The Carolina Wrestling Federation under the FWA Carolinas banner returned to Graham, NC on October 13th for Tribute, a show to benefit the New York City Fire Dept. September 11th Relief Fund. The show opened with former NWA U.S. Champion Don Kernodle cutting a passionate promo about his love for his country.
The Gentleman's Club, Lord Everett DeVore and Latin Lover made their way to the ring for the opening contest, a tag encounter against the $outh$ide Playas. DeVore and Lover spent a good portion of the match controlling J-Money and eventually got the surprising victory. The finish came after L.A. Ca$h was incapacitated on the outside and Lover caught Money with a kneedrop coming off the top rope for the pin.
Caprice "Ice" Coleman was out next to face Rico Rage. Caprice looked crisp as always and hit some nice aerial offense including a springboard moonsault off the middle turnbuckle and a top-rope legdrop. Rage caught Coleman with a chokeslam for a close nearfall late in the bout, but eventually Coleman caught him with the Colesnap for the pin.
A mixed tag team grudge match was next as Gemini Kid and GeeStar took on Sexton Tyler and Amber Holly. Gemini attempted to convince Sexton that his brother Mikael Yamaha was holding him down in the promotion, but to no avail as Tyler nailed Gemini in the middle of his speech. Gemini and GeeStar took turns working on Amber until she made the tag to Sexton who turned the complexion of the match around, leading to frequent tags by he and Holly. All four ended up in the ring but they were able to toss out GeeStar, leaving Gemini to get caught in a sunset flip by Amber. Amber had trouble getting the larger Gemini over and he was taunting her until he was caught with a superkick by Tyler for the pin. Good effort from all four.
Otto Schwanz defeated Bad Brad Hunter. The crowd in Graham was all over Otto, chanting "chicken" at the former Dupp. Very Memphis-esque, back and forth match with heavy crowd involvement, which ended after Otto caught Hunter in the Swinging Schwanz.
Main Attraction entered the ring next, accompanied by The Stro, to face "NiteStic" Eddie Brown and Playboy Bert Tripp, normally rivals, but partners on this occasion. All four looked good throughout the match, which ended when NiteStic walked out on his partner, leading to Tripp getting pinned following a death valley driver from Scott Powers.
NEW National Champion Rob the Bull McBride was out next to take on ECPW Heavyweight Champion Iceman Joe Storm. Storm caught McBride off-guard with a death valley driver for a nearfall, but McBride answered right back with the Saturday Night Superstar, which Storm kicked out of. The referee went down late in the match, leading to an appearance from Corey Edsel, who superkicked Storm leading to a two count. McBride and Corey tried to interfere again, but it backfired and McBride ended up being rammed into Edsel, leading to a Crippler Crossface from Storm for the victory. Edsel stormed the ring and the two went to work on Storm until Granite made the save, chokeslaming Edsel.
FWA Carolinas Cruiserweight Champion Mikael Yamaha defeated William Wealth III with a northern lights suplex to retain the title. Yamaha had Amber Holly in his corner as always. Wealth is still recovering from injuries and both men looked sluggish over all.
Up next was the 29-man Royal Rumble, which ended with Rico Rage, The Stro, Yamaha, Tyler, and Caprice Coleman as the final five. 'Stro and Rage made a pact in the midst of the action, but both men ended up eliminating each other and arguing to the back. Tyler and Yamaha doubled-up on Caprice, but Tyler was sent soaring over the top-rope by a misplaced shot from his brother intended for Coleman. It was down to Yamaha and Coleman. Yamaha sent Coleman over the top to win the match, he thought, but Caprice held on and grabbed Yamaha with a headscissors to pull him over the top to the floor and win the battle royal. After the match, Caprice announced that since the prize for winning the battle royal was a shot at any FWA Carolinas title, he would take his shot at Mikael Yamaha's Cruiserweight strap. The two men shook hands until Caprice caught Yamaha off-guard with a standing back kick and walked from the ring laughing.
Promoter Jeff Rudd was very pleased with the show, which raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 to send to the NYC Fire Dept. September 11th Relief Fund. "Thanks to everyone who donated their time - referees, wrestlers, announcers, everyone…it was a group effort to raise this money and I am very proud of everyone involved. I think it was a great show," he was quoted saying as the ring came down following an outstanding night of action. CWF/FWA Carolinas returns to Graham on November 17th.