RIPW Unshackled 3 -- Atlanta on February 1

From Larry Goodman: I alway have fun at RIPW. Unshackled 3 was more fun than usual.  It was RIPW's  best show in many moons.  Attendanc...

From Larry Goodman:

I alway have fun at RIPW. Unshackled 3 was more fun than usual. 

It was RIPW's  best show in many moons. 

Attendance as Kagez was 100+. Their best number since before the ill-fated move to Atlana Utility Works last summer.

This show cooked. Three titles changed hands, four title changes in all. That will make sense by the end of this report.

Don Miguel and Tyreke provided the commentary for the RIPW YouTube Channel. I had the pleausure of sitting within earshot and was entertained by their chemistry. 

Preshow: Don Cameron defeated Justin McKenzie. Good match. McKenzie was laying his stuff in against the signifiantly larger opponent. Cameron put the debuting Alabamian away with a TKO.

(1) Aerial Van Go pinned Najasism in  10:11. An oddity was Van Go brandishing a paint brush and referee "Grandpa" Daryl Hall giving him a pass. Najasism targeted Van Go's Van Go stuck the paint brush up Naja's derriere. Naja recovered sufficently to hit a Gori Bomb but got dropped on his head and pinned with the Aearial Go Round

A great way to open -- technical, acrobatic, fast paced action.-- Seeing Van Go  live when he makes one of his rare ATL appearances is always treat.   How Naja got shut out of the GWH awards nominations is a mystery to me.

(2) Keelin Cole defeated Champion "Teflon" Jay Alpha Miller and "Agent Double 003" Chad Sky Walker and Mr. Danger in  fatal four way to win the Southeastern Openweight Championship in 11:42. Miller had the audacity to say MLK died for no reason. It was the Mr. Danger show early on. He broke out a Van Daminator and a two-for-one special off the barricade. Sky Walker's turn -- sliced bread, suicide dive, swanton. Cole hit a Stundog Millionaire and a DVD. Skywalker took a perilous top rope blockbuster/electric chair combo from Cole and Miller. Teflon locked Danger in the cobra clutch. Cole broke it that up with a missile dropkick. The challengers wasted Miller with a triple superkick. Cole hit the Keeling Cutter on Danger, shut Teflon's mouth with a superkick and pinned Skywalker with a Keeling Cutter to capture the title.

Cole and Sky Walker made peace after the match. 

Stellar performances all around to where there was no loser. A spotfest for sure but nothing overly insane, well maybe the blockbuster/electric chair was. Cole has been upping his game for a minute and was due for a championship. His tough love saga with Skywalker has been a good story. Somehow I did not expect a happy ending. 

(3) "Crash Out Cutie" Alexandra Quinn defeated "The Chaotic Nightmare" C-Rex via count out in 6:34. Shalonce Royal was on commentary. Quinn had never encountered a badass the likes of C-Rex. The woman is built like a tank. Quinn was fearless but neither was her offense making much of dent in this monster. C-Rex womhandled Quinn and obliterated her with a lariat but there's no quit in Quinn. The action spilled outside the ring. Quin dodged C-Rex, who ran smack into the post. Quinn scrambled back into the ring and C-Rex was counted out.

The count out finish was a good call. Quinn had to use guile to hang onto the championship. C-Rex is an extraordinarly unique talent. 

Royal said next month, she would take what was rightfully hers from Quinn. She was the most interesting and best looking talent on the RIPW roster. 

Royal picked up where she left off at RIPW. Her aura and authenticity as a heel something to behold. 

(4) Dark Passion Assassins (Neji Ichiban & Dante Darko with Stella Randy) defeated Nawside Heroes (Jose Manuel & Shoota Gabe) and Big Bucks (Andre & Dante Majors) in 8:42. This match had a spot I'd never seen before -- Nawfside gave Big Bucks stereo dropkicks causing a chain reaction noggin knocker. Manuel's flip dive popped the crowd. They did a sequence of double teams and saves leading into the finish which was Ichiban's Scarlett Overdrive followed by Darko's spiral tap to pin Dante.

Big Bucks are game but green and were struggling to keep up with the other teams in this match. Dark Passion Assasins nalled the finish so it was all good in the end.

Renegade Enforcer's business partner Michael Lambros set the stage for Renegade's first match in 18 months. Renegade had not wrestled since he stopped an armed robbery at a dollar store in November 2024. 27 rounds were fired and Renegade sustained a bullet wound in his left shoulder. 

(5) Renegade Enforcer defeated Ace Haven (with Amy Haven) in 6 minutes. Huge pop for Renegade of course. He was squashing Ace in the corners and tossing him around like a sack of potatoes until Ace stepped aside, and Enforcer's left shoulder slammed into the post. Ace hit a long distance leg drop for a near fall and went back up top to finish the job. This time, Enforcer slugged Ace in the mouth. Ace took his signature crash and burn bump to the floor.  McKenzie jumped on the apron and got hauled into the ring by Renegade. Ace saved his protege with  a low blow on Renegade for the DQ.

The RIPW fans at first didn't know what to make of the Havens but quickly learned not to like them.  Renegade was more explosive than I remembered him being.The match was getting really good heat before it was over.

(6) Joe Black defeated Herculon Rage and Ben Bishop and Austin Towers and Edddie Hindrixx and Lamar Diggs to become the Shout-Out Social Media Champion (RIPW's equivalen of Money in the Bank) in 13:38. Rage and Towers started with the other four competitors shackled to the corners. Competitors entered at two minute intervals. Hindrixx griped about black men being shackled. 

Towers eliminated Rage with a one foot dropkick in less than two minutes. Bishop was next. The confrontation between the seven footers was a spectacle  After exchaning ridiculously stiff impacts, Towers pinned Bishop with a choke slam at 4:51. Diggs pinned Towers with a splash off the top at 6:18. Hindrixx was unshackled and started lighting Diggs up. Black was the last to enter and unleashed a wicked barrage of chops. Hindrixx and Diggs teamed up to temporarily sideline Joe. Hindrixx tried to back drop Diggs. Tyreke said that was too much dip for his chip. Hindrixx got the job done the second time around but Diggs eliminated him with a sitout powerbomb. Down to Diggs and Joe. Diggs blocked Joe's spear and hit the sitout powerbomb but Joe kicked out. Hindrixx played sore loser and dumped Diggs off the top. Joe speared Diggs and finished him off with a forearm to the base of his brain. 

Towers vs. Bishop was a moment. Towers getting a clean pin on Bishop is no small thing. The white guys were out  from the match in short order. This was less violent than the GIPW version of the match (Unchained) that involved heavy use of weapons Not that I'm complaining, this match had some serious high impact action.

(7)  Hakeem Young defeated  Jacob Johnson to win the vacated RIPW Championshp in 16:20. This was a fight from start to finish. Both men down in complete states ot exhaustion. Young hit a Vader bomb. Johnson countered a second Vader bomb with a power slam and both were down again. Moments later, Hakeem thought he had the match won but Johnson was holding the  rope. Hakeem tried the Eddie Guerrero gambit - went down like he'd been shot and tossed the belt to Johnson. Referee Dana Goodman wasn't buying it. Hakeem shoved Johnson into Goodman and gave him a low blow when the ref's back was turned. With Johnson in agony, one well-placed running knee strike did the trick.

This was a war of attriton. It had the Hakeem Young level of intensity and Johnson hung right with him. They got across the grueling nature of the match with their selling. 

Joe Black made stealth entrance to the ring accompained by Amy Haven. Hakeem never knew what hit him. Joe laid Hakeem to waste and declared he was cashing in.

(8) Joe Black (with Amy Haven) defeated Hakeem Young  to become the new RIPW Champion in the blink of an eye. Joe delivered a kill shot to the base of the Hakeem's brain and the deed was done.  

A stunning turn of events. Black just debuted at RIPW debut last month and the Joe & Amy act coming in from ProSouth was not on anybody's bingo card.

Joe gave the RIPW fans their first taste of a Joe Black promo. He usually takes no prisoner on the mic and this was one of those. Joe said you got fat while we starved. Joe invoked the name of Jimmy Rave and said they (the Hierarchy/AWE) were the originators and he was no longer going to be kept down. He was glad Georgia was giving Hakeem his flowers. He was going to bring those flowers to Hakeem's funeral.

NOTES: The return date for RIPW at Kagez Sports Hall in March ...Referees: Daryl Hall, Dana Goodman, Mike Fullilove and Becca...The ring announcer was Jeff Jobbs (not Jobs)...Spotted in the house and/or backstage: Ehren Black, William Huckaby, Trace Haven, Vougan, Salem Alexander, Travis 3000, Tyler Stevens, Deity, Brother Azriel,  Spectre and Von (not Ron) LeFlare.