Photo courtesy of Holly Romero From Larry Goodman: Southeastern Championship Wrestling returned to action at the Knoxville Civic A...
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| Photo courtesy of Holly Romero |
Southeastern Championship Wrestling returned to action at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium Ballroom for their third television taping on August 16.
Similar to the first two SECW events, the caliber of the in-ring action was several cuts above your typical indy event and the crowd reactions continues to be one of the most impressive aspects of these shows.
The response from the Knoxville fans is a booker’s dreams. They know the characters and they were loud and strong all night long. Clearly, these people appreciate being treated to a more professional presentation and more star power than what they’ve seen in Knoxville for many years.
The officiating was much better and the production aspects of the show came off without any noticeable hitches. 13 matches were taped in a mere 2 and ½ hours, albeit many of them of the short squash variety.
The show did leave a few things to be desired. A ridiculous amount of clothesline were used over the course of the evening. Any time Shawn Shultz is on the show and he doesn’t talk, it’s a missed opportunity in my book. The range of match styles is too narrow. A comedy act would be a nice addition to the mix. Then there’s the problem that comes with the territory of taping multiple hours of TV -- wrestlers (Vordell Walker and Crimson) appearing to suffer serious injuries only to come back good as new for the main event.
Once again, the taping was under the direction of Paul Adams with the assistance of Tom Prichard and Beau James. David Marquez, the driving force behind the project and the person responsible for the TV deal with Knoxville’s FOX43, remained in California.
Attendance ended up around 160, down slightly from the first two shows, The crowd looked sparse at bell time. However, the seats filled in nicely during the first hour and it should like fine for TV. All in all, not bad considering they were running squarely against the Tennessee Vols open practice two miles away that drew 40,000.
A good bit of storyline stuff was shot in pretapes. Here’s what went down in front of the cameras.
(1) Doc Gallows defeated Bam Bam Erikson via DQ at 4:32. Monsters brawl. Good stuff while it lasted - high impact with some great looking punches. I’d like to see them matched up again, but it probably won’t happen here, as Gallows was a one shot. Doc got the advantage and went set up for a choke slam when Shawn Shultz interfered.
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| Photo courtesy of Holly Romero |
(2) Amber O’Neal-Gallows defeated Nina Monet in 4:57. O’Neal-Gallows was decked out in Bullets Club gear. Monet attacked Amber from behind for a short-lived advantage. They traded snap mares and spinal taps. Monet brought the hate. Amber busted out the Booty Bop and dropped a headbutt to Monet’s babymaker. Monet was setting up for something evil when Amber reversed it with an inside cradle.
(3) “The King” Shane Williams defeated Logan Mills in 1:58. Mills took exception to being ridiculed by Williams, and got him in a couple of pinning predicaments. That upset The King, who used his patented neckbreaker to soften Mills up for the piledriver.
(4) Vordell Walker defeated Corey Duncam in 2:18. Duncam is a tall, lean guy out of North Carolina. The crowd was popping for all of Walker’s moves. Duncam cheated on the break to take over, but Walker caught Duncam out of nowhere with the tombstone driver.
All four refs came out to tend to Duncam’s injured neck.
(5) Tate Twins (Brent & Brandon) defeated Shane Andrews & Tommy Coffey in 4:33. The Tates looked sharp and the crowd loves them. Andrews is winless in SECW. Coffey is a burly Neanderthal looking guy. The Tates won it with their neckbreaker/top rope splash combo on Coffey. Nice timing on the finisher.
Postmatch, Andrews said he sick and tired of getting screwed and might never come back again. Jessie Belle came out for her match and teased some interest in Andrews.
(6) Jessie Belle pinned Misty James with her feet on the ropes at 1:54. Belle got dropped on her head early in the match but was evidently Ok. Belle escaped Misty’s bulldog and ducked under the rope. When James ventured into the corner, Belled pulled her face into the turnbuckle and got the pin with her feet on the ropes.
(7) Bam Bam Erikson & Shawn Shultz defeated Crimson & Chase Stevens in 11:34. Stevens gets the biggest pop of all the babyfaces. Erikson suffered a nasty gash to his back from a cable that was protruding from one of the turnbuckles. Stevens rocked Erikson with dropkicks and finally put him down with the third. Stevens ended a fast and furious sequence vs. Shultz with another dropkick. Distraction by Shultz allowed Erikson to get the upper hand on Crimson. Fans chanted for the comeback and got one. The finish showed the lowlife side of Shultz in full effect. Shultz took Crimson out with a shot into the rail and saved Erikson from Stevens’ finisher with a chop block. Erikson then spinebustered Stevens and suplexed Shultz on top of him for the pin.
Postmatch, Shultz was oh so full of himself. Stevens had to help Crimson to the back.
(8) Vordell Walker defeated Shane Williams in 12:41. This was a redo from the last taping where the production crew ran out of memory cards as the match was in progress. These guys have chemistry and have put on the best matches thus far in SECW. Williams gets the nuances being an old style Southern heel better than any wrestler of his generation. As with the previous matches, Walker brought his A game and Williams took a physical beating. Walker’s chops are hellacious. Williams was in desperation mode because Walker had taken everything he could throw at him. Williams got a triangle, but Walker powerbombed out of it and both were down. Walker with an overhead suplex into the buckles and a mad charge into corner that missed. Williams rudely yanked Walker off the ropes and got the figure four. Walker reversed forcing Williams to grab the ropes. Williams tried for the figure four again and Walker got the pin with an inside cradle.
Postmatch, Williams destroyed Walker’s leg and the refs had to help Walker to the back.
(9) Jon Williams (with Trey Williams) defeated Brent Tate (with Brandon Tate) in 6:49. Trey and Brandon got into it, so referee Justin Spurling ejected them from ringside. They taped a deal backstage with the brothers watching the action on monitors in separate rooms. You know who got locked in. Trey came to ringside whining about Brent’s cheating and Jon capitalized with the backcracker. The crowd heaped heat on the Bullets as usual.
(10) Drew Haskins defeated Shawn Streets in 2:54. Haskins’ closest brush with fame was being a classmate of Taylor Swift at Hendersonville High. Be that as it may, he’s billed from Hollywood now and his obnoxious personality drew heat. Haskins stepped aside to let Streets crash and burn on a flying body press, then pinned him with Katy Perry’s Favorite Finisher (the snapmare driver).
(11) Shawn Shultz beat J-Mac in 3:20. I have to admire J-Mac’s work ethic. He’s just too indytastic to be taken as a serious threat to a real pro. Shultz pinned him with the DDT.
(12) Washington Bullets defeated Tate Twins in 8:37. They were in a better rhythm than their match at the first taping. The crowd ate up the Twins’ flashy tandem sequence. The Bullets spread ropes to spill Brent. I can finally tell them apart because Brandon is built a bit larger than his brother. Missteps by the Bullets led to the hot tag. Brandon hit a tope on Trey and reentered with a springboard crossbody on Jon. A train of big moves ensued until Tates hit their finisher on Jon, but as referee Anthony Wayne was getting Brent out of the ring, Trey superkicked Brandon’s face off and illegally covered for the 1-2-3.
(13) Shawn Shultz & Lance Erikson & Shane Williams defeated Chase Stevens & Crimson & Vordell Walker in 7:52. Williams was taking it from all side, so he tagged to Erikson. Walker matched power with Erikson and wore him out. A sneak knee to the back by Erikson followed by a shot to the kidneys from Shane started heat on Stevens. Walker took the hot tag. He had Shultz up for his finisher, but Erikson broke that up and the match broke down. In the midst of the chaos, Shultz clocked Walker with a metal turnbuckle and it was lights out for Walker.
Fans chanted vigorously for a rematch. However, nothing was announced for the return date of September 20.
NOTES: SECW airs on WTNZ Fox43 in Knoxville, Saturdays at noon with a replay at noon Sunday…There was a glitch with the July 26 debut of the show. Episode #2 aired instead of episode #1. The mistake was corrected for the replay and the decision was made to rerun the first episode throughout the following weekend… Material for two one hour shows and four 30 minute shows was taped at the show. SECW will have cut to a 30 minute slot during September due to the major league baseball playoffs in FOX…Crimson and Steven did guest spot on the WBIR radio morning show the day before the event…The referees not mentioned by name in the report were Dustin Robinson and Doug Markham…The advertised appearance by Ryan Mitchell was cancelled by the promotion…Beau James is compiling the history of wrestling in Kingsport using newspaper reports dating back to the early 1900s…
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