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The Ladder of Success Pt. 2: Drake Gallows

Posted: Sep 15th 2011 By: CMBurnham

The summer of 2011 was a horrible one for Drake Gallows personally. But professionally, it's been one of the best of his entire career.

A few weeks ago, Gallows bested Kevin James Sanchez to capture the vacant SWCW All-American Title. But immediately a challenge came forward in the form of Bobby Star. While these two men were partners in the Clockwork Clique in ComPro, that partnership seems to have ended. Star went out of his way to humiliate Gallows by shaving his head at the SWCW show at the end of August. And Gallows vowed revenge, knowing that he would have the chance on September 10.

Both men were also in line for another title. This time, it was the BYEW Entertainment title. Star had been the last champion before the federation moved to Oklahoma, so it was fortunate for him that he made it to the finals after defeating Richie Adams and Crossfire Morrison, both members of the New Era 2nd, whom Star had been feuding with for several months.

Gallows didn't have the easiest path the to the finals of this tournament. He had to defeat Das Karnage and Chaz Sharpe. But he did triumph and when this past Saturday arrived, he and Star had a verbal confrontation in the ring. Star said they had been through two matches and acknowledged their former partnership, but said that was out the window. Drake said he couldnt' remember how many times he and Bobby Star had faced each other over his career, but there was one thing true: Gallows had been victorious in those matches about 90% of the time. As far as he was concerned, their friendship was over. Star agreed and promised to pull the title belt down and put it around his waist. The bragging finally overwhelmed each man and they a brief scuffle resulted, ending with Star being knocked from the ring and heading to the back with Gallows following behind soon after.

When the match began, several ladders were placed near the curtain on the stage and pretty quickly they were in the brought into play as the match had barely begun before it spilled out of the ring. Both men were happy to let the match devolve immediately into a brawl, beating each other mercilessly. They ran each other into the cornerposts, then Gallows brought the first ladder into the ring, where he gave Star an Irish whip which ended in a Japanese arm drag onto the ladder. Gallows placed the same ladder on one of the turnbuckles and whipped Star into that as well. However Star was able to recover and take the match outside, reaching a big turning point by hitting a Russian leg sweep on Gallows onto one of the ladders. Perhaps the biggest moment of the match came as the two men battled back near the entrance stage. After threatening the announce team of Milton Winkelman and C. M. Burnham as well as new Commissioner Tony Russo, Gallows took the cleared table and put Star on it. He then went up to the stage and climbed ladder, preparing to come off and drive Star through the table. This didn't quite work the way he wanted it to as the table didn't break and that hurt both men, leaving them both lieing and trying to recover. As they both got back up and made it back towards the ring another table was introduced and this time the end was near. After a flip piledriver by Gallows, both men struggled to climb the ladder on opposite sides. Star got to the top first but was so shaken from the punishment he had suffered that he couldn't focus on the belt enough to grab it. Gallows grabbed Star and executed a Side Effect off the ladder through the other table. That was it for Star as he was never able to get up from that, but Gallows mustered his last bits of energy and ascended the ladder, grabbing the belt and becoming the new champion.

Officially 3 years into his career, Gallows is now a dual champion, but that might not last too long. Crossfire Morrison defeated Ronnie Storm to become the #1 contender to the Entertainment title in the opening match of the show. Morrison has never held a title in his brief career and knows Gallows well as they have faced each other several times during the New Era 2nd/Clockwork Clique fued. Gallows can't afford to sit back and enjoy his double championship status. He'll have to start preparing now to defend that belt on October 8th.