 |
| Photos by Gina Jones |
You can't win them all. ProSouth was stretching to soup to get to 90 minutes for episode, which was largely intended as hook and drag for the Members Only segment taped after the regular show (see spoilers at end of report).
However, there were a few gems within.
Christian Pierce and Steven Calozzi have fully rekindled their barnburner of a feud. Calozzi recored three wins over Pierce back in August, none of them cleanly. Pierce is yet to get Calozzi in the ring again for an official match.
The show was bookended by two solid matches -- Brother Azriel vs. AJ Black in the main and Caeden Ooten vs. Justin McKenzie in the opener.
Commentary by Wicked Nemesis and Mathias Darkthorne with Darthorne also doing the ring announcing. Joseph Void and T-Bird were the officials. Katie Lindsey was the ringside videographer.
Condolences to the family and friends of Alabama promoter Mickey Henry, who passed away on Thursday due to leukemia. Henry promoted ACW Wrestling in Boaz for over 40 years. Countless Alabama wrestlers cut their teeth under Henry in Boaz.
In a cold open, Trey Jordan jumped Vougan in the hallway and left him laying.
This "attack" would have been better left to the imagination. It was nothing but a few seconds of garden variety pro wrestling offense.
A classic ProSouth stupid comedy segment. DRP was ridiculously over the top. If there was ever any doubt, it's now a lock, Garrett is a natural heel.
(1) Caeden Ooten (with Harley Haven) defeated Justin McKenzie in 9:06. Chosen Ones (Ace Haven & Cameron Keast) came to the ring in support of their stablemate McKenzie. Keast noted that Vougan had been taken out, leaving Ayden Andrews without a partner for his tag match. Keast said he shared his hatred of Karmegeddon and offered his services. Chosen One chose not to stick around for the match.
They opened exchanging hold. Ooten distracted referee T-Bird so Harley could interfere and the action transitioned to ringside. A comedy bit ensued --Ooten invide the fans to chop McKenzie and got not takers, Harley chopped McKenzie, Harley chopped Ooten by mistake and McKenzie let the fans chop Ooten. McKenzie tried to fly off the top. Ooten made the catch and gave McKenzie his take on the GTS. Ooten kept McKenzie grounded to slow things down. McKenzie's comeback offense had C reeling. But Ooten had McKenzie's slingshot DDT scouted and countered with a vertical suplex dropped into sitout gordbuster. Ooten followed up with a powerbomb and folded McKenzie up for a close near fall. McKenzie leapfrogged Ooten's harpoon. This time McKenzie's slingshot DDT was good for a near fall. McKenzie went up top. Harley grabbed McKenzie's leg right in front of T-Bird. McKenzie and C jockeyed for position on the ropes.
McKenzie hit a Spanish Fly that almost pinned Ooten. McKenzie kicked out Ooten's harpoon and slipped out of Loaded Gun Complex. McKenzie tried for Sliced Bread 69. Ooten blocked it and pinned McKenzie with a cradle bomb.
The was a creatively laid out match with great and somewhat reckless action in the closing minutes. McKenzie took a gnarly bump on Ooten's sitout gordbuster that appeared to rattle his brain. McKenzie's Spanish Fly was a perilous journey. Harley has learned to throw a mean chop but it was her facial expressions that caught my eye. T-Bird looked like an impotent fool as a referee. Twice Harley interfered right in front of him and he didn't do squat.
After the match, Karmegeddon beat McKenzie up and threw him out of the ring like garbage. The lights went out for Blood Born's entrance.
(2) Blood Born (Alexander Lincoln & Big Wood) defeated Karmageddon (DRP & All-Out Champion Christian Garrett) in a non-title match (6:26) DRP was ineffective against Lincoln due to massive size differential. For the 110th time, Lincoln scaled the ropes for "The Move" that has yet to be seen but Garrett grabbed his leg. DRP got Lincoln off his feet. Karmegeddon isolated Lincoln until DRP tried for an ill-advised suplex. Lincoln's hot tag offenes built to a choke slam on DRP. On the outside, Garrett was up to no good with the title belt. Lincoln leveled. DRP dove for tag and came up empty handed. Blood Born administered Citizen's Erase for the win.
Blood Born now looks a championship-worthy tag team. They're operating a a cohesive unit and have their timing down. Wood has honed his offense down to stuff that plays to his strengths.
Cut to McKenzie walking through the backstage area. He found Chosen Ones lying unconcious under a pile of rubble and called for help.
Christian Pierce stormed into the ring. Said he wasn't there to play games. He was there to carry Steven Calozzi to Whip Ass Ranch. Calozzi came on stage looking deadly serious. He admitted what Pierce did to him last week had lived in his head every second. He couldn't stop thinking about getting his hands on Pierce BUT unfortunately he had already a match tonight. Pierce said Calozzi didn't have a match on the run sheet. He pressed Calozzi about the identity of his opponent. Calozzi stammered and stalled and eventually spit out Julius Pryor. Pierce said Pryor was a fantastic idea. Let's do the match right now.
Pierce and Calozzi going back and forth on the mic is gold. Calozzi is a character. So is Pierce for that matter, and he's a great hothead. Bonus points for the Proximus Caesar graphic in Calozzi's intro video.
A serviceable match to advance the story. For Pryor, it was something to do. Pierce's beer preference is appaling. Busch tastes like piss water.
Tony Midas gives Trey Jordan his pay off. Midas congratulated Jordan on taking out that pain in his side Vougan like he was nothing. Jordan put his hand out of the money. Midas had a hard time letting go of the cash so Jordan had to pry the wad of bills out his hand. Midas said the way Jordan took out the Chosen Ones was even better. Jordan said that wasn't his doing. Midas told Jordan hr definitely was not getting paid for that then. Jordan slammed the money on the mat. T-Bird went behind their backs to scoop up a few bucks for himself. Midas advised Vougan to take the hint and stay away from him.
Segments like this play to Midas' natural comedic ability and gift for gab. Jordan was also good here. Boy oh boy, I guess Midas didn't see the footage. Whatever Midas paid Jordan, he got robbed. I got a laught out of T-Bird slyly grabbing some cash for himself.
(4) Trey Jordan & Tony Midas defeated Ayden Andrews & Christian Pierce in 12:42. A partnerless Andrews had Midas and Jordan in disarray at the start. The heels got their act together and the number game took hold with Jordan's high impact offense on display. At the 6 minute mark, Andrews gave Midas a Usigiroshi and Pierce jumped on the apron to take the hot tag. T-Bird was looking the other way and ruled the tag was not legal (which it wasn't because Pierce's feet were not on the apron or is that another rule that has gone out the window?). Jordan and Midas kept Andrews under control until Andrews' enzuirigri opened up the hot tag. While Jordan was getting his clock cleaned by Pierce, Vougan attacked Midas. Pierce frogsplashed Jordan. Midas broke up the pin and brandished his can of hairspray. Vougan grabbed the hairspray. Pierce laid Midas out with Just Bitten. Calozzi marched to ringside with his brass knucks. Andrews shoved Pierce out of the way and ate the Power of the Punch from Calozzi. Jordan pinned Andrews with an F5.
Andrews shook Pierce's hand after the match.
This match would have benefitted from a shorter route to the finish. Granted, they had a lot of moving parts to work into the scenario. Pierce and Andrews have serious history. They formed a formidable heel team during the Atonement era and had a great singles feud. I don't think this is the direction but a babyface tag title run as babyfaces would sit well with the ProSouth fans.
Cut to Chosen Ones in the backstage interview room. Ace said Karmageddon got them and then they got Justin. Ace didn't feel like waiting until Black Friday for the four on four match Karmageddon wanted so he was going to ask Commissioner Amy Haven for a match with them tonight on Members Only. Vougan entered from stage left to say he wanted Tony Midas. Pierce said he had an answer for his Calozzi problem so why don't we all make a trip down there?
(5) Brother Azriel defeated AJ Black in 11:01. Clean break on the lock up. A pair of dropkicks from AJ staggered Az a bit. Az gave Black a trio of body slams and dropped an Abby elbow on him. AJ tried to create space to avoid taking more punishment but had little success. Az stayed on the attack with a stalling vertical suplex. Az was doing a number on AJ's back. AJ dodged Azriel's corner splash and focused on his attack on Az's shoulder. Az lured AJ into a bigtime strike battle. He was challenging AJ to bring it. Az gave AJ a spinesbuster to spark a burst of offense. AJ was toast but Az's shoulder had sustained too much damage for the Woodgrain so Az pinned him with a black hole slam.
Postmatch -- AJ offered a fist bump. Az raised an eyebrow before responding in kind.
A most excellent win for Az on the road to his title match at Anniversary Supershow. I loved his confidence. They worked it like an old style title match. Loved the psychology. Glad my hunch about AJ finishing up at ProSouth was wrong. AJ showed no heelish tendencies. Looks like he's turning over a new leaf and I can't see the ProSouth fans having any problem with it.
What the livestream viewers missed in the Members Only:
(1) Karmegeddon (Garrett & DRP) defeated Chosen Ones (Ace & Keast with Amy) in 5:41. Keast took heat. Chosen Ones took Karmegeddon to double team city until DRP messed up their finisher. T-Bird covered up to avoid taking a knee to the face from Keast. Cam mule kicked DRP in the nuts instead. Garrett fired his title belt at Keast's head and DRP rolled Keast up.
(2) Vougan defeated Midas (with Jordan) in 6:57. Midas relentlessly worked over Vougan's knee but couldn't beat him. Jordan rolled the hairspray can in to Midas. Referee Void got bumped as they both grabbed for the hairspray. Jordan jumped in to help Midas. He tried to spray Vougan but he ducked and Midas got sprayed in the eyes. A blinded Midas gave Jordan the Midas Touch. Midas covered Jordan. Vougan made the three count and raised Midas' hand. Tony's vision cleared just in time to see Void standing in the corner. Vougan leveled Midas with a leg lariat and Void made the three count.
.png)
.png)
.png)
