WrestleView.com’s own Josh Boutwell (TNA Impact recapper/”Viva La Raza! Lucha Weekly” columnist) sent this report in:
I attended Bob Armstrong’s retirement show tonight in Dothan, Alabama so I figured I would send in a report of the show.
Gulf Coast/Southeastern Continental Championship Wrestling presents “Old Time Rock-n-Roll: Farewell 2 Legends Tour”. The final match of Bob Armstrong’s career.
First, before I run down the show I want to really get on the Dothan Civic Center tonight. I have gone to this arena probably 3 or 4 dozen times and have never went through the frustrations that I went through tonight. First, there were no proper signs saying where to get what tickets. Initially we went to one side of the box office and they told us to go to the other side for ringside seats and then we go over there and they tell us its the other side. It took us about 45 mintues just to get the tickets. Then, the lines at the concession stands were just horrible and all I wanted was a Coke so I decided to just grab one out of the Coke Machine. Nope, they had something stuck in them where you couldn’t put any dollar bills in them so you would have to buy their overpriced tiny drinks. Horrible, alright enough complaining.
“Exotic” Adrian Street def. Marcell Pringle
Pretty slow paced match but still entertaining with Street doing his classic tactics pinching Pringle and the referee’s butts. He rolled Pringle up for the pin.
After the opener “The Voice of Alabama Wrestling” Charlie Pratt comes to a podium on the stage and tells us there will be tons of legends tonight and introduces the first which was an Alabama wrestling legend, The Wrestling Pro. He puts over how great it was wrestling here and what the business did for him and thanks the fans.
“Rotten” Ron Star is out next. He talks about the old days and how much he loved coming to the Southeast and especially southern Alabama (he lives down here now I believe) and thanked the fans.
They showed a special video tribute to “Mr. Perfect” Jerry Stubbs and then he came out and made a little speech.
Triple Threat: Daffney def. Amber O’Niel & Krissy Vaine (Team Blondage)
By far the best in ring match of the night. Some really good stuff by all three and good God, Amber & Krissy are fine as hell. Daffney was able to get Amber & Krissy turned against each other. At one point they all rolled each other in a cool spot. Daffney got the pin with the Swinging Cradle Suplex. All three girls got tons of visistors at their tables after the match for pictures and autographs, I would estimate at least 200 at Team Blondage’s alone.
Ken Lucas and Don Fargo come out and talk about the old days and talked about their fond memories of wrestling in the old Houston County Farm Center here in Dothan for all those years.
They show a special video tribute of Bob Armstrong.
After intermission they brought out all the wrestlers and legends and then welcomed out Jerry Stubbs and Bob Armstrong. “Cowboy” Bob Kelly and the legendary HARLEY RACE then come out. They both put over Bob Armstrong and Stubbs (primarily Armstrong) and Race calls Armstrong one of the greatest of all time and recalls their many 45 minute slugfests in years past. Kelly says that he agrees with Harley but there would be no Bob Kelly nor a Harley Race or a Bob Armstrong if it wasn’t for all the fans. A Marine then comes out and thanks Bob for his years in service and says its a honor to see his final show. Armstrong thanks everyone and puts over the other legends.
Everyone leaves but Harley Race and Midnight Express member Randy Rose remain in the ring. They talk about the feuds they had together and Rose talks about how he was good at making the fans hate us but he knows they truly loved him for it in the end (naw, Randy them rednecks hated you man). Harley tells some stories about the old days in hour long matches in the non air conditioned Farm Center with the likes of Ric Flair and Armstrong and says that he loved wrestling down here and all these people showing up for the show tonight proved wrestling was not dead in the south.
Johnny & Davey Rich def. The Nightmare & Boris Zhukov
Pretty bad match. Zhukov is huge now and could barely move around in the ring, at one point he attempted to do a middle turnbuckle splash but couldn’t get up on the middle rope so he had to settle for a bottom rope splash. The Rich Brothers got the pin eventually in a dull match which I used for a bathroom break.
Main Event: “Bullet” Bob & Steve Armstrong def. Larry Zbyszko & Jimmy Golden w/Col. Parker (Robert Fuller) via DQ
Jerry Stubbs comes out and says that he wouldn’t help the heels tonight and they would have to win on their own but suggests that Fuller tries him and they could fight which of course he refuses. Old school tag match right here with the heels isolating Steve for most of the match. Huge “Bullet” chants throughout and Larry was classic with all of his heel tactics and stalling in the early going. Eventually Bullet got the tag and he and his son put the heels in the Double Sleeper, but Col. Parker ran in and hit Bullet causing the DQ. “OH YOU DIDN’T KNOW?!” and the fans go nuts and BG James comes out and makes the save for his family. BG cleans house and the heels bail. BG grabs the mic and does his usual catch phrases letting us know where we are (the Dogg House) and how he kicks it (doggy style) and then he gave the heels 2 words (come on, you know). BG said now that the catch phrases were taken care of he could get serious. He tells his dad that he was proud of him and if wasn’t for him he wouldn’t be the man that he is. He then hugged him and then told his brother to ‘stick it’ and they laughed and hugged as well. Bullet grabbed the microphone and thanked the fans for supporting him for so long and bows out gracefully hugging and posing in the crowd for the cameras. Everyone is sent home happy.
All in all a very fun show and for a very affordable price. The big Dothan Civic Center (seats about 3,000-5,000) wasn’t full but I would guess that there was at least 1,500-2,000 people there. Very good turnover and it was proof that the WWE or TNA would come down here more often they could draw great crowds. I got a chance to hear from some legends that my dad and uncle (who are old timers that both joined me and my uncle actually wrestled against some of these guys in the 60’s and 70’s as the masked Mr. X) told me about and also got to meet one of the greatest wrestlers of all time when I got a chance to meet Harley Race afterwards. It was a true honor and it was a very fun show.