NHW “Alabama Jam”
Ozark, AL (Ozark Civic Center)
July 18, 2015
By: Josh Boutwell of WrestleView.com
Saturday night New Heights Wrestling returned to Alabama for the first time in years, and debuted for the first time ever in Ozark, with “Alabama Jam” from the Ozark Civic Center. It was a entertaining night full of high flying, old school wrestling, a WWE Hall of Famer, and some comedy. I actually took my fiance with me, who is a very, very, very casual wrestling viewer watching pretty much just whenever I watch, for her first ever live wrestling experience which she seemed to actually enjoy pretty well. There was about 200 fans or so in attendance far below what TNA drew back in 2009, but on par with the crowds EliteCW drew a couple of years ago in the same building with not near as many “names” being brought in for the show. This area was a hot bed for wrestling at one time and with this show and an event in Daleville, AL happening on the same night maybe it can be again. NHW was taping this show for their nation wide TV show that airs on local Fox affiliates around the country.
– Dark Match: Cali Kid fought Preston Veston III to a NO CONTEST
This was a pretty simple, but effective opener which saw the much bigger Veston keeping the high flyer Cali Kid grounded by pounding away at his leg throughout the match. At one point Veston suplexed Cali legs first into the turnbuckles. Before the match could come to a conclusion Justin Michaels led his gang of heels, which consisted of Jael Rose, Scarface, and NHW Heavyweight Champion Ryan Oshun, down to the ring. They destroyed both Cali and Veston before Michaels cut a promo on how horrible Alabama is to get some early cheap heat hyping up all three of his guys matches for later.
– Marcus Oriley def. Tres “Suicidal” Soulja via pinfall (Diving Headbutt)
The opening match of the official card was a high flying affair between two members of NHW’s “Flyers Division.” These two guys couldn’t have been bigger polar opposites as you had the Irish mat wrestler (though he would fly some as well) Oriley and the gravity defying Suicidal Soulja. Soulja is seriously one of the top high flyers in this part of the country and I really, really hope to see much more of him. He hit several big spots like a 450 Splash, Shooting Star Press, and a series of Moonsaults out of the corner along with missing a crazy Corkscrew Moonsault. Eventually Oriley low blowed Soulja before hitting a Diving Headbutt off the top for the pin. Suicidal Soulja is worth the price of admission alone in my book.
– Tony Storm def. T-Bird
This was my first chance seeing Tony Storm while I have seen plenty of T-Bird in the past. T-Bird was coming off of an injury and this was his return match as well as being the first time I’ve seen him working as a heel (he definitley fits well as a heel). Storm managed to pull out the win in the end in a pretty back and forth see-saw match.
– NHW Tag Team Titles: The Midway Express (c) def. The Dirty Blondes via reverse decision to retain the titles.
I had never seen either one of these teams before but The Dirty Blondes are a very old school southern style tag team while The Midway Express is a circus freak style tag team. The Dirty Blondes are Brien & Patrick while The Midway Express are Tweedle Die and Wayne Van Dyke. Wayne is a skinny strong man from the circus while Tweedle Die is a massive, probably 500+ pound man. He can’t move around very well at all and the act isn’t really my cup of a tea but there was even some spots that had me laughing at times. The Dirty Blondes are a really good old school style team that worked really well together. The actually won the match after Brien hit Tweedle Die with a chain wrapped around his fist as Justin Michaels, who had ran out to the ring, distracted the referee, but as The Dirty Blondes were celebrating the referee noticed the chain wrapped around his wrist and called for the reverse decision to DQ the Blondes. The Blondes then beat the hell out of Midway Express before leaving.
Before intermission long time southern manager Dandy Jack came out and claimed that he had a present for the legendary “Bullet” Bob Armstrong that he would give to Bullet that he won’t like later. He said that Bullet has been making his life a living hell for 30 years and he would finally get rid of him.
After intermission Dandy Jack gave Bullet his present which was an arrest warrant issued by Houston County for an attack Bullet made on him in the past with Dandy’s cane. Two police officers came out but apparantley Dandy Jack messed up when he got the warrant issued for Houston Count, Texas not Alabama. Dandy was so pissed off that he ended up attacking Bullet leading to him getting arrested instead as Bullet danced in the ring.
– Tables Match: “Scarface” Waylon Barley w/Justin Michaels def. Dunham
Originally this was just going to be a one-on-one match but it was made a Tables Match before it started. It was a hard hitting slugfest for the majority of the match with both men hitting some stiff shots. Eventually Scarface Speared Dunham through the table to get the win.
– NHW Pride Title: “Mr. Handle That” Mike Facen def. Jael Rose (c) w/Justin Michaels via DQ (Rose retains)
Jael Rose is a very interesting character as he has a great, thug style look to his entrance and he is an excellent all around wrestler. Facen is a massive guy on the other hand with the prototypical WWE look. They both worked really hard and hit a slew of nasty sounding/looking shots on each other. They both also had several very clunky spots during the match where it seemed like things just weren’t meshing well. They hit some pretty cool spots during the match as well including Facen hitting a Super Fall Away Slam on Rose off the top. Eventually Facen looked to be on the verge of victory so Rose blatantly low blowed him in front of the referee so he could retain his title via DQ.
– NHW Heavyweight Title: Paul Jordane def. Ryan Oshun (c) w//Justin Michaels to win the title.
These two great wrestlers have been feuding for awhile and it was time for Paul Jordane to finally get his revenge. Justin Michaels came out before the match and the loud mouth threatened to not allow the match start until a ladder was brought out, which Oshun posed on top of. Early on in the match Oshun went down awkwardly and screamed in pain that he heard his knee pop. The referee crossed his arms in the dreading “X” position and a bunch of backstage workers and referee’s came out to check on Oshun. Jordane even looked on in shock as it seemed Oshun severely injured his knee. This was one of the cooler moments as my fiance genuinely thought Oshun was hurt and even got mad at some guys sitting near us that were making fun of Oshun as he tried to get up. Jordane even held the ropes open so the medical guys could easily get Oshun through the ropes. At that moment Oshun sucker punched Jordane and threw him to the floor. My fiance was incredibly pissed that all she had saw was a work. The match continued on and both guys busted their asses to put on the best match of the card. Eventually Justin Michaels interferred but it cost him as he accidentally hit Oshun with the NHW Title. Jordane then hit his TKO like finish and regained his NHW Title to a MASSIVE pop from the crowd. I tried to explain to my fiance that the pop from the fans, which included her, was exactly the type of reaction they were wanting to build towards with that knee injury spot (she was still pissed that he would have the audacity to fake a knee injury hilariously).
All in all it was a really fun show that I hope was just the start of NHW appearing more and more frequently here as well. The crowd wasn’t huge it but it was a nice turnout especially for a group that has never worked in this area before.