From Larry Goodman: It was oh so good for ACTION Wrestling to be home after a four month absence. ACTION emerged from the show with th...
From Larry Goodman:
It was oh so good for ACTION Wrestling to be home after a four month absence. ACTION emerged from the show with their niche as the best bell-to-bell wrestling of any promotion in Georgia fully intact.
There’s something special about the atmosphere of the ACTION Arena (aka the Roger Spencer Community Center). Maybe it’s the intimacy. Certainly it’s a fanbase that appreciates great wrestling when they see it and ACTION gave it to them last night.
ACTION comes as close to presenting pro wrestling as sport as any promotion around. There hasn’t been a show in ACTION’s history that didn’t have some great matches and this show was no exception.
AJ Gray made his best ACTION showing in a stellar match with ACTION’s number one contender and PWX Champion Slim J, who seems to have nothing but great matches these days.
AC Mack defeated EVOLVE star Curt Stallion to retain the ACTION Championship in an outstanding main event. Mack was a prolific talker with charisma to burn from day one. He was always good in the ring but he’s know developed the skills to hang with top level indy guys like Stallion. If only he weighed the whopping 207 pounds he claims.
Unlike the Sharpsburg show, the match order was about perfect.
ACTION tells some damn good stories as well, although promoter/booker Matth Griffin has been hampered in that area by a mind-boggling amount of line up changes involving key players. Last night, they found another way to keep their longest running and most heated story (TEAM Tag’s persecution of Griffin) on the front burner. That’s a really good thing because new directions were the order of the day almost everywhere else.
Attendance at the ACTION Arena was 200. ACTION has a smart fan base that doesn’t feel the need to display how smart they are. They suspend disbelief and get into the show full force. It’s a beautiful thing.
Bandy eschewed Flacco’s handshake and was roundly booed.
Ring announcer Scott Hensley said Michael Marshall didn’t make it for his match with Fred Yehi.
Yehi said good thing he was taking his anger management classes. Marshall couldn’t make it and worse than that, he couldn’t find his ring jacket. Out came Ashton Starr wearing the jacket, stating it looked better on him. Starr wanted another shot at the $2500 bounty to give Yehi a shot at getting his jacket back. A highly entertaining lead into…
(2) Fred Yehi defeated Ashton Starr 8:59. Another really good match. It wasn’t a matter of if Yehi was going to beat Starr, just when and how. Yehi’s takedowns and chops were brutal. Starr threw the jacket in Yehi’s face and popped him a good one. Starr was impressive in cutting off Yehi’s comebacks despite being on the receiving end of multiple high impact moves. His big mistake was smacking Yehi across the face. Yehi put Starr away but good with a Canadian Destroyer.
Yehi left with his jacket and faces former Florida indy great and ROH star Erick Stevens (now there’s a blast from the past) on August 16.
(3) Slim J defeated AJ Gray in 9:52. They shook hands and the crowd popped for it. A fast paced exchange to a stand off ended with Gray falling on his ass instead. Rather than trying to cover like nothing happened, Gray laughed at himself, which the crowd totally appreciated. Slim J put Gray through his paces, hitting all of his signature moves. Gray, however, had the flying reverse DDT and Anger Management scouted and was able to counter them with killer moves of his own, garnering a close near fall with a sitout powerbomb. Slim hit the flying reverse DDT and Gray kicked out. Gray took Slim’s head off with a lariat and Slim kicked out. I loved the finish – a battle on the ropes built to Slim attempting a superhuracanrana. Gray blocked it twice before converting to win the match. Best match of the night next to the main. ACTION was batting 1000 so far.
Postmatch -- Pure sportsmanship with Slim putting Gray over.
(4) David Ali & Cain Justice defeated Cabana Man Dan & Matt Sells in 10:12. No trouble distinguishing the good guys from the bad guys in this match. Sells was blown up after his hilarious ring entrance. CMD and Sells in control early on with Ali taking the brunt of the punishment. The heels got heat on Sells after evil subterfuge by Justice. A flip flop to the head of Justice from CMD followed by a Sells’ palm strike led to the hot tag. CMD lit the heels up flip flop chops much to the crowd’s delight. Match broke down with all four in and Ali rolled CMD up using a handful of tights. Well played. It was the perfect spot on the show for a comedic change of pace.
Postmatch -- Appreciation pop for Sells and CMD.
(5) Tommy Maserati (with The Skulk) defeated Alan Angels in 11:55. Maserati had retired. Angels was his former partner who was destined for greatness but had a bad attitude in need of correction.
The match had tremendous energy and emotion but Maserati was rusty so it was sloppy for an Angels’ match. It will play better in the video form where they can get the story across. My sense was the story was lost on the majority of the fans, who had no clue why all these people were at ringside wildly cheering the babyface. Maserati was on fire from the opening bell. Maserati got clocked with a forearm did a Nestea plunge in the waiting arms of his friends. Fast forward, Maserati kicked out of a spinning torture rack neckbreaker. Angels caught Maserati flush in the face with a knee as he came off the top. Maserati recovered to to drop Angels on his head for a near fall. Angels had Maserati pinned using the ropes but referee Donnie Howell caught the cheating. Maserati then pinned Angels with an inside cradle.
The match had tremendous energy and emotion but Maserati was rusty so it was sloppy for an Angels’ match. It will play better in the video form where they can get the story across. My sense was the story was lost on the majority of the fans, who had no clue why all these people were at ringside wildly cheering the babyface. Maserati was on fire from the opening bell. Maserati got clocked with a forearm did a Nestea plunge in the waiting arms of his friends. Fast forward, Maserati kicked out of a spinning torture rack neckbreaker. Angels caught Maserati flush in the face with a knee as he came off the top. Maserati recovered to to drop Angels on his head for a near fall. Angels had Maserati pinned using the ropes but referee Donnie Howell caught the cheating. Maserati then pinned Angels with an inside cradle.
Angels said if he had to lose to anyone in ACTION Wrestling it would Maserati. They hugged and the WWA4 contingent (Adrian Alanis, Leon Ruff, Ryan Rembrandt, Fletcher Malone, Dani Jordyn,, Lee Johnson, David Ali, Starr and Bandy) chanted “both these guys”.
Bandy jumped in the ring and decked Maserati with a leg lariat. Bandy tried to exit but Alanis threw him back in where Angels and Maserati destroyed his face with stereo knees. The double turn came across well. Angels vs. Bandy is set for August 16.
(6) Stunt Doubles (Marko & Logan Stunt) defeated Team TAG (Kevin Blue & Chris Spectra with Billy Buck) in 15:03. This match had issues, partly due to Logan getting his bell rung. Stunt Double outwrestled a team twice their size in the early going. TAG did some creative stuff with Logan during the heat, like Blue and Spectra handing him back and forth during a 30 second stalling suplex. Spectra tossed Logan to Blue for a powerbomb. It was child abuse. Logan didn’t get his shoulder off the mat on the pin count after Blue’s uranage. Referee Daryl Hall let it go but that was just for starters. Marko tagged in standing halfway between the corner, which would be so bad if ACTION didn’t have tag ropes. Blue was in the ring forever without tagging in. For the finish, Logan had Blue small-packaged so Spectra turned the pile. Marko turned the pile again and Logan pinned Blue. Match was OK enough but too long. It's not the end of the world, but I hated to see the referee made to look stupid in a promotion that presents pro wrestling as a true athletic contest. All of that quickly forgotten though…
Team TAG attacked Stunt Doubles at ringside. Out came Matt Griffin with hefty dive off the top rope that wiped out the entirety of Team TAG for a huge pop.
Griffin and Buck brawled out of the building and into the adjoining kiddy playground. The crowd followed them out and was having a jolly good time chanting “CEO” as Griffin ate Buck’s lunch. It was chaotic and crazy and great fun.
(7) Billy Buck defeated Matt Griffin in 4:31. Griffin dominated. Buck was in agony. Griffin busted out moves from his salad days as a pro wrestler – the swinging fisherman buster and the crossed-arm Iconoclasm. Team TAG returned to ringside. Blue gave Buck a chain but as he went to use it, Griffin decked him with a taped fist. Griffin wrapped the chain around his fist. As the ref was admonishing Griffin, Buck superkicked Griffin to get the win.
Postmatch – Team TAG duct taped Griffin’s hand together. Buck gave the defensless Griffin the Buckshot. Team TAG stood Griffin up and Buck delivered a second Buckshot. A slew of babyface wrestlers rushed to ringside. Team TAG kept them at bay with chairs enabling them to escape without consequences. Fans chanted “CEO” as Griffin was helped from the ring.
(8) AC Mack defeated Curt Stallion to retain the ACTION Championship in 16:30. Mack is getting a mixed reaction now. The fans recognize how good he is and don’t really want to hate him. They liked Stallion alright at the start and liked him a lot more as the match went along. Stallion wasted no time unleashing a plethora of strikes. Mack posted Stallion’s shoulder and spent the rest of match trying to mangle Stallion’s arm, while Stallion fought back with strikes of all types. Stallion used a Finn Balor style corner dropkick and an Air Raid Crash neckbreaker. Mack ended a sensational sequence of moves with a cross armbreaker. Stallion made the ropes and glared at Mack as he was taking punishment. Mack popped up after taking a German suplex and the got into one hell of an exchange that left both men on the canvas. Mack delivered a flying stomp that liked to have crushed Stallion’s skull. Stallion countered the Mack 10 with a vicious headbutt and they were both down again. They went strong style, trading ridiculously stiff shots and kicked out of big moves at one. Stallion decked Mack with another killer headbutt and tried for jackknife pin. Mack rolled through and hit the Mack 10 for the win.
Great match. Stallion was a tailor made challenger as size wasn’t an issue. They both sold their asses off. The strong style sequence worked like magic because it wasn’t done in any of the other matches.
Afterward, Buck returned and posted Marko, who was doing color commentary and knocked down play-by-play guy Dylan Hales. Mack was threatening to give Marko a Mack 10 when Slim J made the save. Slim picked up the title and said he had been in ACTION for a minute and it was time for his shot. Griffin said there was long list of challengers… and Slim was at the top. That match happens August 16.
NOTES: August 16 at ACTION Arena has the debut of Liam Gray, Yehi vs. Stevens, Mack defending against Slim and Bandy vs. Angels…Kyle Matthews, Al Getz, Jeffrey Taylor and Andrew Alexander were in the house. Mika Villas handled the sound.
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