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Review of the ECPW Show, October 17, VFW Hall, Saddle Brook, NJ
by Lawrence Kleber
Your kinder and gentler reporter had not been to a wrestling show since
the end of August. Before becoming gravely ill from deprivation of
wrestling, I decided to attend Gino Caruso’s show at the VFW Hall
in
Saddle Brook, New Jersey on Friday night, October 17. The hall was well
lit with seating for 216 and an audience of about 150 people. There were
lots of kids in the audience, and happily, this was a family oriented
show. Dave Cunningham served as the ring announcer, and Brian Beeker did
his best with a poor sound system and a terrible ring bell.
Match 1 The show began with a strong match between Red Hot Russ
Newman and Gino “Mr. Italy” Caruso. Dr. Larry Brown, the new
matchmaker,
interrupted to do what seemed to be a straight promo to thank the fans
and push the workers. The match began with science, featuring arm bars
and hammer locks. The crowd was behind Gino chanting, “Gino, Gino!”
Russ said to a group of chanting kids, “Shut up! I’m wrestling!”
Russ
moved into illegal holds, but Gino executed a good neck breaker, which
should have ended the match. However, Brown came back to distract the
ref and Russ picked up the victory with a roll up pin.
Match 2 Inferno pinned Mike Nelson in a good match, which featured a
number of fine abdominal stretches by Inferno. The funniest bit had
Inferno arguing with a kid in a karate outfit.
Match 3 For the tag titles, the Corporate Empire challenged Matt and
Troy Nelson. Following an incredibly fast opening, the Nelsons double
drop kicked Dan and Martin. This was followed by a double back breaker
by the Nelsons. Later there was an excellent flying clothesline by Dan
the Man. The match ended with Dan pinning Troy and Martin pinning Matt.
Of course, the Nelsons retained the titles. An excellent match! Keep an
eye on Dan the Man. He is excellent.
A 25 minute intermission followed featuring a karate demonstration by
the
American Self Defense team. During this, workers tried to sell pictures
and the Metal Maniac painted kids’ faces!
Match 4 “Sure Thing” Ryan Wing pinned Rob Vegas with a fisherman’s
suplex. The match was slow to start, but later picked up steam and Ryan
had the kids at ringside very involved in the contest.
Match 5 One of my personal favorites, the Metal Maniac, challenged Mo
Sexy for the TV championship. Maniac is always great on the stick. To
the kids he said, “When your mother puts you to sleep and tells you
how
beautiful and sweet you are, she’s lying!” The kids began to
chant
“Tubby!” to taunt the Maniac. As usual, the Maniac had ring
announcer
Cunningham tell the fans, “The Metal Maniac says that if you don’t
shut
up, he will leave at once.” Typical! The match contained the usual
Metal Maniac nonsense. There were some good drop kicks from Mo Sexy, but
he missed a dive off the top rope. Metal Maniac attacked from the
outside and executed a painful snap mare on the floor. Of course, he had
to choke out Mo Sexy with the ribbon on his wrist. Finally, Mo Sexy
pinned the Maniac. Maniac staggered out of the ring and tumbled over me
on his way back to the locker room. He may be a difficult prima donna,
but you always get a highly entertaining match from the Metal Maniac.
It’s really time for WWE to give him a chance.
Match 6 For the ECPW heavyweight strap, “The Specialist” Mike
Xylas
challenged Johnny Thundar. There was lots of action outside of the ring,
and Mike had Johnny in a figure four a few times during the contest.
Johnny managed to escape by getting to the topes or turning the hold
over, and finally pinned Mike after sweet chin music.
Match 7 In a lumberjack match, Andrew Anderson stole a win over the
hooded Macho Madness with a HHH pedigree. Anderson had some cheerleaders
in the crowd, all under 12 years old! The contest later disintegrated
into a battle royal.
This was my first ECPW show since the large Morristown show last spring.
The VFW venue is a better room for Gino’s style and this turned out
to be
a highly entertaining card. Check out ECPW1.COM for lots of upcoming
events!
