Southern Championship Wrestling
Walker vs. Stevens
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Altamonte Springs, Florida
-- Before the show began, SCW “owner” Chris Carson came out to tell the crowd that Manny Montana has been fired from SCW for attacking Johnny Schumacher in the locker room. There really wasn’t too strong of a crowd reaction to that portion of the announcement, but the crowd popped when it was announced that the scheduled tag team match with Montana teaming with Chasyn Rance vs. Schumacher & Jerrelle Clark would now be Rance vs. Clark in a singles match.
Match 1 – SCW Florida Heavyweight Champion Mister Saint Laurent defeated Josh Rich to retain his title.
SCW made a wise decision in starting off the night with this title match. Knowing that MSL is one of the most over men in Florida, they used that to their advantage by having him come out first to fire up the crowd. The crowd was really hot for this match, and they kept it going the entire night. The match was very short, but the crowd popped for the big spots, which included MSL taking a big bump out of the ring and Rich executing a decent up and over in the corner that had him pulling MSL down by his head as he ran under him. MSL picked up the win when he used a Roaring Elbow, and then he followed it up with his Mister Saint Laurent Driver. Following the match, MSL spoke about So Cal Val being gone (man, the Florida wrestling scene is already missing her), and he also asked for a moment of silence for the passing of Chris Candido. It was a nice gesture, and the crowd chanted “Candido” afterward.
Match 2 – Scott Davis w/Gorgeous Gary Garvin defeated Rip Malibu.
There was some great old school heel heat going on here. Malibu came out, and before his match he attempted something that I guarantee will get him over more with the crowd. He stood at one end of a section of people and started to do the wave. Now it didn’t look like that great of a wave, but I know it will be one of those things that the fans are going to eat up every time he comes out. The crowd was 100% behind Malibu during this one. While Davis is a veteran and usually looks really good in the ring, I must say that this is the best I have seen Malibu look in quite some time. It may be the best I’ve seen him look, period. Malibu hit Davis with his Surfboard Elbow, but Davis kicked out of it. He countered a move by Malibu, and he then finished him off with a vicious looking pile driver. This was another relatively short match, but it was entertaining the entire time. The fans are really beginning to hate Scott Davis.
Match 3 – Jerrelle Clark and Chasyn Rance wrestled to a 15-minute time limit draw.
This match was one of the best matches I’ve seen during 2005, and it wasn’t even the match of the night tonight. Yeah, it was THAT kind of night. Both guys are baby faces, so the crowd appeared to be split on whom to cheer for. Hell, the fans did dueling chants, and it wasn’t the TNA or FIP dueling chants where the same fans are cheering for both men. This dueling chant was split right down the middle. They started off with some great chain wrestling that displayed some nice reversals and mat wrestling. Clark was heavy into the arm bars, and Rance was selling it beautifully. They each then hit a few of their signature spots much to the delight of the crowd. The ring announcer made the one-minute remaining announcement, and most people realized that it was probably going to end in a time limit draw. Rance hit his Sensational Spike (Emerald Frosion), but the bell rang at the 2 count. There was probably a few seconds still left, but I like the ringing of the bell at the 2 count rather than trying to time it perfectly and then it ends up being a botched finish. The crowd absolutely loved this match, and they gave it a standing ovation, which incidentally became the theme of the night. It most definitely was a great match. Between the great chain wrestling at the beginning, Clark’s highspots and Rance’s selling of the arm, this was probably the best juniors match that I’ve seen this year.
Match 4 – Jason Hexx defeated Dagon Briggs w/Se7en.
With how good some of the matches turned out tonight, this will be the match that undeservingly will be forgotten. Unfortunately, this statement is 100% true, as I honestly can’t remember too much from this match. I just remember it being really solid work from both guys. I’m actually looking forward to going back to watch this match in particular because I know I was into it, but with all that happened tonight it’s hard to remember everything. This match did continue the night being solid throughout thus far. This match was taking place as a result of Briggs pinning Hexx in a tag match from the previous SCW show. Hexx went over with an STF, which is odd because I’ve never seen him use it as a finisher. Hexx beat Briggs clean, but that was even fine because it was back and forth action, so it was far from a squash. The crowd was once again all for the baby face (Briggs), while they booed Hexx mercilessly. The crowd was really into Hexx as I think most of them knew that we would see him again in some way, shape or form during the semi-main event between the Heartbreak Xpress vs. Ryze & Sequel.
Intermission
Match 5 – David Mercury defeated Aaron Epic in a 2 out of 3 falls match.
This was the rubber match of the series of matches between Mercury and Epic. I was happy to see it culminate in a 2 out of 3 falls match, too. Epic came out being a rather good heel. I always thought some of his cocky antics as a baby face always made him seem like a heel, so now all of that stuff works for him. Epic picked up the first fall when he hit Mercury with the face puller/face crusher gimmick that Muhammad Hassan uses (I don’t know the name of it. It’s not a Downward Spiral because he doesn’t sweep the leg). Mercury came back by picking up the second fall with ¾ nelson rollup. During the 3rd fall we had a nice looking sequence where Mercury caught Epic in the air following a plancha attempt, and Mercury just launched him into a row of empty chairs. Mercury then went to Irish whip Epic into a stage, but Epic slid onto the stage, stopped, and then ran at Mercury hitting him with a Shining Wizard from off of the stage. I’m not sure if that’s a good description of it, but it sure did look nice. Back in the ring, Mercury finished off Epic with the Rings of Saturn. This was another excellent match that received the second standing ovation of the night. The only complaint I have from this match is that Epic jawed with Florida wrestling super fan David Shirt the entire match. He threw water bottles at him several times, and he would make comments toward him every few minutes. It was entertaining at first, but then it went too far. Nonetheless, the match still was really good, and that isn’t going to take anything away from it. Following the match, Mercury got on the mic and told Epic that they need to team back together and go after the tag titles like they originally planned. Epic thought about it, and then heeled Mercury out by extending the hand to shake but walking out as Mercury was going to shake.
Match 6 – SCW Southern Tag Team Champions The Heartbreak Xpress w/Gorgeous Gary Garvin defeated Sequel & SCW Southern Heavyweight Champion Ryze to retain their titles.
This match was put together because Ryze was a ‘tweener stuck between going heel with Hexx or staying baby face with Sequel. Unfortunately, Sequel had other plans and the focus shifted from the storyline to an online feud he’s had going with Sean Davis of the HBX. While the online stuff was fun to read, Ryze’s situation became secondary to those reading the SCW message board. This match will probably be best remembered for the crimson mask that Sean Davis sported. I haven’t seen someone juice like that in quite some time. For what it’s worth, this was actually an entertaining match. I know I usually comment about Sequel using moves from various WWE Raw superstars, so it’s only right that I comment about it when he doesn’t do any. I’ve been critical of both Ryze and Sequel in the past, but there was really nothing to complain about during the match. Ryze, in particular, has really stepped up his game as of late. A decent spot in this match saw Ryze do a jumping enziguri. It may seem like a normal move, but you need to consider his size. I was impressed by it. The HBX worked over Ryze, which led to the hot tag to Sequel. Jason Hexx made his way to ringside to distract Ryze. I’m not sure what happened with Ryze and Hexx outside of the ring because while that was going on I was watching Sean Davis hit Sequel with a belt shot while he was pinning Phil Davis. Phil Davis pinned Sequel for the win. After the match, Ryze threw Hexx into the ring, and Sequel hit him with the Final Cut neckbreaker. Ryze then hit Hexx with a modified backbreaker. I’m not sure why, but after they destroyed Hexx, Ryze and Sequel posed over a fallen Hexx. It just looked awkward as the faces looked like cocky heels posing over the heel who looked like a sympathetic baby face.
-- Ring Announcer Ox made an announcement concerning a show SCW is running on May 22 in Ocala. There are several names being brought in for this show, which include the likes of Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes, Raven, Rick Steiner and Larry Zbyszko. He said that tickets could be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com.
Match 7 – Vordell Walker defeated Erick Stevens.
This was the match that the show was named after, and it had a lot of buzz behind it on the Florida wrestling scene. More chances than not, matches that are hyped as much as this one was generally fall short of the expectations. I can’t lie. I’m a fan of both guys, but even I questioned whether this match could live up to the hype that it was being given. Well, holy shit did it live up to the hype and even more! This match saw Stevens come out in full heel mode. He was tossing chairs into the ring and scaring children. Now, when I say scaring children I don’t mean that they just look away in hopes that he stops staring at them. No, he had children in tears. They were crying as if there was some monster on the loose that was going to kill everybody. While I don’t enjoy seeing kids crying, I couldn’t help but applaud the efforts of Stevens that he could turn the show into something that will probably scar some kids for life. Walker came out to the loudest pop of the night. It was even above his normal pop as it was probably a combination of him arguably being the most over guy in SCW and Stevens just now becoming the most hated man in SCW. The match started off with the 5 most action packed minutes I’ve seen start a match. When the ring announcer announced the 5-minute mark in the match, many in the crowd commented about how they couldn’t believe that only five minutes had passed. Stevens just dismantled Walker for most of these five minutes. Walked did get a comeback that saw him hit a sweet looking standing moonsault. Walker then went for a Quebrada, but Stevens got his knees up. In probably the spot of the night, Stevens showed up Walker by hitting a standing moonsault of his own. If you’re familiar with how big Stevens is, then I think you would be just as impressed as I am. For the next few minutes they took turns beating each other with some of the stiffest strikes you’ll see. Walker dumped Stevens on his head so many times that I lost count. While they look extremely impressive, I can’t help but wonder how many of those Stevens can take over time because he constantly gets dumped on his head no matter whom he’s wrestling. Each man hit some of their signature moves that saw the other kick out of the pin fall attempts. Walker went up for his second 450 splash of the night that finally put away Stevens. Needless to say this was the 3rd match of the night that received a standing ovation and rightfully so. I’ve seen these guys in some good matches, but I personally think this was the best I’ve seen both guys look.
-- Following the match, Chris Carson and Michael Cade made their way to the ring to announce that Vordell Walker had earned himself an SCW Southern Heavyweight Title shot against Ryze at the next SCW show. Walker cut a promo saying that he’s hungry for some gold, so he’s going to defeat Ryze. The fans cheered for Walker one more time. A “Stevens” chant even broke out as he was leaving to the back. Wow, was this a damn good match.
Final Thoughts
This was hands down the best SCW show that I’ve ever seen. It’s probably the best Florida Indie show that I’ve seen in 2005. It’s arguably the best Florida Indie show that I’ve seen since I’ve been in the Sunshine State. It’s hard to compare it to FIP, which isn’t a Florida Indie, or to something like NWA-FL’s Peterson Cup, but it was the best I have seen in some time. In all honesty, even with the names that those shows had, I still think that this SCW show holds up to them. Top to bottom, this was one hell of an entertaining show that will definitely be hard to top. The booking was solid. The in-ring action was solid. The crowd was solid. The overall presentation of the show was solid. We saw 3 matches receive standing ovations. We even saw the entire crowd applaud Erick Stevens’ effort after he had just come out and scared the hell out of most of the crowd. Chasyn Rance vs. Jerrelle Clark would have been MOTN on most Florida wrestling shows. I think it speaks volumes about how good this show was when you can’t even say that Rance vs. Clark was a clear-cut 2nd best MOTN. You could definitely make a case for the David Mercury vs. Aaron Epic 2 out of 3 falls match. However, as good as these two matches were, the main event between Vordell Walker vs. Eric Stevens was an amazing sight. With all the hype behind the show I can’t believe that these two guys came out and delivered. To everyone else’s credit, I think everyone on the show came out and delivered in one way or another. From the opening match to the final bell, this was the best that I’ve seen a lot of the guys on this show look. SCW has had a nice string of decent shows under its belt as of late, so we’ll see if they can continue that streak on June 4th when Vordell Walker goes after Ryze for the SCW Southern Heavyweight Championship.
Will Rivera
Wriv25@yahoo.com
AIM – willriv22
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