Real Pro Wrestling Report from Fort Myers on May 27

From Rob Brodhecker: I totally found about the RPW show thanks to one of the wrestlers posting it on a Facebook group (Thanks Sir Merrick) t...

From Rob Brodhecker:

I totally found about the RPW show thanks to one of the wrestlers posting it on a Facebook group (Thanks Sir Merrick) that I belong to (NAAW in the house!) and since I was my home town to look after my mother, I figured why the hell not. The last time I was in a hotel ballroom was for an Amway meeting back in the day, very little high flying from the top rope will happen in the Crowne Plaza Ballroom. Over 110 chairs are set out, mostly on one side of the room. 

The previously mentioned Sir Merrick will be taking on Cody Deaner of VBD from Impact, the other talent I know next to nothing about other than videos that RPW shares on their FB page. Refs are Austin De Lorenzo and David Sanderson. Jordan Owens was the video commentator. 

GM Kris Withakay gets introduced by the ring announcer, Shelby Rapp. Kris asks for all the wrestlers to come out and the eclectic group does so. They have a 10 bell salute for the tragedy that happened in Texas and for a recently deceased member of RPW. After the salute, the wrestlers are dismissed, except for Budd Heavy, ½ of the tag champs. Bucky’s partner didn’t show up, but he will still have to defend the belts and has to find a partner. 

1st match: Daniel Starling vs. “Puff Daddy” Wheezy T 

Starling doing heel things, getting the crowd to yell things at him, Wheezy’s popular with the crowd, an asthmatic gimmick? He’s got an inhaler, alllllrighty then. The action spills outside of the ring after a Wheezy drop kick. Starling takes advantage and begins the punishment of Wheezy. A schoolboy attempt starts Wheezy hope spot, Starling turns it around and into a Figure Four. Wheezy grabs the bottom rope. Wheezy can’t get anything going, Starling’s cutting him off. Wheezy finally gets a sustained chain going and plants Starling with a DVD neck breaker, Starling just gets his foot on the rope. Starling catches Wheezy in the corner and lands a pile driver but Wheezy rolls out of the ring. Starling rolls Wheezy back into the ring and Wheezy just gets the shoulder up. Starling’s not happy about that. Wheezy plants Starling with a backdrop. Starling hot shots Wheezy and plants him for the win at 12:11. 

Would have liked several minutes shaved off this match, otherwise very good. 

2nd match: Coach Robert Colon vs. RPW Coastal Champion: Johnny Rudo

Both men gets some applause, Rudo will defend the title. Chain wrestling to start the match, Robert controlling most of it. Rudo gets frustrated and rolls out of the ring. Rudo climbs up on the apron, Robert grabs Rudo, and Rudo drops Robert’s throat over the top rope. Rudo drops the wrestling and starts the striking and choking. Robert fires back and they both knock each other down. Robert recovers first and takes the fight to Rudo, but has problems getting the bigger man down. Rudo hits Robert in the back of the neck and pins him at 7:52. 

Mostly face/face match, though Rudo was doing heelish things. Foreshadowing? Possible, don’t know enough about the dynamics in the promotion to be certain. 

After the match, Shelby interviews Rudo about holding the title for almost a year. A video plays with Remi making a statement and a challenge to Rudo for a match at the next show. Rudo says that he’ll accept the challenge if Remi says it to his face, looking in his eye. Until then, not going to happen. 

3rd match: Inter-gender match: “The Gladiator” Sucio Rome vs. Ashley Mayberry 

Rome is a masked man, Lucha sized. Ashlynn’s is the same height, but larger build. She also brought a kendo stick ringside. Ashlynn throws Rome down off the first tie up. Rome cheap shots Ashlynn’s back with a kick, she shrugs it off and splashes Rome in the corner. Rome uses the hair and starts his attack but has problems with Ashlynn’s size and strength. Rome goes to do something with a top turnbuckle, the ref stops him and while the ref was dealing with that, Ashlynn grabs the kendo stick and smacks Rome right on top of his head. With the kendo stick, tossed out of the ring, the ref turns around and sees that Ashlynn has Rome pinned and makes the count at 4:24. 

As noted in previous reports, going to a new promotion and not being familiar with everyone, to me this was a throw away match. If there was some backstory there that I didn’t know about, then it served it’s purpose. 

4th match: Sir Merrick Donavan representing Team Madhouse with RJD vs. Cody Deaner. Both Donavan and Deaner get applause from the crowd. Deaner promises to win with though DDT. A tough test for Donovan, who has been making waves in the Georgia scene and beyond. Holds and counters for the opening minutes of the contest. Deaner calls for the DDT, Donovan gets out of that, Deaner playing mind games. Deaner targeting the arm of Donovan with several arm drags. The crowd is calling for the DDT, Donovan escapes again. Donovan’s landing some wood after the ref forces a break, Deaner responds in kind. Deaner goes for the DDT for a third time, Donovan escapes out of the ring, Deaner follows. Deaner’s landing the best chops of the night so far. Still fighting on the floor, Donovan got the better of that exchange. Donovan has Deaner in a submission on the carpet. Deaner’s out and Donovan rolls in the ring wanting a count out win, Deaner just makes the 10-count. Donovan goes nuts on Deaner. Deaner tries to fire back, Donovan plants him with a sidewalk back breaker for a near fall. Another submission from Donovan, Deaner teases the arm drop, turns and plants Donovan to leave both men on the canvas. They strike their way to their feet, Deaner getting the better of that. Deaner wants the DDT, Donovan twists it around and backhands Deaner. Deaner fires back and gets a near fall. The 5th attempt at the DDT, Donovan turns it into a slingshot into the turnbuckles, he goes for the pin and Deaner kicks out. Donovan goes for the ax handle to the back of the neck of Deaner, Deaner dodges and plants Donovan with the DDT and picks up the win at 15:29. 

Deaner offers his hand to Donovan, Donovan shakes it. 

Very hard-fought match. Donovan got out of the 5 DDT attempts in a new way each time, keeping it fresh. 

Intermission. 

5th match: Daemon Morningstar vs. Mike Hammer

The crowd gets under Daemon’s skin by cheering for him, that’s new. Hammer’s the bald headed badass. Both men are near equal height, Hammer has more mass. Daemon’s doing a thing that a lot of people have a damn hard time doing and that’s vocalizing the hits from Hammer. In fact, Daemon is very entertaining with his banter with the crowd. Hammer’s showing off some quickness for a big guy. A high knee sends Hammer to the mat, Daemon sets up for a kick, Hammer dodges and the kick hits the ref who was checking on Hammer. Hammer wants to do a power move, Daemon squirms away and lands the kick he missed earlier but the ref’s still out. Daemon revives the ref and turns around into a drive by kick from Hammer. Hammer plants Daemon with a sit-up powerbomb for the win at 11:18. 

 That was some good stuff. 

6th match: Triple Threat match for the RPW Tag Championships: The House of Spades (Rey Zion, Bobby Chrono, and manager Tiberius Wolfe) vs. The Brofessional Wrestlers (Justin Matthew and Giovanni the Greatest) vs. The Boozerwieights (Budd Heavy and Mystery Partner. 

Budd’s regular tag partner, MK Sweet, is absent under suspicious circumstances). Heavy takes out Wolfe before his partner comes out, tossing him out the door. The Bros are actual brothers and 2021 winners of Tag team of the year. Heavy’s mystery partner is Garret Hile, who quickly abandons Budd even before the bell rings, we’ll see more of Hile later. Budd goes and grabs a beer and will let Spades and Bros fight it out. They do so. Budd gets involved and tosses Chrono onto everyone else on the floor. Spades and Bros want to team up on Budd, doesn’t go well until Zion spears Budd. The Bros try for a double suplex, Budd reverses it on the smaller Bros. The Spades have a better time teaming on Budd since Zion is similar in size to Budd. The Bros attack the Spades, still doesn’t work for them. Budd’s back in the ring, he gets choke slammed for his efforts by Zion, Bros break up the pin. Spade double team on Budd, that was a feat of strength. The Bros gets Spades out of the ring and capitalize on the knocked out Budd and double pin him at 9:07 to become the new RPW Tag Champions. 

 As the Brofessional celebrate while going to the back, the Spades attack Budd and try to injure the leg of the big man. Chrono goes to jaw at the announce team, takes some things from the table, and then runs back over and clips the leg of Budd. 

7th match: Josh Wise vs. Azrael Row Man 

I thought Marco Stunt was small, Azrael can look him in the eye. Wise attacks from behind before the bell rings, he has a literal 12 inches in height on Azrael. Azrael fires back and does some old school, even he had to duck for a section of ceiling. Wise drops Azrael’s back on the ring apron. Wise slows things down and wants Azrael to hurt. Most of the crowd has had several adult beverages at this point and are just looking on. Azrael gets Wise over with a belly to back for a near fall. Azrael grabs the ropes after a shining wizard from Wise. Azrael is one slippery customer; he slips out of a move and plants Wish for the win at 8:08. Mini-David slew the giant. 

A pallet cleanser, you could say, between the chaos of the first match and madness of the next. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but decent enough to get the point across. 

Main Event: Dog Collar match for the RPW Top Crown Championship: Zack Monstar (C) with Madhouse (Merrick Donovan and RJD and Sean Hawley) vs. Garrett Hile. 

Hile had stolen the belt at a previous show. Monstar meets Hile in the aisle and launches Hile into some seats, the crowd loves that and are firmly behind Monstar. Hile is the arrogant, cocky, snotty-nose heel that everyone loves to hate. Monstar says that the louder the crowd is, the harder he’ll hit Hile. The crowd is screaming and Monstar runs around the world and nails Hile with a knee to the face. Hile gets tossed into the ring and the ref gets one end of the collar on him. Monstar puts the other end on and the match officially begins. Hile tries to chop at the chest of Monstar, that was totally pathetic, Monstar shows him how it’s done. Monstar is a guy who I would legit not want to meet in a dark alley. Hile tries to escape out of the ring, he manages to pull Monstar into a turnbuckle, Hile looks shocked that he managed to do that. He wraps some chain around his boot and does the Daniel Bryan stomp on the chest of Monstar. They are back out on the floor, Hile’s choking Monstar with the chain. Monstar catches the running Hile and throws him into the accordion room separator. They are by the announce table now, Hile grabs the bell and smacks Monstar with it. Hile puts a couple of folding chairs and either a small table or door, it was a flat screen TV in the ring, sets the table between the chairs. 4 light tubes taped together are next and placed on the table. Hile puts Monstar’s head onto the light tubes. Hile tries to do a move from the second rope, Monstar catches him and DVD’s him onto the assembled pieces. Death by HDTV. Huge, HUGE pop on that. Okay, the trope of two people sitting on chairs hitting at each other occurs. Monstar has some bamboo skewers, and well, you know what happens with those with Hile’s head. Monstar has a laptop and does a standing bulldog with Hile’s head on it. Hile DDT’s Monstar onto all the mess on the canvas, got a two count. Hile goes for a back suplex, Monstar reverses that for a two count. Monstar gets Hile in a submission and Hile passes out at 16:43. 

Still RPW Champion: Zack Monstar. The rest of the House of Madness comes out and celebrates. Hile’s claiming that Monstar didn’t make him tap out and calls Monstar names. Monstar runs back to the ring and puts the submission back on Hile passes out again, the ref tries to stop Monstar and the ref gets shoved down. Monstar starts dismantling the ring canvas. The boards are exposed and Monstar grabs Hile. People from the back come out and plead with Monstar to don’t do anything else. The GM is out, pleading as well. Monstar ignores everyone and delivers a sister Abigail onto the boards. The GM gets in Monstar’s face and threatens to suspend and strip Monstar of the title unless he stops and leaves the ring, Monstar shrugs him off and leaves. 

Next show is June 25th, back at the Crowne Plaza in Fort Myers. Overall, a good show. It’s good to see wrestling back in SW Florida on a re-occurring basis and hope that will continue to do well. Many thanks to Jordan and Shelby for names and some background into what was going on with RPW.