From Larry Goodman: WrestleMerica’s Thanksgiving Throwdown turned out to be a better show on paper than it was in the ring. Do...
From Larry Goodman:
WrestleMerica’s Thanksgiving Throwdown turned out to be a better show on paper than it was in the ring.
Don’t get me wrong. There were many good things about this show.
I love the outrageous stipulation matches they cook up. As you can plainly see at left, the tar and feather stipulation of the main event was paid off in full. Ryan North has no problem looking ridiculous in order to maximize entertainment value.
WrestleMerica does a lot of turns, probably too many, but the one last night was a shocker that resonated.
The company employs a unique blend of talent and they’re always changing things up. This show had the debuts of Sean Legacy, AC Mack and Terry Gordy’s daughter Miranda plus a lucha libre match.
The wrestling was disappointing. Several matches that I thought might be really good turned out to be fairly average.
And the show ran really long, like close to three and half hours long. WrestleMerica needed a lot of content for their TV show, which airs on WDHN in Dothan on Saturday night and uploads to WrestleMerica youtube on Sunday morning. Be that as it may, the pacing could have been better with less down time between matches.
Attendance at the Academy Gym was 175. It’s debatable how much the attendance was hurt by the PWC show in Thomaston, college football may have been as much of a factor and some evidently elected to watch the AEW PPV instead.
Clyde Braddock asked for mic time to open the show. Said he heard from a reliable source that “weasel” general manager North was to blame for his not getting the respect he was due. He didn’t have match but had something better in mind – being head of security for the night. OK.
Next up was the coronation of Simon Sermon as the Queen of Barnesville. North played host and brought out Michael Stevens (recovering from knee surgery) to do the honors. Stevens said he thought the coronation was a joke and acted surprised to learn otherwise. A chair was brought into the ring to serve as Sermon’s throne. Stevens put a pink cape on Sermon and a crown on his head. It was time to present the Queen's scepter. Fans chanted “hit him”. Stevens instead broke the scepter over his knee and gave an unsuspecting Sermon the bottom half. Sermon threw a hissy fit. He clubbed Stevens with the scepter, then attacked his surgical knee with the chair.
WrestleMerica owner Dennis Gale came to Stevens’ aid. Sermon said it was none of the old man’s business. Gale said Sermon was right about him being old, but it was all about his business. It will be Gale vs. Sermon in Dothan on January 25. Gale offered to buy tickets for Barnesville fans that drove down to see Sermon get his booty kicked. Sermon is guaranteed heat in Barnesville and this angle had loads of it.
WrestleMerica owner Dennis Gale came to Stevens’ aid. Sermon said it was none of the old man’s business. Gale said Sermon was right about him being old, but it was all about his business. It will be Gale vs. Sermon in Dothan on January 25. Gale offered to buy tickets for Barnesville fans that drove down to see Sermon get his booty kicked. Sermon is guaranteed heat in Barnesville and this angle had loads of it.
(1) Lucha Libre Showdown: Cosmo Martinez defeated Vary Morales (with Merica Strong) in 11:38. The opening sequence was the best thing about it. They wrestled and Martinez was able to reverse everything Morales could throw at him. Morales was Mr. Clean but with heelish bravado. As Martinez tried for a springboard move, Morales caught him with a superkick and went to work. Morales cut off Cosmo’s rally with a pair of germans followed by a Northern lights suplex for a near fall. They traded flashy near falls– Martinez with a running Spanish fly, Morales with a satellite DDT. Strong tripped Martinez right in front of referee Mike Mays, who barely reacted. Morales went up top. Martinez cut him off at the pass with a Spanish Fly for the pin. I was looking forward to this match. It reads better than it was. Not a bad match but it felt overly choreographed and lacked the crisp execution of their first encounter in Barnesville.
Postmatch- Morales ripped off Cosmo’s mask and called him a fake. Cosmo covered his face until help arrived.
As always, Ben Masters did a great job of highlighting talent and matches for the next show. He announced Martinez vs. Bobby Flaco for The Fight Before Christmas on December 14.
(2) Miranda Gordy defeated Dani Jordyn in 8:59. Gordy came out to “Badstreet USA”. She’s got the look and good size. Needs ring time as she’s only been wrestling for a year. Her footwork especially needs work. It was up to Jordyn to carry the match with her heeling, and heel she did. Jordyn got the drop on Gordy and worked over her knee with ruthless aggression. Gordy’s knee gave out. Jordyn capitalized with a submission. Gordy made the ropes and picked up the win with an Attitude Adjustment kind of thing.
North accompanied AC Mack to the ring and said Mack was going to destroy the myth of “Mr. WrestleMerica” Dominique Stuckey. Mack said “Mr. WrestleMerica” was cute, but standing before the people of Barnesville was the 2018 Georgia Male Performer of the Year and the holder of the ACTION, SUP and Disruptor Pro championships.
Stuckey came to the ring and cut the promo of his young life. The crowd was really heating up for this. North had a proposition for him. If Stuckey lost to Mack, he would forfeit put up his spot in the finals of the Bulletproof Championship tournament. Stuckey confidently said I’ll gamble, let’s do it. “Bro, I’m not cute, I’m adorable…You represent the best. I represent the rest, Middle and South Georgia…I’m not 6-6 and 250 and I don’t talk with a deep voice but when the talk is done and the going gets tough, Stuckey keeps going…at the end of the night, when your counting the lights, no hard feelings.”
(3) Special Challenge Match: Dax Anthony defeated Sean Legacy in 11:58. Anthony is Stuckey’s opponent in the Bulletproof Tournament finals. The self-proclaimed “Greatest Showman” had his hands full with Legacy, who is one hell of a talent and got over well with the WrestleMerica fans. Legacy came out hot with aerial moves, until Anthony caught caught Legacy's tope and rammed his back into the ring frame. Anthony worked the body part. Anthony was looking for TKO but Legacy blocked it. Legacy did a moonsault off the ring apron and bowled Anthony over with a tope. Back inside, Legacy had Anthony pinned after a springboard cutter but Anthony had his foot on the ropes. As referee Mays was explaining this to Legacy, Anthony gave him a low blow and rolled him up using the tights. Mays’ ring positioning was off on the finish. I have to cut Mays some slack, though. He was a last minute sub and reffed all seven matches. Match was decent. Can’t say their chemistry was anything special.
North demanded stock in WrestleMerica so he could overrule Dennis Gale and not have to do stupid matches like tar and feather. North called out “Old Yeller”.
Gale said North would get his chance to win stock in the company, but if he lost he was out as GM…and the match would be against the guy I just rehired. Out came Owen Parker, who lost a loser leaves stip match to North. Gale asked Parker what kind of match he wanted. Parker chose a strap match. Gale ordered a fan participation strap match for December 14 and Masters, Gale and sound guy Bob would all have straps as well.
(4) Neal Koloff (Jeff Lewis-Neal) & JD Griffey defeated Fry Daddy & Tyson Dean in 15:28. I popped hard for Jeff Lewis as a Russian. This was the most compelling match of the night because of the story and the heat. Fry took tremendous punishment from Koloff and Griffey. They beat on him forever with Fry showing great resiliency. When Fry finally got the tag, Dean went on offense but quickly tagged back to Fry, which seemed odd. Fry wasted Griffey with the Cutline and was zeroing in on Koloff. Dean suddenly KOed Fry with two punches and he was pinned by Koloff.
This was a truly shocking turn and one Dean needed to make, as he had pretty much done everthing there was to do here as a babyface, and WrestleMerica has other babyfaces (Fry and Stuckey) in the top roles.
This was a truly shocking turn and one Dean needed to make, as he had pretty much done everthing there was to do here as a babyface, and WrestleMerica has other babyfaces (Fry and Stuckey) in the top roles.
The crowd was, at first, too stunned to react, then came massive heat on Dean as he celebrated with Koloff. Masters said the fans deserved to know why. Dean said he had been trying to do things the fans’ way for 11 years. He had kowtowed and played politics, and what had it gotten him? Dean promised that in due time, all would be revealed.
(5) Mike Pain retained the WrestleMerica Championship via a double count with Ryan Oshun in 12:06. The crowd checked out about three minutes into the match. There was nothing wrong with the action. They worked an intense brawl with both selling big. Problem was fans could not have cared less about Oshun as a babyface and the waters are muddied for Pain as a heel because he’s turned several times. The action spilled outside the ring, where they traded bombs until the ref counted them out.
They fought into the bleachers until security got involved to break it up. The crowd did get a little excited about the pull apart. It looked believable because the security guys were wrestlers. Pain bloodied up Oshun during an interview shot after the show so there will be more to come.
Masters announced Fry Daddy & Scotty Beach vs. Koloff & Dean for December 14.
(6) Dominique Stuckey and AC Mack wrestled to a 20 minute draw. Mack’s self introduction got as much heat in Barnesville as it does everywhere else. Strong chant for Dom right at the start. Mack took control and taunted Stuckey that he was making it too easy. Stuckey had the Mack 10 scouted and went on the attack. Stuckey draped Mack over the top rope and gave him a slice ‘n dice legdrop from the top rope for a near fall. Stuckey went for the Mack 10 but Mack escaped. Mack went for a Meteora and Stuckey reversed into an STF, then switched to a Last Chancery. After a dramatic struggle, Mack was able to gain a ropes break. Mack hit a draping flatliner for a near fall. Stuckey launched Mack from a fireman’s carry position and both were down. Stuckey ascended to the top rope again. Mack cut him off with the spider enzuigiri and planted him hard with a sitout powerbomb. Loud chant for Dom when he kicked out. Mack again attempted the Mack 10. Stuckey countered with his finisher, a butterfly cutter, and was in shock when Mack kicked out. Mack gave Stuckey a low blow as he was jawing with the ref. It was Mack’s turn to be in shock when Stuckey kicked out. Mack finally hit the 10 but Stuckey managed to grab the ropes at the count of two. Mack went wild on Stuckey’s leg to soften it up for an ankle lock. Mack got the hold applied but Stuckey was able to reverse it, forcing Mack to go to the ropes. Both men struggled to their feet as the time limit expired.
This was a good match, certainly not a great match. It was a feather in Stuckey’s cap. They got the story across that he was able to hang with one of the best wrestlers in the state. Stuckey just isn’t there yet as a pro wrestler to do a truly compelling 20 minute broadway without a lot of help, and on this night, Mack wasn’t Ric Flair.
Stuckey and Mack both wanted five more minutes. Their wish was granted. Mack bailed and walked away laughing.
(7) Tar and Feather Match: Mikel Judas defeated Ryan North in 7:55. This match was a consequence of North’s treachery towards Judas and his facial expressions said it all. He was doomed. Appropriately dressed in yellow, North ran. Judas finally got his hands on North and was immediately attacked by “security” in the form of Braddock, JC Kelly and former RPW wrestler Chris Jacobs. They beat Judas down and spread-eagled him for a ridiculous bottom rope splash by North. Judas shrugged them off and started decimating the security guys. The masked Disturbed lumbered into the ring and subdued Judas with a cobra clutch. All of North’s henchmen conveniently left the scene. North covered Judas who kicked out. Judas pulled North’s pant off and chokeslammed him in his zebra underwear before pinning him.
Judas commenced with the tarring and feathering. Fans gathered around a tarp that had been laid on the gym floor. Judas invited fans to pour the “tar” (syrup) onto North. They doused North with at least five quarts of the stuff until his face was completely black. Judas dumped a bucket of feathers on him. The results were spectacular as you can see at the top of the page.
