From Larry Goodman:
Bill Behrens conducted a beautiful memoriam for Dory Funk Jr. followed by a 10 bell salute. A few facts from Behrens speech: Funk Jr. had the second longest NWA title reign after Lou Thesz. He wrestled former NWA Champion Jack Brisco 190 times and 55 of those matches were one hour draws. Funk Jr. had his final match in Japan at two years ago at the age of 83.
Sexton Alliance made their grand entrance through the front door and addressed the Southern Fried Nation as a group for the last time. Halen said they had some things to say before they kicked the shit out of the gibronis. He was there to celebrate Todd and the best ex-girlfriend he ever had, prompting a "Kelly" chant. Judas said Todd made everyone around him better. Todd gave shoutouts to his son and parents who surprised him by coming from Chattanooga.
(1) Ashton Martin (with Alexander Lev) defeated AJ Black in 5:40. Black g to the spot when Hyder sratched. Martin took big bumps for AJ's early offense. As AJ came through the ropes, Martin kicked the ropes into his groin and took control from there. Black took an atypical bump on Martin's Irish whip that made it look more realistic. Black's comeback built to flying body press for a near fall. Martin used a tornado DDT to set up a frog splash to pick up the win.
Martin gets it and is a far better athlete than I gave him credit for being the first time I saw him wrestle in Carrollton.Match served its purpose. Black made a good showing in his first Southern Fried appearance.
Lev did his "I am Faithful" catch phrase and had hate heaped upon him for the same line they love him for at SHW.
(2) Dominic Stuckey defeated Alexander Lev (with Ashton Martin) via DQ to retain the Classics Championship in 11:18. Stuckey came in hot. Martin distrated and interfered. Lev was relentless in his attack on Stuckey's injured knee. Stuckey fought up from the bottom. Lev threw a fit when his fishermanbustah did not get the job done. Stuckey hit the Dom Bomb. Martin dropped a top rope elbow on Stuckey to extract Lev from hot water.
Martin pledged alliance to Lev and being his faithful follower.
A simple story well told. Stuckey is beloved in by the fans in Monroe his knee injury added another layer to their passion.
The masked man who attacked Stuckey's knee with the baseball bat at the August show did it again. His cradle DDT on Stuckey was the tell.
Matt Hankins said the masked man knew how to get his attention. The man under the mask was Seth Delay. Hankins didn't care what the people thought. He could make Delay's dreams come true. Welcome to Badstreet. Stuckey was in pathetic shape.
Should have known that snake Hankins was not going to let it go with Stuckey. Unless he getting a title run of some kind, going heel was the move to make with Delay.
(3) Hunter James defeated Jamey Dean in 9:30. James was channeling Randy Savage. Dean was in phenomenal shape. Crowd showed love for both. James broke out the axhandles. Dean hit a belly to belly suplex. They traded suplexes. Dean had set the stage at the last show with his "if you ain't cheatin' you ain' tryin'" comment that the match would not be totally on the up and up. They weren't above punching each other in the face or a kick in the ribs.
John Johnson came to ringside to distract and Seabolt attacked James, who had to dive back into the ring to beat the 10 count. Father and son played ping pong with Seabolt and rid the ring of him Dean sneaked in a roll up. Hunter kicked out and rolled up dad for the win.
I don't how this match could have been any better. Nobody really wanted to see them hurt each other. Walloping JJ's henchman was a much better option.
Dean said he told Hunter it was how you finished. He started with Steve Lawler in 1992 and finished with one of the greatest sports entertainers of all time. Dean said he couldn't do what his son can do. He was proud of him and loved him.
(4) Corey Hollis defeated Bryce Cannon in 10:44. Cannon had a distasteful air about him. He stalled ala Zbyszko and barked at referee Matthew Daniel. Hollis messed with The Tip and applied the pressure. Cannon roughed Hollis up.. Hollis kicked out of the Keg Stand. Cannon went for the frat paddle. Daniel took the paddle away. Moments later, Hollis pinned Cannon with a double underhook DDT.
It was up to two pros to tale a cold match and tell a story in the ring and did they ever. Cannon legit tweaked his knee. He continued to the finish and the good news is he's OK. A nice piece of reffing by Daniel helped build the heat. Hollis came out of the match primed to move into a top babyface position.
Hollis said it felt good to be back at Southern Fried and doing what he loved. Hollis called Sexton out to thank him face-to-face for everything Todd had done for him. He owed the opportunities he'd received to Todd.
Sexton said Hollis had other mentors including a phenomenal one. Sexton had a gift for Hollis -- a Southern Fried match with Avery Styles in October.
Hollis is en route to becoming the first to have matches with AJ and Avery.
(5) Sexton Alliance (Todd Sexton & Judas & Nick Halen & Adrian Hawkins & Bobby Moore & Billy Buck with Kelly Sexton) defeated Sal Rinauro & Michael Stevens & Seth Delay & Xavier Cross & Jaden Vain with John Johnson & Matt Hankins) in 33:44. JJ said Jacob Ashworth couldn't be there and introduced Delay accompanied by Hankins. The energy at ringside outside that cage was intense. These guys were were chomping at the bit to get out of the gate.
Sexton and Rinauro started. Another wrestler entered the cage every two minutes or so. Todd pulled Rinauro up by the nose to punch him the face and blew him down. The bad guy won the coin flip to determine the man advantage. It was the classic War Games structure-- heels dominate when they have the number, babyfaces in control when the odds were even. Sexton Alliance was doing everything in stereo.
Stevens, Hawkins, Seabolt, Moore, Delay (with baseball bat), Buck, Cross, Judas was the order of entrance. Boiled down to a Judas/Cross showdown. Judas sent Cross wall-to-wall in the cage and choke slammed him.
Vain was supposed to enter at #11. He shut the cage and ran to the back with Judas stalking him.
Moore was bleeding. A chain of devastation cycled back to Todd and Sal swinging for the fences.
Halen was supposed to be #12. Disturbed showed up and use the bell hammer on Halen, bloodied him up and did a number on his head with the fence.
Heels ruled inside the ring. Stevens blocked the cage door. Halen scaled the frence and entered with a dive off the cage and a monster pop. Todd and Halen hit Gamebreakers in stereo. Vain got in the ring with the loaded glove. Severe damage done. Heels in control. The lights went out for Judas' entrance. The teams lined up 6 v 6. This was war.
It cycled to Judas and Vain. Judas gave Vain an avalanche El Crucifjo onto a mass of humanity. Kelly drove JJ off with a kendo stick. James slammed the cage door on Seabolt and he was busted open.
Judas and Todd teamed up for an avalanche Crucifio bomb on Seabolt. Todd applied the crossface. Sal broke it up. Todd reapplied the crossface with the kendo stick. Seabolt tapped and the crowd lost its collective mind.
A gritty old school War Games, violence, blood, a few choice weapons, Vain/Judas paid off as the icing on the cake.
Now came the hard part. Saying goodbye. Leaving the ring.
Manders was gettting choked up. He thanked Kelly for letting him borrow her husband. Said he could never have done what Southern Fred has been without them. Admitted he and Todd hated each other at one time and they became family. H was going to miss them terribly. Tood unlaced his boots and left them in the ring. The crowd would not stop chanting "Thank you, Todd". CT Keys entered the ring with a big hug for Todd. Todd already had hs boots off when he and Judas did their final high five.
NOTES: Alison Lyn Miller was in attendance to see the principal characters of her book "Roughouse" wrestle and brought family and friends with her...Kim Jones, the Executive Director of NAMI Georgia was also in the house as Billy Ray (Jamey Dean) was once her trainer. Jones said Billy pushed her so hard she puked...Adam Vance and Blake Blackwell did commentary for the YouTube...Bryan Waites, Dee Byers and David Weakley officiated...Dylan Frymyer watched from the crowd Xavier Reyes, Darryl Hall and Strangler Shaw were visiting backstage.
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