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| Photos by Gina Jones |
From Larry Goodman:
I spent Halloween night at the ProSouth Palace and I am so glad that I did.
ProSouth live is a different kind of indy wrestling experience. The show is as much performance art as it pro wrestling if not more so. As a promotion, ProSouth pays homage to pro wrestling's carnival roots.
Gimmick matches ruled the day. And so it should be. The casket match and the hair vs. hair match were wonderfully weird.
Alexander Lev's ProSouth debut in a Fight Without Honor with Ace Haven was everything it needed to be.
Brother Azriel did what he absolutely needed to do inside the steel cage.
I was oblivious to that fact there were no title matches on the card until a certain individual pointed it out. The show didn't lack without them. Some of the planned content had to be trimmed for practical reasons.
I was struck by how loud the crowd was in support of the babyfaces with 75 in the building.
(1) Casket Match: Caeden Ooten (with Harley Haven) defeated Eric Silva in 8:17. Ooten and Harley came onstage costumed as the evil clown couple from hell. Silva and Darkthorne received a huge "walk the path".
Silva was lighting C up with stiff shots, his blows audibly making contact. Steven Calozzi emerged from the casket and to make it two on one. Silva overcame the numbers. He knocked Calozzi out and deposited him the casket. Silva and Darkthorne trapped Harley. Darkthorne KOed Harley with his cane. Silva threw Harley on top of Calozzi and shut the lid. Silva dropped Ooten with Collateral Damage and tried to stick him in the casket too. There was no way to shut the lid with three bodies inside. Silva pulled Calozzi and Ooten out and slung them hard into the barricade. Harley shot a fireball at Silva from inside the casket. Back inside the ring, Ooten harpooned Silva. Calozzi decked Darkthorne and gave his chain to Ooten. C blasted Silva with the chain and put him in the casket. Silva blocked the lid being shut and goozled Calozzi. Ooten hit Silva with Darkthorne's cane and shut the casket.
This was a nice piece for Halloween business. All the player and weapons gelled. C's clown mask was awesome. Incorporating Calozzi into the match was a marvelous idea and having him coming out of the casket was genius. Harley's use of fire looked great. She learned from the master haha. Silva trying to close the lid on the casket with three bodies inside was preposterous. Be that as it may, Silva is eternally over in this building whether he wins or not.
Looks like we're going to get the Vougan/Midas match I've been hoping for. The match exceeded expectations. Midas' offense looked crisp. The layout had Andrews' fingerprints all over it -- everything made sense with a few surprises sprinkled in. Andrews is super over without having a discernable story direction.
Keast's intro video played. The music dissolved into mass distortion. The building was pitched into blackness. The ;ights came on to reveal regular Cam in the ring. Psycho Cam was a tease. The match opened with heel buffoonery. Keast snapped Adams' fingers, hurt him just like he promised. Keast had a mind to duct tape Adams to the ropes. Adams enveloped Keast in a cloud of powder. Adams wrestled. He got Keast in a crossface with a fork between his fingers. He took a few reckless swings at Keast with a curtain rod and tried to introduce a scissors. Keast duct taped Adams to the ropes and picked up the fork, but dropped it when he spied the scissors. Keast started carving on Adams' forehead. Adams bled. Amy Haven tried to talk sanity into Cam. Adams charged at Keast with the fork. Keast kicked one between the uprights and snapped Adams's neck. Adams was unconscious. Keast was in another world.
I loved this match. The premise of a bald manager forced to wear a wig seemed ripe for harmless, perverse comedy. This match was anything but that. Instead, we got serious violence and a shockingly competitive Scott Adams. He was stringing honest-to-God wrestling moves together. At the same time, Keast delivered the ass kicking he promised. Adams' selling of the finish was incredible. With the savage use of weapons, blood, unadulterated violence and Keast's psychopathic rage, by the time it was over, the wig wearing was no longer relevant.
(4) Leon Ruffin defeated Ravana Xin via DQ in 3:50. Xin planted Ruffin with a catatonic for a near fall in the first 30 seconds. She gave her brother-in-law the WOAD treatment but had a big ass miss trying to crush him in the corner. Ruffin rallied. As Ruffin flew through the ropes with tope, Xin threw a chair at him for the DQ.
Xin laid Ruffin out with a reverse piledriver on a chair after the match.
Crowd went dead. At least it was a short. Ruffin is really good but he can't walk on water. The postmatch suggested something further with Xin. What that could be I have no clue.
(5) Fight Without Honor: Alexander Lev defeated Ace Haven (with Ace Haven) in 15:31. Lev's music played but no Lev. Ace got on the mic about Lev being his bitch for not being there to face him. But after all Ace's talk, Lev was in fact at the ProSouth Arena in the flesh. Lev snatched the mic out Darkthorne's hand to introduce himself as "the only one." No doubt who was the heel in this building.
Lev wanted to fight - "none of this wrestling crap". Ace asked if Lev was afraid he would be outwrestled. Ace set out to do just that. Lev punched Ace in the face. Ace attacked Lev's leg. Lev's shotgun dropkick sent Ace flying off the apron into the barricade. Lev made it a brawl. He brought a chair into the ring but Amy took the chair away. The crowd got vocal for Ace. Lev gave Ace a nasty face wash with his boot. Ace dodged a Jimmy Rave STO and transitioned to a floatover DDT for near fall. Lev hit the STO. Ace kicked out at one. Ace had the Lev Clash scouted. Lev gave Ace a brainbuster suplex on the ramp. Ace fired a chair at the leg he softened up earlier in the match. Ace got a two count with a shining wizard. Lev blocked Ace's Endgame (pedigree) and gave him one of his own.
Good match with a surprisingly natural flow for a first time meeting. Just when it appeared Ace might be winding down his in-ring career, he's stepped up his game. The babyfaces at ringside was a nifty swerve. Lev had to win the first one in the ProSouth Palace. I'd love to see this match with their roles reversed. A bit of a Halloween trick to make it another no DQ match without naming it as such. It was only right to do a match haunted by the ghost of Jimmy Rave. The involvement of the Haven family stemmed from Lev's social media promo.
(6) Cage Match: Brother Azriel defeated Joe Black in 17:13. Joe flung the cage door at Az as he tried to enter. They picked up where they left off at Uprising -- beating the shit out of each other outside the ring. Once inside the ring, Joe completely overwhelmed Az in the opening minutes to the point it didn't appear Az was going to be any competition.
About 5 minutes in, Az responded with a Samoa Joe-like uranage out of the corner. Az looked for the Woodgrain but Joe wasn't nearly worn down enough. Az sent Black into three sides of the cage and got the first near fall of the match with a german suplex.
Black resorted to a low blow to set up the kill shot the base of the brain. Az kicked out. Black went for a diving headbutt. Az rolled out of the way. Az threw Black into the cage door which was already coming of the hinges. Black spilled to the floor and the battle moved to the stage. Az choke slammed Black onto a table that didn't break and barely gave at all. Az tried to put Black through the table with a jumping splash. Black rolled off. Az crash landed on the table which did not break. Az gave Black a Woodgrain on the floor. Black made it to his feet. Az gave Black a second Woodgrain on the stage. Az dragged Black into the ring to deliver a third Woodgrain. Referee T-Bird called for the bell and awarded the match to Az by referee stoppage. Az gave Black's limp body a fourth Woodgrain.
Amy Haven came into the ring. At this point, Black was on his knees laughing like a madman. Amy restarted the match. Darkthorne announced there had to be a clean winner. Black did the ropes walk springboard cutter he's been favoring of late and raised two fingers. But Az was first to his feet with a Woodgrain #5 and Black was done. Black placed the beads around the neck of Brother Azriel.
This was more than a must win for Brother Azriel. He had to show the killer instinct Joe Black cast doubt upon and his answer was definitive. They couldn't break the legendary table that remains undefeated. But they did break the stage with that piledriver. I wasn't sure what to make of the muted crowd reaction. The added faulty ref stoppage didn't help.
Double champion (ProSouth and YouTube) Scott Spade appeared holding both belts and motioned towards Az with Big Blue. Az will be Spade's opponent at Anniversary Supershow.
NOTES: Calozzi was hiding inside that casket for almost two hours...DRP was color commentary for the first two matches.. Darkthorne is making a habit out of doing triple duty and excelling at all of three...Jamie and his crew had the cage set up in for the main event in under 12 minutes...Jessie was the ringside videographer. She's more comfortable at ringside and framing her camera angles.
