Double Feature Review: New South's The Saga Continues and Action Clash Episode 10

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Double Feature Review: New South's The Saga Continues and Action Clash Episode 10

Event Air Dates: November 12 and November 17, 2020

Event Venues: JC Arena in Hanceville, AL and Furniture Factory in Huntsville, AL

Both shows now available on demand via IWTV.live

by Tiffany R. Merryhill


I’ve got a very good feeling that New South is going to end 2020 with a hell of an explosion. If anything serves as proof, it’s the shows that we’ve seen throughout the month of November. It’s wild how much has gone down over the past few weeks alone! This piece will cover two of the promotion’s most recently aired events - The Saga Continues and Episode 10 of Action Clash. 


As a double feature review these shows work perfectly as bookends; nearly everything we saw go down at Saga was fallout from the two latest episodes of Action Clash. All shows mentioned were a fine study in booking and narrative. One of many things that’s great about New South is their skill at building a story from start to climax to finish. This ability has amplified since IWTV has put a weekly spotlight on their product; what I thought was good storytelling back in early 2020 has progressed to something explosive, dramatic, and gripping. This is a damn good year to get into New South if you’re not there already with us on Tuesday nights.


On commentary: Dump Sanders and John ‘Mose’ Mosley for The Saga Continues

Mose and Brandon Williams for Action Clash Episode 10


While Mose has established himself as the voice of New South, it’s fun to see who’s going to have the most chemistry with him at the commentary table. Between Dump Sanders and Brandon Williams, it’s difficult for me to determine which of the two meshes better with Mose since they’re both conversational in tone and easy to listen to during matches. I will say that Dump has one of the better ‘storyteller’ voices I’ve heard on commentary lately; it’s not difficult to follow a match when he calls it and the excitement in his demeanor increases with the action. Saga had one of the better commentary teams I’ve heard lately.

New South Pro Wrestling presents The Saga Continues


I was in attendance at this show and pretty tipsy, so you’ll hear me getting loud (and sometimes see me getting wild) at various moments when you watch the on demand replay on IWTV. The Saga Continues is one of New South’s annual events, excellently produced and featuring a card with the best of the promotion’s roster in addition to some of the most prominent talent on the independent scene today. Seriously, the card for this show is fantastic. My review simply can’t do this show enough justice from words alone; like both nights of this year’s HOSS Tournament, Saga has to be seen in its entirety (available on demand!) to be appreciated.


The show opened with a fire-hot tag team match between the Talladega Knights (Hunter Drake and Tyler Franks) vs Adam Priest and Steven Michaels, the latter of whom lost to the Knights after a hell of a battle. Next up was Brandon Williams taking on Travis Huckabee in his New South debut. This was a fantastic genuine wrestling match that saw Mr. Hook and Stretch get the victory over the new guy, and purists will love it. I consider it an instant classic! Huckabee definitely has a place in the New South ring. Another debut at Saga was that of the amazing Boomer Hatfield, who faced Jaden Newman in a damn good match where I thought on more than one occasion Boomer would score an upset victory. Newman came through with the win, and Boomer came away with the respect of one more audience.

Next up there was the debut of Maximillian ZERO, who took on resident big-mouth I Am Sam and looked great in his first New South showing despite Sam getting the win. I’d say this match is the best appearance Sam’s had in the ring yet. The butterflies in my stomach were released with the next match as number one contenders Petty in Pink (Kenzie Page and Dillon McQueen) took on the reigning New South Tag Team champions Dy-Lan and 2-Fly Ty. This was my favorite match of the night despite the outcome; both teams were absolutely fantastic in this match. Petty in Pink took the championship in the end, ending a damn fine reign for my boy Dy-Lan and Ty. It didn’t take long for Ty to turn on Dy-Lan once the gold was gone, either. Jerk. We then saw The Mongrel take on newcomer Devantes, one of my newer favorites on the indie scene. I’ve been wondering exactly who would be the one to knock the Mongrel down and keep him down for the pin, and I won’t lie when I say I thought Devantes would be that guy at Saga. I learned though, even in a big boy banger like this one - The Mongrel is a certified savage beast. He earned a well-fought win over Devantes and left me in awe.

The double main event of The Saga Continues started off with Cabana Man Dan taking on A Very Good Professional Wrestler in the latter’s New South debut. This one comes highly recommended, folks. This is peak Cabana Man Dan going against one of the indies’ finest, and the result is what many will say is the best match on the card. CMD gets the victory in the end here and solidifies that the new and improved Dan is one who can step to the best in the nation. Watch this match! And then watch the second main event where Kung-Fu Donnie Janela takes on King’s Road Slayer Derek Neal in a brutal as hell leather strap match...it’s savage, it’s vicious, and it’s for the New South Heavyweight championship. That’s right, everything was on the line in Derek Neal’s rematch for the Humongold, and Donnie fought with every single thing he had to keep the gold he worked so hard to win. First-rate main event here and I’ll admit this is one of my favorite Derek Neal matches (including his great work from earlier this year in the HOSS Tournament). As most know by now, Neal regained the gold - and I will only mention in passing the appearances of his friends Steven Michaels and Adam Priest near the end of the match. Boy, were these boys happy to have their hands on the huge Humongold again. Needless to say, I’m not happy that Donnie Janela’s now without the championship he so richly deserves.

Action Clash Episode 10


It’s probably best if you watch Episode 10 of Action Clash before you watch The Saga Continues, if you’ve yet to enjoy either show yet. Not that watching either in any order diminishes the quality of what you’re seeing; it’s just that the matches taking place in this episode lead into Saga. The opening match was another outstanding example of New South’s great tag team scene; reigning (at the time) champs Dy-Lan and 2-Fly Ty took on the Akuto Death Society (Kevin Ryan and Shean Christopher). I’m enjoying how the New South roster features so many tag specialists who work well in singles competition as well. Fantastic opening match with plenty of time given for both teams to look great; Dy-Lan and Ty got the win here and it’s a little wistful to see them happy and celebrating after watching the heartbreaking turn at Saga.

Next up was The Mongrel taking on AC Mack. Ohh man, I was glad to see this one. Either one of two things were gonna happen - we were going to see The Mongrel have his biggest challenge yet or we were going to see AC Mack get his mouth shut, even if only for just a moment. Little did I know both would happen. Great match, I love seeing AC Mack in the New South ring doing his thing and I was glad to see the Mongrel finally have a match that wasn’t a quick minute. Mack put a hurting on the Mongrel, but the big beast was able to come away with what I consider an upset victory here. We’re at the same question again - who’s gonna be the one to end the Mongrel’s streak?


Episode 10’s main event is my favorite Kung Fu Donnie Janela title defense. Yes, I’m biased. He took on one of my favorite guys, Lutha X. Do both these guys hate each other’s guts? Absolutely. Do I love them both? Definitely. Did they kick each other’s asses? Endlessly. Great, great title match that came off more as a grudge match given the story between these two. Donnie and Lutha went to war and it was a most entertaining watch. In the end it was Donnie retaining the gold, but damn if Lutha didn’t open some eyes to who he is and what he does in the ring. 



Overall Thoughts


Ten episodes in already! When I first heard that there’d be a weekly New South show I admit I couldn’t help but think ‘hell yes, one step closer to being like Beyond Wrestling’. Now that we’re ten episodes deep of Action Clash and one more annual show in the record books, I think it’s safe to say that New South is well on its way to enjoying the success that Beyond Wrestling enjoyed in 2019 with a number of great events and two seasons of Uncharted

Territory. This is a great time for New South to hold the torch high and set a standard for the 

rest of the southern promotions to follow as some start to spring to life again. Well done 

on the part of New South for working so damn hard to maintain the title of Best in the South. 

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