January 1, 2006
– Larry Goodman
The team of Erik Watts and John Bogie emerged from the first Georgia wrestling show of 2006 as the new Great Championship
Wrestling tag team champions. Watts and Bogie defeated former champions, David Young and Chris Stevens in the finals of a six team
tournament. A crowd somewhere in the range of 250 was in attendance at the GCW Arena in Columbus.
“The Voice of GCW� Steven Owen kicked off the show with a rundown of the GCW-affiliated winners in the Best of 2005 voting on
the www.georgiawrestling.tk website. GCW won for the top promotion in the state of Georgia. David Young took home both Heavyweight
of the Year and Wrestler of the Year honors. Cru Jones voted for Most Improved. Cross vs. A. J. Styles won for Match of the Year. I wasnâ
€™t fortunate enough to see Cross/Styles. The other awards were all well deserved in my opinion.
Owen capped it off with the announcement that Jerry Oates had won for Promoter of the Year. Oates refused to take credit for the award.
Instead, he focused on the contributions of majority owners, Bill and Diane Hewes, and the wrestlers themselves.
The introduction of Jason Cross got a huge pop. Cross (Face of the Year) has been out of action due to shoulder surgery. Oates said the
screws were just removed from Cross’ shoulder. Cross said it was great to be home. Cross proposed a rematch with Styles for the
summer of ’06.
I was once again reminded of what a pleasure it is to watch wrestling at the GCW Arena, which has the best lighting of any building
around. They’ve added a psychedelic strobe effect for the intros.
(1) Bad Company (David Young & Chris Stevens) beat Steele Brothers (A. J. & Damien) in 12:22
It’s a stone cold fact that Young and Stevens are as good in the ring as any tag team that the state of Georgia has seen over the last
25 years. And I can’t overstress the words “tag team,� a concept that WWE seems hell bent on destroying. These guys are in
synch. They look alike, wrestle alike and think alike. Heel or not, Bad Company gets a pop because the crowd recognizes them as being
the real deal. The appearance of the reunited Steele Brothers got the best pop of the night. A. J. could develop into a larger version of
Devon. He needs more experience and more fire. Damien has taken his ring presence to another level. He’s looking quite jacked
these days as well. The match opened with Damien handing Stevens his ass in a major way. Stevens came back a clubberin’. A
headbutt appeared to do more damage to Stevens than it did to Damien. Bad Company bumped like mad for Steeles’ tandem
offense and bailed out. Young ran full speed into a drop toehold. Young ate a dropkick from Damien (he’s got an impressive
dropkick) and scampered across the ring on his knees to tag out. Damien dropkicked Stevens for a near fall. Stevens turned the match
around with a spinebuster on A. J. Bad Company softened A. J. up with power moves and dissected his arm. They made Damien lose
his temper, but that only made things worse for his partner. A. J. broke Stevens’ sleeper hold with a head shot into the top turnbuckle.
Damien’s work was strong off the hot tag. Damien powerslammed Young for a near fall. But Stevens clubbed Damien from behind
and Young pinned him with inside cradle. Some nice psychology here, as A. J. was too incapacitated by the damage to his arm to make
the save. The crowd was really into it. It’s not often that the first match turns out to be the best match of the show.
(2) Erik Watts & John Bogie defeated Bad Company #2 (Wrestler & Greg Brown) in 9:10
Barring those who have long since ODed on GCW Kool-Aid, nobody was expecting a masterpiece of precision timing and deft execution,
but this was ridiculous. The pop for Watts is showing significant shrinkage. Bogie has a bad case of “Noasital� disease. The
faces hit Brown with a double elbow. Brown took a delayed flatback bump on Watts’ elbow. In an unintentional comedy spot, Watts
went for a blind leapfrog and landed on top of Brown’s head. Watts came up lame. The heels applied the heat to Watts. Wrestler
motioned Bogie into the ring, so the rudos could double up. Watts finally got the tag. Bogie’s house cleaning was painful to watch.
Crowd killing stuff. Bogie’s did a quebrada that barely clipped Wrestler with the top of his head. Brown saved. Wrestler and Brown hit
a double flapjack on Bogie. But they failed to detect a blind tag by Watts, who caught Wrestler with an Oklahoma roll. Dr. Steve Miller’s
late count diminished the impact of the finish. I’m going to keep plugging Johnny Boone until some promotion wakes up and makes
him their lead official.
(3) Cru Jones & Mike Foxx beat Vordell Walker & Jaki in 9:14
Walker’s introduction received a tremendous pop, as good as the one for Steeles. Foxx and Jones got respectable pops. It’s a
reach for the regulars to take Jaki seriously, and the masked Luchador was the weak link here. His presence might make the EEOC
happy, but they don’t have to watch him wrestle. Foxx pretty much owned Yaki. In a rare (for GCW) instance of intense matwork,
Walker and Jones grappled to a standoff. Jones took control of the arm and tried to hand off to Foxx, but Walker slipped away. Foxx and
Walker did a nice exchange of chops, where each set was louder and stiffer than the previous one. Walker hit a twisting crossbody for a
near fall. A fan summed up Yaki’s offense with “Think outside the box, baby.� Foxx hit a sideslam for a near fall. Yaki came
back with a wheelbarrow bulldog and a missile dropkick for two. Foxx dropped down and Jones leveled Yaki with a clothesline as he
came over the top. Jones covered for the three count, while Foxx prevented the save by Walker.
(4) Young & Stevens beat Jones & Foxx to advance to the finals of the tournament (12:43)
No explanation was offered for Watts and Bogie getting the bye to the finals. One fan suggested that they could have awarded the bye
based on the team that won in the shortest amount of time. Someone else suggested drawing it out of a hat. Just about anything could
have worked. Throw us a bone for Chrissake. Jones & Foxx had a good out for losing, as they were forced to come right back and face a
rested team. The faces controlled the early going. Young and Stevens did an awesome job selling the power of Jones’ shoulder
blocks. Their facial expressions were gold. The match did a 180 when Foxx went for flying knee into the corner and Young ducked out of
the way. Bad Company got great heat working the body part. Stevens dropped a top rope elbow onto the Foxx’s knee for a near fall.
Young applied the figure four, but Foxx reversed it and Young had to go for the ropes. Young popped the crowd with a charging crotch
bump on the middle turnbuckle (think Abyss). Stevens brazenly interfered to prevent a tag. Stevens went for a series of pin attempts,
finally grabbing the tights on the fourth try, but still no dice. Stevens got the sleeper hold. Foxx came back with a desperation RKO and
crawled through Stevens’ legs to make the hot tag. Jones cleaned house with monster lariats (perfect choice after using it as a
finisher). Jones powerslammed Stevens and Young made the save. Jones dumped Young and zeroed in on Stevens, but Young clubbed
Jones as he was running the ropes. Stevens pinned Jones with a spinebuster. Good match.
(5) Watts & Bogie beat Young & Stevens to win the GCW Tag Titles in 9:20
Young was limping as he came down the ramp. It looked legit. Watts was selling an ankle injury. Watts decided that the best defense for
his injured leg was aggressive offense. Bad Company wound up on the receiving end of high backdrops. At 2:30, Bad Company got a
hold of Watts’ bum leg. They kept cutting of Watts’ comebacks by taking out his knee. This time, it was Stevens applying the
figure four. Watts used toe ropes to gain a break. Stevens missed with a top rope elbow, and fans were forced to endure another lame
house cleaning effort by Bogie. But Bogie fell victim to the numbers game. Bad Company hit a Hart Attack but Bogie kicked out. Stevens
hooked the rope to block Bogie’s rolling reverse cradle. “I’ve got him now,� said Stevens. Not. Bogie surprised Stevens
with a roll up to score the flash pin. The finish seemed get over well enough to send the majority of the crowd home happy.
NOTES:
Montel Montavious Porter (Deep South development talent AKA Antonio Banks) and Biohazard (Georgia wrestling’s Gimmick of the
Year) are scheduled to debut when GCW returns to their regular Saturday night slot on 1/7...There was a new production crew shooting
last night’s show. An announcement concerning GCW’s return to television is expected sometime in the coming weeksâ
€¦Former GCW referee Mark Owens was in the crowd.
– Larry Goodman
The team of Erik Watts and John Bogie emerged from the first Georgia wrestling show of 2006 as the new Great Championship
Wrestling tag team champions. Watts and Bogie defeated former champions, David Young and Chris Stevens in the finals of a six team
tournament. A crowd somewhere in the range of 250 was in attendance at the GCW Arena in Columbus.
“The Voice of GCW� Steven Owen kicked off the show with a rundown of the GCW-affiliated winners in the Best of 2005 voting on
the www.georgiawrestling.tk website. GCW won for the top promotion in the state of Georgia. David Young took home both Heavyweight
of the Year and Wrestler of the Year honors. Cru Jones voted for Most Improved. Cross vs. A. J. Styles won for Match of the Year. I wasnâ
€™t fortunate enough to see Cross/Styles. The other awards were all well deserved in my opinion.
Owen capped it off with the announcement that Jerry Oates had won for Promoter of the Year. Oates refused to take credit for the award.
Instead, he focused on the contributions of majority owners, Bill and Diane Hewes, and the wrestlers themselves.
The introduction of Jason Cross got a huge pop. Cross (Face of the Year) has been out of action due to shoulder surgery. Oates said the
screws were just removed from Cross’ shoulder. Cross said it was great to be home. Cross proposed a rematch with Styles for the
summer of ’06.
I was once again reminded of what a pleasure it is to watch wrestling at the GCW Arena, which has the best lighting of any building
around. They’ve added a psychedelic strobe effect for the intros.
(1) Bad Company (David Young & Chris Stevens) beat Steele Brothers (A. J. & Damien) in 12:22
It’s a stone cold fact that Young and Stevens are as good in the ring as any tag team that the state of Georgia has seen over the last
25 years. And I can’t overstress the words “tag team,� a concept that WWE seems hell bent on destroying. These guys are in
synch. They look alike, wrestle alike and think alike. Heel or not, Bad Company gets a pop because the crowd recognizes them as being
the real deal. The appearance of the reunited Steele Brothers got the best pop of the night. A. J. could develop into a larger version of
Devon. He needs more experience and more fire. Damien has taken his ring presence to another level. He’s looking quite jacked
these days as well. The match opened with Damien handing Stevens his ass in a major way. Stevens came back a clubberin’. A
headbutt appeared to do more damage to Stevens than it did to Damien. Bad Company bumped like mad for Steeles’ tandem
offense and bailed out. Young ran full speed into a drop toehold. Young ate a dropkick from Damien (he’s got an impressive
dropkick) and scampered across the ring on his knees to tag out. Damien dropkicked Stevens for a near fall. Stevens turned the match
around with a spinebuster on A. J. Bad Company softened A. J. up with power moves and dissected his arm. They made Damien lose
his temper, but that only made things worse for his partner. A. J. broke Stevens’ sleeper hold with a head shot into the top turnbuckle.
Damien’s work was strong off the hot tag. Damien powerslammed Young for a near fall. But Stevens clubbed Damien from behind
and Young pinned him with inside cradle. Some nice psychology here, as A. J. was too incapacitated by the damage to his arm to make
the save. The crowd was really into it. It’s not often that the first match turns out to be the best match of the show.
(2) Erik Watts & John Bogie defeated Bad Company #2 (Wrestler & Greg Brown) in 9:10
Barring those who have long since ODed on GCW Kool-Aid, nobody was expecting a masterpiece of precision timing and deft execution,
but this was ridiculous. The pop for Watts is showing significant shrinkage. Bogie has a bad case of “Noasital� disease. The
faces hit Brown with a double elbow. Brown took a delayed flatback bump on Watts’ elbow. In an unintentional comedy spot, Watts
went for a blind leapfrog and landed on top of Brown’s head. Watts came up lame. The heels applied the heat to Watts. Wrestler
motioned Bogie into the ring, so the rudos could double up. Watts finally got the tag. Bogie’s house cleaning was painful to watch.
Crowd killing stuff. Bogie’s did a quebrada that barely clipped Wrestler with the top of his head. Brown saved. Wrestler and Brown hit
a double flapjack on Bogie. But they failed to detect a blind tag by Watts, who caught Wrestler with an Oklahoma roll. Dr. Steve Miller’s
late count diminished the impact of the finish. I’m going to keep plugging Johnny Boone until some promotion wakes up and makes
him their lead official.
(3) Cru Jones & Mike Foxx beat Vordell Walker & Jaki in 9:14
Walker’s introduction received a tremendous pop, as good as the one for Steeles. Foxx and Jones got respectable pops. It’s a
reach for the regulars to take Jaki seriously, and the masked Luchador was the weak link here. His presence might make the EEOC
happy, but they don’t have to watch him wrestle. Foxx pretty much owned Yaki. In a rare (for GCW) instance of intense matwork,
Walker and Jones grappled to a standoff. Jones took control of the arm and tried to hand off to Foxx, but Walker slipped away. Foxx and
Walker did a nice exchange of chops, where each set was louder and stiffer than the previous one. Walker hit a twisting crossbody for a
near fall. A fan summed up Yaki’s offense with “Think outside the box, baby.� Foxx hit a sideslam for a near fall. Yaki came
back with a wheelbarrow bulldog and a missile dropkick for two. Foxx dropped down and Jones leveled Yaki with a clothesline as he
came over the top. Jones covered for the three count, while Foxx prevented the save by Walker.
(4) Young & Stevens beat Jones & Foxx to advance to the finals of the tournament (12:43)
No explanation was offered for Watts and Bogie getting the bye to the finals. One fan suggested that they could have awarded the bye
based on the team that won in the shortest amount of time. Someone else suggested drawing it out of a hat. Just about anything could
have worked. Throw us a bone for Chrissake. Jones & Foxx had a good out for losing, as they were forced to come right back and face a
rested team. The faces controlled the early going. Young and Stevens did an awesome job selling the power of Jones’ shoulder
blocks. Their facial expressions were gold. The match did a 180 when Foxx went for flying knee into the corner and Young ducked out of
the way. Bad Company got great heat working the body part. Stevens dropped a top rope elbow onto the Foxx’s knee for a near fall.
Young applied the figure four, but Foxx reversed it and Young had to go for the ropes. Young popped the crowd with a charging crotch
bump on the middle turnbuckle (think Abyss). Stevens brazenly interfered to prevent a tag. Stevens went for a series of pin attempts,
finally grabbing the tights on the fourth try, but still no dice. Stevens got the sleeper hold. Foxx came back with a desperation RKO and
crawled through Stevens’ legs to make the hot tag. Jones cleaned house with monster lariats (perfect choice after using it as a
finisher). Jones powerslammed Stevens and Young made the save. Jones dumped Young and zeroed in on Stevens, but Young clubbed
Jones as he was running the ropes. Stevens pinned Jones with a spinebuster. Good match.
(5) Watts & Bogie beat Young & Stevens to win the GCW Tag Titles in 9:20
Young was limping as he came down the ramp. It looked legit. Watts was selling an ankle injury. Watts decided that the best defense for
his injured leg was aggressive offense. Bad Company wound up on the receiving end of high backdrops. At 2:30, Bad Company got a
hold of Watts’ bum leg. They kept cutting of Watts’ comebacks by taking out his knee. This time, it was Stevens applying the
figure four. Watts used toe ropes to gain a break. Stevens missed with a top rope elbow, and fans were forced to endure another lame
house cleaning effort by Bogie. But Bogie fell victim to the numbers game. Bad Company hit a Hart Attack but Bogie kicked out. Stevens
hooked the rope to block Bogie’s rolling reverse cradle. “I’ve got him now,� said Stevens. Not. Bogie surprised Stevens
with a roll up to score the flash pin. The finish seemed get over well enough to send the majority of the crowd home happy.
NOTES:
Montel Montavious Porter (Deep South development talent AKA Antonio Banks) and Biohazard (Georgia wrestling’s Gimmick of the
Year) are scheduled to debut when GCW returns to their regular Saturday night slot on 1/7...There was a new production crew shooting
last night’s show. An announcement concerning GCW’s return to television is expected sometime in the coming weeksâ
€¦Former GCW referee Mark Owens was in the crowd.
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