----I would like to thank Larry Goodman for sending Night II of the Old School Tag Team Tournament. Congrats to Brad Thomas!! Apparently from reading this report, he did real well this weekend. Thomas is a future star in this business.
Brad Thomas and Scott Davis
[pictured] emerged as the winners of the $10,000 old school tag team tournament at the AWA World-1 South show in Cordele, Georgia Saturday night.
As an overall experience, it may have been the most satisfying show promoter Jody Peterman has ever done. The booking was logical all the way through the weekend and unfolded in such a way as to build on what had gone before. The wrestling on Saturday night never reached the peak level achieved by the Briscoe/Strong/Stevens match from Friday, but everyone raised their games to where it was consistently of a higher caliber.
The sign on I-75 read “Experience the Appeal of Cordele” and for better or worse, this weekend was my chance. On one level, it is the epitome of a nothing happening town of 12,000 mostly working class people, many of them dirt poor. But Cordele also exemplifies the positive aspects of the simple life -- friendly, relaxed, and easy.
One thing Cordele does have going for it is a rich wrestling history in the not too distant past. Ben Masters’ Peach State Wrestling drew some big crowds here back in the early 90s and has a weekly local television. The PSW Cordele City Title was held by Steve Austin, Rob Van Dam, Raven, Terry Taylor, Ricky Morton and Flash Funk/Too Cold Scorpio among others.
Peterman ran Cordele for the first time last month. Given the rich resource of wrestling talent at Peterman’s disposal, correctly promoted, Cordele is the kind of town where a local wrestling promotion can still mean something. There has been discussion with WSST, the Cordele station that aired Masters’ show, about weekly television. In a larger market, that probably wouldn’t matter, but if the one and only local TV station got behind the product, it could provide a meaningful boost.
The crowd of 200 at the Crisp County Middle School Gym was a throwback to the kayfabe days – easy pop
s for the babyfaces and bigtime heat for the heels. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place at the Cordele National Guard Armory, but the military needed the building. The school gym is a much nicer venue, although too large for this size crowd.
Masked Superstar, Jake Roberts, Ricky Landell [to the right on the picture with Rioter Brad on the left]and Glacier were all out at the gimmick table prior to belltime.
Masters informed fans that the concession stand was selling one of rural Georgia’s cultural treasures – and in my opinion, the most vile, inedible food item known to man -- boiled peanuts.
Bo Oates was the referee for the evening. The former GCW booker was making his return to the Georgia wrestling after a long hiatus. I hope he sticks around.
(1) Brad Thomas & Scott Davis beat Nightmare (Ted Allen) & Masked Superstar (Bill Eadie) in 15:02 to advance to the finals of the tournament. This was state-of-the art 80s wrestling, and that’s always a good thing in my book. Thomas was put in a position to shine this weekend, and he brought his A game. It’s a common practice to make the “Ricky Morton type babyface” comparison. It’s certainly one I’ve used. Thomas is the real deal, trained by the man himself. Early on, Thomas proved too slick and quick for either of the masked men to handle. Superstar complained that Thomas was oiled up. The heels started to get heat on Thomas, but he did the splits haymaker and went through the legs to take Scott. Superstar and Nightmare got major heat on Scott. Nightmare used a gutwrench suplex. Superstar did a Russian legsweep. Superstar tried to choke him out. Scott had the crowd behind him on a series of spirited comeback attempts. Nightmare and Scott chopped the hell out of each other. Scott countered Nightmare’s piledriver attempt and hot-tagged Thomas. Four-way action ensued. Nightmare tried to load up his mask, just as he had done to win the first round match, but Thomas grabbed the foreign object and clocked him for the 1-2-3. Huge pop for the finish. The losers complained long and loud, but Oates never saw a thing.
(2) Heartbreak Express (Sean & Phil with Amy Vitale) beat Ki Elite (Jake Slater & Mike Status) in 7:45 to advance to the finals of the tournament. For the second night running, Express proved they are fully capable of elevating their opponents to bigger and better things. No disrespect intended towards Ki Elite. They showed tons more here than they did the previous night. Sean went off on the fan holding a sing that read “Fartbreak Asspress.” Sean said Express respected Elite because neither team cared about the people or the rules. He vowed the match would end with a real winner. Express got heat for bailing out. Sean was deep into his screeching, crybaby routine. He retreated to the corner on his hands and knees and buried his face in Phil’s crotch. Elite maintained control until Vitale slapped Stratus to provide the needed distraction. I’m sure this has been said before, but Vitale has a strong Francine vibe. The match disintegrated into a four-way brawl on the floor. Sean tossed Slater into the third row of the bleachers. Slater came back with low blows and a flying lariat off the bleachers. Davis slammed Slater into the wall. Back inside the ring, Slater tried going to the top, but was upended by Vitale. Sean pinned Slater after a freight train corner splash.
Intermission with Thomas and Ricky Morton doing inring Polaroids. Jake Roberts was back doing autographs and chatting it up with the fans.
(3) In the second chance 4-way elimination match for $5000, Scotty Riggs & Dave Holiday beat Lifeguards (Daron Smythe & Wade Koverly) & The Fabulous Ones (Michael Stevens & Leon McMichaels) and Q-Ball & Ricky Silver in 12:52. Fabs were the only heels. Two scrawny punks desecrating the name of the Fabulous Ones was enough to get heat from me. Their t-shirts read “We’re not gay…not that there’s anything wrong with that.” Riggs and Holiday looked out of place in there with all those green little guys. Riggs had more experience than his six opponents combined. The early part of the match saw everyone picking on little Ricky. Silver was getting pounded on pretty good. Wade pinned Silver after a slice ‘n dice slingshot legdrop at 6:36. Lifeguards tried to finish McMichaels the same way, but his life partner pulled Wade off the apron. Stevens snapped Daron’s throat off the top rope and McMichaels superkicked him for the pin at 8:48. Holiday took a hot tag from Riggs and cleaned house. Fabs were doubling up on Holiday when Lifeguards came to ringside. Lifeguards distracted Fabs by taunting them about their pasty, white bodies being at risk for sunburn. Riggs and Holiday scored simultaneous pins on the Fabs with stereo roll ups. The finish was hokey as hell, but the crowd ate it up.
(4) Brad Thomas & Scott Davis beat Heartbreak Express (Sean & Phil Davis) to win the $10,000 prize and the trophy belts in 15:27. Sean had a proposition for Scott. Since they were family, Sean told him to ditch Thomas and they would split the money three ways. Scott said that doing the right thing for the people was more important than the money. Thomas’ shoulder blocks were bouncing off Sean in the early going. Sean said it was like hitting a brick wall. Thomas went through the legs and made Sean kiss the canvas with an X factor. That set up the best wrestling of the night, a brother vs. brother confrontation between Scott and Phil. When Scott was cautious about breaking clean, Sean chimed in with “He’s your brother. What the hell’s the matter with you?” They did a spot where Scott had Phil in a bodyscissors, while Phil had Scott’s arms pinned to the mat with a knuckle lock. It doesn’t read like much but this was primal stuff. The crowd got behind Scott. Phil took the shortcut. Phil came up empty on an up-and-over, and Scott gave him an atomic drop. Express isolated Thomas. He took two bumps that sent him all the way to the floor. Thomas leapfrogged one Express and went through the legs of the other to make the hot tag. Scott gave cousin Sean and brother Phil a meeting of the minds. It broke down to furious four way action. Phil got Scott with a rolling reverse cradle. Scott kicked out, sending Phil into Sean. Scott then pinned Phil with a rolling prawn. Nice finish. The crowd popped huge for their babyface winners. Sean went into crybaby mode in the postmatch.
A brief intermission with Thomas and Davis out for autographs.
(5) Jake Roberts & Ricky Morton & Glacier beat Tully Blanchard & Ricky Landell & Nightmare in 14:34. This match also told an entertaining story. My only misgiving was the same as with the Friday night main event; they needed to go longer, especially with the personalities involved. The back story was that Landell had turned on Glacier at the January show, thus turning Glacier back babyface, so Landell wanted no part of Glacier. Also in the mix, was Morton’s unfinished business with Blanchard from the previous night. Landell stalled against Roberts. Glacier tagged in. Landell got in a cheap shot and tagged out. Nightmare and Blanchard started to beat on Glacier, but he managed a tag, leaving Blanchard to be victimized by some awesome babyface chicanery. Blanchard kept making tags that Oates failed to see. While the heels were griping at Oates, the babyfaces would switch without tagging. Blanchard was trapped like rat, and nobody does that role better than Tully. The crowd was totally into it. Blanchard finally escaped the wrath, and the heels got major heat on Glacier. Landell used a spinning toehold. Blanchard did his strut. Blanchard did that hilarious deal where he gets knocked loopy and wobbles into the wrong corner looking for a tag. Roberts took the hot tag. All six men started going at it. Roberts planted Landell with the DDT for pin. An abrupt finish but the right finish.
NOTES: AWA World-1 South’s next show is 3/24 in Savannah at the Alee Shrine Temple headlined by Heartbreak Express vs. Black Market in a barbed wire match. They also have show scheduled on 4/6 at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton…DVDs of the weekend will be available via the World 1 South website in approximately 3 weeks.
Brad Thomas and Scott Davis
[pictured] emerged as the winners of the $10,000 old school tag team tournament at the AWA World-1 South show in Cordele, Georgia Saturday night.As an overall experience, it may have been the most satisfying show promoter Jody Peterman has ever done. The booking was logical all the way through the weekend and unfolded in such a way as to build on what had gone before. The wrestling on Saturday night never reached the peak level achieved by the Briscoe/Strong/Stevens match from Friday, but everyone raised their games to where it was consistently of a higher caliber.
The sign on I-75 read “Experience the Appeal of Cordele” and for better or worse, this weekend was my chance. On one level, it is the epitome of a nothing happening town of 12,000 mostly working class people, many of them dirt poor. But Cordele also exemplifies the positive aspects of the simple life -- friendly, relaxed, and easy.
One thing Cordele does have going for it is a rich wrestling history in the not too distant past. Ben Masters’ Peach State Wrestling drew some big crowds here back in the early 90s and has a weekly local television. The PSW Cordele City Title was held by Steve Austin, Rob Van Dam, Raven, Terry Taylor, Ricky Morton and Flash Funk/Too Cold Scorpio among others.
Peterman ran Cordele for the first time last month. Given the rich resource of wrestling talent at Peterman’s disposal, correctly promoted, Cordele is the kind of town where a local wrestling promotion can still mean something. There has been discussion with WSST, the Cordele station that aired Masters’ show, about weekly television. In a larger market, that probably wouldn’t matter, but if the one and only local TV station got behind the product, it could provide a meaningful boost.
The crowd of 200 at the Crisp County Middle School Gym was a throwback to the kayfabe days – easy pop
s for the babyfaces and bigtime heat for the heels. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place at the Cordele National Guard Armory, but the military needed the building. The school gym is a much nicer venue, although too large for this size crowd.Masked Superstar, Jake Roberts, Ricky Landell [to the right on the picture with Rioter Brad on the left]and Glacier were all out at the gimmick table prior to belltime.
Masters informed fans that the concession stand was selling one of rural Georgia’s cultural treasures – and in my opinion, the most vile, inedible food item known to man -- boiled peanuts.
Bo Oates was the referee for the evening. The former GCW booker was making his return to the Georgia wrestling after a long hiatus. I hope he sticks around.
(1) Brad Thomas & Scott Davis beat Nightmare (Ted Allen) & Masked Superstar (Bill Eadie) in 15:02 to advance to the finals of the tournament. This was state-of-the art 80s wrestling, and that’s always a good thing in my book. Thomas was put in a position to shine this weekend, and he brought his A game. It’s a common practice to make the “Ricky Morton type babyface” comparison. It’s certainly one I’ve used. Thomas is the real deal, trained by the man himself. Early on, Thomas proved too slick and quick for either of the masked men to handle. Superstar complained that Thomas was oiled up. The heels started to get heat on Thomas, but he did the splits haymaker and went through the legs to take Scott. Superstar and Nightmare got major heat on Scott. Nightmare used a gutwrench suplex. Superstar did a Russian legsweep. Superstar tried to choke him out. Scott had the crowd behind him on a series of spirited comeback attempts. Nightmare and Scott chopped the hell out of each other. Scott countered Nightmare’s piledriver attempt and hot-tagged Thomas. Four-way action ensued. Nightmare tried to load up his mask, just as he had done to win the first round match, but Thomas grabbed the foreign object and clocked him for the 1-2-3. Huge pop for the finish. The losers complained long and loud, but Oates never saw a thing.
(2) Heartbreak Express (Sean & Phil with Amy Vitale) beat Ki Elite (Jake Slater & Mike Status) in 7:45 to advance to the finals of the tournament. For the second night running, Express proved they are fully capable of elevating their opponents to bigger and better things. No disrespect intended towards Ki Elite. They showed tons more here than they did the previous night. Sean went off on the fan holding a sing that read “Fartbreak Asspress.” Sean said Express respected Elite because neither team cared about the people or the rules. He vowed the match would end with a real winner. Express got heat for bailing out. Sean was deep into his screeching, crybaby routine. He retreated to the corner on his hands and knees and buried his face in Phil’s crotch. Elite maintained control until Vitale slapped Stratus to provide the needed distraction. I’m sure this has been said before, but Vitale has a strong Francine vibe. The match disintegrated into a four-way brawl on the floor. Sean tossed Slater into the third row of the bleachers. Slater came back with low blows and a flying lariat off the bleachers. Davis slammed Slater into the wall. Back inside the ring, Slater tried going to the top, but was upended by Vitale. Sean pinned Slater after a freight train corner splash.
Intermission with Thomas and Ricky Morton doing inring Polaroids. Jake Roberts was back doing autographs and chatting it up with the fans.
(3) In the second chance 4-way elimination match for $5000, Scotty Riggs & Dave Holiday beat Lifeguards (Daron Smythe & Wade Koverly) & The Fabulous Ones (Michael Stevens & Leon McMichaels) and Q-Ball & Ricky Silver in 12:52. Fabs were the only heels. Two scrawny punks desecrating the name of the Fabulous Ones was enough to get heat from me. Their t-shirts read “We’re not gay…not that there’s anything wrong with that.” Riggs and Holiday looked out of place in there with all those green little guys. Riggs had more experience than his six opponents combined. The early part of the match saw everyone picking on little Ricky. Silver was getting pounded on pretty good. Wade pinned Silver after a slice ‘n dice slingshot legdrop at 6:36. Lifeguards tried to finish McMichaels the same way, but his life partner pulled Wade off the apron. Stevens snapped Daron’s throat off the top rope and McMichaels superkicked him for the pin at 8:48. Holiday took a hot tag from Riggs and cleaned house. Fabs were doubling up on Holiday when Lifeguards came to ringside. Lifeguards distracted Fabs by taunting them about their pasty, white bodies being at risk for sunburn. Riggs and Holiday scored simultaneous pins on the Fabs with stereo roll ups. The finish was hokey as hell, but the crowd ate it up.
(4) Brad Thomas & Scott Davis beat Heartbreak Express (Sean & Phil Davis) to win the $10,000 prize and the trophy belts in 15:27. Sean had a proposition for Scott. Since they were family, Sean told him to ditch Thomas and they would split the money three ways. Scott said that doing the right thing for the people was more important than the money. Thomas’ shoulder blocks were bouncing off Sean in the early going. Sean said it was like hitting a brick wall. Thomas went through the legs and made Sean kiss the canvas with an X factor. That set up the best wrestling of the night, a brother vs. brother confrontation between Scott and Phil. When Scott was cautious about breaking clean, Sean chimed in with “He’s your brother. What the hell’s the matter with you?” They did a spot where Scott had Phil in a bodyscissors, while Phil had Scott’s arms pinned to the mat with a knuckle lock. It doesn’t read like much but this was primal stuff. The crowd got behind Scott. Phil took the shortcut. Phil came up empty on an up-and-over, and Scott gave him an atomic drop. Express isolated Thomas. He took two bumps that sent him all the way to the floor. Thomas leapfrogged one Express and went through the legs of the other to make the hot tag. Scott gave cousin Sean and brother Phil a meeting of the minds. It broke down to furious four way action. Phil got Scott with a rolling reverse cradle. Scott kicked out, sending Phil into Sean. Scott then pinned Phil with a rolling prawn. Nice finish. The crowd popped huge for their babyface winners. Sean went into crybaby mode in the postmatch.
A brief intermission with Thomas and Davis out for autographs.
(5) Jake Roberts & Ricky Morton & Glacier beat Tully Blanchard & Ricky Landell & Nightmare in 14:34. This match also told an entertaining story. My only misgiving was the same as with the Friday night main event; they needed to go longer, especially with the personalities involved. The back story was that Landell had turned on Glacier at the January show, thus turning Glacier back babyface, so Landell wanted no part of Glacier. Also in the mix, was Morton’s unfinished business with Blanchard from the previous night. Landell stalled against Roberts. Glacier tagged in. Landell got in a cheap shot and tagged out. Nightmare and Blanchard started to beat on Glacier, but he managed a tag, leaving Blanchard to be victimized by some awesome babyface chicanery. Blanchard kept making tags that Oates failed to see. While the heels were griping at Oates, the babyfaces would switch without tagging. Blanchard was trapped like rat, and nobody does that role better than Tully. The crowd was totally into it. Blanchard finally escaped the wrath, and the heels got major heat on Glacier. Landell used a spinning toehold. Blanchard did his strut. Blanchard did that hilarious deal where he gets knocked loopy and wobbles into the wrong corner looking for a tag. Roberts took the hot tag. All six men started going at it. Roberts planted Landell with the DDT for pin. An abrupt finish but the right finish.
NOTES: AWA World-1 South’s next show is 3/24 in Savannah at the Alee Shrine Temple headlined by Heartbreak Express vs. Black Market in a barbed wire match. They also have show scheduled on 4/6 at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton…DVDs of the weekend will be available via the World 1 South website in approximately 3 weeks.
**Credit Brad for pics
