Maverick Pro held their second show of the year at the Clela arena; their first under their new name. This show had two titles defended on it, the Wrestle Circus Sideshow 24/7 Championship and the newly minted Maverick Pro Championship belt. The show started about 10-15 minutes off of the 7:00 pm bell time. Sean Decker III came out dressed in a black suit and tie emblazoned with bright GREEN pot leaves. He cut a heelish promo, announced some of the wrestlers and off we go!
V-Pacalypse def Ruben Iglesias & Steven Trescino (Handicap Match)
This match started out the card and was a handicap match. There were some team ups to start, with Ruben and Steven, including a double pin attempt. V-Pacalypse ended up turning the tables within a few minutes and started throwing both guys around, starting with a double suplex on both of his opponents, and also double impact fall away slam. There was a scary spot in this match near the end where Ruben took a buckle bomb high, and it looked like he hit his head on the ringpost while bouncing off the turnbuckle and out of the ring. Ruben mentioned later that he survived, and is OK. Steve Trescino attempted a Hurricanrana, but it was countered by a sit out powerbomb for the three count.
Koto Hiro def Damien Smith
The second match pitted two young competitors, the Suplex Killer Damien Smith against Koto Hiro, a lucha/strongstyle hybrid. This was a pretty even matchup, Damien using a variety of suplexes, a falling side suplex, pop up released german suplex, and a half n’ half. Koto Hiro used crisp counters, his “invisible sword” technique, and threw in a rolling cutter transitioned from a fireman’s carry that was impressive. Damien Smith catches Koto as he flies off the turnbuckle, tries to flip him over into a fireman’s carry for a Samoan drop, but Koto reverses it into a rollup for the three count. Damien Smith is enraged and destroys Koto after the match and finishes him off with a fisherman’s suplex, and then leaves.
The FeeLyons (Osiris Mittens & Senior Buttons) def True Grit (Jesse James & Hoss Hogg) by count-out
The eccentric FeeLyons wrestled against True Grit and it was a complete clash of styles. The luchador style was overpowered by the stiff offense of Jesse James and Hoss Hogg. The Outlaws controlled most of the action with a combination of powerful body slams, powerbombs and stiff chops heard around the arena. There was a hot tag to Senior Buttons, who had a combination of scratches and a slick Eat Defeat on Hoss Hogg. Action then spilled to the outside, and all four competitors battled around the ring. Osiris Buttons makes it in before the final count by the referee, giving the FeeLyons the victory. Osiris does pay after the match by a pair of heavy lariats by Jesse and Hoss, who weren’t happy with the outcome.
Shotzi BlackHart def Hudson Envy
A match between the Tattooed Pitbull and Shotzi started with some tie ups and some quick counters by Shotzi, a rollup and a somersault roll-up that was countered by Hudson into a series of strong style kicks and a variety of chokes. Each attempt at a comeback was countered by more forearms and kicks from Hudson. Shotzi had a nice triangle choke on Hudson using the ropes before taking a codebreaker from Hudson that really slowed her down. Shotzi was able to continue and nailed Hudson with a Cannonball in the corner to finish her off. The match felt like the finish happened quickly after the Codebreaker, and Shotzi was slow to leave the ring. Hopefully she was just shaken up.
The Mirror Image” Ricky Mandel def Ricky the Activist
That match of the Rickys started off with The Activist Ricky talking about a revolution that the fans didn’t want to be a part of. They start wrestling and the Activist starts off with some arm drags, a drop kick, and then Mandel backs out. Once they return to the ring, Mandel hits the Activist with a big boot and controls the match for a few minutes with stiff strikes, hip swivels, and a multiple pushup choke. The Activist turns it around and gets in some offense and a cannonball, and then it gets wild as The Activist does a suicide dive and then a senton that I’m convinced he nearly completely missed and hits the concrete. Surprisingly, the Activist doesn’t die and misses a top rope moonsault near the end of the match. Mandel hits his finisher a snap neckbreaker for the win.
Desi DeRata def Winter
This match between former TNA and WWE star Winter (Katarina) Vs. Desi DeRata featured some technical wrestling from Winter and a more powerhouse style of Desi. It’s understandable since Desi is a legit 5 foot 10 female wrestler with a muscular, athletic build. Winter controlled the first part of the match, with a drop toe hold, a head scissors and a monkey flip. The match then turned with a big boot and Desi started working Winter over with body slams, stiff kicks and an abdominal stretch. Winter then turned the momentum around with a sunset flip, a nice cross body, and a back elbow off the ropes. Desi ended it quickly however, nailing Winter with a Superwoman punch and a deep six for the victory.
“The Masterpiece” Chris Masters def “Beautiful” Brian Jace
This match was set to amp up the feud between Brian Jace and Louie Louie, who have battled against each other the last few months. Louie Louie came in with Masters as his manager, Jace brought out Sebastian Dix, a manager that really reminds me of Reverend Slick from the WWE shows as a kid.
The contest started with an immediate pose off, and mocking by Jace. Beautiful Brian then gets his “Juice” from his manager Dix. Masters immediately steals the container and drains, and then breaks it. The wrestling then starts with Jace pulling every trick he can out of the book to slow down the physically imposing Masters. A missed charge into the turnbuckle give Masters an opening and he hits Jace with a rain of stomps, a couple of stiff chops a flair strut, and strikes mounted on the turnbuckle. Jace then reverses the action with a back elbow in the corner, a spear, and a few cannonballs off the leg of Masters, obviously in an attempt to slow him down. The crowd started a Vader Jr. chant during this sequence that was simply accurate. Jace moves with an agility that shouldn’t be possible for a person that weighs at least 270 lbs. Masters was able to get the Masterlock in near the end of the match, but it was interrupted by a distraction from his manager Dix so Jace could land a low blow. Jace ends up going for a top rope splash, but Masters evades and puts in the Masterlock for the submission.
Wrestle Circus Sideshow Championship:
“The Best Ever” Sammy Guevara def “Hollywood’s Own” Joey Ryan to become the NEW Wrestle Circus Sideshow Champion
Sammy’s first show in Los Angeles was at times, a different match in different ways. Joey always has his schtick, most of it based around his penis. It was worked in well though in this match.
I believe another reason is that since this match was for a belt, there were some stakes involved as well as the level of competition.
This was a solid match; Sammy had a few moments where he sold an inverted atomic drop like his knee was hurt from the impact of hitting Joey’s groin, as well as a headbutt that didn’t work out either. There were a few dives and launches to the outside that made you hold your breath when you realized that the landing zone is solid concrete, especially with the moonsault from the top turnbuckle to the floor by Sammy.
There was a sequence where Sammy did a backflip to break a wristhold, a lucha armdrag, a leapfrog, and another backflip over a running Joey Ryan, then finished off with a great looking drop kick. This match was pretty crisp. After a series of near falls, Joey hits his slide through pump handle slam, and another referee (Jeremy Marcus) shows up. The first referee (AJ Macias) then attempts to pin Joey, due to the nature of the 24/7 rules of the title. Sammy then attempts to pin Joey but the count by Jeremy was stopped by AJ, the first ref. Pretty fun and hilarious sequence.
The YouPorn Plex was activated, but Sammy ends up backflipping out of it into a superkick and another shoot kick to the face. Sammy the pins Joey to become the NEW Wrestle Circus Sideshow 24/7 champion!
Triple Threat for the Maverick Pro Championship:
Airon Skye def Kadillak & Jarek 1:20 to become the NEW Maverick Pro Champion.
A new championship for a new company!
The rules for this match were that it was a triple threat, but if someone got pinned, they would have to stay out of the ring for a full minute before they could come back in. Most pinfalls wins. This triple threat match between these three starts off quickly with Skye and Kadillak working each other early in the match. Jarek gets out of the ring early, action is all Skye as he nails some shoot kicks, a springboard hurricanrana off the turnbuckle along with some stiff chops in the corners. Kadillak ends up going for a belly to back suplex and Jarek ends up sneaking behind and suplexing them both.
Jarek and Skye end up trading moves for a while and then Kadillak crashes that party with an impressive fireman’s carry (with Skye on his shoulders) into a cannonball into Jarek in the corner. Another notable move was Airon Skye turning a draping DDT that Jarek had Kadillak into a blockbuster/DDT combo on both of them.
The wrestling was fierce for another few minutes, Skye ended up hitting a springboard swanton to the floor taking both men out on the floor. Jarek hit some type of waist lock DDT type move, Kadillak hit what looked like an inverted jackhammer. Skye Hits a Half n Half.
Jarek 1:20 somehow gets handcuffed to the ropes, which allows Airon Skye to pin Kadillak in the ring, twice without interference. The final tally, Skye 4, Kadillak 3, Jarek 2. New Champion, Airon Skye!
New GM Shawn Decker III announced that Maverick Pro needs a worthy champion, Ricky Mandel then attacked Airon Skye and a new match starts.
Maverick Pro Championship:
“The Mirror Image” Ricky Mandel def Airon Skye to become the NEW Maverick Pro Champion
This is fast. Mandel attacks Skye from behind and lays the boots on him. Mandel picks up the title, clocks Skye with it, and Decker calls for a ref and a ring the bell. The count is made, the bell rings, and your new Maverick Pro Champion is “The Mirror Image” Ricky Mandel.
Final thoughts:
This was a solid show; it had two championship matches on it, nine matches in total. Two women’s matches also were a great thing of note. The matches all seemed to be of reasonable length. The top three matches of the night were Masters vs. Jace, Sammy vs. Joey, and the triple threat match with Skye, Kadillak and Jarek 1:20. The V Pacalypse buckle bomb was a little scary, but Ruben turned out OK. I know the video is out there, but I’m going mention this. I don’t believe it was intentional or that V-Pac is sloppy, everything in that match was crisp except for that move.
The Jace vs. Masters match was fun and was more competitive than I anticipated. The managers in the match were also a nice touch as well.
Sammy Guevera must be seen in person to appreciate. I would rank him as one of the top five high flyers in the world. This guy is going to be a star.
Joey Ryan is a master at interacting with the crowd. His wrestling was more active than the last few times I’ve seen him live as well.
The only other qualm I had was during the main event. It seemed at times wrestlers forgot the stay out of the ring rule, which made things slightly confusing for tracking pinfalls.
Chris Kadillak is seriously underused in this area.
Damien Smith’s suplexes are fun to watch.
True Grit is one large, vicious tag team. Expect these guys to be all over SoCal and other places simply for what they bring to the table.
Maverick Pro has been trying to use underutilized wrestlers and fly-ins that haven’t been used in the area. The result so far in their last few shows has been some good matches, and also some intriguing matchups. Attendance has been fair for these shows, which could be due to it being a new promotion, the name change or some other reason that’s unclear as of yet. I heard rumors they may be switching to different venue in the next few months so this may help them as well. I believe if they keep bringing in matches that people want to see and they promote well, they’ll develop a fanbase and following.
The next show they are running is on March 18th with “Broken Promises” at the Clela Arena
Thanks JR. I’m really beginning to learn the names of the moves and associate more, which moves are used by which wrestlers! It’s is great when you know their finishers! You rock, nice article, look forward to the next one!
Very good article Son!! You know just how to put everything together so us “laymen” can understand it. Thank you so much! Look forward to the next one.