From Larry Goodman: Episode 150 was culled from the August 24 taping, the first after Hostile Environment, with a clear intent to sh...
From Larry Goodman:
Episode 150 was culled from the August 24 taping, the first after Hostile Environment, with a clear intent to shake things up.
Opening with Undeniable (Matthew Hankins, Shane Marx, Brian Blaze and Will Huckaby who revealed Anarchy Women’s Champion Brooklyn Creed as their new associate. Brooklyn put Crystal Rose six feet under on the mic, leading to Crystal attack, leading to a pull apart brawl.
Thoughts – Brooklyn’s heel turn was 100% percent out of the blue. Brooklyn's return an
Crystal becoming the darling of the Anarchy fans. presented a problem. Either Anarchy had to find credible female heels fast or one of them had to go the dark side. Nobody is going to accuse her of being the best woman wrestler in Georgia but Brooklyn is the best female performer in the state, a heel who relishes being hated like very few do. Hankins paid homage to Jeff G. Bailey with his spin on Undeniable’s loss in the Anarchy Games.
About the production...the broadcast team of John Johnson and Nigel Sherrod make for easy listening. The video is crystal clear, nothing like the stone age quality of NWA Wildside and NWA Anarchy 1.0. Either this was a very quiet crowd or the crowd noise wasn't close to being loud enough in the mix. A problem throughout was the lack of a handheld camera at ringside. The alternate shot to the standard hard cam comes from an awkward angle. The high altitude shot is interesting but the camera is too distant from the ring to use it for long stretches.
(1) GB1C (Wolverton & Tyler Rivera) defeated CT Keys & David Ali. Match was shown in edited form with the story being heels Keys & Ali not being on the same page. Keys was pinned after taking the Ground Zero Curbstomp.
Thoughts – Keys has the least experience and showed far more physical presence and moxie than the other three. Dissension between Keys and Ali or not, why GB1C went over them is a mystery to me.
(2) Ashton Starr defeated Clyde Braddock in 8:02 with a tornado spinning neckbreaker followed by a moonsault. Starr was over with crowd. Braddock got the lion’s share of the offense with his bruising ground-based attack.
Thoughts – An interesting first-time pairing and mix of styles that yielded a solid match. Nigel Sherrod did a great job on commentary getting across Braddock’s amateur background. Both guys add new dimensions to the Anarchy roster and I hated to see either one of them lose clean but better it was Braddock. Starr is a former NCW grand Slam champion and appears to be in line for a babyface push.
(3)Azrael defeated Will Huckaby (with Matthew Hankins) in 2:20. Hankins tossed a chain in the ring. A discombobulated Huckaby failed to make the catch and Azrael put his lights out with one punch (dubbed the Gift from the Fallen).
Hankins called Huckaby a failure; said he made it tough for “us” and should have been strung up in a tree somewhere in North Carolina. Huck bowed up. Hankins told Huck he would get his ass beat if he laid a hand on him.
Thoughts - Short match that served its purpose. Goes without saying the chops were hellacious. What is it with Huckaby and humiliation? Hankins’ postmatch diatribe reminded me of the number Murder One did on Huck at Combat Entertainment.
(4) Adrian Hawkins pinned Stryknyn in 4:20 to earn the title shot of his choosing. Hawkins tried to pay Stryk off with a Ben Franklin to throw the match. Stryk answered with a spear. They brawled outside the barricade and into the bathroom. Hawkins caught Stryk with a codebreaker as they reentered the ring but Stryk kicked out of the pin. Hawkins stuggled to get his pant off to hilarious effect. Stryk had the double wristlock applied when Hawkins knocked the glasses off of referee Darryl Hall’s face. As Stryk tried for another spear, Hawkins caught him with a codebreaker and hit another one for the win.
Thoughts – I like Hawkins getting a chance to strut his stuff as a high level singles competitor at Landmark. He’s taken the Rave Approved gimmick and made it his own and proven his worth as a top heel at Southern Fried. Hawkins went into tonight’s Anarchy show as the Heritage Champion. The title switch took place at the JJ benefit show when Hawkins used his wits to defeat Champion Will Kaution, Slim J and Bobby Flaco in a four way. The lack of a mobile camera was a major problem as the action was barely visible when they went outside the barricade. Hawkins struggling to get his suit off was entertaining; in particular, the spot where Hawkins had his pants around his ankles while Stryk was beating on him.
The overhaul continued in the second half of the taping (episode 151) with Undeniable beating Washington Bullets for the tag titles, Stryknyn turning heel to join Undeniable and the debuting Ben Buchanan defeating Scott Mayson.
At Hostile Environment, it felt to me like change was in order and man, did Anarchy ever make changes. The devil in the follow through. I anxiously await Myron Fancher’s report on tonight’s Anarchy show to see where things go next.
