Glory Pro Does It ‘For My City’
Because of its location and rabid fan base, the world of professional wrestling has always run directly through St. Louis, from the St. Louis Wrestling Club being the center of the past NWA territories all the way to the international companies of today jockeying for market share. To honor that great history and showcase STL’s amazing current times, Glory Pro Wrestling is presenting ‘For My City’ this Sunday, May 31, at the South Broadway Athletic Club (2301 S 7th Street). Since it’s billed as “A Celebration Of St Louis Pro Wrestling”, your friends here at the Mound City Messenger thought we’d get you ready for the show by spotlighting its characters who represent for our city.
Rahim De La Suede
Weighing in at 170 “suede” of fur-coated charisma, Rahim De La Suede is taking his superstar style straight to the top of Glory Pro by refusing to be a background player anymore. The University City native originally burst onto the scene as part of legendary tag team Technical Difficulties with Moses ‘The Deliverer’ before being seduced to the grime side, joining forces with Mike Outlaw and manager Cinco as they put together a crew to take over everything.
As it turns out, Suede’s not all about that hench life, and soon the cheers of the crowd demanded ‘The Whole Thang’ take center stage, making him a target of now-former mentor Outlaw, who turned stopping the ascension of De La Suede into the main mission. The brutal street fight between the two that he won at the Casa Loma Ballroom seems to have cooled things for a minute, allowing De La Suede’s focus to shift back to capturing the Crown of Glory from Kody ‘KoKo’ Lane, the current longest-reigning champion.
Mike Outlaw
As its only Triple Crown winner and previous longest-reigning Crown of Glory champion, there’s an argument to be made that Mike Outlaw is the king of Glory Pro and STL. Getting on top and staying up there are different things though, and every ruler has to watch for treachery if they want to keep the throne. For Outlaw, the first one came from De La Suede, but was soon followed by his own body betraying him twice. After returning from a catastrophic quad tear that kept him out for a year, Outlaw tore the other quad in a match to recapture the Crown of Glory, putting him back on the shelf.
A lesser man might have folded there, but Outlaw used that time to get bigger and badder than ever before. During his time away, he could be seen at events pacing in the back of the crowd, seething and scouting his opposition as he waited to get back in the ring. Now at full health and reunited with manager Cinco, the man from U City they call the ‘Street Reaper’ is coming for everything and surely won’t let next opponent Phil Shark off the hook lightly.
Dan ‘The Working Man’ Adams
He’s not disappointed, he’s angry, and for Dan ‘The Working Man’ Adams, it’s apparently everyone’s fault and everyone will pay. After being spurned, outshone, and even mocked by friends and proteges, the man formerly known as ‘Your Father’s Favorite Wrestler’ decided it was time to stop being the promotion’s parental figure and start figuring it out for himself. Like any true St Louis blue-collar laborer, he grabbed his tools (in this case a wrench,) started blasting loud music (Rush, naturally,) and went to work pounding respect and paychecks out of his opponents.
Time will tell if he’ll go full “South Side native” and start chugging Natty Lights while smashing White Castles on the way to the ring, but all of STL may get answers when ‘Big Strong Boy’ Ethan Price attempts to beat some out of Adams, or at least get payback for all the recent wrench shots from his former friend.
Tootie Lynn
STL has many great wrestlers, and many great fighters, but it only has one Tootie Lynn, ‘The Little Blue Dragon’, and that’s sho nuff all it needs. The whole Glory Pro crowd can feel the electricity she brings as they clap her to the ring, and with her lifetime of martial arts training and irresistible charm, ‘The Dragon Spirit of St Louis’ lights up every room she’s in while she lights up her opponents through precision striking and gritty determination. Her mastered skills allow her to use her smaller frame to fight combatants of all sexes and all sizes in her quest to prove she’s the best in every dojo and every arena, and it’s only a matter of time before the world recognizes what STL already knows.
Recently pushed beyond her limits by a series of disrespectful competitors, Lynn seemingly went Super Saiyan and found a harder-edged side of herself in the ring by kicking the respect into them. Now, after helping defeat a trio of large men and besting a literal giant, Lynn gets a shot at Maggie Lee, the Women’s World Crown champion. Can her bushido spirit and STL steel overcome the athletic supremacy of national TV star Lee? The crowd will love her either way.
The Revolution
Quest Parker and Anthony ‘Worldwide’ Lopes, the gifted athletes in Glory Pro’s up-and-coming tag team The Revolution, aren’t technically from STL. They’re from just across the river in Alton, IL, but with as talented as they are, we’ll just pretend. If Alton feels some kinda way about it we’ll let them have Randy Orton and toasted ravioli for the weekend, but the hard work, heart, and sheer desire The Revolution show means that we’re getting the better end of the deal.
For Parker and Lopes, “The Revolution” is an internal process of positive change to make themselves into what they want to be while inspiring others to do the same, and they walk it like they talk it. Inside the ring, they’re a bundle of frenetic motion; Parker an uncoiled spring of wild high-flying and risk-taking, while Lopes grounds him and balances him out through skill and technical acumen to combine for victory. Outside the ring, they’re helpful and polite to everyone they meet, and seem genuinely interested in being good to people. They’re consistently learning, but at the rate they’re going they’ll get where they want to go and become The Revolution everyone is waiting for.
Shazza McKenzie
So this is an article celebrating Glory Pro wrestlers originally from STL, but ‘Heartbreakcore’ Shazza McKenzie loves it here so much she changed continents, traveled across oceans, and braved the raving mad machines of bureaucracy for the right to call herself a St Louisan, and that level of commitment should make the city proud to claim her as its own. Now hailing “from St Louis, Missouri, by way of Sydney, Australia”, McKenzie shows the same fire and perseverance in the ring that brought her to The Lou in the first place.
From fighting a very large and confused Draper angry about her immigration status to the otherworldly, possessed Blair Onyx over what appeared to be a severed doll head, the quick-thinking McKenzie can be counted on to outsmart her opponents all the way to victory. Currently one half of the United Glory Tag Team Champions as part of The Collab with ‘Lucha Unicorn’ Laynie Luck (from CHI, but she’s cool), McKenzie’s next Glory Pro challenge will be to defend the title against the previous champions, the hyper-athletic double team masters Bang & Matthews and their awesome Spears Tower finisher. All four competitors bring something special to the match; hopefully this time that includes the physical titles as well.
Missing in action from the show are regular STL natives Moses ‘The Deliverer’, whose Team Moses continues to not need anyone else, and injured but swiftly healing ‘Warhorse’ Jake Parnell, the heavy metal ass-ruler who throws a hell of a garage sale. MCM looks to feature them sometime in the future.
A special shout out of recognition for the behind the scenes superstars who physically set everything up, book and run the venues, operate the lights, sound, and cameras, do the graphic design and artwork, and every other ‘invisible’ job that keeps the heart of St Louis pro wrestling beating. You are appreciated!
Will there be a new Crown of Glory or Women’s World Crown Champion? Will the United Glory Tag Titles be there? Does anything Dan ‘The Working Man’ Adams has to say make a difference to Ethan Price, or is the time for talk over? Will STL’s favorite local-born announcer and sharp dresser Ben Simon have a new suit for the occasion? Find out the answers to all this and so much more at the South Broadway Athletic Club this Sunday, May 31, when Glory Pro Wrestling does it all ‘For My City’!
Get info on all things Glory Pro by going to their website (https://www.gloryprowrestling.com)
Photos courtesy of Mike Schoen Photography. See more of his excellent work @mschoen67 on Instagram or https://michaelschoenphotography.smugmug.com/. Thanks, Mike, we appreciate you!
