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The East Coast Wrestling Association returned to St. Matthew's Parish Center in Wilmington, DE on October 4th in front of approximately 200 people (which is STILL more than most Jersey promotion's combined attendance at shows).
The traditional pre show festivities at Season's Pizza were a little more enjoyable than normal with the addition of a new, and very attractive waitress. Just watching a certain Crew member trying to act all smooth to impress was priceless. The fact that he then stood around waiting for 10 minutes to make sure she personally got her tip shows that married life has hampered his social skills with the opposite sex.
Referees for this evening: Rusty Brooks, Paul Turner, and Bob Dinsmore
Sound Technician: Daryl Osbourne
Your Ring Announcer: The too busy to reply to email, Chuck Ristano.
Luminaries in attendance: Marc Corraluzzo, CoFro, Nick Yannucci, The Kruel Family, and an indy female manager (who will remain nameless as the mere mention of her name would distract you from concentrating on the rest of this report) and her significant other.
The show opened with the usual "Countdown" to this month's edition of ECWA and the playing of the National Anthem.
In the opening match, Japanese Pool Boy teamed with The Shaolin Wrecking Crew to defeat Mr. Ooh La La and Less Resistance, with Carlton P. Hightower. Less Resistance were basically smaller clones of Ooh La La. They mimicked most of his moves, including his less than stellar entrance to the ring. Japanese Pool Boy entered the ring to "Barbie Girl" while Shaolin Wrecking Crew watched him with confusion. SWC dominated most of the match and Pool Boy scored the pinfall on one of Less Resistance. Good comedic opener.
On the ECWA Tron, we saw Prince Nana addressing Royal Decision. Mega was reading a postcard he had received from Trinity. Nana, who was enraged, tore up the postcard.
John Walters returned to the ECWA and defeated Striker, with ES Easton, in a phenomenal match. These two can have a great match with almost anyone so putting them in the ring against each other just guarantees excitement. Moves that can not even be described (except one that will forever be called the "Heissman") were used throughout the match.
Zaquary Springate III, with Carlton P. Hightower, entered the ring. A group of fans actually turned their chairs to face the wall as Springate entered the ring, and once again got on the mic. The wall must have been quite entertaining as they didn't turn their chairs back until Springate's diatribe ended. This time, his monologue only went about 5 minutes before he was interrupted by the entrance of Xero. Springate didn't show us too much last month. This month, against Xero, he did show us a few things... 1. His entrance music (the old Steven Regal music) is very relaxing. 2. He still can't hit a swanton. Last month, the overshot swanton was the finish. This month, the overshot swanton only got a 2 count. Instead, Zaquary had to pin Xero, using the ropes for leverage. WHY???
Mike Kruel defeated Hijinx with the Fujiwara Armbar. Hijinx (Chris Idol) was a pleasant surprise as no one seemed to know who Hijinx was prior to the show. Kruel still improves with every match. He dominated most of the match, even taking time to do some pushups, crunches, a kip up, and jumping jacks at the request of the fans. Following the match, Kruel tore up a giant card that was signed by the fans for Chris and Lisa Daniels (congratulating them on the birth of their daughter, Jerica Ellen). Kruel then challenged Daniels to a match next month and guaranteed us that not only would he defeat Daniels but he would make him tap out.
Big Benny defeated Miracle Mike Bennett. The above mentioned female manager blurted out, "Can these people get any thinner? What the F do they feed them up there?" She wasn't referring to Big Benny. Luckily, for all of us, the miracle was that the match only went about two minutes before Benny got the pinfall.
In the back, Kevin Kelly interviewed Johnny Maxx about his match later tonight against Cyco.
The Valedictorians, Bax and Eckos, accompanied by Carlton P. Hightower defeated Inferno and Ruffhouse Rivera. The Fuzzy Dice were making their return after a seven month absence due to Inferno's injury. The crowd was strongly behind the Fuzzy Dice. Most of the match was dominated by the Dice. While Eckos and Inferno battled on the floor (and the ref followed them), Bax and Ruffhouse were in the ring. Ruffhouse ran Bax into the ropes, Bax ducked, and Hightower hit Ruffhouse in the head with his book. This allowed Bax to get make the cover just in time for the ref to see and count three. Great to see Inferno back.
A 15 intermission followed where PowDare was yelled at, and his friend had his hat knocked off by a fan.
Nick Malakai (subbing for the injured Mozart Fontaine, who was in his corner) defeated J-Busta with a falling forearm/elbow off the ropes. Picture the Nasty Boys elbow off the top finisher. Now, don't drop an elbow but use more of a forearm. Now, don't really jump off the ropes, just fall forward. Picturing it? That was the finisher. After being defeated, J-Busta started bad mouthing Mozart who ran in and punched him. This led to...
Mozart Fontaine defeated J-Busta with a Twisting Urinage. The match started with Mozart throwing his towel in the ref's face, blinding him long enough to kick Busta with a low blow. Mozart took quite a beating during the match as his back was not 100% and he wasn't scheduled to wrestle in the first place. Busta worked on the back of Mozart for most of the match until Mozart was able to make a comeback and hit a nice finisher for the pin.
Cyco, with Sebastian Knight, defeated Johnny Maxx. Maxx jumped Cyco from the start, immediately causing the X on his forehead to rub off. It wasn't long before Cyco took control. Some of the crowd (and I swear it wasn't any of us) actually began to chant boring! For the second time ever in ECWA history a "Boring" chant. (Trivia: When was the first time a "Boring" chant broke out at an ECWA show? I'll give you a minute to think about it). Cyco won with his finisher. Only problem was he wasn't able to lift Johnny the first time. Second time's a charm. Maxx did the best he could considering the opponent. (Trivia Answer: The first ever "Boring" chant occurred last month, during Cyco's match. Coincidence?)
Kevin Kelly then announced, on the ECWA Tron, that on November 8th Christopher Daniels would defend his title against Mike Kruel and the American Dragon will return. Kelly then interviewed Simon Diamond who talked about his, and Ace Darling's, history in the ECWA. Ace entered and welcomed Simon back but was not happy with his return.
In the match of the night, the "Battle of the ECWA Icons", Simon Diamond defeated Ace Darling (with ES Easton). Both men's list of accomplishments is amazing. They both have held the ECWA Hvyt Title, Mid Atlantic Title, and Tag Team Titles on numerous occasions. What an awesome match by two of the best the sport has ever seen. Simon was greeted with a standing ovation and "Welcome Back!" chant. The match went about 25 minutes and was a wrestling lesson for anyone watching. (Hopefully a few in the back were watching). During the match, Simon went for his "Simon Series" but after suplex #2, Ace hit a hurracanrana. Simon fought back with a Hot Shot on Ace who bounced off the ropes and hit a beautiful superkick on Simon. Ace in the Hole by Darling for a two count. Simon then hit the Simonizer for the pinfall. After the bout, Simon got on the mic and put over Delaware as his hometown. He may be announced as from South Bend but he lived, went to school, and started his wrestling career in DE. Simon then talked about how he, Ace, Billy Kidman, and Devon Storm all started out and came up together. He said that he always thought Ace was the best one out of all of them but was never given the opportunity he deserved. The crowd gave a teary eyed Ace a well deserved standing ovation. Granted, Ace was the "heel" and Simon the "face" and some may frown upon the post match festivities BUT it was sheer class for Simon to get on the mic and not only put over the ECWA, DE, and the fans but to say such nice (and 100% true) things about, and to, Ace Darling. Welcome back Simon and we all hope to see you aback again.
The final match of the evening was a "Special Grudge Match" as Team Royal Decision faced Team 1614 Fitness. Surprisingly, the "Sound Technician" still hasn't gotten the hang of playing CD's. He must have gone to the Gino Moore school of broadcasting. Special ref, Jack Murphy, announced that it would be a street fight. ES Easton was then handcuffed to some big guy at ringside. All 6 men began to brawl at ringside. As Mega was pounding on Bryan Russo (from Team 1614), Russo was actually laughing!! Hello!!! When a 400 plus pounder is beating the living crap out of you, why are you laughing!!?? What wrestling school did you go to? Please don't answer that as I'm scared of what it may be. Back in the ring, Tyler has one of Team 1614 from behind. Mega goes for a clothesline but hits Tyler by accident. Nana goes ballistic and slaps Mega. Mega grabs Nana by the throat and chokeslams him to the mat. Cheetah climbs to the top rope and hits the splash for the three count.
Postmatch: Nana grabs the mic and challenges Cheetah and "The fat hippopotamus, Mega" to a cage match next month. Nana and his faction vs Cheetah's Team 1614 and Mega. Cheetah accepts but adds that not only will it be a cage match.. it will be, for the first time ever in ECWA history.. a War Games Match!!
Eleven matches in 3 hours and 3 minutes. That's EXACTLY how it should be done. (Just think.. It would have been 10 matches in about 2:40 if Springate took the night off LOL). Striker and Walters, Kruel and Hijinx, and Mozart and Busta were definite highlights of the undercard. All 6 men put forth great effort and had great matches. The ending grudge match set up next month's War Games beautifully. Ace v Simon was, by far, the show stealer and no one expected anything less out of these two amazing wrestlers. Once again, Kettner drew a crowd, and this time with NO championships on the line. How many promotions can draw a crowd at all these days? Yet, Jim still does. Good job as usual, Jim!
Next show at St. Matthew's is Nov 8th with Daniels v Kruel, War Games with Team 1614 and Mega v Royal Decision, and the return of American Dragon. We've already reserved out tickets. (Cheap plug...Look for some 10 Questions in the near future with several of the wrestlers who worked on tonight's show.)
