Huge happenings in P.G.P. are pushing us towards 11-30-13’s Emergency Response at the Fire House(203 E. Taylor Ave) in Petersburg,IL. Doors will open at 6:30pm, show starts at 7:00pm. Tickets are all $12 general admission and available from the Petersburg Fire Dept until day of show. This is a fund raiser for the P.F.D., so there is an added emphasis to come out and support P.G.P.’s Emergency Response. We hope all our great fans can plan to come out for this big event!

Now for P.G.P. news and notes going into Emergency Response……HUGE NEWS, Rinaldo Piven has disappeared ( reportedly he vanished from his yacht somewhere near the Bermuda Triangle) and his client P.G.P. Franchise Champion Prince Mustafa Ali has been unresponsive to requests for return and defense of his title. As a result P.G.P. has stripped The Franchise Title from Prince Mustafa Ali and will hold a 4 man tournament to fill the vacant Franchise title.

With the bad news out of the way, let’s look forward to Emergency Response. 4 of Proving Grounds top stars have stepped into the spotlight looking to grab the Franchise title. Our inaugural champion ( and R.O.H. Superstar) TaDarius Thomas is returning to reclaim what was once his. Former Piven client and challenger for the franchise title, Canadian superstar“Textbook” Tyson Dux is set to make his way back to P.G.P. and plans to capture the Franchise title.

The 6’10” bearded wild man “Dirdey” Jake Dirden returns from Japans Pro Wrestling NOAH for a chance at the P.G.P. Franchise title. The final entrant is “America’s Favorite Son” Ruff Crossing, the big cowboy from Sweetgrass, MT looking to claim P.G.P.’s top prize. This is an absolutely stacked field of 4 to fill the vacant Franchise Championship, and should give fans an amazing night of action!

That is just the beginning of the great action in store for Emergency Response, P.G.P. Tag Team Champions The Hooligans(Devin and Mason Cutter) will defend their belts against The 2 Star Heroes(Chris Castro and Matt Knicks). The 2 Stars are one of the hottest tag teams on the wrestling circuit, making a huge name for themselves with big wins all over the country. They get the chance to step up to one of the best teams in the business, The Hooligans. This match looks to be a classic in the making and a sure winner for Proving Ground fans.

P.G.P. Cutting Edge Champion “The Apex” Blake Steel puts his title on the line against the debuting Jonathan Gresham . On November 30th Steel vs Gresham is set to be an exciting and explosive encounter. This could well prove to be Blake Steel’s toughest title defense to date, don’t you dare miss this one.

Judas Yorick and Machine already have some big wins in P.G.P. and are set to return in tag team action. They will face pro wrestling Chikara stars The Submission Squad (Pierre Abernathy and Evan Gelistico). This is a battle of teams looking to be in title contention, a win here is huge to help make that happen. Expect an all out war as these two teams collide in the Proving Ground.

A huge 6 man elimination match will give one man a future shot at the P.G.P. Cutting Edge title. The entrants in this match are Abe “Action” Jackson, Aiden Prince, “The Bully” Jason Wells, “RoboGinger” Gary J, Nelson “Mr.” Nice and Mario Andrew Crivello. This is a fantastic group of wrestling talent that will give fans some wild and unpredictable action.

“Master of Swag” Perry Winkle has announced the formation of his new team, The Addiction. Along with Perry Winkle, The Addiction includes “Delicious” Derrick Moss and the sexiest lady in wrestling Devyn Nichole. Winkle, Moss and Nichole have been busy mapping a course to P.G.P. dominance and chirping about how they will quickly rise like cream to the top. This talk hasn’t gone unnoticed, as P.G.P. offices received a request from a brand new entrant to the P.G.P. landscape.

Petersburg’s own Colonel Gimp represents The Mobile Home Militia and plans the shut down The Addiction trailer park style. Colonel Gimp says his Militia consists of The Bum Rush Brothers(Shorty Biggs and Outkast) and Melanie Cruise and the will roll over The Addiction at Emergency Response. Expect this mixed 6 man tag to be something special!!!

There you have it Proving Ground fans, Emergency Response is going to blow the roof off the joint on November 30th. P.G.P. and the P.F.D. want you to pack the house and show your support for this unbelievable night of pure action packed fun! We’ll see you in the Proving Ground!!!

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

By the “Voice of Minnesota Wrestling.” Mick Karch

This is a very sad, sad day in the wrestling world. Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon, one of the sport’s true legends, has passed away at the age of 84. Over the past few years, Mad Dog’s health had steadily declined to the point where he had difficulty communicating and his mental faculties had diminished considerabl

Maurice Vachon was legitimately one of the toughest men, pound for pound, to step into the squared circle. No matter which of his peers you ask, they all say the same thing. Despite his shorter stature, nobody wanted to mess with The Dog.

Belying his all out, brawling style, Maurice actually had a fantastic amateur wrestling background and was a part of the 1948 Olympics, representing Canada. In his pro career, he evolved from a handsome, clean cut technical wrestler to the vicious “Mad Dog” that earned him fame and fortune all over the world. In a 1964 match with Verne Gagne in Minneapolis, he won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. His feuds with Gagne, The Crusher, Reggie Parks, Mighty Igor, Red Bastien, Red Lyons and so many more made him one of the great attractions in AWA history. With his brother, Paul “Butcher” Vachon, they were also AWA World Tag Team Champions. He also formed a heel tag team with Baron Von Raschke.

Maurice was such a believable character that the casual fan was hesitant to approach him. With his snarl, his missing teeth and his growl, he could be a genuinely terrifying specimen. I remember back in 1964, I was attending a match in Minneapolis and was standing near the entrance where the “heels” would enter the arena. Maurice looked in my direction and made a lunging motion, which scared me half to death. This guy was the real deal.

As is the case with so many wrestlers who are mainstays in a particular territory for a long period of time, Mad Dog evolved into a crowd favorite and teamed with men like Gagne and The Crusher. In the early 1980’s, his feud with Jerry Blackwell was extraordinary and drew massive crowds all over AWA land. The Dog called him “Fatwell” and it became a catch phrase for years. In one of the greatest promos of all time, announcer Gene Okerlund “found” Mad Dog hammering away at a pine box he was “building” to put Blackwell in, proclaiming that “one of us has to leave this world.” Epic stuff, delivered as only Mad Dog could.

He was one of the employees most dedicated to his friend Verne Gagne, who had kept Mad Dog on top in the AWA for two decades. So many others were jumping to the WWF during Vince McMahon’s worldwide takeover and Mad Dog stayed loyal as long as he could, but finally, with his best years behind him, and the chance to make more money, Mad Dog left for the opposition. He had a brief run with WWE, but by that time the business had evolved so much that WWE was top heavy with 300+ pounders and Mad Dog’s appeal seemed limited to the AWA cities he wrestled in. When the WWE invaded the Twin Cities for the first time at the old Met Center in Bloomington, MN., Mad Dog wrestled on the show and received one of the biggest ovations of the night.

Sadly, he was injured in a hit and run accident while he was out jogging in 1987 and subsequently had to have his leg amputated, thus ending his in-ring career for good.

In 1990, I had the pleasure of having Maurice as a guest on my “Saturday Night at Ringside” second anniversary show. It was then that I experienced first hand what a delightful, engaging and hysterically funny gentleman he was. He told me a joke that day, and whenever I saw him after that, be it Cauliflower Alley, local shows where he would come in as a special guest, etc., he would always greet me with the punchline from that joke.

It was very troubling to watch Maurice’s physical and mental decline over the past several years. Last July in Waterloo, his frailty was agonizing to see. But that’s not the Mad Dog I will remember. He lives on in the world of YouTube in so many legendary matches, delivering so many incredible promos. There will never, ever be another like him. His legacy will live on forever. Mad Dog Vachon was a part of my childhood and adulthood. I could never thank him enough for the incredible memories he has left behind. This is truly a depressing day for me, and I’m sure for tens of thousands of wrestling fans.

Go in peace and God bless you, sir. Thank you, thank you, thank you for decades of entertainment and thrills. This “dog eat dog” world” you spoke of so often has its bite today.