From Larry Goodman: Universal Championship Wrestling ran “Clash of Champions” at the Taylor Street Gym in Griffin, GA, drawing 600...
From Larry Goodman:
Universal Championship Wrestling ran “Clash of Champions” at the Taylor Street Gym in Griffin, GA, drawing 600 people and a gate approaching 10K.
The show had promoter Ronnie Gossett’s fingerprints all over it, from the use of the old WCW show titles to the poster listing multiple name stars to the impressive list of local sponsors.
It wouldn’t be a Gossett show without controversy, as the top featured star, Jack Swagger, afterward tweeted that Gossett was a con man and a coward. Swagger was very late in arriving due to going the wrong direction to get the building. However, he stayed afterward to do autographs and such for all the fans that wanted them.
Griffin was a great choice for location – large enough to support the event and small enough to where there was minimal competition from other forms of entertainment and pro wrestling coming to town was still a big deal. Gossett faces a much tough task with his May 26 show in metro Atlanta at the Cobb County Civic Center.
The event started 25 minutes late and ran three hours long. Crowd was easy to please with many kids in the audience. The evening had its ups and downs. I was puzzled by some of the talent choices and the way said talent was used.
The show was taped with Vinny Bucci and Dan Sawyer on commentary. Gossett hopes to air UCW on FITE TV.
(1) Micah Taylor (with Tracy Taylor) pinned Amun Tooson at the 8 minute mark with a package piledriver. Hot crowd, like they were starved for action. Tooson is an Egyptian heel by way of Alabama. He got lots of heat with basic heel tactics. Finish came after Micah freed himself from Tooson’s camel clutch.
(2) Paul Wolf (Damage Inc) beat Tyler Rivera (with Josh Wolverton) in 4:52. Trainees from Luke Gallows’ Good Brother Dojo. Very indyish looks from both these guys and not in an aesthetically pleasing way. Rivera went for a springboard move and Wolf caught him with a chokebomb.
(3) Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rich defeated Brady Pierce & Jaxon James in 11:46. The pop for Rich was amazing. It had been 37 years and a day since Rich won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Even more amazing was the crowd’s willingness to suspend disbelief in the face of a ridiculous physical mismatch. They bought into Rich (age 61) and Fulton’s (age 57) offense against two big strong dudes. Crowd got a big kick out of the schtick were Rich and Pierce did a test of strength and Fulton crawled through Rich’s legs to punch Pierce in the gut, then the heels tried the same thing and the babyfaces foiled it. The heels got heat Fulton with the ref failing to see a legit tag. Tag made. Rich gave Pierce and James a meeting of the minds. Finish was a whip reversal causing the heels to collide again and double roll ups.
(4) John Skyler defeated Blake Baretta and Tyler Robinson in an elimination match in 11:14. Skyler was a heat machine. Baretta was surprisingly over as a babyface because he doesn’t look the part. Skyler convinced Robinson to work with him. Baretta eliminated Robinson with a sitout Attitude Adjustment. The ensuing action between Baretta and Skyler was the best of the undercard. Skyler countered Baretta’s finisher with a roll up and a handful of tights.
Intermission
(5) Fargo Fulton defeated The Sheik of Syria in 1:50. Fargo is Bobby’s son. I can’t imagine who was under the mask. Crowd chanted “USA”. Shiek stabbed and jabbed at Fargo with a taped stick ala Ed Farhat. Finish was yet another roll up. Horrible but at least it was short.
(6) Chase Stevens defeated Ryan Howe in 24:42. Nick Patrick was the referee for the remaining matches. Howe as chicken heel and stalled forever. Stevens gave Howe a numerous spankings. The kids in the crowd loved it, the adults, not so much. Match was painfully slow in developing. They took 25 minutes to tell a 10 minute story. The action was fine once they finally got down to it. Stevens pinned Howe with a brainbuster. These guys should have been shot when they got to the dressing room for going so long.
(7) Extreme Horsemen (Damien Wayne & CW Anderson with John Skyler) defeated Team Fearless (Lodi & Scotty Matthews) in 8:45. Big pop for Team Fearless, who looked in awesome shape. The kids screamed their heads off for Lodi’s sign giveaway gimmick. One sign read “Life is hard. Pray harder.” They did a longer version of the same through the legs punch spot as in the legends match, also the same heat spot. The hot tag was made after a Wayne missed a top rope leg drop and Matthews hit a DDT/stunner combo on the heels. Lodi had Wayne pinned but Anderson kept the ref’s back turned while Skyler gave Lodi a low blow. Wayne gave Matthews a low blow and Anderson superkicked him to set up pin.
Lodi called for a Lodi Rulz match inside a steel cage for the return date of June 30. Gossett made the match to keep Skyler from interfering.
(9) Jack Swagger defeated Wes Brisco via submission in 10:11. The quality of the wrestling was night and day compared to the rest of the card. I wished they had been given the time Stevens and Howe took. Crowd was into Swagger loud and strong for the “We The People” thing. Brisco deftly applied a cross armbreaker while hanging upside down to the outside of the ring. Great spot. Brisco continued to work on Swagger’s arm with realistically applied holds. Swagger on the comeback with a series of lariats and a sweet twisting powerslam but Brisco got his feet up on the Swagger Bomb. Brisco got near falls with a high crossbody and DDT before Swagger put him away with the Patriot Lock.
NOTES: The poster for the May 26 event at Cobb County Civic Center lists Swagger, Shane Helms, Ricky Steamboat and Johnny Swinger. “Assassin” Jody Hamilton was on hand for the meet and greet. Seen in the crowd: Southside Trash (Randy Harris & Rowdy) and former DSCW TV producer Neal Pruitt. Ralph Harkey was the ring announcer. The other referees were Nathaniel Spivey and Jeff Morton. Eddie Layne handled the sound. Local sponsors included Sellers law, Small Cakes. Corner Café, Papa John’s and Rock Springs. The show was also run in conjunction with Spalding County Sheriff’s Department. A portion of the proceeds were also to go to the Griffin-Spalding Law Enforcement Explorers youth program.
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