Thanks to Larry Goodman for sending in the following report:
Steve Corino escaped from Valdosta, Georgia with the AWA World Heavyweight Title in the main event of the AWA Spinebuster show at the Lowndes County Convention Center Sunday night. Tully Blanchard had Corino laid out with his patented slingshot suplex when C. W. Anderson hit the ring to cause a disqualification.
But it was the comedy of Sean Davis that provided the entertainment highpoint of the evening, as the Heartbreak Express defeated Salvatore Rinauro and Tony Mamaluke to retain the AWA Georgia Tag Team Titles.
(1) Tommy Dame beat Kid Kross in 1:52. Horrible stuff. The crowd hated it. The combination of skinny legs and the beer belly made Dame look more like the guy from the local Jiffy Lube than a pro wrestler. At least somebody had the good sense to give them only two minutes.
(2) Prodigette beat Lori Lorelei via submission in 5 minutes flat. Prodigette (the former ECW performer) wrestles better than the WWE Divas and she’s comes with the giant boobs already installed. Prodigette did a beautiful monkey flip. Lorelei hit a back breaker and applied a single leg crab. Lorelei earned a pop with a lariat that leveled Prodigette. Lorelei went for a version of the three amigo suplexes. Prodigette blocked number three, hit a snap suplex and choked Lorelei out with a dragon sleeper. Sweet looking finish. Their wrestling was pretty good. Their punches and kicks were pretty terrible.
(3) Nightmare (with Gorgeous Gary) beat Dave Holiday in 8:30. Nightmare got amazing heat with convincing execution of basic heel tactics -pulling hair, using the closed fist and blatant choking. Gary made a pest of himself at ringside. Holiday landed a big blow and Nightmare wobbled one leg. Holiday put Nightmare down with a jumping knee strike. Holiday went after the mask. Nightmare loaded it up. Holiday hurt his hand by punching the foreign object. Nightmare headbutted Holiday with the loaded mask to score the pin.
(4) Chad “Big Bank” Barfield beat Chasyn Rance to retain the AWA Georgia Lightweight Title in 3:35. I was hoping to hear a promo from Big Bank. The mic failed and he only said a few words. That was a shame because Barfield is a way better talker than he is a wrestler. Rance’s entrance got the first big face pop of the night. Not much of a match. Barfield attacked Rance before the bell. Rance connected with a dropkick and Barfield bailed with the “sissy boy” chant ringing in his ears. Barfield heeled. Barfield tried to come off the top, and Rance suplexed his bony ass. Rance hit a superkick for a near fall. Rance went for a springboard move and Barfield used the momentum to roll through to score the pinfall.
(5) Brian Lee & Matt Kuma (with Prodigette) beat Bruce Steele & Frankie Capone (with Amy Love) in 7:55. Lee made a positive impression in his rising-from-the-ashes return to the indie scene. They woke the fans up in a big way by brawling wildly into the lobby area of the building. When the action finally moved inside the ring, Steel immediately used a half nelson slam on Lee. Steele ate a boot on a telegraphed backdrop attempt. Kuma tagged in and hit a spinkick for a near fall. Steele and Capone got heat on Kuma. Capone collided with Kuma to set up the hot tag. Lee cleaned house. There was a pregnant pause before Lee chokeslammed Steele for the three count. It looked like they had something else called for the finish, and Lee made the veteran move of calling an audible. Postmatch, Capone griped that Lee had not pinned the legal man (true).
(6) Krazy K beat Kevin Kantrell to retain the AWA World Lightweight Title in 7:48. For pure athleticism, K’s performance was the peak moment of the evening. Kantrell jumped K prior to the opening bell. K tossed Kantrell over the top. Fans called Kantrell a weasel and a loser. K hit the OverDoSe (reverse DDT legdrop), but Kantrell was in the ropes. Kantrell stepped up his corrupt and evil ways. In the most spectacular spot of the night, K did a headstand on the top turnbuckle and took a bump to the floor off Kantrell’s superkick. No disrespect intended, but K has more athletic ability than Jeff Hardy ever had. Kantrell got sustained offense for the first time. The crowd was quick in clamoring for the comeback. K connected with a wicked enzuigiri to the cheekbone. He laid the m*****f***** out. K hit the Power of Greyskull (Air Raid Crash neckbreaker), another OverDoSe, and finished Kantrell off with the Sprinkler elbow drop.
(7) The Heartbreak Express (Sean & Phil Davis with Gorgeous Gary) beat Salvatore Rinauro & Tony Mamaluke to retain the AWA Georgia Tag Team Titles in 15:00. A tour de force comedy performance by Sean. It wasn’t what he did, it was the way he did it. I can’t remember when, or if, I’ve ever laughed so hard at a pro wrestling show. Sean might be the best fat guy to ever don the hot pink tights. He’s fat, he’s funny and he can work. WWE is totally missing the boat by not signing him. But they only screw it up anyway. I would be remiss if I didn’t credit Phil for his excellence as Sean’s “straight man.” Rinauro and Mamaluke got a paltry pop for their entrance, but all of these guys knew what to do and it was mega heat by the time the bell rang. Sean pulled down his straps and sensuously rubbed his nipples. Rinauro pulled on his titties. Sean called for a DQ. They did the ride ’em cowboy deal. The building was in total uproar. Sean ended up with his face in Phil’s crotch. Phil reacted like somebody had lit his penis on fire, and struck a double biceps pose. “I’m not gay,” he professed. Sean attempted to climb the ropes for a pop. Phil and Gary had to give him a boost, and Sean ended up straddling the top rope. Mamaluke was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Rinauro and Mamaluke made quick tags as they worked on Phil’s arm. Mamaluke distracted Sean, so there was nobody in the corner when Phil looked for a tag. Express finally got the advantage on Rinauro. Sean hit a diving back splash and Mamaluke had to make a save. Sean used a short arm clothesline, and Sean was feeling it. Rinauro came back with Kung Fu chops and went through Phil’s legs to make the tag. Express did a perfectly-timed back-to-back collision sequence. Mamaluke and Rinauro hit two swank combo moves. Gary distracted referee Spanky Emerson. That gave Phil the opportunity to use his title belt on Mamaluke. 1..2..3.
Mamaluke said they was robbed by the sissy boys and demanded a rematch. Express refused to come out.
(8) John Davis beat Jimmy Rave to retain the AWA Georgia Heavyweight Title in 11:43. The psychology of this match was all screwed up. Rave was cast as the babyface, but the locals didn’t know him and the smarts think heel based on ROH. A healthy percentage of the local fans popped for Davis, even though he turned heel back in September. The situation called for strong measures to make the turn take, and it wasn’t happening. Davis tried to heel, but he could do no wrong in some folks’ eyes. Some nice work on the arm by Rave, but the fans seemed bored by it. Davis pounded away and went for a trifects of suplexes. Rave caught him with an inside cradle on numero tres. Davis and Rave traded some major league chops. Davis pressed Rave and let him free fall onto his belly. Davis tried to squash Rave’s head against the ringpost. Rave hit a running knee to the face. Both down for a count of eight. Rave on the comeback trail. Spear for a two count. Davis countered a spinning headscissors with a face plant. Rave barely kicked out in time. Davis hit a torture rack facebuster and then a lariat for another close two count. Rave came back with with the Disco 2000 (Ghanarea) for a near fall of his own. Rave went to the top but Davis crotched him. Davis hit a bigtime Splash Mountain for the win. Heel or face, this match (and Rave) did nothing but help Davis and the title.
(9) Team Spinebuster (Glacier & Vordell Walker & Bones Cutthroat beat C. W. Anderson & Seth Cruise & Brad Davis in a “Spinebuster Against the World” match (5:03). Yup, “The World” only lasted five minutes with the men of AWA Spinebuster. Glacier got a decent pop. The Spinebuster guys made Cruise their whipping boy until Anderson tripped up Walker. Walker tried to give Anderson raspberry legs. A headbutt left them both shook up. The heels isolated Glacier in their half of the ring for a bit. Glacier was able to DDT Cruise and hot-tag Walker. Walker popped the crowd with an enzuirgiri on Davis. Then it was all six men in the ring. They did a 3-way 10 punches spot. Walker pinned Cruise with a dragon suplex. The crowd liked the idea of the home team going over strong.
(10) Tully Blanchard (with Christi Ricci) defeated Steve Corino via DQ. Corino retained the AWA World Heavyweight Title (15:52). Given the circumstance (Corino is nursing a knee injury that is probably going to require surgery), this was about as good as it could be. One of the great things about Blanchard is the way he brings credible intensity to his matches. They both went to the ropes to force a break on the hammerlock. Blanchard went after the bad knee, but Corino kicked him off. Tully paced at ringside. Ricci consoled him. Ricci carries herself like a polished professional at ringside. And the woman is in shape and not in an unnatural way. Fans told Corino that he sucked. Blanchard threatened to bring a hammer into the ring. Fans didn’t care if Blanchard cheated. They hated Corino. Corino stuck a knee in Blanchard’s gut and dropped a pair of elbows for a near fall. Corino tried to introduce the ring bell as a weapon, but Emerson intervened. Blanchard attacked the knee. Corino scored a reversal that put Blanchard in a pinning predicament. But Blanchard was like a dog with a bone. The action moved to the ringside area. Blanchard came off the apron with an elbow drop to the top of Corino’s head. Blanchard tossed Corino into the flimsy ring barricade, collapsing it to the floor. Corino used sneakiness to take over. Corino tried to use the ropes for leverage, but Ricci shoved his feet off. Blanchard applied the figure four. It got over huge because they had built to it throughout the match. Corino made the ropes after a valiant struggle. Major collision between Emerson and Corino. The crowd popped for Blanchard’s slingshot suplex. Corino’s shoulder were down for three and beyond but no ref to count. While Ricci was reviving Emerson, Anderson hit the ring on Blanchard. Emerson came around and called for the bell. Glacier saved Blanchard from further punishment.
There was one postmatch problem for Corino, his belt was still laying in the ring. Corino approached the ring. Ricci slapped him across the face. Tully dared Corino to come and get it. Fans chanted Tully’s name. Blanchard stuck the belt through the ropes, so Corino could grasp it in his grubby hands.
Glacier offered his services to Blanchard. Glacier said that as a former member of the Four Horseman, Blanchard knew about the importance of watching peoples’ backs. Glacier offered to be Blanchard’s partner for a two night tag team tournament when Spinebuster wrestling returns to Valdosta on 3/10 and 3/11. The crowd popped for their handshake.
NOTES: Paid attendance was 250…Jody Peterman, the owner of AWA Spinebuster, has a wrestling radio show airing on Monday nights at 6pm on 105.9FM in Valdosta…Former NWA Wildside star, John Phoenix was in the audience. Phoenix trained Rinauro…Already confirmed for the 12 team tag tournament on 3/10 and 3/11 are Blanchard & Glacier, Midnight Express (Eaton & Condrey), K & Dexter Poindexter, Heartbreak Express, Rance & Holiday, Lee & Kuma, N8 Mattson & Ricky Landell, Corino & Anderson, Barfield & Cru Jones and Davis & TBA.
