Southern Fried Night of Grudges -- Monroe on August 16

From Larry Goodman: Things certainly are humming along in Monroe. Crossroads, Southern Fried's fall classic is set for October 18.  Ther...

From Larry Goodman:

Things certainly are humming along in Monroe. Crossroads, Southern Fried's fall classic is set for October 18.  There are two more shows (September 6 and October 4) before we get there.  

Show quality didn't suffer one bit at Night of Grudges despite a slew of Southern Fried's top stars (Judas, Southern Fried Champion Sal Rinauro, Nick Halen, Billy Buck,, Seth Delay) not being in the building. 

Adrian Hawkins and Disturbed aka Rob Adonis came through in the clutch. Their Mayhem Match (no ropes, no rules, last man standing) was the highlight of the show. They beat the living hell out of each other. Disturbed won and  if he wasn't disturbed before the match, he is now. 

The big news was the new number one contender for Hunter James' Classics Championship. Making only his third Southern Fried appearance, JT Paradox won an eight man gauntlet to secure the position.

James also had renegade Crusade member Dominic Stuckey to contend with and he's slippery devil.

The teacher was beaten by his wayward student's chicanery. Jaden Vain got over on Todd Sexton again. 

Attendance at the Walton County Boys & Girls Club Gym was 200+. Hot crowd. 

Stuckey entered the ring from a side door. He said James had his Crusade goons posted outside the building looking for him. James was ducking him while he was there despite a bad leg and hip. Crusade came running from the back en masse to  but Dom escaped out the side door.

(1) "Wayward Son" Jaden Vain defeated Todd Sexton in 15:05. Vain stalled. Todd decided two can play at that game. Past the five minute mark, Todd laid down and gave Vain a free shot. They started to cook. Vain exposed the metal turnbuckle, which is how the physical shit with Todd got started int he first place. Todd got rolling with 12-6 elbows. Referee Matthew Daniel got turned around. Vain wrapped a bootlace around Todd's neck and choked him out. Daniel called for the bell at 10:20 and declared Vain the winner. Wouldn't you know it? The bootlace fell to the mat from its hiding place in Vain's armpit as Daniel raised his hand. 

Detective Daniel restarted the match. Todd catapulted Vain into the metal. Vain was busted open. Todd gave Vain the 10 punches of doom in all four corner. Vain was bleeding all over the place. Daniel got knocked down. Xavier Cross hit the ring and stomped Todd in the chest. Vain capitalized with a DDT for the win.

The match had the shock factor of blood and lots of it in the opening match. Loved the call back to the turnbuckle incident where Vain drew blood on Todd. The foreign object in the armpit was fun stuff. This Jaden Vain is a snake and he looked scary comfortable in the role. All in all, a compelling way to advance the story.

(2) Joey Hyder (with Rosario Grillo) defeated Jacob Ashworth in 8:48. Ashworth said last show, Billy Buck needed help with the Crusade and was hoping to get Buck's answer about forming the Good Ole Boys tag team. James jumped up from commentary desk. Buck was going to make Jacob wait and break his heart like Brokeback Mountain. Ashworth said his messing with the Crusade was just getting started.

Grillo interfered (wearing a number 25 Yankees jersey in honor of his GWH power ranking). Hyder targeted the knee with a vengeance. Ashworth monkey flipped Hyder to spark his comeback and went for Ashes to Ashes. Grillo ran the distraction play. Hyder pinned Ashworth with feet on the rope and Grillo holding on for extra leverage.

Good match. Great heat. Ashworth had the crowd going with his babyface fire. He's so underrated it's a crime. 

(3) "One-eyed freak" Tayo vs. Bobby Moore was a no contest (6:02). This feud is a carryover from the build to Shindig. The brawling started before the bell. Tayo's attempt to Pearl Harbor Moore failed miserably. Tayo gave Moore a big time bulldog followed by the laziest of covers. Moore went for the discus forearm. Tayo cut Moore off by spitting water in his face. Things spun out of control so referee Bryan Waites called for the bell. 

Postmatch, Tayo got the spare turnbuckle bolt they had previously used to stab each other in the eye.  Moore cut Tayo off  and grabbed the bolt. Tayo kicked Moore in the nuts, then put on Moore's elbow pad and knocked him out cold with a Hidden Blade. 

Fine for an undercard feud. Tayo is tons better than he was at the start of Crusade. Working with Moore can only help him get even better.

(4) Michael Walker defeated The Crusade's Pat Roach & Rosario Grillo (with Kat Spencer) to retain the Southern Fried Tag Team Championship in 5:28. Walker came out alone. His tag team championship partner Seth Delay wasn't there so Walker took Crusade on one against two. On commentary, James called Walker a make-a-wish kid. Walker took some pretty horrific abuse from the much larger Roach and the much greasier Grillo. Walker showed signs of life so Kat got on the apron. Meanwhile, Ashworth was doing a number on Roach and Grillo on the opposite side. Walker delivered the Froggy Bow for the pin and  a huge pop.

Kat's deltoids must be the envy of every woman wrestler in Georgia. I thought maybe a title switch with Delay not there and lean into Good Ole Boys as the new babyface challengers. Glad I was thought wrong.

(5) Xavier Cross (with Jaden Vain) squashed TJ Trigger in 3:52. Vain said he was the only man to beat Todd Sexton twice in one night. Cross won with a choke slam.

Todd ran down to go after Vain and got speared by Cross. 

Cross looked better than his previous appearances. He's got the size to be a heater for Jaden and could grow into a serious hoss. The crowd like Trigger who's a regular in Royston.

(6) CT Keys defeated Michael Stevens via submission in 3:40. Stevens came to the ring with wads of toilet paper stuff in his nose and mopping the sweat pouring of his brow. Stevens said the match needed to be called off. You can imagine how well that went over with CT Keys. He exploded on Stevens with furious anger.  The issue was never in doubt. Keys submitted Stevens with a cobra clutch. 

Stevens was entertaining. Keys was explosive and super over. I like the addition of the cobra clutch to his repetoire Something tells me Keys eventually squares off with Sal Rinauro for the Southern Fried Championship rather than current number one contender Judas.

(7) JT Paradox defeated (in order of entrance) DeSilva and Ethan Dallas and Christian Taylor and Aaron Dallas and Hayden Backlund and Harlow and Zack Buchanan in a gauntlet match to become the number one contender for the Classics Championship (14:12). A new competitor entered every 60 seconds, wrestler that scored the first pinfall or submission was the winner. After everybody got into the act for a train of big moves, Taylor press tossed Ethan over the top rope and Paradox pinned Taylor with a jumping powerslam.

Highlights: 

-- Ethan Dallas entering to "Come Together" and later trying to pin brother Aaron.

-- Taylor's giant swing. Not as many revolutions as Claudio but damn impressive. 

-- The eight way vertical suplex spot. 

-- Paradox taking everyone to german suplex city. 

-- The sheer athleticism of Buchanan's house of fire offense.

The match was way better than it had  any right to be given the inexperience of the talent. They had the crowd involved and the match never dragged or fell apart. 

Postmatch, Stuckey attacked James at the announcer's desk. Crusade came out to save James. Paradox ran wild on the Crusade until James slapped him. Stuckey superkicked James. Paradox powerslammed James and covered and Stuckey counted three. Dom raised Paradox's hand. Stuckey and Paradox stood tall in the ring while Crusade cowered in the aisle.

Putting Paradox over was a risk worth taking. Beautifully staged, by the numbers stuff that made Paradox look like a million bucks and a legit contender.

INTERMISSION to take down the ropes.

(8) Mayhem Match (no ropes, no rules, last man standing): Disturbed defeated Adrian Hawkins in 20:20.. For openers, Hawkins blasted Disturbed with five kendo stick shots to the back. Full swings. They registered but Disturbed was relatively unfazed. Hawkins gave him seven more to make it an even dozen and choked him with the Singapore cane. Three more dropped Disturbed to one knee. Hawkins unloaded on Disturbed with chair shots. He knocked Disturbed out of a chair with an around-the-world flying knee. Finally, they made it to the canvas. Disturbed powered out of Hawkin's sharpshooter and sent him flying off the canvas into the guardrail with a shoulder block. Disturbed broke out a judo throw and a Rockbottom. They battled toward the back and busted up the entrance way (as seen at left). 

Adonis took a codebreaker with a metal trash can over his head. They teased a suplex from the ring onto a bridged section of the barricade and settled for Disturbed slamming Hawkins onto it.

Hawkins piled every last one of two shopping carts of chairs onto Disturbed and threw the shopping carts on top. Hawkins untied the canvas to expose the ringboards. He was having a devil of time with the straps. Head of security Rodney "Bull" Hix lent a hand. Hawkins gave Disturbed a kendo stick shot to the head. That got a reaction from the crowd. Down went Disturbed. Hawkins threw in a couple of chairshots for good measure. Disturbed rolled out to standing position on the floor at the count of eight. Hawkins brought a door in the ring and bridged it across two chairs. Disturbed choke slammed Hawkins through the bridged door and there was no getting up from that. 

Disturbed dragged Hawkins up the aisle and through the curtain after the match. God only know what has become of Hawkins. He may never be seen again.

In an era in which hardcore brawls are a dime a dozen, this one captured my imagination. There was a payoff. After the inhuman punishment he took in this match, Disturbed now must be seen in an entirely different  light. The mask evidently transforms Rob Adonis into a being impervious to pain. Hawkins wasn't holding back on any of those kendo stick shots. I lost count after 20 of 'em. The suplex onto the bridged guardrail would have been a lapse into psychosis. Monroe has it's share of sick minds that wanted to see it. They nailed, or I should say Hawkins got nailed on the finish. 

NOTES: John Johnson was back as the ring announcer... David Weakley, Bryan Waites and Matthew Daniels were the referees...Adam Vance did play-by-play, handled sound and spearheaded the production. How he does all that simultaneously is beyond me...Tayo and Moore brawled outside the building during the intermission.