Photos courtesy of Rob Brodhecker From Larry Goodman: Peachstate Wrestling Alliance returned to action at the friendly confines of...
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| Photos courtesy of Rob Brodhecker |
From Larry Goodman:
Peachstate Wrestling Alliance returned to action at the friendly confines of the VFW Fairgrounds with the further adventures of “Quest To Be the Best: The PWA Heritage Title Tournament”.
The tournament wasn’t the half of it though. There were a multitude of moving parts on this show, and they all worked to one degree or another, most especially the main event - a wild and wooly streetfight between Team PWA and Backbone.
I’ve been to better overall shows from Peachstate. I’ve never been to one this good for pacing and variety. The show had something for everyone, not too much of anything, and no two acts were alike. The running time was 2 hours and 20 minutes. The show never dragged and the crowd was fresh as a daisy for the main event.
PWA had to be happy with the paid attendance of 261. Universal Wrestling Alliance was running in 15 miles away in Temple with Robbie E vs. Murder One on top. This PWA crowd had the old time heat going. They never let up all night long, it was only a matter of degree.
Advisor to the Georgia Athletic Commission Bill Behrens explained that he made a mistake at the last show when he said the tournament match between Kyle Matthews and Romeo was cancelled. That brought Romeo out to kvetch. Romeo said he broke his wrist four months ago, but he was ready to go for the tournament because he was dedicated to PWA, unlike Matthews who decided to wrestle for a little company called Empire instead. As a former champion, Romeo demanded a pass. Behrens polled the crowd on Romeo’s request. Romeo polled worse than Jeb Bush did in the primaries. Behrens said the fair thing to do was have the match and Romeo might end up looking up at the lights as the ref counted un, deux, trois.
(1) Opening Round PWA Heritage Title Tournament Match: Kyle Matthews and Romeo went to a 15 minute draw thereby eliminating both men from the tournament. The heel/face dynamic gave it instant and heat and it just built from there. Matthews went to town on Romeo’s good wrist. Romeo spilled Matthews to the floor to relieve the pressure and went to work on his back. Matthews with a tope at the 10 minute mark. Matthews with a lungblower for a close near fall. Romeo with a stunner and kick to the face but Matthews kicked out. Matthews nailed Romeo with the slurpee kick as he was a painfully crotched on the top buckle, and Romeo hocked a lugee into the crowd. Romeo took a terrific bump on Matthews’ top rope rana. Made the move look like a million bucks. Romeo kicked out Matthew’s frogsplash. Romeo pulled off the brace protecting his injured wrist and tried to hit Matthews with it. Swing and a miss. Matthews had Romeo on the verge of tapping out to a Boston crab when the time limit expired. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a number of really good opening matches in recent weeks. The way this match steadily built was impressive. The thing I’ve come to appreciate about Matthews during his nomadic last year is his ability to adjust his game and get the best out of a variety of opponents.
That brought out an elated Simon Sermon. The double elimination opened the door for Sermon , who had been designated as a wildcard entrant and he was ridiculously overjoyed. Behrens returned to this....
He broke informed Sermon that his tournament match wasn’t happening tonight. He was being given a tune-up match with an up and comer instead. “A jobber match?” said Sermon. Simon said he was going to kick the snot out him. Behrens counseled Sermon to teach, to be giving and caring. Who was he kidding? In any case, it was all quite entertaining.
He broke informed Sermon that his tournament match wasn’t happening tonight. He was being given a tune-up match with an up and comer instead. “A jobber match?” said Sermon. Simon said he was going to kick the snot out him. Behrens counseled Sermon to teach, to be giving and caring. Who was he kidding? In any case, it was all quite entertaining.
(2) Dustin Bozworth defeated Simon Sermon in 5:57. Sermon withstood Bozworth’s opening onslaught and waited for an opening. He got it and hit a back suplex, but Bozworth kicked out with authority at one. Sermon went to his playbook of shortcuts, including slamming Bozworth on the concrete floor. Sermon did the Flair sequence where he takes the Ray Stevens bump followed by a slam off the top. The comeback was on. Sermon raked the eyes and tried for a fisherman suplex and Bozworth hooked him with an inside cradle. Bozworth trained with Harley Race and has a good look but he’s still pretty green. But they had Bozworth in with the right opponent. Booker Rick Michaels got exactly what he wanted out of this match. Henry put Bozworth over and kept himself strong at the same time.
(3) PWA Heritage Title Tournament – Quarterfinal Round: Jimmy Rave defeated CB Suave in 12:44. The chain wrestling was really smooth. Suave mocked Rave’s Hiearchy salute. Rave mocked Suave’s swivel hips dance. Rave gave Suave a beating on the outside, shredding his chest with chops. Back inside, Suave took control. Rave penalized Suave was for excessive swiveling with a superplex. Suave countered Dusk Til Dawn and hit something big. Rave rolled to the floor like he was dead. Suave rolled Rave back into the ring. I guess he hadn’t scouted Rave’s recent matches or he would have known what was coming, as Rave pinned him with the smallest package in wrestling. The match was fine. Nothing ground breaking. Suave showed he could hang with Rave. It’s the match that Rave could have in his sleep, but have to cut him a boatload of slack since he was working with a torn triceps.
Ring announcer Jason Boyd welcomed “The Birthday Boy” NWA Georgia Champion Tommy Too Much. T2M was dressed for the occasion and birthday cake was brought to the ring. T2M ordered the fans to stand up a sing in honor of his 22nd birthday. T2M invited some guests out - AJ Steele, Tyson Dean, Iceberg and Bill the Butcher. Fat chance that was happening. Tommy said he would invite Rave out if he didn't look so tired. Rave’s music hit. Rave said he was really impressed it was only Tommy’s 22nd birthday. The other thing that impressed him was that Tommy had more wrinkles than his grandmother’s ass. With that, Rave latched the crossface on T2M until he tapped, then smashed his face into the cake. This was a fun segment - short and sweet. There could only be one ending and they found a clever way to get there.
(4) Vary Morales defeated Stitch Sypher in 10:40. The heel luchadore cut a quickie promo that was a mix of English and Español. It didn’t get as much heat as his arrogant attitude and body language. They did a lot of cool flying moves. However, the chemistry wasn't particularly good and the match seemed directionless at times. Morales shoved referee Mason to crotch Stitch then hit a springboard enzuigiri, knocking him to the floor. Morales suplexed Stitch on the floor then hit a top rope splash to floor. That was nuts. Morales rolled Stitch into the ring and pinned him. Interesting to see PWA bring some lucha libre influence into the mix.
(5) Backbone (Drew Adler & PWA Tag Team Championship Michael Stevens & Zac Edwards) and Team PWA (NWA No Limits Champion Kevin Blue & Shane Noles & Nigel Sherrod with Wicked Nemesis) went to a no contest in a Carrrollton Streetfight (25:35). Wicked Nemesis said Team PWA's ring was outside. Sure enough, the match started in the parking lot with trash barrels, fence shots and the like. Adler got nailed in the back of the head with a flying trash barrel. No way he knew it was coming. That must have sucked. Back inside the ring, cookie sheets and chairs were the weapons of choice. The Besties ran Wicked into the wall and he was done. Blue gave Stevens a uranage onto a chair. Edwards broke up the pin with a cookie sheet to Blue's head. Stevens drove a chair into Blue's face with a spinning heel kick. Blue took Backbone down one by one with palm strikes. Backbone beat the hell out of Noles, who was bleeding heavily. Adler and Stevens got a ladder and used it to drive Noles into a wall. The corrugated metal walls at the Fairgrounds are tailor made for a streefight. The sound effects are tremendous.Noles did a crazy ass dive off the top of a wall.
Noles propped a table up a corner of the ring. That did not end well for him, as Adler speared Noles through the table. Backbone handcuffed Blue and Sherrod to the ropes.They doused Noles with lighter fluid. Wicked tried to make the save with a kendo stick. He was wearing Backbone out until Adler took his head off and they soaked him with lighter fluid as well. Stevens said Noles kept Backbone away from PWA for two years because he was afraid they would outshine his roster. Before the barbecue could get underway, Trending Now (Ace Haven & Charles Zanders) ran in through the garage door. The crowd went ballistic. Trending Now cleared Backbone out of the ring. Backbone ran out the garage door and drove off in a car. This was a whale of brawl that got over great with the crowd. Backbone left with nuclear heat.
Postmatch - a show of unity by the babyface. Noles assured the crowd this wasn't over and there was more to come on April 16.
