YouTubular: Bilvis Wesley
Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 10.23.2009
He’s a hunka hunka of burning something alright.
Just as Elvis Presley has spawned a legion of imitators so has his wrestling counterpart the Honky Tonk Man. OK, maybe not as many. In fact, one of the few was former ECW wrestler Bill Wiles. Wiles was part of ECW’s mock Dangerous Alliance as Beautiful Billy, a knockoff of Bobby Eaton as CW Anderson was Arn and Lou Dangerously was Paul Heyman. However, Billy didn’t look much like Eaton and as Wiles started to throw some Elvis moves into things Heyman decided to go whole hog and turn him into an Elvis impersonator, or so said an interview with Wiles I found online.
Bilvis Wesley with the Prodigy Tom Marquez and the Prodigette vs. Nova
Video Length: 8:05 Link
This is from ECW on TNN. Commentary is Joey Styles and Joel Gertner. This was a pay per view dark match before Anarchy Rules. Gertner says that Marques looks like the frozen love child of Kane and Captain Caveman. Gertner is a very sick man. WWE fanboys will know Nova as Simon Dean. He’s dressed like the Flash.
Wesley works a headlock to start. Nova shoves out, but goes down off of a shoulder block. Nova blocks a hip toss reversal, but get his backslide blocked and goes into a headlock. Nova slides under a big boot and comes up with a big right hand. Nova reverses a whip, but Wesley backdrops Nova to the apron. Nova flips over Wesley to come back in and runs to the opposite corner for a turnaround cross body off the second turnbuckle. He scores a tilt-a-whirl head scissors and Bilvis bails. Nova fakes jumping out onto Wesley and Marquez. After being properly psyched out he nails them with a baseball slide.
Nova throws Wesley back in and tries a sunset flip. Wesley blocks, but Nova slides out from under a punch and is tripped for a cover. Wesley rolls over into a kip up to totally blow my mind. Nova goes into the ropes and Prodigette grabs for his boot. She misses and he goes to the opposite side of the ring where Marquez trips him. Not sure if that was a botch or subterfuge. Wesley drops a leg to the back of the head. He then takes the referee over to admire Prodigette’s assets. This allows Marquez to come in and work Nova over. That’s just a weird spot, because the referee had no real reason to be distracted there. He just goes along with Wesley. Wesley hits kind of a Vader-Splash and covers for two. Wesley grandstands while Nova sets himself up on the corner. Wesley runs into a pair of boots and is cradled for two. He comes up with a nice back suplex side slam for two. Nova fights out of a superplex and hits the swanton bomb for almost a three. Nova charges into an elbow, but gets a step up enzuigiri for another near fall. Nova twists through a neckbreaker into Novacaine for the apparent win, but Prodigette breaks up the count. The ref argues with her and Marques runs in for an inverted DDT, but Nova flips out of it into the Spin Doctor. Wesley gets a schoolboy for two. Nova slides out of a power slam try for the Kryptonite Krunch and the win. ** Wesley impressed me with how he could move for his size and Nova made him look good by adapting his more high flying offense to Wesley’s power game and ground and pound style. However, the outside interference was a bit much and wasn’t sewn tightly into the natural flow of the match.
Bilvis Wesley with the Prodigy Tom Marquez and the Prodigette vs. Jerry Lynn with Jazz
Video Length: 9:28 Link
This is a fan shot video from a house show in St. Petersburg, Fla. Prodigette and Jazz trade words and Wesley has to get between them. The crowd gets funny by doing a Jerry chant in style of “The Jerry Springer Show.” Wesley jumps Lynn before the bell. Lynn cuts him off with a hip toss, but misses an elbow drop. Wesley hits a pretty crisp arm drag, but Lynn trips him and covers for two. Wesley does the rolling kip up again…right into a clothesline. He bails and Lynn topes onto him. Marquez tries to attack from behind, but Lynn ducks and he nails Bilvis. Lynn whips Marques into a clothesline by Jazz. Lynn throws Wesley into the ring, but Prodigette distracts Lynn long enough for Wesley to recover. He catches Lynn on the apron and tries to suplex him into the ring, but Lynn flips out. He goes to the ropes, but Marques trips him and Wesley lands a leg drop to the back of the head. See, the interference there served to help tell the story of the match and worked as a more subtle momentum shift.
Lynn gets a sunset flip for two. Wesley tries a rollup, but Lynn pushes out of it into a prawn hold for two. The sequence looked too set up. Wesley gets a super kick for two. Wesley goes to town on the back. He gets the Vader-splash. Wesley goes after Jazz as a diversion so Prodigette can choke Lynn on the ropes. Wesley takes Lynn to the opposite corner for the Vader-splash and this time he moves. Lynn reverses a whip, but walks into an elbow. Lynn meets Wesley up top, but is shoved off. However, Wesley then misses an elbow drop. Lynn takes over with a tilt-a-whirl head scissors a Jericho bulldog. Lynn screams “It’s playtime, cocksucker!” See, now that’s a catchphrase that would have gotten him over in WWE. Lynn hits a tornado DDT from on high, but Prodigette distracts the ref. Marques nails Lynn with a german suplex and throws Wesley on top. One, two, thre…no! Lynn hits a rana off of a piledriver try and then takes Marques out on the apron. Prodigette attacks Lynn from behind, but then Jazz lays her out with a face jam. Lynn wins with a cradle piledriver. The interference got a bit too much again at the end, but this was a pretty solid house show match and not badly shot either. * ½
Bilvis Wesley with the Sideshow Freaks and the Prodigette vs. Steve Corino with Dawn Marie and Jack Victory
Video Length: 9:58 Link
This is another fan-cam, this time from Green Bay, Wis. Victory tells the guy with the camera to zoom in on Prodigette, because she has herpes and Wesley gave it to her. Again, a gimmick that would have gotten all of them over in WWE. The crowd starts a whore chant. Victory then takes the guy’s camera and gives it to Corino to get a close up of Prodigette. That’s awesome. Finally they lockup and go into the corner with Wesley giving a clean break. Wesley applauds his own sportsmanship while Corino chills in the corner like ‘are we going to wrestle here or what.’ They lockup and go into the corner again with Wesley reminding Corino he gave him a clean break. So, Corino does the same and Bilvis sucker punches him. Cool. Corino lands a windmill kick off the ropes. He works in the flip, flop and fly and Wesley bails. Wesley says he’s done and takes a walk. Corino lounges on the mat as the fans chant “pussy.” Wesley returns and Corino catches him on the apron for a suplex try. Wesley blocks that and then a shot to the turnbuckle. He does the ‘I have no idea what I’m trying here’ from the top and meets a fist to the gut. Nice flipping sell from Wesley. Wesley begs off. Corino takes it to him with the old school punch count in the corner. Whip to the opposite corner and Corino catches Wesley’s boot to punt him in the thigh. He sells it like a crotch shot. Prodigette grabs Corino’s foot and this allows Wesley to hit a neckbreaker for two. He throws Corino to the Freaks on the outside. Victory fends them off with a chair. Wesley tries a quick cover back inside. Tilt-a-whirl slam gets two.
Vader-splash gets two. Francine with the greatest ever out of context quote: “That a big load.” The dudes slug it out as another herpes chant breaks out. Wesley distracts the referee so Prodigette can get a somersault back elbow in the corner. The Freaks put the boots to Corino until Victory makes the save. Francine stunners Prodigette. Wesley gets in her face, but Corino Pearl Harbors him and finishes with a swinging neckbreaker. Not the best technical match, but it looked fun as hell to have been there live. They just went all out to make the fans happy and get them involved. * ½.
Wild Bill Wiles vs. Sabu with Rob Van Dam and Fonzie
Video Length: 6:12 Link
Styles is on commentary. RVD as Mr. Monday Night is too good to wrestle on a late night Saturday night show like ECW and gives up his match with Wiles to Sabu. Saub sucker punches Wiles and just lays into him. Sabu chokes Wiles out with his head wrap. Wiles takes a whip into the corner chest first and stumbles out into a slingshot clothesline. Sabu waffles Wiles with a chair. He then uses the chair as a springboard for a head scissors and Wiles rolls to the floor. Fonzie pushes him into a baseball slide and then RVD pitches him into the first row. Air Sabu into the crowd! Wiles tries to crawl over the guardrail, but Van Dam uses the rail for a springboard kick.
Wiles finally makes it back into the ring and is covered for a near fall. Wiles finally gets some punches in, but Sabu arm drags him clear out of the ring. He tries to climb back in and Sabu throws the chair at him. RVD works Wiles over on the outside and then puts him on a table. Air Sabu into a leg drop and the table doesn’t break. Sabu tries it again and the legs break off, but the tabletop is still in one piece. Someone forgot to score it. Fonzie and the crowd goes bananas. RVD rolls Wiles back in and he taps instantly to the Camel Clutch. Just for fun, Van Dam dropkicks a chair into Wiles’ head. * Typical Sabu spot fest with Wiles getting zilch in offense. As usual, entertaining in a car crash kind of way.
Danny Doring and Amish Roadkill vs. Wild Bill Wiles and CW Anderson
Video Length: 6:53 Link
This is also from ECW TV and has Styles on commentary. Dangerous Alliance attacks the faces before the bell. They turn the tables and Doring whips Roadkill into Wiles for an avalanche. Anderson tries to blindside Doring, but takes a tilt-a-whirl head scissors. Things calm down with Doring working over Wiles. Doring flips out of a waistlock and tries an O’Connor Roll, but Wiles holds onto the ropes. Doring walks into a power slam. Anderson runs in to attack Roadkill and bait him into the ring. While the ref deals with him, Anderson nails Doring with a gordbuster. Wiles follows with a rolling neck snap.
Tag to Anderson. He works Doring over in the corner and tags Wiles. Anderson snapmares Doring, neck snaps him and Wiles comes in with a leg drop. The DA are working fantastically together as a team. Very crisp, very fluid, very quick. Wiles gets a near fall. Doring cuts off a backdrop with a Rocker Dropper and makes the hot tag. He gets a scoop slam on Wiles and a Samoan Drop on Anderson. Wiles eats a side slam. Doring is up top, but Anderson shakes the ropes to crotch him. Wiles goes up and in a sloppy spot Doring gets the Bareback from on high. Anderson breaks up the cover. The ref is distracted by Roadkill again and Doring has to fight off both opponents. Anderson lands a side kick and this time Roadkill saves the pin. The heels miss Roadkill making a blind tag and the camera misses what I believe to be Roadkill flying in with a springboard double clothesline. He clotheslines Wiles to the floor and gets the Dirtroad Slam on Anderson. Doring nails the top rope leg drop this time and Roadkill finishes with a top rope splash. They crammed a 20 minute tag formula match into five minutes and didn’t do too bad a job of it. ** ¼
EASTER EGG!
Elvis Presley vs. Freddie Mercury
Video Length: 1:01 Link
YouTube says this is from some underground fighting group in London. It’s billed as the King vs. the Queen. This is fat jump suited Elvis versus yellow jacket super gay mustache Mercury. It’s two guys dressed up, I don’t feel like I should have to say that but I learned long ago never to underestimate the stupidity of people.
Elvis jumps Freddie from behind and does karate poses. Mercury struggles up and takes a chop to the throat. We cut to Mercury fighting back with right hands and Elvis’ wig all messed up. Elvis reverses a whip and gets a chop to the gut. We cut to Mercury getting a whip reversed. He walks into a thrust kick and eats a Stunner. Another cut to Elvis lining up a charge in the corner and eating a boot. Mercury lays in wait to land a dropkick and the clip ends. Damn, that looked about as decent as anything on RAW recently. I want to know who won! DUD.
The 411: Wesley could have worked the Elvis gimmick a bit better, but color me overall impressed. He moved well for a guy his size and seemed to have a real solid foundation in how to construct a match, get his opponent over and get the crowd into it. He unfortunately lacks that ‘superstar look’ that WWE and TNA covet, but if he would have came along about 25 years ago I could have easily seen Wiles as a stalwart of NWA. He’s old school, which made him a good partner for CW Anderson, and I dig old school.
