Weekend Report - Part 1

Friday, April 21

Southern Thunder Pro Wrestling in Devine

Pro Wrestling came to Devine Texas as Southern Thunder Pro Wrestling put on a show at Ric's South Texas at 603 Hondo (Hwy 173) Friday night. Six entertaining matches featured several wrestlers familiar to San Antonio fans and several others new to the area. Among the highlights were the return of Lemus II following his tour of duty in Operation Enduring Freedom, a six-man cruiserweight elimination match won by Dragon X, and new Texas Heavyweight Champion in Devine native Johnny Rage.

In the first match, Lemus II faced Ozzy Manson. Lemus II was unable to win either the fan support or the match as Ozzy Manson was able to pull out the victory over the veteran (literally) luchador. In match two, Quinten Allen was able to overcome the unconventional style of Blaine Steele for the win. The third match was for the Southern Thunder Cruiserweight Invitational Trophy. Dragon X was able to outlast a field of five other wrestlers including Gato Jr., Rolando Rios, Berry of the Neon World Order, Mr. B and Raiden of the Neon World Order. This match was fast paced and included countless high spots which thrilled the local crowd.

Following the intermission, The Classic Superstar Spiro faced Vega in a very hard hitting match. Vega put up a good fight, but in the end Spiro was able to grab the victory. Former tag partners Rudy Russo and El Latino continued their feud in a special match set up by Commissioner Stan Callahan of Indywarz Radio fame. (www.indywarzradio.com) Rudy Russo cheated throughout the match, bringing a foreign object into the ring which Referee Shawn O'Malley Brown (S.O.B.) was unable to find despite a rather strange shaped lump which moved around Russo's tights. El Latino was finally able to wrestle the weapon away from Russo, but at that moment the referee was distracted. Russo took the opportunity to take a page from the Eddie Guerrero playbook and fell to the mat grabbing his face, when Brown turned around he found El Latino with the weapon and Russo writhing on the mat in pain. When Brown called for the bell, disqualifying the bewildered El Latino, Russo scurried rapidly from the ring, grabbing his mirror and boa on the way.

The Main Event was for the Southern Thunder Texas Heavyweight Belt and was fought under no disqualification rules. Champion Tito Sanchez took full advantage of this provision, bringing a length of chain to the ring and using it to pound repeatedly on the head of challenger Johnny Rage who was performing for the honor of his hometown crowd. The fighting spilled out of the ring and into the crowd as both men used the chain to choke and to open up the heads of their opponent. In the end however, Johnny Rage was able to win the match and the title to the delight of the fans in attendance.

All in all, it was a solid evening of wrestling for the fans from the small town south of San Antonio who didn't feel the need to drive 50 miles to attend the opening night of Fiesta. Southern Thunder returns to Ric's (www.rics-online.com) Friday May 19th. San Antonio fans planning on attending should leave in time to make the 8 pm opening match.

Southern Thunder Pro Wrestling
Friday, March 21
Ric's South Texas
603 E. Hondo (Hwy 173)
Devine, Texas

Match 1 - Lemus II vs. Ozzy Manson (win)
Match 2 - Blaine Steele vs. Quinten Allen (win)
Match 3 - Cruiserweight Invitational (order eliminated)
Gato Jr, Rolando Rios, Berry, Mr. B, Raiden & Dragon X (win)
Match 4 - Spiro (win) vs. Vega
Match 5 - Mr. Beautiful Rudy Russo (win-DQ) vs. El Latino
Match 6 - Texas Heavyweight Championship
Champion Tito Sanchez vs. Challenger Johnny Rage (win and new champion)

Saturday, April 22

River City Wrestling "Step into RCW's World"

I was unable to attend the entire card and will post detailed match synopses when they are made available by River City Wrestling. There were several newsworthy items revealed during the evening. The most significant is the details of 3 matches all ready scheduled for the May 7th show at Tiffany Billiards. Tag Champions The Nerdy Boys (Johnny Ender and Kris Kronie) will face the number one contenders The Hardbodies (Andrew Dalton and JT LaMotta.) The Hawaiian Smashing Machine Ikaika will face Don Juan of The Texas Treats. The Main Event will feature none other than TNA's Latin American Xchange (LAX) - Konnan, Homicide and RCW Champion Hotstuff Hernandez against the newly formed alliance of the "International Power Station" (IPS) - Texas Treats' Chris Marval, Fast Eddie Vegas & Spiro accompanied by their manager Commissioner Yebisu. This card promises to be a huge event. Expect the largest indoor crowd at a wrestling event in San Antonio thus far this year. Get your ticket early and arrive early to assure good seating. For more information check out the webpage - www.rcw-wrestling.com

In other RCW news coming from the show, Johnny Ender lost his #1 contender status to Fast Eddie Vegas, setting up a third match between Fast Eddie and Hotstuff Hernandez. This rivalry has been very contentious with Hernandez able to hold off the furious challenge thus far. Will the third time be the charm for Fast Eddie?

An upcoming event was also announced. River City Wrestling will be presenting matches at a car show at the Airport Convention Center (Broadway outside 410) on Sunday, May 28. The
bell time has not been announced but will be posted soon. This event is the day after RCW's return to The Hope of Glory Church on May 27th.

River City Wrestling
April 22
Arts of the Scholar Warrior Gym
1126 Hildebrand

Match 1 - Showtime Summers (win) vs. Martin Styles
Match 2 - Chris Marval (win) vs. Spiro
Match 3 - Don Juan (win) vs. Kris Kronie
Match 4 - Tag Team Match
The Hardbodies - JT LaMotta & Andrew Dalton (win) vs. Azteca de Oro & Rayo de Plata
Match 5 - Mike Dell (win) vs. Quinten Allen
Match 6 - #1 Contender's Match
Fast Eddie Vegas (win) vs. Johnny Ender
Match 7 - Main Event - "Texas Treats Challenge" Iron Man Gauntlet Match
Ikaika (win) vs. Rudy Russo, Ikaika (win) vs. Nathan Sin, Ikaika (win) vs. Tesla, Ikaika vs. Don Juan (win)
+++ Thanks to Justin Bissonnette for match results +++

Sunday, April 23

American Championship Wrestling New Champion Jacob Ladder

ACW returned to The Venue on 800 Lexington Sunday afternoon with their best show thus far this year. A rowdy crowd was treated to 6 very entertaining matches. Ring announcer Jeff Houston called the action and incited the crowd. Referees Jay Magnum and Shawn Brown shared the duty of controlling the wrestlers.

In the first match, New Texas Champion Darin Childs defended his belt for the first time in San Antonio since winning a Battle Royal last month in Kerrville to fill the vacated title which had recently been stripped from Scott E. Charms. Darin's challenger was One Man Mike Dell who had to deal with both Childs and his manager/fan/groupie/bride Rachel. Dell was up to the challenge as he gave the champion all he could handle, forcing the lovely but dangerous Rachel to interfere on behalf of her man. Dell picked up the victory but was denied the belt as titles do not change hands on a disqualification.

The next match featured Raiden of the Neon World Order and Dragon X. These two high flying cruiserweights thrilled the crowd with their high risk moves until Dragon X was able to hit the pin for the victory. The third match was for the #1 contendership to the Texas Heavyweight Championship and featured Cobra vs. Titan Quinten Allen. The two performed a classic match shaking hands before and after the bout. In the end it was Titan who scored the victory.

The next match was for the ACW Tag Team Championship. The champions, The Ragin' Renegades - Johnny Rage and The Texas Renegade faced the challenge of newly formed team of Virus and Vega. Although the challengers put up a great fight they were unable to overcome the double team tactics of the champions.

Following the intermission, the action started up again with a match featuring former tag team partners Tito Sanchez and El Latino. Sanchez did not seem to be too worried about the challenge of his former student and actually took a break mid-match to enjoy a snack of a banana and some bottled water. When the match continued the action went back and forth with both men holding an advantage. Latino could never seem to get the pin and Sanchez actually seemed to be toying with him when Tito's earlier actions came back to haunt him. Running full speed to slam into Latino, Sanchez slipped on the banana peel which El Latino had tossed onto the mat in the middle of the ring. El Latino took advantage of the stunned Sanchez and grabbed the 1-2-3.

In the main event, ACW Heavyweight Champion Prince ran into Jacob Ladder who seemed to be fighting with a renewed enthusiasm. Prince was clearly not used to fighting someone who could virtually match his power moves. Eventually however, the Champion grabbed control of the match, giving Ladder the pounding of a lifetime when from the back, Rachel Putski rushed to the ring. While the referee was distracted, Darin Childs ran in and tried to attack Prince. The Champion was able to avoid the attack, but the distraction gave Jacob Ladder the opportunity he needed. When Prince turned his attention back to the challenger, he was met with a huge ball of fire to his face. Ladder quickly grabbed the pin on the stunned Prince and won the Title. While Jacob Ladder celebrated with his Children of Pain partners, help from the back rushed to the aid of the injured former champion. In the span of 5 weeks, the Children of Pain were able to grab both singles titles in ACW. Only time will tell how long this domination of the titles will last.

ACW's next event at The Venue is scheduled for May 21st at 4 pm. Look for information on the webpage www.princefontenot.com/wrestle/index.htm

American Championship Wrestling
April 22
The Venue
800 Lexington

Match 1 - Texas Heavyweight Championship
Challenger One Man Mike Dell vs. Champion Darin Childs w/ Rachel (win)
Match 2 - Raiden vs. Dragon X (win)
Match 3 - #1 Contender for Texas Heavyweight Title
Cobra vs. Titan (win)
Match 4 - Tag Team Championship
Challengers Virus & Vega vs. Champions The Ragin' Renegades - Johnny Rage & The Texas Renegade (win)
Match 5 - El Latino (win) vs. Tito Sanchez
Match 6 - Main Event - ACW Heavyweight Championship
Challenger Jacob Ladder (win & new champion) vs. Champion Prince

PWE Matches at Fiesta

Professional Wrestling Entertainment presented matches Friday and Saturday at Jac's Lounge on San Pedro. Results will be posted as soon as made fully available.