The beginning of an Iowa dynasty? SCW Hawkamania VII: Anger Rising in review!

Despite SCW running the much nearer Iowa City six times before I attended Hawkamania VII, I hadn't managed to actually get to a show at the Wildwood Steakhouse and Saloon. I found the venue's layout incredibly odd upon arrival, complicated by the fact that I didn't arrive far enough in advance to guarantee myself a place to sit! But while I cannot comment on the food at the place, I will say SCW put on a heck of a show.

Hopefully, they will get a 2018 Pat Angerer picture for his next appearance...

The night kicked off with two young stars I was thoroughly impressed with the night before: DDT's Rekka and Naomi Yoshimura. They would not disappoint tonight either as they went up against the reunited team of Dante Leon and Sage Cainan. The DDT contingent were on point for their spots. Dante is an incredibly gifted worker whose look I simply don't understand. It's a strange thing to say about a high flyer, but Sage feels like he just needs to slow down a bit as he missed a few cues in the match. It seemed clear he knew it as well, as he seemed flustered by match's end. Thankfully the energy he, Dante and the DDT boys brought made up for any missed spots in the match. The four men warmed up the crowd like no one's business. The energy of the room after Dante and Sage picked up the win was almost electric.

Latin Thunder and Johnny Wisdom received an unfortunate spot following that match. The two men decided to go old school, with Wisdom's strikes against Thunder's grappling and mad dropkicks. Thunder picked up the win in a fairly brief encounter, a bit of a surprise after Wisdom's win at the previous show.

Sensei Bock made a change leading into the next two matches, swapping out his bout and that of his protege Jimmy Thomas. This put Bock in a QC Cup contenders match while Travis was up against Mason Beck. Beck's been booked as a monster at the last few shows I've attended and this was no different. Though Thomas isn't much smaller than Mason, his fear at the site of his foe quickly made him seem it. Thomas tried to mount offense but the angry Beck dismantled him in a brief match.

Bock didn't appear at ringside for that battle, but popped back up as the contenders match was next. His opponents were Chase Holliday, the first I've seen of this Black & Brave graduate though he's been around a bit, and Shain Bender. I barely mentioned Bender in my Insurgency review. He wasn't particularly impressive in that tag bout, which the other three men seemed to carry far more than he did. That changed here as he played the sole babyface against two villains. He showed off a bit more fundamental wrestling here, as well as some impressive flying. He still needs a ton of seasoning, but he's got potential.

The next match took the new unit of Joeasa, Robin Steele and Deonn Rusman and pitted them against Joeasa's long rival Connor Braxton, the SCW champion Shane Hollister and Travis Titan, a man that picked up a shock win over Mason Beck last show. The match was wild and chaotic as a good six man brawl should be. Things turned a little rough when a loosened rope caused Rusman to slip and take a nasty spill against the rear ropes. He looked visibly dazed for much of the match afterwards, but to his credit he held up his end as the big man of the heel team. The face squad had a ton more experience as Hollister's years in wrestling is probably three or four times that of the heel contingent combined. But the real story here was interference by Mason Beck on Titan as well as Hollister's ongoing rival Xander Killen. With two of the three faces out of the ring, Joeasa and his crew triple teamed Braxton for the win.

That top half of the show featured two of the night's three matches. The second half of the night got off to a slow start with a battle for QC Cup between current holder Braden McBride and the rather interesting Corn Boy, a feral character that is just really in love with corn. Despite the weird gimmick, he seems to be over strong with the Iowa City crowd. SCW does alright with goofy gimmicks, whether it was Bobbi Dahl, Steven Youngblood or the team of Thumb & Finger, but Corn Boy might be a bit too out there even for me. McBride has done little to show me why he should be holding the cup, working the most basic heel-with-valet gimmick. The match wasn't bad, but it didn't lift off the second half to much of a start either.

Xander Killen took on Krotch in the semi-main event. This one showed some solid storytelling as Killen targeted Krotch's neck and dissected the fifteen year veteran for the rest of the match. He took out Krotch even as he stopped a few times mid-match to call out SCW champion Shane Hollister. Hollister would eventually appear, but only after Killen started to attack the already injured Krotch post-match. Killen ran for the hills, with my assumption that the two men will have a payoff sooner or later, perhaps say... at the next show?

The show's main event had been hyped for several months now. Iowa Hawkeye and Indianapolis Colt veteran Pat Angerer hosted that event, but Vicious & Delicious targeted him for scorn. This set up a match between Angerer and fellow Hawkeye veteran Steve Manders against JT Energy and Jah-C of Vicious & Delicious. Manders win over both men in a six man tag at Insurgency made it a title bout. SCW hyped it as their biggest main event ever and the four men set out not to disappoint.

I really don't know how much training Angerer had going into the bout. But whatever work he put in at the Black and Brave Wrestling Academy and with Manders was clearly enough. Though his segments of the match were somewhat limited, it was clear he knew how to bump and to land some good hits. Vicious and Delicious played up their status as three time SCW tag champions, using every wily veteran move they could as they fought to dissect Manders. But when Angerer did come in he was a house afire and with his size, his bowling over Energy and Jah was perfectly convincing.

I came in expecting a screwjob finish of some kind, perhaps Valentina Loca (who was in attendance but didn't perform) aligning with her former foes in Vicious & Delicious. Instead, the Hawkamaniacs landed the clean win in the middle of the ring right after Angerer hit a big Stunner. The two men celebrated with Angerer's kid and a couple Steveweisers post-match.

Two Iowa Hawkeyes becoming tag team champions in Iowa City was pretty much guaranteed to ignite the crowd, but the great match made the celebration afterwards that much more special. What their victory means for the future of the SCW tag team titles I cannot guess, but it seems clear we'll see Angerer team with Manders again to defend them.

While the last show topped Hawkamania VII in shear impressive matches, I cannot imagine a single fan went home disappointed after a great show. If you're interested in seeing some highlights, a local QC sports show filmed it for Youtube. While the quality isn't spectacular, it shows off just how hard working these stars, young or veteran, actually are.

SCW returns this Saturday, December 8th with their final event of the year Season's Beatings in their home base of Walcott. That being said, they've got a full slate planned in 2019 with two to three shows a month for much of the first half of the year. For more, check out their official website or follow them on Twitter.