From an undead bride to New Japan's latest sensation: the Top 100 wrestlers of 2018 #75-51

You voted. I tallied and in the end over a hundred fifty individual talents received votes in our annual poll. We continue the list today with the second half of the bottom fifty of the list.

75. Su Yung

The Undead Bride has dominated throughout 2018 in Impact Wrestling. A unique talent with an amazing gimmick, she's got a ton of a future ahead of her if handled correctly. With great wrestling skills behind the gimmick, she's one of the brightest spots on the Impact croster.

74. The Miz

The Miz had perhaps the most lackluster year of his recent WWE career which is proof how hard the company botched his renewed feud with Daniel Bryan.

73. Mia Yim

If there's one talent in NXT I hope to see breakout in a major way next year, it is Mia Yim. The independent veteran has wrestled for pretty much every major company in the world now and it is finally time for her to shine on a much larger platform. Here's hoping she can get a ton of focus behind her in the new year.

72. Chainsaw King

71. Joeasa

70. Jay Lethal

69. Deonn Rusman

Of all the current crop of Black and Brave graduates, I'd be shocked to not see Rusman not get signed by someone this year. The Alaskan is a solid in ring worker who looks like a million bucks. Any promotion looking to increase their female fandom could do a lot worse than putting Deonn on their card.

68. Ruby Riott

67. Dalton Castle

Image credit: Photos by Manning.

66. WALTER

One of the happiest moments of my 2018 was seeing WALTER live at Revolver's Tales from the Ring II. He's an amazing talent and I look forward to see what he adds to NXT and NXT UK.

65. Kento Miyahara

All Japan's ace is the one talent I still don't understand any American promotion not making a move on. He could really turn some heads on American shores.

64. Zachary Wentz

63. Shane Strickland

62. Rusev

Another victim of WWE's over-sized roster, Rusev deserves a bigger push than he's ever received. With another win of the United States title, he seems to be just on a repeating path in the midcard of Smackdown.

61. Jordynne Grace


60. Toni Storm

59. Mason Beck

The Midwest veteran has mastered the art of being a powerful angry talent. The fact he doesn't get more bookings is a shame to me as he should be a far bigger star on the Midwest indies than he is.

58. Shingo Takagi

57. Nikki Cross

56. Marko Stunt

55. Will Ospreay

54. Taiji Ishimori

53. "The Hawkeye" Steve Manders

Manders excites me because he's an Iowan talent that is willing to travel far to make the rounds and is a clear student of the game. He already seems to have full weekends and I expect him to travel farther afield and to bigger promotions in 2019.

52. Kyle O'Reilly

51. "Switchblade" Jay White

He debuted at Wrestle Kingdom and has made a name for himself ever since. He beat Omega, Tanahashi and Okada over the course of the year. As the new leader of the Bullet Club, he seems cemented as a top star going forward especially if the company should lose the services of The Elite in 2019.

Tons of great talent in that list. Which wrestler do you think was listed too low or too high? Let me know in the comments and stay tuned for the next round of wrestlers!

The Wrestling Revolver's Holiday Hangover: A few thoughts on my last wrestling live event of the year

Revolver seems set to cement a place as a new focal point of wrestling in central Iowa and that's good news for the independents in general and Iowa in particular. I will almost certainly continue to nitpick their use of Iowa (or more accurately, lack of use) talent, but they also continue to bring a ton of talent to Iowa that we wouldn't normally ever see without at least a trip to Chicago.

Here's my bullet point thoughts on Holiday Hangover.

Zachary Wentz in his natural element.
All Photos featured on this page are by the amazingly talented Photos by Manning.

• DJ Z is an amazing high flyer and it turns out, so is Gringo Loco, a dude I've never seen in action before Friday night. But Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz are now on another level. They've traveled around the world twice over and I cannot help but think their work with the OWE kids and CIMA has helped them to strengthen their game. I expect 2019 to be an even bigger year for the unit. 
• The first three of the four first round title tournament matches were just okay. Jessicka Havok versus Matthew Palmer was a classic beatdown with her just destroying him before he pulled the old Eddie Guerrero fake chair shot move, only to get beaten down even more. Larry D versus Rich Swann was competitive but with Larry's positioning in Revolver it seemed like his victory was a foregone conclusion. No JT Dunn, so the three way became Trey Miguel vs. Ace Austin vs. Clayton Gainz. I was more than okay with this as Gainz seems set to have a solid wrestling career, even if his ring name is one of the worst since Flex Kavana. 
• Tommy Dreamer took Brian Cage's place against Shane Strickland and showed why he's such a talented ring psychologist to the fans in attendance. It wasn't a first time match-up I ever expected to see but it was a heck of a lot of fun. Strickland is an amazing talent and working folks like Dreamer will only make him that much better.
  

JT Energy confronts Manders-Claus!

• The return from intermission gave us the only few moments with any Iowa-based talent in action as Manders-Claus (Steve Manders handing out prizes in an awful Santa outfit) came under attack by the debuting JT Energy. Manders took Energy out quick and finished his rounds, but if the Revolver really wants to ingrain itself in Iowa wrestling, I really want to see it actually use the local talent in significant ways. 
• I was surprised to see Kimber Lee before the event selling her wares. She's an amazing talent that I can't help but feel WWE dropped the ball on and I hope she returns for more Revolver shows, maybe as an announced talent next time. She got to show off some of her skills in the six way scramble open against champion Caleb Konley, Manscout Jake Manning, Madman Fulton, Ace Romero and Dirty Andy Dalton (also a last minute replacement.) They put on a great spot-based match frequently built around how they could use the tent Manning of course brought in. Konley stole the win in a bout way better booked than the mess in October.

Kimber Lee.

• Jake Manning and Caleb Konley are rockstars in their roles with Highspots. They're hocking wares, maintaining cameras and/or on commentary for various parts of the show, and still take time to be really great talents in their match. So much of what they do is behind the scenes and I don't think they get close to enough credit for their talents.
• I think the Christmas Death Match between Jimmy Jacobs and Arik Cannon was pretty much doomed to fail from the start. Half the people there didn't seem to know Cannon despite him being a regular Midwest guy for over a decade (including in Des Moines' own 3XW.) Jacobs brought out a few of the same spots he used back in October's death match and it all just came out feeling a bit redundant. It was a fun callback to see him pull out the trusty spike I haven't seen in years though. 
• OVE versus ACH and the Besties in the World (or the Super-Besties) was apparently a bout the six men talked about for a long time in advance of it finally happening. ACH is a fun talent and knows how to play a local crowd, but if the rumors about his future are true, I'll be curious to see how he can play to a large audience. He was lost in the shuffle in ROH and I worry it might be the same for him wherever he proves to go. But the spectacle the six men put on here was worth the price of admission alone. A ton of talent all in one ring at the same time is always something to love. 
• The main event was built around an angle from the start and that hurt it. With Palmer out due to "injury" Strickland was the only member of The Crew left standing. He put on an entertaining battle with Trey Miguel and Larry D, but the end came with a ref bump. With the ref down, Larry takes out his opponents and covered for a pin as a new ref hit the ring. Only the new ref stopped his count and attacked Larry, pulling off his shirt to show he was a freshly shaven Matthew Palmer. He stole the pin and the victory and gave The Crew their second main event win over the last two shows. It will be interesting to see how they play out that story in the shows ahead. 
• Matthew Palmer landed maybe two moves for the entire show and still exited as the most hated heel in the promotion and the new champion. He's just an amazing heel and it's fascinating to watch him in action. He's a Texan guy with history in Inspire Pro and Wrestle Circus, but isn't a guy that is much more than a blip on the indies. But damn if he isn't pure greatness as a top heel. I got a special kick out of his pre-match promo against Havok, where he ranted about how women shouldn't be allowed to wrestle, an interesting note from a man whose Twitter handle name recently listed his last name as Palmer-Moon.
• The company isn't back to the Val Air until early March, but with six shows planned for Des Moines this year, I'm excited to see what else they have in store for the future. 
• If Sami's focus on talent has shown me anything with the crowd reactions at the Revolver, it is that Larry D and Matthew Palmer are both incredible independent wrestling talent that need to have more eyes on them. 

New Revolver Champion Matthew Palmer. 

Overall another great show from the Wrestling Revolver. Promised talents at the next event included John Morrison and Daga among others, so it will be very interesting to see what the future holds for the company in the new year.

To watch the show, stay tuned to the Highspots Wrestling Network as it usually goes up within a week. For more on the promotion, visit ProWrestlingRevolver.com. And stay focused on this site to see some of these same names in the Top 100 wrestlers of 2018!  

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.

Extravagant action, big matches and DDT superstars! 3XW Winter Wars 3 in review

Much like SCWPro, 3XW has been running in Iowa for a decade now. And much like SCWPro, their initials now really don't mean anything. But I finally had a chance to see them live and in person for Winter Wars 3 on Friday. The company has started to recruit an old school star for each show, and this one was no different as Glacier of all people made his 3XW debut!

The night kicked off with a "pre-show" match featuring Xander Killen and Barbosa. Barbosa is a pretty standard Latin heel with the added gimmick of combing his groomed chest hair. Xander is featured in pretty much every one of these articles, so hopefully you recognize his name by now. He's becoming a very solid star for SCW and getting his feelers into other companies in the Midwest now. Like at CEW, he plays the face here again and it doesn't feel as natural for him. Perhaps I'm just used to him being such a great asshole heel at SCW shows, but it feels flat when he's trying to rile up the crowd. This was nothing special and it's a shame that Killen didn't get to show off a bit more.

The show opened with Jah-C (or Gyasi, depending if the company phonetically spells it or not) battling Sentai. Sentai hasn't worke SCW since I came back, but he's a tiny man working a masked Asian wrestler gimmick. He's alright in the ring, but he pales against Jah. This worked as a better opener than the pre-show match, but both men didn't really push too hard in the bout.

Things picked up as "Supafli" J Fowler took on DDT star Naomi Yoshimura, an amazing talent at the end of his excursion. Yoshimura is built like a ton of bricks, reminiscent of Daisuke Sekimoto which is never a bad thing in my opinion. He worked as a great base for Fowler's high flying while getting to show off some technical precision of his own. As a foreign star in for a one shot, Yoshimura took the L here, but I'm very curious to see where he and his partner in crime end up doing in DDT upon their return.

Kara Noia (rhymes with Paranoia, get it?) made her 3XW debut, but her scheduled opponent Brooke Valentine was injured. She was replaced by Nathan Edwards. Nate plays the crazy asshole well, although misogyny in these matches never feels necessary these days. This was my first time seeing the Minnesota-based Kara, but she impressed me after a slow start to this one. I'll be curious to see her in action if she pops up in anymore East or Central Iowa indies anytime soon.

The second DDT contest pit Jaysin Strife against the other DDT star, Rekka. Rekka is actually a ten plus year veteran, but he only really started to work after leaving his native Taiwan to train with DDT. Strife is the consummate Iowa independent wrestler. He's always in great shape,, works a highly active style that is fun to watch and somehow never seems to get much attention from any larger promotions. He's been at it for years and years and doesn't seem to get much recognition for it. They put on what might have been the match of the night in work rate, though they fell a bit behind in the pure fun category. Strife picked up the deserved win, but Rekka impressed me greatly as well.

The first half's main event featured Gil Rogers teaming with Glacier to take on Devin Carter and JT Energy. Rogers (as Rory Fox) and the pair have been feuding for a few months now, but this one offered the big payoff with a great guest appearance by Glacier, a bit heavier but still in great shape in his fifties. Rogers, Carter and Energy carried much of the match because of it, but it didn't lack for Glacier's involvement. Energy looked like a million bucks, Gil looked like a man that loves wrestling above all else and Glacier and Carter mostly came along for the ride. Gil got the pin, but I suspect this storyline might still have some legs, Glacier or no.

Never thought this would be a sight I'd see live.
Image by Photos By Manning. 

After the intermission, things kickoff with SCW announcer and 3XW manager Alex McCarthy out to cut a heel promo and introduce a 5 minute challenge with Moondog Bernard. The challenge is answered by Sensei Bock, inexplicably a babyface here in his 3XW debut. No sign of the cowardly heel he plays so well in 3XW. Instead he beats Moondog with a surprise running kick and a roll up. He doesn't win the five minute challenge though, as Moondog jumps him from behind and leaves him laying in a heap on the ground in the aftermath.

By this point, we reached the two hour mark on the event already, which is approaching the limit for any show without a full bar and food service available. So marked the beginning of my biggest problem with 3XW's show: the length.

Jeremy Wyatt and Steve Manders wrestled an uneventful but very solid match that the long time 3XW regular Wyatt eventually won after wearing Manders down. Davey Vega and Mat Fitchett, The Besties in the World, made their 3XW debut to challenge the Desire Boyz for the tag titles in a surprisingly short battle to feature two high flying guest stars. Neither match did much to ignite the crowd (although the Besties did alright with the "Truely, Madly, Deeply" singalong.) The fan energy at the arena was waning, with two big matches left on the card.

Chainsaw King challenged Jon West for the 3XW Pure Championship in the semi. West is a large guy and Chainsaw King is an actual giant. Dude is not indie wrestling big, but just big overall. He can still move well in the ring though, and he brings an unorthodox off kilter style that makes him more than a one note face-painted kill machine. (See the Desire Boyz in the previous match for that gimmick.) West is a long time 3XW guy and a solid if unremarkable talent and the two put on a heck of a match. A more fired up crowd would have eaten up just two big hosses hitting big moves. It lit up the crowd a little, but the gig was already up there. Fans started to make their exits during the match, especially those with young children. It's a shame, because King and West did some solid work. King's come a very long way since I last saw his uncanny doppelganger die in a Chikara ring.

The main event was a ten man survivor match with Mad Dog McDowell's Heavyweight Championship on the line. The survivor would win the title, which immediately made me wonder what happens if more than one team member survives on their side. Does it then become more like a cibernetico? I have no idea because 3XW didn't bother to explain the rules beyond this live, which was probably a wise decision for myself and the other bleary eyed fans.

Mad Dog's face contingent featured his sometime tag partner Redwing the Barbarian, Donnie Peppercricket and the team of Midwest Blood: Johnny Ruckus & Lars Metzger. The heel team had rich snob and top heel Niles Plonk, Iceman, Jaden Roller, Duke Cornell and Seto Kobara. I'm not going to do a play by play rundown of who was eliminated when. With the majority of the cast being 3XW regulars I've never seen, I was a bit frustrated when the talent I did know (Cornell, Roller, Peppercricket) were all eliminated fairly early. Ultimately it came down to McDowell versus Plonk, which honestly could have easily just been the main event. Plonk stole the win and became the 3XW title. He promised to bring some class to Des Moines as the crowd filed out into the night.

I'm pretty sure I was the most focused man for that main event, but despite the fact they ran through much of the cast of characters rather quickly, it was already way too much way too late. The show ran three and a half hours, which was just a bit too long for the crowd on hand, myself included. (There's a reason WWE starts four hour shows at 6 p.m.)  It makes me feel bad, as I know the folks in the last three matches worked just as hard as the folks in the first half of the show. But at eleven matches, with very little to cool the fans down or warm them back up, the flow just fell flat at night's end.

Still, I'll heap high praise on the scope of the card and the talents working their butt off to put on a good show. A mixed up second half with a bit more of the high flying of the first half might have helped overall, but in the end none of the matches stunk the place up. Fowler / Naomi, Noia / Edwards and Strife / Rekka were all great bouts well worth checking out should they come to 3XW's Youtube channel. That's a pretty solid win, honestly.

3XW's next event is on December 14th, which will wrap their events for the year. Dates for 2019 start on January 11th, all in Des Moines. Check out 3XWrestling on Twitter or Facebook for more details forthcoming!

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.

Iowa goes hardcore, or, A series of painful events

On the road to... Pro Wrestling Revolver: Tales from the Ring
Saturday, October 20, 2018, Des Moines, Iowa

The Wrestling Deep End pops in and out to comment on the world of professional wrestling and has now for several months. One thing I hope to re-focus it towards is actual stories about the weird and wild wrestling events that happen throughout Iowa and the surrounding environs. These will be chronicled a day or two later in a series of articles I'm calling "On the road to.." First up, I visited the biggest promotion Iowa has going: Pro Wrestling Revolver.

I'm still not quite sure what encouraged Sami Callihan to bring his promotion Pro Wrestling Revolver to central Iowa. But the Revolver has been going for over a year and a half now. It seems clear that the Revolver has also been a success for Callihan and company, as they promised Tales from the Ring starts regular bimonthly appearances by the company at the historic Val Air Ballroom. The venue has been a live event center for Des Moines for decades and while I've heard of late its lost a lot of the historic concerts it held for years, that it's become a great venue for combat sports or say... professional wrestling.

I've become something of a fan of David Starr in the past year, so I'm not even going to pretend I wasn't excited to see him wrestle in the opening three way dance against Rich Swann and Trey Miguel. The match was treated as a somewhat light hearted contest between three babyfaces, with a lot of fun little spots to warm up the crowd. Miguel was the surprise here to me. I've heard of him a few times, but this was the first time I'd seen him in a full match. He's a great young high flyer and held his own against two way more seasoned veterans.

David Starr and Trey Miguel impressed in their three-way. Credit: Photos by Manning.

Colt Cabana wrestled "Manscout" Jake Manning in a battle pretty much everyone knew going in would be a fun comedy battle. Manning is an Iowa native, so this is something of a homecoming him, but sadly his scout handbook wasn't enough to keep him from a tough fall onto his own pitched tent. And that's no sexual innuendo. He literally brought a tent to the ring that Cabana threw him through before getting the pin, zipping Manning inside and doing his best Undertaker impression.

The tag team title match was a weird mix of talent for me, none of which I have ever seen live. The Rascalz are a pair that I'm still not quite sure why they aren't a regular fixture of any televised wrestling show. Both Wentz and Xavier have made Impact appearances, but neither have been very regular of late, and they've never appeared as a team. Despite that, they are one of the best teams in wrestling today, being both the inaugural Revolver tag champs but also PWG tag champs. The Besties in the World are pretty much known throughout the Midwest, being AAW regulars and dominant in the late, lamented NWL. The Night Ryderz are a team I pretty much only know of by their name, but they looked like beasts against their opponents. With three strike and aerial heavy teams in this one, it proved to be exactly the type of match you would expect from some of the world's best high flyers. The Rascalz came out the winners though, and here's hoping they remain mainstays of Revolver until their inevitable signings at somewhere huge.

JT Dunn and "The Zombie Princess" Jimmy Jacobs wrestled in a Coal Miner's Glove match to close out the first half of the show. Jacobs is pretty much a Midwest legend at this point, but this is somehow the first time I saw him live. Dunn is a Beyond regular and works the smarmy dude gimmick like a pro. He's been known to give lap dances to women wrestlers, so of course he started this battle with one for a Zombie Princess. It ended with a nutshot from Jacobs, and that may have been one of the least brutal spots of a heavy-hitting fight. This basically became a TLC match (albeit with plywood boards instead of actual tables) but it would be the loaded glove that brought the end of the match. Jacobs hit a Superman punch with the glove followed by a spear through another wood board to end the match and send us to intermission. A local favorite of mine with I suspect a huge future in wrestling, JT Energy, even got a shout out from the crowd mid-match, making me really want to see Dunn vs. Energy in a battle of the sleaziest.

Marko Stunt versus Ace Romero. Photographed by Robert "Mouse" Bellamy.

After picking up a t-shirt from the aforementioned Mr. Starr at intermission, I made sure to get to my seat in time for the "David and Goliath" match between Ace Romero and Marko Stunt. I've never seen either in action, but came into this one with an open mind. Romero is a 400 pound, five year veteran that's way more athletic than first impressions might give. Stunt has exploded in the last couple months (even making it to the over budget battle royale for ALL IN.) It's amazing when you consider just a matter of months ago, he was just a random IWA undercarder. But standing 5' 2" and "a lot less" than his opponent in weight, he's a dude willing to take some wicked bumps and pretty much what it takes when you're a talent that makes Rey Mysterio look huge. After starting the bout with a fan-called-for motorboating (look it up, kids) the two men had a crazy fun match, with Stunt taking some brutal hits, but ultimately hitting some fun somewhat-believable spots to end the match with David once again taking the win. OVE came out to give Stunt his props, and offer him any match at the next show. While that show has a Revolver title tournament, I personally hope for Stunt and Romero to continue their act as a tag team against the Rascalz.

Ace Austin defended his Scramble title in the next match, which featured about a dozen folks in all. I understand the idea behind the belt, a way to show off a bunch of young talents fighting for the eyes of fans, but I question its execution. The match was stacked with students of the OI4K Academy understandably, but it bothers me how little local talent they use in the matches. Generally only one or two Iowa talent make it into the Scramble, and this was no different, with former Iowa Hawkeye (and maybe the most active Iowa indie star) Steve Manders and the just freaking huge Chainsaw King (whose resemblance to Chikara's Deucalion is only coincidental I'm sure) as the only Iowa regulars. While SCW was also running on Saturday, it feels like a shame they didn't even invite a single CEW talent into the scramble despite borrowing their cage. Like any scramble match, this was built around people getting their spots in. They stole the TNA gauntlet format for this one with entrances done Royal Rumble style, which pretty much allowed everyone to show off their moves before it became a six way scramble (with both local talents eliminated.) Impact and Highspots regular Caleb Konley stole the win and Austin's title in something of a shock roll up. Konley is a talent that's grown on me since he was an EVOLVE regular a few years back. I'd like them to start building a storyline around the Scramble matches with the more regular bookings and Konley is definitely a great talent to make that happen.

Walter in Des Moines was crazy enough, but to see him against PCO was nothing short of amazing. The two big men have both had star making years, which seems crazy for a 12 year and a 31(!) year vet. Neither man disappointed in a bout built around brutal hits and ring-shaking power moves. In a night built mostly around high flying, this featured a lot more power and technical wrestling, though PCO still flying around like he did ten, twenty or thirty years ago is amazing. Walter ultimately took the win, but PCO was the one we're guaranteed to see the next time around. Jimmy Jacobs booked himself in a battle with PCO at the next show, currently the only announced match for Holiday Hangover on December 29th.

The Cage of Horrors was less an actual cage and more a "let's throw some dangerous things around the ring and two cage walls." But built around two teams and eight exceptional talents, it was never in doubt it would be nothing short of pure insanity. OVE of Sami Callihan, Dave Crist, Jake Crist and adjunct member "Legendary" Larry D took on Team Palmer of Matthew Palmer, Jason Cade, Shane Strickland and a mystery partner. Amusingly, the only man I hadn't seen wrestle in this match was villainous leader Palmer, a former regular around Texas that has been waging war with Sami across multiple Revolver events. Entrances were done War Games style and things kicked off with Jason Cade just brutally opening up Dave Crist seconds after the match began. Crist bled buckets throughout the match, and in a battle with as many chairshots, boards and barbwire as this one, it was maybe the most uncomfortable bit for me.

Oh no, not @legendoflarryd! #TalesFromTheRing pic.twitter.com/5DmDyHBElF

— Scare-eek Mahr (@dmann11) October 21, 2018

Rich Swann probed to be the mystery partner, setting him as a new heel for the promotion. I actually quite like Swann as a baddie and he wasn't afraid to get as violent as the more experienced death match wrestlers here. Strickland looked impressive, even if a lot of his high-flying ways were left for other days and other shows. OVE just work amazingly as a unit, something anyone that watches Impact knows, but ultimately the numbers turned against them. With Palmer locking his legs and Strickland putting a crossface on him using barbed wire, Sami tapped to give Team Palmer the shocking win to end the night.

I was a bit surprised by the heels taking the W at the end of the night, but with regular appearances being Revolver's future, it makes a lot of sense to keep the feud between the units alive heading into the title tournament. And with Tommy Dreamer announced to be in the house in two months, I expect more hardcore violence at that event.

It took me a year and a half to finally make it happen, but I can say I'm nothing but thrilled with my first Pro Wrestling Revolver experience. Literally the only complaint I could make was that on a 40 degree Iowa day, the air conditioning was running inside the venue. The place was deathly cold by the end of the main event. Even an hour drive back home at the end of the night with the heat blasting didn't quite get the chill out of my bones.

But that's a small price to pay for great wrestling. Revolver's shows are all recorded by and available from Highspots.com and can be watched on the streaming Highspots Network. Take some time to check them out if you're not anywhere near Iowa (or their alternate home, Dayton, Ohio) but if you are local, their shows are probably the best use of twenty bucks for entertainment anywhere in the state. I'm looking forward to seeing more from Revolver in the next year.