WrestleMerica Report from Barnesville on August 8

From Rob Brodhecker:  I broke my isolation bubble to travel to Barnesville to watch what on paper was the most interesting show of the weeke...

From Rob Brodhecker: 

I broke my isolation bubble to travel to Barnesville to watch what on paper was the most interesting show of the weekend. 

Some matches lived up to expectations, others not so much. I counted the crowd after intermission as 150+/-, well below pre-Covid numbers for WrestleMerica,(the show I went to in December of 2019 was about 225) but not terrible in the strictest sense coming out of the shutdown, IMO. 

Ben Masters is your master of ceremonies for the evening. Harold "Radar" Martin, Nathaniel Spivey, and Mays are your referees. Ben Masters announces that due to eye surgery, Mikal Judas will not be able to perform tonight. He also announces that Sept 22 is the date of their third anniversary show. 

Winner gets a WrestleMerica contract Battle Royal 

 

Bryan James and Taylor Pope start out. A new person will enter every minute. Tyler Cullprett out next, dressed to the nines. Ryan Rembrandt out next. Ryan and James form a brief alliance. Ashton Starr out next, he and Ryan square off. Cullprett eliminates Starr at 6:35, James is out shortly afterwards. Bruce Worley is out next, he's a big'un. Chris Jacobs is out next. Asher Wolfe is out next; the crowd seems to like him. Archangel Gabriel out next. Austin Towers is the last entrant. Worley gets eliminate at 14:20, Gabriel and Wolfe get eliminated by Towers right afterwards. Towers eliminates Pope. Final Four, Towers, Ryan, Tyler, and Jacobs. Ryan's out at 16:10. Tyler and Jacob want to double team Towers, he fights them off. Tyler's got his umbrella and hits Towers. Dazed, Towers gets eliminates at 17:20. Tyler tries to deck Jacobs with the umbrella, Jacobs ducks and tosses Tyler. Jacobs celebrates but Zac Edwards rushes in and throws Jacob over the top. Edwards is celebrating but Masters says that Jacobs won because Andrews wasn't in the match. Time 18:06. The match had its moments, C+. 

 Masters lays into the returning from injury, Edwards. Edwards tells Masters to "suck it, nerd". Michael Stevens comes out and it looks like the BBB's have reformed. Master announces the next match. 

Michael Stevens with Zac Edwards vs. Owen Parker. 

The WrestleMerica faithful love them some Parker. Parker and Stevens look to be in great shape, the extended lay off didn't hurt them at all. The cheating ways of the BBB's give the edge to Michaels. Michaels crotches himself to give Parker the hope spot. Tope by Parker and both men are down for a moment. A second tope takes out both Michaels and Edwards. Parker has a leg lock on Michaels in the middle of the ring, but Michaels makes the ropes. An RKO from Stevens gets a near fall. Stevens set up for a superkick but his leg buckles. Owen is quick to roll up Stevens for the pin fall at 8:43 for the win. After the match, Edwards and Stevens beat down Parker and cut his beard. Jacobs comes out to make the save. Jacobs wants a tag match with Parker and Jacobs against the BBB's on Sept 12th. B- for getting the story going. 

Masters announces more names for the Sept show. 3rd year anniversary. Bambi, Corey Hollis. Brooklyn Creed. 

 David Ali vs. Sean Legacy 

This is a return match from the last WM show from earlier in the year, where Legacy defeated Ali. Ali attacks before the bell, catching Legacy unawares. Legacy fights back and Ali bails out of the ring Legacy follows and chases Ali around and back into the ring. Ali stalls at ringside, jawing with the crowd. Legacy chases again, but this time Ali catches him upon reentry into the ring. Legacy's taking some stiff shots from Ali, but he fights back. A nice neckbreaker by Ali cuts off Legacy. Legacy is selling the head. A nice springboard dropkick from Legacy, creates some space. Falcon's arrow by Legacy for a near fall. Legacy misses another springboard move and Ali attacks and gets a near fall. Stiff kicks by Ali, Legacy catches him with some sort of exploder move for a near fall. Both men are getting punch drunk, Ali goes up top but eats a forearm. Ali flips Legacy over for a powerbomb and hits the top rope elbow to pick up the win at 10:12. A solid B. Ali shouts out that this is proof that he is everyone's savior. 

 Intermission

Masters brings out former WM GM Ryan North for a special announcement. North comes out wearing the Bulletproof title, saying that he's defended it all over and you can fact check that on Twitter. He and Masters have a back and forth exchange. North announces that the Queen of Barnesville, Simon Sermon is now a member of the North Stars. Sermon goes off on everybody saying that the election of Matt Sells as GWH's 2019 performer of the year was rigged and runs down everyone who voted for Sells. Sermon calls for Sells to get his carcass to the ring. 

Simon Sermon with Ryan North vs. Matt Sells 

The Queen looks like a few pounds got axed. Sells does his stomping around the ring and chases off Sermon, usually Simon chases his opponent off. North announces that Simon needs silence to wrestle, this gets a "Simon Sucks" chant going. North covers the ears of Simon. Simon gets frustrated with Sells antics. Sells pounds Simon's head into the mat several time. North gets up on the apron and distracts Sells and Radar. Simon low blows Sells. North chokes Sells off a Simon distraction. Sells tosses Simon up and over the turnbuckle ala Flair and like Flair, Simon gets pressed slammed by Sells. Sells Sets up for the Jushin Thunder Lager palm strike and follows up with a stunner but Simon was near the ropes and North drapes the leg over. Sells wants to suplex Simon over the ropes back into the ring and that was a total cluster. Simon picks up the win at 12:12. A solid B up until that finish, C-. 

The Dirty Blondes vs. Fry Daddy and Dominque Stuckey 

The crowd gives it love to Fry and Stuckey. The Blonds have the height and weight advantage. The blonds try to use that advantage on Fry but he's not playing along. The Blonds get frustrated and bail out of the ring. Fry and Stuckey follow for a brief dust up. Stuckey tags in and hip tosses the blonds a couple of time. The blonds start walking away and Fry and Stuckey run after them. They fight out in the ringside area, and a trash can gets demolished. Ref Mays is giving a lot of leeway here. Back in the ring, Stuckey gets tripped up and the Blonds isolate him. The ref gets a glancing blow, so he doesn't see the tag to Fry. Heat back on Stuckey. Heel tag tactics galore. the Blonds butt heads on accident to give Stuckey a hope spot but one of the Blonds pulls Fry off the apron to prevent the tag. Stuckey lands a flying neckbreaker for the hot tag opportunity, but it doesn't happen. The Blondes lure Fry into the ring and he goes to town on one of the blonds. Mays tries to pull him back and Fry tosses him back and Mays calls for the DQ at 16:48. A "Ref you suck" chant starts. Fry grabs a chair to run off the Blonds. Fry wants Mays' head. They claim that that Mays has messed up 3 matches that involved Fry and Stuckey. Fry wants a no DQ streetfight with the Blonds, Masters makes the match for when all four men are available. B- 

Triple threat match for the WrestleMerica Heavyweight Championship. Judas was scheduled but his eye surgery makes that impossible, Masters says that a former WM champion will take his place. 

 Logan Creed (c) vs. Mike Pain vs. Tyson Dean with Neal Koloff 

 Oh, the crowd didn't like the news that Tyson was the replacement. Tyson tees off on Masters about not getting a title shot in the past and wants to be introduced as Alexander Koloff from now on. Koloff eats a double punch from Creed and Pain, and then the big men square off. Koloff gets tossed ringside and Pain follows. Creed goes for the plunge, but Neal cuts him off and Neal and Alexander double DDT Creed onto the floor. Pain gets choked with the barricade rope. All four men head towards the arena entrance, I don’t know if this was announced as a No DQ match or not, but Spivey to letting everything go. Creed and Neal fight in the bleachers near me and tease throwing Neal over the bleacher barricade. Creed and PAin team up to take Neal out of the picture, burying him under a table and some chair, and they focus on Alexander. Back in the ring, Creed pulls out what looks like a single pane door and that gets set up in the corner. It looks like that Creed is going to spear both Alex and Pain into the door, but Alexander moves, and Pain belly to belly's Creed through the door for a big pop. Alex gets a near fall. Creed chokeslams Alex, but Pain spears Creed. Pain starts laying heavy lumber on Alex. Spivey gets caught between Pain and Alex and is down. Creed scorched earths’ Pain for the visual three count. Neal sneaks in and attacks Creed and pins him while the dazed Spivey slaps the mat three times. Time 10:49. 

Alexander Koloff is announced as the new WrestleMerica Champion, nice double switch. B+ Creed wants Pain to team with him against the Koloff brothers for the next show, Pain agrees and the show ends. 

Final Thoughts: 

1. As I mentioned, overall a decent show. The main event barely beats out the Ali/Legacy match as the match of the night. 

2. The ending of the Sells/Sermon match could be blamed on the ring. The spot was for Sells to suplex Sermon from outside of the ring, into the ring, with North grabbing Sells’ leg leading to Sermon landing on Sell’s for the cover. The ropes on the WM ring look to be placed 6 inches higher than other ring ropes. Sells could not get the leverage to haul Sermon up and over and things broke down from there. 

3. I can’t tell you how nice it was to see some familiar faces in the crowd, even if most of those faces were covered. (for some of you that was a blessing!) 

4. I wasn’t all that familiar with about half of the participants in the battle royal, but I wouldn’t mind seeing some more matches take place with those men to see what else they have. 

5. The ending of the Main Event was very Bella Twin-esque, with a similar looking Neal Koloff grabbing the win for his “brother”, Alexander. Spivey was dazed enough and in the right position not to be able to get a good look at Neal. 

6. WM’s third anniversary show will be on September 12 and along with the names and matches previously mentioned, there will be a concert featuring Micaelah Gale before the show starts.