With the calendar racing toward 2023 and another incredible year ahead in Coastal Championship Wrestling, the CCW staff has put together a look back at the 10 most incredible moments in CCW from 2022.
Now more than 18 years old, Coastal Championship Wrestling has an incredible past and is the longest-running independent promotion in the southeastern United States. While we honor the year that was in 2022, we are also eagerly looking forward to 2023 and many years ahead for “The Last Territory.”
10. Jackal Stevens Punches Dr. Eric Christopher and Defeats Agony in a Casket Match
Jackal Stevens, Agony and Dr. Eric Christopher have a long and storied history together, often working together as part of American Horror Story.
But Jackal and Agony went their separate ways and American Horror Story was no more. While Agony became one of the most feared men in CCW, Jackal became an incredibly popular figure with CCW fans and has since held the CCW Southeastern Championship on 3 occasions. Agony and Christopher helped end Stevens’ third run with the Southeastern title, attacking him and leaving him helpless to stop Alex Chamberlain from pinning him.
The Stevens-Agony feud boiled through the late summer and early fall. Agony left Stevens with a concussion after a tag team match back in September. After more than a month on the shelf, Stevens finally got his hands on Agony in a casket match and he took advantage. He blasted Dr. Eric Christopher with a fist to the face, before blasting Agony with a ConChairTo and rolled him into the casket to pick up the win and possibly end this feud … at least for now.
9. Cha Cha Charlie vs. Anthony Catena – Ambulance Match
Anthony Catena made a return to Coastal Championship Wrestling this past spring and although he had never been a fan favorite, he aligned with some of the more popular wrestlers on the roster in his return. Had he turned over a new leaf?
In a word, no? Later that same evening, he tried to screw Cha Cha Charlie out of his title, interfering in a match with Agony. While he was unsuccessful in that attempt, he drew the ire of Cha Cha who demanded a match with Catena. That first meeting was so off the rails, it was ruled a double disqualification and CCW officials decided to settle things with an ambulance match.
This one had everything you could ask for and more. Catena scored early with a coast to coast into a trash can on Charlie’s face and hit him with a guitar. Cha Cha bulldogged Catena off the top of a truck into the backstage area. Charlie finally incapacitated Catena with a Mangu splash off the top of the ambulance and through a table before tossing his opponent in the back of the ambulance and taking the win.
8. Vinicious Returns From Injury
The Brazilian Destroyer Vinicious suffered multiple injuries at the hands of his now-former tag team partner Ariel Levy (more on that further up the list of the Top 10) and was out of action for months.
But Vinicious and his manager Bill Alfonso never forgot or forgave what Levy did to him. After months of recovery, the Brazilian Destroyer made his triumphant return recently, shocking CCW fans and making it clear that he has some major unfinished business with Levy, now the CCW World Heavyweight Champion.
While Vinicious was out, Alfonso became embroiled in a bitter feud with American Top Team’s Dan Lambert. The two were squaring off in a no disqualification match, when Levy and his sidekick Alan “S2S” Martinez showed up to interfere in Alfonso’s match.
But little did they know, Vinicious was in the building and he made a massive impact on his return, hitting Greetings From Copacabana on Martinez and helping Fonzie pick up the victory over Lambert.
7. Chris Farrow Becomes Two-Time CCW Cruiserweight Champ
The charismatic Chris Farrow is one of just three men ever to hold the CCW Cruiserweight Championship and now he’s the first to hold it twice.
The inaugural titleholder, Farrow lost the belt to Alan Martinez. Martinez later lost it to Jai Vidal.
With Farrow and Martinez both making a push regain the title, CCW officials booked all three in a Triple Threat match recently. Farrow suffered a nasty injury early in the match, dislocating his patella. While Vidal and Martinez continued to battle, Farrow sought treatment and desperately tried to get back into the match.
When he finally limped back to the ring, it looked as though he would be easy pickings for Martinez, after Farrow’s leg lariat knocked Vidal from the ring. Martinez looked to take advantage of Farrow’s injured knee with a Figure Four, but the ever-resilient Farrow was able to roll Martinez up in a small package to take the unlikely victory and become a two-time champion.
6. KiLynn King Wins CCW Women’s Championship
KiLynn King debuted in Coastal Championship Wrestling late in 2021. In a matter of less than four months, she reached the pinnacle of the CCW women’s division.
King won a Triple Threat match over Anna Diaz and Tiffany Nieves to earn the No. 1 contender spot late in 2021 and got her shot at then-champion Marina Tucker in January. Not only was this an incredible match, it came with an amazing display of emotion from King after winning the championship.
That alone might have made it worthy of consideration for this Top 10 list. But it was the aftermath of the match that solidified it as worthy of this ranking. Tucker absolutely lost her mind after losing the title and had to be restrained from attacking King backstage.
This match and its aftermath set up one of the most entertaining and heated feuds of 2022 in CCW, as Tucker and King engaged in verbal, psychological and physical warfare for much of the year.
5. Beastman Bloodies, Batters Chase Stevens To Win International Championship
Lew Spectre’s beast from the backwoods of West Virginia is always a bloodthirsty, violent menace. But when Spectre secured Beastman a shot at Chase Stevens’ CCW International Championship this past summer in Nashville, nobody expected what came next, despite the match being no disqualification with fans allowed to bring weapons.
The weapon that turned out to be the deciding factor in this matchup was not brought by a fan, however. It was the massive bone that seems to hold some sort of special meaning to Beastman.
When he had the opportunity to blast Stevens in the head with that bone, he did so … and repeatedly in such a shocking manner it was one of the bloodiest bouts in CCW history. Beastman bludgeoned Stevens’ head and face into such a bloody pulp that RedCon1’s Shawn Madej, who seconded Stevens to the ring, threw in the towel. The stoppage of the match gave Beastman and Spectre the International Championship.
4. Cha Cha Charlie Mangu Splashes Agony Through a Table
At Bash At The Brew 12, then-CCW World Heavyweight Champion Cha Cha Charlie was celebrating a successful championship defense when Dr. Eric Christopher appeared in the entry way. While Cha Cha Charlie was engaged in a war of words with Christopher, Agony came through the crowd and laid waste to the CCW Champion.
That set up a match between the two at Bash At The Brew 13. This match was wild with referee Bruce Owens struggling to keep control. At one point, Charlie was on the ring apron and delivered a number of blows and kicks to Agony, sending the Maker of Nightmares staggering back onto a table near the crowd. Charlie didn’t waste a second, climbing to the top turnbuckle and launching himself nearly 15 feet, hitting a massive elbow drop that wiped out Agony and destroyed the table.
That was when Owens decided he had seen enough. He warned Cha Cha not to do it. Charlie even put his hands on Owens to move him out of the way. Moments after Charlie delivered the massive elbow drop, sending Agony through the table, Owens called for the bell.
While the match was thrown out, the massive elbow drop and the reaction from the Unbranded Brewing Company crowd made this one of the top moments of 2022 in CCW.
3. Brian Cage vs. AR Fox
Brian Cage and AR Fox are both regulars on All Elite Wrestling. Back in early 2022, the two squared off in Nashville for Coastal Championship Wrestling. These two veterans of the ring wars hadn’t squared off in the ring in nearly five years and it was the first time they have faced each other in CCW and they produced a match of the year candidate, making the entire match one of our top moments of the year.
Fox, as always, came up with some innovative offense that nearly scored him the victory. A massive senton on Cage in the audience caused equal parts shock and excitement in the crowd. Fox later bounced off the top rope while Cage was seated on the turnbuckle, hit an impressive Spanish Fly, hooked the leg and moved Cage’s left arm away from the rope. But it was too close to the corner and The Machine shot his other arm through and grabbed the ropes after a 2-count.
Fox put up a game challenge all night long, despite suffering two broken ribs during the course of the match. In the end, the power of Cage was the deciding factor, as The Machine put Fox away with the Drill Claw.
2. KiLynn King vs. Marina Tucker In a Steel Cage
Earlier in this article, we referenced the verbal, psychological and physical warfare between Marina Tucker and KiLynn King that took place throughout much of 2022. Well, this match was the payoff and boy, did it deliver.
In the first-ever CCW women’s match to be contested in a steel cage, King and Tucker went to-to-toe for the CCW Women’s Championship, then held by King. It was a war.
Midway through the match, with referee Bruce Owens distracted and checking on King, Tucker looked to take a shortcut and exposed the steel under the turnbuckle pad in the corner. Tucker hoisted King onto her back and drove her face first into the unforgiving steel, busting the champion’s head wide open with blood streaming down King’s face.
Tucker continued the onslaught, slamming King’s face into the steel cage, ramming her fist into the open wound on King’s head and even choking the champion with her own hair. But King wasn’t going down that easily. As Tucker stalked her seemingly-fallen prey, King sprang back to her feet and turned Tucker inside out with a clothesline.
The momentum swung back-and-forth wildly in this one. Finally, it looked like the match was over when King hit her signature Excalibuster finishing maneuver. But somehow, someway Tucker kicked out at the last possible second. Tucker scored with a jawbreaker and a stiff forearm to the face of King. Tucker thought it was enough to escape the cage, but climbing the ropes proved to be her undoing.
The two women both ended up on the top rope, where King was able to finally gain control. The champion secured a right hand around Tucker’s throat and choke slammed The Detroit Barbie off the top rope. Finally, someone had done enough to win what may have been the CCW Match of the Year.
1. Ariel Levy Turns On Vinicious
Ariel Levy went from being one of the most popular wrestlers in Coastal Championship Wrestling and a member of one of the most dominant tag teams in CCW to the most hated man in the company in a matter of an instant.
Levy was a member of the South American Alliance with Vinicious. The two ruled CCW’s tag team division for 475 days. Sure, there had been some tension among Levy, Vinicious and their manager Bill Alfonso.
In a brutal ladder match, that saw the competitors driven through tables, hit with chairs and ladders and tons of high-risk maneuvers off the ladders, in the end E.R.A. was able to find an opening and climb the ladder to retrieve the CCW Tag Team Championships hanging high above the Unbranded Brewing Company crowd.
Despite the aforementioned tension, nobody could have predicted what happened after the match.
A bloody and visibly distraught Ariel Levy was finally coaxed into receiving the cheers of the SAA’s fans. As the fans chanted “SAA! SAA!” Alfonso raised the hands of his team.
But then Levy snapped.
The Chilean Superstar first punched Alfonso in the face. He then grabbed a steel chair and brutalized Vinicious with it, repeatedly hitting him over the head with the chair. He then turned the chair on Alfonso, throwing it in his face. Both Vinicious and Alfonso were left bloodied in the ring as Levy stormed off.
The utter disbelief of fans and the shockwaves sent throughout the company by Levy’s actions clearly made this the top moment of 2022.
When will the top CCW moments of 2023 take place? Don’t miss a minute of the action. The first opportunity for CCW Superstars to make a moment is Jan. 7 at Bash At The Brew 24. Get tickets for all the amazing 2023 action by clicking here.