Now, as promised, a special comment about last Saturday's Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling show at the Fire Department Engine House #2 in Swansea, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
It was a relatively light weekend as I made the short drive to SICW; I think the only other show for the evening was World Powerhouse Wrestling (Proving Ground Pro was a bit out of my traditional range). The turnout was much better than the previous Swansea show, which was said to have been affected by a chili cookoff in Belleville. I was in the company of colleagues Ben Simon and Luke Roberts for the evening...it had been an eventful week or two in independent wrestling.
Devin sang the National Anthem to start the show and promoter Herb Simmons addressed the fans, thanking the sponsors and hyping the night's card before being interrupted by Curtis Wylde and Wyldefyre. The Wyldes were confronted by not one but TWO "Firepup"s, encouraging them to leave the ring. Herb welcomed the night's special guest Cowboy Bob Orton before the matches officially got underway...
Your ring announcer was Drew Abbenhaus; your referees were Shaft, Nick Ridenour, & Jay King.
"The Enforcer" Jimmy D vs. Bubba Troll: D's luck hasn't been the best in recent times and his fortunes didn't appear to be changing here...Troll dominated the opener in short order, winning with a big splash off the second rope in a brisk 2:24.
Moondog Rover vs. Purple Passion: Passion has about the same chance of winning as Jimmy D in the opener; he managed to last only slightly longer against his opponent. The current Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Champion continued his winning ways here, winning with his trademark front powerslam in 3:20.
Larry Matysik was in the house, making his way to ringside to watch the festivities...didn't get a chance to say hi on this night, unfortunately.
"The Wrestling Machine" Dave Vaughn vs. "Big Country" Clint Poe vs. Ax Allwardt: I don't think they had too many triple threat matches at Wrestling At The Chase. Vaughn and Poe crossed paths in the Classic Title tournament earlier in the year with Vaughn eliminating Poe in the first round; Vaughn's got a better attitude(and mental state of mind) nowadays. Vaughn and Ax were briefly stablemates but each man had his own individual falling-out with manager Big Daddy. Ax seemed to have the match won with the piledriver on Vaughn, but Poe threw Ax out of the ring and stole the pin on Vaughn in 5:37. It seemed like a rulebreaker's move to win like that, which was odd...at the time.
Chief Attakullakulla vs. Beast, falls-count-anywhere match: This was a unique stipulation match; once a man had scored a fall outside the ring, he had to step back through the ropes uninterrupted in order to be declared the winner. Shockingly the match actually started in the ring, but it didn't stay there for long as it turned into another out-of-control brawl between these two. Beast got the first fall in 5:36 after an elbowdrop on the floor, but Chief prevented him from getting back in the ring. Chief managed to rally with the aid of a steel chair, beating down the big man with the weapon to score a fall in 7:20. Beast wouldn't stay down and kept his rival from achieving the win, so Chief had to go back on the attack and scored another fall after a big splash in 7:58. Beast refused to surrender and the brawl went out through the audience...Chief put the chair to good use once again, jamming it into Beast's midsection before pinning him on the floor again in 11:35. This time, Beast was unable to stop his opponent from stepping back through the ropes...Chief was declared the winner in 12:06.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper.
"Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson & "Your Canadian Hero" Sean Vincent vs. "Volatile" Curtis Wylde & "The Northern Saint" Tony Flood(w/ Wyldefyre): Central Illinois competitor Flood is a regular for Stride Pro Wrestling; he made his SICW debut a few weeks ago at their Caseyville event, fighting Jackson to a double DQ. Wylde has plenty of history with both Jackson and Vincent, of course. Flood immediately took issue with Vincent over CANADIAN PRIDE~! They had a good solid tag match, ending with Wylde pinning Vincent after the Wylde Ride(Flatliner) in 9:59.
Bobby D vs. The Big Texan, no-DQ match: D defeated Texan at the previous Swansea show, so we got the rematch here...these two have fought each other a lot so the familiarity runs deep. Chairs came into play relatively quickly and Jimmy D interfered on his brother's behalf, but even that wasn't quite enough. Texan pulled off a somersault senton at one point...does he think he's a luchador nowadays? Texan countered a top-rope Frankensteiner with a powerbomb onto some set-up chairs that looked nasty. He finished off Bobby after hitting an double-underhook faceplant a la Angel's Wings, followed by a suplex onto two set-up chairs in 12:15.
Flash Flanagan & Heath Hatton vs. "The Icon" Chris Hargas & "Superstar" Steve Fender(w/ Travis Cook): This high-profile tag match included three former SICW Classic Champions, as well as a man who could easily hold that title in the near future in Fender. While Hargas and Fender are stablemates, Flanagan and Hatton had an old rivalry stemming from Flash cheating to beat Heath for the aforementioned Classic Title...that seemed to be water under the bridge as they worked fairly well together in this one. It was a tremendous match as expected, but no one could put the opposing team away on this night as it ended in a 15:00 draw. There will be another day for all four men, to be sure.
"Ironman" Ken Kasa vs. Cowboy Marc Houston(w/ Big Daddy) for the Classic Title: Kasa captured the title from Chris Hargas in October, then retained against Bubba Troll in Caseyville. Hargas got his rematch in a best-of-three-falls bout two weeks before this event and the two went the distance in a 60:00 time-limit draw (each man had scored one fall so Kasa retained). There was no rest for the weary as Kasa faced a big and tough challenger on this night; he also had to deal with the presence of the veteran manager Big Daddy on the floor. Despite those factors, Kasa was able to persevere and lock on the Crippler Crossface...but Clint Poe hit the ring to break up the hold, causing the disqualification in 8:27! Poe had been a fan favorite prior to this night, but he teams with Houston in other parts of the country...I can only assume that Big Daddy got in his ear and convinced him to join forces with Houston in this territory. The two delivered their own version of the Hart Attack on the champion(with Houston delivering his signature lariat for his side of the move). Most of the roster was preparing for the battle royal(that's my story and I'm sticking to it), so the task fell to Cowboy Bob Orton to restore order! The Hall Of Famer entered the ring and assisted Kasa in fighting off Big Daddy's crew...they stood tall at the end of the fray, but Kasa now has to worry about the two-pronged attack in the near future.
Battle Royal: Most of the guys on the card were in this free-for-all...it was all I could do to keep up with the eliminations, let alone who did the tossing and at what times. It was a fairly lengthy battle royal as well, so it was several minutes before anyone was eliminated. Curtis Wylde had a lot of enemies in the ring and was quickly dumped for the first elimination. Gary Jackson and Big Texan grappled on the ropes and both tumbled out at the same time. Next out were Heath Hatton, Ax Allwardt, and Jimmy D, followed by Chris Hargas, Flash Flanagan, and Moondog Rover. Sean Vincent and Tony Flood renewed hostilities, eliminating each other. The remaining competitors ganged up on Bubba Troll to get him out. The final four were Clint Poe, Dave Vaughn, Steve Fender, and Bobby D...Poe and Vaughn were sent to the floor and Fender arrogantly took his time with Bobby D, even going for visual pinfalls to assert his superiority. As is often the case, this proved to be his undoing and Bobby D managed to surprise Fender for the final elimination in 15:25 to score the win!
HEY, I'm caught up...for about half a day. Woo. Tonight is Dynamo Pro at Concordia Turners Gymnasium in St. Louis, MO; also Cape Championship Wrestling has an event in Delta, MO. Things will slow down for December, of course...that month looks like this:
-Saturday 12/2: World League Wrestling in Troy, MO; Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO(South Broadway)
-Saturday 12/9: SICW in East Carondelet, IL
-Sunday 12/10: National Wrasslin' League in O'Fallon, MO
That's my special comment for this, the sixtieth(!) 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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