From Larry Goodman: Platinum Championship Wrestling put the less is more philosophy on display at their show last night in Porterdale w...
Platinum Championship Wrestling put the less is more philosophy on display at their show last night in Porterdale with splendid results.
Matt Hankins, Georgia’s kingpin of booking on the fly and using smoke and mirrors whenever necessary, was at it again. It was another day at the office for Hankins. He had a main event (Porterdale City Limits Champion Brian Blaze vs. PCW Champion Gunner Miller), an opening match, a women’s match and the rest to be determined when he arrived at the building.
Since Sacred Ground 7, business has picked up the Main Event Arena. PCW has been packing the place out. It’s a small venue so packed is around 100 and they had close to that number last night. The room has a great vibe for wrestling. It is a very loud space by its nature, and the PCW fans are willing to suspend disbelief with gusto.
The show ran well under two hours long. Nobody was complaining. The show gave the fans just enough action to satisfy and leave them wanting to come back for a whole lot more.
It has been less is more from PCW in the show department since SG7. PCW ran the Arena only once in November. Last night was their final show there for 2016. PCW finishes out the year on December 11 with a joint PCW/SFCW fundraiser at New Rock Prep Sports Academy in Covington.
(1) Carpenter & Eric Jones (with Jonathan Malick) defeated Bill the Butcher & Jam (with Quasi Mandisco). Traffic sucked on 285. I arrived late with intense action between Jones and Jam already in progress. The crowd was hot as hell. Butcher speared Jones out of his boots and went after Carpenter on the outside. The crowd went bonkers when Butcher finally got his hands on him. Meanwhile, Jones kicked out of Jam’s Space Bound finisher due a late count by distracted referee Darryl Hall. Jones then gave Jam a low blow to secure the victory. This feud is working. The crowd wants to see Butcher kick Carpenter’s ass and got just a taste.
Jeff G. Bailey said he was giving the people of Porterdale an early Christmas gift with the presence of “The People’s Captain” Gunner Miller. Bailey said Miller was coming off a one-month suspension for dealing with a fan that tried to put his hands on him, and during the time they were away, Matt Hankins had created a meaningless, trash bag title. Bailey said Miller had changed his mind about challenging Blaze because he didn’t want to give that hunk of junk credibility. Instead, Bailey said he had found a man that had earned a shot at Miller’s PCW title and out came Brandon Kage.
(2) Gunner Miller (with Jeff G. Bailey) defeated Brandon Kage to retain the PCW Championship in 1:08. Miller incapacitated Kage with a pair of spinebuster slams and blasted him with his best ever version of the CTE for the pin. I could hear contact being made at the back of the room.
Blaze attacked Miller and laid him out with The Burn. Blaze is now over like a rock star. Bailey wanted Blaze. Hankins said before Bailey could change his mind, the title vs. title match was back on for the main event.
Miller saluted to the UTC fight song before leaving the ring. It’s a great little added touch. Miller is clearly in his comfort zone in this venue. It was like he taken a leap in character development since the last time I saw him wrestle, which was less than a month ago.
Hankins said one of the things PCW had accomplished in 2016 was making PCW a destination for talent from all over the country; ergo the next match would feature the debuts of two female competitors, one of them from California.
(3) Kikyo defeated Jessica Leigh to retain the Lady Luck Gold Rush Championship in 9:25. This was an outstanding match. Kikyo is a like a female version of Samoa Joe. She performs with tremendous confidence and got heat right off the bat with her attitude. The crowd had no problem getting behind Leigh, a heel most places she wrestles. Brooklyn Creed sauntered to ringside to observe but did not factor into the match. Leigh got the advantage when Kikyo came up empty on an Earthquake Splash. Kikyo hit a backpack stunner to reverse the momentum, applied a bodyscissors, switched to a camel clutch then curbstomped Leigh. Kikyo did a fisherman suplex and said, “That was perfect!” Kikyo kicked the crap out of Leigh but missed a standing moonsault. Leigh got a near fall with a hangwoman’s neckbreaker. Leigh countered Kikyo’s first attempt at her finisher. Kikyo came right back with a bridging german suplex for two and won it with the Kamikaze Bomb - a pumphandle slam followed by a senton backsplash. All of Kikyo’s stuff was so technically sound. There must be some high quality training available in Sacramento.
Postmatch -- show of sportsmanship between the competitors. Hankins asked for a moment and dropped the name of Dementia D’Rose. Kikyo said she hoped D’Rose was off her meds and ready to bleed. Kikyo and D’Rose wrestled a match in California. The rematch is not to be missed if Hankins can make it happen at PCW.
Hankins played the original PCW theme music to open the second half and said it had been a long time since they could play that song and not have an uneasy feeling.
(4) Kevin Park versus Gil Quest was a no contest at 1:45 when Logan Creed attacked Park. Brian Kane hit the ring to make the save.
Hankins said seeing how Park and Kane were the Tag Team Season Champions, let’s have us a tag match. The Washington Bullets (Jon & Trey Williams) interrupted. How could Hankins talk about the Tag Team Season without mentioning the Bullets? I could have sworn Jon was channeling the vocal inflections of Chris Rock. Trey suggested a lucha rules three-way. Hankins approved. Trey said the Bullets weren’t about to deprive the fans of a perfectly good entrance so they were going back for a redo.
(5) Washington Bullets (Jon & Trey Williams) defeated Tag Team Season Champions Kevin Park & Brian Kane and Logan Creed & Gil Quest in 14:26 when Jon pinned Park. The champions were having no problem handling the Bullets until Trey bailed and Creed capitalized on the lucha rules by kicking Kane right in the mush. Creed used a shoulder breaker on Kane’s bum shoulder. Jon tagged himself in and the Bullets picked up where Creed left off. Trey flung Kane’s shoulder into the post. Kane’s bump looked awesome and got a big reaction from the crowd. Creed and Quest took their turn beating on Kane with Creed’s standing fallaway slam as the highlight of the abuse. Jon was inadvertently tagged in and took a tornado DDT from Kane for his troubles. Park entered with a double missile dropkick on the Bullets, followed by a tope suicida on Creed, driving him into the seats, then got a close near fall on Jon with a Michinoku Driver. Inspired stuff from Park here. Creed made a blind tag and decapitated Park with a clothesline but Trey broke up the pin. Bullets smoked Quest with a double team and celebrated, only to get nailed by Creed’s double clothesline. Bullets doubled up on Creed and were in a state of shock when Creed kicked out Trey’s leaping leg drop. The champs and the Bullets momentarily joined forces for a four-way superkick on Creed. The Bullets offered to shake hands with Kane and Park. Not gonna happen. Kane and Park hit Death Valley Wizard on Quest but Creed saved on the pin attempt. Creed powerbombed the bejeezus out of Park and went after Kane. All Jon had to do was cover Park for the 1-2-3. This was a really fun match. It was surprisingly cohesive given the abundance of moving parts and the inclusion of a makeshift team.
(6) Porterdale City Limits Champion Brian Blaze defeated PCW Champion Gunner Miller (with Jeff G. Bailey) via DQ in 35 seconds. The crowd was split 50/50 with massive chants for both men. Bailey immediately climbed into the ring and clocked Blaze from behind with the belt.
The place came ungiued when Geter hit the ring. The crowd was instantly aligned behind Big F’N Deal. Bailey and Miller high-tailed it out of there with Bailey hugging the belt like it was his baby.
Hankins said Bailey’s trick worked tonight but in 2017 Blaze would get a rematch with Geter in his corner.
