ECWA 7/26/2003

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

What up there you DOI-maniacs, and welcome to another McReview, this time reviewing ECWA pro wrestling, which took place on July 26th, out in Wilmington, DE, in front of about 300 strong. This is gonna be a fast review, cause I got so little to do with so much time to do it in. Wait reverse that.. (Willy Wonka) But, seriously, let’s smack this shit out faster than a right cross from Lennox Lewis.

Coming from NY was a bitchass, as traffic was more backed up than a constipated grandma. After about 4 hours or so, we finally got there. At least we got cheap $2 cigarettes, making the trip somewhat worth it lol.

After some food and some Heineken, the show finally kicked off at 7 PM. This is how the show went down, and my opinion/review next to it.

Prince Nana cuts a promo basically saying he’s gonna win his match, and recapped some of last show.

Japanese Pool Boy d. Brutal Bob Evans
Brutal started off by doing the Guitolline LeGrande mic-spot, by tapping on the mic 87686 times. Instead of finally talking, he handed it back to the announcer. That was pretty cool. Too bad that was the only good work by Bob for the match. Brutal definitely reflected this match, as everyone I was with, and including myself, was groaning at this match. If this was the Elks lodge, the “Take it home” chant would be in full force. A horrible match to start a show off with, as only one guy (JPB) knew what he was doing. Did the other guy sell tickets or something? I mean even the ref looked freakin clueless in this one, as he would have really out of pace slow counts, or just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This looked more of a sloppy backyard match than anything. JPB is insanely popular with the Delaware crowd, and got a huge pop after connecting with the stink face. After the stinkface, Pool Boy got onto the top rope, and hit the whoopee cushion on Bob Evans, for the pinfall, and letting a sigh of relief out of me. JPB has been in ECWA for a long time, and I guess this was a try-out match to see how Bob would fare against an ECWA regular.

Billy Bax/Rob Eckos w/Carlton P. Hightower, now dubbed as The Valedictorians d. Nick Malakai/Xero
Good tag match. Billy/Rob/Carlton all come out in graduation gear, straight down to the mortar hat. They did a great job of getting the audience against them, like usual. They even came out to the Pomp and Circumstance song, which was cool, if I wasn’t looking for Randy Savage first lol. Anyway, after some great wrestling, Bax and Eckos got the duke after a cool tag team move, which involved, Eckos holding Nick Malakai for a suplex, and Bax coming off the ropes with a neckbreaker. Nice move. This picks up the pinfall.

POSTMATCH: The Valedictorians all celebrate, and all throw their hats in the air. That was funny.

Cut to a skit on the ECWA-Tron, of Mega outside Trinity’s lockerroom door, advancing their storyline from previous shows. I like the continuity that ECWA provides.

Mike Fury d. Mozart Fontaine
Pretty good match. Fury had what seemed a million friends and family there, so he was insanely popular. Mozart keeps getting better everytime I see him. Some crazy moves in this one, such as what looked like a sick D-Lo-Droz powerbomb from Mozart to Fury. Mozart did a lot of great heel tactics, such as pushing the ref into the ropes, as Fury was on the top rope. He even did the Eddy Guerrero special, by bringing 2 chairs into the ring, and as the ref takes one chair out, he kabonks Fury, and slides the chair out, for a false finish pinfall. Great psychology. Little things like that are impressive. I found out what the F in F-Five stands for, as it stands for Fury, as he hit this move on Fontaine. Looked mighty good too. Fury picks up the pinfall victory after a pin roll up with a neck bridge for the victory. While Fury looked ok, Fontaine was superb in this one. He did everything right, and was a true heel, and I always mark out for true heels!

Cut to a backstage skit on the ECWA-tron of Kevin Kelly pumping up the contestants in the next match for a spot on the ECWA roster. Good way to build a match that had no hype coming in.

In what was on the flyer as 1st time in the ECWA, Special “Rookie Roundup” Battle Royal, Louie (Not to be confused with the Low-Life) emerged victorious. The only other guys I recoginized were Anthony Michaels, J-Busta and Chris Idol. Fast match. Some guys didn’t know what they were doing. J-Busta took a sick planted DDT from the top rope. Sweet spot. Louie gets the win, after thinking his opponent thought he eliminated him, but came from behind to win. Like British Bulldog/Shawn Michaels at Royal Rumble 1995. This really was short and blah at best.

In what I thought was match of the night…
Mike Kruel d. John Walters and Low Ki
Fantastic match. 3 great wrestlers at their best in this one. It’s good to see Low-Ki wrestle, since returning from his injury, as he hasn’t lost a step or look rusty at all since returning. (He also battled Deranged and Raven, and gave his usual 5 star performance in those bouts, including this one as well) Low-Ki is simply one of the best wrestlers today. Kruel is a master of ring psychology and today was no different, as he wrestled a fantastic match. John Walters always goes balls to the wall all out, and always delivers a great match. Definitely a PAW match, and a match that awakened some of the crowd. These guys had some great moves, including what looks to be the hottest 3 way move today, one guy perfect-plexing one wrestler, and the third wrestling giving the german suplex while the perfect plex is going on. Must be seen live. Low-Ki was on tonight, as he demonstrates why every move means so much, as he missed his springboard kick once, but went back later on in the match to hit it. Walters was f’n solid in this bout. Kruel gets the win, when Low-Ki has John Walters in the dragon sleeper, and Mike Kruel does a flipping cradle on Low Ki, to get the pinfall. During the pinfall, Walters was tapping out. Good way to keep everyone look strong, and to build for a future show. Superb match.

Trinity d. Mr. Ooh La La w/Carlton P. Hightower
Mr. Ooh La La did his usual pre-match antics, such as the strip tease, falling over the ropes and being overall clumsly. The crowd always eats it up. Trinity held her own in this match and looked good in most parts. The match started out hot, but fizzled towards the end. The best spot that I liked was when Trinity and Mr Ooh La La met in the middle, and Trinity said “Look, what’s that” and slapped the piss out of Mr. Ooh La La. After running the ropes, and colliding again, Mr Oh La La asked Trinity, “What’s that?” and Trinity followed up with another 5 fingers across the cheek. Hilarious. Not the best wrestling match by any means, but very entertaining. Trinity gets the pinfall win, even with all the interference from Carlton, after rolling up Mr. Ooh La La after coming off the turnbuckle.

POSTMATCH: Eckos/Bax attack Trinity. Benny and Ruffhouse Rivera come out to make the save. Mega then comes out, which clears the ring. Mega carries Trinity out of the ring. Good way to keep the love storyline rolling.

Cut to the back, as Royal Decision (Prince Nana, The Leader and ECWA Mid-Atlantic Champion, Matt Striker and Ace Darling, ECWA Tag Champions, Mega, and Tyler Payne) all have Trinity tied up in a chair. Nana says “Tonight we crown a Queen.”

Intermission. Got some beer across the block. At least DE you can get beer easily, unlike some parts of the cesspool better known as NJ)

We then come back and out comes Sebastian Knight, who introduces his new client…

Cyco w/Sebastian Knight d. Joey Maxx
It was Ovaaaaaaaaa before the match started for Joey, as Cyco squashed Joey Maxx in 3 minutes. Crap. Cyco is like a Nailz/Giant Gonzales character, as he didn’t feel any pain/no-sold all of Joey’s offense and wore a prison outfit. A horrible way to use Joey Maxx in his first singles match. You could’ve put Joey vs JPB and have a great match, and have Cyco crush Mr. Brutal. As much as I am a fan of Joey Maxx, this match stunk. I understand the squash, but it made the Maxx brother look very weak.

POSTMATCH: To further Cyco’s destruction on Joey Maxx, Johnny Maxx, and refs came out to make sure Joey was ok, and helped him to the back.

For the ECWA Tag Team Titles
Ace Darling/Matt Striker w/ES Easton retain over Cheetah Master and Johnny Maxx
PRE-MATCH: Cheetah has a longass entrance, that appealed to Delaware fans only. I mean, he comes out to Welcome in the Jungle, and that’s a 7 minute song, and it almost played twice. 7 minutes just to build up free T-shirt getting thrown to the crowd? LoL.

Anyway, the match was very well done. Cheetah wrestled most of the match by himself, as Johnny Maxx didn’t come out till later on. Perhaps he was checking on the status of his tag partner who got cremated in the last match? I don’t know, however, Cheetah did a good job of battling Striker/Ace. Ace looked solid here, and Striker had a great match and instrumented the importance of the tag rope. I mark for tag ropes! Johnny Maxx finally made it to the ring ¾ into the match. Nice ass finish, as Ace smacks the Superkick on Johnny Maxx, which is followed up by Strikers 2 knees to the back area, for a quick clean pinfall. Ace/Striker, while they don’t team up anywhere else, you would think they’ve been teaming for years, as they are very fluent together. Excellent.

Another ECWA-tron trip, shows Nana going to the ring for his match. If he won, Trinity would become his queen. Mega, who has the hots for Trinity, was left to guard her, which you know wasn’t the best decision by Nana, as Mega let Trinity escape.

For the ECWA Heavyweight Championship
Christopher “Fallen Angel” Daniels d. Prince Nana w/Royal Decision
Match started off with Royal Decision looking to interfere. After about 3 or 4 minutes or so, Johnny Maxx, Fury and Cheetah Master tangle up with Striker/Ace/Payne, eliminating all of these guys chances of interfering during the match. This left just ES Easton in Nana’s corner. Great match here, as Nana hit some sweet moves, such as his running ass into the corner. Great german suplex by Daniels to Nana. I didn’t write down all the sequences, but trust me, lots of great wrestling and action in this bout. The finish saw Nana clothesline the ref, after Daniels ducked him. Daniels then has Nana covered, but there is no ref. ES Easton then ran in and kabonked Daniels with the title. A new ref comes out, and it looks like we have a new ECWA Champion, but no, Daniels summons the strength to put a shoulder up. All of a sudden, with the new ref distracted, out comes Trinity. She hits a sweet dropkick from the top rope on Nana, then a DDT to boot. She scurries out of the ring, and Daniels hits this new submission move to me, as it’s a leglock on the face, while having the legs wrapped up. Nana taps out. I wish we could’ve saw the Last Rites or the Angel Wings, because I think the crowd would then know the match was wrapped up, but I guess it was pretty cool as the match just finished out of nowhere. Daniels is still the ECWA champ.

POSTMATCH: Trinity/Daniels embrace to the approval of the crowd.

Final McWord
Not the best ECWA show I’ve been to at all. I thought the last one was alot better, and you can’t compare any other show to the Super 8 either. Not one of the better shows I’ve been to this month either, but there were a few good matches worth watching, while the rest was mostly all forgettable. Crowd was hot all night. Your NY luminaries in attendance included Grim Reefer, Azraiel, Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz, and The Solution. Some NJ luminaries included Ricky O, Dave Greco (who might make the J-Cup after all) and Triple SH, Showtime Shawn Sheridan. ECWA is the king of the indies, as WWE follows it, but tonight to me, didn’t demonstrate why ECWA was the best today. Maybe it’s cause I saw the best ROH show ever, last weekend. Maybe Brian Myers is right after all! (See I told you I’d be honest Mr. Myers! LoL.) Maybe I’m sour after the long ass driving, but it wasn’t worth the drive for 3 good matches. Seems that some people agree with that, while others don’t. Oh well, it’s all opinion. I really liked the Nana/Daniels and Low Ki/Walters/Kruel match, and like the storyline w/Trinity and Mega. The tag matches were pretty good too. ECWA returns September 6th, and for all the info go to http://www.ecwaprowrestling.com
I’m out as the bar is calling and it’s time for some Heineken!
Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey