Hardcore Hell 23 had all the makings of a great show. It started out like a great show. But it did not end up that way.
The Landmark Arena was packed to the max with a sold out crowd of 325. During the early portion of the show, the crowd was as loud as I've ever heard it in this building going back over 20 years.
The undercard was filled with zany lighthearted gaga and had a very PCWish flavor...and two strong matches -- Will Kaution vs. AC Mack and Tyler Cullprett vs. Ace Haven. It all worked and did an awesome job of setting the table for the main events. Matt Hankins and Bill Behrens lost the tag titles to the Machines, one of whom was revealed to be Marcus Kross. The other Machine was definitely not Griff Garrison.
There were two "That was racist" chants during the evening. The first was clearly in good fun, the second was in response to a serious heat angle.
The most highly anticipated match of the show, Ben Buchanan vs. Garrison in an I Quit Match with Bull Buchanan as the special referee never happened. It was bad business. They did a two minute no contest last month, so it was the second show in row Anarchy had not delivered what was promised.
Undeniable injured Garrison before the match. Bull who had been at odds with his son, stepped into the breach. It was not the match fans wanted to see and the crowd went sour fast. The match was not good at all.
Jacob Ashworth defeated Shane Marx in the main event to capture the Anarchy Heavyweight Championship. The match was fine but they lost the crowd with the I Quit Match and there was nothing Marx and Ashworth could do to get them back all the way. A mixed bag at best. Yes, the fans were happy to see Ashworth but it was the wrong time for Marx to lose.
In a shocking turn of events, fan favorite Hold My Beer Hanson turned on Ashworth after the match and used a lead pipe to bloody the new champion. Hanson has a charismatic babyface personality but nowhere near the ring skills of a number one contender.
No question, things did not play out as Anarchy's creative hoped they would going into the show.
Anarchy's next event on May 22 will be extremely interesting.
(1) Pre-show: Nick Halen defeated Justin Flow and Proc Johnston. Halen pinned Flow with the Gamebreaker. I wouldn't mind seeing a Halen vs. Proc singles match.
I missed the match live and saw the last 3 minutes on video. The bell time on the poster was 7 pm. I trusted John Johnson's hype posts that all said 8 pm. That will teach me.
AC Mack was on the mic when I sat down. That's never a bad thing. Kaution had the Golden Ticket he won at the February show entitling him to title match of his choosing. The crowd was absolutely electrified.
(2) Will Kaution defeated AC Mack in 6:50. Mack turned out to be Kaution's mystery opponent. I don't know that Anarchy could have come up with a better one. Mack is an asset to any promoter that books him. They had a high energy, fast-paced, see-saw match with the crowd white hot throughout. In the end, Kaution blocked the Mack 10 and hit a top rope elbow for the pin. A big win for Kaution who got a huge response after the match. He's the most over babyface Anarchy has.
(3) Scott Mayson defeated Sal Rinauro to retain the Anarchy Heritage Championship in 6:19. Mayson had his hair in pigtails ala Adrian Street. At the opening bell, Mayson was cradling the title like a baby and talking to it. He's going all the way with this character. Same could be said for Rinauro, who was rocking and clapping like a small child. The match only got stranger from there. The crowd chanted "you're a scrub" at Mayson. Rinauro out psyched Mayson with his antics to the point the champion was in a state of enraged discombobulation. Sal was continually getting Mayson in pinning predicaments. Mayson covered Rinauro's Sal buddy doll (available for $30) in frustration. Rinauro pulled up to avoid a collision with referee Dee Byers, who flinched. As Byers shielded his eyes, Mayson clocked Rinauro with the title to get the 1-2-3.
Sal rocked with his Sal Buddy after the match to console himself.
(4) Austin Towers (with Matt Hankins) won the Five Guy Challenge in 2:04. Hankins made it clear that this was a five white boy challenge. Four white boys came out - Zackary Blaine, Fat T, Ash Bennett and Justin White. Hankins noted the shortfall. A fifth guy came out but he was black. Towers was correct when he said the guy looked like Whoopi Goldberg. "I said five white boys" said Hankins. That remark got the first "that was racist" chant. The black guy said his name was Boo Boo and he was named for the family dog. Hankins said that was some white boy stuff so Boo Boo would do.
The small white guys attacked Towers to no effect. Fat T was able to clothesline Towers over the top rope. That pissed Towers off. He decimated all the white guys including Fat T and pinned Boo Boo with the Kobiya kick. A perversely entertaining match leading to....
Ironman hit on the PA. The crowd popped huge when Geter appeared in the aisle. With the crowd going bananas, Geter got in Towers' face. Hankins stepped in to get Towers out of there. One of the peak moments of the show. Great stuff from Towers and Geter.
(5) Dany Only defeated Jay 2Strong via DQ in 10:13. The crowd chanted "Dany" and "Jay 2 Weak". The crowd finally dialed it down a little. I was afraid they might keep up the deafening decibel level thus far for the entire show. They had a solid match. Only lit 2Strong up with chops, used a Muta lock and Thesz Press. 2Strong cheated as needed. He gave Only an Attitude Adjustment for a near fall. Both were down after Only's short piledriver. Only kicked it into high gear. He had 2Strong pinned with a top rope elbow drop but 2Strong got a foot on the ropes. 2Strong kicked Only in the groin right in front of referee Byers for the DQ.
(6) Tyler Cullprett defeated Ace Haven (with Amy Haven) in 6:17. Heel vs. heel is rarely done at Anarchy for good reason. Ace had the championship, having stolen the belt at the last show. As much as the crowd dislikes Cullprett, Ace was an invader absconding with their champion's title. Before the bell, Cullprett gave Ace a backdrop over the top rope, prompting Ace to take one of his signature insane bumps. It was an attention grabber that caught the crowd by surprise. Cullprett grabbed Amy and Ace clubbed Cullprett from behind. A fan suggested Ace and Amy were siblings. Ace came off the top with an Alabama Jam for a near fall. Cullprett kicked out of a Shining Wizard to earn his first "Tyler" chant at the Landmark Arena. Cullprett gave Ace a Blue Thunder Bomb off the ropes that looked dangerous as all get out. Fast forward to the finish -- Amy was up on the apron to distract Cullprett so Ace could hit him with Tyler's umbrella. Cullprett ducked out of the way and kicked Amy. The crowd popped as she took a bump to the floor. Cullprett hit Ace with the umbrella, jammed the umbrella into his throat and scored the pinfall with the Raindrop. Good chemistry, really good match. The seeds have been sown for Cullprett to turn babyface.
(7) The Machines defeated Matt Hankins & Bill Behrens to win the Anarchy tag titles in 2:39. The intros were a surreal spectacle. Hankins went Hawaiian style, complete with two dudes carrying Tiki torches. Behrens was lowered from the ceiling on a platform wearing a Sting mask and carrying a baseball bat. The Machines were two masked dudes in power ranger type outfits. The match was fairly surreal as well. Behrens was throwing the big machine around like he was Superman. Behrens even gave the small machine the Scorpion Death Drop. Hankins tagged in. The small machine hit Hankins with a martial arts double chop and pinned him. The small machine unmasked as Marcus Kross. The big machine did not unmask.
(8) Hunter James defeated Brian Blaze in an Undeniable Rules (no rules) match in 8 seconds. James threw powder in Blaze's eyes and sunset flipped him for the pin.
Blaze beat James to a pulp after the match. He put James through a table with a powerbomb, then hung him with a noose. That piece of business got the second "that was racist" chant of the night. I took it a as reflection of the time we are living in. I did not sense outrage from the crowd. Some people were no doubt upset by the spot but that was not the flavor of the overt crowd response. It was normal heat.
James was carried out on a backboard. James is student of Adrian Hawkins so guess where this is going.
Towers and Blaze attacked Garrison in the aisle as he came to the ring to face Ben. Towers gave Garrison a chokeslam on the apron. Blaze would have hung Garrison had Anarchy officials not intervened. Griff was done for the night. In his role as special referee, Bull came to the ring glaring at sonny boy. Ben told Bull that makes me the winner, right? Bull said, "I have you a match". POW.
(9) Bull Buchanan defeated Ben Buchanan in an I Quit Match (9:21). The crowd went cold. This was not what they came to see. There were shouts of "boring". Ben and Bull did not appear to have their hearts in it, which was very unlike either one of them. In the closing minutes, Bull started laying them in. They did a collision of crossbodies and traded headbutts and forearms. Bull's powerslam got a pop. Ben got tied up the ropes. Bull pummeled Ben until he quit.
Ben started acting goofy. Said he couldn't remember anything, the ref screwed him over and dared the fans who yelled boring to meet him in the parking lot. There was no saving it. The crowd just wanted this to be over.
(10) Jacob Ashworth defeated Shane Marx (with Matt Hankins) to win the Anarchy Heavyweight Championship in 14:44. The match was fine. The circumstances sucked. They got the crowd back to some extent but not all the way. Hankins called Marx the most important champion in Anarchy history and the only righteous man to hold the title. Tbe "let's go Jacob" chant was strong. They did three no budge shoulder tackle collisions. Marx went down on the fourth took a TO to regroup. Marx poked Ashworth in the eyes to start the heat. Ashworth sold big time as Mark and Hankins taunted him. Marx tried to go up top. Ashworth met him with a superplex. Both down. The came to their feet slugging it out. Great fire from Ashworth as he overwhelmed the Marx with fierce blows. Ashworth went for roll of the dice. Marx reversed with a falcon arrow for near fall, then a spear but Ashworth kicked out again. Ashworth got a near fall with a full nelson slam. Marx went for the brainbuster. Ashworth blocked it and hit the elevated full nelson faceplant to win the title.
Postmatch - Hankins was eyeing Ashworth with evil intent. Hanson hit the ring with a piece of pipe to make sure nothing happened, then laid Ashworth out with the pipe. Ashworth bled from the forehead. Some of the ringside fans got really heated at Hanson. Ashworth recovered and left under his own power.
NOTES: The announce team was JJ, Jonathan Felter and Michael Gentry...Jason Boyd was the ring announcer...the referees were David Weakley, Dee Byers, Darryl Hall and Jynnyfyr Wynns...JT Talent was in the house. Azrael and Crystal Rose were visiting backstage...Ken Wallace came in from Florida to assist with production.
