At the beginning of the month we took a look at some of the leading candidates for the MWR Wrestler, Female and Tag Team of the year for 2013. We then asked you the MWR fans to send in your vote on who you felt would take home the prize at the end of the year.
Let us take a look at the top men to receive votes in each category.
Before we start, let me send out an apology out to the now former MMWA Champion Dave Osborne. When I took a look at the top wrestlers in each of the brackets, I went by the men that had held the top title in each promotion if they had more than 3 title defenses (or was the current champion within the past two months). Also the wrestlers that was making an impact here by winning top yearly tournaments ( ACH, Jack Gamble at the PWE Epic 8 and the Harley Race Invitational ) as well as impressive out of the promotion achievements like Jake Dirden (NOAH, defeating 2012 MWR Wrestler of the year Runner up Ricky Cruz and TNA GUTCHECK Winner) was also mentioned. For Dirden he will have to come back and have a strong year here in the Midwest to get the nod, but I am only one vote so it will be interesting to see if the other MWR Awards committee members feel the same way about the year Dirden has had. Adam Pearce, last year’s MWR Wrestler of the Year was mention out of respect for being the reigning Champion was mentioned. Though he had one terrific match against Jeremy Wyatt earlier in the year at Metro, he will have to do a lot more if he is to get my vote this year for the award. Pearce does return on July 13th to Metro and if anyone can get booked on shows and make a big push in 6 months it is the current MWR Wrestler of the Year, Adam Pearce.
For some reason I had in my head that Brandon Espinosa was the MMWA Heavyweight Champion, when in fact he was the Jr. Heavyweight Champion. Osborne had defeated “The Great One” Gary Jackson on 2/16/2013 and was able to hold onto the belt in title defenses again Jackson and Ace Hawkins via DQ before being defeated by his mentor Brandon Espinosa in a terrific 3-way match this weekend that also involved Jackson.
In no way was it meant as disrespect to the talented and powerful Osborne. We have much respect for the man and have enjoyed watching him develop throughout the past couple of years.
That leads us to the MWR Wrestler of the Year votes. A man that is fresh on the minds of MWR fans is the one and only Bull Bronson. Bronson recently showcased his power in reaching a goal that he has promised to his fans on May 25th when he won the PWC Heavyweight Championship from Heath Hatton in a three way match that also included the former one half of the MWR Tag Team of the Year Alex Castle.
Voted second for MWR Wrestler of the Year was the popular Jack Gamble. The Harley Race student won the third annual Harley Race invitational tournament earlier this year, and is a contender for the WLW title. Gamble has also been very impressive in St Louis for Dynamo Pro Wrestling, FIST Wrestling and MMWA in singles and tag teams with his High Level Enterprises tag team partner Jon Webb. Gamble has since started the second half of the year in impressive style by picking up a huge win against former NWA Kansas Champion and MWR Future Star recipient Showcase Bradley Charles at Metro Pro Wrestling on June 1st.
Third place as voted by the MWR Fans is the first ever MWR Wrestler of the Year Jeremy Wyatt. Wyatt continues his place among the top wrestlers in the country in 2013. During the first half of 2013 he started off with the Metro Pro Wrestling and 3XW Championship. He has since lost the 3XW title against the ultra-popular Ryan Slade but has been unstoppable in his hometown of Kansas City picking up wins against the likes of Adam Pearce, TJ Perkins, Stevie Richards, and Kyle O’Reilly. In Illinois he entered the Pro Wrestling Epic 8 tournament and made it to finals before getting defeated by ACH in a great match. At Dynamo Pro Wrestling Jeremy Wyatt challenged Dan Walsh for the Heavyweight title and been in a huge feud against Ricky Cruz that has brought on the Dog Collar match this Friday night in Glen Carbon, Illinois.
Lucy Mendez
The MWR fans love Lucy….Lucy Mendez that is. The former WLW Women’s Champion is a guarantee ratings booster for Metro Pro Wrestling when she is featured on TV. Wins against Texas superstar Jessica James and the Dance Champion of the world the Iceman has proved that she is much more than a pretty face. The support that Mendez has received on MWR and during intermission cannot be denied.
“Miss Natural” Heather Patera reached the top of the MWR mountain top in 2013. Patera is quite possible one of the most underrated wrestlers in the world, but her name is quickly spreading after a short hiatus in wrestling. For 2013, she has been in more demand outside the MWR Promotion, wrestling for top promotions AAW, SHIMMER, and StricktlyNsane Pro Wrestling. Still, she has been able to capture the WLW Ladies Championship for a record 6th time against Stacey O’Brien before losing it weeks later. Her feud with Angelus Layne has received press from the #1 wrestling magazine in the world PRO WRESTLING Illustrated. Layne was able to upset her at Metro Pro Wrestling but Natural was able to win a rematch at 3XW in their second battle. The two are set to meet again at Metro Pro Wrestling on July 13th. Natural resumes her feud with MsChif in a women’s falls count anywhere match at Dynamo Pro Wrestling this Friday night. Can she win back to back matches in MsChf in St Louis, a rare feat for any wrestler to accomplish in MsChifs career?
Third place voted on by the fans is the ever improving Angelus Layne. We have always loved Layne’s potential and she has been escalating among the elite in the Midwest over the past 12 months. Layne picked up a HUGE win against Jessika Havoc then backed that up with a win when she team with Espinosa to defeat Reed Bentley & Heidi Lovelace at St Louis Wrestling Anarchy . She picked up an upset win against Miss Natural at Metro Pro sent a message to wrestling fans around the world that she has arrived. At Pro Wrestling Collision, Layne challenged along with partner in crime Alex Castle for the PWC Tag Team titles. Speaking of messages, Adam Testa was fired by new PWC owner J. Wellington Beauregard, and ultimately chased out of the venue by a baseball bat-wielding Angelus Layne. Layne has also wrestled for 3XW against Miss Natural. Layne has been featured outside the area with AIW in Cleveland, OH. AAW in Berwyn, IL. SHIMMER in Berwyn, IL. Wrestling is Intense. Wrestling is Heart. VWAA in Chicago suburbs. Zero 1 USA. UWC. while she is set to Debut for ACW in Texas on June 23rd in their Queen of Queens Tournament proving that she is red hot in 2013.
The tag team that receives the most votes was nowhere on the radar as the year begun in 2013, Jake and Ryan, the King Brothers has exploded on the scene. Mentored by one of the top wrestlers in the Midwest today, Mark Sterling, the King Brothers dethrone the 2013 MWR Tag Team of the Year the American Bulldogs for the 3XWrestling tag titles. Their power has attracted the mind of Skylar Pierce as the self -proclaimed Manager of Champions Pierce turned on his friends the Bulldogs to help them win the 3XW championship. Fierce and deadly the duo looks to be unstoppable at this point in the MWR coverage area as they have put Metro Pro Wrestling on notice heading into the second half of 2013.
Second place features a tag team that looks to have wrestled their last match for the time being. Stache and Burns consist of Ryan Drago and Elvis Aliaga. The duo held onto the WLW Tag Team Championship in 2013 before being defeated by Britton Tucker and Kris Wallace but was impressive in their matches with wins against the Black Hand Warriors and High Level Enterprises. Drago received world- wide attention when he announced that he was offered an opportunity to work under WWE developmental and will no longer be a part of the Midwest hopefully till WWE returns. The popular Elvis is now on his own, but his partnership with Drago should prove too beneficial for years to come.
The Hooligans have become the tag team version of the Jeremy Wyatt as they are the new collector of tag team belts. The duo hold onto three tag titles for Proving Ground Wrestling, Zero-1 and Strictly insane. They have defeated fellow former MWR Tag Team of the Year the Kentucky Buffet, while picking up wins against Gary Jay & Alexander Rudolph. Darren Dean & Aaron Solo, Davey Richards & Kyle O’Reilly . They became the first tag team to headline a St. Louis Anarchy card against Davey Vega and ACH in a draw with a victory over Evan Gelistico & Gary Jay. The duo looks to receive a rematch that they never received for the Metro Pro Wrestling tag titles in Kansas City in the second half of 2013 against arch rivals The Commission.
God luck to all the wrestlers in the MWR Promotion coverage area and thanks to the support of you the fans in 2013 for pro wrestling. The 2013 MWR Awards committee will take a close look at the full year accomplishments at the end of December to name the 2013 MWR Wrestler, Female , Tag Team, Future Star and Lifetime Achievement award.
That leads me to the subject why we don’t have a referee and announcer of the year at MWR.
I have a lot of respect and friends that do the hard work for each of these positions in the wrestling world. The problem is that we have never been able to come up with a way judge who truly is deserving to be named the best of that position. For the official awards of wrestler etc. the debate is always a heated subject but at the end of day we all can agree that a case can be made of why Adam Pearce was the wrestler, Miss Natural was the female and the American Bulldogs were named the 2013 recipients with their impact in the MWR Coverage area.
I could look at who refereed the most matches but is the amount someone does make their work more valuable? How about who refereed the main events ? The amount of work to grade how well they announced or refereed the matches they were apart of would be very time consuming. So we have always strayed away from giving out an award that is really vague and often a self-preference for each of the fans and the MWR awards committee.
So after watching NASCAR I came up with the ideal to make the award a fans award via who would get the most votes. The problem is money as the awards cost us a total this year over $200.00.
The solution I have came up with via Nascar promotions is to sell off the MWR Award name to a certain business thus calling it the 2013 MWR put your business name here Referee of the year and the 2013 MWR put your business name here Announcer of the year.
Ace Hawkins was named as the 2013 MWR Sexiest Wrestler of the Year. Here he receives his trophy. If you would like to sponsor the first ever MWR referee or ring announcer award get ahold of MWR today.
The cost to sponsor the award will be $75.00. The referee or ring announcer award will be presented with a trophy with your business name on it and the award will be featured in the upcoming 2013 MWR Yearbook in the year in award section with the winner in the header be named the MWR (YOUR BUISNESS) Referee/Announcer of the year ______.
Sponsors please understand that all the referee and announcers that the MWR promoters submit (Must have worked at least 4 shows in 2013, but I will have to go on the word of the promoters that they did do this) to me will be up for the award in the MWR Poll if they have worked for a MWR Promotion in 2013 so they winner may come from St Louis, Des Moines, Kansas City, Eldon, Springfield etc. When the winner gets the trophy we will take a photo of them with it (and you with them if you are able to be there) for the site and the following 2014 Yearbook. In essence your business name would be able to be on the site twice (as well as the hype during the voting process and in two yearbooks for the measly cost of $75.00
For the record If we have any interest in having this done, I will do my best to contact the promoters of the promotions we cover to get the names of their referees and announcers in 2013 as we do not have anyway of knowing who has refereed or announced for each promotion during the hundreds of shows throughout 2013.
If you have any ideals on any problems/or ways to make this a success with these awards or you would like to sponsor the two awards then feel free to send inquiries to flairwhoooooo@yahoo.com subject REFEREE –ANNOUNCER AWARD.
We will also be offering a advertisement space in the upcoming 2013 MWR Yearbook in the near future as I have had several business ask about having them featured in the must have book that reaches fans around the world.
MWR fans thank you for your time today and please remember to support your local pro wrestling.
Sincerely
Brian Kelley
Missouri Wrestling Revival Owner and Editor
Missouri Wrestling Revival 