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Here are some of the developments coming out of Friday night's show:
The Future of Wrestling in Florida Looks Good
The concept behind GEAR is to bring some of the top talent from around the world to face the top young talent that wrestles in Florida. On this show, Florida wrestlers like Chris Jones, The Lifeguards of Wade Koverly and Daron Smythe, Nooie Lee, Kenny King, Austin Amadeus, Seth Delay, Sal Rinauro, and Erick Stevens got to wrestle 'established stars' like Delirious, Nigel McGuinness, Austin Aries, Jay and Mark Briscoe, Larry Sweeney, and Roderick Strong (even though he is from Florida). This was a good concept because there was some good action during the night and the fans in Brooksville appeared to leave a show looking forward to GEAR's next show on April 25th.
Kenny King Might Have To Cross Austin Aries Off His Christmas Card List
Last night in the main event, Kenny King and Austin Amadeus could not match the results of their match against Austin Aries and Delirious with their claims earlier in the night. Despite a valiant effort by King and Amadeus, they fell victim to Shadows over Hell and the Horn of Aries. After the match, King and Amadeus attacked Aries and Delirious; but they left the ring after Aries got a chair. While King and Amadeus were heading to the back, Aries challenged Kenny King to a match at the next GEAR show on April 25th. King accepted the challenge so we will see Kenny King versus Austin Aries next month in Brooksville.
Referees Probably Happiest People to see GEAR Exist
If you watch most wrestling shows, you can be guaranteed that there will be a number of ref bumps during a show, and if the referees were not attacked during a show, then it was someone else involved in the show who does not wear spandex who gets pummeled during the show. One thing that GEAR emphasized was that there would be a return to the wrestling and not the extracurricular actions that often take away from a quality match. There were no referee bumps on this show and it was a good change of pace. I hope this is something that continues for all GEAR shows and will spread to other companies
Here are the results from the show:
Match Number One: Jay Briscoe defeated Chris Jones
For most of the match, Briscoe was in control; but Jones was able to get in some offense on the former Ring of Honor and FIP tag team champion and worked on Briscoe’s arm. Briscoe’s experience gave him the advantage over his younger opponent. Briscoe got the three count with a Jay Driller.
Match Number Two: Roderick Strong defeated Seth Delay
These two veterans of Full Impact Pro Wrestling met in the ring for the first time that I can remember and both men were up for the challenge. Delay used his quickness to get the early advantage over Strong, but Strong was able gain control of the match. Strong unleashed his usual arsenal of power moves to work on Delay’s back, but Delay was able to get out of a Gibson Driver and he almost got the three count. Strong was able to hit the Gibson Driver after a Yakuza kick to finish off Delay.
Larry Sweeney came to the ring and he asks everyone in Brooksville if he is looking good tonight. He talks about how enjoys traveling to the coastal areas of Florida, but he hates coming to the inland areas because of the scum in the state. Larry mentioned that he will be facing Erick Stevens later in the show and he was looking forward to beating Stevens to prove how bad Florida is.
Match Number Three: Ernie Osiris and Shane Hagadorn defeated the Lifeguards of Wade Koverly and Daron Smythe
The Lifeguards start off strong but Osiris and Hagadorn are able to fight back and take control of the match. The Lifeguards used the referee focusing on Osiris outside the ring to double team Hagadorn, but they could not put him away. After all four men battle in the ring, Koverly tries to go up top to finish off Osiris, but while Smythe is with the referee, Hagadorn pushes Koverly off the turnbuckles. Osiris and Hagadorn finish things off with a superplex followed by a Swanton.
Match Number Four: Mark Briscoe defeated Nooie Lee
Lee works over the former world tag team champion early in the match and he has things under control while Mark appeared to be a bit frustrated by Lee’s offense. Jay Briscoe comes to the ring to give his brother some moral support and he also distracts the referee to help give Mark the chance to gain control of the match. Briscoe gets the victory with the Cut-throat Driver.
It was time for intermission.
Match Number Five: Nigel McGuinness defeated Sal Rinauro
Rinauro is clearly not the fan favorite and he has the referee cover his ears so he does not have to hear any of the comments. Rinauro tries to frustrate McGuinness by going to the floor on a regular basis. McGuinness appeared to injure his arm when he charged into the corner and Rinauro moved out of the way; and Rinauro works on the arm. McGuinness hits a series of European uppercuts on Rinauro as he wears him down. McGuinness finishes off Rinauro with a DDT.
Jason Blade came out and he addressed the crowd, telling them that he would be unable to wrestle because of an ankle injury. He did find someone to take his place and that person was Moonshine McCoy.
Match Number Six: Jigsaw defeated Moonshine McCoy with Jason Blade
McCoy starts off strong and when it appears that Jigsaw is going to get back into the match, Blade interferes for McCoy. Jigsaw fights off McCoy and Blade and he chops McCoy to the point where his chest matches the color of Jigsaw’s pants. McCoy is able to regain control thanks to Blade and he tries for an inverted DDT but Jigsaw holds on to the ropes. Jigsaw is able to get the three count with a double stomp.
Kenny King and Austin Amadeus come to the ring and King gets on the mic. After Kenny comments on ring announcer Jonathan Gold’s clothing, he turns his attention to their tag match against Delirious and Austin Aries. Kenny talks about how he and Amadeus are the future of wrestling in Florida and what GEAR is all about.
Match Number Seven: Erick Stevens defeated Larry Sweeney
Sweeney does his best to delay locking up with Stevens. Sweeney decides that he wants to shake Erick’s hand and Erick shakes his hand a bit harder than Sweeney expected. After Stevens works over Sweeney, Sweeney is able to take control of the match by clipping Stevens and then he works on Erick’s leg. Sweeney attempts to pin Stevens but he is unable to get the three count, even with the help of the ropes. Stevens fights back and each man hits a few power moves but cannot get the three count. Stevens sets for a lariat but Sweeney pulls the referee in the way to stop Stevens. Stevens eventually hits a lariat followed by a Doctor Bomb for the three count.
Match Number Eight: Austin Aries and Delirious with Lacey defeated Kenny King and Austin Amadeus
The match starts off with Delirious forcing Amadeus and King out of the ring as the bell rings and he goes crazy in the ring and Delirious even scares King off the apron when he comes up behind King. Aries and Delirious had things under control until King was able to connect with a knee and he worked over Delirious. The referee was out of position when it appeared that Delirious had Amadeus in a sunset flip for more than three seconds. King and Amadeus are able to isolate Delirious and work on him while keeping Aries out of the ring; and they get the referee to focus on Aries while they double team Delirious. Aries finally gets in and he hits a tope that takes out King and Amadeus. After working over Amadeus, Delirious hits Shadows over Hell and Aries makes Amadeus tap to the Horn of Aries.
After the match, King and Amadeus attack Delirious and Aries, but Aries gets a chair which leads to King and Amadeus leaving the ring. Aries gets on the mic and he tells King that he was not ‘tough enough’ tonight but he wants to face King when GEAR returns to action on April 25th. King accepts the challenge from Aries.
Show Thoughts
I thought this was a good debut show and I think that they established a good base for future shows. Because there were no storylines coming into the show, it will take a few shows for all of the storylines to be fleshed out. They did a good job of building the Aries/King feud and it looks like we might see something involving the Briscoes.
I thought the best matches of the night were the Delay/Strong; Stevens/Sweeney; McGuinness/Rinauro; and King and Amadeus/Aries and Delirious matches. I don’t know if it was because they involve veterans on both sides or that I have seen these guys wrestle a lot more than some of the other young guys. The other matches were good, but because some of the local guys are only starting to establish themselves, there were a few awkward moments in some of the matches.
The best thing about the concept of this show was that the young guys like Chris Jones, Nooie Lee, and Moonshine McCoy were able to work with veterans who they might not have wrestled against too many times. Instead of seeing two young wrestlers facing each other fifteen times in a row where unless your opponent is progressing, you cannot really gauge your own improvement; these matches allow a chance to grow against new opponents.
I thought Kenny King’s promo was one of his best. Since he is usually a part of a larger group in other companies, he often has someone else talking during promo segments or his comments have to follow someone else. On this show, King showed a lot of charisma (which he does in other companies as well) and he had a good delivery of his message. It did not feel scripted or forced so he had a natural inflection and it did not sound like he was reading a teleprompter or trying to remember when to throw in a certain catchphrase. Kenny King is one of the guys in Florida who should be following in the footsteps of Erick Stevens and Roderick Strong to have a solid national following (more than what he was able to establish from his time on Tough Enough).
GEAR returns to action on Friday, April 25, 2008 at the National Guard Armory in Brooksville, Florida with an 8:00 pm bell time. Already announced for the show is Austin Aries versus Kenny King. Make sure to check out GEAR’s website at www.gearwrestling.com. You can also check out my Land of Sunshine columns on PWInsiderXtra for other news from GEAR.
