From Larry Goodman:
This isn't an Ace Haven made Georgia mad and I've got help him cash the check he wrote problem. This is an our hands are green type of problem, Harley.
The performance art that is ProSouth Wrestling kicked into high drama mode. Former ProSouth Champion Caeden Ooten summarily dismissed Harley Haven as his manager. Cameron Keast is desperate to have Harley's help to deal with Ravanna Xin, who was revealed to be his former fiancée, and Harley's not having it. The closing segment saw multiple challengers fighting over who was front of the line for the first shot at new ProSouth Champion Ace Haven, with Ace laid to waste at the end.
ProSouth treated viewers to an extended 4th of July version this week. Recent epsodes have been running 90 minutes or less. This one ran two hours and had six matches.
The new young talents provided a breath of fresh air. Most notably, Zack Buchanan was back in Piedmont for the first time in month (check out the photo above match #3). AJ Black and Hayden Seal stole the show.
Salem Alexander debuted as the ring announcer. Her natural warmth was a hit.
Wicked Nemesis and Mathias Darkthorne were having a grand ole time on commentary. Joseph Void was the ironman referee for the evening. Katie Lindsey was the videographer.
(1) Justin McKenzie defeated LGV (with Trey Jordan) via submission in 4:07. LGV had a counter for the Sliced Bread 99 so McKenzie slapped on an Octopus submission.
McKenzie was impressive here. He took charge. He incorporated a number of new moves in his offense and executed them cleanly. The octopus submission a nice add to his arsenal. LGV wasn't bad at all. Them being roughly the same size really helped.
Jordan attacked McKenzie after the match. Chosen Ones (Ace & Cam) made the save showing zero signs of dissension.
Steven Calozzi said illness deprived the ProSouth fans of seeing him beat Vougan two weeks in a row (they were advertised for brass knucks on a pole match). Calozzi said Vougan wasn't there this week because he was scared, and if he was in Vougan's shoes, he would be scared too.
Joe Wood made his way to the ring. Wood said he heard his name and he didn't have a match either, so let's fight. Calozzi said no. Wood calmly said what he heard was yes. Calozzi addressed him, so bring out an official.
(2) Joe Wood defeated Steven Calozzi via DQ in 5:43. Wood overpowered Calozzi. Wicked said Wood had six inches on Calozzi. Darkthorne chimed in. "And he's two inches taller," Wicked was entertained when Wood stiffed Calozzi with a standing clothesline. Calozzi was the first of many to target the knee. He got a set of brass knucks from outside the ring and stuck them in his tights. Wood made his comeback. Calozzi kicked out of Wood's diving heabutt. Calozzi brazenly used the knucks right in front of the ref and it was lights out for Wood. Calozzi was proud of himself.
Wood consumed a Dr. Pepper and a pickle like they were smelling salts while the crowd chanted his name.
Our nearly award winning commentary team played this match comedy value and it definitely had some of that. Looking into my crystal ball, I see a rematch and a set of brass knuckles...
(3) Zack Buchanan defeated "Panama City Prince" DRP in 8:35. DRP lured Buchanan into chasing him. As Zack slid back in, DRP was on him and applied a camel clutch. DRP pressed his advantage with high impact offense. Buchanan capitalized on DRP's aggressiveness. His standing dropkick was a thing a beauty. Buchanan got rolling with an exploder suplex for two, blistering chops and a pair of Stinger splashes. DRP dodged a third and got a near fall with a northern lights. Buchanan used a Michinoku Driver to set up the Alabama Jam to pick up the win.
Buchanan is a special talent -- the look, the size, the athleticism, wrestling ability to die for. He hasn't been wrestling much outside of Bullpen lately. Where ProSouth could help him is with mic work and character development. He be in the conversation for every title in the company. DRP is out of Rocket City. He's a cut above the newcomers ProSouth has brought in of late. Small in stature but with a physique and his offense was crisp. They had a solid fast paced match. Their transitions made sense.
(4) AJ Black defeated Hayden Seal in 13:16. Alexander announced that Seal won the match he would be added to the Black's rematch with Julius Pryor for the All Out-Championship.
Seal's athleticism was giving Black trouble and Seals showed no fear of AJ's strikes. Black went to the eyes and worked over Seal's leg. He gave Seal a bulldog on the floor that was no fun for his tailbone and used a classic Masked Superstar flying lariat. Seals started making Black eat a lot of shots. Seals got a long two count with a full nelson bomb. Black got back on the leg. Seal powered out, sending Black into the ringpost and down to the floor. Both men were showing wear and tear as they traded punches. Seal cut off the exchange with a Ushigiroshi that did his knee no favors. Seal crawled to make a cover and Black got a foot on the ropes. Black brought Seal off the ropes with powerbomb and draped an arm. Black kicked out decisively at 2 and 1/2. Black was not to be denied and hit Less Than Zero (springboard codebreaker) for the three count.
They were given time and produced -- big selling to add drama, never rushed, fighting spirt at the end. Loved the added stipulation so there was something at stake. Black was getting his share of cheers whether he wanted them or not.
Cody Windham made his normal ring entrance. Scott Adams came out to inform Windham he had the week off and didn't have a match. Adams went to ringside where he was being verbally abused by the kids in the front row as the show went to intermission.
Returning from intermission, Adams had been filibustering for the entire 15 minutes. Windham looked less than thrilled to be there. Adams decided to quit venting and mercifully handed the mic to Salem.
Whatever this was supposed to be, it was not good television.
(5) Christian Pierce & Christian Garrett defeated Caeden Ooten & Ayden Andrews (with Harley Haven & Cody Windham & Scott Adams) in 8:49. Darkthorne enlightened us with an interesting factoid: the match featured four former tag team champions squaring off against their former championship partners on the opposing team.
Garrett showed his mobility was intact after being out of action due to a torn ACL. The heels targeted Garrett's surgically repaired knee. Ooten's and Andrews outsized egos clashed. Harley got on the apron and accidentally slapped Ooten when Andrews ducked out of the way. Garrett pinned Ooten with a pumphandle fisherman suplex.
The returning Christians got big crowd reactions. The concept of the match was intriguing. The match itself was glitchy and totally unexceptional.
Sleazy C yanker Harley into the ring by the arm and berated her for screwing up the last two weeks. C said what they had took them to the top but now Harley was weighing him down. He didn't want her and didn't think he needed her. Harley said she didn't mean to mess up. Ooten started screaming at close range. Harley's actions were making him a loser. They needed to take a break and he needed to do things on his own.
Harley left. The lights went out and Cameron Keast's entrance hit. Lights on for an awkward moment with all three of them on the stage as Ooten exited.
Keast begged Harley for help in combating Ravanna Xin. His ex-fiancee Xin (what?) showed up last week and left him spitting up blood. He'd taken on everything Harley had thrown at him but he was scared of Xin and Harley knew she was the only one who could help him.
Harley said if Keast hadn't noticed, she had her own problems. Harley turned her back on Cam and got as far as the stage.
"You ungrateful little bitch."
Keast said he'd always been soft on her because he wanted to be the cool father figure but he'd done everything he could for her and it was never enough. Harley lost faith in him for a second and walked out on him. Look what just happened? The person that trusted Harley just left her in the dust. Cam begged Harley to help him break the cycle so she didn't have to fight a crazy ex herself. After all she'd put him through, he would do the same for her. Keast's plea fell on deaf ears.
Lots to unpack. Let's start with Keast's performance. He needs to be doing theater. His emotional range and realism were way beyond pro wrestling standards. Harley's facial reaction when Cam called her a bitch was tremendous. Keast's reveal that Xin was his former fiancée was quite the choice nugget and he introduced a psychological twist in the angle. - he wants to help Harley break the cycle. Ooten raging at Harley was intense. It was time to change things up and their interaction was one hell of a way to get there.
(6) Scott Spade defeated Cameron Keast to retain the YouTube Championship in 12:40. Spade said if anybody was wondering, he missed the last two weeks because the Havens suspended him, only to return to find Ace as the ProSouth Champion. Spade questioned Keast's state of mind.
Spade slapped Keast to unleash Psycho Cam but Keast's advantage was fleeting. Spade worked over Keast's knee and eventually locked in the Easom Hill Marijuana Leaf. Keast made it to the ropes and mounted a comeback, but wasn't able to finish Spade off. Harley came to ringside and slid the belt to Spade. He and referee Void both got their hands on it. Spade dropped Void with back elbow to the head. Harley took the belt back and clobbered Keast. Spade covered to retain.
There was no point in beating Spade and the finish advanced Keast's story with Harley. I was surprised it didn't have more heat but it was the fourth match of the night to involve working over an opponents knee as a major theme and oh by the way, howis intentionally dropping the ref with an elbow to the head not a DQ?
The Champion Speaks. Ace owned his penchant for going off the rails and hurting people's feelings. This would be celebratory. ProSouth had a champion they could be proud of and one that doesn't need help to become or stay the champion. Ace gave a little history. It had been four years since he was champion. After chasing Tyler Cullprett for 21 months, he beat him for the title in Culprett's final match, only to have Keast cash in the Gold Rush and relieve him of Big Blue minutes later. Ace wasn't taking anything about this reign for granted. All the targets that were on Ooten's back were now on his.
Scott Spade made his way to the ring. Spade said he was the longest reigning champion in the company. The YouTube has stood in the way of him getting to Big Blue and he deserved his shot. Spade said he adapted to circumstances. At one time, the ProSouth fans loved him. The crowd started getting on Spade bigtime. Now they were pissed because nobody in ProSouth could take the YouTube title away from him.
Ace said the fans did love him until he grew that mustache. But Ace had to admit Spade's 238 day reign was impressive. Spade was welcome to get in line because he owed Spade one, not a title match, but his own brand of Southern ass whuppin.
Out came Karmageddon. Windham said he didn't agree with Ace much but Spade's mustache did suck and why were they making matches anyway when Adams was the boss? Adams said the line started with Karmageddon.
This happened.
Adams meekly said the line started with Andrews. Windham said wrong Andrews. He got beat. The line started with him and Spade needed to go to the back.
Spade and Ace started swinging on Karmageddon. All four went at it until Windham laid Ace out with Gobsmacked. The show closed with Windham standing tall holding Big Blue.
Great. segment. Big Blue feels more vital as a result. Ace's issue with Spade is personal. To the victor of their feud goes the spoils, the ProSouth Championship. Andrews and Windham staring at Adams was a wonderful moment. Windham feels so old school. Adams makes a phenomenal weasel. It seems to come so naturally to him.
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