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ASE Wrestling celebrated their 1 year anniversary Saturday night at their normal home venue of the Piedmont IB Middle School in Charlotte with a lot of good wrestling and some scorching hot angles and booking, in addition to a big announcement.
Chris Lea and Gerard Bonner on commentary and the excellent Nadia Hunter as the ring announcer. ASE Commissioner Caprice Coleman sat in through much of the night and had a lot to do.
Qualifying for the final spot in the one night 8 man tournament to crown the first ASE Men's champion, Darian Bengston beat Owen Knight in a good opener. Knight nearly got it, focusing on Bengston's left leg for much of the match with Bengston catching him with his Makabe Lock for the submission win. He offers to shake Knight's hand, which Knight kinda does but then hits a chop block on that left leg before leaving.
Advancing to the semi finals, "The Intergalactic Soul" Darius Lockhart defeated "Frontman" Jah-C. Impressive outing from Jah, who gets better every time I see him. I did like him calling Lockhart, ASE's founder, "bossman" when he was beating on him. Nice touch. Lockhart wins with a good looking top rope crossbody. Have to love the classic finishers.
"The Business" Billy Dixon also advanced to the semi finals with a win over "The Original Gothic Gangster" Trever Aeon (accompanied by Knull), a match up of a great pure, scrappy babyface and the darkest of heels. Aeon was tough enough but with Knull interfering, it looked like Dixon was done when Reyhen Inteus, who was eliminated from qualifying for the tournament by an attack by Knull at the last ASE event, got into a wild brawl with the big man that got Aeon's attention. Dixon took him out with a Guerrero Bomb. With Dixon taken to the back, Aeon and Knull focused on Inteus with Zay Vega and Jordan Holt--who is in the tournament--trying to make the save. Aeon has one more surprise: the debut of "The Killer Weight" Joe Black, a longtime heavy hitter on the Southern independent circuit.
Black then focuses on Holt, delivering a clothesline and driver.
Holt is medically pulled from the tournament. His spot is filled by...Mr. Darius Carter, who conveniently was in the building. HA! He told Coleman he was going to be in the tournament.
"The Gifted One" Yahya advances to the semi finals with a win over veteran "The Ring Warrior" Labron Kozone. Yahya is a big, athletic guy and an ASE favorite. Kozone had a determined attack on Yahya's left arm but fell to a good looking swanton bomb from "The Gifted One."
"The All Father" Mr. Darius Carter, easily ASE's most hated wrestler, beat Bengstom to advance to the second round. He went after Bengston's compromised left leg and made relatively short work of the colorful youngster. Carter wins with the Foreclosure (a Cobra Clutch face plant). Good heel interview with Bonner after the match.
During intermission there were some entertaining bits but they're better seen on the stream (asewrestling.com).
Lockhart advanced to the Finals over Yahya, winning a battle of ASE's most popular wrestlers. The technician vs the phenom. Yahya got a big upper hand, splashing Lockhart on the back, hampering Lockhart the rest of the match and the rest of the night. Lockhart reversed a top rope belly to back suplex, landing on Yahya for the pin. Again, I love simple finishes. Hug of Honor adhered to after the match.
The second hot angle of the night and the hottest angle of the night played out as Carter ambushes Dixon, another chapter in their long, violent cross promotional, before he got in the ring. He delivers the Foreclosure on the steel ring steps and now it looks like Dixon will be pulled from the tournament. Carter then grabs Hunter (Lea had to intervene to keep Bonner at the commentary desk, nice touch) and forces her to announce him as the winner. Lockhart runs out and chases Carter off. Big dramatic scene plays out as Lockhart wants Carter in the Finals, petitioning Coleman to not kick him out. Coleman agrees, saying the people paid to see the first champion crowned. I saw one lady so heated by this decision, she got up and walked to the back of the gym and leaned against the wall to cool off.
This is the kind of angle that used to get heels hurt.
"The Spark" Jada Stone got a big win, beating Karen "Bam Bam" Renee and "The Submission Sniper" Jordan Blade in a 3 Way match, avenging a loss to Renee at ASE 6 in Oct. I felt bad for them to have to follow that angle but these women put on a great performance and got a "This is Awesome!" chant. Everyone understood and played their position: Blade the suplexing grappler, Stone the high energy babyface, and Renee the powerhouse. Renee looked to be set to pin Stone again with a Banzai Drop but got caught up exchanging insults with Faye Jackson, who was sitting in on commentary and who beat Renee at the ASE event in Sept, when Stone powerbombed her off the middle rope for the pin. Stone responds to the challenge by Kiera Hogan from the last show. They do a good job of connecting shows for a promotion without episodic TV.
Big announcement: ASE will be in Vegas for WrestleMania weekend. That's cool and great for them.
Becoming the inaugural ASE Men's champion, "The All Father" Mr. Darius Carter beat "The Intergalactic Soul" Darius Lockhart in an intense battle. Extremely well done tournament that saw each participant that advanced going into the next match still selling whatever was attacked in the previous bout so Lockhart was still hampered by a sore back, which Carter, having a much easier route, took full advantage. One of the few matches that went to the floor for any extended time and the only one--maybe the first in ASE--that had blood, as Lockhart was split open after hitting his head on the metal ring railing. Carter wins with two Foreclosures to get the clean victory. Coleman reluctantly awards him the championship belt while checking on Lockhart.
They close with Carter celebrating.
Excellent show. They've had good ones all year but this was the best one to date on every level.
The Real Uncle Dave grade: A (94 out of 100)
Follow me on bluesky @therealuncdave.bsky.social
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