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| Photo by James Royster |
I cannot recall the last time I saw a bad Southern Fried
show. It’s been years. They rarely even have a bad match any more. Street War was one of their top tier shows. Every segment worked. Nothing was worse than
above average. The streetfight main event was about as wild as it gets in
Satisfying news stories are emerging as the Sexton/Manders feud disappears in the rear view mirror.
Not much to criticize about this show. Maybe it was a little long, perhaps too many tag matches.
Attendance was up (308) and the fans were into everything about it.
(1) Undeniable (Shane Marx & Brian Blaze) defeated Jacob Ashworth & Will Kaution to retain the SFCW tag titles in 10:58. The crowd was chanting for Ashworth before the bell. Undeniable isolated Kaution. Dr. Joseph Brock came to ringside and started messing with Ashworth, splashing him with his water bottle. Kaution could have used a tag at this point but Ashworth was preoccupied with Brock. Kaution ascended to the top rope and got dumped by Blaze. Marx gave Kaution his signature brainbuster and Brock grabbed Ashworth's leg to insure he didn't break up the pin.
Postmatch --- Ashworth chased Brock to the back leaving Kaution alone in the ring. Undeniable was about to take advantage of Kaution when Sunny Daze burst through the curtain to a huge pop. Undeniable didn't see Sal Rinauro standing on the opposite side of the ring. Rinauro ambushed the tag team champions and Happy Madness started taking it to them. TSF (Rosario Grillo & Hunter Knott) joined in to help Undeniable. Palmetto Express came to aid of Happy Madness. The heels bailed to the safety of ringside. Bill Behrens had what the fans thought was a brilliant idea -- let's have an eight man tag match later in the show.
Nicely done. The match was fine. It had a strong heel/face dynamic and held the crowd's interest but took nothing away from what was coming later in the show. The postmatch gave the fans some comeuppance for the villains to look forward to.
(2) Najasism defeated Kyle Matthews via submission to retain the Classics Championship in 11:55. Matthews copped an attitude right from the get go. He wasn't cheating but he was willing to go to the ropes to get breaks and use rough tactics as needed. Matthews made an arrogant cover while doing a double biceps pose. Matthews started working for submissions. Naja fired up with a burst of offense and hit his double jump springboard elbow drop for a near fall. Matthews with a pair of germans and a bridge for a near fall. Naja with a poison rana and a double stomp curbstomp for a near fall. Naja used a flying reverse DDT to set up the TO submission. Matthews was able to reverse into a inverted crab. Naja reversed that into a form of a can opener and Matthews tapped.
Matthews looked pissed but accepted Naja's handshake after the match.
This was an first rate technical match that got a stronger crowd response than technical wrestling usually does in Monroe because it wasn't a pure babyface match. Naja is incredibly over and Matthews’ dickish behavior made him hard to root for.
CT Keys said Ali couldn't be and he needed a partner. Was Naja interested? Like the shirt says - time to fight!
(3) Alex Kytel defeated Strykyn by forfeit. Tetchi Makuji jumped Stryk right after he blew the fireball. Makuji blinded Stryk with the green mist and applied the Shiranagi. Brock came out to say Stryk was getting the glory of his five more minutes. Stryk had to be helped to the back.
Huge heat for this. Brock is feeling it. His glee was sickening.
Kytel was on cloud nine until...Krule made a surprise appearance.
(4) Krule decimated Kytel in 49 seconds. Scorched Earth for the pin and another after the match. The crowd was loving it. John Johnson tried to announce Logan Creed as the winner. Krule grabbed JJ by the throat and said, "Logan is dead. I am Krule."
This was a proper introduction to Krule, fully consistent with the indestructible monster of ICW.
(5) Tetchi Makuji (with Dr. Joseph Brock) defeated Jeremy Vain (with Jaden Vain) in 8:05. Jeremy was full of piss and vinegar, and more guts than brains. The power of Makuji appeared to be more than Jeremy could handle. Jeremy was somehow able to backdrop Makuji. That brought Brock onto the apron, shoe in hand. Makuji applied the Shiranagi. Jeremy slowed faded away and was pinned.
Jeremy did his job to perfection. I kept having flashbacks of Jeremy V at NWA Wildside. I continue to believe Makuji is the most underrated big man in the Southeast.
Postmatch - Brock lured young Jaden into the ring to make his daddy proud. Ashworth hit the ring with chair before damage was done. Brock said he was sick of Ashworth getting in his business. He wanted him in the ring with Reyes on February 19. But the him in question was not Ashworth, nor Jeremy, it was Jaden.
The fans are back to hating Brock with a passion. He was cold and heartless. Diabolical even. He’s at his best as Makuji’s mouthpiece. As good as he was with JBE, his mic work didn’t stand out as much when Drew Blood was part of his crew. Reyes beating up a kid like Jaden is bound to generate huge sympathy for the babyface.
(6) Happy Madness (Sal Rinauro & Sunny Daze) & Palmetto Express (Hunter James & Luka Daniels) defeated Undeniable (Shane Marx & Brian Blaze) & TSF (Rosario Grillo & Hunter Knott) in 10:40 when Daniels pinned Marx. Madness and PE seized the moment with a series of quad moves that build to a row the boat spot. The heels bailed nursing their groins. The babyfaces took TSF to the land of a 1000 body slams. Undeniable and TSF isolated Daniels. Marx and Daniels did a classic double clothesline both men down. Marx's teammates attacked Daniels to prevent the tag. A train of big moves ensued. Marx went for the brainbuster aand Daniels reversed with a small package.
An entertaining match. The crowd lost their edge during the heat but they were all in for the finish. Marx threw an exquisite hissy fit after he lost.
(7) Exotic Youth (Zach Mosley & Bryce Cannon) defeated CT Keys & Najasism in 12:35. Naja chants abounded. A blind tag by Cannon set up a bunch of cool double teams by EY as they got heat on Naja. The high speed corner-to-corner european uppercuts Keys did after taking the hot tag looked tremendous. Keys put Mosley in the torture rack. Cannon sprayed Keys in the eyes with something and Mosley pinned him.
This match really gave Exotic Youth an opportunity to show what they can do. I love the way they combine old style and new style elements into a style of their own. They need to slow down a bit because some of their double teams didn’t get a chance to register.
Keys turned on Naja after the match, really beat him to a pulp, then put him into the torture rack. It looked like a homicide on a guy Naja's size.
The crowd was upset about Keys. To me, there’s always been something about his energy that lends more to him being a heel. Naja is so over that his turn worked almost as well as it would have with Ali as his partner.
(8) Streetfight: The Alliance (Todd Sexton & Mikal Judas & Billy Buck) defeated The Approved (Adrian Hawkins & Bobby Moore & Nick Halen with Kelly Sexton) in 19:25. The first 5 minutes was all outside the ring with Alliance in firm control. The highlight was Judas sending Halen onto Andrew Alexander's gimmick table. The table collapsed and the toys went flying everywhere. Once inside the ring, Approved took over. Halen did an elbow drop from the top of a six foot ladder. A table was set up in the corner. A table was brought into play. A hard plastic table, not one of those flimsy pressboard tables. The table was set on top of the turnbuckles like a platform. Todd gave Halen and superplex off the platform. Judas broke the table by putting Hawkins through it with a fallaway slam. Kelly got in the ring in front of Todd. The distraction worked as Hawkins gave Todd the Unprettier and almost pinned him. Judas goozled Kelly. Todd intervened to stop Judas from killing her. Approved filled the ring with chairs. Todd and Halen fought their way to the back. Moore and Hawkins doubled up on Judas, jabbing him with the kendo stick. Buck came to the rescue by handcuffing Hawkins to the ropes and superkicking Moore. Judas launched Moore onto the chairs with El Crucifijo. It looked horrific. There was no getting up from that.
Todd and Halen returned to ringside and continued to fight until they were pulled apart.
They tore the house down. Literally. I didn’t think they would be able to break that hard plastic table. I underestimated Judas. Always a mistake. Given the level of violence and risk involved in this match, it was fairly amazing there were no injuries scrapes and bruises. Kelly is enjoying herself as a heel a little too much if you ask me. Judas goozling Kelly got the biggest pop of he night.
NOTES: Matches on tap for the return date of February 19: Ali defends the Southern Fried Championship vs. Joe Black; Palmetto Express vs. Happy Madness – winning team gets a title shot at Undeniable later in the evening; Reyes (with Dr. Brock) vs. Jaden Vain; Najasism vs. Keys and a gauntlet match to determine the number one contender for the Southern Fried Championship including Judas, Hawkins, Moore, Ashworth, Buck, Makuji and more...Ali missed the show due getting booked for AEW Dark...Matt Hankins missed the show due to illness...ERC and Dynamic Dexter were visiting backstage...Adam Vance was a one man show on commentary and sound...The referees were Ken Todd, David Weakley, Dee Byers and Triston Michaels. Weakley was loudly booed as usual. Triston got his share as well...The memorial service for Jimmy Rave was held today in Cartersville. Some of the people closest to Rave from the wrestling world spoke at the service.
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