----As many of you know, I try to cover this area and hardly venture out of a 3 hour radius, but I had mentioned this tournament in a post and it did feature some of the legends of Memphis and the area. Thanks to Larry Goodman. I should have last's night show posted later today or tomorrow.
Here’s what went down at night one of AWA World-1 South’s old school $10,000 tag team tournament in Cordele, Georgia at the Crisp County Middle School.
Ring announcer and former long-time Peach State promoter Ben Masters opened the show with updates to the card. The Peterman Axiom – anything that can go wrong will go wrong - held true once again. Masters informed the crowd that the main event had been switched to a triple threat match because Mark Briscoe was out due to illness. In addition, Botswana Beast (Kimala II) was out of the tag team tournament with an injury and was being replaced by Prince Murphy.
Promoter Jody Peterman’s misfortunes got off to an early start this time. A week ago, Steve Corino cancelled his scheduled back-to-back title matches with Tully Blanchard for the AWA World 1 Heavyweight Championship due to transportation issues. Scott Davis was then slotted as Blanchard’s opponent for night one with Jake Roberts being brought in as Blanchard’s opponent for the second night.
But there was a silver lining in Masters’ announcements -- Ricky Morton was stepping out of the tag team tournament to replace Davis as Blanchard’s opponent for tonight.
Francisco Ciatso stormed into the ring. Ciatso said he didn’t drive 3 hours from Savannah to sit in the back like a mark, so he was going to grab some kid by the neck to be his partner in the tournament.
(1) Chasyn Rance beat Johnny Rodriguez to retain the AWA World 1 Light Heavyweight Title in 4:52. Rance has a couple of things in common with Salvatore Rinauro besides his *cough* Italian heritage. Besides being solid in the ring, they usually add some interesting twists to the way they put together a match. J-Rod was trained by Jerry Oates in Columbus. He’s come a long way from his early GCW matches. Rance did the bump and bail routine. Rance used a cheap shot to gain the advantage but ended up begging for mercy. Rance came up empty on an up-and-over, and Rodriguez hit a Russian legsweep for a two count. Rance tried to dump Rodriguez to the floor. Rodriguez managed to land on the apron and went to punch Rance. Ref Billy Dalton blocked it. Rance kneed Rodriguez in the gut and brought him into the ring with a spike piledriver for the 1-2-3.
(2) First round tournament match: Ki Elite (Mike Stratus & Jake Slater) beat Ricky Silver & Q-Ball in 8:17. Silver and Q-Ball were ridiculously over as the improbable looking hometown heroes. Ki Elite are from GIWA. There were a lot of spots that that showed a lot of light. Q-Ball took the heat. The scary woman in the first row went nuts when Ki Elite switched without tagging. Ki Elite pinned Silver with a combo move.
(3) First round tournament match: Scott Davis & Brad Thomas beat Kim Chee (Francisco Ciatso) & Prince Murphy in 4:56. I guess the fans were supposed to know that Chee was Ciatso. Three of these guys had a good match. Murphy was the weak link. It didn’t help that he looked more like a janitor than a prince. Chee was making these hilarious gurgling noises and teasing a claw hold. Thomas got a pop for a springboard flying bodypress. Thomas did a James Brown splits haymaker for a near fall. Finish saw Murphy holding Thomas in a full nelson so Chee could nail him. Thomas escaped and Chee hit Murphy instead. Tried to anyway. Thomas pinned Murphy with a forward rolling cradle.
(4) First round tournament match: Superstar & Nightmare beat Dave Holiday & Scotty Riggs in 9:28. Riggs has put on a lot of weight since his ECW days, and it’s really cut down on his mobility. Riggs reacted when a fan gave a shout out to Scot Studd. Lots of armbars. The masked men took short cuts with hair pulls and eye gouges. Riggs took heat. Superstar threw some nice punches. Nightmare telegraphed a backdrop and Riggs made him pay for it. Holiday got the tag. He mounted the ropes and was giving Superstar the 10 punches when Nightmare climbed up and headbutted him with the loaded mask. Superstar pinned Holiday. The timing of the finish was awkward. It looked like Riggs was late getting in position to distract the ref.
(5) First round tournament match: Heartbreak Express (Sean & Phil Davis with Amy Vitale) beat the Lifeguards (Daron & Wayne) in 12:57. Sean’s sunglasses are the bomb. Sean said Express should receive the ten grand right then and there, because they were a lock to win the tournament. Lifeguard Daron said that money could buy Sean a lot of buffets at Golden Corral. Lifeguards lead the crowd in a chant of “Shamu.” Lifeguards are the D1PW (Florida) tag champs. They’ve got balls doing that gimmick with those physiques. Lifeguard totally dominated due to a hilarious sequence of miscues by the Express. Lifeguards hit stereo topes on Express and posted Sean with a double team whip. Sean took a seat, make that several seats, in the first row. Phil accidentally hit Sean. Sean screeched at Phil. Lifeguards took over on Phil. Wade distracted Sean and there was nobody for Phil to tag. After a good 10 minutes of fun times, Sean got serious with a Michinoku driver, a massive elbow drop and a short arm clothesline on Wade. Little Wade tried a sunset flip. Sean went for the sitdown squash and busted his rump. Then he missed a splash. It disintegrated into a four-way brawl on the outside. While ref Billy Dalton was busy elsewhere, Vitale hit Daron with a foreign object and Sean pinned him. The crowd was highly entertained by this match, which is great tribute to the Express.
Intermission. In ring Polaroids with Ricky Morton.
(6) Glacier pinned Chad “Big Bank” Barfield in a lumberjack match at 6:20. Barfield did mic work that was funny and it got a ton of heat. His trunks read “Poverty Sun.” Barfield instinctively knows how to bring out the people’s hate. Barfield never saw Glacier coming, because he was too busy jawing at the crowd. Glacier tossed Barfield out to the babyface lumberjacks. They threw him back in. Barfield begged and offered to shake hands. Barfield took a flying bump on Glacier’s punch. The heel lumberjacks pulled Glacier out and gave him a beating. Barfield hit a middle rope double ax and slapped hands with the heel lumberjacks. But there was nobody home for Barfield’s fist drop. Glacier pinned Barfield with a superkick that was a love tap at best. Ki Elite attacked Glacier to spark a brawl between the lumberjacks. The babyfaces prevailed. Decent for what it was. Barfield got his ass kicked and that’s all that mattered.
(7) Ricky Morton beat Tully Blanchard via DQ in 8 minutes. Blanchard claimed his contract was with Steve Corino not Morton and Roberts. He accused Peterman of some shady lawyer tactics. Blanchard decided that he needed a warm up match and Morton had one more butt kicking coming. Morton said he was no spring chicken but neither was Blanchard. Morton said the stepping stone thing wasn’t happening. Morton said Blanchard was the real snake in the grass. Blanchard punched Morton on the break. But Morton rolled out from under a Blanchard elbow drop and punched him in the head. Blanchard took a TO. Blanchard caught Morton with an arm drag and strutted. Morton got up selling his back. Blanchard decked Morton with a shoulder block and dropped an elbow for two. But Morton maneuvered Blanchard onto his back with a hammerlock, and Blanchard grabbed the ropes to force a break. Morton reversed an arm wringer and took Blanchard down into another pinning predicament. Blanchard attacked the weak point, Morton’s lower back. Ricky mounted Tully and pounded him. Ref Diamond Dave got bumped. Morton reversed Blanchard’s vertical suplex but no ref to count. Nightmare tried to interfere, but Morton cut him off. Blanchard capitalized with a knee to Morton’s back. Blanchard put Morton in the figure four leglock. Some of the lower level babyfaces tried to help Morton, but Nightmare tossed them out like garbage. It took the mighty Glacier to drive off Nightmare and Blanchard.
Blanchard and Morton did some fine mic work to set up the main event for Saturday night. Morton called out Peterman and said he wanted a tag match to give the people something extra. “Just like years ago, I got the Four Horseman swingin’, brother.” Blanchard whined about the contract. Peterman said the contract stipulated that he could put Blanchard against anybody he wanted to. Peterman made it a six-man tag: Morton & Glacier & Roberts against Blanchard & Nightmare & whoever they could find. Morton said the true snake was going to meet the true snake man. “You may think you’re the cock of the walk, but there’s some new roosters in the hen house.” Blanchard said Morton was giving him flashbacks. He said the Horseman never backed down, and he wanted the building filled with eye witnesses to the wrath that was going to befall Morton and his partners.
(8) Jay Briscoe beat Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens in a triple threat match when Briscoe pinned Stevens with the J Driller (10:54). 3 ways can be tricky business, but for pure technical execution, this was the best indie match I’ve seen in Georgia in forever. Briscoe and Strong were outstanding and Steven hung right with them. My only complaint is that they didn’t go longer. Strong and Stevens went heel and doubled up on Briscoe. But as usual, once they had Briscoe worn down, the heels started breaking up each other’s pin attempts. One of the things that made this work was the great fire Briscoe showed on his Superman comebacks. Briscoe hit a killer double lariat, then a picture perfect flip dive where he took out both heels and landed on his feet. Then a frogsplash on Strong for a near fall. They did a three-way spot where Stevens gave Strong a middle rope back suplex while Strong superplexed Briscoe. The near falls down the stretch were terrific. Briscoe superkicked Stevens and hit a DVD on Strong for a near fall. Stevens scored a near fall with a TKO on Briscoe. Stevens had Briscoe up for a running powerslam when Strong cut him off with a stiff kick in the mush. Strong did the fireman’s carry into a double knee gutbuster on Stevens for a near fall. Strong hit a Tiger Driver on Briscoe and Stevens made the save. Stevens hit a push up powerslam on Strong and Briscoe saved. Briscoe gave Stevens an Ace crusher and smoked Strong with a lariat to set up the finish on Stevens.
Just a great way to end the show.
NOTES: Second night AWA World 1 South returns to the Crisp County Middle School with the semifinals and finals of the tag team tournament, Roberts & Morton & Glacier vs. Blanchard & Nightmare & ?, Ricky Landell defends the World 1 South Heavyweight Title against Glacier, and the first rounds losers get a chance to redeem themselves in a $5000 2nd chance 4 way elimination tag match…Briscoes, Stevens and Strong are all in the 8 man tournament to crown the first FIP Heritage Champion tonight in Crystal River, Fl. Rance is also booked for the FIP show…Attendance was 130…Black Market canceled out of the tournament due to injury and were replace by Lifeguards.
