Now, as promised, a special comment about the Zero-One USA show on Saturday, May 26th at the Burgess-Osborne Auditorium in Mattoon, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
After having missed a show the previous weekend, I really felt like going to a show this particular weekend...unfortunately, there was nothing immediately local. The two main options were World League Wrestling in Richmond, Missouri and this show. The main event was a good enough draw for me to consider checking it out and I had been meaning to pay a visit to this promotion for a while now...I just don't think I could do the long drives on a regular basis. (I still have my car's lease to think about...that's why I carpool when I can.) The trip was a fairly straight shot and took about two hours...filled up on gas right before I got there so I wouldn't have to stop on the way home.
Your ring announcer was "Rated Ralph"; your referees were Jason Pemberton and two guys I didn't know.
It was announced that "The Iron Demon" Shane Mercer would not be appearing due to a family emergency, so a battle royal would be held to determine the challenger to Christian Rose's Heavyweight Title...
Battle Royal: I didn't know several of the participants' names until confirming them later in the night, so I didn't catch the order of the eliminations; a lot of people were Indiana competitors or from the Black & The Brave Academy(trained by Tyler Black/Seth Rollins and Marek Brave). Participants were: Gyasi, Cooter Daniels, Kyle Pipher, Matt Kenway, "The Mercenary" Graham Bell, Xander Killen, "Mr. Fun Size" Marko Stunt, "The Spanish Red Devil" Ricky Rodriguez, Shain Bender, Chase Holliday, Sensei Bock, Dan Liplock, Bradon McBride, and Mike Outlaw. The final four were Gyasi, Killen, Stunt, and Outlaw...Outlaw eliminated Killen and battled it out with Gyasi, leading to them both going over the top rope and fighting on the apron. Gyasi knocked Outlaw off the apron, but he had forgotten about Stunt who knocked him to the floor for the win in 9:02! Despite Stunt's lack of size, he seems adept at laying low in this style of match...he had won a previous battle royal in Zero-One USA as well. The stage was set for Stunt to be the ultimate underdog challenger...and Rose wasted no time in hitting the ring to level Stunt with a boot to the face.
"Chainsaw" Stephen M. King & The Great Cardini vs. Nathen Edwards & "Supafli" J. Fowler: Supafli had been a masked competitor in Iowa's 3XW until recently losing a match with the mask on the line. I've become a big fan of Edwards in a short time as he's an entertaining presence in the ring. Chainsaw King and Cardini had the distinct size and power advantage and were the clear fan favorites in this one. Edwards and Fowler were isolate Cardini for a short time, but once King got the tag it was downhill from there. King picked up Cardini on his shoulders electric-chair style and dropped him forward onto Edwards, then covered Edwards for the pin in 7:11.
Harker Dirge vs. Ezra Zealous: It hadn't seen Dirge in a very long time...presumably he's no longer "Bloody". He's a former Zero-One USA Heavyweight Champion and wanted a piece of Christian Rose ASAP, but Rose declined and said he had suitable competition for him...cueing Zealous to enter through the front door and attack from behind. (He didn't get an introduction, so I wouldn't have known who he was if I hadn't seen him at Strictly Nsane Pro Wrestling.) The element of surprise didn't seem to help Zealous for very long as Dirge turned the tide in short order, winning with a DDT in a brisk 1:27.
Frank Wyatt vs. Steve Manders: At first glance this shaped up to a battle of big brawlers, but it ended up being more technical than I expected. As previously noted, Wyatt has dropped some weight in recent months. Manders gave him a really good fight, but Wyatt put him away with the piledriver in 11:35. Cue the Mutual Respect(tm).
The Lowlifes(Joey O'Riley & Jordan Perry) vs. No New Friends(Kevin Lee Davidson & "The Millenial" Danny Adams) for the Tag Team Titles: #NNF were the fan favorites here...I knew I had driven a bit too far from St. Louis. I was familiar with O'Riley but not so much Perry; they're aligned with Christian Rose in this promotion. The champions were at a major size disadvantage, especially when K.L.D. was in the ring. However, they were able to isolate Adams for several minutes before Davidson finally tagged back into the match. Perry tried to blatantly get disqualified by whacking K.L.D. with a chair in full view of the ref, but Davidson told the ref to not ring the bell...in the end, the champs were able to escape with their belts as the fight spilled out of the ring, leading to a double countout in 13:04. Nothing was settled on this night...
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Mountain Dew, Pepsi, slice of pepperoni pizza(which was basically my dinner for the evening).
Jake Lander vs. Oliver Cain vs. Shank Barzini: Lander has been impressive in his recent outings, including a really good match at Proving Ground Pro with C.J. Esparza. I mostly remember Cain from his days as one-half of The Hybrids with Jason Lyte (he went by Donovan Cain at the time), but that was quite a while ago and he's on his own nowadays. I saw Barzini at SNPW a few months back against Chris Mac. It was an action-packed triple threat match, often involving the third man laying low on the floor while the other two fought. The wild card of the match turned out to be Frank Wyatt, who I found out after the fact has a current issue with Cain...he stormed the ring to attack Cain and took out Barzini for being in the way. That led to Lander finishing off Cain with a 450 Splash in 12:17.
Savanna Stone vs. Rahne Victoria for the Women's Title: It seems like these two are destined to do this forever...they'd fought many times dating back to the first-ever match for both women, but this was their first meeting with a championship at stake. I wish they had gotten more time, but I'm sure that day will come in the near future. Savanna took out Rahne with a suicide dive and hit the Sliced Bread #2 but Rahne somehow kicked out at 2 1/2. Rahne retaliated with her version of the Skyhigh but couldn't capitalize with a pin attempt. Savanna was able to come back with a reverse neckbreaker out of nowhere for the win in 5:54, concluding another chapter in their rivalry.
"The Professional Lowlife" Christian Rose vs. "Mr. Fun Size" Marko Stunt for the Heavyweight Title: I innocently wondered if one could contend for a belt that weighs more than oneself. It was the classic underdog story as Stunt was at a disadvantage against the larger and more experienced champion...but Stunt was able to throw him off his game at times and nearly scored the upset more than once. Rose weathered the storm and blocked an attempted dragon rana, turning it into a Styles Clash to get the duke in 10:24. That cued a three-on-one beatdown by the full crew of Lowlifes...Kenway and Gyasi tried to help to no avail, but Harker Dirge hit the ring and the rulebreakers retreated.
Intermission numero dos~! Time to set up the cage...
"The Stiff Robo Ginger" Gary Jay vs. "The Warhose" Jake Parnell for the X-Division Title, cage match: Victory could be achieved by pinfall, submission, or escape. The feud between these two started in Zero-One USA and escalated in January with the infamous turnbuckle hook incident. The fight started on the floor before the match could even officially begin...once Parnell threw Gary into the ring, he brought in an extra turnbuckle hook in another attempt to return the favor for his previous injury...thankfully that didn't happen. The war was as intense as expected as the two continued their long-standing feud...Parnell was left bloody by the champion's assault but had something to prove on this night. As the two battled on the top rope, Gary was knocked down to where he was hung upside-down from the turnbuckles...Parnell climbed to the top of the cage and dove off with a huge double-stomp from that perch! Parnell climbed over the bars and, even with Gary taunting him with the turnbuckle hook in the ring, he completed his trip to the floor to win by escape in 16:09 to retain the X-Division Title!
It seemed like the issue had been settled between the two(though they'll meet one more time at St. Louis Anarchy)...but Parnell's celebration was cut short by a rampaging Shank Barzini who attacked him as he made his way back to the dressing room! This led to Parnell's second cage match in as many weeks as he went on to successfully defend his title against Barzini.
I touched base with a few people before making the long drive back home...thanks to promoter David Cavazos for helping me with the missing names from the battle royal. Definitely hope to make it back sometime, but perhaps I can carpool to take it easy on my car's lease and the cost of gasoline...we shall see.
I've got a busy weekend ahead...Dynamo Pro Wrestling debuts at FUBAR in St. Louis, MO tomorrow night. Saturday has several shows with Pro Wrestling Championship Series returning to Alton, IL; Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling has its monthly event in East Carondelet, IL and World Powerhouse Wrestling has a show in Collinsville, IL. The weekend wraps up on Sunday with Glory Pro Wrestling: Resurgence in Swansea, IL. One of these days I'll slow down...just not quite yet.
That's my special comment for this, the thirtieth 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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