From Larry Goodman: Sal Rinauro won the Dream Maker Invitational Rumble to become the number one contender for the PWA Heritage Cham...
From Larry Goodman:
Sal Rinauro won the Dream Maker Invitational Rumble to become the number one contender for the PWA Heritage Championship held by Kevin Blue. In so doing, Rinauro earned another shot at the title that repeatedly eluded him at Peachstate’s 10th Anniversary show on June 16.
Musketeer Dante appeared to be the unlikely winner of Dream Maker. Blue could not have been happier until Dante unmasked revealing Rinauro.
Peachstate had to make the best of a bad situation as their carefully laid plans went awry. A late venue change messed up the unique stipulation of the Dream Maker, which was billed as a ladder match rumble.
The VFW Fairgrounds management screwed up and double booked the building with a tractor show. Peachstate was the odd man out and had to scramble to secure another venue and a ladder match was out of the question with the low ceiling at the Villa Rica Civic Center.
Peachstate came through with a good show despite the difficult circumstances, although the momentum the company hoped to be to building for Peachstate X was derailed to a degree. Crowd responses were strong all night but attendance was clearly affected with just over 100 in the building.
(1) Tyson Dean defeated Corey Hollis via DQ in 12:32. Big pop for Dean who had great match with Gladiator Jeremiah last time and is back to being a full-fledged babyface. The Peachstate faithful weren’t feeling him as a heel. Hollis sauntered to the ring in Country Slack mode. They didn’t touch until the three minute mark as Hollis got the crowd riled up with his stalling. Dean put a hurt on Hollis, garnering near falls with a spinebuster and the spinning neckbreaker he usually uses as a finisher. Hollis managed to ground Dean and do as little as possible. Dean launched his comeback. Hollis was slow to rise after a Saito suplex and hit Dean with an unabashed shot to the testicles in front of referee Darryl Hall. Match was OK. They’ve got a better match in them.
Hollis said he does what he wants not what the people tell him to do (clearly). Called the match meaningless because he was going to win the Rumble and become champion. Perfect.
Commissioner Triston Michaels out with the Alliance (Shane Noles, AC Mack, Romeo, CB Suave, and PWA Women’s Champion Danielle Jeantet) Triston announced Survival Games for May 19 at the VFW Fairgrounds (a break with tradition as the War Games usually takes place at the Anniversary show). Logan Creed led Exotic Heathens (Brooklyn Creed, Tommy Too Much and Simon Sermon) to the ring. Logan got in Triston’s face and said he loved the idea but there was one problem: it was always a five on five match. Since Triston had given his wife’s title to Jeantet, Logan proposed adding the women as the fifth member of each team. The crowd weighed in with a “Yes!” chant. Triston noted that only four Exotic Heathens were present because Rick Michaels evidently couldn’t be bothered to be there. Be that as it may, his job was to make money so the women were in.
(2) Simon Sermon defeated Cameron Jackson in 7:59. Classic Sermon shenanigans had the crowd roaring. Simon molested Jackson to the point he was totally befuddled. Turnabout was unfair play as Jackson kicked the ropes to crotch Sermon. A crisp snap suplex couldn’t get the job done so Jackson tried to hit Sermon with his hockey mask. Sermon dropkicked the mask into Jackson’s face to score the pinfall. Entertaining in the way Sermon matches always are.
(3) AC Mack defeated Tommy 2 Much to regain the PWA No Limits Championship in 7:10. The mic malfunctioned during Mack’s self-aggrandizing intro. He handled it like a pro and never missed a beat. Mack’s background in theater came in handy as mic or no mic, he made himself heard. Too Much has remade himself and is now way over as a babyface. He danced his way to the ring to Trammps “Disco Inferno”. A disco character in 2018 strikes me as is quite the novel choice, especially for Tommy. Mack poked T2M in the eyes, unceremoniously tossed him to the floor and ran him into the ring post. Mack’s chops put a smile on Tommy’s face. More chops = bigger smile. Tommy choked him with his wrist tape and used a diving headbutt to the jewels. Like Sermon, he can do no wrong at Peachstate.Tommy put Mack’s feet through the ceiling tiles on a vertical suplex. They did a sequence to highlight the No Limits (no DQ) rules. Tommy applied a figure four using ropes for leverage. Mack made the ropes but no ropes break allowed. Tommy was about to finish Mack off when Mack punted him in the groin and pinned him. Good chemistry. Match worked like a charm. Mack makes a great heel champion. No loss of luster for Tommy losing the way he did.
Mack ran his mouth about winning the Dream Maker and main-eventing the anniversary show until Too Much chased him to the back with a chair.
(4) Beautiful Bald Besties (Michael Stevens & Zac Edwards) defeated The Alliance (CB Suave & Romeo) by DQ in 9:06. The tag titles have been held up since the March 3 event due to disputed finish between Besties and H8 Club. Besties teamwork with Romeo on the receiving end early. Stevens looking buff these days. Suave pulled Romeo out of harm’s way and planted Edwards on the ring frame. Edwards isolated by the heels. Suave hit a trifecta of back suplexes leading to northern lights suplex by Romeo for two. Stevens ran wild with the hot tag. Match had broken down with all four in when H8 Club (Jackson & Stunt Marshall) attacked the Besties for the DQ. Match was fine. The point was the post match…
Sermon and Too Much made the save. H8 Club took a powder. As Romeo was taking a beating from the babyfaces, Sermon hit Edwards by accident and the ensuing animosity could not be resolved.
(5) Musketeer Dante won the Dream Maker 18 man Invitational Rumble in 34:45. Blue joined “Fast” Eddie Layne on commentary. It was a tough night for Edwards. He started with Noles and was totally abused by the Alliance as Romeo and Mack were the next two entrants. Dante made a comical entrance as he gingerly climbed to the top rope for a crash and burn dive. Dante was also destroyed by the Alliance. Noles yawned as they waited for the competitor number 6 – Adam Priest. He took it to the Alliance. It was three on three but Edwards and Dante were in rough shape. Sermon was next. He cleaned house on Alliance and went at it with Edwards but got tossed out by Mack. #8 was the pint-sized “Hot Tamale” Daniel Devine. Priest was giving the Alliance fits. He skinned the cat three times to avoid elimination. #10 was Musketeer Aramis doing a Bushwhacker walk. Aramis unmasked revealing Rick Michaels. He eliminated Noles and eliminated himself to continue his attack on Noles. The other wresters pulled them apart with the fans chanting “let them fight”. Hot stuff. Logan was next. The eliminations came fast and furious – Mack, Romeo, Priest and Edwards were all history. Logan press tossed Devine on top of them. Stevens was next. #13 Marshall stalled until Steven forced him in with Logan. Marshall got in his knees for a moment of prayer. Logan and Stevens double choke slammed Marshall. Stevens tried to sneak up on Logan and paid the price. #13 Suave went right at Logan and escaped Logan’s choke slam with a cool flip. Suave eliminated Stevens. #14 was the returning Chris Spectra. Hollis was next but stayed out of the fray and told the other competitors what they should do. Logan eliminated Suave and Spectra and went after Hollis, who fed Marshall to the monster. The hapless Marshall got choke slammed again. Dean was next and went right after Hollis with a TKO. Marshall was hanging on by a thread until #17 Jacksons saved him. Jackson and Marshall doubled up on Logan. H8 Club tried to stab each other in the back and both were eliminated by Hollis. Too Much was last to enter. Logan, Dean and Too Much surrounded Hollis. He hit Dean low and poked Logan in the eyes. Dean eliminated Too Much and got dumped out by Hollis. It was down to Logan and Hollis. Logan gave Hollis a chokebreaker but ended up on the apron and Mack ran down and pulled him off. Hollis was starting to celebrate when Musketeer Dante reappeared and dumped him from behind.
Blue came to the ring, all smiles, clearly anticipating a cake walk at the anniversary show. Blue shook Dante’s hand. Dante unmasked revealing Rinauro for the biggest pop of the night. Hollis hit the ring and ran right into a superkick from Rinauro. Hollis was out cold at Rinauro’s feet. Blue looked like he had seen a ghost.
The ladder would have added an element of excitement as the match could have ended at any point in time. Nevertheless, the match told a number of juicy stories and got the desired response at the end.
The show closed with crowd chanting for Sal and Blue at the curtain making the delete gesture.
Epilogue - Hollis laid in the ring motionless until the building was almost empty. Logan finally came out and carried his sorry ass to the back.
