Cape Championship Wrestling made a splash in its inaugural show in July and this past weekend, they raised the bar once again with their CCW Homecoming show at the historic AC Brase Arena Building in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The Arena Building was once a tour stop for International Championship Wrestling, which was ran by Angelo Poffo and featured his son’s Lanny Poffo and, oh what was his name…oh yeah, Macho Man Randy Savage! History flows through this building and now, Cape Championship Wrestling calls it home!
The night kicked off with promoter Ken Murphy and GM Hunter Hendricks in the ring, in which Hunter Hendricks noted that The Pinnacle, led by Jeff O’Dell, had been making things rough and that he was going to do his best to ensure that tonight went smoothly. Suddenly, The Pinnacle’s music hit. Jeff O’Dell, Sarge O’Riley, Billy Hills, Sarah Summers and CCW Champion, Brandon Barbwire, came to ringside. In a show of dominance, they cornered Hunter Hendricks, before Jeff O’Dell laid out his group’s plans for dominance for the evening, even saying they would show up in the main event.
The first match of the night featured a very well-traveled and well-respected veteran, “Tornado” Tony Kozina taking on young challenger CJ Shine. CJ Shine tried to use his overly confident (ie, cocky) demeanor to bully Kozina throughout the match. However, once Tony laid in some MASSIVE knife edge chops, the momentum slowly began to turn toward Kozina. Tony hit a vaulting senton bomb, then later hit a springboard bulldog to secure the win!
Up next, BT Daramola took on God’s Gift to Wrestling “Drop Dead” Dale Wylde. Daramola got the crowd behind him early on. Wylde, after he continued to admire himself in his mirror, slowed the pace of the match by grinding the momentum down and controlling the energy of Daramola. Wylde slipped in a few, well, less than honest attacks and ultimately took the win by a quick schoolboy roll up.
Sexy Sarge was up next and in the weeks prior to Homecoming, he had issued an open challenge, stating that if nobody answered it, he would still come down and give the fans a show. His idea of a show would be a tutorial on what he calls “porn star dancing.” Thank the Good Lord above that his challenge was answered while he was in the ring by none other than young star Hollis Giroux!
Jeff O’Dell, assuming Hollis was out to join The Pinnacle, soon learned that Hollis was out there to stop Sarge’s display. This was a great match with a lot of back and forth action, even some outside interference from Jeff O’Dell. The match ended when O’Dell mistakenly tripped up Sarge while hitting the rops, which led to a Superkick and a victory for Hollis Giroux. After the match, Sarge and O’Dell had words which almost led to Sarge punching O’Dell when suddenly, Drop Dead Dale Wylde ran into the ring to save Jeff O’Dell! After that, O’Dell claimed that Sarge had been replaced by a younger, better looking version, to which Sarge replied that he didn’t need The Pinnacle, that he regretted the decision to join and was now out to reclaim the love from the fans.
Coming back from intermission, GM Hunter Hendricks came out to announce there was a change in the women’s match. Paloma Starr had been booked to take on Lil Bit, however, Paloma was unable to attend due to other obligations. Lil Bit’s new opponent turned out to be none other than her nemesis, Diamond Doll! Lil Bit and Diamond Doll had a match on the inaugural show, which resulted in Diamond Doll attacking Lil Bit after the bell. These two had another intense match with each other, featuring a lot of back and forth offense and flat out brawling. The ending saw Diamond Doll roll up Lil Bit and use the ropes for leverage for the win due to the fact that the ref didn’t see the feet on the ropes! I smell a rubber match coming!
The following match featured a title defense of the prestigious Missouri Heavyweight Championship, featuring champion Brandon Espinosa making his CCW debut against Farmer Billy Hills with Sarah Summers. Farmer got this match after he, seemingly, took out his prior opponent “The Fury” Jason Vaughn in what we will just call an automobile accident.
Early on, Farmer used his size and strength to push Espy around the ring. Espy was able to turn the tides with his quickness and his own deceptive strength. Billy began favoring his shoulder midway through, but was still able to weather the storm of power moves, showing his grit and determination. Suddenly, Jason Vaughn’s music started playing and a bewildered Hills looked at the entrance. This gave Espy enough time to launch an attack that, in the end, resulted in a win from an armbar submission. (Editor’s note – somebody here say “armbar?”) What a performance from both guys and a great title defense from Espinosa!
The co-main event was up next, featuring The Monster, Jake Dirden against CCW Champion, Brandon Barbwire with Jeff O’Dell. Ever since winning the CCW Championship in July, Brandon has developed his boisterous personality, and came into the night with a large chip on his shoulder due to the fact he wasn’t in the main event. Jake Dirden came into the night with one thing in mind, to claim a title and destroy Barbwire. This match was a slugfest, with the champ, Barbwire, taking large amounts of punishment early on. However, Barwire absorbed the damage and turned the tides after throwing Dirden into the ring post outside. Toward the end of the match, Barbwire ran to grab the CCW Title belt and then brought it into the ring as a weapon! Dirden, seeing what was transpiring, knocked the belt from Barbwire’s hand, then hit The Cure on the belt! It looked like a sure-fire win, however, Jeff O’Dell distracted the referee long enough for Barbwire to be able to kick out of the eventual pin.
This ignited the Monster, as he lunged for O’Dell, who was now on the ring apron. Barbwire attacked, but again was hit with The Cure, which again, O’Dell distracted the ref. Dirden went after O’Dell one more time, however, this time the champion was able to hit Dirden with the belt to take the win and hold onto his title.
The Main Event of the evening featured one of the biggest names on the independent wrestling scene across the world, Ricochet! There’s a chance you’ve seen him on Lucha Underground as Prince Puma, or possibly from the match against Will Ospreay, among many others, but he brought his insane talents to Cape Girardeau for a huge match up with the Best of the Best, Austin Lane. Prior to the match, Hunter Hendricks brought out a second referee to stand guard to prevent The Pinnacle from coming to ringside. The match started with some humor as Austin Lane refused to shake Ricochet’s hand, but then business picked up in a hurry as both guys were able to reverse out of a series of chain wrestling holds, in which neither guy was able to gain an advantage, each competitor holding a counter for the other’s move. Ricochet finally gained an advantage outside with a series of chops which led to him being able to hit The People’s Moonsault in the middle of the ring once they returned.
However, Austin Lane was able to regain his composure and launch a counter attack and at one point, scoring a 2.9999 count. The athletic abilities of these two wowed the crowd. At one point, Jeff O’Dell tried to interfere, but was caught at the entrance area and sent back. The match ultimately went in the favor of Ricochet, with a wonderful sequence of his Benadryller kick, followed by a high knee to the face, and capped off with a well-executed Shooting Star Press. During the celebration, The Pinnacle ran down to ringside and attacked Austin Lane, which prompted Ricochet to run back out and help his opponent. Hunter Hendricks came out and stated that since Brandon Barbwire was so desperate to get into the main event, that he will be on the next show against 2 TUFF TONY! After that announcement, The Pinnacle was sent back, while Austin Lane thanked Ricochet and the crowd.
Cape Championship Wrestling will be back at the AC Brase Arena Building for their next card on September 24th, featuring 2 Tuff Tony and Brandon Barbwire for the CCW Title, plus many matches still to come! Don’t miss out on another great show in September!
