CEW 3 Stages of Hell -- October 25

From Larry Goodman: The easy thing is to do is take CEW for granted. They took home a shit ton of GWH award in 2024 and have cranked out one...

From Larry Goodman:

The easy thing is to do is take CEW for granted. They took home a shit ton of GWH award in 2024 and have cranked out one great show after another this year. 

The main event position at CEW is never something to be taken lightly. Bryce Cannon and Dax Anthony had the weight of the CEW world on their shoulders. The 3 Stages of Hell match was the culmination of two year feud built to a fever pitch. There's not been a match quite like it in Georgia wrestling this year for the horror and the drama. The third stage was a  veritable trip to hell and back.

Creative went off the beaten path with the construction of this show. The heat was front loaded with the Boss Daddy, babyfaces going over in spades at the top of the card. CEW roster has so much depth and the product is so over with their audience, they almost can't go wrong.

The video production make CEW shows a fun watch. Their videographers consistently get compelling shots with the rover cameras and editing is outstanding. Brandon Benefield and Maestro were on commentary. The ring announcer was Diana Michel. Clark DeBennedeto  and Brian Brock were the referees.

(1) Christian Taylor defeated Zach Mosley via DQ in 9:15. Taylor dropped Mosley on his dome with the Personality Disorder.  Mosley hit Wheel of Fortune but his signature move was not good enough for the win. They beat the devil out of each other. Mosley picked up a hammer. Referee Brian Brock called for bell after  Mosley egregiously laid  hands on him.

Interesting test of CEW fan sentiment -- Split during Mosley's match with Keys as the last show and Psycho Taylor got a chant during his -- they were all Mosley's into the close of this match.

Simon flooded ringside with his troops to break up the fight between Mosley and Taylor.  Sermon banished Mosley from CEW and he wasn't coming back without Anger Management courses. Mosley tried to get at Sermon and was forcibly ejected. Sermon told ring announcer "Debra" to count 10 Mississippi and hit his music.

The Trump comparisons write themselves.

(2) Simon Sermon (with Christian Taylor) pinned Randall Reno III in 9:28. Taylor has the hammer. Sermon in all glory on the way to the ring. Sermon got himself into the predicament below.

 

Sermon took the Flair Slam off the top. In the end, Sermon had the answer to the Holy Roller and brutalized Reno's fanatical head with the Manchester Driver.

-- "That was clean. I didn't cheat or anything."

Simon Sermon is on a Hall of Fame run. Putting Taylor with him was genius, the both of them so demented. 

Story time with Simon Sermon. Since he'd had been able to spend time with Michael Walker, their relationship had grown so much stronger. Simon was grooming him to become the greatest CEW champion of all-time.

Somebody has a vicious sense of humor. 

(3) "Main Event" Michael Walker (with Simon Sermon) defeated Xavier Cross in 8:33 with a Superman Punch using the Boss Daddy's ring. Power of Cross on full display.  Gorilla press backbreaker, ropes walk blockbuster coming out party for Cross. Chokeslam Pull out by Simon. The ring.

A coming out party for Xavier's offense. They came up with the perfect finish for a forgone conclusion match. 

(4) Kevin Kantrell defeated Elliott Shock via submission in 6:39. Shock got all kinds of offense. Hit a diving headbutt and Kantell rolled a shoulder just before the three. Shock's ego was out of control. He pulled the straps down. Kantrell came roaring back. Once he locked in Kantrell Rules, Shock tapped pretty quick. 

Kantell was generous to a fault with how much offense he gave Shock. Maybe that's just me being old.

(5) Jay Alpha Miller defeated Hawk Thomas via referee stoppage in 8:27. Thomas got the lion's share of the offense. Miller crippled up Hawk's knee, started into the Wings Of Liberty then switched the Kantrell's crossface finisher. Thomas was unresponsive so Clark DeBennedeto declared Miller the winner. 

Kantrell hit the ring and made Teflon pay for his blatant gimmick infringement. 

A perfectly fine as a way to set up the  Miller/Kantrell submission match for November 29 and I'm here for it.

(6) Coastal Chaos Champion Hakeem Young vs. Young Mighty Joe was ruled a no contest at 5:54. The Savannahmal came to the ring cackling like a monkey. He laid a beating on Hakeem with his primitive jungle offense. Tommy Mars hit the ring with a lariat that took YMJ's head off. Chad Sky Walker intervened to get Mars to stop.

I love the twisted chemistry shared by Young and YMG.

Allen Brothers out. Steve Allen said they were scheduled to face Supastarz for Tag Turmoil Championship but saw only Tommy Mars in the ring. Robert Allen made their match a triple threat. 

(7) Allen Brothers (Steve & Robert Allen with Mason Allen) defeated Chad Sky Walker & Young Mighty Joe and Tommy Mars & Hakeem Young  to retain the Tag Team Turmoil Championship in 7:53. Mason (out of action due to injury) joined the commentary team. Sky Walker put the gun to Hakeem's head but his partner took the bullet. After Hakeem ducked and dodged calamities of all kinds, Allen Brothers put Hakeem in his place with a sick kick/german suplex combo.

Great ensemble work, the finishing sequence was fantastic. 

Sky Walker called for the mic. Said it was funny how Hakeem had a belt and yet his greed exceeded him.  Play the tape....

Sky Walker took advantage of a chance to  surreptitiously spy on Hakeem's phone conversation. Hakeem said he had done everything asked of him since winning the Chaos title but he needed something from whoever this person was on the other end: Get Mars off his tail. Plant the evidence on Sky Walker. 

Back to the ring, Hakeem was set to brain Mars with the belt. Mighty Joe took the belt away and Sky Walker made it clear to Hakeem he was onto him. Hakeem gave Mars a low blow. YMG dove off a 10 foot ladder outside the ring and springboarded of the top all three of them. 

Sky Walker interviewed YMG and can evidently understand the caveman's language. The result was the main event for November 29 -- the first ever Law of the Jungle match.

They got a great story out of a segment where the zero mystery about the winner of the match. Sky Walker is doing the best character work of his caree

(8) Hunter James defeated Sal Rinauro in 19:55. James went hold for hold and mind game for mind game with Sal.  Rinauro tried and failed to put James to sleep. Business picked up. Strike battle with both audibly laying them in. James got near falls with his greatest hits and called for the brainbuster. Nut shot from Sal and a dangerous bulldog off the top. Hunter had a look of terror on his face when Sal kicked out of the Viperplex. Rinauro donkey kicked James and hit Move That Rocked The World. In disbelief when James kicked out, Rinauro tried to finish James with a brainbuster on the apron. But James made a safe landing inside the ring, ringcaught Sal with the Gamebreaker and put him away with the brainbuster.

 What brand of weirdness was Sal going to bring to Savannah and how was CEW's golden boy going to handle it? Almost no way these guys were not going to have an entertaining match. The sure thing was Hunter wasn't losing. Given that limitation, they had a fantastic match. Sal was all in. Tremendous tribute spots and it's hard to imagine a babyface more over in his territory than Hunter is in Savannah.

(9) Three Stages of Hell: Bryce Cannon defeated Dax Anthony in 36:03. The match was preceded by a great video package that vividly explained how we got here...

First fall was First Blood, won by Cannon in around eight minutes. Maestro called Cannon's attention to the barbed wire monitor he was holding over head at commentary. Cannon promptly brained Anthony with the monitor. Referee Clark didn't see the blood leaking out of Anthony's forehead right away. 

Second stage was a table match won by Anthony in six. The action spilled out of the ring and into the commentary area. Anthony intimidated Maestro, then powerbombed Cannon through the announcer's table. Crowd was stunned by the the devastating carnage and rubble. 

Cannon brought forth a barbed wire frat paddle to start the third stage which was All or Nothing -- won when a competitor was pinned or unable to answer a stand by a count of 10.

Anthony used a low blow to gain control of the paddle and raked it across Cannon's head. Cannon bled. Anthony used the paddle on Cannon's back like a king-sized gusset plate. There was a smattering of cheers for Dax as CEW definitely has a small group of heel fans. Cannon brutalized Anthony with a chair. He powerbombed Anthony through a steel coffin of chairs. Anthony kicked out of a Keg Stand onto a chair. Cannon tried to blast Anthony with a chair to the head and inadvertently brained a camera man. Cannon put referee DeBennedeto through a door as Cannon got  out of harms way (a call back to the finish of their tables match).

Four guys were down and all of them were really fucked up. Cannon was looking to whip Anthony with DeBennedeto's belt but Dax cut him of with a Final Curtain. Anthony got a visual fall with no ref to count. By the time Brock slid in to count, Cannon was able to roll a shoulder. Anthony destroyed Brock with a Final Curtain (a call back to Anthony's issues with the officiating that was original spark). 

Cannon spread a bag of broken glass onto a table then topped it off with bucket of broken glass.

Cannon's russian legsweep off the ropes sent both men careening through the table covered in glass. Cannon pulled up the canvas and padding to expose the ring boards in one of the corners. They scaled the ropes into a perilous position. It looked like Cannon's foot slipped and they both crashed onto the exposed boards. As DeBennedeto's ten count reached 7, Cannon draped an arm over Anthony for a count of three.

Incredible match. They did too much stuff in the first stage that had nothing to do with drawing blood but all was forgiven when they used the barbed wire monitor for the finish. The visual of the powerbomb through the table that ended the second fall was tremendous. Benefield and Maestro were great on the call of this match. The real paydirt was the All or Nothing third fall, a progressive build of surreal hardcore violence and carnage that weaved in callbacks to key story points. 

The four-way Law of the Jungle match for the Chaos Championship will headline the show this Saturday night at VFW Post 660 in Savannah. It's a ladder match with  a twist -- only the competitor who last scored a pinfall or submission in the match is eligible to grab the title. And we now know Young was involved in taking out Mars' partner.  

Hunter James gets his hands on Simon Sermon and clearly must get through the Boss Daddy to get a shot a CEW Champion Michael Walker. Kantell vs.Teflon ins submission only match. Former Tag Team Turmoil Champions Suge D and Tyler Stevens return to CEW in singles action. Cody Fluffman makes his CEW debut. Carmen Childers will join the commentary team.