Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's World League Wrestling show at the Race Wrestling Arena in Troy, Missouri.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
My weekend wrestling excursion almost didn't happen...I hadn't noticed anything amiss with my car tires despite the "check tire pressure" warning on my dashboard, but I got a wake-up call when one of my tires came up flat on Saturday afternoon. Thankfully I was able to get some help to fix the problem: Roadside assistance helped me to change the tire to the spare, then AutoTire was able to provide me with a new tire(since the previous one had too much damage). My car dealership had said that I was due for new tires soon...I will have to make an appointment to remedy that situation with the other three wheels.
I had actually wanted to do the driving this time around, but since Ben Simon was cool with carpooling again, I met up with him at his residence to make the northward trip. The main order of the day was setting up the big Night Of Champions show in March with a multitude of guest legends...most had already been announced, but one more would be revealed on this night. It looked like a solid turnout from my standpoint, but I imagine the venue in Moscow Mills will be packed next month.
Your ring announcer was Dane Horst; your referees were Martin Kattich & Richard White.
The show started with a ten-bell salute for departed long-time fan Herbert Fowler. After plenty of hype for the March show, it was time to "shut up and wrestle"...
"The Wrestler For The People" Rex Fults vs. "The Heartthrob" Jaden Roller(w/ "Can-Do" Curtis Dearling): I joked about whether Can-Do Curtis would make as many managerial appearances here as Jeff O'Dell did at CCW the previous week; Ben astutely noted that it was unlikely since WLW wouldn't have as many matches as that show. Rex mocked his opponent by coming out to the same theme music, wearing a wig and similar entrance attire while being introduced as "Sexy Rexy"...Roller was not amused in the slightest. These two worked well together and it produced a really good opening bout. Rex delivered a sick-looking double-underhook DDT but Curtis put his client's foot on the bottom rope; Rex went after the manager and Roller retreated to the backstage area when Rex caught him attempting a sneak attack. Rex set his sights on Can-Do Curtis again and got his hands on him, but Roller ran back out to run him into the ringpost. With the momentum thus shifted, Roller picked up the victory after a jumping side kick(a la Booker T) in 12:39.
Tag Team Champions "Superstar" Steve Fender & Brandon Espinosa vs. Kyle Roberts, non-title: Fender & Espy had defeated Roberts and Warwick Stephans to win the vacant Tag Titles, ending a year-and-a-half-long hiatus for those belts. This was scheduled to be a rematch for the belts, but an injury to Stephans left him unable to compete...the match was changed to a non-title handicap match, but Roberts was guaranteed a title shot with a partner of his choice if he somehow won (since he didn't have enough to time to find a replacement partner for this bout). Fender & Espy didn't seem to be on the same page...in fact, they only came out with one of the title belts and argued over the possession of the belt all the way to the ring. Once the bell rang, the discussion continued and Fender decided to go to the backstage area to look for the other belt...which left Espinosa alone against Roberts for the majority of the contest. Espy's focus was divided between his opponent and the whereabouts of his tag team partner, allowing Roberts to gain the advantage on a few occasions. At one point Fender re-emerged, but only to confirm that he was still looking for the belt before going back behind the curtain! Espinosa somehow managed to take control and went up for the frog splash around the ten-minute mark, but Fender FINALLY reappeared with the second title belt in tow! The partners argued but Fender finally tagged into the bout, shifting the odds in favor of the champions. Roberts was able to take advantage of a miscue as Espy accidentally superkicked his partner...Roberts knocked Espy out of the ring, then hit the frog splash on Fender for the win in 16:30! Kyle Roberts had overcome the numbers game and will get his Tag Title shot next month...but who will his partner be?
Jr. Heavyweight Champion "The Hybrid Ace" Jon Webb vs. Jayden Dominic Rose vs. "The Valedictorian" Keon Option, non-title: Rose won the Harley Race Invitational Tournament for the right to challenge for any title at any time, so he carried the large trophy with him as a reminder of that stipulation. Rose wasn't happy about having to deal with Webb again...Webb won the inaugural Jr. Heavyweight Title tournament by beating Rose(then known as Jayden Fenix) in the finals and had held the title for eighteen months at this point. Option was somewhat of a tweener in this match as a relative unknown to the WLW audience. Finishers flew near the end of the bout...Webb hit the Sliced Bread #2 on Option, but Rose surprised him with his windup short-arm roundhouse kick and stole the fall on Option in 7:01.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Hot dog(I didn't get a chance to eat dinner before the show), bottle of water, oatmeal raisin cookie, and Pepsi.
The Night Of Champions lineup of legends was already impressive: Along with the obvious inclusion of Harley Race and the local presence of Cowboy Bob Orton, we had "The Mouth Of The South" Jimmy Hart, J.J. Dillon, and Arn Anderson! That wasn't all, as it turned out...officially announced for the show was "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steine! Good luck keeping the show family-friendly...
Heavyweight Champion "The Legacy" Leland Race(w/ "Can-Do" Curtis Dearling) vs. Jack Gamble, non-title: Wow, a lot of non-title matches on this show...and it looked as thought we would only have four matches, but Ben correctly guessed that there would probably be more to come. Since the last time I had attended a WLW event, Leland had gone full rulebreaker and joined Can-Do Curtis' stable...he had shown signs of it in his feud with Jon Webb, but he finally went fully over to The Dark Side in recent months. In a time when there are so many wrestlers trying so many different things in the ring, it's the people with notable personalities who stand out...I saw it on this show with Roller, the interplay between Fender and Espy, and here with the incredibly talkative Gamble. Gamble lost his hair the previous weekend in a matchup with Brandon Aarons, so he had to think twice about taunting Race with the "baldy" epithet. I talked to someone who joked that Race seemed to have trouble getting over as a fan favorite, but now that he was a rulebreaker, he was getting more cheers. These guys had a tremendous matchup...both are extremely underrated as far as the Midwest scene is concerned. With the title not at stake, the likelihood of an upset was there...but it was still a surprise when Gamble scored the win with a bridging O'Connor Roll in 22:35! No sooner was the match over than Jayden Dominic Rose hit the ring to attack Gamble...Race joined in the attack until Gamble's tag team partner Jon Webb made the save. That led to an impromptu tag match...
High Level Enterprise(Jr. Heavyweight Champion "The Hybrid Ace" Jon Webb & Jack Gamble) vs. Heavyweight Champion "The Legacy" Leland Race & Jayden Dominic Rose(w/ "Can-Do" Curtis Dearling): The rulebreakers of the match have had their own issues in the past, so they weren't exactly the most cohesive unit compared to the former WLW and Dynamo Tag Team Champions. They were able to work together reasonably well at times, but Webb & Gamble gained the upper hand...and that led to Race & Rose taking a walk for the countout in 12:08. BOO! The good guys celebrated, but Race and Rose ran BACK in to attack them again...and then Rose remembered that he had a trophy and a title shot to go with it...
"The Hybrid Ace" Jon Webb vs. Jayden Dominic Rose for the Jr. Heavyweight Title: Rose wasted no time in pouncing on the banged-up titleholder, delivering a kneedrive curbstomp and getting the pin in about five seconds to become the NEWWWWW Jr. Heavyweight Champion! That was quite the cavalcade of events in the second half of the show, moving a lot of angles forward in preparation for the big show in March...
Post-show, myself and Ben Simon joined Brian Kelley of Missouri Wrestling Revival at Denny's...mmm, Grand Slamwich...I went with water to drink since I've fallen too far off the no-soda wagon as it is.
At any rate, there are a lot of shows in the upcoming weeks...the schedule looks like this:
-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 seventh 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.
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