Missouri Wrestling Revival

By Patrick Brandmeyer

Yuletide Terror is the big year-ending event for St. Louis Anarchy…its history extends back to the days of the Lethal Wrestling Alliance and this will be the tenth anniversary of the first show under that name! Back in December of 2003, the first Yuletide Terror kicked off with ring announcer “Mad Dog” Daffronian dishing out a beating on Santa Claus…that quickly set the tone for the early days of the LWA. Many of the wrestlers were very new to the business…Evan Gelistico was known as “The Reverend Evan Gelist”, Gary Jay was still a Barnowl, and Pierre Abernathy was simply “The European Scumbag”. The night was capped off by “Nightmare” Nick Tyson retaining the LWA Championship against “Triple X” Jordan Lacey. Fast-forward to 2005 and the careers of the promotion’s core roster members were starting to take shape. The LWA Medallion had come into play as both a secondary championship and a Money-In-The-Bank privilege for the holder; Adam Raw used it to challenge longtime rival Frankie Big Balls for the belt. That wild bout featured plenty of tables, ladders, and chairs(oh my!) until Raw overcame his adversary to capture the title. In 2006, the feud between the Bearded Men From Space Station 11 and the Submission Squad was in full swing. The Bearded Men consisted of Billy McNeil, Gelistico, Jordan Lacey, and Gary The Barnowl while the Squad was comprised of Tyson, Dingo, and Pierre; the night’s bouts included Dingo defeating Gelstico and Tyson upending McNeil. There was also a battle of rulebreakers as Pierre defended the Medallion against Dorian Victor; Abernathy barely escaped with the medal as Victor won by countout.

Adam Raw

In the main event, Adam Raw defended the LWA Title against Gary The Barnowl. Raw wanted to give Gary his first opportunity at the championship after several years as one of the most popular competitors on the LWA roster…while it promised to be a action-packed contest, the size and power difference seemed to point to an obvious outcome. However, no one told The Barnowl that he was the underdog as he refused to stay down…Raw’s frustration proved to be his undoing as Gary got a surprise rollup pin out of nowhere to win the title! The 2007 edition of Yuletide Terror was main-evented by another battle of Champion vs. Medallion Holder. Pierre had cheated Gary out of the title several months earlier and seemed to be ducking Shorty Biggs for his entire reign…but once Shorty got his hands on the Medallion, there was no more avoiding the inevitable clash. Abernathy’s cheating tactics nearly allowed him to come out on top, but The Don Mega got the win with the Shortcut…marking the third straight year the title had changed hands at the December event!

Evan Gelistico

2008 was highlighted by the crowning of the first LWA Tag Team Champions…The Ego Express(K.C. Karrington & Steven Kennedy) were scheduled to face hated foes Johnny Vinyl & Davey Vega, but Vinyl was MIA so Submission Squad stablemate Dingo stepped in as his replacement. After a hard-hitting battle which saw all four men survive incredible punishment, Karrington and Kennedy emerged victorious! The year 2009 ended in chaos for the LWA. The title was suddenly vacated a few months before Yuletide Terror due to the absence of champion K.C. Karrington, leading to the recently-renamed Gary The NIGHTowl defeating Davey Vega for the held-up championship. The rematch took place at the December event and this time Vega would not be denied, delivering a modified Burning Hammer to get the win!

ACH

As the LWA became St. Louis Anarchy, many new faces entered the Midwest wrestling scene. The show featured an appearance by Raven for autograph signing, but Darin Childs threw a few choice words in the former ECW Champion’s direction and earned an Evenflow DDT for his efforts.

The night featured many great matchups, including the “morality” team of Robert D. Evans and Darin Corbin defeating Team Ambition(Davey Richards & Kyle O’Reilly), A.C.H. scoring a win over Jeremy Wyatt, and Dingo beating Mat Fitchett in a bloody dog collar match! The main event saw Evan Gelistico’s seventeen-month title reign(starting as LWA Champion and continuing as SLA Champion) come to an end at the hands of Dan Walsh in a brutal I Quit Match. Gelistico had demanded that Walsh put his MTV contract on the line as compensation as Walsh had come up short in previous title matches under questionable circumstances. After a lot of weapons were used and blood was spilled, Walsh came out on top as the new champion! Last year’s show featured a double main event as Davey Vega finally earned a hard-fought win over Davey Richards in the finale of the night.

The SLA Champion Gary Jay is intense.

Prior to that, Dan Walsh’s title reign came to a surprising end as he was the first man eliminated in a four-way dance; Darin Corbin surprised him with a quick rollup early in the bout, thus guaranteeing a new champion by the end of it. Corbin managed to outlast both Darin Childs and Evan Gelistico to gain the title…and he proclaimed it as a victory for MORALITY!

Corbin was able to hang in there to become an SLA Champion

Davey Vega earned the respect from former ROH Champion and current NXT wrestler Davey Richard

This year’s Yuletide Terror has many notable matches on the lineup…including a repeat of history. Gerald James(formerly a Barnowl and then a Nightowl) is granting the same opportunity to Mat Fitchett that Adam Raw once granted to him. Will lightning strike twice?

Can Mat Fitchett take the belt from Gary Jay? If so he will have to get to falls out of 3 to go home as the new champ.

The Hooligans will go against 2 former SLA Champions in Jeremy Wyatt and Dan Walsh.

Going by the record books, Yuletide Terror is not a good night to be the champion…but it won’t be a fluke ending as all title bouts in St. Louis Anarchy will now be two-out-of-three-falls! A.C.H. and Davey Vega are even in their best-of-three series at one win apiece and they’ll finally decide things at Yuletide Terror. A longtime rivalry will be revisited as Adam Raw clashes with Evan Gelistico. On top of that, the show will feature the returns of both Jeremy Wyatt and Arya Daivari. Whether it be under the banner of the Lethal Wrestling Alliance or St. Louis Anarchy, Yuletide Terror always promises to be a wild night of wrestling action and the 2013 edition looks to be no different!

12/6/2013 ST Louis Anarchy – Alton Illinois Knights of Columbus in Alton IL (405 E 4th Street Alton IL) Doors open at 6:15 for all Golden Circle Reserve (1st and 2nd row) 6:30pm for everyone else Show Starts at 7:00pm