Brian Pillman Jr. flies to top of Warrior Wrestling
By Mike Pankow
February 21, 2020
Brian Pillman Jr. had quite the evening last Saturday at Warrior Wrestling 8 at Marian Catholic High School in south suburban Chicago Heights.
The emerging second-generation star went from not even being scheduled to participate in the War of Attrition main event to becoming the second champion in the history of Warrior Wrestling.
Pillman survived the unique three-tiered, eight-man battleground to claim the vacant championship by pinning Sam Adonis in the final stage. Both Pillman and Adonis fought through the fatigue of the epic 30-plus-minute match to shine like true superstars. Either man was a deserving candidate to go home with the belt.
Brian Pillman Jr. catches Sam Adonis with a flying clothesline during the War of Attrition main event match in which Pillman won the vacant Warrior Wrestling Championship (Photo by Mike Pankow)
Pillman started his night by playing pick-up basketball in the auxiliary gym along with Michael Elgin and some media and event volunteers before the doors opened for the VIP Fan Fest.
Then Pillman had to face Bully Ray (aka WWE Hall of Famer Bubba Ray Dudley) in what became a Chicago Street Fight. The buildup to the match was compelling as Pillman and Bully went back-and-forth with promos on social media. Bully invoked the name of Pillman’s late father, who was a superstar in WCW and WWE in the 1990s.
Pillman and Bully went nose-to-nose before the match started. The much-smaller Pillman took the fight right to Bully and never backed down. Bully administered a pretty strong beating to the Cincinnati-area native and pulled out classic heel tactics, including threatening to nail Pillman in the head with a chair only to kick him in the groin.
Bully eventually commissioned a table and drove Pillman through it to score the pin. After the match, Bully took the microphone and gave his fallen foe a little bit of an endorsement, saying that even though Pillman “still had a way to go,” he “has balls.”
By the time the main event rolled around, no one figured Pillman would be in an any shape to compete in the War of Attrition.
Adonis, Lance Archer, Michael Elgin, Andrew Everett, Black Taurus and Aramis were slated to be part of the match. Defending champion Brian Cage suffered a torn bicep a few weeks ago and had to remove himself from the match, guaranteeing a new titleholder. Then another competitor, Alex Zayne, recently suffered a minor injury and had to pull out of the show.
Andrew Everett executes a moonsault onto Lance Archer, left, and Sam Adonis during the War of Attrition match. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
Frank the Clown was the seventh man in the match after Robert “Ego” Anthony declared himself to be part of the main event after defeating Warhorse earlier in the evening. Anthony gave up his spot, saying that the crowd at Marian Catholic didn’t deserve to see him wrestle twice, so he gave Frank his spot.
Before the match was to begin, Cage came down to announce his replacement. Cage took the mic and said Warrior was one of his favorite places to work and that he hopes to come back from his injury soon. He introduced Pillman, who hobbled down to the ring to join the seven other competitors.
In Stage 1, Adonis, Pillman, Elgin and Everett were selected in a blind draw to face Archer, Taurus, Aramis and Frank in the eight-man tag team match. After a series of high-flying maneuvers and some brute strength from Archer, Elgin pinned Taurus to win the fall for his team.
Following the first stage, Archer was seething and took out his frustrations on Everett and left him lying.
For Stage 2, Elgin chose Everett as his partner, because he didn’t want to team with Adonis after the two had a heated match at Warrior 7 in December and he didn’t pick Pillman, probably because of perceived fatigue. After several near falls, Adonis hit a perfectly executed 450 splash on Everett to advance to the final stage against Pillman.
It appeared that Adonis, who was the only wrestler other than Cage to compete in each of the first seven Warrior events, was on the verge of becoming the champion. However, Pillman somehow persevered and after about 45 minutes of ring action on the night, he hit Dire Promise, a twisting neckbreaker, on Adonis to score the final three count.
Pillman fell to his knees and pointed to the sky after being awarded with the Warrior Wrestling Championship.
It was the capper to another unbelievable night of action, which also featured a women’s War of Attrition match.
Defending Warrior Wrestling Women’s Champion retained the title by pinning Taya Valkyrie in the final stage. In that final stage, Blanchard and Valkyrie took the fight to the outside of the ring, fighting all over the gym and into the bleachers. At some intense action, Blanchard recorded the pin after hitting the buzzsaw DDT.
Warrior Wrestling Women’s Champion Tessa Blanchard retained her title after hitting Taya Valkyrie with a buzzsaw DDT in the women’s War of Attrition match. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
Despite the loss, Valkyrie received a standing ovation, which could leave the door open for a rematch with Blanchard at a future Warrior show.
At the start, Blanchard, Valkyrie, Madison Rayne and Britt Baker comprised one team and faced off against Chicago’s Kylie Rae, Big Swole, Tasha Steelz and Ray Lyn. All eight women got to show off their skills before Baker was able to get Lyn to submit with a crossface.
Baker chose Rayne as her tag team partner for Stage 2, leaving Blanchard and Valkyrie as the opposing team. In a battle of IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts, Valkyrie hit Rayne with the Road to Valhalla, leading to the pin and the stellar finale between Blanchard and Valkyrie.
In a thrilling six-man tag team match, the StrongHearts of CIMA, T-Hawk and Lindaman, who have appeared on some AEW shows, defeated the Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz) that had the fans chanting “All these guys” even before the bell rang to start the match.
The match was loaded with high-flying theatrics and hard-hitting moves. At one point, CIMA nailed Xavier with a chop so devastating that Miguel and Wentz went into the crowd to keep their distance. After some impactful moves late in the match, the StrongHearts pulled out the victory when CIMA pinned Miguel following a meteora.
In other matches, Barbaro Cavernario defeated Templario by submission. Templario dazzled with some cool aerial lucha maneuvers before Cavernario, who entered the ring with a Fred Flintstone-type shirt, earned the victory.
Anthony defeated Warhorse following a Death Valley Driver after a distraction from the outside by Anthony’s manager Frank the Clown. Warhorse, from the St. Louis area and a regular at Black Label Pro, is a fast-rising star and showed some great intangibles in the ring.
Alex Shelley made his second appearance at Warrior, earning his first victory over Japan’s Ren Narita. The former IMPACT Wrestling star hit a flatliner on Narita and got the tapout with a crossface.
After intermission, the North defeated Shane Sabre and “The Golden Gun” Mark Wheeler to retain the IMPACT Tag Team Championship. Wheeler was a replacement for Space Monkey, who suffered a minor injury and couldn’t compete. Wheeler supplied some impressive offense, but Ethan Page and Josh Alexander eventually righted the ship and took home the victory.
In a classic technical wrestling match, Ring of Honor’s Jonathan Gresham defeated Daga from IMPACT Wrestling, which led up to the main event and Brian Pillman Jr.’s epic moment.
As a bonus, Joe Keys and Dante Caballero defeated Icon and Jake Griffin in a pre-show tag team match.
It was another great show, which helped benefit scholarships and student activities at Marian Catholic. Warrior Wrestling promoter and Marian Catholic principal Steve Tortorello said about $7,500 was raised from admission, the VIP Fan Fest, concessions and parking.
For a photo gallery of over 150 photos from the event, plus thousands from other events Windy City Slam has covered, go to https://www.windycityslam.com/photos.
Catch Windy City Slam editor Mike Pankow talking local and national pro wrestling every week with Chris Lanuti on The Windy City Slam Podcast, available Tuesday mornings wherever you download podcasts or at https://windycityslam.podbean.com/.
We are looking for guests to appear on the Windy City Slam Podcast! Please contact Mike at mikepankow@windycityslam.com, message him on Facebook or DM him on Twitter.
