From Larry Goodman: I made it out to the Douglasville National Guard Armory to check out All Pro Championship Wrestling, which is the new p...
From Larry Goodman:
I made it out to the Douglasville National Guard Armory to check out All Pro Championship Wrestling, which is the new promotion Robert Gibson is running in conjunction with his training school.
Let me get this out of the way right now: national guard armories are at the bottom of my list of preferred wrestling venues. The buildings are drab and devoid of character and the fluorescent lighting sucks for wrestling. The Douglasville armory is no better or worse than most.
Attendance was 150 – not bad considering they went up against Georgia and Alabama football with a 7pm bell time. It was not a hot crowd by West Georgia standards. They had a full house last month which would be around 200. APCW has garnered sponsorships as reflected by the logos on the ring apron.
APCW has old school feel and professional presentation one would expect from Gibson. Proper attention was paid to the little things. There were no spotfests and a premium was put on selling all night long. The term “semi-main event” is a thing of the past but APCW has one. Ring announcer Mark Grason gives time limits and consistent 5 minute time calls for all of the matches. The exception was the officiating. Referee Mike Jones had a bad night.
They did two intermissions but at least kept them short. The running time was about 2:45.
Each match had its own story, and the show told an overarching, big picture story that will carry forward into the October event.
As far as the caliber of the talent and match quality, this was a tale of two shows. It got a whole lot better after the first intermission.
Prematch, Chris Henry told manager Angel and her bodyguard Sean Sims that they to step it up and show him something tonight.
Damien Silva defeated Chris “The Hype” Henry (Angel & Big Shawn Sims) in 7:48. Silva used “House of the Rising Sun” for his intro music, albeit not the original version that is Jimmy Rave’s calling card. Henry is a cocky SOB that likes to run his mouth during the match. Silva’s Three Amigos got a pop. Angel choked Silva over the ropes. Silva evaded Henry’s moonsault and speared him for the win. A decent opener. The more I see of Silva, the more I like him.
Sims attacked Silva after the match. Sim’s is big. He’s also very green and does not strike fear in the hearts of men. Silva tried to make a comeback, but Sims no sold his clotheslines and leveled him with a big boot that missed by a foot. Gibson made the save and as he went to check on Silva, Sims attacked him from behind. Gibson clotheslined Sims out of the ring. Corey Hollis hit the ring and clipped Gibson’s knee. Chip Day and Terry Lawler came to Gibson’s rescue.
As Gibson limped to the back, ring announcer Grason referenced his past knee surgery, casting doubt on Gibson’s ability to wrestle in the main event.
(2) Angel’s Army (Elrod Campbell & Sean Nelson with Miss Angel & Big Shawn Sims) defeated Awesome TC & JJ Boone) in 8:10. Boone wears a coon skin cap to the ring. I wonder if Daniel Boone had a pot belly like JJs? Angel said Campbell’s mystery partner wasn’t going to make it because his plane was delayed. I shudder to think what Donald Trump would say about this Angel. She was getting heat of the “go away you’re wasting my time” variety. Nelson came to the ring and said he was tired of sharing the locker room with huge egos and wanted to join Angel’s team and be a winner. Campbell said no way. Angel said he would give Nelson just one chance because she only manage winners. TC had Nelson pinned with a People’s Leg Drop but Sims pulled the ref out of the ring. Henry jumped off the top rope on TC and went into hiding out of the ref’s view, while Campbell put Nelson arm across TC. This match was filled with not ready for prime time players, and I despise that pulling the ref out spot unless it’s no DQ.
They brought Nelson’s bag out of the babyface locker room and threw it in the ring. Grason said APCW did have a commissioner and justice would be done.
Gibson was on crutches during the intermission.
(3) Micah Taylor defeated “Bosnian War Child” Spiral in 6:50. This had the intensity of a real athletic contest -- not surprising since Micah came within an eyelash of making the WWE main roster, and Spiral was his best trainee. Spiral stalled and cheated on the break and did a fine job in general of getting the people to dislike him. Micah injured his gut on a missed crossbody. Spiral worked the vulnerable body part. On the comeback, Micah used a bridging german suplex. Referee Mike Jones counted Spiral’s shoulder down for a three count and called for the bell. Clearly, this was not the planned finish. Spiral got pissed. He splashed Micah off the top and went to the back. Micah called Spiral back out and said he wasn’t going to accept a win like that or being beaten up afterward. The match was restarted with Micah pinning Spiral in short order with a package piledriver. Too bad about the botched finish because they were just getting into high gear.
(4) Tracy Taylor defeated “The Bullet Babe” Amber o’neal Gallows in 11:35. Amber faked like Tracy was using cheap shots on the break. Tracy did a slow burn before forearming Amber to death. Amber escaped to ringside, but Tracy had more where that came from. Amber took shortcuts galore, but also busted out a grounded full nelson and Cattle Mutilation. Nice stuff. When Amber charged into the corner, Tracy stepped to the apron and nailed her with an enzuirgiri. Tracy covered. Amber didn’t kick out but referee Jones claimed her foot was under the ropes. It surely didn’t look that way. Amber hit a sitout facebuster but Tracy reversed her super nonchalant sitting pin attempt. Not a smooth finish at all. A good match between seasoned pros marred by a very awkward final minute.
(5) Chip Day defeated Corey Hollis in 16:55. Day offered Hollis is his arm. Hollis seized on it but that didn’t work so well for him, as Day did a major number on Hollis’ arm. The momentum took a 180 degree turn when Hollis ducked causing Day’s kick to hit the post. Hollis was all over Day’s ankle for the body of the match. The crowd got behind Day, who ran wild with chops and kicks. Hollis kicked Day’s bum leg to halt the onslaught. Day fought off an ankle lock and went for a tornado kick. It missed and Hollis got the ankle lock applied, but Day made the ropes. Day crashed and burned off the top doing further damage to the ankle. Day rolled to the floor. Hollis tore into Day’s ankle again, jumped back into the ring and implored the referee to count Day out. Day would not have beaten the count had referee Jones not paused at 9. Hollis reapplied the ankle lock but Day reversed it for the 1-2-3. These guys did an awesome job of adjusting to an old school product – doing less and giving things times to register. Hollis is really capitalizing on facial expressions and crowd interaction now. He has become a much more entertaining heel. Day had people believing with his selling of the ankle.
Postmatch, Hollis had a hissy fit.
Pretty Boy Floyd cut a promo stating he was back to spit on Dville again. Wearing shorts and a backward baseball cap, Floyd didn't look the part of a pro wrestling star. “Either you like me or you love me, and we all know you don’t like me.”
(6) “King” Shane Williams (with Queen Taylor) defeated Terry Lawler (with Robert Gibson) in a no DQ match at 9 minutes. Gibson came out on crutches with Lawler as his replacement. I was looking forward to seeing Gibson and Williams work a match, so this was a disappointment. Williams said he would piledrive Gibson once his was medically cleared, just like he was going to do to Lawler. Lawler handed King his ass in the opening minute. Williams hid behind Queen to get the advantage and dominated from there. Williams used a brainbuster for a near fall, but was almost pinned himself due to his preoccupation with Gibson. Williams pulled the strap up and hit the fist drop. It was piledriver time but Lawler blocked it. Referee Jones went down in a heap after getting squashed in the corner. Hollis grabbed one of Gibson’s crutches and cracked Lawler over the head with it. Williams covered for the disgustingly cheap win.
Gibson got in the ring and ate a superkick from Hollis. The entire heel locker room pounced on Gibson and Lawler. The babyface locker room hit the ring to save them. JJ Boone announced APCW’s first ever battle royal for October 17. They teased doing it on the spot to wet appetites for next month.
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