Okay, so the doors opened at 5pm and we were some of the first ones in. The hall was pretty small, but I REALLY liked the intimate nature of the venue. I also liked that it wasn't packed to the brim and we had some space around us. We could see everything from where we were, and there was a spot close to us where other little kids were going to high five/yell at the wrestlers. My daughter was shy tho, so she stayed in the seat.
Show started at 6pm with introductions of the ring announcer, Johnny Roy Hero, who apparently had some sort of law enforcement gimmick. He ended up being pretty sassy to the heels and was pretty fun.
Then they brought out the announcer (I think), Billy Cash, and the General Manager, Jbek the Paycheck, followed by a bunch of other staff, including owner Chet Gunderson (apparently a Swede who wears Dudley Boyz glasses).
The first wrestler out was "The Kingpin" Damien Tyler. Tyler was a short dude that wore black tights with pinstripes like Kurt Angle's terrible MEM singlet. He came out bitching about having to fight in a handicap match against the Red Flag Army. This led to lots of jokes about his height, including being given a huge lollipop while the "We Represent the Lollipop Guild" song from Wizard of Oz played. Seemed pretty archaic and something WWE would get shit on for, but I'm not gonna deny it was funny as it happened.
Red Flag Army came out to argue with The Kingpin. Somewhere in there I gathered that the RFA guy with Ruby Riot tights (RFA1) is the Kingpin's brother. Kingpin ended up bringing in a chair, but RFA2 was able to get it. He went to crack Kingpin with it, but RFA1 guy stopped him cuz "he's my brother!" This ended up allowing Kingpin to get a rollup for the win, followed by an argument between the RFA. Fun stuff.
Next match was Aaron Stone vs. Mark Reconsile (accompanied by Mr. John Park, who I swear to God looks exactly like an old boss of mine, to the point where I had to look him up on Facebook to be sure). Stone was pretty entertaining and my daughter really enjoyed him. Reconsile was a big dude with terrible tights.
They ended up going to a double countout followed by Stone getting attacked after the bell. Good stuff from both guys.
Next out were the RPW Champion, Joey Roth, along with his valet, Roxxi Heart. They were accompanying the tag-team of Rico "Flash" Paisley and Johnny Nigh. My daughter wanted to like Roxxi at first, but we figured out her and Rico were heels when they pretended they were going to give candy to some kids and ended up throwing it on the ground and laughing. Rico made a "Ho ho ho" joke, pointing at women in the crowd. Their opponent was a guy named Rion Skillz, who had amazing galaxy tights. Skillz hopped on the mic and explained that his partner wasn't here yet, but would arrive soon, and asked permission for the match to begin right away. Gunderson approved it and away we went with the 2 on 1.
Nigh and Rico dominate Skillz until suddenly sleigh bells start ringing and Skillz tag-team partner shows up and ends up being...Santa Claus! Santa hits the ring and cleans house, and takes the win for he and Skillz to cheers from the crowd.
Next up was a triple threat match for the #1 Contendership for the RPW Championship. First out is Garrisaon Creed, who appears to have some sort of military gimmick going by his facepaint and the hat in the poster. Right away, this is the first dude who's LOOKED like a wrestler. Great presence. Second out is Marshe Rockett, who is probably the only dude on the show who had that big time feel. Third out was S.P. the Ghost, a black cruiserweight with creepy face paint and a creepy face painted valet (who was also super hot), along with a dark a spooky entrance. I f***ing love it.
Creed starts out trying to shake hands with Marshe. Marshe does the "pretend to shake hands, but pull back and rub my hair" bit. Creed tries to shake Ghost's hand, but Ghost just stares blankly into the distance. Creed waves his hand in front of his face to try and get his attention, but Marshe attacks Creed. They go at it for awhile until one of them bumps Ghost, at which point he wakes up and goes nuts on them. Good stuff by all three of them. Daughter was really into Ghost and was pulling for him to win. Rockett ended up getting the victory though. After the match, Rockett called out Gunderson and said he should've already held the title, especially since they "named the damn company after me!"
Next out was Jbek the Paycheck who called out "The Behemoth" Jeff Steeples, who is very similar in size and look to Mark Reconsile. Steeples has way better presence though. Steeples dismisses Jbek and some other authority figured and calls out Chet Gunderson. He says Gunderson recruited him specifically, telling Steeples that Chet wanted him as his first champion. But here he is without the belt. So he wants Gunderson to come talk about it. Gunderson is out to some crazy Swedish music and a weird tag-team called No Coast. They run around the ring handing out glow sticks to kids and the crowd loves them some Gunderson. Finally he gets in the ring and they take seats. Steeples threatens Gunderson and says he's going to beat him up, but as Steeples is putting aside his chair, Gunderson takes off his coat and starts attacking Steeples. It looks terrible, but Gunderson is fun. Steeples fights him off and lays him out with a chair. Steeples forces Gunderson to agree to give Steeples a match tonight, but I don't remember what it was for. At this point, my daughter has this horrified look on her face. Steeples puts Gunderson's leg in one chair, and uses the other to pillmanize it and my daughter damn near started to cry! She was SUPER worried about Chet and didn't want to see him get hurt. I managed to calm her down by reminding her its just a show, but man, seeing her terrified like that really brought me back to my childhood when I cried over HBK having been beaten up my 9 marines in Syracuse. Great segment.
Right here there was an intermission, about an hour and a half into the show. Santa Claus came back out and took photos with people in the ring. My daughter didn't want to at first, but she finally relented and I brought her into a wrestling ring for both of our first times! She got a photo with Santa (who she refused to believe was actually Santa) and a high five from Aaron Stone. Intermission ended after about ten minutes.
Next is a tag-team match with a singles title on the line. Fabian Barbosa and Tyler Bodine will challenge a group represented by Mr. John Park, although I did not catch their name. First out is Jack Carpenter. Next out is his tag-team partner, RPW Inter-something Champion, Maximum Orion. Apparently, is their team loses, Bodine wins Orion's belt. But WAIT! Mr. John Park has an announcement and reveals he's been allowed to add a third member to his team. Out comes Matt Wild, who looks like he's wearing a Kurt Angle-recently-shaved-head wig. Lots of chairshots and kendo stick shots (daughter didn't like those either!) and the match ended in Bodine getting the title! However, Jack Carpenter, Mr. John Park and Matt Wild attack after the bell! Mark Reconsile joins them, and attacks Bodine with a chair until officials rush in a cover Bodine with their own bodies to stop the assault.
It was getting late at this point and I was already late for work, so we decided to make the next match our last one. It was a four way but I forget what they were fighting for. First out was a dude named Cesar Dragon, the most indy looking thing to ever indy. He wore a power ranger costume with a mix of green/black rangers. Next out was Devin August, followed by Skylar Reed (who is hated due to his Canadian-ness), and then finally a dude announced as from Joliet, Illinois and getting the hometown welcome (most of the wrestlers were from Chicago, in fact, with the notable exception of Marshe Rockett), Gunner Brave. They started out all sitting in chairs in a circle until Skylar Reed started slapping everybody. When Brave slapped back. Reed got up and the match began. After a pretty good match where Brave got the victory, Reed pulled a table out from under the ring and wound up putting Brave through it to my delight and my daughter's terror.
We left at this point, as did quite a few others with kids. I think there was only one match left, the Steeples match, but I'm not sure. GREAT show, we both had a blast, and she can't wait to go to the next show in January. I'm gonna take the day off this time so we can stay for the whole show.
