Now, as promised, a special comment about the Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling show on Saturday, November 17th at the Community Center in East Carondelet, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
I'm gaining the impression that I should speed it up on these commentaries. Perhaps some streamlining is in order?
Your ring announcer was Drew Abbenhaus; your referees were Nick Ridenour, Shaft, & Jay King.
Moondog Rover vs. Purple Passion: Passion doesn't appear too often these days and this match was a good example as to why; the usual shenanigans ensued between these two, ending with Moondog's front powerslam in 5:22.
"Killer" Keith Smith vs. "The Mountain Man" Jake Prater: Prater's slow push continued here in a battle against one of his recent trainers. Prater may be one of the few who can match chops with Smith as they engaged in an exchange of knife-edges early in the bout. A combination of good scouting and underhandedness made the difference...Keith took out the younger man's leg in a setup for the figure-four leglock, but Prater kicked him away into the turnbuckles and scored the rollup pin with a handful of tights in 6:30.
"Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One" Gary Jackson & Billy McNeil vs. "Volatile" Curtis Wylde & Waco(w/ Wyldefyre): It's unusual to see Waco teaming with someone besides The Big Texan and partnerships with Wylde don't tend to last very long anyway...on the other side was a first-time pairing to my knowledge. Gary Jackson Fashion Watch(tm): Brown fringe robe, red-white-and-blue trunks. McNeil pulled out a pretty sweet La Mistica(tilt-a-whirl Fujiwara armbar takedown) on Wylde at one point. In the end, Billy scored the pin on Waco in 13:02 after a top-rope elbowdrop to the back of a bent-over Waco...The Irish Luchador was building a decent amount of momentum in SICW at this point.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Pepsi, Lays potato chips, Mountain Dew, popcorn, and a cheeseburger. Must have been hungry.
After intermission, Drew asked the fans to keep Larry Matysik in their thoughts and prayers as he was ill...sadly, he would pass away a few weeks after this show.
"The Pain Train" P.T. Beckham vs. Rob Kowalski: Beckham had some solid outings in SICW in the preceding months, but he ran into a massive roadblock on this night. The 400+-pound Kowalski had been on a path of destruction in 2018, including big pinfall victories over such competitors as Gary Jackson and then-Classic Champion Flash Flanagan. P.T. put up a decent fight, but Kowalski overwhelmed him and finished with a Vader Bomb in 5:59. The big man wasn't done yet as he delivered three more Vader Bombs after the bell, leading to the official reversing the decision...Beckham technically won by disqualification, but he didn't look like much of a winner.
Gil Rogers vs. Bobby D: Rory Fox's Bob Backlund-esque character was a perennial hard-luck case in the National Wrasslin' League, which is a nice way of saying that he never won a single match. However, his old-school approach fit SICW like a glove. His fired-up pre-match promo went a long way in introducing him to the East Carondelet faithful...while this match was technically a battle of fan favorites, Bobby D worked with a bit more of an edge to solidify the fan support behind the newcomer. I enjoyed this more technical style of bout...Gil went VINTAGE with his choice of finisher, winning in 10:16 with the Mr. Wrestling II kneelift.
"The King Of Chaos" Ricky Cruz vs. The Big Texan: These two are no strangers to each other, having clashed on many occasions. The former SICW Classic Champion wasn't going to be matching up with the masked man in size and power, but his speed and technical prowess made the difference...he pulled out a unique armhold which looked like a double cross-armbreaker to get the surprise tapout in 8:57. Ricky had little time to celebrate his win as Kowalski attacked him from behind...Cruz had gotten involved in Kowalski's business at the previous Swansea show when he saved Ken Kasa from a double-team assault at the hands of Kowalski and Curtis Wylde. Gary Jackson and Keith Smith hit the ring to back up Cruz and Kowalski decided that he was just leaving...
Intermission numero dos~! Drew announced that SICW would return to Cahokia, IL on Saturday, January 26th.
Flash Flanagan & "Ironman" Ken Kasa vs. Classic Champion "Superstar" Steve Fender & King Christopher Hargas(w/ Travis Cook): This main event had a lot of intertwining issues with the current titleholder and three former Classic Wrestling Champions. I do wonder if Hargas will eventually want a shot at the gold, but he seems satisfied with being the king of...um, something or other. His current theme song "King Nothing"(Metallica) doesn't seem to send the right message for him. In particular, Flanagan wants a piece of the man who beat him for the title and I would imagine that Kasa wants a shot at the gold as well...in fact, the fan favorite side of this match consisted of the only two active multi-time SICW Champs (the retired Ron Powers also held it twice). With SICW having a big show the following month, this tag match seemed to set the stage for coming attractions...there would be no decisive winner on this night as Hargas threw Kasa over the top rope, getting his side disqualified in 17:04. Chaos ensued as Billy McNeil ran in to help, only to be cut off by an F-5 from Hargas. Kowalski entered the fray and watched the door for any further reinforcements, only to be attacked by Ricky Cruz anyway...and the fan favorites stood tall in the end.
Cruz issued his challenge for an eight-man cage match once again and the finer details were finally worked out for December thanks to promoter Herb Simmons. Cruz's team stood with him in the ring: Flanagan, Kasa, & McNeil. Travis Cook decided that his team would be Fender, Hargas, Kowalski, and Attila Khan; Khan was still under suspension for his bloody attack on "Your Canadian Hero" Sean Vincent at the previous Swansea show, but Travis said he wouldn't accept the match unless the suspension was lifted and Khan was a part of his team. It would be elimination-style; if Cook's team won, the loser of the final fall would be banned from SICW for six months. However, if Cook's team lost, the winner of the final fall would get Travis in the cage for five minutes. All righty then...that's a slow build for a big blowoff match!
Hey, got one of these done...wish me luck on getting caught up. I have a comedy show on Saturday the 30th so I won't make it to any wrestling shows that night, but I am planning on getting to Glory Pro on the 31st.
The rest of March looks like this:
-Saturday 3/23: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in DeSoto, MO; St. Louis Anarchy in Alton, IL
-Saturday 3/30: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in St. Louis, MO(Concordia Turners Gym); SICW in Millstadt, IL
-Sunday 3/31: Glory Pro Wrestling in Belleville, IL
That's my special comment for this, the seventy-third 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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