By Brian “Flair” Kelley
When LWA comes to O’Fallon Illinois there is bound to be some wild wrestling action. Jordan Lacey and Jeremy Wyatt had set the bar very high the night before with a brutal match that was exciting from start to finish. LWA Has been red hot as of late and with a motto like “ St. Louis Pro Wrestling…A little on the Crazy Side” you never know what you will see when you enter the building.
Before the matches started Vice President Jewels entered the ring to remind the fans that LWA hero Adam Raw would have to make it through her three way gauntlet of matches in the upcoming shows to be reinstated. With an evil grin she stated that it would not be “easy”. His opponent this evening would be none other than Evan Gelistico.
The first match of the evening saw Adam Rich taking on Submission Squad member Pierre Abernathy who was joined by frequent tag team partner Evan Gelistico at ringside.
Adam Rich struggles to get out of the grip of Pierre Abernathy (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
Pierre was on top of his game and dropped Rich with a powerful clothesline that look to take the life out Rich. Pierre proved why he is one of the top wrestlers in the Midwest and took the win to set the tone for the rest of the Submission Squad members.
Tiffany LaFane was active the night before , this night was no different for in the second match she joined Davey Vega in his three way match against masked newcomer Dash Rando and J.C. Bravo (w/ Team Smurf(Chingo & Alektra Blue).
Dash Rando (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
The three men electrified the building with swift moves that excited the crowd. Poor Rando was on an island when Team Smurf did their best to interfere on behalf of Bravo, and when that was happing Lafane was making her presence known by interfering for Vega.
(Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
My good friend Patrick Brandmeyer stated that “the Innovative move of the match was Bravo managing to get both Vega and Rando in a half-crab at the same time”.
Bravo has Vega where he wants him but Rando is all fun and games. (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
Lafane would be the difference maker in this encounter of three rising stars and Vega took home another win for the Submission Squad proving that once again they are one of the most powerful factions in the Midwest.
The LWA seems to be motivated to bringing in some of the top women wrestlers in the world for their fans to see in the next couple of months. On the second night of the Double shot, MsChif made her return to the LWA to face Rachel Summerlyn. Summerlyn was looking to go 2-0 after defeating Alektra Blue in Granite City the night before.
Rachel Summerlyn lets MsChif know that she came to fight (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
I have to give it to Summerlyn, Mschif stretched her, choked her and beat her down but there was no quit from the girl from Texas.
(Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
(Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
MsChif would have her hands raised after she hit a Desecrator(stepover DDT) Summerlyn can feel good going back home to Texas feeling good for her self that she got a chance to test herself with the top women in the world and held her own.
Noiseland rocked the LWA (Photo Credit Brian Kelley)
During intermission Ego Express member Steven Kennedy’s rock band Noiseland performed. Kennedy would be teaming up with his partner KC Karrington to take on the Northstar Express later in the evening but was as calm as could be on the guitar as the band rocked O’Fallon.
When we came back from the break we had a battle of the two big men between Darin Childs and Donovan Ruddick. Childs did not endure himself to the Donovan Ruddick the night before when he hit “The Future” with a chair. Childs and Ruddick were like two freight trains on the same rail on a collision course. Ruddick punished Childs outside the ring.
The Future “Donovan Ruddick punishes Childs for his attack on him the night before Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
When Ruddick took it back to the ring Childs attacked Ruddick’s formerly injured arm.
Darin Childs attacks the arm of The Future (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
Childs was looking strong and seemed to have the former Champions number. Ruddick has the power to overwhelm anyone and Childs felt first hand the explosive force from the former LWA Champion. Ruddick lifted Childs up and delivered a Regal Roll for the victory.
The next match of the evening was between the LWA Tag Team Champions Steven Kennedy and KC Karrington and the MWR Tag team of the Year for 2008 The Northstar Express (Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz). The Northstar had earned a chance for the titles the night before when they defeated Submission Squad in Granite City the night before (See Kari Williams great recap of the show at MWR here)
The battle of the Express’s was on and from the moment that the bell rang I knew that I was ringside for a match that would be special. The Northstar was accompanied by their valet “pNut” Nikki Mayday. Perfect tag team executions were displayed by both teams. Ground and air attacks were plentiful with mind games galore.
LWA Tag team Champion KC Karrington sends a message to Ryan Cruz that he can wrestle with the best of them (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
The big hits kept coming all night long when the Ego and Northstar hooked up (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
If ever there was a picture that was truly worth a million words, this is it. (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
Ryan Cruz powers Steven Kenndy to the mat for a near fall late in the match. (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
All eyes in the building was on “pNut" Nikki Mayday but the refs, as she choked Steven Kennedy (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
The two Expresses each had a chance for the win. In the end it was the Ego’s who took home the bragging rights this time when the Ego Express dropped Ryan Cruz on top of Corbin for the 1-2-3 and scored the double win.
(Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
After the Match was over Karrington took the mic to let the crowd and the Northstar Express to know that they were proud to have gone head to head with one of the most talented teams in the country.
LWA Superstar Adam Raw (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
I thought to myself I would hate to follow that match but up next we had Adam Raw and his quest to be reinstated. Jewels must have had a heck of speech prior to the match because Evan Gelistico really was focused during this match. After withstanding Raw’s early onslaught Gelistico took advantage on a miss kick that hit the ring post. Gelistico methodically grounded Raw by taking out his legs.
Evan Gelistico looked to take out Adam Raws Power by destroying the leg (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
Evan Gelistico attempts to make Adam Raw quit before he even got out of the gate (Photo Credit:Brian Kelley)
Raw’ needed this win to be reinstated and it was slipping away before his eyes. I had never seen Gelistico at this level and what a bragging right it would be to retire LWA favorite Adam Raw in his very first match back. Raw rebounded and hit a fall away suplex for what I am sure would of have been the end of Gelistico a year ago, but not today. Raw finally was able to get the victory in a very tough match to continue his road back to the LWA full time. I had talked to a friend of mine after the show and I told him that was the best match I had ever seen Gelistico wrestle in and he stated “I prefer the Mike Quackenbush match from earlier this year, I may disagree but there is no doubt that Gelistico had learned from the match with Quackenbush and has upped his game.
The last two matches were main event quality anywhere in the Midwest and we still had the four way for Jeremy Wyatt’s LWA Championship.
Gary the Barn Owl with the devious Tiffany LaFane (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
On one side, you had the very confused Gary the Barn Owl escorted to the ring by the devious Tiffany LaFane.
The multi talented, always exciting Arik Cannon (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
The deadly and exciting Arik Cannon stood across from him. J.T. Lamotta looked to take the LWA title back home with him to Texas. I was very impressed with J.T. Lamotta the night before and in this match he confirmed my belief that he is one of the rising stars in wrestling.
No one gets the fans fired up like the LWA Champion Jeremy Wyatt (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
Last but not least you had the Champion Jeremy Wyatt.
Gary the Barn Owl can strike from anywhere, just ask Arik Cannon (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
The action was intense from start to finish. (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
One word can describe the match, exciting. J.T Lamotta delivered an awesome version of a suplex DDT on Gary the Barn owl that had me feeling it myself.
As the match continued Tiffany LaFane reinforced the thought of many that she is one of the premier mangers in the sport today.
Tiffany LaFane goes low on Arik Cannon late in the match. (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
Not once but twice she entered the ring to deliver a low blow on Cannon to keep Gary’s chances alive. Wyatt ever the opportunist continued his dominance of the Midwest when he took advantage of Cannon’s misfortune, hit a Lightning Spiral top retain the LWA Championship.
Still the LWA Champion Jeremy “The Rebel” Wyatt. (Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
When the match was over Lafane was furious and demanded that Gary take out Cannon. Cannon fought fire with fire and delivered a low blow of his own, much to Lafane’s surprise. Cannon was able to catch her before she was able to flee the ring.
(Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
With Cannon having a handful of hair, I would have bet money he was about to lay a kiss on her but unfortunately for Lafane, Cannon did not have romance on his mind. He hoisted up the LWA Diva and hit her with a devastating brainbuster that sent her crumpling into the mat.
(Photo Credit: Michael R Van Hoogstraat)
The LWA is on Fire in 2009 with some of the best matches that they have ever had. This marks the second show in the past two months that did not have a bad match on it. I urge you to buy a ticket and see what you have been missing.
The LWA returns April 4th in O’Fallon Il ROH star MsChif returns to take on Sara Del Ray.
For more information go to LWAwrestling.COM
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