Written by: Sean McCaffrey
CZW
10/9
Ring Announcer: Dennis Shock
Refs: Koehner and Logan
Announcers: John House and Eric Garigulo
Attendance: 450+
Maven Bentley, who is letting CZW use his promoter’s license, started the show with a promo. He let everyone know that CZW is for mature audiences only. He said if there are any kids at the show, they should leave now.
Short and effective promo to start off the show. I really wish some people would back off from CZW and just let CZW do their thing without having to worry about commissions and stupid parents.
James Newblood d. Javier
It looks like this match is becoming the high flyer version of The Metal Maniac vs Jimmy Snuka, as these guys are having this match all over the indies. Both of these guys are great high flyers, but do lack when it comes in-ring wrestling. Both these guys pulled off alot of big spots in this match. The Philly crowd popped huge for both guys. Newblood won this affair with a pretty shooting star senton.
I’ve seen it before, and I still think their JAPW match was the best one. The crowd loved it however, with the majority of the fans in attendance seeing it for the first time.
Sonjay Dutt came out next with his arm in a sling. He thanked all the fans for all the support he’s received since his injury. Dutt appreciated all the get well wishes. This led to Jimmy Rave coming out with Sonjay Dutt’s CZW Junior Heavyweight Title. Rave and M-Dogg 20 are the two who stole it from Dutt. Dutt said he couldn’t wrestle tonight, due to his elbow injury, but he knew a bunch of people in the back that wanted to kick Rave’s ass. This led to an open challenge match…
Ian Knoxx d. Jimmy Rave
Special Guest Referee: Sonjay Dutt
PREMATCH: Sonjay Dutt took off his sweatshirt, and underneath was a referee shirt. Knoxx helped Sonjay with taking his shirt off, due to his bad elbow. Ian then put Sonjay’s arm back in the sling, and Sonjay reffed with one arm in this match. Good booking here, as it popped the crowd.
This was a pretty decent match with alot of heat on it. The crowd despised Jimmy Rave, as it seemed the crowd gave him 1/2 wrestling heel heat, 1/2 X-Pac heel heat. Rave dominated throughout the middle of the match and picked up several near falls. The finish of the match saw Knoxx put Rave in a quick small package for the 1-2-3.
Ok match, and a big win for Ian Knoxx here.
POSTMATCH: Sonjay got the mic, and said that he would be able to wrestle again in November.
Tag Team Gauntlet Match
Winners Get a shot at the CZW Tag Team Champions, The Blackout, later on in the Show
Chris Cash/JC Bailey d. All Money Is Legal to win the gauntlet
Order of Entry: 1. CKNY (Cory Kastle/Niles Young) w/Jude
2. John Dahmer/DJ Hyde
3. Sean Bishop/Derek Frazier
4. H8 Club (Nick Gage/Nate Hatred)
5. Chris Cash/JC Bailey
6. Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli
7. All Money Is Legal (K-Murda/K-Pusha) W/Dizzie
Order of Elimination:
1. CKNY (Cory Kastle/Niles Young) w/Jude
2. Sean Bishop/Derek Frazier
3. John Dahmer/DJ Hyde
4. H8 Club (Nick Gage/Nate Hatred)
5. Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli
6. All Money Is Legal (K-Murda/K-Pusha) W/Dizzie
This match was like watching something straight out of USA PW. I’m not a fan of gauntlet matches, as they usually go way long and are over booked. This match had both of those elements. Nick Gage really did a number in this match, as not only did he bust the head of DJ Hyde wide open, he also split a chair over Chris Cash’s head. Both these guys continued wrestling in the match. It was even more remarkable for Cash, as he was busted open very badly, went to the back and tied a bandana on, then went back out and wrestled in 3 more matches. Lots of guts and determination there.
During the middle of the match, as the H8 Club squared off with a bruised and battered Cash and Bailey, the old H8 Club, Justice Pain and Wifebeater came out. They beat up Gage and Hatred, and this led to the underdog team of Cash and Bailey picking up the pinfall.
The finals saw All Money Is Legal vs Cash and Bailey. I thought it was the best wrestling match in the whole gauntlet. Both of these teams match up well against each other. Both teams hit their signature moves, for 2’s. The end of the match saw Cash hit a Cashflow on Pusha for the pinfall victory, and for a tag title shot later on against The Blackout.
This wasn’t that bad of a gauntlet, it was just so long. With the show going 4+ hours or so, some time could’ve been cut off here.
Ghost Shadow w/Heritac d. Spyral
Pretty good match here, as both guys are getting louder crowd reactions every time they are out there. Both guys showcased their abilities here, including a moonsault elbow from Spyral. Heritac, who was Ghost Shadows new manager, interfered in this match, helping Ghost Shadow to win this match.
I’d like to see a rematch between these guys. CZW has done a good job of creating a feud between these two here.
Eddie Kingston aka King w/The Blackout d. “Spyder” Nate Webb
Wow, when was the last time Spyder Nate Webb won a match in CZW? It seems like forever. Nate Webb is insanely over with the crowd. I can’t explain it, but he has a Super Dragon-esque fan following behind him. This was a decent heel vs face match, as the crowd hated King and despised Nate Webb. King, with the help of the Blackout, won this match.
As I was watching this, I thought that CZW should find something bigger for Webb, as the crowd loves him. CZW read my mind later on in the show. I’d consider this an upset, and a huge singles win in King’s career.
“Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen/Crazy Crusher d. El Generico/Excess 69
PREMATCH: The IWS World Heavyweight Champion, Kevin Steen, said that Sexxxy Eddy would not be here tonight. El Generico has the similiar crowd chants of Samoa Joe, as the ECW arena was full of Ole, Ole, Ole chants. I liked this match alot, and thought it was one of the stronger matches on the show. While everyone was talking about Teddy Hart/Jack Evans/Ted Wilson and Harry Smith as the hottest 4 wrestlers from Canada last year, Steen/Eddy/Generico/Excess 69 have become the hottest 4 wrestlers from Canada this year. This match had alot of high spots and unique double team work. Crazy Crusher hit a big Irish Car Bomb on Excess 69 in this match. The finish saw Kevin Steen hit a cradle powerbomb on El Generico for the pin.
Solid match, and these four, along with Eddy, do have a future in the States.
INTERMISSION
Got some much needed air and celebrated the Yankees victory.
For the CZW Iron Man Title
(c) Chris Hero w/Black Jack Marciano and Claudio Castagnoli d. Homicide
I didn’t understand why Homicide was in this match as no angle for the second biggest belt in CZW was built up here. It just seems like CZW uses Homicide to put over the CZW guys. This was a very good match that featured alot of submission and mat wrestling. Claudio on the outside, interfered several times in this match, by giving Homicide neck holds, which he learned from Chris Hero. The finish of this match saw Justice Pain interfere, (building off Homicide/Pains feud from 8/14) and hit Homicide. This set up Hero to hit a diamond cutter on Homicide for the 1-2-3.
CZW should just rename the Iron Man Title, if it’s not going to be defended in Iron Man Matches anymore. Either way, decent match from both guys.
POSTMATCH: Homicide, who is furious, gets the mic. He challenges Pain to a match at the next show, on November 14. Pain accepts. Homicide goes off on Pain some more, with alot of derogatory comments.
Roderick Strong d. Jay Lethal
This was another very strong match on this show. These guys match up well together. Both wrestlers exchanged chops early on. Lethal took advantage with a back suplex, only to have Roderick come back later on in the match with a superplex. Lethal hit a nice running brainbuster in this match as well. After a missed headbutt from Lethal, Roderick Strong picked up Lethal and hit a widows peak for the pin.
Good match. Lethal was injured during the match, as he pulled his hamstring during the headbutt. It is a minor injury, and he should miss no time.
POSTMATCH: Alex Shelley came out. He put over both Lethal and Strong as 2 superb talents. Shelley said he wanted to wrestle tonight, but said he had a hyperextended elbow. The crowd showed appreciation for Shelley during this promo. Lethal went to leave, which left Strong and Shelley in the ring. Shelley shook hands with Strong, only to have Strong turn on Shelley. Roderick Strong beat up Shelley, and left him in the ring. Strong challenged Shelley to a match to a match in November.
Really odd booking here, and a great way to piss on a Ring of Honor angle. Strong and Shelley are part of Generation Next in ROH, and are closely united in that stable. The only reason I could see for the turn was just to urinate on a ROH angle. Couldn’t of Lethal turned on Shelley, or even better, instead of having 5858 character turns on a show, couldn’t these guys have a respect triple threat match? Oh well, it should be interesting to see what comes from this.
For the CZW Tag Team Titles
The Blackout (Ruckus/Sabian) w/Robby Mireno, King and Maven Bentley vs JC Bailey/Chris Cash went to a no contest in a very hot tag team match
PREMATCH: John House had his House Party skit. The show was going so long, and another promo is not what was needed at this point. Thankfully it wasn’t too long. House was pro-Blackout, and after some words and some actions, our tag title match got started.
This was the night of Chris Cash. This has to be considered one of the biggest nights in Cash’s career as the crowd was behind him in every match. This was the loudest match of the night and when the crowd gets into a match, like they did here, it does make it a better overall match. Towards the end of the match, Mireno ran in and went to go hit Cash with one of the CZW Tag belts. Mireno missed however, and crashed the belt into the skull of Sabian. Cash then quickly rolled up Sabian, and it looked like we had new tag team champions!
Unfortunately, the CZW promoter, Maven Bentley, got the mic. He said that the decision doesn’t count because Cash wasn’t the legal man and also, because the bell didn’t ring yet. This was the first gunshot to the crowd, as the crowd was disgusted.
When the match restarted, all of Blackout attacked Cash and Bailey. The match is considered over by this point.
POSTMATCH: “Spyder” Nate Webb came out to make the save, due to his bs loss to King earlier in the show. This turned into The Blackout vs Webb/Bailey/Cash. All of a sudden Zandig comes out, which gets the Blackout to go to the outside. Zandig cuts a promo saying he may not be the promoter, like Maven, but he is the owner. Zandig books The Blackout vs Cash/Bailey/Webb and the returning Joker. The crowd pops huge for Joker’s CZWtron video. Zandig says since there are only three wrestlers in Blackout, they could pick their partner for November 14th.
My gut feeling? Joker turns on Bailey/Webb/Cash and joins up with The Blackout. Setting up Joker and The Blackout vs Cash/Webb/Bailey/??? in Cage of Death 6.
For the CZW World Heavyweight Title
(c) Messiah w/Adam Flash d. Kaos
The crowd was dead by this point. The tag team match took alot of the crowd, and by the time this match went on, everyone seemed out of it. Kaos got busted up pretty early in this match, as his bleached blonde white hair was crimson red. Kaos came back with a huge piledriver in this match, for a long 2. Eventually Homicide and Justice Pain came out and interfered. Homicide fucked up Kaos. With the ref out, The Messiah somehow blocked three copkillas from Homicide. Wow, that was odd. Justice Pain then came out and went after Homicide. These two brawled, while Messiah hit a neck driver aka Fall From Grace on Kaos for the pin.
POSTMATCH: Homicide and Pain continued to fight, as Messiah stood over Kaos. Kaos said he wanted a rematch for next month due to all the interference in this match. Messiah told Kaos that he had to go through Adam Flash first, in order to get a title shot. All of a sudden, Flash turned on Messiah and beat the crap out of him. Flash starts cutting Messiahs hair off, after hitting him out cold with a weak chair shot. This presumably sets up Messiah vs Flash for the next show. Zandig came out and said if Messiah doesn’t come in November, then he will hold a bounty over Flash’s head. This concluded our show.
Final McWord
CZW did a really good job hyping up their November 14th Sunday show tonight. CZW also did a wonderful job promoting Chris Cash as a big time player in CZW. Major props to him for wrestling with a huge gash in his head.
I don’t understand how CZW is promoting their Heavyweight and Iron man divisions. In the Heavyweight division, you have Messiah who wrestles almost every show against an opponent who isn’t built up, from an angle-wise perspective, half the time. Now it seems that CZW is trying to relive their glory days, by bringing back all the guys who worked for XPW back into CZW. Who’s next Supreme? Vic Grimes? It’s time for CZW to create new superstars, like they have done in the past with people like Sonjay Dutt and B-Boy, and like how they did at this show with Cash and Webb.
In the Iron Man division you have Chris Hero defending the title every month against practically anyone. Couldn’t some storyline take place? It seems that is Chris Hero’s title and it doesn’t matter who he defends it against, because the end result is that he’s always going to win.
What’s up with Homicide in CZW? I really think CZW is afraid to push him in a serious matter, where he would hold a championship, because of ROH. Is it because Homicide is an ROH guy, that CZW jobbed him out to Hero in a pointless match? Let’s be honest, out of the number 1 contenders in CZW right now, Pain, Kaos and Homicide, Homicide is the least likely to win the World Heavyweight title from Messiah. The crowd knows that too, so alot of title matches in CZW are very easy to predict. After judging how the crowd reacts to Homicide, it might not be a bad idea to give him a run, as Homicide gets the biggest pop out of the four main title guys. (Kaos/Messiah/ Pain/Homicide). Homicide vs Pain should be good, but it seems like at every CZW show, Homicide is used to put over a CZW wrestler, rather than being used for his talents. Who knows, maybe CZW thinks they will be considered weak if Homicide won their belt, after Homicide’s unsuccessful attempts at winning the ROH title. Then again, I don’t think you’ll see Messiah, Kaos or Pain in ROH to begin with, so CZW has more to gain by using Homicide the right way than using him the way they are using him now.
As far as the CZW Tag Team titles, I think CZW is doing an excellent job with that. The Blackout are a great heel team, and while their stable is a little bit Nation of Dominationish, right down to the PG-13 Wigga spirits in Rob Mireno and the Clarence Masonesque Maven Bentley, they are doing a great job of generating heat and having good matches. I loved what CZW did with Cash/Bailey vs The Blackout, and this is a feud that all the fans are into, and want to see. I am also enjoying King’s work immensely. Great job by CZW there.
I still don’t understand Strong turning on Shelley. That links into what I think is CZW’s way of trying to make themselves better than ROH and different than ROH. I just like to see continuity on the indies, and I think more continuity on the indies= bigger gates and better shows.
Spyral and Ghost Shadow are two quality pick-ups for CZW. They aren’t really working anywhere else, so it makes them more exclusive to CZW as you can only see them there. CZW has done a wonderful job with that feud, and I’m looking to see what develops next.
One thing I noticed about CZW is that there are no girls. Maybe after the breast incident from last show, CZW didn’t want to use any girls, but the last female manager I can remember in CZW is Becky Bayless. I know Lacy was scouting one show, but what happened since then? Nothing.
CZW would be wise to bring in some girls in, as fans love to see them, and they do have a following. Someone like an April Hunter could do wonders for CZW and she would be perfect to start a womans division around. She is also a great manager, and could get the crowd loud as well.
This is what’s been announced for November 14th’s “Night of Infamy” show so far. Please be advised it is a Sunday show:
In what might be a number 1 contenders match:
Homicide vs. Justice Pain
Alex Shelly vs. Roderick Stong
Blackout (King/Sabian/Ruckus) and ??? vs Chris Cash, Nate Webb, J.C. Bailey & Joker
The in ring return of Sonjay Dutt
Look for more to be announced soon.
I will also have a column looking at the CZW/PWU war later on. Keep checking the site for that.
Overall-
I didn’t think this was one of the stronger CZW shows. There was too many turns, just for the sake of turning, and the show was USA Pro, in terms of length. This seemed like a transitional show, and the November line-up looks to be stronger than what this show was.