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Persistance Pays Off For Powers!

Posted: Jun 8th 2021 By: Michael Hunt

There's a term that applies to many young pro wrestlers and that term is "Hunger". Lots of new wrestlers come in with dreams of gold, fame and success and quickly discover that there are limited opportunities and many wrestlers to compete for those with. To be successful, you have to capitalise on those opportunities as often as you can.

Warren Powers has tried to do that in his brief career to a modicum of success. A former 4-time BPW 365 Champion and 1/2 of the ASP Tag Team Champions earlier this year, Powers knows what it means to have championship gold around his waist. But what he has really been looking for is that breakout title win to show that he is capable of being recognised as one of the best. And that opportunity finally came this past Friday, though it required again that Powers not give up when things looked bad.

The opportunity actually began last week and initially had little to do with Powers. At the UWO Pop-up event on May 29th, EPW All-American Champion Drake Gallows successfully defended his title against Ryan Allen. Before he could go to the back, Derek James came out and challenged Gallows for that title in the opening match at the EPW event later that night. This brought Powers out to confront both men. Powers rightfully reminded them that EPW had advertised that Gallows would face Powers for that title. Gallows decided that the best way to resolve this conflict was to let Powers and James face each other and the winner would get the shot that night. And thus a match-up of tag team partners began. With both men knowing each other so well from being former ASP Tag Team Champions, the match was quit even. Powers attempted an elbow smash from the second rope, but James avoided that and then worked over that elbow, hoping for a submission. But Powers persevered and caught James in an Oklahoma Rroll for the victory.

Powers didnt' escape the match unscathed as the damage done to his elbow did not have time to heal. But Powers did everything he could not to show the pain in his championship match against Gallows. A brief verbal interchange at the beginning led to Powers hitting a forearm smash in the face of Gallows. Gallows gave just as good as he received and tossed the challenger to the outside, where he used the table barricade to do more damage to Powers. But Powers never gave up and after the match returned to the ring, Powers was eventually able to get Gallows in a Sleeperhold. Gallows continued to fight, eventually escaping the Sleeper and hitting a PowerBomb on "The Motor City Muscle" for the win.

Powers was incredibly distraught after losing that match, knowing how long it had taken him to work his way up to challenge for that belt. But fate still had opportunities for Powers and they came aroun almost a week later. At the UWO event on June 4th, EPW Internet Television Champion & BCW Buzzsaw Champion Father Padge, with his manager/father C. M. Burnham, came out to the ring to open the show. Burnham talked about redemption and how once upon a time, his son had been interested in little else but smoking marijuana and wasting his life. But ever since he had aligned with Burnham, success had come in larger waves than ever. This brought out Tyson Jaymes, who said that he had an issue with Burnham and wanted to get his hands on him, but if he had to go through Padge, he would do so.

Sensing another opportunity, Warren Powers came from the back but Burnham refused to allow him to speak his mind. And then, fortune smiled on Powers and Jaymes as Burnham uttered a phrase he woud soon regret:

"My man can beat both of you in the same match".

And that was all the UWO commissioner Tuck Davion needded to hear. Davion emerged and announced the he was ordering a 2-Fall/Triple Threat Match. The first fall would be for the BCW Buzzsa Title while the seond fall woud be the the EPW Internet Television Title. Burnham tried to talk Davion out of that, saying that he had just been speaking hypothetically and that Padge had not had time to prepare, but none of that mattered to Davion. And as one final surprise, he announced that a special match like this required a special referee.

That referee was Drake Gallows.

Burnham was furious. Padge was irate. Powers was unhappy. But none of them could do anything about it and the match was on. Powers and Jaymes both worked early to try and keep Padge out of the ring, making it a one-on-one match. But Padge used that time outside to rest and pick his spot, inflicting top level damage. This strategy, plus a well-timed shot with the cane by Burnham to Jaymes' back, allowed Padge to connect with Sister Abagail and score the win with the Baptism By Fire on Jaymes. Padge successfully retained the Buzzsaw title and Powers again felt opportunity beginning to slip from his fingers.

But Powers still had one chance as there was another fall, this time for the EPW Internet Television Title. Padge started out dominating the match, taking the offence to both Powers and Jaymes. At one point, he was able to get both men down and attempt a double pin, but he could not keep both men pinned. A flurry of action saw Padge attempt a superkick on Jaymes, Jaymes avoid that and try a cutter on Padge and Padge slide out of that to finally connect with the Superkick. That put Tyson out of the match and Padge then turned his attention to Powers, trying to set him up again for the Baptism By Fire. But Powers evaded that and caught Padge with the Skull-Crushing Finale, getting the pin and the title.

Powers had fought long and hard to capture that gold and had shown that as long as someone doesn't give up, eventually things work out for them. With a singles championship belt around his waist, Powers now has to be prepared for the onslaught of challengers coming for him. Winning the belt was probably the easier task. Defending event after event will be the real challenge. But Powers will continue to do what he did to get the title in his possession. He will fight until there is nothing left to for him to fight with.