By Patrick Brandmeyer
Photos Brian Kelley
The show started with Brian Kelley presenting the 2015 Missouri Wrestling Revival Tag Team Of The Year plaques with sponsor Jack Tierney to High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb). The ceremony was interrupted by The Professionals(Shawn Santel & Mauler McDarby), who used underhanded tactics to beat HLE for the Tag Team Titles at the April show…they said the awards were nice but the title belts were even better. Of course, it would be a real downer for HLE to win those awards and then fall short in their return match for the belts…but we’ll get to that later.
Rocket Mapache vs. C.J. Shine: Shine faced fan favorites in both of his matches on Saturday…I don’t know if that means he’s being positioned as an eventual rulebreaker, but time will tell how the fans react to his character. It was a quick competitive matchup, ending with Rocket avoiding a kick and getting the rollup pin in 4:00.
“The Valedictorian” Keon Option & Justin D’Air vs. Billy McNeil & Jayson Khaos(w/ C.J. McManus): The fan support was divided in this one as Option & D’Air are popular, but so is Billy McNeil. The story of the match was the dissension between the Midnight Society members as Khaos and McManus wanted to break the rules and McNeil did not. The tension turned into a full-blown argument by the end of the match as they could have gotten the win over D’Air but lost focus. Option took the opportunity to jump in the ring and blitz Khaos with a series of moves, ending in an axe kick that led to D’Air scoring the three-count in 13:00. The Society totally fell apart after the bell as McNeil shoved C.J. to the mat and picked up a chair on his way out of the ring…but the sides parted ways without further incident.
Outtkast vs. Kiyoshi Shizuka(w/ Lucy Mendez) for the D-1 Title: Shizuka traded wins with Outtkast’s tag team partner Shorty Biggs in recent months. While Lucy has her share of…admirers, I’ll say…she does really well in her role as a rulebreaking manager. I’ve commented a lot on my desire for more women’s wrestling in this area; hopefully the wheels are in motion for that to happen soon. I don’t know much about the masked newcomer Shizuka, but he’s had solid matches in his handful of in-ring appearances.
Lucy was nearly a factor in the outcome as she caused a distraction, allowing Shizuka to hit Outtkast with his Japanese flag pole behind the referee’s back. He followed up with a Perfectplex, but Outtkast barely kicked out before the three-count. The masked challenger set up to finish with a brainbuster, but Outtkast small-packaged him for the flash pin in 12:21 to retain his title.
Makaze vs. “The Alternative” Ozzie Gallagher: Sadie Blaze made a surprise return to Dynamo Pro a few months ago and immediately had issues with his former student Gallagher over his underhanded tactics. He especially took issue with Gallagher’s disrespect toward masked wrestlers like Rocket, which is understandable given his masked alter-ego Makaze. Gallagher stole Rocket’s mask on one occasion and kept trying to swipe it again after Rocket reclaimed it; that finally drove Blaze to take matters into his own hands and bring “Makaze” back into action. Makaze’s one of the only guys from the first independent show I attended(in the spring of 2000) who’s still working today. The match itself was solid as a first chapter in the series…a near-ref bump allowed Gallagher to deliver a punt to the Universal Weak Point, then roll him up in a modified Oklahoma roll for the cheap pin in 8:40. I somehow suspect that this issue is not quite over, regardless of Gallagher’s sentiment on the matter.
“The Millenial” Danny Adams vs. “The Filipino Warrior” Elvis Aliaga(w/ Lucy Mendez): Good heel wrestlers can take some time to appreciate and I feel like I’ve turned that corner with regards to Aliaga; he’s very underrated. Adams has proven his versatility in recent months as I’ve seen him work in both the fan favorite and rulebreaking roles. They had a really good matchup and Lucy got involved on more than one occasion…that led to Elvis rolling him up for the pin with feet on the ropes in 11:04.
Mike Outlaw vs. “The Yoga Monster” Mike Sydal: These two nearly crossed paths a while back as Outlaw and Justin D’Air had been scheduled to face Mike and his brother Matt, but Matt’s travel issues ixnayed that potential bout. This was a battle of fan favorites and a good one; I’ll never quite understand why Ring Of Honor didn’t do more with Sydal. I joked that my money was on Mike to win this match and at least one fan tried to start a “Let’s Go Mike” chant…MARKET CONFUSION~! Sydal made the fatal mistake of dropping his yoga mat and going out to retrieve it for the sake of his Yogasault…Outlaw had enough time to roll out of the way of the move, then finished with the Mafia Kick in 12:23. Nicely done.
Post-match, Outlaw acknowledged Dirden’s absence and said he hadn’t had a fair rematch for the title since losing it in May of the previous year. He said that he wanted his title shot…and if Dirden wouldn’t give it to him, then he would stay on his trail until he got it. Glad to see he’s getting back into the title hunt…woo.
The Professionals(Shawn Santel & Mauler McDarby) vs. High Level Enterprise(Jack Gamble & Jon Webb) for the Tag Team Titles: As noted, Santel & McDarby had captured the belts under dubious circumstances in April; this was the rematch. I think these teams are good foils for each other and I hope the series will continue after this point. Option & D’Air watched the match from ringside and seem to be positioned as future challengers. There’s also the possibility of the Black Hand Warriors re-entering the championship picture, not to mention the Midnight Society in whatever form it may take. The finish saw HLE isolate McDarby; Gamble picked up McDarby on his shoulders and held him for a superkick from Webb, then delivered a fireman’s-carry Michinoku Driver for the winning fall in 13:12…Gamble & Webb are now two-time Dynamo Pro Tag Team Champions! Option & D’Air made a point to hand the belts to the new champions…just like that, the hunters are once again the hunted.
“The King Of Chaos” Ricky Cruz vs. Brandon Espinosa for the MWR Missouri Title: The history between these two runs deep over the past few years, including a brief reign as Dynamo Tag Champs. While it’s a source of bitterness for Espinosa that he had to start at the bottom of this promotion and claw his way to the top, Ricky has been a two-time Heavyweight Champion as well as SICW Classic Champion. These two had an altercation at the Cinco De Mayo show that led to Cruz pinning Espy in a six-man tag. The pre-match promos set up the bout as a sportsmanlike contest between the two, though both men have been known to throw the rulebook out the window. Each guy withstood the best that the other had to offer, including Espinosa surprisingly kicking out after the Cruz Control(swinging fisherman buster). Cruz unloaded with kicks, but Espy ducked the last one and rolled him up for the shockingly clean pinfall in 15:18! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a newwwww MWR Missouri Champion!
Ricky was stunned but took the loss graciously at first…of course, Espinosa couldn’t just leave it alone and rubbed the loss in Cruz’s face. When he demanded that Cruz fulfill his promise to raise his arm after the match, Ricky did so…only to punctuate his action with a superkick to the mush. The new champion was laid out as the show wrapped up…
Missouri Wrestling Revival 