Dragon Con Wrestling celebrated its 20th anniversary with another strange night of fun and frolic at the Hyatt Regency Centennial Ballroom on day one of Dragon Con 2022.
The room was packed, standing room only at the start. I'm guessing 1500 people. As pictured above, fans were chopping each other in the lobby before the show. The set up was changed post-pandemic to a bit more compact seating arrangement. The DCW Hooligan section of fans that are there every year was in it glory.
This year's show differed from past Dragon Con events: it was story driven. The story unfolded over the course of the night and will carry over to next year's show. It was a risk that paid off.
And blended into with the usual fantasy cosplay shenanigans were two great matches -- not something expected from a Dragon Con show.
The gold cups symbolizing the DCW championships were retired this year and replaced by DCW's first championship belt, which was won by Slim J.
The live commentary was better than ever with Aloysius Skipper Jenkins III and Daven Estacado joining perennial master of ceremonies "King" Michael Gentry.The annual Hall of Fame inductions opened the show. DCW originator A.J. served as emcee joined by his OG's -- Slim J, Azrael, Nemesis and Crystal Rose. The Washington Bullets were inducted as the best tag team in DCW history. "Queen of Dragon Con" Crystal was inducted and given the DCW Lady's Cup. Murder One was inducted in absentia and will receive the Tag Team Cup. AJ inducted Slim J with a mention that he was an AEW star and DCW's only triple crown winner. Slim went home with the DCW Championship Cup.
A business man type named Scott Cramton entered the ring with a contract and announced that AJ was selling DCW to him.
This Cramton guy was great -- super haughty, articulate and a total douche bag of a heel. Scott's grand plan was to move DCW out of Dragon Con to a more corporate setting where he could attract a better looking crowd. AJ tore up the contract. Cramton said AJ looked like an assistant to an Appleby's manager and vowed to take everything he had.
(1) "Peacemaker" Sean Legacy defeated "Butterfly" Wade Adams and Ethan Case and Chip Day and CT Keys (with Scott Cramton) in a scramble match (6:40). Wade was forlorn about finding a butterfly outfit in his gear bag and looking so stupid. Legacy costumed as the John Cena superhero from the HBO series was a big hit. Somebody in a Bald Eagle costume who came to the ring as Eagly, Cena's pet eagle from the series.
The match itself was fast-paced fun with one big move after another. Keys dragged an unidentified little masked guy into the ring and heaved him over the top rope onto the other competitors. Legacy donned his Peacemaker helmet for a flip dive over the top rope. Legacy pinned the butterfly with an OsCutter.
Eagly hugged a cautious Legacy after the match. The crowd chanted "hug him back" and Peacemaker finally embraced his sidekick.
(2) Crystal Rose defeated "Island Girl" Tracy Taylor and Trixie in 15 to retain the DCW Lady's Cup in a triple threat match. She hula danced before the match, which started as a singles with Crystal. Trixie was at ringside and added herself to the match midway through. Lots of spots with one wrestler or another getting tossed and the other two going at it. Crystal dispatched Trixie with a Samoan drop and pinned Taylor after a curbstomp.
Taylor and Trixie beat Crystal down after the match. Crystal is a huge DCW fave so that got heat.
Trixie and Taylor cut a promo to set up a tag match for next vs. Crystal and a partner to be named later. Trixie let it slip that Taylor was her mother, a fact that had not been previously revealed in the world of pro wrestling.
A rare in-ring appearance by Taylor was a treat. Booking her for this show was totally out of the box. the whole thing ran too long though. Crowd wasn't feeling it until the closing minutes when they got behind Crystal.
(3) DCW Legends Match: Undertaker (Stryknyn) defeated Sting (CB Suave) via submission in 11:50. They did every one of Sting and Undertaker's signature moves during the course of the match (all but Undertaker's dive). Suave's superplex looked fantastic. NWO pretenders made a cameo appearance. Sting and Undertaker teamed up to dispense with them. The ref got bumped. Undertaker scored a visual fall with the tombstone piiedriver. Sting hit Undertaker with his baseball bat and applied the Scorpion Deathlock.
This match worked with the Dragon Con crowd. Stryk and Suave did a fine job of executing the signature moves of the legends.
(4) Blue World Order (Adrian Hawkins & Bobby Moore & Nick Halen & Billy Buck) defeated "Goodberger" Mikal Mosley & John Skyler & Simon Sermon (with Big Money Maverick) & Amazing Darkstone in 6:45. Mosley is always over huge at the Dragon Con shows and comes as a new character each year. The crowd got Goodberger and his spot with the orange soda got a big reaction. Hawkins as Stevie Richards was hilarious to me. Moore was having the time of his life as Blue Meanie. Interesting that the Dragon Con crowd reacted more to Goodberger than they did to BWO, which came from same era. Sermon, the master of doing as little as possible, did nothing except threaten to strip and kiss Kae which lead to the finish. Kae almost threw up, then kissed Blue Meanie, who gave Sermon a big smooch and rolled him up.
Well done -- they kept it short and the finish got over great.
(5) Washington Bullets (Jon & Trey Williams) defeated Hunter James & Rob Killjoy (with Coach Mikey) to retain the DCW Tag Team Cup in 11:40. The Hooligan section quacking up a storm for Killjoy. James did a killer crash and burn moonsault. Killjoy popped the crowd entering with a double missile dropkick after taking the hot tag. Killjoy landed on his feet off a double backdrop and flowed directly into a quebrada. Killjoy did flip dive from the turnbuckle to the outside. Bullets got the upper hand. Killjoy kicked out of the Bullets' leaping leg drop/cazadora combo that always gets a pop. Crowd chanted "this is awesome" for the one and only time, thank God. They did back and forth false finishes before Bullets won the way they always win with the Marion Barry -- backcracker/cutter combo - Trey pinning James.
Cramton came to the ring with Keys. He wanted the Bullets to join his team. Bullets weren't interested and showed respect to James and Killjoy...then they turned evil. That's not how things go at the traditionally feel good DCW shows. So much for loyalty and respect, Scott was rich. The Hooligans were giving Cramton all kinds of shit. Cramton told the Hooligans their own women don't sit next to them. Ouch.
They took the show to a higher level. The energy level in the room took off. DCW isn't known for having great matches. This was one of the best of matches I've seen on any DCW show and would have been a standout match on any show, period. Crowd was amped. The post-match angle drew heat.
(6) Slim J defeated David Young via submission to become the first DCW Champion in 18:20. As soon as Young established himself as a heel, the fans started a "twist his dick" chant. This was no handful of people. This was lots of people on their feet making a twisting motion with their hands. Slim played right into it. Young acted shocked and incensed. He got the mic, blamed Slim for the crowd turning on him and said he hoped they would all burn in hell. Young was being counted out as he talked. He did the deal where he slid in one side of the ring near to corner and right out the other side onto the floor. This went on past the 10 minute mark until Slim ran out of the ring and twisted Young's dick. Young reacted like he'd been electrified. Said he'd been violated and wanted the police.
They got down to business. Young has gotten himself in great shape and can go. Slim J broke out his greatest hits -- the 420, Screwdriver on the Rocks. Young hit a great sitout powerbomb counter to Slim's rana and picture perfect version of his signature spinebuster. In the end, Slim locked in the inverted STF and Young tapped.
This was awesome. Only veterans like Slim and Young could have pulled it off. The first 10 minutes of the match and all that schtick was entirely ad-lib. They listened to the crowd. They had them the entire time. It didn't go one second too long and built to the dick spot. Young's reaction was off the chain. Then they put on a first-rate wrestling match.
AJ came to the ring to congratulate his inaugural champion. Out came Cramton with Keys and the Bullets. Slim J crumbled AJ with a low blow. Instant "bullshit" chant from the crowd. Scott told AJ he should have signed the contract because he was taking his wrestlers, his hall of fame and his belts. Cramton's stable put the boots to AJ while Slim laughed. Crowd was outraged.
The post-match went over with the crowd like a punch in the gut -- a different kind of fan reaction than I've ever experienced at a DCW show.
AJ scraped himself off the mat and said this wasn't over and DCW wasn't going anywhere. The crowd popped but things had changed.
(7) Azrael won a battle royal with a cast of thousands to become the number one contender for the DCW Championship in 16 minutes. Match started with 10 competitors, some of whom I was not familiar with. Curtis Hughes (with Paul Bearer's urn), Killjoy (with Coach Mikey), Takuri, Hoax and Deon Summerz were in there. Other were added in at random -- Skrilla the Great, Supernatural, Mr. Delicious, Rob Adonis, Azrael, Scotty Beach (with pool noodle), Christian Pierce, Lamar Diggs and Slim J reprising his Gladiator Jeremiah character.
Zany like these battle royals always are and impossible to describe Crowd whittled down some after the the title match but the people that stayed enjoyed the hell out of it. Mr. Delicious was the star of the match (shout out to Rob Brodhecker). Killjoy did a plethora of great spots where he was almost eliminated. Competitors were flying out of there fast and furious towards the end. Final four were Jeremiah, Azrael, Beach and Mr. D. Azrael eliminated Jeremiah to win. Afterward, Azrael posed with his son on his shoulders and the show ended on a positive note.
NOTES: Distinguished personalities in the house included Dragon Con CEO Pat Henry, Luke Gallows, Teddy Long, Marko Polo and Jen Holbrook. Xavier Woods missed the show due to a flight delay but was in for the rest of the Dragon Con weekend....Dee Byers and Darryl Hall were the referees.
