Southern Fried Who's the Man Review -- April 4

From Larry Goodman: The heat goes on at Southern Fried. But the heels got their share of comeuppance this time around. Who's the Man wa...

From Larry Goodman:

The heat goes on at Southern Fried. But the heels got their share of comeuppance this time around.

Who's the Man was a night of major babyface returns. It only stood to reason all of these major players would be back sooner or later.  All in the same night was a turn of events few if any Southern Fried fans saw coming. 

All of them got huge crowd reactions and had pivotal moments in what was another compelling show for the Southern Fried crew and booker Todd Sexton. 

Jacob Ashworth became the undisputed Southern Fried Champion but he has hell to pay ahead. Billy Buck is medically cleared and will challenge Ashworth for the title in a Bunkhouse match on May 2. Southern Fried is skipping Wrestlemania weekend. 

Judas confronted Jaden Vain about the ridiculously bold claims he'd been making for months. Vain was left quaking in his boots and hopefully wore dark-colored underwear.

The schism in the Approved has been miraculously healed or was a swerve all along. A surprise appearance by Adryan Hawkins spelled doom for Michael Stevens.

Chianne Michaels returned to take back her position as ring announcer, much to John Johnson's dismay. Michaels was injured at the last show thanks to JJ.

Adam Vance was a one man band on commentary and production. Blake Blackwell was the ring announcer. The officials were David Weakley, Bryan Waites and Dee Byers.

Dominic Stuckey and Brian Blaze brawled their way in from the parking lot. The fight started with Stuckey attacking Blaze in his vehicle. Blaze tossed trash cans into the ring because he could. Security, referees, owner David Manders and matchmaker Sexton all got involved in trying to separate them. Jerry Nelms got his attitude adjusted. Blaze was ushered out of the building by security. Manders told Stuckey he was done for the night. Sexton assured Stuckey he would try to get him a match with Blaze but it would have to go through Matt Hankins.

(1) Xavier Cross (with Jaden Vain) squashed Jesse Cruz in 1:51. Cross won with what might be described as a deadlift choke slam. 

Hunter James came to the ring to check on his cousin. Vance said Cruz was not using the family name because he wanted to forge his own path. 

(2) Chad Sky Walker pinned Seth Delay in 5:47 after interference by Michael Walker.  Walker came to ringside and posted his former partner  behind the referee's back. Delay made it back into the ring but immediately ate the reboot from Sky Walker.

Walker said he would part ways with Delay when he said so. Delay was on colliision course with "Main Event" Michael Walker. Walker tried to humiliate Delay by putting one foot on his chest. Delay started beating Walker's ass and "Main Event" Mike got the limber tail.

(3) JT Paradox defeated Lucas DeSilva in a tug of war (1:Paraadox yanked DeSilva across the line to win his third consecutive athletic contest against DeSilva. Pardox  had previously beaten DeSilva in a suplex challenge and a grappling contest. Vance said you can't spell DeSilva without an L. 

DeSilva was an extremely sore loser. He wrapped the rope around Paradox's head with the knot in JT's mouth. This feud is far from over.

(4) Alexander Lev defeated Hunter James in 12:25. Good match. Lev worked over Hunter's midsection to neutralize his ability to hit the brainbuster. Lev was in disbelief when James kicked out of his piledriver. James backflipped off the top rope to escape Lev's sunset powerbomb and hit the Hollywood Twist. James was looking for the brainbuster when he got distracted by the sight of Christian Taylor draggin a comatose Jesse Cruz  up the aisle with saran wrap around his head. Lev rolled James up for the cheap win. 

James ran to check on his cousin.

The Crusade is methodically torturing James. He's seen his father, his girlfriend and now his cousin dragged into this mess. 

Lev anointed himself as the Southern Fried champion in waiting.

Nick Halen defeated "Marvelous" Michael Stevens with Bobby Moore as the special referee (8:48). The deal was Marv would only accept the match if Moore was the referee. Marv was getting heat with his antics. Moore appeared to be favoring Stevens during the match. Stevens (accidentally?) kicked Moore in the gut. As Moore and Stevens appeared to be letting bygones be bygones, Adryan Hawkins sneaked into the ring. Stevens turned into a codebreaker from Hawkins. Halen hit the Macho Man elbow. Hawkins and Moore joined forces to make the three count. The Approved reunited. The crowd loved it. 

(6) Christian Taylor defeated Kay Jay Impala via submission in 6:47. Taylor is a maniac. He got Impala to  momentarily lower his guard and choked of his air supply. 

(7) Jaden Vain (with Xavier Cross) defeated Disturbed in 2:44. Disturbed goozled Vain. That brought Cross onto the apron to cause a commotion. Vain blasted Disturbed with the loaded glove and covered for the three count. 

Disturbed rose up. Vain looked like he'd seen a ghost. Disturbed and Cross brawled to the back. 

Vain could not help himself. He had to run his mouth. He beat Todd Sexton twice in one night. He won the tag team championship.  He knocked out all three members of the Approved and beat them all by himself. It was all about him.

I am the undisputed, undefeated Man of Southern Fried.

The lights went out. 

Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around" hit the sound system first, followed by the classic "O Fortuna. The reaction to Judas was something special.

Judas took his time, relished the moment. Judas addressed each side of the ring asking, "Whos' the man?". Vain tried to blindside Judas with the loaded glove. Judas grabbed Vain's arm and made sure he put that glove away.  

Judas said this: For four months, Vain stood in the ring and had people call him the man, told people he was feared. Vain didn't just beat a monster tonight, he opened a door and Judas was the one who walked through it. The mantle Vain had been carrying had his name on it. Vain was not the man, never was the man,  not feared, would never be feared. 

You don't know fear is, kid You don't know what it's like to stand across the ring from me...So no, you are not the man. You are a noise that woke me up.

Everything a diehard Southern Fried fan could have hoped for. Judas was a tour de force on the mic. He growled his word more than he spoke them. He is one scary, menacing dude. I'm pretty sure he likes me, but he still scares me. Jaden Vain has great instincts as a performer. He is making it happen in this role. 

(8) Jacob Ashworth defeated CT Keys two out of three falls to become the undisputed Southern Fried Champion in 12:10. JJ wanted to give Keys his disrespectful championship introduction. Keys said "No, No No" and pointed to the aisle. Chainne Michaels burst through the curtain,  mic in hand and launched into the proper ring introductions.

Keys took the first fall in fast.  He got the cobra clutch locked in and Ashworth tapped stat to prevent further damage.

The second fall was filled with brawling outside the ring. Ashworth rammed Keys' back into the edge of the ring and focused his attack on the body part. Nothing pretty about it but effective. JJ grabbed Keys by the leg to prevent him from getting back in the ring and Ashworth made it one fall apiece on the count out at 5:09. Keys grabbed JJ by the lapels. Manders decked him. 

Keys cranked up the intensity in the third fall. Xander Seabolt hit the ring out of nowhere. Seabolt was deposited on top of Ashworth and escorted to backstage by Manders. Ashworth hit Ashes to Ashes. Referee Bryan Waites weirdly ignored the pin attempt and went up the aisle while Ashworth scored a visual three count??? Key ducked a belt shot from Ashworth and applied the cobra clutch. Waitesreturned just in time to get knocked down. Ashworth nutshoted Keys and tried for Ashes to Ashes. Keys fought it off and Pounced Ashworth. Key  covered for more than a three count

Lev sprinted in wearing a ref shirt to make the count. He stopped  at two and started laughing. Vance wondered what happened to the legit referees. Good question. Keys was furious. Lev took off running. Keys chased Lev back into the ring. Ashworth was laying in wait to blast Keys with the title belt. Lev woke Waites up. Ashworth scraped Keys off the mat to hit Roll of the Dice and Waites made the three count. 

Quite the roller coaster ride. The ref screw up reminded me I was watching fake wrestling for a minute. A hugely entertaining thumbs up overall.  I like Lev in the role of the devilish spoiler. Keys vs. Lev must happen.  There's nothing fancy about Ashworth. He understands what makes this character tick.

Lev applauded. Ashworth celebrated with a title belt in each hand. Keys chased Lev clean through the backstage area.

Manders informed Ashworth he would be defending those belts on May 2. 

Guess what? He's cleared!

Buck sprinted down the aisle and laid Ashworth out with the Buckshot. Ashworth was flopping around like a fish out of water. 

Buck picked up the mic. 

And it's going to be a Bunkhouse Match bitch!

Can't wait for Georgeanne Hardin to get back in the act. 

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