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| Photos by Mason Stewart |
From Larry Goodman:
Thank you RobBrod for stepping up to review the show last week. Rob was writing about ProSouth long before me.
Spring Spectacular is in the air. ProSouth's annual end of season event will be May 29 and they jump started the build with by announcing Caged Warfare as the main event.. The Gold Rush ladder match was also announced with Brother Azriel as the first entrant.
The main event of this show morphed into an angle for Caged Warfare. And it was truly a family affair. Daughter Harley and prospective son-in-law Caeden Ooten aligned with Ace Haven and his protege Justin McKenzie aligned against Amy Haven, ProSouth Champion Joe Black and the Process. There's a lot riding on this story. All of the chips have been pushed to the middle of the table.
In the best of times, ProSouth has good wrestling in the midcard to support the stories and the championships besides Big Blue. ProSouth is going through one of those periods when the talent pool is at the shallow end. New stars inevitably emerge as Julian Balderas has done this year. Part of the joy of reviewing this show is watching the process unfold.
A surprise appearance by Steven Calozzi was a welcome bright spot on this show. When last seen, Calozzi was being handcuffed and dragged out of the ProSouth Palace by a local authority on tax evasion charges. Calozzi return was bad news for his former teammate and current All-Out Champion KJ Valentine.
Wicked Nemesis and Mathias Darkthorne were in nearly award winning form in the announcer's booth. Darkthorne did double duty as ring announcer. Joseph Void was the referee. was the first time videographer Jeremy.
(1) Open Challenge: True Grit (Christian Pierce & Julian Balderas with Ryan Wyndell) defeated PopRock Connection (Von LaFlare & Donovan Thomas) to retain the ProSouth Championship in 9:46. PopRock Connection ping ponged Pierce and had him pinned with a casadora/codebreaker combo. Balderas yanked LaFlare up by the hair. Thomas interfered to save LaFlare from impending doom. While Pierce was complaining to the ref, Thomas tried to introduce a title belt and had it snatched out of his hands by Wyndell. Balderas sent LaFlare into Thomas and Pierce pinned LaFlare with an assisted High Noon double stomp.
True Grit was the silver lining of a lackluster Trinity Cup. Finish was slow in developing resulting in a ridiculously long ref distraction spot, other than that a surprisingly solid match. This was world's better than any match LaFlare or Thomas have had collectively or individually in ProSouth. No doubt Pierce being in the match had something to do with that.
(2) "The Beauty Standard" Vougan defeated "The Playmaker" Wyn Brantley via DQ in 4:27. Vougan locked in a Boston crab but was too close to the ropes. Brantley threw something to distract Void and hit Vougan with a wrench. Brantley covered for the three count a stuck the wrench in his armpit. Bubba Cagle came out and raised Brantley's hand. The wrench fell on the mat. Void reversed the decision.
Obvious where this was going as soon as Cagle appeared. Vougan lands some stiff looking strikes shots but too many of his strike look like he's pawing his opponent like one of my cats. That Boston crab is a good choice for Vougan's moveset because of his length.
Pryor took a call from his agent and got rolled up by Averson for two count. Pryor tossed his phone to Void and dropped Averson with a roundhous kick to the head. Pryor took his phone back and talked to his agent while he pinned Averson.
Pryor is not letting up. The absurd length to which Julius is taking this gimmick is entertaining me. Averson, whose gimmick is more proposterous than Pryor's, was better in the ring than his previous appearances.
(4) KJ Valentine defeated Bubba Cagle to retain the All-Out Championship in 11:26. Cagle forced Valentine to use up his ropes break early in the match (one per competitor under All-Out rules). Valentine relentlessly worked over one of Bubba's surgically repaired knees. Valentine applied a single leg crab and Cagle had to go the ropes. Cagle's knee was klling him as he unleashed his signature back elbow attack. As Cagle was set to deliver Fear Street 85, Brantley appeared at ringside to distract him. Valentined rolled Cagle up for two and beat him clean with the Blackout.
A styles clash of epic proportions. The anticipation for the Brantley/Cagle singles match builds...
A video clip of police sirens preceded the appearance of Steven Calozzi, finally out on bail. Calozzi made his way to the ring where former MPR teammate Valentine awaited him with open arms. Calozzi hugged Valentine, then knocked him out cold with his ever-present brass knucks. Calozzi posed with the All-Out belt before placing it on Valentine's unconscious body.
A breath of fresh air. The highlight of the first half.
Brother Azriel promo. Az admitted he was not in a good place mentally. His sole purpose at ProSouth was to become the ProSouth Champion. He accomplished that goal but success was fleeting because he got screwed out of the title by the Amy Haven and The Process and screwed again trying to get it back. He thought maybe it was time to move on but decided on a new mission: Make Amy Haven's life miserable. Az announced himself as the first entrant in the Gold Rush ladder match.
(5) Caeden Ooten (wirth Harley Haven) defeated Tragick via DQ in 6:15. Tragick's collar was glowing green. He snapped Ooten's fingers and seemed generally impervious to pain and punishment except when confronted by Harley. The match was nothing but a fight to the finish. The music of the Process hit. The stage lighting switched to deep red. Tragick and Ooten fired all their best shots to a state of exhaustion.
Caeden Ooten has become a great seller. How exactly Tragick's magic collar works has never been explained and I'm glad of it. That mystery should remain a piece of ProSouth's fantasy lore.
Amy and Joe Black appeared on stage...
And left it to their henchman Joe Wood to do the dirty work of jumping on Ooten for the DQ. Justin McKenzie and Oliver Green dispatched with Wood but turned their back on Black, who destroyed them and dumped them out like yesterday's garbage.
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Joe pushed Tragick into the path of Ace's springboard cutter. The Process was in full retreat.
Harley posed the question: Four of us, four of them, Caged Warfare on May 29?
I was not a fan of the Majora mask stuff or the direction of the story for the first few weeks and it's got me hooked now. As is so often the case at ProSouth, the creative was still cooking. The texture and flavors are now starting to come together.
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