Now, as promised, a special comment about the Glory Pro Wrestling show on Sunday, November 11th at the Columbus Plaza in Collinsville, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
Glory Pro seems to have gotten more ambitious as they've started running shows more frequently. I'm not sure how well my wallet will handle that, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Attendance has remained strong, at any rate...
Card change: Puma King and Zachary Wentz were unable to make it to the show, so their scheduled opponents Jake Parnell and Air Wolf(respectively) faced each other. I think Wentz had signed with TNA Impact around this time.
Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referees were C-Lo Banks & Sean O'Brien.
”The #1 Stunna” Chase Holliday & “The Real McCoy” J.D.X. vs. Kyle Pro & “The Young Gun” Rylie Jackson: A quick bit of research tells me that J.D.X. stands for Justin D. Xavier. I had seen Holliday a few times at Glory Pro and Resurgence shows; I think I saw Kyle Pro once at Resurgence. I hadn't seen J.D.X. or Jackson before, but I thought Jackson showed great personality as a rulebreaker in this match. After a solid tag bout, Holliday pinned Jackson after a gourdbuster dropped into a knee strike in 6:05.
Brian Pillman Jr. vs. "The Truth" A.J. Gray vs. "True Till Death" Kevin Ku vs. "2 Swoll 2 Control" Clayton Gainz: I was surprised that Pillman Jr. was booked for a multi-way match instead of a one-on-one bout; he wore Hollywood Blondes tights in a nod to his father. I hadn't seen much of Pillman Jr.'s work at this point and it was my first time seeing Ku, whereas Gray has been a regular with Glory Pro and I'd seen Gainz a handful of times. Hopefully we'll see Pillman back in town for a singles bout once he's gained a bit of experience. Gray has been building momentum in Glory Pro and picked up the win in 8:45 after a vertical suplex-into-sitout Tombstone(a la Scott Steiner's Steiner Screwdriver or Brian Cage's Drill Claw).
Kevin Lee Davidson vs. Brody King: HOSS BATTLE~! It's rare that K.L.D. faces an equal in terms of size...he may have had a slight weight advantage but they were about the same in height. Both men are also surprisingly agile for their size. Since this time, King has signed with Ring Of Honor and is a part of Marty Scurll's Villain Enterprises along with Pierre Carl Ouellet. KLD threw everything in his arsenal at King, but it wasn't quite enough as King put him away with a fireman's-carry Michinoku Driver in 12:49.
"The Diamond Tiger" Kobe Durst vs. "Canadian Hercules" Tyler Colton: Colton was the final Pro Wrestling Resurgence Champion but it would appear that the belt has been quietly retired as Resurgence hasn't run any shows in a while. It looked like a long night for Durst against a bigger, stronger, and more experienced opponent, but this battle of Canadians showed that you can't always call it by the obvious factors. Durst withstood the assault and got a near-fall after a piledriver, then finished with a flying Codebreaker off the top rope in 8:20.
Paco Gonzalez vs. Jake Something: On the heels of Paco's upset win over Eddie Kingston in October, he faced another tough challenge in the form of the former Crown Of Glory Champion; Paco made it to the finals of the initial tournament for that belt but has yet to capture gold in Glory Pro. It was pretty clear that Paco was going to be the crowd favorite here and Something showed a more aggressive style to solidify that sentiment. The former titleholder was the heavy favorite to win, but Paco had the fan support and stayed in the matchup. Something went for a powerbomb to finish things, but Paco countered into a jackknife cradle for the surprise three-count in 11:50! The two shook hands after the match, but Something stunned the fans by pulling Paco into a sitout Bossman Slam...ladies and gentlemen, we have a heel turn! Something's parting words spoke volumes as he simply said that Eddie Kingston sent his regards...presumably Kingston called in a favor from Something to do some damage to the man who had defeated him in October. A.J. Gray hit the ring to run off Something, setting the stage for a future grudge match...
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Water, barbecue potato chips.
Alpha Omega(Camaro Jackson & Kenny Alfonso) vs. No New Friends("The Millenial" Danny Adams & Mike Outlaw): Any pairing of No New Friends could be seen as a threat in the tag team ranks, but the Alpha Omega duo had been impressive in their recent outings and turning a lot of heads. Jackson took K.L.D. to the limit at the Chesterfield show so that may have earned Alpha Omega the attention of No New Friends. Jackson & Alfonso may have actually been the more cohesive unit as Adams has traditionally teamed with K.L.D. rather than Outlaw. Despite that, the No New Friends subset emerged victorious...Outlaw pinned Alfonso after he and Adams hit a double-team elevated neckbreaker(a la Magic Killer) in 8:50.
Savanna Stone vs. "The Vehicle City Villain" Aaron Orion vs. Angel Dorado vs. B.M.D.(Brian Michael David) vs. "The Little Blue Dragon" Tootie Lynn Ramsey: Orion's been to town a couple of times, but it was my first time seeing B.M.D. or Dorado. Dorado showed some impressive agility when given the opportunity; hope to see him again sometime. With only a handful of women regularly competing in this area, Savanna and Tootie have been competing in more intergender matches and doing very well for themselves. On this night, it was Tootie who got the duke as she stunned B.M.D. with a pump knee, then finished him off with the knee trembler in 5:06. It looked like Savanna and Tootie would make nice afterwards, but Savanna attacked her one-time friend instead...she even slapped Dorado when he tried to intervene. It seems like Stone is developing a new edge, so to speak...
"Hot Fire" Myron Reed & "The Leader Of The Pack" Stephen Wolf vs. The Besties In The World("The Miracle Worker" Davey Vega & "The Dirty Rook" Mat Fitchett) for the United Glory Tag Team Titles: The Besties won a triple threat match in October with The Riegel Twins(Logan & Sterling) and No New Friends(Adams/Outlaw version) to earn this title shot. Reed & Wolf won the titles from D.J. Shiima Xion & Everett Connors on that show. The Besties started their Glory Pro run by winning a four-team tournament for the belts, but lost to "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin & Connors in a match where Wolf substituted for an injured Fitchett. When Elgin left the promotion, Connors selected D.J. Z as his new partner and they retained against Vega & Fitchett in February. Wolf had earned his title shot in July by winning a seven-way match and selected the former Crown Of Glory Champion as his teammate...so there was a lot of intertwining history in this one. It could have easily gone either way between the two evenly-matches duos, but it looked like the Besties were on their way to their second United Glory Tag Title reign as they delivered the Total Taker(Tombstone/Last Ride combo) on the champs. However, K.L.D. & Danny Adams intervened, pulling the referee out of the ring before the three-count could be made...that led to the official calling for the no-contest in 20:06. All hell broke loose as the three teams brawled, ending with Reed & Wolf taking everyone out with stereo somersault planchas! Reed and Wolf weren't happy about the indecisive finish and wanted to prove themselves against both teams, so they challenged them to a three-way match in January...with tables, ladders, and chairs!
Air Wolf vs. "The Warhorse" Jake Parnell: Parnell was hoping to rebound from his loss to Crown Of Glory Champion Curt Stallion in October, while Air Wolf was looking for a signature victory after a rough 2018 in terms of his win-loss record. While Parnell is very good in the air, he wasn't going to match agility or high-flying maneuvers with his masked opponent. Parnell is better-versed in the strategy of hard-hitting warfare, whether it be on the ground or in the air...it took a few of his trademark double-stomps to finish the job. Parnell finally got the win after a top-rope double-stomp to the back in 13:17.
"The Lone Star" Curt Stallion vs. D.J. Shiima Xion for the Crown Of Glory Title: After winning the title from Myron Reed the previous month, Stallion was put up against the very best competition...his first defense was against the former United Glory Tag Champ, a man who had also held the TNA X-Division and Tag Titles as well as the All-American Wrestling Heritage Title. Stallion entered the match with supreme confidence, but he quickly realized that he was in for a major fight...his previous alliances seem to have disappeared as The Boys From Jollyville(T-Money & Nasty Russ Myers) haven't been around and Barackus seems to have been doing his own thing. Stallion somehow managed to survive D.J. Z's ZDT(forward roll into a jumping DDT), kicking out at 2 1/2. He came back with a flying headbutt out of nowhere but D.J. Z escaped Stallion's pin attempt as well. Stallion attempted his signature move again only for D.J. Z to move out of the way, causing the official to take the hit. D.J. Z delivered a second ZDT, but the official was slow to recover from the headbutt and Stallion barely got a shoulder up at 2 1.2. D.J. Z went to the top rope to finish things, but Stallion caught him on the turnbuckles and delivered what looked like a half-nelson suplex from the top rope...it was identified by others as a reverse Spanish Fly as Stallion carried the challenger down to the mat with the move! Whatever you call it, it was enough to put away the challenger in 16:25, ending a successful title defense for Stallion!
I PROMISE I'll do these...seriously. I realize that the longer I wait after a show, the less I'll remember in terms of details...why do you think I write so much stuff down? Anywho...I'm in the middle of a wrestling weekend as I wrap this up, having gone to Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling this evening.
Upcoming shows:
-Sunday 2/17: Pro Wrestling Force in Springfield, IL
-Saturday 2/23: Cape Championship Wrestling in Cape Girardeau, MO; Zero-One USA in Mattoon, IL
-Sunday 2/24: Glory Pro Wrestling in Collinsville, IL
That's my special comment for this, the seventy-first wrestling show I 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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