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Nostalgia ran rampant at the Charlie Smith Appreciation Show.
As a fundraiser and a tribute to Smith, the event was a triumph. As a wrestling show, not so much.
Nobody on the Georgia wrestling scene was more deserving of the honor than Smith. He started his career in pro wrestling in 1954, refereed his first match in 1959. At the age of 85, Smith still gets out to a wrestling show almost every weekend. A host of legends including Ole Anderson and Paul Orndorff were on hand to pay tribute.
The event raised over $3500 for the Cauliflower Alley Club Benevolent Fund. Attendance at Nowell Rec Center was over 400 paid with 500 total in the building. It was the largest crowd in SFCW history.
SFCW did themselves no favors with the generally lackluster wrestling or the length of the show. Only one match (Backbone members Drew Adler & Michael Stevens vs. Rick Michaels & Brian Kane) was much above average.
It was a feel-good event with the babyface going over most of the night. Trinity lost both of their key matches. Backbone were the only heels that came out of the show with their heat intact.
The show was over 3 hours and 30 minutes in length. The semi-main was a crowd killer and they had nothing left in the tank for the main event.
(1) Damien Silva & Dax Anthony defeated Drew Game & Twisted in 11:12. This was a decent opener that got a great reaction from a crowd that was hungry for action. The heels (Game & Twisted) worked over Anthony’s arm. Twisted missed a swanton which was the perfect spot for the hot tag but it didn’t happen because they had more planned. Anthony penalized Game and Twisted for excessive celebration with a flying bodypress. Silva then pinned Game with an STO. The sequence to get there was kind of clunky but the finish looked good.
(2) Jamie Holmes won the Charlie Smith Battle Royal in 9:15. The other participants were Justin Legend, Johnny Camo, Maverick, Cody McCulley, Terry Hayes, Leatherface, Jinx the Clown, Sean Nelson, Hoss Michaels, Lee Andrews, John Brewer, Joey Corbin, Alexander Churchill, Tommy Lee, American Patriot, TW James, Swole and Terk. The corps of referees included legends Scrappy McGowan and Mac McMurray. Leatherface came out last with the chainsaw roaring and everyone scattered. The chainsaw was best thing about the match. Jimmy Oxendine confiscated it before the bell. Jinx the Clown stayed on the outside inserting cheap shots on random participants. After being eliminated, Maverick went after General Lee and his guy Terry Hayes and had to be restrained by security. The final four were Leatherface, Holmes, McCulley and Legend. Holmes gave McCulley and Legend the heave ho as they were battling near the ropes. Leatherface whiffed on a clothesline and Holmes dumped him out for the win. It was the half-assed cluster you would expect.
Promoter Charles Anschutz started auctioning off merch provided by WWE. This was done in several segments during the course of the evening. Charles is quite the auctioneer.
(3) Pandora defeated Misty James and Chelsea Diamond in 9:55. Triston Michaels was the referee. Chelsea is an attractive girl who works for the Stardom women’s promotion in Japan. Pandora was the lone babyface, but Misty and Chelsea couldn’t get along at all so it was basically every woman for herself. First chant of the night was for Pandora. I liked Misty’s heel persona – strong with the facial expressions and body language. Pandora left Chelsea alone in the ring to attack James which didn’t make a whole lot of sense in a three way match. They posted each other. Back inside, Pandora kicked out of Chelsea’s fisherman and pinned her with a short DDT.
(4) Beau James & Buddy Burke defeated Lobo & Billy Jack in 7:25. Less said the better. As the ref was busy with Lobo and James on the outside. Burke lit a tennis racket on fire and blasted Jack with it. Burke’s was busted open the hardway and he was left with a hideous swelling over his left eye, as seen above.
Ring announcer Tiny Hughes did the roll call of legends in attendance: Cauliflower Alley President B. Brian Blair and Vice President Morgan Dollar, Ole Anderson, Paul Orndorff, Bobby Simmons, McMurray, McGowan, “Wolfman” Ron Lee, Elliot Wiggins, Billy Black, Joel Deaton, Steve Lawler, Ranger Ross, “Mr. Olympia” Jerry Stubbs, Terry Lawler, Burke, ames, Joyce Grable, Terry McDaniel (Wahoo’s spouse), Karen Dromo (Bill’s spouse) and Louise Cochran.
On behalf of SFCW, Beau James and Commissioner Tim Rice presented Charlie Smith with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Smith said he wasn’t expecting to be honored with a night like this and appreciated everyone coming out. Smith talked about the good things the Cauliflower Alley Club does for retired wrestlers and mentioned the CAC reunion, April 11-13 in Las Vegas.
Morgan Dollar presented Anschutz with a Promoter of the Year Award from the CAC. Anschutz hugged Smith and said he was proud to put on the event. He gave James credit for coming up with the idea. Anschutz joked that Smith refereed Cain vs. Abel and never saw the knife. Anschutz lead the crowd in a “Charlie” chant. Michael Stevens (one half of the SFCW Tag Team Champions) and SFCW Heavyweight Champion Drew Adler did a promo that got bigtime heat. Stevens said they were going to take out Brian Kane, calling him the man of many partners and threatened to retire Rick Michaels.
(5) Drew Adler & Michael Stevens defeated Brian Kane & Rick Michaels in 11:37. Rick’s entrance got a big pop from the contingent of Rick supporters in the house that included his father. Rick asked who wanted to see the two sissies get their tails whipped. That got a “yes” chant and a “sissies” chant. Rick and Stevens got down on all fours to do the Rick Steiner spot where the babyface lifts his leg to “piss” on the heel. Kane busted out a tope con hilo. They had the crowd going. Hell, they even popped for an arm drag. Kane took the heat. The heels hit a variation of Rick’s Double Shot on Kane and Rick had to break up the pin. Adler nailed Stevens with a tope when Kane moved to set up the hot tag. Rick hit the Double Shot on Adler and Stevens saved. Kane scored with a moonsault but referee Ken Wallace ruled Kane was not the legal man. While Kane was debating with Wallace, Adler gave Rick a low blow and rolled him up. Good match - as good as it was going to get on this night.
Charles led a “thank you, Rick” chant.
JB Enterprises (Drew Blood & Tetchi Makuji with Joseph Brock III) entered the ring. Blood thought it was the Charlie Smith Memorial Show. Blood said when you think of great refs, you think of Tommy Young, Bronco Lubich, The Hebners, Randy Anderson, Nick Patrick, Joey Morella and eventually you think of Charlie Smith. Blood serenaded the crowd with a horribly off key tribute song before he was informed that Smith was alive. Blood was incensed that he was forfeiting his appearance fee while the legends were making money, and threatened to make like Jesus in the synagogue and star turning over tables.
That brought AJ Steele out to play Let’s Make a Deal. Steele said if JB Enterprises could beat him and his partner, every dime Anschutz had made would go into his pocket. If not, Blood would have to kiss Smith’s feet. Blood said Steele had been on a losing streak so he was willing to accept the stip. Steele introduced Bobby Hayes as his partner.
(6) AJ Steele & Bobby Hayes defeated Drew Blood & Tetchi Makuji (with Joseph Brock III) in 13:45 with “Wolfman” Ron Lee as the special referee. The thing here was Blood’s comedic selling and bumping. Not much else to it. Makuji had Steele in the Tongan Death Grip. Hayes intervened. Hayes and Makuji powdered out to brawl on the floor. That left a petrified Blood in the ring with Steele. Blood offered to shake hands. Steele converted it into a Steele City Bomb for the 1-2-3.
Postmatch, Smith took his shoes off and Blood and Brock were both forced to kiss Charlie’s feet.
(7) Joel Deaton & Steve Lawler & Johnny Camo (with Billy Black) defeated Trinity (Chris Nelms & Big Andy & Russian Assassin) in 21:43. The sight of Deaton, Black and Brawler Lawler gave me a flashback to North Georgia Wrestling Alliance at the Alpharetta Auction Barn. The crowd popped for Deaton’s cracking of his bullwhip. That bullwhip is such a great gimmick. Somebody needs to bring it back. It was all downhill from there. The running time was past the three hour mark by the time this match got underway. This 20 minute snoozefest was the last thing the show needed. The crowd was dying with some heading for the exit. The match broke down. Black tossed a beer can to Steve. He took a few gulps and cracked Andy with the can to score the pinfall.
(8) Jagged Edge defeated Terry Lawler (with General Lee) in a Falls Count Anywhere Match in 10 minutes. Jagged gave Terry a beating - no fun under any circumstances and especially on this night when Terry was recovering from a bout of sciatica. Jagged used a chair on Terry and set up for a Pedigree on the floor. Terry’s Trinity stablemate Nelms ran down and whacked Jagged with a chair to stop it. Kane ran down to handle Nelms. Back inside in the ring, Terry was in dire straits. Nelms’ wife, Ricki tried to give Terry a chair. That did not end well for them, as Jagged gave Terry a piledriver on the chair. The match was fine for what it was, but the crowd had already tapped out.
NOTES: Anderson was in a wheelchair...Orndorff was in great spirits. The atrophy of the right side of Orndorff's body that forced him to retire was quite evident in his appearance...Ross remembered working the Monroe gym back in the day with the original Deep South Wrestling...After the main, Steele thanked the legends and said without them, there would be no pro wrestling today. Jagged Edge said Ole Anderson was the original Rock, and hoped the fans had taken the opportunity to meet him...SFCW returns to action in Monroe on April 2.
