Dragon Con Wrestling Report from Atlanta on August 29

From Larry Goodman: A good time was had by fringe characters of all persuasions at Dragon Con Wrestling 2019. It was a lovefest bo...

From Larry Goodman:

A good time was had by fringe characters of all persuasions at Dragon Con Wrestling 2019. It was a lovefest both behind and front of the curtain. Drunkeness and debauchery abounded amongst the sci-fi fantasy fanatics. The wrestlers mostly saved that stuff for after the show. 

Dragon Con is a uniquely wonderful wrestling experience. This year’s edition lived up to its wacky tradition in full. Dragon Con fans embrace the characters and their signature moments and this show delivered on the entire shebang. It peaked in the midcard as DCW shows often seem to do. Dragon Con fans crave constant gamer type action. It’s a tough task to keep them fully engaged all night long under the best of circumstances.

The roster has expanded and shifted some over the years. It’s always been primarily a Georgia wrestling thing. In recent years, the Chattanooga area influence has been replaced with more of a Carolina flavor. 

Attendance at DCW events is a fluid situation as fans filter in an out of the room during the course of the evening. There were close to 2000 fans (the expanded seating capacity of the Hyatt Centennial Ballroom) at the start of the show and considerably less than that by the time show ended some 2 hours and 45 minutes later. 

Xavier Woods was dressed as Jack Skellington and was having a grand time roaming around rubbing elbows with fans and wrestlers alike. 

There’s always a Ric Flair. a Roddy Piper and a Randy Savage cosplayer or three in the crowd. Among this year’s more inspired choices: IRS Mike Rotundo, an ECW era Devon Dudley and Velveteen Dream.

 Promoter AJ welcomed fans to the 18th annual DCW event. Dragon Con has actually hosted pro wrestling for 20 years. A  video surfaced with Jimmy Valiant vs. Iron Sheik from 2000. AJ and his partner Tiny Dockery (now deceased) have been running it as DCW since 2002.

The Hall of Fame ceremony commenced with AJ, co-booker Slim J, Azrael, Crystal and special guests Dustin Rhodes, Jake Roberts and Teddy Long in the ring as the entire roster surrounded the ring.

-- Pat Henry received a lifetime achievement award from AJ. Henry was one of the founders of Dragon Con in 1987. Henry and his wife, Sherry played a large role in the expansion of Dragon Con into the mammoth event it has become.

--Ethan Case was inducted by Slim J. Case is veteran of numerous DCW shows. 

-- CB Suave, who cosplays a famous wrestler every year, was inducted by Jimmy Oxendine. Suave was doing Rick Rude this year. 

-- David Ross was inducted by Mosley. An actor, writer, cosplayer and wrestler, Ross has been making the trek from Canada to take part in the DCW shows for many years. 

-- Dustin Rhodes was inducted by Azrael. Rhodes got a huge pop and an “AEW”chant, then another pop when he mentioned he had signed with AEW full time.

-- Jake Roberts was inducted by STD. He also got a huge pop. Roberts said he was living the dream as a pro wrestler and made his dream a reality and it was up to the DCW wrestlers to make their dream a reality. 

Long did a “holla, holla, holla” and it was on with the show.

The respect and love shown to inductees made the HOF segment a total winner. 

(1) Goth Lesnar (Stryknyn) defeated Billy Gump (Billy Brash) and Drew Adler and Ethan Case and Fry Daddy and Prince Apollo in 6:40. Brash got over like crazy last year doing Forrest Gump and the crowd went nuts when he came out as Gump again. Gump got a “holy shit” chant for his Fosbury flop dive. Stryk booked a mini Paul Heyman as his manager. Would have been awesome but the midget screwed up. Goth took his opponents to suplex city and pinned Apollo and Fry after a double F5. 

(2) Simon Sermon defeated Crystal to win the Siren’s Cup in 3:40. Crystal’s female opponent was a no-show. That turned out to be a good thing because Sermon was gold in this spot. He cut a promo so freaking annoying and arrogant that it got mega heat. He claimed Crystal cheated to beat him last year and that he “identified as a woman”. Crystal shut Sermon up with a punch in the mouth and they were off and running. Fans were elated when Crystal gave Sermon the Flair body slam off the top rope…and horrified moments later when Sermon decimated her with the Manchester Driver.

(3) The Workhorsemen (Anthony Henry & JD Drake) defeated Ugly Ducklings (Rob Killjoy & Lance Lude with Coach Mikey) to become number one contenders for the DCW Tag Team Cup in 15:55. Ducklings were instant hits in their first Dragon Con appearance last year. Fans were quacking as soon as they came through the curtain. Drake addressed all the men in the crowd that had just moved out their parents’ basement and had more Pokemon cards than paychecks. From a pure wrestling perspective, this may have been the best match I’ve seen at a Dragon Con show. They pulled out all the stops and were hitting everything pretty much spot on with oodles of well-executed double teams and saves. Mikey “quacked up” and got killed. Henry pinned Killjoy after hitting a pedigree off the top rope followed by Drake’s moonsault.

(4) Sugar Dunkerton defeated Murder One in 10:35. Match was fine but didn’t get a great reaction. It would have been tough for anybody to follow the awesomeness of the tag match. The crowd was amused by Dunkerton’s antics with British stylings and the spot where they sat down in chairs to trade blows was a hit. Dunkerton escaped The Ether and pinned Murder after an Attitude Adjustment followed by a running knee.

(5) Manchild & Scotty Beach defeated Washington Bullets (Trey & Jon Williams) and Mosley & Scott Ross to win the DCW Tag Team Cup in 10:40. The Bullets entered as two-time Cup winner and have a knack for getting heat here. The crowd went bananas for Mosley coming out dressed as Inspector Gadget. With the crowd chanting “go go Gadget”, Mosley used an arm extension gimmick to to make a hot tag. Spot of the match, and one of the most memorable all night, saw Mosley with the arm extension wrapped around his waist like a pull string. Ross pulled the arm and Mosley started spun around decking everyone. Beach used the Beach Balls leg drop on Jon and The Manchild moonsault that fans anticipate seeing at every DCW show found its mark to score the pinfall. 

(6) CB Suave won a 13 man gauntlet match to become the number one contender for the DCW Cup in 37:45. The gauntlet format was the vehicle of choice to get a whole bunch of people onto the show. Though the match had some killer moments, the battle royal used for that purpose last year worked better because of the constant insanity of the action. 

-- Gladiator Jeremiah (Slim J) defeated CT Keys with a hangman’s neckbreaker.

-- Chip Day vs. Jeremiah was really good stuff. Day pinned Jeremiah with a kneedrop to the back of the neck.

-- Logan Creed pinned Day with Scorched Earth in a match up I never thought I would get a chance to see.

-- Creed vs. Adrian Hawkins was tremendous. Hawkins made a huge production out of taking his suit off with the crowd giving him all kinds of grief. As soon as the bell rang, Creed knocked him out with one punch.

-- Creed vs. Geter, monster vs. monster, was a sight to behold. Geter gave Creed a sick dragon suplex. Referee David Weakley tried to intervene and took a choke slam from both of them. Creed blasted Geter with a tope suicida and they fought to the dressing room.

-- Nemesis pinned Jacoby Boykins after a low blow. Boykins’ 20 count stalling suplex got over.

-- An anonymous masked man (with Mr. Hughes) pinned Nemesis with a running crossbody.

-- Brian Blaze rolled the masked guy up after he put on the brakes to avoid a collision with Hughes.

-- CB Suave (as Rick Rude) pinned Blaze with Rude Awakening neckbreaker.

-- Suave pinned "Mr. Delicious" Matt Griffin with the Rude Awakening. 

-- Suave pinned Billy Buck with a Rude Awakening. Based on the crowd reaction, the right guy won.

(7) Dominic Stuckey & JC Kelly defeated D Money & Skrilla in 4:14. This sucked pretty bad. Perennial Dragon Con favorite Iceberg was penciled into this match and his presence was missed big time. The Dragon Con fans were merciful and didn't shit on it. They just stayed quiet. Stuckey was the only glimmer of decency. He pinned DMoney with his butterfly stunner. 

(8) Azrael defeated Mikal Judas and David Young to win the DCW Cup in 3:42. Azrael was the number one contender. Young was injected into this match just because I guess. It goes without saying that logic and normalcy do not apply at Dragon Con. Judas sent Young into the stratosphere with El Crucifijo, but got clocked by Azrael who stole the pin.

Judas raised Azrael's hand after the match. 

NOTES: The referees were Chris Wiggins, Dee Byers and the aforementioned David Weakley…Ebony was the ring announcer…Michael Gentry did live play-by-play in his king outfit…Georgia wrestling luminaries in the house included Josh Wheeler, David Manders, Baron Black, Nigel Sherrod, Wolverton, Ashton Starr, Dani Jordyn, James Kitchens (VPW) and God only knows how many others I missed.