Photos by Ashley Ingraham and courtesy of SHW From Duke Ingraham: Southern Honor Wrestling celebrated their 50th show last night with SHW50...
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| Photos by Ashley Ingraham and courtesy of SHW |
From Duke Ingraham:
Southern Honor Wrestling celebrated their 50th show last night with SHW50 from The Action Building in Canton Georgia and it was a night the fans will not be forgetting for a long time. The show featured a card that was stacked top to bottom with premier talent and every match delivered…and then some. There were shocking moments, surprising returns, and a twist that no one (well almost no one) saw coming. At the end of the night the 277 fans in attendance were left devastated, confused, and dying to see what would happen next as a frustrated Gary Lamb walked out the front door of his own building and was not seen by fans after the show.
-Todd Sexton broke the hearts of the SHW fans as many thought he had stepped in to restore order to a chaotic main event, only to see him push his own agenda by sabotaging the match so that Judas would defeat Gunner Miller and walk away as the new Southern Honor Wrestling Champion.
-Captain Sean Dean made a surprise appearance to tell Carlie Bravo in person that the tag team they make up “The Infantry” have been signed and are now All Elite!
-Former WCW Tag Team Champions The American Males (Marcus Alexander “Buff” Bagwell and Scotty Riggs) made their first public appearance together in 25 years.
-Tensions boiled over between Georgia Wrestling History’s 2022 Wrestler(s) of the year A.C. Mack and Nick Halen as a match was announced for the next show between the two where if A.C. wins he is the sole Georgia Wrestler of the Year, and if Halen wins A.C. Mack has to leave SHW.
-After retaining their SHW Tag Team Championships, Happy Madness (Sunny Daze and Sal Rinauro) were not done as Daze entered the crowd and pulled Joe Black’s girlfriend into the ring, lucky The Hierarchy (Joe Black and Murder 1) were able to get to the ring before things were taken any further.
-Frustration came to a head for Owen Knight as he turned on his tag team partner Najasism costing them a chance at tag team gold.
-The Jake “The Snake” Legacy Tournament kicked off in a quest to crown a new champion at Southern Honor.
-Dani Jordyn shocked the fans with a surprise promo announcing that she has been in contact with SHW matchmaker Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and she will now be in charge of a brand new women’s division for SHW. Dani was interrupted by an SHW original Ryan Rembrandt, who gave a fantastic promo, only to be laid out by Dani.
-SHW new comers The Kenway, Alexander Moss, and Shoot Taylor all excelled in their matches tonight and are quickly finding their place with the fans.
-The show's opening video package was one of the best I’ve seen from SHW (and that’s saying a lot). The package featured highlights of some of the biggest names ever to appear at SHW including Diamond Dallas Page, The Rock N Roll Express, David Arquette, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, Austin Theory and others, then focused on some of the biggest moments in SHW history. It really got the fans pumped.
THE HIERARCHY (MURDER 1 & JOE BLACK) DEF. NAWFSIDE HEROS (JOSE MANUEL & SHOOTA GABE) BY PINFALL IN 2:16.
Nawfside pearl harbors Hierarchy to open the match but that was about as much offense as they would get in and Joe and Murder quickly took back control of the match and jobbed out the debuting Nawfside. The quick match took the fans off guard but it was refreshing and allowed the energy level to stay elevated.
After the match Joe says he has a surprise for Murder and brings out The American Males. The crowd pops for their theme song. Joe looks ready to fight but Buff gets on the mic and says The Hierarchy will soon be the new SHW Tag Team Champions
GARY LAMB PROMO
Lamb comes out and fires up the crowd. He addresses the critics who said he will lose interest in wrestling now that he is promoting a fight league by saying he lost interest a year ago but SHW is still kicking and that we haven’t seen anything yet.
SHOOT TAYLOR DEF. NICK HALEN IN THE QUARTER FINALS OF THE JAKE “THE SNAKE” ROBERTS LEGACY TOURNAMENT BY PINFALL IN 2:10
History between these two dating back to the DDP invitational at “Still Here 4”. Halen takes control early and has Shoot dead to rights, but gets cocky and decides to go for a second elbow drop. A.C. Mack makes an appearance and the distraction is enough for Taylor to capitalize and advance in the tournament.
BRYCE CANNON DEF. ZICKY DICE AND ROB KILLJOY IN THE QUARTER FINALS OF THE JAKE “THE SNAKE” ROBERTS LEGACY TOURNAMENT BY PINFALL IN 8:40
Bravo was supposed to be in the match, but before it could start Sean Dean came to the ring and informed Bravo that The Infantry is now All Elite. Cannon tries to force his way into the match as a replacement but Bravo isn’t having any of it. Cannon offers Bravo $5000 for his spot and hands him an envelope. Bravo sells his spot of Cannon only to discover the envelope is empty and The Infantry lays Cannon out dead center of the ring.
Cannon stays knocked out cold through the rest of the intros and takes a lot of abuse to open the match. The match itself was full of high energy spots and one of the more entertaining matches of the night. As Dice and Killjoy focus on each other, Cannon spends time outside the ring healing his injuries waiting for his perfect opportunity to capitalize and come out with a victory.
BROOKLYN CREED/KRULE VIDEO
A hauntingly cryptic video plays of Brooklyn dressed in all black walking down a country road carrying a basket. Once she reaches the woods she digs a hole and we can see she is burying Krule’s wrestling gear. Scenes flash of Logan Creed’s career over the years and she finally lays the mask into the ground only to have the eyes open in the mask and stare back at the camera.
This was BEAUTIFULLY done! And completely had the crowd engaged.
ASHTON STARR DEF. ALEXANDER MOSS BY PINFALL IN 6:44
An extremely impressive debut for Moss in SHW, he put up a valiant effort but ultimately the experience of Starr was far too much for Moss to handle.
After the match as Ashton’s music is playing it is interrupted (again) by a Movie Myk video. A well shot video that showed scenes of Hollywood spliced with Myk talking with some film noir music in the background. Myk, a movie director, is attempting to recruit Starr to make movies together. Even flashing in some photoshopped TMZ headlines talking about the possibilities of them working together. The video ends by saying Myk will be appearing “June 2023”.
Fans didn’t know quite what to make of the video but it was enough to have them wanting to see where it is going. As someone who has seen Movie Myk work in person all I can say is….you have to see it to believe it.
HAPPY MADNESS (SAL RINAURO & SUNNY DAZE) DEF. NAJASISM & OWEN KNIGHT BY PINFALL TO RETAIN THE SHW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 15:36
As the other matches tonight were quick or focused more on work rate, this one slowed things down and really told a great story in the ring. It’s worth watching just for the match psychology. Naja and Owen seemed to have good chemistry as a team but the match did a GREAT job of planting little seeds throughout of slight miscommunications and out of position spots by the two. The faces have a chance to put the champs away but as Owen hits his finisher and makes a cover, he is unaware the Naja has tagged himself him He tell’s Naja to finish it, Naja climbs to the top rope and jumps but Owen catches him mid air and slams him to the ground allowing the champs to retain.
As Owen leaves Naja laying motionless in the ring and Happy Madness pounces. Sal gets a table from under the ring and they set it up in the corner. As it looks like Naja is about to go through it, Sunny quickly exits the ring and enters the crowd grabbing Joe Black’s girlfriend and pulling her into the ring. Before things could turn ugly Joe and Murder rush the ring to save the day. The Hierarchy grow frustrated with referee Jermie Prater for allowing Joe’s girlfriend to be put in harm's way and they throw him through the table to the delight of the fans. Prater has definitely been taking a lot of abuse from the SHW roster lately…..
-INTERMISSION-
THE KENWAY DEF. ZACH MOSLEY (WITH CORNEILUS PEPPERBOTTOM) IN THE QUARTER FINALS OF THE JAKE “THE SNAKE” ROBERTS LEGACY TOURNAMENT BY PINFALL IN 11:36
This one stole the show for me. Any questions of how the crowd would react to Kenway were answered as he has quickly endeared himself to the SHW faithful in only 2 shows. The crowd was all over Mosley chanting “where’s your mullet?” Both men showed excellent displays of power and technical abilities. This was one of the better technical matches i’ve seen from Mosley in person as a singles and Kenway’s vertical suplex to get Mosley back into the ring from the apron 9 minutes deep into a physical match and his German suplex from a roll up position to win the match were both EXTREMELY impressive.
Pepperbottom jumps Kenway after the match and Cyrus’ music hits, but It’s Bryce Cannon to the crowd's disappointment who jumps in the ring and attacks Kenway with his paddle. Clearly and very effectively setting up a semi finals match between the two.
DANI JORDYN PROMO
Huge pop for Dani who hasn’t been seen at SHW for many months. She announces to the crowd that she has been put in charge of SHW’s women’s division and will build it up to be the best women’s division in the state. She then stares into the camera and delivers an honest message to the female talent in Georgia encouraging them to step up their game and help make SHW the place for women’s wrestling.
Dani is interrupted by Ryan Rembrandt who says he was on the first 2 SHW shows and since then he has sat backstage for 48 straight shows waiting for his next opportunity. The two exchange words and Rembrandt remarks that he has never gone “one on one with a girl before” to which the crowd pops. The segment ends with Dani taking down Rembrandt.
This was a sincere emotional promo from Dani and the crowd loved the idea of more women’s wrestling in SHW. Rembrandt did a fantastic job on this promo. It was risky doing back to back extended promos this late in the show, but Rembrandt had the crowd eating out of his hand and the promo never lost momentum. Well done Rembrandt.
CHIP DAY DEF. A.C. MACK IN THE QUARTER FINALS OF THE JAKE “THE SNAKE” ROBERTS LEGACY TOURNAMENT BY REFEREE STOPPAGE IN 9:51
Another great match here as you would expect. Early in the match Halen runs to the ring with a chair and as the referee is distracted Halen bashes A.C.’s ankle with it, then uses it for its intended purpose and joins the commentary team. Chip was very aggressive in the match, working A.C.’s hurt ankle for the majority of it. A.C. would attempt to fight back, never giving up, but he couldn’t overcome the injury. Chip puts Mack in an ankle lock and kicks him violently in the back. Mack passes out from the pain.
After the match Nick Halen enters the ring and gets in Mack’s face. Mack jumps up, kicks Halen in the chest and delivers a pedigree. A.C, then gives the stipulation that at the next show if he wins the match he is rightfully the Wrestler of the Year, and if Halen wins then A.C. will quit SHW. A.C. refused to return to the locker room until his music was played.
JUDAS DEF. GUNNER MILLER BY PINFALL TO WIN THE SOUTHERN HONOR WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP IN 1:23
Judas attacks referee David Weakley before the match can officially begin. Referee Paul Santa rushes to ring to attend to Weakly as is confronted by Judas. Gunner attempts to spear Judas but Judas dodges and Gunner spears Santa. All 3 referees are now out of commission….I wonder who else is backstage that has refereed a match at SHW recently? A complete brawl breaks out as the two, Judas attempts to use the spike but Gunner overpowers him and jams it in Judas' foot. The battle moves outside the ring as the two take turns throwing each other into the guard rail. They fight across the stage and back through the crowd (thank you Impak for grabbing my phone to get me some up close and personal footage). Once the action returns to the ring Gunner stays in full control hitting some Stinger Splashes.
Todd Sexton rushes to the ring in a referee’s shirt and signals for the bell.
Gunner hits a spear and a jackhammer followed by a pin 1…2……… Gunner looks up in confusion to see the grinning face of the weasel himself Todd Sexton. The crowd can’t believe it. Utter shock throughout the building. Gunner attempts to jackhammer Sexton but is given a low blow by Judas. Sexton delivers a superkick to Gunner followed up by a spear from Judas and a quick count from Sexton and we have a new champion.
Judas and Todd celebrate as they exit the ring. Gary Lamb meets Todd on the stage and an escalated argument breaks out between them. Judas grabs Gary by the goozle but Todd pulls him off. Gary says something to Gunner then opens a barricade, walks through the crowd, and exits the building….
This Todd Sexton and Judas alliance is something SHW has been playing out for almost two years right in front of our eyes. I noticed it when SHW seem to make a conscious effort to let everyone know that Todd was an authority figure for them. Brief glimpses of Todd would being popping up in promo videos and things of that nature, just to keep him in the fans memory. Over that time it seemed like any time Judas would get out of line and the officials would run out, Todd would run straight to Judas and would seemling be the only one who could calm him down. (This was also around the time The Sexton Alliance was the hottest act at Southern Fried which featured Todd and Judas together prominently). Over the next 18 months this played out perfectly and in very small doses including having Todd referee two matches over this time at SHW to show he could in fact do so.
This was so beautifully laid out and presented and done in such a way that it was so obviously looking back. It’s the well laid out long term storytelling like this that keeps me coming back to SHW.
Top to bottom a fantastic show from Canton’s own. Easily their best of the year in my opinion and worthy enough to put up against any show this year for “Show of the Year.” Every match delivered, and the story telling was on point. Every match served a purpose and clearly advanced something in the right direction. The current stories at SHW are developing nicely and I am very interested to see where they ALL are going. If the next two rounds of the tournament are anything like the first then we are in store for a crazy ride until the end, and What does Gary Lamb walking out the front doors of his own building mean?
The ring announcer for tonight was Diana Michel, The team of Brandon Benefield and Gerard Bonner handled commentary. David Weakley, Jermie Prater, and Paul Santa were the referees. D.J. Tonik handled the pre-show entertainment and Nathan Mowery and Impak were on the roving cameras. I think I can speak for everyone when I ask….
WHY TODD WHY?
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