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Powerhouse Wrestling Inc. in depth review
The Rap Sheet - from the Mad Conservative
Powerhouse Wrestling Incorporated
8/27/2K5 Lincoln, IL

Man the candle is burning at both ends on levels between backyarders and trained professionals...

The views expressed by me, the Mad Conservative Crimefighter are solely my own and do not reflect in any way, shape, matter or form the views of any wrestling organization, his friends, his neighbors, and certainly his rivals. I am solely responsible for what I write and anyone who blames others for what I write will be strongly smitened in public. I will also be adding in addition to the disclaimer that anyone coming up to me as if I'm the official representative of my favorite feds to trash them with little or no first hand knowledge of the people involved even if they say they are a twenty year veteran of the sport with full knowledge of what business standards are and therefore are qualified to be saying it will also be strongly smitened in public. If I am a representative of anything, it is that of the St. Louis Wrestling Community site at http://www.livejournal.com/community/stlwrestling covering downstate Illinois and eastern Missouri wrestling.

I've heard about Powerhouse for a while, it's just that their shows usually ran along the I-80 corridor, but lately they've begun running shows further south in Lincoln, IL. With no conflicts cropping up, I decided to make my way up there to see what they had to offer cause the fed owner every once in a while posts something saying this fed or that fed is not booking the right talent or a show was gonna tank. I wanted to see first hand how they do things and if they are as good as they hype themselves up to be. Well I can say they had decent talent and some familiar names from the Chicago area. Attendance however, didn't quite live up to what they said prior shows drew, as actual attendance was between 80-90. They say they pre-sold 100 tickets to Lincoln College itself to give to students, unfortunately the students either not got them, hit the balloon festival or went out for drinks early.

Live from Lincoln College at the gym. Your ring announcer is Tobi Hope, your timekeeper is Mr. Skip. Your referees are Steve Cain and Michael Dean. I don't have anything more than the wrestlers hometowns, and it would had been nice if they announced their weights. Announcement was made that Osyris was injured in a car crash (I think?) in Indiana the previous night and wouldn't be here so they are substituting Harsh Lawless into the main event.

"Picture Perfect" Remy Rains vs. Jason Hades vs. "The Latin Lover" Tony Rican - Rains comes out wearing a purple with a camcorder in hand filming himself. Jason Hades comes out in silver gear with the yin-yang imprinted on the front. Tony Rican I've seen in action before. Hades & Rains attack Rican, but he hits a double clothesline. Rican whips Rains but he bails, Rican hits Hades and hits the opening trio. Sunset flip rollout Rican hits a dropkick on Hades. Rains back in and tries to steal it for one. Rains with a powerslam on Rican for two. Rains says he's gonna do something cool, and does a hard slap to the back of Rican. Gee I could do that myself. Side slam neckbreaker combo by Hades and Rains gets two. Double stomp on Rican by Rains, and Rains just likes to run his mouth. Rican comes to life, Rains spinkick misses, form of a reverse flatliner by Hades gets two. Rains wants high fives, but kicks Hades and slams him. Rains goes up, hops off the top to the mat and does a mere stomp on Hades. Oh impressive. Rican with a missile dropkick on Remy gets two however. Hades attacks Rican, double underhook suplex with the victim landing on top of Hades as if it were a reversal, but it wasn't and Hades gets two. (???) Double whip, Rican with a double DDT gets two on Hades. Rican suplex on Hades, Remy won't shut up, Hades tries a back suplex on Rican but he hits an enzuigiri for two. Remy whip, wants Hades to help with a springboard, but Rican gets a shot to the gut. Remy kick DDT, kip up, goes after Hades, twisting full nelson lift into a facebuster. Side effect on Remy by Rican, form of a DDT by Rican gets three. Decent triple threat for an opener.

WINNER: Tony Rican pin -> 7:05 mins. ***

"Golden Boy" Mike Horning vs. "New Thing" Jeff King - Waterboy or Golden Boy, Horning is known as either. King is a rather tall cruiser. King comes in and tries a fancy Tajiri like move off the ropes for an entrance and almost falls through them in what could had been a bad accident. Whoops. Armbar King, reversal by Horning. Shoulderblock King, Japanese arm drag, armdrag, hip toss King. Back body drop by Horning, sunset flip King gets two and he runs through some pin combos. King with a flying headscissors sends Horning outside. King follows him out but gets a back body drop onto the bare floor. Yeah there's no mats out there. Toss in, knee drop gets two. Suplex Horning gets two. Back breaker Horning gets two, whip dropkick gets two. Another whip by Horning, double crossbodies knock them down for an eight count. Clothesline King, elbows, death valley driver into a backbreaker gets two. Spinebuster Mike gets two. Enzuigiri King gets two. Mike with a regular death valley driver gets three. Solid match.

WINNER: Mike Horning pin -> 7:35 mins. ***¼

Interview before the match, Dr. Tim Lyle comments on the Wargames match. Lyle calls Harsh Lawless...Lucy Lawless. He rants saying they are gonna do pain and torture tonight.

Storm Rider w/ Dr. Tim Lyle vs. Rudo Cortez - Storm Rider is kinda like a smaller Johnny Swinger, wearing turquoise gear. Rudo is a Mexican guy with a big sombrerro, with his goatee colored red. Shoulderblock Rudo and the Rider bails. Seems he's a Drought Rider to me. Rude with a toss by the neck, clothesline. Rider with an arm snap off the rope, shoves Rudo into the ropes, and slams him on the arm, torquing it on the mat. Boot press on the arm, wringer, shoulder throw by Storm. Rudo with a whip to the corner and hits some splashes. Another one is dodged, axehandle on the shoulder gets one. Chokes by Storm and Lyle assists, second rope armbar, leap by Storm sending Rudo to the mat gets two. A second go of it is thrown off, belly to belly slam by Rudo gets two. Rudo with a suplex into a spinning neckbreaker, DDT elbow combo. Storm with a sidearm DDT, crossarm breaker and Rudo taps!

WINNER: Storm Rider submission -> 7:15 mins. **¼

Well this match looked to be going at a slower pace. Storm refuses to let go, the Beast comes out to make the save but gets overwhelmed as the members of Team Trauma swarm the ring and they drop repeated knees to the back of the head before the Lawless Bros. run them off. But the Beast now appears to be injured. They go to intermission.

Bailey Mannix vs. Chris Chaos - Mannix of course was the original member of XXXplict Content so I know what he brings to the table, and his trunks have a lot of streamers and people wonder where his pom-poms are. First time seeing Chris Chaos. Bailey works the arm and they go to some fast switching around leading up to a back body drop to the floor and Bailey Mannix appears to have hurt his knee. Chaos does a dangerous headscissors from the apron to the bare floor and Bailey hits hard. Yikes. Back in the ring, dropkicks by Chaos, side knee, slam. Chaos heads up but gets tripped up, spear, dropkick into the tree of woe by Bailey. Slam, kneedrop gets two. Rollup Chaos gets one. Side suplex Bailey gets two. Bailey with the million dollar dream gets two so he goes to the sleeper until he's side suplexed down. They're up at eight, Chaos with a flying shoulderblock. Side kick Chaos, he goes up, flying neckbreaker off the top gets two. Flying clothesline Chaos, he goes up, Bailey trips him, neckbreaker off the top, locks in a submission hold and its over. Not sure what he used cause I didn't have a good view of the hold. Match of the night methinks.

WINNER: Bailey Mannix submission -> 8:35 mins. ***½

The heavyweight champion of PWI apparently was "Maniac" Matt Maverick for some reason or another he decided to undergo a complete makeover and become someone else, going goth. Their title belt itself actually looks nice, it doesn't appear to be a replica of any current championship belt used by the majors.

PWI Heavyweight Championship
(c)Bloody Harker Dirge vs. Frankie the Face - Okay why is Frankie a face? Apparently Frankie likes shoving his ugly face into others faces as if we're supposed to be scared of the guy. Seems like a heel to me. Well Dirge is even scarier, with that crazy mask and doing the goth look. Never heard of either person though. Stalling to start, Dirge SCARES Frank with his look. Shoulderblock Dirge, Frank goes after the leg, rolls into a rear chinlock by Dirge. Armbar Dirge, powerslam gets two. Scoop slam Dirge, elbow gets two. Double chop Dirge, whip bulldog attempt blocked, choke by Frank with the boot and wipes it in his face. Thrust shot Frank gets two. Suplex gets two. Dirge charges and gets backdropped over the top. Fight outside, choke on the post by Frank, suplex attempt into the ring is blocked. Dirge bounces Frank's head off the buckle, but gets clotheslined on the apron. Headlock on the mat, spinebuster, Frank locks in what looks to be an STF. Dirge bites his way out, but Frank locks in the sleeper, drop toe hold by Dirge sends Frank outside. He gets back in and the slugfest is on! Dirge with a knee lift, back body drop, bulldog gets two. Neckbreaker on the back of the head, Frankie flatliner gets two. Strangehold Frankie, backbreaker Dirge. Harker goes up, Frank trips him, superplex attempt is blocked, shoveoff, Dirge missile dropkick gets three!

WINNER: Bloody Harker Dirge pin -> 14 mins. **¾

They take another intermission to set up the cage. Remarkably they use mats to protect the floor from the fence, and I wonder why they didn't use them prior.

Wargames Cage Match
Team Truama - Dr. Timothy Lyle, Jimmy "The Hype" Shalwin, Magnum Conroy w/ Storm Rider vs. The Beast, Johnny & Harsh Lawless - Well the wargames rules, 5 minutes to start, 2 minutes a new guy can enter the ring until all six are in and then submissions will count. Bunkhouse rules are in effect. I'm guessing Johnny is in the white shirt, Harsh in the black. Johnny Lawless and The Hype start the match. The truama team is armed with drain pipe, leather belt and duct tape. Brawl begins, armbar by Lawless, legdrop on the arm, Shalwin tries to climb out, but gets pulled down and the arm worked over. Hype is whipped into the corner flipping over, and gets rammed into the fence. CHEESE GRATER! And the Hype is blading! Lawless whip back body drop Lawless. Five minutes is up, time for the coin toss, and like every other wargames I've ever seen the bad guys win the toss. Lyle is in, and gets thrown into the fence. And Lyle dodges a dive from Lawless and hits the fence. Lyle throws Johnny in the fence again, slingshot into the fence! Shalwin pounds his head and he's cut. Double whip toss into the fence and Lyle appears to be cut. Lyle gives out a cheese grater! German suplex and at 7:50 here comes Harsh! Harsh throws Lyle into the fence, throws Hype into the fence. The Lawless Bros. toss their foes into the fence...lots of tossing. This goes on until time runs out, and at 8:50 Magnum Conway is in. He puts the belt and duct tape in there. Double whip by Trauma, forced clothesline. And he duct tapes Harsh to the ropes. Shalwin almost goes through the cage to the floor off a back drop. The drain pipe is in, and BAM! Lyle with shots to the face with the drain pipe. Last period has ended, and The Beast isn't out here at 10:50. Match can end by submission now. Trauma beats down the Lawless Bros. They repeatedly smash the drain pipe on the brothers, and whip them with the belt. SPIKE PILEDRIVER by Magnum and the Hype on Johnny Lawless! The whippings continue, and NOW the Beast has appeared, with shoulder heavily taped. Storm Rider goes after him but gets thrown into the fence and Beast enters at 13:30. He rams Trauma into the fence. He bites Magnum, Johnny wipes his boots in someone's face. Triple whip and Trauma crashes against each other. Shalwin has LEFT the cage, Johnny goes after him, Beast with a nerve hold on Lyle and he taps!

WINNERS: The Beast & The Lawless Bros. submission -> 14:40 mins. ***

An okay wargames match to finish things off, not the best, not the worst either.

The Verdict: As much hyping of the fed as they've done they delivered what I think was an average show. It was a bit on the short side with only six matches, and probably could had used a seventh bout. There wasn't anything bad about the talent or the matches, but there wasn't anything that made them stand out above the others. We'll consider it a work in progress after being inactive for four months.

We'll go thumbs up.

I'm kinda weary over the mess that followed the show over someone who showed up that was formerly associated with a particular organization, and then getting an earful about the business and standards to the point that I'm tired of talking about it and need to occupy my time with other things. I've blogged my gripes on the STLWC blog and chicagowrestling.com. Unlike the moderator of PWI's message board who just wanted to be a complete arse, I am real appreciative of Tobi Hope responding to my complaints about certain people, and I'm also real appreciative of the witnesses who assisted in identifying the mystery person so any PR damage he may have caused would be minimized. What's a backyarder and what's a trained professional? The definitions are getting blurred and modified by the month, with WWE putting yet another untrained model in the ring with a well experienced wrestler for a match, bringing up people from OVW based on their look and size but not wrestling skills and ending up hurting themselves or hurting others (see Heindreich, Chris Masters, Boogeyman)...yet the definition of a backyarder has been raised from literally fighting in someone's backyard to having a nice ring, venue, equipment and five years of training/experience. I guess some people get it faster than others, or some people need to take a lot longer, or go at a different pace. I've been to several feds in this state, I thought I've seen just about every level of talent, and the worst there was around. My standards for what good wrestling is can't be that low. Even trained professionals can suck worse than a backyarder, and I've seen good examples of that including in a WWE ring.