Post by Ross Report on Sept 16, 2019 17:38:32 GMT
The EWA rolled into Louisville this week, one of my favorite cities in the world, and what a show it was! Unfortunately though, it was also one marked by a number of controversies!
I'm having a hard time getting my head around the revelations that kicked off this week's SLAM! On the one hand, my dealings backstage with Austin Matelson, AKA "Luchasaurus," have been nothing but positive. I'd found him an intelligent, caring, talented young man who seemingly had a bright future ahead of him...and yet, the accusations leveled against him by Maxwell Jacob Friedman paint an entirely different picture. While it wouldn't be right for me to comment on the horrific claims put forth by that young boy Eric, there certainly seems to be evidence enough for local law enforcement to take action and the EWA to terminate Matelson's contract. Still, something about this entire situation just doesn't sit right with me. Here's hoping we get some answers in the weeks and months to come. In the meanwhile though, "The Salt of the Earth" isn't wasting any time in moving on from his former partner, with a backstage run-in with "Show E." leading to Buh Buh Ray Dudley getting involved. After Bubbs tried to defuse the situation, the subject of the National Championship came up, with Friedman stating his intentions towards the title. Being the fighting champion he is, Buh Buh Ray agreed to give him a shot at the gold...albeit only if MJF allowed "Show E." to wear his trademark Burberry scarf first! By the sounds of it, everything will be made official next week in a contract signing, although considering how things turned out for the last person to sign a contract with "MJF," it might be best if Buh Buh has a lawyer check over it first!
For the second week running, Viktor sated his lust for violence in devastating fashion. This time around, it was Tony Falk who he managed to make short work of, proving once again why Viktor could be a big time player as we enter Super Brawl season. He'll have a huge step-up in competition next week though after a backstage altercation led to Matt Morgan agreeing to face Viktor on the next edition of SLAM! While "The DNA of EWA" still has his eyes set on Samoa Joe and gaining a measure of revenge for what went down at Summer Stampede, that doesn't mean the former National Champion won't back down from a fight when challenged! Expect a hard-hitting battle when these two meet in Indianapolis!
Having recently aligned himself with Bobby Lashley and "The Santanic Clown Posse," Papa Shango found himself in action this week against JT Southern. "The Voodoo Priest" showed how dangerous he can be, quickly taking his opponent out and racking up an impressive debut victory. Things certainly went better for Papa Shango than they did for his fellow "SCP" member Rick Martel later in the night, that's for sure. "The Model" went up against "The Honky Tonk Man," seemingly having his opponent's number in the early goings. However, "Honky" fought his way back into the match using his fists and his wiles, before capitalizing on a ringside assist from Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart at the opportune moment! Indeed, just as Martel was about to fully lock in the Boston Crab which has served him so well over the years, Hart blasted "The Model" with his trademark megaphone, allowing "The Boogie Woogie Baddie" to dish out some Shake, Rattle and Roll for the win! I'm not sure why anyone would expect anything less from a competitor like "The Honky Tonk Man," who has proven time and time again that there's no depths he won't go in order to be successful in the EWA! Still, you've got to believe that Rick Martel and his fellow "Santanic Clowns" won't be happy about that one!
For the first time since defeating Ember Moon at Summer Stampede, Sasha Banks returned to the ring this week, finding herself up against a spirited opponent in Miss Texas! As experienced as she might be, Jacqueline Moore was no match for Banks' fire however, as "The Boss" utilized her patented Bank Statement to keep her win streak going! That wasn't all though, as post-match, Sasha Banks would ask JoJo and Bradley to come on down to ringside. You'll probably remember that the previous week, Sasha hinted she had something she wanted to talk to the EWA Women's Champion about, which she promised to do on last night's show. Well, with JoJo and Bradley in the ring, we finally found out what that was, and I dare say it wasn't quite what most expected! Indeed, rather than asking for a shot at the top prize in the women's division, Sasha Banks claimed that Bradley wasn't in fact "The Mustachioed Megaman" we thought he was, but actually a female wrestler by the name of Bayley! How does "The Boss" know this, you might ask? Because before their time in the E-Wrestling Alliance, the two were apparently once close friends, and Bayley/Bradley was partially responsible for Sasha getting a second bite of the apple after putting in a good word for her. Alas, it was an accusation that Bradley denied and JoJo found no reason to believe, with the two of them seemingly chalking it up to a case of mistaken identity and looking to draw a line under everything. Yet something tells me that Sasha Banks won't give up on this need to prove her old friend is hiding behind Bradley's mustache and muscles.
Elsewhere in the women's division, we had an eagerly anticipated rematch from the previous week as Toni Storm looked for revenge against Kelly Klein, who handed the Gold Coast native her first loss seven days prior. On this occasion, Storm took "The Final Girl" a shade more seriously than she'd done in their previous encounter, yet Klein countered a Storm Zero and hit a big flurry of moves before seemingly putting her opponent down for the count with the K Power! That is, only for EWA producer Dean Malenko to controversially point out that Storm's foot was on the ropes, restarting the match. I've watched the video replay several times now and, to my mind at least, I could have sworn Toni's foot landed on the rope after the three count, but maybe I'm mistaken. Either way, with the match back underway, Klein knocked Storm down to the mat with a huge punch before applying her modified STF to force the submission, only to see Malenko again get involved, this time overturning the official's decision by claiming Klein used an illegal closed fist, thereby earning a disqualification! I've had many EWA fans hit me up on social media to voice their displeasure after that result, with theories abound that the E-Wrestling Alliance is trying to protect Toni Storm or playing favorites. I've talked before about the integrity of our officials and the notion of behind the scenes conspiracies being ridiculous, but even I have to admit to being extremely surprised with how this one shook out. Either way though, I would suggest this issue is far from over.
Last week saw a heated confrontation between Rhea Ripley and "The Dominion," setting up a match between Ripley and Lacey Evans on this past week's show. Before that could officially get underway though, some theatrics saw Charlotte Flair back up into Lacey Evans after being approached by "The Full Metal Maniac," causing Evans to go down in a heap claiming injury. While the Referee tried to check on "The Classy Lady," Flair would then viciously assault Ripley before propping her up and exiting the ring, right as Evans' bad arm "miraculously" healed itself. Fortunately, the Ref saw right through this ruse, throwing out the match before it could even begin! As "The Dominion" looked to take their frustrations out on Rhea though, the "Singularity" member avoided The Culling, instead causing Charlotte to accidentally take out her own partner while Ripley escaped further damage! If I were a betting man, I'd say it's only a matter of time before have ourselves a do-over between these two. Here's hoping that Charlotte Flair is banned from ringside next time so that "The Dominion" aren't able to pull any more of their heinous shenanigans too!
The Briscoes have been damn near unstoppable since breaking away from the "nWo" earlier in the summer, even surviving a wild multi-team ladder match at Summer Stampede to retain the Tag Team Championships! They found themselves in action once again this week, going up against the brand new duo of Baron Corbin and Bo Dallas, collectively known as the "Glorious B's." This mysterious new group has been founded by "Pastor" Bobby Roode and also features "Sister" Bliss, who were both on hand to offer their support to Corbin and Dallas. Indeed, Jay and Mark didn't know what hit them, as the "Glorious B's" took advantage of some rare miscommunication between "Dem Boys From Delaware" to wrest control of the contest and do what no other team has done in months, handing the champions a defeat! Maybe you can chalk it up to the fact that the Briscoes were still banged up from that insane ladder match a couple of weeks ago, or maybe you can chalk it up to the unknown element that came with fighting a team we've never seen before, but there's no disputing the result. In the space of one match, Corbin and Dallas have immediately launched themselves into Tag Title contention!
Pete Dunne shocked the world (and Marty Scurll in particular) when he announced last week that he was giving the first shot at his title to "The Reaper," citing some unfinished business from their previous match last month that didn't have a decisive winner! Well, to everyone's shock, "The Reaper's" number one contendership was taken away from him last night by his fellow "Horde" member, Marty Scurll! "The Villain" seemingly convinced the man formerly known as Gabriel that this was all a plot by "The Bruiserweight," that he saw "Reaper" as a weak link to be easily exploited, and that only Scurll could get the job done at High Tension. And with the promise of some kind of reward, "The Reaper" grudgingly agreed to give the former World Champion what he wanted, even if he didn't seem particularly pleased to do so!
Meanwhile, "Mustache Mountain" did battle with "Monster Mafia" in our main event, following on from weeks of bad blood between the two teams. A mix-up in the EWA's merchandise department saw Tyler Bate and Trent Seven reaping the rewards for a t-shirt that was produced for Josh Alexander and Ethan Page, not only denying the two Canadians some precious royalty money but seemingly driving a wedge between them as well. That meant nothing short of victory would be enough to fix the situation as far as Alexander and Page were concerned, which would explain why they came out of the blocks looking more focused than we've ever seen them. In fact, they did a tremendous job of isolating Trent Seven for a significant chunk of this battle, only for Tyler Bate to finally receive the hot tag and run wild! As the match continued, some minor miscommunication between "Monster Mafia" proved costly, allowing "Mustache Mountain" to finally pick up the huge victory and potentially put this rivalry to bed! And while they're at it, perhaps even the team of Page and Alexander as well, if their post-match blow-up was anything to go by!
Speaking of post-match though, Marty Scurll and "The Reaper" would hit ringside to interrupt the celebrations, squaring up to "Mustache Mountain" for a fight, with the idea of getting to Pete Dunne by going through his friends. This then drew the attention of "The Bruiserweight" himself, heading down to ringside to stand by his "British Strong Style" brothers and dare "The Horde" to bring it on. Instead though, Scurll made a proposal for the newly-minted rematch between them scheduled for High Tension, suggesting a tag match on next Sunday's SLAM! where if he and "The Reaper" are victorious, Scurll gets to decide the stipulation at the Pay-Per-View...but if "Mustache Mountain" beat them, then Dunne gets to choose whatever match-type he wants! With so much at stake, that promises to be a blockbuster of a main event to next week's show, one that will clearly have huge implications for Pete Dunne's first title defence! And one has to wonder, what does "The Reaper" make of all of this, having seen his own World Title opportunity taken away from him before now being forced into a situation where he's fighting to make Scurll's life easier at High Tension?
With all that said and done then, let's take a look at my picks for this week's top three movers and shakers:
1. Glorious B's
2. Mustache Mountain
3. Honky Tonk Man
Any time you can defeat a reigning champion (or in this case, champions), that puts you on the radar in a big way! While we might not have even heard of the "Glorious B's" this time last week, it's fair to say that everyone knows who they are now following their win over the Briscoes! Elsewhere, "Mustache Mountain" made a triumphant return to action after a three month hiatus due to visa issues, seemingly breaking up "Monster Mafia" in the process! And last, but by no means least, "The Honky Tonk Man" takes third sport with a hard-fought victory over Rick "The Model" Martel, albeit one marred slightly by a controversial ending.
All in all then, it was another incredible night of EWA action with plenty of shocks and surprises that promise to be felt for months to come! And all that was with plenty of familiar faces missing from action as well! Now we turn our attention towards the final stop before High Tension though, and you can expect things to crank up a notch when SLAM! hits up Indianapolis next Sunday! With a huge tag team match main event as well as a potential showstealer between the debuting Guerrillas of Destiny and returning Young Bucks, as well as Viktor taking a step-up in competition when he faces Matt Morgan, it sounds like we've got another barnburner on the cards! Until next time,
BOOMER SOONER!
