From Larry Goodman: Peachstate Wrestling Alliance presented their 6th annual Battlebowl with Jimmy Rave emerging victorious, thus ...
From Larry Goodman:
Peachstate Wrestling Alliance presented their 6th annual Battlebowl with Jimmy Rave emerging victorious, thus earning Rave a shot at PWA Heritage Champion Tyson Dean.
Battlebowl was a WCW gimmick match from the early 90s – 16 teams drawn at random to form 8 tag matches with the winning teams advancing to a battle royal. PWA had added a few twists to the original concept.
For me, it was opportunity to see a lot of talent from a lot of different places and some really odd teams. The wrestling was OK. By its nature, Battlebowl doesn’t lend itself to producing awesome wrestling matches. You’re not likely to see stellar tag team wrestling with teams thrown together on the spot, partners not getting along, etc. and traditional battle royals generally suck.
As a once year deal, Battlebowl succeeds to a certain degree
based on the distinctiveness of the event. Beyond the uniqueness factor, it
rises and falls on the stories being told. At Battlebowl VI, the stories came through with flying
colors. The build for Dean/Rave was effective and marked a shift at the top of the card from the extremely personal issues between Simon Sermon and Tommy Too Much to one based on proving who is the better wrestler. A creative angle and a glimpse of a potential future main event provided the most compelling moments of the night.
Commissioner Michaels called out Sal Rinauro and Nigel Sherrod. Michaels said he left them out of the random draw, but assured them they would get to team up to earn their spots in the Battlebowl. This was a curious development given the way things went down at the previous show. Rinauro and Sherrod treated their match as a joke. Michaels came out to confront them and got attacked.
(1)PWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Ace Haven (with Amy Haven) & Adam Jacobs defeated Murder One & Britt Jackson in 7:17. Haven’s intro got one of the biggest pops the night. Damn that guy is over. Jacobs , making his first PWA appearance in many moons, was formerly Haven’s partner when they among the most hated men in the company. They hugged it out before the bell much to the crowd’s delight. Jackson looked much better here than the last time I saw him (opener of the EC III show). Finish was Jacobs’ Zig Zag off the ropes followed by Haven’s stunner to pin Jackson. Any time I get to see Jacobs wrestle, it’s a good night at the matches.
(2) Iceberg & Stitch Sypher defeated Eli Daniels & Tyler Gage in 12:27. Gage’s home promotion is Pro South in the god forsaken town of Piedmont, AL. He’s got size and looked enough like Daniels that they could pass for kin. Neither team was seeing eye-to-eye in the early going, but the point was to advance to the Battlebowl so teamwork prevailed. Stitch took heat and did one of those maddening deals where he had to get his high spot when he had a chance to tag his fresh 350 pounder, you know, like it was true athletic competition instead of a fake sport. There was funny spot where Sypher had Daniels pinned with a sunset flip, and Gage and Iceberg took turns reversing it. A four way argument ensued. Daniels and Gage superkicked Berg, and Sypher kicked him in the face. In the end, Sypher got a pop for a flip dive on Daniels, and Iceberg pinned Gage with the Ground Zero splash.
(3) Amos Moses & Jed Johnson defeated Russian Assassin #43 & Donnie Primetime III in 5:51. Moses and Johnson are also Alabama guys. Assassin was actually introduced as Mr. USA, but came out under a mask waving a Russian flag. David Pierce was doing commentary for the DVD and called him Russian Assassin #43, so I went with it. DP III’s intro was a full-blown imitation of EC III. That seminar must have made quite an impression on him. Teammates were of like minds in this match. When Asssasin and DP III had a miscue, Johnson went through the Rusky’s legs to make the hot tag. Moses pinned Assassin with a flying hillbilly shoulder block off the middle rope that actually looked really good.
(4) Former PWA Junior Champion Jeremy Foster & Mike Posey (P Dog) vs. Kevin Blue & NWA Georgia Junior Champion Fry Daddy ended as 15 minute draw. Fry Daddy’s energy level is off the chain and the the PWA fans were eating it up. Foster adopted P Dog’s rule breaking style. He distracted Fry Daddy and P Dog capitalized. Blue got the tag and was taking it to Foster bigtime, but was caught off guard by P Dog’s blind tag. P Dog went up top for the Alabama Jam, but took time to grab his crotch and ate a palm strike from Blue on the landing. The match broke down after tags were made. Foster set up for a running knee on Blue who wasn’t legal. It mattered not because Fry Daddy cut Foster off with a stunner and covered him just before the bell rang.
Promoter Shane Noles said according to Battlebowl rules, a coin flip would decide the winner (one of the added wrinkles to the original concept). Blue and Fry Daddy won the coin toss to advance to Battlebowl.
(5) Romeo (with Miss Brook & Akbar) & Dusty MacWilliams defeated Brian Blaze & Dustin Famous in 5:45. Miss Brook is the former timekeeper turned bad girl valet by aligning with Dean, and quite the snazzy dresser. A real pareja increible in Romeo and MacWilliams, one of the most loved teaming with one of the most hated. Romeo wasn’t about to tag MacWilliams into the match. He used eye rakes to get the advantage and dominated Blaze and Famous. MacWilliams finally tagged himself in, but Romeo quickly did the same and pinned Blaze with the Guillotine (snapmare driver).
Postmatch – massive “USA’ chant for Dusty, who walked out on Romeo.
(6) PWA Tag Team Champion Shane Marx (with DeWitt Dawson) & former PWA Heritage Champion Geter defeated PWA Tag Team Champion Trevor Aeon & Blake Baretta in 6:02. An uncomfortable situation for the tag champs – on opposing teams and drawing partners with nasty attitudes. Pierce said Baretta was Akbar’s cousin. Worked for me. He looked more Arab than Akbar. Aeon’s offense had zero effect on the monster Geter. Geter showed that it’s quality not quantity that matters with chops. They looked and sounded brutal. One apiece for Aeon and Baretta was enough to make an indelible impression. Baretta escaped Geter’s avalanche corner splash and made the tag. Aeon’s offense was now having an impact on the stunned Geter, and this sequence was some of the best stuff I’ve seen from him. In the end, Geter pancaked Aeon, and Marx tagged himself in and pinned Baretta with the Natural Selection (DVD).
(7) Josh Magnum & Jimmy Rave defeated Jay Popular & Neon in 12:21. It’s interesting about Rave’s babyface turn. His attitude hasn’t changed, but the fans are embracing him based on his recent actions (attacking Dean and Romeo and subsequently teaming up with Fry Daddy). Magnum is a daredevil flyer that had a big babyface run in PWA in 2009-2010, and once formed a team with John Skyler known as the Magnum 44s. Based on the tepid crowd reaction to Magnum’s intro, the current PWA fans must not have been around then. Popular and Neon work as a tag team in Alabama indys. Popular has some size and is a decent worker. Neon was wearing a mask similar to Delirious. If only he wrestled like Delirious. Kind of a disjointed match with the crowd showing signs of fatigue. Popular had Magnum beaten with a face plant but Rave broke up the pin. Popular then went to the top rope and Rave cut him off with a superplex and Magnum hit a 450 to score the pinfall.
(8)Shawn Nelson & NWA Southern Tag Team Champion Andy Anderson defeated Sal Rinauro & Nigel Sherrod via DQ. Rinauro and Sherrod got massive heat as the made their way to the ring. Michaels interrupted before the match got underway. Just as Michaels was starting to address Rinauro and Sherrod, he KOed the unsuspecting Nelson with a superkick. It was shocker that nobody saw coming. Referee Terry Hudgins DQed Sherrod and Rinauro for outside interference. The crowd popped huge. Rinauro and Sherrod threw a fit. This was one sweet piece of booking that was beautifully executed all the way around. Surely there is more to come of this.
PWA Heritage Champion “Reflection of Perfection” Tyson Dean joined Pierce on commentary for Battlebowl.
(9) Jimmy Rave won the 18 man Battle Bowl to earn a shot at the PWA Heritage Championship in 11:40. Another added twist in the PWA version is the addition of two wild cards from the loser’s bracket, in this case Popular and P Dog. I expected a real cluster, but the match worked surprisingly well because it was laid out to get across a few key points. Geter easily eliminated four wrestlers in the first 30 seconds, then put the exclamation point on by powerbombing Haven over the top onto all of them. Iceberg then clotheslined Geter over the top. It was as spectacular spot and that got the biggest pop of the night. I will be shocked if Peachstate doesn’t come back with Iceberg vs. Geter somewhere down the line. Romeo took a TO for a pep talk from his fearless leader Dean. Dean was forced to suffer though Romeo and tag partner Anderson getting eliminated from the match. It came down to Iceberg and Rave. Iceberg tried throwing Rave out on all four sides. Each time, Rave grabbed the ropes and landed on the apron. Iceberg gave Rave an avalanche splash, a cannonball and a Ground Zero. Rave was dead weight but still would let go of the ropes. Iceberg charged like a raging bull and Rave pulled the ropes down to spill him out.
Dean came to the ring and gave Rave his due with supreme confidence dripping from every word and arrogance oozing from every pore. Rave spoke for the first time since his return - “You’ve beaten a lot of guys but you haven’t beaten me. You may look like a million, but I’m not sports entertainer. I’m a pro wrestler and soon you will find out what that means.”
