Universal Independent Wrestling-May 25, 2013--The Beginning of a New Era in Professional Wrestling

Match 1: De La Vega vs. Jimmy The Kidd

De La Vega made his UIW debut in a high energy match against Jimmy the Kidd. The entire crowd was behind Jimmy because they knew who he was. My husband and I are more familiar with De La Vega, and since both he and Jimmy are good guys I decided to throw my support behind De La Vega. De La Vega nearly had Jimmy pinned but Jimmy reversed it and he won the match.

Match 2: The Creeper vs. Mason

The Creeper is a masked wrestler who wears tights with a Star Wars rebel fleet logo on them. He's billed from Craig's List. Mason made quick work of this guy, and he won the match. I'm sure the creeper went back to his basement lair and whined on the internet.

Bull Buchanan came out to the ring with a strap. It turns out Murder One is not here tonight for their strap match. Bull Buchanan calls him a little yellow. Death Row, Bull Buchanan's former archenemy, reemerges after a two year absence to take Murder One's place. This led to my husband making a joke about how we were charged with Murder One but went directly to Death Row without a trial. Our main event, a strap match between Bull Buchanan and Death Row is set.

Match 3: Josh Storm vs. Frankie Valentine

UIW fans have been waiting for this match since Josh Storm turned on Frankie Valentine in March during their tag team match. Josh Storm betrayed us all by joining the So Fine Mafia and turning his back on the idea of "Family First". The crowd is at frenzy level during this match. This is the most fired up I've seen a UIW crowd that I've been a part of. Josh Storm is disqualified after a good back and forth match for taping Frankie Valentine to the rope. After Frankie got free, he took the mic and spoke from his heart. "I expected you to be more like a brother and fight me face to face. I didn't think you'd be that chicken. We're gonna fight face to face. It's gonna be a street fight." All the kids were then invited into the ring to celebrate with Frankie Valentine, their new hero. My son told me that he wants a Frankie Valentine shirt now because Frankie Valentine is going to replace Josh Storm.

Match 4: The Mercenary vs. Dixie Dynamite Billy Knight (Last Man Standing)

Peanut came out with The Mercenary. UIW officials were quick to make the stipulation that Peanut was banned from ringside. The So Fine Mafia interferes on the behalf of The Mercenary but to no avail. The match ends in a double countout.  A rematch is set for the June 1st event. It will be Mercenary vs. Dixie Dynamite Billy Knight in an "I quit" match. Peanut will be handcuffed to Alan Turnipseed, who was declared the largest guy in the building.

Match 5: The So Fine Mafia vs. Awesome T.C. and The Jailhouse Rocker Terry Lawler.

The So Fine Mafia brings out copies of The Villa Rican newspaper which features pictures from Universal Independent Wrestling. They said they should have been on the cover. An old lady wearing pink tries to jump at the So Fine Mafia, but she is dissuaded by security. It looks like T.C. is going to have to fight the So Fine Mafia alone for a minute. He says the headline of the next newspaper will read "Awesome One beats Loser Four". Terry Lawler comes out to join T.C. as his partner. When Terry Lawler makes his entrance he gives the lady in pink his gold jacket and sunglasses to wear. T.C. says to Terry that he is an honorary member of the Awesome Ones from this day forward. It looks like our heroes are going to prevail, but Pandora comes out and interferes securing a victory for So Fine Mafia. She said that the wrestlers of UIW were getting too comfortable thinking the Empire wasn't there, so she had to reinforce their presence.

The Main Event: Bull Buchanan vs. Death Row in a Leatherstrap match.

All four turnbuckles have to be touched with your opponent in tow in order for you to win a leather strap match. Bull Buchanan won this match. It was a hard fought victory, and the crowd went crazy in support of their hero.

Universal Independent Wrestling will be back in Villa Rica on June 1st at Villa Rica Elementary School.

Personality Profile--Awesome Brandon McClure

Brandon McClure is a manager at Universal Independent Wrestling. He currently represents Awesome T.C., UIW's U.S. Heavyweight Champion. He is also the general manager of Willpower, a wrestling organization founded to memorialize UIW announcer Mark Grason's son Will. Willpower does an annual show on the second Saturday of May to benefit Haralson County's Special Olympics program. Brandon has competed in Special Olympics since he was 8 years old in bowling and wheelchair races. On May 19th, 2013 he competed at the Georgia State Games.Though he is in a wheelchair due to Cerebral Palsy, he's living his professional wrestling dreams.  I caught up with him this week on Facebook, and I asked him a few questions about his involvement in wrestling.

Q: How long have you been a wrestling fan?
A: Since age 5.

Q: Who was your first favorite wrestler?
A: Sting

Q: How long have you worked in the wrestling business?
A: 4 years

Q: How long have you been working as The Awesome Ones?
A: About a year.

Q: Where can people see you in the coming weeks?
A: At UIW, May 25, June 1, and June 15.

I'd like to thank Brandon for his time and for doing this interview. Go see him and Awesome T.C. at Universal Independent Wrestling this Saturday in Buchanan GA. 

Platinum Championship Wrestling 5/18/13

Match 1:
JAM vs. Matt Von Reaper.

As JAM made his way to the ring accompanied by the Coach Fred Avery, he was reprimanded for attempting to give the audience high fives. The crowd in Porterdale is clearly behind Matt Von Reaper, and I felt a little sorry for JAM because he had one person in the audience cheering for him. I believe it is his mother. She kept yelling "Go Anthony" though the rest of the crowd cheered Matt Von Reaper. Reaper had JAM in a submission and he was about to tap, but God's Gift to Wrestling came out and beat up Reaper. The Coach made JAM do 10 pushups as a punishment for nearly losing the match to Reaper. 

Match 2: Dynomite Soul Eric Walker vs. Zombie Mascaras vs. The Heatseeker Johnny Danger.

Eric Walker won this match by making his opponent submit. He told me to write down "I am the best". I don't agree with this statement, but it shows his arrogance. He cut a promo after the match stating that no one is better than Dynamite. He also said that "Today is just a taste of what we'll see June 1st."

Match 3: Coach Fred Avery vs. Marko Polo.

I forget that Marko Polo turned against the Priority Males and he's now one of our heroes fighting for the integrity of PCW. I missed the show where he turned against them, so it's always weird for me to cheer him. Marko knocked Fred Avery's minion JAM off the apron, and he rolled Avery up to score the pin. Fred lost the match on his own, however, he forced JAM to do more pushups for punishment.

Match 4: Big F'N Deal vs. The Washington Bullets. (Match of the Night)

The team that won this match received two points in the Tag Team Season Tournament. Chuck was easily distracted by the bad guys during this match, and they were able to isolate Jon in their corner for a long time. Geter and Blaze won the match. The match was awesome throughout. This was the match of the night.

Match 5 Deandre Jackson and Showtime Erik Jones vs. Of Mice and Men

Deandre Jackson says to introduce him as the greatest, sexiest man alive. "All of you women and some of you men want to see this." Their opponents, Of Mice and Men, comprised of Sylar Cross and Chip Day, bill themselves as the Weirdest Tag Team. Sylar and Chip won the match, and Chip Day had a crispness to his wrestling I've not seen from him in a couple months. After their victory, they say that they plan on taking what's theirs.

Match 6: Hit for Hire Bobby Moore vs. The Demigod Mason

It is clear that there is no love lost between Bobby Moore and Mason. The action quickly spilled out of the ring, and the match was declared a double countout. They would not stop fighting no matter how many times the bell rang. The entire locker room came out to break them up, but they continued trying to kill each other. The crowd yelled "This is awesome" and "Let them fight."

The Main Event: God's Gift to Wrestling vs. Supernatural and De La Vega.

Quasi Mandisco is up to his old tricks trying to distract the referee so his team can isolate De La Vega for a good portion of the match. God's Gift to wrestling cheats like crazy, but to no avail. Supernatural and De La Vega win the match. Rachel picks up the microphone and says "I'm sick of you, sick of all of you." She tells Supernatural and De La Vega they can pick their next opponents from anyone standing at ringside. DeAndre Jackson, Bobby Moore, and God's gift to Wrestling were all there. Supernatural and De La Vega chose Quasi and Rachel as their opponents. The crowd went crazy at this announcement because Quasi and Rachel are two of the most hated wrestling personalities in Porterdale, GA.

PCW will be back in Porterdale GA in two weeks on June 1st.

Following independent wrestling for one year as of today

On May 16, 2012 I attended my first local independent wrestling show in Porterdale, GA. There were two steel cage matches that night. I really didn't know what to expect because my only real exposure to wrestling was WWE. I'd started looking up Ring of Honor matches on Youtube because I was curious about the career of Daniel Bryan before he'd wrestled for WWE, but the idea that hundreds of companies put on wrestling shows every weekend right here in GA didn't occur to me. My mother told me that she'd seen a sign advertising wrestling in Porterdale, and she thought my son would really enjoy it. Tickets were the price of a movie ticket, and kids under 8 were free, so I thought it was a safe bet.

The match that made the biggest impression on me that night was the women's match. Pandora came out wearing pigtails and a painted mask. I looked over at my husband and I whispered "I think I'm in love." I totally understood exactly why those girls in anime have those hero-worship type crushes on their older classmates or on popstars.  During intermission I went over to the table and bought a picture of her which she autographed. I remember saying that her style of wrestling was way better than the so-called divas on tv.

That was the first night we saw Johnny Danger as well. Johnny Danger started out as a heel in Porterdale. We went into our first show cheering him because he was the only wrestler on the card we were familiar with. When I looked up PCW wrestling in Porterdale on Youtube, one of his matches came up. I remember saying we wanted to use the Darkwing Duck tagline, "Let's get Dangerous", when cheering him. 

The wrestlers of PCW did not sell a lot of merchandise that night. There weren't really t-shirts, and only a couple were selling photos. I decided when I attended the next show I would make my own fan shirts for the wrestlers we liked. For some reason it didn't feel right to me to attend the show wearing a WWE shirt. Would you attend a WWE show wearing a TNA shirt, or vice-versa? I thought it was best to pick our favorites from PCW's roster and cheer them by making our own fan gear.

I look back on the past year, and I realize how much my ideas about wrestling have changed because I've started following independent wrestling. Being a wrestling fan is so much more than just watching television and commenting on Facebook articles. It's also about being their live, yelling at heels and cheering on your favorites. It's about establishing a community of fans.  I cannot thank the wrestlers of PCW enough for choosing Porterdale, GA to call home.

Pro Wrestling Resurrection Mother's Day Edition. May 12, 2013.

Brandy Scotch Baker comes out to the ring with Matt "Sex" Sells to start the show. They talk about all the great female talent PWR will have in the coming weeks, and the lovely Brandy is set to face Victoria Ventress. Ventress wears a mask, and she essentially looks like a she-beast. I'm certain it's a man dressed as a woman, and this person has a major crush on Matt Sells. She kisses him directly on the lips which seems to frighten him. I'm certain any man would be frightened by a kiss from her. Brandy lost this match because she was distracted by members of the Reckoning at ringside.

The Reckoning came out to taunt Matt Sells. This led to an impromptu U.S. title match between Zach Daniels and Matt Sells. Matt pinned Zach and won the belt. He then said "I'm coming for you Rick Michaels". He's already eliminated Ryan Michaels from PWR, and now Matt Sells plans to take down the Reckoning piece by piece.

Match of the afternoon goes to Priceless Attraction vs. The Undead Luchadors. Priceless Attraction came to the ring arguing about who was supposed to bring in their gear from the car. Their bags were missing, and they were none too happy about it. The Luchadors music hits and Zombie Mascaras and Supernatural came out wearing their opponent's jackets. They took Priceless Attraction's clothes out of the suitcases, and they put on their tights over their own gear. They also took the money out of one of their wallets and tried to give it out to the audience. During the match Supernatural pulled a switcheroo, and the guy from Priceless Attraction had his own partner in the armbreaker. Supernatural pins Chad Silva and the Luchadors retain the tag team championships. I am not certain that the team of Priceless Attraction will continue to compete together. They fought over strategy during the entire match.

Cody Fairview faced Kevin Ballenger for the number one contender spot to face new U.S. Champion Matt "Sex" Sells at the next show. I was impressed with Ballenger. I like his high flying style. Ballenger won, and he will face Matt Sells on May 19th.

Rick Michaels faced Chris Damian for the PWR Heavyweight title. Rick Michaels took a doll from a child on the front row and hit Damian in the face with it. He put the doll on the barricade and proceeded to smash Damian's face into it. The child attempted to grab her doll back, but was unable. She nearly cried and as soon as that part ended she snatched her doll back and held it tightly for the rest of the match. Chris Damian apologized to her for Michaels' actions. Damian beat Michaels and retained the PWR championship.

PWR will be back at the Mega Mart in Gainesville at 3pm on Sunday, May 19. 

Willpower recap May 11, 2013

The show opens with Epic Grant Mitchell vs. Chip Day. Chip Day said that Epic Grant was like a Ken doll. Essentially he is plastic and he lacks the proper male equipment. The audience started a Ken doll chant for the rest of the match. Our attempts at the usual "Epic Failure" chant never quite worked as the audience as a whole couldn't get synchronized. Epic Grant Mitchell won this match, but there was a quick count by the referee.

Our second match of the afternoon was The BFF's against Awesome T.C. and Terry "the Jailhouse Rocker" Lawler. The BFF's wear rainbow colors and hug each other for encouragement. They are an amusing duo. Awesome T.C. and Terry Lawler won this match. They double teamed both BFF's and got them both into a rollup to secure the pin.

Encore Zac Edwards came out and ran his mouth about how he could beat any opponent chosen for him. He soon had to eat those words. His opponent was Sabrina, wrestling's wonder woman. She came out and beat him in three seconds. He asked if it could they could do the match over because he didn't believe she could do it again. After a hard fought match, she did it again. The crowd yelled "You got beat by a girl."

Drew Adler took on Marko Polo. We managed to get a Marko Polo chant going that resembled the classic children's pool game. Drew Adler would yell Marko and the audience would yell Polo. Drew Adler won this match, and I can say without a doubt this was the best match of the afternoon. Both Drew Adler and Marko Polo are strong competitors.

 Red Rayne , a guy who claimed to be from an insane asylum, and his partner Brian Alexander took on Billy Jack and his partner Scott Spade. Scott Spade appeared to be the local audience favorite. There was a really funny spot in this match where one of the bad guys pinned his own partner. Billy Jack and Scott Spade scored a double pin for the win. 

Right before the main event, Special Olympics of Haralson County presented Mark Grason with a plaque for his contribution to their cause. He announced that they will be holding this event on the second Saturday of May for the rest of booker Awesome Brandon McClure's life. The hosts of the event presented Elaine Keys from Special Olympics with flowers.

Our main event featured Josh Storm and Peanut against Billy Knight and Jimmy the Kid. The Buchanan audience will never forgive Josh Storm for joining the So Fine Mafia. I heard several in the audience yelling traitor at him. Dixie Dynamite Billy Knight pinned Josh Storm securing victory for our heroes and foiling the plans of the So Fine Mafia.

The midweek preview for the weekend of 5/10--5/12

As usual Georgia suffers the fate of having too many great shows this coming up weekend instead of too few.  We are fortunate to live in a place that offers us so much great wrestling, and fans need to take advantage of it.

Friday night UIW will be in Dallas GA at Paulding County High School. General Admission tickets are $5 and $10 for ringside . This card is stacked from top to bottom with great matches. The match to look forward, in my opinion, is Kyle Matthews vs. "Hit for Hire" Bobby Moore. Kyle Matthews is attempting to get votes for TNA Gutcheck right now. He's in Bracket 11, and voting for that bracket is May 14 through May 16th. Vote for Kyle Matthews to get a TNA Gut Check because he is one of the best wrestling talents in this state. Josh Storm and Frankie Valentine are also set to battle. Josh Storm still has much to answer for for turning on UIW fans and turning against Frankie Valentine leading to the breakup of the team Full Throttle. The lovely Queen of the Empire Pandora will face the equally lovely Nina Monet. Billy Knight is scheduled to wrestle The Mercenary. The So Fine Mafia and Stupid are set to take on the Paulding County High School Coaches in a 6 man tag match. Also scheduled to appear are Murder One and Bull Buchanan.

NWA Atlanta is back in Locust Grove this Saturday. Bell time is 7pm. Scheduled to appear are AJ Steel, Fry Daddy, The Patriot, Axil and Andy Anderson, and Prince Akbar and his Afghan Assassins.

On Saturday afternoon the Haralson County Rec Center in Buchanan GA is hosting the Annual Willpower Event to benefit Haralson County Special Olympics. Doors open at 2pm, and the show starts at 3pm. Tickets at the door are $8 for General Admission and $10 for ringside seating. The Awesome Ones (Awesome T.C. and Awesome Cody Gunn) are fighting the BFF's. Fred Yehi will face Epic Grant Mitchell. Drew Adler will face Marko Polo, and Scott Spade will take on Red Rayne. There will also be appearances from Terry "The Jailhouse Rocker" Lawler and Sabrina, Wrestling's Wonder Woman. This is one of the shows I am attending this weekend.

Monstrosity Championship Wrestling will be in Avondale Estates on both Saturday and Sunday at Art-B-Que. In addition to wrestling, there is also a lot of live music. Admission to this event is free.

Pro Wrestling Resurrection is in Gainesville at the Megamart this and every Sunday. Mom's get in free to this weekend's show since it's mother's day. Tickets for Adults are $8, and $5 for kids. I'm attending this show on Sunday afternoon. My mother's day present every year is to spend the afternoon doing whatever I want, and my choice is to sit on the front row of a wrestling show and eat french fries. PWR Champion Chris Damian is set to defend his title against The Reckoning's Rick Michaels. (if he wears his pink this weekend, i shall not hesitate to call him pinkie pie.) The undead luchadors will defend their tag titles against Priceless Attraction. So come to the Mega Mart this Sunday afternoon and join me, The Wrestling Fan Girl in celebrating mother's day by watching wrestling and eating french fries.

Go out and support local independent wrestling this weekend!
Much love, Allie

C-H-I-K-today-A-R-A Chikara Hey Hey Chikara--The Ghost of You Clings May 4, 2013 Porterdale GA

I was fortunate enough to sit in the second row at Chikara's GA debut, The Ghost of you Clings, last night. This show was awesome. Before the show, I talked to Ophidian. Ophidian is a King Cobra.  He crawls into the ring on his belly when he enters.   I bought a poster of him, and I got his autograph. When he autographs pictures, he blows his cobra breath on them.  I liked the fact that he thanked me for coming out, and that he thanked me for supporting independent wrestling.

The show started with a match from PCW's own Washington Bullets against Shane Marx and the Jagged Edge. They really pulled out all the stops for this match. This was one of the best matches I've seen these four men engage in. The fans who were merely visiting to see Chikara really got into this match, and I think it will draw a new fan base for PCW for the next show on May 18th. The Washington Bullets won and the crowd went crazy.

Gavin Loudspeaker started the Chikara portion of our show by singing a protest song against Wink Vavasseur that was set to the tune of the Monkees television theme song.  Gavin's sing alongs are awesome, and they really set the tone of the show.

There was a large group in support of Shenron, who made his Chikara debut against Chuck Taylor. Chuck Taylor went and ripped up their sign, and then he did an elbow drop on it. Shenron beat Chuck Taylor and he made a great showing.

The Shard and Jigsaw beat Fire Ant and Assailant. We were disappointed by this because we really love the colony. I wonder if their momentum is down because Soldier Ant has left.

The next match was one that we were really looking forward to, Amasis vs. Kobald. Kobald is a blue faced goblin, and Amasis is known as the Funky Pharaoh. Kobald embraces his gimmick fully. I've heard recent radio interviews with him where he is 100% in character for 30-45 minutes at a time. He explained on Georgia Wrestling Now that while he was training as a wrestler he had to hide his goblin identity by wearing a human mask. Amasis won their match, and the crowd went crazy. I was pulling for Kobald because of the radio interviews. I think his character is one of the most interesting that I've observed in professional wrestling. 

Sugar Dunkerton took on Gran Akuma. Icarus got  Sugar Dunkerton disqualified because he interfered in the match. Dunkerton ended his alliance with FIST, and now he's a free agent. I'm certain this will be addressed on the June 2nd pay per view. I'm not certain what the consequences of this decision will be, but I can't wait to find out.

During intermission, almost every wrestler had their wares out. Loads of pictures, t-shirts, and autographs were available. I purchased a picture from Assailant. I didn't take enough pictures during this show because the venue was packed, and I mostly just felt like looking around.

The Extreme Colony with Deviant beat The Spectral Envoy. Ultramantis Black lost his cool and ripped off Arctic Rescue Ant's mask and was disqualified.

Tim Donst came out and started his crusade against Gavin Loudspeaker that has been going all season. Gavin hid behind the referee, and he came out into the audience on our side. We started yelling to Tim Donst to go home, and Gavin heard us and said it too. Tim Donst is terrible. He has minions in Steve the Turtle, Veronica Ticklefeather, and his most loyal minion Jakob Hammermeier. He's terrible to Jakob. He rips his shirt, he cuts pieces of his hair off, and he hits him repeatedly. Gavin tries to get Jakob to stand up to Tim, but Jakob's love of Tim held him faithful. Saturyne comes out to wrestle Tim and she beats him. The crowd went crazy during this match. No one had any issue with the fact that a female wrestler took on a man. I did hear a few "haha you got beat up by a girl" chants. Tim took out his anger at losing first on his minion, then he took it out on Gavin Loudspeaker. He laid him out, and then he cut off a piece of his long curly hair. He then put that hair in his mouth and chewed on it then spit it on the floor. Gavin was taken out on a stretcher.

Mark Angelosetti lost to Eddie Kingston who retained the grand championship. That was a very physical match. I cheered for Kingston, and my son cheered for Angelosetti.  Kingston has to defend the championship at every event because of a decree by Wink Vavasseur, the so-called director of fun. I'm very curious to see how long he can keep the belt because he's defending it so often. He defended twice this weekend, Friday in Gibsonville, N.C. and Saturday in Porterdale.

The final match was The Batiri vs. 3.0. My son and I came to the show wearing masks that resemble Obariyon and Kodama's facepaint.  When Kodama came to the ring, he looked at us like he saw a ghost because we were essentially wearing his face. He pointed us out to the referee and the rest of the crowd. 3.0 retained their tag team championships even though Kobald and Ophidian attempted to help the Batiri cheat.

I can honestly say this show was worth every minute I spent making fan gear to prepare for it, every minute I waited for the doors to open, every dollar I spent for tickets, and every dollar I spent to get photos of my favorite wrestlers. I wish I'd taken more effort to get my pictures made with wrestlers because everyone was very friendly and they really appreciate their fans. I hope Chikara returns to GA again. I will definitely be there. Catch Chikara online on June 2nd for the Ippv Never Compromise. Go to chikarapro.com for ticket information and details on how to order the Ippv.