Scott Spade survives as POWW, SCW Champion, gains ally at Winter Warfare
By Mike Pankow
March 2, 2022
In his 18 years in professional wrestling, Scott Spade has endured physical altercations more than a few times.
Last Saturday night, the holder of both the POWW Entertainment Championship and the Southland Championship Wrestling Championship had to fend off the challenge of the feisty and flamboyant Mateo Valentine for the third time over the last few months.
Mateo Valentine, right, tries to finish off Scott Spade with Sole Food during their match for the POWW and SCW Championships at POWW Entertainment’s “Winter Warfare” in Bridgeview, Ill. on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
But it was what happened after the match that helped earn Valentine a deep-rooted respect from Spade at POWW’s “Winter Warfare” at Bridgeview Park District in Southwest suburban Bridgeview.
After another convoluted situation where Spade was initially disqualified for blatant outside interference by TINY, Spade ended up pulling out the victory after escaping from Valentine’s finisher by hitting an Ace Crusher to gain a 3-count.
Following the match, Marco Anthony from SCW, who had earlier wrestled Kavan O’Reilley of the Irish Pub Army, continued the POWW-SCW war by jumping Spade. After Anthony put the boots to Spade, Valentine walked up behind Anthony and helped the man who has been a fierce rival over the last few months. After a splash off the top rope from Valentine, Anthony retreated.
Valentine extended his hand to Spade, then Spade grabbed the microphone. The POWW Champion said Valentine had proven worthy by driving off Anthony.
“This was our third match together, and you know me, I like a good fight,” Spade told Valentine. “And you put up a good fight in all three of those matches. And what you just did right there, told me that you’re in the fight against SCW on the POWW side. That right there said you’re a POWW team player and I respect that. Because of that, you’re on Team POWW now. And you are welcome in my locker room anytime.”
The two combatants then hugged, and Spade left the ring to Valentine, so he could soak in the admiration of the crowd.
Earlier in the bout, Valentine appeared to be on the verge of winning the POWW Championship, almost mirroring the previous matchup with Spade, before “6-foot-12” bodyguard TINY clocked the young upstart in front of referee Brian Allen, prompting the DQ.
As Spade and TINY were exiting the ring, Commissioner Chris Headford confronted the duo, saying that he wasn’t going to stand for those tactics and restarted the match while also ejecting TINY from the ringside area.
Valentine jump-started the restart by attacking Spade in the aisle and dragging him back to the ring. After a Valentine DDT, the “Fat, Fem Asian Sensation” still couldn’t hold Spade’s shoulders down. “The Ace of Spades” finally scored the victory with his Ace Crusher.
In another featured match on the show, POWW Tag Team Champions, The Revolution, Jimmy Blaze and Eric Freedom (with Sandra D of Windy City Wrestling fame accompanying them) retained over Kyzyle and Tommy Macabre in a fierce brawl. Blaze and Freedom took everything the younger duo threw at them. Blaze ended the match with a flatliner to Macabre and scored the decisive fall.
Kyzyle jabs a fork into the forehead of Eric Freedom following The Revolution’s POWW Tag Team Championship defense against Kyzyle and Tommy Macabre (Photo by Mike Pankow)
As Blaze was starting to celebrate, the unhinged Kyzyle attacked the forehead of Freedom with a fork, Abdullah-the-Butcher style. Freedom was busted open and Kyzyle laughed as he and Macabre walked away with the fork still in his hand, signaling that this rivalry is still far from over.
The show opened with POWW’s traditional over-the-top battle royal where Bridgeview Park District’s own Mad Money Marco somehow walked out with the victory.
TINY, who probably holds the highest winning percentage in battle royals in POWW, was eliminated early as several wrestlers, including Blaze, Freedom, Valentine, Meathooks O’Bannon, Nikki Vendetta, Trainwrecker and Captain Spicolli, ganged up on him and dumped him out.
Blaze, Freedom, Macabre, Kyzyle and Marco were the final five in the match. After Macabre was eliminated, Kyzyle dumped both Blaze and Freedom. With Marco leaning the against the ropes in the far corner, he didn’t have to do any additional work as Freedom pulled Kyzyle out of the ring from the outside, making Marco the winner by default.
Anthony defeated O’Reilley in the second match of the evening, getting another notch for SCW in the war that has raged between the promotions over the last several months. Anthony’s cunning was just a little better than O’Reilley’s power as Anthony recorded the pin via a rollup.
Nicholas H. holds the mystical power cube over his charge B.O.W. after B.O.W. defeated Meathooks O’Bannon by countout. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
After the match, Anthony clipped the knee of O’Reilley from behind and attempted to do more damage before O’Bannon came out to save his partner.
Jamie Race, one of half of Bruiser Mass Index, defeated Nikki Vendetta as Race finally wore down the aspiring Vendetta, using a combination of brute force, ring smarts and some assistance from “The Villain” Joey Roth. Vendetta showed off an impressive arsenal, but it just wasn’t enough.
In a battle of big men, the menacing B.O.W., complete with Bane-style mask, picked up a countout victory over O’Bannon. Like two bulls going at it, the match appeared like it could either way. Notorious Nicholas H. had his monster focused with a mystical cube that he held in his hands, much like Paul Bearer maintained a control of The Undertaker almost three decades ago in WWE.
After getting frustrated with not being able to put away O’Bannon following a flying clothesline, B.O.W. and Nicholas H. began to walk away from the match. When O’Bannon pursued the duo, Nicholas H. threw the cube to O’Bannon, who caught it and suddenly dropped to the floor, started writhing on the ground, and eventually became paralyzed to the mysterious power of the cube. B.O.W. jumped back into the ring as referee Allen counted to 10.
In the semi-main, the up-and-coming Axel Abrayo pulled off the upset of “Breathtaking” Mike Idol, who was seconded by Roxi. Abrayo overcame some interference from Roxi during the course of bout to score the pinfall after a DDT.
Before the show, POWW Entertainment paid tribute with a 10-bell salute to Adam Matthew Ellerman, known as longtime local wrestler Adam Evans, who died in a tragic accident in late January.
The fallout from this show will be felt this weekend when POWW Entertainment returns to Rumpoles in Twin Lakes, Wis. with “Slamfest.” Three rematches from “Winter Warfare” will take place including Anthony vs. O’Reilley, B.O.W. vs. O’Bannon and POWW Tag Team Champions Revolution vs. Kyzyle and Macabre.
The main event will be a tag team grudge match as POWW & SCW Champion Scott Spade and POWW Midwest Champion Ruff Crossing (with Noize Booze and Tattoos’ bodyguard TINY) take on SCW Genesis Champion “Sharpshooter” James Creed and Max Holiday (with SCW’s Hunter Paine).
Gallery of over 200 photos from “Winter Warfare”: https://bit.ly/3IDYkq9.
Catch Windy City Slam editor Mike Pankow talking local and national pro wrestling every week with Chicago-area wrestling guests on Windy City Slam Podcast, part of the Broadcast Basement On-Demand Radio Network. Episodes drop early Tuesday morning wherever you download podcasts or at https://windycityslam.podbean.com/.
We are looking for guests to appear on future episodes of the Windy City Slam Podcast! Please contact Mike at mikepankow@windycityslam.com, message him on Facebook or DM him on Twitter.
