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| Photos by Alona Cajuste |
From Stephen Platinum through Matt Hankins and now to Brian Blaze, the uniquely wacky spirit that infuses a night at Platinum Champion Wrestling lives on.
A Confetti Warfare Match, a chaotic no rules six-man scramble match and a wrestler with narcolepsy were all featured on the card.
Skrilla The Great added to his belt collection by capturing the Dealer's Choice Championship in in aforementioned scramble match. Skrilla now holds four titles: IWE Mayhem, KLT Championship, NGW Championship and the Dealer's Choice.
Not all PCW shows have great wrestling. This one did -- the first ever match between Najasism and Joe Black was tremendous.
Attendance at the luxurious PCW Palace was 70.
I had the pleasure of taking in a show with RobBrod. It's not often we are at the same event. Rob will have PCW report as well as one on the Georgia Elite show tonight in Austell.
(1) CREEPS (Irving West & Andey Ripley) defeated Nathaniel Vanderbilt & Rose Gold) in the Confetti Warfare Match (10:25) with ButcHer as the special referee. First team to shoot off confetti cannon in all four corners consecutively wins. A brooding, drunken ButcHer sat in the corner sucking down a bottle of alcohol. They started by brawling all over the place and it was ugly. Copious confetti shots to the face all around. West shot cannons off in three corners but ButcHer blocked his path to number four and threw him to to the heel wolves. CREEPS got three corners again. ButcHer refused to budge out of the fourth corner. West smacked ButcHer in the face. ButcHer lunged at West and inadvertently smashed the bottle in Vanderbilt's face.
ProSouth has nothing on PCW when it comes to perverse wrestling entertainment. All those confetti cannons kept it visually and auditorily stimulating. Would have preferred a few minutes less. The finish is what mattered and they nailed it.
(2) Cuatro Cabezas & Hawk Thomas & Eddie Honcho (with De La Vega) defeated The Collective (Duncan Mitchell & Warden & Cedric Terrell) in 10:20. After a series of Honcho stinkfaces, the babyfaces appeared to have the match in hand. Music hit. The heels abruptly took over. Thomas and Honcho got wasted on the outside. Mitchell pinned Cabezas after a knee to the face.
Terrell bring the attitude as a heel. Thomas' hot tag work made an impression. Honcho got the biggest reaction among the babyfaces. He's the quintessential PCW wrestler. Those stinkfaces were truly disgusting and thoroughly entertaining.
The Collective laid DLV to waste after the match. assisted frog splash by Terrell got botched. Something went wrong with the assist and Terrell landed on DLV's knees. Warden's Vader Bomb to DLV"s back was on target.
Mitchell said their squad would now be known as East Side Ronin and he was Duncan Mitchell Avecilla.
Mitchell adding his shoot name is interesting. He's got a ways as a mic working villain but at PCW he gets to experiment.
(3) Geter defeated Austin Tower to retain the Anarchy Heavyweight Championship in 16:35. One of Geter's chop left a hand print and a huge red welt on Towers' chest. Towers wrecked referee Nathaniel Spivey with a Kobeya Kick. Mike Fullilove sprinted into the ring, presumably to be the replacement referee. Time stood still. Confusion reigned. Fullilove ran to the dressing room. Geter gave Towers got a visual three count on Geter with an STO. Geter also got visual fall with a ripcord lariat as there was still no ref. Finally, senior official Darryl Hall arrived on the scene. Towers connected with the Kobeya Kick but Geter rolled a shoulder at the last split second. Towers was in shock. "The title should be mine!". Geter gave Towers a massive belly to belly suplex and both were down. Geter leveled Towers with a lariat for the win.
Every time these monsters meet in the ring, it's a spectacle and what results is compelling. Match couldn't possibly have the intensely heated atmosphere of their confrontations at Anarchy. There was no story here and then there was that unfortunate fuck up.
Geter addressed Martyr (the former Johnny Danger) after the match, calling him by shoot name Steve. "Don't make me hurt you".
I like the role reversal story here - Danger was a babyface in the announcer's booth when it started.
(4) Dominic Stuckey defeated Sleepy Wrassla (with Nina Monet) in 9:48. Sleepy alternated between burst of offense and lapses in to somnolence. Crowd started Stuckey chants a couple of times. They really picked it up into the finish. Wrassla had Stuckey ready to go out with full nelson submission. An eerie video played on the big screen with a message directed at Sleepy -- "What are you dreaming of?". Sleepy clutched his head like a tortured soul. Stuckey with a butterfly stunner for the win.
Totally solid match technically. Dom has a nice black hole slam. The finishing sequence was very good work. Match felt off because their characters are both babyfaces and the crowd was ambivalent about which one to root for. A wrestler turning his back on the match to watch a video breaks my suspension of disbelief every time.
(5) Najasism defeated Joe Black via submisson to retain the PCW Championship in 16:55. They established Black's advantage in power and strength. Naja hit a springboard Meteora and kicked the shit out of Joe's legs. Black swept Naja's legs on the apron and did the Rave STO. Black was feeling it. Naja nipped up after taking a knockdown chop. Black punished Naja, and chopped him out of midair when he tried to fly. Naja took a head first bump into the turnbuckle - an out-of-the ordinary bump that only a small, agile guy could make look right. Naja's spinning heel kick knocked Joe for a loop. Black leveled Naja with a pair of lariats and hit the Falcon Arrow but Naja kicked out. Joe tried to choke Naja out but could not get the job done. Both men staggering, trading shots. Black reasserted his power with a shoulder block. He told Naja "you can't hurt me". Naja hurt him - Air Raid Crash for two, a top rope battle culminating in a frog splash for 2.9. Naja did a variation of the AJ Styles Cliffhanger. As Black went for a spear, Naja jumped up with a double stomp and hit a corkscrew spear for a near fall. Black speared Naja for a very close near fall. They traded blows on their knees. Naja started working for the TO submission. .Joe tried to powerbomb his way out of it. Naja maintained the hold and was able to fully extend Black's arm, forcing him to tap.
Two of the best we have in Georgia meeting for the first time and they killed it. Somewhere. somehow, somebody needs to to run it back. I was struck by the care with which the match was constructed, let alone executed. Loved the surprise of the submission finish.
They fist bumped after the match. Geter was out applauding.
I've gotta say, the lack of crowd reaction after the match sucked.
(6) Skrilla the Great defeated Hunter James and DJ Smoke and Trey Shaw and ERC and "The Lifeguard" Izzy Vaden in the Six Pack Elimination Match to win the vacant Dealer's Choice Championship (22:57). Skrilla's intro got a big pop. Most of the wrestlers on the card were at ringside. PCW doesn't need a stinking reason why. The wrestlers got into a into a chair swinging brawl. Lifeguard Vaden applied CPR to somebody on the floor, James got ice put down his tights.
-- Shaw eliminated ERC with a lariat at 8:25.
-- James rolled up Vaden at 14;28.
-- Skrilla pinned Shaw 17:43..Story advancement in the finish: Shaw leveled Smokes with a lariat. Cuatro Cabeza who gave him a stunner.
-- James pinned Smoke at 21:06. James gave Smoke a spanish fly. Skrilla laid James out with a TKO and went to pin Smoke but James broke it up and pinned Smoke with a brainbuster.
-- Skrilla countered a brainbuster by James and pinned him with the Skrillride to win the match. A "you deserve it" chant.
I like chaos in my wrestling but live, this was a mess. Maybe it will come across better on video. All these people at ringside getting involved and too much mediocre action. !5 minutes would have been plenty.. The finishing sequence worked great. It came down to the right people -- Skrilla and James. -- the stars executed and Smoke got the rub..
Najasim offered a handshake. Skrilla accepted. The champions clinked title belts.
A beautiful ending.
NOTES: PCW returns to the PCW Palace at 5174 Washington St on February 10...Four-time GWH Referee of the Year Hall, Jynnyfyr Wynns and Nathaniel Spivey were the referees...The three man announce team consisted of DJ TonNek, Mike Fullillove and the masked Steven Lavey...Jeff Jobs was the ring announcer...Quasi Mandisco ran the audio...In the house: Lamar Diggs and Jonathan Malik...Najasism is in charge of production...Bill Hunsinger (ButcHer) is the lead trainer).
