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The show drew an incredibly eclectic SRO crowd of 175. For a Masquerade crowd, they were oddly subdued at the start but with Team Eat to Win leading the charge, the usual level of rowdiness and mayhem took place before all was said and done.
Two matches on the card were highly anticipated by hardcore fans. Corey Hollis and Fred Yehi put on a dazzling display of technical wrestling. Fresh off an appearance for ROH (with tag team partner Mike Posey), Hollis was standout performer of the evening. The first time meeting between Georgia’s Tag Team of the Year, The Washington Bullets, and the dream team of Kyle Matthews and Vordell Walker was good but not what it could have been or will be in the future.
When Steve Platinum books a wrestling show, he goes for the gusto, and he was true to form last night. The twin main events involved risky business with the champions defending against female challengers. Both of those matches worked, particularly Shane Marx vs. Pandora. If only they hadn’t soured it with the silly stuff that ended the show.
The live play by play was split between two announce teams. Platinum returned via the contractual arrangement he finagled out of EMPIRE, teaming with Chuck Porterfield. The EMPIRE crew consisting of Kurt Kilgore and Oscar Worthy.
(1) In the first match of The Tag Team Season, Young & Reckless (Hayden Young & Chip Day) defeated Avant Guard (De La Vega & The Vandal) in 10:15. Young (former partner of Austin Creed/Xavier Woods in FCW) has turned in one impressive performance after another since his return from hiatus. Story was the friction within the reunited Avant Guard. De La Vega wanted to keep it fair and square, while Vandal has no conscience when it comes to rule breaking. Vandal had Young pinned using the tights, but De La Vega broke it up. Stellar finish with Day hitting Day of the Dead and Young following with the Flying Squirrel.
(2) Jay Fury and Iceberg (with Jeff G. Bailey) was a double count out at 10 minutes. Bailey gave Berg the proper introduction. Being a long time Bailey fan, it was a joy to see the reactions of fans that weren’t familiar with his act. JTL chants in abundance for Fury. Iceberg has dropped weight and looked great, but was slowed by a rib injury suffered during the match. This was a crazy brawl. Fairly evenly fought. Iceberg bled after taking a shot into the post. Iceberg came back with a low blow, then threw a couple of chairs into the ring and referee Frank Earl threatened to DQ him. Fury hit a shining wizard and popped the crowd with a flip dive. Berg flung Fury into the seats and they were both counted out.
Postmatch, Berg used a broken beer bottle to slice up Fury’s forehead. Fury challenged Berg to do it one more time at the next Masquerade event (date in April TBA).
(3) Tag Team Season Match #2 – We Are Three (Brian Blaze & Geter) defeated DamNation (Dany Only & Phantom) in 8:39. Phantom has added a sickle to his already twisted presentation. Jonathan Malick and Sylar Cross of the EMPIRE were scouting the tournament matches from the stage. DamNation used quick tags to dominate Blaze, who came back with a cool pumphandle elbow drop to start heat on Phantom. The big men squared off. The mammoth Geter hit a release german suplex and Phantom had to make a save. Geter launched Phantom over the top rope onto Blaze. It took of Only’s vaunted lariats to put Geter down. Phantom followed with a top rope double stomp, but Geter kicked out. Moments later, Geter annhilated Only with the Emerald Frosien. Geter suffered a hardway cut around the eye, probably on the double stomp. Decent match and a solid outing for We Are Three.
(4) In the match of the night, Fred Yehi and Corey Hollis went to 15 minute draw (actual time 13:35). The level of wrestling technique in this match totally blew away the rest of the show. Yehi had the home field advantage. Hollis didn’t cheat but the crowd didn’t care for his surly attitude. They started with smooth, lightning fast amateur style switches, making it clear this would be distinctly different from what had gone before. Hollis spit at Yehi. Yehi responded with a barrage of offense, but he made the mistake of going high risk, and Hollis dropped him gut-first on the top top turnbuckle. Hollis took over, using a gutwrench hold to control Yehi. When Hollis hit a bridging northern lights suplex, Platinum lambasted a fan for calling it by the wrong name. Yehi dropped Hollis on his head with a release German suplex. They went back and forth with killer near falls. Yehi busted out a twisting Olympic Slam. Hollis did a standing shiranui that was off the chain. Yehi got the Koji Clutch. It looked like Hollis was done, but he managed to roll Yehi onto his back for a two count, then grabbed a crossface when Yehi released the hold. Yehi was in dire straits as the time limit ran out. Great stuff. It picked up the energy level of the crowd and it stayed that way through the rest of the night.
(5) The Jagged Edge (with Marty Freeman) defeated Tommy Daniels in 3:51. The record breaker’s dream of being the first PCW wrestler to defeat the mighty Edge was shattered. Edge got terrific heat. Daniels knows his role. Edge’s entrance was tremendous and the match took off from there. He picked out the whitest, blondest woman in the crowd and kept eyeballing her. Platinum said Edge was why white people are afraid of black people. Edge no sold Daniels’ attack and took him apart. Edge’s powerslam has been an automatic pin, but Daniels kicked out. Edge and Freeman went nuts on the ref. This gave Daniels an opening to recuperate. Daniels tried for a schoolboy. Edge kicked out at one, then decisively ended it with a variation of Cattle Mutilation. This match was exactly what it needed to be.
(6) Mason (with The Witness) defeated Aesha (with Geter & Brian Blaze) to retain the PCW Championship in 9:10. Aesha said she had bled and fallen off cages and having ovaries wasn’t going to stop her from making Mason her bitch. On commentary, Kilgore said those ovaries must hang on the outside. Aesha slapped Mason’s face. Being an upstanding guy, Mason kept taking her down and going for pins rather than striking back. Interference by Aesha’s cronies turned the tide. Mauling of the champion ensued. Mason finally had enough and slugged her. Fans chanted “whup that trick†while Mason made his comeback. Geter crotched Mason, allowing Aesha to hit a devastating reverse DDT off the top, but Mason was in the ropes. The ref got bumped. Geter tried to interfere again, but Mason subdued him in his Occam’s Razor submission. Aesha tried for Lollipop Drop but Mason reversed it into the Scale of Justice (TKO) for the pin. Washington Bullets and De La Vega came out to check We Are Three, so look for that match down the road.
Loudmouth DJ, Quasi Mandisco, came out to address Mason with CAMPUS Strike Force at ringside. This was a diversion to allow Marco Polo and a masked Nina Monet to sneak into the ring. Monet put Witness out with the ether rag. Polo laid Mason out and put on his cape, while Mandisco ran his mouth about Polo being the uncrowned champion. Mason made a rapid recovery, and darned if he didn’t tell Polo he would be feeling the wrath of the Demigod at the Academy Friday night.
(7) Tag Team Season Match #3 - Daisho (Vordell Walker & Kyle Matthews) defeated the two-time defending champions The Washington Bullets (Jon & Trey Williams) in 15:10. One thing for sure, these teams have a better match in them than this one. Bullets were led to the ring by DJ Doc Riley. Daisho had their streamer-throwing young boys. A number of other teams in the tournament were watching from the stage area. It started in spectacular fashion with back-to-back dives by Matthews and Trey. The early part of the match was vintage teamwork and aerial tactics by the Bullets. Daisho took over on Trey with the power game of Walker and Matthews’ technical mastery. Matthews busted a gut on a missed frogsplash. Double tags were made. Things got chaotic with big moves in all directions. Some looked great. Some not so much. There was no flow and it was just a collection of moves. All four were down at the end of it. Bullets hit the Marion Barry on Matthews, but Daisho came back with the Daisho Device (powerbomb/top rope lariat) on Jon and Walker made the pin.
(8) Shane Marx (with Rachael Tension) defeated Pandora to retain the EMPIRE Championship in 9:12. The good vs. evil dynamic was so intoxicating that suspension of disbelief was not an issue with this female challenger. Pandora’s toughness and heart carried the day. Platinum was part announcer and part cheerleader during the match, as Pandora was representing his beloved PCW. The traitorous Marx had no reservations about manhandling Pandora by whatever means necessary. However, Pandora gave Marx a surprising amount of trouble early on, grounding him with submissions. Marx tried for the DVD on the apron that just about killed Chip Day, but Pandora had it scouted. Pandora went for Pandemonium (Sliced Bread #2), but Marx blocked it. Marx went for a DVD off the middle rope. Pandora blocked that and superplexed Marx, which looked impressive as hell. Marx again blocked the Pandemonium and hit the DVD that has put many an opponent away, but Pandora kicked out. Marx ended it with a nasty kick to the face.
Just one more thing…a bunch of EMPIRE guys hit the ring. The Pandora chants made them none too happy. They started to celebrate with balloons and confetti and the whole nine yards. The music of Supernatural played as he appeared at the main entrance. Supernatural, all 125 pounds of him, hit the ring. He took out a couple of guys and frustrated the champion, while the other EMPIRE members stood around like fools. Supernatural did a top rope double stomp to the floor on poor Matt Sells before departing unscathed. It was ridiculous. An enraged Marx said Supernatural would be a dead man at the Academy.
NOTES: ROH Champion Davey Richards will be in for the March 23 event at the Academy Theater in Avondale Estates as a participant in The Platinum Classic…UIW wrestler Josh Storm and RPW/UIW referee Stanley Robinson were in attendance…The first and third matches were switched in the lineup due to a late arriving wrestler…The ring announcer was Grant Case…Frank Earl was the lone referee for the evening.
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