From Larry Goodman: WrestleMerica returned to action in at the Academy Gym in Barnesville with what was likely to be among the f...
WrestleMerica returned to action in at the Academy Gym in Barnesville with what was likely to be among the final independent wrestling appearances in the United States for AJ Styles and Luke Gallows. As expected, Styles declined comment on the reports that he is headed to WWE.
Styles was set to face Jimmy Rave in the highly anticipated main event. Both men cut their teeth as pro wrestlers in Georgia with NWA Wildside roughly 15 year ago. It was a decade ago that Styles feuded with Rave in ROH after Rave stole his finishing move.
The match morphed into a tag match (Styles & Doc Gallows vs. Rave & Sal Rinauro) after just a few minutes of action. The call was made to save wear and tear on Styles, who is headed to England next week for three huge matches vs. Rey Misterio, Morrison and Jay Lethal on consecutive nights. Ironically, Styles ended up suffering a minor injury during the match.
The 450 fans in Barnesvillle didn’t seem to mind the switch. They were into the match full force, as they were for pretty much everything that went down at this event.
Overall, it was a straightforward, satisfying old school style show and another in a string of successful WrestleMerica events in Barnesville.
Promoters Gallows & Marty Miller (LG Promotions) just won the award for Georgia Promoter of Year. Their formula of bringing name stars like Styles, Matt Hardy and Mr. Anderson to a small town in Middle Georgia, backed by old-fashioned grassroots promoting, has proven to be winner.
(1) Fry Daddy defeated P Dog (Mike Posey) in 10:36. This was one of the better matches of the evening. I never could have envisioned referee Mike Posey as an angry, obnoxious rapper. Fry had the crowd vocally behind him all the way. A big offensive flurry from Fry had P Dog fleeing the ring. P Dog posted Fry’s arm and worked the body part, but P Dog missed the Alabama Jam, setting up Fry’s comeback. P Dog reversed Fry’s finisher and hit the Jam. You just knew it wasn’t P Dog’s night when Fry kicked out. Fry won it with the Cutline (Ace cutter).
(2) Amber Gallows (with Big John Kap) defeated Amy Love to retain the NWA Women’s World Championship in 5:47. A decent enough match. Love heeled right off the bat. Gallows responded with a series of pinning combinations. They worked a fast pace, trading stiff shots along the way and near falls toward the end. Gallows pinned Love with the X Factor.
Postmatch, a guy in the crowd put his hands on Amber. Kap put the guy in a chokehold. The guy put up a fight and a bunch of security guys got involved to throw him out. Clearly and angle as the cameras followed the action all the way out of the building.
(3) Faces of Fear (Andy Anderson & Pain with Merica) defeated Scotty Beach & Billy Jack in 5:14. The beefy Anderson and mammoth Pain totally dominated Beach and Jack. I like Anderson and Pain a team, and Merica with her ridiculous bodybuilder physique is the right fit as their valet. Merica slamming Beach on the floor was the memorable spot of the match. Finish was a double team crucifix powerbomb that sounds more impressive than it looked.
Postmatch, Merica took out the trash, slinging Beach out of the ring with greatest of ease.
(4) Doc Gallows defeated Sal Rinauro via DQ in 6:05. Rinauro turned a handshake into a punch in the face and jetted out of the ring, where he cut a promo talking about how WrestleMerica was built on his back the back of Jimmy Rave (unlike Gallows who has missed a number of show due to his New Japan commitments). Rinauro stalled and jawed and stalled some more. When Gallows finally got his hands on him, Rinauro sold his ass off. Rave sneaked in and speared Gallows. That led to an instant “AJ” chant and the save by Styles. Rinauro and Rave bailed out untouched. Beautifully done.
(5) Glacier & Iceberg defeated SouthSide Trash (Rowdy & Razor) and Wildcardz (Jason Radatz & Eddie Page with Tess Valentine) in 11:21. Wildcardz are based in Maryland. Page looks like a bargain basement R-Truth. Not exactly a thrilling match. The Barnesville fans are quite forgiving. The limitations of SST and Wildcardz were blunted by making it a three way. After SST hit a double flapjack on Page, Iceberg tagged in and pinned him with the Ground Zero splash.
SST were ticked off about the way it ended. They relucantly accepted their handshake then back jumped Berg and Glacier. The turn got heat.
(6) Brad Attitude defeated Tyson Dean and Ryan Oshun to retain the WrestleMerica Heavyweight Championship in 9:15. Bigtime fan support for Dean, who was in a comparative land of the giants. Oshun is a 6-4 former semi-pro football player andd an active member of the US Air Force. He hasn’t been wrestling long but he gets it. Attitude is no small man by any means. Dean was the lone babyface, the size difference only added to the sympathy factor. Really solid action here with Dean showing boatloads of resiliency. It was two against Dean until the inevitable trouble in paradise. Dean hit his spinning neckbreaker on Oshun and Attitude stole the pin.
Ring announcer Dustin Fordham introduced former Atlanta Brave John Rocker to the crowd.
(7) AJ Styles defeated Jimmy Rave by DQ in 3:58. Neither the Bullets Club theme nor his ROH music was used in favor of his less familiar New Japan music leading to a rather flat entrance for Styles. Rave didn’t use “House of the Rising Sun” either. Oh well. They grappled. Rave bailed out to avoid Styles’ signature dropkick, and Rinauro jumped Styles for the DQ.
Gallows made the save and got on the mic to make the tag match. Gallows said there was a lot of history with Rinauro and Rave, but the whole wrestling world knew there was more history with Gallows and Styles.
(8)Styles & Gallows defeated Jimmy Rave & Sal Rinauro in 11:56. They brawled all over the building. When the action moved inside the ring, Rave interfered to get the heat started on Gallows. A Gallows double clothesline led to the hot tag. Styles had Rave set up for the Clash, but Rinauro intervened with a superkick. The closing minutes were terrific with signature moves and saves galore. Gallows dropped Rinauro on Rave to break up his crossface submission. It appeared that Styles got dinged when Rinauro inadvertenly landed on his neck. For the finish, Gallows planted Rinauro with a chokebomb and Styles pinned Rave with a Clash off the ropes.
NOTES: WrestleMerica is in Ashburn, GA tonight and returns to action Barnesville on February 20 with a a special appearance by the Rock ‘n Roll Express. The show was a three camera shoot for the WrestleMerica television show that airs on WLTZ38 in Columbus, GA and Charter 181 in Barnesville…The television commentary was handled by reunion of Scott Hudson and Steven Prazak along with Scotty Munn…Georgia notable in attendance included Ben Masters, Shane Noles, Charles Anschutz, “Big Wood” Greg Hullender, Neal Pruitt, Dave Wills, the “Fans of Wrestling” podcast crew of Patrick Alvarez, Mike Prime and Danny Danger and “Smark Rage” podcast host Corey Nachamkin.
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