From Larry Goodman: Platinum Championship Wrestling ran what was supposed to be the go-home show for their annual 4th of July outdoor...
Platinum Championship Wrestling ran what was supposed to be the go-home show for their annual 4th of July outdoor spectacular in conjunction with the city of Porterdale’s Independence Day celebration.
However, the city pulled a switcheroo and moved the celebration to last night. PCW had to roll with the punches and roll they did with two solid hardcore matches, intriguing storyline developments and pretty decent wrestling overall.
Last night’s show was moved outdoors to coincide with the celebration. PCW will run outdoors on the 4th as scheduled with two cage matches on top of the card. There will be no War Games this year because it would have been unnatural in the context of current storyline directions.
Paid attendance was around 60 with a total attendance of 200 at the start of the show. The crowd swelled as the time for the fireworks display drew near.
Rico Rodriguez issued an impromptu challenge that was answered by Tyson Dean.
(1)Tyson Dean defeated Stunt Marshall (with Rico Rodriguez) in 4:30. A tune up match for Dean, who challenges Gunner Miller for the PCW title on July 4. Rodriguez interjected himself into the match early and often to keep Dean at bay. Marshall capitalized on the distraction. Marshall had to pump the brakes to avoid a collision with Rodriguez. Seems like I’ve been seeing that spot on every show lately. Dean then hit the spinning neckbreaker to pick up the win. Short but good. Dean came across as a formidable opponent for Miller.
Matchmaker Matt Hankins officially kicked off the show with the announcement that fireworks or no, PCW would be wrestling in the streets of Porterdale on July 4 with Miller vs. Dean and two cage matches.
(2) Cb Suave defeated Sean Sims in 5:56. There’s nothing remotely babyface about Sims’ look. Sims made Suave pay for cheating on break. Suave kicked Sims’ knee to take big man off his feet and kept him on the canvas. Sims was selling like a dead fish. Suave missed kneedrops with both knees and came up hobbling to set up Sims’ comeback. Suave escaped from a fallaway slam, nailed Sims with a jumping knee strike and finished him off with a jumping DDT. A forgettable match. Suave did what he could with Sims.
Suave called out his partner, Platinum States Champion Gil Quest to inform him they weren’t booked on the July 4 show. Quest said maybe this was the best time to call out Brian Kane or Iceberg and he got….nobody.
(3) Fry Daddy defeated Joey Sparkz in 11:25. Sparkz showed heelish tendencies – sliding out of the ring to stretch, going to the ropes to force a break – but wrestled a squeaky clean match. They opened with chain wrestling and it was good stuff. Fry escaped a slingshot suplex and kicked Sparkz in the knee to ground him. Fry worked the knee. A missed Stinger splash gave Sparkz daylight. Sparkz’ offense was shockingly good, including an exploder suplex, a butterfly suplex and a crossed leg neckbreaker across the knee. A battle on the ropes ensued. Fry hit a missile dropkick and made the full-fledged comeback building to the jumping elbow drop. Sparkz kicked out and went for a cutter. Fry slipped away and hit the Cutline. The quality of the wrestling was a pleasant surprise. Doing a technically-oriented match was a nice contrast on a show with a hardcore bent. This was Fry’s second appearance here. PCW is missing the boat if they don’t push him.
Sparkz raised Fry’s hand. Crowd applauded in appreciation.
(4) Hooligans (Devin & Mason Cutter with Uncle Leo) defeated Hatetriots (Eli Thompson & Jason Hampton) and Brandon Kage & Crash Jaxon and Youngbloodz (Spooney Mack & Octavius Black) in 10:42. The babyfaces (Hooligans and Youngbloodz) cleared the ring early on. In a pot-calling-kettle-black moment, Devin said he wanted the funny looking guy (Kage). Devin busted out the tomahawk chops. Hooligans double team work was stellar as usual. Their timing is so spot on. Youngbloodz also looked good. Mack’s aerial work was really crisp. Best I’ve seen from him. Black’s house cleaning with the hot tag was strong. Match broke down with each of the teams hitting big combo moves leading to pin attempts and saves. Hooligans finally hit a stunner/bulldog off the ropes combo on Kage and he was pinned by Mason. I liked this match a lot. Everyone got a chance to shine. It gelled really well for a match with so many moving parts.
(5) Brian Blaze defeated Johnny Danger (with Quasi Mandisco) in a Last Man Standing Match at 12:39 in the final match of Danger’s career. Blaze gave Geter one last chance to take Danger’s spot because he didn’t want to cripple a guy that was already crippled. Danger came out to a huge pop, carting a trash can of plunder and with his father at his side. Danger gave Blaze the El Kabong with a cookie sheet to jump start the match. Blaze immediately kicked Danger in his bad knee. Danger was in instant agony. Danger wacked Blaze with a kendo stick. Blaze used the kendo stick on Danger’s knee and locked in a short knee scissors around the stick. Danger blasted Blaze with a trash can lid. Danger applied kitchen tongs to Blaze’s private parts. Referee Darryl Hall could not keep a straight face. Danger put Blaze inside the trash can and dropped an elbow on it from the apron. Back inside, Blaze was about to Pillmanize Danger’s knee when Danger blinded him with the blue mist. Danger gave Blaze a DDT onto the chair. Blaze was up at the count of 7. Danger dumped a bag of tacks onto the canvas and superkicked Blaze into the tacks. No real damage done because Blaze was wearing a shirt. Blaze powerbombed Danger into the tacks. Danger’s back looked like pin cushion. Danger was up at 8….and went right back down after Blaze nailed him with a chair shot that was about as safe as a chair shot the head can be. Danger barely beat the count. Blaze hit The Burn onto a chair with tacks on top of it. Danger got one arm on the ropes but he was done. Danger went out in fine hardcore form in this gritty, ugly, brutal match.
Blaze wasn’t done. He attacked Danger with the chair until Geter made the save. Blaze wanted to fight Geter on the spot. Crowd was urging Geter on but he refused to lay a hand on his former partner. It is going to be a big match when it happens.
Danger’s father, wife and child came into the ring to console him on the end of his career as the crowd chanted “thank you, Johnny”. Danger has knee surgery coming up.
The intermission was kept short as the weather looked threatening.
Nina Monet said nobody was there to face her but she would have an opponent on July 4 in the form of Brooklynn Creed.
Dominic Stuckey came to the ring. He said Quest had a problem calling out people that weren’t there and challenged him to a match. Quest said he was going to teach the kid respect. Leading to…
(6) Gil Quest defeated Dominic Stuckey at 9:47 to retain the Platinum States Championship in a respect match. Quest set two chairs up in the ring. They slapped each other silly until Quest had enough and kicked Stuckey. Quest trapped Stuckey under his chair and pounded his face. Stuckey gave Quest a hangman neckbreaker. Quest begged off. Stuckey applied a crossface but Quest refused to say the words. A slugfest ensued. The action spilled to the outside where Stuckey accidentally knocked Quest’s girlfriend out of her chair, injuring her ankle. Quest blew off the match and helped his girlfriend to the back. Stuckey said it was his fault. “I respect you. This match is over.”
Quest returned. He heard what Stuckey said and he respected him for it. “I know you love this and have heart, and I respect that.” Quest offered to shake hands. Stuckey accepted. I kept waiting for Quest to sucker punch Stuckey but it never happened.
This was a pretty awesome Plan B (due to Iceberg’s medical condition). The spot with Quest’s girlfriend looked realistic. I surely didn’t see a Quest turn in the cards or that it would work this well. Stuckey is very green but it is impossible not to like him so if Quest respects him, he can’t be all bad.
Jonathan Malik said Geter would have to deal with “your rogue enigmatic champion ERC (Eric Jones)” in a steel cage on July 4.
(7) Bill the Butcher defeated Brad Cash in a no DQ match at 9:09. Big pop for Butcher. Cash had a staple gun, a razor wire bat and bag of assorted hardcore goodies. The action quickly moved to the brick wall of the building. Butcher’s head hit the wall with a sick thud. Cash was bleeding hardway from the forehead. Butcher used his chain to block Cash’s bat shot. Cash got the chain and wrapped it around Butcher’s throat. Butcher grabbed a bottle of Stoli off the bar and spit vodka into Cash’s face, then hit him with the bottle. Cash stapled Butcher’s groin. Butcher stuck a gusset plate into Cash’s arm. A stream of blood flowed down Cash’s arm. Cash torched his elbow pad and delivered a flaming lariat. Butcher didn’t sell it. Cash scored a series of near falls with wrestling moves. Cash kicked the razor wire bat into Butcher’s chest but could not keep his shoulders on the mat. Carpenter’s minions jumped Butcher. Carpenter entered the ring with his baseball bat. Instead of doing a number on Butcher, Carpenter used the bat to clear all of his minions out of the ring. Butcher then kicked Cash in the face and pinned him. If hardcore is your cup of tea, PCW went two for two on this show.
Carpenter explained that everyone has a brother or sister they don’t get along with. They might fight like cats and dogs but they are kin in the end. Carpenter said Butcher beat him within an inch of his life but they were still family. He would have Butcher’s back when Butcher went for the number one contendership on July 4 (in the cage vs. Tank). They shook hands. Me thinks me smells a rat. We shall see on the 4th of July.
