swansea, IL; World Powerhouse Wrestling in Collinsville, IL
-Saturday 11/25: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO(Concordia Turners Gymnasium); Cape Championship Wrestling in Delta, MO
-Saturday 12/2: Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO(South Broadway)
-Saturday 12/9: SICW in East Carondelet, IL
-Sunday 12/10: NWL in O'Fallon, MO

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