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SRPW Championship Spotlight Series: The Rising and the Bash Brothers

Posted: Nov 2nd 2014 By: CMBurnham

Tag team competition in SRPW has revolved steadily around two different teams for most of the past few months: The Bash Brothers and The Rising. Now, that feud is over, but the level of competition may not present much challenge for the current champions any time soon.

The Tulsa State Fair provided the backdrop for 5 different SRPW events at the end of September and the beginning of October. And the dominance of then SRPW Tag Team Champions The Rising was certainly on display. Since defeating the Bash Brothers to reclaim those tag team titles, the Rising had not been met with much competition, except for the aforementioned Cole brothers. That looked like it might be changing as the team of The Lost Boyz, Kid Krazy and MSWA Oklahoma Champion Spike Lopez, made a challenge on the first night of the Fair shows. Although not as regular of tag team competitors as either of the other former championship teams, Lopez and Krazy displayed the hunger necessary to make themselves credible threats to the tag team belts. But, thanks to the distraction of their manager, Jameson Thadeous Doggins III, Justin Riker and Abel retained their titles and the Lost Boyz were denied their chance for glory.

They next night, the team of Kyle Everlast and Fuel stepped up to the tag team champions. Everlast and Fuel did not have a lot of experience as a tag team, but both are solid competitors and have had success with other tag team partners. That would not be the case this night as they could not meet the cohesiveness of the tag team champions and The Rising continued their dominance.

The third night of the fair brought an interesting situation as the tag team champions were booked in singles matches against Lopez and Krazy. Obviously the tag team titles would not be at stake here, but if either member of the Lost Boyz could get a win, a case could be made for another tag team title opportunity. Unfortunately for the challengers, that would not be the case. Despite being out of their normal element, Riker and Abel displayed strong accomplishments in singles competition and seemed unstoppable.

The following week, on October 4, the rematch that SRPW Fans were waiting for finally happened as the Bash Brothers took on The Rising. The high energy style of Ethan and Trey Cole brought a strong counterpart to the ground-and-pound style of the Rising. Pushed to the limits like they had not been so far, The Rising had to dig deep in the box of chicanery to find a way to hold on to their tag team titles. It took some judicious use of the tag team belts, but once again, Riker and Abel walked away as tag team champions.

A brief bit of redemption was presented to the fans on the final night of the Tulsa State Fair shows as Fuel reformed the Ring Intruders with Jon Cross and also brought in his new partner Kyle Everlast to take on the Tag Team Champions and their associate Aaron Anders. Again, in the 6-man environment, the Tag Team Titles were not on the line, but a win by the non-championship team would certainly mean a lot in the standings for the tag team titles. And that win was picked up by the former SRPW Tag Team Champions and their large partner as Cross, Fuel & Everlast stood victorious at the end of the match, ruining a potential clean sweep for the Rising at the Tulsa State Fair.

At the next official SRPW event on October 12th, the Bash Brothers came out and reminded the crowd that they had their title match won, but The Rising used one of the tag team title belts to keep the titles away. They were sick of being cheated out of the titles and wanted another title opportunity. This brought out JTDIII, who said that the the Bash Brothers were like all the fans in attendance that night: losers. He declared that there was no basis for a rematch, so there would not be one granted. This utter abuse of power seemed to flick a switch on the Bashes and they cornered JTDIII against one of the turnbuckles. Sensing potential physical harm, JTD reconsidered his position and decided that a title opportunity was probably the best idea. But that was not enough for The Bashes. They said they were not there just to wrestle. They came to fight. So, again sensing that things may not end well for him, JTDIII agreed to make the match an Oakhurst Street Fight, where there was No DQ and falls counted anywhere.

The match was certainly brutal and it looked like The Rising were more in their element for quite a while. Riker and Abel put Ethan Cole through a table on the outside and then proceeded to double team Trey Cole for quite a while. But the key point came when Trey reversed an attempted Samoan Drop into a DDT and Ethan somehow mustered the strength to climb to the top rope and connect with a Swanton Bomb to win the match and take back the titles.

And that was where everything fell apart of the Rising. Riker immediately placed blame for the loss on Abel and JTD slid a chair in the ring, which Riker brutally used, hitting Abel hard on the head. At that point, the Rising was no more and Abel was simply another victim of the new competitor simply known as "The Risen One", Riker.

With the tag team titles now in their possession, The Bash Brothers were not shy about putting them on the line. The next show, they took on Fenris & Jackyl and American Made and Anarchy 2nd in a Triple Threat Match and retained the titles. But the landscape of tag team competition in SRPW at this point appears to be something of a wasteland. The Rising is done. The Lost Boyz appear to have other goals. Neither Jon Cross nor Fuel have competed at an SRPW even in quite some time, though they certainly could be said to be #1 contenders this point. American Made and Anarchy 2nd dissolved as a tag team during the Fans Bring The Weapons Battle Royal. And Fenris & Jackyl did not display the level of ability present a serious threat to the new champions. Unless some new team appears in SRPW soon, it looks like The Bash Brothers may be tag team champions for a long time.

And this is certainly not the way they want to achieve that longevity.