CCW Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Cape Championship Wrestling show at the A.C. Brase Arena in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

With nothing in the immediate area for the weekend, Ben Simon talked me into carpooling down to Cape for CCW.  It was my first time seeing this particular promotion, so there were a lot of unfamiliar faces and storylines (Ben did his best to fill me in on what he knew).  The venue was a familiar one; Gateway Championship Wrestling ran shows in the A.C. Brase Arena over a decade ago.  I can remember making the solo drive up and down the highway at the time...my car had such a small gas tank that I usually had to fill up on the way there AND on the way back home.  (And fillups only cost about ten dollars...)  On the way to the show, we stopped at the world-famous and Von Erich-endorsed Pizza Inn in Jackson, MO...good times.  It's tough to screw up pizza as a rule, though I tend to favor the meat-lovers variety to the veggie-lovers.  (That might explain my current physique and blood pressure...)

This particular show was notable as it was "Caged Chaos" with every match taking place in a steel cage.  Most of the matches could be won by pinfall/submission/escape (with the exception of the main event).  I've only seen a handful of cage matches in person...a WWF TV taping in 1995 had Diesel vs. Yokozuna in a cage as the main event (I think it appeared on a recent "Unreleased" DVD).  I recall the Ultimate Wrestling Alliance having a three-vs.-three-vs.-three cage match in Dupo once...it was as much of a cluster as you might think.  Most of the independent show cage matches I've seen took place in Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling...the first was Jeremy Lightfoot vs. Jeff Hawkins.  The others took place at a December show a few years ago with a triple main event of cage matches (Sean Vincent vs. Curtis Wylde, Gary Jackson vs. Attila Khan, and Kahagas vs. Ron Powers vs. Flash Flanagan).

I saw a few familiar faces in Cape, particularly "Evil" Jim Yount and Sadie Blade as they were visiting special guest Jerry Lynn.  Several Dynamo Pro trainees were in the house for Lynn's seminar, including rookies Tootie Lynn Ramsey and Ricky Rodriguez; young wrestlers should learn as much as possible and Lynn is a great person to teach some of those lessons.

The show started off with some local podcasters(one of whom was the ring announcer) giving out year-end awards to the wrestlers...woo.

Your ring announcer was Shannon Young; your referees were C-LO~! Banks, Lane Austin, & Kelly Blankenship.

The Pinnacle(Hollis Giroux & Roger Matheus)(w/ Jeff O'Dell & Bodyguard Courtney) vs. The L.A. Hustlers(Bradley Diggs & Lamont Potts) vs. Blaster & Aaron Clay vs. "The Big Mustache On Campus" Mikey McFinnegan & Marko Stunt, cage match:  The match had Wargames-style entries with two men starting and each new participant entering at...I'll just say "intervals".  I saw at least one pinfall attempted before everyone had entered the cage, though usually it's set up that you can't win the match until everyone is in.  Out of these people, I know Giroux, Mikey, and Marko.  I feel like I've seen Clay at some point in the past but it's escaping me; he competes for Kansas City Xtreme Wrestling(along with Giroux).  Matheus is a big dude who's a regular for Stride Pro Wrestling.  Blaster is a big masked dude who was VERY popular with the fans.  Thankfully the Hustlers were easy to keep straight as Bradley is decidedly bigger than Lamont.  I'd been told that O'Dell's associate was simply "Bad Boy" but the CCW website has him as Bodyguard Courtney.

At any rate, your entries were:  Lamont and McFinnegan, Clay, Giroux, Blaster (giving us a member of each team in the match), Blaster, Bradley, Matheus, and finally Stunt (who had apparently had a falling-out with McFinnegan at a previous show but was his mystery partner here).  Hope to see more of the other parties from this match in the future; it's tough to get a read on people in this kind of chaotic brawl.  I believe the Hustlers work out of Arkansas.  Stunt did his best to fly around the cage and not get caught by the larger opponents in the match, but Matheus finally caught up with him and pinned him after a sitout powerbomb in 19:25.  Post-match, McFinnegan and Stunt were all buddy-buddy and Mikey asked him(on one knee) to be his regular tag team partner once again.

"The" Ace Hawkins vs. Otis Crowley, cage match for the MWR Missouri Title:  The MWR belt hadn't been defended in a few months as Ace had been out of the area for a while.  Ace had been battling Otis and his brother Jacksyn for months, leading to this bout.  Jacksyn cut a promo on the big screen, telling his brother to go to work...and it was a misdirection play as Otis jumped Hawkins from behind on the floor.  That led to several minutes of one-sided brawling on the floor before the match made it into the ring and OFFICIALLY started.  Crowley had the size advantage and had things going his way when the Crowleys' music hit again, prompting the entrance of Jacksyn Crowley in his mask.  However, all was not as it seemed...Jacksyn motioned for his brother to escape the cage for the win, but then slammed the door on him.  "Jacksyn" removed the mask, revealing himself to actually be "Lights Out" Adrian Surge!  As Otis realized what was happening, Hawkins pounced from behind with his somersaulting Ace Crusher and edged out the win in 9:50.  The new alliance of Hawkins and Surge may be trouble for the CCW roster in the upcoming months...

"Sexy" Sarge O'Riley vs. Van "The Man" Van Horn(w/ Jeff O'Dell & Bodyguard Courtney):  Sexy Sarge is a heavy-set guy in tiny trunks who enters to the song "Pornstar Dancing".  Van Horn is a more conventional egotistical character who uses the Ravishing Rick Rude "Stripper" theme.  From what I understand, Sarge started off in CCW as a character the fans didn't like but eventually began to cheer.  The ring announcer encouraged Sarge to give referee C-Lo a lap dance and it was done...yup.  Neither man seemed able to score a clear advantage, but O'Dell threw in handcuffs and Van Horn was able to cuff Sarge to the ring ropes...this allowed him to easily walk out the door for the win(after a LOT of playing to the crowd) for the win in 12:14.  Once the Pinnacle members had taken their leave, Sarge said that he had initially promised to leave CCW if he lost, but he wanted One More Match(tm) with Van Horn...ANY kind of match!  (As it turned out, this would set up a hair vs. hair match for the February show.)

Li'l Bit vs. Diamond Doll(w/ Jeff O'Dell & Bodyguard Courtney) for the Women's Title:  I could have sworn the challenger was scheduled to be Hayley Shadows, but O'Dell said it was supposed to be Nikki Lane and she was unable to make it.  At any rate, he brought out the masked Doll as the replacement opponent...I'm unfamiliar with either lady, but I'm given to understand that Li'l Bit bears a striking resemblance to another female competitor known as Marni Gras.  Doll focused her attack on the leg of the champion, leaving her severely impaired in her attempts to fight back.  Despite Li'l Bit's best efforts, Doll scored a surprisingly convincing win with a Dominator in 11:16 to capture the title!  Doll sought to do post-match damage but Sarah Summers hit the ring to confront her...that title match will take place next month, as I assume Li'l Bit will need some time to heal before invoking her rematch clause.

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Can of root beer, chili cheese Fritos, bottle of water.

Brandon Espinosa vs. Osby Tomlin(w/ RVM):  Tomlin is a big guy who has been more of an authority figure in recent CCW times than an active wrestler; he was introduced as CCW General Manager.  Tomlin wrestled at SICW a while back(I wasn't there but saw the match on Wrestling Explosion).  Espy brought the Black Lantern-inspired facepaint and "RISE" gear for the occasion (previously used for his ladder match with Ace Hawkins at South Broadway).  Tomlin had a chance to escape, but instead went for an elbowdrop off the cage and missed...he appeared to be injured and a security guard entered the cage to check on him.  However, the "guard" revealed himself to new Tomlin ally Bishop Kage and he sneak-attacked Espinosa before planting him with a vertical suplex into a sitout uranagi(aka Matt Morgan's Hellevator).  That allowed Tomlin to escape at his leisure for the win in 15:37...I suspect this issue is far from settled.

Brandon Barbwire vs. Dell Tucker(w/ Jeff O'Dell & Bodyguard Courtney):  This was announced as a top-contenders' match; Barbwire is the former Heavyweight Champion and has been fighting to reclaim his title.  After a pretty good brawl, the two both attempted to escape...but both appeared to touch the floor at the same time in 12:52 (Barbwire over the top, Tucker out the door).  C-Lo was the official in the ring and the other two were on the floor...one outside ref said Barbwire landed first while the other said that Tucker stepped down first.  It came down to C-Lo's decision, but he said that he saw both men touch down at the same time.  Barbwire was NOT happy with the decision, saying he'd been given the runaround on his title rematch for months and it was happening again.  The ring announcer then told us that a twenty-man Rumble-style battle royal would take place at the February show and winner of that match would get a title shot later in the night.  Barbwire was unsatisfied with that decision, saying he had to win ANOTHER match to get his title shot...

"The Best Of The Best" Austin Lane vs. Justin "The Juice" Smart for the Heavyweight Title, special referee Jerry Lynn:  This was announced as a cage match under "ECW rules", which basically meant that you could not win by escape and weapon use was encouraged.  Chairs and a table came into play, primarily provided by Smart's ally Bishop Kage...but when Kage tried to interfere directly by climbing the cage, Lynn took matters into his own hands by physically knocking him down from the inside!  Lane gained control and set up Smart on the table, climbing the cage wall and diving off the top of the cage with a huge splash!  Smart incredibly kicked out of the pin attempt after that, but Lane quickly locked him in an STF and Smart was forced to tap in 8:30!

I had the opportunity to officially meet a few people after the show I hadn't encountered in person such as Austin Lane and Osby Tomlin...I also crossed paths with L.V.K., who has battled Adrian Surge all over the Midwest(he's a regular for KCXW as well).  A whole bunch of the wrestling crew went to Denny's after the show, which I'm sure the restaurant crew was SUPER happy about...*snicker*  I recall going to that Denny's back in the GCW days, oddly enough...I went with the blueberry pancakes with sausage and hash browns.  Woo.

Hey, I got this done before the weekend...go me.

February looks like this:
-Saturday 2/3: World League Wrestling in Troy, Missouri
-Saturday 2/10: World Powerhouse Wrestling in O'Fallon, IL
-Sunday 2/11: Wrestling Over Everything in Centreville, IL
-Saturday 2/17: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Sunday 2/18: Glory Pro Wrestling in Edwardsville, IL
-Saturday 2/24: Pro Wrestling Championship Series in Alton, IL

That's my special comment for this, the sixth wrestling show I've attended in the year 2018.  Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.

-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991

P.S. We are all marks.