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

SHOW REPORTS

2008 SHOW REPORTS

September 4, 2008

Great Championship Wrestling ran the 5th annual Fred Ward Memorial, a tribute to the man that promoted wrestling the Middle Georgia area for over 30 years. The owners of GCW, Bill and Diane Hewes, continued the Ward shows after buying the company formerly known as Georgia Championship Wrestling from Jerry Oates, who wrestled for Ward.

For whatever reasons totally unrelated to Ward, it has become the one GCW show each year that has more of a hardcore edge and stipulations matches abound. And a wild, entertaining show it was. They were able to do a lot of gimmicky stuff without burning out the crowd.

The Ward drew 175 to the Gr8 Sk8 Plex in Phenix City, Al. That’s about what GCW has been drawing since the kids went back to school. The company has a consistent, loyal base of support that doesn’t seem to wax or wane based on what’s on the card. Their fans are their fans, and that’s about it.

Quentin Michaels Esq. entered the ring to explain that the yellow caution tape running through the ring and the ringside seats represented the ownership split between him and that witch, Diane Hewes. - “After tonight, there will be one side, and that will be MY side.”

(1) John Bogie & Kareem Abdul Jamar beat Merchants of Death (Orion Bishop & Murder One with Wicked Nemesis in a Hardcore Match to win the GCW Tag Team Championship (13:12).

Hot, split crowd for this. A lot of fans were delighted to see the badass heels destroy Bogie and Jamar. Tons of weapon shots. Bishop and Nemesis wacked Jamar with a kendo stick. Nemesis busted it into little pieces. Nemesis has gotten way better as a manager, as he comes across like a legit violence-crazed dude. M-1 brained Jamar with a computer keyboard. Nemesis caned Bogie, and pulled up a ringside seat to watch Bogie get his ass beat, but ended up getting clotheslined out his chair. Bishop put Jamar in a Texas Cloverleaf and Nemesis whipped him with his belt. Bogie ran wild with a barbed wire bat. As terrible as Bogie is in the ring, he’s still over with the fans. Bishop set up this contraption in the corner with both title belts tied around the ropes and wedged chair behind them. Bishop gored the chair when Jamar moved. The faces put the trash can on M-1’s head, and J did an top rope elbow drop on the can for the pin. The crowd popped big for title change. Bogie and Jamar did a long, jubilant postmatch celebration. It helps so much when the champions act like the titles mean something.

(2) Scotty Beach defeated Mike Stratus (with Princeton Gainey III) in 10:17 to win five minutes with Gainey.

It’s impressive how over Beach’s entrance still is with the lei gimmick. Stratus got this spot after Zero Tolerance was shelved by a torn deltoid. With the all the gimmicks ahead, they smartly slowed things down and wrestled a much tamer style. Gainey grabbed Beach’s leg, which bought just enough time for Stratus to catch Beach with a powerslam as he came off the top. Fans got behind Beach huge. Gainey distracted so Status could choke Beach with his glove. Beach kicked out of a Stratus swinging neckbreaker and it was comeback time. A jumping elbow by Beach got nothing but air. Solid lariat for a two count. Finish saw Stratus pull up to avoid the collision with Gainey. Beach dropkicked Stratus into Gainey and won it with a roll up.

(3) Princeton Gainey III pinned Scotty Beach in 47 seconds.

Just as you would suspect, Stratus attacked Beach as soon as he got his hands on Gainey. Stratus spinebusted Beach and Gainey covered while Stratus made the count. McKnight tried to make sense out of this with the explanation that somehow it had morphed into a no DQ match.

Ring announcer Taylor McKnight introed Sonny Siaki as winner-by-forfeit in the Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match, because he had run David Young out of the GCW. Siaki said he knew Young’s redneck ass was in the back. Young’s music played. No Young. Siaki said the people were freaking stupid for believing him. He said if Young went to another promotion and bad-mouthed GCW, he would spit in his face. Siaki said he came to fight.

(4) Sonny Siaki beat Tilo in 29 seconds.

We got a taste of TLC after all. Siaki immediately smoked Tilo with a superkick for the three count, then left him laying with a powerbomb through a ringside table. Tilo, a large, unathletic-looking trainee, was hesitant to take the bump and was lucky not end up badly hurt because of it. Siaki clobbered referee Rob Russo with a sick, brain cell killing chairshot. Siaki called for fresh meat. Out came Tex Monroe, who put up some resistance before succumbing to another superkick. Siaki brought a six foot ladder into the ring. Monroe managed to dropkick the ladder into Siaki, but Siaki creamed Monroe by firing the ladder at his head. Siaki climbed the ladder to survey the carnage. I liked the booking. Siaki got a major heat and came across like a sadistic monster.

(5) J-Rod beat Shaun Banks to retain the GCW Interstate Title in a First Blood Match in 11:56.

Fans immediately busted out the “Crybaby Banks” chant. J-Rod used a scissors to cut the pads off a set of turnbuckles to expose the metal. Banks took amazing bumps as usual. He did a charging top rope crotch bump, then one of the middle ropes, and then a backdrop to the floor. They started going for blood. Banks posted J-Rod. J-Rod tried a double ax off the ropes, but nobody home. Banks popped the crowd with a top rope elbow that covered 3/4 of the ring in the air. J-Rod countered a huracanrana with a huge powerbomb that left both men down and hurting. Crowd got behind J-Rod pretty strong, but not with the level of passion they had for Beach. They got into a back and forth struggle in the corner with exposed metal. J-Rod gave Banks a hotshot into the metal, and Banks was busted open. Banks got some great color here – covering his ace and running down onto his chest.

(6) Cru Jones beat Bull Buchanan in a Bullrope Match to retain the GCW Heavyweight Title in 18:50.

Certainly not fast-paced, and kind of plodding at times, but they used more strategy than in most bullrope match I’ve seen. Match stemmed from an incident 5 weeks ago in which Jones & Banks (Hot Like Lava) tried to hang Bull. Respect pop for Buchanan. Jones was stalling about tying the rope on, so Bull clubbed him to give ref Jeff McGowan an assist. It was all Buchanan early. He got five touches (GCW uses a six-sided ring) by giving Jones five consecutive headshots into turnbuckles. Buchanan applied a figure four with extra leverage presumably coming from wrapping the rope around Jones’ legs. Buchanan got five touches, so Jones went to the floor on the opposite side to prevent the sixth touch. At 8:00, Buchanan ate it in the corner, and Jones used the rope to post his shoulder. Jones tried to choke Bull out. At one point, he had the rope stretched across Bull’s mouth. That had to suck. They both came close to winning, but each time the other guy would shorten the rope and a tug-of-war would ensue. Buchanan outslugged Jones and leveled him with a big boot to set up the typical bullrope finish. Bull wrapped the rope around Jones’ neck and dragged him around the ring with both men touching each corner. As Bull went for the final corner, Jones freed himself, and they had another tug of war. Finish was messed up. Buchanan was supposed to lariat Jones’ head into the final turnbuckle before Buchanan touched it, but Jones never made contact. The fans were not happy when McGowan awarded the belt to Jones.

(7) Micah Taylor & Diane Hewes beat Johnny Swinger & Quentin Michaels in an All or Nothing Match via twin submissions (16 minutes).

Hewes regained 100% ownership of GCW and Tracy Taylor was set free from Swinger. This was the blowoff a two long running storylines. For three months, Swinger has had ownership of Micah’s wife, Tracy. Michaels and Hewes have been warring 50/50 owners since May. Swinger said he needed to rebuild trust with Tracy and ordered her to be handcuffed to the ropes. It had to be all Swinger and Micah with two non-wrestlers involved. Micah came out selling his ribs. Injured or not, Micah teed off on Swinger. Micah throws great punches. Micah called Hewes in to assist with a double team slam off the top on Swinger. Michaels joined Swinger for a double shoulder block on Micah. When Michaels tried to cover, Micah grabbed him by the throat and tagged in Hewes. Michaels made a beeline to Swinger, who started to suplex Hewes. No way that was happening. Micah broke it up. Swinger went to work on Micah’s bandaged ribs. Michaels got in long enough to administer some kicks to the ribs. Swinger used a claw hold as a tribute to Killer Kowalski. A noggin knocker collision led to double tags, and the sight of Michaels and Hewes going at it was not a pretty picture. Hewes ended up on top of Michaels. Swinger picked her up for a piledriver. Micah intervened with a meeting of minds for Michaels and Swinger. Micah and Hewes put Swinger and Michaels in sleeper holds. Ref Scrappy McGowan simultaneously dropped both their arms three times. Nice visual. The finish got the longest, loudest pop of the night. Micah and Tracy were reunited. Tracy cracked Michaels across the face for good measure.

NOTES: Bull Buchanan’s next tour of Japan will be from November 15 through December 7…Micahe and Tracy Taylor will also be going back to Japan for Pro Wrestling Zero-1/SUN…Micah and Tracy graciously did a long autograph and talk session with ringside fans after the show...GCW returns to action at the Gr8 Sk8 Plex on September 11.