A new champion and a new contender! SCWPro Prestige Rumble in review

It's January in wrestling which of course means its battle royal season.

SCWPro is no different as they presented their inaugural event of 2019 this Saturady, the Prestige Rumble, at their home base in Walcott. The event was built around two huge matches: the 20 man Prestige Rumble for a #1 contendership to the SCW Heavyweight title and a Last Man Standing match between champion Shane Hollister and Xander Killen for that same title.

All image credits: SCWPro on Twitter.

The show kicked off with a QC Cup defense by Braden McBride. His opponent was none other than Dante Leon. While I'm still not sure what an "Endseeker" is exactly, Leon is incredibly over with the Walcott faithful. Leon is the definition of a high flyer, but his style has started to mature as he gains more experience. His early matches were characterized by sloppiness, but he looked far more crisp against McBride.

Braden's entire title reign has been built around the aide of his valet, Miss Olivia. This match proved no different as Olivia took an inadvertent hit from Leon. McBride used the distraction to Leon and the ref to knock out Leon with the QC Cup and pick up the cheap win.

McBride gets stronger with each match, but the randomness of the QC Cup defenses frustrates me from a storytelling sense. I'd love to see someone build an actual feud with McBride and Olivia over the next few months.

Following JP Finger's dropping of his camera at the last show, Rich the camera guy challenged Finger to a match tonight. As can be expected from a comedy wrestler and a non-wrestler, this was short and goofy. The actual moves pretty much consisted of a takedown of Finger and a figure four leg lock (a move Finger can never seem to pull off right in his matches.) Finger tapped to give Rich the win and Thumb and Finger made up with the camera man by giving him a replacement camera.

Valentina Loca wasn't supposed to be in Walcott as she was booked for an IPW show the same night. That show was cancelled due to the weather which finally gave me a chance to see Valentina wrestle live. She took on Heather Reckless, a Black and Brave graduate, in her first match.

It's always fun for me to see the students that work various positions around the show break out as talent and Reckless put on a good showing for her first match. She fumbled a cartwheel but recovered and kept going quickly, which is always the right way to handle a mistake in the ring. Both women came out of the match looking good and with two female Black & Brave graduates on the roster, SCW might just have the start of women's division.

The final match before intermission was the Last Man Standing match for the SCWPro Heavyweight title. Shane Hollister and Xander Killen's feud started as an answer to an open challenge and turned into a bloodfeud between the young upstart straight edge star Killen and the veteran Hollister. Shane's family was even brought into the feud and things turned highly personal. With anything available to use as a weapon, the two men weren't afraid to get chairs, ladders, tape and a length of rope involved. They brutally beat on each other and hit multiple big moves on one another. After Xander went through a table, Shane seemed to have the match won.

Things went dark though and a masked big man hit the ring. He threw up the mannerisms of Mason Beck, throwing up the spiked finger before landing a Beck Bomb to leave Shane unconscious in the ring. When the lights came out, Xander had just enough time to recover to stand up before the ten count was finished for both men. Though he could barely stand, Killen is now the SCW Heavyweight Champion.

The new champion!

Generally intermission brings several matches after it, but as I said before it's Rumble season and Rumbles take time. The final match of the night was the twenty man and nearly hour long Prestige Rumble. Rumbles are always hard to write up with bodies everywhere and a ton of talent on tap. Connor Braxton was entrant number one. Entrant number two came as a shock to pretty much everyone, as Matt Cage made his return to wrestling after a year and a half away. "The Money" didn't seem to have lost a step as he went all out in the battle, lasting until the final three.

The rest of the line-up featured pretty much every current SCW talent: Steve Manders, JT Energy, JAH-C, Travis Titan, Shain Bender, Joeasa, Deonn Rusman, Robin Steele, Jared Thumb, Sensei Bock, Jimmy Thomas, Sage Cainan, Steven Youngblood, Johnny Wisdom, Latin Thunder, Krotch, Corn Boy (in his Walcott debut) and even a returning Nevin Knoxville.

The final three were Matt Cage, Joeasa and Travis Titan. But they weren't alone as Joeasa's stablemates (in a stable that really needs a name) Deonn Rusman and Robin Steele hit the ring to layout the competition. They saved Joeasa from elimination by Matt Cage, and then joined in a triple team to eliminate Cage from the match. That left Joeasa and Travis Titan as the final two. Titan shocked the trio by attacking headlong. He German suplexed everyone in the ring and brought it back to one on one.

Joeasa continued to try to use the numbers to his advantage, but a last minute attempt at a save by Steele failed. He hit the ground and took the loss as Travis Titan took the win in the Prestige Rumble.

I suspect the end of the match came a bit earlier than planned, but ultimately Titan's victory proved a strong go home for the show. It's always great to see a wrestling show go out on a high, especially one that sets up a new match for the future. The only question is whether it will be Xander Killen he challenges or will Shane get a rematch first. And of course, the masked man still lurks with a desire to make his presence known in SCW. There's a lot going on as SCW starts what looks like a regular schedule of two to three shows a month in Walcott, Dubuque and Iowa City.

For more on their upcoming events check out their website or follow SCWPro on Twitter.

From an NXT star lost in the main roster shuffle to the man of many names: the Top 100 Wrestlers of 2018 #50-36

Our countdown continues for the rest of the week and the next and today it moves onto the wrestlers ranked in the first part of the second half of our list! Let's check out the names!

50. Andrade "Cien" Almas

Almas seemed lost in the shuffle when he was called up to the main roster and despite a few solid matches hasn't really been given much to do still. He's got a ton of upside, but falls in the shadows of other heels on Smackdown Live.

49. Xander Killen

His babyface work at 3XW and CEW doesn't compared to his vicious heel promos in SCW, but Xander has started to make a solid name for himself as a top up-and-comer in Iowa wrestling and beyond.

48. Tyler Bate

He finishes the year becoming a WWE exclusive talent and it couldn't happen to a better guy. Bate has shown himself to be a classy sort at a young age and continues to be a talent with a huge future in the business.

Image credit: NJPW.

47. Evil

Hampered a bit by injury, the King of Darkness remains the most solid and stable upper midcard talent in New Japan. It seems doubtful he will ever move to the main event tier there, but he's got a solid future in any promotion he wants to make his home.

46. Nick Aldis

He held the NWA title for eleven of the twelve months of the year and defended it around the world against a great array of talent. He's playing the dastardly heel most of the time, but Aldis shows that he's a far greater talent than TNA ever let him show.

45. Fenix

Fenix is an amazing talent and one of the best high flyers in the business, but probably will never exit the shadow of his brother Penta El Zero Miedo. Still, he managed to main event ALL IN which may make him a likely target for All Elite Wrestling in the new year.

44. Xavier Woods

Woods comes out well ahead of his New Day brethren on this list, I suspect because of his entertainment factor. There's few stars as consistently fun in the ring as the Up Up Down Down star.

43. David Starr

To quote his introduction: "The cream in your coffee, your favorite wrestler’s favorite wrestler, the Jewish cannon, the physical embodiment of charisma, the most entertaining man in professional wrestling, the Bernie Sanders of professional wrestling, the best of the best, Mr Americanrana, Davey Wrestling, the 104 minute man, the main event, “he’s really good at Twitter”, the king of taunts, The Product" David Starr. It's an insane list for an incredibly talented star, a consummate journeyman wrestler whose grown into an internationally known superstar. He's starting off his New Year with a free match streamed to Youtube against Pac, which should get him off to an equally bright 2019.

Image Credit: WWE.

42. Alexa Bliss

Injury certainly hampered Alexa on this list, coupled with the fact that she'll never be the best wrestler on WWE's roster. She's incredibly skilled at building stories but her bell to bell performances have never matched many of the talents on this list. Still Alexa has a ton of talent to keep her going into the future, whether she wrestles again anytime soon or not.

41. Shane Hollister

Personal issues brought "The Shug" out of retirement, but his run since in SCW has been nothing short of magic. Hollister works a heavily strike based offense that allows him to look believable in conflicts with foes twice his size. An independent veteran, I encourage everyone to seek out his appearances in SCW in the coming months.

40. Dezmond Xavier

Like his tag partner Zachary Wentz (#64), Dezmond takes high-flying to another stratosphere, hitting moves I wouldn't think a normal human could ever manage. I suspect some of this is related to their work with CIMA and Oriental Wrestling Entertainment, but they've brought it to America and Impact with a fire that should lead them to big things ahead.

39. Flip Gordon

I don't think Flip was on many people's list of top stars last year. But after signing with ROH and becoming a major featured player on Being the Elite, he's risen to be a household name for a lot of wrestling fans. Flip's still young with a ton of upside and a lot of talent. With at least another year on his ROH contract, expect him to become a foundation of the promotion in 2019.

38. Gyasi (JAH-C)

Whether as one-half of Vicious and Delicious or on his own, JAH-C made a name for himself in Iowa and Minnesota this year. As he continues to expand his wrestling horizons, he and his tag partner will hopefully see a lot more traveling in their future!

Image credit: Photos by Manning.

37. JT Energy

Personally, I rank JT Energy as the talent with the most upside on the Iowa independents. He has mastered the art of being a heel at a ridiculously young age and only grows better with each and every appearance in the ring. He's now a regular for three Iowa promotions and made his debut for the biggest, The Wrestling Revolver. With more eyes on him in 2019, here's hoping he and his partner JAH-C can get a ton more bookings!

36. Johnny Impact / Mundo / Hennigan

Impact Wrestling still has issues at the top of the card despite a stacked roster. Impact still doesn't quite feel right as the top player there, which even Impact fans took note of when they voted Sami Callihan wrestler of the year. But the former John Morrison has an uncanny control of his own body, a great style in the ring and the abs of a god. It will be interesting to see what 2019 brings for him in Impact, Lucha Underground and MLW.

With that, we are now almost two-thirds of the way through our list! Have any talents on this list surprised or shocked you? Are any of these names ones you still need to check out? Hit me with your comments and let me know!

Not even a limited roster can slow them down! SCWPro "Season's Beatings" in review!

One of the things I love about SCWPro is that they schedule their events well in advance. For someone working at a retail company with schedules a month in advance, it's very handy to be able to put in for nights off well ahead of time. It also creates issues though when another company in the area comes out and schedules on the same night. AAW's final show in LaSalle, Last Call, also landed on December 8th, which meant a lot of the company's talents were gone for the night. Connor Braxton, Joeasa, Deonn Rusman, Sensei Bock, Dante Leon, Sage Cainan and current tag champion Steve Manders were all in LaSalle, most of them working in a battle royal. But despite a third of their regular talent away for the night, Season's Beatings turned out to be a solid end of the year event.

The night opened with JT Energy and Jah-C, Vicious and Delicious, the now former tag team champions. It came as no surprise they weren't happy with the fans or the loss of their belts. They were ready to take it out on anyone they could. Their opponents came in the form of two long time SCW talents: King Steven Youngblood and Latin Thunder. The King of Scott County and the luchador did some of the best work I've seen from either man in a fairly brief opener, but Vicious and Delicious were just far too wily to lose to a makeshift team on this night.

The second match opened with Johnny Wisdom stalking to the ring, angry as ever. His opponent was a newcomer to the company, Derek Wolf. A student of Josh Raymond, a long time veteran who made his SCW return later in the night, Wolf tried hard to fire up the crowd fast. But despite his size, Wolf never really got going. Watching him, I'd guess he's a guy that is used to working as a heel in his young career, as he didn't quite have the visuals down to play the good guy. Wisdom brought the match to a merciful finish, but Wolf swore he'd be back for a rematch. I wouldn't mind seeing the kid get another chance at the promotion, just as I'd like to see more from his mentor as well.

Robin Steele came to the ring for his match without his compatriots Asa and Rusman. But his opponent Jimmy Thomas also didn't have his Sensei Bock in his corner. Instead the two men went it alone. Thomas works his student gimmick really well and he sold the vicious beating he took from Mason Beck days before just as well. He put on a valiant effort against Steele, who despite the fact that I'm anything but a fan of his gear, seems to be coming along well as a young competitor. He seems to be settling down and didn't let his desire to be a fast moving high flyer derail his fundamentals here, which seems like the routine problem of a lot of the Black and Brave students.

I've been a bit down on QC Cup holder Bradon McBride in a few of my reviews. But he showed me why the company entrusted him with the title in his defense against Shain Bender. McBride and Bender set out to steal the show. The two worked a fast paced match with a ton of big hits and big moves, but despite their speed, both men did everything in their power to keep it from turning sloppy as such matches, especially with young talents, can do. They put on an incredibly strong undercard match that I expected was going to lead to intermission after McBride used his valet Miss Olivia to secure the win yet again.

Mason paused with a
cold stare the entire time
while the kid got this
picture of him. 

Instead it lead into one of the two big matches announced ahead of time: a brutal battle between the young Travis Titan and Mason Beck. Beck is a Midwest indie stalwart, a long time talent who much like fellow SCW star Shane Hollister deserved a ton more recognition than he got in his career. Beck comes out cold and angry and never turns off for a second. Even when he's interacting with the crowd, it's often to taunt them at how much damage he's done to their favorite.

Last month, Beck decimated Titan but lost to a surprise roll up during the beat down. This month he wasn't able to destroy Titan and the two men fought a fairly even contest. Titan has sworn to make Beck tap to his Titan's Cross finisher and his focus on that move ultimately cost him the victory as he kept going for it instead of trying for more pinfalls after his big moves. He took two brutal Beck bombs and his Not-Samoan spike before Mason picked up the win.

Coming out if intermission, SCW likes to bring a fun match so it was no surprise that JP Finger and Jared Thumb made their way to ringside to battle angry Frenchman Val Eden and his new partner Timothy Legrand, a poor man that feels like he might have just been roped into Val's angry Frenchman gimmick as I didn't hear him say a word, in French or otherwise. Eden and Legrand got more offense than Eden did last time around, but this was mostly a showing for Thumb and Finger to have some fun. I remain impressed by the fundamentals beneath the comedy, as so often young stars working comedy styles are covering up a lot of inefficiencies in talent. I see none of that here and honestly hope a few indies might give them a chance to shine against the likes of Colt Cabana, Jake Manning or Kikutaro.

If you haven't seen SCW,
you haven't experienced
Krotch. There's no one
quite like him in wrestling.

As I mentioned Josh Raymond made his return to SCW and my memories at Season's Beatings. He hasn't wrestled too regularly to my knowledge since mounting injuries ended his run as one half of the House of Truth tag team in ROH, where he and the late Christin Able mostly served as silent killers for Truth Martini. As he emerged from the back to take on Krotch, he made it clear he would be anything but silent here. Instead he worked a fun little gimmick where he declared the ring his safe space and demanded fans cheer for him whenever he was in said safe space. It got him over as a heel fast with the Walcott crowd and I honestly love the idea of a wrestler triggered by booing as a gimmick. Krotch picked up the clean win, but I really do hope we get more than a one off appearance by Raymond here to fill the card. He worked a fun gimmick and I wouldn't mind seeing him take on some of the younger SCW talent. Heck, I suspect the aforementioned Thumb & Finger could have some fun with him.

Valentina Loca paid a visit to the ring to declare herself once again without competition in an SCW ring. But this time it wasn't so much her pleading for the company to bring in more female talent, but with a level of pride that she rid herself of her former partner Rahne Victoria. Val's a great talent on the mic, but I'm itching to see her actually wrestle a full match at Walcott.

With all the previous matches out of the way it was time for the main event as Shane Hollister once again defended the SCW title against Xander Killen. The two men have traded barbs on Twitter over the last few weeks as the straight edge Killen has called Hollister a drunk and a deadbeat dad. In a taped segment from before the show, Killen berated Hollister's stepdaughter and her friend about her Dad's future fate, so it goes without saying that this feud is heated.

The two men put on a match just as brutal and heavy-hitting as the one last month at Insurgency. But I realized I would have a front row seat to some of the storytelling with Hollister's daughter just a few seats away. Killen derided them more than once, but often to his own detriment as it gave Hollister time to recover from the damage Xander did.

The brutality continued for what I'm fairly certain was one of the longer main events I remember seeing at an SCW show. Ultimately it proved too much for both men as they both fell to a ten count for a no contest. Shane Hollister demanded a Last Man Standing bout with Killen in response, a match immediately made by Marek Brave for the next show in January.

Here's where I'll throw in my one tiny booking gripe, as a Last Man Standing match would have ended in the exact same way if both men couldn't answer the ten count. It might have served their purpose to set up just a typical Street Fight instead, but they brought one of those to Walcott at just the last event, so I can understand the reason they avoided it here.

But beyond that tiny gripe, Season's Beatings was a well-booked clean-flowing great way to spend ten dollars. From top to bottom, everyone seemed to know this was their chance to shine on a card with far less talents than the usual SCW show. And with a large crowd out on a perfect December night, here's hoping everyone that did make the show got to home with a few more dollars in their pockets!

SCW has a month off before they return with their next Walcott event on January 18th, their annual 20 man Prestige Rumble. With that match and the continuance of the Hollister / Killen feud, it looks to be a barnburner. For more on the promotion, check out their official website.

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.

A wrestling 'Insurgency' in Walcott!

It was Survivor Series weekend, but I didn't sit down to watch either WWE event this weekend live. With a day job and a side gig writing for this site, a half dozen other places and a new novel in the works something has to give. But I wasn't going to miss out on an event from the fine folks of SCW if I could help it. So while many were glued to their televisions, I rebelled from the World Wrestling Entertainment machine and traveled to scenic Walcott, Iowa for Insurgency.

For my troubles, I got to watch one of the best events I've ever seen from the company.

The night opened with a banger though. A six man tag match pitted the QC Cup holder Braden McBride and the tag team champions JAH-C and JT Energy (better known as Vicious & Delicious) battled ex-Iowa Hawkeye, "The 1" Steve Manders and the veterans Krotch and Latin Thunder. Their next event features a big tag match between Vicious & Delicious, Manders and another former Iowa football star making his wrestling debut, former Indianapolis Colt Pat Angerer. So it was no surprise that while everyone got a chance to hit a big move or two, this was mostly about Vicious & Delicious and Manders. That didn't stop Vicious & Delicious (quickly doing their best to be SCW's "Best Bout Machines, with all apologies to Kenny Omega) from showing why I'm far from the only one high on this pair of excellent young talents. Manders ultimately managed a double pin on both tag champions, an easy set up for Marek Brave to make the tag match coming up for the titles.

After a rollicking start, "The Cajun Kid" Sage Cainan made his return to the company looking much improved from the previous times I've seen him in action. He went up against the veteran Johnny Wisdom, one of the last few old guard members of the roster left. Wisdom plays a classic heel so well that he pulls down heat whenever he enters. His style is also based on a lot of strikes and suplexes with a handful of submissions mixed in, basically the moveset of every create a wrestler in every wrestling video game I've ever played. Wisdom is a joy to watch. I've never heard his name outside an SCW ring, but if you ever have the chance make sure to go check him out for just a really great old school beat them down guy. A bit surprisingly, Wisdom did pick up the win, hopefully setting up a bit of a push for him going forward.

Val Eden made his SCW debut next. His tights declared him as a Parisian, and he clearly came with a cocky French men gimmick right in place, not speaking a word of English. This brought out his opponent King Steven Youngblood, one of the earliest SCW wrestlers, and still a regular with the company. He's spent months as a villain (nicknamed "Burger King" by the fans) but has since turned babyface. He took offense that Eden didn't speak the King's English and proceeded to squash the young star in short order. An ignominious debut for Eden, but he'll probably get more chances to shine in the future.

I mentioned a few weeks ago in my review of a CEW event that Deonn Rusman really impressed me as a young developing talent that looks like a million bucks and moves far faster than his power wrestler look hints. I'm not nearly as high on his regular SCW partner Robin Steele. I mean I inherently take Robin as a heel because of his need to sport attire from some of the weakest anime out there, but he still feels a bit sloppy in the ring. The pair took on a more makeshift unit of Steele's former partner Shain Bender and the favorite of every teenage girl in Walcott, Dante Leon. Leon gives me hopes for Steele as I remember his first few matches where he was just as sloppy. While Leon works a super fast style flying around the ring, he's really tightened up a lot since those days. He's earned some higher spots on the cards as well, and picked up the win for his team here as the clear veteran even with only a couple years under his belt. He wasn't the one to hit the most impressive move of the match however as Rusman and Steele landed a Doomsday Destroyer on Bender that was perhaps the most picture perfect finishing move I could imagine.

❄️🔥❄️ Hottest Blizzard Going❄️🔥❄️ @TheRobinSteele @SCWPro #whataman pic.twitter.com/QTCCciCz2M

— Deonn (@Rusman907) November 19, 2018

The last match before intermission brought out SCW champion Shane Hollister to make an open challenge. His opponent from just a few weeks earlier, Xander Killen, made his way to the ring to take it. After seeing him as an inexplicable face at CEW, the boos seemed right for the young star. He cut a blistering promo on Hollister, the kind of twisted truth promo that can just cement a young heel. The two men proceeded to put on an exposition of fantastic wrestling. I watched Killen debut in the building just a few years before. He's grown by amazing leaps since that day. Much like Energy and Rusman, I see great potential in him. The match ultimately ended with two referees counting for both men and a double pinfall. Hollister kept his title but we have a clear set up for a rematch between the two, though whether that comes at the next Hawkamania or at their final event of the year Season's Beatings, I have yet to find out.

Sensei Bock has been working the same cowardly heel "teacher" hiding behind his student pretty much since he first debuted. It works well as though I don't know how old Bock actually is, he looks about fifteen years older than the Black & Brave class he arrived in. He's been working a regular storyline with another talent, Jimmy Thomas, where he's trying to teach Thomas the ways of Bock Kwan Do. This basically amounts to a lot of tag matches where Thomas does all the work. That was the case here as they faced the fun loving duo of JP Finger and Jared Thumb (a.k.a. Thumb & Finger.) Thumb and Finger have become the solid comedy act of every SCW show, though their basics are rock solid behind their fun loving. They picked up the win over Bock (a bit of a surprise as I expected Thomas to eat every pin for his team) and perhaps are working their way towards a shot at Vicious & Delicious.

A war between veteran Mason Beck and upstart Travis Titan has been brewing for months in SCW. It came to a head in the semi-main event. Titan started with an early flurry, but the match soon became just a vicious beat down by Beck. He excels in that atmosphere, ripping apart his opponent before stopping to jaw jack with the crowd. Ultimately, he sealed his own fate when he refused to get a pin to continue his beating on Titan. When he stopped for a bit too long to antagonize the crowd, Titan was able just enough to roll him into a small package for the surprise one two three. Beck proceeded to destroy Titan, both referees and the Black & Brave students on security before the locker room cleared out to pull him to the back.

The main event was a no disqualification street fight. I watched Connor Braxton end one long standing feud against Eddie Machete in such a match. This time he sought to end another long feud with Joeasa. Joeasa has developed immensely since his early days as Joe Acer. While I sometimes find ethnic gimmicks a bit tiresome, he's used it to cement himself as a strong heel. He's been working a lot of tags outside SCW with Deonn Rusman and both men were in a stable just a few months ago in SCW. But Joeasa knows how to handle himself as a singles star and got to show it as the smaller heel against Braxton. After an extended barn burner for that Braxton / Machete street fight, I expected more of the same here. Instead I got a surprisingly short match, but an eventful one. The two men flew around the arena. A copious number of chairs, cookie sheets and a kendo stick all came into play. But it was Connor Braxton that upped the ante with thumbtacks. Unfortunately for him, no one taught him the age old rule of thumbtacks in wrestling: if you bring them out, you're going to get them in your back.

That aforementioned connection between Rusman and Joeasa came into play as Rusman and Steele hit the ring to join him in beating down on Braxton. The three men hurled Braxton into the thumbtacks before Joeasa pinned him for the victory. As a company devoid of any factions for the first time in awhile, it seemed clear we might have a new power trio in Joeasa, Rusman and Steele.

Thus ended one of the strongest wrestling events I've attended live. I've stressed before how important it is to support independent wrestling. It's incredibly easy to do with a promotion as steady and solid as SCW. Though they don't bring in the big blockbuster stars groups like Revolver and AAW do, they manage to tell compelling stories month in and month out.

Their next event heads a bit closer to home for me with Hawkamania VII: Anger Rising in Iowa City on December 1st, followed a week later by their year ending Season's Beatings back at Walcott. Weather providing I plan to be back at both events as I continue my wrestling treks across Iowa. If you drop in to one of the events and see my ugly mug, feel free to stop over and say hello. For more on both events, check out @SCWPro on Twitter or the company's official website.

The ballad of Shane Hollister: SCW 'Wicked Ways' in review

Image credit: Jennifer PV Logsdon.

I could talk about a lot of things in relationship to SCW's Wicked Ways event on Saturday night. Marek Brave went full heel and debuted his fashionista gimmick in Scott County Wrestling. Angelus Layne made her debut for the promotion to hand Violet Parker her first loss. Adrian Alexander grew a beard and changed his name to Xander Killen. The tag division securely set a three way feud for the months ahead. Overall, it was a very good show with a bunch of solid matches.

But the real story was the loss to the wrestling world of one Shane Hollister. Hollister announced the event would be his retirement just a few days beforehand, though he made no secret that his days in wrestling were numbered. With a significant other and children in his life, he was leaving wrestling behind to be a provider and a father. It's a decision you have to respect from anyone that toiled his way around the independents for over a decade.

That doesn't make it any less sad for me though.

I first discovered Shane Hollister through Chikara of all places. Before that, he was a name at a few NWA No Limits shows I never saw, but little more. But he made exactly one appearance for my favorite promotion: a loss to Trik Davis in a first round match during the Young Lions Cup. I'm not sure what there intrigued me about the young star (probably the announcement of his Iowa origins), but I saw potential in the young Shug.

I watched him in AAW matches, celebrated as he won pretty much everything you could win in his trainer Danny Daniels' little Midwest indie that could. An AAW Triple Crown champion, he held the Heavyweight title for over a year, beating two far larger men with far more fame now than him: Michael Elgin and current WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens. He had a huge 2013 with amazing matches as he added sporadic CZW appearances to his career path.

An injury derailed him in late 2014 and though he would return to his home promotion of SCW (where he's also a Triple Crown winner) and AAW, it seemed clear that his months away from the promotion changed Shane's approach to the squared circle. His appearances were far more limited now, and it seemed clear he was rethinking ten years on the independents without a sign of interest from WWE, TNA or even Ring of Honor.

But on Saturday night, Shane wrestled a true classic against Marek Brave. When Brave tried to take the shortcut and use a chair, it became a no disqualification match. The two men brutally assaulted each other with the chair and the stairs. Both men got in some of their finest work I've seen in any SCW match. In the end, Brave used the chair and a handful of pants to get the win and retire Hollister once and for all. It was an epic contest and a great way to send a superb talent home just short of his thirtieth birthday.

Maybe not everyone knows the name Shane Hollister. Heck, outside the Midwest, he's probably still someone no one heard about. But his excellent combination of strikes and submissions made him one of the most exciting wrestlers to watch anywhere. Sure, he was small even by wrestling standards, but as I watch the Cruiserweight division take off on Raw,

Go out and watch some Hollister matches. You can find a plethora of them on Youtube. And let's never forget a great name in wrestling, even as he moves on to a new stage of his life.

'13' was anything but unlucky for SCW

After a couple months away, I knew I couldn't skip 13, the SCW thirteenth anniversary event. With a longer list of announced matches than usual, it promised to be a solid endeavor for the Davenport area's only professional wrestling company.

Image credit: SCW.

The show kicked off with Matt Cage, an SCW veteran and well-known Midwest star, as he battled Alex Taylor. Taylor debuted just a few months ago and I have to be honest that I was hard on him in the last couple reviews. He's vastly approved since his last appearance and really showed some babyface fire against Cage. And unlike all the previous shows I've seen him at, Taylor picked up a huge upset win over Cage to kick off the show. It would be far from the only upset of the night.

Eddie Machete seems lost since his feud with Connor Braxton ended, though he continues to put on great matches. Things were no different as he took on House of Truth graduate Xavier Wallace in the second match. Xavier quickly got over with a few solid moves, but this match was pretty much all Machete as Eddie countered everything Wallace had. He hit a wicked curb stomp to take the pin over the SCW newcomer.

The battle royal that followed featured several stars I didn't know (including a couple new Black & Brave graduates), a few recent grads and a couple veterans in Steven Youngblood and Tank Roberts. Youngblood worked a comedy spot early on where his manservant kept his feet from touching the ground, but it really went no where. JT Energy really seemed to be the standout of the match, even if he didn't really seem to have a chance of winning. Ultimately Tank Roberts picked up the win and a future Quad Cities Cup title match.

What I could find online of the other House of Truth graduate to join SCW on Saturday was so-so at best. But Dominique Fabiano definitely had credentials behind her. She put on a very solid match with Black & the Brave graduate Violet Parker. Parker picked up the win with a Widow's Peak (always a great move to watch). I would love to see Fabiano back, but I honestly think SCW needs to give in and let Violet just wrestle with the boys. She definitely needs to get more repetitions in and there's no reason to keep her benched when she's the same size as some of the young male wrestlers coming out of the Academy.

Looking back at SCW Revival 2016

This weekend offered a new night of Scott County Wrestling as the company presented their annual Revival event. Much like WWE's Payback, this show was about setting up a new era for the company. Marek Brave is taking a few months off after his storyline injury at last month's show and with a new heavyweight champion in the promotion, things are a-changing.

Mason Beck is really good at these crazed looks.
Image credit: @SCWPro on Twitter

One thing that didn't change was Violet Parker forced to sit on the sidelines again. Violet was to face Zahra Schreiber this month, but Zahra took a Detroit booking instead, moving her SCW debut to June. Without that big debut, the company had a bit of money open and they used it to bring in an SCW veteran.

Bucky Collins made his return in the opening match. Once an SCW regular, Bucky is now working mainly for Funky Munky Wrestling on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities. But he made his return to battle the always excellent Johnny Wisdom in the opener. Their battle for the Quad Cities Cup pushed both men to the limits in a technical showdown, but ultimately it was a foot on the ropes that helped Wisdom retain.

Four of the five new students that opened last week's show took part in a tag match next. Dante Leon and Gyasi D'Wayne took on J.T. Energy and Mike Heights. Leon and D'Wayne played the faces while Energy came off as a smarmy clubber forced to team with the angry-for-no-reason Heights. Dante Leon seemed to get the most ring time here, but it was D'Wayne and Energy that look like the standouts of this class to me. Ultimately, the face team picked up the win.

SCW head Sean Morrow came to the ring next to report Brave would be out for at least the summertime. This brought out SCW champion Mason Beck who called Brave the past and himself the present. Connor Braxton, fingers still bound up from his injury last month, came out to challenge Marek Brave in turn. Braxton called himself the future and said he deserved the next title shot. Shane Hollister arrived next, saying he was the past, present and future of SCW and saying he was deserving of the shot. Braxton and Hollister were put in a number one contender's match for the main event, while Beck was given an opponent for right now, a man he beat down months before: Ross "The Hoss" Reznik.

In a non-title match against the champion, the young Reznik seemed like the underdog in this, despite towering almost as high as Brave. The two men made this out to be a hoss fight, though Reznik still needs to perfect his lariat if he's going to use that nickname. Ultimately it was a Beck Bomb that put the young Mr. Reznik away.

A four way match seemed to be the "everyone else here" battle of the night as Tank Roberts, The Secret Ninja, Ript Studwell and Biff Malibu (wrestling for the first time in a few months despite being at every show) all battled it out. Studwell worked his scrawny strongman gimmick well, while Tank and Biff worked as the giants towering over the others. The Ninja biffed his one offensive move as he failed a springboard move and fell on his face. Tank Roberts picked up the win and put this one to bed in short order.

The final match before intermission was a tag title battle as Adrian Alexander and Bodie Van Zandt took on the full force of Zero Gravity, Brett Gakiya and CJ Esparza. Zero-G are a team to see wherever they travel, two super-small guys with high flying moves as far as the eye can see. This one was filled with false finishes, enough to make me think Zero Gravity would win back the SCW tag titles. But Alexander and Van Zandt's cheating came into play yet again as they took Gakiya down for the victory. (During intermission, I at least helped cheer them up by buying their new shirt.)

Image credit: ProWrestlingTees.com.

The second half kicked off with Chris Hayden and Alex Taylor. I'm still not sure what to make of either men, but Taylor continues to get better at his high flying style. The end of the match came quick, with Taylor winning, but it seemed like Hayden might have botched a kickout.

The company faces a quandary with Eddie Machete. After losing last month's main event, he needs to rebound, but all their titles are held by heels at the moment, keeping Eddie out of any title picture. They solved this for a month at least by putting him in a match against perennial fan favorite Krotch. The two men put on a clash of styles on the show, though nothing quite as strong as the battle between Krotch and Shane Hollister last month. Eddie Machete picked up the win with a shoutout to his co-trainer, hitting a curb stomp for the win.

A three way tag team elimination match was the semi-main event of the night featuring the teams of Latin Thunder and Sentai, Steven Youngblood and Wilhelm, and Bobbi Dahl and Raveboy. This was the first time I saw Wilhelm in action, and he mostly worked as the base for a lot of moves. Thunder and Sentai were the first men eliminated, a bit too quickly for my taste. This allowed the rivalry between the other two units to continue. Ultimately Dahl and Raveboy picked up the win with a very cool wheelbarrow suplex and codebreaker combo on Youngblood.

Connor Braxton and Shane Hollister are two of SCW's brightest talents and they showed it in the main event. The two men threw everything at each other, with both men kicking out of the other's finishers. They kept things bouncing between each man in control, always a challenge when a much smaller heel takes on the bigger face. Ultimately the battle spilled to the floor. Even as I thought the match was heading towards a double count out, Connor quickly rolled in at the nine count to get the win.

The show came to an end with a staredown between Braxton and Beck. The company returns on June 10th with Unbroken, a card I will miss do to a pesky family vacation. Braxton versus Beck has been announced, though I suspect Zahra vs Violet will be announced soon. Dahl and Raveboy versus the tag champs seems likely as well. If you're anywhere near the Quad Cities area, I recommend you give SCW a shot. It's worth the trip each and every month.

An "Epic" night in Wallcott with SCW!

Last April I went to my first SCW show, the 2015 edition of Epic. One year later, I returned for the 2016 edition and it offered the best night of Iowa-based wrestling action I have seen. In front of a packed crowd of 224, the night was wild, crazy and well worth the price of admission from beginning to end.

Image credit: SCW.

The show kicked off with the fifth graduating class of The Black & Brave Academy in a battle royal. Gyasi D'Wayne, Ript Studwell, Dante Leon, JT Energy and Mike Heights were all making their in ring debut and I saw some good stuff here. But the battle royal format wasn't a good showcase for these five young men and probably never could have been. It is hard to even get the names of the young stars when they're all in the ring at once. In the future a short tag match might be a better idea, even if it means inserting a more established star to even the odds. Someone like Zicky Dice or Raveboy would fit in that slot well. Only D'Wayne really intrigued me in his thirty seconds of offense, but I hope all five men get more chances to shine.

A new team debuted in the second match of the night as Latin Thunder made his return to the promotion to team with the other masked superstar of SCW, Sentai. The lucha-resu team looked good in their first outing as a unit as they took on Jay Iglesias and Kourtesy. I was not particularly kind to the two young Black & Brave graduates last month, but the Pop Idols looked far more crisp tonight. Still the masked men took the win in what would have been a far stronger opener.

King Steven Youngblood came to the ring again, his squire in tow. The King of Scot County got booed from the arena, which made him a hot opponent for Bobbi Dahl. After former a makeshift tandem with Raveboy last month, Dahl seems to have taken the young star under his wing this month, as he served as his second. This was one of two battle of the big men on the show and was certainly the more entertaining of the two. The two units looked great and Raveboy seems to have picked up the comedic aspects of Dahl's gimmick. If SCW is wise, they will keep these two units working against each other for the next few months and build a feud here. I suspect itt will be great for the young stars working under the veterans here.

One thing SCW needs to work on with their undercard is a bit more intelligent booking. Johnny Wisdom defended the Quad City Cup in the next match, but against men that seemed to have no reason to be there. Chris Davies wasn't familiar to me at all, while Alex Taylor has taken two straight losses in his two matches. Either Tank Roberts or Shane Hollister would have made more sense here as challengers.

None the less, Wisdom defended against both men. Taylor looked so much better than he did in last month's botch fest that served to make me just feel bad for Tank Roberts. He still hasn't quite mastered the high flying style he's trying to use, but he's growing and that's important for a guy with only a few matches under his belt. Wisdom though was the real star of the show as he worked his gimmick ("No flips, just fists") with some powerful strikes and some crisp transitions as he helped carry the two youngsters to a solid match. Seriously, SCW is worth checking out just for the hidden gem that is Johnny Wisdom.

The final match before intermission was a battle set up at last month's show, but strangely didn't get announced until a few days before the show. Shane Hollister and Krotch are both long time SCW competitors. Krotch took exception to Shane's new attitude last month, setting up a showdown this month. That showdown stole the show as the two men put on a hard hitting match with near fall after near fall. Hollister is one of the best American wrestlers working a puro-inspired style while Krotch is a man that has perfectly mastered his odd gimmick. He worked as an amazing babyface to the brutality of Shane, as both hit big moves in an attempt to take down the other. Shane whipped out a Rainmaker clothesline that would have done Okada proud and a rather nice shining wizard. Still keeping Krotch down proved a challenge. Ultimately, strike after strike proved too much. Even Krotch knew it, but he remained defiant to the end.

SCW spent eight months building to their main event at Epic. If they are smart, they make this match the first in a long running feud between both men. This could be a great story to anchor the company through the end of the year.

After intermission, things kicked off with Tank Roberts and a repackaged young star. The former T-Buck has dropped his party boy gimmick in favor of the new name Ross "The Hoss" Reznik. After intermission, it left fans flat. SCW really loved T-Buck and I think the company was ill advised to make the identity change without Reznik even giving a promo to explain his change after the brutal beating by Mason Beck two months ago. He looked solid in his victory over Tank, but this was a let down after the previous big man battle earlier in the night.

Also, one tip to Ross "The Hoss". If you're going to use that nickname, it is time you master a lariat, my friend.

The tag team titles were on the line next. Zero Gravity was supposed to be in to challenge Adrian Alexander and Bodie Van Zandt, but a medical emergency kept Brent Gakiya away. CJ Esparza brought in a different partner, the beloved Zicky Dice. Dice has an absolute charm in the ring and unlike several of the young recruits in SCW, wears proper wrestling gear. Tatted up and a bit crazy, he has everything he needs to get over if he can get more bookings. Anyone familiar with Zero-G knows what Esparza can do. The high flyer worked really well with Zicky in a crazed battle, but ultimately Alexander and Van Zandt's dirty tricks allowed them to get the victory in a match that opened their second year in the business.

The first of the double main event put the SCW title on the line as Marek Brave defended against Mason Beck. This match was built to be a fairly obvious title change, with Beck running roughshod over the roster over the last several months. But it was really about just how good Brave is at selling an injury. A bump early on aggravated his well known back problems and he hobbled through much of the match as referee Brett Hadley and commissioner Sean Morrow both checked on his health. But he refused to forfeit the title and kept fighting back against Beck's offense. But the selling all set up a great spot as Brave took a massive powerbomb off the top rope to lose the match and pass the title to Mason Beck.

That left one match: a Walcott Street Fight between the first two students of the Black and Brave Academy. Connor Braxton and Eddie Machete have evolved amazingly in just under a year and a half as wrestlers. They showed at Epic why they deserved their main event spot with a brutal battle.

That battle was almost derailed early on during a lightsaber style duel with a pair of chairs. One of the first strikes caught Braxton's hand. His hand was clearly bleeding after that and he didn't move them much at all after that. But Braxton showed why he has a future in the business as he continued to work the match even with clearly broken fingers.

He brought out a shopping cart filled with weapons and implements from a golf club to baking sheets to a bowling pin. And of course, the mighty kendo stick. All were involved in the rest of the match as both men brutally struck each other again and again. They both took brutal moves onto chairs and the baking sheets.

But ultimately this proved to be Braxton's moment as he finally got a clean 1-2-3 over his turncoat partner. But even in defeat, Machete looked amazing. Both men can be incredibly proud of themselves for an amazing main event.

Little was announced for next month's Revival outside of one big debut. The Black in the Black & Brave Academy is one Tyler Black, better known now as Seth Rollins. His (ex-?)girlfriend and former NXT talent Zahra Schreiber has been working a lot in the Midwest, but it looks like she will stay close to home as she makes her debut in SCW next month. She is certainly a controversial figure in wrestling as the reason for her release and her celebrity before that were not exactly golden moments. But she is committed to the building and I'm curious to see what she does in the promotion. She certainly should prove a foil for SCW's single sidelined female talent, Violet Parker.

Image credit: SCW.

I can make some predictions though. I suspect if Braxton is well enough to compete, he'll start a feud with Beck sooner than later. He cleary has been groomed for the SCW main event and he looked good last month against the new champion. Hopefully, the company is wise enough to keep a few feuds going in the form of Youngblood vs. Dahl and Krotch vs. Hollister. More with Latin Thunder and Sentai as a team seems smart as well, perhaps a tag title feud with the current champions. And of course, the company has up to five new stars to place up and down the card as well.

SCW "Luck is for Losers" in review

For the first time in way too long, I made it to a Scott County Wrestling show in nearby Walcott, Iowa. The tiny village of less than 1500 still seems a strange place to have a thriving little independent wrestling company, but SCW continues to put on great shows to the delight of just over 100 fans every month.

I have kept up with the basic couple of plot threads since my last SCW show. Mark Storm fell out of power with the company, though he still manages Johnny Wisdom and does color commentary. Shane Hollister turned on Marek Brave, but didn't get the title. Eddie Machete (the former Eli) turne don Connor Braxton after a payoff by Storm, costing them the titles and starting an ongoing war. Mason Beck returned to the company and ran roughshod in his quest to take on Brave for the SCW Heavyweight belt.

SCW makes big moves with "Supremacy" this Saturday

Last month at a show I sadly had to miss due to travel, Sean Morrow took control of SCW after his team won the best of five series against Mark Storm's Sindicate. With the face commissioner now in control of the company and Storm on the outs, SCW looks to be on a righteous path. But anyone that watched years of TNA know that face authority figures never last and even when they do, they tend to fade into the background.

SCW debuts Supremacy this Saturday night in Walcott, Iowa, and the main event is yet another rematch between two men that have faced off in the majority of SCW shows I've attended: Nevin Knoxville and Marek Brave. Unlike the previous encounters, this one comes with Marek as the new SCW champion, as he beat Knoxville at the last event. I don't suspect Marek will drop his title here, but I could see a heel turn in his future to match his personas in AAW and 3XW. Fans of the Dudley Boyz return in the last few weeks should be happy to here the battle will be a Tables Match, which should be wild in the Walcott Colosseum.

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.

Looking back: Shane Hollister vs. Silas Young

I will be back tomorrow with a review of the last SCW show, but for the time being, enjoy this classic match from AAW featuring SCW headliner Shane Hollister battling Ring of Honor star Silas Young.

A look at SCW Revival.

I made my way out to my second Scott County Wrestling show last weekend. This time around it was Nevin Knoxville and Shane Hollister in the main event with the SCW title on the line. And just like last time, I somehow forgot to take any photos of the talent in action. So you will have to settle for just this image again:

Mallaki Matthews and J.J. Garrett kicked off the show in a solid opener. I commented in my preview that it would be interesting to see these two get a chance to shine. They did just that with this match, really showing why they deserve more recognition in midwest wrestling.

The tag team champions went on second at “Revival”. Connor Braxton and Eli Machete have started to make waves on the midwest indies, with appearances in AAW, Dreamwave and 3XW already signed. The two young men deserve the attention as even a few months into their career, they are really gelling in the ring.

This time around though they take on some fellow Black & the Brave graduates. The team of Fabian and Bodie Van Zandt were two of the five men that turned on Marek Brave last month. While Fabian’s weird face painted gimmick didn’t quite fit with Van Zandt’s biker-crossed-with-Hardy look, they worked surprisingly well as a team. What didn’t work as well was poor booking as it pertains to poor referee John G. The match ended up in a double countout, despite the legal man Van Zandt being on the outside for about five minutes. The fans made sure to let poor Mr. G know he messed up.

Bison Woods made his in-ring debut in an absolute squash of Biff Malibu. The final evil Black & the Brave student seems to be taking after the late Bison Smith, but he’s going to have to put on a bit more muscle weight to make the monster gimmick work.

Bobbi Dahl and Tyler Priegel battled for the Quad Cities Cup again this month, albeit in a singles match. I’m not sure I’m a fan of Dahl’s gimmick, as the old school gay guy that violates his opponents gimmick doesn’t really work as well in 2015. However he does go well in the ring despite his size and Priegel has the chops to keep up.

Krotch and Bucky Collins versus Tank Roberts and Johnny Wisdom showed off all four men’s talents in the ring. Nasty Krotch (as the audience around me dubbed them) have a great combination of high flying and mat wrestling while Mark Storm’s charges are built around power and pain. Tank works the big man gimmick really well, while Wisdom is a stupendous indie heel. It would be great to see both spread their wings farther. Storm’s shenanigans cost the face team a win after he restarted the contest as a no disqualification match.

After intermission, Latin Thunder picked up another victory, this time over the returning Gunner Franks. Gunner has a weird style to him: I can best describe him as an evil comedy wrestler. But he worked well as a base for Thunder. The long time Iowa independent stalwart has a great look and style in the ring.

Marek Brave wrestled in the semi-main event for the second month in a row, but this time he had a bone to pick with his second graduating class of students. This brought out Austin Ellis, but Ellis refused to take Brave’s open challenge alone, instead bringing in Adrian Alexander as his partner. Ellis and Alexander got in some solid offense, but Brave showed them he didn’t teach them everything he knew. Both the students are natural heels and worked well as a team. We will see if they continue to act as one in the future.

The main event was the big title match as Shane Hollister returned to singles action to take on Nevin Knoxville for the SCW championship. Hollister looked strong against the much larger Knoxville and with SCW commissioner Sean Morrow as ref, his chances were improved despite Mark Storm making it a lumberjack match (with Wisdom and his new Black & Brave charges as the lumberjacks). Ultimately a ref bump would lead to the finish as with Morrow down Tank Roberts ran out to piledrive Hollister on to a chair. Tank pulled off his coat to reveal a ref shirt before making the count to allow Knoxville to retain. Marek Brave ran out to save Hollister from more damage and Morrow set next month’s main event: Hollister and Brave versus Roberts and Knoxville.

“Revival” was a solid show overall, albeit a bit weaker than last month’s “Epic”. But with tons of great wrestlers in action, it proved to still be tons of fun.

A couple complaints as I continue to visit shows:

The company needs to build more storylines, preferably ones outside the nefarious actions of Mark Storm. Latin Thunder, J.J. Garrett and Mallaki Matthews all could use more focus on future shows as all seem ready for more attention from the Walcott crowd.

The second is merch! While a lot of SCW’s talent is young or local, I’m a guy that wants to support these guys. A few so-so t-shirts and 8 by 10s left me disappointed. With the advent of Pro Wrestling Tees, now is the time to strike the merchandise fire. I let Machete know then and there that I’m ready for his shirt.

The lack of great merch did leave me room to pick up some old shows though on DVD, including a Vader guest shot show car trouble kept me from attending a couple years back. I’ll have some reviews up in the near future.

Their next show is on June 27 and I plan to head down to Walcott once again for “Unbroken”. Keep up the excellent work, SCW.

SCW Revival preview

This Friday night I will be heading back to the Walcott Coliseum to take in my second SCW show. Revival only has a few matches set, but it looks like it has quite a good card lined up with the announced matches.

The main event features midwest sensation Shane Hollister challenge Nevin Knoxville for the SCW title. Shane never lost the title, instead stepping down due to injury and this will be his chance to rest it away from Nevin and the forces of Mark Storm’s Fallen Angel Army. Knoxville is a big, imposing guy and hopefully Shane will pull a better match than we got with Knoxville’s petty victory over Marek Brave last show.

Speaking of the Fallen Angel Army and Marek Brave, Brave’s own students turned their back on Marek in their debut to align with Storm. With the betrayal of his second five graduates, Brave now faces the challenge of his next step against Storm and the turncoats. His previous students Connor Braxton and Eli Machete, the SCW tag champs, seem likely allies, but have yet to be announced for the show on Friday. Could they make an appearance to help their teacher for a three on five battle at Revival? Or will Brave face down his five new foes alone?

Krotch and Bucky Collins appear to also still be at odds with Mark Storm’s legion, as they face down two of their opponents from last month: Tank Roberts and Johnny Wisdom. This one will not only continue the blood feud, but may also have implications for tag team contendership in the future.

In lower card action, Mallaki Matthews will take on J.J. Garrett. I do not know either star outside their showings at last month’s show, but they both looked good in their matches. It should be interesting to see them against each other on Friday.

Also, in opening action, the QC Cup will be defended by Bobby Dahl as he defends against Tyler Priegel. I haven’t seen enough of these two to make an opinion known on them, but I look forward to seeing where this one goes.

Latin Thunder will also be in action as will (I assume) Bodie Van Zandt and the rest of the second Black & Brave class. No word on other talents in action, but Matt Cage and Christian Rose both make regular appearances (though may be on another card on this packed weekend) and I personally hope that Harvey Bower will be in action after his impressive showing last month.

If you are in the Eastern Iowa or Western Illinois (or even southern Wisconsin) area, I highly recommend making the drive out to what promises to be a great show. With admission at only $8, it promises to be another great night filled with some excellent wrestling action!

A look back at SCW Epic 2015

I don't get to nearly enough independent wrestling shows. The place I live in the middle of the country has few promotions to offer action my way. I can go a couple hours south to Des Moines for a few promotions or I can go west as I did on Saturday, April 25 to take in my first Scott County Wrestling show.

SCW's function is to serve the Quad Cities as their local wrestling promotion, but the company actually runs out of a little town of 1600 called Walcott. The Walcott Coliseum is a wedding hall connected to a bar and restaurant, and is maybe a perfect independent wrestling venue for a company that draws maybe 200 fans every month.

SCW is built around a lot of local talent in the Quad Cities area. It dates back several years in history, but its current incarnation has been running monthly for a couple years. Folks like Danny Daniels and Colt Cabana used to regularly compete here, but their most famous past competitor was one of their original crew, one Tyler Black. He is of course better known today as Seth Rollins, WWE World Heavyweight Champion. A few other folks are still there from those early days, such as Tyler's former tag partner Marek Brave, current SCW Champion Nevin Knoxville and evil manager Mark Stone.

I sat in the second row just off from the entry curtain, nestled right next to the wife and sons of one of the SCW regulars. It allowed a great view of the action as the company put on a solid card.

The show kicked off with the introduction of the second class of the Black and the Brave Wrestling Academy, SCW's official training camp. Ran day by day by the aforementioned Brave and co-owned and operated by the aforementioned Mr. Rollins (and named after their former tag team), Black & the Brave is making some rather good in ring competitors with only three months of training behind them. Checking out the six representatives of the school in action at Epic, I can say they looked well seasoned, even when four of them were wrestling their first matches.

The first match pit Austin Ellis, a cocky debuting star, took on J.J. Garrett, a young star inspired maybe a bit too much by Saved by the Bell’s AJ Slater. Neither man is an exceptional talent, but they put on a very solid match that helped me get to know Garrett a bit and that showed off Ellis a bit before his loss.

A four way match for the Quad Cities Cup was up next as Harvey Bower, Tyler Priegel, the always entertaining Markus Crane and the reigning champion Bobbi Dahl. It was pretty thoroughly insane, with a lot of man on man kissing from not just Doll but also Krane. Bower showed himself to be a future talent to watch with some great moves as well. Dahl got the win, which disappointed me a bit as he seems the least interesting figure in this one.

The debuting BLack & Brave graduate Fabian, a face-painted weirdo in dress pants and vest, took on local stalwart Biff Malibu. He got nicknamed quickly as Fabio by the announce team and the audience immediately started in on Fabio chants. But Fabian scored the win in his debut match, a solid if someone uneventful battle.

The local lucha sensation Latin Thunder took on Mallaki Matthews in the next contest. Their battle was short but allowed both men to show off some solid mat and aerial skills.

The tag team titles were on the line next as Matt Cage turned heel to join with Christian Rose and form Team Overkill in SCW for the first time. They took on the team of Eli Machete and Conner Braxton, two graduates of the Black & The Brave's first class. The pair won the tag titles in their first match and four months into their careers, they looked solid against the far more seasoned Rose and Cage. Team Overkill took the young babyfaces to a competition as epic as the show’s name, but a quick roll up by Machete allowed the champions to retain.

Intermission was next and I have one rule for everyone that goes to an independent show: buy at least one piece of merch. The wrestlers live and breathe on merch sales. With Rose wowing me only minutes before, I was glad to pick up an awesome shirt from him, now available on ProWrestlingTees.com.

I also picked up a copy of Latin Thunder’s autobiography. More on that one after I give it a read.

The first match back from intermission was two rookies facing off as Adrian Alexander went one-on-one with Bodie Van Zandt. Both men looked solid, but I personally think Van Zandt showed himself to be the star of this class. He picked up the win to prove it.

The semi-main event was the SCW title match as Nevin Knoxville of Mark Storm’s Sindicate battled Marek Brave. This was Brave shooting for redemption as a savior to SCW, but he would come up short after he is attacked by not just the Sindicate but also by the five recent graduates of his class! A nine on one beat down leaves Brave out as the other two members of Team Morrow rushed the ring to save him.

With Brave out of action, it looked like a handicap match was in order for the main event elimination match. Team Morrow (Bucky Collins & Krotch) were outnumbered by Team Storm (Steven Youngblood, Johnny Wisdom and Tank Roberts). But while Storm thought he had the upper hand on Morrow with his new recruits serving as lumberjacks, Morrow had a surprise of his own. Shane Hollister returned from his ankle injury after six months on the shelf!

The match quickly became a showcase for the returning Hollister. As arguably SCW's most gifted wrestler, he deserved that spotlight. Ultimately he proved the sole survivor and allowed Sean Morrow to keep his job. And Morrow gave Hollister a reward for his work: a title match against Nevin Knoxville at the upcoming Revival on May 15.

Overall, SCW put on a great fun show with Epic. The matches didn't have the polish of a WWE or TNA battle, but the competitors put their hearts and souls on the line for a good show, a fact that was obvious to most fans in the audience. I found the storytelling and wrestling flow well put together overall and for a small indie in the boondocks of Iowa, they still knew how to book very well. Ultimately, they get the best compliment a promotion can get: I will be making my return trip to Walcott on May 15.

Maybe I'll see you there.