By Patrick Brandmeyer

Photos By Brian Kelley

“Memories Of Elvis” star Steve Davis sang the National Anthem; after that, they had a ten-bell salute to Blackjack Mulligan and Balls Mahoney (R.I.P.).

Bobby D vs. Attila Khan(w/ Travis Cook): Travis gave a grand reintroduction to Khan, who hadn’t been seen in SICW since his cage match loss to Gary Jackson in December. Other than a brief flurry of offense by D (somersault plancha included), Khan dominated most of this opening bout. Khan pulled him up from a pin attempt after the inverted DDT, then hit the finisher a second time for the easy win in 3:02.

The dynamic duo of Terry Funk and Larry Matysik did a random draw to determine the first-round matches in the Funk Title Tournament; the winner would be guaranteed a shot at the Classic Wrestling Championship. The draw produced several interesting bouts.

Ron Powers vs. Big Jim Hoffarth, Terry Funk Title Tournament Quarterfinal: I didn’t expect a lot of technical wizardry in this one, but the two heavyweights did start the match with an exchange of holds. Of course, it quickly turned into a slugfest that culminated in two straight instances of simultaneous clotheslines. The power game was the deciding factor as Ron delivered a huge released German suplex for the win in 4:17; the two shook hands after the match. Given the tournament field, Powers seemed like the clear favorite to emerge victorious…but a few new wrinkles would surface in the big picture.

“Unstable” Dave Vaughn vs. Ax Allwardt(w/ Big Daddy), Terry Funk Title Tournament Quarterfinal: Big Daddy managed both men, so he entered on his own after both wrestlers made their way to the ring. Vaughn returned to wrestling as a member of Big Daddy’s new stable as the veteran manager returned to his rulebreaking ways; the group also includes Bubba Troll, who was absent on this night. Vaughn had said that Big Daddy got him out of an insane asylum; he had “SANE” written on his wrist tape, though his demeanor would indicate otherwise. Vaughn had only recently returned to action after a layoff of several years, so it may take some time for him to get back into prime ring shape. With a matchup of two rulebreakers, the fans weren’t too invested in the bout; Vaughn seemed to be the lesser of two evils in this case. Big Daddy loudly proclaimed that he didn’t care who won as he got the winner’s share of the purse money in either case; however, he distracted the referee after Vaughn hit his signature spear. That distraction enabled Ax to hit Vaughn with his chain behind the referee’s back, scoring the tainted win in 5:54. On the heels of Vaughn and Ax’s tag team loss in March and this outcome, Big Daddy fired Vaughn from his stable…but a YouTube video showed Vaughn attacking Sean Vincent later in the night, so that feud will continue. At any rate, Ax was set to face Ron Powers in the semifinals.

“The Fury” Jason Vaughn & “Dead Sexy” Daniel Gunner vs. Britton Tucker & Waco: In the tradition of Wrestling At The Chase, this tag match had two referees; Earl Hebner was the main referee and Jay King was on the floor. Vaughn and Tucker are newcomers to SICW; I first heard of Tucker from his days in World League Wrestling. Vaughn(market confusion~!) recently started with the promotion and I don’t know much about him. I would have expected the official’s roles to be reversed, but it was Hebner who was knocked down during the match’s closing moments. Vaughn small-packaged Tucker and Jay King entered the ring to count the fall in 8:40.

“Ironman” Ken Kasa vs. “The Icon” Chris Hargas(w/ Travis Cook), Terry Funk Title Tournament Quarterfinal: Kasa was booted from the Travis Cook Organization and it was his old friend Hargas who dished out the beating to accentuate that executive action. Kasa was looking for payback, but Hargas attacked him from behind as he was entering the ringside area. Hargas hit him across the back with a chair for the fun of it…and this happened before the opening bell, so it put Kasa at a several disadvantage. Kasa fought back and nearly won with a rear naked choke, but Travis reached through the ropes to rake Kasa’s eyes out of the referee’s line of sight. The fight repeatedly spilled out of the ring, finally resulting in a double countout in 7:12.

Promoter Herb Simmons interviewed the special guests for the evening: Terry Funk and Director Of Affairs Cowboy Bob Orton. Classic Champion Flash Flanagan entered the ring with some harsh words for the legends and said he had PLANNED to make a name for himself at their expense…but circumstances dictated otherwise as he has a torn rotator cuff. Flash admitted that he’s not cleared to compete and had to surrender the championship…he seemed to be in the process of a turn to fan favoritism in recent months, mostly through common enemies with the other “good guys” on the roster. Simmons, Funk, and Orton mutually agreed that the winner of the night’s tournament would earn the vacant championship…it seemed like the tourney winner would be next in line for the belt anyway.

“Your Canadian Hero” Sean Vincent vs. “The Tokyo Monster” Kahagas(w/ Travis Cook), Terry Funk Title Tournament Quarterfinal: The winner of this match would get a bye to the finals due to the Kasa-Hargas double countout. Travis was on fire with his pre-match promo as Kahagas was his last horse in the race. While Vincent had a good run of momentum in the previous months, this seemed like a foregone conclusion as the former titleholder was driven to regain his gold. Kahagas got the win after a huge lariat in 6:22…and Vincent’s night got worse as he was attacked by Vaughn outside the building (as noted earlier).

Ron Powers vs. Ax Allwardt (w/ Big Daddy), Terry Funk Title Tournament Semifinal: Big Daddy’s distraction backfired this time as Powers gave Ax a taste of his own chain, notching the victory in 5:07 to go to the finals.

“Night Train/Gorgeous/Great One” Gary Jackson vs. “Volatile” Curtis Wylde(w/ Wyldefyre): This stemmed from Wylde wanting to rebound from his cage match loss to Sean Vincent in December, making a statement by attacking Jackson after his own cage match with Attila Khan. They caused each other’s eliminations in a six-man tag, then Wylde got suspended for attacking a referee during a singles bout between the two. Wylde bought a ticket to the March show and attacked Jackson AGAIN…Herb Simmons wanted to fire him outright, but Gary convinced him to let them settle things in the ring.

Wyldefyre put herself between Wylde and Jackson at the opening bell and was a constant nuisance for Gary…Wylde repeatedly used her as a human shield whenever Gary gave chase. The end came when Wyldefyre interjected herself AGAIN as Jackson was preparing to finish off her man. Gary avoided her slap attempt and picked her up to throw at Curtis Wylde, causing her to deliver an unintentional rana on Wylde! However, the referee made the unusual decision to call for the bell, disqualifying Jackson in 9:12 for using Wyldefyre as a weapon. The Wyldes celebrated their ill-begotten win while Gary confronted the referee over his thought process…that brought Herb Simmons into the situation.

Gary wanted one more shot at Wylde and Herb made it so for the May 21st show…with Wyldefyre locked in a cage to keep her out of things!

Ron Powers vs. “The Tokyo Monster” Kahagas(w/ Travis Cook), Terry Funk Title Tournament Final: The tournament was originally to determine the next challenger to Flash Flanagan’s Classic Wrestling Championship, but Flanagan’s injury and forfeiture meant that the tournament winner would become the new titleholder.

It didn’t take long for this battle of heavy hitters to get out of hand…the two brawled out of the ring and all the way around the Community Center, whacking each other with chairs and other furniture. The referee allowed a lot of leeway with the stakes involved in the matchup, so they eventually made it back to the ring as the match continued. Seemingly out of nowhere, Powers hit the RKO for the win in 6:05 to become the NEWWWWW SICW Classic Wrestling Champion!

After the match, Flash Flanagan entered the ring…tension ensued, but he graciously handed the title belt over to Powers and then beat down Travis Cook with his kendo stick. That brought out the rest of Cook’s troops(Attila Khan and Chris Hargas), but Terry Funk and Cowboy Bob Orton hit the ring to help Powers fight them off! Once the dust settled, Herb proposed that Flash give the belt to the tournament’s namesake Funk; Funk then presented it properly to the new champion Ron Powers to close the show!