NWA Anarchy ran their first TV taping under new ownership Saturday night at the NWA
Arena in Cornelia, Ga.
Outgoing owner Jerry Palmer officially passed the torch to Franklin Dove. As expected, it was a seamless transition being that the creative team headed up by Bill Behrens remains essentially in tact.
It was a top notch show in the ring with a more starpower than the typical Anarchy
taping over the last year. The NWA colors were flying high, featuring an appearance by the new NWA World Tag Team Champions, a first round match in the tournament for
the NWA North American Championship and the return of TNA TV Champion and
former NWA National Champion Gunner to the building where he was the top dog.
With that said, for my money this night was about Caprice Coleman. He's never
gotten a shot at the majors. Size must be the issue, because he's got everything else they could possibly ask for.
However, the attendance of 100 for the big restart after a five week layoff was a
disappointment. The Southern Nationals drag racing event in nearby Commerce was
cited as a factor. It was the same as what they drew May 15 last year with a lesser
card. The high profile appearances were added in the final weeks leading up to the
event and as far as I know, the Internet was the main mode of getting the word out. It’s been proven time and time again that independent promotions can’t draw off the
internet, and my impression is that the internet does less for Anarchy than it does for most indies. Whatever the reasons, it was shame not have more eyeballs viewing
what turned out to be quality show.
Clearly, the Palmer era ended on an incredibly high note at Hardcore Hell. In
hindsight, though, it strikes me that things were wrapped up too neatly.
Fans weren’t provided with compelling enough reasons to see the sequel. All of
villains major were vanquished. The babyfaces held all of the titles except the one
with the least import.
Fixable problems for sure, although not ones that were adequately addressed last
night. The babyface champions all went over strong in their first title defenses. I get that. They were all brand new. But no heat was put on any of them. The crowd was hot for the first hour but got deathly quiet during the second hour. On the plus side, two matches where issues do exist were set up for May 28.
The show opened with the national anthem. It wouldn’t be an Anarchy event without
technical snafus. The audio didn’t work for the first half of it. The WrestleVision was non-functional, so there were no backstage vignettes, etc.
(1) Gunner (Phil Shatter) beat Chris Mayne
(2) Aden Chambers (with John Johnson) defeated Jacob Ashworth to retain the
NWA Anarchy Young Lion’s Championship
(3) Youth Gone Wild (Anthony Henry & Dustin Knight) beat Fabulous Blondes (Casey
Kage & Brian Rivers) to retain the NWA Anarchy Tag Team Championship
(4) Shaun Tempers defeated Caprice Coleman to advance in the NWA North
American Title Tournament
(5) Bo Newsom beat Skirra Corvus
(6) Brodie Chase beat Shaun Tempers (with Bo Newsom) in 4 seconds to retain
the NWA Anarchy TV Championship.
(7) Kimo beat Stryknyn (with “Reverend” Dan Wilson) via DQ
(8) Shadow Jackson beat Jacoby Boykins (with John Johnson) to retain the NWA
Anarchy Heavyweight Championship
(9) Usual Suspects (Murder One & AJ Steele) beat Steven Walters & Caprice
Coleman to retain the NWA World Tag Team Championship
Credit: Larry Goodman @ GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com
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