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| Photos by Bob McAteer |
From Larry Goodman:
ACTION Wrestling made their return to the Line Creek Brewing Bus Barn with It's All in the Game.
The room adjacent to the brewery/restaurant is a great space for pro wrestling. They had a comfortably full house of 150 for this show. Every seat was full with some standing. The crowd is energetic and this room is loud.
It was a solid pro wrestling show, top-to-bottom. This was not ACTION's most star-studded lineup which gave other performers opportunities to shine and shine they did. A huge plus was the strong babyface/heel dynamic in every match.
Adam Priest made his presence felt in the main event title match and will challenge ACTION Wrestling World Champion for the title on October 17 in Tyrone.
Priest vs. Grayson Pierce was the best wrestling match on the show. Bosby's title defense vs. Darian Bengsten was a close second and had the most heat.
Bosby has now held the ACTION Championship for 302 days and has made 19 successful title defenses.
Mad Dog Connelly and Moses had an intense confrontation. A collision between two brutal men appears to be in the offing.
(1) OXP defeated Shimbashi in around 10 minutes. Great way to open. With less than 15 matches under his belt, OXP (martial arts master Justin Ortiz) is amazing and was ridiculously over. Shimbashi is just plain fun to watch. Shimbashi was a 2025 ACTION Futures Tournament finalist. OXP will be a competitor in the next year's Futures Tournament.
The crowd gave Shimbashi grief for using OXP's gear to tie him to the ropes so he could stomp the crap out of him. OXP sparked his comeback with a scorpion kick and unleashed a martial arts barrage. He pasted Shimbashi with a roundhouse kick for a near fall and finished him with a tiger feint into an ax kick.
(2) Corinne Joy defeated Alexandra Quinn in 7:50. Joy was an instant fan favorite. She had the crowd 100% behind her beginning to end. Quinn was OK as a heel but she's a natural babyface. Match was highly choreographed and rough in spots. They have a barely a year of experience between them.
A huracanrana spot collapsed in a heap. Quinn feigned an injury to get them back on track. They traded big near falls down the stretch and Joy pinned Quinn with a snapmare driver. Bottom line was the match worked. The crowd was so into Joy, the flaws were overlooked.
(3) Spectre defeated Mr. Danger in 7:43. Danger is an epic flier. His legs are like springs. He gets tremendous height on every springboard. Witness his top rope Asai moonsault and springboard leg drop back to the inside in the opening minute. Spectre spent the body of the match working on Danger's back to soften him up for his finisher. Danger hit a spectacular long distance swanton for a close near fall. Spectre reversed Danger's Perfect Plex with a northern lights suplex, then used a hanging backstabber to set up Screamorama. Spectre showed he's by no means limited to being a death match wrestler. His ring psychology was spot on and he is now 2-0 at the Bus Barn.
Dylan Hales showed his face and immediately got massive heat. Hales kicked Rob Weather out of the announcer's station and took his spot on commentary.
(4) Jamesen Shook defeated Joey Hyder via DQ in 8:15. Shook had all his hardware (IWTV World Tag Team Champion, TWE Champion and H2O Hybrid Champion) with him. Shook was having his way with Hyder and feeling frisky until he tweaked his knee. Hyder seized on weakness with a spear to the Shook's knee. Hyder was like a dog with a bone. Shook was hobbling. He hit a slingshot crossbody but was still hurting and couldn't get Hyder up for his finisher. Hyder clipped Shook's knee and blasted him with the TWE title belt. The crowd despised Hyder for the cheap DQ. Good match. The finish did the trick to set up a rematch.
(5) Adam Priest defeated Grayson Pierce in 10:13. The appearance of Darryl Hall as the referee got one of the loudest pops of the night and had the crowd chanting his name. Pierce made a cool entrance and got a "you still suck" chant. Priest received a standing O.
They locked up at the bell. Pierce slapped Priest across the face a couple of times. Priest exploded on Pierce. Backchopped his egotistical ass and really lit him up. Pierce sent Priest to the floor with an angular springboard roundhouse kick. Back inside, Pierce hit a pair of split-legged moonsaults, the second one to Priest's back. Pierce was on a roll. He flattened Priest with a double stomp off the top for a near fall. They jockeyed for position on the ropes. Priest got the better of it with a sunset powerbomb for a 2.9 near fall and a "this is awesome" chant. Pierce went for a backslide pin. Priest got out of it but Pierce caught him flat-footed with a lariat. Priest took it home with tornado DDT and standard DDT for the three count.
(6) Moses defeated the debuting Aaron Dallas (with Ethan Dallas) in 4:43. It was positively weird seeing AD get no reaction here in contrast to the hero's welcome he got at SHW a week ago. Crowd wanted to see badass Moses beat him up. He did. He wasn't there to sell for Dallas. He didn't. Moses won with a C Splitter (fireman's carry into sitout slam). Match felt off to me.
A funny thing happened after the match. Moses kept going to different sides of the ring and making Darryl Hall raise his hand. Like 19 times and that's not an exaggeration. Hall finally slid out of the ring. Evidently, this was due to a timing issue with Mad Dog Connelly's music.
As Connelly entered, Moses bumped into him and they had an intense staredown.
(7) Mad Dog Connelly defeated Kasey Owens via referee stoppage in 6:00. They got everything they could have hoped from a six minute match in so far as building Connelly as a violent psychopath. Owens is an underappreciated talent except by those that share a ring with him.
Owens a hated man in ACTION Wrestling. Connelly feared for obvious reasons. Owens tried and failed to psych Connelly out. Owens ate a pair of clotheslines and a brute force gutwrench suplex. Connelly kicked out of the Owens Bullet and hung him into unconsciousness.
(8) Tim Bosby (with Dylan Hales) defeated Darian Bengston to retain the ACTION World Championship in 12:47. Crowd was psyched for this. Bosby taunting them with his spinner belt made me laugh. Hales picked up the mic but never talked into it. Not sure he could have been heard if had and Hales just let the heat build. The ACTION fans are madly in love with Bengston. Hall searched Hales' backpack. He found a rock inside and handed the backpack over to Griffin.
Bosby manhandled Bengston at the jump. Bengsten used speed and slickness to gain a short-lived advantage before Bosby brutally powerbombed him across his knee. Bosby tossed Bengsten like he was nothing out of a stalling vertical suplex. Dude is freakishly strong. Bosby laid Bengston across the top rope in the corner and smashed the shit out of his chest. Bengston tumbled to the floor and was almost counted out. The crowd got vocal for a Bengston rally. Bengsten obliged. He had Bosby staggered and put him down with Whisper in the Wind. Bosby kicked out of Bengston's flying clothesline and went for the F5. Bengston countered with an inside cradle and hit a flip dive to the outside. Nice save by Bosby on the landing.
NOTES: Upcoming dates for ACTION Wrestling: October 4 Founder's Day free show at Shamrock Park on October 3 in Tyrone featuring Luke Gallows, Roger Spencer Community Center in Tyrone on October 17 and back at Line Creek Brewing in Fayetteville on November 11...Mose, Weathers and Hales handled the commentary for the video to be uploaded to IWTV....Darryl Hall, Kevin Blicker and Anthony Rivera...Scott Hensley was the ring announcer...Carlie Bravo was in the the house on rare Friday night off. Other wrestling luminaries included Tyler Stevens, Deity, Dallas Kage, Travis 3000,Jimmy Daryn, Neji Ichiban, Dante Darko, KJ Valentine and Hayden Seal.
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