From Larry Goodman: Stuck in Chicago on a snowy Friday, checking out Valentine’s Day Massacre XII seemed like the right thing to do....
From Larry Goodman:
Stuck in Chicago on a snowy Friday, checking out Valentine’s Day Massacre XII seemed like the right thing to do.
ProSouth has their gotten their livestream and production issues under control to where they’re about ready to monetize this sucker.
Faith Dorn was back on color commentary for the first time since the anniversary show in December, her understand, minimalist approach was a breath of fresh air.
With only three clean finishes out of six matches, you might assume this was not much of a major show. You would be assuming wrong. Ace Haven really leaned into his Memphis style booking tendencies for this show. He’s a really good booker. I shudder to think what he might be able to do with a more stable talent roster. That said, the number of low blows at crucial moments was ridiculous.
(2) Orion Bishop (with Wicked Nemesis) defeated Dameon Ceretone in 9:36. Is there a more physically imposing manager in indy wrestling than Wicked Nemesis? Gary Hart was a scary, ominous figure at ringside and Nemesis has an element of those qualities. Good match. Bishop picked the win with a devastating Fire Thunder Driver after a competitive bout with Ceretone displaying plenty of guts and heart. Not everything he does looks good, but they guy works his ass off every time out.
Afterward, Ehren Black hit the ring, laid Ceretone out with a musclebuster and departed. Then Brandon Whatley showed up and beat Bishops’s ass with his nunchucks.
William Huckaby came out to tell Whatley he was there to help him become his best self. Whatley heard Huckaby out before blowing him off for blowing smoke. Huckaby pearl harbored Whatley leading to…
(3) Brandon Whatley defeated William Huckaby via DQ in 4:15. I was digging how nuanced Huck’s wrestling has become, everything with a purpose. Huck gave Whatley a low blow for the DQ and went to beat him up with nunchucks. Whatley caught Huck with the Serpent Slaim (uranage) instead. As Whatley was about to put the nunchucks to use, Bishop returned and got into a tug of war with Whatley for the nunchucks. Huck gave Whatley another low blow.
Huck said Whatley should have accepted his help. Some help you are. Bishop speared Whatley and we’ve got another guy with a busted gut.
(4) Triangle Tag: Brothers Crowe (Alister & Dorian) defeated champions Ace Haven & Robbie Vio (with Amy Haven) and Revelation (Ehren Black & Roma Miller) to win the ProSouth tag titles in 14 minutes. Big bully Black was taken out by double mist from the Crowes and double cutters from Ace and Dorian. Ace’s work stood out from the pack. Alister has skills. I wish he had more size. I wish a lot of good indy guys had more size. Allow me to beat the dead horse one more time -- Miller is freaking horrible. Fast forward, Black returned and tried to give Vio a musclebuster. Amy raked Black’s eyes to blind him AGAIN and he mistakenly gave Miller the musclebuster. Tremendous. Dorian and Vio simultaneously leapt off the top rope to cover Miller and Black. Referee James Dewberry rightfully ruled that Dorian covered before Vio. This match was proof positive that innovative booking can carry a match only so far. The finish looked God awful.
- Intermission --
After all the insanity of the first half, I was hoping for a straight up, old fashioned wrestling match to change things up and got one. Sorta.
(5) Eric Silva (with Mathias Darkthorne) vs. Clyde Braddock (with Wicked Nemesis) was ruled a no contest at 10:15. Silva retained the ProSouth Heavyweight Championship. I loved Silva’s war paint. Darkthorne as a babyface manager works so much better with an antagonist in the other corner, and a bad ass antagonist at that. If you’re not familiar, every Darkthorne promo builds to the tag line: “Down the Left Hand Path”. Their leather-lunged female fans go nuts for it.
This was good. Akin to Silva’s match with Alex Kane a couple of weeks ago, a combination of roughhouse brawling and ground-based wrestling, right in Silva’s wheelhouse stylistically, Braddock’s as well. Referee Dewberry got distracted by the manager’s getting into at ringside. Braddock capitalized with a low blow and went for a spear, but Silva caught him with Collateral Damage. Neither man was up by the count of 10 so Dewberry called for the bell.
Braddock and Silva continued to throw hands until he managers pulled them apart. Braddock swung for Silva and decked Darkthorne.
(6) Casket Match: Cameron Action defeated Trever Aeon to capture the ProSouth All-Out Championship in 18:56. The casket match is ProSouth’s gimmick match of choice. Action rose to the occasion with his best ever intro presentation. Aeon raked Action’s forehead with steel claws. No blood. WTF? Why do that spot if you’re not going to do blood? Yet another low blow allowed Action to hiptoss Aeon through a table. Aeon broke Action’s fingers and beat him to a pulp. It looked like Action had nothing left. Aeon and Action battled while standing in the casket. Action came out on top courtesy of the Vampire Killer and shut the door on Aeon.
The fans were shocked to see Aeon lose a fair fight. Me too. On the other hand, it was a huge win for Action and made sense given the opportunities that surely will be coming Aeon’s way.
Action had said this would be Cameron Action’s final appearance at ProSouth. Tune in next Friday night to see what Ace Haven has up his sleeve.
