Photo courtesy of Tanja Matthews From Larry Goodman: Simon Sermon and Tommy Too Much reunited as a team for the first time in t...
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| Photo courtesy of Tanja Matthews |
From Larry Goodman:
Simon Sermon and Tommy Too Much reunited as a team for the first time in three and half years and emerged victorious in the main event over The Alliance (CB Suave & Romeo).
The show was, on the whole, a mixed blessing. Strong performances were turned in by Ace Haven, Shane Noles and all four competitors in a thoroughly entertaining main event.
The narratives were either in holding patterns or moving in questionable directions. The devil is in the details and the details were sorely lacking in the dark angle that closed the show.
Two title matches failed to materialize as advertised. Ike Cross wasn’t there to challenge Kevin Blue for the Heritage title. Blue went on to defeat substitute challenger David Ali. The No Limits Championship match was scratched altogether due to AC Mack’s absence. The match that took place instead was the pleasant surprise of the night.
Matchmaker Rick Michaels and Commissioner Triston Michaels were also conspicuous by their absence. Rick’s absence indirectly figured into the main event as he wasn't there to help his friends at their moment of greatest need.
Attendance at the Villa Rica Civic Center was 190.for PWA’s final show at the interim venue. Peachstate return to their old stomping ground at the VFW Fairgrounds in Carrollton on February 17.
(1) Fry Daddy defeated Gil Quest in 10:16. It started out a cleanly wrestled athletic contest. Quest asked Fry to ease up when he couldn’t handle his offense. Fry was looking for a lucha arm drag but Quest gutted him on the top rope. Quest hit a suplex off the ropes and worked Fry over. Fry got back on top and went for his Cutline finisher. Quest countered with a lungblower. Disbelief ensued when Fry kicked out. Finish saw Quest fight off a superplex and take flight but Fry caught him with the Cutline in midair.
Fry was as over as ever with the Peachstate crowd and Quest did a good job of turning the crowd against him. The match felt like a struggle though, and not in a good way, like neither of them was really on their game.
Shane Noles came out, sporting a raffish black beret. Noles gave “Mr. Haven” the news that Commissioner Triston wasn’t there and took Mack with him. Per Triston, Ace had the night off OR he could wrestle. Ace chose to wrestle. Noles directed Ace’s attention to the curtain for his new opponent….and jumped him from behind.
(2) Shane Noles defeated Ace Haven (with Amy Haven) in 8:32. Noles slammed Ace on the floor. The crowd got behind Ace big time. Noles temporarily staved off Ace’s comeback and stayed on the attack. The action spilled to the outside. Ace hit a shotgun dropkick off the apron. The bump on the floor did not sound like fun. Ace chopped the hell out of Noles and took another big bump on a shoulder tackle. Noles used the Lawler fistdrop for one near fall and an atomic drop into a back suplex for another with a totally nonchalant cover. Ace clocked Noles in the jaw and nipped up. Ace got a close near fall with a springboard roundhouse kick before Noles hit a piledriver for the win. These guys really clicked. Great fire and heart from Ace. Noles has reinvented himself as heel with stellar results. I never expected it to be my favorite match of the night but it was.
(3) Beautiful Bald Besties (NXT star Michael Stevens & Zac Edwards) defeated Hate Club (Stunt Marshall & Cameron Jackson) to retain the PWA Tag Team Championship and their ridiculous silver hats in 8:51. Besties were without their titles so they borrowed a set of belts from a kid in the crowd and promised to Fed Ex the real titles to Hate Club if they won. Shit happens in indy wrestling. Besties put their new hats on the line to sweeten the pot. Besties combo moves on parade in the early going. Marshall took a great bump on a shot into the buckles. Hate Club got heat on Stevens, who smacked Jackson with his hat but wound up on the bad end of Marshall’s slingshot senton. A Hate Club snafu led to the hot tag. Edwards hit a double tope suicida. A no-tag switch by the Besties went undetected by the usually eagle-eyed Darryl Hall and Stevens pinned Jackson. All bald guys in spandex look alike I guess. The match was fine with the zany, give no f###s attitude of the Besties being the most interesting thing about it.
PWA Heritage Champion Blue broke the bad news about Cross Since the fans were being deprived of the main event, Blue offered photo ops with the champ for 50 bucks. When there were no takers, Blue hiked the price to $75 and then to $100.
Former PWA No Limits Champion David Ali said Kevin might be feeling blue because he didn’t have any completion but that was about to change.
Blue claimed he made the No Limits division, Ali just got lucky to win the title and Mack wiped the floor with him to take the title back. That said, Blue decided to give “Junior” a shot because he was a fighting champion.
(4) Kevin Blue defeated David Ali to retain the PWA Heritage Championship in 15:55. Ali delivered some nasty European uppercuts to Blue’s smart mouth. Blue overcame Ali’s early advantage to do a huge number on his right arm and take away Ali’s ability to use said uppercuts. Selling is one of Ali’s strong suites and he was really on point with it here. Ali tried to finish with a Death Valley Driver but couldn’t really hit it because of the arm. Ali went for a top rope elbow and Blue got his knees up. Ali was in agonizing pain as Blue hit the Air Raid Crash for the pin. Good action and the psychology was superb. Too bad the crowd wasn’t into it at all. They ate it up when Ali came out of nowhere to win the No Limits Championship from Mack, but they clearly didn’t believe lighting would trike twice.
(5) Tyson Dean defeated Sal Rinauro in 17:17. Hailing from the Good Brother dojo, Dean was “too sweeting” the ringside fans and mainly getting cheered on his way to the ring. He had a “too sweet” for Sal as well. It was a hunky dory chain wrestling clinic until Dean suddenly decked Rinauro with a punch. Rinauro was in a daze. Dean ran Rinauro’s head into the post to further scramble his brains. Rinauro rocked Dean with a shot to the jaw, but crashed and burned on a springboard when Dean shook the ropes. Dean pounded Rinauro from the mount. Rinauro freed himself from a submission to stage a comeback. Dean cut Rinauro off and spinebustered the bejeezus out of him. Sal pulled out a nifty arm drag reversal to Dean’s TKO and superkicked him for two. Dean almost had the three count with a. TKO. Dean blocked a superkick, kicked out of Rinauro's front flip pin, blocked another superkick and pinned Rinauro ultra cleanly with the spinning neckbreaker.
Dean checked on Rinauro after pinning him and departed to a mixed reaction. The crowd applauded Rinauro for his effort.
Match was OK enough but left me totally confused about Dean’s character and what the point of this was. Dean came into the match as a heel having aligned himself with Blue, made a babyface entrance, then went heel during the match, then won it like a babyface.
(6) Tommy Too Much & Simon Sermon defeated The Alliance (Romeo & CB Suave) in 15:17. Suave and Romeo joined forces with Noles at the last show to from the Alliance as part of a double turn that also saw Logan Creed turn babyface. Sermon and Too Much made separate entrances. It was a lock the return of Sermon would get a big pop. But how would the fans react to Too Much? He got a huge pop as well. Sermon and Tommy played grab ass with Romeo and got him all upset. Sermons’ crotch grab was the icing on the cake. Sermon did the gayest trip spot in wresting history. Tommy took a look at Suave’s abs and Simon’s big belly and swerved Suave into believing he preferred him as a partner. Tommy and Sermon played ping pong with Suave’s face. It was all great fun that had the crowd hooting and hollering. Sermon took the heat. Morton roll for the hot tag. Alliance had Tommy pinned after a double flapjack. Sermon grabbed referee Mason Pike to stop the count. Pike got mixed up in the middle of a fight between Suave and Sermon. Meanwhile, Too Much gave Romeo a low blow and pinned him with both feet on the top rope for extra leverage. Wrestling be damned. This was entertainment.
Things got deadly serious after the match. Noles did a run in. The Alliance beat Simon and Tommy down using Romeo’s French flag. Romeo gave Sermon a snapmare driver onto a chair. Noles put a plastic bag over Sermon’s head and wouldn’t let up until Sermon was out cold.
The postmatch was a play of the 2014 angle in which Too Much suffocated Noles with a plastic bag but it didn’t pack nearly the same wallop. The bag looked like one of those plastic shopping bags from Kroger. Not what you would use to suffocate somebody.There was no panic. No sense of urgency. The bell wasn’t ringing to sound the alarm. No distressed PWA personnel frantically rushing to Sermon’s aid after the Alliance departed. It was the fans that were yelling for help. Sermon and Tommy must have zero friends other than Rick MIchaels because somebody should have come out given how long this went on.
