From Larry Goodman: The 21st annual Fright Night was a totally solid and satisfying pro wrestling show. Anarchy is doing what w...
From Larry Goodman:
The 21st annual Fright Night was a totally solid and satisfying pro wrestling show.
Anarchy is doing what wrestling in Cornelia has done for 20 years – served as a training ground for young talent. Up and down the card, young wrestlers were matched up against veterans they could learn from.
Case in point: The team of Master (Marcus Kross) and Machine (Griff Garrison) were positioned in the most high profile matches of the night as singles competitors. Both came through in the clutch. The Kross vs. Huckaby streefight was match of the night. Garrison vs. Sal Rinauro for the Anarchy Heavyweight title wasn’t far behind.
The days when Anarchy was blessed with their pick of the talent and the deepest bench in the state are long gone. That said, I certainly got the sense that the creative team led by Bill Behrens is doing a better job of getting the most out of what they have.
No titles changed hands. The heel side maintained their ironclad grip on all four of them.
Attendance at Landmark Arena was 160. That was down some from Anarchy’s last major show (Hostile Environment attendance 200), but crowd reactions were unmistakably stronger than at Hostile Environment. It was interesting to note that all of the matches had good heat and the heat was evenly distributed, as if many of the characters are over at about the same level vs. a few top stars carrying the load.
The event was streamed live in FITE TV. The running time was just two hours but the show length felt just right.
(1) Crystal Rose (with Azrael) pinned Anarchy Women’s Champion Brooklyn Creed (with Matthew Hankins) in a non-title match at 4:10. Hankins said Brooklyn was out first because she was a woman that understood her responsibilities and had a baby to get back to. Hankins was not happy to see Azrael.
Brooklyn clocked Rose with the title before the bell, busting her open the hardway and putting a big egg on her forehead. The crowd chanted for Crystal as she was getting pasted by Brooklyn. A big flurry by Crystal led to a TKO for a near fall. Creed hit Scorched Earth and went for a nonchalant back cover that Rose reversed for the three count and big pop. Not much to the match. The angle that followed was the thing.
Rose demanded a title match on October 26. Hankins said never get involved with a woman that doesn’t have something at stake. Said Rose had to put up her hair. Rose agreed. Undeniable swarmed all over Azrael and beat him senseless, then put him in a body bag and carried him out to the trunk of their car.
(2) Adrian Hawkins defeated Will Kaution to retain the Landmark Heritage Championshp in 12:04. Hawkins was his usual heat magnet self. Chants of “Adriana”, “new champ” and “You’re not sexy” filled the Landmark Arena. Hawkins dared referee David Weakley to disqualify him by bringing multiple weapons into the ring. Weakley refused to take the bait and kept removing them. Kaution reeled off a series of near falls and had Hawkins pinned with a springboard cutter. Weakley counted three, then saw Hawkins’ foot on the ropes and allowed the match to continue. Kaution kicked out of No Approval Needed (codebreaker) and clawed his way to the ropes when Hawkins had the sharpshooter applied. Kaution came with an eyelash of pinning Hawkins with one pinning combination after another. Kaution went for a springboard maneuver and Hawkins caught him with the No Approval Needed to score the clean pin. Good match. Hawkins is great in this role. Kaution is crowd favorite and looked like a threat to regain the title every step of the way.
(3) Undeniable (Shane Marx & Brian Blaze with Matthew Hankins) defeated GB1C (Wolverton & Tyler Rivera) to retain the Anarchy tag titles in 9:17. GB1C used quick tags and teamwork to dominate the champions in the early going. In a perfectly timed spot, Rivera accidentally kicked Wolverton in the face when Blaze evaded a double team. Undeniable isolated Wolverton. Blaze used a Gori Special. Wolverton foiled an Undeniable double team and made the tag. Rivera had Marx pinned with a frogsplash but Blaze broke it up. As GB1C was going for their finisher. Hankins interfered. Undeniable busted out a new combo finisher dubbed the Undeniable Agenda (package piledriver followed by an impaler DDT) on Rivera and he was pinned by Marx. This was another good match. GB1C’s offense looked better. They slowed down and it made a positive difference.
(4) Marcus Kross defeated Will Huckaby in a streetfight at 13:57. This was a different Marcus Kross. He came out to different music doing his face painted ala Geat Muta, wearing a judo jacket and carrying a sword. Huckaby and Hankins ran away when Kross unsheated the sword. Hankins was never seen again. Kross dove onto Huck and the fierce exchange ensued at ringside. Kross was kicking the crap out of Huck, really laying them. Huck fired Kross into the barricade then crashed into the barricade when Kross dodged his cannonball. The wood over the metal on the barricades make for great sound effects and are more forgiving on the bumps. Back inside, Huck blocked a judo chop with a headbutt and launched Kross with an overhead belly to belly suplex. Huckaby opened up the judo jacket and chopped Kross’ exposed chest. The chops and kicks in this match were ridiculously stiff. Huckaby tried to hit Kross with boards (the kind Kross breaks in Taekwondo demonstrations) and Kross broke them with a chop. Huck wailed away with a kendo stick. Huck went for his patented spinebuster slam. Kross countered with a DDT and both were down. Kross gave Huck more than a taste of his own medicine with the kendo stick. Kross hit Huck with kick upon kick upon kick, really wore his ass out. Still, Huck would not stay down for the three count. Huck planted Kross with the uranage out of the corner ala Samoa Joe, then hit a middle rope moonsault for a near fall. Huck set up a steel coffin of chairs with lethal intentions. Kross sprayed Huck in the face with blue mist. Really got him good, Huck’s entire head turned blue. Huck took a nesta plunge through the steel coffin and Kross followed with a double stomp off the top rope to end it. Hell of a match that came across like a believable fight despite the size mismatch. Kross proved his toughness against a real bad ass Huckaby was the right guy for the job.
(5) Bull & Ben Buchanan defeated Scott Mayson & CT Keys in 10:06. Seeing Bull took me back to the day when pro wrestlers were scary dudes. He worked his ass off in this match. Bull dumped Keys out of the ring and damned near killed him. Ben took Keys to suplex city. Bull got a near fall with the axe kick. Ben blasted Keys with a spider shoulder block for a near fall. Mayson interfered and the heels finally got some offense against Ben. It was short-lived. Bull cleaned house. The Buchanans used a Hart Attack on Mayson and Ben pinned him. A dominant win by the Buchanans who looked every bit like formidable title challengers. Bull can still go. With his size and strength, Ben will be a force to be reckoned with once he gets more ring time under his belt.
A short backstage interview with a deadly serious Griff Garrison was shown on the big screen -- Sal has rep for being crazy. He’s going to find out how crazy The Machine can be.
(6) Sal Rinauro defeated Griff Garrison in a ladder match to retain the Anarchy Heavyweight Championship in 22:11. This was a different Griff Garrison. He came to the ring carrying himself like a man eventer. Rinauro’s bodyguard, Fat T appeared on the ramp. Garrison bowled T over and started pounding him. Rinauro ran in from the front door and quickly scaled the tall ladder to get the belt. Garrison cut him off. The opening minutes saw the competitors struggle for control of the tall ladder. Garrison suplexed Sal onto the ladder. The battle spilled to ringside with Rinauro getting the better of it. Sal slid a door into the ring and propped it up in the corner. They went back and forth trying to send the other guy into the door. That ended with Garrison spearing Rinauro but not through the door. Rinauro did a springboard spear to knock Garrison off the ladder. Sal set a bridged ladder and used it to do a number on Garrison’s hand. With both men on the ropes, Sal did the finger breaker and tried for a tijera. Garrison countered by powerbombing Rinauro onto the bridged ladder for the “holy shit!” moment of the match. The ladder was mangled as was Sal’s back. Garrison climbed and touched the belt before Sal took him down with a flatliner off the ladder. Both men were on the canvas in absolute agony at this point. They shoved smaller ladders into the ring and simultaneously tried to climb them to no good end. Rinauro tried to give Garrison a Tiger driver onto a stack of three ladders. Garrison countered with a torture rack and a powerbombed Sal onto the stacked ladders. It looked like clear sailing for Garrison when Fat T hit the ring. Garrison dispatched with T but Sal decked Garrison with a ladder shot to the face. Rinauro played El Matador and Garrison speared T into the door, which didn’t break because it was a freaking solid core door. Whose bright idea was that? Rinauro handcuffed Garrison to the bottom of the ladder and climbed up to unhook the belt.
This was a fine ladder match. It had multiple memorable moments of total devastation AND they did a great job of transitioning to them so they didn’t come across as pure choreography. They sold big which was critically important because it never looked like somebody could easily get the title and just wasn’t trying. Garrison was cemented as a main event guy if he wasn't already.
NOTES; Anarchy returns to the Landmark Arena on October 26 with Bull & Ben Buchanan challenging Undeniable for the tag titles and the aforementioned Brooklyn Creed (c) vs. Crystal Rose women’s title match…Nigel Sherrod and John Johnson were the commentary team for the FITE iPPV… So far so good in Johnson’s treatment for the tumor resulting from Neurofibroamatosis…The ring announcer was Jason Boyd…The referees were Darryl Hall, Dee Byers, Triston Michaels and Weakley…SFCW owner David Manders was in attendance recovering from a very difficult week for his company…Andey Ripley and Irving West were backstage.
