LWA arena report Oct. 24
By Kari Williams
In arguably the best LWA show this year, the 87 fans in attendance witnessed controvery, betrayal and comedic relief at the Knights of Columbus Hall in O’ Fallon, Illinois.
Just as the evening kicked off, LWA President Luke Roberts brought Jordan Lacey, Pierre Abernathy and Evan Gelistico to the ring, claiming that they had disrespected him too many times. Abernathy took hold of the mic and said that he came to realize that there is room for pure wrestling and entertainment within the LWA, offering his hand to Gelistico in a symbolic end to the ongoing feud between the Bearded Men from Space Station Eleven and the Submission Squad. Although hesitant at first, Gelistico accepted the handshake.
Roberts then turned his attention to Lacey, saying that an eight-man tournament to crown the new Heavyweight Champion would begin that night. Upon this announcement, LWA Medallion Holder Jeremy Wyatt proceeded to the ring wanting to cash in his title shot (as per the medallion) just before Lacey relinquished the title. Wyatt and Lacey did not wage battle, but Roberts did proclaim Wyatt the new Heavyweight Champion, enraging the fans in attendance. The former champ, “Future” Donovan Ruddick, rushed to the ring and threatened both Wyatt and Roberts for their actions.
With all of the political controversy (apparently) taken care of, Ring Announcer Paul Parker noted that he would co-host the show with none other than Shorty Biggs.
The first bout of the evening saw Shamus O’ Flannery take on “Adam Raw,” who looked conspicuously similar to one Evan Gelistico. Throughout the contest, Flannery tried to one-up “Raw” but to no avail. Raw strength mixed with Gelistico’s signature moves sealed Flannery’s fate as he fell victim to the Real Fake Adam Raw.
Looking to take out his aggressions of losing the Championship last month, Future dominated Mephisto. Although Mephisto snuck in some formidable offense, the fury and pent-up rage the Future held in for so long overpowered brought him quickly to a victory.
LWA fans were treated to a video clip of Dorian Victor (formerly the richest man in LWA until Bavarian Boy lost the LWA presidential election) and Bavarian Boy (who was not wearing a shirt) begging for money on the streets. They resorted to mugging a man who had just gotten money from an ATM.
Arya Davari made his LWA debut against the resident patriot, Adam Rich. Davari antagonized the fans prior to the match, but Rich gave him what was coming to him. Rich even imitated the most American of professional wrestlers, Hulk Hogan, but failed to secure a victory after the big-boot, leg drop combination. Nonetheless, he still persevered in his attempt to send Davari packing.
Despite Pierre Abernathy’s apparent truce earlier in the evening, Abernathy still took on Gary the Barnowl. The two men delivered a wonderful performance, giving the fans their money’s worth and then some. Near the end of the bout, Abernathy grabbed a steel chair and tried to cheat his way to victory, but Billy McNeil came to the rescue and stole the chair from the dastardly Abernathy. Thanks to the Captain of Space Station Eleven, Gary flew away with a win.
The next bout was perhaps the most talked about match—before it even occurred. The North Star Express, Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz, gave the fans a treat when they wrestled “Blackheart” Johnny Vinyl and “Spitfire” Davey Vega. This match gave fans everything they could hope for—excellent wrestling, entertaining and energetic athletes, humor and even a catfight between Vinyl and Vega’s Tiffani LaFane and the North Star Express’s pNut. Both teams proved that they deserve the utmost recognition, but Vega and Vinyl emerged triumphant on this occasion.
The following bout set Mark Sterling against one-half of B.A.B.E. Watch, “Thee” Brandon Espinosa. Each man had his moment to shine through hold reversals and one-upping the other. When Espinosa went for the frogsplash from the top rope, that may have been the turning point for Sterling. Locking Espinosa in the sharpshooter, Sterling secured his position and forced Espinosa to tap out in the center of the ring.
“Spoiled” Steven Kennedy and Billy McNeil provided an episode of comedic relief as only they can do. At one point, after Kennedy and McNeil had gone through a flurry of holds and reversals, they looked at each other from opposite side of the ring, and proceeded to tell each other to slow down. For a while afterwards, everything they did was in slow-motion from punches to the reactions to those punches. Adding another bit of humor, when Kennedy fell to the outside and McNeil planned to leap over the top rope onto him, Kennedy popped up from ringside donning a Halloween mask and making McNeil scream. Despite the scare McNeil suffered, he did prevail.
After the bell rang, Abernathy made his way to the ring and attacked McNeil. Super Electro, who had accompanied McNeil to ringside thwarted Abernathy’s plan, but then he turned on McNeil and revealed himself as none other than Evan Gelistico (Gasp!).
In the main event, K.C. Karrington and Arik Cannon attempted to acquire Jeremy Wyatt’s newfound gold Every man fought for himself, despite the occasional pairing of Cannon and Wyatt. Hellbent and determined to retain the belt he worked so hard to finally obtain, Wyatt did whatever he could to ensure that neither Cannon nor Karrington obtained a three-count. His plan worked effectively, because by the end of the night, Wyatt held on to the gold he claimed only hours earlier.
The LWA put on one of its best shows to date, giving the fans what they deserve—good, quality wrestling; spectacular performances; and a locker room full of devoted individuals who give it their all every time they step into the ring.
When Ring of Honor made the trip to Chicago in this past month, Sara Del Ray made her presence felt by defeating two women who’ve made a name for themselves in the Midwest in MsChif and Daizee haze. Hopefully the entire Missouri Wrestling revival coverage area can see more of this talented wrestler!
Mark Bland is one of the men behind Absolute Wrestling Radio, a radio program in the St. Louis are (syndicated on the Internet) that covers pro wrestling and mixed martial arts. The great thing about the show is that it also lends broadcasting power to local independent wrestling promotions. AWR and the broadcast team were the first writre-in winners of an MWR Award!
Hollister had one of the toughest schedules of all wrestlers in the Midwest for the month of May. It all started with a tough tag team loss (with Bryce Benjamin) to the Motor City Machine Guns in AAW. It was all good after that, as he followed the loss up with a victory (although tainted) over Egotistico Fantastico in a hard-hitting affair, the closed out the month by defending his Scott County Wrestling Title not once, but twice in one night. He retained the title after defeating Danny Daniels and Marek Brave. It was a successful month for Shane Hollister, as he wrestled some of the best in the business and came out on top in three out of the four encounters.
The Phoenix Twins continue to impress wrestling fans across the Midwest. This month, Tweek and Dash won two non-title matches against current tag champions in SCW and AAW. They also each competed in singles matches as part of “Best of Three” series of matches with members of Zero Gravity, splitting the contests and inching closer to being the number one contenders for the SCW Tag Team Titles. For 2008, Tweek and Dash have set the bar very high. It often seems as if they are the only tag team that can surpass this high standard.
Stacy O’Brien has emerged in the second quarter of 2008 as the premier female wrestler in the Midwest. She currently owns the World League Wrestling and MMWA-SICW Women’s Championships. She defeated Ms. Natural and Alexis Lightfoot for each belt, respectively. In yet another month where female wrestlers have been inactive, Stacy is a step in the right direction.
Missouri Wrestling Revival 