Event Report: PWX Wrestling presents THE LINE HAS BEEN DRAWN

When fans of independent professional wrestling talk about top tier indie promotions you usually hear about a handful of organizations that have rightfully earned their a position of prominence in the sports entertainment business. Companies like Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Ring of Honor, Chikara, Pro Wrestling Syndicate, and others. They began small then grew to be dominant entities within the industry thanks to hard work on the part of folks behind the scenes and, of course, the tremendously talented competitors in their employ. It takes time to build the sort of credentials those promotions have gained, and I feel as though it won't be much longer until another company gets put into that same realm - that company being Premiere Wrestling Xperience.

If you trace its lineage, the company that is now PWX began sometime around 2007-2008 as Carolina Wrestling Association, making it one of at least 3 companies running under the "CWA" acronym in the Carolinas at the time. It would later become Premiere Wrestling Showcase before eventually settling as PWX. All that said, I will be forthright in stating that I have been a longtime fan of PWX and its various permutations, having followed them since the CWA days when they commonly ran shows at a recreation center in York, South Carolina. Back then wrestlers such as Team Macktion (Kirby & TJ Mack), Jake Manning, KC McKnight (now known as Scott Dawson in World Wrestling Entertainment's NXT division), and others were mainstays on the roster. The name of the company may have changed over the years but one thing that has remained constant is the quality of the talent associated with it as PWX features a roster consisting of up & coming stars such as Cedric Alexander, Tessa Blanchard, Caleb Konley, "The Southern Savior" John Skyler, and a host of others.

I had the opportunity to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina to see PWX's April 19, 2015 event, a show they dubbed THE LINE HAS BEEN DRAWN. This was obviously not my first PWX show, however it was the first one I'd been to in quite some time as the last event of theirs I attended was PHENOMENAL DEBUT in January of 2014.

The big thing about this particular event was an appearance by "The Samoan Submission Machine" Samoa Joe. Joe has been a star in companies like ROH and Total Non-stop Action Wrestling (aka, Impact) for the longest time. Earlier this year it developed that he & TNA had part ways, making him free to travel as he pleased. There have been reports online (which naturally means they are 100%, guaranteed true) that Joe is not taking any more bookings with independent promotions after April 23. This has lead many to speculate that he will be signing with World Wrestling Entertainment, joining a lineup in NXT that is already loaded to the gills with talented athletes. Time will tell whether or not Joe signs with WWE, but if the April 23 date is accurate and Joe does get a WWE contract that would mean his appearance with PWX would have been one of his final dates on the independent scene.

Joining me for this trip was my friend Billy Morris who was kind enough to drive us from Columbia, South Carolina to the venue, that being Escapade VIP in Charlotte, NC. Neither of us had ever been to this particular venue previously but we were anxious to see the layout of it as it seemed like a rather inviting joint for wrestling fans seeing as how it is frequented by - according to a recent flyer, anyway - former WWE Divas champion Eve Torres (as seen near the bottom of the document).

Nope, I couldn't not throw that into this write-up...


Here are results from THE LINE HAS BEEN DRAWN as well as my thoughts on each match.

1) "Mr. Match of the Night" Anthony Henry def. Lance Lude

If you've never seen either of them before, Henry and Lude are two guys whose combined weight is probably less than my own by roughly 70-100 pounds. They're definitely cruiserweights but they are incredible athletes in that their cardiovascular conditioning allows them to compete at such a high pace that their stamina alone is enough to earn the respect of an observer such as myself.

There were a few blown spots in this match, mostly coming from Lude's high-flying offensive maneuvers. I hate to be critical of these guys seeing as how they're the ones doing back flips off wet ring ropes whereas I'm the schlub sitting in the second row but it is what it is. When you combine that with the fact that matches of this nature often come off as highly choreographed, the misses gain that much more attention when looking back at the entire thing.

Regardless, the real story here is a continuation of a plot line that developed several months back when Henry's girlfriend Amber Young left him after they both became involved in a feud with "The Southern Savior" John Skyler. As a result of those dealings Young turned on Henry and after this match she managed to persuade Henry into viciously attacking Lude. Henry now stands as a man who's lost his girl and now through his actions potentially the respect of his peers.
 
2) PWX Innovative TV Championship Match: Mason Maddox def. "The Thoroughbred" Jaxson James, "Son of the South" Billy Brash & "Mr. Elite" Drew Meyers
 
Brash came into this match having successfully defended the PWX ITV title against the likes of Lance Lude and Moose at recent previous PWX events. The combination of having to stave off not only one but three moving pieces in this scenario would prove to be too much for him and his rather unstable personality to handle.

Maddox, being the least experienced of these four competitors, would have appeared to be the least likely to emerge as champion. He defied the odds, though, and bested three of the better up & coming talents on PWX's roster in the process.

3 and 4-way matches are always difficult to plot out thanks to their being so many variables to control. This one was very well paced and arranged, I thought, as the action never slowed down and there was a consistently interesting combination of talent engaged at all times. The finish was particularly clever and executed perfectly so as to get the crowd behind an unlikely new champ while not making the old one look weaker.

3) Tessa Blanchard def. Candice LeRae
 
Tessa Blanchard is the daughter of Tully Blanchard - yes, that Tully Blanchard, as in original member of the Four Horsemen Tully Blanchard. Tessa has less than two years in the business; while that would make her "green" in the eyes of many, the fact of the matter is that you'd be hard pressed to find someone who has worked harder to have earned the admiration she's garnered thus far. Candice LeRae, on the other hand, is one of the most widely respected female professional wrestlers competing today. In other words, it was only a matter of time before they wound up in the ring together.

This wasn't one of the best women's matches I've seen - in truth it was one of the best matches I've seen in quite some time, period. From start to finish these two were clicking on everything that was involved. The exchanges and segments were set up in such a way that Blanchard and LeRae both seemed capable of winning the match, and that's a welcome piece of booking there as it often seems like drawn talent get a certain level of privilege.

4) Best-of-Five Series: Submission Match - Chip Day def. "The Black Cloud" Joe Black
 
This was my first experience in seeing Joe Black compete live, although I have seen a number of his matches online. He's making a name for himself in North Carolina as I've seen him pop up on posters for a number of different organizations. Chip Day has become something of a mainstay with certain local companies - his focus seems to be on promotions in his home state of Georgia but he gets around plenty.

If you watch what these two did here it was very much a representation of puroresu in that it was a combination of heavy strikes and holds (obviously). I was not particularly caught up in this match. The submission stipulation didn't really meld all that well with the style of wrestling typically employed by either of these men in my opinion. It became kind of tedious to sit through, which is as harsh a criticism as I'll levy. I hate that this was the match out of their series that I got to see because I feel like under different circumstances they could've stolen the show.

5) The Bravado Brothers (Harlem & Lancelot) def. Country Jacked (Corey Hollis & Adam Page)
 
I don't know that I can introduce the Bravado Brothers with the proper amount of appreciation necessary without sounding like a gushing fanboy, so we'll leave my opening comments about them as simply that. (Seriously, for my money, they are one of the best tag teams in the world right now.) Country Jacked are the current PWX tag team champions but the title was not on the line here, for whatever reason. Page is a current Ring of Honor talent and Hollis has appeared on an ROH card in the past year or so, which should give you an idea of their level of talent if you've never encountered them yourself.

I don't think you'll find many tag team matches that go off better than this one did. The Bravados were at the top of their game and the teased strife between the members of Country Jacked was played out perfectly by Hollis & Page. This was a great set up for another encounter between these teams in the future that will likely involve the PWX tag team championship being on the line. Fantastic work all around!

6) "The Southern Savior" John Skyler def. Johnny Gargano
 
John Skyler is one of many talents who would likely have a contract with WWE or some other larger organization if only he was a few inches taller. (He's had several matches with them where he was used as "enhancement talent", including one televised contest within the past year where he and another local competitor took on the Ascension.) It's sad that 2 or 3 inches in height can be all that keeps a person from being viewed as a legitimate prospect but that's the state of this business - as much as it is about ability it's also about presentation. Johnny Gargano (otherwise known as Johnny Wrestling) could be put into that same category of person, although he's at least enjoyed exposure on a grander stage thanks to his involvement with groups like Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Evolve. Skyler himself even made a point of this as he talked about Gargano being one of "his doppelgangers" prior to the match.

For a guy who has been criticized for only being able to have "good matches with his friends", Skyler made an excellent showing for himself here. He & Gargano are near mirror images of one another, meaning it was a very even match-up physically. Gargano looked to outdo Skyler on a number of occasions with his athleticism and advanced experience but Skyler was ultimately able to get the Duke.

7) The Revolt (Caleb Konley & Zane Riley) def. Worst Case Scenario (Ethan Case & Elijah Evans IV)
 
The Revolt is a group hellbent on standing up to "the man" behind the scenes at PWX, that being owner Brian Kanabroski and his minions, specifically "The" Tommy Thomas. Why do they feel the need to stand up to him? I'm not entirely certain seeing as how Konley has been at or near the main event of almost every PWX show and Riley is awesome regardless of where he's at on the card. Nevertheless, here on this night they found themselves facing Worst Case Scenario, a well-traveled tag team that has earned the adulation of their growing fan base by way of a combination of colorful personalities, classic tag team maneuvers, and a ton of talent.

The only criticism I have for this match is the fact that with WCS teasing strife in their team it made them the second unit to have expressed such sentiment in one show. It wound up having less of an impact than it should have, kind of like how by this point in the program there had been an excessive number of dives to the outside (resulting in a rather humorous number of broken chairs from where fans at ringside had been landed on) making them feel less meaningful.

8) Samoa Joe vs. Cedric Alexander ruled a no contest after Skyler interfered

If you're a fan of professional wrestling and you don't know who Samoa Joe is, then you're way too far behind on matters of state for me to catch you up in these confines. Suffice to say the man's a legend, having dominated the likes of ROH, TNA, and the indies for many, many years. With the possible exception of AJ Styles, he's one of few American talents to have done all that he has without ever setting foot in a WWE ring. That may or may not be changing in the near future as he's allegedly either signed a contract with them or has at the very least had talks with them about doing as much. With that in mind, the possibility exists that this match would be one of if not his last independent bout, making the notion that it would be against PWX heavyweight champion Cedric Alexander all the more poignant.

I had the opportunity to see Joe wrestle "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner at a TNA house show in Columbia, South Carolina back in August of 2006. That was almost a decade ago, and back then Joe was the young upstart whereas Steiner was the old veteran. Now it feels like the roles have changed in this setting as Alexander is the one with youth and Joe is the one with the mileage.

My preconceived thoughts on this match going into it were that it would be a fun thing to watch but it likely wouldn't end with any kind of definitive conclusion because it realistically couldn't. What happens if Joe wins? He's the PWX champ and he's got to either come back to defend the title or it winds up being stripped from him when he can't fulfill his obligations, neither of which would serve any real purpose moving forward. What happens if Alexander wins clean? Good luck convincing anyone in that audience from now on that Cedric is beatable because he just put down one of the best there is. The only real option was for the bout to end via interference of some variety and that came in the form of John Skyler taking a shot at referee Mitch Blalock first before setting his sights on Joe. This did feel like Joe (pardon my French) "getting his shit in" at times and it was a predictable finish but neither took away from my overall enjoyment of the match.

Final Thoughts

My nit-picking aside, this was a fantastic show top to bottom. It's more clear to me now than it ever has been that PWX wants to be the preeminent promotion here in the southeast. They have the production, they have the talent, and they certainly have the financing to pull it off. If they can maintain this kind of pace, I have no doubt in my mind that within 2 or 3 years time you're going to hear fans on a national level talking about PWX the same way they do PWG, Pro Wrestling Syndicate, Beyond Wrestling, and other more well known indies.

Rasslin' with Redbeard - Episode 15

You knew it was coming...

Our Road to Building a Family - Legalese, Antibiotics, Baby Food, Easter Bunnies, Car Seats, and Grandmas

It's been a while since I have sat down to write a blog, period, but it feels like it's been an especially long time since I've written one about the continued development of our little family. I hate to say it because I rather enjoy writing long, drawn out blog entries but I'm going to do my best to keep this one concise. I feel as though some bullet points are in my near future, which is probably the best mechanism available for keeping myself on topic and not getting too far off into the kind of rambling for which I'm known. This site is called Redbeard's Rambling, after all.

* Legalese

We have not had any real contact with the court system since January when we had a hearing that wound up having to be continued due to the fact that there was paperwork missing from the filing that DSS had generated. We were told then that the follow up hearing would be expedited and that it would hopefully combine several maneuvers to completing the process into one session, yet here we are roughly 4 months later and we have nothing new to share.

My wife has done what she can to keep in contact with the paralegal involved (I'll add that she's been nothing but vigilant throughout this whole shooting match) and the response we've gotten is essentially "I'll check on that for you..." then nothing else happens. I feel as though this aspect of the adoption process will grow to frustrate my wife & I substantially going forward because we are both headstrong individuals and there is literally nothing we can do to move things along. Truly "hurry up and wait" is not something either of us do all that well. Of course I say that then I'm immediately reminded of the fact that there have been several stages to this process where we could literally do nothing to impact our standing in the situation. It is what it is, and regardless of what we may encounter next we remain confident that this is just one more hurdle. The Duke is our little boy and if it takes years for him to be legally recognized as that then so be it - he'll still be ours and he'll be loved, adored, spoiled, and so many other things because that's what he deserves.

* Antibiotics

The Duke isn't unlike any other baby in that he's brand new to the world and, as such, prone to getting hit by any number of infections. This is somewhat compounded by the fact that he's in daycare and also gets to spend some time with other babies at our church while my wife & I go to "big people" church. I do love our daycare but I will be quick to label any such facility as a breeding ground for germs. Don't take that the wrong way, though - it's a good thing. After all, if he never gets any exposure to bugs his immune system won't develop as it should.

That said, Duke has had a few bouts with colds and here most recently he's gotten an ear infection. These are the kind of things an antibiotic is good for and he's currently getting the third such treatment he's received in his lifetime, this one an effort to clear up what was left of the ear infection. The tricky thing about antibiotics, though, is that they do interesting things with his digestive system and bowel movements - and by "interesting" I mean his poops are of the "OH DEAR GOD!" variety.

* Baby Food

We've begun to put Duke through his paces in regard to letting him experience different varieties of baby food. We've adopted the format of giving him a new flavor every week and thus far we have moved from bananas to peas to pears and I believe the next step is green beans.

Of those he took most easily to bananas, perhaps not surprisingly given their sweetness. I tried them myself and they are certainly quite tasty. They'd likely be a good additive to a smoothie or could even be frozen for an icy treat. The peas didn't go over so well at first as he all but rejected them. The expression he had on his face when I fed him peas was as if he meant to say "Father, what have I done? Why have you betrayed me?" Given that reaction I was shocked to find out that mixing the peas with the bananas wound up being palatable for him - go figure.

Pears yielded an entirely different reaction, one that I wasn't expecting. Evidently the pears had a tartness to them, and Duke scrunched up his face accordingly when eating them for the first time. I have video of this and it is absolutely priceless.

These are the kinds of things people who aren't parents have never had the joy of seeing. This life, this person, who is so knew to the world and all that's in it has so much to look forward to enjoying. It's simply amazing.

* Easter Bunnies

Holidays present unique opportunities for parents to dress up their children in outfits they'll likely only wear once and, on occasion, have their picture taken with a person dressed as a giant rodent. Such was the case for Duke's first Easter as we took him to one of the local malls to meet the Easter Bunny set up therein.

Our fear was that he would see the humanoid hare and respond with bloodcurdling screams of terror, as some children are prone to doing when faced with such beings. Duke's reaction was all business. He never so much as cracked a smile, which we believe was due to him having some sort of innate ability to sense when cameras are around. Catching him smiling in a photograph is about as easy to do as getting into Metallica. This being the case, we have a set of pictures of him with his first Easter Bunny experience and he looks every bit as though he'd just as soon be somewhere else. He's not sad, he's not angry, he's just kind of meh. Given some of the alternatives, I can live with that.

We considered this a dry run for our upcoming adventure to Walt Disney World in November. Even though Duke might not smile for the camera whilst in the grasp of a costumed character, hopefully he'll at least continue to be agreeable with the idea of meeting the likes of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and all their cohorts.

* Car Seats

One of the items that was very generously given to us when we first brought Duke home was his first car seat, that being a Chicco KeyFit model. We have used that seat for more than 5 months, moving it between our vehicles with a level of ease I didn't think was possible out of an infant car seat. Alas, the time has come that our little dude isn't quite as little as he used to be, hence the reason why we've recently upgraded him to a pair of Chicco NextFit convertible car seats.

As I said when I posted that photo to Facebook, my kids' car seat is cooler than your kids' car seat.

In all seriousness, my wife & I couldn't be more pleased with the Chicco brand. The seats are easy to install using either the latches built into the car or by threading one of the shoulder restraints through the seat (we used the former setup in my wife's car, the latter in my truck). They're well made with safety features that mimic technology more commonly seen in racing applications. (If I didn't know any better I'd say the headrest is actually a HANS device.) They're not exactly the cheapest things in the world but this is a matter where you get what you pay for, and in these seats Duke is going to be one safe world traveler.

* Grandmas

I sincerely don't know what we'd do without Grandmas. Not to say that Grandpas aren't special people too, mind you, as they mean plenty in the grand scheme of things, but Grandmas are a resource as valuable as platinum in my opinion.

Before I go further into this chunk of commentary I am obligated to state, for the record, that Duke has two Grandmas. My Mom has assumed the official title of Grandma, as in this is the name we're hoping he comes to know her as. Likewise, my wife's Mom is now known officially as Nene (pronounced "nee-nee"), a derivation of her actual name, that being Nita.

There have been so many occasions where the fact that my Mom lives nearby has saved my wife & I from having to use our annual or sick leave. She gives her time willingly and is always there for us no matter what the situation may be. What's more, she never seems to come to our home without a bag filled with food, diapers, wipes, or some other useful commodity. Generosity is her forte, and she is a living example of what it means to be a cheerful giver who expects nothing in return.

Nene comes to visit Duke (I first wrote that she comes to visit "us" - implying me, my wife, and Duke - but the reality of the thing is that she's here to see Duke; we just happen to live in the same house that he does) every other weekend. She stays with us, usually from Friday evening until Monday morning, and spends just shy of every second of those days in contact with her grand-baby. Sometimes she sneaks in a visit on those weekends where she wouldn't normally be in town, and sometimes Pawpaw (that being my father in-law) makes the trip as well on those occasions.

The Grands can never get enough of the Duke and it means the world to my wife & I to have them involved in his life.

As I have gotten older the value that I place on members of our family has increased by leaps and bounds. (Not because of their willingness to pitch in or to help my wife & I but because of the fact they're there. More than that, they make the effort to be there.) I attribute this to the benefit of age and maturity. Youth and the associated blinders that come with it can be blamed for seemingly innumerable foolish decisions, and I am undoubtedly guilty of such blunders as not taking advantage of the time that I had.

While I may be lacking in various cosmetic attributes - I'm still coming to terms with the ever growing bald spot on the back of my head and the streaks of grey that now run through my beard - what I've gained in wisdom and foresight is so much more meaningful. There have been many moments here lately where I have wished that certain of my family were still on this Earth to see what has become of us. I know they're watching from a much better perspective than ours, but I can't not selfishly wish they were still here instead of there.