From Larry Goodman: Why We Wrestle debuted with “Wrestling at the Church” at the former Anarchy Arena last night. Th e event ...
From Larry Goodman:
Why We Wrestle debuted with “Wrestling at the Church” at the former Anarchy Arena last night.
The event was a dry run for “Ground Zero”, the company’s grand opening on January 9. On that level, it was a success. The show came off without any major hitches and was well received by the crowd. They ran with a scaled down crew from Anarchy (18 wrestlers) and kept the show short at 2 hours and 15 minutes.
The booking (by Todd Sexton) was uncomplicated and effective. The Anarchy titles were unified, and a compelling scenario was set up for the unified title (to be known as Anarchy Grand Champion) going forward. Clearly, WWW is not abandoning the rich history of wrestling Cornelia. Key players were put over in convincing fashion throughout the show, particularly on the babyface side.
The building is still a work in progress. A new and improved entrance way has been constructed. The ramp is gone. Tall wrestlers no longer have duck their heads coming out. However, the work to have entrance way come from the dressing room at ring center has not yet been completed. The commentators have been moved to ringside until the renovations are completed. The production equipment has temporarily taken up residence in the old announcer’s booth. The show was taped with two cameras. Where the show will air and in what form are still unknown.
Attendance was 120 with many new faces in the audience and almost no comps. That was impressive considering the advertising was almost exclusively via Facebook. The crowd had more energy and enthusiasm than a typical Anarchy TV taping crowd.
Still, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression as the old adage goes. It remains to be seen if the scaled down presentation and limited starpower gave those new fans sufficient reason to come back. Did they buy into the promise of future greatness?
Ring announcer Kevin Pierce opened the show and introduced Dany Only as the head of production. Only said he was on board because WWW cared about the fans who were tired of dirty bathrooms, crappy concessions and the same old card every time. Only wished he could say that he was the owner of Anarchy but it didn’t work out that way, and he was contractually obligated not to reveal the identity of the owner known as zero.
Only announced a 32 man title tournament would begin on January 9. Matches signed for the first round would include Ace Rockwell vs. Kory Chavis and Tank (with the Reverend) vs. Masada. The long-time fans popped big for the reveals. Only also announced a show for December 12.
The crowd took to Only right away. He came across as very likeable in the spokesman role. His passion was appealing.
Only introduced John Johnson as an “advocate” for the owner (with matchmaking authority). Johnson said WWW’s aim was to embrace the past and while also forging its own identity. JJ announced two rule changes – a 20 count for action outside the ring instead of 10, and referees had discretion to stop a bout if a competitor was unable to defend himself. JJ’s hype for the main event, Billy Buck vs. Jacob Ashworth for unification of all Anarchy titles.
Kevin Blue interrupted and demanded to be put in the main because he held the Anarchy TV Title “forever”. JJ said after being there 13 years, he didn’t listen anyone, but he a spot for Blue against the next person that came through the curtain. That would be Todd Sexton. Sexton said he had tried to walk away from wrestling many times but he couldn’t do it. Sexton said wrestlers wrestle out of love and passion not to be famous. Blue had a proposition for JJ – winner of the match gets a shot at Triple Crown Champion on December 12. JJ agreed.
(1) Scott Mayson vs. Cody McCulley was a 3 minute no contest. Se7en hit the ring and destroyed the both of them with chokebombs giving referee Dee Byers no choice but to throw the match out.
A fireball spewing Stryknyn noted that Se7en no longer had Jeff G. Bailey to treat him like a puppet and challenged him to a fight.
(2) Stryknyn defeated Se7en in 3:42. Stryknyn was in trouble early, but he fought off the chokebomb and speared the monster for a clean 1-2-3. Looks like Stryk is in for a big push.
Get Along Gang (CB Suave, P Dog and Marko Polo)came out next. Suave (rocking a sleeveless suitcoat) said he wasn’t in wrestling attire because he had a role in Hunger Games 2 and still had appearances to make, so P Dog was taking is spot against Jeremy Foster. P Dog’s rhyme has gotten more entertaining of late.
(3) Jeremy Foster defeated P Dog (with CB Suave & Marko Polo) in 10:13. Foster overcame all the outside interference Suave and Polo could muster to pin Dog with the flying knee. Solid match and a good win for Foster.
(4) Chris Spectra defeated Gil Quest in 2 minutes. Quest blocked Quest’s standing sliced bread and beat him with a tornado kick. The fans like Spectra and keeping it so short didn’t overexpose his limitations in the ring any more than necessary.
(5) Kevin Blue defeated Todd Sexton in 16:05 to earn a shot at the Anarchy Triple Crown Championship on December 12. Boatloads of stalling and complaining from “Kevin Hardy” in the early going. Sexton had his way with him until the 5 minute mark when Blue slyly turned Sexton’s aggressiveness against him. Blue seized on the opening like a maniac. They inserted some nifty hope spots during the heat like Blue going full-blown Hardy with a Twist of Fate, and Sexton countering with a backslide. Sexton made his comeback, and they went back and forth with submissions and finishers. Blue hit the Air Raid Crash but Sexton got a foot over the ropes. Sexton hit the GTS but was too worn down to follow up. They traded furious forearm shots until Blue spit in Sexton’s face. Sexton decked Blue and locked in the crossface, but Blue got to the ropes. Sexton went back to the GTS and Blue reversed it with an inside cradle to score the pinfall. This match worked very nicely. Sexton knocked the rust off in a hurry. He didn’t look like a guy that hadn’t worked a match in 3 months. Blue gets heat. He was carrying himself like a top heel and was booked accordingly.
During the intermission, Only asked the fans which wrestlers they wanted to see and got Xavier Woods, Kimo, Rick Michaels and Trinity. Iceberg was the only name thrown out that is actually going to happen. He asked about Cedric Alexander. Dead silence. Only also announced a ticket gimmick - fans can purchase tickets for two shows for $17 instead of $20 with the option of putting the $3 refund towards bringing in the indy star of their choosing. Good luck with that.
(6) Shadow Jackson defeated Brian Blaze and Marko Polo (P Dog & CB Suave) in triple threat match at 9:17. Heels Blaze and Polo teamed up against uber babyface Jackson until the inevitable breakdown of cooperation reared its ugly head. Everyone was down after a ridiculous three way sleeper spot. A “Shadow” chant brought him to life. Polo tossed Jackson out. Suave screwed up and punched Dog instead of Shadow, who then ran wild with tomahawk chops on Blaze and Polo. Jackson stunned both of them and pinned Blaze. This was a rather uninspiring three-way that told the usual story. The good news was that Jackson is still way over and he was booked to keep him that way.
(7) Billy Buck defeated Jacob Ashworth to become the first ever Anarchy Grand Champion in 14 minutes. Pierce said the winner of the match had the option of defending on December 12 or not. Huh? Blue came out to do color commentary with JJ. Buck used his quickness to neutralize Ashworth’s size and strength, and started to soften up the big man’s knee. Ashworth powered out of Buck’s figure four attempt. Ashworth reversed Buck’s superkick with an ankle lock. Buck got the figure four applied but Ashworth wouldn’t submit. With both men down (too many of those spots on this show) after a Buck superplex, the babyface wrestlers all came to ringside. Get Along Gang also came out to observe from a distance. The wrestlers pounded on the mat chanting “this is why”. It was too soon for that and it felt unnatural. Finishers countered both ways. Ashworth hit roll of dive on the floor and Buck barely beat the 20 count. When Ashworth kicked out of Buck’s supekick, the time was right for “this is why” chant and the crowd joined in. Buck kicked out of Ashworth’s elevated full nelson faceplant. It ‘s a devastating move that needs a name. Ashworth tried another roll of the dice, and Buck countered with a superkick right on the button to end it. Great finish. Buck looked really sharp here. The crowd was really into it for a babyface vs. babyface match.
Postmatch, the wrestlers came into the ring and applauded Buck. Ashworth hugged him. The show of respect between them felt totally genuine. Very effective until…
JJ asked Buck if he was going to defend the title in the tournament or wait until there was a winner. Buck said he was a fighting champion so he wasn’t going to wait until the tournament. Huh? JJ already said the title match for December was a done deal.
Blue said, “That’s why you’re an idiot, Billy Buck.” Blue said after Buck handed him the title next month, he was going to take a bye. Buck said the only thing he was giving Blue was a foot down his throat.
I really like the set up for Blue vs. Buck - the good guy vows to defend the title with honor and bad guy says he will take easy way out. Blue’s mic work was a godsend. Otherwise the show would have ended in a state of confusion.
