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Georgia Premier Wresting Report from Canton on March 23
From Larry Goodman:
GPW presented Rock & Roll Never Forgets featuring WWE Hall of Famers Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson and the fans in Canton clearly had not forgotten the Rock ‘n Roll Express.
A crowd of of 320 paid turned out at the Old Buffington School Gym and they were just as crazy hot as the last time.
The source of all the is Real GPW led by GPW co-owner Darrell Morris vs. guys in the white hats, led by Woody Hullender and the newly beloved Logan Chase. What was formerly a weakness, top-to-bottom storyline development, has become one of GPW’s greatest strengths.
The show peaked in the mid-card with a thrilling title match that saw Cyrus the Destroyer and Cuzin Cletus win the GPW Tag Team Championship from Real GPW’s Syndicate (Elijah Evans & TJ Boss) and an unexpectedly delightful match between Michael Marshall and Matt Sells.
Syndicate held the title for two months and bolstered GPW’s talent roster in the process. It will be interesting to see where they go from here at GPW.
Two matches were not what GPW was hoping for due to changes in personnel.
Ring announcer Miss Brittany said the show was being taped as a trial run.
Darrell Morris and his henchman, Lamar Diggs entered to loud jeering. Morris said Dru Delight suffered neck damage from the Black Hole Slam by Cyrus the Destroyer at the last show (true) and will never wrestle again. Morris said he was outlawing the Black Hole Slam as a result. Morris then threatened to do bodily harm to this writer for criticizing his wrestling ability.
Logan Chase and Cyrus appeared to a huge pop. Chase said Woody had checked into the hospital today (true) and left him in charge. Morris could ban the Black Hole Slam but his monster was not one trick pony and Cyrus and Cuzin Cletus would be the new GPW tag team champions tonight. Noting the absence of Real GPW member and GPW Southern States Champion Jaxson Cassel, Chase said if Cassel wasn’t at the April 13 show to defend the title, he would be stripped of the title per Woody.
They covered a lot of bases with this segment, which had tons of heat and combined worked and shoot elements into an effective opening.
(1)Talon Williams & Ray Ray defeated Havok Brothers (Erik & Axel) in 8:02. Williams continues to be one of most over babyfaces in GPW and his crisp work was the saving grace of this match. Crowd loves doing the “Fight! Fight! Fight!” chant. More on that in the notes section of the report. Axel cheated to start the heat on Ray, who was like Lilliputian in a land of giants. The hot tag and house cleaning by Williams ensued. Williams tagged Ray and got taken out by Erik’s Blue Thunder Bomb. After a flurry of offense by Ray, Axel caught him with a flying knee and had the little guy in big trouble. Ray reversed Axel’s wheelbarrow with a forward rolling cradle for the 1-2-3.
Diggs ran down and attacked the babyfaces after the match. Havok Brothers wrapped a chain around Ray’s legs and put him in a leglock. Truly evil heels would have gone on longer and been more sadistic to make their point. Ray sold the injury like a champion. He was out during the intermission using a crutch.
(2) Cuzin Shaggy defeated GPW Cruiserweight Champion Ryan Rembrandt (with Lamar Diggs) by disqualification in 8:35. No title change due to the DQ. Rembrandt continues to amplify his heel personality and is getting more heat as a result. I’m enjoying Shaggy as a singles competitor. The guy can go. The GPW crowd loves him and he’s clearly relishing the opportunity. Shaggy came within an eyelash of pinning Rembrandt on three occasions in the early going. Diggs tried to interfere. Shaggy cut him off but Rembrandt capitalized with a low blow. Rembrandt’s offense looked a whole lot sharper than it did two weeks ago and he bumped big for Shaggy’s comeback. Shaggy kicked out of Rembrandt’s bridging german suplex drawing the traditional “Waffle House” chant from the crowd. Shaggy had Rembrandt pinned after a frogsplash, but Diggs pulled Shaggy out of the ring and chokeslammed him on the apron for the DQ.
This was a much better match than the one they had two weeks ago – the story was more compelling, the action was solid and Diggs was very good in his role.
Postmatch -- Morris came out clapping in approval.
(3) Thunder Blonde defeated Ravana Xin in 7:39. Blonde was initially weirded out by Xin’s weirdness. Blonde bailed with Xin in hot pursuit and they went under the ring. Back inside, Xin spit in her hand and stuck it in Blonde’s mouth. Blonde connected with a roundhouse kick to the head and the crowd popped hard.. The babyface reactions for Blonde continued for the duration. Xin gave Blonder a butt drop as she was draped across the ropes in the corner. Blonde did a cannonball for a near fall. Xin went for a splash but Blonde got her knees up. Blonde grabbed Xin’s doll heads out of her corner. Xin grabbed Blonde’s shovel. Blonde inadvertently hit referee Jonathan Chastain with the dolls. Xin gave Blonde a swinging side slam with no ref to make the count. With the crowd cheering her on, Blonde then smashed Xin with the shovel and scored the pinfall.
First time I had ever seen a GPW crowd turn on babyface. What were they to do? There’s nothing likable about Xin’s character and Blonde was plainly the better wrestler of the two. GPW wanted Aja Perera for this spot and it didn’t happen.
First intermission with Rock and Roll Express available for photos and autographs.
(4) Michael Marshall defeated Matt Sells with Watts Rules suspended in 7:18. Sells said he was not OK with Watts Rules because of what happened last time. Morris said Sells didn’t make the rules but he did. Seems Marshall had turned down a spot with Real GPW so Morris was throwing his traditional, safe pro wrestling out the window.
Sells broke one Watts Rule after another after another after another. Sells tossed Marshall over the top rope three times, and when Marshall goes over the top rope, he makes it look spectacular. Marshall clocked Sells as he went for a tope and the heat was off the charts as Marshall went on the attack. The wrestling was really good here. Marshall throws a great dropkick. Sells got a nice near fall with a palm strike followed by an STO. Marshall went for the piledriver. Sells countered with a stunner and Marshall got a foot over the ropes just before the three count. Marshall tossed Sells over the top rope. Sells landed on the apron and tried for a slingshot sunset flip. Marshall sat down on Sells and grabbed the ropes for extra leverage to score the pinfall.
I loved this match. It was entertaining and heated and Marshall and Sells have great chemistry.
Morris said Sells the biggest loser he had ever seen, so he was going to set him to finally win a match by teaming him with Stevie Richards at the April 13 show.
(5) Cyrus the Destroyer & Cuzin Cletus (with Logan Chase) defeated The Syndicate (Elijah Evans & TJ Boss with Darrell Morris & Lamar Diggs) to win the GPW tag titles in 16:59. The first shoe dropped before the bell when Chase ejected Diggs from ringside for sticking his nose where it didn’t belong all night long. Did the crowd ever love that. The highlight of the shine was Cletus’ freight train corner splash on both Syndicate member followed by a Cyrus cannonball that brought the house down. Boss made a blind tag and clipped Cletus’ knee from behind. Syndicate worked Cletus over. Morris got involved. Referee Chastain missed a legal tag and Syndicate stomped the hell out of Cletus. Cyrus got the hot tag and ran wild. He started to give Evans a Black Hole Slam but switched to an exploder suplex. Syndicate hit a flying elbow/frogsplash combo. Cletus kicked out and the GPW fans went bananas. Cyrus was allowed to tag in from the wrong corner. For that matter, use of the tag ropes was optional throughout the match so why have them? The monsters (Cyrus and Boss) squared off. Cyrus had Boss pinned after a Vader Bomb but Evans put his partner’s foot on the ropes. Morris tried to interfere again. Chase grabbed Morris and pounded on his sorry ass all the way to the dressing room as Morris pathetically cried “help me!” Boss gave Cletus two superkicks and Evans followed with a Roughrider off the top rope. Cletus kicked out for a monster pop and the fans could smell the title change in the air. Oh what a finish they were in for. Cyrus and Boss climbed the ropes, all 750 pound of ‘em, and Cyrus delivered an avalanche fallaway slam that sent Boss flying ¾ of the way across the ring. It was a "holy shit" moment.
The title change got a phenomenal pop and it as party time. This was an epic story match. Kudos to whoever was responsible for laying it out. The key events were sequenced perfectly to build to an incredible finish.
They popped a board on the finish so they went to intermission one match early to fix the ring. It was for the best as things turned out.
(6) Fred Yehi defeated “The Upgrade” Mikey Watkins in 8:22. The crowd chanted “downgrade” at Watkins. Yehi’s advertised opponent was GPW fan favorite Torque. There was nothing wrong with the match except it was not the one GPW fans were interested in seeing. Yehi’s giant swing got a reaction as did his loud chops. Watkins did a pretty looking springboard moonsault. Yehi picked up the win with a Canadian Destroyer.
(7) Rock & Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) defeated Walker County Line (Bobby Hayes & Lamar Phillips) in 7:45. Rock ‘n Roll chants in abundance for Ricky and Robert. Match was a series of screw ups by Walker County Line leading to comedic collision spots. Hayes and Phillips have their timing down so it was quite entertaining. Morton did a Flair “Whoo!” and strut to celebrate. The heels got a smidgen of heat on Morton (no bumps taken) and he did his signature roll to the corner. Finish saw Morton try for a sunset flip on Hayes but he wouldn’t going down until Gibson clotheslined him.
NOTES: The return dates in Canton are April 13 with Richards and April 27…The show was shot with two camera. Matt Griffin and Gabe Walters handled the commentary…Torque missed the show due to illness…The story behind the “Fight! Fight! Fight!” chant for Williams is this: At a GPW some months ago, Williams came out to break up a fight between two other wrestlers, Having no success, Williams sat down and started yelling “Fight! Fight! Fight!” at the combatants. The crowd picked up on it and started doing the chant every time Williams appeared so he ran with it and reinvented his character.
