Post by cavedweller73 on May 22, 2011 21:59:49 GMT -5
Here's what went down last night in O'Fallon:
Pre-Show match
U-30 Title Match
Akira Tozawa (c) vs. Mat Fitchett
This match was a pre-show match because they were taping it as an "Internet exclusive". If (or when) it pops up on their You Tube channel, I'll post a link. The match was short and to the point, but it was also really good, even though it was mostly just Tozawa beating the snot out of Fitchett. Fitchett did get a little offense in, but not much. At one point, Tozawa hit him with one of the nastiest jumping Yukuza kicks I've ever seen. In the end, Tozawa hit a belly-to-back dead lift suplex (ala Masato Tanaka or Daisuke Sekimoto) for the pin.
After that, they did a ten-bell salute to Randy Savage, which I thought was a pretty classy move.
K.C. Karrington vs. Christian Rose
Both of these guys have worked in IWAU, with of course, Rose being the most well-known of the two for that. In fact, there was quite a bit of IWAU involvement last night. Anyway, K.C. came out wearing a long, silver coat that had "I AM GOD" written on the back. He was yelling something about being a Messiah (not possible since he has both of his thumbs (XPW/CZW reference there)) and he kind of looked like a cross between Christopher Daniels and Moby (the techno musician guy). The match really wasn't anything special, but Rose did look pretty good. K.C. would have been better had he not been shouting "I am Jesus!" after every spot he did. In the end, K.C. got the pin by rolling up Rose and pulling his tights. After the match, Rose acted like he was going to shake K.C.'s hand but then hit him with a wicked stiff elbow to the jaw. Then, another large, hairy guy ran in the ring and attacked Rose. The guy was at least 6 and a half feet tall, with really long hair. He squashed Rose with a powerslam and then him and K.C. left with K.C. yelling something about building a new church.
Next, Adam Raw came out and cut a promo about how he's been in the business for years and he didn't want to work with younger talent. He then challenged anyone in the back to a match, which lead to...
Adam Raw vs. Aiden Young
Young is another guy who's popped up in IWAU. Match was nothing special. Raw got a ton of heel heat and pretty much beat the crap out of Young. However, at one point, Young had Raw on the outside and allowed a fan to chop him the chest and then had the fan hold up a chair while he ran Raw's head into it. When they got back into the ring, Raw was beating up Young again until Jordan Lacey came out and distracted Raw. Young then hit Raw with a front face DDT and pinned him.
Next, Dan Walsh came out for his "birthday party". He said he didn't want anything special for his birthday but asked to be allowed to cut a promo in which he could say anything he wanted. So, he cut a profanity-filled promo on Evan Gilestico and how he wants his St. Louis Anarchy title. This brought out Gary Jay and his "parents". Walsh then cut another promo on them and in the end, challenged Dorian Victory (Jay's "dad") to a match.
Dan Walsh vs. Dorian Victory
Victory (no relation to Jack Victory, I'm guessing) is a large, somewhat out-of-shape black guy. The match spilled to the outside quickly and pretty much stayed out there. It was quite a brawl too. Walsh had a fan hold a chair while he ran Victory's head into it (where have I seen THAT before?) and they were throwing each other into the walls. When I realized the action wasn't coming back to the ring any time soon, I made my way over to get a closer look. When I got there, I saw Victory hit Walsh with the weakest chairshot I've ever seen. Once Walsh got back up, he pretty much mauled Victory. They made their way back to the ring and Walsh continued to beat him down. He tried to lift him, but Victory sandbagged him and so Walsh locked him into a cross-face submission hold and Victory tapped out. As much as I almost hate to say it, Walsh is growing on me. He's just about everything I can't stand about pro wrestling. He's a good-looking, well-built guy who's an ex-Marine, a hometown boy AND he was on an MTV reality show. If he came out to "Real American" and posed a bit more, he'd be over like Hulk Hogan. I'm sure that if he wanted, he could make it to WWE or more likely, TNA (or whatever they're called now). But in the three times I've seen him now, he's been impressive, mostly because to me, it seems he's out there not trying to just impress the fans, but impress the other workers by busting his butt and actually working hard to get over. I have to say that I respect that. He's not the greatest in the world, but he's not too bad either.
ACW Title Match
Davey Vega (c) vs. Dingo
Vega won the title last week from Matthew Palmer in Texas. I'm not sure why they would take the belt off Palmer and put it on Vega, but it is what it is. As I've said before, Vega's good, but he's nowhere near as good as he THINKS he is. Dingo looked awesome! He's dropped at least 10 or 15 pounds just since the last time I saw him and he literally looks like a machine. He looked in better shape then he did during his last IWA:MS run before he broke his neck. The match was good, although I really hate how Vega plays to the crowd while he's taking his opponent's spots. Jeeze....we know you're really not getting hurt, but you don't have to make it THAT obvious! The match had a really weird ending. Vega hit Dingo with a bulldog-like move from the top rope and got dangerously close to the low ceiling. Both guys were laying in the ring and the ref (I think his name is Texas Jones...he also is from IWAU) counted. Dingo looked to have lifted his arm, but the ref counted three and called the pin. Vega looked as though he was legit hurt and I thought maybe he really did hit his head on the ceiling. Dingo jumped up and looked VERY p*ssed off. Then, Darin Childs came into the ring and started cutting a promo about how he's the #1 contender for the title and how he didn't like Vega at first and all this....meanwhile, Dingo left through the door behind the merch table and looked very, VERY mad. So, I don't know what happened there, but I'm guessing that wasn't exactly how that match was suppose to end.
Next, "Gorgeous" Jordan Lacey came to the ring. Adam Raw ran in and attacked him, leading to...
Adam Raw vs. Jordan Lacey
This wasn't so much a match as much as Raw beating the crap out of Lacey. Raw put a chair in the corner between the ropes and ran Lacey's head into it. Lacey did a weak bladejob and bled some. Raw pinned him and that was that. Lacey was helped to the back.
Next was an intermission. Dan Walsh came out and was obviously drunk and tried to hit on the two girls sitting behind me. It was pretty funny.
St. Louis Anarchy title
Evan Gilestico (c) vs. Shane Hollister
During Gilestico's entrance, the either drunk or mentally-challenged guy down the row from he got into Evan's face and during the entire match kept screaming, "I got two words for you!!!" and doing crotch chops. While it was annoying Evan's reactions were pretty funny. At one point, I considered yelling, "I got words for YOU.....SHUT UP!!!!" But, I hate drawing attention to myself. Anyway, the match was good. I've decided that I enjoy watching Gilestico much more when he's working singles matches. Pierre Abernathy is just so horrible. Anyway, Hollister looked great and at one point, he was getting a few near-falls on Gilestico. He then climbed to the top rope and screamed, "OH YEAH!!!" and did Randy Savage's elbow drop. When Evan kicked out of that, the crowd started chanting, "BULLSH*T!!!!!" In the end, Evan locked Hollister in a cross-face and he tapped out. Evan then got on the mic and started talking about all the people he had made tap out. Then, Dan Walsh came back out and reminded him that he never made him tap out and then challenged to a submissions match for the title at the next show on July 9th. That should be a really good match actually considering that their match at the first SLA show back in Jan. was much better then I expected it to be.
Darin Corbin vs. Mat Fitchett
The "Two words for you.." guy was all over Corbin and Corbin, being the entertaining guy that he is, was great with his comebacks. Basically, Corbin pointed out that the guy looked like a child molester (which he did). Anyway, Fitchett was still showing the signs of the beatdown he had gotten from Tozawa earlier in the show. Corbin used that to his advantage and basically beat the living snot out of Fitchett. Even Fitchett's family who were sitting ringside looked concerned. At one point, Corbin dropped him on his head and Fitchett started bleeding hardway. At that point, it was obvious that something was wrong. Even Corbin looked concerned and was on the mat talking to him. Fitchett didn't give up though. Corbin carried him over to the corner and set himself up for the big, final spot. And OH MY GOD, was it insane! Fitchett climbed up behind him and pulled off a TOP ROPE LUNG-BLOWER!!!!!!!! HOLY SH*T was that a nasty-looking move. After that, Fitchett was DEAD!!!! He got the pin on Corbin but could hardly move. As both of the refs were checking on him, Dingo and Arik Cannon ran into the ring and beat him up even MORE. Then, Dingo challenged him to a last man standing match at the next show. At that pint, several others, including Pierre Abernathy ran out to check on him. Fitchett was out cold. They literally carried him back like they were carrying a dead body. While I have the utmost respect for Fitchett for taking such a beat down, you have to wonder what he's doing to his body. There's a fine line between him busting his butt to earn respect and being so stupid and careless that he's going to end up in a wheelchair by the time he's 30.
ACW Tag Title match
Rachel Summerlyn & Jessica James (c) vs. The Kentucky Buffet (Matt Cage & Alex Castle) vs. Super Electro and Jack-O-Lantern
KYB came out with their Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket and when they got into the ring, they handed it to the ref and asked him to hold it up. They them got down on one knee and did the classic Undertaker pose. Funny stuff! I don't know who Electro is, but he sure works his "wrestling robot" gimmick well. His partner, Jack-O-Lantern looked quite a bit like Darin Childs in a mask. Electro and Jack didn't last long in the match. I'm not even sure how, but they got eliminated quickly. That left KYB against James and Summerlyn. Considering what I've heard about KYB's egos killing IWAU, I was hoping James and Summerlyn would make them look like fools. It all started off with a bunch of comedy spots, mostly Cage trying to hit on James and then Castle challenging her to test of strength despite the fact that he's at least a foot taller than her. After that, the match basically turned into a Rock and Roll Express-style match with James playing the Ricky Morton part and getting the crap beaten out of her while trying to get the hot tag to Summerlyn. During all of this, Cage looked decent, but man, Castle is just not very impressive at all. I think the biggest problem I had with all of this was the fact that Jessica James is all of about 5 foot 2 (if even that) and can't possibly weigh more then 100 pounds. And I get and totally respect the whole "our female wrestlers aren't 'women', they're 'athletes'." thing. But with someone as small as James even in there with a guy as big as Castle (who isn't really THAT big) how can she do anything against him? Plus, watching Cage and Castle beat her down at times, was slightly disturbing to watch....maybe I'm just old fashioned. But I think it was because she is so small. If it had been Mickie Knuckles or Lufisto in there, it probably wouldn't have mattered. Anyway, James finally did get the hot tag to Summerlyn and she fought both of them. Once James got back into the match, they both lifted her to the top rope. Summerlyn got down behind them as to trip them. Cage and Castle both turned around and saw her and said, "What the hell are you doing?" When they turned back around, James did a cross-body block on both of them and they fell over Summerlyn. Both James and Summerlyn then rolled them up and pinned both of them. After the match, James rolled out of the ring and was laying on the floor in front of me. Summerlyn stumbled over to her and fell on the floor too. James really looked out of it. All in all, it was a good match.
Main Event
U-30 Title match
Akira Tozawa (c) vs. Gary Jay vs. ACH vs. Arik Cannon
Jay came out with his "parents" again. Cannon was really working the crowd well and drawing huge heel heat....especially from the "Two words..." guy. The match basically turned into an almost tag with Jay and Cannon working together against Tozawa and ACH. The action was all over the place. ACH and Tozawa pulled off some awesome dives to the outside. The highlight of the match though was whenever ACH and Tozawa would face off. Man, talk about a dream match! ACH is just plain awesome! Anyway, as the match went on, ACH was the first to be eliminated. After that, Jay was hiding on the outside while Tozawa and Cannon faced off. That was cool to see two Dragon Gate USA guys going at it. The action was so fast-paced. I don't remember how, but Tozawa pinned Cannon and eliminated him. Just then, Jay ran in and rolled up Tozawa for the pin and the new U-30 champ is Gary Jay. I honestly didn't see that ending coming!
After the match, Tozawa went to shake Cannon's hand. When Cannon reached out, Tozawa stuck his middle finger into his face and yelled "F*CK YOU!!!!" Then, ACH and Davey Vega came out to the ring. ACH cut a promo saying how much he has learned from Tozawa and how much he has loved working with him. Vega then got on the mic and said that for those that didn't know, this Tozawa's last match for ACW. I don't know if he's signed a deal with some company or if his work visa is running out or what's going on. He's still listed as working Dragon Gate USA shows next month, so I don't know. Anyway, as Vega thanked Tozawa, he broke down and started to cry. ACH then started yelling at all of us in the front row to climb into the ring. That kind of threw me for a loop, but once everyone else started getting up, I was right there too. Vega said that we could only get up on the apron (for whatever reason) but still, just being up there was crazy! I felt like a 10-year old kid. I was looking around and thinking, "Whoa! This is cool!!!" In all the years I've been and off and on fan, I've never gotten that close to actually getting into a ring before. Anyway, we all gave Tozawa a huge ovation and he walked around the ring and hugged each and every one of us. It was an really awesome moment!
After all of that, I hopped back in my car and headed home. Last night was such a fun night. I've gotta say that by far, SLA is putting on the most entertaining shows in the somewhat local area right now. That's not to say they are the best shows ever, but they compared to just about everything else in the Indiana/Illinois region of the country (except for Chicago, of course), they are putting on some great shows. They';re next show is in O'Fallon on July 9th and it's being called "Circus Maximus" and they are saying that it's suppose to be "The biggest show of the year". Count me in!
Pre-Show match
U-30 Title Match
Akira Tozawa (c) vs. Mat Fitchett
This match was a pre-show match because they were taping it as an "Internet exclusive". If (or when) it pops up on their You Tube channel, I'll post a link. The match was short and to the point, but it was also really good, even though it was mostly just Tozawa beating the snot out of Fitchett. Fitchett did get a little offense in, but not much. At one point, Tozawa hit him with one of the nastiest jumping Yukuza kicks I've ever seen. In the end, Tozawa hit a belly-to-back dead lift suplex (ala Masato Tanaka or Daisuke Sekimoto) for the pin.
After that, they did a ten-bell salute to Randy Savage, which I thought was a pretty classy move.
K.C. Karrington vs. Christian Rose
Both of these guys have worked in IWAU, with of course, Rose being the most well-known of the two for that. In fact, there was quite a bit of IWAU involvement last night. Anyway, K.C. came out wearing a long, silver coat that had "I AM GOD" written on the back. He was yelling something about being a Messiah (not possible since he has both of his thumbs (XPW/CZW reference there)) and he kind of looked like a cross between Christopher Daniels and Moby (the techno musician guy). The match really wasn't anything special, but Rose did look pretty good. K.C. would have been better had he not been shouting "I am Jesus!" after every spot he did. In the end, K.C. got the pin by rolling up Rose and pulling his tights. After the match, Rose acted like he was going to shake K.C.'s hand but then hit him with a wicked stiff elbow to the jaw. Then, another large, hairy guy ran in the ring and attacked Rose. The guy was at least 6 and a half feet tall, with really long hair. He squashed Rose with a powerslam and then him and K.C. left with K.C. yelling something about building a new church.
Next, Adam Raw came out and cut a promo about how he's been in the business for years and he didn't want to work with younger talent. He then challenged anyone in the back to a match, which lead to...
Adam Raw vs. Aiden Young
Young is another guy who's popped up in IWAU. Match was nothing special. Raw got a ton of heel heat and pretty much beat the crap out of Young. However, at one point, Young had Raw on the outside and allowed a fan to chop him the chest and then had the fan hold up a chair while he ran Raw's head into it. When they got back into the ring, Raw was beating up Young again until Jordan Lacey came out and distracted Raw. Young then hit Raw with a front face DDT and pinned him.
Next, Dan Walsh came out for his "birthday party". He said he didn't want anything special for his birthday but asked to be allowed to cut a promo in which he could say anything he wanted. So, he cut a profanity-filled promo on Evan Gilestico and how he wants his St. Louis Anarchy title. This brought out Gary Jay and his "parents". Walsh then cut another promo on them and in the end, challenged Dorian Victory (Jay's "dad") to a match.
Dan Walsh vs. Dorian Victory
Victory (no relation to Jack Victory, I'm guessing) is a large, somewhat out-of-shape black guy. The match spilled to the outside quickly and pretty much stayed out there. It was quite a brawl too. Walsh had a fan hold a chair while he ran Victory's head into it (where have I seen THAT before?) and they were throwing each other into the walls. When I realized the action wasn't coming back to the ring any time soon, I made my way over to get a closer look. When I got there, I saw Victory hit Walsh with the weakest chairshot I've ever seen. Once Walsh got back up, he pretty much mauled Victory. They made their way back to the ring and Walsh continued to beat him down. He tried to lift him, but Victory sandbagged him and so Walsh locked him into a cross-face submission hold and Victory tapped out. As much as I almost hate to say it, Walsh is growing on me. He's just about everything I can't stand about pro wrestling. He's a good-looking, well-built guy who's an ex-Marine, a hometown boy AND he was on an MTV reality show. If he came out to "Real American" and posed a bit more, he'd be over like Hulk Hogan. I'm sure that if he wanted, he could make it to WWE or more likely, TNA (or whatever they're called now). But in the three times I've seen him now, he's been impressive, mostly because to me, it seems he's out there not trying to just impress the fans, but impress the other workers by busting his butt and actually working hard to get over. I have to say that I respect that. He's not the greatest in the world, but he's not too bad either.
ACW Title Match
Davey Vega (c) vs. Dingo
Vega won the title last week from Matthew Palmer in Texas. I'm not sure why they would take the belt off Palmer and put it on Vega, but it is what it is. As I've said before, Vega's good, but he's nowhere near as good as he THINKS he is. Dingo looked awesome! He's dropped at least 10 or 15 pounds just since the last time I saw him and he literally looks like a machine. He looked in better shape then he did during his last IWA:MS run before he broke his neck. The match was good, although I really hate how Vega plays to the crowd while he's taking his opponent's spots. Jeeze....we know you're really not getting hurt, but you don't have to make it THAT obvious! The match had a really weird ending. Vega hit Dingo with a bulldog-like move from the top rope and got dangerously close to the low ceiling. Both guys were laying in the ring and the ref (I think his name is Texas Jones...he also is from IWAU) counted. Dingo looked to have lifted his arm, but the ref counted three and called the pin. Vega looked as though he was legit hurt and I thought maybe he really did hit his head on the ceiling. Dingo jumped up and looked VERY p*ssed off. Then, Darin Childs came into the ring and started cutting a promo about how he's the #1 contender for the title and how he didn't like Vega at first and all this....meanwhile, Dingo left through the door behind the merch table and looked very, VERY mad. So, I don't know what happened there, but I'm guessing that wasn't exactly how that match was suppose to end.
Next, "Gorgeous" Jordan Lacey came to the ring. Adam Raw ran in and attacked him, leading to...
Adam Raw vs. Jordan Lacey
This wasn't so much a match as much as Raw beating the crap out of Lacey. Raw put a chair in the corner between the ropes and ran Lacey's head into it. Lacey did a weak bladejob and bled some. Raw pinned him and that was that. Lacey was helped to the back.
Next was an intermission. Dan Walsh came out and was obviously drunk and tried to hit on the two girls sitting behind me. It was pretty funny.
St. Louis Anarchy title
Evan Gilestico (c) vs. Shane Hollister
During Gilestico's entrance, the either drunk or mentally-challenged guy down the row from he got into Evan's face and during the entire match kept screaming, "I got two words for you!!!" and doing crotch chops. While it was annoying Evan's reactions were pretty funny. At one point, I considered yelling, "I got words for YOU.....SHUT UP!!!!" But, I hate drawing attention to myself. Anyway, the match was good. I've decided that I enjoy watching Gilestico much more when he's working singles matches. Pierre Abernathy is just so horrible. Anyway, Hollister looked great and at one point, he was getting a few near-falls on Gilestico. He then climbed to the top rope and screamed, "OH YEAH!!!" and did Randy Savage's elbow drop. When Evan kicked out of that, the crowd started chanting, "BULLSH*T!!!!!" In the end, Evan locked Hollister in a cross-face and he tapped out. Evan then got on the mic and started talking about all the people he had made tap out. Then, Dan Walsh came back out and reminded him that he never made him tap out and then challenged to a submissions match for the title at the next show on July 9th. That should be a really good match actually considering that their match at the first SLA show back in Jan. was much better then I expected it to be.
Darin Corbin vs. Mat Fitchett
The "Two words for you.." guy was all over Corbin and Corbin, being the entertaining guy that he is, was great with his comebacks. Basically, Corbin pointed out that the guy looked like a child molester (which he did). Anyway, Fitchett was still showing the signs of the beatdown he had gotten from Tozawa earlier in the show. Corbin used that to his advantage and basically beat the living snot out of Fitchett. Even Fitchett's family who were sitting ringside looked concerned. At one point, Corbin dropped him on his head and Fitchett started bleeding hardway. At that point, it was obvious that something was wrong. Even Corbin looked concerned and was on the mat talking to him. Fitchett didn't give up though. Corbin carried him over to the corner and set himself up for the big, final spot. And OH MY GOD, was it insane! Fitchett climbed up behind him and pulled off a TOP ROPE LUNG-BLOWER!!!!!!!! HOLY SH*T was that a nasty-looking move. After that, Fitchett was DEAD!!!! He got the pin on Corbin but could hardly move. As both of the refs were checking on him, Dingo and Arik Cannon ran into the ring and beat him up even MORE. Then, Dingo challenged him to a last man standing match at the next show. At that pint, several others, including Pierre Abernathy ran out to check on him. Fitchett was out cold. They literally carried him back like they were carrying a dead body. While I have the utmost respect for Fitchett for taking such a beat down, you have to wonder what he's doing to his body. There's a fine line between him busting his butt to earn respect and being so stupid and careless that he's going to end up in a wheelchair by the time he's 30.
ACW Tag Title match
Rachel Summerlyn & Jessica James (c) vs. The Kentucky Buffet (Matt Cage & Alex Castle) vs. Super Electro and Jack-O-Lantern
KYB came out with their Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket and when they got into the ring, they handed it to the ref and asked him to hold it up. They them got down on one knee and did the classic Undertaker pose. Funny stuff! I don't know who Electro is, but he sure works his "wrestling robot" gimmick well. His partner, Jack-O-Lantern looked quite a bit like Darin Childs in a mask. Electro and Jack didn't last long in the match. I'm not even sure how, but they got eliminated quickly. That left KYB against James and Summerlyn. Considering what I've heard about KYB's egos killing IWAU, I was hoping James and Summerlyn would make them look like fools. It all started off with a bunch of comedy spots, mostly Cage trying to hit on James and then Castle challenging her to test of strength despite the fact that he's at least a foot taller than her. After that, the match basically turned into a Rock and Roll Express-style match with James playing the Ricky Morton part and getting the crap beaten out of her while trying to get the hot tag to Summerlyn. During all of this, Cage looked decent, but man, Castle is just not very impressive at all. I think the biggest problem I had with all of this was the fact that Jessica James is all of about 5 foot 2 (if even that) and can't possibly weigh more then 100 pounds. And I get and totally respect the whole "our female wrestlers aren't 'women', they're 'athletes'." thing. But with someone as small as James even in there with a guy as big as Castle (who isn't really THAT big) how can she do anything against him? Plus, watching Cage and Castle beat her down at times, was slightly disturbing to watch....maybe I'm just old fashioned. But I think it was because she is so small. If it had been Mickie Knuckles or Lufisto in there, it probably wouldn't have mattered. Anyway, James finally did get the hot tag to Summerlyn and she fought both of them. Once James got back into the match, they both lifted her to the top rope. Summerlyn got down behind them as to trip them. Cage and Castle both turned around and saw her and said, "What the hell are you doing?" When they turned back around, James did a cross-body block on both of them and they fell over Summerlyn. Both James and Summerlyn then rolled them up and pinned both of them. After the match, James rolled out of the ring and was laying on the floor in front of me. Summerlyn stumbled over to her and fell on the floor too. James really looked out of it. All in all, it was a good match.
Main Event
U-30 Title match
Akira Tozawa (c) vs. Gary Jay vs. ACH vs. Arik Cannon
Jay came out with his "parents" again. Cannon was really working the crowd well and drawing huge heel heat....especially from the "Two words..." guy. The match basically turned into an almost tag with Jay and Cannon working together against Tozawa and ACH. The action was all over the place. ACH and Tozawa pulled off some awesome dives to the outside. The highlight of the match though was whenever ACH and Tozawa would face off. Man, talk about a dream match! ACH is just plain awesome! Anyway, as the match went on, ACH was the first to be eliminated. After that, Jay was hiding on the outside while Tozawa and Cannon faced off. That was cool to see two Dragon Gate USA guys going at it. The action was so fast-paced. I don't remember how, but Tozawa pinned Cannon and eliminated him. Just then, Jay ran in and rolled up Tozawa for the pin and the new U-30 champ is Gary Jay. I honestly didn't see that ending coming!
After the match, Tozawa went to shake Cannon's hand. When Cannon reached out, Tozawa stuck his middle finger into his face and yelled "F*CK YOU!!!!" Then, ACH and Davey Vega came out to the ring. ACH cut a promo saying how much he has learned from Tozawa and how much he has loved working with him. Vega then got on the mic and said that for those that didn't know, this Tozawa's last match for ACW. I don't know if he's signed a deal with some company or if his work visa is running out or what's going on. He's still listed as working Dragon Gate USA shows next month, so I don't know. Anyway, as Vega thanked Tozawa, he broke down and started to cry. ACH then started yelling at all of us in the front row to climb into the ring. That kind of threw me for a loop, but once everyone else started getting up, I was right there too. Vega said that we could only get up on the apron (for whatever reason) but still, just being up there was crazy! I felt like a 10-year old kid. I was looking around and thinking, "Whoa! This is cool!!!" In all the years I've been and off and on fan, I've never gotten that close to actually getting into a ring before. Anyway, we all gave Tozawa a huge ovation and he walked around the ring and hugged each and every one of us. It was an really awesome moment!
After all of that, I hopped back in my car and headed home. Last night was such a fun night. I've gotta say that by far, SLA is putting on the most entertaining shows in the somewhat local area right now. That's not to say they are the best shows ever, but they compared to just about everything else in the Indiana/Illinois region of the country (except for Chicago, of course), they are putting on some great shows. They';re next show is in O'Fallon on July 9th and it's being called "Circus Maximus" and they are saying that it's suppose to be "The biggest show of the year". Count me in!