New heavyweight champion crowned in Chipley

By Jay Felsberg

Correspondent

It was the night of a new champion, the arrival of a new face in management, and plenty of great action as the American Wrestling Federation returned to Chipley on May 17.

The new arrival was the “Controversial Eddie G”, formerly of NWA-TNA. Eddie told the crowd (which he treated pretty much like idiots) that he was in the area hunting for new talent to manage, and that Chipley “sucks”.

Opening match was Canadian heel Aeon Flexx versus the popular Confederate Kid in the first round of the Junior Heavyweight tournament. The match featured plenty of back-and-forth action. The tide turned when the Kid missed his Southern Star flying headbutt, Flexx countered with a low-blow “mule kick”, and put the grapevine on the Kid for the win. After the match the Kid cleared out the ring.

Eddie G brought one of his recruits, D-Money, to the ring to face Backdraft. The rugged firefighter was getting the upper hand over the newcomer, when Eddie G threw some sort of powder in Backdraft’s eyes, allowing D-Money to take advantage and powerslam Backdraft for the pin. Backdraft returned and put a figure-four leglock on D-Money, but once again Eddie G used the mysterious powder to get his wrestler to safety. Backdraft made it clear that neither D-Money of Eddie G has heard the last of this.

Forsaken (accompanied by Hellkat, who returned after a few weeks off with an injury, and tag-team partner Sinn), met Jason Hero (accompanied by Amber the American Beauty) in another Junior Heavyweight elimination match. There was plenty of fast action from the two high flyers, and several instances of interference from Hellkat and Sinn. Hero appeared to be taking charge of the match when Aeon Flexx came to the ring with a steel chair. Rather than use the chair, the Canadian tossed it to Hero and alerted the referee, who disqualified the Real American Hero.

Luscious Larry, Dandy Jack and Risqué Rachel arrived next and made it clear that they were still unhappy that Commissioner Karen McDaniel banned the Luscious One from the Junior Heavyweight tournament. Larry grandly told the crowd that his banishment was an injustice of the worst sort. However, Dandy Jack told the crowd that he searched the wilds of Africa “from Nigeria to Uganda” to find a participant for the Junior Heavyweight tournament. Jack then unveiled “Mr. C”, a masked man who Jack said weighed (according to “certified scales”), 173-3/4 pounds. Mr. C looked a bit bigger than 173-3/4 pounds; in fact, everything below the mask looked suspiciously like the maniacal and increasingly unpredictable Curtis LeRoy.

This brought the Commissioner to the ring, whereby Jack produced his set of “certified scales” (which looked like a discard from the local second-hand store). While Jack was attempting to get Commissioner McDaniel to take his claims seriously, Mr. C unmasked himself to hear the crowd better, and was indeed revealed as Curtis LeRoy. While confusion reigned in the ring (and the commissioner dressed down Jack), Confederate Kid and Backdraft stormed the ring and attacked the injured Luscious Larry with chairshots, busting the Luscious One wide open. The two attackers were victims of Larry and Jack’s interference in previous matches, and they made it clear it was time for a payback.

“You set it up, we knock it down”, the Kid told Larry, while Backdraft mockingly told Larry that, “You don’t look too luscious now”. Larry had the last word: “I am going to hurt you both REAL BAD”.

Ronnie Fargo had a bye for the Junior Heavyweight tournament, but the man from Memphis came to the ring with his valet, Valerie Velvet, and met Street Bandit. “I could get a bye, but nobody paid their hard-earned money to see me get a bye”, Fargo told the crowd. “I’m going to ear my paycheck tonight”. Fargo also told SB that, “School is in session, and this is Fargo 101”.

One of the best matches of the night followed. Fargo took control early with a great spinning kick, but the Bandit hit a reverse Walls of Jericho and worked over Fargo’s left knee for most of the match. There was a question if the dynamic Fargo could continue, but he overcame the bad knee to hit the Fargoplex for the pin.

Next up was a battle between Sinn (accompanied by Forsaken and Hellkat) against former WWE superstar, Road Dogg Jesse James. Road Dogg welcomed Sinn to the Dogg House (“We have the sin twins and the whore of Babylon”), and told the crowd that, “Jesus, I’m sorry, but I’m about to kick Sin’s ass”.

That may have been RDJJ’s intention, but the representative of Freakshows of Faith more than held his own. There was great action (and interference by Hellkat and Forsaken). Road Dogg was gaining the upper hand after Sinn missed a Swanton Bomb, but Forsaken nailed Road Dogg with his trusty STOP sign from under the ring, Sinn hit a moonsault, and the upset was complete! Jason Hero hit the ring to clean house, and Road Dogg said that, “There looks like some kind of coalition here”. The Dogg also made it clear that, “There are dues to be paid”.

Dues were paid in the tag-team title match as the Assassin and Kris Korrupt (accompanied by Eddie G) challenged Chief Little Bear and Raine Quapone for their belts. “Three more fruit booties”, said Raine as he and his partner prepared to defend their crowns.

The match was intense, with the challengers and their manager mostly ganging up on Raine. Little Bear tried to save his partner several times, but the popular Native American wrestler kept getting stopped by the referee and Raine continued to get blasted by the three “fruit booties”. However, the big man from Chicago finally made it to his corner and Little Bear came in to take charge. After giving the challengers a well-deserved pasting, the Bear was grabbed from behind by the Assassin while Eddie G distracted the ref. However, Kris Korrupt clobbered his partner instead of Little Bear, Raine applied the Rainedrop, and Little Bear got the pin to keep the belts.

After the match, Eddie G sent the Assassin after referee Ricky Blake, and the masked man hit the ref with a chokeslam. The tag champions returned to clear the ring, but their opponents laid down a challenge: “Shine up your little gold belts, and sharpen up your little tomahawk – you will need them. Eddie G and The First Family will beat the crap out of you two in Chipley, FL”!

AWF Heavyweight Champion Blake Richards mocked Number One contender, Ceazar, by making up as “Little Ceazar”, complete with inflatable muscles (and the “24-inch guns”) and fake beard. If The Man, The Myth and The Legend tried to get Ceazar angry, he succeeded. The battle between the two was the highlight of the night. Ceazar missed a spear and hit the ringpost, and Richards was in control for most of the match. However, try as he may, the champion could not put the big man from Las Vegas away. First a big splash and a bulldog gat a two count. Then another splash got another two count. The a distraction by Blake’s lovely valet, Trysten, gave MML a chance for a chair shot, but still he only drew a two count on Ceazar. The big man came back, blasted Richards with the Wishmaster, and captured the AWF championship belt!

“The guns just had a bad night”, a crestfallen Richards said after the match. “You win some, you lose some”.

“It feels pretty good”, the new champion said after the match.

“I hit my shoulder and I didn’t know if I could come back. It took awhile to regain the momentum. But, in the end, even with the help he got, Blake ran out of ways to win and ran out of ways to cheat”.

The new champion acknowledged the support of the large crowd in the Roulhac Gym that evening.

“You have to be excited about winning the gold”, Ceazar said. “I really appreciate the fans, and the support at ringside was fantastic. I owe a lot to the fans, and I will wrestle my heart out for them as long as I am in the AWF”.

Ceazar also laid down a challenge to anyone wrestling in the AWF: “Any of you marks in the back who want a shot, just stand in line and make a wish”.