A live professional wrestling show in Bethany, MO

To Read my review of Part One, click HERE.

When fans left Bethany, MO on December 15th, 2023, it was all but assured that we were going to see Franco Varga versus the Iceman for the unified TSW Heavyweight Championship, a rematch between the tag teams Classic Mustache and Storm Dior, and finally a showdown between the nefarious CJP and Brawler Claus. What fans did not know was that night two of Rumble for the Rescue Dogs was going to be full of surprises and potentially create some of the biggest moments in TSW history, or at least for the entire year of 2023.

With the Iceman seemingly putting his sportsmanship aside at the end of Night One, many people wanted to know what the dynamic between him and Varga for the Christmas street fight was going to be. Was the Iceman going to go back to some of his old ways? Was he pushing aside all the goodwill and fans’ love just so he could chase a title? There were a lot of questions going into the show that many people had, and it did not take long for many of them to be answered. Join me as I take a look at what transpired on December 16th, 2023, at TSW Rumble for the Rescue Dogs night two in Bethany, MO.

With a far better weather forecast this time around and some fresh gas in my car, my son and I packed up and drove the hour and a half or so to Bethany, MO. He was extremely excited for the Christmas street fight, especially after showing him clips of last year’s iteration and some of the shenanigans that happened in the ring during that. I wasn’t sure if anything this year was going to live up to something like that, but I was definitely excited to see if it would. For me, I think one of my biggest unanswered questions was what exactly was going to happen with Doctor Isin at this show? At the end of his match with the Iceman, you could see it on his face that this wasn’t over. The man was furious that he lost out on what he perceived to be his one and only chance at the US Highway Championship that had been eluding him all year, and now it did not even seem like he was on the card for Night Two. Thankfully, it did not take long to have an answer.

To read my Preview for this event, click HERE

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For More about Tri States Wrestling, check out their Facebook Page HERE, their Twitter (or I guess X) page HERE, or YouTube HERE. TSW is also on Cagematch, HERE. If you are a fan, make sure to drop likes, and reviews, or join their social media pages! For more pro wrestling content, Click HERE.

For information on Against All Odds Animal ResQ, click HERE. TSW generally does charity drives for them, and you can routinely see all sorts of needy animals at their shows.

For more info on the Albany Animal Shelter, click HERE. The see their Facebook Page, click HERE.

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If you want other wrestling shows, I 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.

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The Card:

• “Angry” Frank Dunbar Defeated Mike DeFo
• Dr. Isin Defeated Bert Candy, Lumber Mack, Donnie Peppercricket, and Kenny Kingsman in a five way match decided by pinfall. Winner would receive a contract for a guaranteed championship match at any time.
• Brauler (as “Brauler Claus”) Defeated Cornelius J. Poppington (CJP) – Christmas related weapons allowed.
• “Wild Man” Ethan Everheart Defeated “Primetime” Tony Raymos
• Storm Dior (Tobias Storm and Blaire Dior) Defeated Classic Mustache (Wrex Amadeus and “The Classic” Warren Adams) for the TSW Tag Team Championships
• “The Biggest Wrestler Ever” Franco Varga defeated The Iceman to retain the TSW Championship, and Win the US Highway Championship. This was a Christmas Street fight and involved Christmas Weapons, No DQ, No Countout. The belts are now unified and will be known as the TSW Heavyweight Championship moving forward.
• “The Hypothetical Specialist” Dr. Isin Defeated “The Biggest Wrestler Ever” Franco Varga to become the new TSW Heavyweight Champion – Isin cashed in his contract after the end of the match.

Here are some match cards:

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DISCLAIMER:

I try to go through most, if not all, of the matches and report on what happened and if the match had any significance to any ongoing feuds. You might think some of my opinions are dumb, or the way I review things is dumb, and that’s OK! We can all like different things, that’s what makes something like wrestling so great! I honestly try to stay positive because there is too much negativity in the overall wrestling community (in my opinion) and we can all do better. That isn’t to say I won’t offer opinions or criticisms, but that will apply when warranted. Remember, cut the B.S. and as the old saying goes, “Just enjoy Wrestling!”

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My Thoughts:

The show started out with a match between “Angry” Frank Dunbar (donning a Denver Broncos shirt, just to troll everyone) and a rookie named Mike DeFo that just happened to be making his debut at the show. I’m not sure what it is with Frank Dunbar wanting to go against new recruits, but he seems to really have it out for anybody just trying to break into the business. Right off the bat, this match was a hard-as-nails altercation. In one of the opening salvos of the fighting, Mike DeFo hit Dunbar so hard that he exclaimed pretty loudly that one of his teeth was broken! Visibly upset by this, Dunbar laid into DeFo as some kind of misguided retribution for his future dental visit.

Everything went back and forth numerous times and both men definitely took their licks. By the end of the match, Frank Dunbar was just shy of being a bloody mess, although he was able to secure the win over the young up-and-comer. Either way, it was nice to see new blood in the ring and be part of somebody’s first step into the professional wrestling business.

Mike DeFo did a hell of a job, and I’m sure there’s going to be future wins coming to him very soon. This match was a hell of a way to start the show and really got the crowd going for a true underdog story. The problem was, like many young wrestlers, Mike DeFo fell for Frank Dunbar’s tricks and fell victim to his deadly belly-to-back suplex. It was all downhill from there moving forward. This was a very technically sound match and very old school. And since I’m a fan of old school wrestling, I enjoyed this match quite a bit.

Next up was a bit of a surprise for me. The second match for the evening was a five-man match for a guaranteed title shot of the winner’s choosing. If you’re familiar with WWE Money in the Bank, the idea here is somewhat similar. Sitting on the corner of the ring throughout the match was a clipboard with a contract on it; whoever won would get that and be able to institute a match whenever they wanted. Of the five men, there were some familiar faces from the previous night: Kenny Kingsman, Doctor Isin, Lumber Mack, Bert Candy, and finally Donnie Peppercricket. This match was packed full of cool spots, including a showdown between Bert Candy and Kenny Kingsman that had the potential to bring the entire ring down if it had gone much longer. Have you ever heard the old adage of what happens when the unstoppable force faces the immovable object? That’s honestly what happened here for a moment as the two monsters among men duked it out.

For a while, it even seemed like Lumber Mack was going to get the upper hand with his quite tall stature and immeasurable strength. Lumber Mack was even able to chokeslam Kenny Kingsman, which was no small feat. The only thing really standing in his way was the very cunning “hypothetical specialist,” Dr. Isin, who made it clear that Mack was on his list for the night. Isin spent a good portion of the beginning of the match comfortably standing outside of the ring. While the other four men expended all manner of energy fighting each other, Isin played it safe and rested. Donnie Peppercricket took the brunt of a lot of the offense from the other three men, and was fairly beat down by the end of the match.

When the time came to get in there and get the job done, Dr. Isin was able to get very serious and take care of business. Once again, Isin targeted Bert Candy and managed to bend the rules a little bit, using the ropes for leverage in order to take the win. While most fans in attendance would have agreed that this was a little bit less than sportsmanlike, most seemed to be excited that Isin was once again in the running for a title shot down the line sometime, perhaps next spring when TSW resumed shows. Out of all the bad stuff that happened to Doctor Isin throughout the weekend, at least his future would be secured at some point in 2024!

Once again, being a huge fan of multi-man brawls and rumbles of any nature meant that I absolutely loved this match and came away pretty excited for the results.

Step right up, children, and let me tell the tale of a man named Cornelius J. Poppington and how he was utterly destroyed by Santa Claus (or Brauler Claus here) a week before Christmas. This was due to his disrespect for the holiday and the man in the big red suit himself. You see, both CJP and Mr. Claus teamed up the night prior. There was a little bit of miscommunication here and there, and neither man could really see eye to eye, resulting in Brauler Claus taking a loss. While Bert Candy and Donnie Peppercricket celebrated their big win and the potential of being on Santa’s naughty list for the rest of their lives, CJP felt the need to completely lay into the jolly, old muscle-bound man.

This seemed out of character for Mr. Poppington, considering he had spent the better part of the year being somewhat of a fan favorite. But there’s just something about this that set him off—maybe Santa forgot to get him a present that he wanted as a child? Perhaps CJP didn’t even celebrate Christmas? Who knows, because all we really got out of him was that he hated Christmas and everything it stood for, especially Santa.

Fast forward to night two of Rumble for the Rescue Dogs, and you would have thought that CJP was Terry Funk trying to avoid being stabbed in Corpus Christi, TX back in the 80s. Every child in the entire audience was furious at CJP! I have been going to independent wrestling shows for something like fifteen years now, and I have never seen someone with more heat from children or adults alike than what Cornelius had at this show. He could not take one step out of the ring without being pelted with candy, which was conveniently thrown everywhere due to him being hit in the face with a box of it.

Amid thunderous shouts of “NAUGHTY LIST! NAUGHTY LIST! NAUGHTY LIST!”, I’m amazed he was able to keep his composure. I’m pretty sure that the menacing sound of children screaming at him is gonna haunt his dreams and nightmares for quite a while. The whole thing seemed to shake Cornelius J. Poppington to the point that he took his eye off the prize during this match and ultimately lost to Brauler Claus. It looks like CJP is going to be getting coal in his stocking this year for sure, and here’s hoping he got out of that Community Center alive, somebody might want to do a welfare check on the poor guy!

“Primetime” Tony Raymos, hot off of his win the previous night, was paired up with “Wild Man” Ethan Everheart, with Everheart scoring the win this time around. Unfortunately, Raymos was unable to build up a winning streak, at least for now. When TSW fans last saw Everheart in Missouri, he lost in a grueling match against Stormi Renee in Gladstone, Missouri. The big difference this time was that the “Wild Man” was not nearly as combative with the audience, nor was he trying to do nonsense like posing in front of people and trying to lure folks into attacking him. Don’t get me wrong; he was still being somewhat of a jerk to everyone in the building; he just wasn’t being as arrogant about it. Perhaps this change of mindset will allow Everheart to make some big plays in the future and perhaps enter belt contention, assuming he keeps it up!

Despite this loss, “Primetime” Tony Ramos still had a hell of a weekend, competing in the Rumble for the Rescue Dogs and his first and second ever matches in front of a crowd. Both he and Everhart are the sort of guys who will usher in a new era for TSW, and for that, I’m always glad to see them starting out. Solid match all around.

Classic Mustache, the pairing of “The Classic” Warren Adams and Wrex Amadeus (who has a rather prominent mustache), shocked the citizens of Bethany, Missouri by engaging in some of the most blatant cheating they possibly could, winning the Tag Team Championships via a brutal face-bashing with a championship belt. This was, of course, done while the referee was looking the other way (as usual). I already spoke about some of the other mischief that these guys were up to in my review of night one, so I suppose I really shouldn’t be surprised that this happened. When it was all settled, fans were faced with the unsettling prospect that everyone would have to endure an entire winter with two insufferable menaces being the faces of the entire tag team division. Thankfully, it was announced that a rematch was set for December 16th, and it all went from there.

Bolstered by loud dog barking chants (you had to be there), Storm Dior (Tobias Storm and Blaire Dior) were successful in reclaiming their lost prestige and securing the belts that they fought so hard to get ahold of in the first place. There was an attempt to once again use the TSW Tag Belts as weapons, but the subsequent pinfall attempt was not successful. Storm Dior’s masterful high-flying moves were too much for Classic Mustache, and they eventually folded like a cheap suit.

This marks my fourth time seeing Storm Dior as a tag team, and I honestly feel that one will be hard-pressed to find a tag team more beloved by the crowd than them (Well, maybe The Howletts I guess). They always fire the crowd up, and routinely steal the entire show. They could possibly be the breakout stars of Tri States Wrestling and I can’t wait to see what 2024 holds. I won’t slag off Classic Mustache either, despite all of the misdeeds they do in the ring, they are quite goo, who knows what they could achieve if they tried to actually win instead of taking shortcuts.

This is going to sound like a dumb proclamation, but this match was easily one of the best Christmas Street Fights I have ever seen. You might be thinking, “are there really that many of those to talk about?” I assure you, there are, and most are really bad. I think this one is perhaps only beaten by that episode of WWE RAW where Alberto Del Rio ran over Santa Claus and John Cena had to save Christmas (legit one of my favorite episodes of RAW, come fight me). This showdown between, Franco Varga and The Iceman could not have had a better blow-off match. It has been a feud that never really crossed the line into being malicious, but somehow was one of the better feuds of the entire year in Kansas City Professional wrestling. While a battle built on mutual respect, fans started to see a few cracks in that wholesome veneer at the end of night one of Rumble for the Rescue Dogs. The Iceman, obviously wanting his belt back, interrupted Franco Varga after his win, seemingly upsetting him a LOT.

The concept of this match was that there were a number of wrapped “presents” around the ring, all containing all manner of weapons. Combined with all of the Christmas decorations that were in the venue, nothing was off-limits and the brutality was limited only by the wrestlers’ imaginations. Fans got to see a Christmas tree, huge candy canes, boxes of candy, cookie sheets, Christmas lights, and even a table used during the match. There were some impressive and very creative spots in the match, and the crowd was white-hot throughout. People seemed pretty evenly spread as to who they were cheering for, with many basically cheering for both Franco Varga and The Iceman depending on who had the upper hand.

Despite taking a brutal self-inflicted table dive, Franco Varga was able to hit the Falcon Arrow and pin The Iceman, becoming the first unified Tri-States Wrestling Heavyweight Champion. It was a great moment that earned a standing ovation from the crowd. People had started to get their coats and consider “hitting that dusty trail,” only to see the unthinkable happen…

“The Hypothetical Specialist,” Dr. Isin, clutching his guaranteed title shot, entered the ring and challenged Franco Varga for the belt right then and there. This came as a shock to many because Dr. Isin had apparently been floating the idea of challenging for the belt in April, according to murmurs backstage and posts on social media. This was all a smokescreen for his actual plans, and apparently he was playing 5D chess when everyone else was playing Tic-Tac-Toe. His challenge got off to a rocky start, initially nearly losing from a fast-paced attack from Varga, but the numerous Christmas weapon-related bumps and bruises got to him, resulting in a loss to Dr. isin. Amid chants of “You Deserve it!”, Isin stood tall, the reigning unified Tri-States Wrestling Heavyweight Champion.

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Video:

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Conclusion:

This was a great show full of awesome matches, and was probably my favorite of the two shows that weekend. Both days told a full story, which is something I appreciate about Tri-States Wrestling during these short tours and multi-day shows. It was the perfect way to top off a solid year chronicling the ongoing feud between Franco Varga and The Iceman, and prepare everyone for the rise of Dr. Isin in 2024. Like I said before, this was a show that had some great moments, and many that will go down in history for years to come.

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