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| Photo courtesy of Classic City |
40 Watt Club, Athens, Ga.
Feb. 18, 2023
While not my first trip to Athens, this is my first trip to
the downtown area. Parking is at a premium as with most venues in a downtown
setting, but with several parking areas near-by, it wasn’t hard to find. The
pictures I took of the interior of the 40 Watt Club shows how intimate things
will be here tonight. 2 rows of chairs on all 4 sides of the ring were sold out
(about 90), with a couple of lounge seating as well so it’s going to be SRO for
everyone else who walks in. They have announced a sell out at 438. The band
called Dexateens will be providing live music through out the night.
Advertised matches tonight are: Owen Knight vs. Vary
Morales, Dave Stage vs. Lobo Okami, Duncan Mitchell Avecilla vs. Matt Sells,
Dom Stuckey vs. Irving West, The Nawfside Heroes and Rico Gonzalez vs. Top Team
in Trios action, A triple threat match of Michael Stevens, Cuatro Cabezas, and
Andey Ripley, and the main event of Angelica Risk and Jazzy Yang.
There are some Georgia notables in the crowd, but I’ve been
ordered to keep quiet about them to prevent any problems at home.
Cole Taylor will be the MC tonight, referees will be Darryl
Hall, David Weakley, Paul Santa, and Anthony Rivera.
Delayed start (30 minute) to the show to get everyone in the
building.
The show starts with Taylor hyping up the crowd, who are
already pumped up.
1: Triple Threat: Cuatro Cabezas vs. Marvelous Michael
Stevens, vs. Andey Ripley.
The crowd popped for Cabezas, Stevens was PO’ed due to
Taylor getting the names wrong, Ripley gets a strong pop as well. This is going
to be weird and I’m here for it. Cabezas wants a dance off, Stevens pouts a bit
but busts out some moves. Rip and Cab dance, Marv interrupts and gets decked
for his efforts. Cab gives Rip a front atomic drop to no effect, Rip punches
Cab and Marv attacks Rip from behind. Rip gets some forearm shivers in on Marv,
then some lariats. Neckbreaker/DDT combo on Marv, Cab breaks up Rip’s pin. Rip
returns the favor on Cab and they argue. Marv tries to take advantage of the disagreement,
sending Rip into the ring post and rolling up Cab with a handful of tights for
the win at 8:00.
Basically, an icebreaker match to get the crowd primed.
Not a thing wrong with it.
Rip and Cab look like they might fight after the match but
put their differences aside and raise each others hands and then dance to the
back.
2: Dave Stage vs. Lobo Okami.
Stage was Chippendale dancing his way to the ring (and I
have absolutely no problem with that twerking whatsoever), Lobo got played in
by the Dexateens. These some big boys here, different body types, of course,
but still big. Ref Hall pulled out a fork from Stage’s socks, leading to a “fuck
you Stage” chant. Stage shows off to the crowd with pushups. Kick to the gut of
Lobo then headlock. Lobo picks him up and throws him off. Shoulder tackles by
both men, Stage gets Lobo over with a belly to back, Lobo pops up and while
Stage was flexing to the crowd, German’s him. They set up for a chop fest, but
Stage pokes Lobo in the eyes.
Stage drags lobo’s face across all four top ropes then clips
the left knee. Clubbing blows to Lobo’s back, he tries to punch up, but Stage
knees him the gut again. Lobo firing back with some forearms, but Stage hair
yanks him down. Lobo hulks up, pounding away at Stage, Stage catches him with a
front atomic drop. The one foot cover from stage gets a two-count. Massive chop
to the chest by Stage, sweat was flying. Stage reverses a corner Irish Whip and
clips the leg again. Leg DDT by Stage and Lobo’s in a world of hurt. Stage in
full asshole heel mode. They start trading blows, Lobo gains the advantage and
Stage has wobbly legs. Stinger splash by Lobo, and then pulls Stage out of the
corner for a belly to belly. Straps come down and Lobo gives Stage the lariat
from hell for the win at 14:07.
The crowd exploded with that win; they love Lobo.
The most personality I’ve seen out of Stage to date; he
found something with the dancing and worked it the entire match to the point
where I almost reached into my pocket for some cash. I’ve only seen Lobo a
couple of times now; he continues to get better. The only negative was the
time, 5 minutes could have been knocked off.
3: Qualifying match for the CCW championship: Matt “Sex”
Sells vs. Duncan Mitchell Avecilla.
Sells is accompanied to the ring by 6 nubile ladies,
drinking some adult beverages. He also has a Georgia Bulldog National
Championship belt with him. I almost get splashed with beer remnants with his
Sandman-esque antics, other audience members aren’t so lucky. He cheap pops the
crowd as he’s a graduate of UGA. At the last show, he was pinned by Alex Kane
and was in a bad mood. SCSA style promo but gets interrupted by Avecilla’s
music. Avecilla cuts a promo running down CCW and The 40-Watt. He calls Sells a
burnout. Sells insults Avecilla and his parents. Avecilla lists Sells ROH
misadventures and says that the 40-Watt isn’t for Sells’ age group. Sells says
that he’ll bend Avecilla over his knee and spank him like a bitch. Avecilla
says that he’ll end Sell’s career tonight, Sells tells him to get his high
school punk ass to the ring.
Avecilla tries to school boy Matt while Matt was drinking a
beer, Matt no-sells that. Thez press by Sells and he goes for the rat trap,
Duncan escapes out of the ring. Sells follows, punishing Duncan around the
ring. Duncan catches Sells coming into the ring with the arm codebreaker. Duncan
wrapping the arm around the top rope, trying to pop the arm. Bulldog by Duncan
gets a two-count. Body slam by Duncan but Sells rolls away from an elbow. Sunset
flip by sells for a near fall, Duncan
quickly back on the attack and the arm. Sells fighting up with some shoulders
to the gut of Duncan. Springboard stunner from the corner from sells gets a
two-count, the crowd wanted that one.
Sells sets up the Jushin
“Thunder” Lager palm strike, Duncan had a hold of Ref Santa and pulled him in
the way, down goes Santa. Sells rat traps Duncan a dozen times and has him
pinned but no ref. Ref Anthony slides in for the count but Duncan just gets the
shoulder up. Sells sets up for the palm strike again, but Duncan blocks it.
Everyone gets tied up for a moment, Duncan uses that to get Sells in the nards
and then pins him at 9:20.
The crowd was not happy with that and neither was Sells. He
slams a beer against the ring post, causing liquid to go everywhere. Sells gets
interviewed on the stage, Sells goes off on the interviewer, saying screw
everyone, he’s going home.
A match heavy with stories. Avecilla is turning into
quite the asshole. A bit of foreshadowing after the match with Sells visibly
frustrated over the last several matches he’s had at CCW.
4: Top Team (Larry
Lazard, Jay Lucas, and Terry Yaki) vs. The Nawfside Heroes (Shoota Gabe and
Jose Manuel) and Rico Gonzalez.
Bodies will be flying everywhere here. This could be a rivalry
that flies under the radar this year. Lazard stalling when the match starts.
Gabe takes him down and paint brushes the back of the head. They trade off on
multiple pin attempts until Gabe slows it down with a head lock. They tag out
to Manuel and Yaki. Tempers flare up, ropes are run and flips are flipped. Yaki
cheap shots Gonzales, Manuel takes him down. Manuel tags in Gonzales, but Yaki
pulls Manuel in the way. Lucas and Rico square off with Rico flying all over. Triple
team on Lucas. They are fighting on the floor, Gabe back splashes them and then Lucas dives on them. NS and Rico
dive on Top Team. In the ring, Gabe takes a triple team for a near fall.
Gabe in the bad part of town and gets worked over by all three
of Top Team. Gabe tries to fight his way but gets cut off. Brainbuster by Lucas
gets a near fall. Jaw jack by Gabe and he makes the tag but Ref Anthony was
tied up by Lucas so he didn’t see it. Half the crowd hate Top Team now, the
other love it. Gabe trying to fight up again, but Lazard drops the legs across
the back of his head. Hope spot for Gabe, he makes the tag to Manuel and he
goes after Top Team. Enziguri by Yaki starts everyone doing moves. Human
missiles. Tag out to Rico, he’s hitting Yaki everywhere. Rico measures up and
lands a leaping stomp to Yaki’s chest for a near fall. NS double team on Yaki,
they cover but Top Team just make the save. NS eat superkicks, Rico all alone.
TT double team on Rico, Yaki slowly makes the cover, Rico just gets the
shoulder up.
The crowd chanting for Rico and he and Yaki strike away at
each other, then hit some big moves; Yaki eats a destroyer. Yaki climbs the
corner, kicking NS on his way up and plants Rico with a falcon’s arrow. Everyone
back in now, hitting a move and then getting hit. Lazard standing tall at the
end of that exchange. Yaki leaps over him and lands on NS and Rico on the floor.
It’s Lucas’s turn now, then Lazard’s, basically landing in Hankins’s lap.
Yaki’s up on the stage, Rico’s behind him, they fight up
there. Everyone else is on the floor and Rico and Yaki land on them. NS and
Rico triple team Yaki for the win at 21:09.
That was totally nucking futs.
Top Team was basically in quasi-heel mode here. With all
the moving parts, everything looked crisp. I love all six of these guys, but
they could have calmed down from all the high spots from the ring to the floor;
part of the match seemed like a repeat of an earlier spot, just on a different
side of the ring. I liked the stage dive spot, you knew something had to come
from the stage and it worked, IMO. The time could have been cut by 5 minutes,
but otherwise a very good match.
Intermission with Dexateens playing.
5: “I love you” match: Irving West with Andy Ripley vs. Dom
Stuckey.
Several items are set up around the ring for this match
between former tag champions, instead of an I Quit match, in order to win, you
have to make your opponent say “I love you”. Stuckey offers West the chance to
submit to him right now: there’s ladders, doors, chairs, and trash cans around
the ring. West refuses and they start fighting and the match starts. The ladder
gets used first when West sends Dom into it. The fight heads to the floor and Dom
smacks a can across the back of West, then the lid on the head.
Dom has West in a chair and pounds away, West grabs the
trash lid and hits Dom with it. They are fighting near me now and Dom uses a
chair and then slams West onto the ring apron. Dom uses the ladder to shove
West off the apron. Dom sets up the ladder on the floor and puts West in a
trash can. Dom has the chair and jumps from the ladder onto the can covered
West who is on the ring apron. “Knock, knock, Oscar, knock knock”. West grabs
Dom and pulls him into the can and bites him, maybe. West goes up top, has Dom
by the arm, and falls backwards over the ropes with the arm bar. West drops
onto the floor and Dom sets up two chairs face to face. West DVD’s Dom onto the
chairs. Dom’s in the ropes and West delivers to chair shots to the back of Dom.
The mic in Dom’s face, he teases saying it and low blows
West. Dom sets West into one trash can and then sets the other on top of him
and then spears West: West refuses to say it. Dom starts throwing bar vouches
to the crowd, insulting the crowd as he goes. Dom grabs a fire extinguisher and
also starts going live on his phone. West with the extinguisher and sprays Dom
with it. West has Dom in the ground and pound with the mic in his face.
They start striking each other with fists and feet. The
chairs are set up and Dom sets one of the doors on them. Dom has West up on the
second turnbuckle and plants him through the door for a holy shit chant. Dom
with a shoulder lock, West refuses to say the words. Dom says that he’s going
to break his shoulder. Rip on the apron, with towel in hand. Rip throws in the
towel but the match can’t end that way. Dom confronts Rip and drags Rip into
the ring. He wipes his ass with the towel and throws it at Rip. Rip wants to
attack Dom, Cuatro Cabezas comes out, seemingly to calm Rip down, but instead attacks
Rip, leaving Rip down and out.
Dom tapes West’s
wrists to the second rope and starts pounding away at the back of West with a
chair; West refuses to say the words. West has this look in his face now. Dom
appreciates West’s determination. Dom sets Rip’s head in the seat of a chair,
under the chair back. Dom threatens to slam the other chair onto Rip’s head.
That’s too much for West and he says I love you at 18:36.
Dom goes ahead and
slams the chair onto Rip’s head. He sits down and soaks in the hate from the
crowd while Justin Legend and the other refs come out to check on Rip. Dom’s
still mouthing off on stage while Rip is helped to the back. Legend is yelling
at Dom to go to the back, Dom yells back before leaving.
I did not know what to expect from this match: Dom was
trained by Iceberg, so I figured he knew what to do, West was a bit of mystery in
that I don’t know if he had done anything like this before. Another storyline
driven match here with the former tag partners with Dom showing off all types
of arrogance. Again, a bit long in the match time for my taste; the action at a
couple of spots seemed clunky but still good. The Oscar the Grouch thing popped
several people. A Cabezas/Ripley match will happen at some point from this, as well as teasing Justin Legend vs. Dom Stuckey
6: Qualifying match: Owen Knight vs. Vary Morales.
Good pop for both Knight and Morales, I think the younger
women in the crowd were screaming more for Vary, don’t blame them. The match
starts and Knight takes down Vary and slaps him in the back. The crowd didn’t
like that and Vary punches Knight. Knight wants to go up-tempo which is right
in Vary’s wheelhouse and Vary makes him pay for that. Knight kicks Vary in the
gut and lands a couple more blows for a near fall. Knight using the second rope
to choke Vary, the crowd is firmly behind Vary now.
Knight gets Vary in the corner ropes and backstabs him for a
near fall. Knight tosses Vary out of the ring, Vary almost lands in the lab of
a gentleman. Knight follows and stomps Vary in the head several times, driving
Vary back into the second row. They are near the stage area now and Vary is
fighting back. Vary up on the stage and plunges down onto Knight. Ref Hall
trying to get them back into the ring and they finally do. Tilt-a-whirl DDT by
Vary for a near fall, the crowd really wanted that.
Knight sets Vary on the top turnbuckle, looking for a
superplex, Vary fights it off and tries for a sunset flip, Knight holds on and
Vary super kicks him in the head and plants Knight for another near fall. Knight
dodges a rushing Vary and plants him for a near fall. Knight continues to stomp
away at the head of Vary, Vary fighting back and they start trading blows. Vary
tries for a spring board move but Knight catches him and plants Vary with a
front falcon’s arrow, leading to the pin at 11:25.
Knight offers his fist, Vary taps it. Vary gets love from
the crowd.
For me the best match of the night: it would take both
Knight and Morales both having an intestinal bug for it to suck. I don’t know if
there will be any more qualifying matches to crown a CCW Champion, but Knight/Avecilla
wouldn’t be bad for the title.
Main Event: Angelica Risk vs. Jazzy Yang.
CCW billed this as the first all female singles main event
in independent wrestling history in Georgia. I don’t know if that’s true or
not, I’m sure someone will say something one way or the other (Edit: AWE had Tenille Dashwood and Isla Dawn as the main event at their show in March of 2018). Risk comes to
the ring with a chip on the shoulder the size of the old Chrysler Building. The
Dexateens play out Jazzy and the crowd pops for her. I will admit that my
personal bar is set low for this match, I really don’t know what to expect.
Risk’s bad mood is all up in Yang’s face, shoving her in the
face. Yang retaliates and goes for a quick submission. Risk cheap shots Yang
and starts throwing hands and feet. Yang turns it around and starts her own
attack, ending with a standing moonsault for a near fall. Risk bails out of the
ring, trying to regroup. Yang tries for a baseball slide and Risk traps her in
the ring apron. Risk throws Yang’s head into the ring post and then sends her
into another ring post. Risk is being very vicious here and that’s a good
thing. Yang tries to fire up but Risk turns her inside out with a lariat.
Corner stomps by Risk, Ref Weakley has to pull her back. Risk
showing off for the crowd, this allows Yang to get up and we have the flying
double hair pull and both ladies are down. They fight their way to the vertical
base, Yang getting the better of that. Swinging neck breaker for a near fall
for Yang. Risk trips up Yang into the ropes for a 619 and a near fall.
Risk headlocks Yang and runs up the corner and over into a
DDT and Yang kicks out. Risk throws a tantrum. Risk climbs the turnbuckles and
flies off, but Yang catches her in mid-air for a cutter for the win at 8:51.
Jazzy grabs her father from the crowd and into the ring for
a stand tall moment, which pops the crowd.
The next CCW show will be TBA, but will most likely be back at the 40-Watt
Club.
See Final thoughts for details.
Final Thoughts:
No, I'm not crapping on anything.
TPTB were beyond pleased with the turnout, as they should
be. A lot of people who had never seen wrestling before are in the house and
they were popping in the right spots.
The venue was fantastic, hopefully they can match up
dates to run again here. Things were popping all night long and the standing crowd
were paying attention to the matches and were actively discussing what was
going on with buddies/dates/group. I think they will have return people at
future shows.
CCW def. took a risk on the main event. I think it paid
off as, well, a bunch of male college students got to see a couple of good-looking,
scantily clad females beat the snot out of each other to end the night. The match
didn’t suck and was pretty good. Angelica Risk made the match, IMO. Her
attitude leads the entire thing. IMO, Yang needs to work on laying the strikes
in more, and transitions, otherwise the best match I’ve seen from her.
Also, can Vary Morales get more love? I think he's taken over one of Chip Day's monikers as Georgia's Best Kept Secret. He's everywhere working multiple promotions and I haven't seen a bad match out of him yet. You can say his biggest downside is his height but that hasn't stopped him from going toe to toe with people much larger than him.
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