When last covering ACTION Wrestling’s journey in this crazy business, I left off with the one year anniversary show ending with a triumphant AC Mack. Today, we continue by fast forwarding two months to their June 2019 show, which I could not attend due to a family reunion in Texas. Luckily for me, all ACTION shows are uploaded to IWTV within a few days, which is very useful to me because I subscribed to IWTV with the promo code “ACTION” for a free 20 day trial. When first watching the show on IWTV, I was particularly intrigued by the potential aftermath. The last show felt like their biggest show yet with several important developments, so, I had a level of anticipation similar to the night after WrestleMania.
The opener of the show had aftermath written all over it as James Bandy wrestled Bobby Flaco. Two of ACTION’s most beloved stars go toe to toe. Bandy fell down a few rungs on the ladder to success, thanks to his championship loss to AC Mack, while Bobby just accomplished a massive victory over AR Fox. Both competitors are fighting for that same spot at the top, but only one wrestler can be successful.
This match isn’t just about competition or momentum, there’s also a lot of pride involved. Bandy and Flaco were both trained by AR Fox at the WWA4 dojo in Atlanta, the winner of this match earns the privilege of saying that they are the better student. Each athlete has a particular style they specialize in, Bandy has a clear power advantage and Flaco has a knack for going airborne. For the most part, Flaco was able to control the match using high risk maneuvers such as a beautiful diving crossbody that had extra impact due to Flaco’s knees catching Bandy square in the face. Bandy had his moments of success including a particularly nasty looking Ligerbomb. In the end, Flaco left with his hand held high after surprising his opponent with a Zack Sabre-esque European Clutch. Unfortunately, Bandy did not take his second consecutive loss very well, as he left the ring dejected and refused to even look Flaco in the eye.
Our next match is Fred Yehi vs Ashton Starr, who is serving as the replacement for Michael “Watts Rules” Marshall. Starr is a vastly different opponent than Marshall, preferring to mask his deceptive striking skills with his flamboyant personality as opposed to Marshall’s more old school technical approach. Starr was able to occasionally catch Yehi off guard with shockingly effective strikes, including one of the nastiest punches I’ve ever seen/heard and a well placed knee. This success would eventually lead to Starr’s overconfidence and inevitable demise courtesy of Yehi’s newest weapon, the Canadian Destroyer.
Now, we have a southern independent wrestling legend battling one of the fastest rising stars in the country as Slim J takes on AJ Gray. Both competitors have deceiving body figures. AJ has a thick, sturdy build but can keep up the pace with just about anyone, Slim, on the other hand, has a lot of surprising power despite his skinny frame and average height. While both wrestlers have very well-rounded skill sets, they played it safe and spoke with their strengths. Slim gave AJ a lot of trouble in the air and Gray had the most success when sticking to his power and slowing the pace down. Slim’s speed leads to him using more combos such as the wheelbarrow flatliner followed by the diving reverse DDT, while AJ has one punch power, it only takes one lariat for him to get the victory. After a barnburner of a war, Slim was able to squeak out a victory with a gruesome avalanche hurricanrana.
Up next, we have ACTION’s resident underdog, Matt Sells looking to end his defeated streak as he teams with fellow underdog, Cabana Man Dan (CMD) against Cain Justice and David Ali. In a shocking turn of events, Sells and CMD proved to be a formidable tag team, clearly winning the early portion of the match. The lovable underdogs ran into trouble when Justice used the hooks of the ring post against Sells, a tactic he’s used in the majority of his matches. For the next few minutes, Justice and Ali isolated Sells until he got the tag to CMD. It was now time for Justice and Ali to pay for their sins via flip flop chops, a specialty of Cabana Man Dan. The moment of comeuppance was temporary as CMD fell victim to an Ali schoolboy with tights, meaning the Sells losing streak continues. After the match, Justice threw CMD’s own flip flops at him just to pour some salt into the wound.
Our next match has a ton of history behind it as former tag team partners Alan Angels and Tommy Maserati go at it. in the earlier days of their careers, Angels and Maserati teamed up as The Misfits in the WWA4 dojo, going all the way back to Angels’ first professional wrestling match. Tommy saw a lot of potential in Alan when he started training, you could even say that he saw more potential in him than he did in himself. Maserati never really saw himself as a top guy, which led to him retiring this year. He requested that his last match be against Angels so that he can adjust his attitude and turn him back into the nice kid he was back in their tag team days.
Besting Alan Angels is no easy task, especially if you’ve been inactive recently. Angels is one of the best wrestlers in the south, in order for Maserati to come away with the win, he must train relentlessly. While he definitely held his own, Maserati’s ring rust was evident, but not enough to keep him out of the fight. Angels repeatedly threw big moves at his opponent, but thanks to the support of the crowd and all of his WWA4 friends that came to the ring with him, Maserati persevered. That’s not to say that he gave Angels zero trouble, he definitely had his moments. However, the main story of the match was Maserati’s resilience and Angels’ frustration, which led to Maserati getting the upset win. After the match, Angels told Tommy that if he had to lose to anyone, he was glad it was him. With those kind words, Angels has officially turned a new leaf. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one as James Bandy attacked Maserati, which led to Angels making the save. I have a feeling this is not over.
It’s time for a Teddy Long special, we’ve got us a tag team match as Logan and Marko Stunt fight Team TAG(Kevin Blue and Chris Spectra). Logan gave the bigger team trouble early on with his Tae Kwon Do kicks. The success proved to be temporary as Team TAG would capitalize on a miss and isolate the younger Stunt. The majority of the match saw the much larger Team TAG use their size and professional wrestling experience to dominate their opponents. However, once again, The Stunts show that their hearts are the biggest part of their bodies by overcoming the odds to secure a win courtesy of a Marko-assisted small package by Logan. Team TAG were sore losers and attacked after the match, which brought out CEO, Matt Griffin to make the save and start his match with the third member of Team TAG, Billy Buck. This feud between Griffin and Buck started in June of last year, when Griffin stopped an attack on CMD and ate a Billy Buck superkick for his troubles. This would set the tone for the feud as Matt Griffin would interfere in Team TAG’s matches and get attacked by Team TAG, which would lead to more interference.
Due to the personal nature of this feud, the majority of this match was spent outside of the ring with the competitors brawling. In their eyes, this was more about a fight than a wrestling match. Unfortunately, this mentality cost CEO Matt Griffin the victory when he became distracted after the referee prevented him from attacking Buck with a steel chain, a situation which Billy Buck capitalized on with a Buckshot superkick to secure the win. Team TAG with was not finished, as they literally tied the CEO’s hands together and laid him out with a series of superkicks. It was evident that while Matt won the battle, Team TAG won the war.
The show ends on an incredibly high note as AC Mack defends his ACTION Championship against the debuting Curt Stallion. Mack has defended his belt against all contenders, so, Matt decides to test him against one of the best in the Midwest. Going into this match, I was wondering how the ACTION crowd would take to Stallion and whether they would root for the hometown boy. I was partially surprised when Stallion received a warm reaction, then again, he is one of the best in the country.
AC gets a lot of flack from his critics(particularly ACTION commentator Dylan Hales) for running his mouth and using underhanded tactics. This match showed that he doesn’t necessarily need to fight dirty, he can go in there and beat one of the absolute best on his own merit. Stallion presents a unique challenge to AC, as he hasn’t really wrestled anyone with the striking ability of Stallion. This was evident when the champ was rocked by a meaty forearm in the opening seconds, less than a minute in, and we know that Stallion will always have a puncher’s chance. In order to successfully defend his title, AC must quickly adjust and adapt a new strategy, which he does by targeting Stallion’s shoulder, thus neutralizing the challenger’s punches and forearms. Once Stallion is wounded, AC becomes relentless and gnaws at his opponent’s arm like a dog with a bone. Whenever Stallion finds an opening, he has to use his head, feet or knees to try to knock his adversary unconscious and win the match. There were two notable occasions where it looked like a new champion was being crowned, those nearfalls were from a headbutt and an air raid crash onto the knee, respectively. Logically, Stallion thought that if he hit those moves together as a combo, the ACTION Championship would be his. After nailing the headbutt, Stallion went for the air raid crash, only for it to be beautifully countered into the Mack X Pedigree for the 3 count!
After the match, Marko Stunt went to confront AC, a man he has a lot of history with, especially in SCI, only to be thwarted by Billy Buck. It was this very incident that led to Stunt and Buck facing off in round one of the 2019 SCI tournament. Mack went to put Marko down with a Mack X pedigree, but Slim J made the save, which led to a title match between the two being announced for August to close the show.
So far, the following matches have been revealed for the next show: AC Mack vs Slim J, Alan Angels vs James Bandy, and Fred Yehi vs Erick Stevens, and much more! All ACTION shows can be seen on IWTV, which if you aren’t a subscriber to and sign up using the promotion code “ACTION”, you will receive a free 20 day trial. Alright folks, this is Jon Miller saying see you next time and follow me on Twitter @CWFAN96.