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| Photos by Aubrey Gilbert |
Amethyst emerged as the winner of the Infinity Gauntlet to become the new number one contender for the ProSouth Championship held by Brandon Whatley.
The entire episode was devoted to the gauntlet which included 20 competitors.
Najasism had bigtime momentum after winning ProSouth's first Infinity Gauntlet in October 2021. Naja was so hot at the time, my thought was a title run for him was the right way to go. That wasn't in the cards for any number of reasons.
Ace Haven rolled the dice with a second Infinity and unfortunately came up with snake eyes. Amethyst got her bell rung and likely suffered a mild concussion. She gutted it out but clearly was not herself, which lead to a flat ending. I'm happy to report that Amethyst is feeling fine at the time of this writing.
The match had its moments.
-- The kidnapping of Amy Haven went cinematic and resulted in Ace's elimination from the match.
-- Former ProSouth Champion Austin Towers returned to Piedmont for the first time since October 2022.
-- Caeden Ooten pinned three men including Towers and was in match longer than anyone else.
-- Big Dave also pinned three competitors. Bobcat and Negative Lee got their first singles wins in a ProSouth ring.
Wicked Nemesis and Mathias Darkthorne manned the commentation station. James Hardy was the ring announcer and a competitor. Kevin Tubbs and Adam Hunter were the officials.
Atonement (Dameon Ceretone & Dorian & Christian Pierce) out to the ring. Ceretone said they gave Shean Christopher a lesson in respect last week and would give another lesson this week in the gauntlet.
(1) Amethyst won the 25 person Infinity Gauntlet in a total time of 1:14:14.
Infinity Gauntlet has possibilities. Outside the lucky dogs in the last few positions,, the competitors need a realistic goal to fight for so it's more than naked storyline advancement, not that's anything wrong with that..
-- "The Darkheart" Christian Pierce (with his baseball bat Roxanne) pinned Ayden Andrews in 3:27. Andrews was set to deliver The Stamp of Approval when a chair came flying into the ring. As referee Tubb was getting rid of the chair, Whatley whacked Andrews in the knee with his nunchucks. Pierce won with an O'Connor Roll and Andrews' tights in his mouth.
This was one and only time Whatley interfered. Tights in the mouth was something different. Been seeing O'Connor Rolls everywhere lately. I'm so old I saw Pat O'Connor win a match with the move in NWA Central States.
-- Pierce pinned "The Drip God" Roma Miller at 2:55. Pierce countered Miller's Child Support finisher with the Bullhammer.
-- Bobcat pinned Pierce in 2:25. Bobcat had the crowd behind him but not much else. Pierce mauled him. Pierce had Bobcat pinned after hitting the Bullhammer but pulled him up at the count of two. Pierce was so overcome with hubris that Bobcat was able to roll him up.
The first singles victory of Bobcat's career and a fitting end to Pierce's run in the gauntlet. Bobcat needed to use an inside cradle to make the finish look believable.
-- Negative Lee pinned Bobcat at 2:54. Bobcat got a lot offense including two topes and a Jimmy Rave Ghanarea. Bobcat crashed and burned on moonsault however and Lee planted him with a DDT.
The first pinfall singles win for Lee at ProSouth. Bobcat has a nice tope suicida.
Hardy introduced himself as the next competitor.
-- Lee pinned Hardy in 2:37. Hardy slipped out of Lee's DDT and hit the Eviscerator for a one count only. Lee dodged Hardy's mad charge into the corner and scholboyed him for the 1-2-3.
Hardy could not have been happy about Lee kicking out of his finisher at one.
-- Austin Towers pinned Lee in 1:53. Lee tried to crotch Towers by kicking the middle rope, problem being Towers was stepping over the top rope. Towers with a choke slam to move on in the gauntlet.
An appearance by former ProSouth Champion Towers was the best surprise of the gauntlet. Lee never fails to come up with something to makes me laugh.
-- "Sleazy C" Caeden Ooten (with Harley Haven) defeated Towers in 5:14. Ooten jumped Towers while the lights were off. Nice try. Towers pulled Ooten's shirt over his head and chopped the hell out of him. Harley wasted no time getting on the apron to distract so Ooten could attacked Towers' knee. When that didn't work, Ooten used Harley as a diversion. One giant knee to the face put Ooten down. Harley grabbed Towers by the leg. Ooten was able to pin Towers with Harley holding his feet on the ropes.
The announce team was stunned. Darkthorne put this over as the biggest pin of Ooten's career, though it took massive outside interference to get past Towers.
-- Ooten (with Harley) defeated Douglas Sanders in 1:17. Ooten punished Sanders who got one brief flurry before Ooten put him away with the Honor Roll (butterfly suplex from hell).
Ooten's finisher is a pure power and something a little bit different.
-- Ooten (with Harley) defeated Damian "Ozzy" Owens in 4:42. Wicked said Ooten was gassed and he looked it. Owens took it to Ooten in the early going. Ooten found his second win but couldn't hit the Honor Roll. Harley got on the apron to distract and Ooten pinned Owens with the Loaded Gun Complex (pumphandle powerbomb).
Best outing of Owens ever so brief career. That's not to say this was a good match. Ooten needs to work on his cardio.
-- Ooten (with Harley) and Brother Azriel were both eliminated to due a double pin (2:50). Az was in firm control until Harley distracted the ref. Ooten tried for his pumphandle finisher but the move collapsed under Azriel's weight. Tubbs made a three count while both men had one of their shoulders off the mat and declared Ooten the winner. Az went off on Tubbs. The second referee came to the ring to set Tubbs straight. Hardy said he was just informed both competitors' shoulders were down.
A ridiculous mess of a finish-- neither man was pinned, both were ruled as being pinned. That said, I would love to see them run back Ooten vs. Azriel give them time.
-- Ace Haven defeated Dameon Ceretone (with Christian Pierce) in 8:38. Ceretone had Ace in a bady way when Shean Christopher and Ravenna Vein came to ringside. Pierce accosted Ravenna. Christopher konked Ceretone with Roxanne while the ref was preoccupied with the extracurricular activity. Ace hit a springboard cutter to pin Ceretone.
Given their shared history, no surprise this match had best action of the gauntlet. They've got their timing down to a science.
-- Big Dave defeated Ace in 6:20. Ace hit End Game (Pedigree) and the lights went out. A grainy, flickering video of the "mystery individual" who looked and sounded exactly like Donnie Primetime and his abductee Amy Haven appeared on the big screen. The mystery man said he would have Amy in the ring next Friday night and warned Ace not to be hesitant. He removed the gag across Amy's mouth and screamed at her to say something to Ace. Back to the ring, Ace knocked a masked person off the apron and walked into a belly to belly suplex from Dave.
Primetime is the definition of menacing. I really liked they way they shot the video. I was all in on this angle until last week. I'm just not not a fan of pro wrestling kidnappings.
Christopher came out as the next competitor. Atonement's music hit before Christopher got to the ring. As Christopher turned towards the entrance, Pierce came from behind Ravenna and put Roxanne across her throat. Ceretone attacked Christopher from behind. Pierce made Ravenna watch as Certone beat Christopher down and smashed his shoulder with a chair.
-- Big Dave defeated Shean Christopher in 10 seconds. Dave got Christopher into the ring and pinned him with the belly to belly suplex.
-- Big Dave pinned "Jar of Mayonnaise in a Singlet" Jake Franklin in 1:28, Dave kicked Jake's teeth down his throat. They got all crossed up on the finish. Dave took Franklin down and pinned him with a leveraged side headlock.
Dave made it three in a row. Franklin got a match. The finish was a classic WTF was that?
-- "Body Positive" Cody Fluffman defeated Big Dave in 3:16. Fluff steamed rolled Dave for three consecutive two counts. Fluff caught Dave with an End of Days type maneuver for the pinfall.
-- Dorian pinned Fluffman at 4:43. Dorian was immediately on the receiving of the steamroller treatment. He gae Dorian a DVD. Dorian softened up Fluffman's knee and pinned him with a spear.
Fluff brings that larger than life quality. He wasn't about to eliminate Atonement's last hope in the match. That was left to the eventual winner.
-- Amethyst defeated Dorian in 2:18. Dorian's shoulder rammed into the post as Amethyst stepped aside. Amethyst then pinned Dorian with the goozle STO.
This was supposed to be Amethyst's night.
Amethyst was on autopilot after the Catatonic spot. The crowd sensed something was off and got real quiet. Kamikaze manipulating Wright so he could win the gantlet was right in line with his character.
-- Amethyst defeated Chris Kamikaze (with Wright) to win the Infinity Gauntlet in 6:32. Kamikaze rushed into the ring and covered Amethyst. Referee Tubbs refused to make the count because Wright was wandering around in the ring in a daze. Wright finally left the ring but stayed at ringside selling like he was the one who was concussed. Fast forward, Kamikaze came up empty on the Danger Zone (450) and Amethyst pinned him with a spinning neckbreaker.
Amethyst was still on her knees when Tubbs raised her hand and she immediately slumped to the mat.
Amethyst had no quit in her but was limited in her ability to execute. Kamikaze took good care of her. Wright pretending to be concussed while Amethyst was legit concussed was surreal.
Whatley laughed his evil laugh and flippantly congratulated Amethyst on becoming the number one contender who would soon receive her championship opportunity.
"Are you going to defeat me or become another victim to fall to my reign of terror?"
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