Carolina Wrestling Federation, under the FWA Carolinas banner, returned to the Lakeview Civitans Ballfield on Saturday, May 11th for a spectacular card dubbed "Spring Showdown"

In the opening contest, former ECPW and CWF regular Ethan Cage returned to the scene to battle newcomer Johnny Blaze. While Cage unquestionably had the edge for experience, the youngster Blaze surprised Ethan and scored the pinfall to win the bout.

Up next was a continuation of the feud between Rob the Bull McBride and Iceman Joe Storm and the $outh$ide Playas. Both teams fought with their usual velocity and in the end, the Playas were victorious thanks to their patented 3P (Playas Phat Phinish). After the bout, Iceman Joe Storm continued his assault on the Playas with his trusty kendo stick, until Commissioner William L. Cross intervened and reiterated his previous statements that Storm not use the kendo stick. Storm continued defying the commish, until he actually suspended Storm from competing in FWA Carolinas! More information on this surprising turn of events will definitely be forthcoming, specifically, where does this leave the FWA Carolinas Tag Team Championships that Storm holds one-half of?

Very few rivalries in FWA Carolinas have shown the intense hatred of Otto Schwanz vs Madd Maxx. These two experienced and rough competitors wrote another chapter in their hard-hitting and wild feud at Spring Showdown, with Schwanz getting the win in this encounter, but only after nailing Maxx with a foreign object with the referee down. After the match, Maxx chased Schwanz throughout the ballfield, plundering him with various weapons and showing without a doubt that their war is far from over.

The independent dream team of C.W. Anderson and Cham Pain were out next to take on Brad Stutts' combination of Corey Edsel and Kenny James. Anderson, who was fresh from a tour of Zero One in Japan, wore down James with physical body shots and suplexes, but didn't fair quite as well against the 330-pound Edsel, who hit a gorgeous frog splash for a nearfall. A pier six erupted and at one point, Pain dropped both Edsel and his manager with a stunner and reverse DDT simultaneously. The end came with James nailing Pain with a thunderous belly-to-belly suplex for a nearfall, but eventually meeting Anderson's spinebuster to give the victory to Anderson and Pain. Good match.

FWA Carolinas Cruiserweight Champion Sexton Tyler defended his title against "the Original Freak Show" Nemesis up next. Nemesis had a great outing and seemed poised to take the title at several instances but Tyler continues to prove his worth as champion and was too much for the Freak Show, putting away Nem after his vertical suplex into an Ace crusher. After the match, Tyler offered a handshake to Nemesis, who accepted, but then dropped Tyler with a neckbreaker before leaving the ring by himself.

The Hostile Youth Project, specifically consisting of J.T. Sparxx, Slick Ric Converse, and GeeStar, accompanied by Brad Stutts, Special K, and Corey Edsel battled Gemini Kid, Mikael Yamaha, and Amber Holly in a six-person mixed tag. The Hirydaz were clearly at a disadvantage, firstly because there was no way to really be sure whether or not they could trust their partner, and secondly with all the members of HYP surrounding the ring. Gemini proved to be trustworthy though, more than holding his own throughout the contest, and it seemed the Hirydaz and Gemini had the bout won following Yamaha's Yamikaze Driver on Converse. However, the match had totally broken down by that point and referee Vern Stephens was out of position, enabling Stutts to slip in and crack Yamaha across the back of the head with a briefcase. He then rolled Converse over onto Yamaha and made a quick exit as Stephens counted three and awarded the victory to the Hostile Youth Project. But that was not enough for HYP, as Special K entered the ring and challenged Amber Holly. Yamaha and Gemini backed off and agreed to let Amber handle this fight herself, but it proved to be a trap as Converse and Sparxx took out Yamaha and Gemini from behind, and GeeStar attacked Amber Holly. Gee and Stutts held Amber down as Special K watched and Edsel dropped a big splash on Amber. A hush fell over the crowd as Gemini and Yamaha finally made the save but the damage had been done. An angry Gemini Kid made a challenge for Edsel to fight a man on June 1st, namely himself, rather than picking on a defenseless woman. Edsel seemed apprehensive about the match, but Stutts readily accepted the challenge, much to the chagrin of Edsel. GeeStar and Stutts reassured Corey to trust them as Holly was helped from the ring.

In the main event, Don & Rocky Kernodle defeated Main Attraction, the combination of "Mr. Business" Scott Powers and "Mr. Pleasure" Christopher Steel. The hometown boys would not be denied in this encounter and after dragging Powers and Steele seemingly all over the ballfield, scored the double pin after using the same briefcase from earlier in the night on both men.

FWA Carolinas returns to the Graham Rec Center on Saturday June 1st where Gemini Kid has challenged Corey Edsel for a one-on-one match-up, also Brandi Alexander returns for an FWA World Women's Title re-match against Amber Holly.

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