Now, as promised, a special comment about the Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling show on Saturday, November 4th at the Community Center in East Carondelet, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
My choices for last weekend were SICW and World League Wrestling's monthly offering in Troy, Missouri. Despite the presence of former WCW Heavyweight Champion Ron Simmons at the WLW event, I went with the geographically closer event...I have a personal fondness for best-of-three-falls matches and I had missed the previous month's event where Ken Kasa brought Chris Hargas' Classic Title reign to a premature end. Would Hargas be able to regain his championship on this night? Manager Travis Cook has always claimed that his proteges have never lost under the best-of-three-falls stipulation...
The attendance was noticably down on this night...I couldn't tell you the reason for that, though. WLW was far enough away that it was probably not a factor. Larry Matysik was not in attendance as he's had some recent health problems. Notably, promoter Herb Simmons was absent for most of the show as well (though he surfaced near the end of the night for his scheduled role at ringside).
Your ring announcer was Drew Abbenhaus; your referees were Shaft and Nick Ridenour.
Morgan sang the National Anthem...fine job, as always.
Travis Cook made an early appearance, saying the handcuffing stipulation could not POSSIBLY occur as Herb Simmons was not present. He commented that Herb had been seen at the hospital...he didn't specify the reason, which could have been an illness on Herb's own part or simply a visit to Larry. The television commentary was primarily handled by Drew and "The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz, though Travis hung around to call the early bouts.
Moondog Rover vs. Flaming Freddie Fury: I wouldn't exactly call this a fast-paced opener to fire up the crowd, but Moondog remains OVAH~! As you might expect, this was more schtick on both men's parts than anything else...it didn't go long as Moondog put him away with the front powerslam in 3:24.
Chief Attakullakulla vs. Beast: I hadn't seen Beast since the days of Mid-America Xtreme Wrestling(which would have been about a decade ago); he's a huge black dude with more than a passing resemblance to Abdullah The Butcher. I hadn't seen the Chief other than his previous encounter with Beast on Wrestling Explosion, which was a brawl to a quick double countout. I've heard some interesting stories about both of these guys and I'll leave it at that. Beast entered to the Halloween movie theme and Chief attacked him on the floor, causing me to wonder if the match would even make it into the ring (it did, but not for long). Once again, the fight got out of control and spilled out to the floor, leading to a chair being used and the match being called a double DQ in 7:10. This feud...MUST CONTINUE~! Drew tried to get a post-match interview with Beast and just got some heavy breathing in response.
"The Wrestling Machine" Dave Vaughn vs. "Volatile" Curtis Wylde(w/ Wyldefyre): With Wylde having served out his suspension, this feud resumed...Vaughn is back to his old nickname and returning to his technical roots. Vaughn got a DQ win over Wylde in their previous encounter, but that didn't stop Wyldefyre from getting involved as usual on this night. The outside distraction proved to be the tipping point as Wylde won with the Wylde Ride(Flatliner) in 11:27...there will be another day for Vaughn, I'm sure.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Mountain Dew, Pepsi, soft pretzel with cheese sauce(scored for free near the end of the night), and bottle of water.
Flash Flanagan vs. Bubba Troll: Troll has quietly become an underrated competitor in SICW, able to move surprisingly well for his size. He faced a tough challenge against the former three-time Classic Wrestling Champion, as it was Troll's sheer size against Flanagan's experience. Troll had control and tied up Flash in the ropes...the referee called for a break, but Troll shoved him away...and that led to a DQ in 4:29. Once Flanagan got free of the ropes, he brought his ever-present kendo stick into play and drove Troll from the ring.
"Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson & "The Enforcer" Jimmy D vs. Guerrilla Warfare(The Big Texan & Waco): Gary and Jimmy D were a unique combination against the former MMWA Tag Team Champions, but notably Texan and Waco had a few miscommunications in this bout. Jackson is a former MMWA Heavyweight Champion many times over, as well as a former SICW Classic Champion(though he only held the belt for a short time)...Texan has fought for singles glory many times and, along with his Tag Title reign with Waco, held the now-defunct MMWA Battle Royal/Survivor Title. In the end, the lack of cohesion on the part of the masked duo made the difference; Jackson caught Waco in a backslide for the pin in 8:02.
Intermission numero dos~! The main event was going to be lengthy, so the show had noticably fewer matches on the docket...
"Ironman" Ken Kasa vs. "The Icon" Chris Hargas(w/ Travis Cook) in a best-of-three-falls match for the Classic Title: Per the stipulation, Travis Cook would be handcuffed to promoter Herb Simmons...while Travis gloated over Herb's absence, Herb arrived at the building JUST in time to play his part at ringside. Herb took a seat with Travis in the front row, effectively neutralizing any attempt at physical involvement. The match would feature two-minute rest periods after each fall.
I remember Kasa and Jake Dirden having a best-of-three-falls title match in SICW that went about forty minutes, so I figured on this one going long...the familiarity between these two was well established as they had been friends for a long time and had locked up on many occasions. Hargas countered an early John Wu Dropkick attempt by catching the legs and locking Kasa in the Sharpshooter, but Kasa made it to the ropes...that led to Hargas focusing his attack on the back for several minutes. Kasa landed a John Wu off the second rope(the move that won him the title at the October show) and the referee made a three-count at 26:05, but he waved it off as Hargas' feet were under the bottom rope. Hargas took advantage of the confusion and rolled up Kasa with a handful of tights for the first fall in 27:14.
Kasa returned fire by working on the leg of Hargas...Hargas fought back and went for a Tombstone, but Kasa escaped the move setup and took Hargas down into a Crippler Crossface for the tapout in 41:38, evening the score.
Hargas focused his attack on the champion's neck in the final third of the contest...he attempted to wear Kasa down with a sleeper, but Kasa kicked off the turnbuckles and flipped on top...if the referee hadn't been out of position, he may have scored the three-count on that occasion but Hargas kicked out at 2 1/2. Hargas went to the sleeper again and nearly got the win as Kasa's arm dropped twice, but he just barely kept his arm up on the third instance and fought back into the bout. (Travis insisted that Hargas should have won at that point, but it was not to be.) Hargas' F-5 attempt was countered into another Crossface takedown in the closing minutes of the contest...Hargas tried to power out but was taken down in the hold once again before reaching the ropes. Kasa took Hargas down in the Crossface one more time and Travis threw his shoe into the ring, but it was for naught as Hargas couldn't get a hold of the item. Hargas lasted a LONG time in the hold(did he tap out the previous time to conserve himself for the remainder of the match?) and the bell finally rung for a 60:00 draw(!)...Kasa retained his title, but Travis' streak of his charges never losing a best-of-three-falls affair continued. Travis protested that Hargas should have won with the earlier sleeper, but the decision stood...Hargas will have to wait for another day.
Yes, I am far behind on these commentaries...I will hopefully catch up soon. I went to Pro Wrestling Championship Series this evening(11/11) after having to cancel a comedy outing due to illness; I plan to check out Wrestling Over Everything tomorrow night in Centreville.
Of course LAST weekend wasn't quite over, but that's another story for another time so tune in next time. Same Pat-Time, Same Pat-Channel.
That's my special comment for this, the fifty-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.
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