From Larry Goodman: It was a pivotal night for Peachstate Wrestling Alliance. So much was riding on this show. The company was r...
It was a pivotal night for Peachstate Wrestling Alliance. So much was riding on this show.
The company was returning to their former home at the VFW Fairgrounds for one night only with their biggest show since June. The card was stacked well beyond the norm. New storylines were to be revealed. Surprises were in store. New talent was set to debut. They were taking a risk with the main event, booking two babyfaces in a technical wrestling match, particularly since neither man figured into PWA storylines.
It worked – every bit of it. The show flowed seamlessly from one segment to the next with almost no dead time in between. Every segment had a story to tell. The stories were distinctive and interesting, and they all pointed to bigger things to come.
This was a very well run show. They started on time and finished in around two and half hours.
For combining wrestling and story, PWA can’t be beat at this point. PWA has never had this kind of depth on their talent roster.
Attendance was 225-250. It was striking to me how much hotter this crowd was than a similar sized crowd in Monroe. The SFCW crow gets crazy hot for the main event and but can be quite dead at other times. This PWA crowd had that West Georgia intensity- consistently hot all night long.
(1) Kevin Blue defeated Fry Daddy and Romeo and Ryan Vega and Mike Posey in a five way scramble at 12:05 to earn a shot at Posey’s No Limits Championship later in the evening. Jason Boyd announced the match as a four way for a title shot. P Dog came out and said he had already beaten all of them so none of them deserved a shot. Blue had a proposition: if P Dog entered the match and won he wouldn’t need to defend later in the evening. Posey stayed at ringside shrewdly looking for the right moment to get involved. The key spot was a perilous four way deal with Fry hitting a flying bodypress on Romeo, who was mounted on Vega and Blue’s shoulders. Posey jumped in and went for covers on Romeo, Blue and Vega but couldn’t get the pin. Fry took Posey out with his Cutline finisher. Vega took Fry out with a neckbreaker. Blue went one against two, hitting a double german suplex on heels Vega and Romeo. Babyfaces Blue and Fry squared off, but Vega again took Fry out, this time with a codebreaker. Vega kissed Romeo’s boots. Not well enough evidently, as Romeo immediately smoked him with his snapmare driver. Blue tossed Romeo out and pinned Vega with the Air Raid Crash.
Postmatch, Posey laid Blue out and called for the title match posthaste.
(2) “P Dog” Mike Posey defeated Kevin Blue in 21 seconds to retain the PWA No Limits Championship. Blue was going for his finisher when Romeo caused distraction, allowing Posey to roll Blue up with a handful of tights.
Nicely done. Surely there will be a rematch...
Donnie Primetime III issued a challenge to anyone in the back. The crowd instantly chanted “Tyson”. Al Getz came out and said he had a certain preliminary wrestler under contract that was just starting out and would one day be worthy of a title shot. That would be the former PWA Heritage Champion Dean. Getz told Dean if he could beat DPIII MAYBE he would think about exercising that rematch clause. Getz owned him and he had to do what he said. If you can beat DPIII MAYBE he would think about exercising that rematch clause.
(3) Donnie Primetime defeated Tyson Dean (with Al Getz) via forfeit in 58 seconds. Dean was in the process of dismantling DPIII when Getz threw a towel into the ring.
Getz explained that he was protecting Dean from the embarrassment of tapping out and getting hurt. He ordered Dean to stand at ringside and watch the next match to see what a real champion looked like.
I love the story they are doing with Dean. They’re taking their time and letting it build. Getz and Dean are both great in their roles. The fans want to see Dean take Al’s head off so badly, they can taste it. When PWA finally gives it to them, it’s going to blow the roof off.
(4) Sal Rinauro (with Al Getz & Tyson Dean) defeated Stupid in 8:16. Referee Triston Michaels blocked Sal’s cheap shot on the break, setting up a trifecta of pinning combinations by Stupid. On the next break, Stupid unloaded on Sal. Rinauro was bumping and selling huge for Stupid’s offense. Getz distracted Stupid to give Sal the advantage but he couldn’t make it last. Stupid used a poor excuse for a Michinoku Driver for a near fall and applied the figure four. Rinauro made it to the ropes. Stupid climbed to the top turnbuckle. Not sure what he doing up there, but Sal brought him off the top with a body slam that was so not the way Flair used to do that bump. Stupid was rallying, so Getz tripped him up and Rinauro pinned him with a basement flatliner. An underwhelming match. Stupid’s offense looked bad. Try as he might, Rinauro couldn’t get a good match out him.
Postmach, Dean reluctantly raised Sal’s hand. Sal sat on the ring apron and ordered Dean to massage his quadricep. Hilarious.
Am I in Temple, Georgia? Of course not, there’s a crowd here so I’m in Peachstate.
That was “Calm like a Bomb” Pandora's opening line as she was welcomed back to PWA. Pandora said she had problem with PWA not doing more women’s matches, so they had just signed the best Georgia had to offer to start a women’s division. Out came Dementia D’Rose, who said for once she agreed with Pandora. Women like Aja Perrera, Nina Monet and even Pandora should be kicking butts at every show. D’Rose told Pandora to build it up and maybe even she would come. This segment was another winner. The crowd responded positively to Pandora and the idea of more women’s matches. It’s not like PWA hasn’t had women’s matches, just not many good ones.
(5) PWA Tag Team Champions Dusty MacWilliams & Simon Sermon vs. Ace Haven & Charles Zanders (with Amy Haven) was a no contest at 10:05. Two nasty men, both former fan favorites, taking on white meat babyface boys is a formula for success in Carrollton. Haven and Zanders are really over. As a wrestler, Zanders is now where Haven was 5 years ago. Fortunately, Zanders’ limitations were not much of an issue here. The champions murdered Zanders during the heat like a well-oiled machine. Haven took the hot tag, entering with a flying bodypress on the champions. Zanders did a dive that out of control. Sermon made a nice catch to save his scrawny ass. MacWilliams planted Haven with a spinebuster and climbed up for his moonsault. Time stood still before Iceberg’s music hit. Iceberg was wearing a hockey mask and had Jeff G. Bailey with him. Iceberg proceeded to decimate MacWilliams until he was at least half-dead.
Bailey said MacWilliams signed his own death warrant when he broke Iceberg’s face. This was as far from your typical babyface promo as it gets, and included many of Bailey’s classic lines from his days managing the “Human Holocaust” at NWA Wildside. Bailey said Iceberg was going to take his pound of flesh and MacWilliams career along with it. The match was set for October 17, presuming MacWilliams can make it back. I had my doubts about how well this was working, but the crowd was cheering Iceberg bigtime on his way out.
Intermission.
Promoter/Commissioner Shane Noles announced that the legendary Jim Cornette would be coming to PWA on November 7, making his first Atlanta appearance in over 5 years.
Noles said he wanted a fan in the ring for his second announcement - the “fan” sitting in B21 with his amazon girlfriend to be exact. That would be Tommy Too Much (with Merica). T2m had bought a ticket to get a bird’s eye view of PWA’s new acquisitions. Noles thanked T2M for being the inspiration for his decision to resign as commissioner. Noles said he was going to let the inmates run the asylum. Noles said as management he couldn’t put his hands on the talent. Noles reassured T2M he wasn’t going to hit him from behind, but he would damn sure hit him from the front. BAM! Noles tossed T2M out. Merica got in the ring. Noles was ready to go at it with Merica when Sermon clipped his knee from behind. Noles made a comeback on Sermon, and they fought until the refs came out to separate them.
T2M headed back to his seat to find a huge black man in a hoodie sitting in his spot. T2M told "Kunta" to get his black ass outta his seat. Not happening. T2M dumped a tub of popcorn on the black dude’s head. The man stood up and took the sweatshirt off revealing AJ Steele. Steele invited T2M to take his seat back. They brawled. Steele told T2M that from now on the PWA ring was his spot, and T2M was welcome to try and take it from him on November 7. They went at again with AJ kicking T2M’s ass all the way to the dressing room. The tension of verbal confrontation and the brawl were both tremendous. It had the look and feel of a real fight.
Getz said it was he that had placed the bounty on Jimmy Rave’s head, and his phone had been ringing off the hook ever since. The fans had heard more than enough from Getz for the evening and chanted “shut him up” chant.
(6) PWA Heritage Champion Jimmy Rave defeated Bill the Butcher (with Dementia D’Rose) in a $1000 Bounty match at 4:31. Butcher unleashed the ruthless aggression with outside help from D’Rose. A big miss by Butcher turned the momentum in Rave’s favor. Rave hit From Dusk till Dawn (satellite headscissors into a crossface). D’Rose jumped in. Rave released the hold. Butcher charged at Rave and speared D’Rose, and that was all she wrote. OK for what it was. Mission accomplished. The champion overcame the monster and looked strong and smart doing it.
(7) Kyle Matthews and Cedric Alexander wrestled to 30 minute draw (actual time 28:58) in a match to determine the number one contender for the PWA Heritage Championship. The code of honor was observed. The crowd favored Matthews, although Alexander did have a share of support. Alexander had a thing going with a vocal fan in the first row. The chain wrestling in first 10 minutes was my favorite part of the match. Alexander took multiple time outs to regroup, as Matthews was giving him fits. Alexander chopped Matthews right in front of the guy that was giving him crap, and back suplexed him on the apron for good measure. Alexander launched Matthews into the turnbuckles with unexpected power, spilling Matthews out of the ring. Matthews ended an exchange on the apron with a superkick and a DDT for his best offensive sequence of the match thus far. Back inside, Alexander grounded Matthews with a sleeper. Matthews countered out of it. Matthews with a suicide plancha, a flying bodypress for two, and a backcracker for another two count. Alexander got tremendous height on a springboard clothesline. 5 minutes to go. Alexander blocked Matthews’ tornado DDT and hit one of his own. Both down after an Alexander brainbuster, then trading on their knees. Matthews used the Hidaka lock. Alexander did a rolling firearm’s carry into a split-legged moonsault that was oh so sweet. They jockeyed for position on the ropes. Matthews rolled through on Alexander’s frogsplash. Alexander hit another DDT and both were down as the time limit expired. This was a very good match, but not the stellar quality of Alexander’s matches at AWE. Alexander didn’t pull out all the stops by any mean, and it would have been counterproductive to so in match that was booked as a draw. He has a crispness and explosiveness Matthews doesn’t have at this point. That’s no knock on Matthews. Alexander is on an elite level working with the top guys in ROH.
Rave came to the ring, said they were both number one contenders and announced a three way for October 17 at Central Elementary.
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