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Former owner Jerry Palmer became the new general manager as the outcome of a 12 man elimination match that also saw Shadow Jackson, the most beloved babyface in the building turn on teammates and his fans to join the evil NWA Elite.
The babyfaces took every match except for the one that really mattered, as the finish of the main event turned triumph into despair for the Anarchy fans.
Hostile Environment 2012 was a good show, about as good as it could be under the conditions, which will likely go down as being more memorable than the show itself. The summer big show has traditionally hosted the annual War Games match. Anarchy chose not to go that route this year, because they had done a cage match for the heavyweight title two months in May.
After soaring to an all-time record temperature earlier in the day (106 in Atlanta), it was still a scorcher at bell time – easily over 100 degrees in the building.
Attendance was 120, identical to what Anarchy has been drawing at their regular TV tapings. My guess is they would have drawn 50% better under more humane conditions. The fans wilted as the night progressed, and crowd reactions were notably muted in spots.
(1) Joey Rhymer & Todd Sexton defeated Brandon Parker & Vandal in 8 minutes. Zach Daniels, who started the match as Rhymer’s partner, blew his knee out on a flip dive. Ref Dee Byers gave the X signal. Bill Behrens and Todd Sexton rushed to ringside to help Zach to the back. The heels beat on little Joey until they made the big screw up. Sexton, lily white body and all, ran out to take the hot tag. He got Vandal and Parker in submissions, but they managed to save each other. Rhymer pulled Vandal out and Sexton superkicked Parker, then gave Rhymer the honor of hitting the swanton bomb to score his first pin in an Anarchy ring. Because the crowd was fresh, the finish got one of the biggest pops of the night.
(2) Anthony Henry defeated Adrian Hawkins to retain the NWA Anarchy Young Lion’s Title in 11:45. This was framed as a battle of submissions – Henry’s cloverleaf vs. Hawkins’ sharpshooter. Hawkins had crowed about being able to submit Henry, and was being a real dick about it, too. The story of the match was each guy trying to soften up the other’s guy leg to set up their submission. Hawkins got the sharpshooter. Henry powered out and reversed into the cloverleaf, but Hawkins made the ropes. Hawkins hit Extreme Makeover (Unprettier) and acted like he had it in the bag. As he casually went for the sharpshooter, Henry hooked him with an inside cradle. The match was fine, although the crowd was pretty quiet. Being a slower, more psychological match, it would have done better slotted as a change of pace, perhaps between the tornado tag and the four-way which were similar in nature.
After chasing referee Ken Wallace to the back, Hewkins ran back out and put Henry in the sharpshooter. The refs surrounded the ring admonishing Hawkins until he gave up the hold. Hawkins gloated about making Henry tap. Evidently there’s more to come from this feud.
(3) Jacob Ashworth & Skirra Corvus defeated CB Gibson & Tommy Daniels in a Texas Tornado match at 10:10. Ashworth and Corvus got off to a strong start but it didn’t last. Their slimy former friends dominated the rest of the way. That wasn’t shocking given where they were going. The surprise was that the heels didn’t need devious tactics to do it. They were handling the babyfaces straight up. Corvus especially was taking a major beating from Gibson. Corvus kicked out of double team front suplex. They did a tower of doom spot with Corvus taking the big bump. Ashworth made a comeback against both heels. The finish was a double finishers – Ashworh with Ashes to Ashes on Daniels and Corvus with the Graveyard Shirt on Gibson for a double pin.
Daniels appeared to have suffered a serious injury and needed legit help getting to the back. Ring announcer Bret Wolverton reminded fans not to try these maneuvers at home.
(4) Seth Delay defeated Mike Posey and Johnny Dangerous and Andrew Pendleton III in a Gold Rush Match at 9:20. The Gold Rush stip earned the winner a shot at any title along with his choice of stipulation. It was every man for himself and all action. Delay was clearly the people’s choice. Dangerous is allegedly a babyface, but he’s not over at all. The match was an excellent showcase for Posey’s formidable skills. Delay connected with the Shawn Michaels top rope elbow on Posey. Dangerous went for a superplex on Delay, but AP3 broke that up, and both babys crashed and burned. Posey and AP3 collided leaving all four down. AP3 hit the Stock Market Crash on Delay, but Posey broke up the pin. Dangerous hit a moonsault on AP 3, but Posey broke that up as well. Posey’s guillotine leg drop on Dangerous was right on the money. Posey paused to direct nasty comments towards Anarchy owner Franklin Dove, who was out watching the match. Delay pulled out his trusty brass knucks and clocked Posey for the 1-2-3.
Delay said he had unfinished business with TV Champion “sister†Bro Newsom. Delay said he wanted Newsom in a ladder match with the knucks hung from the ceiling. First to get them uses them, and you can’t win the title without ‘em. Delay said Newsom’s days of running from The King of TV were over. Delay did his “sexy party†swivel hips dance, which is ridiculously over with the fans. Posey was just coming around from the first knuck shot, so Delay put his lights out with another one before sprinting to the back. Posey had to be carried out. Very entertaining.
Jeff G. Bailey, Jerry Palmer and John Johnson came to the ring. Bailey said Bryan Casanova wasn’t there for the main event because his car had been vandalized. Bailey blamed it on special enforcer Brodie Chase. Bailey said that if Chase had any common decency, he would drop one guy from Team Anarchy to make it five on five. Chase said the Elite made the stipulation and wasn’t about to let them off the hook. They had two options – forfeit or pick another guy, and they had 30 second to decide. Palmer announced that Johnson was their pick. Chase cackled at the idea. Bailey said Johnson was the size of three Slim J’s. Chase said Johnson may have eaten three Slim Jim’s before the show. Nevertheless, the decision stood and Johnson was none too happy about it.
(5) Billy Buck defeated Bobby Moore in a Bunkhouse Match at 20:25. Violent with a capital V. The crowd was more alive for this match, which was a wild, weapons-filled brawl. Moore tried to smother Buck with one of the dreaded Barney dolls that fans have been torturing him with for months. Buck repeatedly bashed Moore in the head with the metal trash can. Moore bled bigtime. Moore blocked the superkick and took over. Moore was a mess. He gave Buck the Raven drop toehold onto a chair, and waffled his back with it. Moore taped Buck to the ropes and beat the crap out of him with an extra helping of verbal abuse. Moore looked like he was having a psychotic episode. He drew an X on Buck’s forehead with his blood, and was ready to split Buck’s wig with the chair, but Buck kicked him in the nuts. Buck got free and ran wild. Moore was taking huge bumps for Buck’s punches. The kids chanted for Billy. Moore went down after taking running headfirst into a wedged chair. Buck set up a table in the ring, but took too much time. Moore hammered Buck with stiff forearms to the base of the skull. Moore started talking to the Barney doll, saying it caused him nothing but trouble. Moore climbed a 10 foot ladder inside the ring. Buck climbed up after him. Referee Wallace had the presence of mind to stabilize the ladder. In the death defying spot of the night, Buck put Moore through the table with a Samoan Drop off the ladder. Neither guy was moving a muscle. Buck finally made a one-armed cover and Moore kicked out. Moore’s body was quivering. Buck superkicked Moore and it was indeed, sweet chin music. Moore took a desperation swing with the Barney doll. Buck ducked and hit Moore with Barney for the pin. It looked dumb….until Buck pulled out the rock that Moore had stuffed inside Barney. They pulled out all the stops. It was a sick match and way, way better than what I imagined it would be.
(6) The NWA Elite (Se7en & Shaun Tempers & Bro Newsom & Jacoby Boykins & Jagged Edge & John Johnson with Jeff G. Bailey & Jerry Palmer) defeated Team NWA Anarchy (Mikal Judas & Dany Only & Stryknyn & Azrael & Slim J & Nemesis with The Rev & Brodie Chase) in an elimination match in 29:45. Stryknyn had his eye bandaged from a fireball he took the night before at APW. Just like 3 weeks ago, Azrael and Nemesis lit Tempers up with chops. It was all Team Anarchy until Newsom went after Stryk’s eye. Only took over for his Hate Junkie partner and abused Tempers some more. The momentum turned when Tempers caught Only with the Tiger Driver. Se7en tagged in. Only’s offense barely made a dent. Se7en bludgeoned the hell out of Only and pinned him with a choke bomb at the 10 minute mark. Johnson waited until J was in a bad way to tag in. Johnson pulled the straps down on his singlet, exposing his hideous rolls of flesh to the world. J put Johnson in a submission and he tapped in a heartbeat. Hey, a little comedy relief never hurts. Azrael used a cutthroat piledriver to eliminate Newsom. Nemesis and Azrael rained more chops on poor Tempers, but he managed to roll Nemesis up using the tights. Jagged Edge eliminated Stryknyn with a massive chokeslam. Boykins challenged Judas to see which was the best big man. Boykins managed to put Judas down, but Judas leveled Boykins with a big boot and pinned with a top rope leg drop. Seeing a guy that stands 6-7 cover ¾ of the ring on the fly is enough to take your breath away. Edge squared off with Judas for the first time, and battled him on even terms. There was a glitch where Edge was supposed to spill over the top rope and it didn’t happen, but Judas go things back on track and it was good stuff. They battled outside the ring until both were counted out. Azrael nailed Se7en with the superman punch to take him out of the match, but Tempers immediately hit the hangman neckbreaker on Azrael to eliminate his number one rival for the Anarchy title. It was down to Slim and Tempers. Slim ran off a string of near falls on the champion. Slim kicked out of hangman neckbreaker of the ropes. Tempers was in shock. Tempers kicked out a double underhook piledriver. Slim went for Screwdriver on the Rocks. Tempers countered with the cobra clutch, but couldn’t put Slim away. Slim hit Screwdriver on the Rocks, but referee Dee Byers got decked in the process. Palmer blinded Chase with the powder, and got in the ring with Big Nasty, his axhandle. The light went out….Lights on, Shadow Jackson was in the ring, and the crowd exploded. Jackson had been out of action after taking a beating from the Elite. Palmer backed off. Jackson turned and gave Slim a stunner. Tempers covered J, and ringside referee Brent Wiley (who had ignored all of the above) jumped in to make the three count. They covered a whole lot of bases with the layout of this match, and covered them well. The crowd would have been going nuts for it if they weren’t drained of energy due to the sweltering heat.
Nemesis hit the ring to confront Jackson. At least it started out that way. Nemesis decked Chase and Urban Assault Squad is now part of NWA Elite. They celebrated by beating Chase down. “I am back and you’re welcome,†said Palmer. Azrael and Judas came out to tend to Chase and J. Palmer said if they laid a hand on any of the Elite, they would be suspended forever. Judas glared at Palmer, but that was all he could do.
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