Women’s main event, crazy brawl highlight Warrior Wrestling 5
By Mike Pankow
May 15, 2019
The women’s wrestling revolution continued Sunday afternoon at Chicago Heights-based Warrior Wrestling with the promotion’s first-ever women’s main event.
Tessa Blanchard, right, takes a swing at Jordynne Grace during the main event of Warrior Wrestling 5, which saw Blanchard crowned as the first Warrior Wrestling Women’s Champion. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
Tessa Blanchard pinned fellow IMPACT Wrestling star Jordynne Grace to become the first Warrior Wrestling Women’s Champion in a thrilling main event, which featured a combination of wrestling, feats of strength and brawling outside the ring.
Special guest referee Molly Holly, a WWE legend, also stood out during the match. At one point with both wrestlers laying outside the ring, Holly reached a nine-count. She stopped and said, “It’s not going to end like this,” and rolled both Blanchard and Grace back into the ring.
The finish came when Blanchard rolled up Grace for the pin to win a closely-contested affair. Despite winning, Blanchard started yelling at Holly after the match, which led to Grace attacking Blanchard from behind. Holly then removed her referee shirt to reveal a Jordynne Grace “Slam Me” T-shirt.
With Blanchard on the mat, Grace scooped up Holly and slammed the former WWE Women’s Champion on to the newly crowned Warrior Wrestling Women’s Champion.
It was really cool to see Holly get props from the crowd in a main-event slot after a strong career where she was often overlooked in the early-to-mid 2000’s WWE Women’s Division.
While all of the matches were thrilling in their own ways, the other standout match on the show was the no-disqualification brawl between Chicago’s Pat Monix and Warrior Wrestling’s resident heel Sam Adonis.
Monix certainly has shown a flair for the dramatic in grudge matches recently after he outlasted Simon Grimm in an “I Respect You Match” at Zelo Pro two weeks earlier. Like that match against Grimm, Monix and Adonis pulled out all the stops at Marian Catholic High School.
The match quickly went to the outside of the ring with both competitors going through the ringside seating area and on to the bleachers. Adonis grabbed an Orange Crush soda from a fan at ringside, but Monix beat him to the punch and nailed Adonis with a water bottle. As the fight went into the bleachers, both guys threw haymakers and Monix ended up backdropping Adonis on the bleachers.
A bloody Sam Adonis walks back to the locker room after his victory over Pat Monix in a no-disqualification match at Warrior Wrestling 5. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
The brawl continued to the other end of the gym with Monix whipping Adonis into another wall of bleachers, then Monix climbed those bleachers and dove about 15-20 feet onto his reviled foe.
Eventually the fight returned to the ring as Monix pulled a move straight out of the original ECW, throwing several chairs into the ring. Both men proceeded to use the chairs on one other.
The pivotal moment came when Monix blasted Adonis with a chair shot, the chair bounced off Adonis’ leg as he fell to the mat and ricocheted into his face, cutting his left eyelid. Referee Robert King took a quick look at Adonis’ bloodied face and waved off the match, apparently awarding the bout to Monix.
However, moments later, Adonis refused to be deemed the loser and jumped Monix from behind. The match was ordered to be restarted. Adonis responded with several brutal chair shots on Monix before gaining a pin and a leg up in the rivalry that has extended for nearly a year in Warrior Wrestling.
Adonis was treated on site and then transported to an emergency room for stitches. Adonis said via Twitter that he’s “lucky it wasn’t worse” and was fortunate to avoid any further damage to his eye.
The show opened a three-way cage match for the Warrior Wrestling Championship with Brian Cage retaining the title by defeating Wardlow and Austin Aries. Aries was originally supposed to face Eddie Edwards in the cage and Cage-Wardlow was originally supposed to be a 1-on-1 match. Edwards became sick and couldn’t make the show. After fighting off double-team offense from Wardlow and Aries, Cage finally turned the tables and won the match by climbing out of the structure.
The second match was Brian Pillman Jr. finally getting the best of Chicago’s Robert “Ego” Anthony in a rivalry that dated back to January’s Warrior Wrestling 3. With the victory, Pillman earned the right to spend five minutes in the ring with Anthony’s manager, Frank the Clown.
With Anthony duct-taped to the ropes, Pillman took his liberties with Frank, polishing him off with an Attitude Adjustment into a chair. Pillman also saved his famous mullet with the victory. Had he lost, Anthony and Frank would have been able to cut the second-generation star’s hair.
The entertaining and quirky tag team match followed as The Space Pirates defeated The Ugly Ducklings in a match filled with comedic interaction and high spots. Space Monkey and Shane Sabre put the match away after a series of double-team maneuvers on Rob Killjoy. Coach Mikey was Killjoy’s partner as Killjoy’s usual teammate, Lance Lude, was unable to appear. The teams shared bananas and flasks after the match.
Volador Jr. performs a hurricanrana on Gringo Loco on the gym floor during their match at Warrior Wrestling 5. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
Up next, current MLW Champion “Filthy” Tom Lawlor outlasted UK star Chris Ridgeway in a match that started as battle of submission holds, then spiraled into the brawl in and around the ringside area. Once the match returned to the ring, Lawlor, a veteran of 18 mixed-martial arts fights, reversed into a rear-naked choke and got Ridgeway to tap out. Both men were applauded afterward for a fight that started slowly and built to a nice crescendo.
The Monix-Adonis brawl was the last match before intermission.
Gringo Loco and Volador Jr. was the first match following the break. Volador Jr. got the victory over the 16-year veteran from Chicago after a top-rope hurricanrana and a Code Red to score the pin after the high-flying affair, which included Volador delivering a hurricanrana to Gringo Loco off the entrance stage onto the gym floor.
In the semi-main, the Lucha Bros. defeated Kotto Brazil and Daga in a high-flying, hard-hitting tag team match. Penta El 0M and Fenix were smooth as usual as they head into All Elite Wrestling’s Double or Nothing show in less than two weeks. Fenix pinned Brazil for the victory.
The show was a bit of tough sell as attendance was down for Warrior Wrestling 5 with it being on Mother’s Day, but it was still an incredible card with terrific performances from pretty much everyone involved. Warrior Wrestling 6 likely will happen around the beginning of September.
For over 150 photos from this event, plus hundreds from other events Windy City Slam has covered, go to https://www.windycityslam.com/photos.
