From Lawrence Goodman:
Rumors of Ace Haven's demise have been greatly exaggerated. That Ace's team won a match with his career on the line was not a big surprise. The unexpected shock was the freeing of Cameron Keast and Harley Haven from the grips of Amy Haven's mind control collars. The Haven cabal has been reunited.
The implosion of the Process may very well be underway. Amy Haven spent the match inside a shark cage. ProSouth Champion Joe Black left it in Ayden Andrews' hands to end Ace's career and he did not get the job done.
Commentary by Wicked Nemesis and Mathias Darkthorne. Darkthorne doubled as the ring announcer. Joseph Void and Cody Clonts handled the referee duties. Clonts has been a great add. He gets ring positioning. He has presence without being obtrusive.
The Process (ProSouth Champion Joe Black, Ayden Andrews, TragiCK, Joe Wood and Harley Haven) made their way to the ring. Joe had a load to get off his chest.
-- Joe asked The Process to make sure Caeden Ooten and Ace Haven did not win the Battle Rumble and what happened? Ooten won and punched his ticket for a title match at Anniversary SuperShow.
-- There was no guarantee Oooten would face Joe at Anniversary because of the elephant in the room. Andrews held the Gold Rush Briefcase and could conceivably beat him by cashing it in. On any given Friday, Andrews was the top guy in the state and was worthy of beating him and keeping the title with The Process.
-- Wood was the strongest person on the roster and did not use his strength. Now was not the time for Wood to be a gentle giant. He wanted Wood to crush, kill and destroy Eli Riley tonight. No sympathy for whoever he was in the ring with, even if it was a member of The Process.
-- Joe had no love for TragiCK. He knew TragiCK was loyal to Ace. Ditto for Harley.
-- Ace Haven was putting his career on the line tonight. Joe loved Hugh Batey but he despised Ace. He wanted his friend Hugh back. Take Ace out, and The Process runs the state of Alabama. Ace was a great dude but he was a liar. He was no hero. He was a grandstander and hot dogger who always had to have the spotlight.
-- Joe was trusting Andrews to take Ace out because he had no faith in TragiCK. Andrews was the most talented guy in the state. He was not signed because sometimes pro wrestling was stupid and made no sense. Like Joe, Andrews had seen what death looked like and was not afraid of it.
-- Out of respect for the memory of who Ace is, Joe was going home. Tonight, Andrews and Wood were The Process. Joe was no God, but he knew TragiCK and Harley's hearts and he was judging harshly. They would have front row seats to see Ace's demise but he was doing them a favor. Ace was a cancer being cut out. Stand with the Process or fall with Ace.
Another epic Joe Black promo with lots to unpack. Joe put Andrews over huge and is seemingly OK with Andrews holding the ProSouth Championship. I know this is pro wrestling so don't expect tight logic but if Joe didn't trust TragiCK, why was he in the match with Ace and not Wood?
(1) Joe Wood (with Ayden Andrews) defeated Eli Riley via referee stoppage in 4:24. Wood put Riley out with Salvation (a standing full nelson).
An ugly match and not exactly the crush, kill and destroy Joe Black ordered. Wood displayed strength and a vicious streak but Riley got too much offense on him.
(2) Jon Averson & Jeremy Allen defeated Wyn Brantley & Jasper Reid in 3:52. Averson's Japanese arm drag was a work of art. Viewers were then treated to lucha Prez. Brantley had Averson pinned with a Killswitch. Allen broke up the pin. Brantley and Reid clotheslined each other three times in a row because Allen ducked out of the way. Allen superkicked Reid. Averson pinned Brantley with God knows what.
They went to the outer limits of perverse wrestling entertainment with this mercifully short match. Wicked and Mathias had fun with it. Jeremy's superkick was the best looking offensive move of the match.
Brantley professed that all he ever wanted in life was to be the VP. "The President has too much power and responsibility." Brantley was begging. Averson agreed to make Brantley his vice president and whispered something in Allen's ear on their way to the back.
Brantley was wonderfully pathetic. There are no lengths to which this man will not go. Love it or hate it, this story will continue.
(3) Oliver Green vs. Donnie Primetime was ruled a no contest when both men were attacked by The Process (10:22). A battle between two wrestlers trained by Ace Haven. Green wanted to shake hands. Donnie declined and said handshakes are earned. The announce team talked about all the "raspberry jam" spread by Christian Pierce in his title match with Green last week. At one point, Primetime thought about using his weight belt but decided against it. Donnie kicked out of Green's Ace Cutter. Primetime hit an Ace Cutter and Green kicked out. Green connected with a Green Arrow out of nowhere and fell back on top of Primetime, who rolled a shoulder at the last split second. Nine minutes in, Primetime shook Green's hand. Andrews and Wood attacked and Clonts threw the match out.
Wood and Andrews laid the babyfaces out with The Hangnail (full nelson/stomp combo) and handcuffed them to the ringposts.
This babyface match was a constructive development. They meshed well. I got a glimpse of a Jimmy Rave vibe from Green. Primetime was sharper with his execution. I see a tag team title match in the pipeline.
The gory finish of last week's All-Out title match in which Pierce defeated Green to become the new champion was shown...and shown...and shown due to a production hiccup.
Pierce backstage interview: Darkthorne referenced Pierce kicking JACS in the head while JACS was seizing on the ground during the Battle Rumble and asked him about becoming the new All-Out Champion. What next?
Pierce said slowly but surely, things were changing at ProSouth. He kicked JACS in the head so hard he felt his pulse reverberate through his laces and he was going to keep on. What next? That's what Pierce was asking himself.
This Pierce persona is playing his cards close to the vest. Multiple head wounds from a week ago were clearly visible.
Ace Haven/Cameron Keast/Harley Haven video: Archival footage of Ace in action was accompanied by news report-style verbiage about Ace's 2023 heart surgery (for vasovagal syncope) and the fall he took at the Southern Fried Gaming Expo show that resulted in facial fractures and a seizure. The video switched to to Cam talking about how their plan had failed, then to a message of encouragement from Tyler Cullprett, then to Harley talking about something not working with the mind control collar but she knew what she was going to do.
Harley said sometimes you have to sit in the cave long enough to figure out where the holes are, then finally to Cam asking the viewers to stay strong because he needed help.
The video was intriguing but the meaning was obtuse, mainly because the poor audio quality for the Cam and Harley segments made it difficult to understand what they were saying.
(4) Ace Haven & Caeden Ooten (with Scott Adams) defeated Ayden Andrews & Tragick (with Amy & Harley Haven) in 11:15. Primetime and Green were still handcuffed to the ring posts. Amy announced she was putting Harley in the shark cage in case she had any ideas.
Tornado tag type action morphed to Ace taking heat from the Process. Ace was taking a brutal beating until his flip dive to the outside got Ooten into the match via ProSouth's lucha tag rules. Ooten's flurry of offense was short lived. Andrews reversed Loaded Gun Complex with one of his own. The Process cut the ring in half on Ooten. His double crossbody got him to his corner to mak the tag.
A classic sequence of Ace Haven hot tag offense built to the Endgame on Andrews. Amy pulled the ref out at the count of two. Harley emerged from the shark cage. Ace's baseball slide sent Amy into Harley's arms. Harley locked mom in the shark cage. TragiCK knocked Ace over the top rope and hit Bloody Tears on Ooten. He kicked out at 2 and 15/16.
TragiCK fished a set of handcuffs out of his jacket. Andrews ripped Ace's mask off. Wood slid a pair of chairs into the ring and tried to hand one of them to Tragick. He hesitated and Ace gave Wood an Ace cutter onto the second chair. Andrews ordered TragiCK to conchairto Ace. TragiCK hesitated again. Andrews snatched the chair and bashed TragiCK in the head with it. Adams tried to save Ace and also took a chair to the head. Andrews went after Ace with the chair and got speared by Andrews. With his hands still cuffed, Ace covered TragiCK but he kicked out. TragiCK's collar light went red. Harley got in the ring. Her collar light also went red. Ace pulled a piece of paper out of the pocket of ring jacket. TragiCK's collar light went blue signaling Cameron Keast was back. He embraced Ace. Harley removed Keast's collar and he collapsed to the mat with Ace hugging him for a three count.
Harley removed her own collar. Ooten returned to the ring and hugged Harley. Ace released Green and Primetime from their handcuffs. Ooten helped Tragick to his feet and shook Ace's hand. The show closed with a group hug.
Cam gaining his freedom was an unexpected and welcome bonus. Milking the story any further would have yielded diminishing returns. Drama aside, this was a quality tag team match. Ace's hot tag offense signaled he was back at 100% except for the weight loss.
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