From Larry Goodman:
Attendance at the Callaway Livestock Pavilion was 177 paid, 215 including comps and kids. It was a full house and the largest crowd Premier has ever drawn in Buchanan.
My report is based on Tori Elrod's fan cam footage. I loved the rawness of it. The sound was excellent and without any commentary track, the crowd reactions came across just like sitting ringside.
This crowd was alive, reminiscent of West Georgia shows back in the day. The mix of talent Stan Robinson has been booking is obviously clicking.
Darryl Hall, "Butterbean" Ryan Harmon, Mike Jones and "Fort Worth" Gavin Pell where the referees. Jason Boyd was the ring announcer.
(1) Cameron Keast (with Harley Haven) defeated Bobcat in 7:25. They pulled of a beautiful walkaway spot. For the finish, Bobcat countered Bloody Tears (headlock driver) and hit the Caturday Night Special (moonsault). But Harley had referee Pell distracted and he did not seeing Keast throw a fireball in Bobcat's face. Keast then hit Bloody Tears to pick up the win.
Fun seeing Harley managing Keast while they are bitter enemies at ProSouth. Bobcat and Cam had good chemistry and match up well for size. Bobcat looked better than here than he has on any of the recent ProSouth shows.
(2) J-Rod defeated Austin Thorne 9:06. The good people in Buchanan hated Thorne. Explosive pop as J-Rod came through the curtain (er plastic). Crowd chanting his name before the bell. Thorne had things going his way and was letting the world know it. J-Rod let loose with a flurry. Thorne took a long TO.. Thorne's pop up knee strike turned the tide. Slingshot elbow drop by J-Rod for a hope spot near fall. Thorne connected with a high boot and showed urgency in going for a pin. J-Rod made Thorne eat the turnbuckle charging and and his comeback was on. Thorne went for something . got nothing but air and J-Rod pinned him with an Air Raid Crash.
I liked Thorne's heel act. He's an arrogant and obnoxious young punk. He's got good height. Needs to work on his body. A veteran babyface like J-Rod was good opponent for Thorne to be in with.
(3) Jaden Vain defeated Gemini in 1:42. Gemini was under a mask. Vain went over with an top rope elbow drop in quick squash.
(4) Donald Jaykes Ministries (Stevie Ray Frost & Brother Azriel) defeated William Huckaby in a handicap match (10:07). The cowardly heat magnet Pastor Jaykes has been under the weather. Huck said Jaykes had COVID and got the first "COVID" chant in wrestling history. Huckaby said Hold My Beer Hanson couldn't make it and Jay 2 Strong mysteriously got hurt this morning, so he was going it alone.
The match was what one would logically expect. The heels cheated every time Huck was getting the advantage. Huck was able to slam Azriel and put the Right Hand of God to good use. Azriel tried for the Woodgrain. Huck was fighting it off so Frost clubbed him from behind, allowing Azriel to hit the move.
(5) Aaron Dallas defeated Peachstate Champion Ace Haven (with Amy Haven) by DQ when Brandon Whatley attacked Dallas (16:46). A babyface match with the crowd was huge behind Dallas who was more or less on his home court. Ace did the Jimmy Rave style spill over the top rope. Ace got his nose broken and was a bloody mess. It happened on Dallas' spinning TKO. Nothing looked at all amiss with the spot. Best they could figure, there was a problem with one of the ring boards. Whatley was under a mask. He laid Dallas out with a flying boot the mush before pulling the mask off.
After Whatley laid Dallas out, Ace made the save, broken nose and all. Ace put AD over on the mic. They shook hands and hugged.
(6) Pat Roach defeated AJ Black via submission in 12:45. Roach booed heavily as he made his way to the ring. Black was over pretty good. Roach pie-faced Black at the bell. Black started wailing on him. Roach put it in reverse and continued to take a beating, until Black speared the post as Roach stepped aside. Now it was Roach's turn to dish it out. Roach got Black on the mat and kept him there for a long time. Roach signaled for a diving headbutt off the top. . Black cut Roach off and they both awkwardly crashed to the mat. Yikes. Black thought he had him with a springboard cutter. Roach applied a crossface. Black got to the ropes. Roach went to an STF, switched back to the crossface and Black tapped.
It felt like a fight and real fights aren't pretty. Roach is great at using his size to wear smaller opponents down. Black has good fire, shows desire and is a willing bumper. His execution needs to get a lot cleaner.
Roach continued to rip at Black's face after the bell. Referee Pell could not pry Roach off. Vain made the save. The fans in Buchanan like these kids.
(7) Lamar Phillips vs. Tyson Maddux ended in a double DQ after they double hipped toss the referee, and kept fighting which lead to a big pull apart. This match was not taped.
(8) Career vs. Title: Frankie Valentine (with Tweety) defeated Sean Nelson to become the new Premier All-Star Champion 21:14. Boyd warned Jones to call it down the middle. (Jones had been blatantly favoring Nelson). There were two security guy patrolling ringside at all times. Valentine controlled Nelson with his wrestling in the opening minutes, giving him no room to operate. Nelson finally got Valetnine off him with a back suplex. The chopped the hell out of each other. Valentine sold Nelson's hotshot like he was asphyxiating. Nelson added to Valentine's breathing problems by choking him with his wrist tape. The action spilled to ringside. Valentine was bleeding from the forehead after Nelson fired him into the post. Nelson baited the crowd relentlessly. Valentine's comeback was fire but he crashed and burned on a elbow drop from the top. Valentine kept coming back. Nelson kept cutting him off and the "Frankie" chants kept getting louder.
Referee Jones got knocked down. Valentine hit the codebreaker and was attacked by Frost and Roach. Frost screwed up and hit Roach and took a codebreaker from Valentine. Nelson hit Frankie with brass knucks. Darryl Hall slid in to make the count but Valentine kicked out. Nelson went for superplex and Valentine caught him with an inside cradle on the landing.
The crowd was jubilant after the match, on their feet chanting "Frankie" and 'You deserved it". Valentine said the people deserved It. He wasn't as good as he once was, but was as good once as he ever was.
A compelling story well told, done in a throwback style. Valentine's intensity was off the charts, like he was fighting for his life. His sell of the hotshot was amazing. Best Sean Nelson match I've seen. Crowd was white hot for the entire match. It was that sustained heat, like the White Mike/Rob Killjoy match at IWE last year.
