Joe Black courtesy of Bigo Smith From Larry Goodman: Cease and Desist: The Musical was an average show heading into the last two...
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| Joe Black courtesy of Bigo Smith |
Cease and Desist: The Musical was an average show heading into the last two matches.
Things change.
Ashton Starr and Effy Gibbs knocked it out of the park in the semi-main -- an inspired idea, brilliantly executed.
Georgia Wrestling Crown Champion Joe Black and Eddie Kingston had a dramatic back and forth war that was everything a title match should be until former champion Chip Day swerved the Hierarchy and spoiled it. The postmatch promos cemented a compelling three-way scenario for Homegrown 18: The Finale on July 29 at Opera Night Club.
Attendance at Opera Night Club was 120 or so. The electricity of the atmosphere peaked at the top of the card, not a given with Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment.
Cease and Desist was, without apology, an adult show. The apologies were reserved for the accidental use of the acronym AWE. Old habits are hard to break.
Things hadn’t exactly gone the right way with Cease and Desist. A late change in the date of the show caused some talent losses. A carload of wrestlers from St. Louis canceled the day of show. This is Blacklist Uno's baby and rebooking was happening last minute.
Josh Wheeler informed former GWC Champion Chip Day that per Commissioner Paul Coldhard no rematch would be forthcoming. Day would have to save his job by being on the winning side in a tag match in which Coldhard named his partner and his opponents, leading to…
(1)The Hierarchy (Blacklist Uno & Adrian Armour) defeated Chip Day & Chris Mayne in 9:55. Hierarchy isolated Mayne for the longest time. Mayne finally made it to his corner only to see Day walk out on him raising the Hierarchy salute. Mayne fought the good fight against the oddes, but was pinned by Armour after a Hierarchy double team.
Uno cut a promo welcoming Day back into the fold. Mayne came for retribution and got his ass kicked and the same was in store for Sugar Dunkerton.
(2) Billy Brash won a six way Stunna Scramble in 6:03 over William Huckaby, CB Suave, Chris Crunk, Deandre Jackson and Random Masked Guy. The intros took more time than the match. Wheeler explained that guys were going to get their shit in to entice fans to “make it rain”. Get their shit in they did with all kinds of crazy ass moves. Huckaby did a tope and a rana which was nuts for a guy with that body. Brash pinned Crunk with a fireman’s carry drop when Suave was a split-second late making the save. Brash collected about 20 dollar bills for his efforts.
(3) “Tragic” Slade Porter defeated Owen Knight in 12:50. Porter has become quite the villain of late as the dirtiest player in the Hierarchy. The tragic one played a role in spoiling the Dunkerton/Su Yung wedding, then inflicted a serious eye injury on the luckless Dunkerton in a match. They would have been better served with a shorter match. Porter went after Knight with a gimmick. Knight got the gimmick but referee Stan Robinson took it away and Porter rolled Knight up using the tights. Robinson’s ring positioning was such that he should have seen the cheating. Hmm.
(4) ROAR match: Marti Belle defeated Kiera Hogan and Savannah Evans in 8:12. Easy pick for best match of the first half thanks to the story. Wheeler made it perfectly clear there were NO GOD DAMN RULES in ROAR. Belle was tremendous as Marti the Manipulator, pitting her opponents against each other while she stood back from the fray. It was a homecoming for Hogan and she was welcomed back with open arms. The polish in her game was evident. Evans has the physical tools. She’s on the cusp of becoming a force to be reckoned with. Everyone had a legit chance to win. In the end, Hogan laid Evans out with a swinging fisherman’s suplex and Marti stole the pin.
(5) Matt Sells & Sylar Cross & Lamar Diggs defeated three students from Bubba & Devon’s 3D Academy in 9:55. Perverse entertainment as only AWE can present it. I hope the students didn’t pay full tuition because they’ll never make their money back. One guy was trying to shape up his fat partner, who had a penchant for Twinkies. A bucket of Twinkies go tossed into the crowd to prevent the fat guy from eating all of them. The third member of their team was their Jewish accountant named Mendelson. He had a Yamika sewed onto his mask. Sells cut a politically incorrect promo on them. Sells and his partners then beat the living hell out of Mendelson. Guy was limping around after the match. If Mendelson was selling, he did a great job.
Montana Black confronted Cross after the match. They had another bull of the woods contest won by Black. Diggs also tried Black and got his ass handed to him. Montana said this was his ring. Nobody was about to argue with him.
Suave called out Rock 100.5 DJs Jason Bailey and Southside Steve . This may lead to something at the Season 4 Finale on July 29. It would not be Bailey’s first rodeo with AWE.
(6) Jaden Newman defeated Alan Angels in 6:10. They had a good match. Muted crowd reaction because the crowd didn’t know Angels and probably weren’t expecting much. Newman’slingshot flatliner from the apron is a keeper. He pinned Angels with an nasty forearm to the base of the skull to pick up his second singles win in AWE.
Amy Rose interviewed Ashton Starr. This was money. Starr staked his claim to a position of prominence in AWE. He talked about how Hogan, Belle and a certain person (initials PK) would not exist if not for him. He’d had enough of the petty BS. Rose had a surprise…
Effy entered to “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road “. It was one of the things I will most remember about this show.
(7) Effy (with Amy Rose) defeated Ashton Starr in 9:35. They had one hell of a match. It was all out war -- stiffer and crisper than anything thus far. Effy missed a swanton to the ring frame to set the tone. Starr speared Effy and applied the Sharpshooter. His axe kick missed and Effy was on the attack with the crowd chanting his name. He went to a sub of which Adrian Street would have approved. Starr brought Effy off the top with a rana that popped the crowd. The finish saw Effy hit a climbing overhead suplex and kick Starr in the face for 1-2-3. The story was a natural. It was the wrestling that took it to another level.
(8) Eddie Kingston defeated GWC Champion Joe Black via DQ in 20:55. Wheeler introed Black as the crown jewel of the Hierarchy in Jimmy Rave’s absence. Black beat Kingston in Cornelia on April 29 with the “Bleeding Edge” Lariat to become the number one contender before defeating Day at the Southern Fried Game Expo on June 9. I didn’t realize how good Kingston has become. He changes speeds with the best of them and sold like mad. Kingston wanted infamous fan Corey Nachamkin out for verbal abuse. Can’t blame him. Black destroyed Kingston’s back. He choked Kingston with his do rag and tied him in knots. I couldn’t see what happened on the floor but both men barely beat the 10 count. Dueling chants. Kingstson fired up. Black cut him off and added to the agony with a hanging lungblower for a near fall. We got dueling chants with both men in state of complete exhaustion. They traded ridiculous slaps. Black had scored a very near fall with a lariat when Day entered and clocked him with the title for the DQ. If the crowd had been sitting, they would have been on the edge of their seats. Black and Kingston captured the feeling something vital was on the line.
Whatever happens from here, this match did the Georgia Wrestling Crown proud. Black deserves to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors - Rave, Martin Stone and Day.
Day laid Black out with the Northern Lights Bomb and left with the title.
Kingston said Day was a lying, lowlife, POS, c***s*****. He had just been at a wedding with Day, having drinks live everything was cool Kingston proposed a three-way dance for July 29 so he and Black could take care of Day and then settle things between them. Kingston said he nothing to lose -- no future, no wife or kids and if he went to jail at least he would get a bed and food. Kingston put Black over huge as a true world champion.
Black cut the promo his life to close the show -- straight from the soul, sitting on the mat. Said for an eloquent speaker he didn’t talk much. Well, Black had plenty to say here. Black said he was among the elite cruiserweights. He had gone 30 minutes with Adam Cole when he was ROH Champion and beaten Kingston and Jimmy Jacobs in AWE. Like Kingston, he had sacrificed and had little to live for. Black wasn’t buying Day not being 100% He hadn’t been 100% since 2008 and intended to eviscerate Day on July 29.
