Now, as promised, a special comment about the Dynamo Pro Wrestling event on the afternoon of Saturday, May 5th at the Cinco De Mayo Festival on Cherokee Street in St. Louis, Missouri.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
We thought I was behind on these commentaries BEFORE...a short hospital stay for anemia will alter plans by a great margin. It also derailed my plans to go to Pro Wrestling Resurgence in Swansea, IL this past Sunday...I will have to catch up through either YouTube or DVD. In the meantime, let's set the not-so-wayback machine for my loaded four-show weekend earlier this month.
Cinco De Mayo has produced some outstanding exposure for local wrestling, starting with the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance holding matches there for a few years before Dynamo picked up the spot. It always draws a good crowd to check out the shows, often turning the heads of people who wouldn't otherwise get a chance to watch independent wrestling.
Your ring announcers were Chris Roedel & Luke Roberts(who showed exceptional bravery by wearing a Chicago Cubs cap); your referee was Jay King.
Camaro Jackson vs. "The Gypsy Warrior" Orion Creed: Riding the momentum of his win the previous evening over D'Mone Solavino, Jackson hoped to make it two in a row against Creed. It was a battle of fan favorites with the crowd support evenly split between the two...it could have gone either way, but Jackson got the pinfall with a fireman's-carry Michinoku Driver in 8:14.
Outtkast vs. Jimmi LaFleur: These two have been on opposite sides of a recent tag feud, with LaFleur aligning with fellow newcomer Tony Esteem and Outtkast joining forces with Ricky Rodriguez. Esteem & LaFleur got the best of the previous night's tag match, so Outtkast was looking for payback...Rodriguez and Esteem would face each other later in the afternoon. Outtkast has been through the wars for many years(despite a hiatus between the end of Gateway Championship Wrestling and his return to action with Dynamo) and it's starting to catch up to him a bit...with his high-impact and high-risk style, it's not really a surprise. LaFleur was game but the experience edge was just too much for him; Outtkast beat him with the Case Study in 8:07.
"The Spanish Red Devil" Ricky Rodriguez vs. Roy "The Strangler" Lewis: Other than Outtkast, the first half of the show prominently featured a lot of newer faces...it's good to see the new blood of the Midwest get a chance to shine. I anticipated Ricky getting a moment in the sun in honor of the holiday, but I was slightly off base in that regard. He was definitely popular with the fans who took an interest in the festivities...he got off a good run of offense, but Lewis rolled through a cross-bodyblock off the top rope and held the tights for the cheap win in 8:56.
Battle Royal: The winner would get a Heavyweight Title shot at Makaze in the second half of the show. The three resident female competitors were included in the competition as well, which made for an interesting dynamic. Several rookie entrants made their in-ring debuts in this battle royal, those being William Myers and Mynakin. Tag Team Champion Viktor Von Stein made a point to set up the ladies for elimination and then let them go in a mocking manner...that's not nice. Mynakin was the first one out at the hands of Adrian Surge, then Von Stein threw out Myers to take out the rookie contingent. Von Stein eliminated Outtkast as well, then Orion Creed avenged his prior loss by throwing out Camaro Jackson. The women finally had enough of Von Stein's bullying and put aside their individual differences to triple-team him out of the ring. Of course that alliance didn't last long as Rahne Victoria turned on her compatriots...Rahne threw out Creed and then eliminated Tootie Lynn Ramsey before being tossed by Savanna Stone. Savanna could have stayed in the fight, but Rahne decided to get a parting shot by shoving Savanna off the top rope to the outside...OUCH. The final four were Surge, Jackal, Jimmi LaFleur, and Tony Esteem...the recent tag team partners joined forces, leading to Esteem eliminating Surge. That left Jackal on his own, but he withstood the assault to eliminate LaFleur and then Esteem for the win in 9:35! That meant Makaze would defend his title against Jackal later in the afternoon...
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): There was a unique set of concessions available at the Cinco De Mayo Festival and I indulged in a waffles-and-chocolate-ice-cream sandwich. There was a convenience store near the site of the wrestling matches, so I got a Gatorade there in my effort to cut back on soda. The effort hit a snag, as usual, as I got a Vess cola later in the afternoon.
Savanna Stone vs. Tootie Lynn Ramsey vs. Rahne Victoria: This stemmed from the interactions in the battle royal, not to mention the already-existing issues between the three. Savanna's arm was hurt from the bad fall earlier in the day but she toughed it out here. I'll sound like a broken record in my praise of the local women's wrestling scene, but I can only hope that another local promotion(besides World League Wrestling) starts up a women's championship. On top of that, they're only a year into their respective careers (even less in Tootie's case) and have plenty of time to learn and grow as competitors. Since the fan favorites Savanna and Tootie won their tag match pretty decisively the previous evening, things balanced out with Rahne getting the duke in this one...she had no qualms about targeting Savanna's injury. Rahne dropped Savanna with a spinebuster, then powerbombed Tootie onto Savanna for good measure...she covered both women for the three-count in 7:06, reaffirming her claim to being the "Empress Of Evil" in Dynamo's ranks.
"The Spanish Red Devil" Ricky Rodriguez vs. Tony Esteem: After suffering a tough loss earlier in the day, Rodriguez hoped to rebound against one of his recent rivals. Would the fan support be enough to carry him to victory? Well...not quite, thanks to some underhanded tactics on the part of Esteem. Rodriguez seemed to be on the way to a hard-fought win, but a well-timed mule kick by Esteem allowed him to deliver a headlock driver for the screwy victory in 5:19.
"Lights Out" Adrian Surge vs. Tag Team Champion Viktor Von Stein: Surge had an uphill battle against a larger opponent, but after missing out on a title opportunity in the battle royal, he was looking for a huge win to maintain his momentum in the championship picture. He had beaten Makaze in a non-title bout the previous evening in Glen Carbon, so he had definitely made his case for a future title opportunity. This was one of the longer matches of the afternoon as Surge tried everything in his arsenal to knock the big guy down...he even delivered an RKO OUTTA NOWHERE for a near-fall. Surge teased a chokeslam on the big guy, which didn't seem like a sound strategy...but after several attempts, Surge was finally able to chokeslam Von Stein and get the pinfall in 11:58! Adding insult to injury, Surge delivered a post-match RKO to Von Stein and encouraged referee Jay King to make a pin cover while he counted three.
"The Wind Of Destruction" Makaze vs. Jackal for the Heavyweight Title: A burlesque fire dancer accompanied Makaze to the ring; the champion was fresh while Jackal had to go through the battle royal to earn the title shot. It had been quite some time since these two last crossed paths in the ring...times change and both guys have added new wrinkles to their game plans. In particular, Makaze has developed a recent tendency to sink to previously-unseen depths in order to achieve victory. With the level of experience brought to the table by both competitors, neither was likely to make a huge mistake...Jackal came close to scoring the upset on a few occasions, but got caught with a superkick as he charged into the corner. Makaze took advantage of the situation and covered with feet on the ropes for the cheap pin in 8:33. The champ hung onto his title, but Jackal dropped him with the Killswitch #2(step-up Tomakazi) to end the afternoon on a high note.
Dynamo had a fun weekend all around...things would continue for me with World League Wrestling and then Glory Pro Wrestling over the following few days. More on that in future commentaries...
June looks like this:
-Saturday 6/2: World League Wrestling in Troy, Missouri
-Saturday 6/9: Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO(South Broadway Athletic Club)
-Friday 6/15: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO(FUBAR)
-Saturday 6/16: Pro Wrestling Championship Series in Alton, IL; Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet; IL; World Powerhouse Wrestling in Collinsville, IL
-Sunday 6/17: Glory Pro Wrestling/Resurgence in Swansea, IL
-Sunday 6/24: Wrestling Over Everything in Centreville, IL
That's my special comment for this, the twenty-sixth 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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