From Larry Goodman: The Peachstate Wrestling Alliance returned to action at the Carrollton VFW Fairgrounds Saturday night with th...
From Larry Goodman:
The Peachstate Wrestling Alliance returned to action at the Carrollton VFW Fairgrounds Saturday night with their 3rd show of the year featuring the first ever Lethal Rumble.
It was fine for a set up show. I’ll give it a 7 despite the malfunction at the conclusion of the Rumble that saw former PWA Heritage Champion Simon Sermon emerge victorious, thus earning a shot at current PWA Champion Geter.
From an artistic standpoint, the show fell short of the mark due the glitches in the ultra gimmicky main, which was a shame since everything up until then had gone down about as well as it could have. That said, Sermon is so incredibly over and the nature of the PWA fans is such that woeful execution in a key situation isn't going to derail the overall momentum if it's a one off.
PWA has ramped up their live event schedule for 2014, moving from monthly to twice a month. So far so good. Attendance was 215 with competition from three other shows running in the West Georgia area. PWA crowds are always hot, and this crowd was on the upper end of the PWA hotness range.
(1) Simon Sermon & Joey Kidman defeated PWA Tag Team Champions The Empire (Shane Marx & Casey Kincaid with Dewitt Dawson & Brian Blaze) via DQ in around 10 minutes. I missed the opening dance off segment, which by all accounts was entertaining and highly effective. The crowd was on fire for the match. They went right to the heat on Sermon. Kincaid did an awesomely addled sell of Sermon’s enzuigiri and the hot tag was made. Kidman hit a german suplex with Kincaid taking a full rotation bump but got cut off by Marx. Kidman clotheslined Marx over the top and followed him out with an elbow drop off the apron. Meanwhile, Kincaid was being rolled up by Sermon, so Dawson pulled referee Tristan Michaels out of the ring. Tristan had no business counting the pin since those weren’t the legal men. Be that as it may, Tristan DQed Empire for Dawson’s repeated interference.
The fans chanted for 5 more minutes. Simon egged on a restart. Empire was having none of that. They grabbed the belts and ran to the back.
Head honcho Shane Noles hyped the February 15 appearance by Gunner.
(2) Adam Roberts defeated Ace Haven (with Amy Haven & Georgia Junior Champion Adam Jacobs) in 5:47. Prematch, Roberts got into a tug-of-war with Jacobs using Ace’s hair to pull him into the ring. Roberts was handing Ace his skinny ass until Amy intervened. Ace capitalized with a superkick but the rally was soon snuffed out. Roberts eventually converted on his finisher, a fireman’s carry drop. Jacobs was too busy talking on his cell phone to be bothered with helping Ace. Amy was less than thrilled with Jacobs.
(3) John Skyler defeated Steven Walters in 11:20. Skyler was the babyface as he had been in his previous PWA appearances. I enjoyed the reversal of their usual roles, and it looked like Walters and Skyler did as well. Plenty of action and the match worked with the crowd. Walters was verbally abused for being a dick and they chanted for Skyler. Early on, Skyler gave Walters a tour of the turnbuckles. Walters pulled referee Tristan into the line of fire to gain the upper hand. Skyler’s satellite Russian leg sweep left both mend down. Skyler used a springboard twisting crossbody for a near fall. Walters came back with a hanging DDT, but Skyler kicked out and hit Sliced Bread for the 1-2-3.
Tommy Rich was out signing autographs during the break.
(4) Romeo defeated Rick Michaels by count out at 3:44. Romeo did prematch mic work. He was feeling his oats after beating Michaels last week. He made Tristan hold the French flag while he sang the anthem. Michaels did his now familiar fire breathing entrance. Romeo jumped the bell. Good luck with that. Michaels lit him up and got an “OC1” chant. They were brawling at ringside with Michaels still getting the better of it, when Romeo bolted back into the ring just before the 10 count and Michaels was counted out.
Michaels asked for one more shot on February 15. Romeo said Rick was delusional. He could beat Rick again and again and had nothing to prove. Rick sweetened the pot by offering to carry the French flag for 30 days if he lost, and since Romeo was so confident, if Rick won, Romeo should carry the US flag. Romeo accepted. This is fun little program and nice change of gears for Rick.
(5) Geter (with Dewitt Dawson) defeated Cody Hall to retain the PWA Heritage Championship in 7:17. Scott Hall taped the match from the stage. The crowd was strong for Cody, who tried to get inside Geter’s head and appeared to be having some success. Cody had Geter’s number in the opening minutes. Cody tried for the Razor’s Edge and Geter bailed for consultation with Dawson. It worked. Geter went to the eyes and used a massive body block to put Cody down for the first time. The pace quickened. Hall vaulted over the top of Geter and connected with a high boot. Very impressive. Cody then tried to do a reverse vertical leap to the top rope from a dead standstill. Not sure what he was going to do once got up there, but he tried it twice and slipped off both times. It will be a hell of move once he perfects it, but this wasn’t the time or place to practice. Geter hit a belly to belly suplex and pinned Cody’s clean with the big splash. I liked match because it had the dramatic tension of a true contest.
Afterward, Hall went to ringside to offer a handshake and Geter blew him off.
(6) Simon Sermon won a 20 person Lethal Rumble in 46:26. Noles explained that it was rumble rules with a new competitor entering every 90 seconds according to a random draw. Once it got down to the final five, the lockdown phase began, and competitors could only be eliminated via handcuffing to the turnbuckles. A contract for the title match of the wrestler’s choosing was suspended from the ceiling. Jacobs and Skyler started. The other competitors in order of entrance were Rick Michaels, James Dylan, Aja Perrera, Brian Blaze (with Dawson), Shane Marx, Jacob Ashworth, Sermon, Walters, Brandy Scotch Baker, Tommy Rich, Ace Haven (with Amy), Roberts, Fred Yehi, Kincaid, Richie Rich, Zach Daniels, Kidman and Romeo. It was clusterish at time, and there was a fair amount of clowning around and yucking it up. The match did have more than it's share of memorable high points though….Jacobs’ maniacal facial expression made him a Leonard DeCaprio “Wolf of Wall Street” lookalike…Dylan speared Skyler and Jacobs out of their boots. Dylan has that part of the football gimmick down pat...That was followed by a Michaels superkick on the hated Jacobs for a “Yes!” chant…Perrera cleaned house on the heels with Michaels and Skyler cheering her on only to get kicked in the mush by Jacobs…Michaels put Perrera in a liplock…The pop for Sermon’s entrance was off the charts…Rick tried to get Sermon to kiss Baker, but he had better judgment than that…One-by-one, Rick, Sermon, Jacobs, Marx, Skyler , Walters and Ashworth all bumped for the punches from a gimpy, hunched over Tommy Rich…The Exotic Ones lit up Ace’s chest until it was beet red…A blown up Sermon headed to the concession stand for a bottle of water…Perrera eliminated Haven with a backdrop over the top for the biggest pop of night. I’m not sure what PWA has in mind for Perrera but it needs to be good based on that reaction.
Sermon, Rick, Marx, Romeo and Tommy Rich were the final five left for the lockdown phase. Romeo and Marx gave Exotics a beatdown and handcuffed Tommy, who was fuming for the rest of the match. Rich’s believability was astonishing. Sermon gave Marx a low blow and handcuffed him. Rick took a flying crotch bump on the buckle and was handcuffed by Romeo. Sermon cuffed Romeo and set up the ladder to climb for the contact. Romeo got free, nailed Sermon and tried to climb for the contract. Sermon cut Romeo off and smoked him the Manchester Driver. This is where things got mucked up. Sermon retrieved the contract. Upon doing so, Sermon was attacked by The Empire. Babyfaces ran out to drive them back to the dressing room. Noles then announced the match was still going because Romeo wasn’t handcuffed. Didn't Sermon already have the contract? Sermon whacked Romeo with a clipboard and handcuffed him again. Empire came back out and attacked Sermon a second time. Geter laid Sermon out with a World’s Strongest Slam. Kidman, Skyler, and Daniels ran out, a day late and a dollar short with a second save.
Sermon said he had title shot any time he wanted it and he was coming for Geter. The crowd lost their edge during the weird finish, but that didn’t stop them from rallying behind Sermon’s speech.