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From Larry Goodman:
Renegade Independent Pro Wrestling ran the fifth in their series of monthly live events at Atlanta Utility Works.
Hakeem Young won the Battle of Atlanta Tournament that has been the centerpiece of the RIPW events at this venue. Young and Bryce Cannon had an outstanding match for the finale.
The other big new item was the announcement of a joint show between RIPW and ACTION Wrestling on January 4, location to be determined.
Kudos to the professionalism of the RIPW roster who performed to the utmost of their ability in far from ideal conditions. The venue reportedly ran out of fuel for the propane heaters the day before the show and failed to remedy the situation by bell time. The temperature in the space where the ring was set up dropped into the mid 40s.
When the smoke cleared, the direction at the top of the card was this: Hakeem breathing down the injured neck of RIPW Champion Jay Lucas. Keelin Cole and Chad Sky Walker have major issues, Nawfside Heroes is stalking Dark Passion Assasins for the tag belts and somebody is going to get a shot at ACTION World Champion Darian Bengston on January 4.
Attendance peaked at 50. Given the work ethic of the talent and the quality of the in-ring product, it's a crying shame RIPW has not developed a larger following.
(1) Chad Sky Walker defeated Leavitis Golphin in 11 minutes. A more heelish shade of Agent 003, Skywalker was meting out tough love for LGV. Golphin was forced to step up his game after Sky Walker gave him a wake up call via a kick right in the face. Golphin kicked out of Sky Walker's moonsault elbow and countered his first attempt at the Reboot. A second Reboot did the trick.
Sky Walker asked the crowd to applaud Golphin's heart.
As Sky Walker was heading the back, Keelin Cole was making his way to the ring. They exchanged pleasantries and Cole trippped Sky Walker and said "I got a little smarter." I liked the subtlety of this interaction to build on their issues from the November show.
(2) Keelin Cole defeated Bryon Young in 6-7 minutes. Byron entered with a lot of pizazz. Crowd liked them both although Cole was not being a nice guy. Other than a couple of glitches (Young slipped off the ropes on a springboard and the finish looked wonky) this was one of the best matches of the show -- a hard hitting, back and forth, high wire act sprint. I haven't seen much of Byron. This match made me want to see more.
(3) Battle of Atlanta Tournament Finals: Hakeem Young defeated Bryce Cannon in 9:35. Heel vs Heel. Young in all his Hakeem Young show glory. Cannon with nothing but disdain for the good people in East Point. Crowd had no love for either of them. Cannon used The Tip to deck Hakeem and rubbed Young's face face into his stack of championship belts (CEW Chaos, DSW Tag and PCW Tag). Loved the realism of their struggle over a snap suplex. Cannon went wild after Hakeem touched The Tip. Hakeem's sheer aggressivness was blowing my mind. They did simultaneous cross chops and eye pokes to set up a double clothesline both men down spot. Cannon won a strike battle and broke out the corkscrew neckbreaker. I bought a ticket on the fake injury spot Cannon pulled off as he slipped off the ropes on Disaster kick. Cannon kicked out of Young's GTS at 2.99. Hakeem was losing his mind. Cannon hit a running blockbuster. Young speared Cannon and won with the Thrashing.
Young said he was new face of RIPW not "superbitch" Jay Lucas. He had graced RIPW with three consecutive Hakeem Young show and won the Unshackled match earlier in the year to become the number one contender.
That brought the the RIPW Champion to the ring. Lucas said he was the talent for the now, not just the future and that was why had been in the top spot for almost 700 days as the forever RIPW Champion. Young grabbed the belt. Swing and a miss. Lucas wailed away on Hakeem but ended up getting piledriven onto his title.
Young was presented with the Battle of Atlanta jacket for winning the tournament. Meanwhile, Lucas was left in bad shape holding his neck as he exited.
What a nice piece of business this angle was. Hakeem and Lucas are the perfect blend.
(4) Jacob Johnson defeated Mr. Danger to retain the Shoutout Social Media Championship in 5:13. Jay Tyler was Johnson's scheduled opponent. Danger stepped up to challenge Johnson. Danger's aerial pyrotechnics were on full display. Danger skull smacked against the concrete on a flip dive. Nobody's fault. Just one of those things that can happen on a high risk move. Danger didn't get up right away and I thought sure the match was over. Danger said he was good to continue and actually finished the match just fine. Johnson won with the New Jersey Throwdown. Backstage after match, Danger insisted he was Ok.
Intermission - the second half of this report is sketchy.
(5) Nawfside Heroes (Jose Manuel & Shoota Gabe) defeated KJ Valentine & Spectre in 11:20. I missed most of this match talking to folks. The final minutes was really good stuff. Nawfside messed with Daryl Hall to foil the babyfaces. Gabe gave Spectre a low blow and Manuel rolled him up.
Nawfside got in the face of 1/2 of the RIPW Tag Team Champions Dante Darko, who was on commentary.
(6) Alexandra Quinn defeated Zy Gold to retain the Queen of RIPW Championship via submission in 10:15. Gold is long on sassy attitude. Her wrestling wasn't bad either. Match was rough around the edges but interesting. Quinn had to overcome a bit of wardrobe malfunction. She fought off an Oblivion attempt by Gold, went into crash out mode and forced Gold tap to a double wristlock.
Renegade Enforcer "full of surprises" and "The Kingpin" Matt Griffin came to the to announce the two top dogs were teaming up for for a join show on January 4. Griffin said new ACTION World Champion Darian Bengston would be defending his title on that show.
(7) "Teflon" Jay Alpha Miller defeated DJ Bruner to retain the Southeastern Openweight Championship in 16:44. Teflon issed a prematch edict from on high - no more EBT and no more section 8. It was starting to get really cold in the building. These guy held nothing back and worked their asses off. Teflon took advantage of a ref bump to give Bruner a low blow and the third time was charm for Teflon's Second Amendment finisher.
(8) Hakeem Young defeated Yabba Dabba Daddy in 11:05. I was ready to tap out. The widely traveled YDD must be impervious to cold. He was walking around all afternoon barefooted in his caveman gear. Good match. Young kicked out of the Fire Drop Driver and pinned YDD with The Thrashing after two Vader Bomb and a Vader double stomp.
NOTES: Don Miguel and Tyreke were the commentary team...Darryl Hall and Mike Fullilove were the officials...Jeff Jobs was the ring announcer...Dee Munny and company handled the production with Chayn Male on sound...Najasism was visiting backstage. The broken bone in his ankle is healed and he is scheduled to start rehab shortly...RIPW GM Michael Lambros was lurking around the gimmick tables....Salem Alexander, Nikki Heat and Nathaniel Vanderbilt were in the house.
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