Peachtree – The American Championship Wrestling Federation held their second event of the year, “Valentine’s Massacre,” on Saturday night at the Peachtree Community Center.
Saturday’s event kicked off with Axel Gunn defeating Mountain Man Jeremy Stiles. Gunn is half of the American Outlaws, alongside Killshot. Together, they are ACWF tag team champions.
After the match, the commissioner came out and gave an ultimatum to Gunn, who held both the U.S. championship and tag team titles, that he had to give up one of his belts. After a back-and-forth discussion, Gunn relinquished his U.S. title in order to keep his tag team belt.
In the second match of the night, Frodo defeated Porka Dork. Despite dirty moves throughout the match against him, Frodo came out with the victory.
In the third match, the tag team champs took on the team of Kevin Seabert and Digger James. The match went exactly how the American Outlaws wanted it to go – with a win.
The American Outlaws were in control the whole match, except when Digger James was able to land some big moves. The Outlaws, Gunn and Killshot, were able to retain their titles, which shows Gunn made the right choice in keeping his tag team title.
The fourth match of the night was Zack Moore’s retirement match, where he took on “The Chalk Outline” Mike Clay in a last man standing match. A last man standing match is over when one of the opponents is down for a 10-count, instead of the normal three-count pinfall.
This match was one fans will not soon forget, as fans saw everything from blood to chair shots to thumb tacks. The match had fighting in and out of the ring, as Moore gave it his all in his final match.
Some of the bigger moments included Clay diving through the ropes to fly into Moore, who was standing on the outside as fans watched in shock. Toward the beginning of the match, Clay grabbed a metal pole with barbed wire wrapped around it and hit Moore with it, which caused blood to spill from his face. His head began to bleed even more when Clay hit him with a chair shot to the head that echoed through the building.
Another big moment was when Clay pulled a bag of thumb tacks out, threw them on the mat and was going to slam Moore onto them. Moore reversed the move and slammed Clay into the tacks instead. The match ended when Clay got a roll of tape and taped Moore to the ring post, where he could not get out and lost the match.
Both men were bloody and bruised by the end of this match. Moore can walk off into the sunset knowing he gave it his all in his final match.
After an intermission, fans were treated to two hard-hitting matches.
The fifth match was a kendo stick battle royale. The winner would advance to the main event to compete for the ACWF heavyweight championship.
In the battle royale format, someone is eliminated from the match if they go over the top rope and both feet hit the floor. ACWF put their twist on the battle royale format by adding the kendo stick.
With eight men in the ring, the bell rang and madness ensued. They began to brawl in each corner of the ring and even the outside. The pop of kendo stick hits rang through the Peachtree Community Center throughout the whole match.
After Gunn and Stiles were eliminated, they began to fight all the way back to the locker room. One man would outlast them all, Killshot, who advanced to the main event.
Killshot stayed in the ring and competitors came out one at a time for the elimination-style match. An elimination-style match is when multiple people compete in a match and are eliminated when they are pinned for the referee’s three-count. The last man left wins the match, and in this case also the ACWF heavyweight title.
As the match began to wind down, the final two competitors made their way to the ring. The first was Kilawya, who made an immediate impact in the ring, landing slams both on the mat and in the corners.
The final competitor made his way to the ring a few minutes later. The crowd cheered as the reigning ACWF heavyweight champ, Mr. Atlanta No. 2, made his way to the ring in hopes of retaining his belt.
The match came down to Kilawya and Mr. Atlanta No. 2 as the final two. They battled to the end, with both men landing massive slams that felt like they shook the building. As the referee made the final three-count, Mr. Atlanta No. 2 pinned Kilwya to retain his title.
During the final minutes of the match, an unknown competitor walked slowly around the ring as they fought. After the match, he challenged Mr. Atlanta No. 2 for a match at the next ACWF event in March.
ACWF’s next event will be Saturday, March 2, at the Peachtree Community Center. Doors open at 6 p.m.; bell time is at 7 p.m. Details: Visit the ACWF Murphy NC Facebook page.