Post by EWAPublicity on Sept 8, 2003 21:55:02 GMT -5
CT: Black and Mini win my heart immediately by coming out to "Eye of the Tiger." Then my dreams of ever being a wrestler go out the window, as Black injures my hand with a mere slap. I then realized that I’m just too big a wuss to cut it out there. Ah, well, it’s better in the long run. Xtreme is someone I’ve never seen before, but he had good heel charisma. It was actually textbook stuff, as he picked out a group of children and just centered his screaming at them. As someone smart once said, if you can get the kids yelling at the heels, the heat for the match goes up 100%. And the kids HATED Xtreme.
Traditonal tag stuff for the most part, as Mikazi and Xtreme control the small Mini and keep him from tagging out to the enormous Black. Basically, Black could dominate both heels, but the heels were trying to doubleteam Mini and end it before Black could get in there. Alas, in a shocking turn of events, Mini made the hot tag, and Black proceeded to whomp on Mikazi and Xtreme. Black’s comeback was the first (and, shockingly, only) time where the low ceiling was even touched. He just threw Mikazi a little high, but it was a nice visual. Finish was great—Xtreme goes for a crossbody, but Black catches him. As he turns around, Mikazi goes for a rana. ‘Twas not to be, and Black does a combo powerslam/powerbomb on the heels. That was about as conclusive a finish as you’ll ever see, and Black gets the pin on both guys to go to the finals of the tourney. Mini’s selling and the heels’ varying offense carried the middle, and the heels bumping for Black was good at the end.
MATCH 4) Adam Hastey and Eddie Edwards v. Cueball and Nick McKenna
RT: Hastey and McKenna started out, and Hastey scored a La Magistral for a 2-count. McKenna came back at him with a quick crucifix dropdown for 2. McKenna hit his trademark running knees into a swinging neckbreaker. McKenna and Hastey were pretty even with each other to start. Cueball and Edwards came in. Cueball grounded Edwards with a nice front sweep. He pressed the advantage with a hiptoss, a legtrip and a low dropkick. Cueball and McKenna broke out a double-team move with drop toehold followed by a senton.
Edwards made a comeback hitting McKenna with a powerbomb, then smacking Cueball on the apron. Referee Christopher Santone held Cueball back while Edwards choked McKenna. The workers on both sides reached an agreement that Santone looks like Jack Black. Hastey worked McKenna over in the corner, planting him with a nice jumping DDT. Hastey hit a fireman’s carry into a gourdbuster that appeared Cena-influenced. McKenna dragged himself over to make a hot tag to Cueball, and Edwards fed him superbly. Edwards sold big on a DDT, taking a full rotation over. Hastey got hiptossed to the floor, and McKenna hit the Flash Splash to move into the tournament finals. Fun match.
CT: This match was a little weird, since Cueball and McKenna do the "mismatched partners" gimmick (Cue is sorta serious, and McKenna’s goofy). Then Hastey comes out with his new partner, Edwards, and they do almost a "face being forced to team with a heel" gimmick. Add to that the fact that (I think) Cueball is a heel and McKenna is a face, sorta, but Cueball is one of the most popular guys in the promotion. So, yeah, there were 2 guys I’d consider faces and 2 that were heels, but just not on the same teams. I’d say "double turn" but…maybe that wouldn’t even work? Who knows…
My confusion aside, this wasn’t a bad match or anything. Edwards did a good job of being bossy toward Hastey (who’s really kinda lost in the shuffle right now, struggling to find an identity outside of his relationship with the retired Steve Ramsey). Cueball was funny on the apron telling McKenna to give him a rest, when McKenna had worked the whole match. By the way, Cueball’s just not the same with his new gear; his old singlet had a yellow pool ball on the chest, now it’s just a white cue ball. Yeah, I know the cue ball’s supposed to be white N all, I just liked the fact that, in his world, cueball was yellow. What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, McKenna and Cue controlled most of the match, Cueball twisting Edwards up in a nice series of hammerlocks, and Flash using his knees/neckbreaker combo (which I will now dub the Alternator Buster). Finish came after a combination Cueball backbreaker/Flash Splash (reverse frog splash). With the low ceiling, Flash came off as a real daredevil for even attempting a top rope move. Good for what it was.
Intermission
CT: The faces come out and sign autographs. Usually, there’s Polaroids being sold, but the camera (I believe) no-showed. Friggin Prima Donna. Of note: Adam Hastey comes out, but not Cueball, McKenna, or Edwards. So I guess he WAS a face.
This small stuff is really nice; the fans getting to interact with the workers. Makes the promotion seem more accessible. Heck, at the last show, the faces came out and shook everyone’s hand and thanked them for coming. C’mon! When was the last time you ever heard of THAT?
I also noticed that Jim Nastic was not working security, directly disobeying Commissioner Huntley’s edict. With Nastic slacking, and Security Dan beat up in the back, I realized it was ripe to storm the ring~! I was quickly rebuffed by the thin but tough yellow rope separating the fans from the ring area. Damn! Too bad Lowlife Louie Ramos wasn’t there, HE woulda started a riot once he saw there was limited security.
Not that there was much to riot about, but a good riot never hurt anyone…
MATCH 5) Kid Krazy and Billy Kryptonite v. Frankie Armadillo and Adam Booker (w/Miss Kristy)
RT: I promise that I will not do any silly wordplay with alliteration, despite the fact that Krazy, Kryptonite, and Kristy are involved in the same match. Armadillo and Krazy, two guys who have issues with each other, were supposed to start off, but Krazy immediately tagged Kryptonite and bailed out. After Kryptonite got the early advantage, Krazy came back in. Armadillo reversed the momentum and clocked both heels. Booker came in and smacked Krazy with some stiff forearms before clamping on a headlock. After a headscissors sequence on the mat, Booker wiped out Krazy with a big running knee.
Armadillo and Booker took turns hitting backbreakers, but when Booker ran into a back elbow, Krazy got a chance to tag out. Kryptonite hit a kneelift to go on offense, then started to pound on Booker. Krazy repaid Booker for the stiff forearms earlier in the match by smacking him with a couple of his own. Booker was clearly playing face in peril. Krazy added to his problems with a couple of resounding stiff chops. Miss Kristy managed to rescue Booker by distracting referee Christopher Santone, slapping Kryptonite, then letting Booker sneak in a spin kick. Booker added in a 2nd rope dropkick before tagging to Armadillo. Armadillo was in control, setting up his Armadillo Blaster when Krazy tripped him up from the outside. Krazy took advantage by isolating Armadillo in the corner and giving him a relentless pounding.
Kryptonite came in without a tag and the heels hit a double team back elbow. Armadillo tried to end things by launching into a classic flying bodypress for a 2-count. Booker came in off the hot tag, and the heels kept feeding him. At this point in the match, things started to deteriorate as all four men were in the ring, occasionally knocking into the ref. Santone had no other option, and called for the double DQ, setting things up for a re-match next time under Texas Death rules.
CT: Good match, as it would have appeared to be on paper. Krazy’s just such a mouthy punk who’s able to get tremendous heat from basically doing nothing. Kryptonite has a good body, plus is (surprisingly) a really solid worker. Plus, he does a lifeguard gimmick. When you factor in that he’s a heel, that makes him an Evil Lifeguard. How can you NOTlove that?? (Sidenote: anyone out there in Internet Land remember the Lifeguard Guy in WCW like late 1995 on The Pro/Worldwide? What the hell was that guy’s name? I have literally lost sleep over this? Email me if you know the answer. Your prize will be an email from me that says "Thank you.")
Booker, despite being one of the larger workers in the promotion, does a great job of being a face. He’s more of a Magnum TA-type, who wants to be nice & scientific, but gets fed up with shenanigans pretty easily. Then it’s brawling time. Frankie’s like the glue that holds the EWA together—wherever you need him, he’s there to make everything look that much better.
Match featured two (count ‘em—two) Hot Tags. One after heat on Booker, then the Big One tagging out to Booker. Miss Kristy showed her usual understanding of when to get the crowd involved (actually, strangely, she and I usally start the clapping at the exact same moments. Poor girl, being on the same wavelength as me…) Kryptonite and Krazy did a good job of faking tags, cutting off Hot Tags, etc. so that when Booker finally got in, again, the crowd wanted to see a beatin’. Booker’s comebacks are always great, and Krazy and Kryptonite bumped well for him. Finish was a little weak, as after some brawling, Ref Chris Santone rules the match a DDQ. Crowd wasn’t psyched about that, but they didn’t outright groan, either.
Postmatch, Booker gets on the mic and challenges them to a rematch, next show, Texas Death rules. Initially, Krazy gets on the stick and declines the offer, but Booker and Frankie mock Kryptonite into accepting their challenge. Sucker. I was sorta hoping that Booker & Armadillo’s challenge would lead to a Dance Contest where they faked taking drugs, but it was not to be.
At this point, the guys next to me (who weren’t familiar with the workers or the storylines), got SO excited about the Texas Death stipulation. Can’t say I blame ‘em. Should be a great brawl, so I understand that this DDQ finish was needed to get to Booking Point B.