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| Photo by John Johnson |
Loyalty (or lack thereof) was the name of the game last night at Southern Fried.
Much like the Ultimate Battleground III show, everything revolved around the main event.
The 10 man tag team war between Team Sexton and Team Manders was easily the hottest match since SFCW moved outdoors in light of the pandemic.
We're talking sustained bell-to-bell, people on their feet screaming heat culminating with a sickening defection by one of owner David Manders' trusted fan favorites. I felt like this battle for control of the company thing was going to hit home with the Southern Fried fans but this was ridiculous.
Based on Rob Brodhecker's crowd count of 265, which I trust implicitly (hell, he used a counter). I underestimated the crowds at Revival and Ultimate Battleground III.
Manders opened the show by calling Todd Sexton out. When Sexton didn't show his face, Manders said he was going to get him. When neither Manders or Sexton returned, ring announcer Rick Richards just moved on to the introduction of the opening match. Seemed weird to me.
(1) Ashton Starr pinned Tyler Cullprett in 3:57 with the bridging backslide. Match was OK enough. Seems like both these guys are in limbo in terms future direction here.
(2) William Huckaby defeated Southern Strong Style (Jay 2Strong & Proc "The Croc" Johnston) in 58 seconds. Huck answered the open challenged by the South Georgia boys' with a vengeance. Johnston got a spinebuster in and that was it for their offense. Huck with an exploder suplex for Croc and a spinebuster for 2Strong.
(3) Alseen vs. Victor Vasquez was ruled a no contest a 2:25 due to devastating interference by Corey Hollis and Mikal Judas. The Southern Fried crowd was being more smart ass than usual tonight. Alseen claims to hail from outer space and told a heckler he would abduct his ass. The Sextons, Todd and Stefanie..er Kelly came to ringside and the crowd sensed this match was going to hell in handbasket before long (see photo above).
Todd got on the mic. He was rocking the black leather biker jacket so you knew he had turned evil. Said SFCW was a joke before he arrived and he was the savior. I thought that was David Ali's gimmick. He had collected the best talent and taken them all to hell with him. This wasn't a takeover because that happened long ago, the fans just didn't know it. Todd then put over the members of his squad one by one. The people got all riled up and chanted for Manders. He called Kelly the wing beneath his wings. I found that hilarious for some reason. Todd said the wrestlers would either be on their side or under them. This was choice material. Todd is feeling it.
Three matches and none of them of any substance. That was about to change.
(4) Ben Buchanan vs. Austin Towers was another no contest (7:50) .Good match between two of Georgia's most rapidly rising stars. The bull of the woods contest that opened the match worked as vehicle for Towers to establish his heelish tendencies. I especially liked the sequence where Buchanan blocked Towers' suplex and he had to really work to get it. Huckaby interfered with spinebusters on both competitors. Towers leveled Huck with the Kobiya kick. Buchanan leveled Towers with a lariat.
I get not doing a clean finish. Neither one should take a loss at this stage of the game.
Bill Behrens' birthday celebration -- Hollis interrupted with party hats and a smarmy insincerity that was quite entertaining. I popped when Hollis apologized for what he did to Bill's boys and brought up how he and Mike Posey used to be Behrens' favorites. Hollis' intentionally off key singing was torture. Griff Garrison mercifully bolted to the ring to put a stop to it.
(5) David Ali defeated Hold My Beer Hanson to retain the Classics Championship in 8:52. This match came about because Ali's scheduled opponent, Brian Kane and Hanson's scheduled opponent, CT Keys both canceled. Prematch "The Savior" pointed out that he is the only wrestler to have defeated the last four Southern Fried champions. Hanson had the crowd behind him from the get go. Kudos to Ali and Hanson. This was the best Hanson match I've seen - his selling and offense were both improved. It wasn't their first meeting which certainly helped. What probably helped more was the match being laid out to play to strengths and how Ali has learned how to make an opponent shine. Todd came to ringside with the Approved, and.grabbed Hanson's leg at the opportune moment to give Ali the opening he needed. Ali used a neckbreaker across the knee to set up a top rope elbow drop for the win.
Afterward, Todd and company tried to convince Ali to join their side. Hawkins said they liked what they saw in him. Todd came with the hard sell. He was the person that brought Ali to Southern Fried and engineered his rise through the ranks and reminded Ali that everyone would be with them or under them. Ali's facial expressions were gold. The anguish was etched on his face. Ali said he would think about it. Sexton said he expected an answer soon.
Stryknyn cut a promo to hype his title match with Judas on November 7 at the Faith Baptist Church gym in Monroe. His arm was in a sling from the dogfight match with Xavier Reyes. Stryk said he taking his shot at Judas if his arm was barely attached. Styrk is an underrated promo guy, who connects with the Southern Fried faithful. Interesting he isn't aligned with Team Manders...
(6) Team Sexton (Mikal Judas & Corey Hollis & Adrian Hawkins & Bobby Moore & Adonis with Todd & Kelly Sexton) defeated Team Manders (Billy Buck & Griff Garrison & Sal Rinauro & Will Kaution & Geter with David Manders & Bill Behrens) in 17:13. Geter as Manders' mystery team member got a huge pop. The teams squared off before the bell and a wild brawl broke out that ended with the Team Manders standing tall. Team Sexton isolated Rinauro. People were screaming their lungs out for Sal to make the tag. As he did
last week for his return at Anarchy, Kaution got a big pop for his
entrance and looked sharp in the ring. Geter took the hot tag and his corner splash on Judas got a big reaction. Chaos ensued the match broke down. Todd slugged Geter and escaped into the ring. The heat picked up to a new level when Manders got in the ring to confront Todd. Hollis kicked Manders in the groin. The babyfaces surrounded Hollis. Buck went for the Buckshot. Hollis ducked and it connected on Geter. Buck very intentionally hit Rinauro with the Buckshot and pinned him. The crowd was stunned. Todd was on cloud nine.
This match clicked to an amazing degree. It checked all the right ingredients --wall to wall heat, the right mystery equalizer on the babyface side in Geter, the right guys taking heat (Rinauro and Kaution), the tease, and only a tease of Sexton and Manders getting physical, and the right babyface making the soul crushing turn at the end.
Ben and Bull Buchanan rushed to the ring with steel chairs to clear out Team Sexton. Manders said he wanted Todd one-on-one on November 7. The crowd went nuts for that. Todd said he was the matchmaker so it would be tag match and Hollis would be his partner. Ben offered to be Manders' partner.
NOTES: Manders opened the show with a round of applause for long-time Southern Fried fan Margaret Staples (said that's what she would have preferred rather than a 10 bell) and announced he was starting a help fund in her honor..lWrestling notables on hand included Jason Boyd and Jason Blackman...Marcus Kross and the venerable Charlie Smith were working the gimmick tables...the referees were David Weakley, Radar Martin and KT...The announce team was Adam Vance and John Johnson.
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