Platinum
Championship Wrestling puts on shows the first and third Saturday of
every month at The Main Event in Porterdale, GA.
Today
was supposed to be my post about the NXT roster, but something more
important came up. Check back next week for that one.
It
had been a long time since I’d been out to a PCW show. Between
family, my lousy work schedule, and other projects I just haven’t
had six hours to spare on a Saturday night for my sentimental
favorite wrestling promotion. If the hike to Porterdale, GA wasn’t
an hour and change it wouldn’t be such a hefty proposition.
Anyway,
I recently became determined to catch a show. I knew I could count on
a couple of buddies to make the trek out there and it just felt like
a shame that I wasn’t up on the happenings in PCW. I had wanted
very badly to catch this year’s groundbreaking Sacred
Ground
event, but I was working nights the whole weekend with no way out.
Fortunately
the stars aligned on November 7th
– and I mean that in more ways than one. It turned out to be a
night of powerful emotions and earth-shattering change. I had no idea
what was in store, but I am thankful that I was there to experience
it. Not since 11-11-11
has Platinum Championship Wrestling been altered – nay, assaulted
– in such a fundamental way. And even the events of that day pale
in comparison to what I witnessed this past Saturday night.
As
such, I knew that Geter was the PCW champ and that Needless Things
Irregulars Devlin Valek and Johnny Danger were the PCW 2015 Tag Team
Season Champions. And that was about it.
Side
Note: PCW doesn’t have tag team championships. Instead, they hold
an annual tournament to determine the Champions, which in a way is
cooler. It keeps an emphasis on the division throughout the year as
well as a built-in reason to keep track of each team’s standings.
Oh,
yeah – another note: I had not planned on writing this event up. As
I’ve mentioned before it’s hard for me to be objective when I
know so many of the boys. Also, this was supposed to just be a fun
night out, not a “work night”. But between the sheer enormity of
what transpired and multiple specific inquiries as to if I was going
to do a recap, I decided I had to. My point is that I might have
missed a few things here and there because I didn’t have my recap
hat on, so to speak. I also didn’t take any pictures until the end,
which is a whole other thing that I’ll write about at some point or
maybe talk about on the Needless
Things Podcast.
My hope here is to capture the spirit of the night, relate the
cataclysm that took place, and maybe compel some of you to make the
trek out to Porterdale to check out PCW in the future.
Okay,
here are your matches:
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Most photos courtesy of Sam - see 'em all here. |
JAM
Vs.
Johnny
Danger
Solid
match. Danger is the white-hot babyface of Porterdale. I don’t know
if any other PCW stalwarts are still around (or at least, I didn’t
during this match), but Johnny seems to be serving as the PCW
equivalent of Sting. He was accompanied to the ring by his tag
partner Valek, who had to carry the massive PCW Tag Team trophy the
whole time. Nobody has ever been hit by that trophy as far as I know.
Not because it would be too expensive to replace, but likely because
it would kill them.
Side
Note: If that thing just looks
heavy, I don’t want to know about it. In my mind it’s at least a
hundred pounds.
JAM
gets big props for working Danger’s arm the whole match. He applied
a variety of holds and a number of different offensive moves to take
Johnny’s left arm out of the equation. JAM got in some solid
offense, but I don’t think anybody in the building thought he was
going over Danger in the opening match.
YOUR
WINNER: Johnny DANGAAAAAAAA
After the match the competitors performed the Handshake of Mutual Respect.
The
Washington Bullets
Vs.
Brian
Blaze & MYSTERY PARTNER
I
try to be a good fan and boo the heels and cheer the faces. I don’t
want to be one of those jackasses that fucks up the status quo
because I’m too cool for school. But I couldn’t help but cheer
when the Bullets came down the stairs. They’re so damn good.
I
quickly regained my composure and fired off some loud “BOO”s,
so I don’t think any damage was done to the Porterdaliens’ fine
sensibilities.
Once
the Williams brothers hit the ring they talked 31 flavors of smack,
singling out certain members of the audience and just generally being
intolerable.
Fortunately
Brian Blaze descended the stairs and saved the crowd from too much
Bullet abuse. I don’t know the whole story, but Geter defeated both
Bullets to win the PCW Championship back at Sacred
Ground.
Despite the size and ability of the big man, Jon and Trey are
obviously still a bit sore about that. My guess is that they’ve
been attempting to take their frustrations out on Geter’s long-time
tag team partner Blaze. I don’t know why Geter wasn’t in
attendance that night or how long he’s been absent, but I got the
feeling Blaze finding partners has been a thing.
On
this night, the live crowd was in for a treat and Jon and Trey
Williams were in for a nasty surprise – Brian Blaze’s partner was
none other than PCW Original, The Demigod Mason!
I
don’t know if Mason has been out for a while, but the audience went
nuts and so did I. I quickly explained to my friends that Mason was
one of the PCW Big Boys and that he had been in some of the most
intense PCW matches I’d seen.
You’re
not going to put these four guys in the ring and get anything but a
compelling, kickass contest. Blaze played the Face in Peril while the
Bullets got away with all kinds of dirty business behind the ref’s
back. All the while Mason was literally shaking to get the tag. Once
he did, everyone went apeshit and the Demigod lit the Bullets up.
There
was some more back-and-forth that ended with Jon Williams in the
Occam’s Razor – Mason’s finish which is basically a blatant
choke (I’m sure there’s logic behind why it’s legal, but I’ve
never pursued it). Trey hopped in and got a Razor of his own, then
somehow or other Mason got the pin – I believe with some
high-flying razzle-dazzle. Also possibly just with the Occam’s
Razor – like I said, I was watching as a fan. I wasn’t taking
mental notes. Also beers. I might have had some.
YOUR
WINNERS: Brian Blaze & The Demigod Mason
Trevor
Aeon
Vs.
Devlin
Valek
I
worked with both of these guys quite a bit in MCW, so I was excited
to see this match. I’d say both have stepped up their game and Aeon
has developed and gotten comfortable with his character.
This
was an exciting match and both guys bumped around pretty good. It was
interesting to see Valek in his death metal Kabuki paint getting
cheered as the babyface. Never let it be said that Porterdaliens
judge books by their covers!
Aeon
pulled out some dazzling moves, but eventually succumbed to Valek.
Meanwhile, Johnny had to hold that big-ass trophy with his one good
arm.
YOUR
WINNER: Devlin Valek
I’d
be lying if I said three babyface wins in a row didn’t have my
Phantom Sense tingling. Granted, I thought it was more about the next
match than anything that might go down later. I’d had two reliable
sources tell me that “something big” was happening, but I never
could’ve imagined the climax that this thus far crowd-pleasing but
seemingly standard fare show would build to.
Unsanctioned
Lights-Out Match
President
Marko
Vs.
Bill
the Butcher
I
do not know the backstory here. I just know from my MCW days that
both of these guys can go and are very entertaining. And also that
when Platinum Championship Wrestling puts on a wacky gimmick match,
they do not fuck around.
Marko
came out first in a suit (I guess that’s part of whatever this
“President” gimmick is) and carrying a golf bag full of plunder.
Johnny Danger was probably screaming gimmick infringement almost loud
enough to be heard over Casey Jones. The Butcher came out next,
painted up all crazy and accompanied by perennial badass Dementia De
Rose. She skedaddled backstage promptly because it was being made
clear that this was a “two men enter, one man leaves” situation.
Commentator
Matt Hankins – who is apparently now a person of some authority in
PCW, which I was unaware of – proclaimed that this was an
unsanctioned match and the lights went down to be replaced by… the
most annoying lighting effect I have witnessed since the 1991
Halloween Havoc Chamber of Horrors match. There was a strobe light
sitting on the bar behind me and it was set to “what the fuck is
this?” for the entirety of the match. I get that they were going
for something different, but Marko and Bill had that handled. They
put on a heck of a fight. Dimmed lights or even a constant spot might
have been okay, but the strobing effect was bad.
Regardless
of the lighting, the match was brutal. The two former MCW monsters
gave exactly what you would expect of them and at one point I
actually thought they were both just going to collapse and that would
be that. But with a table propped up in the corner I really should
have known better. As the violence hit its apex, the Butcher powered
Marko up onto his shoulders and just sort of carried him for a bit
before finally throwing the man through the table.
Now,
I know you’re thinking, “Yeah, I’ve seen dudes go through
tables in the corner plenty of times” and I’m sure you have. But
Marko is no small man and Bill the Butcher is a monster who was
looking extra monstrous that night. Given those things and the weird
lighting – which had stabilized somewhat by this time – the
impact of Marko’s carcass crashing through that table came off like
Godzilla throwing through a building. It was a case of the drama and
the setting giving so much more impact to what is usually a standard
no-holds-barred move and it worked like fucking gangbusters.
The
crowd – including me and my pals – were appropriately awed. This
was the end of the match, definitively. There was no pin or tap out.
The Butcher just walked away and that was fucking powerful.
YOUR
WINNER: Bill the Butcher
After
that slobberknocker (sometimes you just gotta resort to the classics)
it was time for an intermission, at which point I had more beer.
Chris
“The Hype” Henry
Vs.
Haikken
w/Quasi Mandisco
I
wasn’t familiar with either of these competitors, but obviously I
knew more than enough about that wicked white-trouser wrongdoer,
Quasi Mandisco. If he’s in your corner, you’re almost certainly
not on the side of the angels.
Haikken
looks like a competitor. He has that built-in gravitas that some guys
have to work for. Just the way the guy carried himself made me want
to see him fight. Quasi, on the other hand, was busy prancing around
the ring like the preposterous popinjay that he is.
This
match was all business – the “steak” of the night, if you will.
Both of these guys were very good. While Haikken had skills, it was
mostly due to Mandisco’s malfeasance that he got the win.
YOUR
WINNER: Haikken (with a heavy assist from Mandisco)
And
now, ladies and gentlemen, your Platinum Championship Wrestling Main
Event…
Su
Yung & Dementia De Rose
Vs.
Latasha
& Miss Rachael
Again
– I had no idea of the backstory to this match. But it didn’t
matter because it was quite clear that Yung and De Rose were the
dominant heels and that Latasha and Rachael had a hell of a hill to
climb.
Yung
and Dementia were wildness and intensity right out of the gate.
Latasha seems to have heart and was holding her own, but she just
couldn’t hang with those two. Finally Rachael tagged in and seemed
ready to turn the tide, but when she went up top for a big move came
down and tweaked her knee. The presence of Head Medical Official
Doctor Meilei was sorely missed that night, as Johnny Danger had to
escort the injured Miss Rachael to the back.
Left
on her own, Latasha had no chance.
YOUR
WINNERS: Su Yung & Dementia De Rose
As
Yung was dragging Latasha away, a man in a hat and trenchcoat hit the
ring. This was The Carpenter, who I had been seeing on various PCW
posters for a while now (and who had once impressed me as an entirely
different persona). All I knew was that he was a heel and that he had
maybe not the best moniker in the world. I’m sure if I knew the
story behind it I might be more impressed.
None
of that mattered once he started talking because he believed what he
was saying. It was a solid promo about Porterdale needing to be
rebuilt (get it?) and how Hankins and Danger as the faces of PCW was
a joke. As he spoke, Stephen Platinum in a Plague Doctor mask came
out to the ring carrying a folded up sheet of plastic.
Now,
I don’t think I was supposed to know
that was Platinum, but it very obviously was. You’d think the guy
had never concealed his identity with a mask before (ahem). The thing
is, it didn’t matter that I knew because I had no idea what he was
going to do. Was he going to surprise attack The Carpenter? Was
something else afoot? I had no idea, so I was still enthralled.
This
is where some timing issues came into play. If The Carpenter hadn’t
been doing his job on the mic, things could have gotten dicey, mostly
because Platinum was having some trouble spreading the plastic out in
the ring. But the suspense was being built and I’m sure we were all
wondering how long it would be before The Carpenter was bleeding his
own blood onto that plastic. Because I’m sure everyone knew it was
Platinum, but I’m also sure everyone knew he was going to jump this
bad guy that they’d been hating for so long and that had just run
down Porterdale and PCW’s most beloved heroes.
Eventually
two more masked individuals hit the ring – one that I could not
identify and one that couldn’t be anyone other than Miss Rachael,
who has certain unmistakable attributes that make her easy to cheer,
if you catch my drift.
And
also because her back tattoo was clearly visible under her jacket.
And
then The Carpenter focused on Hankins at the announce table. The
quartet brought him into the ring and no longer could the intentions
be mistaken – Hankins was beaten bloody with a bat until finally
Stephen Platinum revealed himself.
Despite
everything I know about wrestling as a lifelong fan and as one who
has worked in the business, I was appalled. I’m able to turn my
brain on and off pretty well and I was in full-on fan mode.
Stephen
Platinum had me outraged. I didn’t even know what this whole
scenario was about, I just knew that he had turned on PCW’s fans.
He said that Porterdale never loved Stephen Platinum (a smart and
telling choice of words) and that the only place that loved him was
Atlanta. He said that Porterdale had tried to change his namesake
into Porterdale Championship Wrestling and that he’d had enough –
it was time for a reckoning.
Then
things got so much worse.
The
other two unmasked. I knew the one was Miss Rachael and quite frankly
that’s fine because her heel work is really good. And also I missed
most of her time as a babyface. But the other individual was none
other than Jeff G. Bailey, the most dastardly man I have ever had the
displeasure of meeting. It was no surprise that he was a bad guy or
even that he was there, but what turned my stomach was the fact that
this meant that Stephen
Platinum was working with Jeff G. Bailey.
In the context of PCW this was unthinkable.
When
Miss Rachael unmasked, she put herself over as the last true student
of Stephen Platinum and the last name that mattered, which of course
brought out Johnny Danger and Devlin Valek.
I
would almost have preferred Johnny turn heel than see what happened
next.
Again
– I’m watching this with my years of knowledge and experience.
But when Stephen Platinum attacked Johnny Danger and then continued
to brutalize him after he was clearly helpless, it broke my heart. It
was one of the deepest, most foul betrayals I’ve seen in wrestling,
and that’s no hyperbole. I’m not saying that because I love these
guys and I love PCW, I’m saying that because the fucking angle was
effective.
Johnny’s
wife had to stand helpless at ringside, screaming. And that heartless
fuck Platinum just laughed and kept going.
Once
Johnny was down and out, Miss Rachael took a trophy – a huge lock
of Johnny’s trademark hair. As that happened Quasi Mandisco
strutted down to ringside to bask in the defeat of his old nemesis.
He clearly didn’t know anything about this new group’s agenda,
but being a consummate heel and bootlicker wanted in.
Unfortunately
for Quasi, a ring only has four corners. The group beat him down,
too, and then proceeded to cover him in honey and feathers.
More
heels and faces hit ringside, but it was clear that the forces of
evil far outnumbered the PCW stalwarts. Children were inconsolable
and adults were genuinely enraged. Jeff G. Bailey said, and I quote,
“There are children crying – this is the best night of my life!”
What
a dirtbag.
As
this new cabal stood in the ring, taunting the people of Porterdale,
the Main Event staff cleared the building to try and regain order.
Technically,
that was the end of the show. And what a fucking show it was.
Eventually
they let people back in because the Main Event is, after all, a
business and we were some thirsty patrons. There were still some
pockets of chaos even though Platinum and his cronies had cleared
out. Quasi Mandisco stumbled down the stairs at one point, followed
by Trevor Aeon. Aeon got a little too mouthy and Mandisco laid into
him. The two brawled all over the building while security did their
best to separate them. This was a great fucking bit of business that
put the whole event over. Mandisco and Aeon were intense as hell, and
Aeon was reminding me of the best and cockiest heels during the
exchange.
Meanwhile, I surprised the heck out of myself by feeling
satisfied when Quasi got some shots in. Will wonders never cease?
The
next Platinum Championship Wrestling show is November 21st.
Get your ass to Porterdale.
*Huge
thanks to Alicia Stockton for her
excellent recap
that was much more timely than mine and also helped me remember names
and who won. Also, the title of her post is way
better.
I've never cared anything for wrestling, but your comments about his night, that it was shocking, etc., made this piece impossible to bypass. Really interesting reading.
ReplyDeleteWow. Just...Wow. Reading this got me interested again because man...what a serious douchenozzle. That had to be hard to watch for any die-hard. It's like one of my MA tournament favorites giving me and mine a slap in the face. Geez....
ReplyDelete