CHEAP HEAT REPORT- NWA ProSouth 3/18/11 featuring Colt CabanaBy: Gene Jackson
Well, I got another opportunity to check out ProSouth Wrestling in Piedmont, Alabama this past Friday night and I must say it was a very positive experience.
The show opened with the owner of ProSouth Wrestling Terry Batey introducing the NWA Director, Bill Behrens. Behrens explained that ProSouth Wrestling has now joined the National Wrestling Alliance and will now be an affiliate of the NWA. The perks of this are already being seen such as tonight's NWA World Heavyweight title defense by the 44th NWA World Champion Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana right here in Piedmont. Behrens spent a little time putting over the NWA and the past NWA World Champions. Behrens also announced that Jimmy Rave has been suspended from ProSouth due to an unprovoked attack last week resulting in an injury.
Opening match saw Jay Clinton defeat Shawn Seagle- Clinton had a very 'Miz-like' gimmick where he had "awesome" on his trunks and somewhat resembled him or a larger version none the less. Clinton had a lot of heat with the crowd and performed well during the match, Seagle pulled off several crisp high flying moves during the match before losing the fall to Clinton....good opener that got the crowd on it's feet.
Match #2 saw the NWA ProSouth All-Out Champion "The Future Classic" Tyler Gage take on Kaleb Konley who is making quite a name for himself thoughout the country and most recently on some international tours as well. Gage had the "heat of the night" as an old lady (who seems to be a regular) was trying to climb over the barracade to take a shot at him. This was an excellent fast paced match. Gage has come a long way just from the last time I seen him wrestle and he had a great tv quality match here with Konley, I think both of these guys have a good future in the business and the All-Out champ retains pinning Konley following a brutal looking spinebuster
Intermission- Autographs from Bill Behrens.....Terry made sure I received an autographed pic of Bill Behrens.....thanks Terry! lol.
Match #3 Jimmy Rave Approved (Mike Posey/Chip Day) vs. Ace Haven/Damon Taz
Ok, so I was a little stiff on Damon Taz in my last write up on ProSouth and I'm still not a fan of the whole MMA fighter/Chippendales dancer entrance but the fans seem to like it so.....fair enough. The fans buy toilet paper to throw at Jimmy Rave and his stable and as you can imagine, Day and Posey got blasted for several minutes before the match started...and even AFTER the match started...good gimmick though that the fans really seem to enjoy and poor Chip Day "got paid" right in the face numerous times. This match was the "show stealer" for me as Chip Day and Mike Posey are like machines in the ring with Haven and Taz being great in their role as the babyfaces.....lots of great stuff but I really enjoyed the sequence at the finish where all four were in the ring and Damon Taz locked Day in his patented submission hold and just as Day was about to tap, Posey legdrops Damon from the top rope as the ref was putting Ace out of the ring leaving Day sprawled on top to get the 1-2-3....allowing Jimmy Rave Approved to advance in the tag team tournament they've got going on.
Match #4- NWAWorld Heavyweight Championship: The Champion Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana vs. "Hit for Hire" Bobby Moore vs. NWA ProSouth Champion Brandon Collum
Now usually I'm not a fan of three way matches, especially for the World title but there was a storyline here with Collum being the hometown guy who has issues with Moore and wants a piece of him while both are also looking to take Cabana's World title.....they did a good job of establishing that early on which made the whole match make sense...with tensions slowly building throughout with Cabana/Collum...the fans were really into it and despite his best efforts circumstances fall into place where Cabana puts away Moore and retains the title with Collum still looking good and still wanting a piece of Moore in the future. The match did what the old NWA title matches were intended to do...give the fans the chance to see the traveling star while making their hometown guys come out of it better than they came in.
Random Notes- As I mentioned I was impressed with Tyler Gage, he's really coming along as a heel and looked good in his match with Kaleb Konley....Konley is a guy you'll be seeing more of in the future...be it ROH, TNA, or otherwise......It's a crime that Mike Posey and Chip Day aren't working for TNA or WWE, they are both that good......Ace Haven has nice ring attire and is a helluva worker, if he can get some more size on him you'll be seeing more of him I'm sure too......this was my first chance to see Damon Taz wrestle and he worked a good match, he does well with intergrating the MMA gimmick into a wrestling match......It was great to see Colt Cabana live, I've followed his career for years and it's good to see him with the NWA title......Bobby Moore is a solid heel and made a great showing for himself in this match.....I have to say I much prefer Brandom Collum as himself rather than the "Collumbine" gimmick...hopefully he sticks with that look and name. Really good show, hope to be back again.
Cheap Heat is a randomly featured column here at RRO. Gene Jackson is a writer, pro wrestler, radio talk show host, comedian, and all around swell guy.....He has a loyal following of readers and fans but is generally disliked by most due to his smart ass, arrogant, sarcastic, and sometimes unnecessarily mean writings and rants on his bi-yearly radio show. if you would like to contact him to voice your displeasure or heaven forbid say something positive he can be reached at genejackson95@gmail.com.
