Now, as promised, a special comment about the Pro Wrestling Championship Series show on Saturday, February 24th at the Spaulding Hall Club in Alton, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
I'm a fan of one-night tournaments and PWCS holds the St. Louis Invitational Tournament every year; Zakk Sawyers and Gary Jay were the previous winners of the tourney. On top of that, Ego Busters stablemates collided with the Gateway Heritage Title at stake...plus Greg Jovi in the middle as the guest referee. The show had a pretty good draw...I think PWCS is the only promotion currently holding shows in this venue, which has hosted many a memorable event dating back to St. Louis Anarchy.
Your ring announcer was Sarah Rose; your referee was Jason Pemberton.
"The Stiff Robo Ginger" Gary Jay vs. "The Professional Lowlife" Christian Rose, STLI Tournament Quarterfinal: These two crossed paths a few times in the past; in fact, Rose scored an upset win over Gary Jay not long after Gary's two-year-plus reign as St. Louis Anarchy Champion. Gary was sporting the medallion from the previous year's tournament and was one of the favorites to win this time around...but Rose's bitterness has only been exceeded by his in-ring aggression and it's paid dividends in recent success. Rose nearly scored the victory on a few occasions and had Gary set up for the Ride The Lightning(Go 2 Sleep variation), but Gary countered with a small package for the flash pin in 10:06!
"The Dirty Rook" Mat Fitchett vs. Thomas Shire, STLI Tournament Quarterfinal: While the experience edge was firmly on the side of Fitchett, Shire had the size and power. St. Louis fans hadn't seen much of Shire until recently as he'd been sidelined with injuries and primarily competed in Texas. He's drawn a lot of comparisons to Jack Swagger with his size and technical background, but also throws some wicked European uppercuts like the OTHER Real American Antonio Cesaro. A lot of fans praised this match as one of the best of the night and I would be inclined to agree...they worked together extremely well. It took two flying knee strikes for Fitchett to put away Shire in 12:45, sending him to the semifinals.
Paco Gonzalez vs. Mike Outlaw, STLI Tournament Quarterfinal: Both men were fan favorites, so it was a tough call who would win...the winner would face Fitchett in the next round. I was a bit surprised that the first-round matches got the time that they got, wondering if the show would run long as a result...thankfully it didn't seem to be any longer than a standard show. Paco got the win with the fireman's-carry Michinoku Driver in 12:05 to advance in the tournament.
Donovan Danhausen A.D. vs. Joshua Bishop: Danhausen has changed his look a bit in recent times, entering in mime-esque facepaint. Bishop has competed for PWCS a handful of times in multi-way matches but this was his first singles bout in this area. While Bishop had a slight size advantage, Danhausen was able to withstand his assault and win with a cradle DDT in 6:51.
Everett Connors vs. Matt Kenway, STLI Tournament Quarterfinal: That's what was scheduled, anyway...Kenway came out with Blacklist stablemate Dominic Garrini and said that he had been working with a torn meniscus for the past several months. He said he was relinquishing his spot in the tournament to Garrini...and on top of that, Everett Connors was not at the show (no explanation was given). Kenway directed some harsh words at Connors' Submission Squad stablemates, leading to Evan Gelistico stepping up to take the challenge instead of allowing Kenway and Garrini to get the tournament bye.
Evan Gelistico vs. "The Bone Collector" Dominic Garrini(w/ Matt Kenway), STLI Tournament Quarterfinal: The winner would face Gary Jay in the semifinals...while the potential was there for an all-Submission Squad bout between Evan and Gary, Gelistico had an uphill battle against a tough opponent on a night when he wasn't prepared to compete. Gelistico didn't make it easy for him, but Kenway's presence made the difference as he rammed Evan into the ringpost behind the referee's back. That led to Garrini locking on a cross-armbreaker for the tapout in 9:10...the semifinals were set as Gary Jay vs. Dominic Garrini and Mat Fitchett vs. Paco Gonzalez.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Mello Yello, bottle of water, root beer.
Edvin Kudic & Tootie Lynn Ramsey vs. Big Chris Mac & Angelus Layne: Tootie was a last-minute substitute for Allie Kat who had transportation problems. With Mac's recent allegiance to the new Blacklist, Layne found herself in the unusual position of being a rulebreaker...which means a lot of bullying of her smaller counterpart. While Tootie was at a disadvantage against Angelus, things were even more lopsided when Mac was in the ring (this was an intergender match and not a mixed tag)...Mac actually seemed a bit put off by Tootie's enthusiasm. The Kudic/Ramsey team showed a lot of heart in this one, but the Blacklist pairing came out on top...Mac crushed Kudic with his 400-pound standing moonsault and Layne covered for the three-count in 9:09.
"The Dirty Rook" Mat Fitchett vs. Paco Gonzalez, STLI Tournament Semifinal: Tempers flared right away and kick-started this matchup...before anyone realized what was happening, Paco quickly hit his fireman's-carry Michinoku Driver to score a HUGE upset win in 0:23! The fans weren't too pleased with Fitchett's sudden loss...when Fitchett took issue with Paco after the match, Paco dropped him with a superkick and that didn't endear Paco to the fans either...
"The Stiff Robo Ginger" Gary Jay vs. "The Bone Collector" Dominic Garrini(w/ Matt Kenway), STLI Tournament Semifinal: Gary took out Kenway with an early suicide dive, causing the injured Kenway to limp to the backstage area in pain. However, the loss of focus may have cost the defending STLI Tournament winner as Garrini was able to gain control. Both guys were throwing bombs from the opening bell...with the punishment both men had taken in their first round matchups, this one wouldn't last long but it would still take something huge to put one of them down for the count. In this case, the two battled on the ring apron and Garrini got the better of the exchange, delivering a cradle piledriver on the edge of the ring! He quickly rolled Gary into the ring and scored the win in 4:32, advancing to the finals against Paco!
"The Miracle Worker" Davey Vega vs. "The Millenial" Danny Adams for the Gateway Heritage Title, special guest referee Greg Jovi: Vega had held the former St. Louis Anarchy Heavyweight Title since Anarchy's final show in November of 2016, but his reluctance to use underhanded tactics against his longtime partner Mat Fitchett brought him into conflict with the rest of the Ego Busters. Jovi wanted to play peacemaker and vowed to call this match between stablemates down the middle so they could work out their differences in the ring. Adams had defeated Vega to win Season 3 for the Ego Busters in December of 2016 when Vega was representing The Resurgence, so Adams was confident that he could beat The Miracle Worker once again. On the heels of some Twitter interaction with former ECW Champion Shane Douglas, Adams made his entrance to Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers". With the combustible elements involved in this one, it didn't take long for it to erupt into a brawl...Jovi played it straight despite the volatility of the situation. Adams scored a near-fall after his reverse Stunner, leading to a confrontation with Jovi...but it was a consistent count up to that point. Vega rallied and hit the Brain Eater(brainbuster onto the knee) and Jovi counted one...two...and stopped his count. This led to a slightly more tense confrontation...and Adams delivered a blatant low blow from behind, rolling up Vega for a fast three-count by Jovi in 19:00! Just like that, Vega's 463-day reign was over...and Danny Adams was on top of the world as the NEWWWWW Gateway Heritage Champion!
Paco Gonzalez vs. "The Bone Collector" Dominic Garrini(w/ Matt Kenway), STLI Tournament Final: Again, that's what was scheduled...but despite limping away from ringside during the semifinals, Kenway was suddenly feeling much better and decided to pay off his stablemate Garrini to take his spot back. Garrini wasn't too happy with the deal, but money is money...
Paco Gonzalez vs. Matt Kenway(w/ Dominic Garrini), STLI Tournament Final: Paco was fortunate that his semifinal matchup with Mat Fitchett was as brief as it was, but he had still had a competitive match against Mike Outlaw prior to that...conversely, Matt Kenway was essentially a fresh opponent despite taking the suicide dive from Gary Jay earlier in the night. Kenway pressed his advantage in that regard...while Garrini was in Kenway's corner, he notably didn't play a very active role. The fans were NOT fond of Kenway in the slightest and rallied behind Paco despite cooling on him during the semifinal with Fitchett. Paco's fireman's-carry Michinoku Driver(that needs a name) only got a two-count on the fresher Kenway, but a second sealed the deal in 11:50 to make Paco the St. Louis Invitational Tournament winner! Kenway will have another day, preferably after his knee heals up from surgery...
The next PWCS show is set for April 28th with Adams defending his newly-won title against Paco in a continuation of their never-ending feud...they essentially began their careers against each other in a Ring Of Honor pre-show match in Collinsville. Also Eddie Kingston makes his St. Louis area debut against Davey Vega and we'll give that Connors-Kenway match another shot at happening...good times.
I had a comedy show this past Saturday so I had to take a pass on Zero-One USA...but I did make it to my first Strictly Nsane Pro Wrestling show. Of course, that's another story for another time...
The rest of March looks like this:
-Saturday 3/10: World League Wrestling in Moscow Mills, MO; Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO(South Broadway Athletic Club); World Powerhouse Wrestling in Madison, IL
-Sunday 3/11: Wrestling Over Everything in Centreville, IL
-Friday 3/16: National Wrasslin' League in O'Fallon, MO
-Saturday 3/24: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Sunday 3/25: Glory Pro Wrestling in Swansea, IL
-Saturday 3/31: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO(Concordia Turners Gymnasium)
That's my special comment for this, the twelfth 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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