PWE Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about the Pro Wrestling Epic show on Friday, November 2nd at the Brownstown High School in Brownstown, Illinois.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

Leone Mephisto's promotion has only run once a year in Brownstown for the past several years.  I missed the last couple of PWE shows due to working nights and then working overtime, but I finally made my way back for this one.  With PWE being a once-a-year thing in Brownstown, the shows have gotten really good attendance.  I drove straight from work to the show, then drove back home after the event was over...lot of miles on the road that night.

Card changes:  Brandon Aarons was originally scheduled to defend against Da'Marius Jones in a battle of PWE and Wrestling Over Everything Champions, but it was changed to Aarons defending against Barackus(who had been scheduled to face "The Warhorse" Jake Parnell) and Jones defending against Graham Bell.  Ironically, it was Everett Connors who was missing in action for the scheduled grudge match with David X this time; David X wrestled in a triple threat tag match as well as the show-opening battle royal.  James Brady subbed for Roy "The Strangler" Lewis against Danny Adams.  The scheduled Tootie Lynn Ramsey vs. Rahne Victoria match became a tag team bout; Rahne teamed with Savanna Stone for the first time ever against another first time pairing of Tootie and Camron Bra'Nae.

Your ring announcer was Moe Romero-Kennedy; your referee was Jason Pemberton.

Battle Royal:  The winner was announced as earning a guaranteed Heavyweight Title shot at a time of his choosing...sort of a Money In The Bank-type deal.  Several of the competitors wrestled twice on the show:  We had All Eyes On Us(Micah Pope & Nelson Sixx), "The Wildman From The Ozarks" Alex Herzog, No Coast(Sid Holland & J.C.J.), Ace Roberts(long time no see), Prostatus(David X & Noah X), and Crux.  Noah worked a Dynamo Pro show last year, but I believe he and Crux are regulars for the Cottage Hills Wrestling Alliance.  The match went very quickly as bodies flew out of the ring; Pope and Sixx were the first eliminated, followed by Noah, David X, and Crux.  Roberts had a sound strategy for what it was:  Cling to the bottom rope for dear life.  J.C.J. and Holland were the next to go at the hands of Herzog...and when Herzog turned his attention to Roberts, Roberts chose to run away.  I guess that counted as a disqualification elimination because the bell rang, making Herzog the winner in a brisk 1:36.

James Brady vs. "The Millenial" Danny Adams:  Brady had looked good in his first few appearances and he faced a tough test here.  Adams has tradionally been a rulebreaker in recent times, but this played out as a battle of fan favorites.  Brady gave the more experienced Adams a good fight, but Adams finished with the reverse Stunner in 9:26.  Adams offered a post-match handshake, but Brady walked away from the gesture...

No Coast(Sid Holland & J.C.J.) vs. All Eyes On Us(Micah Pope & Nelson Sixx) vs. Prostatus(David X & Noah X) for the Wrestling Over Everything Tag Team Titles:  This match featured two-thirds of the opening battle royal.  I've liked what I've seen of No Coast so far; I've only seen the AEOU and Prostatus guys a handful of times.  I didn't expect any WOE titles to change hands on a non-WOE show, but you never know nowadays...people love to go for the shocking swerve and all that.  The champs did retain their titles; No Coast hit a unique finisher on David X when Holland delivered an F-5 and J.C.J. jumped off the top rope to catch X in mid-air with a flying DDT!  That was enough for Holland to pin David X in 10:26.

Billy McNeil vs. Leone Mephisto, no-DQ match:  These two have crossed paths on several occasions in both PWE and Wrestling Invades America/WOE.  Hardcore-style bouts are the bread and butter for Mephisto and this was no different as they brawled all over the building, using a wide variety of weapons.  I saw a kendo stick, a guitar, and a traffic cone for starters...Mephisto was left bloody after McNeil hit him with a guitar.  The thumbtacks came out, leading to Mephisto superplexing McNeil onto the tacks!  I was surprised that the match got as bloody and violent as it did in a high school gym, but apparently everything was cool with the school (so to speak).  Mephisto nearly won after the Air Raid Crash but McNeil barely kicked out at 2 1/2.  In the end, McNeil was able to deliver the flying elbowdrop from the top rope to Mephisto's back, driving him down into the tacks!  Billy got the three-count after that devastating move in 18:00.

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Nothin' (other than making use of the water fountain).  I was a bit short on funds at this particular time...thankfully things would improve.

"2.0" Da'Marius Jones(w/ The Landlord) vs. "The Mercenary" Graham Bell for the Wrestling Over Everything Heavyweight Title:  While Jones had been a fan favorite in WOE, here he was in rulebreaker mode in an odd partnership with Landlord.  On paper one wouldn't expect Bell to have much of a chance, but he's been building his solo rep a bit more in recent months.  Landlord interfered several times behind the referee's back, as you might expect from a rulebreaking manager...this nearly backfired as the "make the ref think you were hit with the title belt" trick didn't work.  Bell was able to knock Landlord off the ring apron, but Jones delivered a low blow unseen by the official and then laid out the challenger with the belt.  That scored him a tainted win in 14:43, but Bell got the last laugh by delivering a post-match Stunner.

Hardcore Andy vs. Ace Roberts:  Andy Adams isn't a wrestler, per se, but he's a huge wrestling fan who often works as a ringside security guard and even a manager on occasion.  Ace Roberts hadn't been seen much in a while, though he briefly served as Mephisto's manager in WOE...it had been several years prior to this show since I had seen him in a match.  The match (such as it was) consisted of a lot of trash-talking and shoving from Roberts...Andy shoved him down a few times, then Mephisto (seemingly having undergone a change of heart since his earlier bout) encouraged Andy to deliver a big splash.  Andy delivered as advertised and got the three-count in 1:28, getting some of the biggest cheers of the night as he celebrated and posed to "Real American".  Sometimes it's not all about MOVEZ and such, you know?

"The Little Blue Dragon" Tootie Lynn Ramsey & Camron Bra'Nae vs. The Golden Unit("The Empress Of Evil" Rahne Victoria & Savanna Stone):  This was a paid of first-time teamups; Rahne & Savanna had been wanting to work as a team for a long time and this was their first opportunity to do so.  They had the advantage in terms of matching entrance gear with their gold jackets.  For whatever reason, this match didn't really click too well...maybe it was the lack of team experience on both sides, I don't know.  I say that as someone who's a fan of all four women...it's easy to forget that they're all relatively new to the wrestling game.  Rahne & Savanna did win their first match as a team as they hit Tootie with their version of The Good Brothers' Magic Killer(double-team elevated beckbreaker), allowing Savanna to score the three-count in 10:50.

"The Master Of Hairflips" Brandon Aarons vs. Barackus for the Heavyweight Title:  When your promotion only runs one show a year, title reigns tend to be lengthy...I belive Aarons was at the two-year mark of his title reign at this point.  He had won it from Mephisto in November of 2016 after Mephisto defeated Aarons for the belt at a Wrestling Over Everything show in September of that year.  This wasn't the first time these two had crossed paths; while Aarons often relies on his upper-body strength, he would have difficulty using power moves against his massive challenger.  After an extended brawl on the floor, they finally got things back into the ring and it took a Herculean effort by Aarons just to knock the big man off his feet.  Aarons withstood the assault and rolled out of the way of Barackus' frog splash, then hit the double-stomp off the top rope to win in 12:27 to retain his title!

WAAAAAITAMINUTE...show's not over yet.  Alex Herzog made his way out and said that he had earned a title shot by winning the battle royal...and he wanted his title shot right then and there!  Aarons, being a fan favorite, accepted the challenge...

"The Master Of Hairflips" Brandon Aarons vs. "The Wildman From The Ozarks" Alex Herzog for the Heavyweight Title:  Herzog was relatively fresh since he'd only been in a short battle royal, while Aarons was just coming off a tough battle with Barackus...Aarons nearly squeaked out a win on a few occasions, but it wasn't quite enough...Herzog delivered the chokelift Flatliner to win the title in 2:19!

In terms of present day, I'm starting to see the merits of global warming...I'll leave it at that.  The Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance and World Powerhouse Wrestling shows from Saturday the 12th were both cancelled due to the huge snowstorm that hit the day before.  We had a similar forecast for this weekend, leading to the cancellations of Dynamo Pro Wrestling, World League Wrestling, and Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling!  St. Louis Anarchy made the questionable decision to hold their show last Friday the 11th anyway...they only drew about 45 people (by their own admission) and refused to offer refunds or make-goods for already-purchased tickets because they said it would put them out of business.  I suppose the fans watching on IndependentWrestling.TV were happy that the show took place, but a lot of people were driving on dangerous roads to go to a wrestling show.  I think I'm a bit old for that now...I just barely made it home from work that night.

Upcoming shows:
-Saturday 1/26:  Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO(Concordia Turners); Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in Cahokia, IL

-Saturday 2/2:  World League Wrestling in Troy, MO
-Saturday 2/9:  Pro Wrestling Championship Series in Alton, IL; Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Saturday 2/16:  WLW in Troy, MO; SICW in East Carondelet, IL
-Sunday 2/24:  Glory Pro Wrestling in Collinsville, IL

That's my special comment for this, the sixty-eighth 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.