Every time that you experience American Championship Wrestling, you never know what to expect.

The most recent live event was no exception.

Locally-based ACW held a live event at the Laurinburg National Guard Armory this past Saturday and left the fans wanting more.

For Co-Owner Bill Graves that's exactly what the goal is.

"We bring in some of the best unsigned talent on the east coast and we just hope to keep getting better and better and tonight's crowd was great," said Graves. "We've got some things in the works now, maybe expanding, getting bigger. If we can find some place, possibly a bigger venue and do something to expand this, I'm all ears. We've got alot good talent here and the more talent that we bring in, the better we're going to be."

One of the biggest attractions of the night was the announcement of ACW's acquisition of a wrestler named Jay Batista.

For followers of wrestling, he is the first cousin of World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) Dave Batista.

Due to a torn pectoral muscle he suffered in late March, Batista was unable to compete, but that did not stop him from signing autographs and mingling with the fans.

"I was getting ready to perform a set of the flat bench. As soon as I took the barbell off the rack and went down, stuff started tearing away, stuff snapped and my pect tendon had torn completely off the bone, it's similar to (WWE's) John Cena's injury in 2007," Batista said about the extent of his injury. "Despite the injury, promoters have still asked me to have a presence, still come out and sign autographs and I'm more than happy to do it and I want to thank ACW promoters for keeping me out here."

While Batista, who originally hails from Baltimore, MD and now resides in Charlotte, enjoys being in the business and having a famous relative, he also realizes that sometimes living a normal life can be difficult.

"As I got into this business, it was fun at first and it still is but sometimes it's hard to go out, spend family time, because I still get mistaken for being Dave (Batista)," said Batista. "Sometimes it can be a headache but in the wrestling business it's what it is and that's what I love."

In the first match of the night, Dirk Douglas was able to defeat "Luscious" Lonnie Gaylord thanks to a discreet low blow that the referee was unable to see, following a counter of Gaylord's stink face maneuver .

Eric Gibson grappled with Jackhammer in the second match and both men executed quick moves and reversals.

Gibson would get a little too cocky near the end and started showboating; Jackhammer took advantage and rolled him up quickly for the three-count.

Gibson has been involved in wrestling since the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) days, and still enjoys being able to perform, especially in front of friends and family who hail from his hometown of Mauldin, SC.

"It's real nice to be able to perform in front of family and friends that live about an hour away from my hometown," Gibson said. "It gives you extra motivation to do a good job in the ring."

Batista was introduced next to the fans, which brought out Timber and his manager, who were looking to pick a fight but the injured wrestler had another suggestion.

As soon as that was said, Sean McCulley, a young cruiser weight, sometimes known as a high flyer in the wrestling business emerged and was more than willing to take on Timber.

Once the match began, McCulley used his quicks to gain an early advantage. Timber's manager would soon goad McCulley outside and following a successfully executed baseball slide, Timber tossed him feet first into a steel ring turnbuckle.

Reality set in when McCulley landed awkwardly and was holding his knee in pain.

The match was thrown out and deemed a no contest, but McCulley, still down on the floor, was being tended to by trainers and eventually EMT had to be involved.

EMT's brought out a stretcher and McCulley, who put his fist up in the air to let everyone know he was in good spirits, was carted out of the building.

While Graves is sad about the injury, he knows that these things can happen at anytime.

"Sean's (McCulley) a great athlete and I hope that this doesn't sideline him for too long," Graves said. "When somebody with so much potential, so much promise gets injured, it's a bad thing to happen."

Following intermission, another blockbuster announcement was made.

ACW appointed J.W. Newton as the new general manager and his first order of business was stripping Ethan Storm of his tag team title belts, that had been held by Storm and his retired partner, Cham Pain.

This did not sit well with him, and the rest of the Main Attraction tag team came out and bullied Newton around.

Jackhammer emerged to the aide of his family member, but paid the price as Storm brought out his trademark hammer and clocked Jackhammer in the skull, which started a 3-on-2 assault, that left Jackhammer a bloody mess and saw Storm and the rest of faction escorted off by security.

After a messy incident, possibly the biggest cheers of the night came as Robeson County natives, Chief Red Thunder and The Lumbee Warrior came out to what would be known as the "Dream Team", and got the win over Brute Force II, despite the losing team being in control for much of the match.

Controversy in the ranks would continue in the next match as Futonga and Alex Adonis picked up their heated rivalry from January's live event.

Weapons would come into play, as Futonga would take the bandanna that Adonis was wearing and try to choke him with it after irish whipping the challenger for the ACW United States Championship into the turn buckle.

The match would spew outside the ring, and Futonga brought a steel chair into the equation. He would attempt to hit Adonis with it but ended up having the chair ricochet off the ring ropes and hit him back. Adonis took advantage and punched the steel chair, knocking out Futonga in the process.

Adonis rolled back into the ring and beat the reluctant referee's ten-count for the win. Despite all that, the championship cannot change hands on a count-out, so Adonis won the match, but Futonga retains the title.

In the main event, the Main Attraction tag team of Chris Steel and Scott Powers, faced off against the high octane energy of the Soul Patrol.

Soul Patrol looked to have the match in hand after Black Angel nailed a spine-buster on Steel but a suspended Storm would come out of the crowd with his hammer and attempted to hit Angel, who dodged the attack and sent Storm over the top rope.

With the referees' attention diverted, Powers nailed Angel in the skull with his ACW Heavyweight Championship belt and picked up the three-count for the win.

Almost all of the fans went home happy with the experience, there is one though, who left not as impressed.

Wayne Castevens, who has been a wrestling fan for as long as he can remember, has seen many wrestlers, including North Carolina's own Ric Flair, Rockingham native Randy Curtis, Rip Hawk, Thunderbolt Patterson and Don Kernodoe, and wishes that some of the older, retired wrestlers, would make appearances at events similar to this.

"It's a whole lot different," said Castevens on the difference between events now and back in the 70's. "The past was a whole lot better. I just wish that the past would really come back, when some of the old guys that are just sitting at home, wanting to wrestle but don't have the opportunity, and bring them back."