Photo by James Royster From Larry Goodman: Southern Fried Championship Wrestling returned from a five-month pandemic-induced layof...
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| Photo by James Royster |
From Larry Goodman:
Southern Fried Championship Wrestling returned from a five-month pandemic-induced layoff with the aptly named Revival.
It was a solid show. Southern Fried wasn’t going for greatness. The key thing was establishing the viability of an outdoor show in a new location. On that score, Revival was an unqualified success.
They drew 300 to Cross Church. SFCW navigated the hazards of an outdoor show. The lighting and sound were excellent. The spacious et up in the church parking lot allowed ample room for social distancing without fans being too far away from the action.
A return date of August 22 was announced.
Booker Todd Sexton had a number of tricks and turns up his sleeve. The most notable of them were nods to Southern Fried’s past.
SFCW owner David Manders opened. The emotion in Manders’ voice was palpable as he talked about being back with his Southern Fried family and giving up his career at the Walton County Sheriff’s department to go full-time as wrestling promoter right before COVID hit.
(1) “Irish Assassin” Jason Blackman pinned “Edible” Eddie Honcho with a spinebuster slam in 2:30. Blackman made his return to SFCW after a 6 year absence. Honcho faked accepting Blackman’s handshake after the match.
(2) Billy Buck defeated Ryan Rembrandt in 5:12. Rembrandt came out with the accoutrements for a birthday celebration. Rembrandt said Buck looked good for a guy that just turned 50 and read an insulting poem. Buck was beating Rembrandt’s ass until Rembrandt necked him on the top rope. Rembrandt sang a happy birthday to you as he worked Buck over. Not for long though. Buck picked up the win with the Buckshot.
Afterward, Rembrandt received the obligatory birthday cake in the face.
(3) Sal Rinauro defeated Michael Stevens via submission in 9:32. Referee David Weakley was booed heartily. Some things never change. Setup was a grudge match between former partners, that the participants pushed hard on social media. Stevens claimed he wanted to mend fences. Rinauro was by no means ready to bury the hatchet. Rinauro rejected Stevens’ disingenuous handshake and did his finger breaker move. Stevens went after Rinauro’s mended arm. The match developed into a fast-paced, back and forth battle. As Stevens was preparing to do serious damage to Rinauro’s arm, Sal turned the tables on him and applied a Rings of Saturn. Good match.
Bill Behrens called Marcus Kross to the ring for an update on his knee injury. Kross was using a cane…hmm…Said how Southern Fried was home and he was ahead of schedule, three months into a six month rehab. Kross came across as totally lovable.
The warm fuzzies came to crash halt with the arrival of one Tyler Cullprett. He said Kross didn’t need Behrens and Griff Garrison evidently didn’t need him but he didn’t need to be alone. Cullprett extended his hand. Kross respectively declined. Cullprett tried to sneak attack Kross with his umbrella. In a smooth martial arts move, Kross blocked it with his cane. They parried, umbrella vs. cane until Cullprett opened the umbrella in Kross’ face. This should be interesting down the road. They match perfectly in terms of size. I thought Culprett’s promo at ProSouth the night before was closer to the mark. The new character is a work in progress.
(4) Stryknyn vs. Xavier Reyes was declared a no contest in 1:20. This was a qualitatively different from the rest of the show. It had the look and feel of a real fight. Stryk’s fireball looked spectacular in the darkness of night. Reyes attacked him in the aisle. An intense and brutal brawl ensued outside the ring. I guarantee you these guys are hurting today. They knocked down referee Radar Martin and he called for the bell. This was the first time Reyes (formerly Ramon) really clicked for me as a heel, and it was the type of thing that was squarely in Stryk’s wheelhouse.
Security tried to separate the combatants. The melee got a “let them fight” chant out of the crowd. SFCW They has some new security people, big dudes but inexperienced, so it looked like amateur hour with guys not selling and looking somewhat bewildered.
Coming out of the intermission, Zac Edwards attacked Rinauro. My sense was a lot of fans didn’t know who he was. Beautiful Bald Besties last SFCW appearance was 2 and ½ years ago and they Good thing Stevens was on the mic to explain that Edwards was the best friend he was walking out with tonight (not Sal), and the two-time Georgia tag team of the year were back.
Stevens said Besties couldn’t be at the show on August 22 so they were going to give Sal something to remember them by. They tried to put Rinauro through a table with a combo move. The table didn’t break. Besties had enough sense to switch to a double team powerbomb to make sure Rinauro went through the damn table on the second try.
(5) Classic Champion David Ali escaped with his title via a DQ loss to Corey Hollis (12:47). “Savior” Ali said he had a prophecy – Hollis would be next in the line of former Southern Fried Champions he would defeat. Southern Fried Champion Mikal Judas, out of action due to eye surgery, was seated at ringside. This was the best match of the night from a technical standpoint, featuring consistently crisp work from both men. Hollis received repeated “Corey” chants. He was as over as he was as a babyface, thanks in no small part to the way Ali was running his mouth. He was really working the crowd with his savior schtick. Ali caused Weakley to get knocked down. Ali brought the title into the ring but Hollis foiled the skullduggery with with a springboard kick. As Hollis came off the top rope, Ali use the belt as a shield and Hollis’ head ran smack into it. Weakley saw what happened and called for the bell.
Afterward, Ali started pounding Hollis with the mic, telling him to wake up. Judas entered the ring to confront Ali, who beat a hasty retreat. Judas said he would be medically cleared in two weeks and wanted his match with Ali on August 22.
Hollis suddenly attacked Judas, gave him a low blow and tried to stick a wrench in his surgical eye. So much for that friendship. I didn’t see a long babyface run in the cards for Hollis but didn’t see his return to the darkside coming this soon either.
Next up was the announcement by Doctor Joseph Brock III. His promo came across as so genuine and heartfelt that he was instantly turned babyface. and if there were any lingering doubts, Adrian Hawkins got in Brock’s face to say the Approved didn’t care and ordered him to take a seat next to “baldy” Manders.
(6) Griff Garrison & Bull Buchanan & Ben Buchanan defeated The Approved (Adrian Hawkins & Bobby Moore & Adonis) in 17:17. This was pretty heated as anything involving Hawkins tends to be. One particular lady in the crowd, and I use the term loosely, was spewing hate at Moore throughout the match. I don’t know what’s going to happen with the Georgia Wrestling awards this year in light of this drastically “shortened season”. I do know that Bull Buchanan has my vote for the legend award. At the age of 52, he still goes full bore in the ring and has the aura of a legit badass. Adonis interfered to start heat on Ben. Bull eventually made a tag but a hard charge into the corner that missed led to heat on Bull as well. Garrison’s house cleaning looked amazing. He’s oozing with confidence these days. Shortly thereafter, it looked like the thing was falling apart. Hawkins was the glue. He took Ben out with a codebreaker and got the sharpshooter on Garrison. The bell rang. Oops. Brock rang it by mistake. Garrison hit the rack bomb on Hawkins and it was game over.
The Approved confronted Brock in the ring. Hawkins said Brock had pissed off the wrong people. Brian Kane came to Brock’s defense. Kane looked like he hadn’t missed any meals during the pandemic. Hawkins wasn’t worried about the odds until a chair swinging Jagged Edge hit the ring to a big pop. The Approved bailed. Jagged said Hawkins may have been calling the shots but that wasn’t approved by him…JBE vs. The Approved coming to Loganville soon.
NOTES: Georgia wrestling personalities in the crowd included Chris Nelms, Jerry Nelms, GWCW promoter Dennis Fields, ACTION promoter Matt Griffin and Tim Rice... Manders mentioned Nelms, Fields and Rice being there in his opening remarks…Andrew Alexander and Charlie Smith (age 90!) were selling gimmicks…Speaking of gimmicks the lines for Judas were long and he sold a ton of merch...It was a rare thing to see Garrison as the smallest man on his team.
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