Southern Fried The Madness Returns -- Monroe on February 15

From Larry Goodman: This show was something different from Southern Fried, a TV style wrestling show in the spirit of Mid-South Wrestling fr...

From Larry Goodman:

This show was something different from Southern Fried, a TV style wrestling show in the spirit of Mid-South Wrestling from the Irish McNeil Boys Club. 

The war between Crusade and Sexton Alliance is still going hot and heavy. 

A third faction has emerged -- Madstreet -- hellbent on destroying Southern Fried Champion CT Keys, led by the evil deranged side of Sal Rinauro's madness.

Self proclaimed "Kingpin of Georgia Wrestling" Matt Griffin cracked David Manders in the head with a roll of quarters.

In the match of the night, Hunter James (the new CEW Champion as of last Saturday night) escaped with his Southern Fried Classics Champion against "The Fro" Michael Walker in a super rowdy atmosphere thanks to the presence of Sexton Alliance in the crowd.

Southern Fried Championship Wrestling returns to the scene of these crimes Saturday night with Eliminator Gauntlet.

Great backstage brawl to open. Old school heat as the action spills out to the arena and into the ring. Judais gave James El Crucifijo over the top rope onto Crusade. Manders warned Sexton Alliance to quit. Halen got mouthy.  Manders laid down the law. Said he hated to do it but Sexton Alliance had to leave the building.

Bryce Cannon heeling it up on commentary alongside Adam Vance on the play by play. I laughed out loud at John Johnson as the polar opposite personality of what he does in Royston. 

(1) Kat Spencer (with Rosario Grillo) defeated Crystal Rose via referee stoppage to retain the Southern Fried Women's Championship in 5:30. Rose bull-rushed Spencer before the bell. Spencer caught Rose in a bearhug and used her strength to methodically throttle Rose. Crystal tossed Kat out  and went after her. Spencer rag-dolled Rose with a full nelson. Crystal narrowly beat the 10 count. Spencer speared Rose and reapplied the full nelson until Bryan Waites called for the bell.

Glitchy but ultimately effective. Crystal was left for dead. 

Triston Michaels interrupted the heart-warming return of Joseph Brock. Said Crusade accomplished more in the last three months than JBE did in its existence. Brock said he got a belt like Michaels had out of Walmart. Wished he could congratulate Michaels on his GWH award but evidently Triston couldn't win one. Michaels sicked his boys on Brock. That brought a medically-cleared Jacob Ashworth to have Brock's back. 

Brock's return to make Triston the butt of his jokes put a smile on my face.

(2)  Jacob Ashworth (with Dr. Joseph Brock) defeated Tayo (with Triston Michaels & Pat Roach) via DQ in 7:11 due to Roach's interference.  Ashworth had Tayo beaten. Roach pulled Ashworth out of the ring. While Dee Byers was busy with that nonsense, Dr. Brock hit Tayo with his shoe. Ashworth went to pin Tayo and Roach pulled Byers out of the ring. Byers wasn't having it and DQed Tayo.

Ashworth was beaten down by Triston's guys after the match.

Heat booking 101. Crusade had the last laugh. Brock's shoe didn't get the job done and his boy got his ass beat.

(3) Sal Rinauro defeated Najasism (with Nate Mansions) via submission to retain the Southern Fried Championship in 22:43. Naja was in control for the lion's share of the match. He tried to submit Sal with a straight jacket choke and a crossface but couldn't get the job. Rinauro kicked out of Naja's corkscrew spear and his frog splash to the back. While Naja got tangled up with referee David Weakley, Mansion hit Rinauro in the back of the head. Naja tied Rinauro in a knot on the mat. Rinauro powered out. An exchange of kicks spilled onto the apron. Sal gave Naja a kneebreaker. Mansions jumped onto the apron. Rinauro decked him. As Naja jumped off the ropes, Rinauro caught him in a heel hook in the center of the ring. Naja fought it for a long time but had to tap.

A hard-fought, technically-oriented match. The crowd was 100% behind Rinauro, willing to give him the benefit of the doubt about how he took the title from Key. Just the set up creative would have for going into the main event.  No matter what Naja and Mansions did to Sal, the crowd would not buy into Naja actually beating him. 

Rinauro called Keys out. Sal admitted he took advantage of Keys being down in their title match but he didn't know how he got there and claimed innocence about Daze. Told Keys he didn't have to look for a partner, Sal was his man. Color Keys skeptical but a broken down Sal was better than nothing. He would trust him just this once, then he was coming for his belt.

Damned with faint praise, Sal, that sly dog, got what he wanted.

Rob Adonis speaks. Adonis said he got there too late to get all the Approved in the ring to apologize to them for what happened last time. He claimed his motives were pure. He was Approved until the day he died and wanted to make one thing clear: He wouldn't join those ass hats known as the Crusade for all the tea in China. They were nothing but a bunch of rodeo clowns. 

Crusade (minus Hunter James) surrounded the ring. Adonis was overwhelmed by the numbers and left laying.

Adonis is a man without a faction. That's a dangerous place to be in Monroe these days.

(4) Hunter James (with Triston Michaels) defeated Michael Walker to retain the Classis Championship in 18:27. James out with his ribs taped from the damage in the opening segment. Sexton Alliance entered from the public entrance to buy tickets. Cannon was appalled. Crusade marched to ringside en masse. Meanwhile, Walker was scoring near fall after near fall with pinning combinations. Cut to a tight shot of Sexton Alliance sitting in the bleachers munching popcorn. 

James was in agony with every move he made. Sexton Alliance was leading a "Fro" chant. Walker went to work on Hunter's midsection. He dropped a trio of elbow drops on for a near fall as James grimaced in pain. When Walker crashed and burned on a springboard crossbody, James went of offense. Crusade interfered against Walker. After James got a near fall with a hammerlock lariat, Crusade got pissed about Sexton Alliance throwing popcorn at them. 

Walker flew over the top rope onto James to turn the momentum the his way. Walker rocked Hunter's world with European uppercuts locked in an octopus hold. James worked his way free and tried for a brainbuster. No way.  Walker clotheslined James for two. The crowd broke out into a "Let's go Fro" chant.  James escaped a Fronado DDT. Walker fought off Hunter's backflip german suplex. James delivered a shining wizard from the blindside but went down clutching his gut and was slow to cover.  Walker spiked James with a flying headscissors. Walker's frog splash elbow connected but Michaels put James' foot on the ropes and dragged him out of the ring. Crusade started jawing at Walker, which bought James time to recover. Walker hauled James back. James caught Walker with a Gamebreaker and shot Nick Halen the bird. Walker started going for pins and tried for an O'Connor roll. James rolled through and pinned Walker with a handful of tights.

Great match. Colossal sustained heat. The Fro is no fluke. James performed like he was every bit Georgia's uncrowned wrestler of the year. Eat your heart out, Carlie Bravo. He sold the injury to his midsection like his appendix was about to burst.

Manders brought head of security Rodney Hix to the ring and announced a fundraiser on his behalf at OSWA Arena on February 22. The show raised $5000 for towards Rodney's medical bills for a coronary issue that landed him in the hospital.  

The beautiful side of pro wrestling.

Enter worst person in the world Matt Griffin. 

Griffin said as real as he could make it, Rodney meant a lot to him. He admitted acting the fool at Thanksgiving and was humbly offering a donation with Manders' approval -- 10 bucks in quarters Griffin extracted from his couch cushions.  Griffin blasted Manders with the roll of quarters and headed for the exit before the babyfaces could lay a hand on him. 

Griffin said he would keep coming back and would make Manders bleed in the center of his own ring.  He was the kingpin of Georgia Wrestling.

I loved it. I'm biased in Griffin's direction as I am most towards almost everyone in Georgia wrestling I've known for 20+ years. He was in the Marines stationed on New Orleans  driving to Cornelia to work the NWA Wildside shows as "Mr. Delicious" Jacey North. What's not to love?

(5) Sal Rinauro & CT Keys vs. Michael Stevens & Sunny Daze was declared a no contest at 3:45. Sal reluctant to harm former partner Daze and distraught by seeing him take punishment. Rinauro made the turn. He kicked Keys in the balls and the champion was subjected to a three-on-one beatdown. Daze pulled out the Madstreet USA t-shirts. Rinauro unlaced Keys' boot and screwed up his ankle with heel hook. Madstreet posed over Keys. Out. 

That's what Stephen Platinum would call a hook and drag.