MWR 1st Quarter 2008 Awards
Posted by Admin on April 13, 2008
Missouri Wrestling Revival’s 1st Quarter 2008 Awards!
Here are the winners and honorable mentions for 1st Quarter 2008.
MWR Wrestler of the Quarter
Eric Ruffington has stayed busy chalking up wins and staying high profile in Illinois over the past three months, primarily staying busy in NMW and GAW. In GAW, he was GAW Central States Champion until February 2, 2008, when he was defeated by Cecil Cerveza. He was nearing five months with the title when he lost it. He then went on to face Jaxson Pride for the vacant GAW Heavyweight Championship, but came up on the short end. In NMW, he is a mainstay with the Central Illinois Championship belt. He is also one half of the SLW Tag Team Champions and NBWA’s Heavyweight Champ.
Chris Masters [WLW] – Recently released from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Chris Masters quickly became WLW Heavyweight Champion and has defeated all comers ever since in one of the best and most active promotions in the Midwest.
Shorty Biggs [LWA/CSW] – Shorty is currently the Lethal Wrestling Alliance (LWA) Heavyweight Champion. He became the champion early in the quarter and has taken on all comers, including a very hard fought battle with “The Rebel” Jeremy Wyatt. Shorty also has been climbing the ranks in Central States Wrestling since his debut last summer.
MWR Tag Team of the Quarter
The Phoenix Twins are one of those tag teams in the Midwest that seem to be everywhere! If a promotion isn’t booking them, it’s easy to be puzzled as to why. They are that good. While AAW, AAPW and SCW have them bringing their intense and entertaining brand of wrestling to their respective areas of operation, many other promotions are taking notice. At the end of April, the Phoenix Twins even have an opportunity to be shown on NWA Wrestling Showcase (or scouted by those who are taping NWA Showcase). Their stock is rising, and they’ve had a very positive start to the year in 2008!
Honorable Mention:
“Da Bomb” Brian James & Brandon Espinosa [AAPW] – While not the most active tag team in the Midwest, these two left a great impression in limited action as partners. One highlight of their 1st Quarter 2008 was an impressive victory over Mark Sterling and “Showtime” Darrien Sanders on February 9th.
MWR Promotion of the Quarter
Scott County Wrestling
Winner of the very first MWR Monthly Award for Promotion of the Month (January), Scott County Wrestling has done an excellent job of matching two very important pieces of the wrestling pie of success: consistent shows and fantastic booking. The tag team scene has been fantastic, with two MWR matches of the month being SCW tag matches (Phoenix Twins vs Absolute Answer, Trik Davis & Danny Daniels vs Zero Gravity [Brett Gakiya & CJ Esparza]). The feud between Tyler Black and Shane Hollister has been highly entertaining. Mississippi Madman, Keith Walker, Marek Brave, and others on an extremely talented roster round out reasons why SCW should be much more widely recognized than they are.
Honorable Mentions:
World League Wrestling – WLW has one of the most active schedules, a high profile heavyweight champion, and a great working relationship with Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling NOAH. A very good promotion that barely missed being Promotion of the Quarter by ending in a three-way tie for second place.
All American Wrestling – Another of the promotions that barely missed being Promotion of the Month, AAW has another very active schedule and has one of the most entertaining and talented rosters in the Midwest. Jerry Lynn is their heavyweight champion and has almost made it a year with a very intense schedule of title defenses, defeating Marek Brave, Delirious, Keith Walker, Tyler Black, Silas Young and Austin Aries, among others.
Lethal Wrestling Alliance – Coming off of a rough show, LWA had a string of very successful and entertaining shows to begin the year to come in as the third member of the three-way tie for second place. Talent from all over the wrestling world has competed in an LWA ring this year, and they’ve got an underrated crowd favorite champion in Shorty Biggs.
MWR Woman of the Quarter
Miss Natural [World League Wrestling]
There were a handful of female wrestlers who were active in the first three months of the year, but the race for Woman of the Quarter was down to two in the eyes of the voting wrestling community. Miss Natural edged out MsChif in very close voting, largely due to her two MWR Woman of the Month awards (February and March) and her victory over MsChif in WLW in the month of March. While she doesn’t really compete outside of the promotion that calls her their champion, she is a dominant force there and definitely won over the voters for the Woman of the Quarter.
MsChif [LWA/WLW] – The only other woman to receive votes for Woman of the Quarter, MsChif was Woman of the Month for the month of January and was arguably the most active female wrestler in the Midwest. MsChif is the NWA Midwest Woman’s Champion, and will soon battle TNA and NWA’s Awesome (Amazing) Kong in an all-important battle.
MWR Personality of the Quarter
Love him or hate him, the man known as Mad Conservative Crimefighter is one of the more knowledgeable wrestling fans in the area. Running a website about the St. Louis Wrestling Community, Crimefighter keeps everybody up to date on wrestling results and the inner workings of the wrestling business as it relates to the St. Louis area. His forum is one of the most active non-promotion forums on the Internet, and he has one amazing list of promotions in Illinois and Missouri! These are but some of the reasons why Crimefighter has been selected by the MWR Awards Committee as Personality of the Quarter.
Honorable Mention:
Luke Roberts [LWA/UWA/RCW/CSW] – As we mentioned in our MWR March Awards, this guy must be doing something right!
Luke Roberts list of credentials:
– Ring Announcer/Official for Lethal Wrestling Alliance
– Ring Announcer/Official/Commentator for Ultimate Wrestling Alliance
– Ring Announcer/Official/Commentator for Rampage Championship Wrestling
– Ring Announcer for Central States Wrestling-Missouri
– Ring Announcer for Cage of Fury (MMA)
Great job by a very hardworking member of the Midwest wrestling community! He missed out in the voting for Personality of the Quarter, but that is no indication that the work he’s doing on the Midwest pro wrestling scene is meaningless!
MWR Match of the Quarter
Michael Strider. Jeremy Wyatt. Barbed wire. Nearly-severed arms. Nipples that actually were severed. Brutal.
Here is the breakdown of a match that could very easily be match of the year:
At least everyone thought the match would be inside the ring.
Strider and Wyatt initially did their best to stay out of the barbed wire while attempting to throw the other into it. The match eventually spilled to the outside, and both men brawled all over the arena. Chairs and pieces of guardrail flew everywhere. That was just a prelude to both wrestlers being thrown everywhere. By the time the match reentered the ring, both men were already badly beaten.
The fans hadn’t seen it all yet. Strider had chunks (yes, chunks) of his left hand and right arm torn from him after being tied up in the barbed wire. Wyatt was power bombed through the barbed wire. Strider hit Wyatt with a chair shot to the head. Wyatt hit Strider with a suplex onto his head that looked like it snapped the champ’s neck.
Then there were thumbtacks. Yes, thumbtacks. By the end of the match both men had been ripped open by barbed wire and punctured by numerous thumbtacks. Some of those thumbtacks were still embedded in Wyatt’s skull and Strider’s back. They had given it their all and the fans were more than appreciative. One of them had to lose and it was only a matter of time, but Strider hit the Strider Spiral.
1-2-Kickout!
Wyatt retaliated with one of his own seconds later.
1-2-Kickout!
Then somehow out of nowhere, Strider hit a suplex that nearly snapped Wyatt’s head right off his body, which secured the pinfall victory. Strider retained his title.
The crowd went nuts and the two men who had just laid it all out on the line were standing in the center of the ring staring at each other. Strider offered his hand for a respectful handshake, and after a few seconds Wyatt returned the favor by flipping him the bird and leaving.
When Wyatt left, three masked men rushed into the ring and brutally destroyed Strider. It wasn’t a difficult task, since Strider had laid it all on the line in a great title defense. Amazingly, Jeremy Wyatt returned to the ring and actually fought as a team with Strider against the attackers. The numbers were too great for these two exhausted men and they were easily defeated, only to be joined by Brett Young and eventually Derek Stone in an attempt to run the masked men off.
Again the masked men targeted one man at a time and used numbers to pick them apart, possibly re injuring Derek Stone’s leg in the process. The masked men finally chose to unmask after making sure that all men were defeated, revealing themselves to be Jaysin Strife, Tyler Cook, and in a huge surprise – a returning Payday Patterson!
All three men stomped on the fallen CSW wrestlers and cursed the name “CSW” and the fans before finally exiting the building.
Hype Gotti eventually made it to the ring to lend assistance, but it was much too late.
Honorable Mention:
TLC Dog Collar Match for the CSW Heavyweight Title:
The only other vote-getter in the Match of the Quarter category, this match had two things in common with the winner. First of all, it featured CSW Heavyweight Champion Michael Strider. Secondly, it was a sanctioned CSW Heavyweight Title match. Another brutal affair, this TLC Dog Collar Match featured two of the best in the Midwest competing for the gold. NWA Missouri Champion Dingo almost picked up the huge win, but Strider used some underhanded tactics to retain his title.
Missouri Wrestling Revival 
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