On Friday, July 31st I visited the Gladeville Community Center in Gladeville, Tennessee for Pro Wrestling Alliance. For those unfamiliar, Gladeville is in between Lebanon and Mt. Juliet, and about a 40 minute drive from Nashville. The beautiful thing about going to a PWA show is that you truly get a Memphis style show. This show is as much apart of the Gladeville community as friday night lights and the county fair. A crowd of 175+ people came to cheer their heroes, boo their villains and above all else, enjoy some old school rasslin’.
Our first match was a triple threat, as crowd favorite Nate Starr took on Jay Solis and Mr. Gold. This reporter very much enjoyed the Golden fiend, weighing in at “tons of gold” and hailing from “Goldburg” Kentucky. To the crowd’s delight, Nate Starr won with a sunset flip. Our second match had 1/2 of the Original Sins, “The Problem” Tyler Lydol taking on Dewey Barnes. Some may be more familiar with the latter from his TNA run as White Tiger, but I’m familiar with Dewey as a long time mainstay of Tennessee wrestling. Barnes won this match with his feet on the ropes.
Honcho Hensley and Austin Cruz easily had two of the most memorable moves of the evening. The first saw Cruz easily be the largest competitor I’ve ever seen successfully hit a Canadian Destroyer. After a run-in distraction by Dewey Barnes, Hensley would hit a vertebreaker on Cruz, to the shock, awe and horror of the crowd. Hensley’s devastating move would earn him the pinfall victory.
Our fourth match was for the PWA tag team titles, held by “The Gargoyle” Kerry Awful and “The Gremlin” Larry Cooter, a group, managed by Lucky, known as “The Present”. Let me tell you, these three are not afraid to piss off a crowd, and as they riled the crowd into a fervor, Big & Rich’s 2004 classic “Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy” echoed throughout the community center, as “The Measuring Stick” Danial Starling and “Mr. Boom Bastic” Azrael Row made their way to the ring as their challengers. Mr. Boom Bastic was something to truly see, and while Kerry and Larry may have underestimated him for his small stature, they quickly found out that this man is full of fight. However, with help from Lucky ringside and a sick double team move, The Present would go on to retain their titles.
The semi-main saw the defense of the U.S. Championship, as the champion Matt Starr would take on “The Jackal of Bluegrass” Jackie Thad. About a minute into the match, Thad would collapse with what appeared to be a knee injury. This however, was a ruse as Thad would take his opening to rake the eyes of Starr. Thad would continue to show that there was no line he was unwilling to cross, as he hit a well disguised low blow while distracting the ref. Thad would take too long relishing in his dirty deeds, leaving a window open for Starr to roll up his opponent and retain his title.
The PWA Heavyweight title was on the line as their champion, “The Neglected” Landon Bradley defended against “Raddy Daddy” Cole Radrick. Avid wrestling fans know Radrick from his time in GCW, and for always having the coolest throwback Nascar shirts I’ve ever seen. Landon had Jay Solis with him in his corner for the main event, and the room was deafening with boos for the duos. After a thrilling back and forth twenty minute match, Radrick would get the pinfall victory, and just as we thought a new PWA Champion would be crowned, we saw Landon and Jay’s master plan come into play. Prior to hitting his finisher, a metal chain passed from Solis to Bradley was tucked into Cole’s singlet by the champion. They quickly disputed the match’s result with the referee, and with Radrick caught red headed with the unused smoking gun, the decision was reversed. While the crowd absolutely exploded with rage at the result, I thought it was one of the most creative insurance plans I had seen from a conniving champion in a minute.
I really appreciate the hospitality that the Pro Wrestling Alliance staff showed to me during my visit. I think they have something really unique going on, and I highly encourage anyone looking for a fun friday activity to go check them out. You can find PWA on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. I want to thank anyone who took the time to read this, and as always, get out of the damn house and go watch and support your local rasslin show!
