ACW held the Back to School Bash at Lincoln Elementary School in Roselawn, IN on Friday Sept 22, 2017 at 7:00pm CST.
This was the first ACW show in a while, so it was good to see them back. I splurged on the front row seating, but I have to remember that sitting in the bleachers offers a better view of the ring (especially when the action goes out of the ring on the other side) and I may not be blinded by a flood light exactly diagonally across from me. Plus, if I sit too close, T K Zero picks on me.
ACW GM Michael Allen comes to the ring to start things off and is quickly interrupted by ACW Heavyweight Champion Drex Odell. Odell does not have an opponent yet for the night, and has – to his recollection – defeated everyone in the locker room. However, Rockstart Jonny Nigh comes out to correct him, saying Odell has not defeated him yet, and the title match is on for later in the show.
The first match was for Crimson Dynamo’s Tough Man title and the challenger was Cliff Caviar. T K Zero was at ringside with Caviar and provided interaction with the kids at ringside, including giving one kid fashion advice on his ugly shorts. Having a second man at ringside didn’t help Caviar, though, as he lost when his own head collided with the iron turnbuckle he had uncovered earlier, hoping to use it on Dynamo. He was so loopy from hitting his head that he forgot his stack of cash at ringside. Luckily a security guard picked it up, so Cliff Caviar, if you’re looking for your dough, see the security guy who was stationed stage left. He may have bet it on horses by now, though. I usually try to get one good picture per match, but I was so starstruck by Caviar’s ostentatious wealth, I didn’t remember to take one. Or, see that damn spotlight in the picture above? The couple of times I tried to get a picture of Caviar doing something fun, he was in that corner and the spotlight messed up my pictures.
After Caviar slinks to the back without his wad of cash, T K Zero remains in the ring for his own match, which is against Kyle Kaylor. At some point, Kaylor became so intent on 
beating Zero that he promised he would leave ACW if he couldn’t get the job done. I have to hand it to Kaylor, when he gets tossed out of the ring over the top rope, he makes a really good SPLAT noise on the floor. The kids at ringside T K Zero had been bantering with before start giving him grief, including yelling “Jigglybutt!” at him. This may have provided the distraction Kaylor needed to get the win and secure his position in ACW for the time being. If you can see into the corona of the spotlight here (don’t look directly into it!), you’ll notice a Kaylor-shaped object about to land on T K Zero.
The third match was challenger Austin Fury against Intercontinental Champion Xavier Black. All the young ladies at ringside were in a tizzy for this one. Here we see Xavier clobbering Fury as Fury was about to come through the ropes. This hard hitting affair was easily the match of the night, and Xavier Black retained his title. It wore Fury out, and you can also (below) see him taking a moment at the start of intermission after his match.
During intermission, all the kids in the audience took over the back half of the gym for an unsanctioned Battle Royal. It was too chaotic to make any sort of identification of the winner, but on the up side, no ambulances were called.
The first match after intermission was CK1 and Flawless Dave Allen against Jared Kripke and Xcaliber. CK1’s majestic robe was also present. He and Dave Allen tormented many of the people at ringside, and CK1 must have reminded the kids of their teachers because he yelled at them to ShutUp! so often. There was an ample amount of tag team shenanigans, and CK1 and Allen got the win when CK1 was outside the ring and able to hold down XCaliber’s feet while Allen pinned him. The blurry object below (left) is XCaliber coming off the top turnbuckle onto CK1.
The final match not involving educators and a shopping cart had Drex Odell defending his ACW Heavyweight Championship against Rockstar Jonny Nigh (above right, Odell shows Nigh how to clap his hands behind his back). During this match, the kids in the front corner were giving Odell the business, yelling at him things like, “How much do you eat every day??” I can’t believe these young kids are taught that body shaming the Champ is acceptable. I mean, when you make fun of T K Zero, it’s funny, but your ACW Champ deserves more respect, kids!
In the final match that caused lots of screaming kids and headache suffering adults, we had Jimmy Holmes vs Sadistic Slade. Sadistic Slade ambushed Holmes as he made his way around the ring, and it was off from there. The beatings involved a plywood board, a shopping cart, and many floatation devices perhaps from the Lincoln Elementary pool. Jimmy Holmes got the victory, and the kids went home happy.
I don’t know when the next ACW show is, but stay tuned to the list of upcoming shows at https://metalprofessor.com/nwiwrap/shows-in-2017/
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If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:30pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:30pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN. If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app. Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP. You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter. And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region. Because WRESTLING!
hear those violins and mandolin to remind me of my vacations in Venice. (OK, I’ve never been to Venice.) Here’s Kyle running into the corner about to clobber Antonelli. Come on, you have to show more respect to a man whose pants look like the away uniforms from the 1977 Pittsburgh Pirates! The boots are awesome, though, as is his hat which isn’t seen here. Nicco gets the win because he’s the better dressed man.
opponent Austin Fury comes out to get the place rockin. This was a fun match, with Rothchild playing the steady immovable boulder to Fury’s role of the rubber object bouncing off it. Fury bounces off the ropes, corners, and so on, and even gets a bloody nose for his trouble, but eventually Rothchild gets the win.
Many of the folks in the crowd are cheering for Adam Bueller. He tries his hardest to get them off the Bueller train, but no such luck. Bueller worked Roach’s arm most of the match, and we saw a lot of damaging or submission type holds. During a bit of stalling, Bueller grabbed a fan … no, like a literal fan, there’s no A/C in this place … and shook it at Roach. Late in the match, Roach tossed Bueller out of the ring and Bueller laid on the floor making “it’s broken for sure!” noises. The ref counted to 10, and Roach wins by countout. Soon, Bueller pops up onto two healthy legs, revealing his deception, as he gets his title back . This sends a group of fans in front of me (now I mean the people kind, not the spinning kind) into total conniptions! They’re totally beside themselves that Bueller gets to keep his belt – yelling at Bueller, yelling at the ref, yelling at the dudes at the announcing table. You’d think someone had just killed their cat! I don’t think they understood that titles don’t change hands on a countout. Roach wants another chance, but Bueller says he won’t even be there on October 21, so how bout that!
The Celtic Nightmare, who got the win. As you can see in the pic, Fireball looks a lot meaner and nastier when his hair is down.
Kripke, Steven Drochner, and Roger Lanier get it started. This was a lot of fun. Jared Kripke bumped, jumped, and flopped like a madman, and Adam Bueller was possessed by the spirit of a not-dead Stone Cold Steve Austin. I sort of imagine Adam falling asleep watching the WWE Network; Stone Cold and his bald head come sliding out of the TV screen like the girl in The Ring, crawling over to a sleeping Adam, and taking over Bueller’s mind. Or Adam was just looking for something fun to do. Look out, here comes the Maltese Tiger! (pic). Noah Walker eventually won the match.
suspenders of JCB not only nicely complemented each other, but also the yellow trim on the gear of G&A. Well done, gentlemen, bringing a little fashion sense to the ring! This was a strong match, and everyone worked hard. Clean living pays off, and Lumber & Lightning get the pin and the titles. Afterwards, Mance Warner blindsides and clobbers Luke Lawson, who had taken the pin. Mance exclaims that he’s the man, and doesn’t need Lawson.
lot of time making sure people in the audience were paying attention to him and the match, and not their phones. Kevin Storm retains his title, but is attacked after the match by Shady Chris Xion, whose serving notice that he’s ready to take the title at the next show.
Tournament, and will be getting a title shot at Anthony Toatele at the next show. But in the meantime, he’ll beat the person who used to be the title holder, Jack Thriller. Stills is good to his word, as he gets the win, but only because of a low blow to Thriller while the ref wasn’t looking. Here (pic, left) is Stills giving Thriller an elbow.
Jason Saint ain’t so impressed with Rudy’s credentials, though, and so (apparently having been given all the power) suggests that instead, Rudy take on Maria’s tag partner Samantha Heights, and if Rudy wins, then she can have a title shot. (Saint also points out Maria’s injury, which requires her to wear a face shield, as a contributing factor.) Rudy tries her best and does quite a few high impact moves, but Maria sneaks in and hits her with the face shield while the ref is distracted (I’m using the word “distracted” a lot in this recap, huh?), so that Samantha Heights gets the win.
passes the smooch along to Jason Saint. Saint considers for a moment whether he liked it or not, and decides it was acceptable. The ref finds a large spike when he searches Cassidy. He must have been coming straight form work or something. The match goes between Cassidy toying (such as pictured, left) with the smaller Philips, and Philips getting out of predicaments with his agility and some Zach Sabre Jr type countermoves. Eventually Philips took the win with what looked like Kalisto’s Salida del Sol, which probably has a more universal wrestling move name, but hell if I know what it is.
running crotch shot. Ref A.J. was like, whatever, I’m cool with that, no big deal. Later on, when McFly got frustrated, jumped out of the ring, and went to grab a mic, Ref A.J. was like, “ok, cool, no need for a count out yet” until he eventually decided to start counting quite a bit later. I think Ref A.J. is trying to be like the substitute teacher everyone loved because he let students get away with stuff. During his extended time out of the ring and on the mic, McFly suggested they change the match to a … dance contest? … instead. Each exchanged sequences of dance moves until finally McFly delivered the inevitable sneak attack / low blow for the win.
committee meeting and tabled him! Kevin got Noah Walker in the “tree of woe” position in one corner, propped a chair against his arms and head, then did a Shane McMahon-like leaping double drop kick from off the top turnbuckle of an opposite corner, and introduced the chair to Noah Walker’s face. Ref Tony recovered enough to count to 10, at which point we found Kevin Storm standing and Noah Walker still lying there, sad and defeated. Kevin Storm has regained the RCW United States Championship. It was a hell of a match, gentlemen!
victim to the ol’ “foreign object double cross” where while the ref is turned away, Maria falls over like she’s been knocked out, and someone in her cohort tosses a chain in the air to Dani. Dani’s instinct is to catch the chain, which happens at the exact same instant the ref finally turns back around, so the ref sees K.O.’d Maria and chain-wielding Dani standing over her. DQ! Poor Dani.
Dave, try to shoot mace in our opponent’s eyes but miss and get me instead!” Because Rod Street yelled “Code 137!” (or whatever, don’t get on my case because I got the number wrong, people!) and yeah, Guns & Aggression are your new RCW Tag Team Champions.
Special Olympics fundraiser at Zao Island in Valpo, which featured 5 bands playing – including Ripley Street, named after this very road! I had two thoughts, one that Joey Boom Boom is very in tune with the idea of community and has supported many charity events, so maybe he’d let me plug the fundraiser in Valpo at the ARWPRO show. And also, since I was stuck at that long-ass traffic light at Central and Ripley, I had time to take a picture of the Ripley Street sign and pass it along to the band. Well, both missions were accomplished, thanks Joey!
back. They banter a bit to add to the entertainment value of the match, but in the longer run Storm works over Fury’s leg several times, until Theo Storm strolls to ringside with King Bishop in tow. Storm # 2 creates a distraction to Storm # 1 so that Fury can clobber him with a spinning elbow, and then Fury gets the pin. In the picture to the left, it’s going to suck for both of them, but since Fury is upside down, I think he’s going to get the worst of it. 
unfazed by the numbers game. As you can guess, Kevin Storm comes out to show “two can play at that game” and interferes in the match when he jumps in the ring to attack Theo. This causes X Caliber to get disqualified. Good grief, the one time the Family *doesn’t* cheat to get the win, and they get DQ’d. In the picture to the right, Uncle Charlie prepares to catch the giant beach ball descending from overhead. 
Fatal Attraction has not defended the ARWPRO Tag Team titles in a long time, he is stripping them of the titles, and having a tag team match between Punisher 747 & Brutus Owen Wesker, BOW (with Ratt J Flywheel) and The Picture Show, the winner to be the new ARWPRO Tag Team Champions. Of course, The Jacket … I mean Chazz Moretti (I’m sorry, but the sheer magnificence of The Jacket makes you forget the details, just look at it!) is very aggrieved by this, and warns King Bishop that “the only thing worse than a psychotic is a well-funded psychotic, as you’ll find out later!” With those ominous words, The Ja … dammit, Chazz Moretti departs and the tag team match begins. Eventually, the size of Punisher 747 and BOW becomes too much for The Picture Show, and Punisher 747 and BOW become your new ARWPRO tag team champs … and their first action is to beat down their long-time manager Ratt J. Flywheel and replace him with Chazz Moretti! So when it’s all said and done, the tag team titles stay with the Moretti Agency. Well played, sir! In Moretti’s own words from his Facebook page, “
somewhere, and passes it to Manson in the ring, while Charlie distracts the ref. Now foreign objects in wrestling are like magnets. If the person the object is intended for is, say, magnetic North, and the opponent is then magnetic South, the object will always also be charged North, thus being repelled from the person it was intended for and into the hands of his opponent. Don’t argue with me people, there are Laws of Thermodynamics, and there are Laws of Wrestling. And so, per this inviolable natural law, the keyboard gets into the hands of Holiday, who cracks it over the head of Manson while the ref was still distracted. And Max Holiday retains his title!
His manager (you’d think I would have learned his name by now!) said that he went out and found Drex a different partner for tonight to get different results. That partner: The Punisher. The opponents: The Bambino Family! During the match, The Punisher stepped aside when Drex needed some help with a tag; Drex tried his best (see the pic to the left where Drex is working hard and Punisher is standing off to the side taking the rest of the match off. Eventually Drex got pinned. After the match, Punisher came in and decked Drex with a chain-wrapped fist.
name was Mike because Flash got the crowd to chant Mike! Mike! Mike!, and he had “Strong” down his tights. Here we saw lots of dastardly heel work, ref distraction, and temper tantrums from The Cavalier Club, and they eventually got the win. Here they celebrate afterwards. Giddy up.
calming himself with a fidget spinner before the inevitable result. That inevitable result was Jackie Chen getting squashed by Tank. And I don’t mean that in the figurative wrestle-speak sense, I mean that in the literal sense … Tank squashed him with all his might because that’s what Tank does!
now that I’ve seen them both in the same place at the same time, I have to reconsider. Dammit. As an aside, I’d like to send out a belated Happy Father’s Day out to Shady Chris Xion since it looks like his baby came just in time for this one. (You learn way more than you probably should about people’s personal lives from Facebook, you know?)
match; both guys were very fluid and put together nice sequences. There were some seriously loud knife-edge Ric-Flair-whooo chops in this one, and it seemed from his reactions that Referee Tony Lynn felt them more than Cutler and Knicks.
good, because sitting in that heat any longer would have been unbearable. I did start the show off right, though, by getting a yummy cupcake from the 
injured one of his arms and left the ring to seek attention. The ref had no choice but to count him out! So The Twig got a relatively easy victory. Hopefully when Dakota has recovered, he’ll get another chance at a Family Feud. This picture to the right shows him when he had two working arms.
Ken the Metal Professor / MPMC 