Now, as promised, a special comment about the Glory Pro Wrestling show on Sunday, October 7th at the Columbus Plaza in Collinsville, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
I don't know what happened with Wild Country, but Glory Pro switched venues to a building on Highway 157...either way, it was in my old Pizza Hut delivery territory so it wasn't hard to find. In fact, I think my sister's wedding reception was in that building...small world.
Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referee was C-Lo Banks.
Alpha Omega(Camaro Jackson & Kenny Alfonso) & "The Little Blue Dragon" Tootie Lynn Ramsey vs. "Gifted" Chase Holliday, Roy "The Strangler" Lewis, & Sophie King: The advantage in tag team continuity went to the trio of Alpha Omega and Tootie Lynn, from my perspective. This was an intergender match rather than mixed, meaning the men and women could interact...while Tootie and Sophie battled a few times, they weren't shy about mixing it up with the guys as well. The finish saw Jackson catapult Lewis into the corner where Tootie was waiting with a kick to the head...Tootie got the pin on Lewis in 6:02.
"Mr. Fun Size" Marko Stunt vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman: Marko was on a hot streak of popularity coming off his appearance at All In; unfortunately, a recent broken leg has sidelined him for the time being. Marko is a lot fun to watch, but I understand a few people's mindsets that the size difference can stretch the bounds of believability. (Rey Misterio Jr. had the same problems when matched up with WWE's super heavyweights.) The entrances saw M.J.F. showered in toilet paper(in lieu of streamers) while Marko got fun-sized candy bars. M.J.F.'s look(particularly his scarf) has led to me referring to him as "White Alberto". It took Marko several tries to successfully bodyslam Friedman, but he finally pulled off the move before hitting the 450 Splash for the upset win in 6:48.
"The Stiff Robo Ginger" Gary Jay vs. Joey Lynch: Lynch is a southeastern guy who often teams with his brother Matt as The Lynch Mob. This lived up to expectations as a battle of high-flying strikers...Lynch made the early highlight reel with a top-rope moonsault press to the floor! He brought the high-impact offense as well, dropping Gary on the ring apron with a double-underhook piledriver(#HARDESTPARTOFTHERING). Gary's toughness has never been questioned and he somehow withstood Lynch's assault...so Lynch resorted to feet on the ropes during a rollup to steal the win in 9:07!
Pierre Carl Ouellet vs. Kevin Lee Davidson, falls-count-anywhere match: The career resurgence of P.C.O. has been a big story on the independent circuit this year...he has done entertaining vignettes with his ally "Destro" that show him accomplishing superhuman feats of strength and toughness. The man who initially gained fame as one-half of The Quebecers in the WWF has gone through several identity changes, including the pirate Jean-Pierre LaFitte and the masked "X" in TNA. This promised to be an entertaining HOSS battle, though it was surprising that it was this early on the show. The added stipulation meant that they could battle all over the building and use whatever plunder they saw fit...steel chairs came into play very quickly. Several chairs were set up and both men attempted to put them to use, leading to Davidson powerbombing P.C.O. onto them! Pierre showed his power with a Regal Roll on the big man in the ring, but K.L.D. one-upped him with his own Regal Roll on the venue floor. A bunch of chairs were piled up on the floor as the war continued and Davidson dropped P.C.O. onto them with a huge spinebuster for a near-fall! They made it back to the ring and brought a table with them...after a number of close calls, P.C.O. speared K.L.D. through the table in the corner. Pierre went to the top rope and nailed the moonsault, picking up the victory in 16:40!
Thomas Shire vs. Barackus: This was Shire's Glory Pro debut after impressing a lot of fans in his outings at other area promotions. On this night, he faced the unusual situation of standing across the ring from a larger and possibly stronger opponent. Shire showed his own power by getting the big man up and over in a released German suplex, but it wasn't quite enough to keep Barackus down for the count. Barackus hit the Baldo Bomb for a close near-fall, then followed up with the huge frog splash off the second rope to win in 4:26.
D.J. Shiima Xion & "Li'l Hollywood Hills" Everett Connors vs. "Hot Fire" Myron Reed & "The Leader Of The Pack" Stephen Wolf for the United Glory Tag Team Titles: Wolf won a seven-way match in July to earn this opportunity with a partner of his choice...and he selected the former Crown Of Glory Champion. Notably, Wolf was a substitute partner for Mat Fitchett when The Besties In The World lost the titles to Connors and then-partner Michael Elgin; with Elgin's departure from Glory Pro competition, D.J. Z was selected as Connors' new championship partner. Since becoming a team, D.J. Z & Connors retained their titles against The Besties as well as The Work Horsemen(Anthony Henry & James/J.D. Drake). This was an outstanding match and one of my favorites of the night...if you were looking for non-stop action, this was the match for you. One of the highlights was Wolf delivering a running shooting star press off the entrance stage onto the champions! The match could have easily gone either way, but the challengers put their teamwork together at the right times...Wolf pinned Connors after he and Reed delivered a spike Tombstone for NEWWWWW United Glory Tag Team Champions in 12:52!
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Water, cheeseburger, root beer, Milky Way.
Sugar Dunkerton vs. Air Wolf vs. Tyler Matrix vs. "Proficient" Sage Philips for the Tidal Wrestling Championship: We hadn't seen Dunkerton in this area in a while; he was a regular for the National Wrasslin' League as "Super Soul" Coco Rumble. Hopefully it won't be as long of a wait for the next time. It seemed odd that Air Wolf was not booked strongly on Glory Pro shows while he held the Resurgence Title...it made the championship (and the Resurgence brand) seem second-rate. With an outside championship at stake, it seemed unlikely for it to change hands...Dunkerton showed his expertise in both wrestling and dancing on this night as the match started with a dance-off. Everyone had a chance to shine before it was all over...Dunkerton forced Philips to tap out to an armlock/half-crab submission(a la Konnan's Tequila Sunrise) in 9:06.
Paco Gonzalez vs. "The Mad King" Eddie Kingston: Kingston had carved a path through the Midwest in his recent visits, scoring wins over both Davey Vega and Mat Fitchett at Pro Wrestling Championship Series events. This was Kingston's Glory Pro debut and he was looking to put another notch on his belt at Paco's expense...but Paco has proven many times that he's not an opponent to be underestimated. Kingston unloaded with the heavy artillery that he's known to deliver, but Paco somehow managed to stay in the fight. When Kingston connected with his trademark spinning backfist, he made the one mistake of the match by laying back into a sloppy pin cover...and Paco crucifixed his shoulders to the mat for the upset win in 11:25!
Savanna Stone vs. Jordynne Grace: Both of these women started their wrestling careers very early in life, as Jordynne was even younger than Savanna when she debuted. Grace wrestled in the St. Louis area a few times in her early career before branching out and making her name on the national scene. Jordynne found her niche as a power wrestler, which was a contrast to the most fast-paced style preferred by Savanna. The strength advantage, on top of a few years of experience, tilted the match in Grace's favor...Savanna's fighting spirit kept her in the fight, but Jordynne scored the win with a powerbomb into a slide pin in 9:00.
The Besties In The World("The Miracle Worker" Davey Vega & "The Dirty Rook" Mat Fitchett) vs. No New Friends("The Millenial" Danny Adams & Mike Outlaw) vs. The Riegel Twins(Logan & Sterling): The Riegels were nice enough to wear different gear so I could tell them apart this time. As with most multi-way matches, this was full-blast action all the way with each team adding their own style of warfare...The Besties unveiled a new double-team move with Vega giving one of the opponents a giant swing and Fitchett adding a standing shooting star press. There were plenty of issues amongst the teams: The Besties and the Riegels feuded in the NWL, while their issues with #NNF were more recent as all three wanted a shot at the United Glory Tag Titles. The winners would secure themselves a championship match in November so the stakes were high...and Vega & Fitchett came out on top, as Vega pinned Logan Riegel after he and Fitchett hit the Brain Damage(brainbuster to the knee/flying knee strike combo) in 7:44!
"The Lone Star" Curt Stallion vs. "The Warhorse" Jake Parnell for the Crown Of Glory Title: It was incredibly coincidental that this show, which was subtitled "Horsepower", would feature a main event between Stallion and The Warhorse. Parnell defeated Myron Reed in July to earn this title shot. Both guys have a very hard-hitting style and neither was likely to back down from the other. I recall the crowd getting to the point of being a bit burned out by this point in the show...it tends to happen when shows are longer than a couple of hours. Parnell came very close to a championship win after hitting the double-stomp off the top rope to the back, but Stallion wisely rolled out of the ring to escape defeat. The battle continued and Stallion went for a top-rope Frankensteiner, only for Parnell to roll through the move...but Stallion kept rolling and landed on his feet before delivering a low-altitude version of his trademark flying headbutt! That was enough to put The Warhorse down for the count in 13:56!
It was another fine outing for Glory Pro...they decided to ramp up their show schedule in the later part of the year with two shows in October and another one in November, plus the second anniversary event in January. Will be interesting to see what kind of special guests are in our future...
The rest of the year looks like this:
-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 sixty-first 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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