Photo Courtesy of Corey Tatum From Larry Goodman: Martin Stone retained the Georgia Wrestling Crown Championship, once again def...
Martin Stone retained the Georgia Wrestling Crown Championship, once again defeating Chip Day, Georgia’s 2016 Wrestler of the Year. Adding major insult to injury, Stone turned to the darkside, supplanted Day in The Hierachy.
Face or heel, Stone is an awesome promo. It goes without saying he can do it in the ring. How has WWE not already signed this guy? One of the beauties of Murder One’s booking was to give AWE an out when it happens.
There were plenty of other storyline developments to keep things interesting -- a new Hierarchy member, new tag team champions and the return of maleness to the ROAR division.
Coming off a tightly constructed iPPV in combination with EVOLVE. AWE’s returned to their excessive ways. One has to be in the proper mindset for an AWE show, and for whatever reason that’s the zone this writer was in for all three and half hours of it.
Attendance for AWE’s return to the Marietta Event Center was in the range of 150 – not as well as they did for the combined show with EVOLVE but not bad either.
Josh Wheeler introduced Paul Coldhard as the new President of AWE. Coldhard was instantly confronted by Owen Knight complaining about being reduced to replacement status and not having a match. Coldhard made Knight entrant number one in the Wolfman and Donna Georgia Classic Battle Royal.
(1) ”Battle Royal King” Chris Mayne won the Wolfman and Donna Georgia Classic Battle Royal in 17 minutes. Tough to get bored with a new wrestler every 30 seconds. The field included Terry Lawler (winding down a 28 year career), O’Shay Edwards, Bailey Blake, Matt Kenway, Noo Won, Chris Bullet, Dominic Stuckey and a guy I didn’t know. Knight and William Huckaby made the final four. In the singles finale, Mayne won his 5th AWE battle royal when Marshall tapped out to a choke submission.
(2) Adrian Armour defeated KLD (Kevin Lee Davidson) in 14:24 with a Pedigree and his feet on the ropes. Good match. KLD is a Michael Elgin trainee with tremendous agility for a big man. He gave Armour all he could handle.
(3) Isla Dawn defeated Kiera Hogan via submission in 6:20. Only tough women allowed in AWE’s ROAR division. Dawn reversed Hogan’s cross armbreaker with a dragon suplex.
Wheeler announced Dawn vs. Ivelisse for the return of Monday Night ROAR to the Opera Night Club on August 28.
(4) Aaron Epic pinned Slade Porter in 10:12 with a cradle piledriver. A cut below most everything else on the show. It was evident that Porter wasn’t in Epic’s league.
(5) Submission Squad (Evan Gelistico & Gary Jay) defeated Gymnasty Boys (Timmy Lou Retton & White Mike) and The Carnies (Kerry Awful & Nick Iggy with Priscilla Kelly) and The WorkHorsemen (Anthony Henry & James Drake) to win the vacant AWE Tag Team Championship in 23 minutes. This match was lunacy. White Mike was over like rover with the AWE fans. The guy is hilarious. Submission Squad eliminated Carnies with a devastating double team maneuver on Awful. Iggy was not happy with Priscilla. EVOLVE tag team champions Drake & Henry left the other four laying and walked out on the match. Submission Squad won it with this electric chair flatliner deal on Mike that looked dangerous as hell.
The second half opened with Hierarchy members Murder One, Adrian Armour and Iceberg in the ring. Murder said they were bringing in a new member due to Iceberg’s retirement and out came Joe Black. Fans heartily approved this selection. Murder then said Iceberg had been granted a manager’s license.
(6) Joe Black (with Iceberg) defeated Gladiator Jeremiah in 8:45. A very good wrestling match, albeit worked in a slightly conservative style than most AWE fare. Black capitalized on a missed moonsault by Jeremiah and pinned him with a dragon suplex. The AWE fans gave Jeremiah a ration of shit but it was all in good fun. Maybe.
Berg and Black beat Jeremiah down in humiliating fashion after the match.
Ashton Starr said everyone on the show was killing it but he felt left out and forgotten. He ran ROAR and put those bitches Priscilla Kelly and Hogan on the map. That brought Kamilla Kane out leading to…
(7) Kamilla Kane pinned Ashton Starr with a major league spear in 3:45.
Kelly attacked Kane after the match. They had a brutally stiff brawl. Kane was bleeding from the nose. Kelly appeared to injure her elbow.
(8) Murder One defeated Sugar Dunkerton in a Death Match that went 24:40. Crazy, chaotic match. The AWE fans supplied the weapons and they were highly imaginative with their selections. The Sega Genesis game system and the fake fruit tree were my personal favorites. A pogo stick, a plastic inner tube, a tiki bar torch and a baseball bat wrapped with Christmas lights also came into play. Dunkerton taped his fists and covered them with thumb tacks, then punched Murder in the face a couple of times. Sick stuff. Armour interfered and duct taped Dunkerton’ arms to the ropes. Murder gave Dunkerton a chance to give up. Dunkerton said Murder’s mother could go f### herself. Murder repeatedly jabbed a crutch into Dunkerton’s throat until referee Ryan Harmon had seen enough and called for the bell.
Knight and Bullet came to Sugar's rescue. Knight challenged Murder to a bloody war.
(9) Martin Stone defeated Chip Day to retain the GWC Championship in 19:01. An outstanding match as expected. What was not expected was Stone retaining which he did by reversing Day’s Boston crab. These two have great chemistry. Stone dominated early. Big moves for near falls both ways down the stretch.
Stone offered to shake Day’s hand after the match. The Hierarchy came to the ring to observe the outcome. Day accepted and was immediately attacked by Stone, who then raised the two fingers of the Hierarchy. The Hierarchy beat on Day until Kelly hit the ring to protect her man from further abuse.
Stone cut an amazing heel promo explaining he was Hierarchy sympathizer all along and the AWE fans were idiots to think otherwise. Stone pointed out that he was the first to pin Jimmy Rave and the one who took the title from Rave.Stone declared the GWC Championship vacant and said he could shift the title to any Hierarchy member at will.
Day was beaten down again defending Kelly. Iggy tried to pry Priscilla away from Day but he wasn't about to let her go. More to come for that no doubt.
Day was beaten down again defending Kelly. Iggy tried to pry Priscilla away from Day but he wasn't about to let her go. More to come for that no doubt.