Event Report: World Wrestling Entertainment presents WWE Live (12-5-2014)

My wife and I were able to have a night out on the town this past Friday night, which is something that's a very valuable commodity now that the focus of most of our free time is taking care of the Duke. He's a bit needy since he is a newborn and all, but we're not holding that against him - it's not his fault he can't prepare his own supper or wipe his rear end yet, obviously.

This particular night was a special occasion seeing as how World Wrestling Entertainment was in Columbia, South Carolina for a live event at the Colonial Life Arena. If you didn't know, live events are also referred to as house shows because they are non-televised. Companies like WWE use them for a number of purposes. For one, they're quick cash generators as they typically take advantage of whatever the going storylines are on TV to pique the interest of fans in a local market. In addition, they're an opportunity for a promotion to test the waters in terms of how an audience reacts to a match, a new gimmick for a performer, or any number of things which may or may not wind up appearing in programming later on.

In this instance it looked as though a majority of what was going on had to do with the upcoming Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view that is set to take place later this month. That event will be headlined by a tables match featuring John Cena and Seth Rollins - who would also be headlining the event we saw in Columbia.

Getting in and around the parking lots at CLA has always been somewhat tricky seeing as how the building is in the middle of downtown Columbia, is adjacent to several major streets, sits on the doorstep of the University of South Carolina's Greek village, and there's usually no assistance from local law enforcement in terms of directing traffic. That last bit is an issue thanks to the fact that there are no traffic lights to control the flow of cars, rather a couple 4-way stops that leave it to motorists to negotiate matters amongst themselves.

We got to the arena around 6:30 PM by which time a majority of the front-most parking lot was filled. Cost for parking that night was $5 - that's not too bad seeing as how game day parking for events at Williams Brice Stadium will set you back $20 or more, depending on how close you want to be to the venue.

Our tickets were being held at will call even though I had purchased them as part of a pre-sale promotion. Why? Allow me to elaborate.

Face value of the tickets I chose was $25. Those seats were a good middle ground option since they were not as expensive as the $90 floor seats but with a better view than the $15 seats. (WWE offers what is called the WWE VIP Experience for certain of their events; this is a package that includes front row seating where you are given the chair you sat in that evening, a backstage meet and greet with some of the Superstars, and a few other perks. These packages start around $300 and go up from there. Yes, there were a handful of VIP seats sold at this event!) There was a section of limited view seats available for this event, which struck me as odd seeing as how there were no limitations on the view; "limited view" usually refers to seating situated in such a way that it can be blocked by staging used during TV tapings. As I mentioned earlier, this was a non-televised event.

After you add in CLA's fees ($9 per ticket for this show; I've referred to convenience/facility fees previously as the "take a dump" fee because I can only assume they want you to pay for the fact that you had to go to the bathroom while you were there), our total was $68. Wait, we're not done yet because that amount doesn't count the fee you incur depending on the ticketing delivery option you select: Mail delivery, print at home, or will call. I don't remember how much the other two were but at $3.50 will call was the cheapest of the three. (What that $3.50 covers I can only imagine. I gather these tickets are printed on parchment salvaged from an ancient Egyptian tomb and printed using the blood of pandas.) If you add in the cost of parking and ticketing delivery split between our two tickets, a $25 ticket in reality costs $38.25.

And folks in the pro wrestling business wonder why live event attendance is down!

I have to commend the people who work behind the scenes to operate and maintain CLA. It is a beautiful arena that is always pristine in appearance and the staff working there are generally quite cordial. I can't say as I've ever had a bad experience there.

Our seats were in one of the lower levels several rows off the floor. When it comes to events like this I've learned that the only good floor seats are in the front row. If you're sitting further back from that you're going to spend the majority of the time dodging the backs of other people's heads instead of watching the show. Given how much those seats cost, it's simply not worth it. For this reason unless I can get front row I'm perfectly fine taking a seat in the bleachers. Quite frankly I don't know that I would buy front row these days even if the opportunity presented itself seeing as how in my opinion the product doesn't warrant the cost.

A number of vignettes and advertisements were shown on the jumbo-trons around the arena before bell time, and these included a message from Dolph Ziggler who spoke about his Intercontinental championship match against Luke Harper that would be coming up later on in the evening. I can only guess as to what attendance might have been but I will note that there were plenty of good seats available. (The house looked about the same as what we've seen the last few times we've been to WWE live events in Columbia.) The show began promptly at 7:30 PM and our ring announcer for the evening was none other than Brandi Rhodes who is the wife of Cody Rhodes.

Here's a rundown of the card along with my thoughts on each match.

#1) Ryback defeated Curtis Axel

Ryback has had his name in the press a lot here lately thanks to having been the subject of some of CM Punk's comments made during an interview on Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast wherein Punk stated that Ryback was responsible for injuring him on a number of occasions. If Punk's statements are true, it would appear as though Ryback's previous gimmick of "The Corn-fed Meathead" Skip Sheffield wasn't that far off from reality.

Speaking of Ryback, he definitely benefited from being the first babyface (hero/good guy) to appear on the card as the crowd reaction he received was quite audible. It appeared to be coming from the same section of the audience that later on in the evening would be chanting "LET'S GO CENA!"

This seemed like an odd bit of booking to me because it was only a short while ago that Curtis Axel and Ryback were working as a tag team called RybAxel (appropriately enough). To my knowledge there was never a storyline presented as to why they'd be broken up, but then again the success of many modern WWE storylines is dependent upon the fact that their writers assume the fans suffer from some form of memory loss. (Hence the reason why Big Show has gone through something along the lines of 20 character turns - as in transitioning from hero to villain - during his run with WWE.) Nevertheless, you can tell who was Marty and who was Shawn out of their pairing based on the fact that Ryback was in the main event of Survivor Series and Axel has been relegated to appearances on Main Event (if you don't get the Marty/Shawn reference, I'm sorry but you've been reading this entry for far too long to be that far out of touch with this kind of material).

#2) Fandango (with Rosa Mendes) defeated Sin Cara

Fandango was announced as being "the new and improved Fandango". I bother with pointing that out because the wrestler now known as Fandango has been involved with WWE since 2006 (not the whole time as Fandango; he's had 3 or 4 other gimmicks) at which point he began working with Deep South Wrestling, an independent promotion that served as a developmental territory for WWE which no longer exists. He has worked there, Florida Championship Wrestling, NXT, and finally as part of the main WWE roster. For someone as talented as he apparently is to have had such a drawn out career with no real highlights to speak of is baffling to me.

Sin Cara came to the ring sporting a Lucha Dragons t-shirt, which is the name of the tag team he's involved with in NXT. As of this writing he and his partner, Kalisto, are the WWE NXT Tag Team Champions.

#3) Emma, Alicia Fox & Charlotte defeated Paige & The Bella Twins

There was a social media push before the show began towards getting the fans in attendance to use a Twitter hashtag to vote on whether they wanted to see a 6-Divas tag team match or if they wanted to see a 1-on-1 Divas match. In terms of offering up options to fans of pro wrestling, that's like asking a 6 year old if they want a chocolate-dipped ice cream cone or some nice blanched asparagus.

The big deal here was that Charlotte was involved. She's the current WWE NXT Women's Champion and, perhaps of more interest to most fans, the daughter of "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair. She was involved for the majority of the match and made a good showing for herself. The Flair references are a little thick with her presentation at the moment seeing as how she had "WOOO!"-ed about a dozen times before the match even started.

After the match was over, Nikki and Brie (the Bella Twins) began to argue with one another. The two of them are supposed to be on the same page according to what's going on within TV storylines, however they appeared to have split on less than amicable terms this night as Brie shoved Nikki and walked off on her own. That could be foreshadowing something to come down the line but it could also be an example of how house shows exist in a vacuum, meaning none of these events matter in the grand scheme of things because they aren't on TV and therefore aren't part of the running narrative.

#4) Intercontinental Championship Match - Dolph Ziggler defeated Luke Harper by disqualification

Going into the show I had this contest in mind as being a contender for match of the night. In reality it felt kind of flat, and that bugs me for a number of reasons. Knowing what these two are capable of and seeing the match they had, it surprised me that it was somewhat dull in its pacing. I knew Ziggler had zero chance of winning the title because titles never change hands at live events (that's not entirely true; they do change hands at live events but only about as frequently as we elect Presidents). The fact that the guts of the match didn't feature the sort of athleticism these two show off during episodes of RAW or Smackdown was disappointing but the decision to have the match end as the result of Harper pushing Ziggler into the referee was somewhat confusing (at first I thought the ref had disqualified Ziggler for making contact with him) and mostly unsatisfying.

- Intermission -

#5) R-Truth defeated Cesaro

As I mentioned on my Twitter feed, this is why CM Punk quit.

Here's another crazy booking decision which doesn't make any sense to me. Why would a guy like R-Truth, who hasn't been on any of the main WWE programming for a while now, get a win over Cesaro? I can only assume Cesaro is in someone's doghouse. If this is all the Swiss Superman will ever get to be on the main roster, then by all means send him back to NXT where he can be appreciated for having phenomenal matches with talent like Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, and Hideo Itami.

#6) A New Day (Kofi Kingston & Big E Langston with Xavier Woods) defeated WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & Damien Mizdow in a non-title bout

This was my favorite match of the night because out of the 7 contests on the card it was the one that had the most energy and life to it. The Miz can get heat just by picking up a microphone, Damien Mizdow is one of the best characters in WWE right now, and I sincerely hope that A New Day goes far because those guys are working their tails off in that gimmick.

#7) John Cena defeated Seth Rollins in a street fight

The last event my wife and I attended together before this one was a WWE Live show in November of 2013 which was also held at CLA. The main event that night was a street fight between the Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper & Eric Rowan) and the team of CM Punk & Daniel Bryan. Fast forward to the present where the Wyatt Family doesn't exist, Daniel Bryan may or may not ever wrestle again, and CM Punk is gone from WWE completely. My how things change over the course of a year!

I have to give a hand to Cena and Rollins because this match was definitely more in line with what one would expect when you hear of a match being held under street fight rules than others I've seen. (Of course you could just as well interchange street fight, extreme rules, no disqualifications, and a few other labels that get added to matches where anything goes. Why WWE uses one instead of another is anyone's guess. Perhaps WWE conducted a study and determined that "street fight" was more effective in terms of marketing.) They brawled up and down the aisle, made use of a number of weapons, and Rollins had so much heat on him that he even managed to make a young female fan at ringside burst into tears. That's the kind of reaction you rarely see anymore in pro wrestling and it goes to show that no matter how many times John Cena may face insurmountable odds (and triumphantly overcome them) his loyal fans are there with him 100% of the time.

Rollins went through two tables during the match, once on a reversal out of an Irish whip into one of the corners and a second time via an Attitude Adjuster from Cena off the top rope. I believe Cena and Rollins had this same match at least once more during the loop of live events this past weekend, so that means Rollins likely went through 4 or more tables in less than 3 days time. All I can say to that is hopefully he has a good chiropractor.

All things considered this was a fun night out but the matches overall left both of us feeling like there was something missing. I don't know if that something is star power, emotional involvement, or what but this was a fairly vanilla piece of work. Looking back, I think it's interesting that out of 7 matches the heel (villain) only won once, that being Fandango.

Of course we couldn't go to something like this without shooting an episode of Rasslin' with Redbeard! I have to give my wife major kudos seeing as how she served as camera operator for more than a few shots that became a part of this episode. She humors me and my silly endeavors, which is just one reason why I love her.

Introducing RASSLIN' WITH REDBEARD

I watch a lot of random stuff on YouTube. If you want verification of this, you need ask no one other than my lovely wife. She oftentimes shakes her head at me when she sees me with my tablet or smart phone in hand, my head drooping downward in the "don't bother me, I'm watching something online" position (don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about), and my mind so consumed by whatever content I happen to be watching that I'm totally oblivious to the rest of the world. It's a state that's closely related to the video game stare, perhaps the only difference being that there's no input required with this version.

I have a few video genres, if you can call them that, which I prefer. Fail videos are always great - if you don't know what that is, think something that would be suitable for America's Funniest Home Videos but with less editing requirements for things like vulgarity. I enjoy movie trailers, of course, and there's usually a tremendous amount of fresh material along those lines being published this time of year. Believe it or not, there's a wealth of educational information on YouTube as you can find tutorials on anything from how to make toast to how to configure a VPN on a Cisco network security appliance. Vlogs are essentially video diaries (they're like a blog but in video format, hence the term "vlog") and I follow a handful of YouTube channels maintained by folks who do a great job of documenting their lives, although how certain of them have so much free time as to shoot, edit, and consistently publish so many videos is beyond me quite frankly.

All that having been said, I've had a YouTube account for a while (I think the hip thing is to refer to your account as a "channel", because the line that separates how we consume content needs to be blurred even more so than it is) but I never tried to do much with it. I wasn't sure if the clips I'd assemble would be interesting enough for anyone to actually want to watch. Most of what I've uploaded, ironically enough, are videos of or relating to professional wrestling (there's some in there from our trips to Medieval Times and Walt Disney World as well).

It goes without saying that there's tons of wrestling videos online as is but not necessarily that much from around the Carolinas. Additionally, I've noticed that it seems like when it comes to material online you get either matches or behind-the-scenes commentary but no real focus on the experience of attending shows. I'm not talking about the jaded ramblings of some fan who feels like he knows better than Vince McMahon when it comes to how World Wrestling Entertainment should do business (Pot, meet Kettle!) - gosh knows there are plenty of armchair bookers out there. Rather, what I'm talking about is the experience of traveling to an event, getting around in the town hosting the card, thoughts on venues, perhaps reflections on restaurants and hotels, and that sort of thing.

If anyone else is doing videos along those lines, I haven't seen it. That being the case, let me introduce you to a brand new YouTube series dedicated to the life and times of wrestling fans - RASSLIN' WITH REDBEARD!

I do love alliteration, if you couldn't tell - Redbeard's Rambling, Rasslin' with Redbeard, you get the idea.

At any rate, if you would be so inclined, please partake in the debut episode, posted below for your convenience, which was recorded around UNLEASHED, the March event for WrestleForce that took place at The Hangar in Cayce, South Carolina.

I don't have a timetable for how frequently Rasslin' with Redbeard will be updated but I hope to add at least one video per month, possibly more if I'm fortunate enough to make it to as many shows. I hope you enjoy it because I enjoyed putting it together. We'll see you down the road!

Quick Results & Match Videos from WrestleForce presents AGGRESSION

The allure of a professional wrestling event being held less than an hour's drive from my home was enough to get me out of the house on a Sunday evening for WrestleForce's February 2014 show, a card that was dubbed AGGRESSION.

[SIDE NOTE: I am a stickler about certain things when it comes to professional wrestling. If you know me in real life or have been reading this blog for any length of time, that should come as no surprise. One of the biggest problems I have with how small-time wrestling federations like WrestleForce do business is prominently displayed in the poster above. I'll give you a hint - it's not the excessive graphics and color choices that make it difficult to read. What else could it be? The championship belt. That belt should be the single biggest reason why every man on your shows is there, because they want to wear gold around their waist. The belt should be an iconic, unique trophy for which competitors have an insatiable lust. How then can you legitimately put that over to your fan base as being a valued piece of hardware when it is nothing more than a nondescript, mass-produced replica belt available online for less than $200? Yes, a custom made belt is expensive, but it's a worthwhile investment that I wish more indie companies would see as such. It adds a tremendous amount of production value to the presentation and it makes me, as an onlooker, respect the company that much more because I know they're taking what they're doing seriously.]

I'm not sure why promoters of independent pro wrestling feel the need to put a label on their shows like "AGGRESSION", "HOSTILE TAKEOVER", or "ASSAULT BY INVASION ". (For that matter, why is it always that you hear of a wrestling-based event as being invasive in nature? Do wrestlers never politely knock? If you've never noticed, pay attention to TV ads for wrestling in particular; you'll hear the word "invade" or a derivative thereof used to an offensive degree.) I guess it helps somewhat in getting the attention of fans because it looks good on a poster (<sarcasm> especially when the artist who made said poster has no fonts on their PC but those designed to resemble the text in nu-metal band logos </sarcasm>). It's also a knockoff of what bigger companies do with their pay-per-view events, like World Wrestling Entertainment's Elimination Chamber or Royal Rumble. Fans know what to expect from those shows because the title implies a theme or a style of match. In the case of this WrestleForce, the title was surprisingly applicable as there were a number of developments to progress their angles that involved aggressive maneuvers by the parties involved.

Match #1 - The Fortunate Sons (Jesse Windham & Billy Brash) vs. "cK1" Caleb Konley & Hexx

After the match, Konley became irate at his bodyguard Hexx. The two exchanged words in a heated confrontation but did not come to blows. Interim WrestleForce general manager Brett Wolverton took to the ring to ask Konley about the fact that he'd been sitting on a WrestleForce championship match opportunity for more than 8 months as "cK1" had earned the contract during an event held in 2013. Caleb assertively shook off the pries of Wolverton, saying only that he would use the chance when he saw fit.

Match #2 - 2-on-1 Handicap Match: Brady Pierce vs. Kevin Phoenix & Joey Rhymer

I knew when Kevin Phoenix (an African-American competitor who wears tights that resemble the paint scheme of the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazard - I point that out because, irony) and Joey Rhymer came out that the match wasn't going to be anything other than a squash (wrestling vernacular for a match where one combatant will get in almost no offense whatsoever, often ending with them losing in the most brutal way possible; it's an old tactic, which you don't see much anymore, that's meant to make the winner look like a monster), I just wasn't certain to whom they were being fed. Brady Pierce is a young guy with height and a physique that truly makes him resemble a young Randy Orton. Problem is, Pierce's body shows all the signs of that physique having been obtained mostly through the usage of a syringe. Some people have a problem with that, some don't - I could care less but I will say that all the pustules take away from his look. Brady won after forcing Phoenix to submit to a torture wrack.

Match #3 - 5-Star-5-Minute Challenge: "Mr. Match of the Night" Anthony Henry vs. Jaxson James

Match #4 - "Big League" Eric Bradford w/"Double-D" D'Arcy Dixon vs. "The Party Man-imal" Zane Riley

Is that a superlative wrestling match? No, but if you didn't laugh you're the real loser here. Bradford, Dixon, and Riley did a great job here and their ability to play off the reactions of the audience was great.

Match #5 - No Disqualifications Match: "The Fabulous Playboy" Bob Keller vs. BJ Hancock

There was a point in the not-too-distant past where BJ Hancock and another wrestler by the name of Michael Frehley were a tag team calling themselves The House of Style and being managed by Bob Keller. Those days are gone and now Keller is at odds with one of his former charges, that being Hancock, as the two have developed a feud here lately (despite the fact that Keller was forced into retirement a while back by another WrestleForce competitor, "The Southern Savior" John Skyler). This match was simply a good, old fashioned barroom brawl that saw Hancock and Keller go all over the building, including inside the mens restroom where BJ was the unfortunate recipient of a swirlie! Keller held his own for the most part but couldn't overcome the odds when Eric Bradford & D'Arcy Dixon interfered, allowing Hancock to get the win.

Match #6 - WrestleForce Tag Team Championship Match: The Love/Hate Machine (Steven Walters & John Skyler) (C) vs. The Bravado Brothers (Harlem & Lancelot)

Match #7 - WrestleForce Championship Match: Cedric Alexander (C) vs. Anthony Henry vs. "The Juggernaut" Jon Malus

The original main event of Cedric Alexander defending the WrestleForce championship against "The Natural" Chase Stevens had to be scrapped as a result of Stevens having difficulty getting to the show because of weather-related travel issues. Earlier in the evening, Alexander was called to the ring by Brett Wolverton for an interview alongside fellow contender "Juggernaut" Jon Malus only for the segment to be interrupted by "Mr. Match of the Night" Anthony Henry. Wolverton made the best move he could have in arranging for a replacement main event that would be a 3-way-dance pitting Alexander against Malus and Henry with the winner being crowned champion.

This was the best all-around match on the card and quite possibly the best match I've ever seen at a WrestleForce event. Cedric Alexander is money any way you look at him. Jon Malus is a capable hand and Anthony Henry continues to draw attention to himself, but they aren't in the same league as Alexander. Cedric won the match after hitting a brain-buster on Henry.

Match #8 - WrestleForce Championship Match: Cedric Alexander (C) vs. "cK1" Caleb Konley w/Hexx

Immediately after the 3-way-dance main event, Hexx attacked Cedric Alexander which prompted Caleb Konley to storm the ring and cash in the championship match contract. Try as he might to defend his title, Alexander was too beaten up from the combined assaults he'd faced during the previous match, eventually succumbing to a super-kick administered by Konley. With that, "cK1" is your new WrestleForce champion.

WrestleForce will be back in action in Cayce, SC on Sunday, March 30 as they present UNLEASHED.

For more information on WrestleForce, visit them on the web via Facebook and Twitter!

Facebook.com/WrestleForce
Twitter.com/WrestleForce

WrestleForce presents Fall Brawl 4 - A Date With Fate

I don't get out to as many independent professional wrestling cards as I would like. ("Independent" pro wrestling, in case you weren't aware, being the so-called minor leagues of the sport where guys and gals either working as weekend warriors or hoping to someday earn a living off wrestling hone their craft.) If I had it my way, I'd go to one per week but I admit that that's an unreasonable desire. Even though there are typically a couple of shows going on in the Carolinas each week, they always seem to be held in far off corners of the region that make getting to them without dropping an arm and a leg on gas money and associated necessities rather difficult if not impossible. Fortunately, the Internet has made things a bit easier as I can read results and check out photos online - be that as it may, I still miss sitting in an old gymnasium or armory, hearing the clang of steel on steel, eating crock pot hot dogs with slightly warm sodas, and watching the show unfold live before me.

A few years ago my then-girlfriend, now-wife and I were driving from our home in Orangeburg, South Carolina to Charlotte, North Carolina every two weeks for shows by a now defunct promotion called NWA Charlotte. We had a good time with those but the expenses (monetary and otherwise) of going up and down the road became a real burden (expenses - and other matters - were an issue for NWA CLT as well seeing as how they closed their doors less than a year after opening). Getting to the show I attended this past weekend didn't pose any of those challenges (the traffic-related headache caused by the South Carolina State University/Benedict College football game notwithstanding) as it took place a mere 30 minutes up the road in Columbia, SC at The Loose Cockaboose Bar & Grill (located in the shadows of Williams-Brice Stadium) where WrestleForce presented Fall Brawl 4 - A Date With Fate.

Three things I will mention right off the top in talking about this event:

1) Yes, this show was held at a bar.
2) Yes, the matches took place outside.
3) Yes, it was raining that evening.

Only in the world of independent pro wrestling will you ever see those three factors meet up and still yield what was a successful and mostly entertaining event. Here are the results and my thoughts on each match.

Match #1 - Eric Bradford defeated Brandon Paradise

If you watched the first season of Redneck Island on CMT, you've seen Eric Bradford before as he was one of the members of that cast. Only people who are familiar with the Carolinas wrestling scene will get this reference, but now that Bradford has longer hair he has a rather striking resemblance to a slightly chubbier Zack Salvation.

Pretty good opening bout. Both of these guys have been around for years and they're plenty capable. Bradford got a heel's reception even though his gimmick has him playing up his past as a cheerleader for the University of South Carolina. I've mostly only seen Paradise work in tag team matches; that scenario favors him as he's a skilled athlete but he doesn't come off as being naturally charismatic.

Match #2 - Anthony Henry defeated Josh Magnum

Henry was originally supposed to have had a match with former ECW/TNA star Christian York but York was unable to make the event. Henry came out and demanded a match, going so far as to begin calling out people from the crowd for a challenge. Low and behold, Josh Magnum just happened to be in the crowd - and wearing knee pads under his blue jeans, no less.

Magnum is known in the Carolinas as being a daredevil when it comes to his willingness to put his body on the line for the sake of his matches, and that mentality hasn't left him even though these days he's more or less retired from active competition. Henry got the best of him as a failed swanton bomb off the top of a nearby rooftop proved to be Magnum's undoing. This was one of the better (if not the best) matches on the card, in my opinion.

Match #3 - Hammer defeated Hexx

I'm not completely up to snuff when it comes to WrestleForce's storylines, but I gather these two were in the past aligned together as members of a faction called the Twisted Metal Rebels. I've seen Hexx wrestle in the past when he was doing a masked gimmick where he called himself Hexxon - that character was kind of a knock off of a character like Abyss from TNA, and ironically enough people in this crowd were heckling him for his current look being a knock off of that of Necro Butcher.

Hammer won via disqualification when Hexx brought a chair into the mix, violently whopping Hammer repeatedly across the back with it. Not a whole lot else to write home about here as this was definitely a piece to an evolving story that served its purpose in extending the feud.

Match #4 - Sixx vs. Cerebus ended in no contest

This was a match billed as being a battle of monsters. Sixx has long terrorized the Carolinas as a masked fiend, wreaking havoc upon any who would dare get in his way. Cerebus, also known as "The Lycan Assassin" (he was also previously known as Wolfie D from PG-13 and Slash from The New Church - talk about an identity crisis), is in a similar category as he's a sizable man who comes to the ring wearing armor and appears to have fangs.

I can't not mention that Cerebus' "armor" looks more like something that would've been worn by a villain from a 1980s laser tag TV show thanks to the blue light-up piece at its center. These two characters are from the goofier side of wrestling, where the gimmick is of the utmost importance. I don't have a problem with wrestlers using stuff like this these days, but at the same time it's difficult to ignore the corniness of it.

That said, I like matches like this because they wind up being brawls. They're fun to watch because of their unpredictability, even though in this case it didn't actually have much of a point seeing as how within 10 minutes the two of them disappeared behind the curtain never to be seen again.

Match #5 - WF Tag Team Championship Match (held under elimination rules): Steven Walters defeated Judgement (Crimson & Jon Malus), The Flock (Sick Boy & Lodi), The Fortunate Sons (Billy Brash & Jesse Windham), Playboy's House of Style (BJ Hancock & Michael Frehley), and Brady Pierce & Jake James

There was a lot going on here, suffice to say. The order of entry was: 1) Pierce & James, 2) Playboy's House of Style, 3) The Fortunate Sons, 4) Judgement, 5) The Flock, 6) Steven Walters.

Steven Walters and John Skyler were crowned champions after Walters defeated Crimson & Jon Malus on his own; Skyler did not appear until after the match was over. Walters & Skyler had been gaining some notoriety as a tag team attraction, working under the team name of The Love/Hate Machine, but I've noticed that they've been doing an angle very similar to this in just about every promotion for which they've been employed. They're obviously splitting up, and that begs the question - who's Shawn and who's Marty (here I go again making a wrestling reference that not everyone will get)?

I'd like to say this next bit as an aside to this match because of one of the involved competitors. There are those in the wrestling business who make a big deal out of steroid usage and how those substances should be frowned upon because they provide an unnatural edge in an industry where success is as much about physical appearance as anything. I tend to agree with this sentiment. Even though wrestling isn't a legitimate sport like football or baseball, steroids can be dangerous when used improperly. What's more, while they can make a guy who has a few physical gifts look like a younger version of Randy Orton, they can also make that same guy look like a walking advertisement for acne medication and male breast augmentation. Please lay off the gas, kid - I'd be fine if I never saw another bleeding pustule on some guys back for the rest of my life.

Match #6 - Triple-Threat Women's Match: Nita Monet defeated Mia Svensson and Pandora (with Reby Sky as referee)

Female wrestlers don't always receive the same level of respect and attention that their male counterparts get, and that's upsetting generally speaking. There are some very talented wrestlers out there who just happen to be women and the fact that audiences dismiss their additions to this great form of performance art is troubling to me.

I got the impression that that's what happened with this match as the crowd was not at all buying what these three ladies were selling. The biggest draw to the contest seemed to be the presence of Reby Sky, former Playboy model and fiance to former WWE Superstar Matt Hardy (who would be appearing later on the card in the main event). Truth be told, the rain had been coming down at a slight drizzle up until this match as it began to fall harder and with increasing volume. That coupled with the fact that the show had been going for close to 3 hours probably lead to the crowd being less than interested in a match that was ultimately not much more than a special attraction.

To make matters worse, the day was giving way to night and darkness was enveloping The Loose Cockaboose. There appeared to be lights available outside the club but none of them were used, for whatever reason. So not only are we, as fans, now watching wrestling while sitting in the rain - we're watching very poorly lit wrestling while sitting in the rain.

Match #7 - WF Championship Match: Chase Stevens (champion, w/Judgement) defeated Matt Hardy

The show began around 5 PM and by the time the main event rolled around it was almost 7:30 PM. Not exactly a late night but as I've stated before now, it was raining off and on the entire time and the precipitation was increasing. The worsening darkness wasn't helping matters at all. I don't mind sitting in the rain, personally, and the only place I was going after this show was Taco Bell for a late dinner so I have nothing to especially complain about (forgive me if my commentary makes it sound that way; I'm merely setting the stage, as it were, in describing conditions). However, I'm going to look at this from the perspective of a typical wrestling fan, one who potentially has never been to a WrestleForce event previously. I'm wet, it's dark, I'm in a bar, and all I want is to see Matt Hardy wrestle - was this worth my $10 and whatever I'm out in terms of the cost of getting to/from the event? More importantly, have I seen anything here this evening that is going to make me want to see another WrestleForce show?

Regardless, this bout was fairly basic in that it had all the makings of a classic wrestling scenario involving an outnumbered good guy in the form of Matt Hardy facing seemingly ridiculous odds but coming out to face his adversaries (those being Chase Stevens flanked by Jon Malus and Crimson) with the courage of a lion nevertheless.

I will say this about Matt Hardy, not that it hasn't been said elsewhere obviously - he throws a fantastic punch! This is an aspect of pro wrestling that goes overlooked so often but the ability to do little things well, like delivering a realistic looking punch, can turn an average wrestler into a star. Hardy throws them like few others I've seen and I admire that a lot.

Chase Stevens is one of a lot of guys who are out there working independent shows right now who could realistically be in a promotion like WWE or TNA but isn't. He's got a good look, he's got charisma, and he's got talent. There's not much I don't like about him or his work as I've seen him around the Carolinas going as far back as 2007 when he and Andy Douglas were still working as a tag team in the form of The Naturals. They had some really great matches back then, most notably against the likes of Team Macktion (Kirby & TJ Mack) as well as the Elite Icons (Jake Manning & Joey Silvia).

Overall Thoughts

As indie shows go, this one wasn't too bad but it was plagued by a lot of things that took away from the experience in general.

For starters, The Loose Cockaboose is a good watering hole to go watch a game, but it's a small bar with limited parking. On a day like this one where there was an event being held at Williams-Brice Stadium, parking was more or less nonexistent as there were folks going to the game making use of the spaces to which TLC patrons would've normally had access. Had I not arrived as early as I had, I wouldn't have had anywhere to park. There's no signage directing traffic to one lot or another, and I wasn't out there to check but I somehow doubt there was ever an attendant in the lot to direct people on where to go once the lots near TLC were at capacity.

I don't get having the show at a bar. It's not that I'm against night clubs or establishments like TLC (trust me, bar shows can be a lot of fun), it's that the environment can be more than a little off-putting to the core audience wrestling shows should attract. Women and children should be the first ones off a sinking ship - likewise, they should be your target audience for an event like this. Why? Because if the kids want to come to the show, they have to bring their parents and you know they're going to want a drink or snacks; you increase your ticket sales and invite opportunities for concessions. Similarly, women (and some guys) want to see sweaty, glistening, muscular, attractive men (don't be shy, ladies, it's okay to admit it); even if they're married or dating a guy, if there's a dude on a show they have the hots for they're going to come to the show. There were a few kids at Fall Brawl 4 (which was odd because, again, this was a bar) but I can't help thinking there would've been a much larger crowd on hand had this been held at a rec center or other more socially acceptable venue.

Speaking of concessions, for this event you had drinks served at the bar and I believe hot dogs and hamburgers from the grill. They have Coke and various other non-alcoholic beverages (energy drinks, mostly) but here again you have the issue of the show being held at a bar. You're going to force a Mom or Dad who may not drink booze to wade through 20 guys liquored up on cheap suds, some of whom are smoking, in order to get to the bar so that they can order a couple sodas for their kids? Not exactly a welcoming environment.

Next, I go back to what I'll just refer to as "production issues". The advertised time for the doors to open was 4 PM and they didn't open until 5 PM. Late starts aren't anything new to this type of show, so that was no real surprise nor is it a big deal for me. I've just grown to expect late starts and late finishes because no one in indie wrestling seems to be able to run a timely event. The rain didn't especially bother me either seeing as how I actually find sitting in the rain rather refreshing. My legitimate concern is the lack of lighting, and this plays into how the late start affected the show as a whole.

As a promoter, you have to realize we're getting to the time of year where the days are shorter. That being the case, you should either have your ducks in a row as far as keeping things on a schedule is concerned so you don't wind up forcing your fans to watch a show in darkness or cut out some of the extraneous stuff from the line-up. There were two intermissions during this show and a couple segments that could've been trimmed for brevity's sake.

Perhaps more importantly, a promoter should realize that darkness and moisture create a lot of potential safety issues for fans and talent alike. If the venue can't supply proper lighting, buy or rent some industrial shop lighting. It doesn't have to be elaborate, it just has to work. What's that, Mr. Promoter? You don't have the budget for it? So you would sooner pay the medical bills of a fan who slipped and fell onto the concrete at ringside because they couldn't see the puddle of water they were walking into because you ran an outdoor event at night with no lights? Do you really want to be the guy who ran a show with a wet ring and slick ropes that wound up leading to an injury for an internationally known star like Matt Hardy?

Why am I being so critical? Because I think of things like this. It's in my nature to analyze logistics and to consider ways of improving an experience. If I were a pro wrestling promoter, that's what I would be concerned about - providing an experience that a fan will want to have again and again. Repeat business, in other words. I admit that it's easy for me to nitpick this sort of thing (while offering solutions at the same time) because I'm on the outside looking in. What do I know about anything, though, right? I'm just a guy with a blog who has been paying money to go to shows like this for better than 15 years.

All that having been said, WrestleForce has announced their next show, All Or Nothing, which will be held at The Hangar in Cayce, SC on Sunday October 20. For more information on WrestleForce, check out their offerings via the links below.

http://www.WrestleForce.net/
https://www.facebook.com/WrestleForce
https://twitter.com/WrestleForce
http://www.youtube.com/user/wrestleforce

Narrow Seats are Narrow

My wife and I have had the opportunity to attend several events recently at Colonial Life Arena and Carolina Stadium, two major sports venues in Columbia, SC, the latter being home to the back-to-back National Champion University of South Carolina baseball team (I threw that last bit in there just because). They are marvelous facilities that I'm glad we have access to as they're truly modern day pantheons equipped with everything from WiFi to a wine list. Be that as it may, there's one aspect to them that I wish was different, and it has to do with basic comfort - specifically the comfort of one's posterior as impacted by the seats in these arenas and others like them.

I've never tried to hide the fact that I'm a bigger guy - not that I could hide it if I wanted to. I'm in the area of 6'2"-6'3" and, to make a football analogy, my body type would be best described as that of an offensive lineman (albeit one who doesn't go to the gym and doesn't diet all that properly). I shop in the big & tall section. I have trouble finding shoes that fit because I wear a size 14 extra-wide and most manufacturers/retailers seem to think mens feet stop growing around size 12 (seriously, next time you're in a Rack Room Shoes or a similar store, count the number of shoes you see in size 14 or above). That said, I admit that when it comes to the physical dimensions of human beings I'm definitely an exception instead of the norm - always have been, always will be. For while I could lose weight, there's no hope of my becoming much less wide than I am right now short of having my pelvis, ribcage and internal organ placement reconfigured.

That's not an elective surgery I'll be signing up for any time soon.

There's a well-known quote attributed to famed professional wrestling commentator/talent coordinator Jim Ross that goes something like "I don't care who wins or who loses, so long as there's an ass every 18 inches I'm happy", his point being to state that the measure of success in his industry is about ticket sales more so than anything else. I'm not sure if Ross was aware of it or not when he made that comment, but he's actually quite accurate when it comes to depicting the space between rear-ends at most coliseums.

I've done extensive research on the subject (read, I Google'd "average stadium seat width") and based on my results (which are highly scientific in nature, needless to say) the typical seat width you'll find in any given arena is between 17"-20". To get an idea of what that looks like, take two pieces of ordinary copier paper and place them side-by-side. What you've got is more or less the same width and depth (14" is the norm in terms of depth) of most stadium seating. By contrast, the seat on my recliner is 23" wide and almost as deep.

The width and depth restrictions are bad but the kicker when it comes to arena seating is the "arm rests". I use quotation marks because while they are capable of serving as legitimate arm rests their true function is that of immovable barriers of butt containment and isolation. They ensure that every posterior has a more or less equal amount of inhabitable real estate for use over the course of an event. In the case of someone like myself, what they actually serve as is a vice grip - except unlike an actual vice there's no hope of adjustment, just the same level of near torturous restriction.

Does that come off as something that would be comfortable to sit in for a couple hours? Now imagine it's made from a hard material like plastic, wood or metal. To take it even further, imagine you're wedged in between two guys like me the whole time. Still want to pay your hard-earned money to go to that next big concert or sporting event?

[SIDE NOTE: I mention paying for tickets to events - I think that's a factor I can add into this discussion as it is something that definitely serves to exacerbate the issue of pain in the buns. I brought up Colonial Life Arena earlier in this entry; that building will soon serve as host to such artists as Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, and Justin Bieber. The face value for tickets to those concerts will set you back $63.50, $86.50, and $95, respectively. (That's not including the cost of other expenses that come along with going to an event such as parking, which runs between $10-$20.) I will admit to having paid some high ticket prices in the past (I believe I paid around $90 to see Metallica almost a decade ago - we were in the front row and I got guitar picks from James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett so it was worth it for me), but the cost of attendance has become extremely exorbitant these days, so much so that fans have started to really question whether or not it's worth it. To me, that's what's happening to NASCAR. The TV coverage is so good (even though the racing itself isn't always that exciting) and the events so expensive that people seem to have realized it's just as well that they stay home.]

As I said earlier, I'm a big guy. For the sake of this blog entry, I measured the breadth of my chest from shoulder to shoulder and it was in the area of 27". (I haven't had cause to buy a sport coat or be fitted for a similar garment in roughly 3 years, so forgive me for referencing what is certainly an accurate albeit less than precise measurement.) My hips aren't that much narrower than my shoulders. How do you put something that's 27" wide into a seat that's 17" wide? You can take my word that it's not an easy task as different seats require different derriere depositing methods. With some stadium seats brute force works best; gravity will only drag things down so far, you see. These are generally the seats that I loathe the most as they're usually the ones that leave my tush quite sore, sometimes to the point of leaving bruises. (I've had bruising on my knees from spending hours shoved into a row of seats as well - the curvature of the seat backs combined with the narrow gap between rows only adds to my already high level of discomfort.) Other seats I've found can best be accessed by first sitting down on the edge of the seat then sliding back into the bucket. It takes some trial and error but fortunately I've yet to find a seat that I absolutely cannot get into.

[SIDE NOTE #2: I take that last statement back - I have found seats I can't get into, but not stadium seats.

When my wife & I went to the Magic Kingdom last November I was quite bummed that my ability to ride a lot of the attractions in those theme parks was limited. Oddly enough, the issue wasn't seat width or depth rather it was the length of my legs that inhibited the restraints from being fully engaged. The first time this happened to me was on Space Mountain; I'd gotten into the car and when the lap bar dropped it hit my knees. I tried to get my legs into a position that would allow me to ride but that effort was to no avail.

I'm assuming this has become a recurring problem for ride operators to have to deal with. We noticed at Universal Studios that there are test seats outside many of the attractions so that patrons can see if they'll be able to fit into the cars prior to boarding. I'm sure there's a joke to be made here about this being unnecessary except for the fact that people nowadays are fatter than ever. Even so, if this is a known trend amongst the masses (pun intended) then why not just make the cars bigger?]

The scenario I painted in a previous paragraph of a person being unwittingly wedged in between two men similar to myself is one that my poor wife has had to endure a number of times. She's a trooper, though, and finds ways to get through those occasions, sometimes with a bit of ingenuity. (Typically I'll throw an arm around her as this takes away a bit of my width and gives us both more comfort, even though it usually winds up with me having to watch where my hand winds up - some people don't like it when a dude they've never met touches them on the shoulder or knee oddly enough.) She and a fellow female attendee to a Ring of Honor pro wrestling card in Charlotte, NC we went to devised a method for improving the comfort level for quite a few people at said event. The show was held in a building that wasn't much more than a warehouse with folding chairs set up for seating. For the sake of security, wrestling fans being the lively sort that we are, the chairs had all been zip-tied together. The other female fan realized that she could remedy the situation by snipping the zip-ties with a pair of fingernail clippers; suddenly we went from being packed into our row like sardines in a can to sitting sprawled out and as comfortable as could be.

[SIDE NOTE #3: While writing of the story about modifying ROH's seating I was reminded of another situation that happened at a different ROH event, one that I hesitate to share because of the individual it involves but that I'm going to put out there anyway.

ROH made use of the same zip-tied chairs for this event, and we'd planned accordingly by bringing fingernail clippers. We adjusted the seats to give ourselves more room but there was one fan whose physical condition necessitated having even more room than I. I don't want it to sound like I'm making fun of him but he was morbidly obese, probably 500 lbs. if not more. He had separated his chair and moved it to a position that put him almost in line with us, which also meant that he gave himself a free upgrade seeing as how he went from having a seat in the general admission section to one that was worth significantly more than those. My wife wasn't thrilled with his presence for another reason; he had what sounded like a couple dollars worth of quarters in his pocket and jingled them incessantly, and this was getting on her nerves.

I haven't pointed it out until now but the folding chairs ROH used were the kind that have metal legs and plastic panels. They tend to feel flimsy to me, and now you know where I'm going with this story...

Towards the end of the show, this guy's chair gave up its will to live and collapsed under his weight. He hit the floor to a raucous calamity, his stash of quarters went rolling away in mass exodus, and he laid there on the ground with an expression on his face as if he were in shock. He eventually got up after being assisted by myself and a few others, gathered his quarters, fetched himself another chair, and returned to the same spot he'd been occupying previously as if nothing had ever happened.]

Unfortunately, you'd need a much more heavy duty piece of equipment than a pair of fingernail clippers to make the kind of arena seating we've been encountering more comfortable, and something even more powerful than a backhoe to get those who are in the business of building, operating and maintaining these facilities to even consider using seats wider than they are now. The point of any business is to make money, after all - in their case the more seats in a venue, the more money there is to be made from putting butts into them. Even butts like mine. So it is that the decision becomes either avoiding events because of issues like these or going to them regardless for the love of the thing.

I guess dealing with a couple sore cheeks isn't so bad every now and then.

Those Crazy Brazilians and Their Steakhouses

It doesn't take much more than a cursory glance at yours beardly to see that I'm a fellow who's rather fond of eating. I always have been, truth be told - it seems like food is an attachment that I have to some of my fondest memories. Case in point, when I was a child someone asked me "Why are you so big?" (I wasn't just a husky kid, I was also a rather tall lad for my age as well.) My response was to tell them that if they ate my Grandmother's cooking all the time they'd probably be big like me, too!

That was meant as a compliment to my Grandma, by the way. I make sure to point that out lest I come off as making it seem like I was implicating her in a negative light for my being the way I am.

I'm writing this entry as a tribute to a restaurant chain that's quickly become a favorite for my wife and I. I don't want this post to push me into the realm of being considered a "foodie" because I can't think of many more ridiculous culturally identifying terms than that and I would just as soon not get lumped into whatever psychosis agreeing to be labeled as such may involve. That said, allow me to introduce you to Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse.

Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse

Yes, it's called Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse, not Cowboy's Brazilian Steakhouse. I'm a stickler when it comes to grammar and mechanics, so trust me when I say I've mulled over the spelling for quite some time. I've come to my own conclusion that the "Brazilian Steakhouse" portion of the name is more than likely there for descriptive purposes than anything else.

Truth be told, I had never heard of a Brazilian steakhouse prior to February of 2012. It was then that while attending a software conference in Greensboro, NC I had my first exposure to an eatery falling into that particular genre in the form of Leblon Churrascaria. I was there with a friend & co-worker from my previous employer; the two of us partnered up with a representative from the company putting on the conference that we'd gotten to know rather well who happens to be from Venezuela (if you're not up on the geography of the region, Brazil and Venezuela aren't that far from one another). The idea was brought up that we try out a local Brazilian steakhouse. Suffice to say that I was blown away by the experience. It wasn't long after we'd returned home that the idea of seeking out other similar restaurants became stuck in my mind.

If you've never been to a Brazilian steakhouse, the presentation could be best described as a procession of awesomeness. You begin with a trip to the salad bar, which in no way does justice to the sort of food you'll find there. The salad bar includes actual salads like potato, tuna and chicken salad but it also has things like shrimp cocktail, smoked salmon (something that I developed an affinity for whilst on our honeymoon cruise to the Bahamas), and fresh mozzarella cheese. Also, there's a hot foods section to the salad bar that features mashed potatoes, broccoli Alfredo, white rice, Brazilian black beans, and, my personal favorite, mushrooms stewed in a balsamic reduction. (PRO-TIP: Use the broth from the mushrooms as a gravy for the mashed potatoes and put the black beans over the rice.) There are too many items on the salad bar for me to name them all individually, and as you might guess it's rather easy to become overwhelmed by its expanse and have it consume your capacity for enjoying the remainder of the meal. Don't let yourself get full just from offerings on the salad bar, in other words - there's a lot of other stuff to enjoy. This is only the opening salvo of your dining experience, after all.

The main event of a meal at any Brazilian steakhouse is the rodizio (the style of service) where gouchos (carvers) bring an assortment of meats to your table for you to sample and enjoy. Your waiter will give you the ins-and-outs of how the serving process works if you've never dined in a restaurant like Cowboy before. (They will also give you something of an appetizer in the form of fried bananas, fried polenta, and Brazilian cheese bread. The bananas and bread are great but the polenta has yet to really do anything for me.) It's a simple premise in that you're given a token - which looks a bit like an over-sized poker chip - that has a green side and a red side. When you're ready to be served, flip your token to the green side and the gouchos will begin visiting your table; when you're in need of a break, just flip the token over to the red side and they'll know you're taking a breather.

This may sound like a tremendously gluttonous comment (which I'm not sure why I'm concerned about seeing as how a restaurant like Cowboy is purpose made for admitted gluttons like myself) but I would recommend that you leave your token on the green side for the majority of your meal. Why? This is an all-you-can eat arrangement, however there's a bit of a challenge to it in that you never know what selection of meat will be coming around or how often it will come around. Better to have the opportunity to accept an offering than to deny it altogether, is essentially what I'm getting at. Just because a goucho offers you a certain cut doesn't mean you have to accept it. Don't want the garlic steak? No problem, politely tell the goucho you'd like to pass or, better yet, do so and ask that he have one of his comrades bring over some of what you're craving.

The meats are prepared and brought out on skewers and the gouchos will serve you a portion of their selection. A small pair of tongs comes bundled with your silverware. You could say the tongs are the interactive portion of the meal as they are what you'll use to assist the gouchos in taking the meat from the skewer to your plate. You can expect to find such cuts as filet Mignon wrapped in bacon, Parmesan-crusted pork tenderloin, leg of lamb, top loin, and many, many more. I'm not kidding - the menu at Cowboy features SIXTEEN cuts of meat. Now you know why I said it's important not to fill yourself up by overdoing it at the salad bar!

Personally speaking, I have yet to try any of the meats which I haven't thoroughly enjoyed, however I'll say that my favorites at Cowboy have to be the filet mignon wrapped in bacon, the house special Picanha (or top/rump loin), and the lamb loin. I wasn't aware of the fact that I enjoy lamb prior to eating at Cowboy - it just goes to show you that an outing like this can open your eyes to a wealth of tastes and flavors that you'd never had previously. That's one of the things I enjoy most about getting out and trying new restaurants, the chance to partake in unique culinary formulations. Some people like to jump out of perfectly good aircraft, I like eating. To each their own.

Of course there are desserts served at Cowboy as well. I can't recall all of the dessert options but I vaguely remember there being traditional New York-style cheesecake, turtle cheesecake, creme brulee, Brazilian flan, and some sort of chocolate layer cake (there may be 1 or 2 others). Should you have room for one, I would recommend trying either the traditional New York-style cheesecake or the turtle cheesecake. I'm a cheesecake fan, though, so you may want to go in a different direction depending on your individual taste. My wife, for example, loves chocolate and adores the chocolate layer cake.

It goes without saying that if you are of the vegetarian or vegan persuasion that you will not find much on the menu at Cowboy to sustain you. There are a few veggie-based items on the salad bar but I'm not quite sure why someone who subscribes to the herbivore lifestyle would even set foot in a steakhouse of any variety.

In terms of price, as you might expect from my description, Cowboy isn't exactly on the cheap end of the spectrum. Unlimited access to the salad bar and full rodizio is $30 per person, however you can have just the salad bar for $17. These price points do not include beverage, dessert, or gratuity. While $30 may seem high, I would contend that if you go to a restaurant like this and don't eat $30 worth of food you've done something wrong. These are brilliant cuts of meat perfectly prepared and served to you with a unique flair. To me, it's worth the expense.

Cowboy has three locations in South Carolina: North Charleston, Columbia, and Spartanburg - so far, my wife & I have dined at the restaurants in Columbia and North Charleston (I'm trying to plot a reason to bother with driving to Spartanburg just to say we've been to all three). Both the locations we've visited delivered consistency in terms of the food but I am going to give a rub to the North Charleston location, which just opened in December of 2012. The food there seemed a smidge better for whatever reason, however that's not to say the food in Columbia has ever been bad as I would (and will) certainly go there again. Another advantage their restaurant in North Charleston has is its location as the property it occupies is a stand-alone building that was a formerly a Piccadilly (a cafeteria-style restaurant chain that once had several outposts in South Carolina; they've all closed, unfortunately). It has great parking and is conveniently located of I526. The Columbia location is in the middle of downtown. If you know anything about downtown Columbia, you know where I'm going with this commentary: Parking and accessibility. While there is free valet parking available to Cowboy patrons, I would just as soon avoid the hassle of getting into downtown Columbia on any given evening as the area is typically a mob scene of cars, pedestrians, and all the craziness an active bar scene tends to generate. I hate to have to level criticism at what is a great restaurant based on where it happens to be but in all fairness it's worth mentioning. Seeing as how that's the only genuinely negative thing I have to say about it should give you real insight as to the quality of these restaurants.