MARCELLUS KING CAPTURES MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP!
At the conclusion of “Heartache Tonight” on August 22nd, Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion BRAD ATTITUDE was being tended to by referees and CWF staff after re-aggravating a knee injury he suffered months ago in training. At the time, Attitude opted not to have surgery to repair the torn ACL and torn meniscus in his knee, as that would put him on the shelf for several months and force him to vacate the championship he’d just won weeks earlier from Roy Wilkins at Battlecade.
So the champion took just a few weeks off and rehabbed the injury himself. It held up until one crucial moment late in Attitude’s quarter-final round Weaver Cup Tournament match against Television Champion CHET STERLING, when Attitude landed awkwardly on a moonsault and immediately clutched his knee. He rolled to the floor and the match was momentarily halted as officials swarmed the scene surveying if he could in fact continue the bout or not. He insisted on continuing and even countered Sterling’s attempt at a la magistral cradle with the Gemini special, a counter taught almost exclusively to students of the Mid-Atlantic Dojo and the same counter he used two weeks earlier to successfully defend the title against TREVOR LEE.
But this time, Sterling had a counter for the counter and maneuvered Attitude’s shoulders to the mat for the three count, advancing in the tournament. Officials and other wrestlers again swarmed the scene as everyone, including Sterling, checked on the injured champion. What happened next goes against everything we stand for at CWF Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and was more like a sports entertainment cop out.
MARCELLUS KING, holder of CWF’s “Golden Ticket” which carries with it the right to name any match, against any opponents, with any stipulations of the holder’s choosing, burst onto the scene and demanded an immediate match for the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship with the stipulation that if anyone tried to help Attitude or if he could not physically wrestle or continue the bout, it would constitute an immediate forfeit of the championship.
Rather than forfeit due to injury, the champion fought courageously on 1 leg for several minutes and even survived 1 rolling elbow from King, the same elbow that has knocked out BOBBY WOHLFERT, EVAN BANKS, CHRIS LEA and AARON BIGGS in recent months. But a 2nd elbow left the champion unresponsive as King dove on top for the pinfall to win the championship.
The Sportatorium stood in silence. We pride ourselves on being an organization where tradition rules and no one has ever “cashed in” the Golden Ticket dishonorably or in such a fashion. Even when the All Stars’ ROY WILKINS used the ticket to set up a title bout against then champion ARIK ROYAL with rules so one-sided they seemed farcical, it was done straight up with the champion notified well in advance and healthy.
King has unquestionably earned the right to challenge for the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship in a 10-year career that had seen him win virtually every major championship in the region except that one. But the manner in which he won it and the way he used his golden ticket privilege to swoop in on an injured champion has been seen as nothing less than a direct slap in the face to CWF wrestlers and management who have struggled, bled and fought for years to legitimize our championship. The new champion now has a target on his body with MANY potential challengers lining up who feel he has disrespected the championship and the very organization he now represents.
