I leave the house at about 4:40pm to go pick up my neighbor. We arrive at the civic center around 5:30pm. There is 4 ladies standing around outside the civic center. Turns out one of them is Paul Riot's sister. She tells us that they will be opening the doors soon so we can get our tickets. I mention I had just friended Paul on Facebook and she seems him inside and tells him to come outside. I talk to him for a few minutes. Then we are let inside. We buy our tickets and go over to the doors to the main part of the civic center. At 6pm they are suppose to start letting people in. With the show starting at 7pm. Well we end up talking to four nice ladies that have come down from Magee for the show. They tell us about NWA Battlezone. A few minutes after 6 we are let in and quickly get ringside seats in the dead middle. I notice that the announcer is set up on the stage I sat in front of for the XOW show 2 years ago. Plus there is 3 big screens hanging on the walls. There is lots of kids in the audience. Which means this show will be fun. I have learned that in the deep south,at indie shows the crowd is as fun as the matches. Plus kids at shows in the deep south get so into the matches.
I end up talking to the man who is sitting on my left. He is there with his two young sons. So I mentally make a note to try not to cuss too much since their is lots of kids at the show. About 10 minutes to 7 the announcer lets us know the show is gonna start a little late. No biggie I am use to indie shows always starting late. I look around and don't see a gimmick table. But unlike the last show at the civic center two years ago,this time they have refreshments. Around 7:30pm the show starts. A group of four guys and two ladies come out and get in the ring. Chris Black gets the mic and starts going off on the town."This town is so deep in the woods you have to drive to town to go hunting." Not a bad line,cause Brookhaven is a backwoods town. The other 3 guys are Superkick Frankie Williamson,Cale Conners and Tommy 2 Guns Morrow. And the ladies are Ms Britney and some other lady who I never caught her name. Outta this group of six,two of them stand out to me. First is Cale Conners.
He came out in what looked to be priest robes.And he is wearing a robotic looking mask with light up eyes. Then there is Ms Britney,who is a very tiny,very cute young lady. I am betting she is under 5 foot tall.
After a few more minutes of Black and his gang going off on the crowd,some music hits the speakers. A video showing lots of lightning is playing on the screens and then Damien Storm comes out. He talks about how he has come to Last Rites Championship Wrestling,which from now on I will just call LCW, to take on Black's group of thugs. "But I am not alone" Storm says. And one by one he introduces Paul Riot,who the ladies to the right of me go wild over. Then up next is Jesse Dalton. I saw him 2 years ago at the XOW show at the Factory Furniture Outlet. And finally is The Faroh of Phunk and his valet Tiffany. The kids in the crowd pop loud for the Faroh. He just oozes charisma. Black tells Storm's group to come in the ring and shut them up. So Storm's group hits the ring.
We get a short brawl.
And Black's group quickly bails from the ring and heads back to the locker room. The Faroh gets on the mic. "BROOKHAVEN MISSISSIPPI ARE YOU READY TO GET FUNKY?"
And the crowd goes wild. I remember that I saw the Faroh also at the XOW show two years ago. I got a picture with him and he commented on how much taller than him I am. Storm's group leaves the ring. While outside the ring Jesse Dalton challenges Tommy 2 Gun Morrows,who Dalton calls 2 thumbs,to a bull rope match.
Morrows accepts. Then Storm,Dalton,Riot,the Faroh and Tiffany head to the back.
The announcer tells us that the first match is gonna be a battle royal. It will start with two men in the ring and every two minutes another guy will come out. And at the end the last two men in the ring will be in the main event. Where they will face off for the LCW Heavyweight title. Now since battle royals are so hard to review I will mainly just list who entered at what number and what order they got eliminated. Plus some of the highlights. First man in the ring is Aiden Scott.
Who's entrance video is full of footage from the anime Bleach. Kind of surprising to me. I didn't expect to see anime at a deep south wrestling show. The second man to hit the ring is Max Maverick. As he comes out it is obvious he is a heel. So while he is posing on the top rope I heckle him.
He tells me "Shut up dumb ass!" Which of course just makes me heckle him more.The third man out is Sean O'Riley who,at least to me,looks somewhat like Sami Callihan. Max is the first person eliminated.So I yell at him "Who's the dumb ass now!" 4th man in the ring is Dangerous Danny Daniels.He is also the 2nd person to go over the top rope. 5th is Frankie Williamson. Frankie is smart after a few minutes he rolls out under the bottom rope and spends the rest of the match crouching down and hiding beside the ring.O'Riley is 3rd person out. 5th man to hit the ring is the Faroh of Phunk and the crowd goes insane.Somewhere around this time Aiden Scott gets eliminated.6th man in the ring is Chris Black. And Ms Britney comes out with him. She spends her time helping make sure Black isn't eliminated and arguing with Faroh's valet Tiffany.Damien Storm is the 7th man in the ring and he gets almost as loud a reaction as Faroh.8th man is Paul Riot and the ladies to my right again got nuts. 9th is Fuse,who is quickly thrown out and is the 5th elimination.10th man is Cale Conners. He goes around clubbering people.Matt Harvard and Jesse Dalton are numbers 11 and 12. Unlucky 13th man in the ring is Tommy 2 Guns Morrow. Him and Dalton are quickly eliminated. And they start brawling to the right of me. Dalton Irish whips Morrow into the chairs and they go flying. I look back at the ring and and 8th and 9th people going over the top are Storm and Conners. Finally ,even though his valet tries her best,Chris Black is 10th man out. Nathan Lawler is next and the 14th man to enter.Then the final man,number 15,is Jeremy Awesome. When Awesome comes through the curtain he spits water into the air like HHH. He is also pretty jacked up and wearing arm tassles like Ultimate Warrior. So I tell the friend that came with me "I guess he is Ultimate H." Lawler is eliminated. So Awesome and Faroh think they are the last two left. But Frankie Williamson re-enters the ring and throws Awesome over the top rope. So the main event will be The Faroh of Phunk vs Superkick Frankie Williamson for the LCW heavyweight title. This one one of the best indie show battle royals I have seen.
There is a short break while the ring crew fixes the canvas. All during the battle royal the canvas kept slipping. The second match is a three way dance for the LCW Extreme championship. Out first is Max Maverick. Who I of course heckle again. Next in the ring is Danny Daniels. And last man out is Aiden Scott. Scott and Daniels do lots of double teaming on Maverick. After awhile Max bails outside the ring. He grabs the table that is under the ring. He gets back into the ring sets the table up longways in the corner.
Then throws Scott into it. I notice that the table isn't the normal thin table you usually see in wrestling matches. This one looks about twice as thick. Fun match with lots of fast action. Max manages to set the table up near the middle of the ring then puts Daniels on it. Maverick climbs to the top rope.
And goes for what I think was a leg drop. But Danny rolls off the table and Maverick breaks the table in two with his ass. You can tell this hurt him pretty badly. He rolls into the corner and gets out of the ring. Scott and Danny go back and forth. Trading punches and other moves. Max comes back and he has the LCW extreme belt with him. He waits till Aiden has Daniels out in the corner. Aiden goes to the opposite corner and is running towards Daniels,when Max Maverick nails him hard in the head with the belt. Max pins Scott and gets the win.
Very well paced match. And Max Maverick did great at working the crowd. Something about him just screams BOOO ME!
Match 3 is for the LCW Women's title. First out is Haley Harris. Who judging from the reactions of the ladies sitting on my right is a heel. Then out comes Britney Black. They lock up and go back and forth.
Then Britney takes Harris to the mat and goes for a few different submission holds.
But Harris manages to break out of everyone of them. Harris starts beating on Black. And then hooks her in a modified Boston crab.
Black manages to get out of it and puts Haley into some kind of leg/ankle lock.
I wonder if both Haley and Britney have been watching some joshi matches? Haley puts Black into a bear hug.
Then rams her into the turnbuckle.
After a few more minutes Haley get's slipped some kind of foreign object by Ms Britney.She hits Black with it and knocks her silly. This allows Harris to get the pin. Good match. I liked all the various submission holds.
Cale Conners comes out next. When he gets in the ring I make a comment about how fat he is. He says "Come on say something!" So I respond with "You look like Kane and Playboy Buddy Rose had a kid!" His reply is "Oh look a smart mark!"
It was all I could do to not laugh. I am betting besides the wrestlers,maybe 5 people at the show have any idea who Buddy Rose is. Paul Riot comes out,and the announcer refers to him as "Brookhaven's own Paul Riot!" Which of course makes the crowd pop loudly. I am amazed at how agile and how fast Conners moves for being such a big guy. Riot mainly works a cruiser-weight style.
Riot is doing good till Chris Black comes out and places a piece of plywood that was under the ring into the corner. Then Cale Conners powerbombs Riot through the plywood. The ref calls for the bell and Riot wins by DQ. Damien Storm comes out. And him and Paul Riot challenge Conners and Black to a tag team match. The match will be fore the LCW tag team titles. Nice match that was a great blend of two styles of wrestling. Plus Conners calling me a smart mark made my night.
Match 5 is a three way dance for the LCW light heavyweight title. First out is Fuse. Next is Sean O'Riley,then last is Matt Harvard. From the crowds reactions I must assume Harvard is a face and the other two guys are heels.
Fuse and O'Riley double team the shit outta Harvard.
Harvard tries his best but can't over come the odds.
Fuse finally pins him while using the ropes. Decent match,but was a little short.
Time for intermission. Which is great cause by this time I have to piss really bad. I am heading to the bathroom and run into Paul Riot. I talk to him for a few minutes. Go and piss and run into Aiden Scott in the bathroom. He is already out of his wrestling gear. And I thank him for the matches. I go over to the guy that has been taking pictures and ask him who I need to talk to about buying a dvd of the show. He tells me to talk to the lady with the video camera. Then he gives me his Facebook info,so I can check out his pictures from the show. I goto the refreshment counter and get two sodas. When I get back the camera guy,Jon-Paul Leblanc comes over and we talk about Mid South. Then Max Maverick comes out and tells me I am the most annoying fan he has seen at a show. But he is smiling when he says this. Then Jon-Paul gets a bunch of us together to get a picture with the Max the LCW Extreme champ.
Nathan Lawler comes out and is announced as being from Memphis. So I assume this means he might be working a Jerry Lawler's love child gimmick. He is chubby so the kids in the crowd start ragging him about this. One of the kids to my right starts calling him "COWBUTT!" Which causes me to start laughing. Then Jeremy Awesome comes out with his valet,sadly I never caught her name. Awesome has Mardi Gras beads with him. Which he proceeds to toss to the kids in the crowd. What surprises me about this match is how fast and agile Lawler is. He is a big chubby guy but moves more like a 80s era high flyer. Awesome works more of a 80s WWF big man style.
This match was the biggest surprise of the evening to me. I wasn't expecting a fast paced semi high flying match outta these two guys. But that is what I got. And I am glad. It was fun and helped pick the crowds energy level up. Cause by the time the match started it was after 10pm and you could tell lots of the younger kids were getting sleepy.
Now it is time for the bull rope match. Tommy Morrow comes out first and refuses to let the ref attach the bull rope to his arm. Jesse Dalton comes out,and the announcer tells us that Dalton has never lost a bull rope match. After some stalling Morrow gets the bull rope attached to his arm and the match starts.Tommy quickly takes the cowbell off the rope and it gets throw almost out of the ring.
Morrow knocks Dalton down a few times. But he never manages to touch more than 2 of the 4 corners. Then they go outside the ring. Dalton knocks 2 Guns to the floor and uses the rope to drag him all over the floor. They head back towards the ring and Morrow knocks Dalton to the floor. He then grabs the cowbell and starts bashing Jesse in the forehead with it. Dalton is busted open and starts profusely bleeding.
Finally Jesse gets the upper hand. He takes Morrow over to the stage and slams his head into the stage. They climb up onto the stage.
Jesse grabs the hammer that has been being used to ring the bell. And using the claw end digs deeply into Tommy's forehead. Now both guys are wearing the crimson mask. They make their way back to the ring. Dalton knocks Tommy on his ass. Jesse manages to touch 3 corners before 2 Guns stops him. Dalton low blows Tommy with the rope,puts Morrow up on his shoulder in a modified fireman's carry.Jesse then carries him around as he manages to touch all 4 corners and wins the match. Dalton drops Tommy in the middle of the ring and has his back turned on him. Tommy pulls out some brass knuckles and when Dalton turns around he gets nailed in the head. Damien Storm and Paul Riot come out to help Dalton back to the locker room.
Match 8 is a tag team match for the LCW tag team titles. Chris Black and Cale Conners are the first team out. Then Damien Storm and Paul Riot come out. Black and Cale are great at keeping Paul from tagging out.
They also manage to distract the ref a bunch. Finally Storm gets the hot tag and cleans house. He nails Black in the balls at least 4 times. One of them is a testicle claw. Which gets a big reaction out of the crowd. Finally the team of Storm and Riot knock Cale to the mat. Then Damien holds down Black's legs. Riot climbs to the top rope and gets some great air doing a frog splash. 1,2,3 and Damien Storm and Paul Riot are now the LCW tag team champs.
Now it is the main event. Frankie Williamson and Ms Britney come out first.
Williamson jaw jacks with various people in the crowd for a few minutes. His best line is "I am not afraid to slap a 7 year old!"
Which got a big laugh outta me. Then the Faroh comes out.
And all the kids rush over to dance with him. Frankie gets on the mic and says unless people stops dancing he is gonna leave. The crowd tells him to leave. Finally after about 7 minutes the Faroh gets into the ring and they lock up. This is a really well worked match and in some ways reminds me of the various Eddy Guerrero/Dean Malenko matches from ECW. Lots of fast paced hard hitting moves. But at the end the Faroh gets the pin and celebrates at ringside with all the kids from the crowd. Frankie gets a mic,that keeps working then not working,and says Faroh cheated and when he pinned him he had a handful of tights. Faroh gets a mic,which works perfectly, and challenges Frankie to a Lincoln County Street fight for the next show in Brookhaven.
Which is suppose to happen in September. The crowd starts heading out. And when I pass by the ring I heckle Frankie. He tells me to come into the ring. And I respond with "Nah I don't fight old men!" I head to the bathroom and see Cale Conners in the hallway. I thank him for the matches and tell him the "Smart mark" comment made my night. He shakes my hand. After pissing I am heading back out and see the locker room door is open. So I pop my head in and quickly thank all the guys for the show.
Overall the show was great. More than worth the $5 admission price. We got a show that was about 4 hours and none of the matches sucked. I really hope that Last Rites Championship Wrestling keeps coming to town every month. I know if they do I will be at every show. So to all the wrestlers and all the people behind the scenes a huge thank you for bring a great night of affordable entertainment to Brookhaven.
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