----Full Arena Report from Friday night.
----Before going over the actual results and report of the night, I wanted to make a quick comment about this crew of guys. I remember years ago I had a friend send me a tape of Bruiser Brody matches. He was a big Brody mark and wanted to share this tape of about 15 or so Brody bouts. I watched the tape and even though I thought Brody was over, had a great gimmick and could see why they pushed him [big guy], I was still like, “what is the big deal?” to my friend. When I brought this up to him he said, “Did you see him make any mistakes? He is flawless.” And he was right and from that day forward, my perception of the difference between good workers and great workers were not only judged by their fundamentals and their psychology but also by their accuracy. Did they mess up? Did everything look like it was suppose to look??
----When watching this show the other night, all I could think about was the word “flawless” and that conversation I had many years ago. This crew performed from the first match to the main event to a level that is hard to beat in this area. I commend them and applaud them for their dedication. These guys are workers. These guys are wrestlers. These guys are performers. These guys are entertainers. Thank you!!
----Chris O'Neal by DQ over Cody Melton when “The Golden Boy” interfered for the finish. Nothing major here – just trying to build for the finish. Good work from both guys. Melton did a sweet Lawler bump [face first landing on ring apron over top rope]. TGB interfered and Christian Jacobs made the save for a pop. [**1/2]
----Austin Lane beat John Michael Worthington. Lane worked the crowd and got them into it quick. JMW is just a fun great heel. They did the old school running the ropes and the crowd got it. Nice heat with a couple of hope spots. JMW superplexed Lane earlier in the match along with a “Perfect-plex” and “Garvin stomp”. He tried the superplex again, but was blocked and Lane finished it with a frogsplash. Very smart. [***]
----Christian Jacobs by DQ over "The Golden Boy" Greg Anthony when Melton interfered and the set up for the tag match later. I think I could watch these guys wrestle each other every night. CJ got a good pop coming out. TGB announced himself and I thought Road Dawg was in the building. Heat with TGB doing a pretty Savage elbow and just solid and believable work. CJ came out of heat with a big boot at one point and finally got the sharp shooter on him when Melton interfered. [***1/2]
----Austin Lane beat Alan Steele. Good work from both. Fans liked Lane. Steele play the perfect heel. Spinebuster and Samoan drop variation from Steele in the heat. Near falls building for finish. Superkick and frog splash for near fall. Sunset flip out of an attempt at a “Alabama Slam” from Steele for the pin. [***]
----Christian Jacobs/Chris O'Neal over Greg Anthony/Cody Melton. Great tag team match. Lots of shine at the front to get over the babys. Even an old Midnight Express spot from Melton/TGB. Hot tag was perfect. Double pin as Jacobs had Melton with the sharpshooter and TGB got the Pele kick from O’Neal. [***]
----Derrick King beat Stan Lee in the best match of the night. This should be considered in the MOTY voting as the heat and excitement of the crowd was there for this bout along with just a great put together bout. It started slow with DK getting major heat for not locking up and go outside to the ring. Lee did some hot moves and then got cut off when he landed on the knees of DK. This bout was then a rollercoaster ride with DK getting heat and then Lee fighting back with 3 or 4 hope spots to then being cut off. Crowd was into every minute of it – going up and down with the bout. Lee hit all his flashy moves, but could not get the pin on DK. DK tried everything even using the “Ghost of Don Bass” on Lee for a near fall. Finally, DK hit the superkick for the pin and win. [****]
----Stan Lee won a Battle Royal. The match started right after DK vs Lee. All the heels were beating on Lee when finally the babys entered. I don’t like Battle Royals, but this was a perfect set up to leave the fans home happy. As Lee got beat up at the start, it was all about him getting his revenge on DK for the loss. He finally comes back as they are the last two and eliminates DK for the win and crowd popped HUGE!! [** ½]
NOTES
-----About 175+ in the crowd. Crowd was loud and rowdy…This is the first town that I ever went to wrestling at – Blytheville. Not the old building, but the town. This building though holds some memories as I watched a few classic Steve Regal vs Reckless Youth bouts here. I also walked out on a Lawler vs Curtis Hughes bout in this building. LOL….ASWF’s David Walls brought the ring and sound system. ASWF’s Ricky Rowland was there also and refereed some of the bouts. Tony Watts refereed the other ones…Take a quick look at the crew – this is the defunct RCW group…Speaking of defunct groups, Kade [CJ’s first tag team partner in the “Total Kaos” team] and Paul Justice [“Riot Squad” original member] from Chaotic Championship Wrestling were in attendance…O’Neal is really underrated and just does simple stuff, but can get over. Melton is my vote for Most Improved this year, because his work is sooo solid….Not sure how many times JMW and Lane have worked each other, but it really gives you an idea of their level – both guys worked hard and had a good match…If this would have been some blow off for a feud with some added heat and pops from the crowd, CJ vs TGB would have been a MOTY candidate. These two guys really jell well together. .. Lane came out first and Steele followed for a mic spill talking about Dustin Starr not being there. Nice touch, since Starr was on the poster…Lee had a bunch of fans in the crowd, because his shoot job is in the area. It was small group of fans, but the crowd got right into it with everyone and he was really over. The crowd was totally silent when he lost, but then came back big for the battle royal win…DK came out to Adam Lambert’s “What Do You Want From Me?” lip syncing it going to each corner of the ring before Lee came out. Great heat by just doing that…That was probably one of the highest ratings I have ever gave a battle royal…Thanks again to cast and crew – fun time was had by all! Great way to end the year!!
