During my 4 hour return from Granite City this past Saturday night/Sunday morning, I debated on how I would handle my write up on High Voltage Wrestling’s Cocked, Locked, and Loaded. On the one hand, I could do a standard review of the show, recapping things match by match with ratings and everything. On the other hand, I was down in Granite City for more than just reviewing a show. It was an opportunity to see a new independent wrestling product, meet new and interesting people in the wrestling business, and reconnect with some old friends. In order to do justice to my whole experience, I felt that a simple review was not enough. So, today you get an exclusive “Angles Extra” dedicated entirely to High Voltage wrestling.

I’m going to start by talking about the matches during the show. The show began with a Triple Threat match between Johnny Montez, Matt Fitchett, and Eric Allen. I’ve talked about my feelings on Triple Threat matches recently, but kudos to High Voltage for putting one on with a take I personally haven’t seen for a while. The focus of this match has to be on Eric Allen, who spent the match picking his moments. Instead of all three of them going after one another, Allen ducked out of the ring and even grabbed a chair to watch Fitchett and Montez go at it. Allen would use this strategy through most of the match until getting caught by both his opponents as he tried to shimmy under the ring. In the end, however, Eric Allen’s strategy pays off, giving him the win in a pretty good opening match.

Not impressed with his strategy, Keny G, the man in charge of High Voltage Wrestling, brings out Sir Bradley Charles, a trainee of Lance Storm (look for his name to crop up more and more often in independent wrestling). Keny’s not going to allow Allen to get a win that easily, so he and Charles have a short match. Again, Allen uses sound strategy, attacking Sir Bradley as he slides into the ring, but Bradley’s not one to be taken lightly. He quickly comes back, bridges into a suplex and takes care of Eric Allen in short order.

Next match on the card featured Gunner Franks and Poodoo the Cow, yes you heard that right, Poodoo the Cow, taking on the team of Matt Cage and Marcus Crane. This match was what it was. There were some comedic elements. Marcus Crane laughs rather maniacally throughout. Cage and Crane work well together as a team, using some great heel tactics. In the end Poodoo wants nothing to do with Crane and Cage, intentionally getting himself counted out to end the match. Gunner Frank, who barely saw the ring, is clearly upset by the way this one turned out.

On a side note to this match, Marcus Crane and I have known each other for several months now. While the match was maybe not the 5 star match of the night, I promised to at least give props to Mark. In fact, he insisted on getting a 5 star rating. He put on an extra side of crazy in this match, so for that effort and the entertainment value of seeing a crazy guy wrestle a cow, congrats to Marcus Crane on a 5 star effort.

Out next is Santana G. Santana is the daughter of Keny G. More than that, Santana G can now claim a spot in main stream wrestling. If you watched TNA last Thursday, February 18th, you saw Santana G accompany Orlando Jordan to the ring. Santana starts off talking about her loss to MsChif at the last HVW show and how next time she’s going all the way. She’s then interrupted by Brandon Espinosa. Espinosa gets in Santana G’s face and talks about his former partner Brandon Aarons. It’s not long before Aarons comes out himself and we have ourselves a match. Brandon Aarons gets dominated early on, but hits a jawbreaker to start coming back. Espinosa feigns an injury, though and claims Aarons used a metal chain for an unfair advantage. The ref buys it when Espinosa shows him the chain and gets a disqualification victory.

The Dixieland Destroyer, accompanied by Jack “The Magic Man” Sinn comes out next, teaming up with Alexandre Rudolf, who is accompanied by Sadie Blaze. They’re facing the team of “The Future” Donavan Ryan and Dan the Man. Dan, I’d like to note, is wearing a shirt that is cut off about halfway up his torso, a cape, and a mask over his eyes (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles style). Both the Dixieland Destroyer and Alexandre Rudolf outweigh their opponents, Destroyer looks like he could eat Dan whole if he wanted to. This was a fun match. Dan the Man took off his cape to start, but quickly puts it back on because apparently it’s a source of power. This is a good comedy match as DTM spends a lot of time in the ring despite the size disadvantage he has over either of his opponents. The ending was my favorite part as the Dixieland Destroyer was doubled over, Dan sat on the big man’s back and thanks to a kick to the face by Donavan Ryan, the Destroyer flipped over backwards into a pinning position, allowing Dan the Man to get the victory for his team.

Intermission followed this match, and then the action picks up again as Mason Cutter (one half of the Hooligans and one half of the HVW Tag Team Champions) squared off against Jeremy Wyatt. Wyatt, a member of the team known as the Kansas City Killers, is accompanied to the ring by his stable mates, Mike Sydal and Mark Sterling. Cutter comes to the ring alone. On a side note, if you have note, if you have yet to see the Hooligans in action, do what you can to take in one of their matches. They are a solid team and have a lot of skills in the ring. The same can be said for any of the Kansas City Killers, as well. The match starts off hot and heavy with Cutter and Wyatt going right after each other. Mason pours on the attack here building to a standing moonsault, and then gets Wyatt prone in a corner. As he charges, however, Jeremy Wyatt rolls out of harms way and Mason Cutter only connects with a ring post. The KC Killers avail themselves of Cutter’s position several times, interfering behind the refs back. This prompts Mason’s brother, Devon Cutter out to ringside to try and even the odds. The climax comes as Mason gets a good amount of momentum going, Sterling and Sydal take turns climbing the apron only to get knocked down, but the distraction is enough to allow Wyatt come lock in a crossface on Cutter. Mason makes it to the ropes, but Wyatt refuses to release the hold, giving Mason the disqualification win in a very well put together match. The other two KC Killers double team Devon outside the ring and then slide in to triple team Mason, but Devon recovers and chases them off.

The next match is probably my favorite match of the night. It was a return match from HVW’s December show between Santana G and MsChif. There’s a reason I’m becoming more and more of a fan of independent women’s wrestling, and this match is a prime example. These two locked into an excellent technical match that went the distance. Santana and MsChif started in a collar and elbow tie up and exchanged a variety of holds in the early stages, moving to ground based holds. They trade headlocks and leg scissors on the mat before getting up and quickening the pace with a series of roll ups and near falls. Neither gets the advantage in the exchange and the two shake hands before locking up once more. The match continued like this, going back and forth between the women, neither able to solidify a victory and they fight to a 10 minute time limit draw. Now, I ask you, readers, how often do you see a showcase of technical wrestling by women in TNA and the WWE? More over, how often would you see said technical showcase end with neither able to get the victory and the match resulting in a time limit draw? The crowd wanted this match to continue for an extra five minutes, but instead, MsChif offers Santana an alliance and you can expect to see these two team up at future High Voltage events.

Following the women’s match, Heavyweight Champion Kahagas (also referred to as the Tokyo Monster) came out for a grudge match against Mike Sydal (of course with the Kansas City Killers in his corner. Sydal and company come out to ringside and simply berate the fans. Mark Sterling gets in the face of one guy and there’s a stand off for a solid 30 seconds or more before Sydal gets in the ring. The match stars with Kahagas staring down Sterling, allowing Sydal to get a cheap shot in. Between Sydal’s speed and Kahagas’s power and technical skill, these two are fairly evenly matched, and it shows. Sydal is pretty much a match for his WWE famed brother Evan Bourne (Matt Sydal). Kahagas spends a portion of the match with loud, vicious chops to Sydal while taunting Wyatt and Sterling. Showing off his talents as a heel, Sydal has Kahagas prone at one point and asks if the fans want a piledriver, but instead he leaps up with the Tokyo Monster’s head caught between his legs and drives his midsection down instead. Mike Sydal works Kahagas over for a lot of the back portion of the match, though Kahagas does come back, knocking Sterling and Wyatt off the apron and getting a 2nd win, but Sydal is able to slow his momentum and get him down on the mat once more. The Tokyo Monster is very ring savvy and gets his knees up to counter Sydal’s standing moonsault. He hits his finisher on Sydal, prompting sterling to come in, break up the pin and causing Sydal to lose via DQ.

With the attack from the Killers, Devon Cutter comes out from backstage to challenge Sterling and Wyatt to a match with Kahagas in his corner. Sydal heads to the back and this match is one. Well, it’s not as much of a match as an all out fight with Sterling and Kahagas spilling out onto the floor with Devon Cutter and Jeremy Wyatt fighting it out in the ring. While Cutter takes advantage in the ring, Sterling and Kahagas eventually move to their respective corners. Devon prevents a tag by Wyatt and brings in his own partner. The Tokyo Monster traps Jeremy in the corner for a series of blows and charges for a final kick, but Wyatt dodges and makes the tag to Mark Sterling. With Sterling’s official arrival into the match, the Kansas City Killers are able to take control, isolating the Heavyweight Champion with heel tactics and frequent tags while Devon Cutter, out of frustration distracts the ref. The distraction allows for a couple of illegal switch outs between Wyatt and Sterling, followed by a blatant tag from the pair, thus proving to the ref they’ve been making legal tags all along. Eventually Sterling and Kahagas exchange blows that leave them both on the mat, finally allowing the Champ to tag out to his partner.

With Kahagas resting in the corner, Devon’s momentum is cut short by the numbers against him, but soon all four end up in the ring. The fight spills out to the floor again, this time leading to a double count out while the four men throw everything they have at each other, chairs, coat hangers, walls, etc. They fight back to the ring where Devon and Kahagas split the pair up into separate corners, pummeling them. Mike Sydal returns with a chair to help his stable mates get the advantage, then Mason Cutter makes his return ringside along with Neil “Diamond” Cutter and its absolute carnage. The Kansas City Killers are left down and out around the ring to end the show as Sydal grabs the microphone claiming the faces were cheating and they have opened a Pandora’s Box. This feud is definitely not over.

Overall, the show was fairly decent. The fans got to see a handful of good matches with quality stories involved. As a newcomer to the fed, it was easy to see where the battle lines were drawn and the function of the wrestlers on the card. But for me, this show wasn’t just about the wrestling. As I said before, there was a lot more involved.

For starters, this weekend marked my first “live” interviews with wrestlers. When I knew I was going to travel down to Granite City, I immediately made arrangements with Mark Sterling and Mike Sydal, two people I knew would be down there and knew from my days with Pro Wrestling Next. I was excited to catch up with both of them, especially Mark, since he and I had gotten fairly acquainted through PWN, e-mail and running into each other at a Ring of Honor event in Collinsville last year (when I met Ric Flair). You’ll get a chance to hear the interviews with Sterling and Sydal later in the week here on ProWrestlingPonderings.com attached to Jerome’s Podcast in the next few days.

I will warn you, in my opinion, the interview with Mike Sydal was rough. This was in no way the fault of Mr. Sydal. He did a fantastic job with the questions I had for him. But, there were a lot of factors going into the interview for me. We had only a short amount of time to talk and I was incredibly flustered. None-the-less, I have to thank Mike for taking a few minutes to chat with me. He and I talked a little bit about being named the 2009 Rookie of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated and his brother Matt, better known as Evan “Air” Bourne.

My interview with Mark Sterling, in my opinion, went much better. Sterling may be a heel in the ring, and does a fantastic job as one, but he’s a pretty good guy in general. Sitting down with Mark was fun and the interview flowed well. Like my interview with Mike Sydal, you’ll get to hear this one later in the week also. Some of the highlights, though, include talking about his tryouts for NOAH and the WWE with Harley Race as well as his training with the Crossfit system. One things we did not touch on was Sterling being voted as Missouri Wrestling Revival’s Wrestler of the Year 2009. The voting for MWR’s year end awards is done by a committee of unbiased wrestling promoters and retired wrestlers from around the Midwest as selected by those who run Missouri Wrestling Revival’s Website. You can read the full story on the MWR End of the Year Awards here: http://missouriwrestlingrevival.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/2009-missouri-wrestling-revival-award-winners/.

The experience in Granite City also gave me the opportunity to chat a little bit with several people I had either not had the opportunity to meet before. One such individual will bring me back to Granite City sometime in the future. His name is Jack “The Magic Man” Sinn. Jack was one of the first people to greet me as I came into the building that housed HVW’s show. He was already in his gear when I walked in the building. He’s got a long coat a top hat cane and goggles (the goggles down around his neck until show time). The Magic Man spent quite a bit of time wrestling in Japan where he would literally perform magic tricks for the crowd. I would not do Jack justice by spoiling his stories here. I will say that while in Japan he was awarded a title and had a rather infamous match, both of which he has some interesting stories about. While he and I only touched on the idea, I am hoping that in the coming months I’m able to drive back down to Granite City, IL and have a long sit down with the Magic Man where he can relate the stories he told me and others from his time in the ring.

I have to close out by thanking Brian “Flair” Kelley and Missouri Wrestling Revival as well as Keny G and High Voltage wrestling for inviting me down to Granite City this past weekend. The show was very enjoyable and the experience as a whole was well worth the trip. For more information on Missouri Wrestling Revival visit their website: http://missouriwrestlingrevival.wordpress.com/. And for more information on High Voltage Wrestling, you can find them on the web at: http://highvoltagewrestling.wordpress.com/.