Now, as promised, a special comment about the St. Louis Anarchy show on Friday, November 16th at the Spaulding Hall Club in Alton, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
After some rocky attendance numbers at previous Alton shows, this one was a nice rebound; the special guests probably helped in that regard. The fans at these shows are usually very enthusiastic about what they're seeing, which is always a positive for the overall environment.
I've become a bit "super indie-d out" in general as the "big moves, no-sells, near-falls" style seems to be all over the place nowadays, even in WWE. When every match is bang-bang super-indie, it all runs together and nothing truly stands out. Without many storylines, it becomes a matter of booking cool indie wrestlers and saying "look, cool indie wrestlers!" without the hassle of anything making sense. As odd as it sounds, the more old-school approach has actually become the true "alternative" nowadays. I definitely prefer the more technical matches nowadays. Weird tangent, but okay...on to the show.
Your ring announcer was Sarah Rose; your referees were Nick Chinn & Adam Kennedy.
Mighty Micah vs. Kenny Alfonso: Micah has often been in the position of the underdog, but the size difference wasn't quite as big in this battle with a fellow cruiserweight. Alfonso has shown impressive agility in his outings around here...I always thought it was funny that he wore a mask when wrestling under his real name(Will Lowe) but uses a different name without the mask. This was a fairly short match(as pre-show bouts tend to be) with Micah picking up the win via Fameasser in 6:07.
In the comedy segment of the night, Mat Fitchett and Everett Connors had a "battle rap" with each other, trading wisecracks with their usual tag partners in tow(Davey Vega and Evan Gelistico, respectively). Things got a bit shooty when Connors told Fitchett to buy a PWI 500 spot like Brandon Espinosa, but Fitchett had the clincher when he told Connors to go back to the "shit feds", specifying Dynamo Pro. Never mind that Connors didn't start with Dynamo Pro(he started with the MMWA) or that Vega and Fitchett DID start with Dynamo. I'm repeatedly told that I "don't know the whole story" and such...all I know is that this was symbolic of bad blood that's existed for about fifteen years. I had always felt that people would grow up and put past issues behind them, but it seems as though things may never change in that regard. Unfortunately I let this ruin my mood for most of the night and I seriously thought about leaving at intermission if I hadn't given another fan a ride to the show (I had to go out to my car and drive around a bit to clear my head). It did lead to my decision to skip several Anarchy and PWCS shows...if they're as good as they seem to think they are, then they won't miss one fan's ticket money.
The Carnies("The Ringmaster" Nick Iggy & "The Dogfaced Gargoyle" Kerry Awful) vs. The Left Coast Guerrillas(Leonel "Hoodie" Howlett & Anaya Howlett): While Leonel/Hoodie has done more traveling than his partner(and gets booked in singles bouts as a result), this was the area debut of the LCGs as a team. The Carnies had been a team for a long time but recent outings in other promotions saw some tension arise between the partners. They seemed to be on the same page for the night, but things broke down near the end...the match was apparently under tornado rules as both Guerrillas pinned Iggy after a wheelbarrow pickup/spear combo in 7:56. (Anarchy's rule enforcement seems to fall under the category of "whenever the booking calls for it", a la ECW.) The Carnies argued after the match until Awful clotheslined Iggy, leading to a fight between the tag partners.
"Legendary" Larry D vs. "Big Beef" Jake Garvin: This one wasn't going to be a technical masterpiece...just two HOSSES~! duking it out. I'd heard a lot of hype about Larry D as he's become a standout for IWA Mid-South in particular. It was a good intense brawl and Larry D got the win after a knockout punch in 9:37. (Never been fond of punch finishers as I grew up with the mindset that closed fists are illegal...just my own minor quibble. Of course we've already established that the rulebook tends to be out the window here.)
Buddy Shepherd & "Li'l Hollywood Hills" Everett Connors vs. Matt Kenway & Adam Caster: I felt like trying to start a "steroids" chant for the rulebreaking duo for whatever reason. This feud started when Evan Gelistico brought his NWL character to SLA and Caster confronted him, introducing Kenway as his new protege in the process. Caster retired(the most recent time) due to concussions so hopefully he'll avoid major shots to the head. The bad guys picked up the win after Kenway threw a chair into Buddy's face behind the referee's back(wait, but...), scoring the pinfall in 10:30.
"The Warhorse" Jake Parnell vs. "Do Or Die" Chip Day: I honestly lost track of Day's current nickname. As you might expect, this was a hard-hitting affair between two experts in that style. Parnell was on a roll and got the victory in 12:10 with the second-rope double-stomp to the back of the head.
"The Stiff Robo Ginger" Gary Jay vs. Hallowicked: This was one of the more notable matches on the show as the pumpkin-headed one rarely ventures outside of CHIKARA. Of course, Gary and company have a checkered past with CHIKARA that included an ill-fated tag match at a past King Of Trios event. (Look it up.) Hallowicked had a distinct size and power advantage, but then most of Gary's opponents are bigger and that's never stopped him from taking the fight to whomever is across the ring. Appearances are deceiving as many competitors have said that the former "Barn Owl" hits harder than anyone else. Despite that, the finish seemed to happen out of nowhere as a simple forearm smash to the jaw put The Broadsword Of Nazmaldun down for the count in 13:08.
Intermission time...Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): One Mello-Yello.
Logan James vs. "The Proficient" Sage Philips vs. Paco Gonzalez vs. Anthony "Sharkbait" Gutierrez vs. "The Big Mustache On Campus" Mikey McFinnegan vs. "Hawkeye" Steve Manders: It's an indie show so we've gotta have a multi-way scramble/schmozz, right? At the risk of being cynical, here's how these tend to go: Start with feeling-out, often involving some kind of wacky multi-way hold exchanging or rope running. Several people end up on the floor while 2-3 wrestlers battle in the ring, with a few switchoffs happening as the match progresses. Everybody diiiiives, everybody hits their big moves, and whoever hits the last one wins. A bunch of people get on the show, everyone gets to do cool stuff, rolling out to the floor and biding one's time takes the place of most of the selling, and at the risk of using INZIDER TERMZ BRO, only one person has to job. This burnout on my part may be a sign that I attend too many of these events, but most of us knew that already. My general mindset is that it's tougher to get a good read on a wrestler when you increase the number of participants in the match; thusly, battle royals and multi-way schmozzes are the worst for that. I was familiar with most of these gentlemen, though I'd only seen James and Manders a handful of times. One would think that a submission finish would be difficult in this style of match with so many extra participants to break up a hold, but Sharkbait picked up the victory in 7:57 with a triangle hold on Paco.
A.C.H. & The Besties In The World("The Miracle Worker" Davey Vega & "The Dirty Rook" Mat Fitchett) vs. Super Academia(Kody Lane, Ethan Price, & Zac Taylor): The Super Besties trio faced an interesting test against three competitors from A.C.H.'s home state of Texas. In fact, A.C.H. & Lane were a regular tag team down in Anarchy Championship Wrestling and held their Tag Team Titles. This was a proving ground for them against three top-notch competitors, all of whom have bright futures ahead of them (The Besties will be facing SoCal Uncensored in Cape Championship Wrestling in a few months and A.C.H. just recently reported to the WWE Performance Center!) This match got a lot of time and gave the upstarts a chance to showcase their abilities...of course anyone who's seen A.C.H. and the Besties knows how good they are. Anywho, it was a really cool trios match and it took a lot to keep someone down for three...the Super Besties isolated Price and the superior teamwork made the difference. A buzzsaw kick from Vega and a flying knee strike from Fitchett set up A.C.H.'s Buster Call(brainbuster) for the pin in 19:27. Cue Mutual Respect(tm).
Longtime Anarchy favorite Angelus Layne made her way to the ring to announce her retirement; her career had been plagued by injuries(including concussions) and it was finally too much for her to continue competing. She addressed the roster to some extent, saying you don't need to destroy your body to the extent that she did...a few people on this show would probably do well to heed that advice.
The Riegel Twins(Logan & Sterling) vs. "Dirty" Jake Dirden & Thomas Shire(w/ Greg Jovi & Quinn McKay): As athletic as the young Riegels are, they had a literal tall order ahead of them here. Area fans know Dirden pretty well, but Dory Funk Jr. trainee Shire has been hitting his stride in recent months and Jovi may have a dangerous team on his hands. The Riegels had to stick and move to stay in the match, using their aerial ability to keep the bigger men off balance...but the power difference was too much to overcome(not to mention the outside parties on the floor). I was at a loss to recognize which Riegel was which, but Shire got the pinfall after he and Dirden hit a devastating released German suplex/chokeslam combo in 11:37.
"The Monarch" Jeremy Wyatt vs. "The Octopus" Jonathan Gresham for the Gateway Heritage Title, Pure Wrestling Rules Match: Gresham had competed around the Midwest for a while, but went international to gain experience and finally got some more mainstream recognition with Ring Of Honor. The champion decides the special stipulation for his title reign and Wyatt went with a throwback to the days of ROH's Pure Wrestling Title. In short: Title can change hands on a countout or DQ and it's a twenty-count on the floor Each wrestler gets three rope breaks. A closed-fist punch results in a warning the first time and the loss of a rope break the second time. Got all that? There will be a quiz later.
At any rate, remember how I said I enjoy the technical matches? Here you go. Wyatt has fine-tuned his style to this particular stipulation and Gresham is a technical master in his own right, so this ranks pretty highly among my favorite matches to witness live in 2018! Since they weren't used to the different rules, a standard break in the corner caused Gresham to use up a rope break early. Wyatt's focus on submission holds also causes challengers to burn up their rope breaks, which happened here. Gresham got a half-crab on Wyatt and the referee made a mistake, calling for the bell as Wyatt tapped out in the ropes...but Wyatt still had rope breaks and just used one of them, so the match continued. Wyatt finally finished with the Coronation piledriver in 26:18 to retain his title in a classic bout!
I'm glad I got to see that main event live and it was cool to see Hallowicked in this area...I imagine I'll be back to Anarchy at some point in the future (I definitely plan to go to the women's show in April).
March looks like this:
-Saturday 3/9: World League Wrestling in Moscow Mills, MO; Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, MO
-Sunday 3/10: Wrestling Over Everything in Centreville, IL
-Saturday 3/16: World League Wrestling in Troy, IL; Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL
-Saturday 3/23: Dynamo Pro Wrestling in DeSoto, MO; St. Louis Anarchy in Alton, IL
-Saturday 3/30: SICW in Millstadt, IL
-Sunday 3/31: Glory Pro Wrestling in Belleville, IL
That's my special comment for this, the seventy-second 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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