Southern Honor Wrestling 69 -- Canton on December 6

Photos by Peter Sigmund From Larry Goodman: "I won the war." -- ACTION CEO Matt Griffin SHW 69 was the first Southern Honor event ...

Photos by Peter Sigmund

From Larry Goodman:

"I won the war."

-- ACTION CEO Matt Griffin

SHW 69 was the first Southern Honor event in the company's 6+ years of existence without Gary Lamb at the helm. I can't say Lamb wasn't missed. I will say it was a very good show and Gary's name did get mentioned a time or three.

The Fans Bring the Weapons main event was out of control. It was one of the bloodiest, most chaotic matches in SHW history. 

Gunner Miller and Matt Griffin left no doubt that they are now the uberheels of Southern Honor Wrestling.

After bullying his way into the match, Alexander Lev  is the number one contender for the SHW Championship. 

Paid attendance was 228, roughly the same as November but an overall hotter crowd that sounded like more. If attendance at the January 10 show comes in sub 300 then I would say there's been a downward slide in the core SHW fan base.  

(1) Alex Kane defeated Cb Suave in 6:45. Suave turned the crowd against him right away by disrespecting ring announcer Diana Michel. 

Kane was making his debut but the people sure knew him. "Bomaye" chants abounded. Kane gave Suave an early tour of suplex island. Suave clipped Kane's knee and worked the  body part. Kane with an X plex for a hope spot near fall. Suave came roaring back with two corner dropkicks and double arm DDT for a close near fall before Kane put him away with Mark of Kane.

The opener was the best pure wrestling match of the show. 

CT Keys purposely bumped into Kane as Endgame entered for their match and this happened... 

Sign me up for this match. 

(2) Endgame (CT Keys & Nick Halen with Todd Sexton) defeated Aaron Dallas & Kyle Matthews in 10:52. Another match with a crystal clear heel/babyface dynamic. Crowd showing a lotta love for Dallas and Matthews.  Stellar teamwork from both sides. 

Matthews broke out a rocking horse. False heat on Matthews, the real heat was in store for Dallas. Halen got near fall with a great STO. Matthews used polish hammers to clean house with the hot tag. Keys did the heavy lifting with a uranage and powerbomb on Matthews but Halen swooped in for the pinfall. 

Keys was not happy about Nick hogging the pin and walked out on Sexton and Halen after the match, as all is not well in the camp of Endgame. 

(3) Grayson Pierce defeated Jay Lucas in 7:21. Lucas has turned a weakness into a strength with his striking game. Both men were laying their stuff in. Crowd held their collective breath when Lucas came up a bit short on flip dive but no damage done. As Pierce ducked a shot from Lucas, the errant blow inadvertently made contact with former SHW Champion Owen Knight, who was sitting in on color commentary.  Knight got on the apron. Pierce played possum to cause Lucas and Knight to collide and pinned Lucas like this.

Wrestlers with Lucas' universal appeal as a babyface don't grow on trees. He has gotten over like rover with the SHW faithful.  Pierce's timing was spot on in the role of the dastardly opportunist.

Postmatch, Pierce slithered away from a Clock Out attempt by Knight. Lucas and Knight reached an uneasy truce. Knight left the ring as the crowd continued to chant "Jay".

I like the ambiguousness of this situation.

The Gunner and Griffin show. Griffin out first. Crowd tried to drown Griffin out with booing every time he tried to talk. Griffin gloated about ridding Georgia wrestling of Gary Lamb. Called him a coward. Accused Lamb of abandoning the SHW fans. Griffin introduced the former "Mr. SCI" as the only GM in SHW.

Gunner took his sweet time getting to the ring wearing sunglasses and his baseball cap on backwards. Miller put Griffin over as being instrumental in his career in 2017-2018. "The people that care always come back." Miller said Lamb wasn't there to kiss asses and get 400-500 people in the building. 

Miller narrated a slide show of key scenes from his SHW history.  The heat was building. Griffin told the crowd to shut up while Miller yelled at them. Miller said he had to surrender to save a bloody Gary (from Krule). Miller said he'd been screwed out of more titles than anyone in SHW history. He got hit in the head with a brick and Bryce Cannon's fraternity paddle trying to help Lamb. He blamed Lamb for his concussions. Ergo, he speared Gary out of his $200 shoes and the plan came together. 

Griffin said Lamb left him for dead but he persisted and won. Lamb wasn't there because he was a coward.

Nathan Mowery made his way to the ring. Mowery said he was one of SHW's founders along with Lamb and (booker) Dylan Frymyer.  He was Lamb guy. Gary had helped him a lot. Mowery said truth was he never liked Gunner and neither did Gary. Gunner was nothing but "a weak little bitch". Mowery slapped Gunner. Griffin demanded a match and called for a referee...

(4) Gunner Miller defeated Nathan Mowery in 5:20. Mowery hit a diamond cutter right off the bat. From that point forward, Miller gave Mowery a merciless beating. When Mowery was so bold as to put Gunner down and climb to the top, Griffin got on the apron with a chair to divert Mowery's attention. Miller speared Mowery in midair and pinned him with an insulting People's Leg Drop. 

Postmatch, Miller whipped Mowery with his belt. Griffin pulled Mowery's shirt up so Gunner could leave nasty welts on Nathan's back. 

Kevin Ryan made the save with a punch in the face for Griffin and a springboard kick to send Gunner packing. 

Ryan said as the inaugural champion, SHW would always be his home and those jackasses wanted to burn it down. Crowd ate it up. Griffin teased Miller vs. Ryan on the spot and said nah already been paid and match wasn't happening at the January show either because they would be on vacation in Samoa. 

A LOOONG segment with a lot to unpack. The hatred for Griffin and Miller was palpable in the building. Not sure they needed so many slides to make the point. People were getting really annoyed with Miller's overblown ego. He's more of an asshole than I thought possible. Mowery as the babyface was great casting. I loved how they blurred work and shoot  into the story they were telling. Miller's belt shots on Mowery were no joke. It's a forgone conclusion Lamb will be coming for retribution, the question is when and how. Ryan got a big reaction. Ryan vs. Gunner has got to be in the mix.

(5) The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean) defeated the debuting Nawfside Heroes (Jose Manuel & Shoota Gabe) to retain the SHW Tag Team Championship in 11:20. Gabe's grappling caught the crowd's attention. Infantry hit an elbow drop/frog splash combo on Gabe. Manuel made a blind tag and Nawfside hit one of their signature combo moves on Bravo. After a Dean DDT on Manuel and a tiger driver on Gabe, Nawfside answered with their finisher. Bravo broke up the pin and Infantry smoked Gabe with a double curbstomp.

Nawfside are really good workers so there was good action a plenty. Problem was that Nawfside looked like mere mortals in the ring against the larger, more muscular major league stars. No way were the titles changing hands. 

Bravo called Nawfside back into the ring for show of respect and sportsmanship. The crowd applauded Nawfside as they headed to the back.

Brandon Benefield announced Adam Priest was unable to  participate in the #1 contender's match for the SHW Championship due to injury BUT the match would still be a triple threat. AJ Black was introduced as the third competitor.  Lev wasn't about to let that stand. Black was history. 

Lev said his identity and purpose had been taken from him. His destiny could not longer be denied. "I am...the only one." 

Good short promo by Lev, spoken with passion and conviction. 

(6) Alexander Lev defeated Hunter James and Rob Killjoy to become the number one contender for the SHW Championship in 9:31. Killjoy popped the crowd with Gori Especial/camel clutch combo.

All three had their moments. They did a three abdominal stretch. Finishing sequence went like this: James did a double AJ Styles Cliffhanger DDT. Killjoy planted James with the Duck Valley Driver but Lev pulled the ref out of the ring. Killjoy followed up with an Asai moonsault and ascended the top rope again. Lev upended Killjoy and won it with the Styles Clash.'

Non-stop three way action, almost none of that stuff where one guy lays out and the other two fight. Don't think I've ever seen a Killjoy match that wasn't entertaining. All three had their moments. 

(7) The Hierarchy (Murder One & Joe Black & The Kenway) defeated The Grapplers (Grappler #1 & Grappler Z aka Zicky Dice & Xander Seabolt with Chayn Male) in a Fans Bring the Weapons Match (11:40).

SHW didn't leave the weapons to chance. Two shopping carts filled with plunder were wheeled out to ringside before the match. Just six guys brawling everywhere and Chayn Male trying to keep from getting killed by Hierarchy. First big spot was a firecracker bat exploding on Seabolt's back. All of Hierarchy had crimson masks going in no time flat. Zicky took a plunger up the ass and a tack paddleball racquet to the gut. A Chucky doll was brought into play. Kenway beat Chayn Male to death with a kendo stick.Zicky took a backdrop through a door from Black. Murder sliced Seabolt's head with a pizza cutter and Chayn Male ran for his life. The table Seabolt was supposed to through broke prematurely. Black improvised with two chairs and put Seabolt through those with a leaping senton. That had to suck bad for Seabolt. A second table was brought out and placed over near a makeshift wall. Black put Seabolt through the table with a dive off the wall. 

Meanwhile, Dice was waiting to light somebody on fire with a flaming torch and that flame was getting dangerously large. Grappler #1's was wrong place, wrong time. His body suit was on fire for a hot minute. Murder 1 then pinned Zicky with The Ether.

Grisly, hilarious, mass destruction and holiday fun for the entire family.  Five way juice and this was some serious bleeding, we're talking NWA Wildside blood. I can't decide which was more insane, the table fiasco or Grappler #1's back in flames. 

NOTES: Xavier Woods, Blak Jak Mak, Kelly Sexton, Hillbilly , Andrew Alexander, Stan Robinson, Frankie Valentine, Nick McDaniel and Myron Fancher were among the wrestling luminaries in the building..Bill Eadie did a meet and greet in the lobby...SHW returns to the Action Building on January 10...Referees were Paul Santa and Lewis Santiago...Brandon Benefield and Gerard Bonner celebrated their 5th anniversary as the SHW commentary team and were joined by Sal Rinauro...The one and only Diana Michel was the ring announcer.