A look back at SCW Unbroken

I had the pleasure of attending my third SCW show in Walcott, Iowa over the past weekend. Unbroken presented a different experience from previous SCW shows with a limited roster of regulars and a few guest stars out of the Kansas area. (Just enough for a car full, hmm.)

Mark Sterling does not look like that at all anymore.

The show opened with a ten bell salute for Dusty Rhodes, a fitting tribute for the American Dream, but also a little sad when you consider several other great classic stars passed in the six weeks between shows. But I suppose Dusty means more to a lot of folks than the likes of Buddy Landel.

Connor Braxton and Eli Machete, the SCW Tag Team champions, kicked off the show but tonight they were not at the Walcott Coliseum for a title match, but in solo action. Braxton kicked off the show as he took on Johnny Wisdom of The Sindicate.

Now Wisdom definitely plays a heel, but his comic chops are good enough to sell against just about anyone. He put on a crisp, hard-hitting battle with Braxton and not even interference by Steven Youngblood could help him score the victory.

Wisdom and Youngblood waylaid Braxton and Machete after the match, but this was only the start of another match on the card as Machete took on Youngblood. Eli sold an injured foot for the entire match (and the rest of the show) which allowed Youngblood to mount a lot of offense. Machete came back more than once to look like he would pick up a win, but Youngblood proved too much for him. The end of the match was harmed more than a little by John G not counting the three count at any level of normal speed, which leaves me to believe that Machete may actually have been hurt and the finish changed.

Adrian Alexander and Bodie Van Zandt came to the ring and laid a smackdown on Braxton and Machete again. They made it clear they were angling for the SCW Tag Team titles.

Match three was the visiting Jeff O'Shea, a super talented young high flyer out of Omaha, against the devious Black & the Brave turncoat Fabian. The announcers weirdly hyped Fabian's undefeated streak during the match—he won his first outing and last show ended in a double countout—which seemed a bit early for such talk. But while Jeff looked golden against the face-painted weirdo, the announce team telegraphed the finish as Fabian planted O'Shea for the finish.

Krotch versus Mark Sterling closed out the first half of the show. Sterling was here at the invite of The Sindicate's leader Mark Storm to take on the fan favorite Krotch. Sterling celebrates his crossfit training now, which earned him a few boos in the land where Seth Rollins is king, but he earned even more boos when he brutally assaulted Krotch. But while Krotch probably gave up a hundred pounds at least to Sterling, he's built far more on balls than brains. No matter what Sterling hit him with, he wouldn't stay down. Ultimately, he scored with a flash roll up to beat Sterling 1-2-3. But Sterling wasn't done there. He leveled Krotch to make sure he wouldn't be interfering in the main event.

After the intermission, Alexander and Van Zandt took to the ring again. They were making their tag team match debut against two stars new to SCW, the King Brothers. Jake and Brian King, two very big guys that regularly work for Metro Pro Wrestling out of Kansas City. They work a real rough and tumble style that didn't mesh quite as well as one might hope against the far smaller heel team. But both teams did get to show off a lot of talent. Alexander and Van Zandt hit an awesome double team move (an Eat Defeat / Facecrusher combo) to pick up the win. I checked in with the team on Twitter to learn the name of the move. Bodie answered  that it was called the Old Yeller "as we will be putting people down like dogs with it."

The only match with a title on the line hit the semi-main event spot as Bobbi Dahl defended his Quad Cities Cup against Biff Malibu. This was a true battle of the big men and the two guys had a lot of fun with it. In the wake of Friday's Supreme Court decision the effeminate Dahl got a lot of play out of his love for other men with far more fan support than usual. But the match came down to some hard hitting action for the last few minutes before Dahl planted Malibu for the pin.

The main event was the big showdown pitting The Sindicate's Tank Roberts and the SCW champion Nevin Knoxville against Shane Hollister and Marek Brave. With the explosive history between these two units, people were going to throw down hard. That's just what happened as the action spilled all over the Coliseum. The match was utterly brutal, but it would ultimately be shady tactics by The Sindicate that scored them the victory for the second month in a row.

SCW Commissioner Sean Morrow hit the floor after the screw job finish and made an ultimatum. Mark Storm would put complete control of the company on the line in a match at Red, White and Bruised or the entire rest of the roster would start a new promotion. Storm had no choice to set up the match for July 10th whether he liked it or not.

Overall, another great show from SCW. While I missed the advertised Latin Thunder and a few of the other stars from the last couple shows (Bucky Collins, Mallaki Matthews and J.J. Garrett were all missed), the show put on a very solid show with its regulars and four guest stars.

Sadly, their next show is scheduled directly against the Hall of Fame show in Waterloo on July 10th, so I am not sure I will make it to Red, White and Bruised. But if you're in the Eastern Iowa area and want to see some great action, go check them out. You will be glad you did.