Southern Fried Uprising Video Review -- November 2

From Larry Goodman: "Todd is booking heat."  That's how somebody intimately familiar with  the situation succinctly summed up ...

From Larry Goodman:

"Todd is booking heat." 

That's how somebody intimately familiar with  the situation succinctly summed up this show.

The Hunter James-led faction that hijacked the main event at Crossroads is now known as the Crusade. They exploited the divide among the Southern Fried veterans in order to conquer, and left the night James  in possession of the Classics Champion and Rosario Grillo & Pat Roach as the tag team champions.

Coming out of Crossroads, the legitimacy of Crusade as a threat to veterans was an open question. They left the veterans laying again at Uprising and took away their gold. 

Careful attention to details, a hallmark of a Todd Sexton-booked show, was evident beginning to end.

I liked what they did with the commentary -- Xander Seabolt on color for a couple of matches, Halen for the Classics match to be in position for the finish and Vance solo the rest of the way.

John Johnson threw to Adam Vance and Xander Seabolt at the commentary station, instantly interrupted by Southern Fried Tag Team Champions Technical Destruction (Judais & Todd Sexton) and Classics Champion Billy Buck making their way to the ring.

Judais was highly pissed about Hunter James and his idiots interrupting TD's match with Approved at Crossroads. He ordered JJ to get James and his job squad out there right now for a dismemberment.  

When Judais talks, people listen.

The Approved (Nick Halen & Adyan Hawkins & Bobby Moore) walked down the aisle instead. Halen told TD they would have to wait in line for a piece of James and company. Halen put the blame on Sexton for the mess at Crossroads. Todd admitted he got bit in the ass for mentoring those guys, like he mentored everyone else in this scenario, oh by the way. Todd had proposals to make. Buck and TD would put their respective titles on the line against anybody in Hunter's crew. Since the big man was fired up, lets us fight right now. A shit ton of Southern Fried personnel came out to separate the sides. 

Well-played. Picking up right where they left off. Halen calling Sexton a spazz had me laughing out loud.

Southern Fried owner David Manders said this show would not begin with chaos like the last one ended. Manders ordered everyone to the back and made it stick.

Manders hit all the right notes as the voice of authority. 

(1) Seth Delay pinned "The Fro" Michael Walker with the Kool Krusher in 6:26. 

There was a serious disconnect between the quality of the match and the crowd reaction. I really appreciated the little things like Seth asking referee Byan Waites to help pop his shoulder back into place, the way he did everything possible to make Fro look like a million bucks and Walker executed on offense. 

(2) Bobby Moore (with Adryan Hawkins) defeated Christian Taylor in 7:48 with a discus lariat. Hawkins said he was out there to watch Bobby's back because nobody could be trusted. Moore was struggling with the knee injury he suffered at Crossroads. Taylor had the audacity to go for Bobby's signature move, the discus forearm. Moore was having none of that and ended his night shortly thereafter.

Taylor has height and a physique  and I liked his aggressiveness. Like match #1, the young guy had a great veteran to lead the way.

Lucas DeSilva disrupted the commentary station, raving like a lunatic about cosplayers. He shoved Vance and Seabolt went off, questioning if DeSilva might be ingesting paint chips.  Seabolt signed off on commentary to get dressed to wrestle DeSilva.                                             

(3) Hunter James (with Triston Michaels & Rosario Grillo & Pat Roach) defeated Billy Buck (with Todd Sexton & Judais) to win the Classics Championship in 17:23. Halen joined Vance on commentary. Buck appeared to have things well in hand until he went for the figure four and Triston jumped on the apron to distract. James hit a disaster kick and stayed in control for the next five minutes, until Buck exploded out of the corner with a lariat. Buck got two with  a shades-of Bret Hart-russian leg sweep. Back and forth led to Buck snapping off a DDT for closer near fall. Buck tried for Buckshot and James connected with a superman for the first of five consecutive near falls. Buck survived ahammerlock lariat, an AJ Styles Cliffhanger DDT, a standing spanish fly and a northern shining wizard. 

"You might think you have him beat. He might be sleeping on the mat with drool coming out his mouth. Next thing you know, he'll be kicking your teeth in. 

--Nick Halen

James was losing it. He signaled he was going to beat Buck with Billy's signature move. Buck countered with a powerslam and applied the figure four. James was in agony. He grabbed ref Waites by the shirt and threw him on top of Buck to break the hold. Grillo jumped in the ring and started stomping on Buck. Sexton slid in and punched Grillo. Roach got on the apron but Judais took him care of him and all four brawled to the back. Triston slid the Classics belt into James. Halen sneaked into the ring with brass knucks. James ducked and Halen clocked Buck with the knucks. James blasted Halen with the belt and Triston woke Waites up to make the three count.

Great match, marvelous chemistry, organic flow and it had heat. Buck's 2024 has been stellar. He is having one of the best runs of his career. James is way too good not to holding a title somewhere.  Loved the visual effect of Crusade always having the numerical advantage. Halen added something extra on color.

(4) Xander Seabolt pinned Lucas DeSilva with a sick kick to retain the Georgia Heritage Championship in 5:02. DeSilva is a compact, ill-tempered grappler type who works a lot of SCA shows in Royston. DeSilva pulled the straps down and applied a standing choke hold. Seabolt countered and finished him.

Solid enough as a spacer between the title matches. Seabolt has gotten over well as a babyface. I still like him better as a heel.

(5) CT Keys defeated Cb Suave to retain the Southern Fried Championship in  18:40. They opened the match in OG heavyweight championship match style. Vance dropped the knowledge that Suave trained Keys. Suave played cat and mouse and talked trash. Keys did a slow burn before making Suave pay the price big time. Sauve ripped at Keys' eyes and nose to gain the advantage and went on a tear. He posted both of Keys' shoulders and knees and took a victory lap around the ring. Suave dropped Keys on his head with a springboard rana and followed up with a tope suicida. Suave got  a near fall with a Randy Savage tribute double ax off the top. Keys cut Suave off with an explosive  uranage. Major damage was done to Suave, who managed to stay in control until Keys made a Hoganesque comeback and coiled for The Pounce. Suave used referee Bryan Waites a shield so he could mule kick Keys in the groin. Suave's burst of offense had a sense of urgency - two corner dropkicks, a third with Keys on the top turnbuckle to set up a superplex straight into a backbreaker. Suave was almost in tears when Keys kicked out. For the finish, Keys hit a pop up European, pounced Suave for a near fall and pinned him with the F5.

Suave put Keys to the test, extending the champion to almost 20 minutes before Keys won with a decisive and devastating finishing sequence. At the start of the year, Suave told me 2024 would be his final year as an active competitor. I hope he's reconsidered because he's doing some of the best work of his career.

(6) The Crusade (Pat Roach & Rosario Grillo with Triston Michaels & Hunter James) defeated The Approved (Adryan Hawkins & Nick Halen) and Technical Destruction (Todd Sexton & Judais) to win the Southern Fried Tag Team Championship when Roach submitted Sexton at 11:31. Crusade first out the ring. JJ said he had just been informed James would defend the Classics Championship in a ladder match on Thanksgiving night. The Crusade was ready to shoot the messenger. Approved attacked Crusade. The lights went out for TD's entrance. Six way mayhem at ringside ensued. James and Michaels surveyed the bedlam from a safe distance as James hugged his precious title. 

Match officially underway, directly into Crusade and Approved getting heat on Sexton, then transitioning to Crusade beating on Halen. Halen planted Grillo on his face but Sexton knocked Hawkins off the apron to prevent a tag to his teammate. Judais tagged in and obliterated everybody in his path. The crescendo was Judais tossing Sexton over the top rope with El Crucifjo onto all of them. Judais choke slammed Halen and Hawkins and had James in his grasp but Roach saved him. Roach leveled Judais with lariat. Sexton slapped a sleeper on Grillo. Roach gave Sexton a codebreaker and choked him out.

The Crusade beatdown on TD and Approved continued after the match. Kelly Sexton came to ringside with a slap across the face for Michaels but Kat Spencer choked Kelly out. Crusade ran away with their title belts to close the show. 

All aces. Grillo and Roach upheld up their end of the bargain. Triston and his recruits are shielding their fearful leader James from harm. Total Destruction and Approved sold their asses of for them. The added the Kelly/Kat story into the mix. The Crusade could not have been positioned more strongly going into Ultimate Battleground on Thanksgiving night.