Missouri Wrestling Revival

By Kari Williams

In House Springs, MO, 77 fans witnessed the fallout of Circus Maximus VI. Complete with title changes, dissension amongst teammates and the always-vocal Superfans, the show delivered in true LWA fashion.

Gary the Nightowl, with Tiffani LaFane, took on Tyler Cook in the opening bout. The new ring announcer, Graham Wellington, incorrectly announced Gary as ‘Barnowl,’ prompting LaFane to make a point that the barnowl no longer existed and that the fans need to accept it. Cook seemed to have the advantage early on, but LaFane’s ringside antics derailed Cook on more than one occasion.

Tyler Cook takes on Gary the Nightowl outside the ring during the opening contest. Photo by Kari Williams

However, the match went to the outside, as Cook put a beating on Gary prior to LaFane’s fatal involvement. Just when it appeared that Cook would close in on the victory, LaFane jumped on the ring apron and sprayed Cook with the hairspray she carried to ringside without detection by the referee. Gary quickly pinned Cook for the win.

Paul Parker then brought out Adam Raw to denounce the rumors that he was scheduled to face Gorgeous Jordan, formerly Jordan Lacey. Raw also commended Commissioner Tim Alley for initiating the Triple Medallion and said he found a replacement for the rumored match. Before he could introduce the replacement, the Submission Squad (Pierre Abernathy & Evan Gelistico) interrupted, complaining about Raw’s constant need of replacements within the LWA.

Raw then brought out “Future” Donovan Ruddick as his stand-in. Ruddick attacked the Squad and then turned on Raw. When Ruddick proceeded to further attack Raw, Abernathy stopped him, causing a minor conflict between Abernathy and Gelistico, who were set to defend their tag titles against de La Mascaras (Dash Rando & Rebelucha).

When the match began, Rando got the best of Abernathy, who suggested that they thumb wrestle instead—he never loses in thumb wrestling matches. Rando won. Then Abernathy suggested an arm wrestling match, which gave the same outcome. Rando was singled out for the majority of the bout, but the moment he saw a window of opportunity, he tagged Rebelucha, who turned the match around.

Battling for the LWA Tag Tea Titles, Pierre Abernathy wears down Dash Rando. Photo by Kari Williams

Rebelucha’s uncanny lucha skills impressed nearly everyone in attendance, and just about wrestled the tag belts from the Squad. Gelistico and Abernathy got in their share of formidable offense, and in the end, their cunning ways allowed them to walk away with the belts. Gelistico pinned Rando but held the tights for leverage.

Gorgeous Jordan defended his Pinfall Medallion against Ruddick in the next bout. These two men had not waged war against one another since their First Blood match on Sept. 20, 2008, in which Ruddick lost the title to Lacey. And Ruddick’s pent up anger showed. He pummeled Jordan relentlessly. But the Gorgeous one would not go down easily.

Gorgeous Jordan brings the fight to "Future" Donovan Ruddick in their battle for the Pinfall Medallion. Photo by Kari Williams

He put up a fight, albeit using illegal tactics more often than not. Their battled went in and out of the ring, and Lacey went to the top rope twice for elbow drops. However, when he could not put Ruddick down for the count, he intentionally got himself disqualified via a low blow, thus retaining his medallion.

After intermission, LWA Heavyweight Champion K.C. Karrington addressed the crowd and his match against Wyatt later in the evening, where he vowed to retain the belt. Before Karrington could get much further, LWA President Luke Roberts interrupted, proclaiming that he had a plan to make the LWA the best since he won the presidency. He also noted the fact that Shorty Biggs tried to go against him and that he was “taken care of.” Roberts called Wyatt the most dominant and profitable champion in LWA history and declared that the “reign of K.C. Karrington is over.”

“Thee” Brandon Espinosa, accompanied by “Irresistably Flawless” Brandon Aarons, challenged Medallion of Brutality Holder “Spoiled” Steven Kennedy. Due to the medallion stipulations, Kennedy had the power to choose the type of match in which he would defend the medallion—he chose a tables match. It did not take long for chairs and tables to enter into the equation.

"Thee" Brandon Espinosa challenges "Spoiled" Steven Kennedy for Kennedy's Medallion of Brutality in a Tables Match. Photo by Kari Williams

Espinosa took a brutal beating courtesy of Kennedy’s chair-bashing expertise. Still, Espinosa did considerable damage to Kennedy’s ankle, also using a chair. At one point, the two men were teetering on the ring apron with a table set up right beneath them. Finally the table made its way to the ring, and after a couple close calls for both challenger and medallion holder, Kennedy retained, sending Espinosa smashing through the table with a crushing powerbomb.

National Wrestling Alliance—Central States (NWA-CS) Champion Michael Strider made his highly anticipated return to LWA to defend his belt against Mark Sterling. These two hard-hitting athletes dished out equally vicious amounts of punishment. And both refused to back down. They took the fight out of the ring, where Strider delivered his most vicious chops to Sterling’s back, but Strider paid dearly, as Sterling rammed him into the side of the ring.

Mark Sterling does his best to inhibit NWA-CS Champion Michael Strider as he tries to win the belt. Photo by Kari Williams

Back in the ring, Sterling continued his malicious attack, which resulted in the referee being knocked down. Strider would have had the victory after hitting a devastating suplex, but the ref was slow to make the count. Just minutes later, Sterling pinned Strider, clean, in the middle of the ring, to win the NWA-CS Championship.

After the match, Strider said that he did not know if he would make it back to St. Louis—his favorite city to wrestle in—and thanked the fans for their support.

In the main event, Wyatt attempted to win back the LWA Heavyweight Championship from K.C. Karrington. The tone was set for this war earlier in the evening, as vengeance echoed in the Knight of Columbus Hall. Karrington and Wyatt wasted no time in letting their hatred boil over, as they attacked each other relentlessly. Wyatt focused his attack on Karrington’s arm/hand to debilitate him. But nothing could stop the underdog champion. With frustration setting in, Wyatt resorted to bringing a chair into the mix, but the ref took it away.

"The Rebel" Jeremy Wyatt targets LWA Heavyweight Champion K.C. Karrington's arm in their second battle, as Wyatt tries to regain the belt. Photo by Kari Williams

Wyatt played on that distraction and hit Karrington with the belt. Just as the ref began to count the pinfall, Kennedy emerged from the back and explained what happened to the ref. Crafty as he is, Wyatt nearly regained the belt after Kennedy gave the ref an earful, but Karrington remained one step ahead of the former champ and got the one, two, three.

LWA’s next show will be Aug. 7 in St. Charles, MO at the Vetta Sports Complex. Keep checking http://www.missouriwrestlingrevival.com and http://www.lwawrestling.com for more details.

By Kari Williams

“Spitfire” Davey Vega spent nearly three months of his three and a half year wrestling career in Philadelphia, PA. He trained at CHIKARA Wrestle Factory under the tutelage of Mike Quackenbush, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli. After two weeks, Quackenbush moved Vega to the advanced class.

“Mike Quackenbush had us do 10-minute matches with each other, and I will never forget the compliment that he paid me. He said for me only being there the six weeks that I was there….With the five or six weeks I was in the advanced class, he never saw somebody catch on as quickly as I did. And I took that to heart,” said Vega.

Vega attended his first two-month training session in 2008 and returned to the City of Brotherly Love earlier this year. Spitfire initially contacted Quackenbush through e-mail in early 2008.

“Chikara was the first place I ever wanted to train at, and I found out that I had the means to do some training up there so I jumped at it,” said Vega.

"Spitfire" Davey Vega takes on Adam Rich in Dupo, IL for Independent Hardcore Wrestling (IHW) in the St. Louis Invitational Tournament. Photo by Brian Kelley

In time his there, Quackenbush pushed Vega beyond even his own expectations for himself.

“He had us line up outside of the ring, and he would show us lucha moves, and we literally did this, each guy would get in the ring and do it with the guy before [him] and that guy that just did it would do it with the guy after that.

“And we got up to the point where we were doing—I think the highest we got was 16 moves—like 16 step lucha spots…which…on average it was about two to three minutes per person to get through. That’s six minutes of being in the ring going full tilt at one point, and once you get out of the ring you’re at the back of the line just huffing and puffing like, ‘Man, when’s this going to end,’ but it was definitely great, definitely great to learn that,” said Vega.

Chikara Wrestle Factory teaches a wide variety of techniques. According to the Chikara Wreste Factory Website the program, “teaches fundamentals as well as advanced techniques in all types of wrestling. Lucha Libre, Puroresu, European (Catch/Lancashire style), Mixed Martial Arts and Pro-Wrestling are all part of the regular curriculum.”

His first match back in Lethal Wrestling Alliance (LWA) reaped the benefits of his training, as he earned a hardfought victory over Adam Rich to win the LWA Medallion of Torment.

Vega and Gary the Barnowl teamed up for the CHIKARA King of Trios Tournament earlier this year. Photo Courtesy of Gary the Barnowl

Prior to his sessions in Pennsylvania, Vega contacted Dingo and began training at Dynamo Pro Training Gym. Since that time, Spitfire’s career has taken him across the Midwest, to Texas, Kansas and even Canada.

“The company I worked for in Vancouver is called ECCW who are pretty reputable in their part of town. I was in a four-way scramble with MANTHER, Jamie Diaz and Tony Baroni, who are all up and comers but definitely have bright futures ahead of them,” said Vega.

His time in the Great White North gave him more exposure and allowed him to work with a new group of wrestlers.

“It was definitely a good experience and a lot different than most the feds I have worked for, outside of LWA and Dynamo. I had a good showing, and they are bringing me back July 24 for one of their shows. I got to work in Canada and not many people in this area can put that on their resume,” said Vega.

In April 2008, Vega had the opportunity to wrestle on a Juggalo Championship Wrestling show against Former WWE Tag Team Champions The Basham Brothers with 2 Tuff Tony.

“It was a blast [working with the Bashams]. It’s not everyday you get to work talent like them, and the funny thing is that I wasn’t even supposed to be in the match, but someone no-showed. Right place, right time I suppose,” said Vega.

Although working with former WWE talent was the highlight of Spitfire’s career, his favorite match occurred in his home promotion, LWA.

Vega takes on Brandon Aarons at the Aug. 1, 2008 NWA-CSW show in Fenton, MO. Photo by Brian Kelley

“I’m going to have to say my TLC match at Yuletide Terror of 2008. I tagged with Dingo against the Ego Express. It is my favorite match because I actually got to be on the same team as my trainer and work along side him, and I got to wrestle the Ego Express, who is a great tag team in themselves,” said Vega.

With training at Chikara added to his resume, and his current position as a Dynamo Trainee, Vega continues to improve every time he steps in the ring.

“Chikara is right behind ROH in terms of exposure and popularity so you have to bring your A game even during training. If you aren’t in a decent amount of shape you will be stuck in the beginners class until you are conditioned to get through the workouts. Luckily I was prepared and was able to hang with their workouts. I would definitely say cardio is a plus when training with them,” said Vega.

From the bright-eyed eight-year-old boy who witnessed Savio Vega take on “Stone Cold” Steven Austin at an In Your House Pay-per-view to the well-rounded, determined athlete who hopes to journey to Japan one day, Vega has transformed himself, and his career, into one worth remembering.