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It was another thumbs up television taping from NWA Anarchy last night in Cornelia. With Hardcore Hell now just four weeks away, the pieces of the puzzle are fitting into place. There are burning issues to be addressed.
As opposed to the last taping, this one was geared more toward telling stories in the ring. The intensity level among the crew was up. Generally speaking, the quality of the wrestling was above the norm. There were a few glitchy moments, but nothing that detracted from the overall flow and tone of the evening.
A total of 200 graced the NWA Arena with their presence. They were a bit slow to warm to task but once they did, the place was cooking.
Greg Hunter introduced Les Thatcher as the third man in the announce booth for the evening along with John Johnson.
(1) Orion Bishop annihilated Chris Mayne in 1:05. Fans were clueless about Bishop, but this match gave them a fair idea about his bad ass attitude. Fallaway slam, Vader Bomb and spear for the pin.
(2) New Wave (Derrick Driver & Steven Walters) beat Seth Delay & Brodie Chase when Walters pinned Delay after the Unskinny Bop (8:04). Pre-match: Talent & Money gave Chase and Delay their payola. You knew that because the envelope Pendleton handed Chase had a big $ sign on it. Chase’s upper body is looking quite muscular these days. Rough start for Walters and Chase. Delay took Driver down and the heels went to work on his back. Walters had to break up the pin after a top rope elbow drop by Delay. Driver escaped from a slingshot suplex. There was a problem with ring positioning here, as all Driver had to do was turn around to make the tag. Instead, he first waited get in an enzuigiri. Walter entered with a sweet top rope forearm. They redid a wheelbarrow-dropkick combo spot that fell apart midstream. Double chestcracker on Chase and the finisher on Delay. Nothing particularly good to say about this match. The chestcracker looks more devastating than their signature finisher. Does this mean the champions get their money back?
(3) Malachi beat Adrian Hawkins in 5:45 to become number one contender for the Young Lion’s Championship. Hawkins was laying in wait. He greeted Malachi with a vicious shot into the announcer’s booth and a suplex on the ramp. A relentless beating ensued. Hawkins was strong with the facial expressions. But unable to seal the deal, Hawkins mounting frustations got the better of him. Malachi kicked out of Hawkins’ spinning Liger Bomb, so he went up top. Malachi met him with a back body drop and hit a diving headbutt with an extra edge of danger for the pin. Worked for me so far as building Malachi as a legit challenger.
(4) Ace Rockwell won the Lucky Seven Rumble to earn the NWA National Heavyweight Title shot at Hardcore Hell (13:10). Alan Funk owned Jeff Lewis for the first two minutes. From this point forward, the heat moved to a new level and never looked back, truly a main event. Jeremy Vain was next. Vain and Lewis doubled up on Funk, who fought off being tossed over the top. Shadow Jackson entered with Vain in his sights. From this point forward, the heat moved to a new level and never looked back, truly the stuff main events are made of. It goes without saying that Vain is awesome bumper, and he was flying halfway across the ring for Jackson’s hiptosses. Rob Adonis entered with a T-bone suplex on Jackson, The crowd erupted with a “Shadowmania†chant. Jackson no sold head shots into the turnbuckle and gave Adonis and Vain a meeting of the minds. The heels got on Jackson’s bad ankle. I was surprised Jackson didn’t sell this a whole lot more after what happened last time. Adonis used the claw to bring Jackson to his knees on the apron. Vain gave them both the heave ho. Ace Rockwell was next. He cleaned up on Vain to where Adonis had to save him from taking a Nestea plunge off the apron. Vain rules. Rockwell hit Aces High on Vain, who rolled to the floor just as Kimo entered. Rockwell was hanging in sheerly on heart. Kimo crushed him with a single martial arts chop. Kimo was set for the Seven Finger Touch of Death or kill when the lights went out. The lights came on just long enough to reveal Judas with his hand lock around Bailey’s jugular. When the lights came up for good, Judas was gone, Bailey was down, and Kimo was distracted just long enough for Rockwell to dump him out. Vain chose this moment to sneak back into the ring. He clotheslined Rockwell over the top and celebrated while Rockwell skinned the cat. Rockwell clotheslined Vain over the top for the win. Crowd ate the finish up. When it comes to telling a compelling mult-level story with the rumble format, Bill Behrens has it down to a science. As many times as it has been used in this building, you would think the lights out spot would be played out, but the angle with Judas has given it meaning.
(5)The Entourage (Kyle Matthews & Andrew Alexander & Mike Mosley & Jay Clinton) beat TK Cross & Caleb Konley & Bo Newsome & Dustin Knight in 7:58. The highlight was the opening between Cross and Alexander – it was the most fundamentally sound chain wrestling I’ve seen from either one of them. Entourage isolated Newsome. Clinton did this ridiculous ropes walk Memphis Strut. What the hell, it’s a ridiculous character. Bo made Matthews miss and hot-tagged Knight (APW). He got a lot of offense for a tiny guy that was there to do the job, which he did for Mosley’s inverted Ace crusher. Lewis came out to congratulate his minions.
Don Matthews appeared on the WrestleVision screen to introduce Jessco Blue. Seems his search of the Smoky Mountain had been a success. They celebrated by guzzling beer together. Matthews smashed the can into his forehead like a redneck Sandman. Matthews said their necks were as red as fire. He suggested they go find some big ladies to love on. “That would be outstander than hell,†said Blue. But were they live or was it Memorex? The question was soon answered as they slipped into the ring behind the unsuspecting Entourage. Matthews and Blue used the element of surprise to get the advantage despite the odds. They were soon joined by Wild Bunch to rid the ring of Entourage. The vignette was funny. The inring stuff came off clumsy.
(6) Slim J beat Tyler Smith (with Bobby Moore) via DQ in 7:15. A freaking awesome performance by J, and Smith more than held up his end. J was super aggressive and with good reason after last time. Intense back and forth on the arm early. J started kicking Smith’s ass, so Moore grabbed J’s leg to set up the blindside shot and ringside beatdown. Smith worked J’s gut. J’s comeback had the fire and stiffness that is a key to what makes him so over. Few little guys can deliver the kind of lariat he gave Smith. J hit the diving reverse DDT for a great near fall. He locked in the armbar and Moore jumped in to start the beatdown.
That’s when Sexton showed up.
Oh Slimmy, Slimmy, Slimmy, This is really starting to bore me.
Sexton ordered Technicians to finish the job. That wasn’t happening, as J did this great one-on-two deal where he KOed Smith and flipped Moore in a Kimura.
My way, submissions or knock out, Hardcore Hell, me and you, Buhhster.
(7) Talent & Money (JT Talent & Andrew Pendleton III) beat Wild Bunch (Billy Buck & Chris King) in 8:11 to retain the NWA Anarchy Tag Team Championship when Talent pinned Buck. A match with sound basic psychology. Talent lectured Buck about the champions being on a much higher plane than Wild Bunch. Talent caught hell for those remarks. The heels went to town on King’s back. King leapfrogged Talent for the hot tag. Buck on fire. Pendleton was Talent’s savior here. He rescued Talent from Buck’s Samoan drop and the cowboys’ superkick/legsweep finisher. After trashing King, he jumped in the ring to hit the Bail Out on Buck.
Austin Creed came out to a huge ovation. NWA Anarchy owner Jerry Palmer said Creed had earned the title match of his choosing by winning a rumble match several months ago. However, his NWA National Championship match against Shatter was off because of the concussion he suffered at Destination X. Creed said he wanted to give his shot to someone else. Palmer said he could keep his title shot for later, but Creed’s man would also get a shot. Out came Bishop.
(8) Phil Shatter (with Attorney Jeff G. Bailey) beat Orion Bishop to retain the NWA National Title in 3:39. The two beasts went to war with neither giving an inch. Bishop popped up after taking a back suplex and powerslammed Shatter. Shatter hit a spinebuster and started to give Bishop a beating. He planted a high knee in Bishop’s sternum. After softening Bishop up for the spear, Shatter ate the turnbuckle charging in. Bishop hit the fallaway slam and the Vader Bomb to set up a spear of his own, but gored the turnbuckle when Shatter stepped aside. Shatter then speared Bishop for the pin. Solid match. Bishop got respect applause on his way out, and that’s not easy for a first-timer to get in this building.
(9) Devil’s Rejects (Iceberg & Azrael with The Reverend & Skirra Corvus) vs. Truitt Fields & Shaun Tempers ended as a five minute no contest. Fields looks has added mass. The dude looks swole. Iceberg knocked Fields into Tempers before the bell. A little foreshadowing there. Match was mostly Iceberg beating up on Fields with some wickedly inspired offense. He busted out the 400 pound cannonball corner splash. Out of nowhere, Fields hit the Killing Fields. Tempers stepped into the ring, wheeled around and punched Fields in the face. Fans were in stunned silence. No way they saw this one coming.
Tempers maced Fields. Corvus followed with the curbstomp. Iceberg hit a Ground Zero splash. At this point, all hell broke loose. Rockwell was the first babyface out of the dressing room. Berg and and Izzy wasted them one by one. Malachi took a sick body block on the ramp from Iceberg. In the ring, Tempers did further damage to Fields with the hangman’s neckbreaker. The people were hot now. Trash was hitting the ring. The Reject retreated to ringside to admire their work. The Reverend hugged Tempers. Great segment.
They made a huge deal out of the mace. Fields was down forever. They splashed water in his eyes and brought out a towel. It definitely had some people believing.
NOTES: A. J. Styles was visiting backstage with his two boys…The reviews of the first two days of Les Thatcher’s NWA Excellence Camp were uniformly stellar. One of the attendees commented on how Thatcher was a master of metaphors. He came at the key point from multiple angles so if one metaphor didn’t speak to you, he had another one that would. I attended a portion of the camp today. It was phenomenal. If you’re involved in pro wrestling at the indie level, you need to hear what this man has to say. I know for a fact that NWA Anarchy is all the better for the experience…The top 2-4 trainees in camp will get to wrestle on Anarchy television…Hunter made the point that Thatcher is the only announcer to have worked alongside Jim Ross, Gordon Solie, Lance Russell and Bob Caudle…A contingent from GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com and GWH radio was in the house including owner Rich Tate and Bobby Simmons from Peach State Pandemonium (Wed at 9pm) and [url=http://georgiawrestlinghistory.com/gwhrn/tns/home.html]Nose Bleed Section[/url] co-hosts John Cannon and Joe Cowart (Thurs at 9pm)…Among the trainees was Drew Haskins from Showtime All-star Wrestling...The entire Anarchy crew extended sang Happy Birthday for queen of the concession area, Sandy Burton.
