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| Photos courtesy of Ring Da Bell Photography |
From Larry Goodman:
1FW presented a breezy two hour show geared towards the more casual audience that brewery shows tend to attract, eight matches, none running longer than 10 minutes. .
1FW is on the road the biggest show in the company's history -- SUMMERSTAGE at the Center Stage on July 25 featuring a meeting and greet with MJF and a VIP Experience with a host of AEW talents.
Attendance at Freedom Brew & Shine was close to the fire marshal limit of 75. It's a great room for pro wrestling. The crowd sounds loud and the lighting is beautiful. I would gladly go to another show at this venue. Freedom Brew & Shine is also more than a brewery. It's a combination brewery and distillery that also has axe throwing and gun range on site.
The mix of talent ran the gamut. The main event, a 1FW title defense by Elijah Drago vs. Vary Morales, Bryce Cannon in his 1FW debut vs. AEW/ROH star Lee Johnson and the opener between lucha star Mark Davidson and "The Big Cannoli" Rosario Grillo were all top shelf matches.
The Freedom Festival show was one of two events 1FW put on Saturday night. 1FW has so much talent at their disposal they ran two show simultaneously, the other was in Watkinsvsville at South Main Brewing. 1FW has Dalton Carpet One on board as a sponsor for all of their events.
Brandon Benefield was the ring announcer. Promoter Scott Barnett ran sound. Anthony Rivera was the referee. Matt Griffin supplied the ring as the 1FW ring was in Watkinsville. The Tapped Out guys, Nick McDaniel and Myron Fancher were in the house.
(1) Rosario Grillo defeated Mark Davidson in 10:17. Both these guy excelled at working the crowd. Davidson has a great physique and connected as a babyface. They had a quality 50/50 match. In the end, Grillo raked Davidson's eyes (The eye rake was overused on this show and on almost every indy show I see lately), put Davidson down with a discus lariat and stomped him for the win. The crowd applauded Davidson after the match.
(2) Lee Johnson defeated Bryce Cannon in 7:55. In shocking news, this was hands the best match of the night from a technical standpoint. Johnson has grown remarkably in ability to project personality from his SHW days. The execution was major league level.Cannon couldn't beat Johnson with Twisted Tea so he went for the Frat Paddle. Cannon's paddle shot backfired and rebounded off the ropes in his face and Johnson rolled him up.
(3) Cody Mcculley & Ayyo Block (with Rick Page) defeated Ron Reese & Chad Sky Walker in 7:25. Sky Walker was several levels above the other competitors in a match that featured some of the most poorly executed arm drags you'd ever want to see, though I must say McCulley and Block's cheap heel tactics did get heat, with bonus point for Mcculley's farmer's tan. Reese decked Page and ascended the ropes for a double team finisher. Reese paused to "make it rain". As the cash fluttered to the mat, Mcculley grabbed Reese's leg from the outside and Block rolled Sky Walker up.
The Sky Walker/Reese team imploded after the match. Benefield was not above stuffing the bills in his pocket.
(4) Scorpious defeated Grayson Pierce in 6:27. Scorpious is a Nightmare class grad. He's got a good look but the Last Gladiator gimmick is dead on arrival if you ask me. Pierce had a decided edge in experience. This was a decent match with some awkward moments. Scorpious successfully executed a Buckshot Lariat so there's that. Scorpious evaded the Skullpiercer and pinned Pierce with a Claymore. Good finish.
Kiran Grey promo. This segment was designed to hype Grey's coffin match with Sid Ellington at the Summerstage show. As such, it was a nice piece of business. Grey is a dark, brooding character. He told a story about crawling out of the desert after begging God for way out and promised to heap violence and destruction upon Ellington.
Grey called Ellington out and looked toward the dressing room. Ellington entered from another door and jumped Grey from behind. A pull apart brawl ensued and it was a good one. Not sure who the babyface is or if there is one. Crowd popped for Ellington saying he was going to beat the brakes off of Grey.
(5) Tommy Mars defeated Dennis Glass in 5:40. Jeezus, Tommy Mars is about the last person on earth I would want to fuck with. There was an air of danger about him and he was eating Glass alive. Glass got on a roll with a sequence of aerial maneuvers. Mars kicked Glass in the groin behind referee Rivera's back, drilled him with a corner basement dropkick and murdered him with a lariat.
(6) Alan Angels defeated Chris Del Ray in 8:45. The primarily casual fan crowd didn't know Angels. He played a more subtle heel to great effect. Angels got on referee Rivera, Matt Griffin's kid started up a "Mr. Clean" chant. Angels stayed away from doing flashy stuff during the heat and sold big for Del Ray's comeback offense. Del Ray's stuff looked good. He almost pinned Angels with fisherman bustah Angels kicked the ropes into Del Ray's jewels and pinned him with Angel's Wings.
(7) Kay Jay Impala & Xavier Young defeated Northern Thunder (Storm Rider & London Lightning) in 8:32. Northern Thunder came in from Jacque Rougeau's school. Not a fan of the generic names and they were too vanilla as heels for my tastes, but they were fine once the bell rang. Young did some cool stuff, like his outside to the inside slingshot neckbreaker. Impala's high impact offense was especially impressive. They did the deal where the ref misses a legal tag to build to the hot tag. Northern Lights used a Magic Killer for their big near fall. Finish was a uranage/frog splash combo, Impala pinning London.
(8) Elijah Drago defeated Vary Morales to retain the 1FW Championship in 10:15. This was the ultimate David vs. Goliath match and a compelling main event. There was a realistic sense of struggle despite the massive size difference. The crowd adored Morales as the underdog babyface with heart and drive to burn. Drago is a monster. He's come a long way in the ring. His execution is world's better than it was a year ago. Josh Fields has booked himself a physical specimen the likes which Augusta has not seen for his July show.
Drago was throwing Morales around like a rag doll. He cradled Morales like a small child and gave him a fallaway slam. Morales was laying his stuff in like his life depended on it. He delivered a picture perfect missile dropkick for a believable close near fall before Drago put him away with an F5.
NOTES: 1FW plans to run shows at Freedom Brew & Shine the 4th Friday of every month. 1FW's next live events are July 11 in Gainesville at the American Legion and July 12 in Stone Mountain at Outrun Brewing Company.
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