ProSouth All Or Nothing -- June 5

From Lawrence Goodman: ProSouth continued its lurch forward towards Matter of Pride on June 19.  Vougan upset Christian Garrett to become th...

From Lawrence Goodman:

ProSouth continued its lurch forward towards Matter of Pride on June 19. 

Vougan upset Christian Garrett to become the new number one contender for the All-Out Championship and will face KJ Valentine for the title at Matter of Pride. 

The match of the night featured an unadvertised appearance by 2025 GWH Rookie of Year nominee JT Paradox, who made his ProSouth debut vs. Brother Azriel.  

The Process ruled the roost despite the absence of ProSouth Champion Joe Black and dark heart Commissioner Amy Haven. Led by Ayden Andrews, they defeated Team Haven led by Caeden Ooten in an all-action trios main event. 

Wicked Nemesis and Mathias Darkthorne on commentary, Darkthorne as the ring announcer per usual. Joseph Void received much needed help in the refereeing departent with the arrival of Caleb Layne (Premier). 

The show opened with Caeden Ooten, Harley Haven, Justin McKenzie and Oliver Green in the ring with Ooten doing the talking. Ooten said they didn't lose Caged Warfare because they were unprepared, they lost becase they were outnumbered. The Process did not have Amy Haven and Joe Black tonight so Ooten wanted to run Caged Warfare back. They might even be able to spin that shield and get Ace Haven out if they were in peril. 

Scott Adams entered the ring with Cameron Keast's jacket.  Adams said he did not know what happened to the shield because he got choked out last week. Ooten said maybe they wouldn't need Ace tonight. Adams tried to do some hocus pocus with the jacket. The lights went out and the music of the Process hit. 

Ayden Andrews, Joe Wood and Tragick came on stage. The Process hit the ring and drove all the heroes out. Ooten, McKenzie got back in the ring with steel chairs and whacked the Process with them. The Process retreated. 

This episode was not off to a rip roaring start. The echo in the ring mic was a problem, as was the silence from the crowd. The segment ran too long and was not all that interesting Not sure what it was supposed to prove except the babyfaces could not handle the Process in a fair fight.  

(1) True Grit (Christian Pierce & Julian Balderas) defeated Rebirth (Damon Thomas & Ryan Wyndell) defeated to retain the ProSouth Tag Team Championship in 12:31. Rebirth thought they were being clever by playing cat and mouse. Pierce crawled under the ring and attacked the geeks from the opposite side, then threw them to the wolf. Balderas sent Thomas airborne with a shoulder block and gave him a double arm suplex. Rebirth cut the ring in half on Pierce and displayed solid teamwork. Wyndell tried and failed to give Pierce a taste of his own medicine with Once Bitten. Balderas was a house of fire with the tag -- T-bone suplex for Thomas, spinning T-bone and long distance Biel throw for Wyndell.  

Thomas spoiled True Grit's finisher, then spread the ropes to spill Balderas to the floor. Rebirth hit their combo finisher on Pierce but Balderas broke up the pin. Rebirth went for their finisher on Balderas. He caused a "head-to-(dick) head" collision between Thomas and Wyndell. True Grit planted Thomas with the assisted Once Bitten for the win. 

ProSouth was stretching the soup out of necessity by giving this match 12 minutes. Rebirth held up their end pretty well. Balderas got the showcase his bad ass power.The explosiveness Balderas possesses cannot be taught. He's one of one legit. 

(2) LJ Borne defeated "The Playmaker" Wyn Brantley in 5:24.  Brantley picked up  a wrench. Bubba Cagle came onstage in a referee shirt and threw a flag on the illegal play by the Playmaker. Borne pinned a distracted Brantley with what Darkthorne generously called a stalling german suplex. 

Cagle vs. Brantley is bound to happen. Layne's debut was the most interesting thing about this unremarkable match. 

Brother Azriel was out to the ring with the briefcase he now had to defend like a title. Az said he understood Amy was making an all-out effort to thwart his goal of regaining Big Blue. That was why Andrews was back. Az called Andrews out and got Paradox instead. Paradox introduced himself the Brick Slaughterhouse, 245 pounds of arms and charm and he had spent the last 18 months tearing up the tri-state. 

(3) Brother Azriel defeated JT Paradox via submission to retain the Gold Rush briefcase in 12:58. Az outfoxed Paradox with  a 300+ pound Oklahoma roll in the opening minute. Paradox started pounding on Az. He had to struggle for it, but he got Az to the ground with a drop toehold and the pounding accelerated. Az answered with a Samoan drop. Paradox stayed on him with a trio of standing splashes.  Az took two Irish whips and a german. Paradox invited Paradox to bring it and bring it he did. Paradox leveled Az like nobody has with the Kydo lariat. Az sat up before Paradox could cover him. For the first time, Paradox showed fear. The tide was turning. Az took Paradox down, applied a Boston crab and tapped him out with the cobra clutch.

I loved how different this was from typical ProSouth fare and the story they told. Paradox threw everything he had at Az. Az withstood the onslaught and Paradox  finally ran out of gas. Ax was facing a super aggressive opponent capable of moving him around the ring and forcing him to take a different approach. And he was facing a different Paradox from the babyface version. This Paradox is brash, with big facial expressions and more of a larger than life quality about him.

(4) Vougan defeated Christian Garrett to become the new number one contender for the All-Out Championship in 7:06. Garrett dominated the match. He mounted the ropes to rain down punches on Vougan, who headbutted Garrett in the ironclads (this show has a lot low blows and Darkthorne specializes in coming up different names for the nether region), then powerbombed him and got the three count with a jackknife pin. Garrett was understandably stunned.

If Vougan was going to get a shot at a singles title, what better time than Pride month.

After the match, video of Valentine pinning Vougan while he laughed maniacally appeared on the screen behind the ring.  Vougan found the sound of Valentine's crazy laughter disturbing. That word reminds me, Brandon Whatley has evidently been outsted from The Process. 

Cut to The Process in the backstage interview room. Andrews said they needed to show they could get the job done without Joe and Amy. Wyndell was snatched up by Tragick as The Process came though backstage. The viewers had to take Wicked's word for it because the attack took place in pitch black darkness.

The Process (represented by Ayden Andrews & Joe Wood & Tragick) defeated Justin McKenzie & Oliver Green & Caeden Ooten in 7:38. Ooten set the tone by taking control of the match for his team. Green and McKenzie kept the momentum going. They did a tower of doom spot.  The last couple of minutes was one long sequence of big moves ending with a Andrews and Tragick simultaneously stomping McKenzie while Wood had McKenzie locked in the Salvation full nelson.

Although they lost, Team Haven had the better of it most of the way. Ooten was almost exclusively on offense and looked ready to give Joe Black a run for his money in the title match at Matter of Pride.