Post by Pike on Jun 19, 2004 16:51:29 GMT -5
OK, on 6/12 I went to visit my dad, who lives about an hour east of Philly, and I'm from New York. So on the way, I went to an afternoon JAPW show, then went to CZW's evening show. My dad didn't want me showing up too late, so I figured since CZW started at 7:30 then by 11:30 or 12 it'd be over. Well, the intermission was at 10:45!! I decided to leave at 11 PM, so I only saw the first half of the show...
This was my first visit to the vaunted ECW Arena, aka Viking Hall. It is in a pretty seedy neighborhood. I parked on a side road which was lined with a long chain fence topped with coils of barbed wire. Trash flew around the street, and I had to pull over and clear out a shattered sewing machine to make myself a parking spot close to the entrance.
I met a guy named Dave in line and sat with him during the show. CZW has a really nice set-up. They had an elaborate ring entrance (complete with nice-looking CZW logo) and a freaking huge video screen which showed highlights and entrance videos throughout the show. Early on I noticed there was a leak in the ceiling and every minute or so water would drip onto the ring mat.
Attendence - 1,000? Place was nearly full, fans were absolutely rabid.
Merc vs Shawn Bishop
Merc was a brotha who won over the crowd. The fans started out heckling him, but gradually began to cheer his impressive array of power moves. He finished Bishop off with a sweet DVD variation which the crowd loved. It was a good opening match.
Winner: Merc
Shun The Kabuki Kid & DJ Higgins vs Jon Dahmer & GQ? (not sure of name)
Shun is from a japanese promotion - DDT? He was tiny but had charisma. The Ref's shirt had black and yellow stripes? What the?!? Dahmer was crazy over, and busted out a sweet variation of a fisherman's ABOUT A MINUTE INTO THE MATCH. This is where I learned that CZW has a "video game style" of wrestling, where they just bust out whatever move with no build. A really fun part is where Shun and DQ chopped the crap of GQ all around the ringside area. The fans ate it up, and everyone went "SSSHHHHHHH" before each chop. It was really cool. Dahmer won this with an absolutely SICK 2nd rope powerbomb which was an absolutely BRUTAL head-drop.
Winners: Jon Dahmer & GQ
Trifecta Match 1 - Rod Steel vs Mikey Tenderfoot vs Justice
Steel cut a totally generic heel promo. He appeared to have the ref in his pocket. Justice is all face-painted up, which I generally love but he had this "Kiss" kind of look that I wasn't really "feeling". Plus his punches looked like he was fanning his opponent with a cool breeze. Steel busts out the POWERBOMB ONE MINUTE IN, SEE ZEE DUUBBBBBB! Justice gives an armdrag with a CORKSCREW SELL which was kind of cool, though it look very contrived. Then Justice and Mikey (who was dressed like a dude off the street, someone buy this guy some tights) had an awful exchange of soft, obviously fake kicks (which is especially bad because I was as far from the ring as any fan in the arena and it was as clear as day to me), and then shared a series of choreographed athletic reversals. It looked cool, but it was so totally fake it would jar any fan who was trying to take the match seriously. Justice then wanted to SHOTEI like Jushin Liger, but his palm strikes were so weak as to make Liger spin in his.... bed, or airship, or whatever. Justice got elimintaed by Steel, I think. Rod Steel was the only guy who looked good, he was crisp, didn't muff anything and busted out a few great moves. He gave Tenderfoot this great overhead release suplex, which Tenderfoot completely no-sold and dropped Steel, and went for the pin. The ref counts 1..2.. then gets a CELL PHONE CALL! He reaches into his pocket to answer rather than count the three, and thus the ref's heelish link with Steel was established. Crowd cracked up and booed. Awesome idea! Steel soon after hits Tenderfoot with.. ok let me describe: Steel has Mikey on the apron in a pedigree set-up, which he then converts to a HIP TOSS TO THE FLOOR~! Was awesome, looked PAINFUL!! A little later, Tenderfoot hits a top rope sit-out DVD (!!!) for the win. A REALLY fun match, Rod Steel was extremely impressive.
Winner: Mikey Tenderfoot
CZW Tag title - Rebel's army (c) (Rockin' Rebel & Matt Granger) --> becomes Granger & Chris Cash vs Blackout
Blackout vs H8 Club (Nate Hatred & Nick Gage)
Rebel comes out and is CRAZY OVER, half-cheered/helf-booed. He cuts a promo on Blackout, claiming he doesn't wat to wrestle "apes" and stuff. About 1/3 of the crowd completely CHEERS HIM ON! I remember looking over at a black fan who was standing and watching this, NOT COOL AT ALL! There was tons of shenanigans. Owner John Zandig suspends Rebel. Matt Granger decides to wrestle Blackout alone. Chris Cash runs in to team with Granger. Blackout are flippy guys who take a ton of nasty moves. Blackout wins th titles..
Then Blackout cuts a promo, and they hate white people and get booed. The H8 club comes out and another match breaks out. Poor Blackout take a TON of head-drops from the bald/balding H8/Club. It looks like a complete squash until Blackout's manager uses cheatery, and Nate Hatred is NOOSED TO AN ATV and driven out of the arena, in a worthy tribute to when th Taker tied Hogan to HIS HOG! So then it's jut Gage vs both members of Blackout. Gage is in trouble, pron, a chair laid on top of him. CORKSCREW SPLIT ON THE CHAIR! Gage kicks out! Crowd pops huge! 450 on Gage! He kicks out?!?!! A second 450 does it. Blackout are the new champs.
Winners: Blackout
Blackout beats down Gage after, and a couple CZW guys run out for the save. Nick Berk cuts a promo where he uses creative pluralisation and calls Blackout "PIECE OF CRAPS!". He calls Nick Gage a "role model". Then Gage gets up and TURNS HEEL on Berk and drops him. Gage cuts a promo on how he is the baddest mofo on the east coast, crowd loves it. Berk sells his beating like death. Then he cuts a promo like he's fine, then after the promo he sells his rib as he exits the ring.
Oh my God this was exhausting just thinking about.
Trifecta match 2 - Gabriel vs Jay Fury vs Jeremy
Fury wows the crowd early on with a BACKFLIP INTO A GERMAN!! Then fury does a BACKFLIP KIP to dodge a lariat and lands a SWEET JUMPKICK as the opponent rebounds. Fury busts out a TOP ROPE OVERHEAD RELEASE to win the match and my fandom. The other two were ok, but Fury was god damn awesome.
Winner: Jay Fury
Excalibur vs Jigsaw vs Nate Webb
Excalibur of Pro Wrestling Guerilla comes out to Faith No More's "Surprise, you're dead!" to totally win me over (Patton is God). Then he cuts a promo, saying there's no need for this match because he's as good as hacksaw Jim Duggan. And if we remember correctly, Hacksaw once had a match with Goldberg. So Excalibur CALLS OUT GOLDBERG! The Goldberg chants break out. Nate Webb was crazy over, fans ate up his entrance. One funny spot early on is when Jigsaw had Excalibut in an inverted STF, and Webb tipped them back and forth so the other guy was feeling the pain. Later on, Webb hits a corkscrew out of the ring and his leg hits the guard rail really hard. Crowd popped big, Webb just got up, he must be made of rubber because that looked real painful. I think Excalibur got eliminated by Jigsaw, then Webb pins Jigsaw to advance.
Winner: Nate Webb
So the Trifecta finals was: Nate Webb vs Jay Fury vs Mikey Tenderfoot. I didn't get to see it.
The intermission was next, and I hung around just to see if the great Teddy Hart would come out next, he didn't. Messiah came out to a mediocre reaction and cut a heel promo to a mediocre reaction. He tried and tried to get a big response but there was none to be had, save a massive "Teddy" chant when the crowd got bored. Then I had to go.
The video game style was fun, but I don't know if CZW is for me. A lot of their talent is just straight boring. And from what I read Zandig booked HIMSELF against Teddy for a future match and I am not interested in seeing guys who run companies booking themselves as SUPERDUDE MAIN EVENTERS.
I know this makes no sense at all but my recommendation is to C Z DON'T! And also they are SLEA-ZY DUB! Eh?
P.S. There was A MILLION hotties in the crowd! I have never seen a finer collection of women at a wrestling show, ever.
This was my first visit to the vaunted ECW Arena, aka Viking Hall. It is in a pretty seedy neighborhood. I parked on a side road which was lined with a long chain fence topped with coils of barbed wire. Trash flew around the street, and I had to pull over and clear out a shattered sewing machine to make myself a parking spot close to the entrance.
I met a guy named Dave in line and sat with him during the show. CZW has a really nice set-up. They had an elaborate ring entrance (complete with nice-looking CZW logo) and a freaking huge video screen which showed highlights and entrance videos throughout the show. Early on I noticed there was a leak in the ceiling and every minute or so water would drip onto the ring mat.
Attendence - 1,000? Place was nearly full, fans were absolutely rabid.
Merc vs Shawn Bishop
Merc was a brotha who won over the crowd. The fans started out heckling him, but gradually began to cheer his impressive array of power moves. He finished Bishop off with a sweet DVD variation which the crowd loved. It was a good opening match.
Winner: Merc
Shun The Kabuki Kid & DJ Higgins vs Jon Dahmer & GQ? (not sure of name)
Shun is from a japanese promotion - DDT? He was tiny but had charisma. The Ref's shirt had black and yellow stripes? What the?!? Dahmer was crazy over, and busted out a sweet variation of a fisherman's ABOUT A MINUTE INTO THE MATCH. This is where I learned that CZW has a "video game style" of wrestling, where they just bust out whatever move with no build. A really fun part is where Shun and DQ chopped the crap of GQ all around the ringside area. The fans ate it up, and everyone went "SSSHHHHHHH" before each chop. It was really cool. Dahmer won this with an absolutely SICK 2nd rope powerbomb which was an absolutely BRUTAL head-drop.
Winners: Jon Dahmer & GQ
Trifecta Match 1 - Rod Steel vs Mikey Tenderfoot vs Justice
Steel cut a totally generic heel promo. He appeared to have the ref in his pocket. Justice is all face-painted up, which I generally love but he had this "Kiss" kind of look that I wasn't really "feeling". Plus his punches looked like he was fanning his opponent with a cool breeze. Steel busts out the POWERBOMB ONE MINUTE IN, SEE ZEE DUUBBBBBB! Justice gives an armdrag with a CORKSCREW SELL which was kind of cool, though it look very contrived. Then Justice and Mikey (who was dressed like a dude off the street, someone buy this guy some tights) had an awful exchange of soft, obviously fake kicks (which is especially bad because I was as far from the ring as any fan in the arena and it was as clear as day to me), and then shared a series of choreographed athletic reversals. It looked cool, but it was so totally fake it would jar any fan who was trying to take the match seriously. Justice then wanted to SHOTEI like Jushin Liger, but his palm strikes were so weak as to make Liger spin in his.... bed, or airship, or whatever. Justice got elimintaed by Steel, I think. Rod Steel was the only guy who looked good, he was crisp, didn't muff anything and busted out a few great moves. He gave Tenderfoot this great overhead release suplex, which Tenderfoot completely no-sold and dropped Steel, and went for the pin. The ref counts 1..2.. then gets a CELL PHONE CALL! He reaches into his pocket to answer rather than count the three, and thus the ref's heelish link with Steel was established. Crowd cracked up and booed. Awesome idea! Steel soon after hits Tenderfoot with.. ok let me describe: Steel has Mikey on the apron in a pedigree set-up, which he then converts to a HIP TOSS TO THE FLOOR~! Was awesome, looked PAINFUL!! A little later, Tenderfoot hits a top rope sit-out DVD (!!!) for the win. A REALLY fun match, Rod Steel was extremely impressive.
Winner: Mikey Tenderfoot
CZW Tag title - Rebel's army (c) (Rockin' Rebel & Matt Granger) --> becomes Granger & Chris Cash vs Blackout
Blackout vs H8 Club (Nate Hatred & Nick Gage)
Rebel comes out and is CRAZY OVER, half-cheered/helf-booed. He cuts a promo on Blackout, claiming he doesn't wat to wrestle "apes" and stuff. About 1/3 of the crowd completely CHEERS HIM ON! I remember looking over at a black fan who was standing and watching this, NOT COOL AT ALL! There was tons of shenanigans. Owner John Zandig suspends Rebel. Matt Granger decides to wrestle Blackout alone. Chris Cash runs in to team with Granger. Blackout are flippy guys who take a ton of nasty moves. Blackout wins th titles..
Then Blackout cuts a promo, and they hate white people and get booed. The H8 club comes out and another match breaks out. Poor Blackout take a TON of head-drops from the bald/balding H8/Club. It looks like a complete squash until Blackout's manager uses cheatery, and Nate Hatred is NOOSED TO AN ATV and driven out of the arena, in a worthy tribute to when th Taker tied Hogan to HIS HOG! So then it's jut Gage vs both members of Blackout. Gage is in trouble, pron, a chair laid on top of him. CORKSCREW SPLIT ON THE CHAIR! Gage kicks out! Crowd pops huge! 450 on Gage! He kicks out?!?!! A second 450 does it. Blackout are the new champs.
Winners: Blackout
Blackout beats down Gage after, and a couple CZW guys run out for the save. Nick Berk cuts a promo where he uses creative pluralisation and calls Blackout "PIECE OF CRAPS!". He calls Nick Gage a "role model". Then Gage gets up and TURNS HEEL on Berk and drops him. Gage cuts a promo on how he is the baddest mofo on the east coast, crowd loves it. Berk sells his beating like death. Then he cuts a promo like he's fine, then after the promo he sells his rib as he exits the ring.
Oh my God this was exhausting just thinking about.
Trifecta match 2 - Gabriel vs Jay Fury vs Jeremy
Fury wows the crowd early on with a BACKFLIP INTO A GERMAN!! Then fury does a BACKFLIP KIP to dodge a lariat and lands a SWEET JUMPKICK as the opponent rebounds. Fury busts out a TOP ROPE OVERHEAD RELEASE to win the match and my fandom. The other two were ok, but Fury was god damn awesome.
Winner: Jay Fury
Excalibur vs Jigsaw vs Nate Webb
Excalibur of Pro Wrestling Guerilla comes out to Faith No More's "Surprise, you're dead!" to totally win me over (Patton is God). Then he cuts a promo, saying there's no need for this match because he's as good as hacksaw Jim Duggan. And if we remember correctly, Hacksaw once had a match with Goldberg. So Excalibur CALLS OUT GOLDBERG! The Goldberg chants break out. Nate Webb was crazy over, fans ate up his entrance. One funny spot early on is when Jigsaw had Excalibut in an inverted STF, and Webb tipped them back and forth so the other guy was feeling the pain. Later on, Webb hits a corkscrew out of the ring and his leg hits the guard rail really hard. Crowd popped big, Webb just got up, he must be made of rubber because that looked real painful. I think Excalibur got eliminated by Jigsaw, then Webb pins Jigsaw to advance.
Winner: Nate Webb
So the Trifecta finals was: Nate Webb vs Jay Fury vs Mikey Tenderfoot. I didn't get to see it.
The intermission was next, and I hung around just to see if the great Teddy Hart would come out next, he didn't. Messiah came out to a mediocre reaction and cut a heel promo to a mediocre reaction. He tried and tried to get a big response but there was none to be had, save a massive "Teddy" chant when the crowd got bored. Then I had to go.
The video game style was fun, but I don't know if CZW is for me. A lot of their talent is just straight boring. And from what I read Zandig booked HIMSELF against Teddy for a future match and I am not interested in seeing guys who run companies booking themselves as SUPERDUDE MAIN EVENTERS.
I know this makes no sense at all but my recommendation is to C Z DON'T! And also they are SLEA-ZY DUB! Eh?
P.S. There was A MILLION hotties in the crowd! I have never seen a finer collection of women at a wrestling show, ever.
