PWCS Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Pro Wrestling Championship Series on Saturday, January 6th at the Spaulding Hall Club in Alton, Illinois.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

After a couple of weekends off for the holidays, it was back to the friendly confines of the Alton venue for PWCS's fourth season finale.  (I need to look up the first show that venue hosted...it was back in the St. Louis Anarchy days.  I want to say it was in 2012.)  The Ego Busters ran away with first place while the rest of the pack fought for the runner-up position and a spot in the championship bout...it took a tiebreaker match at the November show to put the Submission Squad in the other slot.  Despite last-minute cancellations by Jimmy Jacobs(knee problems) and Angelus Layne(illness), the show had a packed house in attendance for the event.

Your ring announcer was Chris Kaelin; your referee was Jason Pemberton.

"The Warhorse" Jake Parnell vs. "The Leader Of The Pack" Stephen Wolf vs. "Rich Homie Juice" A.J. Gray:  This was originally set to be Parnell vs. Gray in a singles match; when PWCS scheduled Jimmy Jacobs for the show to face Dominic Garrini, Garrini's originally scheduled opponent Paco Gonzalez was added to Parnell-Gray to make it a triple threat.  Once Jacobs was no longer able to appear, Paco vs. Garrini was back on and Wolf was added to this bout.  Got all that?  There WILL be a quiz later.  This match had a scary moment as Parnell delivered a Homicide-style somersaulting suicide dive but his head hit the floor on the landing...and he came up bleeding rather badly from his head.  He had blood all over the front and back of his neck by the end of the bout...he was out of it for a while as Wolf and Gray battled, but he managed to re-enter the fray.  Gray showed his exceptional agility with an Asai moonsault onto both opponents at one point!  However, Parnell scored the hard-fought victory in 9:18 after a double-stomp off the second rope onto Wolf!

Mike Outlaw vs. Matt Kenway(w/ Evan Gelistico):  I'm finally retiring the massive nickname of doom for Kenway...he's reinvented himself with a bulked-up physique and newly-bleached hair(a la Cody Rhodes).  Outlaw was making his return to the greater St. Louis independent scene; he seems to have gone part-time as far as the National Wrasslin' League is concerned.  As he presented his bandanna to a ringside youngster(whose dad bore a passing resemblance to Spoiled Steven Kennedy), Kenway jumped Outlaw from behind the kick-start the matchup.  While the match had its hiccups, I was extremely impressed with Kenway overall...he went out to make an impact and definitely did that.  However, Outlaw was looking to make a statement as well in his return to PWCS...he won a competitive matchup with the High Noon(top-rope elbowdrop) in 10:17!

After the match, Gelistico made the decision as captain of the Submission Squad to pull Kenway from the championship elimination tag match...he assured everyone that he had someone else in mind to fill that spot...

"The Wildman From The Ozarks" Alexandre Rudolph(w/ chainsaw) vs. Big Chris Mac vs. "Big Beef" Jake Garvin vs. Josh Bishop vs. Thomas Shire vs. Marko Stunt:  This was originally scheduled to be a singles match between Rudolph and Mac.  Stunt is a tiny, tiny man who does some crazy aerial moves...at one point he got some much spring on a running shooting star press that he nearly overshot his target!  I first saw him and Garvin at the Outlaw Wrestling show a few months back.  Bishop worked another six-way match at PWCS's show in August.  Shire returned to St. Louis action at NWL in December.  This match had a lot of heavy hitters(and Marko, yes), but we still saw some people take to the air...Mac even tried for a somersault plancha though I don't blame the opponents for wanting to steer clear!  Stunt outmaneuvered Mac on a few occasions, but sheer size and power finally caught up to him; Mac planted him with a double-handed chokeslam and flattened him with a standing moonsault for the win in 9:23.

"The Miracle Worker" Davey Vega(w/ Greg Jovi) vs. "The Dirty Rook" Mat Fitchett for the Gateway Heritage Title:  The history ran deep here...Vega defended against Fitchett at last January's show and they fought as respectful friends, but in the end Vega resorted to a low blow to retain his title.  This sent Earth-PWCS Vega on a dark path as he sided with Greg Jovi's Ego Busters and had no problem with stooping to underhanded tactics to retain his title.  While Jovi had made passing comments about Vega still valuing Fitchett's friendship on some level, the two remained bitter enemies and it all came to a head here.  Fitchett couldn't wait for the opening bell, diving onto Vega as he made his entrance and triggering a brawl on the floor.  Once the match got back in the ring, Vega focused his attack on Fitchett's arm to wear him down.  Fitchett survived Vega's Brain Eater(brainbuster onto the knee) but got caught in a triangle hold; Fitchett barely reached the ropes to escape defeat.  Fitchett hit the flying knee strike for a near-fall, then Vega returned fire with a buzzsaw kick for his own close two-count.  Fitchett came back with the cradle piledriver but Vega somehow kicked out at two-and-a-half!  The two battled on the top rope, ending with Vega hitting an Air Raid Crash ONTO THE TOP TURNBUCKLE...and one more Brain Eater finished off Fitchett in 17:14!

Fitchett admitted that he lost fair and square this time around and the two actually shook hands, seemingly putting their past differences aside...but Danny Adams took offense to his stablemate's actions and attacked BOTH men!  I was wondering if Vega was out of the main event as a result, but nothing was made official at this point...

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Two bottles of water.  See, I'm trying...

Edvin Kudic vs. Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham(w/ hoverboard):  The artist previously known as Aaron Dzinic seems to be going by his real name now (though it'll mean updating his ring attire that has the "AD" initials on it).  Rockingham has an interesting character and the area fans are starting to get into it.  He seemed to have an unending supply of pamphlets stored on his person, repeatedly offering them to Kudic only to be declined each time.  His hoverboarding knee strike in the corner got a good reaction from the audience.  However, Kudic had a bit more to prove on this night and he scored the victory via rollup in 10:15.

Paco Gonzalez vs. Dominic Garrini:  This was on the original lineup for the show, as previously noted...after a few changes, it reverted to Paco vs. Garrini due to Jimmy Jacobs' injury cancellation.  Garrini defeated Stephen Wolf in his PWCS debut back in August.  It was a clear contrast in styles with Paco favoring the fast-paced strikes and aerial offense while Garrini preferred to keep things grounded.  Paco gave him a good fight, but Garrini forced him to tap out to a triangle hold/armbar combination in 11:06.

Savanna Stone vs. Allie Kat vs. Rahne Victoria:  This was scheduled to be a four-corner match with Angelus Layne involved.  Allie is originally from Texas and recently moved to the St. Louis area; I met her in person for the first time at this show and she seems like a super nice person.  I think I've documented the entire careers of Savanna and Rahne up to this point.  With two fan favorites in the match, Rahne often ducked out of the ring and encouraged them to fight it out.  (It would have been three fan favorites if Angelus had been there!)  Savanna nearly got the win after the Sliced Bread #2 on Allie, but Rahne pulled the referee out of the ring to stop the count.  The momentum shifted between the three women, but Rahne picked up the victory with a Rock Bottom on Savanna in 8:15.

The Submission Squad("The Stiff Robo Ginger" Gary Jay, Everett Connors, Evan Gelistico, & Pierre Abernathy)(w/ Matt Kenway & Shawshank) vs. The Ego Busters(Gateway Heritage Champion "The Miracle Worker" Davey Vega, "The Millenial" Danny Adams, Christian Rose, & "Lights Out" Adrian Surge)(w/ Greg Jovi), elimination tag match:  I did not expect the founding member of the Submission Squad to be the surprise addition to the team, to say the least.  Vega and Adams were at odds from the beginning, and that cost the Ego Busters dearly as Pierre was able to get the surprise rollup pin on a distracted Vega in 0:45!  Things broke down into chaos from there as everyone fought on the floor...the longtime tag duo of Gelistico & Abernathy busted out some of their VINTAGE~! double-teams and brought Shawshank into the action for some comedic moments.  Pierre himself would admit that he's hardly in "ring shape" nowadays...Adams eliminated him with the reverse Stunner in 11:08 to even the sides.  Gary Jay and Danny Adams battled in the ring with dueling strikes...but in this case, it led to both men's downfalls as simultaneous blows led to the referee declaring a double-knockout in 14:40!  With the Busters' two biggest guns out of the game, Rose and Surge had to get their act together in a hurry...things settled down into a more standard tag match from that point onward.  Rose & Surge isolated Connors for a while, but Gelistico finally tagged into the fray and things went downhill for the Ego Busters.  Gelistico got Rose to tap out to a grapevine anklelock in 27:36, then he and Connors joined forces for a double chokeslam on Surge, giving Gelistico the final pinfall in 28:23!  The Submission Squad had become the Season Four PWCS Champions!

The full Squad celebrated after their win...Pierre gave Connors a pep talk, telling him that great matches are fine but he needed to start WINNING those matches to truly make an impact.  However, the night wasn't quite over as several interlopers made their way to ringside:  Alexandre Rudolph, Chris Mac, and Dominic Garrini.  As the Squad members wondered why they had made an appearance, Kenway suddenly turned on his stablemates and led the outside threesome in a beatdown of the victorious stable!  As the newly-formed group stood tall, Kenway declared them to be the NEW Blacklist!  (I wonder what Makaze has to say about that...)

With the Squad as the only stable of the four to have not won a season championship, I had a feeling they were coming out on top here...also, with only one true "rulebreaking" stable in the promotion(Ego Busters), the revamped Blacklist will add a new wrinkle to the proceedings.  All in all, it was solid closure to Season Four with a preview of coming attractions for Season Five...

This past weekend was a doubleheader for me with the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance on Saturday and Wrestling Over Everything on Sunday.  Next weekend will be another pair of shows with the National Wrasslin' League in O'Fallon, Missouri on Friday and Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis(Concordia Turners Gym) on Saturday.  (Also, Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling has their monthly offering in East Carondelet, Illinois.)  We're only a few weeks into 2018 and I'm already running behind on these commentaries...go figure.

That's my special comment for this, the first 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.