ECWA 5/3/2003

Written by: Sean McCaffrey from http://www.declarationofindependents.net/doi/pages/index1.html

Show started off with a 10-bell salute for long time ECWA fan, George Huddleston and Ms. Elizabeth. Classy way to remember one of your long time fans. Quick side note, everyone is saying Liz died presumably under some sort of drug overdose, as much as I liked her, (She was the first WWF chick to give me McWood), it’s hard to feel sorry for all these wrestling personalities who are dying under their own terms by screwing around with drugs. With Rude, Pillman, Hennig, plus others, and now Liz, it seems that someone from the wrestling world is dying almost every month.

The show started off with the ECWAtron recapping the Super 8 and previous storylines. It was also announced that Red could not make it, and John “Hurricane” Walter, of WWE Smackdown fame, would be taking his place. After the national anthem, Cheetah Master came out and pimped up some 1614 T-Shirts. He was giving throwing them to fans. Giving free shirts to fans = face pops! After the t-shirts, we had our first match out of 8 for the night.

Jose and Joel Maximo/Mercedes d. Billy Bax/Rob Eckos/Venom
Carlton P. Hightower, the manager of the heel team, cut a promo saying he didn’t see Trinity and that she wasn’t there tonight. Maybe if he checked the program, he would’ve known that she was there, as her name was listed as being there. Trinity then came out, and was announced the special guest referee. After giving the DOI an interview, and healing up his injury, Rob Eckos made his ECWA wrestling return. This match wasn’t the best that I thought could happen, with all the great talent in the ring, but it was still a good opener. Venom and Mercedes are two great solid women wrestlers. SAT are the SAT, and everyone knows how good they are. Bax/Eckos are a funny tandem together and played the heel role to perfection here. Towards the end, it got a little messy, and Trinity slapped Eckos and Bax, as they had what looked like the win. Joel would then hit a sick brain buster on Bax, and Mercedes would get the 1-2-3. Crowd was way into it.

Mike Kruel d. John Walters
This was pure mat wrestling, and what a great match it was. Definitely PAW. (Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling.) This match was just two grapplers going at it, and proving whom the better wrestler was. Walters looked good here in his first ECWA match that I’ve seen. Kruel has been working a WWE mat-based style, from what I’ve seen lately. The finish saw Kruel get the 1-2-3, as he had his foot on the ropes for leverage. Cheat 2 win.

For the ECWA Mid Atlantic Championship
Prince Nana d. Japanese Pool Boy
Nana came to the ring with ES Easton, and ECWA rookie “Man Servant” Tyler Payne. For those who don’t know, Tyler Payne wrestles in NYWC, and is a great wrestler. Unfortunately, he didn’t wrestle here tonight, so hopefully this won’t be the last of him in ECWA. Nana won this match way faster than I thought. I think it kinda took away from JPB, as he was built up as a serious wrestler at the last ECWA show, when he wrestled Daniels in a fine match. It will be interesting to see what they do with him now. Nana wins the strap after a version of the DDT. Good match, but short. This wouldn’t be the last time we saw the man from West Ghana, Africa.

Cheetah Master d. Mozart Fontaine
Cheetah Master is like a broken record. He must’ve screamed, “Are you ready?” and “Yea-Yea” at least a hundred times in this match. It’s pretty normal to say are you ready, in the beginning of the match, but after every move he hit, are you ready? Anyway, this is the best I’ve ever seen Mozart wrestle. The finish saw Cheetah win after the Superfly Jimmy Snuka splash.

For the ECWA Tag Team Championships
Striker and Ace Darling retained by defeating The Maxx Brothers
Striker and Darling were accompanied by Nana, Mega, Easton and Payne. A lot of cheating in this match. This was Joey Maxx/Johnny Ova’s return match, and he looked crisp as usual. Good tag bout. Finish saw Darling and Striker hit a sling blade snap suplex off the ropes, to get the W, on Johnny Max.

Intermission. No beer here, probably cause the event is run at a church. Note to self: Bring 7-11 Big Gulp cups.

After intermission, we were invited to Prince Nana’s special coronation ceremony. All of Nana’s people were there, including Tara Charisma, who threw leaf petals. To sum it up, Striker and Darling have aligned with Nana. Being two white boys, not from West Ghana like Nana, he had to induct them into the West Ghana tribe by cleansing them with the finest ivory soaps. After inducting the tag team champs, it was time to bless them with the “holy water.” (My words, I didn’t hear what he called it.) Mega, who has a thing for Trinity, forgot to bring the “holy water” because he passed her locker room, and got distracted. Nana did the first stage of the induction, and when he realized that the 2nd bottle was missing, he told Mega to go get it. Mega “ran” to the back, but as he got the pitcher, containing the liquid, he saw Trinity’s door, and again got distracted. He spilt the water, and went to go refill some of it in the men’s room, which was convientely, located right next door to Trinity’s locker room. (There’s a joke there somewhere, I’ll leave it alone lol) As he was debating about knocking on the door, he handed the bottle in a daze, without knowing it, to Cheetah Master, who we assumed drank a keg of beer before, because he peed in lightening quick speed and had enough urine in him to fill the pitcher. Cheetah’s hand crept out the men’s room door, and he handed the pitcher to Mega, who didn’t realize what happened. Mega then came back out to Nana, with the pitcher. Nana, being an expert sniffer, realized that the holy water was tainted, and got mad at Mega. They all went to the back after this. It was a really funny segment, and advanced the story line.

Nick Malakai d. Mr. Ooh La La
Match went way too long then it should’ve. Ooh La La is way over as a heel, here in ECWA, and this was Nick’s first ever ECWA match. You could see where his family was sitting lol. Finish saw Ooh La La cheat, and hold the ropes to pin Nick. (Seemed to be a common theme for the night) As Ooh La La was celebrating, Trinity, in ref gear, explained to the other ref that Ooh La La cheated. This pissed off Carlton P. HighTower, who challenged Trinity to a fight. He would be escorted to the back. The match was restarted and in 2 seconds, after what could’ve been maybe the ugliest sunset flip in history, which was reversed, Nick pinned Ooh La La by holding on to the ropes. What irony!

Nana would come out again, and was fuming about the water being tainted. He wanted to fight Cheetahs 1614 friend, but Cheetah, being the humorous guy that he is, took the piss pitcher, and dumped it over Nana’s head. Nana wasn’t too happy about it. Crowd ate it up.

Lumberjack Match with ECWA midcarders being the lumberjacks.
Xero d. Mega
Wow, the phantom clothesline from hell made an appearance here, as the strong wind knocked over Mega. The match seemed to go like this. Pound on opponent. Throw him outside of the ring. Let heel/face lumberjacks beat up heel/face opponent. Catch breather. Repeat cycle. Mega slammed Xero a few times, which looked impressive. Not the best technically sound match you’ll see. Funniest line was the guy next to me, “This is Mabel vs Bastion Booger.” At one point JJ and JR Ryder come out and beat up Xero. Ok then. Xero kicked out of Mega’s pin attempt after the beat down, which kind of made the attack null. Xero got the victory after a school boy roll up. Next.

For the ECWA Heavyweight Championship
Chris Daniels d. Paul London and Chance Beckett
WOW. Great match. PAW and everything. Paw to the paw power. What a great match. Some of the highlight spots of many were, Daniels Boston Crabbing Beckett and Camel Clutching London… AT THE SAME TIME! We saw missed splashes, followed by, a thank god it wasn’t Brock Lesnaresque, missed shooting star press by London. These guys put everything out there to entertain and have a great match. A match like this puts the promotion that much higher above other ones. A lot of stiff kicks and great wrestling. A match that needs to be seen on tape. These are top 3 wrestlers in the indies right now, in my book. Daniels pinned London after the Angel wings. Crowd applauded in awe and appreciation after the match.

McFinal Word
The storylines in ECWA are hilarious, especially the Nana saga. A perfect balance of wrestling and comedy for another good night of wrestling. The last match stole the show, and what will be remembered. I don’t understand what they are doing with Pool Boy now, after making him look so good at last show, and kind of pushing him back tonight. Next show should be interesting. Looks like they are setting up a Nana/Cheetah feud that could be good. They also teased a SAT vs Striker/Darling match, during the lumberjack mess. (Striker turned on SAT at Super 8) I thought it was a decent show, and a good follow up show, after what many are calling the best indy show of the year- the 2003 Super 8. Worth the drive from NY, even if you do get lost lol. The 5-buck beer pitcher at the restaurant next-door makes you forget about getting lost. I’m hoping that London and Beckett are ECWA regulars, and not just 2 shot deals, because they are two phenomenal talents. The world title contender spot is wide open, as there aren’t any serious threats to Daniels’ title with the current ECWA roster, so it should be interesting to see who gets a shot. That’s why I’m hoping London and Beckett come back, or even perennial contender, Low Ki. Shout out to fellow DOI editor Joel Grayson, who provided a great accomplice and whipped out some funny one liners, including ev-e-la-shun. See you next time.