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From Larry Goodman:
Endgame is right. A saga that had built relentlessly throughout 2025 came to a crescendo at Southern Fried's final show of the year.
Southern Fried has put on many great singles matches this year: Todd Sexton's retirement match against Judas, the Mayhem match between Disturbed and Adrian Hawkins, the Halen/Keys Southern Fried title match, the Rinauro/Keys title switch that kicked of the year.
The Classics Championship match Hunter James and Dominic Stuckey had on this show is in a class by itself. It was the magic that can happen in a pro wrestling ring when the writer and the performers realize a shared vision.
Stuckey was a nobody to Southern Fried fans when he arrived on the scene as Hunter James new recruit for the Crusade. As they relationship soured, Stuckey has risen to the occasion through all the twists and turns in the story. He left the building Saturday night as the most over babyface in Southern Fried with fans lined up outside the building for a photo opporunity with the new Classics Champion.
By June, James was my choice for wrestler of the year based the body of work he had already amassed. The award was his to lose in the back half. He went on to hold championships six different companies during the course of the year. Whether James wins the award or not, he gave a tour de force performance Saturday night.
Southern Fried owner David Manders' issues with Jacob Ashworth and John Johnson hand an epic escalation during the Ashworth's match with Billy Buck. Ashworth and Buck settled not a thing. Their war has just begun.
Southern Fried Champion CT Keys and Nick Halen were having a standout title match until former champion Sal Rinauro spoiled it. Stylistically, their match was quite the contrast to James and Stuckey. All four of those guys worked their asses off.
One of the keys to the success of this show was the pacing. The undercard hit their times to perfection, leaving the crowd fresh and energized for the hell on wheels that was the second half of the show.
Attendance at the Walton County Boys and Girls Club Gym was 200+.
Manders opened the show by addressing the departure of Johnson and his shitty attitude. Manders admitted he never cared all that much for JJs ring announcing.and introduced Chianne Michaels as the new ring announcer.
(1) Jaden Vain & Xavier Cross defeated Hayden Seal & Ashton Martin to retain the ProSouth Tag Team Championship in 8:58. Vain carried both title belts to the ring with him and got a ton of heat. His "yeah, yeah, yeah" catchphrase got an instant "No! No! No!" Cross dropped Seal like a bad habit and the manhandling of the babyfaces got underway. The hot tag was a hot mess. Seal hit a Catatonic on Vain and got pulled out by Cross. Martin crashed and burned. Vain pinned Seal.
Post-match, Seth Delay missile dropkicked Vain and ran off with the title belts.That's all that really mattered.
(2) Disturbed defeated Bobby Moore in 3:52. "Marvelous" Michaels propositioed Moore Offered a disingenous helping hand and tried to convince Bobby Approved didn't give two shits about him. Bobby as not buying in. I keep forgeting to mention how much I love Disturbed's weirdly enchanting entrance music.
They met in the aisle. Disturbed picked up the ring bell and applied the dreaded nerve hold back inside the ring. Moore was punching Disturbed's mask. What is he nuts? Stevens distracted the ref with a chair. Moore with a discus foream for visual fall while that nonsense was going on. Disturbed got up and pinned Moore with a reverse choke slam if that makes any sense.
(3) Seth Delay defeated Xander Seabolt in 5:56. Former hero Seabolt appeared to be having mental problems that had sickening his mind. Delay is beloved. That's all there is to it. He came in hot and and was playing to the crowd, smooth and relaxed, like only certain veterans can do. Seabolt dusted off Azriel's Ted Bundy. It's a killer move. If Seabolt can perfect it, he's got himself a new finisher. Delay kicked out and pinned Seabolt with an inside cradle.
Vain and Cross attacked Delay in attempt to regain control their hardware and screwed up royally. Delay left with the belts for good.
(4) Champion CT Keys vs. Nick Halen for the Southern Fried Championship was ruled a no contest at 18:02 due to outside interference by former champion Sal Rinauro. Keys was decimating Halen with his power game. He sent Halen clean out of the ring with a shoulder block. Halen appeared to take a release german suplex right on his neck but told Dee Byers he was alright. Keys caught Halen's tope and planted him on the apron with a uranage. He added to Halen's agony with a high back body drop. Halen took advantage of Keys' aggressive by spreading the ropes to spill Keys to the floor. Halen followed up with a pair of topes. The effects of Halen's offense was beginning to take a toll on Keys. They traded shots with both men clearly worse for wear. Pieface by Keys. Halen with a slap across the face. Both men down after Halen's STO. Halen nipped up and turned on the afterburner. Keys choke slammed Halen and both were down again out of sheer exhaustion. Keys pounced Halen for a count of 2 and 7/8. Keys motioned for the F5. Halen reversed it with a crossface but Keys powered out. Halen applied a sharpshooter. Keys powered out of that as well. Keys pounced Halen again but did not get all of it and was had taken too much damage to make a solid cover. Halen slipped out Keys' cobral clutch, sending the champion to the floor. A small group of ringside fans chanted "this is awesome". As Keys tried to reenter the ring, Halen was waiting with a Gamebreaker and a Macho Man elbow off the top.
A masked man jumped onto the apron and got pulled down by security. Halen pulled the mask off revealing that Rinauro was under the hood, although Sals "NWA Power" hoodie was kind of a dead giveaway. Sal blasted both competitors with the title belt, then plopped down and gleefully clapped to his hearts content. Halen and Keys displayed sportsmanship and mutual respect.
Great match. The lack of crowd reaction was appalling I get that babyface is a tough sell with Southern Fried fans but this was ridiculous.
-- INTERMISSION--
Seth Delay challenged Vain & Cross to a ladder match for the tag titles on January 17. He knew Vain slashed his tires to cost he and Michael Walker the titles and said rest asured, he had the title belts in safe keeping until then.
Halen called Rinauro out to bet the smile off his yellow belly egg sucking ass. Sal came to ringside, sat down on a stool and laughed. Stevens attacked Halen from behind. Sal tackled Halen and Madstreet put their OG boots to him. Moore tried help the good guys but was attacked by Disturbed. Keys came to Halen's rescue.The entire segment went down just like it was drawn up on the blackboard.
(5) Jacob Ashworth vs. Billy Buck with David Manders as the special referee was bell to bell chaos except the bell never rang. A slugfest right from the jump. A security guy got decked. A chair was brought into play. Manders took a seat in the middle of the ring with his arms folded to watch. All he needed was a tub of popcorn. The crowd was chanting "Bily". Ashworth imposed his will but could keep Buck down for a three count. Buck came roaring back and had Ashworth teed up for the Buckshot but no. Buck put on the breaks to avoid slamming into the referee. Ashworth hit Ashes to Ashes. Buck kicked out at 2.9. Ashworth set up for Roll of the Dice and told Manders count three or else. Buck reversed it with a figure four.
JJ, the self-proclaimed quitter confronted Manders in the ring. Ashworth clubbed Manders from behind. Ashwoth and JJ shook on their devilish deal. JJ slapped Manders and Buck stepped in to put a stop to it. JJ and Ashworth left with huge heat.
(6) Dominic Stuckey defeated Hunter James to win the Classics Championship in 25:02. The pop for Stuckey swelled from the moment he came into view until he was standing in the ring. James' entrance got heat but still some cheers mixed in.
Less than two minutes in, James was bleeding from the forehead after a taking a shot into the ring spot.
Stuckey pounded the cut. James instinctively responded with the PPS for the first two count of the match. James took a Bret Hart chest bump into the buckles and was on rubber legs. Stuckey hit a codebreaker. James was laughing about the blood. James gave Stuckey a trio of double ax blows off the ropes. His moonsault missed huge. But James had Stuckey's ripcord Black hole slam scouted. He went for broke with a Styles Clash and was looking a wee bit desperate when Stuckey kicked out of the move. James was wobbly. Sensing he was on borrowed time, James tried for the brainbuster. Stuckey escaped and hit the Blackhole slam but could not hold Hunter down with a back cover. James' superkick was on the mark but not good enough for a three count. James was losing it. He hugged the ropes. The lights were on but nobody was home.
Stuckey hit his sometimes finisher, the butterfly cutter. Joey Hyder, who had sneaked down the ring undetected, pulled referee Bryan Waites out of the ring. James capitalized on the diversion with the brainbuster. Hyder threw Waites back into the ring. His count was agonizingly slow and Stuckey kicked out at the absolute last split second. James and Hyder got into it. James dropped Hyder and told Waites to eject him. Waites obliged. Stuckey rolled through on James flying bodypress and scooped him up for an Attitude Adjustment. James flailed out of the cover at two. Hunter tried for a ViperPlex on the apron and just kind of collapsed. Stuckey struggled mightily to beat the 10 count. James stomped Stuckey as he came through the ropes. Dom kicked out again. Back and forth they went. Stuckey popped the crowd with a Pele kick. James used a hidden blade. Both men were utterly spent. James tried to kip up but clutched his back and could not pull it off. Stuckey sprung to his feet. James was looking for an avalanche brainbuster. Stuckey slipped to his feet and wickedly took target practice on Hunter's head with thrust kicks. Stuckey took the title with an avalance attitude adjustment.
James grabbed his precious title for the final time, then took a knee to present the belt to the new champion.
The celebratory pop for Stuckey's title win louder and longer than for any title change in a long time. Adam Vance compared it to was the night Ike Cross beat Adryan Hawkins for the title.
-- The sight of blood so early in the match was a shocker and this was wrestling magazine type blood, dripping across Hunter's eyes and nose.
-- This false finishes were phenomenal. I bought a ticked on the brainbuster. Bryan Waites' agonizingly slow count on the false finish was perfect.
-- Stuckey showed classic babyface fire. James' selling of the blood loss was tremendous. Some would say too exaggerated but in the hands of a great heel, it works.
NOTES: Blake Blackwell was on commentary alongside Adam Vance. I was hearing things when I said Blakewell was the one who mentioned a crowd of 1000 for Shinding. It was Drew Blood who made that outrageous claim during his promo...The return date in at the Boys and Girls Club is January 17...Dee Byers, David Weakley and the aforementioned Bryan Waites were the referees...Dany Only was backstage and in great spirits. Only is now a teacher at Dacula High School and is also coaching wrestling.
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