I wished I could have been in mutlple places at once -- Monroe for the Manders vs. Matt Griffin street fight, Augusta to see what unfolded at Next Level, Canton for Nathan Mowery's death match show. But I could not pass up the magic that is Classic City Wrestling at the 40 Watt Club.
CCW put on another phenomenal show at the historic rock 'n roll venue and extended their streak of sell outs (fire marshal capacity of 300) to ten over a 27 month span. CCW is ingrained into the Athens scene.
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| Najasism vs. Bryce Cannon |
Promoter Cole Taylor did his now signature we are Classic City Wrestling speech (emphasis on the WE). He called CCW a grassroots movement and said they were going to push it further tonight.
It had been three months since the last CCW show at the 40 Watt. This crowd was salivating for action, volume dialed all the way to the right.
(1) Jazzy Yang defeated Kaitlyn Marie (with Grayson Pierce) via DQ in 2 minutes. Marie said she found a new friend she knew nothing about after what that tramp Jazzy Yang did to her the last time. Yang was over huge. She immediately took Marie down and put her in an armbar. Pierce put Marie's foot on the ropes. Moments later, Pierce got caught in the act shoving Yang off the top.
Marie and Pierce gave Jazzy a beatdown. Terry Yaki made the save. Matchmaker Justin Burnham came on stage and ordered a intergender tag. Yaki did a mind blowing flip dive over the ringpost on Pierce. Less than three yards between the ring post and where I was sitting and they never touched me.
(2) Jazzy Yang & Terry Yaki defeated Kaitlyn Marie & Grayson Pierce in 8:06. Heat on Yaki straight away. Highlight was a (Pierce) split leg moonsault/(Marie)Vader bomb combo. Double tags to the women. Pierce got massive heat for superkicking Yang. Pierce accidentally superkicked Marie and Yang pinned her with a moonsault.
The victory celebration was on. Yaki and Yang kissed in the ring. Yaki did a Hulk Hogan posing routine standing on the ropes and the crowd gave their seal of approval with a "CCW" chant.
This was fabulous as an opening match, laid out to hit all the right notes. Pierce got pinned by Yaki's girifriend in his CCW debut. A Yaki/Pierce singles match has to be in the cards somewhere down the line.
(3) Movie Myk defeated Owen Knight in 8:12. Knight preached to the faithful. Said he felt a little naked without the CCW belt. (Najasism had ended his reign as the inaugural CCW Champion at 636 days at the 40 Watt in February). The street said he was going to the back of the line. The street was smoking dope. Naja's ass was on the clock. He would get his rematch and get his title back.
Myk called for quiet on the set. I don't need to tell you how that went over. Myk concluded the CCW fans knew nothing about cinema.
Myk beat on Knight, who kicked out of Myk's short arm clothesline at one. Knight reeled of a series of moves and nipped up to an explosive pop. Saito suplex and superkick for two. Myk raked the eyes to escape the Clock Out. DJ Smoke appeared on the apron. Knight fell for the distraction and Myk rolled him up with a handful of tights.
The match served its purpose for dramatic effect. Crowd was stunned when Knight lost but he is the 100% bullet proof OG of the 40 Watt. Myk as Knight's opponent was one of the changes to the advertised lineup.
(4) Nawfside Heroes (Jose Manuel & Shoota Gabe with ChaynMale) defeated Left Hand Path (Austin Towers & Trever Aeon) to retain the CCW Tag Team Championship in 14:08. Nawfside was making their first title defense since becoming the inaugural tag team champions at the February show. LHP has been causing various forms of trouble in CCW since their debut in January 2024.
Towers landed the chop of the night on Gabe. As much as the CCW fans love Gabe, they're sadists at the core and chanted "one more time". Soon Nawfside was flying all over the place with the crowd going nuts. Manuel was the babyface-in-peril for a long time. For the finish, Towers elevated Gabe for a choke slam. Gabe somehow, some way reversed with a forward rolling cradle.
LHP beat the hell out of Nawfside after the match.
Nawfside are great in the role of small but savage babyface champions. I'm not a fan of babyfaces having a manager unless the heels do but Towers counts double. I have no clue how Gabe and Towers made that finish looked believable.
(5) Sean Legacy defeated Drew Adler in 13:18. The crowd reaction to Legacy's entrance was unreal. Athens has adopted Legacy as one of their own. Adler was penciled in against Knight and stepped into the spot vacated by Legacy's scheduled WWE ID opponent Jackson Drake.
They had a very competitive match. The crowd reacted like Adler might have Legacy beaten with a spinning black hole slam and his air raid crash. Legacy made Adler's high boot miss, hit a springboard cutter with major hang time and finished with the 450.
Legacy is a god at the 40 Watt. His genuine appreciation of the response from the crowd was a beautiful thing. Legacy was in good hands with Adler, a15 year pro. Both men are based in the Augusta and know each super well from that scene. It was a given they were going to have a high caliber match. Legacy's selling is as great as his offense.
(6) Duncan Mitchell Avecilla defeated Alex Kane and Dillon McQueen in 10:28. Match was billed as a singles between McQueen and DMA, the winner of the Proving Ground Gauntlet at the February show. McQueen paraded around the ring with his CCW Tennessee belt and talked shit about being privileged with a GCW title shot, what he said to his therapist and how he hated Owen Knight. He was glad Naja was the champion and "Zaddy" was getting the next title shot. DMA said a baby back bitch like McQueen didn't deserve it. Kane came to the ring all loosey goosey and said management had made the match a triple threat..
A few highlights: DMA's ball the walls tope on Kane...McQueen's obscene bronco buster on DMA...Kane double german suplex and the pop it received...Kane kissing McQueen...DMA planting McQueen on top of Kane and applying double single leg crabs.
DMA kicked out of McQueen's Gori neckbreaker so McQueen brought a chair. Erron Wade showed up out of nowhere and kicked the chair into McQueen's face. They did the deal where the chair rebounded off the ropes into McQueen's head and DMA covered for the 1-2-3,
Wade and DMA displayed mutual respect after the match.
I loved this. They worked a lot of three way spots (as opposed to the two guys wrestle, one guy lays out format) which is more challenging to execute but more fun when it works like it did here. McQueen is a maniac, a fierce talker who does everything in his power to get himself and the match over. This was the most relaxed and entertaining version of Alex Kane I've seen. He continues to experiment and expand his range. DMA showed he could 100% hang with more renowned talent. Wade's appearance was out of left field. Only time he showed his face in Augusta was for SVW ran at Southern Brewing.
Nicholas Mallis and the Borealis did two musical number with the Toppers Girls gyrating in the ring and it was back to the action.
The heat wasn't quite so in the stratosphere for the last two matches. Don't get me wrong. Most any show would kill to have this level of crowd reaction.
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| Photo by Julie Puckett |
(7) Cabezas Dynasty (Kasey Owens & Sean Sims & Trey Shaw) defeated Suge D & Matt Sells & Spectre in 10:18. Suge and Sells lacked a partner. Cuarto Cabezas said he went by the rule of law. They could either find a teammate or forfeit. Suge pulled out his Palm Pilot and started calling his contacts. Ahmed Johnson didn't answer. It was past Dory Funk Jr's bed time. Spectre was called in as he contestant from his announce position, entering to the Price Is Right theme song.
Spectre broke out an unlikely Rey Fenix style ropes jumping lucha dropkick. The babyface trio connected on Sims with a triple shotgun dropkick. Suge ran absolutely wild on the heels before getting hit with a triple whammy to start the heat. Sells caught Owens in the Rat Trap and had him pinned with a springboard cutter but Sims saved him. Suge, Shaw, Spectre, and Sims all brawled to the dressing room. In the confusion, Cabezas interfered and Owens hit his finisher on Sells.
They walked a fine line, blending a comedy pre-match with serious action once the bell rang and ended up getting the only "this is awesome" chant of the night. Crowd was outraged about Cabezas interference causing Sells to lose. Dave Stage had been advertised as the third member of the babyface trio.
Sells said he attended UGA where he partied a lot and studied a little. Athens did things a little different. We're dogs. Kasey is a bitch. Let's get chained up in a Georgia Bulldog Collar Match next time around at the 40 Watt.
Shaky logic from Sells but any excuse for excessive violence would have been OK with this crowd and they were all in for Sells getting his hands on Owens again. Sells did an epic double shot - Next Level in Augusta and CCW, a two hour drive.
(8) Najasism (with DJ Smoke) defeated Bryce Cannon via referee stoppage to retain the CCW Championship in 19:32. Cannon said he was back from injury, back in Classic (for the first time since their Macon show in February 2024) and he'd heard the 40 Watt Club was the loudest in pro wrestling.
Naja entrance got a mostly babyface reaction. He got on the mic and said he didn't want this shit crowd cheering him.
The crowd chanted for Naja to "touch the tip". He did. Cannon got rolling with a classic babyface flurry of offense. Smoke got in Cannon's way and upended him when the ref wasn't looking. Naja went after Cannon's surgically repaired knee. Cannon's Avalanche Twisted Tea left both men down at the 10 minute mark.
Cannon used a Miz corner clothesline and a Cody Rhodes disaster kick on the comeback trail. Naja couldn't get the job done with donkey kick to the groin and a belt shot. After teasing a ref bump times 2, Anthony Rivera finally got knocked down. Naja and Smoke got their signals crossed thanks to Cannon. Rivera's delayed count on Cannon's running blockbuster got a "bullshit" chant. Naja locked in the Sharpest Shooter. Twice Cannon got a hand on the ropes only to be pulled back to ring center. As Cannon finally grasped the ropes, Nate Mansion jumped on the apron to distract the ref. Smoke did something to render Cannon unresponsive so Rivera stopped the match.
They put on a great title match with all the bells and whistles. The sharp shooter sequence was really compelling. Cannon has been busting ass since his return from injury in February and putting on great matches everywhere he goes. He double shotted Southern Fried and this show. Cannon was new to the 40 Watt fans. He go over with his work. The babyface response to Naja was a surprise since the heat on him at 40 Watt has been intense. Naja succeeded in turning the crowd with his mic work.
Postmatch, ENT attacked Cannon en masse. Naja applied a figure four a round the ring post. Knight came to Cannon's aid. Knight targeted Smoke with his verbal venom and said he would smoke his ass next time at the Watt.
NOTES: CCW debuts in Asheville on June 28 at the Orange Peel and returns to the 40 Watt Club on September 26... Josh Deal and Spectre did the commentary for the video release...Rose Gold, "Hot Twink" Clark DeBennedeto, Jay Tyler and Mr. Sexy were among those backstage...Byron Young was on the rover camera...Samuel Frye helped with production and hopes to get back in the ring soon...Paul Santa, Anthony Rivera and Mike Fullilove were the referees.
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