----The show started with the Christian rock band “Ransom for Many”. The crowd seem to really enjoy them. They had a real good sound. They came off as a “real band” – every one that I talked to enjoyed them.
----The wrestling show started out with Allen Walker coming out to talk about the main event of the show with Jeremy Moore. Moore got a big pop. XOW’s Tony Watts/Sarge O’Reilly/Lil Bit came out. Motley Cruz/Mark Justice ended up jumping Moore and beat him up until Chris Masters made the save. Moore had to be helped to the back.
----Rob Justice won the Hardcore Battle Royal. It featured Jason Matthews, TW Justice, Arnez with Karly, Sicilian Kid [who got a big pop], Bubba Redneck [less I say the better] and Buckwheat. “Riot Squad” got a good pop. Not a great bout, but it was a battle royal. Your typical hardcore stuff and wasn’t much. Finish had Rob in the ring with Arnez and Mark Justice came out to help him win. Rob was pissed and it seems to be part of a bigger storyline with Justice vs Justice.
[**]
----Jon “Biscuit” Roberts beat Jarvis White and Phoenix X to retain the “High Risk” Title. Roberts is real funny doing the “Ric Rude” gimmick here. He is announced as 6’2’’ and 240 lbs. LOL Perfect spot for him as a mid-card heel. Match was full of spots with very little psychology. Triple Threats are hard to work, even for the old pros and for these guys it could not be done. All the moves were solid and Roberts did a nice dive outside the ring. Alfonso jumped Roberts after the bout. White is also a rookie and didn’t look bad. [**]
----Kid J/Brandon Barbwire beat Sarge O’Reilly/Lil Devil with Tony Watts. Crowd was into this bout at the front – it was midgets dammit!! Psychology was good at one point with the crowd into it and them waiting on for a hot tag, but it never happened. Bout turned into a total clustermuck with Sarge and Barbwire trying to save it. Kid J pinned Sarge after Sarge tripped over Watts in the ring. [*1/2]
----Jon “Biscuit” Roberts come out next for the “Biscuit-Lock Challenge” and said he would take the challenge from anyone. This was the cue for Chris Masters to come out. This could have not been better – funny stuff from Roberts. Perfect spot for him. He tried to put the full nelson on Masters and just didn’t work. Masters reversed and put it on Roberts and just slung him around. Good stuff.
----Kilo beat Tommy Redneck in Bullrope Match. This was disappointing as I was expecting more from these two guys. Both juiced quick from the bullrope bell and that was good. I hate seeing bouts like this with no blood. For some reason, and these guys are not the only ones at fault in doing this, but when workers have this big gimmick match, then they forget totally about psychology. You still have to work the crowd with the heel getting heat and hope spots and the whole nine yards. The finish was just anti-climatic, but I did like the final spot. As Kilo went for the last turnbuckle, Redneck attempted to stop him, but Kilo hit a superkick and fell into the turnbuckle for the win. [**]
----“Sons of the South” [Josh Matthews/Chris Styles] beat Sarge O’Reilly/Lil Bit with Tony Watts for the NBW Tag Team Titles. A real good match with the crowd was into it. They did double heat. Lil Bit was actually the star of the bout showing off a lot of fancy spots and nailing them every time. The only problem is – she was working as a babyface here and she was a heel. She even did a dive from the top turnbuckle to the floor onto Styles. Finish had Sarge try to use powder, but it backfired and he hit Lil Bit. She then kicked him in the nuts on mistake. SOS finished him off with their finisher [Styles doing a Russian Leg Sweep as Matthews hits them from the top turnbuckle with a dropkick]. [***]
----An angle before the main event had Motley Cruz/Mark Justice with Tony Watts in the ring with Chris Masters/Jeremy Moore/Big Red. Cruz offered Red $3,000 to join XOW. Red refused, but Masters then said, “As much as I like being the good guy” and accepted the invite and money to go to XOW. Kilo came down to the ring with his head and arm wrapped [yes he bladed his arm!!] to take Masters place in the 6-man tag.
----NBW vs XOW For Ownership of The Company: Jeremy Moore/Kilo/Big Red beat Chris Masters/Motley Cruz/Mark Justice. Good solid bout with great heat. Crowd was into it all the way to the end. Double heat with heat on Moore first. Moore took a nasty backbreaker from Masters and tagged out. He was then helped to the back for rest of the bout. Heat then on Kilo as Kilo had already been “hurt” so sympathy was already on him. Cruz and Justice both were really on here with Kilo [also on for this bout] bumping all over the place. Hot tag to Red with everyone bumping like crazy [including Masters]. It ends up with Masters putting the “Masterlock” on Kilo and Moore makes his way back to the ring. He slips in and nut shots Masters and Masters releases the hold with Moore rolling him up and Kilo on top of Moore helping with the pin. Big huge pop for the [***1/2]
NOTES
----Sarge is still so good on the mic…I love the idea that a gimmick that I was first involved with is still going, but man there are a lot of Justices here. LOL…Rob Justice has a real good look and has a wrestling voice. Does that make sense?? I did not get to see much in the battle royal, but it looks like he is going to be a decent worker…Does Tim Alfonzo really work here?? He flip flops from TLCW to here so many times that if I was the promoters he would just work as a job boy…Some of the backyardians and even some of you t-shirt wearing pros need to take a look at Barbwire. He is has a very unique look and comes off totally different than just your normal crew of wrestlers. This guy, if pushed against the right guy, could easily have good matches and be a main event singles guy for promotions in this area…Masters sold his Polaroids for only $5, which I thought was cheap. I am not sure how many he sold, but he was out there for about 30 minutes…Sarge made a horrible racial slur on the mike calling Jarvis a “damn n***er” – not cool. There are other ways of getting heat…I am not sure I really “got it” in the XOW vs NBW thing. The fans were into it huge chanting “NBW”, but what did XOW even have control of?? I really would have put them over here and did something for NBW to get control back in the future. The main reason XOW did not win here is that a lot of the major XOW guys have other shows in the next few weeks…After Moore won, the crowd all got in the ring and celebrated in a true “emotions” moment…Finish of main event with Kilo holding Moore down to help him get the win is going to lead into probably the next 6 weeks or so of a Moore vs Kilo feud. Kilo dropped out of the ring and left Moore celebrating with the fans at the end of the match. I look for Kilo to end up back tagging with Mark Justice…Lots of talk about Moore pinning Masters. I will have a full “Coach’s Corner” covering the subject later this week.
Credit: Top photo by Karly Tramel and others by Kayte Tramel
