From Larry Goodman: Southern Fried Championship Wrestling finds itself in an ironic state of affair s . Former weaknesses ha...
From Larry Goodman:
Southern Fried Championship Wrestling finds itself in an ironic state of affairs.
Former weaknesses have become strengths.
The pacing and flow of last night's show were nothing short of stellar. No stinker matches in the undercard and for that matter, no stinkers at all. Every match and segment tied into the big picture. Two of the top stars (Jagged Edge and Jeremiah) had to be scratched from the advertised card without discernable ill effects on the show.
To my way of thinking, the overall quality of the current SFCW product is better than it has ever been, but the departure of the wildly popular AJ Steele left a hole in the top babyface spot that has yet to be filled. There is no escaping the fact the shows at Nowell Rec Center aren’t drawing nearly as well as in the past. Attendance last night was 130.
“Truth or Consequences” had the nuanced booking of a Peachstate show minus the vociferous Peachstate crowd.
Todd Sexton’s is more linear and less of a mad scientist than Rick Michaels but they have a lot in common when it comes to attending to details and putting talent in positions to succeed.
Sexton is making his mark on a number of fronts. Rave Approved have come from nowhere to become the top heel act. Brock Enterprises is being portrayed as a serious force while still retaining the entertainment value of Drew Blood’s zany comedy. The presentation of some of the undercard talent being revamped. The secondary title has become radically more meaningful. By combining the Cruiserweight Cup and Monroe City title into the Phase One Championship, SFCW rid itself of an excess title and made Phase One a clear path to the heavyweight title. The gimmick is that one successful defense of the Phase One title earns the champion a shot at the SFCW heavyweight title.
(1) Corey Hollis defeated Anthony Henry to earn a shot at the Phase One Championship in 10 minutes. Match quality wasn’t going to be an issue with these guys. Neither being SFCW regulars, they needed to establish their characters to make it work and they did. The crowd got behind Hollis as they escalated the pace and intensity. Hollis used a new finisher – a vertical suplex dropped into a double knee gutbuster. This was a fine way to set the tone because it established the credibility of the wrestling right off the bat and paved the way to suspension of disbelief for everything that followed.
Owner Charles Anschutz announced Rick Michaels as the second inductee into the SFCW Hall of Fame for 2017 (Leatherface was the first) with two more to be named later. Inductions to be made at Shindig IV (reserved seats now available). Anschutz said Odinson was wrestling again despite blurred vision but not at SFCW due to insurance reasons.
(2) “Twisted” Jerry Nelms (with Ace Hefner) defeated Billy Buck in 7:15. Billed as the battle of the superkicks. Buck’s early offense had Twisted stumbling around like a drunk. Twisted superkicked Buck on the outside thanks to distraction by Hefner. Back inside, Buck connected with the superkick and Hefner put Twisted’s foot on the ropes. Each guy kicked out of the other guy’s superkick. Buck went for the figure four but Twisted countered with an inside cradle. Twisted then nailed Buck with three consecutive superkicks for the win. Buck was an excellent choice for the task of elevating Twisted, who appears to be in line for a push. Although he had a lot of outside help along the way, when all was said and done, Twisted beat Buck decisively for the biggest singles win of his career.
(3) Stryknyn defeated Joseph A’gau in 9:17. Stryknyn has switched from a flaming torch to a flaming Freddy Krueger glove for his fireball intro. The product of a sick mind for sure. A;gau refused to shake hands and slapped Stryk’s face. All Stryk until A’gau’s german suplex with Stryk taking a full rotation bump. A’gau yanked on Stryk’s nostrils. A’gau came very close to getting a three count with a dragon suplex. Stryk absorbed A’gau’s best shots and roared back. Stryk hit the leaping leg drop. Like Matt Hardy’s Side Effect, it gets a pop but never wins the match. A’gau grabbed the ropes to block the FFD (Stryk’s version of the F5) and hit a backstabber for a near fall. A’gau tried to end it with another dragon suplex. Stryk had it scouted and hit the F5 to pick up the win. A really good, stiff match that got over well enough with the SFCW fans and would have gone over like gangbusters at AWE. Stryk was kept strong and A’gau showed a robust heel personality in his first SFCW appearance
Stryk put Dr. Brock on notice that Tetchi Mekugi’s SFCW Championship reign was on borrowed time…tick tock…tick tock…tick tock.
Brock hijacked ring announcer Rick Richards’ introduction of the next match, garnering a healthy “nerd” chant. The good doctor said Mekugi was on vacation after his dominant win over Mikael Judas, would dispose of another ex-champion, Drew Adler at the next show and then MAYBE Stryknyn would get a title opportunity.
Drew Blood came to the ring with balloons for the fans in celebration of his delusional America’s Championship victory over Jagged Edge and a wheelbarrow containing a sack of potatoes. It takes special talent to make this kind of over-the-top nonsense entertaining and Blood is a uniquely talented individual. Blood addressed the sack of potatoes like it was Jagged. Blood admitted Jagged had a small claim on the title but the First Official Rule of Wrestling was possession is 9/10 of the law. Therefore, he was 9/10 champion and he would allow Jagged to claim 1/10. Dr. Brock strapped a miniature title belt around the sack of potatoes. Blood put the boots to the potatoes and tossed the sack out of the ring. Blood said the Second Official Rule of Wrestling was the title was in dispute only until the first defense. Leading to…
(4) Drew Blood (with Dr. Joseph Brock) defeated Justin Legend in 4:35. Legend has moved away from the hardcore stuff in favor of injecting more of his MMA training into his offense. It’s a more comfortable fit that helps him stand out as something different on the SFCW roster. Legend had Blood in trouble with a plethora of submissions. Brock jumped up on the apron. Legend released his hold and started to choke Brock out for a big time pop. Blood clubbed Legend from behind. The blow had no effect but Blood caught Legend with a double arm DDT for 1-2-3.
Blood said that according to the second rule of wrestling he was now 100% champion.
That brought Sexton to the ring. Sexton asked the sack of potatoes about making a legitimate title defense on March 4. Sexton said the sack agreed and it would be a ladder match. Blood freaked out because “I don’t do heights”.
It was time for Sexton’s decision on the incident involving Rave and Odinson at the January 18 show. Rave wouldn’t come to the ring without a security escort and his Rave Approved minions (Bobby Moore & Adrian Hawkins). Rave said he was innocent and the furthest thing from a liar. Sexton said he had known Rave for 17 years, known him to suffocate AJ Styles with a trash bag and hit Kurt Angle with a guitar. Rave said not to judge him on his past and that everyone should have an opportunity to be forgiven. Sexton said it was hard to tell from the video if his hitting Odinson (with a spike) was intentional or accidental, and since Odinson had asked that Rave not be suspended, there would be no suspension at this point.
Hollis came to the ring. Rave said Hollis was one of his students and would vouch for him. Hollis said Rave did open the door for him at ROH and did help him become the man he was today BUT (removing Rave’s arm from around his shoulder) he was disgusted and disappointed by the man Rave had become. The thunder cracking led to Hollis demanding a match. Rave said OK if Hollis put up his Phase One contendership. Sexton made it happen.
(5) Jimmy Rave defeated Corey Hollis to become the number one contender for Phase One Championship in 14:21. Rave was repulsive. Just when you thought he couldn’t dig any deeper into his bag of dirty tricks, Rave got out his shovel. Rave eventually slid out of the ring where Hollis bowled him over with a tope suicida. Hollis fired up. Rave feigned a knee injury. Moore ran out and attacked Hollis behind the ref’s back. Hollis dispatched Moore with a fireman’s carry drop. Rave blindsided Hollis with a Shining Wizard but Hollis kicked out. Rave got the Dusk Until Dawn crossface but Hollis made the ropes. While Rave spilled to the floor, Hawkins attacked Hollis only to get killed dead with Hollis' new finisher. Rave tried to blindside Hollis and also got hit with his finisher. Rave rolled to the floor. If Hollis had seen any of Rave’s matches over the last year, he surely would not have fallen for Rave’s possum BS and the smallest package in pro wrestling. Setting that aside, this a solid match with strong heat.
Rave Approved attacked Hollis. Washington Bullets cleared the ring to a big babyface pop. Bullets said "Barney and Adriana" had the SFCW tag titles only because the Bullets weren’t in the tournament.
(6) Rave Approved (Bobby Moore & Adryan Hawkins (with Jimmy Rave) defeated Washington Bullets (Jon & Trey Williams) in 15 minutes. Easily the most heated match of the night. Hawkins is such a dick and Moore’s rabid skinhead persona was working to perfection. Crowd showed Bullets lots of love. Rave Approved isolated Trey like a well-oiled machine. They’re becoming one hell of a heel team. Rave distracted Jon to keep him from tagging. Jon had to hustle to save Trey from being pinned. Trey fought out of the heel corner to get to Jon. He cleaned house hitting Rave with a tope in the process. Hawkins saved Moore from being pinned by a Bullets signature combo and dragged him to the corner so he could make the tag. Hawkins accidentally slugged Moore and was almost pinned after a Bullets double team. In the end, Rave Approved secured the win thanks to Rave’s interference. Hawkins caught Rave with a codebreaker as he came off the top and Moore pinned him with the STO.
Postmatch -- applause for Bullets and major hatred for Rave with chants of “cheater” and “Jimmy sucks”. Rave said Rave Approved still had the tag titles and the fans were looking at the next SFCW Heavyweight Champion. The crowd was ready for more action. Rick Richards had to tell them the show was over.
