• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Mission Accomplished! Luke Langley Wins the 2021 Freedom Rings Rumble

Posted: Jul 22nd 2021 By: C. M. Burnham

2019 saw the beginning of the ascension of Luke Langley in WFC. He beat his best friend and tag team partner Graham Bell in the finals of the Ryder Herring Memorial Cup Tournament. He went on to win the WFC Hometown Heroes Title and held it until July 2020. That began what some would call the Year of Hell for Langley, where he seemed unable to, in his words “Get the job done”, losing match after match. And it seemed like his confidence in himself and his abilities sank after each of those losses as well. But after finally regaining his winning ways after a win over current NCWO Oklahoma Champion Killbane, Langley set his eyes on the top prize in WFC: The WFC TItle held by Alex Royal.

Last month, at WFC’s debut in Glenpool, Langley made it perfectly clear to Royal that his intention was to win the Freedom Rings Rumble and challenge Royal for the WFC Title at the 10th anniversary event in October. Langley showed no fear, challenging Royal to his face in the middle of the ring. And while Royal appeared to show no fear either, plans were already being formed for him by Royal’s manager, Stevie Caballero.

Prior to the beginning of the Rumble, WFC announced its new Director of Wrestling Operations, Richard Pierce. And Pierce wasted no time in showing exactly how his regime would be conducted. Caballero offered to make a “contribution” to Pierce’s executive fund in exchange for the Caballero Cartel being given the final 3 numbers in the Rumble and Pierce had no problem with that at all. But when it came time for Langley to draw his numbers, each on he drew was declared as “taken” by Pierce, leaving only #1 for Langley to compete from.

So, with the odds stacked against him, Langley knew he had to go the distance in this event. But this was not the first time the odds had been stacked against Langley and he came through the curtain determined to win the Rumble or die trying. The first person after him was former Rumble winner Mr. Nasty and 28 other stars would follow every couple of minutes. There were WFC debuts like Dominik Whiteheart and Jake Cole, both out of the NCWO Academy and ASP Mid-American Champion Luke Savage and ASP Livestream Champion Malik Mayfield. There were returns to WFC including former WFC Director of Operations Striker, Maddox Jones, Anarchy [2nd] and Brett Irons. Perhaps the most significant return to WFC was EPW Tag Team, RDW Champion and EPW All-American Champion Drake Gallows, who had not been seen in WFC since before his clash with Sam Stackhouse.

As more competitors entered and left, the final four saw Langley, Dutch Hagen and Caballero Cartel members Derek James and Reed. Reed and James tried to double team Langley with Reed only for Langley to clothesline James over the top rope and then for Reed to be thrown out. That left Langley to handle Dutch Hagen and the two of them went after each other briefly, slugging it out in the middle of the ring. Hagen would hoist Langley up for the Dutch Oven when Langley slithered down and clotheslined him over the top. Langley believed at this moment that he had won, as did the the WFC Faithful in attendance. But Gallows had not actually been thrown over the top by Koko earlier in the match, instead being knocked between the middle and bottom ropes. Gallows had bided his time on the outside, knowing that the others believed him to be eliminated. And when Langley had his back to him, Gallows slipped in and dumped Langley over the top. Langley landed on the apron and when Gallows noticed that, he charged Langley, but was brought over onto the apron himself. The two then battled on the apron until Langley superkicked Gallows back in. Langley then tried to connect with the Hyberbeam, but Gallows got out of that and hit a power bomb on Langley. Galllows again threw Langley over the top, but this time, Langley skinned the cat and elevated Gallows over the top, superkicking him off the apron to the floor and winning the match.

Alex Royal had been on commentary for the duration of the Rumble, giving him a strong up-close view of the event and after Langley was declared the winner, Royal joined him in the ring, holding the WFC Title high. The next three months will be some of the most stressful for both these men as they will not face off for the WFC Title until the 10th Anniversary show. That means plenty of time for things to happen. Both to Langley OR to Royal. If Langley is to accomplish this mission, he is going to have to be at his most cunning, his most vicious. Langley must be prepared to sacrifice everything for the biggest prize he has ever competed for. But Langley knows that and after overcoming everything he has for the past year, Royal may well have to eliminate Langley from WFC to keep him from the WFC TItle.