Wrestling Review // Blitzkrieg! Pro Energy 3/25/22 Enfield, CT

https://blitzkriegpro.net/

It felt good to be back at the House of Pierogies and when we got there the doors were already open so that was even better.  After seeing the ticket-takers (who are always really pleasant and remember us) the first person we saw upon going in was Jack Purcell.  Since B!P has returned from the pandemic, I've managed to get every poster Jack Purcell has made (that I know of) except for if there was one for the Luau and Jess has the one for "Eat The Meek" because I wasn't there either.  (I also have two different posters for Mark It Zero though)

I was really excited for this show because the first match announced was Alec Price vs "Speedball" Mike Bailey and so I was also excited to see what the poster Jack Purcell was making would look like.   After getting the poster it became my goal to get it signed by the four wrestlers on it and Jack Purcell said "Two of them are right there!", so I went down the merch table line to Masha Slamovich and CPA who were next to each other.  I then noticed Mike Bailey was further down the tables but Quentin had left to get food so once he got back we went and met Mike Bailey, which got us three out of the four autographs.  

With the show about to start, we got into our seats and the first match was a dark match.  I'm not sure why, but I got it into my head that it was going to be a scramble so after Delightful Dan the God Damn Candy Man came out I was anticipating more music and competitors but alas the bell rang and the match started.  One thing I love about Blitzkrieg! Pro is they have this group of wrestlers who can feel ultra-serious like Travis Huckabee and VSK, but then they also can have King Crab and Bobby Orlando on their roster.  So I feel like Delightful Dan the God Damn Candy Man is such a perfect fit for B!P and I'd love to see him back.  Who doesn't love candy??

One funny thing about this show is that I kind of planned out with Jess what the match order would be and other than the main event I feel like we didn't get any of the order right.  The night started right away with Anthony Greene- who it is great to see back in B!P- taking on Travis Huckabee.  This was fun because it was one of those matches which really just brought out the wrestling side, that pure side, of AG that we don't always get to see.  Travis Huckabee got the win and what that means for him trying to get back into that title picture was revealed by the interim GM Matthew James.

Here is a little gripe I have about the show that probably only I care about because everyone else is probably just like "Relax, dude".   Matthew James came out, announced a Scramble for the next time B!P is in Enfield (in June) and then said that Travis Huckabee would be in it and the winner would get a title shot.  Cool.  Well, later on in the night, both CPA and J George announced that they were also entering the Scramble.  I get it, they won their matches, but why did Huckabee have to get approval then?  Could anyone who wins a match between now and then just put themselves in the Scramble until spots are full??

This brought out MSP for the Tag Team Championship Open Challenge and it was answered by The Haven.  The Haven are a local tag team and I'm not sure how much of the audience knew them but after this match they're definitely going to remember them.   I really do enjoy The Haven (we saw them in BST) and it didn't even bother me that they had merch out and that felt like it spoiled the surprise to some extent.  It was a really good match and at times I even thought that The Haven might win.

As the competitors made their way down for the Six Way Scramble, Bobby Orlando was out first and there was an empty seat next to Jess so he spent some time sitting there watching everyone come out.  J George is just the perfect amount of annoying that a heel should be.  He just literally has the fans eating out of his hands.  It's so great.  50 Cal came out, got a huge pop and also got chants going during the match and to the surprise of no one 50 Cal is super over right now.  So is Ichiban and that's pretty cool.  At the last TOS show it was neat to see everyone go crazy for Ichiban and this was like that but on a larger level since it was bigger venue with more people.

Jimmy Townsend is a newcomer from Australia who trains at the NEPWA with Gal Barkay, among others, and he certainly knew what he was doing in there.  It was my first time seeing him wrestle but he really impressed me.  And this match also marked the return of Veda Scott, who should just be booked to wrestle, do commentary or both a lot more than they already are.  Everyone in this Scramble is just so good though it was such a fun match that I want to watch back to see what was happening at times on the other side of the ring.

Something funny is that I don't always pay a lot of attention to entrance music (sorry, wrestlers) and aside from promotions such as Blitzkrieg! Pro I'm very much out of the loop when it comes to theme songs.  Having seen BEEF literally a week ago, I knew he was coming out when I heard that Kid Rock song.  I love CPA, I really do, but it's so hard not to cheer for BEEF.  BEEF is just that type of guy that screams wrestler.  I always imagine this scenario where I'm in a bar and someone sees me wearing a wrestling related t-shirt and they try to give me a hard time about it, putting me down for being a fan, and I just go "Hey, BEEF, this guy doesn't like wrestling" and when BEEF comes out the guy sees him and faints from terror.

In six person action, Miracle Generation plus Sammy Diaz took on the team of Mike Anthony and New Gore Order (Devin Blaze and Mike Graca)  I'd never heard of Devin Blaze before (sorry) but I had heard of Mike Graca so I was excited to see him.  There were a lot of times in this match where I just felt like one of these six competitors was doing something that I'd never seen before.  I also was chanting for Sammy Diaz at one point and that was a first.  After the match, Mike Anthony told me "That was cool... But you know what would have made it cooler? An appearance by Dr Cool!"  He's right you know.

Kirby Wackerman came out next with a dog collar but Bryce Donovan had been saying on Twitter he won't be back until 2025 so Dante Drago came out to start a fight and he got some good heat not only by being an insufferable frat boy but simply by going against fan favorite Kirby Wackerman.   This was a short match but it got the point across that Kirby Wackerman is still waiting for Bryce Donovan and Dante Drago perhaps should have brought his VBU partner along with him.

Masha Slamovich and MV Young had what felt like a short match but they both came outside of the ring and went onto numerous chairs in different ways.  As much as it feels like it should have gone on longer, it would have felt weird if it did since it also just felt like they were killing each other both outside and inside the ring.  This was one of those short and to the point matches because they didn't go through a feeling out process or try to play those mind games- it was right to the violence and destruction.

A Message To You won a three way tag team match which should put them back into contention for the Tag Team Titles, right?  Before the match started, Cypher brought me Cool Ranch Doritos and that was really nice of him.  This match was a lot about everyone just beating the hell out of everyone but as soon as it felt like Apostles of Chaos might have Leary pinned, in comes the CDC to break it up.   After the match Chris Benne turned on Logan Black and joined the CDC, which is interesting because he was screaming about how he was tired of being overlooked and not being a Champion, but don't you think Logan Black feels the same way?

The main event saw Alec Price take on "Speedball" Mike Bailey and holy shit.  I had expectations for this match and they were beyond exceeded.  There were times when it should have been over and it wasn't.  There were moves that Mike Bailey was doing that no human should be able to do.  I have a firm understanding of physics and gravity and I feel like Mike Bailey defies them both.  And to top it all off- he's doing all of this basically barefoot as well!  It's just unreal.

Then you really begin to think about it and it sets in.  This is the single best match not only that I have experienced live but the single greatest wrestling match that I have ever seen because of the athleticism of it all.  But for everything you want to say about it in a positive way, and seeing Mike Bailey and thinking he's the greatest wrestler alive right now (seriously, whatever his rate is it's not enough) the fact is that Alec Price still survived the match.  Alec Price won the match.   Which also says a hell of a lot about Alec Price.

After the show, after all of this, Quentin became committed to getting the poster signed by Alec Price and so we were waiting for him to see if he'd come out.  We weren't the only ones because a group of fans were also gathered near the bar and when Alec Price came down those stairs he got a huge round of applause.  First he hugged Quentin and then he went and hugged everyone else.  I've never seen that happen with a wrestler before and right before it Mike Bailey was going by me and I told him it was the best match I'd ever seen and I meant it.  It's only March and the rest of the year is going to have to live up to this one but really it's not just the rest of this year it'll be forever.