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| Photos by Tami Robledo |
Yup. Todd Sexton is definitely booking heat.
The Sexton Alliance/Crusade feud has lit a fire at the Boys and Girl Club Gym. The crowd of 275 had the building rocking all night long.
Judais and Pat Roach had one of the wildest, bestest all-over-the-building brawls the venue has ever hosted.
I was over the moon about the main event (Hunter James vs. Bobby Moore for the Classics Championship) The building was like an inferno. The Coming off his victory in the Ultimate Battleground match, Moore is insanely over as a babyface. James is a heat magnet. The intensity in the ring never let up. Before it was over, all of Crusade and Sexton Alliance were involved.
The upshot was Sexton Alliance vs. The Crusade, six on six set for January 18.
The Southern Fried fans were gifted with a title change along the way. Alexander Lev got more than he bargained for when he put his Georgia Heritage Championship on the line in an open challenge. Six challengers stepped up and Jacob Ashworth regained the title.
During Christmas week, Southern Fried released the video below.
Southern Fried owner David Manders opened the show with a moment of silence for Jax Dane and long-time Southern Fried fan Thelma Mooney. Manders said his New Year's resolution was to keep his hands to himself. Manders made sure to mention that he laid out ACTION CEO Matt Griffin at Thanksgiving because nobody was going to come in his house and talk smack about his people.
It will be interesting to see how long Manders' sticks to his resolution. I'll give him until March.
(1) Billy Buck defeated Dominic Stuckey (with Triston Michaels) via DQ in 7:18. Triston got in Buck's face on the outside. Dom made the most of the situation by shoving Buck into the post. Buck kicked out of Stuckey's top rope elbow at one. The crowd was already chanting "Billy". Buck's comeback wasn't far behind. Stuckey got a near fall with a running blockbuster. Buck evaded Stuckey's double stomp and applied the figure four. Roach jumped on Buck for the DQ.
Judais appeared to a huge pop and made a beeline for Roach. He was beating Roach to the punch. Stuckey tried to clock Judais with a chair but Buck snatched the chair out of Stuckey's hand.
I expected things to settle down at this point. I expected wrong. To use the old cliche, Judais and Roach used everything that wasn't nailed down - tables, walls, different kinds of chairs, the ring bell, bleachers, sodas poured over each others heads -- Roach bled and took a choke slam from Judais.
But James clobbered Judais with the Classics belt and it three on one in favor of the Crusade. Nick Halen and Todd Sexton evened the odds, driving Crusade from the ring. Sexton accidentally knocked Halen down. They got into it. Judais lectured both of them about their conduct like he was the school principal.
John Johnson informed Todd and Halen that their tag team match was right now...
(2) Todd Sexton & Nick Halen defeated Christian Taylor & Lucas DeSilva in 8:28. Southern Fried has added a couple of stud athletes to their roster in Taylor and DeSilva. Taylor has the physique, the size and the desire. DeSilva wrestled at the collegiate level for four years and is training for the 2028 Olympics in Greco Roman wrestling.
Todd and Nick were off to a rocky start. Nick was making unsolicited tags, trying to show Todd and his technical approach up. DeSilva knocked Todd into Halen but Nick couldn't see that DeSilva caused the collision. Kelly Sexton came down the aisle to soothe the savage beast in Halen...a Harley Race high knee by Todd led to the hot tag. Todd and Nick finished in unity with superkicks in stereo, Gamebreakers in stereo and a double pin.
After all that, Nick walked to the back alone ahead of Todd.
The segueing from one thing to another to another like one long tracking scene gave the show great pacing and flow right from the get go. The element of surprise made it better than a match. Roach held his own against the former five-time Southern Fried Champion. It was paramount that he did so for this feud to work. He's the only Crusade member with the size to handle the job. Judais wouldn't have had it any other way. He excels at making an opponent shine. I loved how the tag match ultimately left the rift in Sexton Alliance unresolved.
(3) Deity defeated Rose Gold via submission to retain the Southern Fried Women's Championship in 5:25. Southern Fried has made a lot of great choices through the years. The decision to have a women's championship was not one of them. A collision of crossbodies went awry. Deity won with an inverted torture rack which looked really weird and ineffective but Gold gave up so there you go.
The only saving grace of this mess was the pop Crystal Rose received when she attacked Deity after the match. Deity bailed and Gold laid Crystal out with a big boot t0 the head.
Ring announcer John Johnson interviewed "Marvelous" Michael Stevens. The former Classics Champion flitted his way to the ring blowing kisses to the crowd. Simply lovely.
Johnson wanted to know how the hell Stevens got a title match but he was more polite about it. Steven said he was an impatient man. He thought about earning a title shot but then he thought about his accolades. He was a former Southern Fried Tag Team Champion (along with Zac Edwards as Beautiful Bald Besties) and it was Keys he beat to become Classics Champions so he was jumping to the line. What Marv did earn was was a robust "you suck" chant.
Cue up the music for Southern Fried Champions CT Keys. Keys said he was tired of the talking. The match was scheduled for later but let's do it now.
(4) CT Keys defeated Michael Stevens to retain the Southern Fried Championship in 2:05. Marv treated the Keys with disrespect. He did a get a near fall after superkicks to the face and knee of the Keys before the champion Pounced him into oblivion.
Johnson handed Keys a Christmas gift that had been delivered from his next challenger. It was a Sal Pal. Keys said Sal Rinauro was crazy but taking the title from him as the craziest thing he ever tried. The match was later announced for the January 18 show.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. The crowd didn't quite know how to take Rinauro challenging Keys. They love Sal and embrace Keys as their hero.
Lev said nobody was on his level and confidently issued his open challenge. Xander Seabolt answered. He said he never got his rematch and wanted his damn belt back. Great, let's go. Seth Delay, Will Kaution, Grappler #1 ("I don't even know who you are!"), Jacob Ashworth and Najasism all wanted in. By the time the bell rang, nobody was happy, least of all Lev.
This match was laid out to get the absolute most out of eight minutes. They established it was every man for himself and everyone had their chances. Loved how they got Weakley into the act. Ashworth took out the former champion and pinned the current champion. Nicely done.
Postmatch, Kaution had his moment. He caught Ashworth by surprise with a Kaution Cutter and left him laying.
Creative has been brewing up something up between Ashworth and Kaution for awhile and making it about a title both men have held twice makes all the sense in the world.
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