From Larry Goodman:
SHW 72 was a serviceable show. On a night when Southern Honor was not swinging for the fences, the sequence of events throughout the evening did an admirable job of getting the stories to the places booker Dylan Frymyer wanted them to go.
-- Austin Towers defeated Murder One to earn a shot at Joe Black for the SHW Championship.
-- Matt Griffin has the unenviably task of taking on a pissed off Sunny Daze with Gunner Miller handcuffed to the corner AND Sal Rinauro as the special referee.
-- The Infantry got a piece of Adrian Alanis. Liam Gray escaped and The Skulk remain in possession of the tag team title belts.
-- CT Keys vs. Alex Kane are finally going to clash inside the ring on May 9.
-- Alexander Lev won a seven man gauntlet match to become the new number one contender for the JTS Legacy Championship held by Kyle Matthews.
Attendance at ACTION building was 256, up from March. Gary Lamb was not at the show. Fay Voyles was in charge of the business end. The Southern Honor fan base is not the size it was at their peak but they maintained a rowdy, loyal following.
(1) The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean) squashed Byron Young & Cassius King in 1:04. Gangsta's Paradise/superkick combo followed by the double curbstomp and that was all she wrote.
Bravo demanded the presence of The Skulk and return of their tag team championship belts and got no satisfaction. Dean was losing it. Bravo said they weren't leaving.
Poor Gerard Bonner got in the ring to inform Infantry of the text he received from matchmaker Jake Roberts stating Infantry could not hold up the show. Bravo was breathing fire. Bonner meekly asked pretty please with sugar on top. Infantry left without killing the messenger.
Infantry got their point across. Tension abounded. For a hot minute it felt like Bonner might get his ass kicked.
CT Keys killed Young and King again and picked up the mic. Regarding the jabronis, Keys said stupid games, stupid prizes. Keys said Alex Kane got his title shot. Keys called his shot and had no match. He beat Krule last month and promised to destroy Kane next month. He was done with Endgame. The people around me were applauding Keys on his way out.
Keys was menacing on the mic. Young and King were virtually eradicated. But by stop star and they did get to appear in two segments so there's that.
(2) Gunner Miller (with Matt Griffin) defeated Sunny Daze in 1:40. Griffin made his way to the ring with the crowd booing the hell out of him He asked if that was any way to treat the kingpin of Georgia wrestling? Griffin said Daze would be left in a pool of his own blood and introduced "the real GM of Southern Honor". Miller was wearing a Braves Chipper Jones jersey. OK.
Daze was behind Miller with a belt and big grin on his face.
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Daze started whipping the crap out of Miller while Griffin cowered in fear behind the announcer's table. Match underway, Daze gave Miller a black hole slam, a cannonball and a Samoan drop. Griffin got in the ring and hugged Miller's leg right in plain view of referee David Weakley. As Weakley was getting Griffin out, Miller rolled Daze up with a handful of tights.
The crowd chanted "Sunny" after the match.
A nice piece of business. The crowd wanted to see Gunner and Griffin get whipped so bad they could taste it. Griffin's sense of panic was palpable. Since when is the ref catching a manager in the ring with a wrestler in his grasp not a DQ?
(3) The Skulk (Adrian Alanis & Liam Gray) defeated Nawfside Heroes (Jose Manuel & Shoota Gabe) in 8:20. Skulk coerced referee David Weakley into holding the tag belts up like this was a title match. Right to heat on Gabe. Manuel took the hot tag and nailed Skulk with a one-on-two moves. Manuel did a flip dive to the outside on Alanis. With Manuel on the apron, Gray caught him unaware with a flip dive cutter. Skulk then hit their classic Rocker-Plex on Manuel for the win.
Gray's flip dive cutter was insane. Gabe showed grit. Bonus point for Nawfside's new gear.
Infantry's music played but no Infantry. Skulk said they scared Infantry off and they were the true champions. Of course, Infantry was there. They blindside Alanis and laid him out while Gray ran away with the belts. The crowd chanted "one more time". Infantry obliged. Dean said this ain't over.
I am digging the Infantry/Skulk story. The heels stealing the belts from the babyface Champs is old hat for sure. But in the hands of such appealing characters, I find it impossible not to be drawn into it.
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Matchmaker Rinauro summoned Miller and Griffin to ringside. Sal addressed Gunner like the boom would be lowered on him at the next show, then told Griffin he would be in a match with Daze next month and there would be zero interference. Miller would be handcuffed the the ring and Sal would be the special enforcer. Daze sneaked up on Griffin from behind and started whipping him with a belt. Miller snatched his son out of the crowd and ran for his life with Griffin right behind him.
This was great. Rinauro played the swerve perfectly. The Griffin announcement popped the crowd and Daze whipping Griffin added fuel to the fire.
(4) Alexander Lev defeated Fry Daddy and Aaron Dallas and Rosario Grillo and Jay Lucas and Grayson Pierce and Hunter James to become the number one contender for the JTS Legacy Championship (total time 37:27).
(a) Dallas defeated Fry Daddy in 6:17. A-Ron's army was once again out in force Dallas fought off Fry's Cutline and pinned him with the Steel Toe.
Grillo sauntered onto the ramp, all Italian and all mouth. Dallas was there because of him. He paved the road, walked so Dallas could run. If that wasn't hyperbolic enough, Grillo claimed responsibility for the Nightmare Factory's success. He ordered Dallas to lay his pasty ass down like it was an order Dallas could not refuse.
(b) Dallas pinned Grillo in 14 seconds with a spinebuster. Postmatch, Grillo gave Dallas a nut shot and planted him out of a elevated full nelson.
(c) Pierce defeated Dallas in 41 seconds. Pierce swooped in to cover Dallas but he kicked out. Grillo was still in the aisle and in disbelief. He posted Dallas. Pierce followed up with a tope suicida cutter and pinned Dallas.
(d) Lucas defeated Pierce in 8:23. Fast-paced, see-saw action in the A4 vein. Pierce and referee Paul Santa did the old Ric Flair-Tommy Young spot where the ref shoves back and the heels goes down for a near fall. Lucas broke out a ripcord driver deal. The crowd bought it as the finish and chanted "that was three". Crowd was chanting "Jay". He fought of Pierce's finishing moves and won it with a spinning tombstone piledriver.
(e) Lev defeated Lucas in 3:29. In a battle between fan favorites, Lev pinned Lucas with Gonorrhea.
(f) Lev (with Pierce) defeated Hunter James in 11:10. Lev applied a crossface. When James wouldn't tap, Pierce gave Lev his shoe. Lev thought about using it but decided against. James hit the backflip deadlift german for a near fall. James did a cool escape out of Gonorrhea and hit the Hollywood Twist for a two count. James moonsaulted away from Lev's springboard sunset flip attempt.
Lev put James down with an STO and beat him with the Lev Clash.
Creative is in the midst of a longer arc story with Lev and Pierce. I was intrigued by Lev's crisis of conscience and have a hunch where it's going. I didn't at all get the need to beat a hot babyface (Lucas) clean in the process, nor did the finale with James do Lev any favors. Grillo was terrific and his segment elegantly set up a Dallas/Grillo singles match. Lucas/Pierce was good stuff.
SHW Champion Joe Black was introduced and joined the commentary team. Lev and Pierce exchanged two finger salutes with Black on their way out.
(5) Austin Towers defeated Murder One via DQ in 4:25. Murder started the brawl before the bell. Towers directed trash talk to Black while he had Murder on the mat. Murder tried to gouge Towers' eyes out. Referee David Weakley admonished Murder for his tactics. Murder got physical with Weakley who called for the bell.
Towers started up the aisle. Murder said you don't get to walk away. "I'm still kickin'. Wins and losses don't matter. Get in and fight, bitch!" Towers and Murder went at it. Weakley took a lariat from Towers. Paul Santa ran down and got slugged by Murder. Murder took a chair to Towers and brought a door into the ring.
Towers powdered out to confront Black at the desk and smacked the champion across the face. Towers returned to the ring to deal with Murder, who had the chair. Towers cut Murder off with a low blow. Black went after Towers and took a choke slam. Towers heaved Murder clean through the door. Black got up and speared Towers through the ropes.
While the match was OK, the post match dramatically escalated the violence. Towers came across as a major threat to Black.
Towers said he didn't recognize this Joe Black. He beat Black five years ago but his arms were numb and he spent two days in the hospital. This Joe Black wasn't shit. He took care of Black's OG and his youngin and he'd beaten Black every time. He'd earned his shot. Black struggled to beat Lev and Kane. Towers advised Black to go back to the old lady that dumped him and dig up the Killerweight or a match with him would be Black's funeral.
Black said 1) for the record, I broke up with her 2) the Killerweight was a mental construct to get through trauma. "You want the Killerweight and you even couldn't say it with your chest bitch ass boy. To quote a great actor, I will be your huckleberry."
They sold the crowd on the match with their mic work. Tremendous promo by both men.The crowd reacted as verbal blows were being landed and popped big for Black's final line.
Rinauro said they had done his job (indeed they had): Black vs. Towers for the SHW Championship on May 9.
NOTES: Brandon Benefield and Bonner were joined on commentary by Sal Rinauro for the latter part of the show, good thing because Benefield's voice was shot...Diana Michel was the ring announcer. Yowza...Eric Silva and Nikki Heat were among the retired photographer Corey Tatum were among the
wrestling personalities in the house...The aforementioned Paul Santa and David Weakley were the battered and bruised referees...Demariae Roberson-Nettles was manning one of the rover cameras.
