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GLEN CARBON – Heavyweight champion Mike Outlaw and D1 title holder Outtkast retained their belts, while the team of Strapdown University, Justin D'Air and Keon Option, became the new tag team champions in the Dynamo Pro Wrestling card on Saturday night at The Sports Academy in Glen Carbon.
D'Air and Option won the tag belts over High Level Enterprise, Jack Gamble and Jon Webb, when Option pinned Webb at 12:34 of their title match with a fundamental move where Webb's arms were hooked by Option and got the three count to give his team the title belts.
“It's a tried and true move,” Option said in a postmatch interview. “It was out of desperation, I'm not gonna lie to you. I don't even remember that pinning combination after that double stomp. I saw Webb's feet coming at me, and I don't quite remember too much after that.
“I guess instincts kicked in,” Option continued. “He went for something, I got behind him, took him down, was able to hook his arms, spin him over, got the three.
“To be honest with you, I was a bit shocked myself when the ref hit three,” Option added with a laugh, “because I was begging 'Lord, let this be three, let this be it.' D'Air's on the outside, I don't even know if he's breathing, I'm sitting here struggling to catch a breath. So yeah, that was definitely a desperation move, and it worked.”
Strapdown University earned their title shot earlier in the card after defeating The Professionals, Shawn Santel and Mauler McDardy, on a pin at 9:13. The Professionals attacked Strapdown after the match, with McDardy hitting D'Air with a hammer, a move that didn't set too well with him after the match.
"That's such a cheap shot,” D'Air said. “We already won the match, we won it fair and square. Let us get the win; don't try to cheat us of another opportunity. I don't understand why they would do something like that. Sore losers.”
During the first match, D'Air suffered a knee injury that could sideline him for a significant amount of time.
'It's game,” D'Air said about the knee. “They're talking to me about everything now. We think it might be, the way they were doing the tests, it might be like an ACL or MCL tear or something like that. I'm hoping it's not that.”
The new tag champions' athletic backgrounds helped play a role in their contests.
“I do gymnastics outside of wrestling, so that helped out big time, tremendously,” D'Air said. “I also did amateur wrestling in high school, I did ju-jitsu and kickboxing.”
“I'm almost cut out from the same cloth, except I never did gymnastics, I leave that up to D'Air all day long,” Option said with a smile. “I am not flexible, I am not limble, I'm not doing a back flip. Period.” That comment brought laughs from D'Air.
“I dabbled with basketball, I wrestled in high school as well,” Option continued. “It's actually where I learned that move that I was able to pin Webb with tonight.
“I also played tennis in high school,” Option also said. “That's actually where I met D'Air; we actually met on the tennis court in our high school days, playing against one another.” For the record, D'Air played at Riverview Gardens, while Option was from Hazelwood Central.
The heavyweight title bout between Outlaw and Aarons quickly became a triple threat match when Dirden, whom Outlaw defeated to win the belt Aug. 20 in Wood River, suddenly came from backstage and demanded that he be included in the bout. It was a very rough and tumble affair from the start, where the first part of the match saw the two contender go after one another, then later on, Dirden threw Outlaw into the announcer's table at ringside, seriously dazing Outlaw and destroying the table. Dirden later put an Oriental Spike submission hold on Aarons, but Aarons was able to hold on and knock down Dirden with a desperation move. While Dirden was down, Outlaw, who had reentered the ring, covered Dirden to get the pinfall at 15:34 to retain his title.
The D1 title bout saw Outtkast taking on The Filipino Warrior, Elvis Aliaba, in a match set up when Aliaba challenged Outtkast after winning the belt back from tag team partner Shorty Biggs Sept. 17 in Glen Carbon. In a nip and tuck match, Outtkast scored the pinfall over Aliaba at 9:57 to keep the belt.
The tag team title match was a nip and tuck affair throughout, and D'Air gave credit to his partner for his efforts in gaining the belts.
“Yeah, because of my boy Option,” D'Air said with a smile. “When he got that pin, I about did that dive, I was done.”
Turning to Option, D'Air said, “I was so glad you pinned him.” with a smile.
As far as defending the titles, both wrestlers are willing to take on any and all comers.
“I'll tell you what, coming up into this moment, there was a lot of talk about our name, about who we're gonna be, about what kind of champs we're gonna be,” Option said. “I think the bottom line is that we are champions. That's the bottom line of tonight going forward.
“But as contenders, we are going to defend this title against the best that Dynamo Pro has to offer,” Option continued. “If Dynamo Pro has to go out, spend a grand, two grand, three grand to bring somebody in, we'll defend the titles against them too. It doesn't matter—straps down, man down.”
“We're beating them,” a very confident D'Air added.
In the undercard, The Snitch defeated C.J. Shine at 12:04 when some outside interference by The Snitch's manager, Sophie Darling, went undetected by the referee. The third match say Jayden Phoenix win by disqualification over The King of Chaos, Ricky Cruz at 9:04 when the referee saw Cruz with a set of brass knuckles that were sneaked into the ring by Phoenix. A woman's match saw Angelus Layne defeat former Total Nonstop Action wrestler Angelina Love at 6:11, and Fight Club, Rocket and Jackal, along with The Wind of Destruction, Makaze, take a six man tag match over the Midnight Society, Jason Khaos and Billy McNeal, and The Cowboy, Ric Maverick, when Rocket pinned Maverick at 9:44.
DPW's next card will be held Saturday afternoon at Forehand's Brewery near Downtown St. Louis, then return to the Knights of Columbus hall in Wood River for its next card on Nov. 19.
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