SANTA MARIA, RADDISON HOTEL — Making the 3-hour trip up the 101 to Santa Maria was quite an adventure, especially when it includes bringing Ring Announcer Michael O’Garro, Jr. to the venue. Between the preliminary match & the opening match of the card, Joseph Duncan made an announcement regarding the VPW Heavyweight title, held by Lil Cholo, who got injured during the recent LU tapings. Joe decided to suspend Cholo’s run with the title. In other words, the number of days that that he has held the said title will stay at 433 days, until he is able to compete, & defend the title. With that, the 3rd Annual Rowland Alexander Memorial California Cup Battle Royal, decided an Interim Heavyweight champion.
P: APW Young Lions Cup winner Will Roberts p. Kenny K
Short, but effective preliminary match that saw Will dive from the top rope, and do a Rollup on Kenny for the pin.
1: Sunami successfully defended the Tri-Force title over Mike Rayne & Greg Hernandez
Strong opener that saw some bad blood between Sunami & Mike, with brawling throughout the match, & after the bell. Greg had his moments, too, subbing in for Jeckles The Jester, but ended up eating Sunami’s Death Valley Driver, and got pinned.
2: Classic Connection (Buddy Royal & Levi Shapiro) successfully defended the NWA Western States Tag Team titles over The Von Dooms (Vintage Dragon & Cyanide)
Great tag team match, with plenty of spots on both ends. Buddy & Levi were able to keep Cyanide out of the match long enough for Buddy to hit a Backbreaker to the Knee on VD, then held him for Levi’s Tope Flying Fist for the pin.
3: Jimi Mayhem p. Alexander G. Bernard
Short, but effective match. Anyone that follows Vendetta Pro’s tweets, & everyone at ringside realized that the “contract that Jimi signed before the match, meant that AGB now controls all of Jimi’s athletic licenses”. As Mike O’Garro pointed out after the match, always read everything before signing a contract.
4: Vendetta Vixens Evening Gown Match. Tab Jackson scored a DQ-win over Kiara Dillon
Some Vendetta fans were really hyped for this match…maybe too over-hyped for it. For one, neither women were able to fully strip off their opponents’ evening gown. Secondly, Tab was only able to work off one piece of Kiara’s outfit. Tab almost had a chance to work Kiara’s gown off, putting her in a submission hold, but paid for it with a chair shot to the head, leading to the DQ.
5: Title unification match. Ricky Ruffin p. Judas The Apostle to successfully defend the NWA Western States title, & win the NWA Pacific Coast title
From my POV, this one had the cleanest match & outcome, with Ricky hitting some form of Tope Facebreaker for the pin.
SM: Shane & Shannon Ballard def. Rock of Love (Billy Blade & a returning Kadin Anthony) to extend their wrestling career
“A man’s gotta do, what a man’s gotta do.” — Shane Ballard
Shenanigans galore. 1) The Raddison Hotel staff “showed Joe Duncan a video of Richie Slade being beaten down somewhere”. 2) Kadin Anthony was a viable substitution for Richie, & really went after the Ballards. 3) Referee Sparky Ballard may’ve seem a little biased for Shane & Shannon, but he stayed as neutral as he could. 4) Two hooded men came to the ring, distracting Billy Blade long enough for one of the Ballards to roll him up for the pin. After they beat down on Billy, they unmasked……*** revealing Sledge & J.D. Horror ***.
M: 3rd Annual Rowland Alexander Memorial California Cup Battle Royal
As usual, wrestlers came out in groups, representing their given wrestling company. It came down to two wrestlers: SoCal Crazy–who was supposed to have challenged Lil Cholo for the heavyweight title, & Rik Luxury. Both men were thrown over the top rope, but Rik used underhand tactics during the ensuing fight on the apron. He kicked SoCal Crazy in the nuts, knocking him off the apron, & securing his 3rd title run with the VPW Heavyweight title, albeit on an interim basis.
Rik Luxury wins the Roland Alexander Memorial Battle Royal
So plenty of storylines to watch at Vendetta Pro, as they go on holiday until early January 2016. There’s “The Superior Man”, who now has Jimi as “his butler”. There’s an apparently growing feud between Rock of Love/Midnight Delight, & Creepshow, with The Ballard Bros. being the X-Factor. And then there’s the matter of how long Rik will remain interim heavyweight champion, until Lil Cholo is able to return, & do battle with Rik, or whoever is interim champion, at the time.
MOTN: California Cup Battle Royal, followed by Ballards/Rock of Love, then Ruffin/Judas
For more photos from the show please visit Simplicio Photography
