I’m trying something new with my Kansas City professional wrestling coverage – my goal being bringing some eyes on what I would consider an often-overlooked aspect of how independent wrestling works in our modern era – weekly (or monthly) YouTube shows. A lot of folks don’t realize just how much wrestling there is out there right now, much less how easy it is to watch it! Every week, I plan to look for about 4-5 episodes of various wrestling shows from this area and do small micro-reviews of what happens. As with my larger reviews, I’m not as much a wrestling critic as I am a historian chronicling what happens on any given show, and how it fits in with that company’s ongoing storylines.
With me jumping in randomly, and not starting at the beginning of the runs for these shows, I might be just as lost as my readers with what is happening. I will try my best to explain what’s happening and bring everyone, including myself, up to speed. If I’m missing anything, feel free to kick me some links! I’m trying not to go too wild, but I will cover some stuff slightly outside of the area I would be willing to drive to for live shows, so you’ll likely see some stuff I’ve never talked about on here!
KCXW Showcase – June 15, 2024
The Card:
- The Iron Pitbull (w/ Richard Goldman) Defeated Bert Candy by pinfall
- “The Natural” Atlas Armstrong asks Old Glory if he’d like a partner to Face Lord Maximus Canine
- The United Patriots (“The Natural” Atlas Armstrong and Old Glory) Defeated XWC Students Duane and Trey
In the first segment, the warpath of Richard Goldman and his new muscle The Iron Pitbull continues as he sets his sights on none other than fan-favorite Bert Candy on this episode of KCXW Showcase. For those that enjoy “big meaty men slapping meat” you can’t really go much further than a clash of these titanic competitors. Bert definitely has the experience edge over Pitbull, but no matter how one prepares, or how experienced they are, it’s hard to factor in dealing with a manager as cunning as “The 1 Percenter” Richard Goldman. Bert worried too much about what Goldman was doing, and that really cost him. This combination could be quite effective in KCXW, and
The remainder of the show was setting up one of my most anticipated matches for KCXW Xtreme Freedom 2024. With The Marksman Gerard Jaworski falling ill during a recent Showcase episode, collapsing before even entering the ring, a lot of people were wondering how that was going to play into Old Glory’s suspected rematch against Lord Maximus Canine. The Marksman was presumed to at least be in Glory’s corner, but it has since been announced that Canine was going to be coming in with a mystery partner to face Glory in a tag match. Who would his new partner be?
We got our answer on this show as Atlas Armstrong answered the call, thus creating a new tag team – The United Patriots. To christen this newly formed alliance, The United Patriots dominated two of the XWC trainees, Trey and Duane, winning with a devastating combo Blockbuster/spinebuster that I’m sure can seal the deal for just about anyone.
SSW Tie-Up – June 12, 2024
The Card:
- El Diablo defeated “Big” Clay Huna – Second round match for the Show Me State Heavyweight Championship tournament
- “Nothin’ Neater” Derek Teter defeated Charlie Graham
I normally am not able to attend shows from Show Me State Wrestling due to them being based out of Jefferson City, but with them having familiar faces such as Miss Wendy on commentary, Vito as referee, and a whole slew of wrestlers I love to watch on their roster, I knew I had to follow this company in some way. Who knows, maybe I’ll make the drive one of these days! This episode drops me right into the back-end of a big tournament the company has been doing to find the inaugural Show Me State Heavyweight Champion.
The first match is a bout between Kansas City mainstays, “Big” Clay Huna and “The Aztec Demon from the Year 3000” El Diablo. This was a solid matchup that pushed both men to their limits, but El Diablo was able to edge a win out by using his almost unbeatable combo of a 619 and a swanton bomb. The final four of the tournament has been decided – “Wrestling’s Finest” Blaire Dior, “Astonishing” Austin Mulitalo, El Diablo, and FTG. I may have to go back and watch some previous matches, because the entrants all look solid.
The second match on this show was between Charlie Graham and “Nothin’ Neater” Derek Teter. Teter is an absolute monster of a man, and towers over Graham in this match. While Charlie got a bit of offence in, he was no match for the barrage of power moves send his way, and finally succumbed to a monstrous choke-slam. I noticed that Teter was not part of the sixteen man tournament, but whoever wins better watch out because he seems to be looking to make a name for himself, or at least more than he already has in this area.
Speaking of El Diablo, don’t forget to check out my recent interview with him!
SSW Tie-Up – 6/19/2024
The Card:
- Handicap match – “Nothin’ Neater” Derek Teter defeated “The Spanish Stars” Los Ls
- El Diablo defeated FTG securing a finals spot
- Austin Mulitalo defeated Blair Dior by pinfall with a low blow
This show started out with another Derek Teter match, this time against two luchadores called Los L’s. Like his match last week against Charlie Graham, Teter dominated, which was made that much more impressive because of the odds obviously being against him. Derek absolutely crushed both masked men, chokeslams were flying, and he stacked them on top of each other like lumber for the pin. Once again, “Nothin’ Neater” Derek Teter doesn’t seem to be playing around.
As mentioned earlier, the Final Four of the Show Me State Wrestling Heavyweight Championship Tournament are Dior, Mulitalo, Diablo, and FTG. The rest of this episode are the two semi-final matches, by the end of this week, the final match will be decided. First up was Frodo The Ghost (FTG) against El Diablo. El Diablo initially fell victim to FTG’s poor sportsmanship, such as turning an offered handshake into an attack, and other nonsense. Eventually this ill-gotten “early lead” Frodo had secured got away from him when he decided to start goofing off like messing with Diablo’s hair instead of going for a pin. El Diablo regained his footing and defeated FTG securing a finals spot!
Finally, the show closed with a matchup between Blaire Dior and Austin Mulitalo for the last spot in the finals. Both competitors were fairly evenly matched here, and it nearly looked like “Wrestling’s Finest” Blair Dior was going to clench the win to face off with El Diablo, however Austin Mulitalo is ever the opportunist. With Vito caught in a rare case of looking away at the exact wrong time, Mulitalo nailed Blaire with a low-blow and stole the win. Austin vs Diablo ought to be great, and I can’t wait to see it later this week!
NBW Squared Circle – Season 3 Episode 10 – “Sign on the dotted Line” From Macon, MO
The Card:
- Helms VS Teter Contract Signing
- “The American Outlaw” Tyler Bodine defeated El Diablo and The Fajita Taker in a triple threat match
- “The Natural” Atlas Armstrong defeated The Iceman
It’s been a while since I’ve watched New Breed Wrestling, which is a shame because they generally put on a solid show. I might try to make a show in Sedalia the next time they come through, so stay tuned if I am able to make that happen! This episode appears to have been filmed at the company’s May show in Macon, Missouri, and started with a contract signing segment. NBW Owner Scott Zei wanted to bring out “The Silverback” Joe Helms w/ Lady Gun as well as the NBW Heavyweight Champion, “Nothin’ Neater” Derek Teter – instead being greeted with the insufferable System of Brutality (S.O.B.) Leader “Money” Mike Pettis to sign the contract for Teter. Zei made sure to stress that the match has different rules than traditional strap matches, and is an “I Quit strap match”, and introduced a brand new belt. Amazingly, nobody went through the table, which might just be a first for contract signing segments.
Next up was a match between “The American Outlaw” Tyler Bodine, El Diablo, and The Fajita Taker in a triple threat match. however, due to their numerous pairings or just out of necessity, El Diablo and Fajita Taker seemed to align themselves against Bodine for most of the match. Both Fajita Taker and El Diablo combined might just match up to the size of the freight train that is Tyler Bodine, and he definitely threw both men around a bit. At one point, it looked like either Fajita Taker or El Diablo was on the verge of a win, but both went for a pinfall attempt at the same time and neither was allowed a count. That misstep cost them, and Bodine was able to turn it around and pin both men.
The main event for this show was a match between “The Natural” Atlas Armstrong and The Iceman. While I haven’t watched this show for a bit, I do remember that last summer The Iceman kind of had a mean streak in NBW for a while. The crowd was definitely NOT behind him, and he made it known that he did not care. For this match, it seemed like he had reformed, and had lightened up a bit for the Macon, MO crowd. He was high-fiving kids and seemed to apologize for inflicting pain on his opponent. Perhaps he was even too cautious.
As commentary pointed out, The Iceman had a choice between winning or making the crowd happy, and it cost him here. Atlas Armstrong secured a HUGE upset in my opinion here. At the end of the show FTG came out to watch w/ the TV title belt, perhaps signaling a probable future bout may be on the horizon between Atlas and himself!
So there you have it! Next week I plan to get Mid-States Wrestling in the mix and hope to be “caught up” going into the following week. I have a final project for my Master’s summer class coming up, so it might be delayed, but I will try not to get too far behind. Stay tuned for more and feel free to let me know if you like this or if there’s anything I should cover!