AML's 4th

For the record, I saw four live wrestling shows this month. That's better than any full year of my life except for last year, my annus mirabilis. Last Sunday I went to AML Wrestling's 4th Anniversary Celebration in Winston-Salem, along with a friend, who had seen only one live wrestling show previously, and that was at the age of seven or eight. 

In the first contest (first three GIFs below), former world champion Caleb Konley challenged the new champion, George South, to a loser-leaves-AML-for-life match. South, Caleb's former trainer, had beat Caleb at November's WrestleCade only through treachery and outside help. The outcome of Sunday's match was not good for Caleb, by far my favorite AML performer, who (I can only hope) has better prospects elsewhere. (He is still under contract at Impact Wrestling.)

Speaking of favorites, I was rooting for bad-guys The Heatseekers (Sigmon and Elliott Russell) in a four-way challenge against the Dawson Brothers (Dave and Zane, the defending champions), the Geordie Bulldogs (Sean and Mark Denny), and the campy Gymnasty Boyz (Timmy Lou Retton and White Mike, who became the new champions). Last year, after meeting me only once a few months earlier, and then only briefly, Elliott Russell impressed me by remembering my name, and in Sunday's show, he pointed right at me, pleasing me to no end.

My favorite AML heel is Devin Driscoll, a mean, muscular brute, who never fails to raise the crowd's ire. His repertoire of nasty insults, directed at individual fans as much as his opponents, knows no bounds. He ridicules even his own fans. His opponent (fourth, fifth, and sixth GIFs) was up-and-comer JB Cole, who took everything Driscoll threw at him and ultimately triumphed. Earlier, the clean-cut and boyishly handsome JB dropped off the ring apron to my feet, a moment caught in the sixth GIF.

Special guests former WWE ref Theodore "Teddy" Long and NWA world champ Nick Aldis posed with fans in the ring and spoke inspirationally about the importance of AML's four years as a regional wrestling promotion in central North Carolina. (Seventh GIF)

The main event (GIFs 8, 9, and 10) featured Billy Brash, top contender for the role of my favorite AML babyface now that Caleb is leaving. What I love about Brash is his gimmick - a hardworking regular guy who almost always gets beaten to a pulp before rising triumphantly to vanquish his opponents at the last minute. The photo he signed for me last year reads, "Not Just Dead on the Inside." His opponent was a new babyface - the strongly built Bandido enmascarado - whom Brash defeated in a tough but friendly match. After the two embraced in a show of solidarity, Chip Day (another nasty character, who had fought earlier in the show) attacked Brash from behind, but then received a beating from Bandido.

I'm losing not only Trevor Lee (off to WWE) but Caleb Konley too? Life is unfair, but at least I got this close shot of Caleb crushing George South's skull in my favorite old-school hold, the side headlock. 

Like Lee, Konley has all the right ingredients for a wrestling hero, not least of which is his ability to express agony.

God, I love front-row seats!

JB Cole strikes back at Devin Driscoll.

Devin wrenches the chinlock he's got on cleancut JB. (Many in the crowd preferred the heel over the can-do rookie.)

Then suddenly there he was, warming my toes.

During intermission Nick Aldis and Teddy Long posed with fans for in-ring photos. Aldis looks as magnificent in his Sunday clothes as he does in trunks.

Billy Brash, the AML Prestige champion, raises his belt.

Bandido crosses himself before his match with Brash.

Brash vs Bandido was a close match. Billy suffered less than usual during the match, but was blindsided by the vilely envious Chip Day.