Photos Coutesy of Harold Jay Taylor Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment invaded Temple Friday night with their first show in the West Geo...
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| Photos Coutesy of Harold Jay Taylor |
Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment invaded Temple Friday night with their first show in the West Georgia area. Temple, after all, is the stomping grounds of Universal Independent Wrestling. UIW responded to the incursion by dropping ticket prices to $5 for their Saturday night show in Temple at the West Georgia Auto Auction.
I have attended three AWE events and enjoyed all of them. AWE’s greatest strength is the unique mix of talent on their roster. AWE provides matches that can’t be seen anywhere else in Georgia, and they do tell stories, although not always with the greatest clarity.
AWE has produced two of the best matches I’ve seen in Georgia this year; Drew Galloway vs. Jimmy Rave (October 18) and Rave vs. Kyle Matthews vs. Chip Day for a few lucky souls in Temple last night.
For Matthews, the triple threat was the most severe test to date since returning to the ring from surgery to repair a torn labrum. His shoulder and his psyche both passed with flying colors.
Day showed why he will be on the ballot for Wrestler of the Year. When you look at the body of his work across multiple promotions, a nomination is a no brainer.
It is no coincidence that Rave was in both of AWE’s top matches. His current run has moved beyond being a great comeback story. For my money, Rave has been the best wrestling in Georgia during the second half of 2014.
The event was entitled “Omar Coming Season 1”. I hope Omar made it to the show because hardly anyone else did. It is not an exaggeration to state that there were more people in the dressing room than there were paying customers in the seats.
Promoter Josh Wheeler did the necessary local adverting and did not make the fatal mistake of relying on social media.. Ticket pricing was a stumbling block. Pro wrestling can’t draw in a town like Temple and charge full price for kids. can get by without spiffy production values in West Georgia. They cannot succeed unless they run a more family friendly show.
There’s nothing wrong with the Temple Recreation Center as a wrestling venue, but it‘s spacious and felt depressingly empty. Any building in Georgia would have been too large for this crowd except for the Academy Theater, may it RIP.
Kevin Pierce opened the show with a promo insulting the good citizens of Temple. Pierce’s mic work continues to be one of the bright spots of these shows. I believe Pierce was born two generations too late or he would have made a living in pro wrestling.
(1) Ken Lee pinned Trevor Aeon via top rope double stomp at 11:29. Lee is the Flatline Pro (Augusta area) Pulse Champion. Aeon jumped the bell, gave Lee a dragon screw leg whip and worked over his leg. Lee would occasionally rally with a furious flurry of indytastic offense. Not bad stuff but there’s nothing in his moveset to set him apart. It looked like curtains for Lee when he wound up hanging upside down and in danger of dropping headfirst on the hardwood floor, but he recovered to stun Aeon with an enzuigiri from the apron. It was a great way to set up the finish, and they had a good basic story idea, but the execution called for ruthless aggression from Aeon in his dissection of the body part and more dramatic selling from Lee.
(2) Jake Hughes defeated Chad Silva in 4:30. The match pitted current OSWA Grand Prix Champion Silva vs. former champion Hughes. The OSWA title was not acknowledged here. Silva’s surly personality was in full effect. Match was decent with two beefy guys providing some pretty hard hitting action. Hughes won it with a top rope elbow followed by a spear.
Ring announcer Joey the Voice noted the suspended Tommy Penirelli sitting in the front row. Penirelli pulled a ticked out of his pocket.
Murder One called out Chip Day. Murder wanted Day to dial down his obsession with Rave. Murder said he was like a father to both of them and for once in his life, he was trying to be a peacemaker. Day politely asked Murder to step out and let his boys handle their business. Day clued the fans that they were about to see a matchup that had never taken place in the state of Georgia.
(3) Devyn Nicole defeated Jordynne Grace in 9:30. Nicole is the reigning AIWF Women’s Champion. Grace is built like a fireplug and was introduced at the preposterous weight of 245 pounds. This was a lousy match. The striking was weak and there was way too much mediocre looking stuff. They would have been better off doing about 1/3 of what they did and try to make sure it all looked solid. The good moves were lost in the shuffle. It’s quality not quantity that matters. Grace kicked out of Eat Defeat and rolled up Nicole, but Nicole reversed it and used a handful of tights.
(4) Bobby Moore defeated Fireman in 7:30. Penirelli distracted Moore (they’re feuding) and got jumped by Fireman. Pretty heinous tactic to start things off, however Fireman but didn’t work or act particularly heelish the rest of the way. Pretty much 50/50 back and forth. Like Lee in match #1, Fireman focused his attack on the leg. Penirelli offered Fireman a chair. Fireman said he didn’t need it. Moore capitalized with the Death Valley Driver. An OK match but it was difficult to know what to make of it if you didn't know the back story.
Postmatch - Penirelli berated Fireman. “I line them up and you can’t knock ‘em down.” They almost came to blows. Wheeler finally came out and ordered the mic to be taken away from Penirelli, and the refs escorted him to the front door. They let Penirelli go too far for an alleged ticket buyer.
(5) Lethal Weapons (Sylar Cross & Adrian Armour with Kevin Pierce) defeated Heartburn Foundation (Curry Kid & Cajun Curry) in 9:35. Good match. Early on, it was fancy flying by Curry with Armour as his patsy followed by equally fine Heartburn double teams. Cross pulled Curry out and snapped Cajun’s neck off the rope to put an end to it. Weapons dished out cruel and unusual punishment to Cajun, who used a Pele kick to set up the hot tag. But the Weapons had too much size and power for Heartburn to overcome. Weapons decimated Curry with the discus lariat combo and he was pinned by Armour.
(6) Raphael King defeated Murder One in 8:45. I got off on Murder One’s punches. They looked so much better than anybody else’s so far except Moore. King (WWA4 product) has the look and size of a big league prospect. He needs more lat development and pec definition to get the symmetry right on his physique. Uses facial expressions well and radiates arrogance. King dominated the match with generally solid offense. Murder made the comeback using a Blue Thunder Bomb for a near fall. But King blocked The Ether (RKO) and blasted Murder with brass knucks to score the pinfall.
(7) Team Priscilla Kelly (Jeremy Foster & “International Playboy” Marvelous Marko) defeated Team Kiera (Owen Knight & Zach Daniels) in 12:18. The opening exchange between Daniels and Foster left me with a higher level of respect for both of them as workers. Team Priscilla executed a double Nothern lights suplex on Daniels before Marko started taking the heat. Kelly got so upset about the cheating that ripped her jacket off. The sparse crowd mustered up one of the few chants of the evening for Marko. Daniels controlled Marko with a body scissors. Such a sensible move. Foster got the tag and reeled off a series of near falls on Knight. Foster has a nice La Magistral cradle. A collision of forearms knocked them both for a loop. Things got heated between Kiera and Kelly and they tore into each other until the men separated them. While Knight was tending to Kiera, Foster came from behind with a rolling reverse cradle. This match was a pleasant surprise - a nice blend of wrestling and entertainment.
Kiera’s shrieking fit after the match was TREMENDOUS.
(8) Jimmy Rave defeated Chip Day and Kyle Matthews in a triple threat match at 15:42. Hard to believe these three had never squared off. Rave waited until after he was introduced to tell ring announcer Joey he dislocated his shoulder in Piedmont an hour earlier and couldn’t wrestle. Matthews and Day shrugged it off and focused on the task at hand, opening with a grappling sequence that was a pleasure to behold. Rave ran in, posted Matthews surgically repaired shoulder and covered Day for a quick two. Rave and Day exchanged ridiculously stiff chops. Matthews recovered bigtime with a Mutalock on Rave, then hit a Northern Lights on Day with the leglock still applied. Matthews and Rave tore each other up with chops. Day had Rave pinned after an amazing standing huracanrana, but Matthews broke up the pin with a superkick. Rave spit on both of them and got what he deserved – a double superkick to the mush. Matthews put Day in the Hidaka Lock. Rave superplexed Day, but Matthews immediately hit a frogsplash on Rave and Day had to make a save. The pace accelerated with signature moves around the horn – Rave’s Dusk Til Dawn, Day with the Northern Lights Bomb, Matthews nailing the Slurpee Kick. Rave swooped in after Day gave Matthew a tornado DDT and pinned him with a cutter.
The more I think about it, the more l like this match. It felt organic. It flowed and it built. They steered clear of the contrived awkwardness of so many three ways.
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