Photos courtesy of Shawshank White From Larry Goodman: Peachstate Wrestling Alliance returned to the Central Elementary Gym in C...
From Larry Goodman:
Peachstate Wrestling Alliance returned to the Central Elementary Gym in Carrollton with special guest Jim Cornette. The appearance by Cornette included a pre-show Q & A that was both informative and thoroughly entertaining. I was surprised more fans didn’t attend it for the extra six bucks.
This was another satisfying, smooth running show from Peachstate. Nothing about it dissuaded me from the opinion that PWA puts on the best show in the state.
It sucked for me that my other favorite, Empire was doing Chasing the Grail on the same night. Scott Hensley has promised a report. Huge things went down at PCW as well. Check out the report by Alicia Stockton.
The booking by Rick Michaels (with input from promoter Shane Noles) is a pleasure to behold. They avoid predictability like the plague. They’ve got the circus thing going where there’s something for everyone and no two acts are alike. PWA continues to refine the roster, moving talent in and out of the lineup to keep things fresh. More importantly, the wrestlers are in synch with the booking to where PWA is getting the most from the talent on hand.
There were many strong individual performances last night, but it was the whole of the show that made a lasting impression on me. The devil is in the details, and PWA is getting most of them right.
At the October 3 show, Noles announced that he was resigning as commissioner to become an active wrestler. By design, PWA was left without an authority figure. Matches would be made by other methods. That experiment is working out wonderfully well so far. The wrestlers and managers are getting the job done just fine. Three big matches were set up for PWA’s Thanksgiving Turmoil event on November 28.
Attendance was 225. The passion of the PWA fans made it a great atmosphere for a wrestling show. I don’t know of any other crowd in Georgia that can sustain heat for the entire show like a PWA crowd. Said heat and passion got out of control before it was all over (see match number 6).
Al Getz said he had upped the bounty on Jimmy Rave’s head to 2 grand. Getz claimed to have found a paper on his doorstep written in blood that read “I hurt Jimmy. I get money.” Campy stuff from Al. Enter the monster Pain.
(1) $2000 Bounty Match: PWA Heritage Champion Jimmy Rave defeated Pain via submission at 8:04. It’s mind boggling how over Rave is as the top babyface at PWA. The champion absorbed quite a beating from the monster. Rave appeared to be totally wrung out and juiceless. Rave finally mounted a rally, hitting the shadow STO for a near fall, and crowd chanted his name. Pain caught Rave with the choke bomb as he came off the top with Rave barely kicking out before the three count. Rave managed to roll away from Pain’s Vader Bomb and hit Dusk Until Dawn (satellite headscissors into the crossface) to pull out the win. This was no walk in the park for the champion. Pain was a perfect choice for this spot. Rave sold his ass off to ensure Pain came across a legit threat and brought an element of doubt as to the outcome.
(2) Romeo defeated Fry Daddy in 7:39. Fry’s high-energy entrance was one of the highlights of the night. Fry was in control until he went up top and Romeo shoved him off to the floor. It was a fairly spectacular bump. Romeo rammed Fry’s back into the ring frame and worked the body part for the rest of the match. Fry hit all of his signature moves on the comeback but was clearly not at 100%. When Fry went for the Cutline, Romeo blocked it and hit the snapmare driver for the pin. The heel/face dynamic was compelling. The heel winning clean was unexpected and fresh. Fry’s selling has improved dramatically. The loss didn’t hurt Fry because he got it across that he was fighting on despite injury.
(3) Kevin Blue defeated Simon Sermon to retain the PWA No Limits Championship in 9:28. Sermon accepted Blue’s handshake, however, this was not the lovable Sermon that PWA fans used to adore. They wrestled until Sermon took a TO and got a “you scared” chant. The pivotal moment of the match saw Sermon use the ropes to slingshot Blue through them to the floor. It was a shocking bump that looked incredible and must have hurt like hell. Sermon starting taking shortcuts like using Blue’s hair for a Beel throw. Sermon channeled Flair- doing the flip bump in the corner then taking the bodyslam from the top. Sermon raked the eyes to regain control and tried for the Manchester Driver, but Blue countered with the Air Raid Crash and Sermon had to grab the ropes to save himself. When Blue tried for a slingshot sunset flip, Sermon sat down and used ropes for leverage to get the pin. However, referee Terry Hudgins caught the cheating and restarted the match. Blue then double-legged Sermon and pinned him with his feet on the ropes. This was my favorite match of the night. The wrestling was compelling and distinctly different than the first two matches. The finish could not have worked better.
Sermon pulled up a chair and pouted. He was going to sit there until someone came out and fixed this. All the while, the fans taunted him with a “you got beat!” chant.
Out came Noles accompanied by Wicked Nemesis, who may have the best Mohawk in wrestling Wicked said Sermon had put more butts in seats than most any wrestler around but all he did was whine. Sermon wrongly assumed that he (Wicked) was coming out to help him at the last show. It was Noles that needed him. Wicked asked the fans if the wanted Sermon to face Noles at Thanksgiving Turmoil. The crowd answered with a resounding“Yes!” chant. Sermon said that would constitute Noles’ death warrant. Wicked said he and Noles were game for whatever Sermon wanted. Beautifully done. Noles never said a word. I didn’t know Wicked had this kind of a babyface promo in him.
(4) Pandora defeated Kiera Hogan in 7 minutes. Hogan worked on Pandora’s arm. Pandora made Hogan miss a step up leg drop and pinned her with a DDT. OK at best. It was the only match that didn’t have significant heat. The crowd sensed that they weren’t clicking. Hogan has only been wrestling for 8 months and looked unsure of herself at points. If PWA is intent on featuring a women’s division with Pandora as the top babyface, this match was a step in the wrong direction, and the place felt flat going into the intermission.
Ring announcer Jason Boyd reminded the fans that a dog collar match pitting Iceberg (with Jeff G. Bailey) against Dusty MacWilliams would also take place at Thanksgiving Turmoil.
(5) NWA Georgia Champion Tommy Too Much (with Merica) defeated AJ Steele via submission in 21 minutes. Steele had his way with T2M in the early going. Theree was little Tommy could except suffer through it. Steele showed he wasn’t just a brawler when he broke out an up and over into a release german suplex. While T2M distracted referee Mason, Merica jumped in and gave Steele a low blow. Mason saw Merica in the ring and ejected her. T2M softened Steele up with more low blows and went to work on the knee. T2M abused Steele outside the ring. Steele managed to suplex T2M back into the ring and both were down. Steele hit a belly to belly suplex and crawled to cover for a near fall. T2M went to the top rope. Steele cut him off with a testicular claw and some hellish payback. Steele hit a superplex. Merica ran back to ringside. Steele brought Merica in the hardway and threatened to clobber her but T2M grabbed him from behind. T2M has a thing for smothering people. He didn’t have his handy-dandy plastic bag this time, so he used his hands. Steele somehow survived and tried for his Black Hole finisher. T2M escaped and locked in a rear naked choke, and Steele went to la la land for good. This was a stiff, intense brawl that held the crowd’s interest the entire 21 minutes which was no mean feat. I never figured they would go that long.
T2M gloated about all the people he had beaten in PWA, while the crowd did their best to drown him out with a “cheater” chant. T2M said he had one more thing to do – beat Jimmy Rave and then the fans would have no choice but to respect him. Rave answered the challenge. He agreed that T2M had done everything there was to do in PWA except beat him. However, he would have to go to the back of the line behind Kyle Matthews, Cedric Alexander and Tyson Dean to get a title shot. Rave was willing to fight T2M any time and offered a non-title match at Thanksgiving Turmoil. T2M accepted.
(6) Ace Haven & Charles Zanders (with Amy Haven) defeated Donny Primetime III & Brit Jackson in 7:36 when Ace pinned Jackson. This match was marred by two women fighting in the crowd. One of those women was photographer Tnisha Hunter. The other was the mother of AWE wrestler Glenn “Chips” Matthews. Matthews also got physically involved. Only at PWA show does this kind of ridiculous stuff happen. The heels got heat on Zanders leading to an indyriffic finishing cluster of more-is-less moves. In the process, Zander accidently landed on referee Terry Hudgins, who suffered a legit injury. The match still worked because Haven and Zanders are so over that the the fans were happy just to see them get another win.
(7) Sal Rinauro (with Al Getz) defeated Tyson Dean (with Jim Cornette) in 15:08. Getz told Cornette he would rue the day he brought his carcass out of the retirement home and stuck his nose in their business. Cornette said Getz couldn’t book Lassie in a pet shop, and he was confident Dean could beat Rinauro fairly to get out from under Al’s oppression. Cornette warned Al that if stuck his nose in the match, he would punch his teeth so far down his throat they would need to clear customs to come back. The match was mostly ga-ga. That was fine because the best is yet to come. They did the routine where Dean stomped on Sal’s wrist. Sal went out to consult with Al, who carelessly rested his hand on the apron and got it stomped by Dean. Sal played verbal ping pong with Cornette and didn’t realize Dean was right behind him until it was too late. Sal’s facial expressions were comedy gold. A three way knockout with referee Triston Michaels set up the finish. Getz tried to drag Rinauro on top of Dean. Cornette knocked Al’s teeth down his throat as promised, and continued to wail away on him on the floor. Meanwhile, Rinauro used Cornette’s racket on Dean to score the pinfall. An entertaining match (how could it not be?) and the finish was a surprise. Surely Dean would win with Cornette in his corner.
Cornette told Dean it was his fault that he lost and apologized. Cornette challenged Rinauro to wrestle Dean one more time and he could pick the stipulation, and if not, he was a no good stinking yellow coward. Rinauro couldn’t tolerate it, and made a ladder match for Thanksgiving Turmoil. What more could you aks than to have Cornette on hand to make a key match.