On Saturday, the power of 44OH – the faction led by GCW World Champion Rickey Shane Page that has terrorized Game Changer Wrestling for the past year – was simply too much. 44OH’s Eric Ryan – with help from Page and Eddy Only – defeated SHLAK to win the 2020 IWA Mid South King of the Deathmatches tournament.
A lot of you don’t have friends and it shows. I’ve known @Ericryanpro for 15 years. Of course I’m going to lend him a helping hand. He’s the man and deserves everything he’s getting and has got. #44OH forever! pic.twitter.com/Qd25EfhGsD
— RSP リッキー・シェーン・ペイジ (@RickeyShanePage) August 2, 2020
It was Eric Ryan’s third time in the tournament – in 2017 and 2018 he was eliminated before the semi-finals – but on Saturday he went the full course. He defeated BC Killer in the opening round in a Glass Galore Texas Deathmatch, and in the second round beat Jeff King, who had knocked out 44OH’s Eddy Only in the opening round, in a Panes of Glass Match. In the same quarter-final round, SHLAK defeated 44OH’s leader Rickey Shane Page – and with SHLAK being gang-affiliated with Page’s arch-enemy Nick Gage, you knew that Page’s loss was going to have ramifications for SHLAK.
In the semi-finals, Eric Ryan defeated veteran John Wayne Murdoch in Glass Castle Match, while SHLAK beat Dale Patricks to advance to the finals. The finals were contested in a Barbed Wire Cage House Of Horrors match, that saw both Page and Only help their 44OH teammate Eric Ryan overcome the beast known as SHLAK and become the 2020 King of the Deathmatches.
https://twitter.com/AlexGimenezBCN/status/1289843184361594880
In other big news out of the event, IMPACT Wrestling‘s Jake Crist won the IWA Mid South Heavyweight title on Night One, defeating champion Ace Perry and Kevin Giza in a triple threat match to open the show. Crist would defend his title on Night Two against Lincoln Moseley. It’s Crist’s second reign as IWA M-S Heavyweight Champion, last holding the title back in 2018.
Give me the ball and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. Just ask @IWAMidSouth #ModernManINBlack #iwaMidsouth
Photo credit @nickkarpphotos pic.twitter.com/0OcYrd8aYq
— Jake Crist (@TheJakeCrist) August 2, 2020
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