Photos courtesy of Tommy Polnaszek From Larry Goodman: Fred Yehi was crowned as the first Allied Independent Wrestling Federatio...
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| Photos courtesy of Tommy Polnaszek |
From Larry Goodman:
Fred Yehi was crowned as the first Allied Independent Wrestling Federation Champion as a result of winning a 12 man tournament hosted by Southern Fried Championship Wrestling. It was fabulous night for Yehi, who won four matches en route to the title.
The tournament itself was just kind of there. It lacked the feel of something important that was building to a dramatic conclusion ala the Scenic City Invitational. The most compelling aspect of the show was the story between former SFCW Champion AJ Steele and Francisco Ciatso. This had been set into motion during the last SFCW event, and it played out beautifully here. Steele dominated Yehi in their semifinal match, losing thanks to Ciatso, but oh did Steele ever get his revenge The hard fought tournament final was rendered to being somewhat anticlimactic.
The matches were fine. Nothing off the charts. Chip Day’s matches with Yehi and Shane Marx were both really good. I also enjoyed Yehi vs. Sugar Dunkerton, Ethan Case vs. Kyle Matthews and Geter vs. Logan Creed.
Attendance at Nowell Rec Center in Monroe, Ga was 85. SFCW always runs on Saturdays. Habits are hard to break as demonstrated by the low turnout. SFCW usually draws 200-300. The crowd was almost exclusively SFCW regulars, and nowhere near as heated as they get for a typical SFCW show. They were unfamiliar with top indy talents like Dunkerton and Case and the AIWF means nothing to them.
First and second round matches were conducted with a unique sudden death rule. The match was stopped at the 12 minute mark and restarted with a three minute time period during which only a two count was needed to win. AJ Steele, Chip Day, Shane Marx, and Odinson received first round byes.
Opening round:
(1) Logan Creed (with Brooklyn Page) defeated Geter in sudden death at 12:46. The battle of the beasts told an interesting story. Creed had to overcome the rare challenge of facing a man larger than himself. He had the height advantage on Geter but nowhere near the mass. Geter’s chops were stiff as shit. It took three attempts, but Creed was finally able pick Geter up for a front slam. Geter had Creed in a stretch muffler when the 12 minute period expired. Creed got a two count with a backslide.
(2) Ethan Case defeated Kyle Matthews in 10:41. Former AWE manager and current PWX official Kevin Pierce was the referee. Matthews was the clear fan favorite here. Matthews came up lame after a pescado and the knee hindered him for the remainder of the match. Matthews scored a series of near falls with signature moves, but couldn’t put Case away. Case rolled through on a flying bodypress and rolled Matthews up with a handful of tights.
(3) Francisco Ciatso (with Stormie Lee) defeated Kameron Kade (with Brooklyn Page) in 8:28. Ciatso knows how to rile up the SFCW fans. The dude gets heat. Stormie gave Kade a low blow behind the ref’s back. Brooklyn did the same to Ciatso leaving both men down with severe groin pain. Kade had Ciatso in trouble after hitting a release german superkick. Lee grabbed Kade by the leg and Ciatso capitalized with a jumping flatliner.
(4) Fred Yehi defeated Sugar Dunkerton in 11:15. Dunkerton’s facial expressions were awesome as usual. The SFCW fans weren’t quite sure what to make of him. Suge’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head when he got his first whiff of Yehi’s formidable wrestling skills. He pulled Yehi’s pajama bottom pants down and grabbed a side headlock. Fred took off the PJs. Suge kicked him in the ass. Fred grabbed Dunkerton by ear for Three Stooges’ spot. They got down to serious business, trading strikes and near falls. Yehi KOed a charging Dunkerton with a forearm for the 1-2-3.
Second round:
(5) Chip Day defeated Ethan Case in 9:30. Day turned Case’s streamer (singular) party into a painful kick party. Case gave Day a wicked chop block on an up and over to take control of the match. Case worked the knee, which turned out to be the body part du jour. Case got in referee Pierce’s face when a push up forearm didn’t do the trick. A third attempt for a superplex was most definitely not the charm for Case, as Day picked up the win with Day of the Dead (double knees off the top).
Postmatch- “nah nah nah nah” goodbye for Case. Give him credit for being a big enough jerk to earn it.
(6) Shane Marx (with Dewitt Dawson) defeated Logan Creed (Brooklyn Page) in 6:55. Creed had Marx in a world of hurt until he inadvertently rammed his knee into the turnbuckle. More knee work ensued. Creed fired up and hit the full nelson slam, but was slow to cover and Marx rolled a shoulder. When Creed tried to suplex Marx back into the ring, Dawson swept his leg and Marx landed on top.
(7) Francisco Ciatso (with Stormie Lee) defeated Odinson in 4:09. Ciatso complained that he didn’t sign up for Odinson (it was supposed to be his buddy Jagged Edge who is MIA). Odinson dished out the punishment. Ciatso didn’t get squat, zero, nada. Even the eye pokes didn’t work. All Ciatso could do was beg for mercy, so Lee distracted the ref and Ciatso clocked Odinson with brass knucks for the pin. Ciatso was tremendous here.
(8) Fred Yehi defeated AJ Steele via count out in 9:42. Yehi’s strikes didn’t faze Steele and he couldn’t take him down. Steele’ nerve hold had Yehi in agony. A barrage of blows shook Steele up a bit, but he came right back with a spear for a near fall, a pair of withering open hand chops and a sidewalk slam for another near fall. Steele spilled over the top rope on a missed charge. Ciatso ran down to ringside and grabbed Steele’s leg to prevent him from beating the 10 count.
Postmatch – a very cautious handshake between Yehi and Steele.
Rick Richards announced that the semi-finals and tournament final would have no time limit, no DQ stipulations.
(9) Chip Day defeated Shane Marx (Dewitt Dawson) at 13:07. Day came out selling the knee and tweaked it on leap from the top. Marx hit a spinebuster and took over. They brawled into the bleacher area. There was a time when no DQ didn’t automatically mean no count out. They were separate, distinct stipulations. It’s no coincidence that every stipulation match was a big deal and a potential draw. But I digress. Marx hit a codebreaker, but Day popped up with a tornado kick and both were down and out in a nod to Puroresu. The fans got behind Day. Some outstanding close near falls down the stretch. These two have chemistry. Dawson got on the apron to interfere, but Brooklyn came to ringside and pulled him off the apron. Day then pinned Marx with the Northern Light Bomb.
(10) Fred Yehi defeated Francisco Ciatso (with Stormie Lee) in 4 seconds. As Ciatso was awaiting Yehi’s arrival, he failed to see you know who entering the ring behind him. Steele planted Ciatso with the Steele City Bomb. Yehi ran in and covered for the 1-2-3 and the biggest pop of the night.
(11) Exhibition match: Former AIWF World Champion Justin Overstreet defeated Twisted in 6:50. Twisted got more offense than I would have expected against a former world champion. The big spot saw Overstreet hiptoss Twisted over the top rope onto the newly installed ramp. Despite the “Spinebuster” on his singlet, Overstreet used a lariat to score the pinfall after Twisted missed a swanton.
Postmatch – Twisted eschewed a handshake and left Overstreet laying with a not Young Bucks superkick.
(12) Fred Yehi defeated Chip Day to win the AIWF America’s Heavyweight Championship in 14:21. Day cut a great promo to turn the crowd against him. I loved the premise - the people in Monroe wouldn’t cross the county line to see a good show. Furthermore, he was above the likes of Matthews, Dunkerton and Steele and was the king of Georgia. Why there had to be a heel in this match is another story. Right of the bat, Yehi was killing Day with forearms. Day bailed and they brawled into the seating area. Back inside, Yehi ate a wicked kick in the mouth. Some weirdo kept doing the Tatanka war cry which added a surreal element to the match. A superkick put Yehi down hard. Both were down after Yehi’s thrusting knee strikes. Day grabbed ropes to block Yehi’s german suplex and mule kicked him in the jewels. Day applied a choke submission that had Yehi on the verge of tapping out. A hot sequence from Yehi lead to a fishermanbustah! Yehi kicked out of the Northern Light Bomb. Yehi blocked a superkick and locked in the Koji Clutch, but Day managed to crawl out of the ring to break the hold.
The finish was the same KO forearm Yehi used to beat Dunkerton. The tournament final was the best match of the show, so they got that part right.
Overstreet presented Yehi with the title, then decked him and said he would see him next time.
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