Georgia Wrestling History - the Home of Peach State Pandemonium: Show Reports

SHOW REPORTS

2007 SHOW REPORTS

December 29, 2007

Slim J and Patrick Bentley came through in the clutch at NWA Anarchy’s Season’s Beatings. It was an atypical main event for a major show: the two smallest performers in the company inside a steel cage, and they produced in spectacular fashion. It was everything anyone could have hoped for on a night when that was not always the case.

On paper, Season’s Beatings had a chance to be as good as anything Anarchy had done this year, certainly better than Fright Night, when things were very much in a building phase. At that point, Truitt Fields’ TV Title chase was the only story close to an apex, and the card didn’t really come together until the final TV taping.

Season’s Beatings, on the other hand, featured an array of matches built on well-developed storylines. As good as the major Anarchy shows have been over the last 18 months, and with this company’s habit of overachieving, lofty expectations come with the territory. Unfortunately, this show had more rough spots than usual.

The crowd reaction was part of it. They were molten hot for the best stuff - the main, Jackson/Nemesis, and the heavyweight title 3-way - but they were also more discerning. If it wasn’t really compelling, they weren’t popping.

Whatever problems the show had, there is no disputing the fact that Season’s Beatings set a record gate for wrestling in Cornelia. With tickets at $20, the SRO crowd of 325 brought in over $6000. They had to turn people away at the door.

NWA Anarchy owner Jerry Palmer opened the show with the good news about the pro wrestling regulations being proposed by the Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission. Palmer gave props to the Commission for coming to their senses. He said there would be regulation, but it would be guided by wrestling, and he hoped Georgia would become the most fan-friendly and best regulated state in the county. Palmer asked the crowd to welcome the Ball family, who were there as his guests after losing their home in a fire. They got a round of applause.

Next was a first rate video tribute to all of the wrestlers that had died during 2007 produced by announcer John Johnson. The first pop was when the image of Chris Benoit came onto the screen. Moolah also got a big pop. It was followed by a Season’s Beating video package from Executive Producer Kevin Marx.

Todd Sexton beat Wes Grissom in 10 seconds to earn a shot at the NWA Anarchy Television Title. This storyline required a midstream adjustment when Tony Santorelli quit the company with zero notice. Sexton did a number on Grissom before the match ever got underway. Brent Wiley called for the bell and Sexton superkicked Grissom in to oblivion for the three count. Sexton said Grissom needed to go back to being a referee and called Fields out.

Truitt Fields beat Todd Sexton in around 7 minutes to retain the NWA Anarchy Television Title. Fields came out dressed as the sexiest Santa of the holiday season. When he stripped down to his wrestling gear, Sexton said it was gay, but the ladies sure didn’t seem to think so. Fields jumped out on top and hit a great looking gorilla press drop. Sexton was a real scumbag here, kicking Fields in the face while he was tying his bootlace. Crowd was blazing hot for Fields to make the comeback. Sexton used Muay Thai knees to set up an STO for a near fall. Fields almost dropped Sexton on his head with a powerslam. But Sexton blocked the Killing Fields, and took over. He got the cross armbreaker, but Fields refused to tap. Clever finish. Referee Brent Wiley got nailed by a lariat. Sexton was poised to blast Fields with the title belt, but Grissom came out wearing a ref shirt and took it away. Fields planted a stunned Sexton with the Killing Fields and Grissom made the three count. Good match. Sexton is back in shape and having much better matches than he was early in his comeback.

Hollywood Brunettes (Andrew Alexander & Kyle Mathews) defeated New Wave (Derrik Driver & Steven Walters) in 8:02. Brunettes broke their winless streak. Alexander has added a noticeable amount of table weight of late. Brunettes did comedy bumps, but their usually impeccable timing was lacking in spots. They used a blind tag to set up a high-low combo move on Walters. Matthews’ has such a great dropkick that it always gets a pop. Alexander made another blind tag and dumped Walters. Matthews missed a top rope splash and Alexander threw Walters out again. But Walters escaped from the clutches of Brunettes and made the hot tag. On this night, Driver looked a level above the other guys in the match. Driver hit his facebuster variation on Alexander and Matthews saved. Driver went to the top but Matthews crotched him. Alexander then used a low blow to pin Driver. Doesn’t read like much of finish, but it worked fine.

Anger Alliance (Brodie Chase & Brandon Phoenix & Don Matthews) beat World’s Prettiest Tag Team (Seth Delay & Adrian Hawkins) & Salvatore Rinauro in 14:34. The babyface shine featured Chase doing his Ric Flair wannabe routine. It built to a spot where the babyface trio knocked Chase loopy with punches and gave him the swivel hips treatment. Chase did his own wobbly version of the swivel hips and got a three-way punch as his reward. Hawkins took the heat. Matthews was brutal here. He hit a killer fallaway slam. The crowd got behind Hawkins, who did a flippy Russian legsweep and tagged Delay. He hit leg-trap sunset flip and tagged Rinauro. That led to a round robin of finishers. Anger Alliance hit their’s in devastating fashion. The babyface side not so much. Rinauro about broke his neck on a messed up version of his turnbuckle-assisted Pele. Finish saw the faces reverse whips to cause a three-way Anger Alliance collision. Rinauro hit Pass the Courvoisier (springboard corkscrew kick) to pin Chase.

Jeff Lewis beat Kory Chavis (with Jeff G. Bailey) in a Dark City Death Match that went around 20 minutes. This body of the match did not resonate with the crowd, but they loved the finish. It was the blowoff of a program that never really clicked. Lewis got a good pop coming out. He was a house of fire at the start, repeatedly bashing Chavis into the rail. Chavis came back to get the first fall with a Shining Wizard, but Lewis popped right up and went back on the attack. The crowd wasn’t feeling Lewis at all. They chanted “Go Get Bailey,” but Lewis didn’t follow up on the suggestion. Chavis moved and Lewis speared the post. Bailey got a shot in on Lewis and taunted the guy that started the chant. Chavis pinned Lewis with the Spinesplitta at the 12 minute mark. Lewis used the ropes to just beat the 10 count. Chavis bled after going head first into the post (payback for the First Blood match at Fright Night). Lewis brought a table into the ring, and they traded big near falls, Lewis with the Final Curtain and Chavis with the Dark City Street Cutter. Chavis kicked Lewis right in the pork sword and went to the top. Lewis recoved to put Chavis through the table with a climbing overhead suplex. Just a great table spot. Lewis got the pin with a one-armed cover. They were both using the ropes to pull themselves up. Lewis made it just before 10, as Chavis slipped back to the mat.

Shadow Jackson vs. Nemesis ended as a double count out at 1:36. Just what It needed to be: very short and very violent. Nemesis came from the front door under a mask and told Eddie Rich to forget about doing intros. Nemesis attacked Jackson before me got to the ring, and it was all out war with the crowd going berserk. Inside the ring, they pulled each other’s shirt up for a blistering exchange of chops. The crowd gave Nemesis the “sissy” chant and did “Shadowmania” for Jackson. The action spilled back to outside. Jackson ducked a chairshot that would have killed him just before Harold James’ count reached ten. Fans booed the hell out of the finish. Jackson gave Nemesis a spinebuster on the ramp. Nemesis kicked Jackson in the face. Security got them both down on the floor. Seven guys were carrying Nemesis out when Jackson broke free and they went at it again. They continued to brawl in the parking lot. Those that got a chance to see it, said it said it was great stuff.

Devil’s Rejects (Azrael & Shaun Tempers with Reverend Wilson) beat Awesome Attraction (Austin Creed & Hayden Young) to win the NWA Anarchy Tag Team Titles in 9:43. Hot crowd. Solid action. Rejects jumped the Attraction before the bell, but the champs cleared the ring and Young nailed the both of them with a flip dive. It was total domination by Attraction in the early going. Azrael finally got untracked against Young. He beat Young down and applied his pet choke submission. Young made the ropes. A Young enzuigiri set up a red hot tag to Creed. He hit a tornado DDT on Tempers, but Azrael broke up the pin. Rejects hit a double middle rope chokeslam on Young, and Creed made the save. With Wilson distracting referee Ken Wallace, Azrael cut off Creed’s Montefisto and Rejects hit the Hellhammer. Wallace saw it but he made the three count anyway. Tempers pinned Creed.

Jeremy Vain & Rob Adonis beat Jerry Palmer & A Mystery Partner in 13:43. The pop for Palmer was incredible He came out with the ax handle and introduced Shadow Jackson as his mystery partner, but there was more mystery to this match than they bargained for. Jackson was injured in the first minute when he stepped on the ax handle and it rolled him. He tried to go but there was no way. Referee Jacob Ashworth gave the X sign. Not having clue one about the match, Rinauro ran out to take Jackson’s place. The rudos got heat on Palmer and the fans were instantly chanting his name. Adonis used a head squeeze. Vain did a slingshot splash for a near fall. Palmer hit a press slam on Vain. Hot tag. With Jackson out, they couldn’t do the planned finish, and this was awkward as hell. Rinauro hit his finisher, but Vain kicked out. Rinauro told Palmer to finish up on Vain, while he took care of Adonis. Adonis wasted Rinauro on the outside to distract Ashworth. Adonis tried to use the axe handle on Palmer, who caught him with an Ace crusher. But Vain cracked Palmer right between the shoulder blades with a wicked ax handle shot for the 1..2..3

Shatter (with Bailey) beat Mikal Judas & Iceberg (with Wilson) in a triangle match to retain the NWA Anarchy Heavyweight Title in 13:26. And I do mean heavyweight. The time when Anarchy was a mostly a cruiserweight league has passed. The pop for Judas is now just a few decibels below what Slim J gets. This was three huge men doing one high impact spot after another. No alliances. One guy would get taken out and the other two would beat the hell out of each other. Judas teased El Crucifijo on Iceberg, but Shatter cut him down with a lariat. Judas gave Shatter a double underhook suplex into the turnbuckles. Iceberg hit a release german suplex on Judas. Iceberg went for the Ground Zero on Judas, but Shatter speared him. Shatter used the Crippler Crossface on Iceberg. Judas broke that up. A massive three-way collision got a “this is awesome” chant from the Bleacher Bums. The spot of the match was an amazing double team superplex on Iceberg. A daredevil of a spot for true professionals only. I was afraid the ring ropes weren’t going to hold all that weight. Judas had Iceberg pinned, so Wilson pulled referee Harold James out of the ring. Judas gave Wilson and Bailey a meeting of evil managerial minds and got a pop that blew the roof off. Back inside the ring, Judas leapfrogged Shatter’s spear attempt and Shatter slammed into the post. They were on the way to having one of the best three-ways Anarchy had ever seen when things went awry. Judas went for El Crucifijo on Shatter and couldn’t get it done. They went to plan B. Judas went to the top rope but he slipped off. I have no idea how he escaped serious injury. Judas finally hit a modified crucifix powerbomb on Shatter. Lights out… Lights on and Dominous was in the ring. He chokeslammed Judas. Lights off and on again. Dominous was gone. Shatter pinned Judas.

During the intermission, Greg Hunter announced that this the end of Eddie Rich’s two year run as NWA Anarchy ring announcer (he’s taking time off from wrestling). The crowd gave him one last “Pee Wee” chant.

Slim J beat Patrick Bentley (with Reverend Wilson) via submission in a steel cage match (14:45). Two phenomenal performances to cap off a feud that has been running for. Everything was spot on. I’m thinking it was the best singles match the NWA Arena has seen in 2007. The crowd has saved it up for this match. The pops for the false finishes were completely off the chain. The biggest entrance pop of the night was reserved for J. Bentley tried to climb out and J planted him. J busted out a Koshinaka butt bump and a cartwheel huracanrana. Wilson fed Bentley a chair and he blasted J with it. J was bleeding from the forehead. Bentley used a variety of maneuvers to propel J into the cage. Bentley had that vacant, crazed look as he licked the blood and smeared it on his chest. Bentley did a fireman’s carry flipped into a backbreaker for a near fall. At 7 minutes in, J gave Bentley an awesome backdrop off the top rope, but his follow up moonsault was a crash and burn. J spiked Bentley’s head into the cage javelin style. Bentley bled for the first time in his Anarchy career. J pounded the cut and used the cage to open it up, and J was wearing the crimson mask. J hit a shiranui off the cage, but Bentley rolled a shoulder. J hit a top rope electric chair facebuster, an insane spot that got the “holy shit” chant. But Bentley kicked out. Bentley hit the Dark Driver and J kicked out! J hit the Detox Driver (package piledriver) and Bentley kicked out. The place was coming unglued at this point. J dove off the top of the cage a and caught Bentley with a reverse DDT. J applied the Roach Clip. Bentley came within inches of grabbing the cage before tapping out. Great match and a great way to finish the show.