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| SHOW REPORTS |
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| March 23, 2008
Southern Extreme Championship Wrestling ran an Easter show in Carrollton, Georgia. I doubt they will do it again. SECW drew only 150 to the VFW Fairgrounds, well below their usual level, even with a high stakes stipulation title match as the main event. Two factors at work here. Easter has got to be the worst holiday to run a wrestling show, and they had to reschedule from March 22 due to owner Scott East’s heart surgery. It was, in essence, a one match show – Buchanan vs. Destroyer – title vs. mask. It was a match that deserved to be done in front of a full house. It was case in point as to why Buchanan was Georgia Wrestler of the Year for 2007. Style wise, the guy just wasn’t cut out for WWE. (1) Kyle Matthews pinned Lamar Phillips with a flying bodypress at 5:10. I was glad to see Matthews up and around after taking that Samoan Drop on a ladder last night at Anarchy. He’s a fine worker, but doesn’t project enough passion to connect as a babyface. Phillips had matured to where he looks like a pro wrestler. He was getting down on the crowd for being so dead. Nothing wrong with the match that heat couldn’t fix. (2) Tommy Rich & Chris Lightning beat Pretty Boy Floyd & Awesome T. C. in 5:33. There was nothing the least bit awesome about T. C. Lightning is a young babyface on the rise. He’s one of those little guys with desire to burn, who, if he had more size, would be a good bet to make it. He’s the son of referee Marshall Law. The crowd was into Rich and Lightning as a team. Match was all heat on Lightning. Rich’s involvement was limited to cleaning house with the hot tag. The heels sold big for Rich’s punches. Finish saw Floyd eat a lariat from his partner and get pinned by Rich. The after stuff was better than the match. No kiss and make up here. The verbal dispute between Floyd and T. C. erupted into a shoot style brawl. Advantage Floyd. T. C. and his “300 pounds of twisted steel (?) and sex appeal” issued a challenge. “You wanna be Superman. I’m gonna be the kryptonite.” Floyd told T. C. he just got punked Pretty Boy style and there was more where that came from. “I don’t know what kind of sex appeal that was,” said East. 1st intermission – Bull Buchanan, Creed, and Matthews out at the gimmick tables. (3) Bulldog Raines beat Big Wood in 11:34. Good thing Raines is over as the barking babyface, becuase this was all shenanigans and schmaltz. Wood said he didn’t know he was going to be wrestling a lunatic. East gave Wood some advice. “Don’t let the door hit ya, where the good Lord split ya.” Wood suggested an arm wrestling contest. They got on down on their bellies and Raines lifted his leg on Wood. They didn’t wrestle for the first six minutes. Raines could do no wrong. The fans kept working to convince referee Jeff McGowan that Bulldog’s version of reality was The Truth. With the crowd begging for action, Raines got the better of a barking Roman knuckle lock and stomped Wood’s fingers. Wood did damage with a series of gutshots. Raines came back with a one punch knockdown for Wood’s only bump of the match. Wood finally got the upper hand. He gave Raines the charging el squasho in the corner and said it was over, a sure sign of bad karma. Woods charged again and missed. Raines rolled him up. Charley Smith did a drawing for Georgia Bulldog merchandise. (4) Austin Creed & Nightmare & Kid Ego beat Sal Rinauro & Chick Donovan & Billy Love two out of three falls in a total time of 29:01. The question of whether this show was worth the time and the $3.19 a gallon gas was answered with the heel entrance for this match. The 62-year old Donovan shucking and jiving his way to the ring to Tupac’s “California Loving” provided one of the more surreal wrestling moments of 2008. Fans were chanting “Tinkerbell” at Rinauro. Donovan got upset when Nightmare messed with his perfectly coiffed hair. The man has amazing hair. Nightmare surprised Rinauro with a reverse roll up. Rinauro then neutered himself on the post with an assist from Ego. Nightmare kicked the ropes into Rinauro’s nuts to add insult to injury. Fun stuff, but charisma and charm could only carry things so far. The show had lacked for fast action, and interest was faded. Donovan cheated to take over. Creed came back with a high crossbody with Donovan taking this safety-first rolling bump. The face side did a number on Sal’s arm. Then it was Nightmare taking the heat. Love and Rinauro gave Nightmare a double lariat behind McGowan’s back, and Love scored the fall at 17:31. Nightmare recuperated during the rest period and fired back with a vengeance. Love managed to back suplex Ego. Ego took a double backdrop into the heavens before rolling Donovan up to win the second fall in 5:09. The Chickster ripped at Ego’s face to start the third fall. Ego caught Rinauro with a tornado DDT and tagged out to Nightmare. Rinauro nailed him with a fist drop and did the swivel hips. This ain’t Anarchy. Love missed on a crazy ass corkscrew moonsault. Creed on fire after the hot tag. Finish saw Rinauro accidentally hit Love with a high crossbody and all three faces piled on for the pin at 6:21. 2nd intermission – photo opportunity with Bulldog Raines. (5) Bull Buchanan beat Super Destroyer to retain the SECW Title in a Title vs. Mask match (21:40). Super D was unmasked as Rob Adonis. This was great storytelling in the ring. Buchanan’s Japanese influence was a palpable presence. Style wise, the guy just wasn’t cut out for WWE. Super D cut a promo accusing East of faking a heart attack to protect Buchanan from the inevitable. He said East had been praying on it. Buchanan exploded out of the blocks with a shoulder tackle for an immediate near fall and Destroyer bailed. Destroyer broke clean. Bull took control, but a bandaged right wrist was giving him trouble. Destroyer cheated on the break. Buchanan fired back, but re-injured the wrist on a corner bump. Destroyer worked it over on the outside. Some fans in the front row got mouthy with Super D. He told them they should go to church. Destroyer applied variations on the short arm scissors. Buchanan would only use the left hand, rendering him unable to mount any effective offense. What’s worse, he couldn’t adequately defend himself. Destroyer switched to the Crippler Crossface. Really made him suffer. Just a great struggle to the ropes by Buchanan. Buchanan caught Destroyer with a rabbit lariat with the right arm. Buchanan made an agonizing comeback, sacrificing his wrist to get the right side power. Ref bump via accidental lariat by Buchanan. Destroyer loaded the mask. Flying headbutt but no ref to count. Super D shook McGowan and went for another pin. Still nothing. Destroyer positioned McGowan to make the count, and Buchanan kicked out at 2.9. Another ref bump, a Destroyer lariat this time. Black Hole Slam by Buchanan. No ref again. Buchanan drags McGowan over and Destroyer kicks out. Back and forth for near falls. Doing all the near falls worked because there had only been that one, right at the start of the match. Buchanan hit a decisive top rope legdrop for the win. Great match. The unmasking: Destroyer tried to walk out. Creed, Matthews and Ego forced him back to the ring to ensure the stipulation was enforced. Destroyer was revealed as Adonis, a minister and the driving force behind Ultimate Christian Wrestling. Buchanan got all sincere on the mic like he was going to put Adonis over, then wiped his ass with the mask and said, “Happy Easter.” NOTES: They lost Tracy Smother with the date change. He was scheduled for the trios match. SECW returns to the VFW Fairgrounds in two weeks…There is no show on 3/30. East said he wasn’t crazy enough to go against Wrestlemania…Check out the Buff Bagwell promo for his 3/29 appearance on Peach State Pandemonium. That’s next Saturday at 11am – www.blogtalkradio.com/PSP... NAWA promoter Phil Hefner was in attendance. NAWA is going to be running Cedartown on 4/4 with Ricky Morton, Bobby Eaton and Bambi on the card…TCW is in Douglasville on 4/12 at the National Guard Armory. |