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Georgia Premier Wrestling presented “Hail to the King 2017” featuring WWE Hall of Famers Jerry Lawler and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat on Saturday night in Canton, GA
GPW brings in more name stars to Georgia any other promotion in the state. Past shows have featured the likes of AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy and Gangrel. Promoters “Big Wood” Greg Hullender and Darrell Morris have hit on a winning formula. Their regular crew has a loyal following. Putting the name stars on top adds drawing power, although the legends do not do as well as current stars.
The show drew 250 to the Old Buffington School Gym. It was a loud and enthusiastic crowd thanks to a swarm of kids seated at ringside. Adults and kids alike seemed to thoroughly enjoy the show.
Lawler, Steamboat, Brian Christopher and Doug Gilbert were in for the weekend. GPW drew 300 in Cleveland, TN at the National Guard Armory the night before with essentially the same crew.Pre-show:
Meet and greet with Lawler, Steamboat, Christopher and “Glacier” Ray Lloyd.
Pre-show: “Powerhouse” Jessica Leigh defeated Black Widow in 6:58. Widow used her weight and size advantage to dominate Leigh for most of the match. Leigh wobbled Widow but couldn’t get her off her feet until two clotheslines did the trick. Leigh then picked up the win with a top rope splash.
(1) Joey Lynch defeated QT Marshall in 8:32. Technicallly, the best match of the show. Lynch is in the top echelon of wrestlers in the state. He debuts for EVOLVE next month. ROH star Marshall has relocated to Georgia and opened the One Fall Power Factory wrestling school. The crowd backed Lynch. Marshall wrestled clean but showed frustration and used a rougher style. Marshall countered Lynch’s flip piledriver with a powerslam for a near fall. Lynch went for a moonsault. Marshall evaded and rolled Lynch up. Lynch reversed into a nifty pinning combination.
Marshall shoved Lynch before cooler heads prevailed and they shook hands.
(2) Backwood Boys (Cuzin Cletus & Shaggy) defeated The Movement (Talon Williams & Chip Hazard) to win the GPW Tag Team Championship in 12:10. Backwood Boys are Good Ole Boys under masks due to a losing to Movement with their GPW careers on the line the last time in Canton. “Waffle House” chants abounded for the Boys, who are beloved babyfaces in North Georgia. Cletus fell for an obviously illegal tag by Movement when they were both on the apron. How can a babyface be that dumb and still be a babyface? Movement tried to unmask Cletus but Shaggy stopped them. Hot tag. Hazard kicked out of Shaggy’s O’Connor roll sending him into the post. Movement hit a codebreaker/Russian legsweep combo on Cletus for a false finish. Hazard got Cletus’ mask off but got rolled up in the process. Cletus put the mask on before anyone could see his face. Match was OK. The crowd popped huge for the title change.
(3) Cyrus the Destroyer (with Logan Chase III) defeated Torque in 6:11. Torque was voted Georgia’s most improved wrestler for 2016. Cyrus towered over Torque and outweighed him by almost 200 pounds. They did some stellar work with the David vs. Goliath dynamic here. Torque went for a rolling senton off the apron and Cyrus planted him on the apron with a powerbomb that looked like death. Cyrus killed Torque all over again with a sick kick. Nobody home for a massive leg drop. Cyrus shrugged off Torque’s dropkicks and caught him like a small child on an ill-advised flying crossbody. Cyrus turned Torque inside out with a clothesline. Torque got a foot on the ropes or it would have been over. Cyrus missed a diving headbutt. Torque initiated a sliced bread while standing on the top rope, a uniquely cool move. Torque tried to fly from the top and Cyrus picked him out of midair with a choke bomb. The ref could have counted to 100.
Steamboat entered the ring to a rousing ovation. Steamboat said he had just completed his 42nd year in the wrestling business. It was venues like this one that got him rolling and returning to that up close and personal feeling was always a pleasure. Steamboat reminisced about Georgia Championship Wrestling, Gordon Solie and the Omni shows.
Jason Collins rudely interrupted, claiming to be the greatest wrestler to ever grace this God forsaken town. Steamboat said Collins was his own number one fan and was ready to give Collins the ring. Collins got physical. Steamboat did his signature chops and finished with an arm drag and it all looked great, just like in his prime.
Intermission – Steamboat did in-ring photos with the fans wearing his Hall of Fame ring.
(4) GPW Southern States Champion Joey Sparkz & GPW Cruiserweight Champion Ray Ray defeated Andrew Duckworth & Jason Collins (with Logan Chase III) to retain their respective titles in 9:51. Duckworth and Collins have the makings of a great heel team. Chase pulled Duckworth out of harm’s way on Ray’s 619 to start the heat. Ray is tiny with zero muscular definition and a big heart. He took one hell of a beating. The kids chanted “cheater” at the heels. Hot tag. Collins took a sky high backdrop. The babyfaces locked the heels in simultaneous submissions for a tease of the Revival/DYI finish. Collins accidentally clocked Duckworth. Ray hit the 619 and Sparkz pinned Collins with a draping, spinning DDT.
Cyrus joined his Chase Enterprises buddies with evil intentions. Marshall hit the ring with the chair to make the save. Chase said they spoiled plan. It was time for plan QT. Marshall wasted Ray and Sparkz with the chair. Chase said Marshall was the newest member of his squad. Marshall said trying to please the people had gotten him nowhere in GPW and by joining Chase Enterprises, he was going straight to the top. Chase said he doesn’t associate with losers so it was time cut dead weight, Cyrus chokebombed Collins and Marshall skewered him with the chair. Chase introduced the new and improved Chase Enterprises (Cyrus, Duckworth and Marshall). The crowd hated on Marshall. This was an effective angle. They had the timing right on all the moving pieces and it had heat. Marshall foreshadowed the turn just enough. Chase’s mic work was strong.
(5) “Grandmaster Sexay” Brian Christopher defeated “The Steel Dragon” Donnie Primetime in 7:53. Christopher looked to be in great shape. The kids went nuts for a chance to catch his headband. Christopher brought a kid into the ring and mounted him on the ropes so he could throw the headband out to his friends. Nice. Primetime ran down the people of Canton. He’s gained a whole lot more ring presence over the last year. Primetime said he was the “Shogun of the squared circle”. He showed off his martial arts moves such as they were. Where was Glacier when we needed him? Primetime jumped Christopher from behind and choked him with his black belt. Christopher cut off Primetime’s martial arts nonsense and chopped his chest beet red. Christopher mocked Primetime’s ridiculous selling of his atomic drops. Primetime beat Christopher to the eye poke spot. Christopher gave Primetime a fair amount of offense and took a couple of bumps before hulking up. Primetime took Christopher’s belt and got into a tug of war with referee Nathaniel Spivey. Christopher put the belt between Primetime’s legs and gave him a ride, then pinned him with a superkick. A very entertaining match for what it was.
Christopher brought two kids into the ring to dance with him. The black kid was awesome. The white kid danced like a white kid.
(6) Jerry "The King" Lawler defeated Doug Gilbert in 13:55. Gilbert came out with the familiar Ribera Steakhouse jacket, baseball bat and towel over his head. Standing ovation for Lawler. Gilbert said he had chased Lawler from Memphis to this stinking town and after tonight, he will have beaten Lawler, like his father and his brother did before him. Lawler cracked a smile when Gilbert said a loudmouth woman at ringside looked like a man. The ref searched Gilbert and found two chains. Lawler said Doug had always held a grudge because he beat Doug’s dad the first time he ever won the Southern Heavyweight Championship. Lawler told the story of the famous angle where Eddie and Doug ran him over in with their car in the parking lot of the WMC studio during a TV taping. Lawler said he suffered a broken hip which was true. It was also true that the cops wanted to arrest Eddie. Some disrespectful jerk in the bleachers started yelling “we want wrestling”. Lawler handled the situation with class.
It was the same Lawler match I’ve seen many times in Nashville. I enjoyed it more than ever. It was all about the nuances. They threw better punches than 95% of modern day wrestlers.
Gilbert kept punching Lawler on the break until Lawler got fed up and fired back. Gilbert hit the deck then fled the ring holding his jaw. Gilbert started fishing around in his tights for a foreign object. The fans were going crazy but the ref couldn’t find a thing. They did the spot where Lawler alternated punches to Gilbert’s head and gut, hitting whichever body part Gilbert didn’t cover. Gilbert stabbed Lawler with the object, which turned out to be a pen. Gilbert produced yet another chain and wrapped it around Lawler’s throat. The kids were coming unglued. Lawler was staggering around, half blind, absorbing punches before he blocked a turnbuckle shot to signal the comeback. The strap came down. Lawler threw a dropkick. Gilbert hit Lawler with the chain and he took his one bump of the match. Gilbert said down on Lawler. At the count of two, Lawler hooked Gilbert’s arms with legs and got the 1-2-3. It was fun to see how the kids bought into everything they were doing.
NOTES: GPW returns to Canton on December 9 featuring Joel Deaton and has a show in Ellijay on January 6 featuring Al Snow…Steamboat also did a seminar the on Saturday afternoon…The Buffington Gym is the home of Carlos Adams Basketball. Adams played pro ball in the European leagues before moving into coaching…GPW owner “Big Wood” Greg Hullender is on the mend after being seriously ill with sepsis and has surgery for kidney stones to look forward to… Scott Hensley Scenic City Invitational) was the emcee. Miss Britney (Cyrus’ better half) handled the ring announcing.
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