YOUR GUIDE TO THE AUTHORS
MH: Marcel Hillie. Double Malibu Chicken with Fries and Salad Bar.  Dr. Cerebro mask
PP: Pogo Pete Stein.  Malibu Chicken and Sirloin combo with rice and salad bar.  Espectro Jr. mask
DR: Dean Rasmussen: 12 OZ New York Strip with the baked potato and the fabulous Salad Bar.
PS :  Phil Schneider : His own steak, Pete’s Texas Toast. Blue Panther mask
PR: Phil Rippa: See Dean’s meal
RD:  Rev Ray Duffy :  See Rippa's meal, Pegasus Kid mask.
TKG: Tom Karro-Gassner; One Warrior Nation T shirt with matching Black Warrior mask-“Always Believe!”
 

BACKSTORY
MH: Once again, my weekend starts a bit early, as I hit Union Station Friday night to pick up Bill Barnwell, who managed to con some money out of his parents for a train from Boston.  As this happens, I get my now-customary promo from Pete and Seijin Akki for not coming to the JAPW show.  Whatever guys - tell Frank to run on Saturdays.  I pick up Bill and we hit the karaoke bar where Schneider DJs to let Barnwell in.  It’s a harrowing sight watching all those drunk twenty-somethings try to dance whilst belting out 70’s dance songs.

PP:  Ray’s and my weekend of wrestling started off with… wrestling.  JAP report coming soon to an MB near you.  Frank has indeed scheduled their NY debut on Staten Island for a Saturday night… that weekend is already shaping up to be a lulu between JAP, the World Cup games and the Puerto Rican Day parade all within the same 18-hour time period.

PS: I get home after Djaying and Bill and I watch a tad bit of wrestling, Saturday morning I wake up too early and go register for the Golden Gloves, get home, get swept up by Rippa and head off to the Super 8. Lee Benaka was in toe and I think he was a bit taken aback by the 11:30pm Redd Foxx set level of discourse which is common in wrestling road trips with me and Tom.

PR: I was stoked that Lee would be joining us for this trip. He was able to attend as payback for his wife going to Bermuda. Personally, I think Lee got worked. Anyway, I head over to AU meet Mrs. Benaka and Lee’s adorable kids and we are off. After getting Tom and Phil, we hit a CVS because Tom is hung over and seeking Tomato Juice.

TKG: I don’t discover that I’m hungover until I get into the elevator at Schneider’s. Once in the rickety elevator all bets are off.  I have to hold myself up and stop on a different floor in case I had to throw up. Wouldn’t be right to throw up on Phil’s hall. There had been a recent City Paper article on how shitty CVS is and how it’s such a second rate Peoples. The CVS has no V8 and no Gatorade so I go with Red Bull and a King Cone instead. Red Bull without vodka is nasty. Also psyched to have Lee with us for trip and wondered how he’d be able to split before the show.

PR: What Tom forgot to mention was that his King Cone was.... well..... umm.... violated.

DR: I am awakened by the adorable sound of my daughters telling us stories.  My youngest has the cadence of telling a story down but not actual words so her stories are just SUPER adorable.  My oldest tells stories about witches that smack the wind.  Kids rule.

RD:  I get up early on Saturday to make sure I can drag my ass into the early enough to find out where I can catch the bus tour we're taking down to the Super 8.  Getting up early is not one of my favorite things to do on a Saturday, my normal wake up time is about 1pm.  But I do it for the love of wrestling and the love of you fans.

MH: Saturday morning, and Bill and I hit the Sports Bar to watch some footy.  We take in Fulham vs. Liverpool and most of Bolton vs. Blackburn, then we make tracks.  We pick up my man Geoff in Baltimore, and we make good time getting to the Parish.  We see Justin, Travis, and Sean as we arrive.  The rest of the DC contingent arrives soon after, as does the Richmond crew.  The NYC Bus gets there not too long afterwards and we all make jokes about the workers at the Meet & Greet being harassed and having to not make eye contact with any of the bus riders.

DR: I try to finagle my computer onto the internet by heading over to the office to get some old Windows NT discs to load a partition of NT and to use the internet of Windows to get on the internet in Linux!  It was genius!  I would use The Man to fuck The Man!  I have an HP Pavilion and it has also decided that it can no longer tolerate the Microsoft monopoly and refuses to load it in any form.  I despair but love the integrity of my shitty computer.  I try to play my music- they say my music’s too loud.  I try to get somes answers- I got the big run around.  I try to roll with the punches- I got knocked to the ground- by all this bullshit going down.  I come home and [Mul]DOOMSTONE calls and I tell him that THUNDERBIRDS! ARE! GO!  Satan Pro had called while I was at the office and freaked out and was five minutes tardy.  We castigated him and hit the fucking streets.  Me and [M]DS sat in the front seat and listened to lots of British garage rock.  SP sat in the back, read some manga and then did his signature ear-piercing snoring.  We pay $567 in tolls to bask in the glory of interstate Maryland and Industrial Delaware.  [M]DS plays this funny cd of this Houston stand-up comedian who was deeply in the Bill Hicks mode.  All three of us are thoroughly pissed that noone at the Super 8 tapped a vein so we could steal one of his jokes- “bleeding like the fourth week of Lilith Fair.”

PP:  The bus trip was quite a pleasant surprise… apparently there were problems with a few yokels on the ROH trip, but that problem was rectified for this trip and it was smooth sailing all the way down.  Steven DeAngelis was also on the bus, and we later find out that he’s read our stuff and dug it.  MKJ’s bus trips are highly recommended, and I would be going to the next ROH show in a nanosecond if it weren’t for their promoter.  Low-Ki comes on to BS a bit with the passengers, but we make a break for it the second one of the rubes in the back yells out Ki’s real name at him.  “Lookit me, ah read thuh Internet!  DUH-HAW!”

RD:  I enjoyed the bus trip which was cool.  I ended up being the first one on as the bus, even before the organizers show up.  I thought about stealing the bus and hijacking a bunch of loose women from the Queens Mall and taking them down to Delaware to watch wrestling and then make sweeeet love to them on the trip back, but I come to my senses.  We ended up watching a bunch of ECWA matches on the way down, including the 4 Way from the Summer, Ki vs. Daniels and Daniels vs. Reckless from the Bob show.  Also on the bus were the two guys behind the Japanese Hardcore Wrestling PPV were on and asking questions trying to get a better idea how to market.  Apparently they were also kicking around the possiblity of running some house shows down the line, which would rule if they get the right guys to come over.  We blow by Low Ki as we have tapes to trade and bad meat to put in our stomachs, so we pass up the meet and great and Q&A with Low Ki.

MH:  Pete once again proves how mature he is by wearing a “I hate DC” t-shirt.  We’ll see how he likes it when I strand his ass in Southeast DC the next time he comes down.  Now give me those tapes.  Barnwell and I bust on Pete for supporting two English Soccer teams.  See, he needs a team to fall back on the weeks that his main team (Arsenal) loses.  It may have taken me a while to pick an English team, but when I did, I picked one team and that was it.  Every sports fan needs to go read that Sports Guy column about this subject.

PP:  This coming from someone who couldn’t tell a throw-in from a free-throw six months ago.  Cel can’t even diss me properly as Manchester City will always be my main team… the Arsenal interest is more because I like having a team in the Premiership I can casually flirt with while my true love City are out of town.  Amidst the tape-trading flurry I somehow manage to get Dean the pack of Tetley’s Ale that’s been sitting in my fridge since last December… it was supposed to have been an early Christmas present but that got scuttled when he had to miss the December ECWA show.

DR: See my BOOZE REVIEW #16.  I await the Canadian roadtrip with ultra baited breath.

MH: We watch some of the workers show up and compare the cars they arrive in.  I didn’t even try in this year’s mask pageant, as I’ve already proven I can win when I put my mind to it.

PP:  See, that’s just wrong.  In my book, there’s no point showing up if you don’t make the effort to bring a new mask to the Super 8 table… and yes, that goes for Dean too.

DR: I was hoping to borrow Hangman Tim’s superswank Japanese Ultimo Guerrerro mask but EVERYBODY lost like a little bitch to the ASTOUNDING Sean Formato Puerto Rico Violencia mask.  It was sooo number one and the best.  Pete’s Espectro mask was almost as disturbing as the Satan Pro mask.

PS: I stick with the classic Blue Panther, although I brought the Hashimoto headband along for casual taunting.

PR: Schneider had actual called me to ask if it would be allright he went shirtless and wore the headband. I immediately institute a No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service rule for the car trip. And I can’t believe that NO ONE mentioned that Mozart Fontaine so lives his gimmick by driving the Monte Carlo. And Mr. Oh-La-La almost ran us over as we huddled around waiting for Pete and Ray to sneak off the bus.

DR: We discuss Schneider’s ability to mount a young lady with said headband.  Good-natured ribbing abounded.

TKG: “Hey maybe it’ll get stiffer if you let me put on my Hash headband”… I have flashbacks to the Mount Holyoke student who insisted on wearing a doo rag when on her knees. I think it was supposed to remind me that I was submitting her to the evils of patriarchy or something. I don’t think I ever registered any of that, it did always make me hungry for pancakes.

RD:  I ride with Dean, Satan Pro and company.  It's my job to say "Dean, wrong turn!" as we get lost coming and going to the Sizzler.

MH: We collect all the Carless Wonders and head over to the Sizzler.  I feel experimental and decide to try the Double Malibu Chicken, which is basically Chicken Cordon Bleu.  No problem here - should have gotten a steak, but variety is the spice of life. Rippa and Schneider continue their argument over just who Shane Helms couldn’t understand in the Applebee’s after the OMEGA restart show - dammit, Helms said it to Rippa about Schneider.  Now find something else to talk about when we do these roadtrips.  Schneider screams across the restaurant to Pete for his toast - Pete does the smart thing and just hands it over.  Did I hear Tom ask other families eating at the Sizzler if they were going to finish their French Fries?

PP:  The Malibu chicken is so not the hibachi chicken.  Travis sheds a tear in memory of the bacon-wrapped sirloin, as Sizzler apparently took it off the menu.  I can now go to my grave having broken bread with SatanPro, although a return trip may be out of the question after he picks the precise moment our waitress comes by with our food to start talking about how South Carolina should run an ad campaign promoting the legalization of bestiality.

DR: Young Travis was distraught.  I reminded him that there were ample bacon bits at the salad bar, but he was inconsolable.  I have broken bread with Satan Pro numerous times and he was about at his normal level of Satanism.  My rare New York strip was delightful.  Bryan from Richmond told more fabulous stories about the ladies he is putting the blast on this week.  I wouldn’t be surprised if shared his manly love with our middle-aged waitress in the walk-in, right next to the Romaine and everything.

PR: Ryan (aka MDS] takes the fucking cake as he gets the Fisherman platter. My cholesterol went up 100 points just sitting next to that think. Tom also shows us that he is wearing a One Warrior Nation shirt.

PS: I win the class award as in line Tom and I are trying to convince the boyishly handsome Travis Fives to hit on Fienstein. I loudly make a fisting reference which apparently makes the entire population of the salad bar look up aghast.

PR: When I have to say “Jesus, guys can we talk any louder?’ you know you are speaking loudly. Schneider redeems himself later though as he tries to act classy in front of the kids so he drops the word Hootananny in lieu of pussy. HOOT-AFUCKING-NANNY~! We lost our shit.

RD:  Yeah, nothing says class like sitting in the middle of a family resturant as stories degenerate to certain people's antics at bachelor parties.  Schnieder dropping the Hootnanny is straight out of the 80's TV censoring that was so awesomely spoofed in the Mr. Show sketch "Pallies".

TKG: Mickey Fickin Cheese and Rice! She stuck her tongue in the other girl’s hootenanny. The Warrior Nation shirt is rather tight and at one point I try to reenact the Little Dixie self toucher gimmick by touching the undercarriage of my man boobs. They don’t stop shaking until midway thought the first round.

MH:  On the way back, Stein once again shows that he is in fact damn near 30 but still acts like he’s 12 by scrawling MetroScum shit on my windows.  Yep.  A credit to the team he supports, whichever one he picks this week.

PP:  Bill started it. Cel talking about soccer team loyalty is kind of like Paula Poundstone talking about child rearing… this is a particularly apt comparison in light of how quickly he went down on Juventus.  There’s a reason he chose that team, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t for the slimming effect of Juve’s black and white stripes.

PS: I can honestly give a shit about soccer.

DR: We leave the Sizzler and our waitress from last year remembers us and said that one of us was hitting on her.  Everyone assumes that only Tom K would have the balls to do that but he denied it.  The subject switched to my cock-blocking of Tom at the Richmond ECW show during the pre-match drunkeness at the Hole In The Wall.  I tell Tom that I couldn’t bear thinking of his mounting face.  I told him that I could live vicariously throught the sexploits of Schneider but to live vicariously through Tom would mean a whole lot of sexual idiosyncracies that I just wasn’t ready live vicariously through.

TKG:  It was the girl who took our order who remembered us. “Didn’t one of you try to talk me into leaving my boyfriend last year?” She had aged a lot in the year - not a girl, not yet a woman. And what do you mean idiosyncracies? Bah! It would make you think of Mrs. Butterworth too. MMM Silver dollar pancakes.

PR: The Hole In The Wall fiasco was great because everyone was cock-blocking everyone else. Fuck - why haven’t we gone back there?

THE SHOW
MH: We get our usual corner of the Parish and grab seats - I’m up front with Bill and Geoff. We should have moved around a bit, as the floodlights were basically shining in our eyes, also making it really hot around us.  The last thing this bunch needs to get hot and start sweating around each other for three hours.  I cave in and join the Serious Fantasy Baseball League.  If it gives me any potential to have something to lord over Rippa and Barnwell, I’m all for it.  In the Pre-Tourney Ceremony, Low-Ki turns over the trophy while styling hard in a nice suit.  We immediately all tell him what a great suit it is.

PR: YoYoJeff basically assualts us on the way in. Schneider chats in up with Green Lantern Fan and Justin Slotman makes it, so we all freak out and party.

PP:  I’m up front at the far end directly in front of SatanPro, who would spend the majority of the night telling us to sit down because he couldn’t be bothered to stand up.  Ki looks like he was wearing his bar mitzvah suit… not that it wasn’t a very nice suit.  I’m betting his father took him to Barney’s on 5th Avenue for it like my dad did.  Xavier gets his participatory medallion and a handshake from Ki and I can’t help but picture these two snapping and beating the crap out of each other after the feud they had last year.  Of note is that ECWA appears to have a new ring… cream-colored mat with red ropes and apron.  Very, very loose red ropes.  The color scheme made me thirsty for a Red Stripe.

PS: Low-Ki was styling. AJ Styles kind of creeps me out during the National Anthem as he appears to be crying and praying. Fundamentalist Christians give me the willies.

DR: The trophy was absolutely fabulous.  If Donovan Morgan were a MAN he would carry it to the ring in Japan.  [M]DS has to get something out of the car so I go with.  I tap Tom on the head and we head back to my car in the rain.  [M]DS has some fabulous Altoids and we freshen our breath and call cut boys on Tom’s cellphone while listening to Christine Aguilera on my car radio.  I think that’s how it went.

TKS: Ki’s suit ruled. The car was parked in a church parking lot. It was like highschool or something. Also before the show began some sign company had a commercial air on the ECWA-TRON. Yes a TV commercial spot ran at the Super 8! Not as cool as 2001 Don Kernodle renting out his ample shirt space to local companies during matches but I dug the goofy commercialism.

RD:  I'm sitting in the back row next to the bleechers and next too Rippa.  I talk to him a little bit about the Fantasy NASCAR league that he started.  I'm a true Northern Redneck what with my love of wrestling, NASCAR and truckpulls.  We should consider getting a new corner some times because the seats we always get are like having a semi's high beams in your eyes the whole show.  Monsta Mack walks by us and asks us why we aren't wearing our masks this year, but it is way too hot in the building to be doing that.

QUARTERFINALS
RED vs. BOBBY RUDE
MH:  Wanna guess what the first thing this crew noticed about Rude was?  Not his polish, not even his hairstyle, but his suede tights.  Yep, that’s original.  The match?  Rude was a fine rudo, pushing around Red as he had to.  Now of course, it ain’t exactly hard to push around Red.  He had the basic rudo offense going, fine execution.  I do recall thinking that his strikes could use some work.  But no major beef.  Red with the InfraRed followed by the Red Star Press.  Justin Slotman shows up, looking all clean-cut and dapper.  We’re all glad he could make it.

PP:  THOSE TIGHTS RULED!  Rude heeled it up here big-time and got great heat… then again, it’s hard not to get heat when you’re manhandling someone maybe ½ your size.  Either the Infrared now ends up as a legdrop or Red really botched his finisher.  It was picture-perfect if it’s the former.

PS: This was a fine big guy vs. little guy match. I remember liking Rude although specifics allude me.

DR: Rude was good I thought.  Knew how to drag the crowd into by being a fine heel and he wore those fucking balls out suede trunks.

PR: Rude did this great gimmick thing where every time he would get a two count, he would through his arms open and yell “HHHHHHEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!” at the ref. The crowd quickly got into that. Like Schneider, I liked Rude but can’t remember much else other than the tights and the fact that Rude looks EXACTLY like Robbie Rage.

RD:  Well, a not totally juiced out of his mind Robbie Rage.  The Suede tights were pretty great.  This was sort of there.  I think there was some blown stuff as I think Rude was supposed to catch Red when he did one dive, but he caught him and fell, then had to get up and run him into the post.  This was not Red's best match. Unfortunately, he's really ASARI'ing the skytwister, which isn't a good thing.

TKG: Bobby Rude has worked WWC while Red worked IWA PR. I mark out for the Puerto Rican inter-promotional match up. Kettner must have been on the phone with Quinones and Jose Gonzalez for weeks working this match out and deciding who would go over. And while I like Red a ton, I can’t root for the IWA worker in a Puerto Rican inter-promotional match. Rude does a nice job working heel, which makes the crowd pop bigger for all of Reds offense. Rude has a fine clothesline and fine old school throws. Nice simple face/heel structured match, I got the impression that Rude has worked the same match against Eddie Colon a bunch of times.

DONOVAN MORGAN vs. PEPPER PARKS
MH: I heard about Parks’ gimmick and was hoping that it wouldn’t detract from the match.  Thankfully it didn’t - it was a basic one-sided, you-know-who’s-going-over match, but it worked in that sub-genre.  Parks had some hope spots, a dive or two, but this wasn’t in doubt.  One spot that does rub me the wrong way was Morgan’s ground octopus (think of that Russian Legsweep-into-submission that El Samurai and Octagon do).  Well, they were both just kinda lying there.  Parks was all twisted up, but wasn’t fighting to get out of the hold that he probably should have been and Morgan was doing no work while applying the move.  Maybe a bit of a quibble, but I don’t like that stuff.  Morgan with a Sitout Tiger Driver 91.  We immediately being predicting how things would turn out if Red and Morgan met in the semis.

PP:  Parks finishes a strong second to Rude in the evening gown competition, as he’s sporting tights with “SPIRIT” and “CHEER” down each leg… and a MEGAPHONE on the back.  It’s a good thing he had that outfit, because other than that he didn’t show much here except for a willingness to die as he takes Morgan’s finisher right on his head.

PS: Morgan has a lot of really nasty offense, and he ran through a bunch of it in this match with Parks kicking out of way too much stuff. I think you could have used some rope breaks or have Morgan pull him up rather then just have Parks be the worlds toughest cheerleader. I was kind of hoping to see AJ Styles v. Parks in a battle of worked Male cheerleader v. legit male cheerleader. I bet Styles would have stiffed him for making a joke of his art.

DR: Parks was better than I thought he would be from what I had heard.  He almost hung with Morgan on the mat, took a GIGANTIC ass-beating and didn’t fuck anything up.  HERE! HERE! Young Pepper!

PR: That was the best I had seen Pepper look and I think some of it had to do with the fact that he didn’t have to gimmick it up. Perfectly acceptable match that just went WAY too long. Dean and I both agreed that it went like 43 minutes.

RD:  I told Rippa that Donvan was trying to wrestle against Marifuji, not Marifruity.  I had heard about how much more over the top Pepper's gimmick was, but he was pretty subdued in this.  I think he was doing the signing for cheering or applauding, which Mr. Ooh La La ended up doing later on in the show as well. This was pretty much a foregone conclusion.  While everyone mentions Pepper kicking out of a bunch of Donovan's spot, Donvan also kicked out of Pepper's flying neckbreaker finish as well, so it's all fair game.  That finish did look all kinds of evil.

TKG . At one point in the match either Morgan tried to cover for a blown Pepper spot or Morgan has the shittiest Ace crusher I’ve ever seen. It looked like a WWF bulldog as Morgan just caresses Pepper’s cheeks while Pepper falls. But outside of that, this was a nice showcase for Morgan’s offense; his throws and forearms which all ruled. The match felt too long as Pepper kicking out of stuff just wasn’t believable. I’ve never met a cheerleader who didn’t stay down after I gave her the first head bump. The chickenwing piledriver is just a nasty finisher that gets a big pop out of the crowd. It looked like Thatcher hasn’t bothered to teach Pepper to tuck his head on a piledriver.

JAMIE KNOBLE vs. MATT STRYKER
MH: I liked this match.  A bunch of good matwork and Knoble was determined to make a good impression on the Super 8 stage.  And impress he did, with a lot of tricked-out matwork, including a nice knuckle-lock sequence that had us standing.  Now, I haven’t seen the Heartland (Rippa has it all.), but I already knew that Knoble could go from the dying days of WCW.  But Stryker was a pleasant surprise, with nice, crisp execution on all of his stuff and nice European Forearms.  When you make me appreciate a basic turning powerslam, you know what you’re doing in the ring.  And the Unibrow is right there for the comedic value.  I may have to find some HWA tapes

PS: This match was my second favorite of the show. Really nice matwork, well built back and forth match with Knoble selling more then he did in WCW. Stryker hadn’t showed me much before but he ruled it in this. Although I am pretty sure the knuckle lock sequence which Cel mentioned was in the Knoble v. Morgan match. Big problem in writing this report, I remember cool sequences, but can’t remember what match they were in, too many white guys with nice abs in this tourney. The sweet rolling Tapitias which made me point to my Blue Panther mask has been attributed to damn near every match including possibly this one. I was disappointed that Knoble didn’t use his awesome “Redneck Messiah” nickname in this tourney. Maybe he didn’t want to offend Styles.

PP:  Both Knoble and Stryker are HWA confreres so you had to figure they’d be matched up in the first round i.e. Spanky and American Dragon last year.   I don’t remember Knoble aping Benoit in WCW as much as he did here, but that said he looked really great in presence as well as execution.  Stryker also looked good and he should be brought back at some point.

DR: Knoble was the bomb.  Stryker looked a little lost in spots. The Benoitization of ANY wrestler is a GOOD thing.  The Malenko training wasn’t lost in the match either.  Me and Schneider discuss the possibility that both of these guys having this good little match were possible trained by Dudley Dudley.

PR: The great knucklelock and tapitia debate will never be settled until we get the tape. Anyway - these two have wrestled a bunch of times, so it was similiar to American Dragon/Spanky last year. This was stranger as Knoble was the face and Stryker was the heel - part of that being because he had the greatest unibrow this side of Baby Gerald. This was the best I have seen Stryker look and this would have been the match of the night if the next match didn’t happen.

TKG: Baby Gerald!!! You can count on Rippa for the Simpsons reference. Stryker also had a salt and pepper beard that reminded me of Mike Jackson. After seeing this match, I think I’d really love to see Stryker vs. Jackson. According to Stryker’s bio he lists his inspirations as: Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, D-Lo Brown and Bryan Adams. Bryan Adams? For a guy with otherwise good taste….I would buy Richard Marx maybe… but Bryan Adams?  Sheesh!

RD :  I was digging the Knoble (pronounced "KaNoble" (tm Shane Helms)).  I'm pretty sure that this is the match that had the rolling tapatia's.  I think the thing that stuck out most about Jamie was the fact he seemed to have the most intense or at least conveying he wanted this tournament the most.  Both guys looked good and I'll second this as the second best match of the night.

TKG: I’m pretty sure that the rolling tapatias where done to a white guy with brownish hair and a cropped haircut. So it was either done to Knoble by Stryker or done to Styles by Xavier. And I can’t remember whether the extended knuckle lock was in this Knoble match or the Morgan vs. Knoble match but I lean toward this one (was the Morgan match long enough to even have a knuckle lock section?). Both may have been in this match. Stryker through a nice lariat that Rippa said was better than any he’s done in HWA. And both must have watched the tape of last years cause they bring the stiffness in a way I haven’t seen on their HWA handheld stuff. Knoble takes the crazy suplex to floor bump. I am sure this was the first match with a cool keylock section. I think it was a hammerlock reversal into a keylock. The keylock was like the new hold of the night, showing up in abunch of matches—the Keylock is the STF of 2k2. There was a rolling suplex section with the third being a vertical and as a spot I really dislike it didn’t bother me in this match. There may have even been a non-offensive exchange of two counts I don’t remember. Nice match worked as though both were evenly matched up with heel/face structure built on top. Second best match of night.

A.J. STYLES vs. XAVIER
MH:  I was kinda looking forward to this one, as I’m a full-on Xavier fan and wanted him to do well here.  Mission Kinda Accomplished, as he did the job, but also had the best match of the night.  Xavier went all-out here, showing off a bunch of great stuff.  We all popped for a couple of nice thrust kicks, and a great Bow-And-Arrow-Looking-Thing.  Xavier was on offense for the most part, so Styles didn’t get to do too much, but got in some nice strikes in a kick exchange, and also exchanged some good standing knees.  Both of these guys should consider incorporating a Plum Clinch spot into their movesets with those knees.  Too much great stuff to list here from Xavier here, but eventually caught the Styles Clash (which I actually like) for the finish.  Xavier let it all hang out here, and he certainly deserves to start making the Indy tours like Ki and Dragon have been doing.

PP:  We were all grumbling when we checked out the brackets and saw this match because it meant one of them wouldn’t be advancing.  Even so, Xavier looked totally king-sized here and this was arguably the match of the night.  The big spot was X sending Styles outside, heading up top and hitting his sit-out springboard moonsault to the floor, which was the dive of the night.  Even better is his selling afterward as it takes him three tries to get up, as he’s apparently shocked he was able to pull his move off with those looser-than-GLOW ropes.  Styles' victory was expected given the pairing… it just sucks that X had to go out in the first round.  If I had my druthers I would’ve switched X with Bobby Rude so the matchups would’ve been Red/X (being infinitely familiar with each other) and Styles/Rude, with X going over Red.  Then you would’ve had this match along with Knoble/Morgan as the semis.

PS: This match was my favorite of the night as well. Styles spent most of the match eating moves from Xavier and actually sold well. Both guys worked stiffer then anyone else in the tourney. Including a roaring elbow by Xavier which made Mafia remove his hat in mark outedness.  Lots of fun matwork early as well, including possibly a rolling tapita. Xavier is certifiable for trying that highspot on those Grudge Match ropes.

DR: I loved this match.  This was the most rock-solid of the night, though I dug the final a little more because I have never seen Donovan Morgan and his offense is fucking ENDLESS. My favorite Moment Of Stiffness was Xavier and Styles taking it off the mat - which in itself was pretty fucking flawless - and taking it right to kneeing each other in the head.  This match was cool synthesis of styles.  Xavier is the KING.  Styles is sorta the king.

PR: This was great and the portions on the mat were OFF THE CHARTS! Styles did start his night long trend of trying to do something of the ropes but having problems. Most of us thought it was the loose ropes but Schneider was trying to claim it was for the big spot in the finals. I really wanted Xavier to go over since I couldn’t wait for all the enraged Internet posts the next day about Styles losing in the first round.

RD:  I am also going to go with as match of the night.  There was some stiff spots exchanged in this, especially both guys busting out thai boxing style knees.  Including Xavier hanging Styles in the corner and giving him a knee right to the balls.  There was one really hurty moment when Xavier did the 450, but caught AJ's knees, but it looked like they hit knees on it as well.  Xavier totally dropped him with his running elbow smash.  This was a really, really great match for two guys who haven't worked together before from what I recall.  I'm disappointed as Xavier doesn't bust out the El Paso Del Muerte in this, but it was pretty awesome none the less.

TKG: This was great. Xavier was on fire here. He was wrestling like he was booked to loose his mask and hair here. The dive and the selling of the struggle to get up have already been mentioned as has the forearm and knee strikes. There again was a sweet KEYLOCK~! section. Xavier just ruled it chaining moves together on the mat and Styles was able to hang well. At one point Xavier did the old school bite the face’s hand while holding him in a nerve hold —“I’m the hungriest guy in the Super 8”. At the end of one mat section, Styles escaped from a ceiling hold and dropped down accidentally FOULING Xavier. Xavier sold the foul like the bastard child of Dustin Rhodes and Fuerza “UN FOUL! UN FOUL!” Later in match there’s a “you fouled me, now its my turn to get my licks back” payback section, where Xavier hangs Styles in the tree of woe and then high knees him in the crotch. Styles needs to watch some Golddust to learn how to make crotch pain look more meaningful. Styles ends it with the Styles Clash. The match of the night. It was mostly about Xavier as he really was working like he was going to loose a mask to Santo. Even so it felt like an evenly back and forth match. Styles didn’t show a lot of his offense outside of Styles Clash, and hitting nice stiff kicks that landed with a thud instead of a leg slap; it was mostly about Styles showing that he could hang on the mat with X.

NON-TOURNAMNET
SCOOT ANDEWS vs. BILLY FIVES - LADDER MATCH FOR ECWA TITLE
MH:  This started out badly, as one of the ring crew guys almost took a death dump trying to assemble the wire over the ring to hold the belt, which was held by two poles on opposite ringposts perilously held together by duct tape and a couple of belts.  I was hoping Fives was gonna be able to get something out of ol’ Scoot here, but sadly didn’t turn out like that.  I’m now fully with Schneider on the Anti-Scoot bandwagon, as he wasn’t much good here.  He really, really, really needs to work on his punches, as does Fives.  This just didn’t work, despite Fives bringing all the bumping.  The setup with the poles and the wire screamed bush league and something that should not have even been attempted, as one more good corner whip bump would have sent the belt falling to the ring.  Ugh.

PP:  Worst ladder match ever… they should’ve stuck to a title match without the ladder stip.  The fans turned on the finish big-time, with Scoot giving Fives these ridiculously weak chairshots while both of them were on top of the ladder, which is saying something since ECWA is very family-oriented and not the “smartest” people in the world (as opposed to the OMEGA fans, who aren’t the smartest people in the world).  The best part of this was watching Monsta Mack (sitting at RF’s table) head-bobbing away to Fives’ entrance music.

PS: I didn’t hate this as much as Cel and Pete, as Fives took some big bumps. Scoot was worthless though. The best part of the match was the pretaped segment which aired on the video screen. Fives was on offense during it and it looked really cool. Also my man Ooh-La-La did a great slip on spilled water comedy bump.

DR: Yeah, the Fives bumps made this the Best Possible WWF Hardcore Match.  There.  I said it.

PR: My huge problem with this match was that the setup took so long that it caused an imprompteu intermission and that then forced the two semis to be cut WAY short. Then when Scoot grabbed the title, the ring damn near collapsed in on itself. It was around this point that I ventured to the bathroom and passed Mike Modest and Bison Smith.

RD:  I tapped to the Grizzler, I mean, Sizzler steak at one point during this as the opening punch exchanges didn't look good, so I decided to take a hike.  It sounded like it didn't miss anything when I got back.  The chairshots on top of the ladder were so ungood.  I don't remember Fives being that huge in the tag match the pervious month.  They really should have set up the wire prior to the show.  I was happy they took the damn poles down after the match because went Scoot pulled own that belt, it looked like they were going to collapse in on the ring.

TKG: Both guys are FL workers and you have to think that they’ve worked this match before but boy-oh-boy this was bad. Like Marcel, I’ve fully joined the anti Scoot crew. He brought absolutely no passion to the brawling and his execution was poor enough that without passion/conviction he had nothing to offer here.  Fives seems like a fine ladder match worker, willing to eat big ladder bumps and stayed down for them and he looked really good in the pre-taped section since he was on offense for the whole time. I would like to see him in a ladder match against a better worker like Snot Duddley. Still Scoot was really bad and this came off like a poor man’s version of Scab vs. Natron Steele. Scoot is no Natron Steele. The Ooh-La-La slipped water comedy bump was a nice extra touch.

INTERMISSION
MH: I hit the can.  When I get back, TC has shown up and we chat for a bit.  I chat with Justin for a while and I am relieved to find out that his lady friend has not run screaming into the night after meeting all of us at the Richmond show.  I tell Justin that she’s got a world of potential if she’s still talking to him after being exposed to all of us.

PP:  I head outside in the rain to get some air with Tom and Phil, where we get to BS with Mafia while he takes a smoke break.  No word on whether or not the proposed ECWA/JAP talent trades would include Japanese Poolboy taking the wall spot at some point.

PS: Mafia talks about the NY JAPW show which will have Ki vs. Jerry Lynn and Homicide vs. American Dragon. I start planning the road trip. Mafia also encourages us to harass ECWA to sign the DHS. I WANT DHS V. POOL BOY AND RYAN WING YESTERDAY. DHS v. J-TEAM. DHS V. KI + DRAGON DAMMIT. GIMMME THE HIT SQUAD.

DR: I find young Owen O’Conner and he is all youthful and exuberent.  Trade tapes with him.  Those kids need the Professional Wrestling to get them through their 20s.

PR: Ryan and I make the phone calls to our respective wives while we get as far away from Schneider and Stein - droooling fanboys. Damn was it raining at this point.

TKG: We should have gone back out to the car. The second round would have been better.

A.J. STYLES vs. RED
MH:  Welcome to ECWA Thunder.  Really short, one-sided match.  Styles with a Second-rope Styles Clash.  It was really a blink and you miss it vibe here.  Red threw in a Tope Con Hilo here, but didn’t rip it up too much here.  Also, for the second match in a row, Styles went for a springboard to an opponent outside the ring (which you have to assume would have been the Springboard Shooting Star Press), but got cut off.  It almost looked like they were improvising for not being able to jump off the loose, loose ropes.  But the more I think about it, I think that was planned.  This is, of course, aside from when Styles slipped due to the loose, loose ropes.  I am kinda curious as to why a second-rope Styles Clash was needed here, as a regular one was enough to polish off Xavier, and Red is quite the lil’ fella.  Eh, I will let someone else comment on Red’s hideous new tights.

PP:  Red apparently got the outfit from RF as a gift since I saw him carrying it over from Rob’s table to the locker room before the show started.  Insert ML Curly joke here.

PS: This was a Thunder length match which disappointed everyone. They could have worked this like Styles vs. Jardi Franz at the KOI which was one of the best matches on that show, as Red is a better version of Franz, or they could have just had a total spotfest. Instead they had Red get a bunch of offense then a quick win. Not good.

DR: Yeah, in hindsight, fuck this match.  Hangman Tim has a saying: “If it ain’t five minutes, it ain’t a match.”  Welcome to THIS.

PR: As I said before, another reason to hate Scoot. Only thing I remember was the really annonying fat, old guy who was shouting the entire night. He screamed “Hey, AJ. Watch any WWF tapes!” which had the ENTIRE crowd yell “SHUT UP!” at him at the same time.

RD:  Red did his run up the back kick spot.  This was really a nothing length match.  I think everyone was questioning the second rope Styles Clash, but it was set up as a counter move to Red's top rope rana attempt.

TKG: This was one of those matches where you know who is going to lose because he’s the guy who gets all the offense. Make the guy look good before he jobs is the theory I guess. Red hits all his offense controlling the momentum and then Styles hit the second rope Styles Clash for the win.

DONOVAN MORGAN vs. JAMIE KNOBLE
MH: I knew Knoble was good, but this match really increased his stock with me.  He looked really good here, busting out a bunch of good matwork at the start, and tossed some nice lariats.  Rippa had said that he’s doing a lot of Benoit’s offense these days and we all immediately agreed, as he did that high-angle backdrop right around when it was said.  I don’t want to take too much away from Morgan in this one, though - he was okay here, exchanging some nice forearms and all, but this match was more Knoble.  We all popped big for the Rolling La Tapatia and for the Inverted End had Morgan trying like mad for the Sitout TD91and Knoble working out it, but going down to a rollup.  Yep, Knoble rocks.

PR: Just a note - the tapatia may or may not have been in this match. Damn short term memory.

PS: This was also shorter then I would have liked, but was really good. Knoble is the worker of the night IMO, as this was the best of the three Morgan matches by a lot. I think the Knoble as Beniot comparisons are not totally accurate as he has a lot of varied offense. I really liked the ending, and it really got over Morgans finisher as deadly (which was shot to shit in the final, but you know).

DR: He is Benoit in Japan level Benoit.  This match fucking RULED.  I’m digging the fuck out of both of these guys.

RD:  I was sooooo hoping Jamie was advancing to the finals in this as he's all kinds of fun to watch.  His fighting to block the Sayanora by dropping down and at one point dropping down and then tangling is legs in the ropes so that he couldn't be picked up by Morgan was good.  I think this is the match where Jamie busted out the reverse Indian deathlock where he was using his foot to push hard on the guy's ankle.  I have no problem picking Jamie as the MVP of the tournament.

TKG: This was short going just a tad over 6 minutes. The first round Morgan match could have gone two minutes shorter. This was the best Super 8 tourney match in second half of show. Its quite possible that the knuckle lock took place in this match and not the Knoble vs. Stryker one. There definitely was a keylock in this match. Knoble and Morgan looked to work really well together. Morgan has great forearms and he really needs to make that his major strike. His punches and chops leave a lot to be desired and he should stick to the great forearms. There was a section with dueling chops in the corner which was worked as though Morgan was getting the better of the exchange (able to control with his chops longer than Knoble), while when you watched the actual chop execution Knoble’s chops looked and sounded better. My criticism of Knoble when he was in WCW was that he tended to pop right up from finishing moves and go on offense. He didn’t do that at all here, and seems to have grown a ton as a wrestler since those WCW matches. I liked the story of Knoble fighting like crazy to get out from taking the chickenwing piledriver, and the story of Morgan being able to get the roll up.

ECWA SUMMIT
MH: Going in, we figured that this had the chance to be the best Summit ever, what with all the actual good wrestlers in it this year, and that’s how it worked out.  The biggest thing that stood out in the first part of the match was Our Boy Jacey North making an ECWA cameo appearance and promptly being the first guy tossed by April Hunter.  Hopefully he’ll get invited back and get the chance to do more.  In the meantime, we give him the heel heat for going out so quickly.  Well, at least he doesn’t have a comedy gimmick, as Low-Ki took it to the comedy workers, one in particular.  Who, you ask?  Well, Japanese Poolboy came out to Like A Virgin in the full-blown Wedding Gown, and I’m thinking that there was some Bushido Code of Honor Amongst Warriors that Ki felt got violated by the gown or something, because he beat the flying fuck out of Poolboy.  I mean, the chops had Poolboy’s chest bleeding.  The Maximos were in this as well, and do they ever need to go back to the old outfits.  Prince Nana must have read our saying that he’d have been a great Memphis heel, as he became Jerry Lawler, continually scurrying under the ropes to avoid fighting, which screamed loud and clear, “HEY MARCEL, I’M GOING OVER!”  Which he did, tossing Low-Ki after manager E.S. Easton distracts Ki.  So, Nana gets another shot next month.

PP:  One of the guys in our group had the greatest line ever for Jacey as he stayed in character by kissing us off on the way out: “YOU SLEPT ON MY COUCH!”  I don’t know what Poolboy said to Ki before the show, but it must not have taken well with Ki as he just Fuchied the living shit out of the poor guy.  JPB’s chest was beet red and bleeding in spots by the time he was mercifully eliminated.  Kid Kruel makes his ECWA debut and immediately endears himself to Ray and me by making a beeline for Ki, in a neat little continuation from the awesome match they’d had the night before.  Kruel would be another great pickup for ECWA.  Easton is a riot as he tries to hold off the referees from making Nana get back into the ring: “He had a heart attack earlier!”  If there’s any justice, Nana takes the strap next month.  To top it all off, they actually run an angle as the guy who juiced Cheetah Master at the last show runs in during Master’s entrance, takes him out a second time and unmasks as… Bobby Rude!  So he and his suede pants would appear to be a keeper for the time being.

PS: I dug the hell out of this match, especially Jacey North trying to pop April Hunter’s implants with his chops, Ki just killing Pool Boy and Fontaine, Ooh La La running crotch first into the ring apron, the previously worthless J.J. Johnston talking a Air Rain Crush, J.R. Ryder taking the Spanish Fly off the Foxing Boxing ropes, and Nana getting water sprayed on him by Easton during the Battle Royal.

DR: Poolboy go SOOO beaten onto the DVDVR 500.  That was fucking MAN-SIZED.  I hate myself for breaking kayfabe and cheering Jacey as he entered!  To HELL WITH HIM!  HE STOMPS THE TESTICLES OF THE YOUTH OF GEORGIA!  And I too was waiting for the giant outdoor rockshow-level saline spray when April Hunter’s implants burst from the Delicious Knife-Edged Chops!   Mr Oo-La-La’s second bump into the ringsteps was FUCKING AWESOME.

PR: Jacey North - beater of women. Kow-KI - beater of comedy workers

RD:  Mr. Ooh La La once again became the first person in the Summit for the 2nd or 3rd time.  He's with out Barry Casino this time and starts to do his strip routine.  I jokingly say "I bet he forgot his tights" And low and behold... he forgot his tights and realizes it after he moons the crowd with "Ooh La La" written on his ass.  I suddenly feel like Bill Mummy in that one episode of the Twilight Zone and I apologize to everyone.  Pete tells me to wish him into the cornfield.  Ooh La La runs to the back only to make second entrance when he runs into the apron and heads to the back again.  When he comes out the third time, he gets eliminated by Mozart Fontaine, which builds on their feud.  Low Ki made JPB bleed like a virgin on her wedding night, perhaps it was hearing Like a Virgin, maybe he had a flashback to that match in Queens and decided to smash the poor little whimsical fellow.  I guess I know why Jacey ditched us the night before for April.  This was the best Summit they have run and the level of workers involved helped.

PR: The bump Oh La La took into the ring steps was pretty nasty too. Though ass showing is a good way to get yourself bounced from the 500.

TKG: I was disappointed that Nigel Fair Service wasn’t in the summet but outside of that no complaints. This was a fun match with so much fun that hasn’t been mentioned. For a guy just back from T2P, Rivera seemed to mail it in. The Easton, Nana pairing is GOLD. April Hunter and Slyk  seemed to hint at a breakup and all their stuff was poor. While Jacey was willing to knife edge chop her, someone should’ve implanted her. When Stryker came in the idiot in front of me was upset “His gimmick is ‘Strike Her’ and he don’t hit the woman”. The program announced that “Ground Zero” know wrestles under the name “Zero”, which makes sense. Unfortunately his tights still say ground zero across his crotch. I guess he didn’t want to have Zero written across his crotch. He is gutsy enough to have a biohazard sign painted across his massive ass.  I doubt the RF camera caught Ooh La La’s nutsack first bump into the ringsteps, but trust me it was amazing.  Ooh La la took a pretty great bump getting thrown to the floor later but it was forgetable next to the nutshot bump. Low Ki sold big for tiny Abunai struggling to prevent Abunai from tossing him out of ring. I didn’t expect JJ Johnson to eat the reverse air raid but it was a welcome surprise. Ryan Wing is all about torturing Bukk Wylde. I don’t know which was worse: the last show where Wing gave Wylde a vertical suplex which he held long enough to pierce Wylde’s eye out with Ryan’s genitals, or this show where Ryan gave Wylde the Santo to Nicho Powerbomb from apron to floor. Each was nasty in its own way. I look forward to the future of the Wing abuses Wylde feud. So much happening, I’m sure I’ve forgotten to mention something.

PR: Couple of other things I thought off: I really don’t like the Maximo’s purple tights. We laughed as the ECWA ring announcer mixed up Jose and Joel. Ki did pop JR Ryder in the mouth a few times. Boogie Woogie Brwon was in attendence but not working.

DONOVAN MORGAN vs. A.J. STYLES
MH:  This one started out fun, with the matwork and the striking and all of that.  Everything was going along swimmingly and I was looking forward to another really fun Super 8 Final, until Styles finally nailed the Springboard Shooting Star Press and came up selling a leg injury.  My beef here is not with the actual move, as that’s one of his spots.  Nor is it with the fact that Styles nailed Morgan hard with an elbow on the way down, bloodying his mouth and (so I hear) knocking out one of Morgan’s teeth.  Not even is it the fact that Styles crashed and burned, torching his head on the security railing.  No, my beef is that Styles sold the leg injury like it was a big deal, and then sold Morgan’s subsequent attacks and submission attempts on the leg like it was about to fall off…and then forgot about it when it was his turn to go on offense.  I mean he went from screaming bloody murder about his leg to propping up big, polished Donovan Morgan to do his spots when it was his turn.  Blech.  I don’t care what Rippa said; I wasn’t going to just enjoy it.  This is the Super 8 Final, you don’t forget about selling like that.  And then to piss me off even more, they start doing some nearfalls with a whole bunch of moves that should have been the finish, but they all got broken, turning this into Ronnie Zukko vs. Romeo Valentino with better spots.  Styles works out of the Sitout TD91 a few times, but finally eats it for the pin.  I blame Styles for the forgetting to sell; I blame Morgan for the All Japan fifty-million-finishers nearfall section.  Rest of the match was fine, but these two factors dragged it way down for me.

PP:  Morgan and Styles have the annual Super 8 pre-final face-off on the ECWATron, where Styles quickly makes Shane Helms sound like William Regal.  The beginning to this was really great as they traded headslaps, then shook hands and hunkered down for some of that there professional wrestling.  This got a ton of time and both guys looked really good.  My beef with the match isn’t WRT the selling issues so much as the fact that they each burned through about a dozen legit finishing moves in the course of the match, including both guys’ established finishers.  I can understand Styles getting to kick out of Morgan’s piledriver because he was the one doing the job in the end and it isn’t like Morgan’s going to be a regular here, but now Morgan has kicked out of the Styles Clash and Styles has to come back to the Parish next month with a lame-duck move.  Post-match Michael Modest comes out and they hold up a NOAH Pro Wrestling banner to a big “NOAH” chant from the crowd.  We all immediately start booking our fantasy ECWA/NOAH talent trades.  “Tamon Honda/Benny Stolzfuss!”  “Jun Akiyama/Japanese Pool Boy!”

PS: I enjoyed the heck out of the first part of the match, and the second half completely lost me. They psych of this match was all fucked up, they kept having Styles get cut off in his attempts to do the Top Rope SSP in the earlier rounds, and when he finally hits it, it as used as a transition for Morgan. Then Morgan works over the leg for a long time, until they decide to go for the finish, and then Styles is doing springboards. Then they have a full blow shitty So-Cal ending, with then just exchanging finishers for cheap two count pops. After spending all tourney pimping Morgan’s finisher, Styles kicks out of it, and goes back on offense. Morgan spent a lot of time at the KOI railing about wrestlers who don’t know how to work and just throw out spots with no rhyme or reason, he seemed to be talking about Styles vs. Franz which got a lot of praise. Well he works Styles in the biggest match of Morgan’s US career and doesn’t have a match approaching Styles vs. Franz, and a match which is way more of a meaningless spotfest then that match. Morgan is the veteran, and he is a better worker then this.

DR: Eh, this match fucking ruled.  It was perfectly fine junior heavyweight wrestling but with finishers that were beyond the state-of-the-art.  Fuck, if they know that many finishers, I’ll sit in a Parrish Hall and watch them go through it.  It Momoe Nakanishi could half the shit that Donovan Morgan can do, I wouldn’t hate her Maekawa matches as much.  If the CZW guys could get the thud per buck that these two got for each finisher, “CZW Junior Finishing Sequence” wouldn’t be such a bad thing.  Match of the night.  This ruled.  Xavier vs. Styles was technically better, but this was the best All Japan 99 match ever reenacted on US soil.

PR: I just didn’t like Marcel and Schneider killing everyone’s buzz. I agreed with everyone’s rationale of why the 2nd part of the match was very weak - I agreed with it at the moment. Still doesn’t mean I don’t want to enjoy myself as I am watching it. I had a bigger problem with Styles doing the pop-up headscissor thingy after taking the KO forearm from Xavier than I did with him not selling the knee. I guess, sadly, I have conditioned myself to expect finishers to get kicked out of left and right nowadays. And, it’s not like either one of them has kicked out of a Burning Hammer like a certain Jersey worker did. Me... still bitter... naaahhhhhh.

RD:  This was just sort of there.  For some reason, it felt like AJ was trying to play the heel in his promo, but uh, it wasn't good.  This match was probably the 4th best Super 8 Final behind Ki/Dragon, Daniels/Scoot and Daniels/Bradley.  I'm not sure if Style's selling the leg was all selling, I'm thinking he probably banged it when he crashed and burned on the dive, he probably could improvised into selling it for the match, but he didn't.  Otherwise, it had the kicking out of the finishes, which I would have rather had the rope saves out of or fighting to block or countering rather than hitting, but hey, I'm not running the matches.  Styles did a pretty crazy corkscrew somersault senton in this at one point.  Post match, everyone comes out to congratulate Morgan as he and Mike display the NOAH banner.  I was hoping for the heel promo with Morgan saying he was going to fly to Japan and present the trophy to Mr. Misawa!  Of course, they'd have to tape that for the ECWATron, especially the part where he tries to slip it in as carry on and store it in the overhead compartment.

TKG: Recapping the story thus far…. In his first two rounds AJ Styles didn’t show too much of his offense but he was able to win the matches by reversing moves into his finisher. The Styles Clash gets over as a move that he can hit out of nowhere to get the win. In Morgan’s first match he won with the devastating chickenwing piledriver, in his second match his opponent fought to avoid the piledriver and Morgan could steal a win with a roll up. One of the neat things about the way the matches have worked thus far is that you didn’t get that sense of this is the body of the match and this is the finish section that you get in too much wrestling. The finishes of the matches seemed to arise naturally out of the work in the body.

TKG: Well this is the match where AJ Styles shows all his high end offense that he hadn’t used in the first two matches. He hits his shooting star press to the floor a dive from the ring barrier to the floor and a sweet looking move where he springboards off the middle rope lands on his feet in position behind Morgan to execute a neckbreaker. He lands the shooting star press to the floor a move which the story was he hadn’t been able to hit for the first two matches, but it comes across as meaningless as he can’t looses the control of the momentum immediately after hitting it. The springboard from middle rope move (which also requires that he lift Morgan for neckbraker after landing on his feet) was done right after a long section of him having his leg worked on. I don’t think the criticism of the leg work was based on him selling or not selling after torching his leg. But the early part of the match was all about Morgan working over the leg. I really enjoyed that early section as each leg lock looked progressively more painfull and I think hit all those seven points of the leg that Solie always talked about. There was a neat point where Morgan had Styles in a hold, when Styles escaped he applied another version of the hold one upping Morgan by adding I think a grapevine of some sort. Morgan then rolled it over into a pin. In a tourney filled with matches involving neat mat chain stuff, this was probably the coolest. It’s a shame it was ignored later on in the match. The end of match with the exchanging big finishers section for two counts and kick outs was well just silly as it killed the story of the tourney. Knoble fighting out of the chickenwing piledriver would have been a better model, as I’d rather see both guys fight out of their opponents finisher until one takes it then to see them just eat finisher after finisher. All this burning through of finishers was an affront to my lucha mask. This was very much a match where you had distinct section of here’s the body and here’s the finish. I loved the first 5 minutes but then it went sour. Nice US indy match, dissapointing super 8 final match.

EPILOGUE
MH: We take an hour leaving because Tom decides to head home with Dean and doesn’t tell anyone.  I take in Schneider and we negotiate I-95 in the torrential downpour well enough to actually make good time getting back to DC.  We hit the Korean BBQ and gorge ourselves and Dean and Ryan drink beer and it’s fun.  I take everyone back to Schneider’s and I fucking get nailed trying to make a yellow light but got my picture taken by one of those damn traffic light sensors.  This is what I get for trying to be nice to Schneider, Tom and Bill, by taking them out to eat.  Next time, I take my ass home and drop them off at the subway.  Next month at the Parish has Dragon and Ki defending the tag straps against Styles and Chris Daniels.  I’m not much excited about the challenger team, what with all the forgetting to sell and the choreography, but it could still be an okay match.  I might still show up, as Mozart Fontaine/ Mr. Ooh La La will be crucial to both wrestlers’ placement on the next DVDVR 500.

TKG: I get in Dean’s car to help them find Steakhouse. At about 10:30 on a Saturday night some girl calls me wanting to know who Ronnie James Dio is. I defer the call to MDS who gives her a six minute dissertation on Dios career and all the bands and work he has done. It ruled. The car conversation got rock nerdish which I always enjoy. At the beginning we played the Euro-Nuggets box set. I’m not a big fan of euro-garage stuff. I really like odd Euro instramental (get “Decade of instrumentals” on The See For Miles label and Joe Meek’s “I hear a New World” ) but the British garage stuff is a little too twee for me. I like my garage to be by adolescents trying to mask obvious painful insecurities behind unreasoning male pride and delusions of grandeur. The brits are just too twee to be able to pull off either pride or insecurity. Either the Litter’s version of “I’m a man” or “Action Woman” played and we were back on the right continent. We all freak out at Mouse and the Traps (probably greatest folk-punk garage tune next to the Lyric’s “So What”). Satan Pro snores to the beat of Moulty!!!! DON’T TURN AWAY!!!

PP:  We get the annual group photo and haul ass for the bus.  As it turns out the bus driver saw the show and may have had the best line of the night, regarding Red: “Did someone check his hall pass?”  We hit Mach 3 going home even with the rainstorm plus a rest stop for Roy Rogers somewhere in the badlands of New Jersey, plus we get to watch the Von Erich documentary that aired on the Texas PBS stations.  An interesting watch to say the least, although Bill Mercer’s assertion that David died of “normal causes” led to some hysterical laughter for all the wrong reasons.  My immediate comeback was “I guess if you’re a Von Erich that could be considered a normal cause of death.”  And speaking of OD’s, Ray and I should be back for the next show depending on how we work our travel arrangements, although by my math that would be the sixth or even seventh show in one month for me.

PS: I had a fun time at this show, and enjoyed the post match and pre-match activities as well. The Korean BBQ is one of the more amazing places on earth and I hope the $6000 worth of damage SatanPro did to their plumbing doesn’t bar me from going there again.

TKG: The Korean Barbecue was fun as we argue about the matches we had seen tonight. Someone asks me to come up with an example of a Jerry Lawler match that was laid out better than the Super 8 final and I start pimping the smart work in Lawler vs. King Kong Bundy. Expect a blow-by-blow analysis of a Bundy match in a future DVDVR. There was lots of disagreement but the discussion of matches and show was very respectful…. as the Barbarians would say “…the most important thing you could do is BABEY think for yourself. HEY HEYHEY THAT’S WHAT THE NEW BREED SAY!”  As usual, a fun day at the rassling. I’ll be back next month to see Rude’s suede vs. Cheetah’s stripes  “They all laughed at Sonny when they saw him in his leopard vest, bust long after they’ve past away/ SONNY’S records will PLAY!!! ..that’s what the NEW BREED SAY”. MOULTY~!

DR: [M]DS, Tom  and Satan Pro and I are driving  to the restaurant and talking at length about the US garage rock that we play the whole time., while SP is the young sleepy head for the first hour.  the second hour SP is awake and lucent and we start talking about stuff.  SP poses the question: “What was the worst way a woman has ever broken up with you?”

DR: “Wall of lawyers.”
TOM: “Sheriff’s Department”
[M]DS: “Tiger Driver '91."

The restaurant was fabulous.  and the Satan Pro extended stint on the pot spawned the usual classy jokes.  My fave that I heard:  “I f you hear a sonic boom, Chuck Yeager flew out of his ass.”
The Super 8 always rules. Ah fun....

PR: Lee and I decided not to go to the Korean BBQ as I was about asleep and Lee’s stomach was no-selling the effects of the Sizzler. We have a great chat as we race through the raindrops, especially as Lee tells me about how he was living in one of the Arsnic houses at AU and how the Army is fucking him over. Those of you who go to AU will understand. I don’t know about anyone else but I am planning on going to the April show.

RD:  The drive back was fine.  We yell at everyone to get their shit together as we have a bus to catch for the group picture.  I'm happy as I get to watch the Ki/Dragon II match from the summer which was awesome like I remembered it.  I tell my stomach to die as I add Roy Rogers' to the murder's row of bad food I ate during the weekend with Sizzler and Arthur Treature's Fish & Chips.  I travel through a downpour at 2 am to finally get home.  Along the way, I try to figure out what exactly that "Grumpy Old Dick has retired again" sign meant.  Super 8, another fun time had by all and I'm looking forward to next years.  I'm hoping to do the next ECWA show, what with the big Ooh La La/Fontaine pay off match being on there and all.