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The Final Mayne Event! Les Forced To Retire

Posted: Dec 7th 2012 By: CMBurnham

It was a night of awards and a night of bloodshed. But most importantly, December 1st was the last night of "The Mayne Event" Les Mayne.

Mayne had graced wrestling rings for 5 1/2 years and and had entered SWCW approximately a year ago. In that time, he'd had brief reigns as SWCW Hardcore and All-American Champion and a lengthier run as SWCW Tag Team Champion with Rick Russo as part of the Franchise Players. But recent months saw Mayne focus on capturing the one title he was never able to grab: the SWCW Title currently held by Austin Tacious.

Tacious and Mayne have had an intense feud surrounding the title, dating back to September when Tacious viciously attacked an injured Mayne, focusing on causing permanent damage to Mayne's knee and putting him out of action. But Mayne's return one month later caused Tacious to begin to duck and weave, doing everything he could to make sure he didn't have to face Mayne in the ring.

None of this came as a surprise to Mayne, who had a plan for how to deal with the reluctant champion. So last Saturday, when Tacious came to the ring to brag about his accomplishments and hear the sound of his voice, Mayne was quick to follow so he could confront the champion. After Mayne successfully lead the crowd in some cheers (while Tacious was frustrated at only being able to get boos), Mayne made his intentions clear: he wanted a title shot. And to pretty much no one's surprise, Tacious refused, thus bringing SWCW Commisioner Chris Kuhn to the ring. Kuhn tried to force a title shot on Tacious, but the champion reminded him that when he signed with SWCW, he had a clause put in the contract stating that he only had to wrestle when he wanted. And he DIDN'T want to wrestle against Les Mayne. Tacious started to leave and then Mayne dropped the final bomb: he was so desperate for the title shot, he was willing to put his career on the line. This was finally enough to peak Tacious' interest and he agreed to the Title-vs-Career match later in the show.

And when it was time for the match, neither man restrained themselves. Tacious worked over the knee he had injured earlier and Mayne fought with a combination of mat-based technique and aerial tactics. Several close calls came for Mayne as he came within half a second or less of winning the SWCW title. And while fans would probably feel a lot better if there had been some cheating or outside interference that led to Mayne's defeat, the simple FACT of the matter is that it was done a clean pin in the middle of the ring. Tacious celebrated and Mayne bid farewell to the crowd, thanking them for their support. And in a show of tremendous respect, the locker room emptied to come out and say their last farewell to The Mayne Event.

And apparently Austin Tacious couldn't stand this as he came back down the ramp to encourage Mayne in his departure, verbally berating him and telling him to move along. Knowing he would have no other opportunity to do so, Mayne grabbed Tacious around the head and delivered the Headliner, leaving Tacious laying in the middle of the ring. It was, at least, a moral victory after the career ending loss for Mayne in the Underground Arena.

And so, after capturing titles in SWCW, MSWA, UWF06 as well as all across Texas, Mayne's run in professional wrestling came to an end. Mayne will go down as one of the most naturally gifted competitors in Oklahoma, even though he never captured a Heavyweight Title. And perhaps that one missing puzzle piece may be enough to lure Mayne out of retirement down the line. Because, as we all know, retirements in wrestling are never forever.