Now, as promised, a special comment about Sunday's Wrestling Over Everything show at the River's Edge Community Center in Centreville, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
The show didn't have a very good turnout, unfortunately...the lineup featured Heavyweight and Interstate Title bouts as well as a one-night tournament to crown the first WOE Tag Team Champions. (The final Wrestling Invades America Tag Team Champions were Bobby D & "The Enforcer" Jimmy D of Bodily Harm, but they were stripped of the titles just prior to the transition to WOE.) Seven teams were advertised for the tournament, but it was trimmed down to six as All Eyes On Us(Micah Pope & Nelson Sixx) weren't there. The scheduled start time was 5:00 but the event didn't start until about 5:30.
Your ring announcers were Chris Kaelin and Moe Romero-Kennedy; your referees were Jason Pemberton and Will Something(didn't get his full name).
The Landlord kicked off the show by showing off the new tag title belts...he said he had two teams in the tournament so he had a good chance of managing the first champs. He brought out The Sabotage Squad(Krispy 2 Pop & John Boi) and then called out LaMarcus Clinton...but L.M.C. was still sore about Landlord accidentally costing him the Interstate Title to Billy McNeil. The Landlord had said he could team with anyone he wanted, so he chose his recent rival Da'Marius Jones! Landlord wasn't happy with that development...but he told the Squad to stay in the ring as their match would kick off the show.
Interstate Champion Billy McNeil & Orange Lazarus vs. The Sabotage Squad(Krispy 2 Pop & John Boi), Tag Team Title Tournament: Billy had a long night ahead of him as he was also defending his Interstate Title later in the show. Lazarus seemed to be dressed in secret agent mode with a hat, suit jacket, and a briefcase which he handcuffed to the corner. Unfortunately, he was unable to get the briefcase open for anything that would help him in the match. Lazarus did the lion's share of the work but was isolated from McNeil for a good potion of it. McNeil got a tag and cleaned house on both Squad members, but brought Lazarus back into the fray far too quickly (I honestly don't recall if a tag was made or not). Krispy and John Boi disposed of Billy long enough to finish off Lazarus with a sideslam/top-rope legdrop combo(shades of the Smokin' Gunns' Sidewinder finisher) in 9:38.
Money & Gold(Taylor Champion & Trystan Brady Shadeux) vs. P.T. Beckham & Jake Prater, Tag Team Title Tournament: I recognized Prater's name but hadn't seen him in person before; he's a big dude with gear who seemed decent in there. I've been a fan of Champion for a while and I would like to see him test his technical skills against opponents with similar styles in this area. Shadeux has been slowly improving in recent months as he's gotten more ring time...no substitute for experience, as they say. Beckham has been a solid rulebreaker in his time in WOE and has been establishing himself well on his own. The teamwork made the difference as Champion took out Beckham with a superkick, allowing Shadeux to score the three-count in 10:04.
"2.0" Da'Marius Jones & LaMarcus Clinton vs. The Big Texan & Richard Faith(w/ Miss Chaos), Tag Team Title Tournament: Landlord brought out Texan and Faith as guys who didn't like each other, but wanted championship gold badly enough to join forces for the tournament. Unfortunately for them, the bad blood between the partners would resurface as there were several instances of one man tagging himself into the match without the other wanting to tag out. A miscommunication between them brought Miss Chaos up to the apron to bark orders at Texan, which he didn't take kindly to...the partners finally lost their cool and brawled with each other. The battle spilled out of the ring, leading to a countout win for Jones and LMC in 8:45! The tournament finals were set: Sabotage Squad vs. Money & Gold vs. Jones & LMC.
"The Infamous" Tyler Copeland vs. Leone Mephisto(w/ Ace Roberts), no-holds-barred match for the Heavyweight Title: Mephisto stole the belt from Copeland several months ago, so the champion hasn't had much chance to physically hold the championship that he won from him. Mephisto wasted no time in attacking Copeland during his entrance, using whatever weapons he had available to him...Copeland was bloody in short order. Mephisto focused his attack on Copeland's shoulder and kept going for the cross-armbreaker...and in a surprise(to me, anyway), Copeland tapped out in 7:15 to make Mephisto a two-time WOE Champion! I didn't see that coming, though maybe I should have...guess we'll see how things play out from here.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Hamburger and a bottle of water.
Billy McNeil vs. Brandon Espinosa for the Interstate Title: McNeil captured the title from L.M.C. a few months ago, making him a two-time holder of that belt. These two had crossed paths in Dynamo Pro and that was the only other time these two Midwest mainstays had competed against each other. I honestly need a scorecard to keep track of where I cheer or boo Espinosa, seeing as how he wrestles for just about everybody in different roles. Espy had an advantage in size and power, but Billy had the edge in agility and overall experience. It could have easily gone either way (Espy won their previous encounter), but McNeil fought out of a superplex attempt and hit ye olde Pac-Man Attack(half-turn frog splash) to win in 10:19! Cue mutual respect...
The Big Texan vs. Richard Faith(w/ Miss Chaos): Landlord ordered this impromptu match to settle the differences between the two men. The fight picked up right where it left off and even the referee was caught in the crossfire...Faith delivered the Blackhole Slam but it only got a two-count. The ref was still dazed and Faith called in Miss Chaos to slap Texan...but this merely ticked off the masked man and he chased the valet away from ringside. The official counted out Texan, giving Faith the cheap win in a brisk 3:50...I suspect things still aren't over between those two.
"2.0" Da'Marius Jones & LaMarcus Clinton vs. Money & Gold(Taylor Champion & Trystan Brady Shadeux) vs. The Sabotage Squad(Krispy 2 Pop & John Boi), Tag Team Title Tournament Final: Landlord said this final match would be no-DQ to ensure a winner, so all three teams brawled all over the building. Weapons like a kendo stick and steel chairs came into play...though some of the chair swings looked fairly weak, sorry to say. The fan favorite pairings weren't exactly on the same page(of course, only one team could win). Landlord had decreed that Jones and L.M.C. would be fired if they didn't win the belts, but he would step down from his position of influence in WOE if they won. Of course Landlord got involved with his cookie sheet of doom, but he overstepped his bounds and L.M.C. took him out with a Buff Blockbuster! The momentum wouldn't change from there as the Sabotage Squad members were on the receiving end...Jones took down Krispy and L.M.C. pinned him after the 450 Splash in 12:38 for NEWWWWW Tag Team Champions! The brawl was a bit of a trainwreck, but it seemed like the right team won.
Post-match Landlord was distraught that he was no longer in power, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him stick around in some other capacity...Darkside's music played to freak him out, but Darkside himself didn't make an appearance. Landlord laughed that off, but still realized that he was out of a job...the fans chimed in with the "Goodbye" song to send him off.
Hey, I actually got caught up for about twenty-four hours...sweet. I've got another double-header weekend ahead with the National Wrasslin' League on Friday and Dynamo Pro Wrestling on Saturday (with Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling as an alternate option for Saturday, depending on your personal rasslin tastes).
That's my special comment for this, the third 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment