From Scott Hensley: The wife and I attended the Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment show at the Masquerade in Atlanta, GA last night. Th...
From Scott Hensley:
The wife and I attended the Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment show at the Masquerade in Atlanta, GA last night. The ring action was good but there were almost no stories or character development. Past story development seems to be dropped and it was strange to see matches with such little heat to them. The crowd may have been somewhere close to 100 people (Editor's Note: AWE reported 102 paid) and varied from small children to adults of all ages. It was a crowd that liked throwing toilet paper more than anything and most matches were a hard sell on this crowd due to the booking or lack of the crowd's knowledge about the wrestlers or why they were competing (which goes back to the booking...).
I did not take notes so all of this is from memory and there will not be a lot of specific match details.
Preshow:
P1) Ashton Starr d. Lucious Laron and Kit Bryson
Starr and Bryson worked together on Laron for the most part. They suplexed him and attempted it later in the match but Laron impressively suplexed reversed it and suplexed both of them. I believe Laron laid out Bryson and Starr pushed Laron off to get the pin on Bryson. I had never seen any of these guys before, and this match wasn't enough for me to get a solid impression of anyone here.
P2) Arik Royal d. Nick Richards
Royal was over due to his “Yayey-yay” catchphrase and Richards was heeling it up. Royal man handled the much smaller Richards at several points in this match. It was physical at times but the crowd wasn't familiar with them (or almost anyone on this show it seems...) and so it didn't connect much.
The main portion of the show started and promoter Josh Wheeler entered the ring with an energy drink in hand to deliver a profanity laced speech about how a promotion called ECW once started small and look what it grew into. He talked about how he grew up in Atlanta and that wrestling had been dead in Atlanta for at least 15 years but tonight AWE was bringing it back with Homegrown stars.
Jimmy Rave and Murder One came to the ring and Murder One said that Jimmy was problem-free and free from any worries about Chip Day or anyone else. He said they were going to stay in the ring until someone made them leave. Enter Hackt, a small Japanese guy.
1) Jimmy Rave d. Hackt
Jimmy dominated this and Hackt never gave the crowd a reason to get behind him. His offense looked really weak compared to what Rave was dishing out. Rave finished him off by making him tap with the satellite crossface.
Murder One jumped in the ring and started to beat on Hackt. Adrian Armour jumped up from the table he was sitting at and absolutely killed Jimmy Rave with a discus lariat that turned Rave inside out and saw him land right on his neck. Brutal. Armour ran Murder out of the ring. Armour said he didn't work there but he had a “Sink or Swim” match tonight (I think having an advertised match means you DO work somewhere...) and got to pick his opponent. He was choosing Murder One. I miss Kevin Pierce.
The ring announcer, a blonde young lady who was not Jonathan Feltner, just happened to have a notecard for this “impromptu” match. Details, details....let me believe!...
2. Murder One d. Adrian Armour
They worked corner to corner and didn't really establish a lot of heat here. The crowd just wasn't into it. Armour is definitely taking his physique seriously and his ring work wasn't bad at all here. One put Armour away – so I guess he “sinks”
Kiera Hogan came to the ring and said her scheduled opponent, Amber O'Neal Gallows was too scared to face her so she was issuing an open challenge.(The third in a row, basically....). I chanted for Moose but Dementia D'Rose came to the ring with her knife.
3. Dementia D'Rose d. Kiera Hogan
There was no one to root for here. Hogan is a really attractive girl but she's sassy and pairs up with heel Owen Knight at AWE. D'Rose brought some physicality but the crowd found it hard to care with the larger, crazy woman working the trash-talking, young woman. I believe this was advertised at Hogan;s debut. She did fine with what they did but it was a hard spot to be put in.
4. Andrew Everett d. Chip Day w/ Priscilla Kelly
Kelly came out with Day here but did not factor into the match at all. Everett and Day were both fan favorites. Everett utilized his agility to flip away from Day's offense several times. They told a story with their work, as each teased or attempted different things until the other countered or fell victim to it. Day landed his impressive tornado bicycle kick but Everett kicked out. Everett hit a standing shooting star press for 2. Everett laid out Day and went to the top to finish him off with a shooting star press from the top. Remember when AWE was building programs for Day and Kelly and the promoter was bragging about homegrown stars? Weird, huh?
Intermission – Kiera Hogan and Owen Knight came out and signed autographs because that's what heels do, right?
5. Moose d. Jake Hughes
Hughes has a pretty good look but isn't nearly as imposing as former NFL player Moose. Hughes and 1/2 of the Young Lions tag team Kevin Coffman could be brothers. Hughes did well selling for the beastly Moose and this match was probably 80/20 Moose to Hughes. Moose threw Hughes around like he's probably never been thrown around. He landed multiple buckle bombs. It ended when Moose hit his spear.
6. Owen Knight w/ Kiera Hogan d. Sugar D
Sugar brought a fun vibe that the crowd bought into. Owen may have signed autographs during intermission but he has a great obnoxious persona and facial expressions to turn the crowd back against him. Sugar had some good offense and got chants of “Sexual Chocolate” but Knight was able to put him away. Sugar was frustrated after the match and the crowd showed their support for him.
7. Sylar Cross and Iceberg ended in a DQ
This was built back on March 13 when Iceberg and Murder One were beating on Chip Day and Cross made the save to attack Iceberg. So who am I supposed to like? The angry guy who beats up Chip Day or the hateful guy who beats up his manager? Iceberg came out first and Cross's music played forever. He came out and headed up the steps to the side of the entrance. Iceberg snuck up on him... because he didn't see a 350lbs guy coming toward him? Not a good start. They brawled around and eventually made it back to the ring. Iceberg splashed Cross in the corner and landed the Ground Zero splash to a seated Cross. Cross fought back and slammed Iceberg, which was impressive. They brawled back out into the crowd where I could not see what was going on. They were counted out but continued to pound on each other. Cross and Berg took turns smashing each other with a plastic garbage can, as they fought all the way back to the lockerroom.
8. Kyle Matthews d. Trevor Lee
This was good to the surprise of no one. It was nice to see Kyle pick up a big win, as well as Lee work someone who could match his physical and athletic style. Lee came out dancing to an annoying song. The crowd didn't hate it so he started cussing at people, who pelted him with plenty of toilet paper rolls. They battled back and forth with stiff strikes. Lee got a two count after a standing moonsault slam. Lee continued to work the crowd, at one point taking a roll of toilet paper and wiping his butt with it and then throwing it at someone. He landed a leaping double foot stomp to Matthews but Matthews battled back as they both landed some brutal looking superkicks. Matthews put Lee away with a top rope double stomp to the back as Lee was trying to get to his feet.
The next event was announced for May (Editor's note: show will be at the Spring and 4th complex) but no date was given. Something about a June date was mentioned too so I guess stay tuned to AWE's Facebook page for more information. This had a one-time spot show feel to it. It was as if they just started this promotion and that this could be the last show they do... and that was disappointing to me considering the talented wrestlers and wrestling minds behind the scene at this show. I didn't care for all the bad language used, especially in front of the children who were in attendance...at a wrestling show that started at 9 PM in downtown Atlanta. I doubt most of the crowd cared about that but it was just strange to see and something I'm probably more sensitive to than others.
The wife and I attended the Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment show at the Masquerade in Atlanta, GA last night. The ring action was good but there were almost no stories or character development. Past story development seems to be dropped and it was strange to see matches with such little heat to them. The crowd may have been somewhere close to 100 people (Editor's Note: AWE reported 102 paid) and varied from small children to adults of all ages. It was a crowd that liked throwing toilet paper more than anything and most matches were a hard sell on this crowd due to the booking or lack of the crowd's knowledge about the wrestlers or why they were competing (which goes back to the booking...).
I did not take notes so all of this is from memory and there will not be a lot of specific match details.
Preshow:
P1) Ashton Starr d. Lucious Laron and Kit Bryson
Starr and Bryson worked together on Laron for the most part. They suplexed him and attempted it later in the match but Laron impressively suplexed reversed it and suplexed both of them. I believe Laron laid out Bryson and Starr pushed Laron off to get the pin on Bryson. I had never seen any of these guys before, and this match wasn't enough for me to get a solid impression of anyone here.
P2) Arik Royal d. Nick Richards
Royal was over due to his “Yayey-yay” catchphrase and Richards was heeling it up. Royal man handled the much smaller Richards at several points in this match. It was physical at times but the crowd wasn't familiar with them (or almost anyone on this show it seems...) and so it didn't connect much.
The main portion of the show started and promoter Josh Wheeler entered the ring with an energy drink in hand to deliver a profanity laced speech about how a promotion called ECW once started small and look what it grew into. He talked about how he grew up in Atlanta and that wrestling had been dead in Atlanta for at least 15 years but tonight AWE was bringing it back with Homegrown stars.
Jimmy Rave and Murder One came to the ring and Murder One said that Jimmy was problem-free and free from any worries about Chip Day or anyone else. He said they were going to stay in the ring until someone made them leave. Enter Hackt, a small Japanese guy.
1) Jimmy Rave d. Hackt
Jimmy dominated this and Hackt never gave the crowd a reason to get behind him. His offense looked really weak compared to what Rave was dishing out. Rave finished him off by making him tap with the satellite crossface.
Murder One jumped in the ring and started to beat on Hackt. Adrian Armour jumped up from the table he was sitting at and absolutely killed Jimmy Rave with a discus lariat that turned Rave inside out and saw him land right on his neck. Brutal. Armour ran Murder out of the ring. Armour said he didn't work there but he had a “Sink or Swim” match tonight (I think having an advertised match means you DO work somewhere...) and got to pick his opponent. He was choosing Murder One. I miss Kevin Pierce.
The ring announcer, a blonde young lady who was not Jonathan Feltner, just happened to have a notecard for this “impromptu” match. Details, details....let me believe!...
2. Murder One d. Adrian Armour
They worked corner to corner and didn't really establish a lot of heat here. The crowd just wasn't into it. Armour is definitely taking his physique seriously and his ring work wasn't bad at all here. One put Armour away – so I guess he “sinks”
Kiera Hogan came to the ring and said her scheduled opponent, Amber O'Neal Gallows was too scared to face her so she was issuing an open challenge.(The third in a row, basically....). I chanted for Moose but Dementia D'Rose came to the ring with her knife.
3. Dementia D'Rose d. Kiera Hogan
There was no one to root for here. Hogan is a really attractive girl but she's sassy and pairs up with heel Owen Knight at AWE. D'Rose brought some physicality but the crowd found it hard to care with the larger, crazy woman working the trash-talking, young woman. I believe this was advertised at Hogan;s debut. She did fine with what they did but it was a hard spot to be put in.
4. Andrew Everett d. Chip Day w/ Priscilla Kelly
Kelly came out with Day here but did not factor into the match at all. Everett and Day were both fan favorites. Everett utilized his agility to flip away from Day's offense several times. They told a story with their work, as each teased or attempted different things until the other countered or fell victim to it. Day landed his impressive tornado bicycle kick but Everett kicked out. Everett hit a standing shooting star press for 2. Everett laid out Day and went to the top to finish him off with a shooting star press from the top. Remember when AWE was building programs for Day and Kelly and the promoter was bragging about homegrown stars? Weird, huh?
Intermission – Kiera Hogan and Owen Knight came out and signed autographs because that's what heels do, right?
5. Moose d. Jake Hughes
Hughes has a pretty good look but isn't nearly as imposing as former NFL player Moose. Hughes and 1/2 of the Young Lions tag team Kevin Coffman could be brothers. Hughes did well selling for the beastly Moose and this match was probably 80/20 Moose to Hughes. Moose threw Hughes around like he's probably never been thrown around. He landed multiple buckle bombs. It ended when Moose hit his spear.
6. Owen Knight w/ Kiera Hogan d. Sugar D
Sugar brought a fun vibe that the crowd bought into. Owen may have signed autographs during intermission but he has a great obnoxious persona and facial expressions to turn the crowd back against him. Sugar had some good offense and got chants of “Sexual Chocolate” but Knight was able to put him away. Sugar was frustrated after the match and the crowd showed their support for him.
7. Sylar Cross and Iceberg ended in a DQ
This was built back on March 13 when Iceberg and Murder One were beating on Chip Day and Cross made the save to attack Iceberg. So who am I supposed to like? The angry guy who beats up Chip Day or the hateful guy who beats up his manager? Iceberg came out first and Cross's music played forever. He came out and headed up the steps to the side of the entrance. Iceberg snuck up on him... because he didn't see a 350lbs guy coming toward him? Not a good start. They brawled around and eventually made it back to the ring. Iceberg splashed Cross in the corner and landed the Ground Zero splash to a seated Cross. Cross fought back and slammed Iceberg, which was impressive. They brawled back out into the crowd where I could not see what was going on. They were counted out but continued to pound on each other. Cross and Berg took turns smashing each other with a plastic garbage can, as they fought all the way back to the lockerroom.
8. Kyle Matthews d. Trevor Lee
This was good to the surprise of no one. It was nice to see Kyle pick up a big win, as well as Lee work someone who could match his physical and athletic style. Lee came out dancing to an annoying song. The crowd didn't hate it so he started cussing at people, who pelted him with plenty of toilet paper rolls. They battled back and forth with stiff strikes. Lee got a two count after a standing moonsault slam. Lee continued to work the crowd, at one point taking a roll of toilet paper and wiping his butt with it and then throwing it at someone. He landed a leaping double foot stomp to Matthews but Matthews battled back as they both landed some brutal looking superkicks. Matthews put Lee away with a top rope double stomp to the back as Lee was trying to get to his feet.
The next event was announced for May (Editor's note: show will be at the Spring and 4th complex) but no date was given. Something about a June date was mentioned too so I guess stay tuned to AWE's Facebook page for more information. This had a one-time spot show feel to it. It was as if they just started this promotion and that this could be the last show they do... and that was disappointing to me considering the talented wrestlers and wrestling minds behind the scene at this show. I didn't care for all the bad language used, especially in front of the children who were in attendance...at a wrestling show that started at 9 PM in downtown Atlanta. I doubt most of the crowd cared about that but it was just strange to see and something I'm probably more sensitive to than others.
