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| Photos by Barry Dycus |
Allowing the electric atmosphere of the 40 Watt Club to soak in before bell time was a beautiful thing. It had been too long for me and for CCW. This was only Justin Burnham and Cole Taylor's second show of 2026 at their legendary home for the synergistic partnership of Justin Burnham and Cole Taylor. They've run an equal number of shows at Basement East, the 40 Watt's Nashville cousin.
This was primo CCW. The one-of-a-kind atmosphere of the 40 Watt Club brings out the best performances the wrestlers have in them, and this show had no shortage of great talent with compelling stories to tell. It's in my personal top five shows of the year.
It would not be CCW without kickass rock 'n roll. Shehehe, 15-year veterans of the Athens rock scene, provided the punkish entertainment for the evening.
Art was presented in the ring, onstage, and on canvas. Artist Tim Manning's painting of the scene spontaneously raised $700 for Nuci's Space, a non-profit in Athens whose mission is to prevent suicide with a focus on musicians.
Burnham's booking is over-the-top one minute, and subtly nuanced the next.
Emcee Taylor opened with the mantra -- "We are Classic City Wrestling". He was addressing true believers. Taylor said too much of the real shit in Athens was being replaced by shit that was not real. CCW was the real shit.
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The crowd was at the legal limit of 300 set by the Athens fire marshall and not one person more. I cannot overstate how insanely hot this crowd was for the first hour of the show.
(1) Nawfside Heroes (Jose Manuel & Shoota Gabe) defeated WonderBoyz (Aaron & Ethan Dallas) and Left Hand Path (Austin Towers & Trever Aeon) in a triple threat tornado tag to retain the CCW Tag Team Championship in 9:06. Hard to imagine a better way to start this show. Crowd was supercharged, Toppers girls gyrating, WonderBoyz movin' and groovin' their way to the ring (stick with "Let's Groove" for intro music) and all on the same wavelength once the bell rang.
Crowd was split on AD's suggestion of a three-way handshake (they did). The other teams immediately attacked LHP and landed a sequence of dives. Towers got untracked with a Nawfside sandwich, planting Gabe on top of Manuel with an F5. Towers no sold Ethan and chopped him until he face planted. Manuel popped the crowd countering Towers' choke slam with a stunner. WonderBoyz hit stereo destroyers on Nawfside and hit their finisher on Manuel but Gabe made the save. LHP appeared to have the match in the bag after Aeon's Gothplex on Ethan and Towers' Kobiya on Aaron but Manuel stole the pin on AD and "Pro Wrestling's Pitbulls" retained.
Postmatch, LHP laid the champions to waste. ChaynMale took a monster choke slam from Towers.
Towers cut a promo filled with vitriol. He didn't give a damn if Nirvana played in this rundown place. LHP would not wait for an opportunity, they were taking it.
(2) New Blood Challenge: Phanesse defeated Izzy Bynum and Bobby Ford and Jay Tyler in 6:20. Don't you know they loved Phanesse at the 40 Watt. Everyone in the match had their moments but it was Phanesse's world and they were just living in it. Tyler earned respect as a bonus addition. Ford got instant hate. I like his physicality. Izzy is the zany artist formerly known as Bobcat at ProSouth. Tyler gave Phanesse a sky high powerbomb. Izzy crucifix powerbombed Tyler. Phanesse then pinned Ford with an axe kick. Crowd was thrilled. Ford was carried out by security.
Taylor put over the Toppers car wash the previous weekend with money raised for Project Safe. On the surface of it, CCW and Toppers seem like strange bedfellows. Somehow, the relationship has worked to their mutual benefit.
(3) Chad Sky Walker defeated Bryce Cannon in 15:25. I loved this match. It was distinctly different from anything else on the show, and the perfect contrast to everything that had gone before. Cannon and Sky Walker were at the peak of their powers.
The pace of this show had been balls to the wall from the jump. Cannon walked onstage and looked down on the people with disdain. He insulted the beautiful women of Athens. Said the CCW fans had him to thank for Naja becoming champion. Chad, in secret agent mode, said he was repping Suge D. He hoped Cannon's Tip was hard enough. Crowd was chanting "beat that ass" before the bell rang.
They weren't about to rush a thing. Sky Walker grabbing the Tip got a huge reaction. The imaginary gun routine ended in a stalemate -- Cannon pointing double guns at Sky Walker's head, Sky Walker's gun pointing at Cannon's groin. Sky Walker slammed the Tip into the turnbuckles in all four corners. Sky Walker's moonsault elbow drop got a pop. Cannon pumphandled Sky Walker's arm across the top rope. Faked throwing him into the ringside seats for heat. Cannon briefly kicked his offense into a higher gear before taking Sky Walker to the mat. A "Skywalker chant kicked in. Sky Walker got a near fall with sliced bread and went back up top for a 450. Cannon rolled to the opposite corner. Sky Walker front-flipped to his feet. Cannon used referee Paul Santa as a shield and had Sky Walker beat with a Famouser. Sky Walker grabbed Santa's arm to prevent the three count. An enraged Cannon came out on the losing end of a shoving match with Santa, then set up for the Keg Stand. Kudos to Paul Santa. It took three to make the finish work.
Suge D appeared onstage with a list scrawled on a piece of paper. Cannon stared at Suge and got rolled up by Sky Walker. Suge crossed Cannon's name off his list.
(4) Trey Shaw defeated Crowgan Shoals (with Cuatro Cabazas) via DQ in 9:19. Cuatro introduced "the Eldritch beast" Crowgan as his newest acquisition for Cabeza Dynasty. Crowgan shrugged off Shaw's blows and mauled him. Shaw took a brutal landing on Crowgan's release vertical suplex. Looked like a cakewalk until Shaw unleashed an explosion of offense. Crowgan subdued Shaw by choking him out with the top rope. Cuatro got in the ring. Referee Mike Fullilove got knocked down and called for the bell.
Chaos ensued. Security piled into the ring to get Crowgan under control. Shaw laid out the security people and flew into a rage. It ended up with Shaw chasing Crowgan into the dressing room.
Match felt a little long. A hopeless situation for Shaw morphed into a competitive match, so maybe there's more to come with these two.
Shehehe took the stage during intermission. Some of the standing room people cleared out. The more discerning, hardcore CCW fans weren't going anywhere.
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(5) I Quit: Duncan Mitchell Avecilla defeated Kasey Owens in 19:15. This match was an outgrowth of the unfair beating Owens gave DMA at the May show and it was intense.
Owens wasted no time hauling a trash can filled with plunder out of the dressing room. They fought through the crowd and into the bar. Bullrope, trash can, cowbell, turnbuckle, kendo stick and were all put to sadistic use with the crowd 100% behind DMA. They came up with colorful ways of giving no for an answer.
Things escalated. Owens decided to suffocate DMA with a plastic bag. Not enough. Owens duct taped DMA to the ring post and stuck the turnbuckle hook in his mouth. DMA refused to give. Owens threatened to punch DMA's eye out with a scissors. DMA turned the tables on Owens with the duct tape and spied a roll of barbed wire on the mat. He wrapped the barbed wire around Owens' head and Kasey called it quits.
Najasism defeated Alex Kane to retain the CCW Championship in 18:58. Naja has been the embodiment of evil as the CCW Champion. Amarii came to the ring with him but did not stick around for the match. Amarii is an impressive physical specimen.
Naja forestalled the inevitable tour of suplex island. Kane was catching Naja and suplexing him at will. A missed splash on the apron was Kane's undoing. Naja repeatedly posted Kane's shoulder, then went to town on Kane's chest and back, heat building all the while. Naja dropped four consecutive elbows to Kane's heart. Kane exploder into the buckles left both men on the canvas.
The secret sauce in this match was Kane's selling. He got it across that Naja's offense had inflicting serious damage on the larger, stronger man.
Kane was beating Naja to the punch. He took Naja down with a dragon screw and applied an ankle lock. The crowd bit on Kane's jackhammer as a title change. Naja missed a 450. Kane speared Naja's knee and went back to the ankle lock. Naja got the ropes. With the ankle once again applied, Naja maneuvered Kane's shoulder to the mat and grabbed the ropes long enough to get a three count.
Naja limped to the dressing room, still the CCW Champion.
Taylor called Todd Manning into the ring to display his painting. The plan was to auction the painting off the highest bidder with proceeds going to the artist. Manning told Taylor he wanted the money to got Nuci's Space. The bidding started at $100. A bunch of people jumped in to the bidding. Taylor was losing his mind when it went over $500 and was sold for $700.(7) Suge D defeated DJ Smoke and Dave Stage and Amarii the Maestro in a gauntlet match to earn a rematch with Najasism for the CCW Championship in 19:24. Suge faced the tall task of defeating three of Naja's henchmen in succession. Of course, he was going to succeed or CCW's main storyline would go down the drain. Could they make Suge's quest exciting and maintain suspension of disbelief? The answer was yes.
All Smoke early, working over Suge's head, neck and nose. Suge made Smoke miss coming off the top and seized on the opening to pin him with a swinging neckbreaker at 6:42.
Suge had his hands full with the size and power of Stage. Stage gave Suge a 15 count stalling gordbuster and said this ends now. Suge ducked Stage's northern lariat redux. Stage then hurt his leg attempting a backbreaker. Suge was all over it and made Stage tap to a heel hook at 14:15.
Naja was at ringside foor Amarii. Amarii broke out a 20 count stalling brainbuster suplex. Suge went to the floor and beat the 10 count by an eyelash. Smoke ran out to distract the ref so Naja could belt shot Suge. Naja hit Amarii by mistake and Suge covered for the three count. Naja had a furniture throwing fit.
Suge said three more checked off his list, onone to go. He promised to give the CCW fans an early Christmas present on December 12. More than a poet, a warrior and a journeyman, WE will be the CCW champion. The show ended with the crowd chanting "We, we, we".
Epilogue: Taylor told the crowd we will fight and protect what's real.
NOTES: Josh Deal did commentary for the video release...Keelin Cole and Chaynmale split the rover camera duties...Hakeem Young and Saint Julious were in the house...Julious rode to Athens with Najasism after their match at DSW earlier in the evening...Taylor mentioned that the sound system came courtesy of Nirvana because Kurt Cobain trashed the original.
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