Platinum Championship Wrestling 11-7-2015

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 7^th – 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.

Before I begin the recap proper, I have to mention that it has apparently been around eighteen months since I attended a PCW show. I didn’t realize it had been that long, but I was talking to Miss Rachael before the show and mentioned that I hadn’t realized she was wrestling full time. She gave me one of those, “Wow. You’re a dum-dum” looks that I know so well and said she’d been doing it for a year and a half. Oops.

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:

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 21^st. 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.