Photos courtesy of Rob Brodhecker From Larry Goodman: Peachstate Wrestling Alliance ran their lone show for the month August las...
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| Photos courtesy of Rob Brodhecker |
From Larry Goodman:
Peachstate Wrestling Alliance ran their lone show for the month August last night at the Central Elementary School Gym in Carrollton.
It was a solid show in the ring with a lot of storyline advancement. I wouldn’t say it was one of Peachstate’s best. They peaks for certain events and this wasn’t one of them. August isn’t exactly prime time for indy shows in Georgia. They gave the crowd sufficient action to satisfy and a bigtime hook for their Labor Day weekend show.
The PWA Tag Team Championship and the No Limits title both changed hands in well worked matches. Title switches with those belts are fairly frequent occurrences at PWA as they are often used to elevate and/or shine a light on selected members of the roster rather than for long-term story arcs.
The key stories are intertwined. Jimmy Rave is on a quest to regain the PWA Heritage Champion and has to contend with “Advisor to the Georgia Athletic Commission” Bill Behrens doing everything in his power to keep Rave from reaching his goal. Behrens has also developed a stable of wrestlers called the Kingsmen and has set out to screw the PWA babyfaces in every way possible. AJ Steele has taken up the mantle of leading the opposition to Behrens.
Attendance was 200. PWA generally draws better at the VFW Fairgrounds. Central Elementary is more economical building to run. Either way, Peachstate has a ridiculously hot crowd and last night was no exception.
Behrens opened accompanied by his Kingsmen (PWA Heritage Champion Tommy Too Much, Kyle Matthews, Merica Strong and crooked referee Triston Michaels) with catcalls raining down on his tender ears. Given the warped state of Behrens’ mind, he thanked the crowd for the standing ovation and thunderous applause.
Simon Sermon interrupted with a proposal for Too Much – put the band back together by bringing back the Exotic Ones so they could once again rule the Georgia wrestling scene.
Too Much asked Behrens to give him the ring. Behrens and his Kingsment honored the champion's request but Behrens wasclearly fit to be tied.
Too Much proceeded to cut a great promo, a masterful blend of shoot and worked elements. How could he ask such a thing? Sermon and fellow Exotic One Rick Michaels were openly gay. No way he going back to wearing faggot gear and standing on Simon's coattails. Sermon had manipulated him in wrestling and his finances, referencing the stone cold fact that Sermon had once given him a job. He was handling the top guys in PWA with no help from Sermon. He already had an ace in Kyle Matthews and a queen in Merica but he could use a joker to clean up behind them. “Your spot is on my coattails and as my clean up boy”. He walked out leaving Simon high and dry.
(1)Violent Gentleman (Scott & Andrew with Wicked Nemesis) defeated Beautiful Bald Besties (Michael Stevens & Zac Edwards) to win the PWA Tag Team Championship in 9:25. Besties made a failed attempt to attack before the bell. Referee #2 (Terry Hudgins) properly waited until only two men were in the ring to start the match. The Gentleman doubled up on Stevens but not for long. Edwards interfered to knock Andrew off the apron and they went right to the heat at two minute mark. Besties operated like a well-oiled machine. Scott took the hot tag and hit a springboard clothesline on Stevens with Edwards breaking up the pin. Andrew kicked out of the Besties patented finisher (Eat Defeat/Zig Zag) combo for a big pop. Besties left the ring to confront Wicked Nemesis who had scooped up the title belts to prevent any funny business. Gentleman swarmed all over the Besties and pinned Zac with a double team finisher. The timing was off but it was good enough for government work and the pop was huge. Violent Gentlemen are an improved team. We shall see if they are up to this push. No doubt it was the Besties that made the match as good as it was.
(2) Merica Strong defeated Angel Blackwell via submission in 6:25. Blackwell is a WWA4 trainee. She was in MMA garb. Strong is a physical specimen but needs to exude more presence and intensity in the way she carries herself. This was close to 50/50. Would have made more sense for Strong to sell less and dominate a 3-4 minute match since she’s getting the push. Strong used a bearhug that’s a keeper as it emphasizes her size and power. Blackwell got two near falls with crossbodys before Strong ended it with a torture rack.
(3) Nigel Sherrod (with Akbar) defeated Shane Noles in 6:15. Sherrod gets heat. What a disgusting punk he is. Sherrod tried to bum rush Noles and got laid out. Sherrod then accidentally laid out Akbar. Noles was giving Nigel a pillar to post beating and even got him up for a brief airplane spin. Akbar grabbed Noles’ leg so Sherrod could nail him from behind. Sherrod with some nifty Memphis style punches here. Referee Michaels intervened when Sherrod tried to use a chair. Sherrod kicked Noles in the nuts and did a top rope elbow that looked like shit. On the comeback trail, Noles hit a stunner and Sherrod bumped like he got shot out of a cannon. Akbar got up on the apron and out came Wicked Nemesis to pull him down. Noles was distracted allowing Sherrod to club him from behind and get the pin with feet on the ropes in plain view of referee Michaels. Match was hardly a mat classic but it worked. It had all kinds of heat with it basically being two against one. I like Akbar with Sherrod. I really liked the swerve of Michaels calling it right down the middle then screwing Noles at crunch time.
Afterward, an enraged Noles was about to let Michaels have it for his crooked officiating. Behrens came to ringside and said hands off or you’re fired. Behrens said the Kingsmen would destroy him and cut his heart out. It was enough to get Noles to back off.
(4) Drew Adler defeated No Limits Champion Kevin Blue and CB Suave and Sal Rinauro in a 20 minutes scramble match to become the new No Limits Champion. Match was advertised as a title rematch for Suave. As good as their first match was, the rematch didn’t figure logically since Blue beat Suave clean the first time. Adler came to claiming he had unfinished business with Blue and could beat him in 5 minutes. Rinauro came out and said why not up the ante? He proposed a 20 minute scramble match, whoever scores the last pinfall leaves with the title. Being a fighting champion with more guts than sense, Blue agreed. Suave and Adler dumped Sal and doubled up on Blue. The alliance of assholes was short-lived. Adler shoved Suave into the path of Rinauro’s superkick. Sal had Suave pinned but Blue broke it up. Suave grabbed the belt and tried to control of the ring. He was eventually surrounded and forced to eat big moves from all three opponents. A mad scramble of pin attempts followed. Rinauro kicked out of two big moves by Blue and submitted Suave at 11:01. Blue pinned Rinauro with the Air Raid Crash a few second later. Blue ended up on the wrong end of a tower of doom superplex that left carnage in the ring.
Blue kicked out of a delayed cover by Suave. Suave hit the Ted Bundy on Rinauro. It’s an incredible move that Suave is using with Azrael’s blessing. Blue broke up the pin and fired up. Suave cut Blue off and blasted him with the title. Adler dumped Suave out of the ring and stole the pin with a minute left on the time limit. Adler was in a state of maniacal desperation as he tried to keep the other competitors at bay and fled the ring, belt in hand, as the time limit expired.
This was a fun match and much more appealing than two singles matches as listed on the card.
Post-match, Blue and Rinauro hugged out their differences.
Jason Boyd announced a PWA show in Hogansville next Saturday night at the old high school gym. The event is a fundraiser for the West End Child Care Center.
(5) Kyle Matthews (with Bill Behrens) defeated AJ Steele in 11:11. Steele did a 20 count stalling suplex with Kyle kicking his feet to no avail. A manhandling ensued. Matthews pulled the ropes down to spill Steele and went for a pescado. Steele made the catch, but Matthews wriggled free and shoved Steele’s arm into the post. Behrens hurt his hand trying to punch Steele while he was down. Matthews choked Steele with his wrist tape, then went after the injured arm. Steele powerbombed his way out of a cross armbreaker for a double down. Steele made a full on comeback, pausing to sell the arm. Steele went for the 10 punches of doom and got all the way to13 before the ref stepped in. Behrens slipped Matthews a gimmick. Matthews loaded his mask and it was lights out for Steele. I initially had doubts about Matthews as a heel, but he’s been great in the role and the mask was a delightful addition.
Behrens celebrated with a Memphis strut.
This Behrens character is both comical and repulsive. The fans in Carrollton get some laughs out of Behrens' buffoonery when he screws up but not for long. They can’t stand the air of superiority (who could blame them?) and he gets massive heat.
(6) Tommy Too Much (with Bill Behrens & Merica Strong) defeated The Gladiator (with Bill Behrens) and Jimmy Rave in a triple threat match to retain the PWA Heritage Championship in 9:17. A triple threat mach in name as it was a pure handicap match. Behrens dismissed referee # 2 and called Michaels out to officiate, then gave Gladiator a grand introduction as the man that feels no pain, never backs down from a fight and has the attitude of a Spartan. Gladiator was Slim J wearing a bronze helmet, trunks and boots and carrying a shield.
Rave was lighting the champion up in the early going. He tagged Gladiator in to do the heavy lifting. The fans’ skepticism about Gladiator (due to his size) evaporated once they got a taste of stellar ringwork. Gladiator was giving Rave all he could handle. The crowd popped for Gladiator’s inside out bump on Rave’s clothesline. T2M got the ring to double team. Rave escaped, hit the Shining Wizard on Gladiator and speared T2M. Gladiator kicked out of his pin attempt. Rave hit a DDT/downward spiral combo. Gladiator kicked out again and decimated Rave with a jumping neckbreaker. T2M gladly made the tag and pounced on Rave with a flying clothesline to pick up the win. This was an effective main event. Gladiator was impressive. They got the story across. No shame in Rave being unable to overcome insurmountable odds.
Post-match, Matthews joined the party and started putting the boots to Rave. Steele made a chair-swinging save. The heels powdered out with a lady in the front row threatening to smack Behrens with her water bottle.
Steele said Behrens had screwed them in the ring so let’s do it in the streets. Steele proposed a streefight that would actually take place outside the building. Steele said he a team of his own and brought out Noles and Rinauro to a “PWA” chant from the crowd. Pandora burst through the curtain and mowed Strong down for a huge pop. Steele admitted that he and Pandora didn’t see eye to eye, but there was no badder bitch around.
Behrens said Steele didn’t know what he was asking for. They were all losers (they all lost their last match) and it would be no different on September 3.
Noting that Behrens had agreed to the match, Steele said he had a special surprise for Behrens and Triston Michaels and they would not be in the street on September 3. The show ended with the crowd chanting “PWA”.
