From Larry Goodman: WrestleMerica has a highly improbable (and problematic) new Bulletproof Champion in the form of manager Ryan N...
From Larry Goodman:
WrestleMerica has a highly improbable (and problematic) new Bulletproof Champion in the form of manager Ryan North, who won the WrestleMerica Rumble and went on to defeat Dominque Stuckey in the main event.
It was not a good show. I’ve seen very few bad shows in Barnesville. This was bad. Sorely lacking in substance. The best match on the card (Fry Daddy vs. Anthony Henry) would have ranked no better than 6th at the ACTION show the night before.
Attendance was no problem whatsoever – 275 at the Academy Gym. The crowd responded well to most of the show so who am I to say it was bad? Spoiled I guess.
Ring announcer/commissioner Ben Masters announced that Mikal Judas and Neal Koloff were not there due to the weather conditions in South Carolina. That left Tyson Dean without his Russian partner for the tag match against Damage Inc.
(1) Ryan North won a 21 man rumble to earn the title match of his choosing (41:25). Order of entrants: Simon Sermon, Asher Wolf, “Crazy Cowboy” (and Wrestlemerica promoter) Dennis Gale (with Jerry Stubbs), Pain, Kodiak, Pure Goodness, Vary Morales, Tracer X, Merica Strong, Katie Sparks, Michael Stevens, Stuckey, Dax Anthony, Henry, Clyde Braddock, Ace Haven (with Amy Haven), Fry Daddy, North, Owen Parker, Bryce Cannon and Caleb Scott.
What a lousy Rumble this was. Way too many dead spots and way too many wrestlers standing around doing nothing. The 90 seconds between wrestlers entering felt like an eternity. Rules allowed women to be eliminated by going over the middle rope rather than over the top rope like the men.
Before the match, Masters ordered Sermon to pay the $1000 appearance bond because he no-showed last time. Sermon dug the money out of his tights and dropped it on the floor. Ben said he needed rubber gloves. Gale squaring off with Sermon was one of the most entertaining parts of the match. Gale throws great punches. He also gave Sermon a wedgie and eliminated him for a big pop. Monsters Pain and Goodness did more watching than wrestling. Henry spent most of his time outside the ring. Tracer wouldn’t hit a woman (Strong) and got dumped by Morales and Strong. Sparks threw (and I use that term loosely) Strong over the middle rope. Sparks eliminated herself with Pain being a gentleman and spreading the ropes for her. Stuckey and Anthony picked up where they left off in the Bulletproof tournament finale. Fry’s entrance got the loudest pop. Top babyfaces Fry and Stuckey teamed up to eliminate Pain, which got a big reaction.
It came down to Fry, Stuckey, Henry, Anthony and North. Anthony eliminated Stuckey. Fry eliminated Anthony and Henry. As Henry was jawing at Fry from ringside, North pushed Fry from behind as Henry pulled him over the top rope (the Hogan/Justice/Flair finish from Royal Rumble 92).
North said he chose to face Stuckey.
-- Intermission --
Pain issued an open challenge that was issued by his trainee, Asher Wolf. Pain was gobsmacked. “What are you doing? I brought you here to talk to Gale about getting booked”. Pain decked Wolf before the bell.
(2) Pain decimate Asher Wolf to retain the WrestleMerica Championship in 3 minutes. Pain beat the hell out of the kid and told him to stay down. Wolf did not. Pain pinned him with a chokebomb.
Pain may have the best looking top rope splash in Georgia. He gave Wolf one after the match. Pain said that would be Judas’ fate on March 14 and tore a female Judas fan a new one.
(3) Vary Morales (with Merica Strong) defeated Tracer X (with Katie Sparks) in 8:10. This was an action-packed match but relatively heatless. Both men worked hard and pulled out a lot of nifty The crowd wasn’t feeling it for some reason. There was a point where Tracer was really over in Barnesville. That was not the case last night. Strong interfered to give Morales the upper hand. In the end, Morales shoved referee Mason Pike into the ropes to crotch Tracer, who was perched on the top rope, and pinned him.
(4) Fry Daddy defeated Anthony Henry in 11:10. Henry attacked Fry in the aisle, destroyed his knee with a chair, then went to the ring and called for a count out. Referee Mike Mays obliged by starting the count. Never mind that Fry never got in the ring. Former Referee of the Year Ken Wallace would be rolling in his grave except he’s not dead yet. Henry sadistically worked over Fry’s leg. Fry hit a codebreaker to spark his comeback. He struggled to hit his springboard elbow due to the leg. Nice touch. Henry regained control with the Jimmy Rave apron STO. Back inside, Henry applied a single leg crab and switched to an STF. Crowd was behind Fry large as struggled to the ropes. Fry evaded Henry’s double stomp from the top. They battled for control of a backslide and Fry switched to an inside cradle to get the three count. Good match and the crowd was into it.
Fry offered a handshake but went for the Cutline and Henry bailed.
Masters announced Fry vs. the debuting David Ali for March 14.
Damage Inc (Paul Wolfe and Caleb Scott) entered to a strong pop. Wolfe said they lost to the Russians last time because they didn’t take them seriously. Seemed like something a heel would say. Wolfe joked that one of the Russians didn’t make it because it was too cold.
Dean came to the ringside with a chain around his neck. Said one of Damage Inc had to leave.
(5) Paul Wolfe defeated Tyson Dean via DQ in 7:22. Dean tried to backjump Wolfe and failed. The action spilled to the outside where Wolfe posted Dean. Dean kicked the ropes to crotch Wolfe as he reentered. Crowd was pretty hot as Dean worked Wolfe over. On the comeback, Wolfe gave Dean two horrible clotheslines and a pop up punch in the face. Dean blatantly tossed the ref for the DQ. Not much reaction from the crowd perhaps due to the finish of Morales/Tracer.
Scott returned to the ring. Dean ate a couple of punches from Damage Inc before powdering out.
Masters announced Koloff & Dean vs. Damage Inc. in a flag match for March 14.
Coming into this angle cold, it made little sense to me. Damage Inc doesn’t look like a babyface team, yet the crowd seems to love them. The prematch and postmatch were visually all wrong with two faces and one heel. Didn’t seen hide nor hair of a Russian flag or a US flag so why a flag match?
(6) Ryan North (with Dax Anthony) defeated “Mr. WrestleMerica” Dominique Stuckey to win the Bulletproof Championship in 8:48. North was ludicrously overconfident before the bell. Said Stuckey was a false prophet who was in the ring with the guiding light of pro wrestling. Massive “Dominique” chant at the bell. Stuckey thrashed North for several minutes before Anthony interfered. North put the tennis shoes to Stuckey and busted out a monkey flip. The ref ejected Anthony for sliding the title into the ring. Stuckey speared North, pulled him up and hit his butterfly stunner. The ref clearly counted three before he was pulled out of the ring by a late-arriving Bryce Cannon. The match continued nevertheless. North capitalized on the distraction and pinned Stuckey with his own move. As atrocious as the match was, it did have heat.
Anthony and Cannon beat Stuckey down after the match.
Where WrestleMerica goes with North as a champion, God only knows.
NOTES: Along with Judas vs. Pain for the WrestleMerica title and the flag match, March 14 also has Sermon vs. Cosmo Martinez…The Continental Reunion show will be May 15 and 16 in Dothan at Centerstage…Wrestling personalities in the house included Amber Young (now running a YMCA in Waynesboro) the retired Zac Edwards, former Bulletproof promoter Marty Miller and Wolverton…Sermon worked a double shot and had to hustle to Hampton for the F2F show…Braddock made a quick exit from the Rumble due to an ear infection…Henry is done with EVOLVE and is currently looking for other opportunities.
.jpg)
.jpg)
