ALW: We Wear the Crown

[on_the_edge]

Before I get to the wrestling I am going to babble about my day and a half trip. I will skip the horrible experience with McDonalds just trying to get a couple cheeseburgers for my ride to Melbourne that involved 3 McDonalds. I was upgraded to a water view room but since I got in around 2:30 AM I could not tell from the window. I woke up and saw an amazing view (first pic, duh). The hotel is too far from the Atlantic to see it but that is the Indian River that one has to cross to get to the Atlantic from that part of Melbourne. After watching some football on the TV that I controlled with my phone, no actual remote in the room, I went to the top of the hotel, 11th floor, for lunch. An amazing view up there but hard for me to see as I am short lol. I did something I thought I would never do. I ordered a $22 hamburger (2nd pic). It was Wagyu beef and very tasty. It came with Grafton Truffle Cheddar, Bacon-Vidalia Onion Jam, Heirloom Tomato and Roasted Garlic Aioli and an amazing side of Sidewinder Fries that were perfectly salted. Now I did not actually pay the list price on this burger. After my 20% team member discount and a $15 daily food credit for being a Gold member it cost me less than $3. That was lunch before the show. I made up for the high price at dinner when I had a cup of bean soup (3rd pic) that cost an amazing 18 cents. Yep, that is the menu price. Who says you cannot get something good for under a quarter.

[TTX]

Those fries look really good. Yeah, that McDonalds thing reminds me of the craziness I had at Burger King in Waterloo.

[on_the_edge]

Oct 15, 2023 15:56:05 GMT -5 TTX said:

Those fries look really good. Yeah, that McDonalds thing reminds me of the craziness I had at Burger King in Waterloo.

They were a nice mix between a regular fry and a potato wedge. Nice ratio of outside crispiness and potato. Also a couple came out thin so like a crisp potato chip.

[on_the_edge]

I got the the community center early as I did not know how long it would actually take and did not want to get busy doing something and be late. I walked over to where they were having a fall flea market/vendor thing but as I got close I realized they were packing up for the day. If I had known it was going on I would have shown up earlier and checked it out before the show. As I walked back to the Center I am pretty sure I saw Haley J coming out a side door to have a "smoke break". Since it was such a nice day and I spend too much time inside I stood outside. Seats are not reserved but rows are so I was not worried about seating as I had the Bob Uecker special, must be in the front row. As I am standing there Colby Corino walks by wearing his ring gear, pants with no top. Then Ryzin walks by me and we do a "what's up" head bob. Turns out they had to move their cars so a food truck could park where their cars were. Ryzin and I had another head nod as he went back in. This next part will make me seem goofy but I am so whatever. I went to find a vending machine and was blown away when the cans were only $1 and most of the snacks were $1 with the highest price being a buck fifty. I felt like I was back in the 90's. When I did get in line I saw Haley J out where I had been standing. For a promotion coming up on 7 year anniversary they are a bit disorganized. VIP doors were supposed to open at 5:30 for the bonus match and everyone else at 5:55. It was after 6 before they started letting people in. There was no real line, just a cluster of us that slowly moved toward the door. After doing that for a bit someone came out and said they were seating for 1st and 2nd row only. So I slipped past people in front of me and got in. I took an end of the row seat near a turnbuckle with a tag rope. I knew SOMEONE would be standing on that corner eventually.

[on_the_edge]

The bonus match was between a heel, who I cannot remember his name but is part of the Brothers In Arms faction, and a face who I do not know his name. The heel is the one closest wearing the bullet proof vest. The only reason I am mentioning this match is the heel won, came out and ended up sitting down next to me in the empty seat, which was empty the whole night. He talked trash to me about it is ok for me to boo as I paid to come out and that is why he was on the poster. He took the poster that had been on his seat, crumbled it up and tossed at me as he left. That is what I love about indie wrestling. You do not get that interaction with the big companies for numerous reasons.

[Vegas]

Oct 15, 2023 15:53:52 GMT -5 on_the_edge said:

I ordered a $22 hamburger (2nd pic). It was Wagyu beef and very tasty. It came with Grafton Truffle Cheddar, Bacon-Vidalia Onion Jam, Heirloom Tomato and Roasted Garlic Aioli and an amazing side of Sidewinder Fries that were perfectly salted. Now I did not actually pay the list price on this burger. After my 20% team member discount and a $15 daily food credit for being a Gold member it cost me less than $3. That was lunch before the show. I made up for the high price at dinner when I had a cup of bean soup (3rd pic) that cost an amazing 18 cents. Yep, that is the menu price. Who says you cannot get something good for under a quarter.

That is a a great meal for $3!

After I went to the GCW show last night in Los Angeles, for $3 I had 2 Monster Tacos from the drive-thru at Jack in the Box. They were good. I ate them on the way home and then passed out in the back seat for over 2 hours as we drove back to Las Vegas.

[on_the_edge]

The first match of the actual show was Tim "The Ripper" Zbyszko, son of Larry, defending his ALW Next Level title against El Ridiculoso, who I am a fan of and is a fun guy to watch wrestle. He beat Ripper to win the title. Great moment. This is Ripper trying to drop an elbow but Ridiculoso moves before it can hit.

[Vegas]

Oct 15, 2023 16:38:57 GMT -5 on_the_edge said:

The bonus match was between a heel, who I cannot remember his name but is part of the Brothers In Arms faction, and a face who I do not know his name. The heel is the one closest wearing the bullet proof vest. The only reason I am mentioning this match is the heel won, came out and ended up sitting down next to me in the empty seat, which was empty the whole night. He talked trash to me about it is ok for me to boo as I paid to come out and that is why he was on the poster. He took the poster that had been on his seat, crumbled it up and tossed at me as he left. That is what I love about indie wrestling. You do not get that interaction with the big companies for numerous reasons.

yeah I agree, for me attending Indie wrestling is often more fun than attending a WWE or AEW event, especially regular WWE and AEW events such as house shows or TV tapings which you can watch from home.

[on_the_edge]

There was a ladies match between Airica-Demia, who is like only 18 and either in last year of HS or graduated back in May, and Renee Michelle who is married to Rock Star Spud/Drake Maverick. This was originally supposed to be to crown a new Women's World Champion and involve Leva Bates. When they came out with no real fanfare, no mention of the title and no Leva I was a bit disappointed. Thus no pictures. To be fair, Renee's outfit was so sparkly I am not sure if she could be seen if I took a pic due to flashback. Aircia-Demia has a magna inspired look and came out with her dad who is an indie wrestler in the same kind of look. It was kind of cool. It was during intermission when I was talking to Leva Bates that I found out about the change in the card. Sadly there was no mention of it at the show. One last note here I should have mentioned before, these matches gave ne meaning to "dark match" as for some reason they lowered the lights during the show for the matches. It hurt my pic taking, which I took WAY more pics this time then I usually do, as they had two big bright lights doing most of the work. That caused pics to be hard to see from the lights.

[on_the_edge]

My favorite match by far was a hardcore match between Mad Man Pondo and Colby Corino for numerous reasons. Mad Man came out with his giant pizza cutter and placed it in the corner closest to me as you can see in the pics. The next set of pics is when Mad Man brought out the staple gun and went to staple a poster onto Corino and then Cornio returned the favor. Then things really got fun for me. Corino walked over and asked me for a dollar. So, I pulled out my money clip, pulled out a dollar and then when I held it out I moved it as he grabbed for it. I did that a few times before letting him have it. He told me after he was done with Mad Man he was coming for me. Of course he did not. Someone in the crowd said I was not getting the dollar back and I thought who cares. Most entertainment I have gotten from a single dollar in a LONG time lol. They set up chairs and yes that top one is pointing up. Mad Man reversed Corino's attempt to slam him onto them. Then Pondo pulled out my favorite weapon at these shows, a door. ALW likes using doors more so than tables. Later after putting Corino thru it Mad Man set him in the corner and placed a cinder block between his legs. The pic does not really catch it but Mad Man uses a small head sledgehammer to smash the block. After that it was easy for Mad Man to win. Post match he set a chair up in the ring, sat Corino on it and raised his hand. A fun brutal match where both men were impressive.