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Stevens Avenue Armory, Portland,
ME 2/15/02
First round Tag Team Title tournament matches: The Damned beat Flash McKenna
and Chris Venom (w/Dr. Payne)
Dominik and Stefan Ramsey (w/Alexander Worthington III) beat The Power Company
Egomaniacs beat Damian Houston and Brian Black
Elements of Suicide (w/Gina Marie) beat Adam Hastey and Larry Huntley
Non-tournament matches: Chi Chi Cruz beat Johnny Curtis
EWA Heavyweight Champion Dr. Heresy pinned EWA New England Champion El Tornado
Frankie Armadillo (w/Dr. Payne) defeated Adam Booker (w/Christy Thompson) in a Ladder match to win the EWA Hardcore title.
Show Commentary by: Chris Thompkins
EWA`s return to their home base for the first time since 9/7 saw a hot 250 show up. Hopefully, this is a good sign for the future.
Opening interview: Commissioner Alexander Worthington III, Stefan Q. Ramsey, and Dominic. Basically, Wortington ran down the reason for the tag titles being vacant, announced the teams in tonight`s tournament, and ran down the rest of the card.
Match 1: EWA Tag Team Title Tournament--Chris Venom & Flash Nick McKenna w/Dr. Everett Payne (The New Hardcore Institute) vs. The Damned Damned win with a Last Ride/Frog Splash combo on McKenna. McKenna is really improving quickly.
Match 2: EWA Tag Team Title Tournament--Elements of Suicide (Onyx & Cinna) w/Gina Marie vs. Enforcer Larry Huntley & Adam Hastey. Huntley turned on Hastey and joined Hardcore Inc. EOS hit Hastey with a Van Daminator for the pin.
Match 3: Johnny Curtis vs. Chi Chi Cruz Chi Chi wins with his Shooting Star Press. Unfortunately, Curtis caught a knee to the head on the move and was KO`d. He was okay afterwards. These two didn`t gel well--they were trying a lot, but the execution wasn`t great.
They went to intermission to check on Curtis. All of the faces signed autographs for the kids. At the end, Frankie Armadillo attacked Adam Booker with a chair, ladder, and cane, injuring Booker`s ribs. I liked that they ran an angle during Intermission.
Match 4: EWA Tag team title tournament--Egomaniacs (Mike Steele & Johnny Idol) vs. Brian Black & Damian Houston I think this was the Egomaniacs debut in EWA. Egomaniacs win when Alexander Wortington and Dominic distract Houston & Black. Afterwards, Ramsey & Wortington try to shave Houston`s head, but he winds up shaving a stripe down the middle of Dominic`s head. This was pretty funny.
Match 5: EWA Tag Team Title Tournament--Power Company (Dean & Dave Powers) vs. Stefan Ramsey & Dominic. A little confusing, as Power Co. comes out and insults the crowd. Then the lead heel group comes out. Powers basically beat on Dominic the whole time. Ending came when Dean accidentally hit Dave with Worthington`s briefcase. Dominic crawled over for the pin.
Match 6: EWA Title--Dr. Heresy vs. El Tornado. Good match. Both guys took good bumps (including on the floor) and traded big moves. Ending came when Tornado was on top, and Heresy shoved the ref into the ropes, crotching Tornado. One Couch Trip later, Heresy retains.
Match 7: Ladder Match for the EWA Hardcore title: Champion Adam Booker vs. Frankie Armadillo w/ Dr. Everett Payne. This match was excellent. They did a lot of good brawling as well as good wrestling. Armadillo even used a Shooter Clutch (Full Nelson/Camel Clutch) on Booker. Booker was climbing the ladder after a Bookdaddy Facebuster, but Heresy ran in and dumped him off the ladder and through a table. Huge bump that came at the right moment in the match. Armadillo climbed up and claimed the title as his again.
Post-match, Booker cut a great, intense promo challenging Heresy and Armadillo to a handicap match in March.
Really good show. The crowd was into everything, the guys worked hard, and the booking set up the next show--Booker vs. Heresy and Armadillo, Hastey vs. Huntley, Houston vs. Ramsey, and the tag team tournament--without this seeming like a ``setup`` show for the next one.
Eastern Wrestling Alliance
Stevens Avenue Armory
Portland, ME
2/15/02
Attendance: 225
EWA Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Matches: The Damned beat Flash
McKenna and Chris Venom (w/Dr. Payne). Egomaniacs beat Damian Houston and
Brian Black. Elements of Suicide (w/Ice) beat Larry Huntley and Adam Hastey.
Stefan Ramsey and Dominik (w/Alexander Worthington III) defeated the Power
Company. Non-tournament matches: Chi Chi Cruz pinned Johnny Curtis. EWA
Heavyweight Champion Dr. Heresy pinned EWA New England Champion El Tornado.
Frankie Armadillo (w/Dr. Payne) beat Adam Booker (w/Christie Thompson) in
a
ladder match to win the EWA Hardcore Championship.
EWA in Portland, Maine
Stevens Ave Armory
February 15, 2002
Report by: Roel Torres
Best match: Adam Booker v. Frankie Armadillo in a
ladder match for the EWA Hardcore Title. A spotfest
that thrilled the crowd. Great match.
(Honorable Mention: El Tornado v. Dr. Heresy for the
EWA Heavyweight Championship. Big bumps from two
workers with excellent chemistry.)
Worst Match: Power Company (Dean and Dave Powers) v.
Stefan Q. Ramsey & Dominic. Really poor psychology as
the Power Company did an awful job working as faces.
Attendance: 225 attending, 160 paid
Overall: Big thumbs up for the show.
Promo to start. Heel commissioner Alexander
Worthington III came out to announce the start of a
tournament for the tag belts. Stefan Q. Ramsey was by
his side for moral support. Dominic was nowhere to be
seen, and Worthington told the crowd he was fetching
some coffee. The crowd chanted "What?" repeatedly
during the entire promo.
1) Hardcore Institute (Chris Venom & Flash Nick
McKenna) w/Dr. Everett Payne v. The Damned (Mad Dog
Matt Storm & Draven)
Heels ambush the faces to start. Draven takes the
opening heat segment. Standard tag match psychology,
building to Mad Dog's hot tag. The Damned break out a
series of trademark double-team moves. Venom gets
caught in a vicious double neckbreaker over the knees.
McKenna bumps on a Scorpion Deathdrop/Sit-out
Powerbomb combo. Finish comes when Mad Dog hits the
Last Ride on McKenna and Draven adds the frogsplash
for the cover. Nice opener and a good way to start
the tag tournament. Venom and McKenna look like a
solid combo, with McKenna showing a lot of promise.
The Damned are always consistently good. **3/4.
2) "The Dirty Bird Enforcer" Larry Huntley & "Extreme"
Adam Hastey v. Elements of Suicide (Onyx & Cinna)
w/Gina Marie
Onyx does a nice job of projecting character as soon
as he walks through the curtains. Hastey is over with
the crowds. Opening exchanges with Hastey and Cinna
look sloppy. Onyx grounds the match when he tags in
to work with Huntley. Really ugly spot when Cinna is
repeatedly unable to bump over the top rope on a
Hastey leg lariat. Cinna and Hastey seem to have
difficulty working together this night. Things settle
down when Hastey starts playing the face in peril, the
role he is best suited for. Huntley turns his back
and refuses a hot tag to make a heel turn, and the
Elements of Suicide capitalize with a Van Daminator
for the victory. Match was awkward in some spots, but
fine in general. **.
After the match, the ref takes a big bump to the
floor, and the Hardcore Institute comes out to
beatdown Hastey, including a positively brutal
unprotected stop sign to Hastey's skull.
3) Chi Chi (Devonnair) Cruz v. Johnny Curtis
Cruz starts off with an Oklahoma roll, followed by a
no hands tope. Curtis works in the heel style, while Cruz
plays the face. High degree of difficulty as Curtis
attempts a no-look hurracanrana that they almost pull
off. Sunset flip powerbomb from the turnbuckles looks
stiff. A couple of the bumps get sloppy, and invite
the risk of injury. Cruz finishes Curtis off with a
Shooting Star Press. Curtis is hurt legit when he
catches a knee to the head during the finish. Both
workers are energetic and entertaining, but a handful
of spots resulted in bumps that made you fear for the
health of both guys. **.
3.5) Intermission
The faces of the EWA have a great rapport with the
crowd. Lots of enthusiastic kids getting polaroids
taken with the workers, who seem to be genuinely
enjoying themselves. The intermission ends when
Frankie Armadillo sneaks into the ring and works over
the ribs of Adam Booker.
4) Egomaniacs (Mike Steele & Johnny Idol) v. Brian
Black & "Dancing Demon" Damian Houston
Tough first round matchup between very even teams who
both have the ability to go deep in the tournament.
Momentum goes back and forth at the start of the
match. Steele hits a big hanging suplex on Houston.
Steele also connects with a sweet dropkick. A double
flipping clothesline serves as a nice transition. The
Egomaniacs pull off a double team blockbuster on
Black. Commissioner Worthington interferes at the end
and the Egomaniacs go over. Decent match from both
teams, and they could do bigger and better things if
they continue to work together. **3/4
5) Power Company (Dean & Dave Powers) v, Stefan Q.
Ramsey & Dominic
This match suffers from a poor grasp of basic
wrestling psychology. Ramsey and Dominic are
established heels in the fed, so it's obvious that the
Powers twins need to act as faces. They refuse to do
so, and leave the crowd with no rooting options in the
match. Poor understanding of crowd dynamics on the
part of the Power Company. Match is surprisingly
competent, with Dominic on the receiving end of a
convincing beating, including a lot of stiff looking
stomps and kicks. Dominic takes most of the heat, and
sells well. The ending is a disaster, as one of the
Powers twins hits everyone in the ring, but Dominic
disregards the botched ending and takes the pinfall to
bring this to a merciful close. It's a shame that the
best worker in the match, Ramsey, got the least amount
of ringtime. *1/2.
6) Dr. Heresy v. El Tornado for the EWA Heavyweight
Championship
Quick exchanges to start off the match. Heresy takes
a bump to the floor. Tornado follows up by cracking a
piece of ringside signboard over Heresy's head.
Tornado misses an Asai moonsault to the outside, but
lands on his feet. A series of missed strikes and
reversals ends dramatically with Tornado taking a
crazy backdrop bump to the concrete. Heresy carries
most of the offense with a variety of high impact
moves as Tornado keeps on bumping. Tornado hits a
nice series of moonsaults for a near fall. The ref
takes a huge bump as Heresy pulls him in front of a
missile dropkick. Tornado loses his balance on the
turnbuckles and Heresy hits the Couch Trip to retain
the title. Hot match with a lot of great spots that
featured excellent action from start to finish.
***1/2.
7) "Mr. Muscles" Frankie Armadillo w/Dr. Everett Payne
v. "The Trendsetter" Adam Booker w/Miss Christie in a
ladder match for the EWA Hardcore championship.
The belt is suspended above the ring and the first
wrestler to climb up and retrieve the strap wins.
Booker sells the damage to his ribs from earlier in
the night. Match starts with Armadillo sprinting to
the outside to fetch the ladder. Booker hits a stiff
apron legdrop. Armadillo exposes Booker's ribs and
continues to work on them. Amazing sequence of ladder
spots as Armadillo is hiptossed into the ladder, then
thrown facefirst into the ladder, and finally
stretched over the ladder and dropped to the floor.
Everything looked painful. Armadillo reverses the
momentum by throwing Booker into the ringpost a couple
of times. Booker smacks Armadillo in the head with
some signboard. The crowd erupts in a very vocal
"Frankie sucks" chant. Everett Payne takes a
frogsplash through a table. Armadillo knocks Booker
off the ladder and follows with a reverse avalanche
splash with the ladder into the corner. Booker works
his way back with a ladder assisted flapjack and a
split-legged bookersault. Armadillo slaps on a camel
clutch with full nelson that looks painful. Miss
Christie hits a sweet hurracanrana on Armadillo, and
Booker follows with a gore. Sequence starts building
to the hot finish. Both men fall off the ladder and
straddle the top rope. Booker hits the Bookdaddy
Flapjack. Payne throws powder into Booker's eyes.
Booker hits the gore on Payne. Booker climbs the
ladder to try and unhook the title. Out of nowhere,
Heresy sprints out from the back and sends Booker
flying from the top of the ladder through a table to
the outside, in a monstrous bump. Armadillo takes
advantage of the interference and claims the title.
Epic match with memorable work from everyone involved.
Easily the match of the night. ****1/4.
At the end of the card, Booker sets up a handicap
match against Heresy and Armadillo on the return card
in Portland.
Great show with excellent crowd heat and fantastic
work from a roster loaded with talent from top to
bottom. From the opener all the way to the
electrifying main event, this card delivered in
spades.
2/15/02
Stevens Avenue Armory
Portland, ME
Report by: Chris Tomkinson
EWA`s return to their home base for the first time since 9/7 saw a hot
250 show up. Hopefully, this is a good sign for the future.
Opening interview: Commissioner Alexander Worthington III, Stefan Q.
Ramsey, and Dominic. Basically, Wortington ran down the reason for the
tag titles being vacant, announced the teams in tonight`s tournament, and
ran down the rest of the card.
I was kinda dreading this, since I've seen one too many 20 minute
promos that went nowhere. But Worthington simply announced the
changes in
the card (mostly CW Anderson not being there), let the crowd chant "What?",
and made fun of a white guy with a huge afro. It also gave the fans
a
chance to see that Ramsey would be working in his pinstripes. And this
was
the only real promo of the night.
Match 1: EWA Tag Team Title Tournament--Chris Venom & Flash Nick
McKenna w/Dr. Everett Payne (The New Hardcore Institute) vs. The Damned
Damned win with a Last Ride/Frog Splash combo on McKenna.
McKenna's improving fast, and Venom's already pretty good. McKenna,
I
guess, is now a member of HCI replacing Kildevil who was injured in a
work-related accident. I hope that Kildevil improves as much in real
life as McKenna has in the ring. Damned have good size (especially Mad
Dog) and a good look. They did a cool double backbreaker on Venom that
looked PAINFUL. Venom would replace "looked" with "was."
Match 2: EWA Tag Team Title Tournament--Elements of Suicide (Onyx &
Cinna) w/Gina Marie vs. Enforcer Larry Huntley & Adam Hastey.
Huntley turned on Hastey and joined Hardcore Inc. EOS hit Hastey with a
Van Daminator for the pin.
This was good when Onyx and Hastey were in. Cinna and Hastey had some
problems working together. It seemed like Cinna missed a spot, and
never really recovered from it. Huntley was basically on the apron the
entire match, which is an effective use of his talents. I like him in
his Jim Duggan-type role, and am curious how he does as a heel. Huntley
hit
Hastey pretty hard with a sign, but he was okay afterwards.
Match 3: Johnny Curtis vs. Chi Chi Cruz
Chi Chi wins with his Shooting Star Press. Unfortunately, Curtis caught
a knee to the head on the move and was KO`d. He was okay afterwards.
These two didn`t gel well--they were trying a lot, but the execution
wasn`t great.
Curtis is a great young star, and I'm a huge Cruz fan from NECW, so I
was disappointed that he and Curtis didn't click. They were trying to
call the match on the fly, and it led to some miscommunication. If not
for Curtis' injury, they would have had a rematch at New England
College. I'd bet their next match will be tons better. Curtis
did hit a
nice blind huracanrana that didn't look like it would work, but they
pulled it off. Finish was a little messy, as Cruz didn't get up on a
Flair
Flip, and Curtis wound up out of position as a result. Both guys were
really disappointed with the match, but were confident that they could
correct the problems. I was slightly disappointed in the match,
but
psyched that both guys wore kickpads.
Intermission
They went to intermission to check on Curtis. All of the faces signed
autographs for the kids. At the end, Frankie Armadillo attacked Adam
Booker with a chair, ladder, and cane, injuring Booker`s ribs. I liked
that they ran an angle during Intermission.
When Armadillo hit Booker with the cane, it broke and flew out over the
crowd and nailed one of the workers in the back. Pretty funny.
On the
sad side, they did not play the "Armadillo" song after the attack.
Boooo!! El Tornado had not quite disappeared behind the curtain, so
he
had to stand and look threatening when the attack went down.
Match 4: EWA Tag team title tournament--Egomaniacs (Mike Steele &
Johnny Idol) vs. Brian Black & Damian Houston
I think this was the Egomaniacs debut in EWA. Egomaniacs win when
Alexander Wortington and Dominic distract Houston & Black. Afterwards,
Ramsey & Wortington try to shave Houston`s head, but he winds up shaving
a
stripe down the middle of Dominic`s head. This was pretty funny.
Egomaniacs are one of the more solid teams in the area. I'm glad to
see them in EWA. Black has legit size, and is improving rapidly.
Houston has tons of charisma, and is always able to get a good reaction from
the crowd. Plus, he wears kickpads under his Tajiri pants, so he's secretly
cool. The Worthington/Ramsey interference furthered the
Ramsey/Houston hair angle. Houston really did a number on Dominic's
head.
Match 5: EWA Tag Team Title Tournament--Power Company (Dean & Dave
Powers) vs. Stefan Ramsey & Dominic.
A little confusing, as Power Co. comes out and insults the crowd. Then
the lead heel group comes out. Powers basically beat on Dominic the
whole time. Ending came when Dean accidentally hit Dave with Worthington`s
briefcase. Dominic crawled over for the pin.
I spent the whole match trying to figure out who were the faces. The
only rational explanations were that Dominic was a face, so the Power
Twins were heels against him, and faces against Ramsey. OR the Powers
were supposed to be faces, and forgot. (Here's Uncle Tarn's tag match
psychology lesson of the week: Faces are friendly with the crowd. Heels
spit at, flip off, and swear at the crowd. Faces get the hot tag.
Heels
beat down the face.) In between swearing and spitting at the crowd,
the
Powers beat down Dominic for most of the match. You really gotta give
Ramsey tons of credit--he's one of the better workers (if not the best) in
the promotion, and puts himself in this match to keep it from being a total
mess. He's like Hiroshi Hase--the promotion is more important than him
main
eventing.
The ending was botched a bit, too. One of the Powers was supposed to
"accidentally" hit his brother with the briefcase, and Dominic would
take the pin. But he also hit Dominic with the briefcase for some strange
reason. Dom had to no-sell the shot in order to be in position for the
win.
Whoops! Those whacky Power Twins.
Match 6: EWA Title--Dr. Heresy vs. El Tornado.
Good match. Both guys took good bumps (including on the floor) and
traded big moves. Ending came when Tornado was on top, and Heresy shoved the
ref into the ropes, crotching Tornado. One Couch Trip later, Heresy retains.
Tornado is lightning fast, takes good bumps, and is an amazing
high-flyer. Heresy stands out because he works well in a more ground-based
style. No wild brawling, no flying, just solid psychology building to
his
big moves. It's refreshing to see someone able to get over with solid
work
and crowd interaction. Heresy took a loud bump onto the floor, then
moved
the Pretty Blue Mat so he could take a more protected one. Tornado took the
proverbial "hiiiigh" backdrop on the floor in another "ouchy" moment.
Ref
Santone took a great bump off of a Tornado dropkick. For someone who hasn't
been around very long, Tornado has tons of poise. This was not all Heresy.
Match 7: Ladder Match for the EWA Hardcore title: Champion Adam Booker
vs. Frankie Armadillo w/ Dr. Everett Payne.
This match was excellent. They did a lot of good brawling as well as
good wrestling. Armadillo even used a Shooter Clutch (Full Nelson/Camel
Clutch) on Booker. Booker was climbing the ladder after a Bookdaddy
Facebuster, but Heresy ran in and dumped him off the ladder and through a
table. Huge bump that came at the right moment in the match. Armadillo
climbed up and claimed the title as his again.
After much teasing, they played the Armadillo song. Yeah! These
guys
tend to have their best matches against each other. Booker's got a
nice set of credible offensive moves, and Armadillo's selling is world
class. Not that Booker's selling or Frankie's offense is anything to
sneeze at. Armadillo took a bunch of tough bumps on the ladder, and
worked
over Booker's injured ribs. Nobody plays undersized, sneaky heel like
Frankie. Christy Thompson did well at ringside, controlling heat while not
distracting from the match. She even hit a nice huracanrana near the
end.
Booker's bump through the table was scary, but he wound up being okay.
I
genuinely feared for Heresy and Frankie's lives after Booker's promo.
The
upside of Frankie winning: another airing of the "Armadillo" song.