Homecoming, Southern Fried's return to Nowell Rec, the house that original owner Charles Anschutz built, figured to be a special show. Little did we know just how extraordinary it would be.
Rarely have I seen show that built to a final crescendo the way Homecoming did.
Rarely have a I seen a wrestler made as a top guy babyface in one night the way CT Keys was.
In one night, Southern Fried is back in the conversation as one of Georgia's top promotions.
This show opened up a plethora of story directions going forward.
The building was sold out to the allowable COVID guideline limit. The crowd was on fire. It is a lock that it will be sold out again when Southern Fried returns their on April 3.
Ring announcer Rick Richards and owner David Manders opened the show with a nod to Charles Anschutz.
John Johnson introduced Bill Behrens, who said it was an honor to be back at Nowell Rec because his previous time there was to be inducted into the Southern Fried Hall of Fame. Behrens in turn introduced Southern Fried Champion Griff Garrison. POP. Behrens asked Garrison about Todd Sexton billing Mikael Judas as the Southern Fried Champion. Garrison said that was stupid because he pinned Corey Hollis to win the title (the December show at Landmark Arena). Garrison issued an open challenge.
(1) Southern Fried Champion Griff Garrison made short work of Bryce Cannon (1:15). Discus forearm, rack bomb and "Frat Daddy" was toast.
Enter Todd Sexton and his Alliance (Judas, Kelly Sexton, Adrian Hawkins and Bobby Moore). Judas and Garrison went nose-to-nose, belt-to-belt with no blows being struck. The Alliance made a garrish display of all their gold (Todd holding the Classics Championship, The Approved's tag team titles and Judas with the fake Southern Fried title).
(2) Stryknyn defeated Jason Blackman in 5:31. Tyler Cullprett came out to observe. The match was a lot competitive than I expected. After Blackman missed a moonsault, Stryk speared him to pick up the win. There was a postmatch show of mutual respect.
(3) Ashton Starr defeated Zicky Dice in 7:53. Dice ran down the fans and said things just got outlandish. Starr got a good reaction. At one point, Dice produced a ribbon from his mouth and used it to choke Starr. There were too many times when things seemed out of synch for the match to rise above average. The finish was fine. Starr pinned Dice with the scissors kick.
Matt Hankins came to the ring representing The Undeniable and said they came to help bring back Dr. Brock and take away a piece of Todd's power by beating The Approved. Good promo. Hankins made it clear as bell where Undeniable stood in this war.
(4) CT Keys won a gauntlet match that included Sal Rinauro, Will Kaution, Michael Stevens and Tyler Cullprett to earn a shot at Classics Champion Todd Sexton (total time 24:45). This match needed explanation to set it up and that did not happen. The action was solid. The crowd didn't seem that into it. Rinauro pinned muscular Michael with a basement flatliner. Rinauro defeated Cullprett by DQ when Cullprett resorted to use of his umbrella. Will Kaution was next. Like a true babyface, Kaution wasn't thrilled about taking advantage of Rinauro's worn down condition. In the end, Kaution got the better of back and forth pin attempts. The crowd picked up for Keys vs. Kaution. Both men looked very good here. Keys evaded Kaution's top rope elbow and connected with a running European uppercut to score the pinfall.
At this point, Homecoming was a totally unremarkable show that gave little indication of just how awesome it was about to become.
Todd appeared and said it was about time Keys lived up to his potential. It was merely a diversion as Billy Buck seemingly came from nowhere to superkick Keys and ravage his knee. Todd claimed he had no idea Buck was in the building. Since he was a fair guy, they would do the title match later. Keys had to be carried to the dressing room by security.
Buck's return was but the first of many great surprises.
(5) The Approved (Adrian Hawkins & Bobby Moore with Kelly Sexton) defeated Undeniable (Shane Marx & Brian Blaze with Matt Hankins) to retain the Southern Fried tag titles in 13:03. The heat for this match was off the chain. Damn, these people hate the Approved. The Adriana chant was deafening there was also a JBE chant. This was total role reversal from Anarchy with Hawkins as the hated heel and Blaze as the good guy. A big schmozz led to a confrontation between Hankins and Kelly. The Approved capitalized on the chaos to get heat on Blaze. After the hot tag to Marx, a round robin of big moves left all four down. Kelly swapped Moore's elbow pad with loaded elbow pad. Hankins saw Kelly with the other elbow pad and went after her. The distraction allowed Moore to clock Blaze with the loaded elbow pad and the 1-2-3 was academic.
The suspended JBE (Dr. Brock and Jagged Edge) entered through the front door. The building came unglued.as fans swarmed all over them. Brock called Todd a corrupt, insane egomaniac. He had legal paperwork for "Ms. Jezebel" Kelly regarding her attack on his client, Jagged Edge. The crowd broke into a massive "lock her up" chant.
Jagged Edge cut a promo talking about about how Sexton and the Approved weren't around when JBE built this house, recalling the Georgia/Florida wars and how Undeniable had a part of in it which gave them more claim to the place than Todd had. Jagged took a seat in the ring. He had a proposal: the legal charges would against Kelly would go away if and only if he got a match with Todd or Kelly. Hawkins stepped in to tell Todd he would take the match. Jagged said for some reason everyone was protecting Todd including his "husband" but so be it. The match will happen on April 3.
This whole thing was amazing. The heat was dialed all the way to the right -- closest to a riot at Nowell Rec since the Georgia/Florida wars at the peak of the Anschutz era (2015).
(6) Mikael Judas defeated Ben Buchanan in 1:10. The Approved attacked Ben and damaged him before he could get to the ring. Bull Buchanan came to Ben's aid. The match opoened with a burst of offense from Ben He tried to come off the top rope but Judas caught him with a chokeslam and it was over.
Judas goozled Ben again and was confronted by Bull. Judas backed off. But it appeared all was not well between Bull and Ben. Hmm....
(7) CT Keys defeated Todd Sexton (with Sexton's Alliance) to capture the Southern Fried Classics Championship in 8:33. Keys limped to the ring with a bandaged knee. Todd attacked as Keys came through the ropes and wasted no time going after the knee. Keys came back huge but had to deal with interference coming at him from multiple directions. Judas chokeslammed Keys was he was still able to kick out of Todd's cover. Manders marched to ringside with Bull, Ben, Master & Machine and more. In desperation, Todd threw Keys into referee Dee Byers. The crowd sensed this was going to get out of control and it did. The ringside area became a mass of brawling bodies. The heat was insane, Judas tried to interfere again but Garrison cut him off. Todd nailed Keys with the title and covered. Keys kicked out. Todd tried the figure four. That didn't work. Todd tried to escape. Manders threw him back in the ring. Keys knocked Sexton for a loop with the running European uppercut, and the building exploded at the count of three.
When last seen in Southern Fried, Keys was a heel. Fans had no trouble embracing him as a new babyface hero. Keys looks the part.
Manders raised Keys' hand. Let the good times roll. Keys departed to accept the adulation of the crowd.
Sexton sneaked back into the ring and blasted Manders from behind with a chair. Manders went down like a ton of brick. Sexton again hit Manders with the chair, a brutal thudding blow to the back.
Familiar music played...
Jacob Ashworth came through the curtain. OMG. On a night filled with incredible pops, this was the loudest of all. Ashworth entered a Southern Fried ring for the first time since September 21, 2019. Todd gave him the finger and bolted.
Manders first extended his hand then hugged Ashworth as the crowd chanted "Jacob". Ashworth addressed the crowd - short and sweet.
"Southern Fried, Ashworth Nation is back home."
NOTES: The referees were Dee Byers and Radar Martin...Charlie Smith, Andrew Alexander and Nick McDaniel were in the house.
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