From Larry Goodman: Great American Wrestling ran their first live event in conjunction with Ohio Valley Wrestling at Fountain City Comm...
Great American Wrestling ran their first live event in conjunction with Ohio Valley Wrestling at Fountain City Commons in Knoxville Friday night.
The arena at Fountain City Commons is a really nice set up for wrestling. It was formerly the auditorium for Fountainhead College. The arena has superb lighting and acoustics. The walls are black. The space was set up for 200 and full capacity is listed at 285. The matches were taped for later use on OVW television and the Tennessee Memories show, and the venue should look fine on TV.
Attendance was 110 (paying $15) with many arriving after the 7:30 bell time. This was a somewhat different crowd than the Southeastern shows at the Civic Auditorium Ballroom or the first GAW taping – younger and smarter and it was encouraging to see how much they appreciated the decidedly old school presentation.
For me, this show was a breath of fresh air. I left satisfied. Each match had something different to offer with no excess. It lasted a little over 2 hours.
OVW is as old school as they come. The company don’t have anywhere close to the level of talent it had when the promotion served as a developmental territory for WWE or TNA. But the talent they do have is receiving sound training and making progress. The emphasis is on doing less, and making sure everything looks good and is done with a purpose.
It’s always fun to see Jim Cornette, Tom Prichard and Danny Davis, but on this night it was Bobby Fulton that stole the show.
(1)Adam Wylde defeated Jade Dawson in 5:22. Being a Knoville native, Wylde had the crowd fully behind him. Jade’s loathsome drew pretty good heat. This felt and looked more like a typical indy match than the rest of show, as Wylde’s moves lack precision. After Jade missed on a second attempt at a leaping leg drop, Wylde made an aerial comeback and scored the pin with a tornado kick.
Bobby Fulton came out to a warm response and said it had been many years since he had been in the middle of God’s country and he hoped the people would support him.
(2) The Mexicutioner defeated Bobby Fulton in 11:28. Fulton turned in a fantastic performance that was a lesson in heel psychology. What a pleasure to see a veteran wrestler that has mastered his craft. Like so much of pro wrestling, it wasn’t what Fulton did, but the way he did it. Jim Cornette and Bobby Eaton were watching with enjoyment. Fulton went from a pandering babyface to despicable heel in no time flat. The crowd was hating on him big time to the point they were chanting “Mexico” before it was over. It started subtle. When the bell rang, Fulton told Mexicutioner to step back until he got his tape on, and then made a big production out of it. The crowd got impatient and Fulton told them to be quiet while he was getting ready. They got more pissed so Fulton challenged any three hicks in the crowd to take him on after the match. Fulton addressed Mexicutioner “You’re not a spic or a wetaback. You’re a nice person”. Fulton ripped the metal tab off a fans’ Coke can and repeatedly used on Mexicutioner’s face until the poor guy was screaming bloody murder. Fulton argued with the referee and shielded his view while he used his ankle to cut off Mexicutioner’s air supply. Fulton called Mexicutioner a spic and spit on him. For the finish, Fulton caused referee Doug Markham to get bumped and tried to hit Mexicutioner with a foreign object. Mexicutioner ducked and rolled Fulton up.
Fulton wasn’t done. He intimidated ring announcer Ella De La Vega, asked her if she was a Mexican too and made her raise his hand. Bravo.
(3) Rump Thump defeated Adam Revolver in 7:25. Rump Thump previously wrestled in OVW as Stephon Baxter III and Stephon Smith. Revolver showed fear at the sight of Rump Thump slapping his formidable rump. I could hardly blame him. They did a lengthy knuckle lock sequence that included a cool northern lights suplex by Rump Thump. Revolver took over on the rump guy. Rump Thump answered with a running bulldog, but missed a butt butt into the corner and Revolver locked in a sleeper. Rump Thump escaped and won it with the butt butt. They had a very tough act to follow as far as getting the crowd involved. The wrestling was solid throughout.
(4) Ryan Howe defeated Chris Silvio via submission to retain the OVW Television Championship in 8:40. Silvio is now billed as “Ultra Violent” and his daredevil moves in this match looked tremendous. It was also the best Ryan Howe match I’ve seen. Howe is thicker than the last time I saw him and looks more like a pro wrestler. These guys let loose with the brawling outside the ring and the high spots. It made this match different from the all the others and the crowd was really into it. Silvio attacked Howe before the bell. Silvio took a wild looking bump over the top rope to the floor. Silvio climbed onto the stage and did a spectacular flying knee to the arena floor. Silvio then tried for a piledriver and Howe backdropped him onto the floor. Silvio ate a forearm on a tope attempt and was left dangling upside down in the ropes. Howe’s recent knee injury came into play with Silvio working it over and Howe selling it big. Try as he might, Silvio couldn’t put Howe away, and Howe made him tap to the Whammy Bar.
Bobby Eaton was introduced to a nice round of applause.
(5) Eddie Diamond retained the OVW Heavyweight Championship over Shane Williams 9with Queen Taylor) in 15:04 after special referee Dr. Tom Prichard reversed his decision and restarted the match. Williams is heel in OVW, but he is “The King of Knoxville” and the crowd was his. The wrestling was fairly basic but very fundamentally sound, which gave the match an air of believability. Early on, Williams fought off a crossface and Diamond escaped from the pildriver. Each time Williams would try to punch Diamond on the break, Prichard would block it. When Diamond tried to give Williams payback, Prichard grabbed his arm and Williams clocked him when he was wide open. Williams took command with the crowd popping for all of his signature moves. Diamond rallied and countered Williams’ piledriver with the crossface, but Williams was able to hook the ropes. Williams then pinned Diamond using the ropes for extra leverage. Williams was announced as the champion. Taking his cue from the crowd reaction, Prichard called for a restart, and fast counted Williams on an inside cradle.
(6) Danny Davis & Trailer Park Trash (with Jim Cornette) defeated Southern Tag Team Champions War Machines (Big Jon & Eric Locker with Josh Ashcroft) in a non-title match at 18:18. This match was hyped on OVW TV. Ashcroft said it was time for the old guard to make way for youth and invited the washed up guys to take a count out loss. War Machines are imposing physical specimens. Locker in particular could be WWE material based on his look. Cornette advised Ashcroft to save his breath for his inflatable date and called him the original inspiration for the Vienna sausage. Cornette said War Machines were big and bad but not too bright if they were hanging around with peanut head. Cornette said his side had the home team advantage because he used to live in Knoxville and Davis main-evented the Civic Coliseum more times than Ashcroft had been in the shower. The crowd was loving it. Cornette got an “ass crack” chant going for Ashcroft. TPT was in almost the entire way. Cornette tripped up Locker as he was criss-crossing the ring. TPT was more than holding his own with the monsters. Ashcroft got in the ring and told Cornette they didn’t have to wait for Louisville (where they are part of a 6 man match tonight), they could do it right now. Cornette was ready to go, but Ashcroft backed off and in the confusion, War Machines got the jump on TPT. Cornette would make dashes around the ring trying to get at Ashcraft, until one of his thugs blocked Cornette’s path. I haven’t seen Cornette move that fast in years. Davis took the hot tag and gave War Machines a meeting of the minds, grabbing Locker by the ear and Jon by his beard. Ahh, the little things. Davis and Locker collided. Ashcraft jumped in to put Locker on top of Davis. Cornette jumped in and slugged Ashcraft. Davis used the racket on Locker and pinned him for a happy ending to a highly entertaining evening.
