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As is usually the case with APW’s major events, it was as good a show as one could reasonably expect from a roster that has few top level veterans (Shadow Jackson, Jeremy Vain and Seth Delay) and a lot of young guys at various stages of development, the most promising being APW’s current singles champions Anthony Henry and Dustin Knight and the uniquely talented Skirra Corvus. Up and down the card, everyone worked hard. Both of the big title matches produced high quality action.
The promotion has developed a passionate fan base in Royston, a tiny out of-the-way town where the mystique of pro wrestling lives on to some degree. The wrestlers are seen as stars. Every babyface on the card got a good pop coming out. The Horton gym is a great building for heat. The sound bounces around and gives the effect of a much larger crowd.
Attendance was 120. Although the weekly shows have been drawing better than usual, the major shows have often done a better number than that.
Based on what was shown on their internet TV show, APW Aftershock, I didn’t find the build up for the matches to be as compelling as some of APW’s previous major shows, the exception being the angle for the Jacoby Boykins/Jackson match. Boykins had been abusing jabronis in a series of “white boy challenge†matches but wanted no part of Jackson. That lead to a situation where the babyfaces trapped Boykins’ stablemate, Vain, in the ring and bashed him with a chair until manager Kevin Duncan agreed to the match.
(1) John Skyler beat Chris Mayne in 7:09. Skyler’s intro got the kind of pop I’m not used to hearing for an opening match babyface. He’s one of many indy guys that falls into the category of “if only he was tallerâ€. Mayne has come back from a back injury in good form. His ring presence and look are much the better for the time away. They opened with chain wrestling, not doing too much right off the bat, and accelerated the pace from there. Mayne did a smooth heel move where he used a hair pull to put Skyler into a rear naked choke. They each hit big moves for near falls and foiled the other guy’s big move. Ref Dee Byers caught Mayne using the ropes on a pin attempt. It got physical between them, and Skyler capitalized with Sliced Bread #2.
(2) Sudden Impact (Tommy Daniels & James Boulevard) beat Just 2 Dudes (Jamie Cruz & Chris Spectra) to win the APW Tag Team Championship in 10:43. Geez, is the APW tag team division in the toilet or what. 2 Dudes (hailing from Seattle no less) are playing at being pro wrestlers and could just as easily have been sitting in the crowd. Cruz’s lariats were so pitiful that he should be banned for life from doing them. Be that as it may, Dudes are over with the fans. Sudden Impact were at least passable. Boulevard’s trunks looked uncomfortably tiny for a guy his size. During the heat, Daniels had Cruz midring in the cross armbreaker and decided to tag out. So much for that as a finishing move. Finish was ref distraction allowing Daniels to hit Cruz with one of the title belts. Match quality be damned. The crowd liked it just fine except for the Dudes losing the titles.
(3) Chaos (with Kevin Duncan) vs. Carnage ended as a double knock out at 12:05. For a battle of the behemoths, this wasn’t bad at all. Chaos has a tendency to try too many things that call for agility instead of working like a monster, but he held it in check in this match and they were battering each other pretty good. They went nose-to-nose at the start. Chaos is billed a being a seven footer, and if that was the case (it’s not) it would make Carnage no less than 6-10. Chaos did a top rope elbow drop, which was a hell of thing for a guy that size. Carnage did a pair of corner clotheslines and was really laying them in. Chaos chokeslammed Carnage for a double down. Byers stopped counting because it didn’t appear Carnage would make it up in time, which was unfortunate given the finish they were doing. Carnage fought off the dreaded Chaos heart punch and hit the Avalanche (choke bomb), but Duncan distracted him and Chaos was able to kick out of the delayed cover. Carnage ever so slowly climbed to the top rope. Chaos met him with a superplex. It took forever to set up, but with two huge guys like that, it was fairly spectacular when all was said and done. They were both still flat on their backs when Byers’ count reached 10.
(4) Dustin Knight beat Jeremy Vain (with Kevin Duncan) to retain the NWA North Georgia Title in 17:05. Knight is an awesome babyface. He’s a skinny little guy, but the crowd responds to his heart and fire. Vain had declared that Knight and his title were mere stepping stones on his way back to the Southern States Championship. Early on, Knight worked on Vain’s arm. The big spot was Vain knocking Knight off the apron with a body block. Knight bumped into the rail, splitting his eyebrow the hardway. Knight had a mask of blood around his eyes and nose for the rest of the match. It was only blood during the night and significantly added to the drama. Vain couldn’t put Knight away with the sleeper. Knight fired up, reeling off three big near falls. Knight brought Vain off the top with a huracanrana, but Vain kicked out of his one arm cover. Vain resorted to his pet trick, the pin attempt with both feet on the ropes and Knight kicked out. Vain hit the VKO followed by the VDT. Knight was toast. Vain said the belt was his. As Vain went for a second DDT, Knight countered with a jackknife pin for the three count.
(5) Jacob Ashworth & C.B. Gibson & Don E beat Johnny Dangerous & Hexxon & Scott Mayson in 7:05. The story here was that Dangerous had recently turned on Ashworth employing Hexxon and Mayson as his partners in crime. Ashworth and Dangerous were clearly best of breed in this match and did a good job with the story. Dangerous showed more personality as a heel than he had as a babyface. Mayson’s work isn’t that bad. He’s just really lanky and has such a backyard look about him. Gibson took the heat after being posted by Dangerous. Finish saw Ashworth spread the ropes to spill both Hexxon and Mayson. Gibson and Don E took them out with dives. Ashworth then pinned Dangerous with Ashes to Ashes (elevated full nelson face plant). Babyface revenge was the right finish given the disappointment and outrage that was to follow.
(6) Jacoby Boykins (with Kevin Duncan) defeated Shadow Jackson in 10:43. Boykins is improving by leaps and bound as a heel. True to his chickenshit ways, he left the ring as soon as the bell rang with Jackson in hot pursuit. Boykins was selling huge for Jackson – jelly legs, eyes rolling around in his head, but he didn’t go down until Jackson made his comeback, which made it all the more impactful. After Jackson missed a flying Butt Butt, Boykins took over. Boykins did a People’s Elbow, mocking Jackson’s signature howl in the process. Boykins tried to sap the life out of Jackson with bear hug. Jackson survived and hulked up. Duncan slipped a chain to Boykins, but Jackson was able to hit the stunner. Boykins bumped like he was shot out of a cannon. Duncan again distracted the babyface from making the pin (there’s a theme there). Moments later, Duncan grabbed Jackson by the leg and Boykins clubbed Jackson with the chain for the 1-2-3. Afterward, the crowd showed their undying support for “The People’s Champion†by chanting for Jackson.
(7) Anthony Henry defeated Skirra Corvus and Seth Delay and Brandon Parker (with Kevin Duncan) in a four way elimination match to retain the NWA Southern States Championship (19:55). Ring announcer Michael Gentry did an excellent job on the intro by mentioning all of participants’ past APW title credentials. The only problem with the match was Parker was the only true heel, since Corvus has a big following as the cool heel. Of the four, Henry got by far the biggest reaction. The creative has done a great job building him as a champion, and he has the ability to pull it off. The four-way action produced the most spectacular action of the night – tons of big moves and crazy dives. There was a scary spot where Henry dropped Corvus on his head. Delay took a backdrop on the ramp from Parker. While Corvus and Henry were doing the highlight reel stuff, Parker was playing the role of the sly opportunist. Delay used the brass knucks to eliminate Korvus at 9:06. As Delay struggled with his conscience about using the knucks on Henry, Parker rolled him up at 9:57. Parker was instantly all over Henry, who had taken more damage thus far. On the comeback, Henry got a near fall with a top rope double stomp to the back. Parker answered with a big combo and did the dice rolling motion (he’s allegedly from Vegas) for his finisher. It was no dice. Henry’s Texas Cloverleaf finisher is so over that the crowd was already chanting for it. Henry did a frogsplash instead. Duncan tried to distract and Henry decked him for a big pop. Parker kicked out for a fine false finish. Dee Byers got bumped big time. Henry locked Parker in the cloverleaf. Duncan hit the ring with the title belt. Henry released Parker and put Duncan in the cloverleaf. That gave Parker a chance to recover. He hit his Codebreaker variant. Byers was now able to count, but Henry kicked out at 2.9 for another terrific false finish. Henry got the cloverleaf and Parker tapped right away.
The fans were loving it. All was right with the world.
However, the celebration was cut short by the sudden arrival of the Hate Junkies. This had the panic and chaos of a great angle, like something that was legitimately not supposed to happen. Stryknyn stomped a chair on Henry’s face and speared him. The babyfaces ran down to ringside, but Only creamed the first two guys with chairshots and the rest though better of getting in the ring. Stryknyn then torched Henry with a fireball. The face threw a towel over Henry’s head and got him out of there. Some fans got really heated about the situation and were threatening bodily harm to Stryknyn. They shot footage of Henry being hustled out of the building and taken to the hospital, which will undoubtedly be shown on APW Aftershock (www.youtube.com/alternativepro).
