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| Photos by Gina Jones |
From Lawrence Goodman:
Uprising sneaked up on me. I did not recognize how strong a card had been built until I saw the full lineup posted a few days before the show.
For any number of reasons, the show did not fully live up to the potential it had on paper.
Joe Black retained the ProSouth Championship in a memorable I Quit Match. After 24 excruciating minutes, Will Huckaby was exhausted and caught in a hellish predicament from which there would be no escape.
Cameron Keast did not gain his freedom from Amy Haven's clutches. He's still TragiCK and now Harley Haven is also under her mother's control. Perhaps things are not going according to Harley and Cam's plan.
Christian Pierce snapped and turned on his partner Julian Balderas.
Ayden Andrews was announced the opponent for Avery Styles' ProSouth debut next Friday night.
Commentary by Wicked Nemesis and Mathias Darkthorne with Darkthorne doubling as the ring announcer, Cody Clonts and Lew as the referees and, Jeremy as the ringside videographer.
The show opened with a brief recap of the events leading into Uprising followed by Wicked and Darkthorne previewing the show from the commentary booth.
Something different. Nicely done.
(1) Oliver Green defeated KJ Valentine via submission to retain the All-Out Championship in 7:54. Valentine must leave in a straitjacket and be committed to a mental hospital. Valentine applied a dragon sleeper to force Green to use the one rope break per competitor allowed under All-Out rules. Valentine reapplied the hold. Green reversed it, not once but twice, kicked out Valentine's top rope double stomp and hit the Green Arrow. Valentine grabbed the ropes at the count of two. Green applied a dragon sleeper. Valentine fought it off and went to the apron. Green reapplied the hold and Valentine tapped as he slid to the floor.
A better All-Out title bout than last week which is damning it with faint praise. The low blow spot was the kind of thing that kills suspension of disbelief. The finish was confusing and got little reaction. Would have been so much better had Green dragged Valentine back into the ring so he was desperately grasping the ropes when he tapped.
Valentine tried to escape his fate but the refs chased him down, sort of got KJ in the strait jacket and hustled him to a mythical funny farm.
If you're going to use a preposterous throwback gimmick, at least do it right. The straitjacket was a POS and Valentine wasn't even restrained. I wished better for KJ's departure from ProSouth. Somewhere, Steven Calozzi is watching.
(2) Jabari Jaku (with Raheem) defeated Brother Azriel in 10:23. Az laid a beating on Jaku. The big spot was Az pulled out a running splash from the apron to the floor. Intervention by Raheem gave Jaku time to recover. Jaku put Az down with a big boot and zeroed in on Az's knee to make him a sitting duck for his power game. Az turned the tide. They traded heavy blows. Jaku kicked out of Az's Black Hole Slam at two and 3/4. Az set up for the banned piledriver. Raheem got himself ejected by clubbing Az in the back right in front of the ref. Az fired off a round of stiff forearms and was building up a head of steam when Jaku dropped him dead in his tracks with a choke slam.
Crowd came alive for this match. They had a solid brawl. Az put Jaku over clean. With Jaku seeking revenge for a three year grudge, anything but a decisive win would have neutered his run and Jaku brings something to the table ProSouth does not have.
Jon Averson said his "team" had gotten to the bottom of the fraud in the recent ProSouth Presidential Election (Averson lost to Lose Brantley -- 101% to -1% as allegedly voted by the fans). Brantley ridiculed Averson for having a rally AFTER the election. He promised to expose the dirt he dug up on Averson next week.
I've been entertained by these election satire skits as my mind continues to sicken. There wasn't much to this one. Averson talks like he has marbles in his mouth.
(3) Cross Country (Christian Garrett & Sean Nelson) defeated True Grit (Christian Pierce & Julian Balderas) in 12:05. A series of True Grit snafus contribued to True Grit's demise. Garrett sent Balderas head first into Pierce's nether region. Balderas tried to spear Garrett and got Pierce by mistake. Balderas caused a Cross Country collision that also knocked the ref down. Pierce won a tug of war with Garrett over his cowbell but inadvertently rung Balderas up with the bell. Cross Country hit a Magic Killer on Balderas for the win.
The description above makes a match that was too long and unnecessarily complicated read better than it was. The execution by veteran talents was unusually sloppy.
Pierce raised his partner's hand...and laid him out with a Pedigree. Pierce then stuck a trash can over Balderas' head and punt kicked the trash can. Pierce was talking to himself as he stared at Balderas in a dissociated state. Still not done, Pierce hung Balderas with his bullrope. Security was trying in vain to make Pierce release the rope when production cut to intermission.
The turn itself was well done. Pierce was out of his mind. His frustrations with Balderas had been mounting but things appeared to be moving in the direction of True Grit mending fences until this match.
Darkthorne opened the second half admitting the cat was already out of the bag about Avery Styles making his ProSouth debut next week. As Darkthorne was about to announce Styles' opponent, Scott Adams interrupted to lobby for Ace Haven to be that guy but before Ace's name coul cross his lips, The Process (Amy Haven, Ayden Andrews, Joe Wood and TragiCK) hijacked the segment. Amy said Ace had been placed on a pedestal far too long. The far more deserving Andrews would be Avery's opponent.
Adams was so effusively over the top campaigning for the-not-medically-cleared Ace, me thinks he doth protest too much.
(4) The Process (Ayden Andrews & Joe Wood & TragiCK) defeated Donnie Primetime & Caeden Ooten & Aleander Lincoln (with Harley Haven) in 11:58. Per the stipulations, TragiCK was not set free and Harley must wear a collar. Ace and Adams were observing from the platform above the stage. Ooten's arm was in a sling from the spear on Christian Taylor last week. Donnie and C was without a third member for their team.
The Process attacked and the returning Lincoln came to the ring to square off with Wood. Lincoln owned his brother and dropped the Lincoln Log on him for a near fall. The Process got heat on Primetime. Wood wore Donnie down with a bear hug. Primetime caught Wood with a palm strike and made a diving tag to Lincoln, who ran wild on The Process. Wood lured Lincoln into a double team trap and The Process cut the ring in half on him. Lincoln slipped out of the Woodchipper and the brothers battled outside the ring. Primetime entered with a double blockbuster and took TragiCK and Andrews on against the odds. He had TragiCK locked in a sharpshooter when Andrews nailed him with a flying knee. Ooten was prepared to fight with one good arm. Amy stepped in Ooten's path. Harley got in Amy's face. Andrews took Ooten out with a shotgun dropkick.
Andrews hauled Harley to the middle of the ring and called for TragiCK to give her the Iron knee. TragiCK's collar light went blue and TragiCK (now Keast) nailed Andrews instead. Keast started screaming at Harley that this was all wrong.
Ooten (inadvertently?) kicked Harley. Andrews stomped Ooten. Tragick's collar light went back to green and he leveled Ooten with the Tragic Iron Knee Ooten for the three count.
Amy put the collar on Harley. The collar light turned green and the deed was done.
Basically a three against two handicap match due to Ooten's injury. Primetime looked better in the ring than he has in a while. Lincoln was in great shape and had to step it up to fill the void.
(5) Joe Black (with Amy Haven) defeated Will Huckaby in an I Quit match (25:40). They spent the first seven minute, each man stretching the his opponent and trying to force him to quit in a submission holds. They got into chop battle. Huck DDTed Joe. Joe crumbled. Huck back-chopped Joe and tossed him out of the ring. They pounded the crap out of each other at ringside. Huck snap-suplexed Joe on the floor. Huck collapsed and had difficulty regaining his feet. Joe called Huck an egg sucking bastard. Joe did senton onto a chair with Huck underneath. Joe sent Huck sprawling with a Rave apron STO. Huck refused to quit but had to use the barricade to pull himself up. Joe knocked Huck down with a single chop and threw him back in the ring. Huck powerbombed Joe and started looking for a way to cut the straps to expose the ring boards. Referee Clonts asked Joe if he quit. Joe said he had quiche for lunch. Huck gave Joe a package powerbomb on the stage. Back inside the ring, Huck slowly ascended the ropes. Joe superplexed him. The crowd got behind Huckaby. Neither man was getting up no would they quit, so Clonts started a 10 count. Joe grabbed Clonts. Huck said, "Let this happen." They traded chops. Huck had nothing left on his blows and took a knee but refused to quit. Joe went for Murder Music. Huck ducked. Joe ducked Huck's hidden blade and both went down on a double clothesline.
Andrews and Wood ran in. They held Huck's arms while Black whipped Huck with a leather strap. After five wicked shots across his back, Huck quit.
Last week's epic promo segment made this a must see match for ProSouth fans. The conditions were oppressive. The temperature inside the building was 90 degrees. Their opening submission battle was the best part of the match. Huck's gas tank looked to be on E about halfway through. The pace of the match slowed to a crawl and got bogged down in Huck's obsession with exposing the ring boards. The closing minutes was a weirdly compelling human wreckage in the making. Loved the callback to their promo segment at the end. Neither man was going to quit and Joe needed outside help to defeat his long time friend and adversary. By any means necessary has been a hallmark of Black's ProSouth title reign.
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