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.

The previous month, I thought the start time was 6 P.M. when it was actually 5, causing me to miss the first few matches.  This time around, I was prepared to go to the building at 5...and it turned out that the show was scheduled to begin at 6.  Well, better early than late...and I needed to run to the store to get new shoes anyway, so I did that before returning to the venue for the actual start to the event.  All righty then.

While Darkside is technically the General Manager of WOE, he has yet to appear in person in that capacity.  The previous month, The Landlord just seemed to be in charge ANYWAY...this time around, Darkside did speak to the fans via video screen.  Darkside put Landlord on video commentary duty with Kaelin for the evening.

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

Azrael Knight & Jayson Virtue(w/ Celina) vs. The Sabotage Squad(Krispy 2 Pop & John Boi):  While Virtue won the four-corner match in February to determine who would get a WOE contract, two other participants in that match would wrestle on this show(Knight being one of them).  I've liked what I've seen out of Knight, which admittedly has consisted of the two most recent WOE events.  Krispy has looked motivated in recent outings as well.  The Sabotage Squad fought Da'Marius Jones & LaMarcus Clinton to a time-limit draw in February and felt they should have gotten another shot at the belts, but it was not to be on this night.  The finish saw Krispy hit an inverted swinging neckbreaker on Knight, then John Boi delivered a heavyweight version of a standing moonsault for the pin in 8:49.

The Rock Lobster vs. Jake Prater:  I hadn't seen the Midwest version of Rock Lobster in a while...he actually came out to The Rock's old WWE theme.  I think CHIKARA had its own version of Rock Lobster at one time.  The masked man didn't fare too well against his much larger opponent...Prater finished him with the powerbomb in 1:32.

David X vs. Orange Lazarus:  David X was the other participant in last month's four-corner match for a contract who appeared on this show.  He's a fairly small competitor, to the point that Lazarus may have had a slight size edge on him.  This was a much better showing for X than the previous month, in my dumb opinion; he picked up the win with a cutthroat version of the old Zack Attack in 1:51.

Intermission~!  This was oddly timed and announced as only a short break...Brandon Espinosa was scheduled for the show but did not appear for unknown reasons.  Heavyweight Champion Leone Mephisto came out and complained that he had no challenger for his title, instead only being relegated to a tag match.  He said he would issue an open challenge with the belt at stake...that usually doesn't end well for a "bad guy", I've found...

Leone Mephisto vs. Mason Alexander for the Heavyweight Title:  Alexander was Espy's scheduled opponent...he looked good against the champion here but it wasn't quite enough.  Mephisto overcame a spirited effort, putting him away with the Air Raid Crash in 5:21...Ace Roberts was on assignment, I can only assume.

Intermission numero dos~!  (This was the full-fledged break, for reference.)  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Cheeseburger, bottle of water, potato chips, and Pepsi.

The Big Texan vs. B.T. Daramola:  Despite Texan's methods being those of a traditional rulebreaker, he has a bit of a fanbase in some parts of the Midwest.  B.T. wasn't about to make this an easy night as the fight spilled out to the floor and a chair was used in the ensuing brawl.  Still, Texan's size and power edge won out as he delivered the chokeslam and big splash for the victory in 5:50.

"2.0" Da'Marius Jones & LaMarcus Clinton vs. The X Klan Mafia(Zaiden Kayne & Chuck Chronic)(w/ The Coach) for the Tag Team Titles:  "Zaiden Kayne" may be the most indie wrestling name ever; I believe the team hails from Tennessee.  Jones and L.M.C. are coming together well as a team and I thought this was a really good matchup; The Coach(not John Tolos) got in his cheapshots, as you might expect.  It was anybody's ballgame, but The Sabotage Squad ran in to attack the champs for the DQ in 11:02...aww.  As you might expect, this didn't sit well with the challengers who were just robbed of their championship opportunity...

"The Unholy Father" Richard Faith vs. Billy McNeil for the Interstate Title:  Faith screwed McNeil out of the title in February so REMATCH CLAUSE~!  It didn't take long for this one to get out of control as they fought on the floor, leading to Billy pulling out a RIDICULOUSLY DANGEROUS~! somersault dive off the entrance stage.  McNeil stopped Faith from walking out on the match at one point(since a countout would save his title), but Faith used the referee as a shielf when McNeil went to the top rope to finish.  The official stopped Faith from using his good book as a weapon once again, but as he was removing the book, Faith leveled McNeil with the title belt and pinned him in 10:18.

"The Infamous" Tyler Copeland & Benjamin Ulysses Trust vs. Heavyweight Champion Leone Mephisto & P.T. Beckham:  This stemmed from events at the February show...Mephisto and Beckham weren't exactly on the same page as Beckham wanted a title shot just as badly as their two opponents.  They worked together at times but it never lasted too long...that probably made the difference in this one, especially near the end when Mephisto took a walk.  With Beckham on his own, Trust finished him off with a faceplant variation of an Olympic Slam(I'm told it's called the Trust Buster) in 10:38.  I suspect Copeland will be gunning for his championship rematch, but Trust has put himself in a good position for a future title shot as well.

This past weekend was relatively light with the only immediately-local option being the National Wrasslin' League show in O'Fallon, MO on Friday.  I thought about checking out some other events, but I've been kinda worn out lately and needed the downtime.  At any rate, NWL is another story for another time...

This coming weekend has Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling's monthly offering in East Carondelet, IL with "Ironman" Ken Kasa defending the Classic Wrestling Title against Cowboy Marc Houston...I haven't heard any other matches for that show.  SICW has a full few weeks as they return to Millstadt two weeks later on April 7th.  On Sunday, Glory Pro Wrestling will be in Swansea, IL with the Gateway To Glory Tournament...it will now be for the revived Pro Wrestling Resurgence Title as well as a future matchup with "The Zombie Princess" Jimmy Jacobs.  The show will also feature Jake Something defending the Crown Of Glory Title against "The Mad Dragon" Hakim Zane.

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