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SHOW REPORTS

2008 SHOW REPORTS

April 18, 2008

Alternative Pro Wrestling presented Spring Break Bash last night drawing 200 fans, their largest crowd ever to the gym in Royston, Georgia, hometown of the immortal Ty Cobb.

This was APW’s first attempt at a major show since Freedom Fight in July 07. That show drew their previous best house of 150. Ridiculously lean times ensued. Running a building with no air conditioning was bound to take a toll over the course of a sweltering Georgia summer. But they’ve turned a corner in last couple of months, drawing progressively better houses behind an influx of new talent, green though they may be.

For me, it was an opportunity to see a lot of up-and-coming talent. Whatever the situation is with GWP, NWA Anarchy is way past done with them, and MAXW isn’t running, so APW is Anarchy’s only remaining farm team.

This report is dedicated to Brent West of the now defunct United Wrestling League. Yo, Brent. If you think indie wrestling is dying because today’s young wrestlers don’t know how to work and have lousy attitudes, you need to come on down to Royston and Cornelia. These guys put out one hell of an effort.

As much as the talent, and maybe more so, it was the stories that were responsible for making this show a success. The top four matches were all supported by well-crafted storylines. All of the major characters get big responses from the Roystonians.

It didn’t hurt at all that the Royston Gym is a lot more comfortable in April than it is in July. It’s a sweet set up for wrestling. If only they could just kill the light, presumably for tapping purposes, which was shining directly into the faces of half the crowd.

(1) B. J. Hancock beat Andrew Pendleton III via submission in 8:52. Pendleton said there must be something in the water in Royston. He sounds a lot like Christian Cage on the mic, and that is definitely not a bad thing in my book. Hancock has the size and athletic ability to go places. After being punched on the break, Hancock sold like he was dazed before answering with a crisp arm drag. Nice. Pendleton continued to take liberties. He hit a middle rope legdrop and sold the effects on his ass huge before making the cover. Hancock made the comeback and administered the 10 punches. Pendleton took the Flair face first bump. Pendleton hit his big move, the neckbreaker across the knee, but took way too much time congratulating himself. Hancock locked in a Texas Cloverleaf that had the crowd chanting for Pendleton to tap. A totally solid opener.

(2) Jeremy Vain beat Don Matthews and Slim J and Seth Delay in a four-way elimination match to become the future number one contender for the Southern States Title (14:35). The mere fact that there were four Anarchy level guys competing for the spot elevated the title. Delay was more over than J as a babyface. The crowd popped some for Matthews, even though he’s heel. They hated Vain. It started as technicos vs. rudos, but they told the story that the prize of becoming the number one contender overshadowed any alliances. The four-way action was the best part of the match. Delay and J did dives. Their alliance went down the drain. Delay had Vain pinned after a flying squirrel, but John Carnage pulled him off at two. Matthews took his head with The Lariat at 7:28. It was two against J. The idea of Matthews as the base for J’s flying move didn’t work out as smoothly as they would have hoped. He’s had a lot of good matches in recent months, but It wasn’t one of Matthews’ better nights. Matthews and Vain started having problems. Matthews caught J with the Lariat and Vain swooped in for the pin at 10:56. Matthews was pissed. He gave Vain a pounding. Matthews missed a charging high knee, and Vain rolled him up with his feet on the ropes. Good match.

(3) D.I.E. (Vincent Chambers & Devon Michaels) beat Chris King & Yoshi Hiroshima in 8:07. D.I.E. are billed at a combined weight of 299. Sight unseen, it’s hard to visualize how that could work as a heel team. Trust me, it does. They get great heat. They must be fast learners. D.I.E. got heat on Hiroshima after a double jump backstabber by Michaels. D.I.E. lightning quickness tilts their offense is tilted in the direction of Motor City Machine Guns, but they act like such complete dicks, they can get away with babyface spots. Hiroshima isn’t much bigger that D.I.E, which left King was in the unaccustomed role of the big, power guy cleaning house. Cool finisher by D.I.E – a Yakuza kick/hammerlock backstabber combo. Chambers pinned Hiroshima.

(4) Dustin Powers beat Aaron Lee to win the North Georgia Title in 7:16.. A stinkfest. Several levels below anything else on the show. You could feel the crowd’s attention drifting away. Lots of meaningless and badly done brawling. There was one good spot where Powers rammed Lee’s back into the post. Hunter gave a “two minutes to go” call at 6 minutes in. Powers’ gothic foreign object came into play. The ref got it, and while that was going on, Powers hit an Edgecution on Lee.

(5) Azrael & Darkness (with Lloth) beat Friday Night Franchise (Ryan Michaels & Matt Sells with Christy Turner) in a ladder match to retain the APW tag titles in 18:23. They used the Devil’s Rejects music, but this team has more of the vacant Lost Boyz vibe. Darkness has some charisma and skill. Like a lot of these guys, he needs to add size. I was used to FNF as heels. They were a pleasant surprise as a babyface team, Sells has especially good fire. Match had the usual share of brutal bumps and risky stunts, but none of the innovative spots like the NWA Anarchy ladder matches. As soon as the bell rang they pulled out the ladders – two six footers and two eight footers. The most dangerous bump was the one Darkness took early in the match from the top rope straight to the floor. The crowd gasped but, Darkness was OK enough to do a vaulting legdrop over top of the eight foot ladder a few minutes later. Azrael strapped Sells to tree of woe on a ladder and did a cannonball into his midsection. Sells brought Darkness off an 8 foot ladder with a double underhook DDT. Darkness hit a twisting top rope splash on Sells, who was laid out on a ladder. FNF gave Azrael a double uranage on a wedged ladder. FNF gave Darkness a double neckbreaker off of twin eight foot ladders. Azrael gave Sells a sick powerbomb on a wedged ladder. They did a series spots where guys would climb for the belts and end up taking bumps off the ladder. It didn’t build very well because the early stuff was better. The girls got involved. Turned gave Lloth a stunner from about 4 feet up the ladder. A little shaky but they pulled it off. The finish was anticlimactic. Darkness had Turner in an agonizing submission on the floor. Chivalry must be completely fucking dead, because FNF climbed dual ladders without paying any attention to their damsel in distress. That’s not how it was supposed to go. Azrael dumped FNF off the ladders and climbed up to unhook the title belts. Azrael and Darkness dragged Lloth’s lifeless body up the ramp.

(6) Billy Buck beat Chris Mayne (with Kevin Duncan) in 11:01. Best match of the night. Some real drama here because of the selling, and the crowd was deep into it. It had a good story behind it. Duncan had stolen Buck’s cowboy hat and proclaimed Mayne, who is black, as “King of Cowboys.” Crowd was nuts for Buck. He had ringside cheering section complete with hobby horses. Buck gave Mayne a hiptoss on the ramp early in the match. Duncan grabbed Buck by the leg and Mayne clipped him. Mayne worked over the knee. Buck did a tremendous job selling it, all the way to the finish. Buck countered a figure four with an inside cradle. Mayne hit a top rope elbow, but sold the impact before making the cover, and Buck kicked out. Buck made the big comeback. He pulled the straps down but the knee gave out. Mayne applied the sharpshooter. Buck made the ropes. Mayne pulled out a set of knucks. Referee Dee Byers got the knucks away and Buck hit the superkick. Buck chased down Duncan, decked him and got his hat back. As Buck paused to throw the hat to his cheering section, Mayne schoolboyed him for a near fall. From there, it was a series of reversals leading to a decisive superkick for the 1-2-3.

Mayne attacked Buck after the match. Shadow Jackson made the save. They love him just as much in Royston as they do in Cornelia. Buck got a nice rub from being in there with Jackson.

(7) APW owner Jericho Stone beat “The Official” Jacob Ashworth in a strap match at 6:48. Ashworth had been in collusion with the heel champion, J. T. Talent. Along the way, they had busted Stone open and attacked interim commissioner Jackson. Ashworth came out with this ridiculous padding, which consisted of a hoodie and a winter vest. Underneath, he had a pillow strapped across his back. The ref made him take off all the crap. Stone went right to strapping Ashworth, and then did a number on him outside the ring. Ashworth got the advantage, and went to strapping and choking Stone. It was Ashworth’s crazed desperation that made this match entertaining. Ashworth touched two turnbuckles before Stone yanked the strap into his man region. It was the only low blow on the entire card. Stone brought Ashworth off the middle rope with a slam. Not much build to the finish. Stone touched three corners and rammed Ashworth’s head into the fourth one to win. About as good as it could be with two non-wrestlers.

(8) J. T. Talent defeated Bo Newsom to retain the Southern States Title in a no time limit match (25:46). They were asking an awful lot out of two guys that had never gone this distance in a singles match, let alone in the main event position on a major show. Match had a great back story of the fresh-faced kid extending the bad ass champion to time limit draws and pinning him on three different occasions, while the champ was yet to pin the kid. Shorter would have been better, and the finish was nothing special. Still, they worked hard and kept the crowd into it the entire way. It opened strong. The man vs. boy visual was striking. Once the bell rang, the man was taking a beating from the boy. It was all Newsom for the first 8 minutes. Talent was bleeding a little after taking a shot into the post. Talent took over. Talent cut off Newsom’s rally with a head and arm suplex. Talent used a double underhook powerbomb and a variant of Shock Treatment for near falls. Talent used a Boston crab. Newsom got a ropes break. Newsom started to come back. He flirted with disaster on a mistimed twisting springboard dive with Talent too far away from the ring. They managed to make it work. Back inside, Talent hit the Standing Ovation but Newsom rolled a shoulder. Newsom brought Talent off the middle rope with a Spinesplitta for a near fall. Talent brought Newsom off the top with a german suplex, where Newsom tried for a full rotation and almost made a seriously bad landing. Ref bump. Newsom had Talent pinned with a reverse roll up but no ref to count. Newsom checked on the ref, and Talent gave him a back suplex for near fall. Newsom hit a wheelbarrow flatliner. Talent kicked out. Newsom went up top for his corkscrew moonsault, the move he had used to pin Talent in the past. Talent rolled out of the way, and pinned Newsom for the first time. Silence as the crowd, who thought sure Newsom’s time had come, headed for the exit.

NOTES: Several NWA Anarchy notables were backstage including owner Jerry Palmer, manager of champions, Jeff G. Bailey and color commentator, John Johnson…APW will be putting out a DVD of last night’s show…APW is in Royston each and every Friday night with an 8pm bell time.