A Live Wrestling Event by CSW

Continuing on my tour of every National Guard Armory in the State of Kansas, the subject of this review, Central States Wrestling – Bad Moon Rising, hailed from Olathe, Kansas this time due to a last-minute venue change. Luckily, everything fell into place, and fans were treated to yet another solid show over the holiday weekend. Holidays are always kind of dicey for events like this, especially considering everyone is trying to save money for big meals and gifts during an already stressful time, but you would never know considering how well attended CSW shows usually are. Central States Wrestling had some cool gift ideas like foam belts for kids and your typical wrestler-merch sold at many shows, so maybe everything just fell into place perfectly.

This show was somewhat hindered by wrestlers being booked to other shows happening on the same day, wrestlers being in a disciplinary status with management, and a handful of unfortunate injuries keeping people off the card. Michael Strider was able to pull everything together and put on a show of the same caliber of any other CSW show, while simultaneously giving fans opportunities to see some new talent. Let’s take a look at what happened at Central States Wrestling – Bad Moon Rising, and believe me you will be just as surprised with me with how some things turned out!

For more insight into even more ongoing feuds, check out my Preview of CSW Bad Moon Rising.

Without further ado, here’s what happened at the show!

If you want other wrestling shows, I would recommend Fite.TV. You can get some FITE credits (10 dollars I believe) with the following code: “6m6lyyn”. I’m sure there are other ways to watch some of these, but FITE has a solid interface and has been worth it so far.

The Card:

November 18, 2023 – Central States Wrestling – Bad Moon Rising – Olathe Kansas at the National Guard Armory.

• Turkey VS Roscoe Leech
• The Hate Keepers (Shain Boucher and “The Huntsman” Jay Marston) defeated Wrex Amadeus and Robin Steele (w/ Izzy B.)
• ”The Black Diamond” Luke Langley defeated “The Southern Flamingo” Kody Lane
• Lil Evil Defeated Tiger Pants
• “The Little Blue Dragon” Tootie Lynn Defeated Maggie Lee
• Anaya Howlett (w/ Coach Frass) Defeated “The Dred Nurse” Dred Roberts
• “Dat Boi” SK Bishop and “2nd 2 None” Kenny Alfonso went to a no contest
• “The Giant Slayer” Scott Tyler (w/ Roscoe Leech) and “The Souperstar” Campbell Myers went to a no contest
• Pizza Concessions worker w/ Luigi Primo Defeated “America’s Sweetheart” Ethan Price
• Gil Rogers Defeated “The Monarch” Jeremy Wyatt to win the CSW Championship

Match graphics below:

DISCLAIMER:

I try to go through most, if not all, of the matches and report on what happened and if the match had any significance to any ongoing feuds. You might think some of my opinions are dumb, or the way I review things is dumb, and that’s OK! We can all like different things, that’s what makes something like wrestling so great! I honestly try to stay positive because there is too much negativity in the overall wrestling community (in my opinion) and we can all do better. That isn’t to say I won’t offer opinions or criticisms, but that will apply when warranted. Remember, cut the B.S. and as the old saying goes, “Just enjoy Wrestling!”

My Thoughts:

The show kicked off with a bit of amusement for the crowd going into the Holiday weekend. Roscoe Leech, flanked by none other than a gigantic Thanksgiving Turkey, came to the ring because he wanted to show his appreciation to the crowd that has been showing him so much love as of late. You see, Leech had the intention of giving everyone in the crowd a special gift for the holidays: his family’s own delicious Thanksgiving turkey recipe.

No sooner than when Roscoe pulled the folded up scrap of paper from his pocket, did that nefarious turkey snatch the list and run off with it! This battle, set to the tune of Yakety Sax, went on behind the curtain and continued all the way up until intermission when Roscoe and the Turkey made amends. The two made it a point to pose for pictures with anyone that wanted one. It is truly a shame that we never did get that delicious recipe though, it sounded amazing! This segment was some light-hearted fun for the kids that really brightened everyone’s day, I loved it no matter how silly it was.

Hey! We got an unannounced bonus match! We’ve seen a few different configurations of The Hate Keepers in CSW in the past, with this being a new one for the area. That said, I do not think that Shain Boucher or “The Huntsman” Jay Marston were announced under that banner at the show, but these guys have a definite history. Their opponents were CSW-mainstay Wrex Amadeus and Robin Steele, who was making his CSW debut at the show. For more on Robin Steele, check out my review of TCW Monster’s Brawl II! The pair were flanked by another newcomer, Izzy B, who helped run some questionable distraction for her boys at times. Wrex normally doesn’t compete in tag team matches, so this was an interesting match from that standpoint.

With this being my first time seeing “The Huntsman” Jay Marston, he was pretty impressive and a solid compliment to the high-flying style of Shain Boucher. Both were trained at The Black And Brave Academy by WWE’s Seth Rollins, and carry with them that sort of pedigree. Longtime readers know I love me some Wrex Amadeus, and there were a few times when I thought either he or Steele were about to clench the win, but it seemed like he was a bit out of his element in a tag-team situation. The more established team, The Hate Keepers, worked as a unit more and got the better of Steele, Amadeus and Izzy B, sending them home without the glory I’m sure they desired. Who knows if we’ll see this combo again or if it was a one-off, but all-around decent match and a solid way to really kick the show off.

In a night of what would a be a huge list of firsts for me, this match was my first time seeing “The Southern Flamingo” Kody Lane in all his majestic glory live. For fans in St. Louis, he wrestles a LOT for Glory Pro Wrestling, and can be seen featured on their Youtube weekly “TV show” GPW Ascend. Normally 2023 has seen Lane wrestling primarily in Canada and Illinois (St. Louis side), so it seems that the CSW fans were blessed with a rare treat of seeing him over here on this side of the state. The fans seemed somewhat torn on how to process the flamboyant antics “Koko” presented in the ring. On one hand, it was clear that Lane loved getting reactions from the fanbase, and generally he got the lion’s share of the cheers. On the other, ”The Black Diamond” Luke Langley is not generally a nice guy, but he’s a regular and CSW fans show unwavering loyalty to “their guys.” it was an interesting dynamic, and perhaps the closest Langley has got to being a fan favorite since I’ve been attending CSW shows. Kody actually reminds me a bit of another recent addition to the CSW roster, Gary Jay, and I can’t help but wonder about how great a tag team would be of both guys.

This match was a well-battled back-and-forth between both men, with “The Southern Flamingo” looking like he was about to pull off an upset at a few points. Once again, grandstanding by ”The Black Diamond” nearly resulted in a humiliating loss by roll-up, which is exactly what happened with Gil Rogers a few months back. Luke Langley has what it takes to eventually get a strap, but the man needs to know when to get the job done, and trying to show-off and humiliate your opponent rarely works out that way. When it was all said and done, Lane was yet another victim of one of the most dangerous Brain Busters in the biz going day. Better luck next time Koko.

For a match that I think most people blew off when announced (due to unfamiliarity), Lil Evil VS Tiger Pants actually turned out to be pretty good. As far as I know, both men came up from Texas and both appear to be mainstays on the Texas indy circuit. With both men standing just slightly north of five feet tall, the duo was fairly evenly matched, both employing a solid mix of puro and lucha moves mixed with a veteran’s technical prowess (especially with Tiger Pants). Tiger Pants pretty much immediately won the crowd over and was getting showered with crazy exclamations like “YOU GOT THIS TIGER PANTS!”, which in hindsight sounds pretty silly.

It all fell apart when Tiger Pants tried to go for a Tiger Driver at one point, got hit with a reversal, and a pretty sick comeback from Lil Evil. 1-2-3, that’s all she wrote for a man named after an article of clothing he was wearing. While Tiger Pants didn’t win the match, I think he won everyone’s heart and I hope we see both of these guys back at some point.

I started going to Trailblazer Championship Wrestling right AFTER Maggie Lee was last there, so I managed to miss out on her until this show. Considering she is relatively new to the business, her athletic prowess and ability is pretty impressive. It’s no wonder why she was selected to appear on AEW a while back, you can tell she is going to be a future superstar. The only thing that was holding her back was that her opponent for the evening was none other than “The Little Blue Dragon” Tootie Lynn. The St. Louis native is not only a competent and versatile professional wrestler, but she is a trained martial artist with a 1st-degree black belt in karate. I don’t want to speak for anyone else here, but that’s definitely not the sort of opponent I want to deal with in any sort of ring!

Armed with her trademark Nunchaku and chants of “Tootie’s gonna kill youuuu!”, Lynn had all of the momentum in the world going into this bout. I’m just sad we never see her use the nunchucks! Arrogantly asking the crowd “who’s gonna kill me?!” with every successful blow, Maggie Lee lost her eye on the prize, eventually and started making numerous slip-ups. It didn’t take too long before Lynn saw her opening and went for the pin. Way back in April we saw Heather Reckless defeat Tootie Lynn in the very same arena, so this was her match to win, and she did really well. I think most fans will agree that both women are great assets to the roster, and hope to see them back!

The shadow hanging over this matchup between Anaya Howlett and Dred Roberts was undoubtedly the aftermath of the brutal brawl between The Tribe and Miracle Violence Reborn at A Glitch in the Matrix. Not only did Hoodie Howlett suffer an injury that will require months off from competition, but the entirety of Miracle Violence Reborn have been suspended pending investigation due to their actions during the match including the attack of CSW matchmaker Michael Strider. Going into this match between Dred Roberts and Anaya, I was largely assuming that MVR would break their suspension and “invade” the show, which did not happen for the most part. I say that because their walk-out music blared through the arena at one point, startling Anaya, but that was thankfully the full extent of their interference. I’m sure Greg Jovi is playing mind games yet again, and I’m sure it only gets worse from here.

This match was a solid outing for Dred Roberts, a man that I have a feeling is going to be doing some big stuff in 2024. Yes, it was a losing effort, but he looked impressive and kept Anaya on his toes. Considering the sheer amount of in-ring experience Anaya has, putting in the work to have a competitive match is nothing to scoff at. Anaya Howlett better watch his back, because a mere suspension won’t keep Miracle Violence Reborn away from attempting to put the entirety of The Tribe on the shelf, and he seems to be their current target. I have a feeling next month will be crazy!

In another rare singles match-up, fans were treated to SK Bishop and Kenny Alfonso squaring off in a match that I’m pretty sure nobody expected to end well. In fact, these next two matches were ostensibly one BIG match after Campbell Myers started interfering when Bishop was close to losing. This started an insane brawl involving a freshly-healed Roscoe Leech and Scott Tyler battling off both Myers and Bishop. After this bout collapsed entirely, Myers and Tyler started their match, when…

…Everything went to hell yet again, resulting in a second no contest and a scathing rebuke from CSW management. This included Michael Strider announcing a No DQ Street Fight at the next show involving all four men. Lumping this together as one, this could have even been my “match of the night” despite the hinky endings. The second half alone was easily worth the price of admission for this full show. Scott Tyler has the crowd in the palm of his hand, and is perhaps one of the best up-and-comers in all of the Kansas City wrestling scene, putting him with Roscoe was pure genius and I can’t wait to see what he’s capable of in the future.

It seems that sometime during the show “a mystery person” attacked “The World’s Greatest Pizza Chef” Luigi Primo backstage rendering him unable to compete. The situation sucks because Primo was out for nearly a year with an injury and the fans were pumped to see him back in action. Out strolls “America’s Sweetheart” Ethan Price sheepishly wondering who would have done such a thing, then cutting a scathing promo against pizza and anyone who would dare eat the famous Italian delicacy. This insufferable rant went on and on until an unsuspecting concessions worker, put in charge of selling slices of Minsky’s Pizza, got roped into the whole thing was ultimately challenged to a match.

I’ll give credit where credit is due, “Pizza Guy” (as the crowd dubbed him) did pretty well for himself in the opening moments of this farce of a match, but Ethan is a veteran, and that eventually catches up to somebody no matter how strong they are. Suddenly, the recognizable Luigi Primo theme song started filling the crowded armory, and an injured, but furious, pizza chef ran to the ring raining absolute hell on Ethan Price. Pretty soon “Pizza Guy” was able to score an incredible upset, and restore the honor of America’s favorite food institution. This was a fun segment, and the crowd absolutely ate it up, as well as random pizza slices that Primo threw into the crowd!

Gil Rogers was a man that famously had NEVER won a single match in Kansas City until he answered an open challenge from Orion Starlight a few months ago. Riding that high from that win, he went on to do the unthinkable and secure a victory over “The Black Diamond” Luke Langley, and another from “The Dred Nurse” Roberts, ultimately winning himself the number one contendership for the CSW Championship. This seemed unheard of, because Rogers was on the brink of being forced to retire just over a year ago after somebody pushed him on the ice after a show in early 2022. This resulted in multiple surgeries, rehab, and a year of sitting at home watching the world of Kansas City professional Wrestling pass him by.

Jeremy Wyatt wasted absolutely no time showing how much he did not respect Gil, making fun of his losing streak, trivializing his recent wins, and fessing up to the unthinkable – it was Wyatt that pushed Rogers back in 2022, and he wished he would have just retired. This lit a fire in Gil Rogers so white-hot that it outshone the sun. Even though Wyatt attacked his surgically-repaired leg relentlessly, Gil was able to power through and counter almost every dirty trick thrown his way. Pretty soon Gil hit his top-rope splash and other signature moves cementing his win with an incredible crowd reaction. For 785 days “The Monarch” Jeremy Wyatt was the King of Kansas City Wrestling, but with his downfall a new king has arisen. A noble and just king that proves that anyone can do almost anything as long as they never give up, no matter how many obstacles get thrown in their way. Congrats Gil Rogers, you deserve the hell out of that championship!

Conclusion:

Central States Wrestling – Bad Moon Rising was one of those shows that had every appearance of being a “B-show” on paper. Sure, the return of Luigi Primo was highly anticipated and the roster of amazing athletes always guarantee quality matches, but the lack of a big gimmick match or some sort of blow-off made me underestimate it. Not only that, but an emergency change of venue just days before a show is almost always a bad situation, especially when one needs a room with a 400+ seating capacity. Who would have thought that Bad Moon Rising would have contained not only one of the best endings of any CSW show all year, but some overall great matches I was glad to be in attendance for! Hats off to CSW, great show as always!

Check back soon for a preview of the next show, and even more local KC area wrestling coverage!