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| Photo by Peter Sigmund |
From Larry Goodman:
For Pro South, Matter of Pride was a matter of conviction. The company consistently features LGBTQ performers. This was their third June spectacular entitled as such.
Every once in a while, something wonderfully surreal this way comes. Harley Haven defeated TragiCK to win the recognized version of the YouTube Championship. Conceptually the match was one of a kind. For ProSouth fanatics, it was a bonanza of illumination.
Ace Haven made one of his increasingly rare official match appearances and retained the lineal YouTube Championship in an epic slice of hardcore insanity with Joe Wood.
Joe Black is still in proud possession of Big Blue after a grueling title defense against Caeden Ooten.
The three-way tag title match announced last week was switched to a singles and a triple threat. Both matches resulted in upsets.
The show was a gem for time management. For only the second time in the 17 year history of the company, Prosouth presented an eight match card (the other being Anniversary Supershow XII) and the run time was under two hours.
None of the opening half matches stayed in the ring a nanosecond longer than necessary. The table was set and the second half delivered the goods.
The ring mic was on the fritz again so the livestream did not do the crowd reactions justice.
Wicked Nemesis and Darkthorne populated the commentary booth. Joseph Void and newcomer MT refereed.
Wearing his ring announcer hat, Darkthorne interrupted his intro with a middle finger to somebody in the crowd and a thank you to the hate watchers online. Darkthorne later apologized for his unprofessional behavior.
(1) Neji Ichiban (with Stella Randy) defeated Julian Balderas in 4:03. Ichiban came in hot. Balderas was said to be nursing a left shoulder injury and that looked to be the case. Bouncing the back of his head on the landing of an airplane spin Balderas no favors either.Ichiban leapfrogged a spear and Balderas crashed into the turnbuckle shoulder first. Ichiban kicked the bum shoulder and cradled Balderas for the win.
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| Photo by Peter Sigmund |
Good while it last. An upset win for Ichiban. Balderas had an out with the shoulder injury.
(2) Bubba Cagle defeated Wyn Brantley in 4:25. The video glitched in the beginning. Cagle reversed Brantley's implant DDT into Fear Street 1985 (hammerlock DDT) to secure the pinfall.
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| Photo by Peter Sigmund |
A feud that has been filled with oddball gimmicky was put to bed in a straight up wrestling match. Wyn kept his winless ProSouth record intact (0-11).
(3) Damon Thomas defeated Christian Pierce and Dante Darko in a triple threat (4:41). Thomas had both tag title belts. Pierce and Darko were buddy buddy babyfaces. They teed off on Thomas. Pierce landed a Midnight Mass on Darko. Cool move where Darko used Damon's back as a platform for huracanrana on Pierce. Each of the three got a chance to shine leading to a triple down. Thomas brought one of the belts in and ate double superkicks from the good guys. Thomas stumbled into a belt shot on Darko. Pierce won a tug of war and nailed Thomas with the belt but Thomas landed on top of Darko.
The heel literally fell into the upset win against two babyfaces. The layout had Pierce's fingerprints all over it. That's a good thing in case you don't know it. And they executed.
(4) KJ Valentine defeated Vougan to retain the All-Out Championship in 7:27. Valentine broke out some of unique offense (implosion cannonball and a seated full nelson). Vougan got frustrated after Valentine kicked out of his hangman's neckbreaker and took it out on KJ. Valentine rocked Vougan with a superkick right to the mush. Vougan hit a version of a Gori Special bomb, forcing Valentine to use up his rope break. Valentine used a shining wizard to set up a double stomp off the top to retain.
The match exceeded modest expectations. I thought they might do a short-term title switched in a honor of Pride month and was glad that did not happen.
(5) Ayden Andrews defeated Brother Azriel to win possession of the Gold Rush Briefcase in 10:41. Andrews said he had a gift for Az: Commissioner Amy Haven gave permission for the piledriver to be legal in their match because he wanted to beat Az at his best.
At the opening bell, Andrews stunned Az with a flying knee at the bell and hit Nail In The Coffin. Az shocked Andrews by kicking out at one and rolled out. Andrews was on him but Az muscled Andrews into a rebound back fist and planted him on the floor with a uranage Back inside, Az punished Andrews with high impact offense and chops. They went to strong style strikes. Andrews was the first to go down. Andrews sprung from the mat with an enzuigiri and hit an STO for a two count. Both men were worse for wear in the 90 degree heat. Andrews hoisted Az onto his shoulder for a Ushigiroshi, dear God. He could not get all of it and AZ leveled him with a lariat. The impact did a number on both men.
Az slowly rose into position for the Wood Grain piledriver. Referee MT got knocked down. Az locked in the cobra clutch. Andrews tapped. Az tried to revive the ref. Andrews blasted Az with the briefcase and droved his head into the case with Nail In The Coffin and MT counted three.
For the quality of the wrestling, this was best of show. My issue with the match was the backdrop. Az's superhuman recovery from the conchairto seven days ago was ridiculous. The conchairto was never mentioned and Az showed no ill effects. Neither am a fan of Gold Rush gimmick being treated like a title in a company that has too many championships already.
If you don't give a shit about Tragick and Harley Haven because the story is too far-fetched for your imagination, feel free to skip to the next match.
(6) Harley Haven defeated "The Mask That Wears the Man" TragiCK to win the recognized YouTube Championship in 6:36. A deadly serious Harley clasped hands with brother Trace on her way to the ring.
Cameron Keast appeared on the big screen in a video purportedly recorded the night before Amy Haven turned on the collar to make him her slave. The showing of the video was proof positive the plan he and Harley devised was working. Keast lore dumped for the duration of the match:
-- Ravana Xin, Keast and Harley were all victims of Zombie Dragon. His victims can acquire Zombie's unnatural powers. Xin obtained the ability to heal. Keast gained was the ability to throw fire. Harley's was the mist.
-- Harley botched a ritual with Zombie Dragon. That was why she got the green hand disease.
-- If a victim drank the blood of another victim, he or she could inherit that victim's unnatural powers. Back in the Broken House era, Keast knew that if he was go to help Harley get rid of the disease he was going to have to have the disease himself. That was how Cam ended up with the mist and a green hand of his own. A couple of years ago, Harley licked some of Cam's blood off a fork. That meant she could throw fire.
-- He and Harley had a chance to experiment and find out how the collar worked but could not figure out how to get it off Cam. The white collar light meant Psycho Cam was in at full power. If he was in close proximity to Harley, the power of the collar weakened but Psycho Cam could regain control. But if he was close to Harley for too long, the collar light turned blue and True Blue Cam was present. They knew Cam's presence would be temporary and their plan was to get close enough to Psycho Cam to disconnect the wires to the light.
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| Photo by Mason Stewart |
While Keast was explaining, Harley and TragiCK acted it all out in the ring. Harley blinded TragiCK with the green mist. She threw the fire. When TragiCK healed and moved closer to Harley for the kill, he weakened and the light on the collar eventually turned blue. Harley and True Blue Cam embraced. As TragiCK regained his magical powers and tried to choke Harley out, she pulled the wires off the collar and pinned him.
Keast said with Ace's help, they would figure out how to get him out of the collar It had been a long time since Amy had to deal with them being on the same page but she was about to find out what that was like.
Cameron Keast has never shied away from taking risks in the service of artistic expression. Keast laid it all on the line this time. The audacity of the man to simultaneous appear on video and in live performance, fully immersing the viewers into the fantasy world he has constructed. The match added dimension to Harley's characther and showcased her growth as a performer. As bleak as Cam's world has been at times, the story was ultimately one of hope. And couldn’t we all use more of that?
(7) Ace Haven (with Scott Adams) defeated Joe Wood in a no DQ match to retain the lineal You Tube Championship in 12:10. Ace drove from the platform area on top of the entrance way all the way into the ring. His foot caught on the ropes. Thankfully, Ace did not die.
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| Photo by Mason Stewart |
The action quickly spilled into the crowd with chair shots being delivered both ways. Ace smashed a guitar over Wood's head. Ace took a wicked bump off the ropes onto a chair set up on the apron. Ace ended up in a shopping cart that Wood sent hurtling toward the barricade. The cart tipped over sending Ace head first into the barricade. Oliver Green attacked Wood. Wood put Green in the cart and wheeled him out of view. Ace wailed on Wood with a cookie sheet as they made their way back into the ring where Wood had earlier set up twin tables. Wood put Ace through table numer one with the Woodchipper.
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| Photo by Mason Stewart |
Ace popped up, gave Wood the middle finger, and put him through the other table with a choke slam. Wood kicked out of Ace's pin attempt. Wood gave Ace another Woodchipper. Ace rolled out of the ring and was in dire straits. Wood poured a bag of tacks on the mat and stalked Ace with bad intent. Adams tried to help Ace. Wood ripped Adams' shirt off and gave him a Woodchipper into the tacks. Ace gave Wood a springboard Ace cutter into the tacks for the win.
Craziness. When Adams shirt came off, you just knew he was going into those tacks. His back looked like a pin cushion. The table spots looked great. The particle board tables they used are made for breaking.
(8) Joe Black (with Amy Haven) defeated Caeden Ooten to retain the ProSouth Championship in 15:39. Ooten turned his back at the bell. Joe seized on the opportunity and dissected C's knee for the first five minutes of the match.
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| Photo by Peter Sigmund |
C couldn't get anything going until he fought out of Black's guillotine choke and hit a slingshot suplex. Keep that. Ooten's spinebuster onto the edge of the ring frame did the real damage. Back inside, Ooten countered Black's now signature ropes walk cutter with a german suplex. Joe popped up and speared Ooten but C kicked out and pulled off a pop up punch/powerbomb combo. Ooten crawled for the cover and Black got a foot on the ropes. Black hit the ropes walk cutter. Ooten got up and harpooned Black. Both men were spent in the stifling heat. Black went back to the leg and applied an Indian Deathlock. Ooten made it to the ropes. Black applied a crossface. Ooten was hanging on by a thread but managed to put Joe's shoulder on the mat to force him to release the hold.
Ooten connected with the pop up punch. Amy pulled the ref out of the ring. Harley came to ringside and dropped her mom with a forearm to the face. Black low-blowed Ooten but that was not enough to secure a three count per Joseph Void.
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| Photo by Peter Sigmund |
Black delivered the kill shot to the base of Ooten's brain to retain.
Good match. Ooten wrestled with a sense of urgency. The submission spots were compelling. Amy vs. Harley keeps heating up. With the determination Ooten showed to get the match, I was appalled he fell victim to dumb babyface syndrome in the first 10 seconds.
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