Well, the day has been an interesting one leading up to tonight’s show. Our air conditioning went out Thursday night and when the repair guy arrived this morning, he determined it was the motor and naturally he didn’t have the right parts, and, oh sorry, it’s Saturday and no one is open until Monday to get the part. So, we are looking at another 48 hours. I even had to go into the office this morning to record my podcast to avoid the heat and the repair guy. Should I even mention that I’m on my second Starbucks drink of the day? No, you’re right, probably not.
But, I made the 90 minute drive to Coolidge and am ready to enjoy commentating on yet another IZW show. At least the gym is air conditioned. Pre-show meeting has occurred, and we are welcoming fans in for the VIP match. This gives me plenty of time to work on updating my website at least since we still have ten minutes before anything starts.
5:45 - pre-show match begins. As always, I have no idea who these people are. But the first guy is named Damian. That's really all I understood when he was announced. He’s facing a hometown boy named AJ. There is this fan who keeps saying some not great things about how the match is going to be horrible, etc. Come one now, it’s a pre-show match just let them wrestle. He also apparently doesn’t like any of the ref.
Poor homeboy is getting a little beat up at the start of this match, but I’m betting he’ll end up winning. I mean, he is from Coolidge. Alright, AJ seems to be getting some momentum, but it’s short lived. I will say that their smacks are sounding pretty legit. Typically these early matches involve newish wrestlers, but if that’s the case with these two, kudos to them. I was impressed with their abilities and what I saw. Not that my opinion really matters to anyone but whatever, I’ll still share it.
I was wrong, Damian pinned AJ at 5:55. This just proves that Greg does not share the show rundown with me prior!
Main show begins at 6:00, and it looks like we are on time.
So, we get about a 5 minute preview of the night, and it appears as if the first match is a tag team match. First pair took me a minute to figure out. I got that one of them is named Dallas. I think the other one is MBW. They are up against Jacob Austin Young and the guy who yells “war?” We are just going to say that they are the War team and the pants team.
6:08 the first match starts. Lots of grunting, some arm twisting, rolling and spinning and more twisting followed by some flexing. Pants team makes a tag, War team makes a tag. More slapping, kicking to the face (that doesn’t seem legal), knees to the chest. Basically, what I call playing in the sandbox. Doesn’t take long to get a “War” chant going. Two against one while the ref is distracted. FYI, wrestling refs get distracted a lot. They need some situational awareness.
This ref gets distracted quite a bit, unfortunately, which leads to some shenanigans. Pants team almost gets a pin. Not sure how these people do some of the moves they do without really hurting each other. I get that they are trained, but still. Maybe my 16 year old, student athletic trainer needs to start coming to these things so he can wrap ankles and arms and do ice bags.
War team wins with a submission hold. That means the other team tapped out for those non-wrestling people reading this. Now War team seems to be arguing in the ring. The one pushes the other. Are we going to have a breakup? Still arguing as the other team leaves. Handshake? Ok, looks like the catastrophe was averted, and they are a pair for another day. However, are they planting the seeds for some trouble coming in the future?
6:20 - next match starts with the introduction of … I have no idea. Some guy and lady. Not sure if they are supposed to be a tag team or if one is just out to support the other. Seems like another tag team. They are facing Red Mask Guy (I like him) and Crazy Hot Morgan (We’re kinda like friends, so I know her). We’ll call the other team the Purple People. Looks like chivalry is not dead and ladies go first. Let’s go Morgan!
After some tussling, the boys are now in the ring. These guys are flippy. I love when they flip around the ring like it's Cirque du Soleil. Women back in the ring, just for purple boy to get tagged back in. Boy against girl. Ref gets distracted, again. Purple girl gets tagged back in. A lot of back and forth. Purple girl gets confused and starts attacking Purple boy. Red Mask guy has a great run in the ring with purple girl, but it doesn’t lead to anything productive.
With a chaotic moment of everyone in the ring, Red Mask Guy and Morgan end up with the win at 6:33. Yay!
Robles Boxing Gym is allowing two sparring boxing exhibition matches. The first one is between two young ladies, we got the blue vs the red. This exhibition will consist of 3 rounds with 30 seconds between. Blue girl is getting some great shots in, but red is fighting back. Round one is over.
Round two, red comes out swinging. Love that these girls are not holding back. Red got a great hit that caused Blue to have to shake her head out a little. Round Two is over. Round three is non stop aggression. They are not holding anything back. Blue found some stored up energy. Match is over and the girls hug it out in the ring. Both girls are presented with a frame prints of their match card as a momento. No one is declared a winner; they are both winners. Great job ladies! I found out after the show that the red girl is the Navajo Warrior and Crazy Hot Morgan’s daughter. Tonight is a total family affair!
6:42 - next match being introduced, and it will be for the women’s world championship. First out is a lady who shoots sparks out of her wrist band type thing. This is Lilith. Her opponent is current women’s champion, Bryn.
Doesn’t take long for them to find themselves out of the ring and literally right in front of my table. I must protect my Starbucks drink at all costs! I hope they don’t plan on crashing through my table. If so, Greg will have some explaining to do! Ref is yelling to get back in the ring about they knocked over chairs and have zero regard for their personal safety. However, it does make for an entertaining match. They aren’t playing fan favorites either, they are fighting on all sides of the ring - just outside vs inside. Bryn smashes Lilith with a chair. Ref disqualifies her and calls all the refs out to separate them. Bryn keeps her belt.
Bryn finally gets back in the ring with the other members of her group Final Destination, I think, when they come out to congratulate her. The one guy is talking, tells everyone to be quiet. There is a baby crying so he says, “can someone quiet that baby?’ LOL. That’s pretty funny. The woman holding the baby immediately passes the baby off to the guy next to her. This whole baby thing gave me a pretty good giggle.
Ring clears out and it is now 6:55, not quite sure when intermission is… but two of my favorite guys are in the ring. Thug and EJ Sparks. Oh, apparently they are wrestling two of the guys from Final Destination who were just yelling at everyone. It was helpful that they were already in the ring. Thug isn’t wrestling, just outside the ring. EJ and his partner, Da Shade (Who is pineapple romper guy from the last show - how disappointing that he is not wearing a romper tonight!) do rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to start in the ring. And we’re off….
Lots of fun. I love watching these guys wrestle. Of course the ref gets distracted and Bryn who is still at ring side gets involved. EJ is about to be dropped head first into the ring, and crash, poor guy. EJ, however, fights back but gets slammed into the ground again.
Pause while I order my kids melting at home food and run to the little girl’s room. Sadly, while I was gone the guys from Final Destination beat my boys. For the record, I did try to convince my teenagers to come with me. They both choose to sit in front of the fans at home over coming to the show.
7:07 and we are at intermission. This is a really long intermission. It’s 7:35, and the second half is just starting. We are beginning with the second exhibition match. These are the boys, a red one (Connor) and a blue one (Junior). Same rules as the first exhibition match. 7:39 and we are underway.
Round one ends, and round two begins with the same amount of high energy. Red guy takes shot after shot. Blue really begins to bring it, but the bell rings ending the round. Last round! Red guy seems to try to pick up blue guy; I don't think you can do that in boxing. Round three ends upon a huge hit by blue guy. The boys are presented the same framed pictures of their match card as the girls were. Nicely done gentlemen!
Everyone leaves the ring. Some pictures are taken and then it is time for a special event - presenting the first ever Navajo Warrior Fighting Spirit Award. Greg, Navajo and Morgan are introduced to the ring. Randy Robles, the owner of the boxing gym, is called into the ring. Great moment! Awe, Greg is talking. He so rarely takes an active role in these shows. Greg and Nav are left in the ring.
Music starts interrupting the wrapping up of the moment and 3 guys walk out. Purple guy from the first match, beanie guy (Pete the Heat), and red onesie guy is back tonight as well. Beanie grabs the mic and immediately begins insulting everyone. At least this gives time to clear the ring out of those who don’t want to get caught in the middle of all this.
Beanie calling Greg “Gregory” and an “old man” are probably the best moments of the night so far. Beanie is upset that he doesn’t have a match. Music starts again and some big muscle guy comes out. Red onesie guy doesn't look happy to see him. Don’t hurt yourself Gregory as you announce and call out a ref. SIx man tag team, but there are currently only 5 in the ring when Greg announces them. The six man is the hometown hero, Isaac!
Match starts… well, maybe. Everyone is showboating right now. However, muscle man wins that battle. Finally at 7:58 it looks like they might actually start. However, Red Onesie (Maestro) is pretty funny with his dramatics.
At this point it is a lot of back and forth, tagging in and out. Red Onesie looks like he’s trying to pull Nav’s ears off. I guess this is an anything goes match. Nav is taking it to Pete the Heat. I feel as the night goes on, I have less and less to say. I mean there is a lot of the same stuff in every match. All six guys are in the ring beating each other up while the ref just looks around, probably trying to figure out which two actually belong there. Eventually, the team of Nav, muscle man and Isaac win.
Time for the main event, after about another 5 minutes of announcements and promotions for the November 12 show. It’s 8:12 and the music plays to bring out the first wrestler, one of my faves - THUG! Before this match, I spoke directly to EJ trying to convince him that he needs to wear a romper with Pineapple romper guy in November. He said he would think about it. Ok, more music for the next wrestler who is …. I have no idea, but he wears a crown!
Match is for the IZW World Heavyweight championship. Thug, the current champion, is taking on the Emperor, one of the guys from Final Destination. The Emperor snatches the belt out of Thug’s hands and hits him with it. Match is on.
After rolling out of the ring, which seems to be a requirement of championship matches, Thug begins to really fight back. Thug throws the Emperor back into the ring. Then we have the chest slapping of every match and some quick two counts, but they continue on. All I can think about now is Thug, EJ and Pineapple romper guy (Da Shade) all wearing matching rompers in November. PLEASE MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
Thug head butts the Emperor and flings himself off the ropes to take him down, but no pins.Thug takes some major slams but hangs tough. **I break into song in honor of NKOTB ** Anyways!! Thug almost gets a pin.Emperor jumps off the top rope and does a frog splash on Thug but is unable to get the pin.
So I think that one move didn’t go quite as planned, but they recovered from it. So, the ref is down and the other member of Final Destination runs out and attacks Thug, but jumps back out of the ring before the ref realizes it. EJ and romper guy come out to hold off the “invaders” allowing Thug time to pin the Emperor and retain the title. Great match!
I spoke directly to but separately with both EJ and Thug to encourage them to all wear matching rompers with Pineapple Guy in November. Thug is totally on board, but it seems we need to encourage EJ a little more. These guys are some of my favorites!
Overall, this was an enjoyable show like always. I like that in Collidge, the show is held in a gym so it is a little more spacious and everyone isn’t sitting on top of everyone. The next show, in November is at The Horny Toad in Glendale and will be held outside. The weather should be great, and I’m excited to see how it goes.
Click HERE for tickets to IZW presents Wanted: Dead or Alive on November 12 in Glendale.
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