From Larry Goodman: Here’s your Dragon Con Wrestling report for 2014 from the Hyatt Regency Ballroom in Atlanta, GA. Not on the leve...
From Larry Goodman:
Here’s your Dragon Con Wrestling report for 2014 from the Hyatt Regency Ballroom in Atlanta, GA.
Not on the level of the 2013 event, which was best Dragon Con show I’ve attended, but a very good show for what it was.
The sci-fi comic book crowd reacts to violence, weapons, high spots and comedy. Forget about trying to wrestle. As usual the show peaked midway through.
Attendance was down from last year’s standing room only crowd and a fair percentage didn’t stick around until the end.
Booker AJ announced that there would be no Lucky Charms used this year or the Dragon Con Wrestling would be history. Evidently the Hyatt Regency had laid down the law about cereal being crushed into their expensive carpeting. AJ was roundly booed for this bad news.
Tank, Nemesis (presented by Shadow) and referees Dee Byers and Ken Wallace were inducted into the DCW Hall of Fame.
(1) CB Suave (as Ultimate Warrior) defeated Dementia D’Rose and Chip Day and Ethan Case and Crystal and Nina Monet in a 6 way intergender match in 10 minutes. Lots of crazy dives, stiff slaps and intergender violence, the kind of stuff that goes over like gangbusters with the cosplayer crowd. Suave lost his wig on a press slam. He had the Warrior moves down pat. Case (channeling Ric Flair) gave Nina a wicked palm strike. The women were all over with the crowd especially D’Rose, who did the powerbomb on the Tower of Doom spot. The finish came when Warrior splashed Case while he had Day in the figure four.
Jeff G. Bailey schooled the fans about what was good and bad in pop culture and had them eating out of his hand.
(2) Shaun Tempers (with Jeff G. Bailey) defeated Tommy Penirelli in 9:10 with the hangman neckbreaker. This was the only attempt at a standard heel/face wrestling match, and the crowd turned on it pretty severely. It wasn’t bad but the match never had a chance with these people.
(3) Urban Assault Squad (Nemesis & Shadow Jackson) defeated Hate Junkies (Dany Only & Stryknyn with The Rev) in 16 minutes. Stryk got things off on the right foot with a fire breathing entrance. This was a wild, weapons-filled brawl and got the best reaction of anything on the show. Nemesis bled. Stryk and Jackson fought in the lobby for a long time and drew quite a crowd of onlookers. The volunteer security folks weren’t prepared for that eventuality. Nemesis got slung three rows deep into the ringside seats for one of the biggest pops. UAS foiled the Junkies Doomsday Device and won it with a stunner/senton combo.
(4) Mosley won a gauntlet match to earn a shot at the DCW Single Cup next year. This match was an unexpected pleasure. The surprise was that they held the crowd’s attention and built on it all the way to the finish. The segments were kept short and sweet. Supernatural and Mosley turned out to be two of the most over guys on the show. Cyborg (Lars Manderson) was accompanied to the ring by Professor Morte from Monstrosity Championship Wrestling. Cyborg pinned a Cena wannabe with the Falcon Arrow. The crowd hated the Cena guy. Jeremy Foster suffered the same fate. After kicking out of two spears, Cyborg pinned James Dylan. Cyborg pinned Gil Quest with a Falcon Arrow. Cyborg and Elijah Evans went to five minute draw so both were eliminated. Cyborg kicked out an impressive Blue Thunder Bomb by Evans and hit the Falcon Arrow as the time limit elapsed. Supernatural pinned Papa Marko with a double stomp. It was love at first sight for the DCW crowd regarding Supernatural. He got “Ole” and “Si!” chants and his stuff looked crisp and believable. Bobby Moore advanced when Supernatural tried to fly and ate Moore’s elbow. The crowd was pissed. David Cross pinned Moore with a blockbuster. Cross is a talented high flier. Mosley (with Nina and his sister) pinned Cross with Big E’s Big Ending. It came down to Mosley vs. Billy Buck. It was fun seeing Buck work heel. It was even more fun watching WWE’s Xavier Woods go all out rooting for his buddy Mosley. Buck kicked out of two RKO’s. Mosley survived Buck’s superkick. After his sister provided ample distraction, Mosley pinned Buck with a pedigree.
(5) Tank & Iceberg (with Rev) defeated Mikael Judas & Geter in a Monsters Ball Match 11 minutes. Another crazy brawl with pizza tin, spatula and a cheese grater all brought into play. Iceberg bled. Geter forked up Tank and he bled as well. h cookie sheet. Geter forked up Tank. Tank bled. Tank put Geter down with cline. Judas give Iceberg El Crucifijo, an amazing sight to see, but Tank caught Judas with the Chokebreaker for the pin.
Referee Brent Wiley was subjected to massive abuse after the match. – chokeslam from Judas, running splash by Tank, jumping splash by Geter, then Tank placed a pie pan on Wiley’s nuts and whacked it with a spatula. Whatever Wiley’s offense was, the punishment exceeded the crime.
(6) Manchild & Lightning defeated Washington Bullets (Jon & Trey Williams) and Azrael & Slim J (with Reverend Dan) to retain the DCW Tag Team Cup in 14:04. A very good match but the crowd was fading fast at this point. J hit a picture perfect moonsault to the outside for the only “holy shit’ chant of the night. A sequence of big moves left all six men down. Double teams and saves ensued. J crashed and burned on a moonsault, and Manchild followed with his signature 300 pound + moonsault on J for the pin.
(7) Iceman defeated Jacoby Boykins and Seth Delay and Brodie Chase to become a two time DCW Singles Cup Champion in 11:45. Delay’s comedy was the highlight of the match. He was the guy the fans loved to playfully hate. Iceman is one of the booker AJ's Triple Extreme Wrestling buddies from back in the day and he stinks. The other guys worked around him as best they could. Iceman had no choice but to sell for Jacoby’s super high impact offense. Iceman got tired of getting his ass kicked and took it out on Seth. Spot of the match was Jacoby’s double Samoan Drop on Delay and Iceman. Finish saw Jacoby hit the spinning slam on Delay but Iceman stole the pin. The finish sucked and the crowd shit all over it.
Postmatch, Jacoby offered to shake Iceman’s hand and left him laying with a spinning slam instead.
