Photos courtesy of Rob Brodhecker From Larry Goodman: Peachstate Wrestling Alliance celebrated their 8th anniversary with their ...
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| Photos courtesy of Rob Brodhecker |
From Larry Goodman:
Peachstate Wrestling Alliance celebrated their 8th anniversary with their best show of 2016, and one of the best wrestling shows in Georgia this year.
“Stranglehold” was three and a half hours of epic narrative in front of an unbelievably hot crowd capped off by a two ring Survivor Games that may have been the best cage match in PWA history.
But it wasn’t about five star matches. The PWA roster is a true ensemble. Individual egos are set aside for the good of the whole. Talent not on board with that concept wear out their welcome in a hurry.
It was about telling stories that provoked a range of emotions, manipulative in the finest sense of the word. Rick Michaels is a master of keeping fans off balance with his booking. Just when you think you have a story pegged, it takes on a different twist.
Rarely have I seen a crowd stay so hot for so long. For old school heat, the fans in Carrollton cannot be beat.
What separated “Stranglehold” from a lot of other long wrestling shows was the way it was paced and how carefully it was constructed. The momentum never flagged and built to a crescendo at the end.
What separated “Stranglehold” from a lot of other long wrestling shows was the way it was paced and how carefully it was constructed. The momentum never flagged and built to a crescendo at the end.
Official attendance at Central Elementary was 289.
New PWA Heritage Champion Tommy Too Much was accompanied to the ring by Advisor to Georgia Athletic Commission Bill Behrens and referee Triston Michaels. The heat was amazing and it never let up during the entire segment. Behrens said he was overwhelmed by the thunderous ovation and proceeded to put his spin on what went down at the last show. When Jimmy Rave missed the PWA Title Tournament finale due to an upset tummy, Behrens gave Sal Rinauro the rare opportunity to become one of the great ones and he blew it. Behrens said he could not be more proud of Michaels for stepping up when the ref got hurt. Behrens said Michaels correctly ruled that Rinauro was knocked out (leaving out the fact that Behrens was one that knocked him out) and thanked God that the honorable T2M saved him from Rinauro’s unwarranted assault. Behrens said the poster for tonight’s show was false advertisement because T2M never agreed to a title match against AJ Steele.
Steele came out to an absolutely massive “AJ” chant. The heels cowered in the ring. T2M admitted their past problems were mostly his fault, but he had something better than a title shot for Steele – a spot in his faction. He needed a beast and AJ would get more women, cars and money. The crowd chanted “NO! NO! NO!”
Steele thought about it and grabbed T2M’s hand. Behrens started to dance, only to turn around to find T2M on his knees with Steele crushing his hand. He had a contract for the match and T2M was going to sign it. Behrens was shaking like a leaf as he held the contract. The crowd did the “YES!” chant. T2M signed. As Steele was on his way out, he informed T2M that he should have read the contract because the title match would be inside the steel cage.
What a way to start the show. The heat was amazing. All involved played their parts brilliantly. The heel authority figure is a tired plot device for sure, but Behrens is so awesome in the role that it brings fresh life to the character.
(1) Former PWA Heritage Champion “Reflection of Perfection” Tyson Dean defeated CB Suave in 7:45. Suave was not faring well in a fair fight so he slapped Dean’s face. When referee Mason stepped into block Dean’s payback punch, Suave raked his eyes. Dean caused Suave to miss a series of moves and came back with a powerslam. Suave retreated to the floor with Dean in hot pursuit. Suave posted Dean and hustled back into the ring and Dean was counted out. Suave boasted that he could have pinned Dean any time he wanted. Mason restarted the match and Dean immediately hit the spinning neckbreaker to score the pinfall. It was the first time Dean and Suave had wrestled. A totally solid opener.
(2) Former PWA No Limits Champion P-Dogg defeated Ryan Vega in 8:32. P-Dogg has a surly attitude and having Vega interrupt his pre-match rap did nothing to improve his mood. Vega worked on P-Dogg’s arm. P-Dogg in turn posted Vega’s shoulder and attacked the vulnerable body part. Nice stuff from P-Dogg here. Vega tried to go up top. P-Dogg crotched him, dumped him to the mat and hit the Alabama Jam covering ¾ of the ring in the air. It was the only match with concentrated work on body parts so it wasn’t like the rest. Vega is better suited to being a heel but the crowd got behind him just the same because there’s no love lost for P-Dogg.
(3) B-What defeated “Total Protection” Mr. Hughes via DQ in 5 minutes. B-What earned the match by being the best student at Hughes’ afternoon seminar. He is a greenhorn from Pro South with decent size. Couldn’t get a good read on his athletic ability from this. He needs facial expressions and an injection confidence. Hughes promised to beat the black off him. In the midst of B-What’s comeback, Hughes clocked him with a chain for the DQ. B-What didn’t sell it worth a flip and went back to the dressing room ahead of Hughes.
(4) Simon Sermon defeated “The Project” Dustin Bozworth in 4:29. Bozworth is a body guy. The PWA fans like him. He probably has the best deltoids of any wrestler in Georgia but he looks mechanical in the ring and reminds me of Lex Luger in that way. Sermon shoved referee Terry Hudgins and took a bump when Hudgins shoved him back for the best comedy spot of the night. Sermon was worse for wear after absorbing a high impact barrage but managed to counter Bozworth’s finisher with a roll up using the tights. What it lacked as a wrestling match, Sermon made up for with entertainment value.
Trending Now (Ace Haven & Zanders) came to the ring. Haven said his mind was ready for Survivor Games but his body was not. His shoulder was taped up from an injury suffered during the Hughes seminar. Haven promised a replacement was on the way from the SFCW show in Monroe and the fans would not be disappointed.
(5) Kyle Matthews defeated former PWA Heritage Champion Jimmy Rave in 9:47. Rave remains the fans favorite in Carrollton. He accepted Kyle’s handshake and they had the excellent back and forth wrestling one would expect with Matthews using the rougher tactics. After Rave hit his superplex, Behrens came to ringside obviously hiding something under his jacket. Behrens nailed Rave with a brass knucks and Matthews covered for the win. A Matthews heel turn would be top of the list for things I least expected to happen on this show.
Behrens said Rave had promised to bring Matthews around the world, but Rave wanted a sycophant (“it’s a big word, learn it”) and for Matthews to be his young boy and all he did was use him. Behrens said Matthews was the real superstar and Rave would never hold him down again. “He is chosen to be great, and I will make him great, and you will remain the useless piece of trash you’ve always been.”
(6) Steel Cage Match #1: Merica Strong defeated Pandora in 6:40 with an assist from referee Triston Michaels. Jason Boyd announced the winner would be the first women to escape the cage and get both feet on the floor. Pandora administered some punishment and tried to climb out. Strong rammed Pandora’s head into the top rail of the cage. Both dropped to the mat selling. Strong applied a bearhug and rammed Pandora’s back into the support posts of the cage. Strong went for the door. Pandora jumped on her back with a sleeper. Strong broke the hold and got Pandora in the torture rack. Pandora managed to grab the cage and climb onto the turnbuckle for a flying body press. Pandora bulldogged Strong, hit a side Russian leg sweep and headed for the door. Referee Triston Michaels wouldn’t open it. Pandora tried to force it open and Michaels slammed the door into her face. Strong crawled out of the cage. Pandora had her by the leg and Strong only had one foot on the floor when Michaels called for the bell. Not great but way better than it had any right to be, given Strong has been in only a handful of matches and never one inside a cage.
(7) Steel Cage Match #2: Tommy Too Much defeated AJ Steele via DQ in 12:12 to retain the PWA Heritage Championship. Behrens lured referee Terry Hudgins out of the cage to check T2M and switched Michaels in as the referee, under the guise of being concerned about an older person’s health. T2M proceeded with caution. He hit a flying clothesline and scrambled up the cage but Steele caught him by the tights for a full moon over Carrollton. Steele slammed T2M off the top. Steele gave T2M a beating with the crowd chanting his name. Michaels made a slow count and Steele got up in his face. Steele repeatedly sent T2M face first into the cage. T2M’s face was covered in blood. T2M escaped a back suplex and dropkicked Steele. T2M focused his attack on Steele’s nutsack. T2M’s diving top rope headbutt connected. Michaels tried to fast count Steele but he kicked out. Steele planted T2M with the Steele City Bomb and was going for a second when Matthews hit the ring and jumped on his back. Steele shrugged him off. Matthews kicked him in the nuts. Rave came out to rescue Steele. The building was on fire. Behrens came out with the debuting Logan Creed, who leveled Steele with a clothesline and destroyed Rave with a chokebreaker. Dean tried to make a save and Michaels decided it was time for a DQ. Creed decimated Dean to add the carnage. A good match that told a great story. There were a mess of moving parts that meshed beautifully.
Postmatch, Behrens, T2M, Creed, Matthews and Michaels had a sick little celebration over the stacked up bodies of Steele, Rave and Dean. The crowd was irate. “There is no business like show business and business is good…You’re a beautiful audience. You really are,” said Behrens.
(8) Survivor Games: Team PWA (Sal Rinauro & Kevin Blue & Zanders & Nigel Sherrod & Shane Noles with Wicked Nemesis) defeated Team Backbone (Drew Adler & Michael Stevens & Zac Edwards & Scott Aries & Andrew Aries) in 48 minutes. Modified War Games rules: Two rings but only one cage, all five team members had to be eliminated and eliminations could occur only in the caged ring. Noles and Stevens battled on even terms for the first five minutes. It was fine. Noles has dropped weight and gotten in great shape. He comes across as a credible pro wrestler now instead of a promoter trying to be a wrestler. The heels won the coin flip. Could it be any other way? Edwards entered and Besties beat on Noles. Rinauro entered next. Noles was wary of him. He won Noles over, cleaning house on the Besties with a vengeance. Noles joined Rinauro for tandem moves on the Besties and a “PWA” chant from the crowd. Andrew was next. He looked more vicious and less green that the last time I saw him in PWA. The Besties dragged Shane into the caged ring. Blue was next. Edward tried to block Blue from entering the cage to help Noles. Blue was not to be denied and blasted the Besties with palm strikes. With all six men in the cage, the babyfaces locked in figure four leglocks in triplicate. Adler and his new skunk hairstyle broke that up, taking the heat to another level. The heels dominated. Zanders entered with a leaping dive off the top of cage for one of the biggest pops of the match. Scott Aries made it five on four. Sherrod was to enter as Ace’s replacement. He immediately turned with a low blow on Shane and slammed the cage door on Ace’s bad shoulder. Things looked grim for Team PWA. However, Blue was able to pin Sherrod after he got nailed by Wicked. The Besties ran Wicked into the cage to take him out. Scott tapped out to Noles’ surfboard submission to even up the sides. Rinauro crashed and burned on a dive. Team Backbone capitalized as Besties eliminated Zanders with their finisher. Blue caught fire, pinning Andrew with the Air Raid Crash. It was down to Backbone vs. Rinauro, Noles and Blue. A six-way slugfest ensued. The obligatory tower of doom spot got broken up. Blue hit a Side Effect off the top rope on Edwards. It was worthy of a holy shit chant, but they don t do that in Carrollton. Adler swooped in to pin Blue. Backbone blitzed Noles with a triple-team combo and he was pinned by Edwards. That left Rinauro against all three members of Backbone. Rinauro waded in. He survived a triple team combo and managed to pin Edwards with a reversal. Adler and Stevens doubled up on Rinauro but could not put him away. Stevens climbed near the top of the cage in an attempt to end it with a moonsault. It missed and Rinauro pinned Stevens with a flatliner. Rinauro and Adler traded shots on rubber legs. They took the crowd on a roller coaster ride of fantastic false finishes. Finally, Rinauro hit a top rope rana. The momentum sent Adler’s head into the cage and Rinauro hit the flatliner for a pop that blew the roof off.
No comparison to last year’s Survivor Games. This match blew that one away. They were really pushing it asking fans to buy into Rinauro beating three guys at the end but it worked. The final minutes with Rinauro and Adler was some incredible drama. The role reversal of the Chosen Two (Rinauro & Sherrod) played out as a deft piece of storytelling.
Postmatch – Noles said there wasn’t much he got emotional about. Wrestling was one thing and friendships was another. Team PWA had gone through hell but they won. The crowd chanted “PWA” and “Thank you, Sal”. Noles said Rinauro was on that first PWA card in Bremen in 2008 and the first PWA No Limits Champion. He was the backbone of the company and deserved a shot at the Heritage Championship.
Rinauro said he had gotten along with Noles for about 18 days out of those eight years. Rinauro said he was not the backbone of the company. Yhat honor belonged to the PWA fans.
