By Patrick Brandmeyer
Photos Brian Kelley

The ring announcer were Chris Roedel, your assistant ring announcer was Luke Roberts, and your referee was Scott Ramsey.

Jackal vs. “The Caramel Bear” C.J. Shine: The fans were NOT fond of Shine, despite the fact that this was supposed to be an opener between fan favorites. Shine outwrestled Jackal in the early minutes of the match, leading to a danceoff that seemed to go in Jackal’s favor (if you asked the average person in the stands). Shine upset Jackal at the 4 Hands Brewery show last month, so this was a rematch from that particular encounter…in Jackal’s defense, he had just been through a tough matchup with Jake Dirden(the week prior) and Shine was fresh for that bout. Jackal rallied and went for the Killswitch #2 (turnbuckle-walk Tomakazi/Unprettier), but Shine blocked the move and threw him off. Jackal charged at Shine and got caught in a small package for the flash pin in 8:22.

“The Alternative” Ozzie Gallagher(sporting his new shorter hair) made his way to the ring; he had been M.I.A. since the mask-vs.-hair match with Makaze in mid-September. To say the least, his year didn’t turn out as he had planned…but he vowed to get his payback on both Makaze and The Bite Club(Rocket Mapache & Jackal) and to refocus his career in 2017. No match for Gallagher…perhaps next time.

Tag Team Champion “The Valedictorian” Keon Option(w/ Justin D’Air) vs. Rocket Mapache(w/ Jackal): Speaking of The Bite Club, the other half of the team was in action here. D’Air is still recovering from a recent knee injury. I hope to watch the D-1 Title match from last week in Wood River between Outtkast and Rocket; I heard great things about that matchup. Hopefully this will lead to a Tag Title feud between the teams…that part seems to naturally follow as Rocket & Jackal had several near-misses for the belts but never quite won them. The match could have easily gone either way, but Option took it with an axe kick in 6:33. More Mutual Respect(tm) occurred, but Jackal made it clear that they Wanted Da Belts(tm).

Outtkast vs. Makaze for the D-1 Title: Both guys have impressive championship resumes; both men were GCW Light Heavyweight Champions and Outtkast was GCW and Dynamo Tag Champ with “The Don Mega” Shorty Biggs. Makaze briefly held the NWA Missouri Title when it was the top belt in Dynamo Pro; literally on the show when they transitioned from that belt to the current Dynamo Heavyweight Title, he lost it back to K.C. Karrington. Both are veterans in the area and continue to plug away amidst a ton of younger guys, so they brought out the heavy artillery in this championship bout.

I’ve known Outtkast to take crazy amounts of punishment over the years and this was no exception; Makaze caught him with a Death Valley Driver onto the edge of the ring apron! Makaze tried to follow up with a plancha but the titleholder moved out of the way…then Outtkast went to the top rope for a corkscrew moonsault to the floor! Outtkast hit the floor with a thud that was audible throughout the building…ouch. Understandably it took both men some time to collect themselves, but they made it back into the ring and kept on going. Makaze nearly won with his signature Kyouhen(Sharpshooter) and Outtkast barely made it to the ropes. Makaze delivered a Death Valley Driver off the top rope(!) that left both men down…but out of nowhere, Outtkast connected with the Case Study to retain his title in 16:34! It was a tremendous matchup between two guys who I’ve known for most of their respective careers…yes, more Mutual Respect(tm) took place.

Brandon Espinosa vs. “The Incredible Primal Prodigy” Matt Kenway (Look At Him) for the Missouri Wrestling Revival Missouri Title: Surprisingly, Espinosa was the fan favorite in this matchup…both guys have played different roles in area promotions. One of Espy’s favorite tactics in recent months has been to emulate WWE finishers and sequences, so he tried to start off fast with two spears and a Jackhammer(a la Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series); Kenway escaped the Jackhammer setup and bailed out of the ring.

Targeting the arm has been one of Espinosa’s strategies in recent times, but Kenway attempted to use the same tactic against Espy. Kenway brought a chair into the ring and wedged it between the turnbuckles, but it never quite came into play during the matchup…darn you, Chekhov’s Folding Chair! (Thanks A-Top.) It took several tries, but Espinosa was finally able to lock on the cross-armbreaker…Kenway didn’t surrender, but Espy appeared to severely injury Kenway’s arm and the referee called for a stoppage in 18:40! It looked like Kenway’s elbow had been dislocated and he seemingly popped it back into place on the ring ropes…eep.

There would be no Mutual Respect(tm) HERE as Kenway snapped, bashing Espinosa repeatedly with the aforementioned chair(THERE’S our Chekhov’s Gun)…it would be Espy’s old tag team partner turned rival Ricky Cruz who would run off Kenway after the match. (In fact, Espinosa won the MWR Missouri Title from Cruz.) The two didn’t QUITE seem to be on friendly terms, but Cruz and Espy parted ways without incident.

“The King Of Chaos” Ricky Cruz vs. “The Intelligent Dirdey Monster” Jake Dirden: This was a farewell for both men for different reasons; Ricky is retiring at the end of the year and this was his last Midwest match. (He will face El Mesias, aka Mil Muertes, at Galli Lucha Libre in Chicago for his final bout.) Cruz came to the St. Louis area a few years ago for the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance, then later competed for Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling and held their Classic Title. He would go on to compete for Dynamo Pro, holding their Heavyweight and Tag Team Titles(with Espinosa) as well as the MWR Missouri Title. These two have had many battles(eleven, per Ricky) and the feud did a lot to elevate Dirden in the eyes of the fans, propelling him to the Dynamo Pro Heavyweight and Tag Titles(with Jackal). He also appeared in Ring Of Honor’s Top Prospect Tournament in 2015, losing in the first round to eventual winner Donovan Dijak. Dirden is on his way to the NWL as “Jack Foster“, so this was his last match for DPW.

Ricky got streamers for his entrance and asked Dirden for a technical matchup so they could go out on a positive note…but it didn’t take long for the match to devolve into an all-out fight.

Both guys threw their biggest bombs for this final counter and neither would stay down for very long…it took a grand total of four superkicks for Cruz to finally score the decisive victory in 14:58!

Afterwards, Ricky and Jake both said their farewells as the locker room emptied to applaud their efforts!

Mike Outlaw vs. Brandon Aarons for the Heavyweight Title: These guys had a tough act to follow but they brought their A games; they’d crossed paths a few times in the past with Outlaw getting the upper hand in those bouts. They had a strong main-event matchup and the fans seemed to be slightly in favor of Outlaw (despite both men being fan favorites).

Outlaw’s Mafia Kick only got a two-count…then the High Noon(top-rope elbowdrop) only got a near-fall as well. Outlaw lost his composure (not a common thing for him) and brought a chair into the ring, going so far as to push the referee away when the official tried to stop him. Outlaw swung with the chair, but Aarons dodged and the chair rebounded off the top rope to smack Outlaw in the head. Aarons took advantage of the opportunity with a flurry of offense:

Go 2 Sleep, Hairflip(half-nelson) Suplex, and finally a Shining Wizard…and that earned Aarons the Dynamo Pro Heavyweight Title in 14:00!

Outlaw was distraught over the match outcome and grabbed the title belt away from the ref, but presented it to Aarons and raised his hand. After that, Outlaw dropped his own bombshell: He was leaving Dynamo Pro as well (for NWL)!
Outlaw said his farewells to the promotion and wrestlers who got him started in the business and the roster came out for another round of applause.