08/14/2011 – Live Report on NWA Anarchy's Hostile Environment From Larry Goodman:
NWA Anacry presented Hostile Environment 2011 at the NWA Arena in Cornelia, Ga.,
last night.
I wish they hadn’t.
As a regular $10 TV taping, it would have been fine, maybe a 6-7 on a 10 point scale.
For the $20 price tag, it was the drizzling shits, a cruel if unintentional joke on what
remains of Anarchy’s fiercely loyal fan base, and a slap in the face of the incredible
history of big show night in Cornelia, GA.
What was new owner Franklin Dove thinking by attempting to a big show this soon?
After all, he only has half dozen shows under his belt since former owner Jerry
Palmer’s blowout send off show. There was zero about the advertised line up to to get
excited about. Through the years, Hostile Environment has been known for the annual
War Games match. It was way, way early in the development process of Anarchy 2.0
for that, so why tarnish the name? The old cliché says you’ve got to walk before you
can run, and this promotion is barely beyond a crawl.
It occurs to me that the gap between the top promotion in Georgia (Rampage Pro
Wrestling) and all the rest is greater now than it has been at any time since the peak
early years of NWA Wildside. Truth be told, the last Platinum Championship Wrestling
show at the Masquerade had more imagination and entertainment value than what
Anarchy presented here.
Attendance was 75 total, maybe 60 paid, and they weren’t wildly enthusiastic about
what they were being fed for premium pricing. Damage has been done. Shrewd fans
kept their wallets shut, knowing that the advertised card wasn’t worth 20 bucks. And
the diehard suckers that did show up left with a foul taste in their mouths. The fact of
the matter is that Hostile Environment 2011 will be used as a standard two hours of
NWA Anarchy television.
Andrew Alexander replaced Tim E. D as John Johnson’s broadcast partner. Seeing
him in that suit and tie was making me sweat. Tim was limited to ring announcer
duties.
(1) Bo Newsom defeated Brodie Chase in 10:20. This match was grim death. The
building was silent like a mouse peeing on cotton. Chase continued the running joke
about the size of Newsom’s package. Chase has been noticeably slower in the ring
of late. Disaster struck when Bo lost his grip or something on an butterfly superplex.
Both men were shook up but fortunately no serious injuries. Newsom missed a
moonsault. It looked bad because Chase was long gone. Finish saw Chase hit his
implant DDT, but Newsom had his foot on the ropes. As Chase was complaining to
ref Justin Bradley (what’s up with that hair?), Newsom gave Chase a low blow that my
mom could have delivered more convincingly and rolled him up. A miserable way to
start the show.
(2) Shadow Jackson beat Dany Only (with Reverend Dan Wilson) via DQ in 8:16.
Only did a good job of selling and bumping. Jackson is built like a fireplug and his
offense sometimes looks suspect against taller opponents. Only employed the spit &
run tactics. Jackson pursued. He busted out a tomahawk chop and saw the Rev
coming, but that left him open to Only’s chop block. He eventually missed a middle
rope elbow drop, and the crowd showed its first signs of life getting behind Jackson’s
comeback. Jackson hit a stunner, prompting an attack by Azrael for the DQ.
The Rev’s guys were using his Staff of Righteousness to beat on Shadow when who
should casually walk through the curtain but Nemesis, once Jackson’s trusted
partner in Urban Assault Squad and now his bitter enemy. Nemesis acted like he
was going to punch Jackson, then nailed Azrael and Only instead. Jackson accepted
a handshake from Nemesis. The crowd popped huge and they left to the old UAS
music.
The reuniting of UAS worked great. Clearly, it was the emotional high point of the
show. It was a close as they came to pulling a rabbit out of the hat.
(3) Youth Gone Wild (Anthony Henry & Dustin Knight) defeated Rave Approved
(Corey Hollis & Mike Posey) to retain the NWA Anarchy Tag Team Championship in
13:46. Packed with fast-paced action. The wrestling sequences involving Henry and
Hollis were top notch. Lots of hellacious chops. Henry dished out a chest caver of a
kick for a near fall. YWG did a cool dive combo. Knight stood on the bottom ropes and
Henry flew through his legs with a tope, and Knight followed with a springboard
crossbody. Rave Approved mangled Knight’s tiny body on the top turnbuckle to start
the heat. Posey went berserk when Knight kicked out of his guillotine leg drop. Henry
was a one man wrecking crew with the hot tag. Henry fought off a killer move by Rave
Approved and YWG hit the Go 2 Sleep on Posey.
(4) Shaun Tempers (with Bo Newsom) defeated Young Lion’s Champion Jacob
Ashworth to retain the NWA North American Championship in 12:05. Match was OK
given fans knew Ashworth didn’t have a ghost of a chance. Jackson was originally
slated as the babyface challenger, but he missed the lead in show where they were
going to set it up, so Ashworth was moved into the slot. Tempers’ slap & run tactic
worked to get the fans behind Ashworth for a bit. Tempers used a dropkick to the shin
to take over. A flying shoulder tackle by Ashworth left both men down. Not much
energy in the building down the stretch. They traded near falls. Tempers blocked
Ashworth’s finisher and Ashworth blocked the cobra clutch. Ashworth got two with a
La Magistral Cradle, then caught Tempers with a small package. A helpful shove by
Newsom put Tempers on top for the three.
With such a weak card for a major show, Anarchy needed to shore things up with a
high caliber challenger for this spot. If Dove doesn’t want to shell out the money, then
for the sake of your fans, PLEASE don’t try to pass it off as a major show. As it was, it
felt like a lose/lose proposition. Heel or not, I don’t see the upside in Tempers
needing help to defeat a challenger of Ashworth’s stature and it’s not like Ashworth
was elevated by the loss.
(5) Billy Buck beat Skirra Corvus and Adrian Hawkins to earn a shot at the NWA
Anarchy Young Lion’s Championship in 6:30. Crisp work all the way around. It was
advertised a six man turmoil. The other three guys were MIA for various reasons, but it
was probably better this way. At the bell, Buck knocked Corvus’ block off with a
superkick. Buck and Hawkins went at it. When Corvus got his wits about him, he got
payback on Buck with Poetry in Motion and the bat submission, but Hawkins broke
that up with a baseball slide. Round and round they went. Finish saw Hawkins catch
Buck’s superkick and go for the Unprettier, but Buck escaped and hit the superkick for
the win. The finish seemed to catch fans off guard as if they were expecting
elimination rules. If the rules were explained, I missed it.
Seth Delay was introduced as the replacement challenger in the TV title match, since
Jeff Lewis is on a tour of Nigeria. Delay did some fun mic work to turn babyface.
Leave it to one of the smallest guys on the roster to bring forth the larger than life
quality that was sorely lacking. Everybody know that “King Seth loves to have a sexy
party.” Delay said a TV title match without him made about as much sense as the PWI
500.
(6) Steven Walters defeated Seth Delay to retain the NWA Anarchy TV Title in 8:11.
This was the most entertaining match of the night. The crowd was more vocal for
Delay than they were for Walters. The first big spot saw Walters connect with a
dropkick that sent Delay flying off the apron into the camera stand. Back inside, it was
all Delay and he was working his ass off on offense, hitting one signature move after
another. Walters kicked out of a Gotch piledriver and surprised Delay with a pinning
combination out of nowhere.
Postmatch, Delay used these awesome facial expressions as he deliberated about
what to do. Out came the brass knucks…POW~! “TVs don’t work without me,” he
explained. Anarchy officials had to help Walters to the back.
(7) For the Love of Money (Andrew Pendleton III & Bryan Casanova) defeated The
Ambassadors (Jacoby Boykins & Chris Mayne with John Johnson) and Armed &
Dangerous (Lane Vasser & Johnny Dangerous) and Tommy Daniels & CB Gibson
to become the #1 contenders for the NWA Anarchy Tag Team Championship at 11:
31. One look at the names in this semi-main event match tells you all you need to
know about how shallow the Anarchy roster is at this point in time. Based on their
physical attributes, Casanova and Vasser have future star written all over them.
Casanova has the Rick Rude build and a great attitude. He’s driving from Nashville to
do these shows. Vasser comes from a football background. His brother plays for
UGA. Progress in the ring has been slow going. Ready or not, I was hoping against
hope that the match would build something between them. Match was a mixed bag of
good stuff and not so good stuff. T Ideally, the whole is better than the sum of the
parts with good tag teams. I can’t say that was true in this case. They used modified
lucha rules where a new man could switch in without a tag if a legal competitor left
the ring, although they didn’t exploit that aspect much. Gibson is great at taking
punishment, and Casey and Vasser were giving it to him. Gibson hit a sweet
gordbuster on Dangerous, before his team was eliminated when Dangerous pinned
Daniels. The heel teams teed off on Dangerous. Vasser finally got the tag, but Mayne
pulled the rope down on him and Ambassadors eliminated Dangerous with Done
Deal. It was down to the heel teams. Pendleton caused the ref to get bumped. Mayne
had Pendleton pinned with a tornado kick that was a complete miss. Johnson made
a four in from his position in the announcer’s booth. Casey hit the TKO on Mayne and
ref revived to make the count. Ambassadors and Johnson threw a hissy fit.
Tim E. D announced that For the Love of Money would receive their title shot on
August 27.
(8) Azrael (with Reverend Dan Wilson) defeated Champion Seven (with Jeff G.
Bailey) and Mikal Judas and Kimo to become the new NWA Anarchy Heavyweight
Champion in just 3:35. Judas and Seven squared off nose to nose before the bell. All
four started going at it. At one point, Judas stood in the corner with his arms crossed
watching Kimo and Seven slug it out. Judas wasted Azrael and Kimo with devastating
moves and turned his attention towards Seven. Azrael seized the moment with a
frogsplash elbow to pin Kimo. Bailey was livid.
The focus had been the much anticipated showdown between Seven and Bailey’s
former monster, Judas, so Azrael winning and in such short order had the shock
factor going for it. Just fine for a regular TV taping, but piss poor as the main event of
what was advertised as a major show.
Postmatch, Judas and Kimo shook hands.
