By Patrick Brandmeyer

Photos Brian Kelley

“The Don Mega” Shorty Biggs vs. “Young & Dangerous” Evan Morris: This stemmed from Morris’ turn last weekend as he named Shorty as one of the guys who “held him back” in the days of Metro East Championship Wrestling. Morris entered with Shawn Santel & Mauler McDarby by his side, so Shorty was accompanied by D-1 Champion Outtkast who ran them off…so that left the match as a one-on-one bout as it should have been.

After a competitive matchup, referee Patrick Hook was knocked down(the start of a rough night for him) and Morris brought a chair into the ring. Shorty got the chair away from Morris, but saw the referee was recovering and threw the weapon back to Morris, pretending he had been hit with it. Morris confronted the official and protested that he hadn’t hit Shorty with the chair, but Shorty rendered the point moot by rolling up Morris for the pin in 9:59.

“The Valedictorian” Keon Option, Justin D’Air, & “The Millenial” Danny Adams vs. Brandon Espinosa, “The Filipino Warrior” Elvis Aliaga, & Da’Marius Jones.

This was a fast-paced encounter that got a lot of time; the highlight move of the match was D’Air delivering an insane senton off the top rope onto a bunch of opponents on the floor! The finish saw the referee checking on the humanity outside the ring, totally missing Espinosa delivering a low blow on D’Air. After that, the brainbuster was academic and Espy got the win in 15:26.

Rocket Mapache vs. “The Alternative” Ozzie Gallagher: Gallagher had another ringside confrontation with Sadie Blaze as their ongoing issue continues; Blaze has been particularly sensitive about Gallagher’s disrespect regarding Rocket’s mask.

Gallagher actually stole Rocket’s mask a few months ago, but Rocket reclaimed it with help from his Bite Club partner Jackal.

Rocket was motivated in this matchup, but Gallagher kept using underhanded tactics and was obsessed with trying to remove the mask. That drew the ire of Blaze in the audience and Gallagher got sidetracked by his war of words with his former mentor.

That allowed Rocket to surprise Gallagher with a crossface chicken wing out of nowhere for the tapout in 6:28…but Gallagher attacked Rocket from behind and went for his mask again. Sadie had finally seen enough and jumped in the ring to confront Gallagher directly…he kicked him in the midsection before delivering a double-underhook suplex to send Gallagher into retreat move.

Sadie got the microphone and told Gallagher that he had a friend who knew a thing or two about masks in wrestling…a “Wind Of Destruction” was coming his way. It looks like we may be seeing the return of Makaze in the near future.

Jackal vs. C.J. Shine: Shine danced his way through his ring entrance and got a good reaction from the fans, but he wasn’t likely to beat out the longtime favorite Jackal in the popularity department. Shine had a competitive showing, one of his best to date, but Jackal picked up the victory with a frog splash in 5:55.

Mike Outlaw vs. Brandon Aarons: This promised to be a competitive battle between two of the top-ranked wrestlers in the Midwest. While it was a battle of fan favorites, Outlaw made some uncharacteristic moves such as attempting a pinfall with a single knee on the chest. Considering his change of attitude in alternate universes, I wonder if that’ll influence his character under the Dynamo banner?

The match could have easily gone either way and Aarons appeared to have the momentum in his favor, but recent rival Kevin Lee Davidson made his way to ringside. That distracted Aarons as he ascended the turnbuckles, giving Outlaw enough time to roll out of the way of the incoming double-stomp from the top rope. Outlaw delivered the Mafia Kick and that was enough to edge out the win in 9:24…despite the outside influence on the result, the two shook hands after the match was over.

High Level Enterprise (Jack Gamble & Jon Webb) vs. The Professionals (Shawn Santel & Mauler McDarby) for the Tag Team Titles: On the heels of retiring Eric Allen at the previous week’s Wood River show, Santel & McDarby finally had their shot at the belts.

They were really good foils for the flashier style employed by Gamble & Webb; I would compared them to NXT duos like Wesley Blake/Buddy Murphy and Scott Dawson/Dash Wilder in that regard. While it looked like the champs were on their way to another successful title defense, the official was knocked down…this was just NOT Patrick Hook’s night.

Santel brought the shillelagh into play and, despite a near-miscue, managed to coldcock Webb with the weapon. That brought Gamble to the rescue, but the rulebook was out the window with the referee down and out.

Gamble got a hold of the weapon and hit Santel with it, but McDarby had a backup plan: Brass knuckles!

He took Gamble out of the game with the knucks, then dragged the dazed Webb to his feet for a totally graituitous shot with the knuckles. 1-2-3 and we had NEWWWWW Tag Team Champions in 8:48! The titleholders took some time to gloat, then ran like the proverbial thieves in the night when Gamble & Webb gave chase…tremendous.

Outtkast vs. Kevin Lee Davidson for the D-1 Title: K.L.D. had been impressive and just got back from a successful tour of Europe. He’s held titles in the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance and is the current Heavyweight Champion of Wrestling Invades America. Outtkast had to go aerial a bit more than usual due to the size difference, including his corkscrew moonsault dive from the top rope to the floor. He had trouble hitting his signature moves, though he did manage to deliver the Lost Cause (fireman’s-carry spinebuster) for a near-fall. K.L.D. nearly won a few times, but his second attempt at a corner cannonball missed the mark and Outtkast rolled him up for the pin in 9:24.

I’m sure there will be another day for the big man…

“Dirdey” Jake Dirden vs. “The King Of Chaos” Ricky Cruz for the Dynamo Pro and MWR Missouri Heavyweight Title. This didn’t take long to get out of hand as they fought out of the ring and brawled all over the building…Dirden rammed Ricky’s head into the wall and left a hole! They fought toward the merchandise tables and Cruz threw Dirden over the main table…thankfully they more or less spared the MWR table and my fries and soda.

They eventually made it back to the ring as the referee allowed some leeway, but Brandon Espinosa decided to get a closer look at the action…and both title belts at ringside. The fight spilled out of the ring AGAIN, leading to Cruz decking Espy when Dirden moved out of the way. The fight continued and both guys traded signature moves…Cruz hit the Cruz Control(swinging fisherman buster), but Espy pulled the ref out of the ring.

The ref called it a DQ win for Cruz in 13:36…but things were far from over between these three. Dirden gloated that Cruz would NEVER get another shot at his title…and Espy added injury to insult by attacking Ricky from behind with a chair.

After all of that,Cruz declared that if Dirden wouldn’t give him a title shot, he may just have to make sure Dirden doesn’t hold the title for much longer.