NWA ANARCHY FRIGHT NIGHT 2010 10-30 – by LARRY GOODMAN
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NWA Anarchy came through with their best big show performance of 2010 at the 12th annual Fright Night in Cornelia.
New Wave and Talent & Money tore the house down with an insanely spectacular bloodbath of a cage match. It was the finale of a the best pure tag team feud in NWA Anarchy history, and they went out on a high note with a match-of-the-year candidate, the kind where you wonder if the participants will ever be the same, and one that totally erased the memory of the subpar War Games match three months ago.
One of the splendid aspects of this show was the way built from the opening match to the spellbinding conclusion without any real dead spots. The length (3:30) did not deter the crowd from more amped up as the night wore on. Hardcore Hell arguably had similar match quality, but the heat died so badly towards the end that Fright Night was easily the better of the two.
Attendance at the NWA Arena was 130, a drop from previous Anarchy big shows this year and 160 for Fright Night ‘09. It will be interesting to see if the momentum coming off of last night’s show coupled with adjustments to the booking that are now underway can nudge that number in the right direction.
(1) Youth Gone Wild (Anthony Henry & Dustin Knight) beat Hate Junkies (Stryknyn & Dany Only with Reverend Dan Wilson) in 10:23. These teams have issues stemming from the show two weeks ago. In the spirit of the holiday, YWG came out in mock Hate Junkies to piss them off. Match opened hot with a stereo hilo dive by YWG. Henry planted Stryknyn with a nasty running spinebuster. Henry played babyface-in-peril. It was refreshing to see a guy fight like hell to make a tag, which he did, but the ref didn’t see it. The crowd chanted “Only is the weak link” like they do at every show. The Reverend choked Henry with his cane, or whatever the hell that thing is. Knight cleaned house. I got the sense that the crowd is far more into Henry. Spot of the match was a top rope double double stomp by Henry (on Strykyn’s back and then onto Only’s gut). A screw up cost Junkies the match. Only accidentally hit Wilson and got rolled up by Knight. Decent opener. Like most of the matches on this show, a couple of minutes shorter might have been for the better.
(2) Shaun Tempers & Bo Newsom beat Slim J in a handicap match in 9:38. Story is that Bo abandoned his trainer J, in favor of Tempers’ evil way. J was on fire early. He took both opponents out with a plancha to the floor, then putt Newsom in the crossarmbreaker. When Tempers tried to break it up, J got him in a single leg crab to make it a double submission. The numbers advantage finally took hold. Newsom went for his new mentor’s Tiger Driver, but J countered out of it. J was an absolute superman on the comeback with his one-against-two moves. Finish saw Tempers escape from J’s Screwdriver on the Rocks and run into a kick from Bo. Tempers hit the hangman neckbreaker and let Newsom finish the job with the spinal tap. Match was fine. Anarchy fans believe J can walk on water. But the thing with Bo and Tempers hasn’t been developed much, and it leaves me feeling like Tempers is being underutilized in this role.
Afterwards, Tempers was threatening to spray perfume down J’s throat. J’s new protégé, Lane Vasser (selling an injury with a bandaged arm) made the save.
(3) Billy Buck & Andrew Alexander beat Orion Bishop & Skirra Korvus (with Enoch Tsarion) to retain the NWA Anarchy Tag Team Championship in 14:48. The unlikely championship pairing were taking it to Korvus early. Buck jumped on Bishop’s back for a rear naked choke. The tide turned on a weird spot where ref Dee Byers took what appeared to be an unplanned bump from Bishop. Buck took heat. Bishop’s power moves looked brutal on the much smaller Buck. The Buck cheering section kicked into high gear. Alexander broke up Korvus’ bat submission with a kick to the face. Buck kicked out of Bishop’s Vader Bomb. “Quit playing!” barked Tsarion. There was a cool exchange between Alexander and Korvus after the tag was made. Alexander escaped from the Graveyard Shift and hit a Zig Zag type move, and Korvus took this incredible double jointed Matrix bump. Bishop intervened with a spear on Alexander. Buck superkicked Bishop and took a page out of his partner’s book with a low blow on Korvus. Alexander pinned Korvus. The finishing sequence was a really nice piece of work.
(4) Seth Delay retained the NWA Anarchy TV Championship losing to Brodie Chase via a countout. They worked at a more deliberate pace. Chase was royally handing “King” Seth his ass. He demonstrated the art of using fewer blows and making each one count. Delay went into orbit on Chase’s fallaway slam. Delay halted the humiliation by snapping Chase’s throat off the top rope. Delay worked on Chase’s knee. Chase made the straps down comeback, but his knee gave out on a superplex. With the 10 minute time limit winding down, Delay tried to run out on the match. Chase hauled him back to the ring for more punishment. The time limit expired just after Chase delivered the Thunder Fire Powerbomb. Fans chanted for five more minutes. Heel commentator and kiss ass par excellence, John Johnson agreed to the overtime on Delay’s behalf. Chase immediately hit the double underhook DDT. Johnson pulled Delay out of the ring and they hi-tailed it out of there. Different from the rest and very entertaining.
NWA Anarchy Heavyweight Champion Mikal Judas was led to the ring by Cid Istic, who said that Tank wasn’t there due to injuries inflicted by Judas two weeks ago. He called Anarchy owner Jerry Palmer out to compensate Judas. Palmer threatenedd to walk a mudhole through “Bozo” the likes of which they don’t have in England. Palmer assured Istic that Judas would have a title match. The music of Ace Rockwell hit the PA.
(5) Mikal Judas (with Cid Istic) beat Ace Rockwell to retain the NWA Anarchy Heavyweight Championship in 14 minutes. Rockwell got the hero’s welcome in his first time back at Anarchy since Hostile Environment. Istic observed the match from the top row of the bleachers. They had a long and heated brawl outside the ring. Referee Ian Buchanan acted helpless and made no count. Back inside, Judas countered Rockwell’s bulldog and went to town on him. The action spilled outside again, and this time, Buchanan was counting with authority. Back inside the ring, Judas was destroying Rockwell with power moves. Rockwell looked done for after eating a knee, but managed to kick out and nail Judas with a shadow forearm. Rockwell pulled the ropes down on Judas, and again, they went at it on the floor. Rockwell put Judas in the airplane spin. Back inside, Judas blocked Aces High. Rockwell escaped from El Crucifijo and a chokeslam. Rockwell tried for Aces High and Judas countered with a massive chokeslam for the three. Istic taped a red V on the wall of the arena. They got about as much out of the situation as possible, given that Rockwell was a stand in for the true challenger.
(6) Phil Shatter (with Jeff G. Bailey) retained the NWA National Championship via a DQ loss to Shadow Jackson in 23:21. The heat was awesome due to the adulation the crowd showers on Anarchy’s number one babyface, plus the hatred for Bailey, which is on upswing. Match was good as well, primarily due to the Shatter’s presence. Shatter attacked Jackson during Greg Hunter’s championship introductions. Jackson fired back. Shatter threw a hissy fit and stalled. Jackson was winning the test of strength, so Shatter cheated. Shatter blistered Jackson with chops and ripped up his singlet. Jackson hulked up. Jackson worked on Shatter’s arm. Shatter started working on Jackson’s back. Bailey got into some serious fan baiting with the same guy he had problems with at the last show. Meanwhile, Shatter was destroying Jackson. Crowd was pleading for a comeback. Shatter broke out the mocking Hulk poses. When Shatter tried to go up top, Jackson crotched him on the turnbuckle and brought him off with a superplex. Jackson got in a series of headbutts before Shatter speared him. Unbeknown to Shatter, who was busy taunting the crowd, Jackson had popped right up. Bailey looked like he had seen a ghost. Great stuff to build anticipation for Jackson’s full-fledged comeback. Shatter was bumping like a fiend. Jackson hit the 1031, but the match had taken its toll, and Shatter kicked out his delayed one-armed cover. The action spilled outside where Jackson was attacked by an unidentified black behemoth (Se7en from Nashville).
Jackson was bleeding. Bailey cleared referee Ken Wallace out of the ring. Shatter stripped the belt off one of the security guys. Shatter and Se7en then put the belt around Jackson’s neck and hung him over the top rope. It was an ugly scene.
(7) Cage Match Losing Team Must Disband – New Wave (Steven Walters & Derrick Driver) beat Talent & Money (JT Talent & Andrew Pendleton III with Jeff G. Bailey) via submission in 23:13. These teams had shown a total disregard for their physical well being as they waged war in 2009, producing two of Anarchy’s best and craziest matches of the year (both their streetfight at Hardcore Hell ’09 and their ladder match at Hostile Environment ’09 are worth seeing), and this match was more of the same, however, not at the expense of telling a great story. The theme was use of the crab hold, as T & M tried to incapacitate Walters with a double crab the bleachers at the go home show. During the build up, Talent cut a promo revealing a (legit) back injury that threatened to end his career, so there was no question as to the stakes. Pendleton immediately blinded Walters with powder. T & M locked him out of the cage while they beat on Driver. Walters was bleeding. After a round of shots into the cage, so was Driver. Palmer came out and forcibly removed Bailey from ringside. Walters entered with a plancha off the top of the cage. In short order, T & M were also busted open. Walters and Talent both bled buckets. The next psychotic act was a tower of doom with Pendleton taking the superplex, after Talent got underneath New Wave for a double back suplex. New Wave hit both of their signature finishing moves but T & M saved each other. New Wave brought a table into the ring. T & M got the crab on Driver. Walters broke it up. New Wave put T & M in stereo crabs but they both made the ropes. New Wave tried to put Talent through the table with the Spanish Fly. They hit it but Pendleton had moved the table. New Wave kicked out of T & M’s finishers. Driver did a huracanrana on Pendleton, who was standing on Talent’s shoulders, so it was basically off the top of the cage. Totally nuts. Nobody died but we hadn’t seen anything yet. Walters climbed to the top of the cage. Talent cut him off. Walters teased falling off the cage to the floor below. Walters then did a sunset powerbomb off the top of cage on Talent. The intent was to put Talent through the table but that sucker did not break. They both bounced off. Nobody was moving. No “holy shit” chant here. Crowd was in stunned disbelief. At this point, I just hoped that all four could survive the match. Pendleton saved Talent from being pinned. The finish was a dueling Boston crabs. Pendleton had Driver. Walters had Talent. Driver and Talent were both on the verge of tapping with the crowd going berserk, and Talent finally gave out.
All four men were down for a long time. Talent was loaded onto a backboard, but he waved off the help and stood up. The crowd, many of whom knew this was probably it for him, chanted his name and applauded. In a moment of true emotion, Pendleton hugged Talent and raised his hand one last time.
NOTES: NWA Anarchy will be back in action on November 6 with the following matches announced: Chase vs. Delay in a TV title rematch, Youth Gone Wild challenging Alexander & Buck for the tag titles, Slim J vs. Tempers and Vasser vs. Newsom…Shatter has upcoming NWA National Title defenses on 11/6 vs. The Sheik in Fort Pierce, Fl for Pro Wrestling Fusion and on 11/13 vs. Charlie Haas in Sherman, TX for NWA Southwest…Shatter also defeated Chase Stevens to win the Showtime All-Star International Title on 10/22 in Columbia, TN…Walters made his SAW debut on that show vs. Drew Haskins…Talent is hoping to avoid back surgery but the only way that can happen is if he stops wrestling…Tank is out of action due to a legitimate back injury…Anarchy stars will be wrestling at a fundraiser event on Sunday, November 7 in Cleveland, Ga at the ECN Enterprises Building. Bell time is 6pm. All proceeds go to Christian Hands Ministry for the purchase of Christmas toys and a Christmas dinner for those in need.