REVIEW: Trailblazer Championship Wrestling – Tornado Alley (2023)

A live professional wrestling event by the TCW

May 13th was a HUGE night in the Missouri / Kansas professional wrestling scene. I’m sure I’ve just been oblivious in the past, but this post-Covid era seems absolutely crazy for choices when it comes to available independent wrestling brands in the area. Not only was there a Central States Wrestling show in Lenexa Kansas, but many flocked to the far side of Missouri for a gigantic event for Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling. If those two options weren’t enough, I was one of the many fans that drove over to Ottawa, Kansas for the topic of today’s review – Trailblazer Championship Wrestling – Tornado Alley! Apparently, the show was being held on the same day as the city’s high school graduation, which worried me a bit regarding the attendance, but when the smoke all cleared and that first bell rang, it was a packed house.

It was, of course, a randomly hot Spring day, so the venue itself was a tad on the warm side, but I’m VERY used to being in small-town community centers that basically have no AC for wrestling shows, and this was not that bad in comparison. I was very happy to see that the venues PA system was working better this time around, so props to the US Government I suppose.

Hailing once again from the National Guard Armory in Ottawa KS, Tornado Alley seemed to be just as jam-packed as last month’s show with many surprises on the card. Wrestlers like WARHORSE, Moses The Deliverer, Rahim De La Suede and Tootie Lynn coming all the way from St. Louis spice everything up, and TCW mainstays were out in full force as well. For those looking to dip your toe into shows like this, Trailblazer Championship Wrestling prides itself in being an overall family-friendly product, so the kids will have an absolute blast. That isn’t to say that the events aren’t action-packed and full of what everyone one would expect from a wrestling show, as TCW definitely brings their A-game.

All card images, logos, and branding from the TCW Facebook page (link below)

I don’t live too far from Ottawa, KS, as it is about an hour and a half away from Independence, MO. I have mentioned before that I run on a self-imposed limit of about 100 miles for me to travel to one of these unless the show is something absolutely crazy, and Ottawa is well in there. Since it takes a while, I always try to come up with extra things to do to somewhat “maximize” the trip, whether that be museums, restaurants, kid’s activities etc. Longtime readers of mine know that I am a BIG history buff, and somebody that likes to show that cool little museums can be found around almost every corner if you know where to look, and this trip was no exception. I made it a point to stop by a few of Ottawa’s historical sites with my son, and while I did not have time to do everything available in the 3-4 hours I was there before the show, I saw a few things. For anyone else interested here is a rundown of what you could see. Once I get a chance to go back, perhaps I will do a History Tour article, but until then, I have some pictures for now.

Dietrich Cabin
Historic Downtown Ottawa
Old Depot Museum
Memorabilia Museum

As I mentioned in my previous preview article, stuff like this can be important. I’m happy to note that Ottawa’s Pizza Village has some solid food, and you should stop by if you are in town for one of these.

“In addition to attending this wrestling show, I plan to explore some museums in the Ottawa, Kansas area (more history articles incoming!), assuming they are open. A lot of people don’t realize it, but It’s important to support smaller towns like Ottawa, as events like this provide a significant boost to the local economy. Even simply patronizing local restaurants or visiting other attractions before the show can make a difference. I encourage everyone to show support for the sponsors of their favorite wrestling shows and contribute to the success of these events. Even posting about how much fun you had on their social media pages could draw some attention, I’m sure every bit helps!”

Without further ado, I’m going to do what I normally do with my wrestling reviews and go over some of my favorite moments from Tornado Alley as well as highlighting what makes TCW what it is. With this being my second show I have attended from this company, I will say that there is a definite DIY / Punk Rock vibe from this company that exudes far more intimacy than most wrestling shows.

If you want other wrestling shows, I would recommend Fite.TV. You can get some FITE credits (10 dollars I believe) with the following code: “6m6lyyn”. I’m sure there are other ways to watch some of these, but FITE has a solid interface and has been worth it so far.

The Card:

“The Yoga Monster” Mike Sydal Defeated “Tha Whole Thang” Rahim De La Suede
Salum Gust Defeated Bobby Joe Black (w/ Johnnie Jo Black)
Jared Thumb and Bert Candy Defeated Van “Bam” Winkle and Tobias Storm
Moses The Deliverer Defeated “Madman” Max Sterling (w/ Salum Gust) via DQ after Sterling used a chain
Shooter Shylynn Defeated “The Little Blue Dragon” Tootie Lynn
“The Phoenix Princess” Aminah Belmont (w/ SBC) Defeated Shooter Shylynn
“The Suplex Cyclone” Curt Gannon Defeated Rocco The Barbarian (w/ Dekin Cane)
“Corn Boi” Kevin Gutierrez Defeated WARHORSE

These are the match cards:

DISCLAIMER:

I’ve come up with this little disclaimer since I have some new readers:

READ MY FULL DISCLAIMER HERE

I usually go through a show and pull a half dozen or so things that I thought were significant or that I liked and concentrate on them, usually ignoring stuff I did not. You might think some of my choices are dumb, and that’s OK! We can all like different things, that’s what makes something like wrestling so great.

Please excuse my bad pictures, my camera on my phone was having a bad day as usual. I may actually get a better phone if I do these at the rate I have been doing, here’s hoping it will improve!

My Thoughts:

Sydal Stands Tall:

Rahim De La Suede is easily his own biggest fan. You can tell he rolled into his encounter with Mike Sydal expecting smooth sailing, treating the whole thing in a lackadaisical way that did him no benefits. To the uninitiated, one would possibly have to hand it to Suede, Bunkhouse Brawl was Sydal’s first match back after an extended injury, and one would expect some sort of ring-rust or even a lingering weakness to burden him a bit. That sort of thinking, however, only really works when one speaks on a normal person, and “The Yoga Monster” Mike Sydal borders on superhuman at times. Fully healed, impressively conditioned, and just as flexible as ever, Sydal put on a clinic in this opening bout showing that underestimating him is generally a bad call. Rahim De La Suede is no pushover, and he definitely got his licks in, but in the end Sydal continued his winning streak.

A Terrifying Singles Debut for Salum Gust:

This was one of the matches I was most looking forward to after the last show. Salum Gust was a veritable force of nature in the Bunkhouse Brawl back in March. Echoing the likes of Kane in the 2001 Royal Rumble, he absolutely dominated the match, throwing most of the combatants face-first onto the cold floor. It was the quick thinking of Bobby Joe Black and Johnnie Jo Black that would ultimately lead to his undoing, as the two teamed up to end the onslaught once and for all. Robbed of his big moment, and watching as Bobby Joe Black rode on a wave of fan appreciation all month long, it seems Gust had one thing in mind – taking down Bobby Joe Black. Being his very first singles match, nobody was sure how this match would go, but fans quickly found out that Gust means business. Bobby Joe Black has a ton of heart and is an absolute powerhouse, but that was no match for Gust’s monstrous strength and determination to inflict pain. After dealing a brutal catch powerslam to Black, it was all over. I don’t think this is going to be the last time these two square off – Bobby Joe Black is not the kind of guy to give up, and if what happened later in the show is any indication – we’re in for something crazy at a future event.

WE WANT CANDY!

The nefarious duo of Van “Bam” Winkle and Tobias Storm were at it again, reuniting after briefly working together in the Bunkhouse Brawl match. Neither man wasted any time laying into the crowd and demanding some shred of respect they absolutely have NOT earned. Much to the delight of everyone involved, the unlikely duo of Jared Thumb and Bert Candy came to our rescue and put them back in their places. While Bert was not at the previous TCW show, I had the pleasure of watching him at TSW Sliced Bread Slam the previous week, and needless to say I was excited. My son immediately loved him because he handed big handfuls of candy to all the kids in the audience, a cheap but effective way to win favor! He was flanked by Jared Thumb, a man that was no stranger to Van or Tobias, as I’m sure their necks still hurt from getting stunned into oblivion in March. Jared took quite a beating at times, but his resiliency and toughness prevailed once again. Bert got the win with an Earth-shattering splash, and the crowd went wild. All four men did a hell of a job in this match, and I’d even go as far as to say that I look forward to seeing if Tobias and Van can mesh as a tag team in the future. I mean, I still want them to lose, but it will be fun!

You Can’t Reason With a Madman!

Once again, going toe-to-toe with a wrestler that basically does not care if he wins or loses as long as he’s hurting people is not something anyone should have to deal with. We’ve seen the careless disregard for the fans and opponents from “Madman” Max Sterling before, but he went the extra mile to cause mayhem in the first degree at Tornado Alley. Moses The Deliverer and Max fought a rather competitive match for the most part, a fact that obviously made Max angry. Pretty soon Salum Gust was involved, and weapons were being swung around like we were at an old ECW show. Had the locker room not spilled into the ring to stop Max’s murderous intent, I can only imagine what would have happened to Moses. I mentioned before that something big happened later in the show in regard to the ongoing feud between Salum Gust and Bobby Joe Black, and this was it. Bobby, Johnnie, Jared Thumb and Mike Sydal were the cavalry here, and I can only imagine that them getting the last word will not sit well with either Salum or Max. I think we’ve just seen the opening salvo of an all-out war here folks!

This is Shooter Country!

“The Little Blue Dragon” Tootie Lynn is an amazing performer, and easily steals the show wherever she goes. With that said, if there’s one thing I’ve noticed about TCW so far, it’s that Ottawa, Kansas is Shooter Country! Shooter Shylynn is an absolute powerhouse and dominates the women’s division at TCW. She feeds off the crowd in such a way that it’s hard to keep her down, and she only gets more explosive the longer she wrestles. Tootie kind of lost herself in arguing with the crowd here and Shylynn took advantage for a narrow victory. Just when everyone was enjoying a feel good moment, out comes SBC…

We all Figured as Much:

yeah….I kind of figured this was going to happen. The moment that it was announced that “The Phoenix Princess” Aminah Belmont and SBC were going to be attending the show for unannounced reasons, I fully assumed it was to mess with Shylynn, and boy did she! After what happened at Bunkhouse Brawl, Shylynn has been campaigning for a rematch against Aminah Belmont for weeks. SBC was more than happy to oblige as long as that match happened on his terms, and by that I mean right then and there. Nursing her wounds from Tootie’s thunderous strikes and kicks, Shylynn tried her best, but it was no match for the fresh Belmont wrestling at 100% and the cunning SBC showing why he is one of the smartest men in wrestling today. 1-2-3 and Belmont gets a tainted win yet again. This feud has got to be far from over. Shylynn either needs to find a way to get SBC out of the picture or introduce her own equalizer, or sadly she will just keep eating defeat after defeat. “The Phoenix Princess” Aminah Belmont seems to take pleasure in being a thorn in The Shooter’s side, and it’s going to take a rather decisive win to make her stop.

Back to the Hyborian Age with Rocco:

I attempted to speak with Rocco the Barbarian at the show, and you all better be thankful Dekin Cane kept him in line or I may not be here today writing this very review. Let’s just say, he is one scary dude! He is a man of few words as well as a man that seemingly refuses to understand our modern ways. All he knows is pain and how to inflict it on others, and considering the fact that he drinks from a human skull, I’d rather not find out how far he goes. We saw this ferocity in March when he laid waste to The Iceman, and I’m sure Dekin was hoping to keep that momentum going at Tornado Alley. Unfortunately for Dekin, “The Suplex Cyclone” Curt Gannon had other ideas. Gannon is a smart man, and realized that the key to any Rocco victory is Dekin Cane. Rather than get bashed over his head with a wrench, like The Iceman did, Ganon was able wrestle his match on two fronts, eventually gaining the upper-hand and scoring a definitive win. Great match as always from everyone involved.

Mess With The Corn, Get The Cob:

The main event for the evening was “Corn Boi” Kevin Gutierrez vs. WARHORSE, a match that absolutely blew the roof off of the National Guard Armory. WARHORSE was actually a lot more ruthless in comparison to some previous times I’ve seen him, as he is generally more of a fun fan favorite. According to his social media, he’s been going beast mode at the gym and downing endless Slim Jims, which hopefully are not the cause of this change in demeanor. WARHORSE brought his A-game, but somewhat tripped himself up bickering with the crowd and showboating, considering his tenure in the business, I would have hoped that would be beneath him. Despite being on the ropes multiple times, even having his mask removed at one point, Gutierrez dug down as deep as he could and was able to clench a hard-fought win against opponent. The crowd went absolutely wild, and everyone went home happy. I’m sure some ice-cold cans of Del Monte Sweet Corn were cracked open in the locker room, and Gutierrez definitely deserved it!

It will be interesting to see if this is a one-off for WARHORSE or if he will be back. If he can regroup, refocus, and cut the nonsense, he could be unstoppable in TCW. I mentioned before that one of the main reasons I chose this show over all the rest was the inclusion of WARHORSE, and this match definitely did not disappoint.

Conclusion:

Overall, this was a great show as always from Trailblazer Championship Wrestling. Everyone involved in this company works very hard to produce an amazing show on a budget, and I’m very glad I made the call to randomly attend back in March. As I’ve said many times, TCW tickets are very reasonably priced, and even with a somewhat long drive for me, it’s still way cheaper than seeing a movie. If you are looking for a fun alternative family activity, you should keep an eye out for when an independent wrestling show is going on in your area. If you live anywhere close to me, keep an eye out on TCW’s socials and make a trip over to one of their upcoming shows. I, for one, can’t wait to see how Shylynn responds to Belmont, or if Bobby Joe Black is able to regroup and take the battle to Salum Gust, for those reasons alone, I cannot wait for the next Trailblazer Championship Wrestling event on June 24th in Ottawa, KS at the National Guard Armory!! I hope to see everyone there!