I first found out about this show on the Chicago wrestling board about a month or so ago. It caught my interest mostly because there were names on the card of wrestlers I know of who I've yet to have the chance to see in person. So, I put this show on my radar as one I might check out. As more and more was announced for the show, the card became absolutely stacked and I knew I had to check it out. And just like the IPW show last week, this show delivered....BIG TIME!!!!
One of the things that was appealing to me about this one was that I could go to work and not have to cancel anything and still make the show. So, that was my plan and all worked out well, except for that fact that when I got to the place that Google maps directed me, all I found was an empty field. Luckily, O'Fallon is a small town and I went down this other road and found the place, but word to the wise, if anyone plans to go to one of these shows in the future, don't use Google maps to find it! I got there about 20 minutes before the doors were supposed to open and there were a few people in the lobby of the building. At least I didn't have to stand outside in the 19 degree weather, which was VERY nice!!!! As I stood there, more people showed up....and more people....and still MORE people. Once they opened the doors, I got in and got a front row seat. The room was set up kind of strange. The ceiling was very low and there were beams and light fixtures over the ring, so I knew there wouldn't be too much high-flying. They only had a few chairs set up so I guessed they weren't planning for much of a crowd. They under-estimated things BIG time. As I sat there, I watched the door and people were coming in literally in droves! The stream of people just didn't stop. They started setting up chairs in every area and corner of the entire room. There were sooooo many people crammed into that small room. It was insane! There had to be at least 250 people there, which isn't a huge amount, but this was an "events room" of a Knights of Columbus, so yeah, it was a really small room with a LOT of people! The overall set up was interesting. They had lights and smoke machines and had these flood lights (smaller versions of the ones ROH uses) set up in each corner of the ring. The ring was old, but it looked to be an either 18 or maybe even 20-foot ring, which is bigger than most indy shows. I saw MsChif there. She was just hanging out as a fan and watching the show!
Once everyone was packed into that small area, the show began. The ring announcer came out and welcomed everyone to the show. He then announced the first wrestler, who was some young guy who came out, but was then attacked by another guy and thrown to the back. The second guy jumped in the ring and said that he was Darin Childs and that he is the owner of ACW Wrestling in Texas. I've heard of him, but I had never seen him before and didn't know he ran ACW. He grabbed the mic and started saying that ACW was going to take over St. Louis wrestling. Noone really knew if he was being a heel or a face. He was getting a huge heel reaction, but he was trying to say things that people would like. He then said he wanted to make the first match a six-man tag, which led to....
Darin Childs, Adam Raw & Shorty Biggs vs. The Holligans & Georgous JordanI have no idea who Raw and Biggs are. Biggs got a pretty big reaction so I'm guessing he's a local St. Louis guy. The Holligans were just Mason and Devin Cutter, no Neil Diamond Cutter. Jordan was this HUGE fat, hairy guy who wasn't wearing much. He reminded me of a taller Basion Booger and yeah, he was every bit as gross too. Nothing much of note happened in the match. Just a few typical comedy spots to start off. At one point, Jordan and Raw fought to the back and weren't seen again. The Hooligans, Childs and Biggs then brawled around the ring. Lots of chairs were used. It was a decent little brawl. When they got back into the ring, one of The Hooligans pinned, I think, Biggs for the win.
Next, "Don't Stop Believing" started blasting through the speakers. Out came a well-dressed, tall, thin guy with a title belt. The guy was HILARIOUS!!! He started striking all of these insane, WAY over-the-top poses and he literally looked like a comic book character. He had this HUGE, big-toothed, painted grin and he started screaming along to the lyrics of the song (Does Silas Young know about this??? Ha ha!!). The guy was at least 6 and a half feet tall with really long arms and legs. He jumped up in the ring and started doing these insane, over-the-top dances and was so dead-set into his character that nothing phased him. It was as if he didn't even realize he looked like a total goof-ball. I usually can't stand this kind of stuff at wrestling shows, but this guy was AWESOME!!! He got on the mic and said that his name is R.D. Evans and he's the ACW champ. He then went on to cut this huge promo about how he had killed off LWA wrestling and that he was going to clean things up and all that usual kind of wrestling promo stuff. He then talked about how he was facing Rachel Summerlyn later that night and how he wasn't going to hit a woman and all that kind of stuff. Summerlyn then came out and they did the usual wrestling confrentation spot and he ended up slapping her HARD and set the stage for their match later in the night. Granted, this was the usual wrestling set up that I personally find boring, but this Evans guy was just so good at what he was doing that I found myself very entertained by him.
ACW U-30 Title
ACH (c) vs. JT Lamotta vs. Shane Hollister vs. Tony Kozina vs. Billy McNeil vs. Darin CorbinACH came out first and explained the whole "U-30" title thing. Apprently, it's a title that only people under 30 can hold. Sounds like someone's been watching the Chikara "Young Lion's Cup". Anyway, he then said that some of his oppoents tonight are over 30 (at least Kozina is) and that he shouldn't have to put up his title. JT came out next with some sort of TV/You Tube title and said that he would put his title as well and the winner of the match would get both belts. Once McNeil, Hollister and Kozina came out, a fuse in the building blew and everything went dark. It took them a good 10 minutes to get things running again. Corbin came out with no intro or music. They turned the house lights on and the match was on. Nothing of huge note in the match, Kozina was playing a heel and looked as awesome as ever! ACH looked good too, pulling off so fast moves. Everything was moving so quickly. Everyone seemed to be working well. The match was elimination style and McNeil was the first to go with Hollister being next. At some point, they got the lights back on. Corbin and Kozina started working together as a sort of heel team, but ACH and JT pinned both of them at the same time. It came down to JT and ACH. They both pulled off some decent moves but in the end, ACH rolled up JT and they did the whole "both guy's shoulders were down" spot and called the match a double-pin. They basically just didn't want to have a title change, obviously. A decent match, but the ending was stupid.
Dingo vs. Matt FitchettMan, it was cool to see Dingo again!!! When I first started going to indy shows back in 2008, I saw him at almost every show and thought he always pulled out some good matches. In 2009, he broke his neck in a match and retired. The last time I saw him was on the DVD of the IWA:MS show were he said goodbye and was wearing one of those halo things that was screwed into his head. But, last night, he looked to be in great shape and was all healed up. The match was being billed as a "student vs. teacher" match. Fitchett is a young, skinny kid with goofy tattoos. At the start of the match, he hugged Dingo but Dingo didn't look impressed. He went on to beat the living Hell out of him! Dingo was in full-on "heel mode". He actually came off looking like a legit jerk. Fitchett fought back at one point, but Dingo laid him out with a stiff kick between the legs and then pinned him. After the match, the ring announcer tried to talk to him. Dingo grabbed the mic and did a full-on heel promo and said that he was back, but wasn't the same Dingo he was before. He said that he wasn't alone anymore either. Arik Cannon then ran out to the ring and they both beat the crap out of Fitchett and the ring announcer. Needless to say, the spot sure drew some heat! The match and the post-match stuff was all done pretty well.
Davey Richards (w/ Kozina & Kyle O'Reilly) vs Davey Vega I had seen Vega before. He popped up at a couple of smaller, early shows I saw back when I first started going to indy shows and was nothing too impressive. In fact, he was the guy Dingo was wrestling when he broke his neck, although Dingo's said it happened because he took a move wrong and wasn't Vega's fault. Since I last saw him, Vega's improved....BIG TIME!!! Richards was his usual, awesome self. That guy is literally a machine in the ring, but Vega hung with him and looked very impressive. The action was back and forth with lots of submission moves and extremely brutal chops, kicks and punches. There were so many near falls. The match just went on and on and both guys were just sooooooooooo awesome!!! Both guys were so beat down that they seemed as though they could hardly even move. The end came when Richards locked on his ankle lock but Vega reversed it and Richards reversed it again and then again and again until Richards got Vega on the map and made him tap out. After the match, Richards put Vega over HUGE as the crowd chanted "That was awesome!" Richards said he wanted to come back, but only if he could fight people as talented as Vega. Absolutely awesome match!
Next was intermission. During that, some barely-dressed little chick came out and did a promo about her being a manager or something. Her voice was annoying and it was rather pointless really.
Akria Tozawa vs. Gerald James (w/ some guy and a guy in a dress)I've seen James before. He's worked some shows using the name Gary Jay and is a tall, skinny guy and was never all that impressive. I once saw him do a hardcore/brawl kind of match with Neil Diamond Cutter at a small show in Illinois about a year and half ago. The guy can take a pretty good beating. I'm not sure what was up with the guy he came out with or the guy wearing a wig and a dress. Tozawa was impressive. He looked like a slightly smaller Masato Tanaka. James didn't get much offense and Tozawa was in control pretty much the whole time. He did a lot of huge suplexes, kind of like Tazz (back when he was an ECW badass) or Daisuke Sekimoto. He also did a few dives to the outside. He also took out the guy in the dress. In the end, Tozawa got the win after a series of huge German suplexes. The match was kind of short and I was expecting a little more, but overall, it wasn't bad at all.
Arik Cannon vs. Kyle O'Reilly (w/Davey Richards & Tony Kozina)I'm not sure why he does it, but Cannon came out to "Just a Girl". O'Reilly looked impressive as always. I never realized it before, but in the face, O'Reilly kinda looks a little like JC Bailey. Anyway, the match was full of stiff brutality. Both guys looked awesome. There wasn't any spot that stood out, but the match was full of stiff strikes, insane submission holds and lots of near-falls. In the end, Cannon got the hard-fought win. Great match!
ACW Title
R.D. Evans vs. Rachel SummerlynAfter the promo from earlier in the show, I was actually kind of hyped-up for this match. Evans came out and posed and danced and made a general goof of himself, but I gotta say...that guy is awesome! Before last night, I knew nothing about him. He's kind of like a combination of Tracy Smothers, Adrian Street and Larry Sweeney. He came out in pink and black tights and a cape! He's the best gay-ish, comedy heel I've seen in a long time. Summerlyn looked great! She's dropped a bunch of weight and is in grerat shape. She sort of reminds me of a taller LuFisto. The match started off with lots of stalling and comedy-style spots, but as I said before, Evans kind of reminds me of Tracy Smothers in that sure, it's what I don't like about wrestling, but it was so entertaining that I didn't mind it. His moves weren't great, but his dedication to his character was amazing. I'm not even sure why this guy's a wrestler. He should be an actor! Anyway, once the match really kicked in, both of them worked hard. Summerlyn took some wickedly stiff chops to her chest (I hope they were okay! HA HA!!!!). There were a lot of crazy submission moves as well. Evans' long, thin arms and legs made him look like he was made of rubber and Summerlyn was bending in ways a person shouldn't bend. In the end, Evans locked her into a nasty looking submission and she tapped out. As she was helped to the back, Evans danced, sang and posed his way to the back. While the actual wrestling was decent, the overall package of the comedy spots and promos made the match a lot of fun!
Main Event
St. Louis Anarchy title match
Evan Gelistico (c) vs. Dan WalshAt this point, I was worn out from everything. I'm not even sure why this was the main event since neither guy had an overly impressive look. I guess Walsh was on some MTV reality show. I wouldn't know because I'd honestly rather watch WWE then anything on MTV...and I don't give two drizzling sh*ts about WWE!!! Anyway, he looked jacked-up and was full of energy. I had seen Gelistico before. He was another guy who I saw when I first started going to shows who wasn't all that impressive, but man, had he improved! He's tall, thin and moved slowly. He reminded me a bit of Steven (or William) Regal. The match started off rather blandly with nothing much of note happening. Gelistico kept called Walsh "The Miz". Once the action went to the outisde and chairs started being used, things got interesting. Walsh did a really weak blade job and was bleeding a little. When they got back into the ring, Gelistico pounded Walsh's cut, but it was still just bearly bleeding. They went back outside and more chairs were used. Walsh bladed again and this time, he was bleeding a bit more. They came over to the section where I was sitting and Gelistico threw Walsh through a bunch of chairs. He then pulled up a chair and sat there, pointing to fans and calling them retards....even me. HEY!! What did I do?? Ha ha!!!! Once Walsh got back up, he took Gelistico out and then set up a bunch of chairs and suplexed him onto them. They got back in the ring and Evan continued to beat down Walsh, the ref (who he threw out of the ring and hit his head on the floor HARD) and anyone he could get his hands on. When the ref got back in the ring, Walsh was almost knocked out and the ref stopped the match. Walsh got on the mic and said he wanted to match restarted, but then Dingo and Arik Cannon hit the ring and beat Walsh down. It wasn't exactly the best way to end the match or the show, for that matter, but that was it. Gelistico looked pretty darn good....Walsh wasn't that impressive, but he looked good in a WWE-ish kind of way.
All in all, I can't say this show was as good as the IPW show last week, but it was still a really, really good show. There were some low points. I'm not a big fan of in-ring promos, and while they did a lot of them, they really didn't take away from the show and did a good job of building interest for the matches and future shows. None of the matches stood out as being horrible. Without a doubt, the match of the night was Richards vs. Vega. Is it even possible for Richards to have a bad match?
And I gotta say, I'm now a fan of Robert "R.D." Evans.
The next show is going to be on March 12th at the same building in O'Fallon. They officially announced Portia Perez and Masada for that show. I think I'm already on board for that one, if for no other reason, the blood mark in me can't miss a Masada match if he's working that close to Evansville....HA HA!!!!
I did take my camera and got a bunch of pictures. I’ll try to get those posted as soon as I can.
