MWR’s April 2009 Awards!
The pro wrestling season typically heats up in the Spring and into early Summer. May is a time to look at what has happened thus far in the year, and make educated predictions as to what is yet to come. On that note, the April 2009 Awards should serve as a measuring stick when playing fortune teller. Here are the winners, as voted by the MWR Awards Committee:
April 2009 Wrestler of the Month
Mark Sterling
(3XW, LWA, SCW, PWP, DPW, PWE, IWA, MECW, AAPW HVW)
Mark Sterling (Photo Credit Mike Van Hoogstraat )
Simply put, a Midwest wrestling show isn’t a show without Sterling, who wrestled in eleven matches for nine companies (MWA, PWE, SCW, PWP, 3XW, AAPW, LWA, MECW, NWA Dynamo) in April. Sterling is also one half of the tag team champions at 3XW with Gage Octane (Gentelmans Club). A student of the game Sterling rarely gets outwrestled.
1st Runner Up – Jeremy Wyatt (LWA, PWP. 3XW, AAPW, PWE, DPW)
2nd Runner Up –Tyler Cook (3XW,LWA,DPW)
3rd Runner Up – Jimmy Rockwell (3XW, MECW)
Others receiving votes:
Jerry Lynn, Shane Rich, Zach Thompson
Zero Gravity (Brett Gakiya and CJ Esparza )
( PWE, HVW, NGW)
Zero Gravity (Brett Gakiya and CJ Esparza ) Photo Credit: Brian Kelley
Zero Gravity became the first ever PWE Tag Team Champion by defeating The Northstar Express in exciting fashion. At NGW defeated Feature Presentation proving that they are one of the top teams in the Midwest.
1st Runner up – The Gentleman’s Club ( Mark Sterling and Gage Octane) 3XW
2nd runner – The NorthStar Express (Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz)(3XW,PWP,SCW,PWE,LWA,PWE)
3RD Runner up – (tie) Ax Stevens and ”Thunderbolt” Brandon Walker (AAPW), Money Makin Jam Boyz ( Mississippi Madman and K.C. Jackson) (AAPW, MPW)
Others who received voted:
Knights of Fire (Jaysin Strife and Vic Victory), Sexy and Smooth (”The Canadian Sex Icon” Ryan Slade and A.J. Smooth), Dustin Lane and Darin Waid
April 2009 Female Wrestler of the Month
MsChif
(LWA)
On April 4th MsChif defeated one of the most talented female wrestlers today Sara Del Rey at LWA. MsChif is widely considered one of the top wrestlers not the Midwest but around the World.
1st Runner Up – Rain
2ND Runner Up- Mia Martinez (3xw)
One Vote: Mike Sydal?? The crazy MWR Awards commiteee.
April 2009 Promotion of the Month
(AAPW)
The quality of the AAPW show in Nashville on April 25th was possibly their best since last year. Our first time in this town, they had a paid attendance of 155. Not too shabby. The crowd was HOT. Yes, it was a bit warm in the Community Center, but not that kind of hot. The card was solid top to bottom. The crowd was so happy that The Nashville Moose Lodge, who raised $1,000 from the event, asked AAPW to set aside 4 more dates for fall and winter of 2009/2010!
1st Runner Up – MMWA-SICW
2nd Runner Up – IWA Productions
3rd Runner Up – All American Wrestling
Others receiving votes –Rampage Championship Wrestling
April 2009 Personality of the Month
Josh Ray and Brian Kelley
(Missouri Wrestling Revival)
The MWR Family
One of our awards committee members wrote, “The two main men behind MWR. They do a lot of work, research & writing to help promote independent wrestling across the Midwest. They also log tons of hours in driving time to personally attend shows and support various companies around the Midwest”
(On a personal note, although we appreciate the gesture from the MWR Awards committee, both Josh and I abstained from voting in this category out of respect to the rest of the hard working men and women in the Midwest pro wrestling scene. We would also like to include Kari Williams who is a wonderful writer and the true talent of the three of us.)
1st Runner Up- JJ Merrick
2nd Runner Up – The Mad Conservative Crimefighter
3rd Runner Up – Travis Cook
Others receiving votes: Mark Storm
April 2009 Match of the Month
Lethal Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Title vs Career Match:
“The Rebel” Jeremy Wyatt vs Jordan Lacey
April 18, 2009 in House Springs, MO
Bodies hit the floor when Wyatt and Lacey hooks up. This picture is from the fans bring the weapons match last month in March but the LWA Faithful was not please to see the "The Belt Collector" Jeremy Wyatt retain the LWA Championship and retire fan favorite Jordan Lacey in his hometown of House Springs on April 18. (Photo Credit Mike Van Hoogstraat )
No match could match the emotion that flowed through the building as the fans wanted the hated Wyatt to lose the belt and didn’t want the loveable Lacey to lose his career. The controversial finish had fans throwing beer into the ring, with Wyatt retaining his title and officially retiring Jordan Lacey.
1st Runner Up:
3XWrestling Cruiserweight Title Match
Part of the MWR Midwest Best Series
Jimmy Rockwell (c) vs. Mike Sydal
April 17, 2009 in Des Moines, IA
2nd Runner Up:
All American Pro Wrestling
All American Pro Wrestling Tag Team Title Match
The Money Makin’ Jam Boys (c) vs. Ax Stevens and “Thunderbolt” Brandon Walker
April 25, 2009 in Nashville, IL
3rd Runner Up:
All American Pro Wrestling
Mike Sydal and Rebel Lucha vs. Mark Sterling and Eric Fantabulous
April 25, 2009 in Nashville, IL
Others receiving votes:
Gary Jackson vs. Phil E Blunt (MMWA-SICW ,April 11, St Louis, MO) The Prestige Rumble, (SCW/PWN Davenport Iowa) (Mississippi Madman vs. Issan Hadeev (PWE April 4, Springfield Illinois ) Jaysin Strife and Vic Victory – Arik Cannon and Ryan Cruz (PWP April 11, Council Bluffs Iowa)
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..JPG)
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 