Now, as promised, a special comment about the World League Wrestling show on Saturday, December 1st at the Race Wrestling Arena in Troy, Missouri.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
Heading into the end of the year, the future was already being set up. A contenders' tournament had been set up to determine the next challengers to the Tag Team Titles; Kyle Roberts & Rex Fults had captured the belts from Steve Fender & Brandon Espinosa in October. Three titleholders were scheduled to take part in the night's main event with the Heavyweight, Jr. Heavyweight, and Women's Titles all represented. The MWR Missouri Title and Italian Wrestling Association Title would also be decided...but would another big gold belt come into play on this night?
Your ring announcer was Ben Simon; your referees were Richard White & Martin Kattich.
The roster assembled at ringside for the ten-bell salute for Larry Matysik. I truly wish I had gotten to know the man better than I did, but I was extremely fortunate to have a handful of good conversations with him. A big part of St. Louis wrestling history is no longer with us.
Jack Gamble vs. "K.B. Violence" Karim Brigante for the Italian Wrestling Association Title and the MWR Missouri Title: Jon Webb had captured the IWA Title over the summer and brought it back to the states, but lost it to Jack Gamble in November in a triple threat match where Gamble pinned Brigante for the win. Gamble added to his title resume by defeating Brigante in a singles bout for the MWR Championship, but he had to put both belts on the line here. Miss Monica Passeri was absent from ringside as she was preparing for her own match. It seemed to be a battle of fan favorites, but Gamble had been showing signs of changing his ways and got a bit more aggressive in this bout. At one point he encouraged fans to boo Brigante with the rationale "He's foreign!" Despite the more experienced Gamble's best efforts, Brigante put him away with the pop-up forearm smash in 8:20 to become the NEWWWWW MWR Missouri Champion and IWA Champion!
Tag Team Champion Kyle Roberts vs. "The Heartthrob" Jaden Roller: Roller and his new tag team partner Austin Cravens were in contention for the Tag Titles held by Roberts and Rex Fults, entering the four-team tournament to determine the next challengers. It's a testament to my procrastiation that in the time since this show, Roller took a hiatus from the ring and just returned to action this past weekend. At any rate, it took some underhanded tactics to tip the scales in this fairly even matchup...when Roberts nearly collided with the official, Roller took the opportunity to roll him up for the pin with a handful of tights in 13:26.
Tag Team Champion "The Wrestler For The People" Rex Fults vs. "The Attraction" Austin Cravens: Cravens has some experience under his belt but he's fairly new to the St. Louis wrestling scene; his partnership with Jaden Roller seemed like a good fit and perhaps we'll see them join forces again in the future. It would appear that Cravens' finisher is a Boston crab that he has dubbed the, ahem, "Austin Crab". I love wordplay. He wore down Rex and nearly got the submission with his hold of choice, but Rex made it to the ropes to escape defeat. Rex came back with a POUNCE, then got the three-count with a sunset flip in 11:15. Roller hit the ring to assist his partner in a two-on-one post-match beatdown, but Kyle Roberts came to the aid of Rex to even the odds. Roller & Cravens seemed to have the upper hand, but "Superstar" Steve Fender joined the festivities...he teased joining in the attack, but decided to walk away from the ring instead. I don't know what that was about, but it gave Roberts & Rex the opening to mount a comeback and clear the ring.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Hot dog, Pepsi, Lays chips, and a 7-Up.
High Level Enterprise(Heavyweight Champion "The Hybrid Ace" Jon Webb & Jack Gamble) vs. Alpha Omega(Camaro Jackson & Kenny Alfonso), Tag Team Contender Tournament: Gamble was already in a bad mood after having lost his Double Gold(tm) earlier in the night, but he had to wrestle a second time due to the scheduling of the tournament. Webb and Gamble already had issues due to Gamble's less-than-straightforward win of the IWA Title from Webb; while they had been former Tag Team Champions in both WLW and Dynamo Pro, they hadn't joined forces in a long time. Alpha Omega came into the match as WLW newcomers and huge underdogs, but they had the surprising edge in tag team continuity compared to their divided opposition. Despite that, they were still up against two highly decorated competitors with a big experience advantage so it wasn't going to be an easy task. The extra toll of having wrestled twice may have made the difference for Gamble...the end came when he attempted a tilt-a-whirl slam on Alfonso, but Alfonso countered into a slick pinning cradle for the flash three-count in 18:40! After the victorious team left the ring, Gamble finally snapped and attacked his long-time tag partner Webb...he laid him out with the Blue Thunder Bomb and even decked the referee before departing.
"The Legacy" Leland Race & Miss Monica Passeri vs. Jr. Heavyweight Champion Jayden Dominic Rose & Women's Champion Stacey O'Brien: This was an interesting main event...I believe it was announced as a mixed tag match, but there was some interaction between the male and female competitors. Stacey had captured the Women's Title from Monica in May thanks to a pre-match attack, while Rose had been making a lot of enemies in and out of his championship's weight class. Stacey tried to tangle with Leland and it resulted in a spanking, followed by an airplane spin. Race and Rose traded some LOUD chops that echoed through the Race Wrestling Arena. Race took out Rose with the Go 2 Sleep, then boosted Monica into a splash on Rose for the three-count in 14:33.
The night wasn't quite over...as Race left the ring, a video played on the big screen featuring the NWA World Champion "The National Treasure" Nick Aldis. Aldis announced that the contracts had been signed: At WLW's Night Of Champions on March 9th, Aldis would defend the NWA World Title against Leland Race!
With that big announcement capping off the show, it looked like WLW was primed for an eventful 2019...the year wasn't quite over for the local wrestling scene yet, but that's another story for another time.
That's my special comment for this, the seventy-sixth 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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