WOE Special Comment

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.

This is my story and I'm sticking to it:  Previous WOE shows had started at 6 PM on Sundays.  I had gotten a Facebook event alert, but I didn't think much of it as wrestling shows are usually tagged for the time the doors open(i.e. an hour before bell time).  As it turned out, the posters and flyer did have 5 PM as the start time and I'll be more careful with that in the future.  (I made a similar mistake last year when I forgot about Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling's move to an earlier start time, going from 8 to 7 PM.)  I left relatively early(*I* thought) and got to the building around 5:30, only discovering as I walked in the door that the show was in progress.  Oops.  (If the videos of the first three matches of the show are put online, please let me know so I can check them out.)

While The Landlord was seemingly driven out of power at the previous show, he appeared to still be in charge on this night.  Darkside had been set up as the new General Manager between shows but was nowhere to be found at this event.

Your ring announcers were Chris Kaelin & Moe Romero-Kennedy; your referees were Jason Pemberton and Will Chambers.

Early results:  "The Infamous" Tyler Copeland d. Tony Esteem(in his WOE debut) with the Last Chancery; The Big Texan d. Benjamin Ulysses Trust with the double-underhook powerbomb, but the younger and smaller Trust put up a good fight.  "The Predator" Jake Prater was dominant against the masked Orange Lazarus, putting him away with an old-school powerbomb(I arrived at the venue during this bout and saw the ending).

D.J. Brown vs. Brandon Espinosa:  Brown is a Memphis competitor and was making his debut appearance in the St. Louis area against a mainstay of the region.  While Brown had a competitive showing against the multi-time titleholder, Espy picked up the win via brainbuster in 13:48.

Leone Mephisto(w/ Ace Roberts) vs. "The Notorious" P.T. Beckham for the Heavyweight Title:  Beckham was a fan favorite by default in this matchup, vowing to make the most of his biggest opportunity to date.  Beckham very nearly made the most of his chance as he nearly had the champion beaten after a Skull-Crushing Finale...but Tyler Copeland ran out to pull Beckham from the ring, ramming him into the ringpost before attacking Mephisto!  The referee called for the bell at 11:42...while the target of Copeland's aggression was clearly Mephisto, he had attacked Beckham first so Beckham was awarded by disqualification victory.  Mephisto and Beckham ganged up on Copeland(with Beckham pissed that he had been denied a potential title victory), but Copeland got some unexpected help from Benjamin U. Trust...that set up a tag match for the next show on March 11th.

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Bottle of water.

Jayson Virtue vs. The Enforcer vs. Azrael "The Nightmare" Knight(w/ Celina) vs. David X:  This was a match to determine who would become a full-time member of the WOE roster; all four men appeared to be from the Cottage Hills Wrestling Alliance, though Virtue had competed for Wrestling Invades Alton/America.  I had seen Enforcer the previous night at World Powerhouse Wrestling; David X was once one-half of the #PROSTATUS team with the man now known as P.T. Beckham.  This match was just a bit disjointed and featured more than one instance of a person whiffing on a top-rope move and then going for the pin anyway.  I got the best impression of Azrael Knight of the four...maybe I'll see more of him down the line.  At any rate, Virtue got the winning fall on Enforcer after a superkick in 5:17.

The next match was delayed slightly as the bottom rope broke loose...it took a few minutes to fix things up before the event could proceed.

Billy McNeil vs. "The Unholy Father" Richard Faith for the Interstate Title:  Faith had the size and power advantage, but Billy had the speed and agility as well as the experience edge.  Faith was able to slow the pace to maintain control, but McNeil rallied late in the contest.  He went to the top rope to finish, but Faith shoved the referee into the ropes and then crotched McNeil on the top turnbuckle.  With the official down, Faith bashed McNeil in the head with his "good book" and then finished with the Blackhole Slam in 8:47 to win the Interstate Title!

"2.0" Da'Marius Jones & LaMarcus Clinton vs. The Sabotage Squad(Krispy 2 Pop & John Boi) for the Tag Team Titles:  I wasn't sure what to expect here, but these two teams worked really well together.  With time, perhaps Jones and L.M.C. will gel into a really strong tag team combination.  It was the best I'd seen the Sabotage Squad look in the short time I've been watching them.  It looks like the feud between these two tandems will continue as they fought to a ten-minute draw, the bell ringing right after the champions hit their Flapjack/Paydirt combo on Krispy.  (By my stopwatch it was closer to 11:25, but hey.)

I've got a full weekend ahead of me with Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling tonight in East Carondelet, Illinois (at 7 PM, not 8!).  Also, I am making my commentary debut for Glory Pro Wrestling on Sunday afternoon, so I'm looking forward to that...it should be a great show!  The month of February will wrap up with Pro Wrestling Championship Series next Saturday in Alton, IL with the St. Louis Invitational Tournament.

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