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NWA ANARCHY TV TAPING IN CORNELA, GEORGIA LIVE REPORT

There were major surprises coming and going at last night’s NWA Anarchy taping. The sudden retirement by Iceberg signaled the departure of one the top attractions in the history of Cornelia wrestling; the return of Caprice Coleman brought back one of its brightest stars.

In addition, two gimmick matches were set up for Fright Night. Although as of now, the exact nature of said gimmicks remains a mystery.

There were 100 in attendance at the NWA Arena. Anarchy drew 175 on the first Saturday of 2008. ClearIy, the economy has to be factored into the drop, but I also looked at what NWA Wildside drew in year four of their run in Cornelia, roughly the same point Anarchy is at now. Wildside hit their all time low on 10/4/03 with only 65.

For show quality and crowd reaction, last night's taping was a huge rebound from the disappointing taping two weeks ago. It started like more of the same, but things picked up toward the end of the first hour with the Iceberg retirement segment, and by the second hour, the place was rocking. Well, at least to the extent possible with the crowd being what it was.

(1) NWA Anarchy Tag Team Champions Talent & Money (JT Talent & Drew Pendleton III) beat Rowdy Friends (Don Matthews & Jessco Blue) in 6:30. Match opened with the rowdy ones treating Pendleton like he owed them money. Pendleton clipped Matthews’ knee and the champions worked the body part. Matthews hit a sitout full nelson slam for the double down. Blue took the tag, and it broke down four way. T&M hit the Rodeo Driver on Blue. Just a match. It did nothing to help the standing of either team.

Brodie Chase, Seth Delay and Mike Posey appeared on the WrestleVision. They were pissed about the way Bo Newsome spoiled their fun last time. Never one to let political correctness stand in his way, Chase said the problem with Newsome was that his mommy and daddy didn’t whip him, so he was going to give him the ass whipping his daddy never gave him. They moved on to Posey’s mockery of Slim J. Delay said he should go by Slim P. It was a set up for more bandana jokes. Good stuff.

(2) Bo Newsome beat Brodie Chase in 5:07. As promised, Chase gave Newsome a beating. The offensive highlight was a torture rack neckbreaker. Crowd was dead for Newsome’s comeback. They popped, though, when Newsome kicked out of Chase’s pumphandle neckbreaker. As Chase was busy griping at Dee Byers, Newsome rolled him up to score the flash pin. Afterwards, Chase left Newsome laying with a Doctor Bomb. By itself, it wasn’t a win that did anything to elevate Newsome. I’m guessing things between them will escalate further from here.

(3) Hayden Young beat Anarchy Young Lion’s Champion Skirra Corvus in a non-title match. Young got off to a hot start, but his usual explosiveness was somewhat limited by a knee injury. Corvus tried to take Young’s face off with a kick and unleashed his unique offensive arsenal, complete with the occasional pause to admire his work with this weird self soothing ritual - a combination of ecstasy and anguish. Crowd wasn’t much into Young’s comeback either. Finish saw Corvus duck Young’s enzuigiri and go for the curbstomp, which Young countered with a forward rolling cradle for the pin. Match had some cool moves but no gut level connection with the crowd, nor were fans clamoring for Young to get a title match.

Entourage entered the ring with mic work being handled by Andrew Alexander. He said they were giving Mike and Mercedes Moseley the night off, and introduced Mr. Black (Carnage from APW) as their new bodyguard. Alexander labeled Jay Clinton’s first challenge against Mikal Judas as a miserable failure. The crowd popped when Alexander said Clinton almost broke his neck taking El Crucifijo. Alexander went on to say that Entourage was taking credit for the car problems that kept Steven Walters from making the show two weeks ago, leaving Derrick Driver to feel the wrath of Mr. Black. That brought New Wave out to challenge Entourage to a match and introduce their partner, Iceberg, for the best pop so far. Alexander offered to sweeten the pot – If Iceberg got pinned by Clinton, he would have to retire, but if Entourage lost, Clinton would be kicked out of their group. It made zero sense that the babyfaces would give a rat’s ass about Clinton, but it’s pro wrestling, and they accepted the stipulation.

(4) The Entourage (Andrew Alexander & Jay Clinton & Mr. Black) beat Iceberg & New Wave (Steven Walters & Derrick Driver) when Clinton pinned Iceberg to end his career (11:32). New Wave threw Alexander around for a while. Clinton got tagged in to face Iceberg. This made the best of Clinton as a comedic character, as he tried to figure out a way to save his skin. Mr. Black pulled Driver’s hair to set up the heat. Black never tagged in. Iceberg took the hot tag against Clinton. Black tried to interfere and got cut off by New Wave’s double dropkick. Clinton tried to do his ropes walk strut, and Iceberg squashed him like a bug. Alexander then tried to piledrive Iceberg. That wasn’t happening. With Ref Ken Wallace distracted, Black hit the tree slam (named the Landslide by his father, Stone Mountain) on Iceberg. Iceberg went up for it. Iceberg was easy picking for Clinton’s top rope elbow drop.

NWA Anarchy owner Jerry Palmer entered the ring for some private words with Iceberg. The two men hugged. Palmer said he could go on for 10 hours but he was only going to say one thing, “thank you”. Emotions were running high, as people realized it was actually going down – Iceberg’s career was over. Iceberg acknowledged the applause from the fans on his way out.

(5) Truitt Fields defeated NWA National Champion Phil Shatter (with Attorney Jeff G. Bailey) via DQ when Kimo interfered to save Shatter’s title at 14:08. Best technical match of the night worked in a conservative, old school manner. Fields controlled the early going with a fine rendition of babyface offense from years gone by. It took three shoulder blocks to get Shatter off his feet. But a reckless charge into the corner cost Fields dearly. Shatter methodically dissected Fields’ midsection and back, using a powerdrive side suplex, a grounded body scissors and a properly applied abdominal stretch. Shatter tried to tie Fields to the ropes with his wrist tape. Didn’t work. Shatter thought he had Fields sufficiently beaten down to go high risk with a middle rope elbow drop. He thought wrong. A collision of high crossbodys left both men down. They traded blows from their knees. Fields got near falls with a rolling reverse and after a backslide. Shatter hit a high Harley Race knee for two. Shatter went for a super back suplex, but Fields reversed in midair to land on top for a near fall. Shatter speared Fields and went into shock when Fields kicked out. Fields was unable to stand. Shatter said this was too easy, as he went for the PTSD, but Fields countered with a catapult into the turnbuckles. Killing Fields~! Bailey frantically signaled for Kimo to hit the ring.

Shatter and Kimo continued to beat on Fields, until Coleman made the save. No pop at all for him. 90% of the fans had no idea who he was.

(6) Seth Delay & Mike Posey beat ADD (Manchild & Jamie Lee) in 4:14. ADD were way more over than one of NWA Wildside’s all time greats. They’re known from working a lot of shows in the local vicinity, and the kids react to their cute combo moves, particularly the one where Manchild does a body splash and plays human steam roller, followed by Lee using the victims as stepping stones. Posey halted the nonsense with a draping DDT on Lee. The hot tag never came. Posey ran in to dropkick Manchild off the apron. Delay pinned Lee with the firerman’s carry gutbuster.

Delay was about to punch Lee with the brass knucks when Slim J’s music played. Delay and Posey cowered in fear, as a midget dressed up like J entered the ring. The midget was poised to throw bandanas into the crowd. It turned ugly. Posey hit the midget from behind and held him, while Delay knocked him out with a knuck shot. Security guy Jacob Ashworth carried the little guy out in his arms. This got over great. It was the most perversely entertaining segments Anarchy has done in quite a while. Delay's wacky over the top character works for me. Adds variety to the show.

Coleman came out for his match and cut an electrifying promo. The theme: There’s no place like home. Coleman talked about going overseas and being in country where pro wrestling wasn’t legal (see notes below). He finally got to wrestle his first match in 3 years and realized something had been missing, and he had to follow his dream. He talked about going going through the same potholes in the parking lot and the same broken door as when he left Cornelia. He did his catch rhyming catch phrase. A crowd that treated him like a nobody 30 minutes earlier, was totally with him. It was one of those magical moments. Right there, Coleman said he was setting his sights on Shatter and his NWA National belt. This was the type of starpower Anarchy has been lacking.

(7) Caprice Coleman beat Aiden Chambers in 5:07. A showcase for Coleman’s wrestling prowess. Lots of flashy moves including a perfectly timed springboard crossbody, a trio of variations on the leg lariat and his signature spin scissors kick. Coleman won it with the That’s Life (formerly Thermal Shock).

On the WrestleVision, Greg Hunter’s personality profile segment with Veterano IV went awry when Todd Sexton showed up to disrespect IV about his Mexican heritage. They had a big time pull apart brawl in the locker room. Those always seem to look good because of the extremely cramped quarters.

(8) Kimo (with Jeff G. Bailey) destroyed Alejandro Bravo & Michael Payne in a squash handicap match (1:35). Highlight was Kimo giving Payne a long distance fling over the top rope. Kimo pinned Payne with the Asian chop.

Postmatch: Kimo was about to deliver the death blow to Payne when Mikal Judas showed up. Kimo tried to cut him off. Judas got Kimo in position for El Crucifijo , but let him loose and hit the a buckle bomb instead. Kimo retreated to ringside. Judas was pacing in the ring like a caged animal. “You bad? Hit me!” Palmer came out. He said after four years, Reverend was done and Bailey and “that Communist puke” were next. That got the “USA” chant going. Palmer said Judas could have Kimo at Fright Night in the match of his choosing. Judas got the best babyface po of the night on his way out. Just enough physical contact and awesome intensity from both men. Great segment.

(9) Wild Bunch (Billy Buck & Chris King) beat Hate Junkies (Dany Only & Stryknyne) in 7:12. Stryknyne was getting his ass handed to him until Only interfered to screw up King. King took big time heat. Between the venom and brutality brought forth by the heels, and Bucks working the corner nonstop, this had the best heat of any of the tag matches. Buck’s house cleaning was on the money. He switched it up and didn’t use the played out bionic elbows. King paid Only back with some interference to set up the superkick by Buck.

(10) Orion Bishop vs. Shadow Jackson ended as a no contest in 5:56. The beast has been unleashed. Bishop was the monster I’ve seen him be in other places, but was yet to appear in Anarchy. Huge pop and “Shadowmania” chants for Jackson, but that mattered not once the bell rang. Bishop manhandled Jackson with an incredible display of strength and power. In one sequence, Bishop caught Jackson’s crossbody attempt, gave him two backbreakers without releasing and hit a fallaway slam. Bishop destroyed Jackson’s lower back. Jackson hulked up. Jackson hit a stunner, then the 1031. At that point, NWA Anarchy Heavyweight Champion Jeremy Vain (doing color commentary, a dead giveaway there would be no clean win, which was fine) hit the ring. Jackson whipped up on Vain until he bailed. Match was just long enough and exceeded any and all expectations.

(11) Ace Rockwell pinned Shaun Tempers at 11:05 where any punch thrown would result in a DQ. A well worked match with a clear story. The heat was just OK. That taping had run almost three hours by this point, and the people had already seen a whole lot. Tempers got some amateur style riding time early. He shielded a couple of closed fists from Brent Wiley. Rockwell took control with a repeated use of the side headlock. Tempers blocked a headscissors and wrenched Rockwell’s knee to take over. Tempers went after the knee. “Ace” chant as Tempers worked a spinning toe hold. Rockwell’s comeback was hampered by the bum knee, but he finally decked Tempers with a discus lariat. Tempers hit a fisherman suplex and a Tiger bomb, but Rockwell kicked out of both. Rockwell managed to hotshot Tempers from a downed position on the apron. Tempers rolled through on Rockwell’s flying bodypress and used the tights. Rockwell kicked out again. Aces High for the 1-2-3. Rockwell gets to a TV title match at Fright Night with the stipulation of his choosing.

NOTES: The 11th annual Fright Night show will be on Halloween night, October 31...Anarchy will do a special tribute show for Iceberg on November 7. Iceberg said it was simply time for him to call it quits. His career spanned almost exactly 11 years to the day. His first match was 10/8/98…Young said he tweaked the knee earlier in the week and it was not a serious injury…Coleman was in Kuwait for three years on a government contract job. Pro wrestling had been illegal there since 1997 when during a WWE tour, Van Vader was arrested for attacking the host of Good Morning Kuwait, who had the audacity to ask him if pro wrestling was fake.