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August 8, 2008
– Larry Goodman
Prime Time Pro Wrestling ran their debut show in Columbus Friday night drawing a crowd of 268 (freebies included) to the warehouse
on Burnham Boulevard that formerly served as the home of GCW and more recently, IWN.
While it was a good show as a stand alone, I fear it inadvertently did damage to PTPW’s prospects for the longer term. I think they
would have been better served by applying the less is more approach. Only time will tell. The unquestionable highlight of the 3+ hour
event was a wild, bloody, weapons-filled brawl between Marty Jannetty and Deathrow. It was a memorable match booked with the
hometown hero beating the monster in their first meeting. Although a number of future match ups were unveiled over the course of the
evening, none promised to be as compelling as what they had already given the fans in Jannetty/Deathrow, and the PTPW title came
across as minimally important by comparison.
It was my first time in the building since GCW ruled the roost. Dan Masters said it looked the same as it did when IWN ran here in April
and May minus the lighting. The towering entrance ramp, the venue’s most distinguishing feature, was already long gone by the time
IWN took over.
There’s no AC, but the building has great ventilation, so the heat was quite tolerable.
Promoter Billy Roper presented certificates to the GCW referees, Dr. Steve Miller and Billy Guthrie. Roper said they used to wrestle as the
Flying Zebras and once held the USWA tag titles. Roper called out wrestler David Tate, whose home in Texas had been ruined by
Hurricane Dolly. Roper presented Tate with a small donation on behalf of PTPW. That brought Southside Trash to the ring. Raunchy
(Drew Golden) said the Zebras were grounded jackasses and Tate was a punk jobber in need of a Shop Vac to fix his water problem.
SST then doused Tate with a bottled water and tossed him out of the ring. It was an OK angle that generated moderate heat.
(1) Chip Day won a 10 man Cruiserweight Battle Royal to earn a spot on the PTPW roster in 10:59
With APW not running their usual Friday night show in Royston, a lot of their roster got booked for this match. El Loco Jr. got a bit of pop.
Jay Clinton’s flamboyant entrance got some heat. Typical clusterish battle royal action. Jon Davis spent a lot of time selling and then
took a seat at ringside. The order of elimination was Tate, Darkness, Draven, Clinton, Davis, Loco, Bo Newsome, and JT Talent. By the 8
minute mark, it was down to the two men that recently represented Georgia in CHIKARA’s Young Lions Cup Tournament, Day and
Kyle Matthews, so the final minutes was good stuff. Day got a near fall with a tornado kick. Day flewo from the top, and Matthews met him
with a dropkick. Matthews used a series of kicks that left Day dangling on the top rope. Day dropped to the apron and scooted through
Matthews legs to eliminate him.
(2) Ron Stalker beat Jena in 5:46
Stalker developed a following during IWN’s run. If the idea is to push him as a babyface, they picked a lousy opponent. Jena had no
defined heel persona and worse, he didn’t sell worth crap. The crying shame was they wasted the right guy for the job, JT Talent, in
the battle royal. Jena missed a moonsault. Stalker hit a sitout face plant for a near fall and got the pin with a slingshot sunset flip.
(3) Chick Donovan beat Rod Simmons in 10:11
A perfectly coiffed Donovan was a vision of sartorial splendor. He entered to “Sharp Dressed Man,� and I had a flashback to
Jimmy Garvin and Precious in the Omni. It was the moment that answered the inevitable question – was this wrestling road trip worth
it? Awesome stuff. Too bad they had to do the match. It sucked. The first five minutes were on the mat. They did some weak brawling.
Donovan posted Simmons’ knee. Donovan tried for the figure four. Pretty sure that was the planned finish, but Donovan couldn’t
get it properly applied on Simmons’ tree trunk legs. Donovan slammed Simmons’ face into the mat and pinned him. Miller
counted two, let up waiting for Simmons to kick out, and then started over with a quick three count.
During the first intermission, Marty Jannetty was attacked by Deathrow. Jannetty had been posting to his myspace count like his deal with
Deathrow was a shoot. Deathrow has this let his hair grow out into this wild style that make him look more psychotic. Chris Stevens and
Stalker came out to try and break it up. They brawled into the parking lot and ended up in the second floor of the building where the fans
got a glimpse of them fighting through an upstairs window that overlooks the seating area. A very cool touch. Roper said they would meet
in a Last Man Standing Match later in the show.
(4) Bulldog Raines beat Dustin Powers in 8:44
Raines, who is completely bald, did the babyface-that-can-do-no-wrong routine of claiming his hair was being pulled. It didn’t come
across like Raines is over enough to pull that off. Raines dominated until Powers caught Raines with a nice stunner across the top rope.
Raines used a spear and a powerslam for hope spots. Powers grounded him. Raines started barking to signal the comeback. Raines
won it with a botched Blue Thunder Bomb.
(5) Southside Trash (Rowdy & Raunchy) beat Jake Slater & Mr. Columbus in 13:40
Slater said his partner in KI Elite, Mike Stratus wasn’t there for undisclosed reasons, so he was flying solo. A muscular masked man
introduced as Mr. Columbus came out to tag with Slater shortly after the bell. The fan that always wore a Mr. Wrestling II mask when GCW
ran here donned his mask in his honor. Columbus hit a double lariat on SST, but it wasn’t long before Slater was taking heat.
Columbus got the hot tag and started to choke. He tagged a badly beaten down Slater back in. Rowdy pinned Slater after a double
flapjack by SST. Match was too long. Eight minutes would have sufficed to tell this story.
Columbus gave Slater a spinning neckbreaker and unmasked as “The Platinum Playboy� Preston Paradise, with brown hair no
less.
(6) Chris Stevens beat Mr. Hughes in 12 minutes
Stevens got the first bigtime babyface pop of the night, just like he always did when he was one of GCW’s top stars in this venue.
venue. The first ever PTPW Champion Colt Derringer accompanied Mr. Hughes to ringside. Roper explained that Derringer had defeated
Stevens to win the title with help from Hughes, hence this special challenge match. Miller sent Derringer to the back, but he left his
bullrope behind. Stevens wanted to work on Hughes’ arm. Hughes wanted to stall and cheat. Stevens hit a Thesz Press for a near
fall. Hughes hit a hotshot to take over. They worked some nice hope spots to build to a full-fledged comeback by Stevens. Hughes moved
and Stevens squished Miller with a Stinger Splash. As Stevens was checking on Miller, Hughes grabbed the bullrope that Derringer left
behind. Stevens blocked the cowbell shot, kicked a field goal with Hughes’ nuts, and nailed him with the cowbell for the 1-2-3. Great
pop for the finish. Solid match. Stevens is easily the most over babyface they have on the roster.
At the start of the second intermission, Slater came out and challenged Paradise to a match next week.
Donovan came out again - this time, in an electric blue suit. “Don’t you love it? You’re going to see more of it.� He called
out Day and challenged him to a match next week. Donovan kept calling him “sonny� and told him to run along and take his
vitamins. Donovan’s mic work was stellar. He would be great as a manager.
(7) Marty Jannetty beat Deathrow in Last Man Standing Match (20:38)
Deathrow was led out to the ring by a security guard with a hood over his head. Jannetty came out of the crowd for a surprise attack. The
first part of this match was one of the best all-over-the-building brawls I’ve seen in a long time. The crowd heat was at its peak.
Deathrow was getting the better of it. He clocked Jannetty with a table and slammed him on the concrete floor. He smashed Jannetty in
the head with a full can of Coke. He busted a light tube on Jannetty and used the jagged edge on Jannetty’s forehead. Jannetty bled
heavily. Deathrow exploded a second light tube across Jannetty’s back. They fought out into the parking lot. Deathrow staggered
back inside the building with this genuinely crazed look on his face, and the kids in the crowd were running away in terror. More than a
few adults as well. They did this spot that was sheer awesomeness, where Deathrow hung Jannetty by one of the chain’s used to
raise the garage door. Deathrow got back in the ring, but Jannetty beat the 10 count. The action stayed inside the ring. This portion of the
match dragged. They could do nothing remotely close to matching the action on the outside. Stevens came out to cheer for Jannetty. The
crowd got behind Jannetty bigtime. Jannetty tried to choke Deathrow out. Deathrow tried to choke Jannetty out with his shirt. Deathrow
started throwing clotheslines. Jannetty ducked the third one and hit a superkick. Deathrow fell out of the ring. Jannetty rammed Deathrow
into the garage door a few times to soften him up. He put the garage door chain around Deathrow’s neck and tied his arm behind his
neck using a stanchion as an anchor. It would have made one hell of a dramatic looking finish, but Deathrow made it back to the ring to
beat the 10 count. Jannetty superkicked Deathrow on the outside and that was it. Stevens joined Jannetty in the ring to celebrate, while
Deathrow was led away with the hood over head. It was another case where shorter would have been better. Still, it was one hell of a
brutal match. Both guys worked extremely hard. You had to be impressed with Jannetty’s performance. It was by far the best
Deathrow match I’ve ever seen.
Given the way this was booked, I was shocked to find out they PTPW had Jannetty booked for a return date at their first major show on
September 5. Seems to me you would be to do a short, inconclusive finish with Deathrow using underhanded tactics to leave Jannetty
laying. That gives you three weeks with Deathrow destroying people like an invincible monster, while Jannetty sends in video promos
promising revenge. Then, you do the blow off stipulation match at the big show.
(8) Colt Derringer beat Rob Adonis to retain the PTPW Title in 8:45
This match never had a chance. Dead crowd. There was no way they could follow the Jannetty match, and to make matters worse, it was
11pm by the time this match went in the ring. A good number of fans had headed home by the time the bell rang. Derringer has a couple
of sweet offensive moves – a black hole slam variation and ropes walk guillotine legdrop- but he leaves me cold as a champion.
Adonis hit an enzuigiri and it was both men down. Adonis connected with a superkick, and Derringer got a foot over the ropes. Derringer
got the pin with the Heart Punch.
NOTES: They’ve got Robert Gibson vs. Derringer on top for August 15 along with Deathrow vs. Raines, Stevens vs. Pain, Donovan vs.
Day, Slater vs. Paradise plus Southside Trash and Frankie Valentine…PTPW has their first major show, Collision Course 2008,
planned for September 5 with Jannetty back to challenge for the PTPW Title…Dan Masters shot video footage of most of the matchesâ
€¦Talent had a shot at a dark match at the WWE tapings this week as a last minute replacement, but they wanted him in tights and he
didn’t have any. He does now. Adam Armor got the spot…Former GCW booker Bo Oates came by to visit…Former Columbus
promoter and GCW production guy, Jim Anthony was in the house.
– Larry Goodman
Prime Time Pro Wrestling ran their debut show in Columbus Friday night drawing a crowd of 268 (freebies included) to the warehouse
on Burnham Boulevard that formerly served as the home of GCW and more recently, IWN.
While it was a good show as a stand alone, I fear it inadvertently did damage to PTPW’s prospects for the longer term. I think they
would have been better served by applying the less is more approach. Only time will tell. The unquestionable highlight of the 3+ hour
event was a wild, bloody, weapons-filled brawl between Marty Jannetty and Deathrow. It was a memorable match booked with the
hometown hero beating the monster in their first meeting. Although a number of future match ups were unveiled over the course of the
evening, none promised to be as compelling as what they had already given the fans in Jannetty/Deathrow, and the PTPW title came
across as minimally important by comparison.
It was my first time in the building since GCW ruled the roost. Dan Masters said it looked the same as it did when IWN ran here in April
and May minus the lighting. The towering entrance ramp, the venue’s most distinguishing feature, was already long gone by the time
IWN took over.
There’s no AC, but the building has great ventilation, so the heat was quite tolerable.
Promoter Billy Roper presented certificates to the GCW referees, Dr. Steve Miller and Billy Guthrie. Roper said they used to wrestle as the
Flying Zebras and once held the USWA tag titles. Roper called out wrestler David Tate, whose home in Texas had been ruined by
Hurricane Dolly. Roper presented Tate with a small donation on behalf of PTPW. That brought Southside Trash to the ring. Raunchy
(Drew Golden) said the Zebras were grounded jackasses and Tate was a punk jobber in need of a Shop Vac to fix his water problem.
SST then doused Tate with a bottled water and tossed him out of the ring. It was an OK angle that generated moderate heat.
(1) Chip Day won a 10 man Cruiserweight Battle Royal to earn a spot on the PTPW roster in 10:59
With APW not running their usual Friday night show in Royston, a lot of their roster got booked for this match. El Loco Jr. got a bit of pop.
Jay Clinton’s flamboyant entrance got some heat. Typical clusterish battle royal action. Jon Davis spent a lot of time selling and then
took a seat at ringside. The order of elimination was Tate, Darkness, Draven, Clinton, Davis, Loco, Bo Newsome, and JT Talent. By the 8
minute mark, it was down to the two men that recently represented Georgia in CHIKARA’s Young Lions Cup Tournament, Day and
Kyle Matthews, so the final minutes was good stuff. Day got a near fall with a tornado kick. Day flewo from the top, and Matthews met him
with a dropkick. Matthews used a series of kicks that left Day dangling on the top rope. Day dropped to the apron and scooted through
Matthews legs to eliminate him.
(2) Ron Stalker beat Jena in 5:46
Stalker developed a following during IWN’s run. If the idea is to push him as a babyface, they picked a lousy opponent. Jena had no
defined heel persona and worse, he didn’t sell worth crap. The crying shame was they wasted the right guy for the job, JT Talent, in
the battle royal. Jena missed a moonsault. Stalker hit a sitout face plant for a near fall and got the pin with a slingshot sunset flip.
(3) Chick Donovan beat Rod Simmons in 10:11
A perfectly coiffed Donovan was a vision of sartorial splendor. He entered to “Sharp Dressed Man,� and I had a flashback to
Jimmy Garvin and Precious in the Omni. It was the moment that answered the inevitable question – was this wrestling road trip worth
it? Awesome stuff. Too bad they had to do the match. It sucked. The first five minutes were on the mat. They did some weak brawling.
Donovan posted Simmons’ knee. Donovan tried for the figure four. Pretty sure that was the planned finish, but Donovan couldn’t
get it properly applied on Simmons’ tree trunk legs. Donovan slammed Simmons’ face into the mat and pinned him. Miller
counted two, let up waiting for Simmons to kick out, and then started over with a quick three count.
During the first intermission, Marty Jannetty was attacked by Deathrow. Jannetty had been posting to his myspace count like his deal with
Deathrow was a shoot. Deathrow has this let his hair grow out into this wild style that make him look more psychotic. Chris Stevens and
Stalker came out to try and break it up. They brawled into the parking lot and ended up in the second floor of the building where the fans
got a glimpse of them fighting through an upstairs window that overlooks the seating area. A very cool touch. Roper said they would meet
in a Last Man Standing Match later in the show.
(4) Bulldog Raines beat Dustin Powers in 8:44
Raines, who is completely bald, did the babyface-that-can-do-no-wrong routine of claiming his hair was being pulled. It didn’t come
across like Raines is over enough to pull that off. Raines dominated until Powers caught Raines with a nice stunner across the top rope.
Raines used a spear and a powerslam for hope spots. Powers grounded him. Raines started barking to signal the comeback. Raines
won it with a botched Blue Thunder Bomb.
(5) Southside Trash (Rowdy & Raunchy) beat Jake Slater & Mr. Columbus in 13:40
Slater said his partner in KI Elite, Mike Stratus wasn’t there for undisclosed reasons, so he was flying solo. A muscular masked man
introduced as Mr. Columbus came out to tag with Slater shortly after the bell. The fan that always wore a Mr. Wrestling II mask when GCW
ran here donned his mask in his honor. Columbus hit a double lariat on SST, but it wasn’t long before Slater was taking heat.
Columbus got the hot tag and started to choke. He tagged a badly beaten down Slater back in. Rowdy pinned Slater after a double
flapjack by SST. Match was too long. Eight minutes would have sufficed to tell this story.
Columbus gave Slater a spinning neckbreaker and unmasked as “The Platinum Playboy� Preston Paradise, with brown hair no
less.
(6) Chris Stevens beat Mr. Hughes in 12 minutes
Stevens got the first bigtime babyface pop of the night, just like he always did when he was one of GCW’s top stars in this venue.
venue. The first ever PTPW Champion Colt Derringer accompanied Mr. Hughes to ringside. Roper explained that Derringer had defeated
Stevens to win the title with help from Hughes, hence this special challenge match. Miller sent Derringer to the back, but he left his
bullrope behind. Stevens wanted to work on Hughes’ arm. Hughes wanted to stall and cheat. Stevens hit a Thesz Press for a near
fall. Hughes hit a hotshot to take over. They worked some nice hope spots to build to a full-fledged comeback by Stevens. Hughes moved
and Stevens squished Miller with a Stinger Splash. As Stevens was checking on Miller, Hughes grabbed the bullrope that Derringer left
behind. Stevens blocked the cowbell shot, kicked a field goal with Hughes’ nuts, and nailed him with the cowbell for the 1-2-3. Great
pop for the finish. Solid match. Stevens is easily the most over babyface they have on the roster.
At the start of the second intermission, Slater came out and challenged Paradise to a match next week.
Donovan came out again - this time, in an electric blue suit. “Don’t you love it? You’re going to see more of it.� He called
out Day and challenged him to a match next week. Donovan kept calling him “sonny� and told him to run along and take his
vitamins. Donovan’s mic work was stellar. He would be great as a manager.
(7) Marty Jannetty beat Deathrow in Last Man Standing Match (20:38)
Deathrow was led out to the ring by a security guard with a hood over his head. Jannetty came out of the crowd for a surprise attack. The
first part of this match was one of the best all-over-the-building brawls I’ve seen in a long time. The crowd heat was at its peak.
Deathrow was getting the better of it. He clocked Jannetty with a table and slammed him on the concrete floor. He smashed Jannetty in
the head with a full can of Coke. He busted a light tube on Jannetty and used the jagged edge on Jannetty’s forehead. Jannetty bled
heavily. Deathrow exploded a second light tube across Jannetty’s back. They fought out into the parking lot. Deathrow staggered
back inside the building with this genuinely crazed look on his face, and the kids in the crowd were running away in terror. More than a
few adults as well. They did this spot that was sheer awesomeness, where Deathrow hung Jannetty by one of the chain’s used to
raise the garage door. Deathrow got back in the ring, but Jannetty beat the 10 count. The action stayed inside the ring. This portion of the
match dragged. They could do nothing remotely close to matching the action on the outside. Stevens came out to cheer for Jannetty. The
crowd got behind Jannetty bigtime. Jannetty tried to choke Deathrow out. Deathrow tried to choke Jannetty out with his shirt. Deathrow
started throwing clotheslines. Jannetty ducked the third one and hit a superkick. Deathrow fell out of the ring. Jannetty rammed Deathrow
into the garage door a few times to soften him up. He put the garage door chain around Deathrow’s neck and tied his arm behind his
neck using a stanchion as an anchor. It would have made one hell of a dramatic looking finish, but Deathrow made it back to the ring to
beat the 10 count. Jannetty superkicked Deathrow on the outside and that was it. Stevens joined Jannetty in the ring to celebrate, while
Deathrow was led away with the hood over head. It was another case where shorter would have been better. Still, it was one hell of a
brutal match. Both guys worked extremely hard. You had to be impressed with Jannetty’s performance. It was by far the best
Deathrow match I’ve ever seen.
Given the way this was booked, I was shocked to find out they PTPW had Jannetty booked for a return date at their first major show on
September 5. Seems to me you would be to do a short, inconclusive finish with Deathrow using underhanded tactics to leave Jannetty
laying. That gives you three weeks with Deathrow destroying people like an invincible monster, while Jannetty sends in video promos
promising revenge. Then, you do the blow off stipulation match at the big show.
(8) Colt Derringer beat Rob Adonis to retain the PTPW Title in 8:45
This match never had a chance. Dead crowd. There was no way they could follow the Jannetty match, and to make matters worse, it was
11pm by the time this match went in the ring. A good number of fans had headed home by the time the bell rang. Derringer has a couple
of sweet offensive moves – a black hole slam variation and ropes walk guillotine legdrop- but he leaves me cold as a champion.
Adonis hit an enzuigiri and it was both men down. Adonis connected with a superkick, and Derringer got a foot over the ropes. Derringer
got the pin with the Heart Punch.
NOTES: They’ve got Robert Gibson vs. Derringer on top for August 15 along with Deathrow vs. Raines, Stevens vs. Pain, Donovan vs.
Day, Slater vs. Paradise plus Southside Trash and Frankie Valentine…PTPW has their first major show, Collision Course 2008,
planned for September 5 with Jannetty back to challenge for the PTPW Title…Dan Masters shot video footage of most of the matchesâ
€¦Talent had a shot at a dark match at the WWE tapings this week as a last minute replacement, but they wanted him in tights and he
didn’t have any. He does now. Adam Armor got the spot…Former GCW booker Bo Oates came by to visit…Former Columbus
promoter and GCW production guy, Jim Anthony was in the house.
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