Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling 2/18/2024

Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling 2/18/2024

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2024/02/southern-illinois-championship_13.html 

Drew and Lucky P. Larson are on commentary. Drew points out that Larson's LA Hustlers lost the tag titles and Larson isn't happy. Larson says if you give a million monkeys a million tries, one of them might type you a great novel. Larson mockingly congratulates The Top Guns, saying they got one in on a team who is infinitely better than them. He tells them to enjoy their 15 seconds of fame and says "we will get them back". Drew asks if he's done crying.

Drew runs the card and Larson calls Big Joe Helms, "Little" Joe Helms. Larson says he feels almost sorry for whatever victims get in the ring with The LA Hustlers today.

Shawn Douglas vs Bryce Cawvey

They push each other and trade shots. Bryce dropkicks him out of the ring and Larson says the ref has the weight advantage here. Shawn takes down Bryce and hits punches. Shawn boots him in the face then pulls on his chin. Larson says he likes choke holds as they wear you out and long as you let go by the five count, you can use them.

Bryce sleepers Shawn. Drew said the youngsters come up with moves they would have never thought of and Larson said he thought of it. Shawn hits a german then a nasty release german. Shawn front face locks him and goes for the guillotine choke. Bryce flips out of it and turns it into a bridge pin attempt. Bryce corner splashes Shawn and gets on his back with a sleeper. Drew says it could be a multi-year feud between these guys and said it could be like Triple H and The Rock. Shawn grabs a side headlock and Bryce rolls him up out of to win it.

It was a shorter match and there was nothing wrong with it. The pin was definitely a surprise here.

Drew apologizes for talking during the pin and Larson said the lesson is Drew shouldn't talk. Drew said maybe he shouldn't let Larson rub off on him.

Drew wants to show us what happened in the tag title match. Larson says to change the channel and to come back in 5 minutes. Larson says he's not watching.

SICW Tag Titles - The LA Hustlers ("Roughshot" Lamont Potts and "The Notorious" Bradley Diggs) (c) vs The Top Guns (Brandon Baretta and Joe Vinetti)

We join this in progress. Brandon takes a big chokeslam from Diggs. Diggs slams Vinetti then The Hustlers miss a rocket launcher. Potts back elbows Vinetti then sleepers him. Diggs gets on the mic as it happens and Vinetti chinbreakers Potts.

Brandon gets the hot tag in and beats up on The Hustlers. Vinetti misses a corner charge and bounces hard off the buckles. Brandon is held up in the air for a lariat and Vinetti breaks it up. Potts is lariated over the top. Larson holds up the briefcase for a shot and Diggs ends up going into it. Kowalski tries to interfere then "Big" Joe Helms goes after him. Brandon slams Diggs then Vinetti is rocket launched off the top onto Diggs. The Top Guns pick up the win and are the new SICW tag champs!

What we saw of this was good with a hot crowd. Curtis Wylde and Big Texan celebrate with the faces. 

The LA Hustlers ("Roughshot" Lamont Potts and "The Notorious" Bradley Diggs) vs Waco and Richard Shaw

The Hustlers look down and aren't real thrilled here. Diggs clubs Shaw's back then Potts joins in. Potts foot chokes Shaw with aggression then Shaw's head is banged off the buckles. Diggs hits a nice slam on Shaw then Shaw takes a face kick + russian legsweep (called the hustle and flow). Waco then gets in and also takes the hustle and flow for the pin. Shaw then gets a second hustle and flow.

It was a quick squash here and I liked Potts firing up here.

SICW Classic Title, Special Ref: Danny Boy Hawkins - Big Texan (c) vs Payton Ayres

This is also taped and joined in progress. Payton hammerlocks Texan then is punched. Payton hits more punches in the corner and Danny Boy tells Payton to back up. Texan rolls out and Payton sends Texan's shoulder into the post.

Texan blocks an irish whip then hits a corner splash. Texan hits shots to the gut and chops him. Texan hits a nasty lariat and gets the win.

Texan's lariat was good as usual here. I thought Payton should have gotten more in during what we saw. It looked to have a slower pace.

Stephen E. nails Texan from behind after. Stephen E. takes shots from Texan then Atilla Khan chairs Texan from behind. Texan takes the 3v1 from Devastation Inc. Danny Boy comes in to pull off Khan and is thrown. Danny punches Khan and Payton. Payton is thrown over the top and takes a nice bump. Hawkins slams Khan then Stephen E. slides out to avoid further damage.

Drew interviews Big Texan. It's almost been a full year since he's been champs. Drew says if it's not Payton, it's Khan. He said everyone wants a piece of the Classic Title. He said one of his friends wants to come back and he told him he wants them to become a tag team. He said he's not worried but needs someone in the back in case he is attacked from the back. He said his buddy is Bull Bronson. He said Bull was on the edgy side before but is now going to be on Team Texan. Texan says to watch out Khan and Payton because they are coming. Texan then says SICW is where the big boys play.

"The Silverback" Joe Helms vs "Your Canadian Hero" Sean Vincent

We know Joe Helms from Mid-States Wrestling. Glenn Williams isn't out here with Sean though Larson is. Ron Powers is on commentary. Sean poses then Joe poses and backs him up. Sean wants a test of strength and is quickly put down. Sean headbutts Joe in the gut. Joe catches his crossbody and fallaway slams him.

Sean boots Joe in the corner then is thrown off the top. Joe is tripped into the 2nd rope then slides over his back to the floor. Sean facewash kicks Joe and is pushed off on the pin attempt. Joe hits shots to the throat of Sean and Larson distracts Joe. Sean misses a boot and takes a nice atomic drop to the outside. Sean does a great sell job of that one and walks out to get himself counted out.

This was an odd finish here but they sold it as Sean running away to survive. I thought if they were going to do this, Sean should have hit Joe with something or cheated in some big way to sell the idea of him needing to run away better.

Joe Helms is interviewed by Drew after. Drew said Joe was screwed in a recent match by Larson but showed he could handle Kowalski, stopping any problems in the tag title match. Joe says he'll take any victories over Larson's crew that he can. He said he has dealt with them for a year and dealt with countless interferences and cheating. He said he has dominance over Kowalski and they run. Joe says it's a matter of time until Larson's day comes and The Silverback destroys everything he stands for.

Promoter's Corner - WWA 9/6/1980 - Nick Bockwinkle vs Dick the Bruiser

Nick grabs a full-nelson and breaks the full nelson. Dick grabs the arm and Nick pulls his hair. Nick knees him in the back and backbreakers him. We go to some clip of something else then return back. We then get bars on the screen as Nick pounds on Dick. Dick snapmares him then is hit in the back. Nick hits shots to the gut and snapmares him.

Nick bodyscissors him and Dick punches his way out of it. Nick slides out to stall and puts him in tree of woe. Nick boots him while he hangs then Nick punches him while he's upside down. Dick hulks up and stops selling. Dick and Nick trade punches and Nick gets dropped. Dick kicks him then bangs his head off the mat.

Nick is thrown back into the corner hard twice then pounds on him. Nick is thrown back again and Dick chokes him. Dick throws him back into the ref, knocking down both of them. The ref then awards Nick the match due to DQ.

It made sense but it wasn't that great and was slow. Nick did some nice selling here but Dick didn't really bring much to the table here except for punches. The finish was something different. 

Drew interviews Larson and the LA Hustlers. Larson isn't happy about Drew bringing up that they are the former tag champs. Larson asks if he has a death wish and tells him to stand there and shut up if he wants to walk out on his own. Larson says if you give The Top Guns enough tries, they will get lucky. Larson said they can control strength, speed, experience and talent but not luck. Larson says The Top Guns can't carry their jocks. He said they got lucky on their 217th try. Larson said let's see if they can hold onto the titles now because The Hustlers have held many titles and The Top Guns have held none. Larson said to ask Shaw and Waco how it feels to get in the ring with angry Hustlers.

Larson said Joe Helms can't control Kowalski and lost to him the last two times they fought. He tells him to take his magilla gorilla butt and get out of the way, the ring and his life. Larson asks Curtis Wylde how many people he has to find to beat these guys and Kowalski. Larson said they run this place.

This was a really good promo and they did a great job of putting over their anger over the title loss. Legit, this was probably better than almost anything you've seen on TV in a while.

The Big Texan vs The Uber Destroyer

The Uber Destroyer is from Germany and is masked. He's with Stephen E. Ron Powers is on commentary and said he doesn't miss being in there. They lock up and Texan backs him up. Texan hits nice back elbows then Uber iron claws him. Uber hits a Thesz press and chokes him. Uber puts him in a trapezius hold.

Texan hits him in the gut then chops him. Texan suplexes him. Uber running euros him and hits stomps in the corner. Uber iron claws him and Texan hits forearms to the gut from his knees. Uber is thrown into the corner and runs into the ref, Bill Henson. Texan gets eye raked and Stephen E. loads up Uber's mask. Danny Boy Hawkins comes down and takes the weapon out. Texan then lariats Uber and gets the win.

There wasn't a lot of moves here or anything and it got a little boring, but I still thought it was done okay. Uber worked the claw, trap hold and chokes before getting put away by Texan. I popped for the loaded mask as I haven't seen that one done in a long time. Danny Boy coming out made sense here as he was just doing special ref work at the last big show. I like Uber though and wanted to see him pick up the win.

Overall thoughts: It was a fun hour of wrestling. Lucky P. Larson was great here being mad about the tag title loss and it was nice to see some clips from the last big show. It was good to see Joe Helms pop in also. I wouldn't recommend it, but I enjoyed it.