From Larry Goodman: If you weren’t in Cornelia for Hostile Environment, you missed one of the best shows of the year. No promotion in Geor...
From Larry Goodman:
If you weren’t in Cornelia for Hostile Environment, you missed one of the best shows of the year.
No promotion in Georgia does violence like Anarchy does violence, and the Anarchy Rulz match took it to the extreme. No War Games this year, but this psychotic episode was better than the next best thing.
And that’s not all folks. Not even close. There’s a new Anarchy Heavyweight Champion, a new Young Lion’s Champion and a new TV champion. Emerging stars Corey Hollis and BJ Hancock had a great match. The finish of the Young Lion’s match was one for the ages.
Variety is the spice of any good wrestling show, and at Hostile Environment, each match offered something distinctly different.
Only 130 in attendance at the Anarchy Arena. They’ve been doing 100 for regular TV tapings, so I was wrong about them drawing a good number for the big show without the War Games. The weather didn’t help. It was a 90 degree day and the building has no AC, so it was a sweatbox.
(1) Corey Hollis defeated Chip Day in 11:17. Strong style with stiff strikes galore. After getting his ass handed to him early on, Chip slammed Corey’s face into the rail, and made a mad dash for the ring to demand a count out. Hollis beat the count then took a beating from Day. Hollis answered with multiple pinning combinations, before a thudding kick to the chest halted the rally. Hollis had the crowd behind him huge on his comeback. An up and over enzuiguri kick nailed Day right on the schnoz. Day escaped from Corey’s finisher and delivered a big time top rope superplex for a near fall. A discus clothesline from Hollis left both down and Day adjusting his jaw. They came up and blasting away on each other. Day tried to end it with the Northern Lights Bomb, but Hollis countered with an inside cradle, then hit the double underhook brainbuster for the pin. This match pretty much materialized out of nowhere 2 weeks ago, and definitely got the show off on the right foot.
Postmatch – Day deliberated long and hard before accepting Hollis’ offer of a handshake. It was clear that Anarchy fans were jumping on the Hollis bandwagon like never before.
(2) Tommy Penirelli won a 10 man Mega Rumble in 17:20 to earn a TV title shot. Participants in order of entrance: Jeremy Foster, Trevor Aeon, Vandal, Kevin Blue, Supernatural, Penirelli, Lars Manderson, Alex Avgerinos, Joey Rhymer and Brodie Chase. Foster was a good choice to start because the fans respond to his entrance. The ambiguity about Aeon’s character was cleared up. He’s not a nice guy. Blue’s entrance got a big pop. The most entertaining sequence of the match saw Blue used Supernatural as a battering ram on the heels. They set up a tower of doom than turned into a double electric chair capped off by Supernatural’s flying bodypress – an impressive spot but utterly stupid in the context of the match because the guys climbing the ropes were sitting ducks for elimination. Manderson got to showcase his size and strength throwing people out. The latter part of the match was fairly painful to watch and they were losing the crowd. Brodie Chase entered and went right at Manderson to renew their ugliness. Manderson gave Penirelli the worst choke slam ever. It came down to Manderson, Rhymer and Penirelli. Miss Rachael came to ringside to cheer on her men and it looked grim for Penirelli. In a massively telegraphed finish, Manderson clotheslined Rhymer over the top when Penirelli ducked, and Penirelli capitalized on Manderson’s stunned reaction for the winning heave ho. Not a terrible match but apples and oranges compared to the rest of the show.
Afterward, Manderson laid Penirelli out with a falcon arrow, and TV Champion CB Suave hit the ring with a sense of urgency to start his match against his former partner. Leading to…
(3)Tommy Penirelli defeated CB Suave via submission to win the Anarchy TV Title in 3:05. Penirelli kicked out of Suave’s standing sliced bread, and appeared to be shaken up legit. Suave exposed one of the turnbuckles and dropped Penirelli’s face on it. Suave covered using the ropes for extra leverage but Penirelli kicked out again. Suave locked in a neck crank that Penirelli reversed into an ankle lock. Suave struggled like crazy for the ropes but Penirelli pulled him to ring center and he tapped. Good heat. Short and sweet was the right way to go. Suave played his role to the hilt, and Penirelli was booked like a superman. Something tells me this is where Penirelli’s babyface run at Anarchy jumped the shark.
(4) Todd Sexton & Bobby Moore defeated Urban Assault Squad (Shadow Jackson & Nemesis) and Washington Bullets (Jon & Trey Williams) in an elimination match to retain the Anarchy Tag Team Titles in 19:38. The added stipulation was Texas tornado rules after the first team was eliminated. Before the match, a noted hothead fan almost lost it when Trey splashed water on him. Anarchy owner Franklin Dove had to come over to settle the guy down. UAS were clearly the fans favorites. Moore and Sexton were having their usual problems getting along. Nobody wanted in against Nemesis. Moore got stuck with the unenviable task and wound up on the wrong end of a UAS beating. Bullets were tremendous as the chicken shit opportunists. Something went wrong on Trey’s leaping legdrop on Nemesis. Nemesis injured his groin but gutted out the rest of the match. Moore wanted to clock Jackson with the belt, but Shadow saw it coming, so Moore tossed the belt to Jackson and went down like had been shot. Ref Dee Byers saw Jackson holding the belt and DQed UAS at 13:10. The Texas tornado portion was fine but lacked heat. In the end, Sexton used Moore’s loaded elbow pad on Jon, and Moore dumped Sexton out of the ring so he could steal the pin from his partner. They did a lot of cool stuff, but the fans didn’t seem to care all that much once UAS were out of it. Less would have been more here. I think the heat might have been getting to the crowd at this point.
Postmatch - Moore wanted his elbow pad back. Sexton stuck it down his tights before tossing it back in the ring. Moore didn’t want to touch it. Ring announcer Jonathan Feltner refused to pick it up for him, so Moore kicked the pad up the ramp.
(5) Slim J pinned Champion Shaun Tempers (with Jeff G. Bailey) and Ace Rockwell to win the Young Lion’s Championship in 9:56. The rules were that the title could only change hands if Tempers was pinned and if either J or Rockwell was the loser of the first fall, the match would continue. Plenty of compelling action although a few things didn’t work as smoothly as they would have liked, but the amazing finish is what made it memorable. A double missile dropkick by Tempers left all three down. Tempers went for a second tiger driver on J (after getting a near fall with it earlier). J blocked sending Tempers right into Rockwell’s Aces High. J then planted Rockwell on top of Tempers with a german suplex, and referee Ken Wallace counted the double pin. I can’t say enough about how great the finish looked, plus it had the surprise factor going for it since the elimination aspect had been heavily pushed.
Bill Behrens and Franklin Dove called out the competitors in the Anarchy Heavyweight Title match, challenger BJ Hancock (with Miss Rachael, Lars Manderson and Joey Rhymer) and Anarchy Heavyweight Champion Billy Buck. Behrens said Buck had been given two weeks to mend and defend his title, but his will to fight overcame common sense. Behrens explained that Buck wrestled on July 18 (winning the Southern States Title in a cage match at APW), reinjuring his rib and was scheduled to defend the title last night. Behrens advised Buck to take the night off, but Buck ended up wrestling 3 times instead. Behrens said the next step was a collapsed lung and therefore Anarchy was not allowing Buck to wrestle. Behrens announced Hancock as the winner via forfeit. The fans were pissed. Rachael told Buck the least he could do was put the title around Hancock’s waist. That wasn’t happening. Buck walked out. Hancock and Rachael stared to leave as well. Behrens said Hancock wasn’t getting out of there without a fight and announced that Hancock would have to defend against…..Corey Hollis. This was really fine booking. It had shoot elements which usually helps. The circumstances surrounding the title stripping will only increase Buck’s popularity. The injustice of it all.
(6) “The Modern Classic” BJ Hancock (with Miss Rachael) defeated Corey Hollis to retain the Anarchy Heavyweight Championship in 16:47. Huge pop the announcement of Hollis as Hancock’s impromptu opponent. Hancock’s facial expressions were awesome as he clung to the belt for dear life. They worked at a more deliberate pace which was a nice contrast to the rest of the show. Match had the typical match structure with Hollis jumping out on top before Hancock took control, displaying that wonderful vicious streak. They worked a nice series of hope spots and cut offs. The match had strong heat. The fans hate anybody associated with Rachael, Hancock especially, and the fans were itching to see Hollis take the title off him. When Hollis kicked out of the Bombs Away knee drop, Hancock desperately pled his case with referee Byers. Hancock appeared to land badly on Hollis’ standing sliced bread. Hollis applied a stretch muffler but Hancock made it to the ropes. Hollis hit the double underhook brainbuster, but Rachael put Hancock’s foot over the rope just before the three count. Hollis fired a snot rocket at her, but that gave Hancock time to recover. He crotched Hollis on the top rope and hit a devastating piledriver for the 1-2-3. This was an outstanding match between the two men that are arguably Anarchy’s top prospects. Hancock has to be the most improved wrestler on the Georgia scene over the last 12 months. With Hollis, it’s more that he’s learned how to translate his intensity into a deeper connection with the fans.
(7) Iceberg & Se7en (with Jeff G. Bailey) defeated Mikael Judas & Geter in an Anarchy Rulz match at 24:12. You had four monsters in a no DQ, no count out, anything goes match and very tight quarters. Fearing for their safety, fans in north and south sections abandoned their seats and pinned themselves to to the wall -- a wise decision because this match was completely insane. “This is awesome” chants are hard to come by at Anarchy Arena but this match earned one. It was a bloodbath with Judas, Iceberg and Se7en all bleeding heavily. Weapons included chairs, tables, ladders, a bungee cord and a cane. Judas choked the life out Se7en with the bungee cord. Judas climbed on top of the announcer’s booth and dove onto Berg and Se7en. Geter did a german suplex on the 270 pound Se7en. Geter gave Seven a sidewalk slam onto a steel coffin of chairs, completely destroying two of them. Se7en whipped Geter into the barricade and it came apart on impact. Se7en superplexed the 400 pound Geter, NOT from top rope thank God. The sickest spot of the match was Judas choke slamming Iceberg off the apron onto two ladders bridged across a coffin of chairs set up at ringside. The ladder didn’t give at all. It kind of made my stomach churn. How Iceberg got up, I have no idea, but he did. Judas and Se7en got knocked off the apron onto a table. Inside the ring, Geter splashed Berg but the ref was at ringside checking out the carnage. The returning Jagged Edge hit the ring with a chair shot on Geter. That didn’t faze Geter so Jagged concussed him with two chair shots to the head and gave him a chokeslam. Jagged put Iceberg’s arm over Geter’s body and Wallace made the count. This match ranks right up there for craziness at the Arena. It’s been a long time since Cornelia had seen this kind of mayhem, and probably never involving guys so freakishly huge.
Tempers hit the ring and the Elite put the boots to Geter. The lights went out. The building was lit by a fireball…
Lights on and a reinvigorated Azrael was in the ring after a long absence. Azrael cleaned house on the Elite putting Se7en down with a stellar superman punch (he was doing it way before Roman Reigns). The Elite tried to back off and were met by Judas at the ramp. Judas put Berg and Se7en through a table with a double choke slam. Geter piled Jagged Edge on top of them with a belly to belly suplex. The carnage was complete. Handshakes all around between Azrael, Geter and Judas to close the show.
