From Larry Goodman: In one of the greatest main events in SFCW history, Phase One Champion Jacob Ashworth forced Jagged Edge to su...
From Larry Goodman:
In one of the greatest main events in SFCW history, Phase One Champion Jacob Ashworth forced Jagged Edge to surrender in the I Quit Match at Never Surrender. For drama and sustained, intense crowd reactions, this match took me back. Way back. This was Southern Rasslin' at its finest. The heat was right up there with the stuff involving Jagged and AJ Steele in 2015. The violence was at another level entirely. SFCW fans will be talking about this match as long as SFCW is around.
Ashworth is the man in SFCW and his being booked as such. The hero of Redneck Nation bled, and suffered and overcame insurmountable odds to emerge victorious. Steele is the only other babyface in SFCW history worth mentioning in the same breath.
Jagged Edge came into the match with multiple injuries. I won't delve into the details but he had no business being inside a wrestling ring last night and turned in the gutsiest of performances. Ashworth did a phenomenal job under any circumstances and booker Todd Sexton structured things to work around Jagged's limitations, but it was still nuts for him to go through with it.
The mood in the crowd at the conclusion of the show was a 180 degree turn from two weeks ago when Billy Buck lost the SFCW Championship to Corey Hollis.
Hollis retained the title in a three-way over Buck and Stryk Nyn and he won't be back until Shindig VI in June. Hollis claimed his contract with SFCW is up after that show and he's leaving with the title.
That leaves Ashworth in the unenviable position of defending the Phase One title against all comers until Shindig in order to get his shot at Hollis. First up, will be former SFCW Champion Adrian Hawkins, who left Ashworth a bloody mess on his way to the ring for the I Quit.
Main event aside, SFCW put on an overall great show at Never Surrender. The JB Enterprises feud with Master and Machine took a fiery turn. Kelly Sexton debuted with the Approved. God only knows what that will lead to. Thicker Than Blood took another step up the heel ladder. Likewise Will Kaution on the babyface side.
Attendance at the Boys and Girls Club was 300+. That being the case, and my count says it was, the 250 paid for the March 2 show had to be a lowball number.
The Approved (Adrian Hawkins, Bobby Moore and Kenji Brea) opened the show to the usual profoundly negative reaction. The “Adriana” chant was huge. Hawkins said he deserved a hero’s welcome after what he accomplished. The Approved were back together again and it was time to turn his focus to getting his SFCW Championship back. He was the greatest champion Southern Fried ever had and would be forever. Simple but effective -- Hawkins confidently takes his time and enunciates to make sure the brutal echoes don’t garble his message. Brea had to rub it in that he was the guy that beat Todd Sexton. Moore said the reason he returned to the Approved (and turned his back on Todd) was that Approved was not just a logo, it was a bond, and when Todd tried to come between them, the only bond that was broken was his marriage. Hawkins introduced Kelly Sexton as the fourth member. Kelly didn’t come out voluntarily so Hawkins sent Moore to get her. Kelly was very unhappy camper. She was forced to take off her jacket to reveal an Approved t-shirt.
Alan Angels was introduced as Moore’ opponent. It’s your boi!...and he’s over big time.
(1) Bobby Moore (with Adrian Hawkins & Kenji Brea & Kelly Sexton) defeated Alan Angels in 11:30. Approved had have a talk with Kelly about her crappy attitude. Didn’t help one bit. Kellly’ s interaction ith Approved was quite entertaining. Angels was in control until Brea interfered. Angels fought him off but Moore capitalized. Crowd didn’t waste much time breaking out the “Alan” chant. Angels has an appealing kind of fire about him, and his “It’s your boi!” catch phrase works whether he’s heel or face. When he’s babyface, it’s cute and infuriates the heels, when’s heel, it’s arrogant and infuriates the fans. Moore’s frustration grew to epic proportions as he was unable to put Angels away with his best offense. Angels countered a german suplex and locked in a reverse Boston crab. Brea jumped up on the apron and ate a pump kick from Angels. Moore then rolled Angels up but he kicked out yet again. Angels had Moore pinned after a superkick so Hawkins put Moore’s foot on the ropes. Hawkins grabbed Kelly by the hair. Angels jumped on Hawkins and gave Kelly a hug. However, back inside the ring, Moore was lying in wait with the discus elbow for the 1-2-3. This was a good match technically and quite heated, thanks to the Approved.
Approved beat Angels down after the match. Hawkins said Kelly was going to have to watch as Moore put Angels to sleep. Ashworth made the save and started to console Kelly but Brea pulled her out of the ring.
Thicker Than Blood came to the ring with Queen Maat obnoxiously shooting video with her cell phone. Damien Bennett ordered ring announcer Rick Richards not to even look at him. King Heru said the people like the fans in Monroe had taken enough food off their plates. Answer the challenge and give us our food. Said challenged was answered by Team TAG complete with party poppers.
(2) Thicker Than Blood (Damien Bennett & King Heru with Queen Maat) defeated Team TAG (Kevin Blue & Chris Spectra) in 12:50. Bennett made the ludicrous claim that his buzz cut was being pulled. Heru topped him since he’s got a head like a billiard ball. TAG took Heru to combo city and the crowd was loving it. Thicker Than Blood was eventually able to isolate Blue. Referee Donnie Howell got upended and missed a legal tag by Spectra. The screw up that set up the hot tag was tremendous -- a spectacular miss on a frogsplash attempt by Bennett. TAG got a close near fall on Bennett with an assisted RKO and there was Queen on the apron still shooting video. Spectra snatched the phone out of her hand. The distraction worked. Spectra was pinned by Bennett after a flapjack/cutter combo. Heat aplenty. Team TAG doesn’t mean nearly as much in Monroe as they do in Cornelia, but a win over Georgia’s tag team of the year is still huge.
(3) Mikal Judas (with Corey Hollis) defeated Will Kaution in 8:34. Kaution showed no fear, surprising Judas with a flurry at the bell that had the monster reeling. Judas wouldn’t budge on an Irish whip and leveled Kaution with a short arm clothesline. The beating was on. Judas did a fallaway slam without the fall, just threw Kaution over his head like it was nothing. Judas’ sadistic tendencies were coming to the fore as he worked Kaution over outside the ring. Kaution was in a world of hurt. Judas threated to choke slam Kaution on the timekeeper’s table. Kaution jumped onto the table and stunned Judas with a flying double knee strike, then reentered the ring with a missile dropkick. Kaution put Judas down again with a flatliner and went up top for the flying elbow drop. Hollis got on the apron holding the title. Kaution hesitated long enough for Judas to sit up as he crashed and burned. The finish looked devastating – Judas absolutely crushed Kaution with an avalanche choke slam. Judas is so smart about the choices he makes in a match. Kaution got just enough offense and looked believable. It’s a beautiful thing when a guy can lose and get elevated at the same time. Kaution was attacked by The Approved during a backstage interview after the match.
Hollis said he didn’t have come back to SFCW until Shindig at which point is his contract would be up. After he beat Stryk Nyn tonight and the Phase One Champion in June, he was taking the title with him and dumping it in the trash can. “SFCW will be dead, just like this stupid little town.”
That brought Stryk out to a huge pop. Stryk said it was adorable that Hollis was talking about June and Shindig, but he rearranged Corey’s intestines last time because he was the kind of guy that took what he wanted and fully intended to make the best of his opportunity.
That brought Buck out to an even louder pop. Buck said he had talked to owner David Manders and was invoking his rematch clause so the title match was now a triple threat.
Stryk advised Hollis to enjoy what time he had left with the title – “Tick, tock”. The crowd picked up on it and tick-tocked Hollis all the way to the back.
Prior to their match, JB Enterprises mocked Marcus Kross’ martial arts skills. Drew Blood gave Joseph Brock three tests to become a ninja warrior and receive a Marcus Kross headband. Brock and his chest protector were hilarious. He failed the tests miserably. It was art imitates life -- Brock paid Blood off and Blood gave him a passing grade and award him the ninja warrior headband.
(4) 5 and ½ Man Tag Match: Master & Machine (Marcus Kross & Griff Garrison) & Xander Ramon defeated JB Enterprises (Drew Blood & Brian Kane & Dr. Joseph Brock III) via DQ in 16:21. The fans wanted half man Brock in the ring. All the “nerd” chants in the world weren’t going to get them their wish. Blood took the punishment for heel side. Funny spot saw Blood scream like a girl as his nose was pulled Three Stooges style. Kross was having trouble with his knee, a nod to the job JB Enterprises two weeks ago. Master and Machine hit the Goodman Bomb on Kane but his knee gave out and he was helped to the back. Match was now 2 and ½ vs. 2. JB Enterprises went to work on Garrison’s knee. Garrison exploded out of the corner with a European uppercut on Blood and the tag was made to Ramon. Blood cut him off with a series of three DDTs. Brock made his grand entrance and tried to pin Ramon with one foot. Ramon turned it into an ankle lock on Brock. Blood threw a fireball into Ramon’s face for the DQ. The fireball was a beauty and Ramon unfortunately leaned into it.
Manders and security rushed to ringside to tend to Ramon. Manders was pissed. Blood said his actions were a magical karate trick. Magic or not, Manders suspended Blood for 30 days in a post-show video.
(5) Corey Hollis (with Mikal Judas) defeated Stryk Nyn and Billy Buck in a no DQ three-way dance to retain the SFCW Championship in 14:18. Hollis started bleeding from the nose a bit. The match turned when Stryk went for a dive and got choke slammed on the apron by Judas. That left Buck battling two men and Hollis was able to run him into the post. Hollis took over on Buck and cut off Stryk’s attempts to get back in the ring. Hollis had more mustard on his offense than usual. Perhaps it was the blood. Stryk was on fire when he finally got back into the match. They built to a double submission on Hollis – Buck with the figure four and Styrk with the tourniquet. Judas rang the bell. Confusion momentarily reigned. Buck and Stryk each thought they had won. Referee David Weakley signaled the match was still going. For the finish, Buck superkicked Stryk as Hollis ducked out of the way. Buck then superkicked Hollis, who fell on top of Stryk for the pin as Judas pulled Buck out of the ring. Three ways are tough to pull off and this was a really good one.
Postmatch – Hollis and Judas departed with the crowd booing like crazy. Buck and Stryk shook hands. Pause. Stryk speared Buck and said the title should have been his.
(6) Jacob Ashworth defeated Jagged Edge in an I Quit Match with David Manders as the special referee (12:07). These are men not boys. Jagged out to “Voodoo Child”. Fans on their feet with the loudest entrance pop of the night for Ashworth. The Approved attack Ashworth in the aisle and Hawkins busts his head open with the Phase One Trophy. The heat is insane. As Ashworth crawls towards the ring, Jagges says it’s going to be a long night for Redneck Nation and “Jacob’s got a boo-boo.” The bell rings with Ashworth already in horrible shape but he’s not giving up. The crowd is chanting his name. Jagged has a spike and he’s jabbing it into Ashworth’ forehead. Ashworth won’t quit. The action spills outside the ring. Jagged uses a chair on Ashworth. Jagged dons the loaded glove and blasts Ashworth with it. Manders keeps asking but Ashworth will not give it up. Ashworth rips Jagged’s shirt open and chops hell out of him. Ashworth applies a sleeper on the floor. Jagged is almost out but not quite. Jagged is begging for mercy. This crowd is losing their minds. Back inside, Ashworth with fists of fire. He climbs the ropes and is attacked by Kane and Blood. Kane has a screwdriver and they’re about to use it on Ashworth. With a last gasp surge of energy, Ashworth throws them off. Garrison attacked Blood and Kane but is beaten down. Kross hobbles to the ring and kicks Blood and Kane in their respective nether regions. They bail and Garrison heaves Kross on top of them. Ashworth is about to use the screwdriver on Jagged when Brock clubs him with his shoe. Manders decks Brock for the pop of the night. Jagged tries to drive the spike into Ashworth’s head. Crowd is on their feet screaming at the top of their lungs. Ashworth blocks it and turns the spike towards Jagged. Just as Ashworth is about to drive the spike into Jagged’s head, he quits.
This crowd is in ecstasy. Good night from Monroe.
NOTES: The next show is April 6…Rick Richards revealed “The Man in Black” Chris Nelms as the first inductee for the 2019 SFCW Hall of Fame class.
