From Larry Goodman: “Sometimes fairy tales don’t come true.” -PCW booker Matt Hankins Some did and most definitely did no...
“Sometimes fairy tales don’t come true.”
-PCW booker Matt Hankins
Some did and most definitely did not at Sacred Ground: Chapter 8, Platinum Championship Wrestling’s quintessential event of the year.
The dream come true was Bill the Butcher defeating Gunner Miller to end his one-year reign and hand Miller only his third loss of 2017.
With the exception of Sacred Ground 1, the foundation of all of the annual Sacred Ground events has been PCW’s core roster and the compelling nature of their long-arcing stories. That has been increasingly true the past two years with few non-PCW regulars on the card.
It was a gorgeous night for wrestling at the historic Porterdale Memorial Gym, which is an awesome outdoor venue that provides a dramatic backdrop for the proceedings and there was plenty of drama to be had. Attendance was 225, about the same as last year.
Great wrestling was not what Sacred Ground 8 will be remembered for. It was more a matter of the matches being good enough to serve as vehicles for compelling stories.
(1) David Tita won a Platinum Royal in 6:38 to earn a spot in the Platinum States Championship Scramble. The other combatants in order of elimination were Cash Calloway, Alex Smith, Hassan (the former Marko Polo now part of Jonathan Malick’s squad), Iceberg, Velvet Jones, and Carpenter. Jones received a warm response from the PCW fans after a lengthy absence. Hassan was eliminated by Iceberg then pulled Berg out. We were lead to believe that none of the three eagle-eyed refs saw that Berg did not go out over the top as Hassan claimed. Berg and Hassan fought at ringside. Tita was the last man standing. Iceberg, who scored the most eliminations, raised Tita’s hand rather than doing battle in a singles match per Royal rules. As Platinum Royal’s go, this was decidedly uneventful.
Johnny Danger was introduced as the master of ceremonies. Danger was a rock and roll vision in gold and provided live commentary throughout the event.
(2) Much Hate Militia (Stunt Marshall & Cameron Jackson) & Brandon Kage defeated Youngbloodz (Spoony Mack & Octavius Black) & Joey Sparkz in 12:05. A tag team feud that morphed into a six man. The Militia had selected the ever-expanding Kage to complete their trio. Some guys maintain their agility and mobility with extra weight. Kage is not one of them. An early highlight was Black’s suicide plancha on the Militia. The heels were getting murdered and had to regroup before getting heat on Sparkz. Marshall’s running frog splash is a nifty move. Black took the hot tag and did two tremendous moves on Marshall -- a uranage and a torture rack into a Michinoku Driver. Black was also the driving force on a tower of doom spot. The problem was his partner Sparkz was the guy on top of the tower. Marshall caused Black to collide with Sparkz, then pinned Black after a leg lariat. Black and Marshall looked great. Match overall was not so great as it did not flow well at all. Black and Sparkz did each other no favors and would seem to be a natural match coming out of this.
(3) Shane Marx (with Jonathan Malick) defeated Tyson Dean in 9:05. Marx pie-faced Dean. A fast and furious trading of blows ensued. The crowd was into Dean. He let Marx have it with a stiff clothesline and a crisp back elbow. Marx cowered in the corner. The momentum took a 180 turn after a hotshot by Marx. The crowd got behind Dean strong. Marx bumped big for Dean’s comeback then cut him off with a belly to belly suplex. Marx might have pinned Dean with a superkick if not for the arrogant cover. Dean sidestepped a second superkick and spinebustered Marx. Malick appeared on the apron. Dean went after him. Marx and Malick narrowly avoided a collision and Dean almost had Marx with an O’Connor roll. Dean went for his finisher. Marx blocked and rolled Dean up with an assist from Malick. The finish was messy. Good match though. A rematch is a no brainer give the way Dean got screwed.
(4) ERC (with Jonathan Malick) defeated champion Gil Quest and Brian Kane and David Tita and Dominic Stuckey and CB Suave in a 20 minute scramble to win the Platinum States Championship. I haven’t seen that much of it, but what I have of Quest’s run with the Platinum States title has been his best work. ERC showed no respect to the other guys before the match. They did a six-way spot. Everyone broke clean except ERC. They did train of pin attempts ending with ERC pinning Kane. Quest then also pinned Kane. A sequence of hot moves left Quest ruling the roost. Quest did a corkscrew plancha. ERC cut off Tita’s dive and hit a tope con hilo. Suave and Stuckey scaled a 10 foot brick wall and dove onto the other four. This did not look as dangerous as it reads. A chain of big moves culminated in ERC pinning Quest with a double knee gutbuster. ERC took off his belt and whipped the living daylights out of everyone else in the match. The other competitors got belts from people in the crowd and whipped ERC’s until he ran to the back to escape. Great stuff that had the crowd in an uproar. Everyone got a chance to shine with big moves and saves galore. They did a five way tower of doom with Kane taking the big bump. Quest and Sauve teamed up for a Shatter Machine on Stuckey. ERC returned with a (title) belt shot on Quest. Suave went to tend to Quest and accidentally pinned him. ERC got full moon roll up on Quest using the tights. As the final minute counted down, ERC demolished one guy after another with belt shots, kicked Suave in the nuts and crawled out of the ring. This was my favorite match of the night. Wonderfully imaginative in the way it was put together. ERC has turned into a despicable character. The people despise him. The match was laid out to do everything possible to put heat on him and it worked.
Hassan and Marx came out to join the obnoxious celebration.
(5) “The HoodWitch” Nina Monet defeated Kikyo in 11:04. The fans took to Monet’s new incense-burning mystical presence. Kikyo made sure they didn’t care for her one bit. The opening sequence left no doubt these were two powerhouse women and neither one was going to give an inch. Advantage Monet. Kikyo tripped Monet into an apron face bump to take control. Big reaction when Kikyo busted her butt trying to sit down on Monet’s sunset flip. Kikyo’s corner spear got nothing but ring post, setting up Monet’s comeback. Monet hit a step up elbow drop and Kikyo grabbed the ropes to avoid being pinned. Simultaneous clotheslines left both women down. Both down again after a wicked stiff exchange of blows. Monet slipped away from Kikyo’s finisher and rolled her up. I liked the match although not as much as the one Kikyo had with Jessica Leigh at PCW last December.
Iceberg was honored for his contributions to PCW and pro wrestling. A highlight video was shown. Hankins and Danger made short tribute speeches. All of the babyfaces were out applauding.
The Washington Bullets entered with a new supply of bling. Jon Williams said Dark City Fight Club was not there and said it was sad Kory Chavis would use the fact that his family was affected by the hurricane as an excuse. There was one man that wanted to face them – Jon Davis.
(6) Jon Davis defeated Washington Bullets (Jon & Trey Williams) in a handicap match in 15:38 to win the PCW Tag Team Season Trophy. Bullets had their hands full with the beast that is Jon Davis. At one point, Jon kicked Davis low and Davis retaliated with a punch in the nuts. This taking place behind the back of referee William Dabbs. Jon then caught Trey with a spinebuster as he came off the top. All three were down and the usually reserved Dabbs exclaimed: “What the hell happened?” Davis kicked out two of the Bullets’ signature combination moves. Jon tried to hit Davis with the bling. Davis planted him with a uranage. Trey connected with the bling shot but Davis kicked out. Trey accidentally clocked Jon with the chain and Davis hit 3 Seconds Around the World to pin Trey.I enjoyed the story of Davis overcoming the odds to singlehandedly win the trophy and avenge the aspersions cast towards his partner. To me, 15 minutes was more than necessary to tell it.
Postmatch - Bullets nailed Davis with the trophy and smashed it to smithereens.
Davis cut a really fine promo. His first impression was that the Bullets were hungry kids that wanted to be the best but somewhere along the line, they became cowards. He and Chavis had been destroying everyone in their path for 10 years. Chavis didn’t want to leave Davis on his own because they were family but couldn’t be there because of the biggest hurricane in history. Davis promised there would be a next time and DCFC would get their revenge and take the Bullets out.
(7) Brian Blaze defeated Geter in 10:31. The match was one year in the making as it was the events at Sacred Ground 7 that sparked Blaze’s turn against his partner. Geter came to the ring dancing with his daughter. Blaze ruined the feel good moment by blasting Blaze from behind with a chair. Blaze missed Geter with another chair shot and hit the post instead. Geter dismantled Blaze for several painful minutes. Geter missed a charge and slammed into turnbuckles.Blaze caught him on the rebound with a release German suplex. Blaze raked the eyes to block a Tower of London and hit flying crossbody off the ropes for a near fall. Blaze tried to end it with the Burn. Geter had it scouted. Geter absorbed everything Blaze could throw at him and hit Fall of Man (Greetings from Asbury Park) but Blaze kicked out of the move put countless opponents away. Referee Nathaniel Spivey accidentally ate a knee from Geter. As Spivey was being hauled to the back, Geter cut off Blaze’s attempt to use a chair and turned the tables on him. Blaze begged for mercy. Geter threw the chair aside and said he was going to kick Blaze’s ass without it. Blaze hit Geter south of the equator followed by a field goal kick to the nuts. Referee Dabbs hit the ring to make the three count. This was potent storytelling and the crowd response was out of the ordinary – quiet but spellbound, on the edge of their seats as the drama unfolded.
Geter took off his t-shirt, laid it down in the ring and exited out the front entrance into the night (as Stephen Platinum had done at Sacred Ground 7).
(8) Bill the Butcher defeated Gunner Miller (with Jeff G. Bailey) to win the PCW Championship in 17:11. Bill’s former partner Jam (retired due to injury) did his ring intro. The pop for Bill was impressive. Carpenter was not at ringside for Bill due to a stipulation of a tag team loss. Bill fed up with Miller’s cocky attitude and gave him a beating. He had Bailey on the run. Miller’s capture suplex into the turnbuckles adjusted Bill’s attitude. Miller put Bill down with one hell of a clothesline. Miller also got a near fall with a release overhead suplex. Bill is no small man to throw around like a sack of potatoes. Miller grounded Bill and cut off his air supply. Bill back with a powerslam. Miller bailed. Miller resorted to a low blow. Way too many of them on this show. Bill popped the crowd with an avalanche belly to belly suplex, It was his best move of the match but Bailey put Miller’s foot over the ropes. Miller hit the CTE but didn’t get all of it and Bill rolled out of the ring. Miller used a slingshot spear, a new move in his arsenal. They collided mid-ring. Bill on the comeback trail but missed the high boot. Miller with a release German but Bill got right up. Miller got a close near fall with the uranage and went for the Jackhammer. Miller couldn’t get it and Bill connected with the big boot to capture the title. A good not great match (some spots clearly did not click) that sent the fans home happy. The pop for the title change was huge.
Bailey tried to leave with title only to be confronted by Carpenter. Carpenter handed the title to the ref and laid Bailey out with a headlock driver. The babyface wrestlers came to ringside and pounded the mat in approval with the crowd on their feet applauding Bill. He’s an unlikely hero but there’s no doubt Bill is way over with the PCW fans.