The Rap Sheet - from the Crimefighter
Midwestern States Pro Wrestling
4/16/2K5 Charleston, IL

Frat boys don't know how to promote a wrestling show...

The views expressed by Crimefighter are solely his own, and do not reflect the views of anyone who happens to read this rap sheet. The intended audience of this rap sheet is for smart fans and insiders who read books like "Wrestling's One Ring Circus" and "The Death of WCW", or read websites like 1wrestling.com, 411mania.com, pwinsider.com or insidepulse.com. If you shun that sort of stuff or think those people are trying to destroy the sport entirely, you probably won't like the writing style I use. And as a wrestling fan, I like my workrate a lot more than the BS, cause the nuts and bolts of the show IS the wrestling after all. The archive of all prior rap sheets is stored at http://rap-sheet.tripod.com. Yeah this new disclaimer seems to drive the point home better than anything else for those kayfabe radicals.

It came to be that a member of an Eastern Illinois University fraternity brother died young, that being Ryan Struebing, and in his honor, the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity were raising money to have a room in the Communication Disorders & Sciences Department named for him at the Human Services Center being built at EIU. They also are developing a scholarship in his name. One of his former roommates of the same fraternity that he lived with for a semsester just happened to own his own wrestling company, and thus MSPW makes the trip down to Charleston to hold a show. They needed to rent a ring and since a few NMW wrestlers have been working MSPW lately they wanted to rent NMW's ring.

Showed up at 8:45am to load the ring on the trailer, but the trailer didn't get here til 10:30 or so. Some sort of problem getting the electrical working with the taillights it seems. Loaded the ring up and got outta town by 11am when we really needed to get there by noon. And heh, I knew the best way to Charleston, but Mapquest or whichever service they use for directions thinks driving from Springfield to Champaign then down to Charleston was the best way adding an extra 50 miles to the trip using only the interstates. Saved a good 45 minutes going IL 121 instead. Once we all arrived, we had to set the ring up outside as the inside of the Warehouse wasn't wide enough for the ring. They had to change venues a month ago so I dunno what went on. Unfortunately it appears that the members of Delta Sigma Phi did not get the word out about the event (like flyering the campus) until either the night before or the day of the show. Attendance was a disappointing 30-35, but kids started showing up in like the last half hour for a birthday party. If I was at EIU I would had flyered the town a week ago. Ugh. Justin MacIntyre's goofy antics: Crank call to my cell phone while on the road claim he's someone with the Marines looking for new employees and they had my app on file for five years. I had a hard time believing any employer would be contacting me and it took a while before I figured out it was his voice and told him I knew it was him, he quickly hung up. He's such a home-renter. He got to shoot video for the whole thing.

Live from outside the Warehouse in Charleston, IL. Your ring announcer is Mike P. and your referee is Andy Long.

Egotistico Fantastico 6'3" 210lbs. Mexico City, Mexico vs. "Superstar" Bryce Benjamin 180lbs. Hollywood, CA - Ego is quite tall, about the tallest one in the bunch and it made it easy to find him after the show. Bryce gives a girl a pair of panties. Met the guy before the show recalling the last time I've seen him wrestle in person, against Jenny Montgomery. They test their strength at the start, Ego gets the monkey flip and takedown and works the arm. Bryce with an armdrag and dropkick. Bryce charges but gets catch in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Ego with a suplex, sets up an elevated surfboard, he rolls with it a bit, then launches him from the surfboard face first to the mat and gets two. Shoulderblocks by Ego, whip clothesline gets two. Ego shouts that he hates guys that wear pink, I shout back "so you hate Bret Hart?" getting no response. Sitting surfboard using both legs to the back with the arms pulled, yep that height is coming in handy. Bryce gets a sunset flip for two, but gets clotheslined down for two. Whip powerslam Ego gets two, enzuigiri Bryce. Bryce slugs away, hits a jumping side kick, clothesline, suplex gets two. Kneeling fameasser by Bryce gets two. Ego hits a gut wrench suplex throwing Bryce into the corner getting two. Ego with the Alabama slam, and puts on the Liontamer, but Bryce won't give, so he goes to the crossface. Bryce gets out, hits a kick to the back of the head and gets three. Ego grabs those panties, stuffs them down his pants, then throws them to the ground on his way out. Good opener.

WINNER: Bryce Benjamin pin -> 7:40 mins. **¾

"Waterboy" Mike Horning 185lbs. Gainsville, FL vs. NMW Central IL Champ Michael Shard 165lbs. Santa Monica, CA - Horning grabs those panties and hands them off to another guy, someone shouts "Gatorade" at him. I dunno why they aren't using "Devil Without a Cause" as his music here as the "Pain" song just ain't as fitting. Shard with the headlock takedown, they fight for control of that headlock, shove shoulderblock by Horning. Shard does a bad hiptoss, armdrags, back body drop by Shard and Horning runs away. Shard hits a suplex back in for two, whip Shard hits a splash, but misses a second. Horning with a neckbreaker for two, and slaps on a head vice. Horning clubs him down, HARD CHOP, whip dropkick gets two. HARD CHOP by Horning, CLOTHESLINE FROM HECK in the corner gets two. Horning whip, Shard hits the flying forearm, sunset flip gets two. Shard hopover rollup gets two. Horning with a spinebuster for two. Chokehold by Horning, then fetches his waterbottle. Horning with a suplex gets two, rear headlock stretch. Horning whip, Shard tries a flying headscissors but settles for a DDT, Shard goes up, Horning bounces the ropes to crotch him, death valley driver finishes him for three. Apart from two spots errored, this was okay.

WINNER: "Waterboy" Mike Horning pin -> 7:10 mins. **¾

MSPW & BCW Tag Champ "Metalhead" Steve Stone 220lbs. Whitelands, IN w/ Brandon Blaze & Ami Zane vs. Tweek Phoenix 215lbs. Champaign, IL -- So Stone & Blaze are dual champs as the Supremacy Squad? Great, they just need one more tag title to duplicate the feat by the original XXXPlicit Content a year ago. Apparently Steve Stone got in trouble for making comments he shouldn't had at a BCW show a week prior to this before a title defense. Zane is a doll. Tweek is having his debut match in MSPW today. A lot of chatter before the match gets going. Stone wants the ref to check them tassles on Tweek. Lockup, clean break and Stone exclaims how awesome they are, someone says it's awe-full. Lockup, Stone punches him and says it's an open hand. Tweek promises to give that punch back to his face. So Stone does it again and Tweek says it's two. Stone calls it gay. Stone bails out when Tweek tries to fire back. Back in, Tweek hits his punches, slam, elbow and Stone bails. An arguement ensues and Tweek gets an armwringer, whip to the corner and Stone flops down as if he was doing an armdrag with the AIR. Tweek with an armdrag, legdrop, armbar with a foot on his face. Whip to the corner, Stone tries to hop over Tweek but Tweek doesn't follow and gets armdragged. Hip toss Stone, he armdrags AIR again and flops to the mat. I dunno, what do you think about this? Tweek with an armdrag, goes for a piledriver but it's blocked, back body drop by Stone. He dumps him out for Blaze & Zane to work him over. Dumb ref just chats with Stone in the corner. Choke, sitting chinlock, a jumping sitdown gets the knees. Atomic drop Tweek. Stone fires back with a clothesline for two. And Ms. Zane chokes Tweek on the ropes. Stone with a rake, slam, he goes up, and Tweek slams him off. Tweek goes up, hits a sledge to the head, back body drop. Tweek hits the piledriver, Blaze hops on the apron, Tweek knocks him off, another piledriver attempt is blocked, back body drop gets turned into a sunset flip but Stone grabs the ropes, he hooks hands with Blaze and they steal it. Well Tweek did okay in his debut, dunno if armdragging air would cause someone to say "he's exposing the business!"

WINNER: "Metalhead" Steve Stone pin -> 10:55 mins. **¼

Blaze runs his mouth on the mike, someone threw a paper wad at him and he threatened to break their neck if he found out who did it. Blaze wants everyone to look at the person next to them, this is as good at it gets for them and none of you jerks could bring your friends. Oh funny. He calls someone to come in the ring that's sitting in the crowd. He calls him the pride and joy of EIU, a joke of a college town. He wears a cubs hat, dirty jeans, dirty shoes, and packed on 25 pounds since coming here, look at his hair. He tries to leave but the Supremcy Squad JUMP him and kick away at him. Come on, he ain't a wrestler! Danny Scott runs out with a handfull of belts to break it up. He tells them three to shut up and to shut up his whore. He has a lot of belts but no lumberjacks so they are gonna have a raffle to pick lumberjacks. They trade banter back and forth before the go to intermission. The announcer explains the raffle, and I buy one ticket for the guy who was beat up, cause he should had gotten one of the belts to get back at them guys. One of the winners is on crutches, so they say hit someone with a crutch instead.

Mr. Elite 220lbs. Minnepolis, MN w/ Rian Cruz vs. Tony Rican 165lbs. San Torca, Puerto Rico - Slam Elite, lockup, clean break, lockup, Elite with a kick and forearms. Whip kick Rican, flying headscissors, monkey flip, drop kick and Elite bails as Rian yells what are you doing. Elite wants Rian to rub his shoulders but Rian says he should rub her shoulders for messing up. Rican knocks Elite down before he can start, and starts rubbing Rian's shoulders instead. Elite attacks, toss in, suplex gets two. Gee Miss Cruz was that the best time to be asking for a backrub? Well I could have given you one. Clothesline Elite gets two. Tony pounds back, knee to the gut Elite, belly to belly slam gets two. Choke on the ropes, Rian joins in, Elite goes to a sleeper. Jawbreaker Rican, clothesline. Tony goes up, Elite crotches him and Rican hits the mat. Whip Elite, flying forearm Rican, drop kick to the corner, Rican does a running flip off Elite's shoulders, bulldog gets two. Reverse DDT Rican, he goes up, spinaround 450 splash MISSES! Elite with a torture rack into a neckbreaker gets three! Nothing to complain about here.

WINNER: Mr. Elite pin -> 7:40 mins. **½

MSPW Heavyweight Championship
(c)Mike Venom 285lbs. Las Vegas, NV vs. AAW Heavyweight Champ Tony Scarpone 265lbs. Chicago, IL - Well Tony's music would not work, and I wanted to hear the Sopranos theme badly. Tony is one half of "Who's the Boss" with Tony Rican, and it seems I missed out that he has his own heavyweight title from elsewhere so it's a quest for a double crown. I didn't know Venom won the title in March, I did see the late February show. Venom for some reason goes after the ring announcer and throws him in the ring, apparently angry at him for something. Venom lets out the cuss words at someone in the crowd, Tony tells him he's fired. Lockup, Venom with a light slap. Lockup, Tony slaps him back, drop toe hold, drop kick, Venom charges and Tony yanks down the rope for him to tumble over to the ground. Back in, armdrag Tony, knees, Venom reverses a whip but Scarpone's clothesline has no effect. Mike catches Scarpone in a spinebuster, headbutt, choke, and he stands on him. Venom with the whip, Scarpone with the sunset flip but Venom grabs the rope, the ref kicks him off for two. Mike with the clothesline, choke, Tony grabs the ropes like a teddy bear so Venom pulls the legs against the rope to crotch him. Pulls him to the apron to choke with the knee, Mike rakes him, hits a suplex, slams him, elbow gets two. Tony with a small package, and Venom stands on his head in anger. He chokes away some more, Tony finally hits a side backbreaker. They slug it out, Tony hits the side elbow, clothesline, hard whip in the corner, the ref stupidly gets too close and Venom yanks Long to take the brunt of a charging Scarpone. Saw it coming. Mike fetches the title belt, BAM, cover gets two. Scarpone goes up, Venom trips him up, superplex Venom but Tony gets the cover at two. Venom hits his spinning side slam for three. Crowd gives Tony applause for his efforts, and he quips that's the loudest reaction he got the entire match thanks a lot. Well, this crowd was said to be not a wrestling crowd, yeah there are a few people who are wrestling fans mixed in but still.

WINNER and STILL CHAMP: Mike Venom pin -> 12:10 mins. ***

The ring announcer gives away the other belts, and they keep drawing people that already won. So they just hand the rest of them to people in one row, including the beatdown victim from earlier. The belters surround the ring, ready to spank someone if they try to leave.

MSPW Hertiage Championship - Lumberjacks Have Straps
(c)Delicious Danny Scott 222lbs. Joliet, IL vs. MSPW & BCW Tag Champ Brandon Blaze 205lbs. Chicago, IL w/ Steve Stone & Ami Zane - The lumberjacks are told not to hit the girl. Well can they hug her instead? Blaze is called the "Dyslexic Wonder" cause supposedly he can't read and thus hates college towns. A couple of wrestlers are throwing peanuts from the upper floor at them guys. DDS comes out to "Real American" with a bag of Twizzers. DDS hits the spear and Blaze tries to run but gets belted by the lumberjacks. DDS with three straight shoulderblocks, and they scream about those shoulderblocks being punches to the face. Whatever. Zane has that bag of Twizzlers and throws pieces of it in the ring. Blaze argues and gets slammed by DDS, Blaze stumbles into the ref and HE slams him! Andy Long to be a wrestler sometime? Blaze bails out and gets belted by everyone. DDS suplexes him back in for two. Hammer shot Blaze, choke on the rope. Whip drop kick by Blaze gets two. DDS gets dumped out and the everyone belts him around, eats an elbow getting in for two. DDS with a sunset flip and PULLS DOWN Blaze's trunks, exposing his bare butt. Okay I didn't need to see that one. He bails out and everyone whips that bare butt, including that fan he beat up earlier. Back in, DDS hits an atomic drop that clearly didn't connect, Blaze hits a clothesline and chokes with his wrist tape. Blaze with a slam, he goes up, he dives and eats a boot. Whip clothesline DDS, slam, back body drop gets two. Blaze with the death valley driver gets two. DDS however hulks up like Hogan and waves that finger in his face, KICK WHAM STUNNER DDS, ROCK BOTTOM, and the People's Elbow finish him for the win! Fine match to end things, a bit silly with the Hoganisms.

WINNER and STILL CHAMP: Delicous Danny Scott pin -> 8:55 mins. ***¼

Well Ami Zane hops in the ring to argue with DDS, she slaps him, DDS gives her a death valley driver in retaliation. Sheesh, I thought they said don't hit the girl, what the heck was that? Steve Stone comes out to check on the two of them. Blaze refuses to get out of the ring until all the belts are returned. And our day outside comes to a close.

The Verdict: I didn't expect an outdoor show, anyone looking at the photos will invoke the "backyard fed" crap. Once you get over that part, nothing really stood out overall. It was an average show, though on the short side, but lack of attendees really hurt. The fraternity promoting this event really dropped the ball.

Thumbs in the middle, leaning up.