Southern Fried Shindig X -- Monroe on June 10

Photos by Bob McAteer From Larry Goodman: Mikael Judas is the new Southern Fried Champion. Judas defeated CT Keys in the greatest SFCW title...

Photos by Bob McAteer

From Larry Goodman:

Mikael Judas is the new Southern Fried Champion. Judas defeated CT Keys in the greatest SFCW title match in company history to become a four-time champion. He is now on of three men to hold the SHW and SFCW titles simultaneously.

Judas has a wealth of knowledge and experience and still performs at an elite level. Keys raised his game to a place it's never been before and met the moment. Ther match will be in the conversation for match of the year. I cannot wait for the rematch. 

Until the main event, Shindig X was the most Southern of Southern style wrasslin' shows, short matches with all kinds of gaga and story stuff. Not that I'm complaining at all. It was fast-paced fun and the crowd was into every bit of it.

The great wrestling was saved for what turned out to be an amazing main event, which only made it that much more special. 

The tag titles also changed hands. Strykyn stepped into the breach created by Sal Rinauro's unfortunate injury and partnered with Sunny Daze to defeat JBE. 

In fact, the babyfaces won all of the matches at the top of the card. I can't recall the last time that happened on a Todd Sexton-booked show. 

As I write this, I'm feeling like Shindig X is my favorite show of the year so far.

Shindig X drew 300+ to Walton County Boys and Girls Club Gym, down slightly from Shindig 2022 but a bigger gate due to ticket prices. My hunch was the women's show neither helped nor hurt attendance.

Southern Fried owner David Manders and matchmaker Bill Behrens opened the show. Manders said many predicted failure when he took over ownership from Charles Anschutz six years ago. "Look where we are now." 

Behrens said Southern Fried was one of the best promotions he had ever been involved in during his three decades in the wrestling business and the best in Georgia. 

We got our first surprise before a bell had been rung. Kelly Sexton, Billy Buck, Mikal Judas, Adrian Hawkins and Jacob Ashworth joined the others already present in the ring.

Manders announced that Todd Sexton was being inducted into the SFCW Hall of Fame. Behrens said Todd was one of the smartest people in the wrestling business and he deserved to be doing creative at the major league level. Manders presented Todd with the plaque. In typical Todd fashion, Todd joked he didn't have time for this but he was clearly moved by the honor. The crowd broke into a long and loud "thank you, Todd" chant 

(1) Exotic Youth (Bryce Cannon & Zach Mosley with Cornelius Pepperbottom) defeated Alex Kytel & Jaden Vain in 5:15. EY chicanery. Pep got brought into the ring the hardway but ended up grabbing Kytel's leg to keep him from saving his partner as Cannon and Mosley hit a Samoan Drop/corkscrew neckbreaker combo on Vain. 

(2) Tyler Stevens defeated AC Mack in 4:50. A going away gift from Mack. Love was in the room. Crowd was hanging on his every word.  A no-brainer that this was the biggest win of Stevens' short career. That guy is going places if he sticks with it. Stevens blocked the Mack 10 and leveled Mack with a high boot. 

For once, Mack was virtually speechless. He said he appreciated the love. The crowd did not want to stop chanting "AC".

(3) Najasism defeated Tetchi Makuji (with Dr. Joseph Brock) via DQ in 7:20.  The ultimate in David vs. Goliath matches. Naja gave it his all but nothing he did
made much of a dent in the monster. Makuji tried to mist Naja. He ducked and referee Jynnyfy Wynns got the green mist. Makuji applied the Shiranagi. Naja was toast. The other refs ran out to check on Wynns. The bell rang and Naja was declared the winner. 

Next up was supposed to be Will Kaution vs. Billy Buck. What started as a friendly rivalry between two babyfaces vying for the number one contendership had degenerated into this. Kaution, a fan favorite at Southern Fried, lost his smile in the course of events and turned to the dark side. 

Kaution limped to the ring using a crutch. Claimed he injured himself training but he had Curtis Coleman with him to whip Buck's ass. Buck disagreed about who was going to get the ass whipping. Buck was right. 

(4) Billy Buck defeated Curtis Coleman (with Will Kaution) in 1:45. Buck used the Buckshot to dispatch with the powerhouse. 

Kaution whacked Buck with his crutch and danced around to show he was feeling 100%. Kaution headed to the back only to be intercepted by Manders, who informed Kaution he was going to get that ass whipping after all.

(5) Will Kaution defeated Billy Buck in 2:47. Kaution went for the crutch but referee Brandon Todd took it away. Kaution tried to use the ring bell. Not happening. Buck applied the figure four. 

Coleman got on the ring apron. Buck slugged Coleman but that gave Kaution an opening to hit Buck with the ring bell. 

I am loving this feud. Kaution was given a new lease on his wrestling life as a bad guy and he's been great in the role. For Buck, this is right in his wheelhouse.

(6) Sunny Daze & Strykyn defeated JBE (Hunter James & Xavier Reyes with Triston Michaels) to capture the SFCW tag titles in 7:56. Michaels said Rinauro had a boo-boo in Winston Salem so Happy Madness was dead because nobody would want to team with that fat tub of lard Daze. Michaels was wrong.

Daze started the match solo and was doing just fine until the number game inevitably took hold. Spot of the match was James moonsaulting to his feet and immediately being hit with Daze's Black Hole Slam. Cue up Stryknyn's music and huge pop as Stryk came to the ring to take the hot tag. Stryk was ready to give James the F5 but Reyes clipped his knee. 

Makuji came to ringside up to no good. The music of the Grapplers hit. Out came the masked men with (with Xander Seabolt). They both spewed blue mist in Makuji's eyes. Stryk speared James out of his boots. Michael tried to interfere but the Grapplers stopped him. Stryk hit the F5 on Reyes and Daze splashed him off the top rope to score the pinfall. 

The title change received the pop of the night thus far.

Dany Only got in Stryk's face as he headed up the aisle. Stryk wasn't happy to see him but they did not come to blows.

(7) Special Challenge: Adrian Hawkins defeated Bobby Moore (pinfall 10 seconds) and Rob Adonis (via DQ at 2:03) and Nick Halen (pinfall 10:52) in consecutive matches. In a word this was heated. Moore came out wearing a rumpled ill-fitting suit and sunglasses to mock Hawkins. They brawled all over the building for good 6-8 minutes. As soon as they got in the ring, Hawkins pinned Moore with a codebreaker. Match two underway, Adonis punished Hawkins' spine. Adonis and Moore collided. Hawkins applied the sharpshooter. Moore blasted Hawkins with a chair shot for the DQ.  

Moore and Adonis wailed on Hawkins with chair shots while Halen took his sweet time getting to the ring. Halen taunted Hawkins on the mic. 

But Approved got over their skis with the hubris. Hawkins gave Adonis and Moore stereo low blows and waffled Halen's back with the chair. Kelly Sexton came to ringside with two sets of handcuffs. Adonis and Moore found themselves handcuffed to the ringposts for Halen's match. Hawkins was handing Halen his ass until Nick hit the Gamebreaker. Halen dropped repeated elbows on Hawkins' back and got the mic again.

Halen claimed he was doing this for Hawkin's own good. He didn't hate Hawkins, he was just disappointed in him. "Imagine how disappointed Jimmy Rave is in you." Fighting words and they fight they did. 

It boiled down to a battle of codebreakers and sharpshooters.  In the end, Halen went for victory roll and Hawkins reversed it to pin Halen with a handful of tights. 

(8) Jacob Ashworth defeated former Classics Champion Carlie Bravo (with Hunter Knott & Rosario Grillo & Kat Spencer) in 7:24. This match was a long time in coming and I'm so glad it happened before Bravo became completely unavailable. Problems in Bravo's camp started before the bell. Bravo was furious with Knott for giving up his Classics Championship. Grillo was doing his damnedest to play peacemaker. 

Ashworth had Bravo on dream street by the two-minute mark. Spencer sent Ashworth to la la land with a clothesline. Referee Todd figured out what happened and ejected Spencer but the damage was done. Bravo was in full control with the crowd firing up huge behind Ashworth. Bravo hit the scissors kick. Ashworth kicked out. Meanwhile, Grillo and Knott had been jawing at each other throughout the match. Grillo accidentally tripped up Bravo. As improbable as that reads, their execution was spot on. Ashworth put Bravo in the elevated full nelson and planted him on his face.  

The rift in Bravo's camp exploded after the match. Grillo claimed innocence. Bravo shoved and piefaced Knott. Knott decked Bravo for one of the loudest pops of the night and walked out on Grillo.

John Johnson introcued the inaugural Southern Fried Women's Champion Brooklyn Creed. Brooklyn said Southern Fried was home. It was where Brooklyn and Logan Creed became one. She thanked her family and the fans for their support and called Crystal Rose to the ring. Brooklyn said they had beaten the hell out of each other for nine years and nobody pushed her harder. Brooklyn said offered Crystal the first shot at her title. Crystal said it would be her honor.  Brooklyn and Crystal both gave happy birthday shoutouts to security guy Rodney Hix.  Kat Spencer was in the aisle but I did not see what transpired.  

(9) Mikael Judas (with Todd Sexton) defeated CT Keys (with Jagged Edge) to become a four-time Southern Fried Champion in 18:26. John Johnson did the championship introductions. This felt BIG. Right out of the box, Keys planted Judas with a uranage like it was no problem at all. Keys was moving Judas around and having his way with him. Shocking to see. 

Judas had a shot to hit El Crucifijo early the match but Keys slipped out of it. Keys gave Judas six consecutive body slams. Judas kicked out at one. Judas gave Keys nine corner clotheslines. Keys was hanging on by a thread but remained on his feet. Judas followed with  snake eyes, a nasty boot and elbow drop. Keys kicked out at one. Neither man got more than a one count until well past the 10-minute mark of the match. Judas got a two count with a fallaway slam. Keys gave Judas a spectacular superplex for his first near fall of the match. Keys went for his chain but Todd got there first. Jagged clocked Todd with the chain. Jagged used the chain on Judas. Keys pounced Judas for a great false finish. Todd superkicked Jagged. Judas hit El Crucifijo and it was over but it wasn't. Crowd was in uttterdisbelief when Keys kicked out. They furiously traded lariats. Keys attacked Judas' knee to break him down, then connected with a northern lariat.

It looked like the champion was about retain when Judas speared Keys out of nowhere for the 1-2-3 and the mother of all monster pops. Let the celebration begin.

So much to love about this match: -- The sheer physicality of it --The false finishes were incredible. No tell that the guy on the bottom was going to kick out. -- The lack of two counts despite all the punishment  -- Jagged and Todd playing up their roles as cornermen to heighten amp up the intensity. 

NOTES: Judas is the fourth wrestler to have held both the Southern Fried Championship and the Southern Honor Championship. Krule (Logan Creed), David Ali and Corey Hollis are the other three. Ali had an overlapping run with both titles of 6 days. Logan's run with both titles lasted 15 days.

Southern Fried's next show in Monroe is July 1...Rick Richards was the ring announcer...Dee Byers and David Weakley were the referees not mentioned in the body of the report...ACTION CEO Matt Griffin, Nick McDaniel and Myron Fancher were among those in the house...Cedric Terrell was visiting backstage...Andrew Alexander was all over the place. I just noticed the love letter he left on my clipboard...Grillo and John Johnson shared color commentary duties alongside Adam Vance...Brooklyn did a meet and greet before the show...Manders had a new mat and ring skirt in place for the occasion.