• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

The Night Burnham Grew A Pair

Posted: Sep 6th 2015 By: Michael Hunt

Being in charge is never easy. Especially when the people you are in charge of are more like asylum inmates than normal people.

Such is the reality of being a pro wrestling commissioner. Such is the life of C. M. Burnham.

The job of being commissioner seems easy when described on paper. Make matches. Enforce rules. Be the voice of the company to ensure that the fans get entertainment for their hard-earned dollars. Burnham as performed these duties at both MSWA and ComPro for quite some time now. And he as tried to address problem employees with a sense of humour and understanding. But with new bragadocious champions like MSWA Mid-South Cruiserweight Champion Brock Landers, new factions like The Creepsters and a still vacant MSWA Mid-South Championship, the tension can be a bit overwhelming. And August 31st saw Burnham finally ditch the fun-loving persona and become the true authourity figure for MSWA.

Prior to the August 31st event, Brock Landers had filmed and released a couple of videos on Facebook and other social media platforms, making certain that everyone knew exactly what it was that he had accomplished when he won a Fatal 4-Way match for the Cruiserweight Title. And Landers was not done with the announcements and talking when he came to the ring that Friday. Landers seemed to feel impervious to anyone and berated the commissioner openly to the crowd. Burnham listened to as much as he could stand to and then came out to confront Landers. And it seemed at first like it might be a regular in-ring Burnham appearance as he pretended to doze off while Brock was talking to him, a commentary on his opinion of the promos that Brock had filmed. But Burnham quickly snapped into upper gear when Brock refused to get the message, saying that he made the matches, he was the authourity and that Brock would be defending his Cruiserweight Title against Nathan Estrada that night. And to make sure there were no shenanigans, Burnham sat at ringside to watch the match. It was a great display of Cruiserweight action and appeared to be an ending that everyone (except Brock) would enjoy as Estrada schoolboyed Landers out of a Crucifix and ot the 3-count. The fans were celebrating a new Cruiserweight Champion when Brandon Barricade came to the ring with an offical looking document in his hand. He then took the microphone and said that he was a representative of the Pro Wrestling Commission and that Estrada did not have the proper signatures on his physical (which all wrestlers are required to submit), therefore the match had to be nullified and Landers retained the title. The fans were outraged and Burnham demanded to see the document, but after inspecting it could find nothing wrong. Once again, Landers decided to open his mouth, but Burnham would have none of it. He stepped in the ring and said that since Landers wanted to play games, he would play with rules Burnham set up! On September 11th, Landers would once again be defending his Cruiserweight Title, but this time it would be against 5 other guys in a Ladder Match! Landers turned several shades of red as the realisation it him of what was in his future, but he did not have the ability do any more except to leave and try to prepare for his match two weeks later.

Burnham had to make an appearance once again after intermission when the newest MSWA faction, The Creepsters, decided to play the Bully card and enact a 3-on-1 beat down on Vinnie Pacheco. MSWA Oklahoma Champion Buster Cherry, who had feigned illness to avoid a tag team match against Pacheco and #9, did not appear to be impaired during this confrontation and was more than willing to defy the orders of Burnham to stop the attack. Once again, Burnham turned on the serious-mode, telling Cherry that if he wanted to get his hands on Pacheco so much, that could be arranged. On September 11th, Cherry would be defending is Oklahoma Title against Pacheco. And just so the other Creepsters did not feel left out, they would be booked against the newly-formed tag team, The Mid-South Express, Tyson Jaymes and Will Chambers.

But the pressure cooker really blew after Drake Gallows defeated MSWA Mid-South Tag Team Champion Largus RagnaBrok to advance to the finals of the MSWA Mid-South Title Tournament. As with the Creepsters, RagnaBrok and his tag team partner Rick Russo decided to use their numbers advantage and beat Drake down. Burnham quickly appeared on the rampway, motioning for the locker room to empty. Wrestlers after wrestler came out as well as both referees. But instead of helping, the wrestlers simply assembled at ringside (after pulling RagnaBrok out) and encouraged Russo and allows to fit. Burnham stepped in the ring and ordered the referees to pull the two competitors apart and then Burnham went nuts. He admonished the locker room for not assisting. He admonished Drake and Russo for letting their emotions get the better of them. And he probably would have found some reason to yell at the referees, but Drake stepped right in the face of Burnham and demanded that the final match in the tournament take place right then. Burnham backed Drake down, reminding him that he had just competed in a grueling match, but Drake said it did not matter and he wanted to have is match with Russo right then. Burnham asked Russo if this was agreeable with him and Russo quickly agreed. Burnham then ordered that the wrestlers stay at ringside and serve as lumberjacks as the final match in the MSWA Title Tournament would be a No DQ/Lumberjack Match!

This bonus main event brought the MSWA fans to their feet and was brutal in every sense of the word. Both men bled profusely and Gallows also had a tooth knocked out of his mouth. Chairs were sent everywhere. Lumberjacks got physically involved, as they often do in these kinds of matches. But it was all worth it to the fans as allows pinned Russo and became the MSWA Champion! After having no champion since April 3rd officially (and really, not since November 2nd when Les Mayne won it from Russo), the MSWA fans finally were given not just any champion, but one they knew they could be proud of.

Burnham left the Plaza Mayor that night exhausted. But he knew it was all worth it. And as long as he could do what was needed to provide excitement and entertainment for the fans, that was the most important thing. All the craziness was worth it. And after August 31st, hopefully the locker room understood that he meant what he said.