Now, as promised, a special comment about the Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling show on Saturday, September 29th at Fire Department Engine House #2 in Swansea, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
The Swansea Firehouse shows are always a good time; I personally appreciate the fact that it's a short car trip. There's also slightly more elbow room than in the smaller East Carondelet Community Center, though that's more of a case of my own personal claustrophobia in such a situation.
Your ring announcer was Drew Abbenhaus; your referees were Nick Ridenour, Jay King, & Shaft.
After the National Anthem(USA! USA! USA!), promoter Herb Simmons announced that James J. Dillon would be the special guest at the next Swansea event on November 3rd. Sweet. The firehouse mascot Firepup made an appearance, though he made the mistake of trying to squeeze his ginormous mascot head through the ropes to enter the ring and nearly got stuck when he tried to exit. Whoopsie.
"The Pain Train" P.T. Beckham vs. Waco(w/ The Big Texan): With the Multi-State Tag Team Titles about to enter circulation, it was in the best interests of the Guerrilla Warfare duo to get on the same page for title contention...while it was a one-on-one match for the night, that didn't mean that Texan wouldn't try to get involved. Things didn't work out well for them on this night as Waco's suicide dive hit Texan by mistake, leading to Beckham scoring the win with the advanced curbstomp in 5:37.
Moondog Rover vs. "Killer" Keith Smith: This was an interesting battle of fan favorites...of course Moondog isn't the type to know too much about the rulebook, so we saw plenty of his usual tactics like biting his opponent. The match didn't get too far before Moondog went for his trademark bone, hitting Smith with it for the DQ in 5:44.
Billy McNeil vs. "The Canadian Boss" Trystan Brady Shadeux: This was an interesting battle between a Midwest mainstay and one of the newer up-and-coming competitors on the SICW roster. I freely admit my favortism as it relates to The Irish Luchador, but Shadeux had a fine showing as well...I hope to see him continue to improve and take on a wider variety of talent. Shadeux nearly won on a few occasions, but McNeil put him away after jumping backwards off the second turnbuckle into a flying Diamond Cutter(similar to Will Ospreay's Oscutter)...that earned him the pinfall in 10:30.
"Volatile" Curtis Wylde & Wyldefyre made an appearance and Wylde, as usual, was not at a loss for words. The fans chanting "Sippy Cup" in reference to the Bruiser Brody Memorial Battle Royal trophy seems like it's more disrespectful to the trophy than its holder. At any rate, they took a couple of seats in the front row (including one for the trophy) for the next matchup...
"The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz & Keith Smith Jr. vs. The Professionals(Shawn Santel & Mauler McDarby): Santel & McDarby were scheduled to be in the upcoming bout for the Multi-State Tag Team Titles...after McDarby fell short against Gary Jackson & Sean Vincent with Brady Shadeux as a substitute partner, the regular team was back together in the hopes of gaining some much-needed momentum. Ricky couldn't resist poking fun at the Wyldes at ringside when he had the chance. While The Professionals had the edge in team experience, Ricky had been training with Keith Jr. on a regular basis so the in-laws knew each other extremely well. Santel & McDarby were able to isolate the less experienced Keith Jr. for several minutes, but the big man delivered an impressive jumping leg lariat before making the hot tag to Ricky Cruz. Cue Casa En Fuego(tm)...I wonder about wrestlers who tag their beaten-down partners back into the match after only a short time, but it worked out in this case; Keith Jr. pinned McDarby after a sitout spinebuster in 9:23.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Dr. Pepper, Caramello candy bar, and Ski soda.
"Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson vs. "The Mountain Man" Jake Prater: Gary went with the blue vest for the evening...he had a tough task ahead of him against the much larger newcomer to SICW. Trying to trade punches with the big man wasn't the best strategy...Prater is becoming known for his knife-edge chops around these parts. Prater went to the second rope and I was expecting a Vader Bomb, but the heavyweight competitor surprised the fans with a MOONSAULT off the second rope! That nearly earned him a massive upset, but Jackson barely got a foot on the bottom rope. Prater went for the kill, but Jackson's experience came into play as he got his opponent in a last-ditch small package to edge out the win in 8:32!
Bobby D vs. The Big Texan: These two had faced each other a metric asston of times with Texan usually winning, though Bobby D had come up with a few wins by DQ. D had finally scored a pinfall win over Texan at a Swansea show last year and wanted to prove it was no fluke. Trying to win a slugfest against the larger Texan seemed to be a fool's errand, so Bobby had to use his other skills to gain an advantage...when Texan went for a big splash off the second rope, Bobby D was able to cut him off and deliver a top-rope Frankensteiner! One Pedigree later, Bobby D scored the three-count in 7:04.
"Ironman" Ken Kasa & "Your Canadian Hero" Sean Vincent vs. "Superstar" Steve Fender & King Christopher Hargas(w/ Travis Cook): Curtis Wylde(still seated at ringside) attacked Kasa before the bell, attempting to get revenge for his loss at the previous East Carondelet show...promoter Herb Simmons and the officials in attendance quickly ejected both Curtis and Wyldefyre from the building. Order was restored before too much damage was done and the match proceeded as planned...both sides had a lot of experience, but the Travis Cook Organization seemed to be the more cohesive unit. Whatever you might think of Cook, he's managed a lot of successful tag teams...it wouldn't surprise me to see some combination under his guidance with the Multi-State Tag Team Titles down the line. His crew managed to isolate Vincent long enough for Hargas to deliver the F-5, then Fender hit the swandive headbutt off the top rope; Hargas pinned Vincent for the win in 12:42.
Intermission numero dos~! Not much to add here...note for wrestling show attendance, check for a working water fountain before dropping money on beverages. Need to dial back on the soda consumption anyway, not that I've been very successful in that endeavor.
Flash Flanagan vs. Rob Kowalski, no-countout-no-DQ match for the Classic Title: While it was Kowalski who pushed for the stipulation after a recent countout win over the champion, Flanagan's ever-present kendo stick would indicate that the environment suited the titleholder just fine. Flanagan had plenty of experience with hardcore-style warfare from his days in Puerto Rico. The kendo stick came into play very early along with several folding chairs...once the action spilled out of the ring, Flash put one of the chairs to good use for a Sabu-style triple-jump plancha! More weapons were introduced, including the ring bell and a fire extinguisher...as the match progressed, Kowalski grew frustrated with his inability to put away the champion and shoved referee Jay King. Flanagan came back with a shot from the kendo stick, then offered the weapon to Jay to deliver his own revenge shot...bwahahaha. Flash went to the top rope and delivered a flying kendo stick shot to the head of the big man, finally putting him down for the count in 9:29!
Battle Royal: This consisted of practically everyone on the card except the ones in the just-concluded championship match. Gary Jackson was shockingly the first one eliminated; he had taken a beating earlier in the night and Jake Prater avenged his earlier defeat by throwing out the veteran. Prater continued his dominance by eliminating P.T. Beckham. Billy McNeil and Trystan Brady Shadeux tangled once again with McNeil tossing The Canadian Boss out of the ring. Several competitors ganged up on Prater to get him out. Steve Fender took out a major threat by eliminating Ricky Cruz. King Christopher Hargas tossed Sean Vincent and then McNeil. Moondog Rover was eliminated, followed by Shawn Santel and Mauler McDarby of The Professionals. Fender and The Big Texan double-teamed Keith Smith to get him out; Keith Jr. attempted to avenge his father and ended up taking himself out of the ring along with the masked man. Old rivals Ken Kasa and Hargas crossed paths and they ended up eliminating each other as well. That meant the final two were the same as in the battle royal from last November in that very building: Bobby D and Steve Fender. Bobby D won that particular encounter and Fender(along with Travis Cook) were determined to make sure that history didn't repeat itself...Travis even gave Fender a boost from the floor to save him from elimination at one point. As the officials confronted Cook over his actions, Fender shocked Bobby D by throwing a FIREBALL in his face, then threw him over the top rope to win in 18:25!
Pandemonium ensued as the locker room emptied to check on Bobby D...in particular, Classic Champion Flash Flanagan got into a brawl with Fender before officials and wrestlers broke it up. Flanagan demanded to get Fender in the ring, so Travis played the situation like a fiddle and said it would ONLY happen with the title on the line. Therefore, the match was set up for East Carondelet on October 20th!
I MADE IT THROUGH SEPTEMBER. MY GOD.
The rest of the year looks like this:
-Saturday 11/24: Dynamo Pro in DeSoto, MO; Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in Lemay, MO
-Saturday 12/1: World League Wrestling in Troy, MO
-Sunday 12/2: Wrestling Over Everything in Centreville, IL; Pro Wrestling Championship Series in Alton, IL
-Saturday 12/8: MMWA in St. Louis, MO
-Saturday 12/15: Dynamo Pro in St. Louis, MO(FUBAR); Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Sunday 12/16: Pro Wrestling Force in Springfield, IL
-Saturday 12/22: Dynamo Pro in St. Louis, MO(Concordia Turners Gym)
That's my special comment for this, the fifty-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.
No comments:
Post a Comment