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From Lawrence Goodman:
Pop Rock Connection (Von LaFlare & Donovan Thomas) & KJ Valentine defeated True Grit (Christian Pierce & Julian Balderas) & Steven Calozzi in 6:47. Calozzi attacked Valentine and kicked his ass all the way up the back s it was now a tag match. A priceless moment TV moment occurred when Thomas slapped his thighs in midair as he went for a senton directly into the hard camera. Pierce cleaned house on Pop Rock. Valentine and Calozzi returned to ringside. Pierce got distracted and rolled up by LaFlare. Calozzi was a day late in his effort to knock LaFlare's feet off the ropes.
Valentine domed Calozzi with the belt and dragged "shades" over near the crowd. KJ said Calozzi could have the title match he wanted so badly on members only.
True Grit is stuck with trying to put lipstick on a pig in this feud. Pop Rock served up a lot of slop and did not look ready for TV in this match. The only redeeming value was advancing Calozzi/Valentine without giving away the match.
(2) Gold Rush Qualifier: "Hollywood" Julius Pryor defeated Vougan in 4:39. Pryor took a phone call from his agent as the match got underway and almost got schoolboyed for a three count. Fast forward, Vougan put Pryor down with a barrage of offense but their temper got the best of them. Pryor crawled over to his phone. Vougan hung up the phone on Pryor's agent and got kicked upside the head.
This match had beaucoup perverse wrestling entertainment potential and it delivered. Pryor is interesting to watch no matter the persona, he's that special as an athlete. He sold his ass off. Vougan's offense was potato shots and stuff that did not look good.
"President" Jon Averson defeated "The Playmaker" Wyn Brantley in 5:36. Wicked said Averson was in his 17th term and referenced tariffs and the Dow being over 50K. Averson cheated on the break, an appropriately presidential action in the current environment. Averson did a leapfrog, hiptoss, dropkick sequence. Brantley heeled on Averson. He blew a whistle and came up a good three feet short on a top rope splash. Averson over with the Presidential Pardon.
Averson's dropkick nailed Brantley right on the button and it was all downhill from there. Nobody cared. Perverse comedy bonus points for Averson cheating on the break.
Justin McKenzie was in the ring with Oliver Green.
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Justin said he obviously had not been feeling like himself. They had been getting slaughtered by the Process and he did not knnow what was in Harley's mind to set them up for Caged Warfare. They had no chemistry, no game plan and if he started the match they were doomed. Green tried to slap McKenzie out of his negativity. Scott Adams came to the ring with laundry bag bearing gifts. OK, it was not a laundry bag, might have been a pillow case. Adams said game plans were overrated. He presented Green with Ace's ring jacket and had a bag of face paints for McKenzie. "Let's go hard in the paint."
Brandony Whatley and Joe Wood came onto the stage. Whatley said ring jacket and face paint aside, Team Haven was going to get their ass whupped. As the Process member with the most experience in Caged Warfare, he was going to start for his team and everyone on Team Haven was going to die.
This segment was not good. It left me less interested in seeing Caged Warfare. Whatley's big talk would have been more compelling if he not been submitted by Az in the opener last week and gotten his ass kicked by Ace to end the show. McKenzie is gaining valuable experience playing this role. I'm hating it every step of the way. McKenzie is the most over babyface ProSouth has and he's bogged down in a story where he's depressed loser.
(4) Joe Wood defeated LJ Borne via referee stoppage 2:07. The commentators were entertained and entertained themselves. Wood choke slammed Borne and had him pinned if he so desired. Wood put Borne through the Woodchipper and put him out with the Sanctuary (full nelson).
Borne made good squash material. Wood's offense has never looked better.
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(5) Christian Garrett vs. Brother Azriel was ruled a no contest at 8:53 due to interference by Julius Pryor. Azriel's pet move, the piledriver has been banned by Commissioner Amy Haven. Once he had Garrett softened up, Az instinctively went for his move and had to stop himself. Garrett seized on the opening by targeting Az's knee. Az blocked Glycerine and was in the midst of a rally when Pryor made his way into the ring.
Pryor got between Az and Garrett, who looked him at like WTF? Pryor sprung off the mat and simultaneously caught both of them with a splits kick. Pryor unleashed his arsenal of martial arts strikes until he had Az and Garrett incapacitated. Pryor ran through a sequence of martial arts poses.
This was spotlight the Pryor needed and he looked phenomenal. Would have been dumb for either Garrett or Az to take an L going into the Gold Rush.Nice to see a fresh match. It was also the first solid wrestling match of the night. This was hard-hitting high impact fight with no gratutious bumping.
Huckaby said he got a call from Joe Black two weeks ago about a roach problem named Caeden Ooten. Huck was going to get rid of Ooten, slap his girlfriend around and head back to Atlanta. Huck also told Darkthorne to order the fans to shut up.
Huck was taking no chances about getting heat. Can't blame him.
(6) Caeden Ooten (with Harley Haven) defeated Wiliam Huckaby in 9:15. Ooten jumped out on top, walloping Huck with right hand punches, knife edge chops and kicks. Huck rolled out and sat down. C went out after Huck and got run into the commentary booth. Huck grabbed Harley by hair. He threatened to hurt her if Ooten did not back off, then threw Harley into Ooten and punched him in the jaw. They brawled outside the ring. Match would have been a double count out had Void not resarted his count. A couple of times, Huck stuck his hand under the ropes to stop Void's count. Finally back inside, Huck used a uranage to set Oooten up a Huckasault that left both men down. They continued to batter each other.
Huck cracked Ooten across the back of the head with a hidden blade and covered him. Harley put Ooten's hand on the ropes. Huck grabbed Harley by the hair. Harley slapped Huck across the face. Ooten harpooned Huck for the three count.
A gritty, ugly, brutal match that got the job done. Huck received his just dessert from Harley.
Postmatch, The Process (Wood & Whatley & Tragick) destroyed Ooten. McKenzie and Green tried to make the save. Adams came onstage with the shield. Lights out for Ace's entrance. Ace and Tragick got into a life and death struggle on the stage. Tragick's collar was glowing solid green and he was standing up to Ace's blows. One of Ace's offensive moves sent them crashing through an iron coffin of chairs next to the stage (what was that doing there?). The mysterious masked man ran into the ring and laid Ooten out with a package piledriver. He was about to remove the mask as the screen went to the credits.
Zero indication that Tragick was about to be freed from the collar and The Process. The moves the masked man has been remind me of a particular individual.
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