A Live Wrestling event on December 2, 2023

I think one of my favorite things going on right now in the Kansas City Professional Wrestling scene is that one could probably attend a live show EVERY WEEKEND if they really wanted to. Unless I suddenly get rich or something, that really isn’t feasible, but having the ability to do so is wild to me. This past weekend I had one such opportunity pop up – my Saturday suddenly opened up, and knowing that World League Wrestling was doing a show in St. Joseph, Missouri meant that my son and I suddenly had plans. I used to live in an area where WLW toured quite consistently, and sadly with their move to Troy, Missouri years ago, as well as my move towards Kansas City, Missouri meant that I rarely got to see them. Perhaps one show a year if I’m lucky. Seeing that this appears to be THE 2023 show for this area, I made sure to attend.

For those unaware, World League Wrestling is one of the longest-running wrestling companies in the region, recently celebrating 24 years in operation. It was started by the blegendary Harley Race and still runs to this day, now run by his son Leland Race. This show was a benefit for Luscious Lori, a second generation Micro Wrestler and resident of St. Joseph. She is the Daughter of Wrestling Hall of Famer, Lord Littlebrook, and recently suffered a grisly neck injury, had to endure neck fusion surgery, and was needing help with medical bills.

“December 2, World League Wrestling comes back to St. Joe, Missouri! Make sure you get your tickets to this event as WLW will be live and in action at the ROC Fellowship Church Gymnasium! Wrestlers currently scheduled to appear include Leland Race, Kenny Alfonso, Country Air, “Sabotage” Sean Logan, Allaney Harley, Aden Riley, Izzy B, Madman Max Sterling, Bobby Joe Black, and more!

This event will be a fundraiser for Lori Tovey of the Tovey wrestling family. She was involved in an in-ring accident that led to a severe injury. Due to this injury, she missed out on several weeks worth of work. A portion of the proceeds will be given to Lori at the event in St. Joe on Decemeber 2nd.”

From WLW’s Facebook page announcement for the event

While the venue for this show is pretty popular for wrestling shows, it is a church, which was a first for me. In a year that marked attending numerous events at National Guard Armories all over Kansas, switching it up with community gyms, fairgrounds, and now churches seems somehow refreshing.

For more information on World League Wrestling, be sure to check out all of their various pages and socials. They have a website HERE, a Facebook page HERE, an X (I still call it Twitter) HERE, and you can watch thier TV show HERE.

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:

World League Wrestling – St. Joseph

Held at the ROC Fellowship Church | Saint Joseph MO

• Aden Riley defeated “Madman” Max Sterling by pinfall
• “Sabotage” Sean Logan defeated Bobby Joe Black by Pinfall
• Izzy B Defeated Skylar Sparks by count out
• Luscious Lori defeated Izzy B by pinfall
• Kenny Alfonso and Leland Race went to a time limit draw

Here are the announced match cards for this event:

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:

World League Wrestling – Comes to St. Joe! started off with a match between Aden Riley and “Madman” Max Sterling. Max Sterling is known to basically ignore any semblance of wrestling rules while he wrestles, usually dragging weapons into the mix and trying to cheat more often than not. I’m honestly amazed he didn’t have any cronies out there with him, as that’s pretty on-brand for him. Sterling is one of those guys that doesn’t so much as care if he wins or loses, he just wants to inflict pain on his opponents. Kudos to the referee, HD Daniels, as he was able to keep Riley safe from multiple attempted chain attacks throughout the match. In typical Sterling fashion, the man spent more time getting in fights with the crowd than getting ready for his match, for example, the photo above was actually taken in the middle of a tirade directed at me because I criticized him on this very blog!

Aden Riley is a relative newcomer to the sport, and as a result, one would assume that Sterling, with decades of experience, would easily win. In fact, Aden was going into this show with literally NO WINS under his belt. Perhaps due to underestimating him, or possibly perhaps due to the crowd getting under his skin, the unthinkable happened. “Madman” Max Sterling lost to Aden Riley. Being there to see a wrestler’s very first win is definitely an emotional experience, and I’m glad I was there to see it. Maybe Max Sterling will go into his next match a bit more serious, because I can’t imagine his wallet enjoys nights like December 2nd, and if he ever wants to make a play for belt contendership, he needs to focus. “Madman” Max Sterling is one of the absolute best wrestlers in the area, and he can do better than trying to attack people and taking cheap shots. I’m sure I will catch hell with Max for saying this at a future show, but it needs to be said.

This was my first time seeing “Sabotage” Sean Logan compete, and boy am I torn. On one hand, the dude has the skills to do really well in the business, on the other, boy does he like to cheat! When you are heckled out of the arena via loud chants of “CHEATER! CHEATER! CHEATER!” you did something wrong in my opinion. That wrong thing? Using the ropes to add extra leverage on a pin is absolutely against the rules, but he was able to sneak one over on the referee. And here I was hyping how attentive the ref was in the last chapter! Logan’s opponent, or victim, for the evening was none other than Bobby Joe Black, one of the most entertaining rising stars in the area.

Bobby Joe Black, one half of the newly christened tag team “The Wranglers”, is nothing short of the ultimate fan-favorite in every show I’ve ever seen him in. He’s a small-town guy trying his best to make it in the world of professional wrestling and has more heart than a deck of cards left in a cardiac ward. Children and adults alike go wild for him when he comes out, so you can imagine everyone’s disappointment when he was robbed of a win and pinned by way of nefarious means. It was a hell of a match, and both competitors impressed me, but like with Max above, Sean Logan needs to clean up his act. There will be more matches for Bobby Joe Black; here’s hoping he has better luck next time.

“…The Referee no more”, or so said an inspirational video posted by WLW showcasing the evolution of Skylar Sparks. In some ways, Sparks is a newcomer to the WLW Women’s division, however, she was formerly known in the area as “Allaney Harley” when she worked as a referee. But that line of work never fulfilled her. She had her eyes on competing in the ring, and now she’s finally getting her chance. Her opponent for this show was none other than Izzy B, a wrestler that I only recently became familiar with when she assisted Robin Steele and Wrex Amadeus at CSW Bad Moon Rising. While that was a losing effort, she was far more successful here, using her experience and ring awareness to get what many would consider a cheap win over Sparks.

The fans were firmly behind Sparks, so when Izzy B was able to pull off a count-out win, a somewhat rare occurrence, people were legit outraged. Izzy B, of course, took her win graciously…who am I kidding, she pranced around arrogantly putting a big “L” symbol on her forehead with her hand, and generally acted incredulously to all the boos and anger pointed to her. I don’t think this will be the last time we see these two duke it out in the ring, because Sparks now has some unfinished business. And that wasn’t even the last time we saw this feud pop up in the show…

After intermission, Luscious Lori came out to thank the fans for all of their support. Due to her injury, she missed a lot of work and needed some help with bills. World League Wrestling was there for her, put on the show as a benefit, and hopefully they raised plenty of money because she seems awesome. It was a feel good moment until Izzy B, riding the high of her win, decided to make everything about herself and ruin it. She got in Lori’s face, and despite her injury, Lori was able to defend herself against the sudden attack. The altercation became an official match, something that Izzy B decided to capitalize on to beef up her standings. She even went as far as performing a Full Nelson on somebody with a surgically-repaied neck, something that just seems heinous. Luckily, Skylar Sparks had Lori’s back, and helped ensure the win.

One of the highlights of the night was witnessing Luscious Lori’s return to the ring after her injury. The crowd erupted in applause and cheers as she made her way backstage. It was inspiring to see her determination and resilience, and the support she received from the fans was truly heartwarming. If Izzy B had any doubts as to whether she made Skylar Sparks mad, this was the definite proof.

Any match between “The Legacy” Leland Race and “2nd 2 None” Kenny Alfonso is bound to be awesome, and that held true on December 2nd in St. Joseph, Missouri. It was a slow road getting there, however, as Leland Race was in no hurry to do much wrestling on the show. Taking time to walk over and break up a soccer game some kids were having, taking off and putting back on his leather jacket a few times, bantering with the crowd, and generally wasting at least ten minutes prior to the match was one giant head game Race played against Kenny. By the end of the shenanigans, Kenny was off his guard slightly, which I’m sure was all according to plan by Race. He not only had Kenny Alfonso in the palm of his hand, but the majority of the audience as well.

This was a very competitive match that went back and forth quite a bit. I took note that Kenny seemed to abandon some of his normal high-flying attacks for more of a technical submission-based style, which was as interesting as it was refreshing. It goes to show that “2nd 2 None” Kenny Alfonso is a Renaissance Man in the ring and can handle basically any situation handed to him. It all came down to the final seconds of the match, and things were neck-and-neck. Finally, it looked like Kenny had everything in the bag, only to lose out by mere seconds due to time running out. It was an absolute shame that garnered “FIVE MORE MINUTES” chants that Leland rejected outright. We weren’t going to get one more second of his time, and we were stuck with a time limit draw. This was a great main event that really highlighted ring psychology, a lost art in many wrestling companies.

Conclusion:

As always, I had a blast at World League Wrestling – Comes to St. Joe! and miss getting to see them more often due to not wanting to drive to the other side of the state very often (if at all, just being honest here). My very first independent wrestling show was with them, and they always hold a soft spot in my heart. Granted, a lot of the competitors for World League Wrestling are in other companies, especially Trailblazer Championship Wrestling, but it just hits differently and brings back a lot of nostalgia for me to see them. I was impressed that despite the small card, this was every bit as exciting as shows that are packed with like ten matches, and had a far more diverse set of outcomes that are normally seen. You could tell this was a lower budget affair, as a lot of charity shows can be out of neccesity, but it had some good stuff and the main event was amazing. Hopefully we see World League Wrestling back in this area sooner than later!