Revenge was a perfectly fine independent wrestling show, competent and professional in every respect. It also lacked the secret sauce that made Anarchy Wrestling a can't miss show.
Nick Halen gained a measure of revenge on Undeniable after losing the Anarchy Championship to Shane Marx at Hardcore Hell.
The split up of G-Rated (Sal Rinauro & Seth Delay) was confirmed with Delay going heel.
Alexander Lev turned babyface. Coming on the heels of the war the reigning Five Star Champion had with Colby Corino at Hardcore Hell, the Anarchy fans were primed to embrace Lev as a good guy.
Several adjustments were made to the original card. Former WWE and AWE star Bobby Fish was a late add. He did a seminar with Rinauro and wrestled him on the show. Billy Buck was scheduled to face Chip Day in a singles match. Day was not there. Buck was moved into Lev's spot in a triple threat match with Geter and Kenway. Lev was moved to a slot as Halen's surprise partner in the main event.
Attendance was 150ish. A large group of young people that was loud and rowdy early in the evening filed out before the show was over. I would love to know why. It's not like Revenge was a long show (2 hours).
No return date was announced. I believe the plan was for Anarchy to run on the 4th Saturday each month.
Anarchy caught a break with the temperature. The building was not the inferno it was for Anarchy's June 22 debut at the Royston Dome with Hardcore Hell, a show that added to the legacy of Georgia oldest active wrestling promotion and also drew a considerably better house.
The introduction of Anarchy owner "Pops" Adrian Locklear's got a pop. Locklear was rudely interrupted by Undeniable, as Matt Hankins made his way to the ring with Marx and Brian Blaze. Hankins tried to intimidate Locklear who wasn't about to take any of his crap. Hankins introduced Marx as the new champion. The crowd chanted for Geter. Hankins complained about the lack of streamers, balloons and cake to celebrate and made light of Locklear's native American heritage.
Halen's music hit. The appearance of the former Anarchy champion got a big pop. Halen said the title rightfully his and Marx knew he didn't beat him. Undeniable invited Halen to join them in the ring. Halen said he'd seen this movie before. He did, however, offer to take on Undeniable one against two in a real match. Locklear sanctioned the match. Hankins reminded Locklear that Halen asked for it.
This worked. Can't go wrong with a Matt Hankins promo to open a show. Locklear is a popular owner. Halen is a great babyface, willing to fight the odds but as we would see, only with a plan in place.
(1) Cody Fluffman defeated Stevie Ray Frost in 7:31. Fluff gave Frost the full treatment and pinned him with a Vader Bomb style elbow drop.
Always fun seeing Fluff's entertain a crowd that has not seen his act. Frost made a good victim.
(2) Dark City Violence Connection (Murder One & Joe Black) defeated Nawfside Heroes (Jose Manuel & Shoota Gabe with Chayn Male) to retain the Anarchy Tag Team Championship in 8:57. Chayn Male said DCVC dressed like high schoolers going behind the quickie mart to smoke a blunt.
Nawfside used their speed and double teams to maintain the upper hand until DCVC lowered the boom on Manuel. Gabe cleaned house. He speared Murder. Black planted Gabe with a falcon arrow and shitcanned him. DCVC gave Manuel the assisted senton and he was pinned by Murder.
Good match. Crowd wasn't familiar with Nawfside but the more they saw, the more they liked. Not much heat though, DCVC are too bad ass for the crowd to hate on them.
Seth Delay video. Delay said Sal thought he'd be there to make peace but that wasn't happening. He was tired of putting up with Sal's pathetic crap and he wasn't wasting his time coming to Anarchy until Sal agreed to fight him. He had called up someone else to take care of Sal.
(3) Sal Rinauro defeated Bobby Fish in 15:00. Fish stalled and insulted the crowd, like he was not taking this seriously. Rinauro gave him a variety of groin shots. Fish's first offensive maneuver was a back suplex at the 10 minute mark. Sal got rolling. He had Fish in a heel hook when Delay came to ringside and admonished Fish for not getting the job done. Rinauro pinned Fish with Jacob Time (basement flatliner).
Postmatch, Delay shoved Fish and Fish gave Delay an exploder suplex. Delay bailed. Rinauro and Fish shook hands.
I don't love every Rinauro match but they're never dull. This match was dull and the crowd was dead. Fish phoned it in. Perhaps that was the story they were telling to set up Delay getting pissed off at him. Compelling it was not. The announced 15 minute time limit was ignored. Seemed a missed opportunity since they were doing a time limit draw later in the show.
(4) Geter defeated Billy Buck and Kenway in 8:18. Buck and Geter as the babyfaces, Kenway as the heel. Kenway let Buck and Geter fight it out and picked his spots to take potshots at them. Buck and Geter got sick of Kenway's garbage and let him have it. They ended up in a three way trade of strikes. Buck hit the Buckshot on Kenway. Geter deposited Buck over the top rope and pinned Kenway with a elbow drop.
A solid three way. Geter beat Buck clean in the middle at Hardcore Hell and stole a win from him here. Buck is a phenomenal underdog babyface so there could be more story to tell in that direction. At the same time, Geter is a former champion and those fans chanting during Hankins' promo were itching to see him back in the title mix.
(5) Georgia Heritage title match: Champion Jacob Ashworth and Scott Mayson wrestled to a 10 minute draw. A babyface battle of the big men. Ashworth's entrance got a great pop. Handshake to start. They battered and bludgeoned each other. With a minute to go, Mayson blocked Ashes to Ashes and clotheslined the hell out of Ashworth for a close near fall. Ashworth came back with a Vader bomb. Mayson hit his finisher but Ashworth rolled out of the ring just before the bell rang.
I felt bad for these guys. They worked hard and got crickets. Don't know if it was the lack of a villain or what but this match did not succeed with this audience.
(6) Nick Halen & Alexander Lev defeated Undeniable (Anarchy Champion Shane Marx & Brian Blaze with Matt Hankins) in 13:05. As Undeniable came to the ring, Halen launched a surprise attack on Marx and Blaze with a steel chair. He had Hankins trapped in the ring shrieking his fool head off. Undeniable saved Hankins' bacon and started beating on Halen. Lev ran down and cleared the ring. "I am Alexander Lev and I am pissed off." Lev explained that as his trainer, Halen was largely responsible for his NWA contract, so Halen had himself a partner.
Halen falsely claimed that Hankins hit him. Referee Dee Byers bought Halen's story and tried to eject Hankins, who refused to cooperate. Locklear helped Byers get Hankins to the back. While that was going on, Halen put Marx in the sharpshooter. Marx tapped with no ref to see it. Blaze clocked Halen with the belt and draped Marx's arm over him. Byers returned to the ring to make the count but Lev broke up the pin. Halen dispatched with Blaze. Lev gave Marx a pedigree and left it t Halen to finish off with his signature top rope elbow drop.
Missions accomplished. Lev was welcomed as a babyface with open arms. I loved outsmarting Hankins. The false finish was tremendous. Halen made Marx tap out and pinned him in the same match. Marx's days as champion appear to be numbered.
Halen put Lev over and joined him for a Faithful salute.
As Undeniable headed for exit like scalded dogs, Halen said they probably wouldn't be able to eat for a while so here's a bird to choke on.
NOTES: Fish was booked by TCW and Anarchy after his weekend bookings in the Georgia area got canceled...SCA's James Boulevard and Brother Azriel were backstage...Xander Seabolt was helping with production...Jason Boyd was the ring announcer...Darryl Hall, David Weakley and Dee Byers were the referees...John Johnson was the master of ceremonies...The commentary team was Michael Gentry and Blake Blackwell with Rick Page as the guest commentator for the Ashworth/Mayson match.
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