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The End of An AB-solutely Fabulous Era (But Could The Restart Be Around the Corner?)

Posted: Jun 11th 2021 By: CMBurnham

It was the end of an era. But a new era may start up again this weekend.

While often recognised as one of the best wrestlers that Oklahoma has to offer, Double D quietly achieved something recently. From July 20, 2018 - June 5, 2021, he held at least on championship in Oklahoma. On two occasions in that period, he put together a Triple Crown.

It’s a feat not likely to be repeated anytime soon. And it’s not like D needed any additions to fuel his ego. But with the loss of the CPW Title to Tommy Dean, that era is over and D’s frustration was apparent the next day at the ASP show. It may carry over to the UWO event this Saturday, but it could possibly lead to a reigniting of championship status.

After losing the EPW title to Kevin James Sanchez in a 3 Stages of Hell/Title-vs-Career match in April, D’s sole championship prize was the CPW Title. He had defeated WFC Prime and BPW Lion Heart Champion Tommy Dean in February of this year for that belt, thank heavily to CPW Commissioner Matt Barnett. Barnett pulled referee Sol Yang from the ring as Dean was about to get the 3-Count on D and this distraction allowed D to hit the D-Facer and pin Dean to become the inaugural champion. The next would see Dean chase D for a rematch, but on multiple occasions, Barnett would flat-out lie, telling Dean that he had not earned the opportunity. Meanwhile, D continued to defend against top quality talent like Graham Bell and Wesley Crane. And for the most part, his victories continued to happen only because of interference from Matt Barnett.

By May, Dean had had enough and came out at the beginning of the show, demanding that Barnett give him a title shot. Again, Barnett refused, so Dean chased him to the back, where Barnett tried to barricade himself in his office. But Dean got the key, broke in and physically forced Barnett to sign a title contract for him to face Double D at June’s “Summer Sendoff” event. But Barnett wasn’t done and after a brutal match between Double D and Wesley Crane saw Tommy Dean hit the ring and all hell break loose, Barnett set up a 6-person match: Samedi, Killista and Double D vs. Skylar Slice, EPW All-American Champion Drake Gallows and Tommy Dean. If D’s team won, D got to pick the stipulation for the title match. If Tommy won, he got the same opportunity. That match was incredibly intense, but Dean’s team came out victorious and Tommy Dean announced that he wanted Double D to have no chance to run and hide, so he picked Falls Count Anywhere.

Double D had one month to prepare for this match and he certainly appeared confident as he and Erica made their way to ring for this title defense. And as might be expected, the match did not stay in the ring very long. Dean battled D all over the arena, climbing on the broadcast booth and the camera platforms, diving off the ceiling of a closeted area and leaving a hole in the wall as Dean threw D into it. Dean was pushed into a closet and emerged with pool noodles to throw at D, ASP All-Time Champion Erica and Matt Barnett, but to no avail. The match made it’s way back to the ring, but again, didn’t stay there long as both men battled up on the stage. Erica trie to hit a low blow on Tommy, but Wesley Crane then interjected himself in the match, throwing Erica into a kiddy pool positioned near the back of one of the seating areas and giving the thumbs-up to Dean, harkening back to their partnership at OKX. Dean hit D with a guitar in the back, then connected with the SSJ Driver and pinned the “Ab-tactic One” on the stage, ending his final championship reign in the D Era.

As frustrating and disappointing as that was, D was even more upset the next day when he got to ASP and found that he had not been scheduled for a match. And D took it upon himself to go out and interrupt Brandon Barricade and Red to explain that he was a professional wrestler and winning matches was how he earned money. D expressed a distaste for how there was time for Musical Chairs matches and Limbo Matches on the card (both of which, by the way, were won by Erica, but that didn’t seem to matter to D), but there was no time for HIM. This brought out the new ASP Mid-American Champion Luke Savage. A man of few words, the Spartan Soldier simply said that if D wanted an opponent, he would be glad to step up and be one. And despite being only a few months into his career, Savage held his own against the 10+ year veteran. No matter what D did, Savage countered and came back. And perhaps sensing another pinball loss on the way, D resorted to a chair shot to Savage to escape that. It was still a loss for D, but only by DQ and while he could walk away, Savage had a little more difficult doing so under his own power.

No longer a champion anywhere he goes in Oklahoma and unable to pick up a victory as easily as he would like to, Double D could probably be forgiven for walking away, collecting his thoughts and planning some sort of comeback. But as he said, this is professional wrestling and this is how he earns money. This coming Saturday, D has an opportunity to once again get back into possession of championship gold. But to do so, he has to survive two men that pose very strong, yet distinct, challenges. On one said, he will see BCW Tag Team Champion Dexter Hardaway. The man who beat D for the EmpCW title, putting a small hiccup in his championship dominance. They’ve traded that belt and faced each other several times. On the other side, D sees Brawler Morison. A man who most would agree is the most improved wrestler in the state over the past few years. A vicious man who is not afraid to injure himself to get an advantage. A man who has not recently faced D one-on-one and may be a wild card in this scenario.

All 3 men are vying for an opportunity at Blade [2nd] and his UWO title. None of them have ever held it. Can D make it past both of these challengers to secure the title opportunity? And more importantly, if he DOES make it past them, can he then secure a victory of the Biggest Baddest man in UWO?