June 11, 2005
– Larry Goodman
Pro Wrestling Evolution presented “New South Rising� in Canton, Georgia last night. The show, featuring an appearance by
Raven in the main event, drew a crowd of 200.
It was PWE’s first venture into the Canton National Guard Armory and their first show since merging with Georgia Wrestling
Promotions. It’s a serviceable venue for crowds of that size. Similar in atmosphere to a lot of the buildings IWA Mid-South runs. Iâ
€™ve always been of the opinion that pro wrestling should not be viewed under ceiling mounted fluorescent lighting. It kills the mystique
because there’s no contrast between the ring and the crowd.
The presentation of the product is several levels up from where PWE was a year ago, when they started up as an offshoot of NWA
Wildside. After getting off to a rocky start that saw them kill Athens with a dismal event, the promotion regrouped and has been running
the occasional under-the-radar show in the far reaches of the Atlanta suburbs.
Not that there isn’t a lot of room for improvement. The booking could stand some tightening up. There were too many matches with
suspect talent that served too little purpose. There was no good reason for this show to run over three hours long. The crowd energy
tailed off after a strong start and only picked back up for the main event. They’re still having problems with the ring. This one is solidly
constructed. Hallelujah. But it’s Wildside’s old travel ring, which is stiff to the point of discouraging bumping.
Sergeant Shirley from the Canton National Guard opened the show with a prayer for the 72 local boys that are serving in Iraq. Shirley
uttered the words “family entertainment.� To me, that implied no four letter words would be used on the mic, but the PWE workers
apparently had a different interpretation.
(1) Nemesis beat Stryknyne in 4:39
Just what it needed to be. Nemesis showed plenty of aggression against the goth babyface in the opening minutes. Stryknyne came
back with a spear. Stryknyne made the mistake of trying to get the crowd behind him without giving them a compelling enough reason to
do so. Nemesis cut him off with a lariat. Nemesis dropped Stryknyne on his head with a burning hammer to score the pin. Postmatch,
Nemesis beat the crap out of Stryknyne with back chops.
(2) Notorious D.O.G. beat Lamar Phillips via submission in 6:30
D.O.G. moves like his right knee is completely shot. Nevertheless, D.O.G. posted the angelic looking Phillips’ shoulder and
dissected the body part. D.O.G. waffled Phillips with a chair, and used a hammerlock slam as the prelude to a brutal crossface variation
for the tap out.
(3) Jesse Wade & Palm Beach Boy Scotty beat Rebel Alliance (Solitude & Buford T. with D. L. Norris) in 8:13
Wade ran down Shane Williams for making a softball tournament more of a priority than showing up in Canton to be his partner. T is a
country boy in overalls and he’s freaking huge. He might have had a career with that gimmick in the 70’s. At one point, Buford
paused to take a swig from his jug of moonshine and spit the contents in Scotty’s face. The heels worked on Buford’s leg. He
came back with a no sell spot and an impressive fireman’s carry Ace crusher. Scotty ran away from Wade and right into a clothesline
from Buford. The finish had Buford trying to submit Wade. Scotty ran in for the save. Norris hit the ring with a chair. While the ref shooing
Norris out, Scotty came off the ropes with a flying fist on Buford. Wade pinned Buford. Norris cracked Scotty over the head with a street
sign in the postmatch, which kinda, sorta made up for a flat finish.
(4) Kid Ego Jr. beat Simon Sermon via DQ in 6:23
Ego’s gimmick is that Air Paris (who wrestled as Kid Ego in this area) is his father. At least he thinks there’s a 98.9% chance. If
so, Paris belongs in the Guinness Book of World Records. Ego is a smooth looking worker for an 18 year old. That’s due in part to
the fact that he had his first pro match at age 13. He has the upbeat energy and ring presence to be positioned as the undersized
underdog babyface, ala Slim J in Wildside. Sermon worked the crowd. The obnoxious Brit treated them like sub humans. “I’ll
beat your bloody asses right here and now.� Ego wiped his nose with the British flag. Sermon took a shortcut to gain control. Nice tilt-
a-whirl facebuster for a near fall. Sermon did a legdrop off the middle rope and lounged on the apron stroking his leg. Ego did a rapid fire
facebuster-neckbreaker sequence across his knee. But Sermon got his knees up on Ego’s lionsault. Sermon pinned Ego with a
hurricane piledriver. Sermon kept beating on Ego until the ref DQed him.
(5) Nemesis beat Canadian Sheik (with Brad North) in 8:20
Nemesis had his second good match of the night, but why was anybody working twice on a show with 10 matches? The lack of any
discernable babyface leanings from either guy effectively killed the heat. Fans chanted “lower gas prices� at Sheik, who was
hedging his bet by combining two heelish nationalities in one gimmick. They did some chain. Nemesis worked the arm with a keylock
and a spinning armbar. Good choices because up to this point, there had been few wrestling holds used. Nemesis delivered some
wicked headbutts. North got involved to set up a Sheik neckbreaker. Sheik took a slow motion crotch bump on the top turnbuckle.
Nemesis brought him off with a suplex. North got into it with Nemesis. Sheik capitalized with a discus forearm. North held Nemesis for
Sheik. Nemesis slipped away. Sheik put on the breaks to avoid hitting North. Nemesis knocked the heels together and rolled Sheik up
for the three count. Good finishing sequence.
(6) Ranger Ross beat Avenger (with Brad North & Vixen) in 4:42
Ross looked in good shape. He didn’t have much to work with here. Avenger turned out to be a masked butterball. Ross used a
barrage of blows to set up the finish, a leapfrog into a superkick. North blew his big moment with star. The spot called for North to
leapfrog Ross and take the superkick. North mistimed the leapfrog and landed on his face before taking the finisher.
(7) Mikal Adryan (with John “The Body� Johnson) beat Scott Steel (with Mercedes) in 7:53
Johnson introduced Adryan to Mercedes as “6 foot 7, 270 pounds of what you dream about.� Adryan said Steel wasn’t ready to
face the first PWE champion. Steel is in the Tough Enough mold, green with impressive physique. Mercedes has beautiful bronze
colored skin and big fake boobs, but she was clueless about working at ringside. Johnson pulled Steel’s leg and Adryan
clotheslined him over the top for a well executed heat spot. But Mercedes stood there acting cool when she should have been in
somebody’s face, either Johnson’s or the ref’s. Adryan posted Steel on the outside and hit two wicked corner lariats on the
inside. Adryan worked on Steel’s back. Steel busted out a backflip into a lariat. Steel gored Adryan, but Johnson put Adryan’s foot
on the ropes. Johnson pulled out a chain. Mercedes punked out Johnson. Adryan used the distraction to his advantage. Two Assisted
Suicides and Steel was toast.
Holbrook announced that Raven would be returning for PWE’s next show in Canton on 7/8.
Murder One entered the ring. M1 said he had earned the number one contender slot for the vacant PWE title but the title match wasn’t
happening (the main event was billed as M1 vs. Biohazard vs. Raven for the title). M1 said he didn’t give two squirts of piss about
facing Raven. M1 said he had a surprise opponent for Iceberg, one that just got out of prison. That lead to…
(8) Iceberg beat Murder One in a minute flat
Iceberg destroyed M1 with a Spinesplitta and not one, but two quarter ton splashes.
(9) Azrael & Crazy Francis beat Pomp & Circumstance (Ace Rockwell & Shaun Tempers with Al Getz) in 14:56
Match was almost all comedy and it was totally the wrong time for it. Rockwell must have forgotten to take his lithium, because he was
way over the top. It would have been fine in the second match on the card, but it was wasted here, as the crowd lost interest. Getz wanted
to know who let all the kids in because he hated them. Kiddie heat abounded. Getz threatened to hit one of them so hard that it would
give his mother a black eye. Getz got both of his hand stomped on to where he sold that they were broken. AZRAEL TALKED. He offered
to give Rockwell a free shot. Azrael said the first one wasn’t hard enough. The second one was better. A third backfired on Ace.
Francis did a Thesz Press to set up some ground and pound. Azrael did a jumping double stomp. P & C got heat on Francis. Tempers
clotheslined Francis as he went for a shining wizard. Francis hot-tagged Azrael. The faces got dumped. Rockwell hit a plancha. Rockwell
was looking for the spinebuster, but Azrael countered with a neckbreaker and hit a running knee to the back of the neck for the pin. The
payback was sheer hell, as P & C laid Azrael out with a nirvana strangle neckbreaker on a steel chair.
(10) Raven beat Bio-Hazard in a Raven’s Rules match (10:10)
A strong match that sent the fans home happy. The crowd treated Raven as a star. Raven posted Bio right away. Rave suggested a
Raven’s Rules match. Bio said no. Raven beat on him. Bio still said no. Bio tried to make a comeback. Raven took that as a yes and
beat on Bio with the mic. They made good use of the ring truck. Raven whipped Bio into it a couple of times. Bio returned the favor and
Rave sold his shoulder huge. Raven whipped Bio into the seating area and ended up taking out a complete section. Raven dropped Bioâ
€™s throat on the edge of a chair. Bio resorted to a low blow. Bio applied the Prey for Death submission. Raven’s hand dropped to
the mat twice but not the third time. Raven moved out of the path of Bio’s quebrada. Both men down. Raven with a clothesline and a
kneelift. Raven rolled with babyface fire. Raven hit a bulldog for a near fall. Raven brought a chair in, but Bio gave Raven the drop toehold
onto the chair for a near fall. Bio’s superkick showed a lot of light, but Raven sold it for a near fall. Bio tried for the drop toe hold again.
Bad idea. Raven winged the chair into Bio’s head and pinned him with the Raven Effect. And one more for good measure. Raven
teased a Raven Effect on the ref, before letting the poor guy (T. A. Wright) raise his hand.
As good as main event was, the booking made no business sense if PWE plans to bring Raven right back on their next show. Raven
went over clean, in his match, and without even a hint of postmatch heat being put on him. Where’s the hook for the return
engagement? Raven was booked like an attraction when just about any kind of story would have been better than none at all.
NOTES:
In addition to Raven, PWE is bringing in the Armstrongs (Bob & Scott) for the 7/8 show…Raven got high marks for his willingness to
provide helpful advice to the PWE crew…Nigel Sherrod and Ken Wallace did the commentary for Pirate TV which will be available online
in the near future at www.prowrestlingevolution.com.
– Larry Goodman
Pro Wrestling Evolution presented “New South Rising� in Canton, Georgia last night. The show, featuring an appearance by
Raven in the main event, drew a crowd of 200.
It was PWE’s first venture into the Canton National Guard Armory and their first show since merging with Georgia Wrestling
Promotions. It’s a serviceable venue for crowds of that size. Similar in atmosphere to a lot of the buildings IWA Mid-South runs. Iâ
€™ve always been of the opinion that pro wrestling should not be viewed under ceiling mounted fluorescent lighting. It kills the mystique
because there’s no contrast between the ring and the crowd.
The presentation of the product is several levels up from where PWE was a year ago, when they started up as an offshoot of NWA
Wildside. After getting off to a rocky start that saw them kill Athens with a dismal event, the promotion regrouped and has been running
the occasional under-the-radar show in the far reaches of the Atlanta suburbs.
Not that there isn’t a lot of room for improvement. The booking could stand some tightening up. There were too many matches with
suspect talent that served too little purpose. There was no good reason for this show to run over three hours long. The crowd energy
tailed off after a strong start and only picked back up for the main event. They’re still having problems with the ring. This one is solidly
constructed. Hallelujah. But it’s Wildside’s old travel ring, which is stiff to the point of discouraging bumping.
Sergeant Shirley from the Canton National Guard opened the show with a prayer for the 72 local boys that are serving in Iraq. Shirley
uttered the words “family entertainment.� To me, that implied no four letter words would be used on the mic, but the PWE workers
apparently had a different interpretation.
(1) Nemesis beat Stryknyne in 4:39
Just what it needed to be. Nemesis showed plenty of aggression against the goth babyface in the opening minutes. Stryknyne came
back with a spear. Stryknyne made the mistake of trying to get the crowd behind him without giving them a compelling enough reason to
do so. Nemesis cut him off with a lariat. Nemesis dropped Stryknyne on his head with a burning hammer to score the pin. Postmatch,
Nemesis beat the crap out of Stryknyne with back chops.
(2) Notorious D.O.G. beat Lamar Phillips via submission in 6:30
D.O.G. moves like his right knee is completely shot. Nevertheless, D.O.G. posted the angelic looking Phillips’ shoulder and
dissected the body part. D.O.G. waffled Phillips with a chair, and used a hammerlock slam as the prelude to a brutal crossface variation
for the tap out.
(3) Jesse Wade & Palm Beach Boy Scotty beat Rebel Alliance (Solitude & Buford T. with D. L. Norris) in 8:13
Wade ran down Shane Williams for making a softball tournament more of a priority than showing up in Canton to be his partner. T is a
country boy in overalls and he’s freaking huge. He might have had a career with that gimmick in the 70’s. At one point, Buford
paused to take a swig from his jug of moonshine and spit the contents in Scotty’s face. The heels worked on Buford’s leg. He
came back with a no sell spot and an impressive fireman’s carry Ace crusher. Scotty ran away from Wade and right into a clothesline
from Buford. The finish had Buford trying to submit Wade. Scotty ran in for the save. Norris hit the ring with a chair. While the ref shooing
Norris out, Scotty came off the ropes with a flying fist on Buford. Wade pinned Buford. Norris cracked Scotty over the head with a street
sign in the postmatch, which kinda, sorta made up for a flat finish.
(4) Kid Ego Jr. beat Simon Sermon via DQ in 6:23
Ego’s gimmick is that Air Paris (who wrestled as Kid Ego in this area) is his father. At least he thinks there’s a 98.9% chance. If
so, Paris belongs in the Guinness Book of World Records. Ego is a smooth looking worker for an 18 year old. That’s due in part to
the fact that he had his first pro match at age 13. He has the upbeat energy and ring presence to be positioned as the undersized
underdog babyface, ala Slim J in Wildside. Sermon worked the crowd. The obnoxious Brit treated them like sub humans. “I’ll
beat your bloody asses right here and now.� Ego wiped his nose with the British flag. Sermon took a shortcut to gain control. Nice tilt-
a-whirl facebuster for a near fall. Sermon did a legdrop off the middle rope and lounged on the apron stroking his leg. Ego did a rapid fire
facebuster-neckbreaker sequence across his knee. But Sermon got his knees up on Ego’s lionsault. Sermon pinned Ego with a
hurricane piledriver. Sermon kept beating on Ego until the ref DQed him.
(5) Nemesis beat Canadian Sheik (with Brad North) in 8:20
Nemesis had his second good match of the night, but why was anybody working twice on a show with 10 matches? The lack of any
discernable babyface leanings from either guy effectively killed the heat. Fans chanted “lower gas prices� at Sheik, who was
hedging his bet by combining two heelish nationalities in one gimmick. They did some chain. Nemesis worked the arm with a keylock
and a spinning armbar. Good choices because up to this point, there had been few wrestling holds used. Nemesis delivered some
wicked headbutts. North got involved to set up a Sheik neckbreaker. Sheik took a slow motion crotch bump on the top turnbuckle.
Nemesis brought him off with a suplex. North got into it with Nemesis. Sheik capitalized with a discus forearm. North held Nemesis for
Sheik. Nemesis slipped away. Sheik put on the breaks to avoid hitting North. Nemesis knocked the heels together and rolled Sheik up
for the three count. Good finishing sequence.
(6) Ranger Ross beat Avenger (with Brad North & Vixen) in 4:42
Ross looked in good shape. He didn’t have much to work with here. Avenger turned out to be a masked butterball. Ross used a
barrage of blows to set up the finish, a leapfrog into a superkick. North blew his big moment with star. The spot called for North to
leapfrog Ross and take the superkick. North mistimed the leapfrog and landed on his face before taking the finisher.
(7) Mikal Adryan (with John “The Body� Johnson) beat Scott Steel (with Mercedes) in 7:53
Johnson introduced Adryan to Mercedes as “6 foot 7, 270 pounds of what you dream about.� Adryan said Steel wasn’t ready to
face the first PWE champion. Steel is in the Tough Enough mold, green with impressive physique. Mercedes has beautiful bronze
colored skin and big fake boobs, but she was clueless about working at ringside. Johnson pulled Steel’s leg and Adryan
clotheslined him over the top for a well executed heat spot. But Mercedes stood there acting cool when she should have been in
somebody’s face, either Johnson’s or the ref’s. Adryan posted Steel on the outside and hit two wicked corner lariats on the
inside. Adryan worked on Steel’s back. Steel busted out a backflip into a lariat. Steel gored Adryan, but Johnson put Adryan’s foot
on the ropes. Johnson pulled out a chain. Mercedes punked out Johnson. Adryan used the distraction to his advantage. Two Assisted
Suicides and Steel was toast.
Holbrook announced that Raven would be returning for PWE’s next show in Canton on 7/8.
Murder One entered the ring. M1 said he had earned the number one contender slot for the vacant PWE title but the title match wasn’t
happening (the main event was billed as M1 vs. Biohazard vs. Raven for the title). M1 said he didn’t give two squirts of piss about
facing Raven. M1 said he had a surprise opponent for Iceberg, one that just got out of prison. That lead to…
(8) Iceberg beat Murder One in a minute flat
Iceberg destroyed M1 with a Spinesplitta and not one, but two quarter ton splashes.
(9) Azrael & Crazy Francis beat Pomp & Circumstance (Ace Rockwell & Shaun Tempers with Al Getz) in 14:56
Match was almost all comedy and it was totally the wrong time for it. Rockwell must have forgotten to take his lithium, because he was
way over the top. It would have been fine in the second match on the card, but it was wasted here, as the crowd lost interest. Getz wanted
to know who let all the kids in because he hated them. Kiddie heat abounded. Getz threatened to hit one of them so hard that it would
give his mother a black eye. Getz got both of his hand stomped on to where he sold that they were broken. AZRAEL TALKED. He offered
to give Rockwell a free shot. Azrael said the first one wasn’t hard enough. The second one was better. A third backfired on Ace.
Francis did a Thesz Press to set up some ground and pound. Azrael did a jumping double stomp. P & C got heat on Francis. Tempers
clotheslined Francis as he went for a shining wizard. Francis hot-tagged Azrael. The faces got dumped. Rockwell hit a plancha. Rockwell
was looking for the spinebuster, but Azrael countered with a neckbreaker and hit a running knee to the back of the neck for the pin. The
payback was sheer hell, as P & C laid Azrael out with a nirvana strangle neckbreaker on a steel chair.
(10) Raven beat Bio-Hazard in a Raven’s Rules match (10:10)
A strong match that sent the fans home happy. The crowd treated Raven as a star. Raven posted Bio right away. Rave suggested a
Raven’s Rules match. Bio said no. Raven beat on him. Bio still said no. Bio tried to make a comeback. Raven took that as a yes and
beat on Bio with the mic. They made good use of the ring truck. Raven whipped Bio into it a couple of times. Bio returned the favor and
Rave sold his shoulder huge. Raven whipped Bio into the seating area and ended up taking out a complete section. Raven dropped Bioâ
€™s throat on the edge of a chair. Bio resorted to a low blow. Bio applied the Prey for Death submission. Raven’s hand dropped to
the mat twice but not the third time. Raven moved out of the path of Bio’s quebrada. Both men down. Raven with a clothesline and a
kneelift. Raven rolled with babyface fire. Raven hit a bulldog for a near fall. Raven brought a chair in, but Bio gave Raven the drop toehold
onto the chair for a near fall. Bio’s superkick showed a lot of light, but Raven sold it for a near fall. Bio tried for the drop toe hold again.
Bad idea. Raven winged the chair into Bio’s head and pinned him with the Raven Effect. And one more for good measure. Raven
teased a Raven Effect on the ref, before letting the poor guy (T. A. Wright) raise his hand.
As good as main event was, the booking made no business sense if PWE plans to bring Raven right back on their next show. Raven
went over clean, in his match, and without even a hint of postmatch heat being put on him. Where’s the hook for the return
engagement? Raven was booked like an attraction when just about any kind of story would have been better than none at all.
NOTES:
In addition to Raven, PWE is bringing in the Armstrongs (Bob & Scott) for the 7/8 show…Raven got high marks for his willingness to
provide helpful advice to the PWE crew…Nigel Sherrod and Ken Wallace did the commentary for Pirate TV which will be available online
in the near future at www.prowrestlingevolution.com.
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