Southern Fried Championship Wrestling Anniversary Report from Monroe on June 6

Photos courtesy of Andrew James From Larry Goodman: All's well that ends well is the cliche that comes to mind to describe South...

Photos courtesy of Andrew James

From Larry Goodman:

All's well that ends well is the cliche that comes to mind to describe Southern Fried Wrestling's second anniversary show, "Shindig 2". 

The main event didn't just send the fans home happy. They were ecstatic at the sight of SFCW Champion Jagged Edge getting smoked by AJ Steele.

It took four and half hours to get there. The fans sounded like they were ready to tap out in the matches leading into it, but the main event is what the SFCW fans came to see and they scraped themselves off the mat to be at peak intensity for the climax of the evening.

"Shindig 2" had its share of flaws. The flow and sequencing of the segments left a lot to be desired. What were the powers that be at SFCW thinking when they booked twelve matches for this show? A number of really good matches got lost in the shuffle and didn't get their just due from the crowd. There were a lot of stories told, but have to wonder how well they will stick or does that even matter? Will SFCW wear fans out over the long haul or have come to expect marathons like the IWA Mid-South fans that don't bat an eye about four hour shows?

Attendance certainly wasn't a problem. I estimated the crowd to be in the range of 325-350.

The show opened with Hall of Fame inductions with announcer Rick Richards acting as master of ceremonies. The induction speeches were quite moving. A better sound system would have made them easier to hear. Wolfman was inducted by SFCW Commissioner Justin Legend. Billy Jack was inducted by his son Kody. Charlie Smith was inducted by SFCW owner Charles Anschutz. William “Big Bill” Dromo was inducted posthumously by Steve “The Brawler” Lawler with Dromo’s wife Karin accepting the award. Steve “The Brawler” Lawler was inducted by his brother Terry Lawler.

(1)Terry Lawler won the 10 man Big Bill Dromo Battle Royal in 2:30. Order of eliminations as follows: 1. Maverick 2. Antwan Jordan 3. Twisted 4. Damien Silva 5. Chris Nelms 6. Roscoe Ray 7. Jamie Holmes 8. Big Andy 9. Sinistar. Just the type of battle royal that gives battle royals a bad name. The story was Lawler coming back to the ring after serious surgery just seven weeks ago. Ray and Andy eliminated themselves to go after Nelms and Holmes respectively. This made sense since Trinity and Cowboy Way were squaring off in a loser leaves SFCW match later in the show.

“As Seen on TV” Nigel Sherrod cut a promo trashing the good people of Monroe.

(2) Billy Buck defeated Nigel Sherrod (with Maverick) in 7:15. Sherrod was a bumping machine early. He evaded Buck’s signature superkick and got heaved out of the ring. A game of chase ensued and Buck ended up tossing Sherrod over the top again. Sherrod foiled the 10 punches of doom to take over. On the comeback, Sherrod took a backdrop bump like a sack of potatoes. Ouch. Buck spinebustered Sherrod and signaled for the superkick but Sherrod caught it and hit a Rockbottom. Buck kicked out so Sherrod pulled out a chain. At that point, Maverick headed towards the dressing room and encountered his nemesis Justin Legend in the aisle. Maverick put up no resistance. Legend ran down and took the chain away from Sherrod, and Buck superkicked Sherrod for the pin.

Postmatch, Sherrod took a swing at Legend, who ducked and choked him out. The match exposed that Sherrod is not in the same league with Buck as a wrestler, but Sherrod is a strong heel character, and the ending was effective in furthering Legend’s push.

(3) Kody Jack & Billy Jack defeated Sinistar & Lobo in 7:05. Billy got the hot tag and hit a belly to belly suplex on Lobo. Kody followed with a moonsault and a superkick to the chest. That was supposed to be the finish, however Lobo got a shoulder up just before the three so Wolfman held up on the count. Kody improvised with a cannonball into the corner to get the pin. It wouldn’t be a SFCW undercard without a subpar match with a botched finish.

Postmatch, Kody gave dear old dad an early father’s day present by laying him out with a superkick. This saga will continue ad infinitum I’m afraid.

(4) Damien Silva & Twisted defeated The ODB’s (Billy Brash & Dany Only) in 6:43. I was digging the chemistry of the ODB’s. They sold generously for their opponents’ weak looking offense, then isolated Silva using quick tags and solid offense to keep heat on him. The tag was made. Twisted hit a senton on Brash and Only made the save. Brash accidentally nailed Only and was then pinned by Silva. I would surely like to see ODB’s against a stronger team. Clearly that won’t be happening at SFCW.

Postmatch, Only gave Twisted a package piledriver that Brash followed with a sliding lariat. As Silva was assisting Twisted, Ace Heffner came to ringside and handed Silva his business card.Silva did not look happy to see him.

Brooklyn Page spilled the beans on who she wanted for her stable. She was nervous to begin with and the sound system screw ups did her no favors. Page said SFCW Champion Jagged Edge didn’t fit the bill. She wanted the quickest, most intelligent and best looking wrestler on the roster, Kameron Kade. Page then said every beauty needs her beast and introduced Logan Creed as her other client. Page pitched Creed on the idea that they could take all the belts SFCW had to offer. Creed left without giving her an answer.

(5) Kameron Kade (with Brooklyn Page) defeated Chip Day in 11:56. The sound person screwed up Day’s music so ran back and redid his entrance. The crowd got behind Kade bigtime with Page leading the cheers. When Kade had trouble with his knee pad, Day kicked him in the head and took control. They had a spirited slugfest outside the ring. Day taunted Kade, who responded with a high impact comeback, gaining near falls with a northern lights suplex and an Oklahoma Roll. Day got a near fall with flying knee to the base of Kade’s skull. Day tried for the Northern Lights Bomb but Kade countered with a Blue Thunder Bomb. For the finish, Kade absorbed two stiff kick and answered with a discus rabbit lariat, a release german suplex and a superkick. Good match, but was it necessary to have three matches out of the last four end with superkicks?

(6) Pain & Odinson (with Black Widow) defeated Leo Gold & Mike Cruz (with Tommy Penirelli) in 9:26. The opening minutes was a showcase for the power of Pain and Odinson. Distraction and a springboard missile by Cruz turned the tide. The Floridians got heat on Pain with the help of Penirelli. The crowd was into it and got more fired up when referee Mason missed a legit tag. When Odinson, he popped the crowd with a deadlift overhead suplex on Cruz and a capture suplex on Gold. The finish saw Pain chokebomb Gold, and Odinson absolutely aunched Cruz with an airplane spin for the pin. Odinson’s work down the stretch was the high point of the undercard. This guy is the real deal. I have to think that in the minds of SFCW fans, Pain and Odinson are their uncrowned tag team champions.

Intermission with Gunner in the ring for photo ops.

(7) Slim J defeated Stitch Sypher to retain the Cruiserweight Cup in 17:10. Both competitors were over with the crowd, Slim more so than Stitch. This was a surprisingly smooth match. They clicked a lot better than I expected. Sypher is a talented flier although he still does more than necessary at times. He wouldn’t be the least bit out of place in an Anarchy ring. Slim blocked sliced bread #2 and hit Screwdriver on the Rocks for a very close near fall. Stitch blocked a second attempt and did a standing sliced bread, also for close near fall. Stitch used a sensational backflip senton and a cool variation of a powerbomb for near falls. Stitch kicked out of Slim’s first flying reverse DDT but the second one did the trick. A rematch on a show that didn’t have all the gaga would be nice.

Terry Lawler auctioned off the last ring jacket worn by Bill Dromo. Anschutz took part in the bidding. The jacket went to Jimmy Oxendine for $230.

(8) Luke Gallows (with Amber O’Neal-Gallows) defeated Shane Marx (with Dewitt Dawson) via DQ in 3:05. Richard told Marx that had somebody bigger than him to deal with tonight (a reference to the beatdown Marx put on him at the last show). A Gallows uppercut sent Marx out of the ring. Dawson grabbed Luke’s foot to give Marx the advantage. Dawson pulled a giant alarm clock out of his bag. Not sure what that was about. After Marx busted his ass missing a leg drop off the rope, Gallows caught him with the big boot. Dawson jumped onto the apron to distract and Marx gave Gallows a low blow for the win. Fine while it lasted. 

Postmatch, Marx and Dawson put the boots to Gallows, who made his own save with a superkick (with else?) on Marx. Dawson begged for mercy. It looked like Gallows was going to give Dawson a pass with the “too sweet” hand gesture, but not so fast, as Amber gave Dawson a low blow and a superkick. Amber was pure heel in her previous SFCW appearance when she at ringside with Trinity. Such is the state of pro wrestling that nobody seemed to care or remember.

(9) Trinity (Chris Nelms & Big Andy with Tim Rice) defeated Cowboy Way (Jamie Holmes & Roscoe Way) in a Loser Leaves Town Tables Match in 15 minutes. Way is gone from SFCW after Holmes turned on him to join Trinity. A wild brawl right from the get go. They got the only"this is awesome" chant of the night. There is no accounting for taste. Roscoe bled. They set up a spot where Anschutz got to smack Nelms. Andy jumped off the makeshift stage to put Holmes through a table but ref was down after being hit with a chair.  Holmes stripped off his shirt revealing a Trinity shirt underneath. It was curtains for Roscoe but they couldn't get the table to break to save their lives.  Trinity tried to put Roscoe through it with a double powerbomb but no dice. Holmes came off ropes onto Way and the sucker still wouldn't break. They set the table up in the corner and tried to freight train splash Way through it. A spear might have worked better. I counted six different attempts. The situation was getting comical.  In desperation, Roscoe dumped the table over the top rope and had Andy toss him over the top rope onto the partially collapsed table.I was afraid Roscoe broke his neck but he was walking around and still in one piece after the show.  Pro wrestling doesn't get much uglier than this,  but the match was unforgettable and perversely entertaining.

(10) Pandora vs. Dementia D’Rose in an I Quit Match at 11:15 when D’Rose passed out. Dementia was lying in wait by concession stand. They brawled in the aisle. Once inside the ring, they went back and forth with submissions. They were selling the agony and neither woman was about to give up. A formidable flying ass by D’Rose sent Pandora out of the ring. Pandora made creative use of the ring post for a sadistic surfboard. D’Rose used a bearhug. Pandora used a guillotine choke. A collision of high crossbodys left both women down. Pandora laid D’Rose out with sliced bread, dragged a trash can into the ring and proceeded to beat D’Rose to death with it – three shots to the head and like a dozen to the back until D’Rose was motionless on the mat. Referee Mason called for the bell. A brutal match and really well done. It was a shame that it had to follow the tables debacle in front of a crowd badly needed to catch its second wind.

(11) The Dark Mon (with S.P. The GHOST) defeated Mikael Judas in 14:05. It was something else to see Judas facing off with a wrestler that he had to look up to. Judas busted out a dropkick in the early going. Dark Mon imposed his will. After Dark Mon missed a senton backsplash of the middle rope, Judas rallied back, landing punch after punch in the corner. Judas made the full-fledged comeback and goozled Dark Mon for the choke slam. Dark Mon fought it off and hit the Roderick Strong double knee gutbuster. Dark Mon missed a senton backsplash off the top that liked to have killed Judas if it connected. Dark Mon goozled Judas, who countered with a single leg crab but Dark Mon made the ropes. Judas went for El Crucifijo and got distracted by Ghost on the apron. Judas kicked out of a chokebreaker from the underworld by Dark Mon. Referee Ken Wallace got in the way of Dark Mon’s torture rack. With the ref down, voodoo punk came into the ring and whacked Judas in the back with a chair. They were both down forever before Dark Mon covered for the three count. The chairshot was solid but it was tough to buy Judas being that done in by it. See match #10 – a unique monsters dream match like this would have been more compelling on a normal length show.

(12) Gunner & AJ Steele & Logan Creed & Drew Adler defeated SFCW Champion Jagged Edge & Francisco Ciatso & Simon Sez & Jacob Ashworth (with Joseph Brock & Tommy Penirelli) in 7:30. The crowd was on fire from the moment they came through the curtain. It was instant pandemonium with all eight wrestlers brawling all over the building. The eliminations came fast and furious. I blinked and missed what happened to eliminate Adler. Ashworth rolled Creed up after distraction by Brock. Gunner eliminated Ashworth with a powerbomb and took Sez out with a spear. Steele then pinned Ciatso with the Steele City Bomb (black hole slam) for a tremendous pop. That left Jagged Edge cowering in fear at the prospect of going against Gunner and Steele. Jagged Edge beat a hasty retreat only to be confronted by Iceberg blocking his escape! Steele planted Jagged with the Steele City Bomb. The pop was unreal. Props to everyone in the match. No worries about fragile egos. Unlike the rest of the show, this match was exactly what it need to be and nothing more.

Postmatch - Gunner went for Brock but only got his suit jacket. Gunner thanked the crowd for sticking it out and being loud. The babyfaces celebrated Jagged’s demise. Creed put on Brock’s suit jacket. Gunner hugged Berg. Steele capped off the celebration with a second Steele City Bomb on poor old Jagged.