Post by Ross Report on Feb 9, 2020 23:21:36 GMT
On our final stop before St. Valentine's Day Massacre, we saw one hell of a night of action that had plenty of new faces striving to make an instant impact!
We kicked things off though with a couple of very familiar ones, as "The Honky Tonk Man" found himself once again teaming with my old pal Jerry "The King" Lawler! This apparently came about due to Santino being "too ugly for TV" after the vicious beating he suffered at the hands of Gabriel last week, a pretty weak excuse to exclude Marella if ever I've heard one. Still, it meant that the Memphis legends were able to reunite against the Mulkey brothers and score a decisive victory, showing once again why they're not to be underestimated. However, when "The Italian Stallion" put on a mask so the world wouldn't have to look at his face and came to the ring to join in with the celebrations, his associates were less than pleased. And as they were hashing out their differences, "The Mighty Don't Kneel" decided to crash the party, staking their claim for a title opportunity! Honestly, it's hard to argue that they're not deserving since the dynamic duo of Haste and Silva racked up four successive victories in a row, yet to taste defeat in an EWA ring! After questioning whether the champs were scared to face them, "The Honky Tonk Man" was goaded into accepting the challenge, setting up a slobberknocker of a match for this Friday's Pay-Per-View event!
Soon after, Marty Jannetty was back in action as he faced off with "Prince Albert," who may or may not be an actual prince. "Old Man Marty" came as close as anyone has to defeating Braun Strowman on last week's SLAM!, only to get caught after going to the well once too often. Still, he was looking to make sure history didn't repeat itself against Albert, doing everything within his power to knock the big man down to size. Despite "The Rocker's" best efforts though, it looked like he was about to end up on the losing end of another match as "Prince Albert" nailed him with the Baldo Bomb, only to shockingly break up the pin himself. Indeed, rather than go for the win, Albert would then grab his piercing equipment before trying to pierce his opponent's nose, leaving the Referee with little choice but to call for the bell! Needless to say, Jannetty wasn't particularly thrilled about that situation, all fired up as he demanded a rematch against Albert at St. Valentine's Day Massacre later during the broadcast! Well, "Prince Albert" gleefully accepted the challenge, while also making some rather "pointed" threats about what he intends to do with his favorite piercing instrument, "Zippy," this Friday! Will Marty get his retribution? Or could he be pushing his luck one step too far? I guess we'll soon find out!
Elsewhere and we heard from Rhea Ripley and Tom Lawlor as the "Singularity" duo stated their future intentions. "The Full Metal Maniac" issued a stark warning to her opponents this Friday, making no bones about her desire to defeat Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks so as to capture the Women's Championship! And by God, she just might do it too with all that drive to go along with her natural ability! As for Lawlor, there were hints that the MMA veteran has moved his sights beyond the Television Title he came so close to winning two weeks ago, albeit without revealing what this new goal might be. I wouldn't like to speculate too much on what he's got planned...but one thing's for sure, Tom Lawlor has all the makings to become "THE" breakout star in the E-Wrestling Alliance this year if he can get some momentum behind him.
I was excited to see the debut of Brody King, who has taken a long and often troubled road to make it to the EWA roster. Of course, he soon found out that life wasn't about to get any easier when he stepped in the ring with "El Desperado." The masked man is as good a high flyer as I think I've ever seen in the business, but perhaps more importantly than that, he also has Katsuyori Shibata in his corner! And with his fellow "Tokyo Vice" member watching his back and lending the occasional assist, that allowed "The Outlaw" to take control of the battle with King, putting a dampener on his coming-out-party! In the end, "El Desperado" was able to put "The Mad King" away with the Angel de Rojo, meaning he now advances to St. Valentine's Day Massacre to wrestle the winner of the Seth Rollins/Zack Ryder match that proceeded this one for the right to challenge Braun Strowman for the TV Title on our next SLAM! come February 23rd!
Speaking of which, Rollins and Ryder would soon have the chance to show us what they're made of! Both superstars have obviously been in-and-out of the EWA multiple times over the years to varying degrees of success, but with a potential TV Title opportunity up for grabs, it really put the cat among the pigeons, like my grandma used to say. As such, "The Architect" and "The Long Island Iced Z" both went at it hard and fast in the early goings, with the stalemate soon being broken when Seth Rollins started stringing some impressive offence together. Not even a late flurry by Ryder, in which he connected with his patented Rough Ryder and then went all or nothing with the Elbro Drop, was enough to stop Rollins' from turning the tables back in his favor, finally putting his opponent down with the Curb Stomp! That means it'll be the self-styled "Crossfit Jesus" versus "El Desperado" this Friday, and you can be damn sure that Braun Strowman will be watching that match closely, just like the rest of the EWA Universe!
In yet another debut, the second generation superstar Jacob Fatu found himself going one-on-one with Rory Coyle. "The TV Nasty" hasn't had the best of times over the last few weeks, with tough losses to Brady Pierce and Tom Lawlor pushing him to the brink. Unfortunately for the Irishman, things wouldn't get much better on this occasion either, with "The Nightmare" using this opportunity to put in a showcase performance designed to educate the EWA Universe on what he brings to the table! As such, this almost resembled a car wreck on I-80 more than it did a traditional wrestling match, with "The Samoan Werewolf" throwing his opponent around like he was a ragdoll and brutalizing him at every turn! It says a lot that Fatu could've easily pinned Coyle on several instances during this one, only to extend the punishment as much as possible! Talk about a huge statement made, with Jacob Fatu quickly establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with!
Last week's match between Marty Scurll and "MJF" featured a controversial ending which saw Friedman poke the eyes and then roll his opponent up with a handful of tights for good measure, all while "The Villain's" rope break went unnoticed by the Referee. It's little surprise then that the former two-time EWA World Heavyweight Champion felt like he had a bone of contention with the official in that match, calling out Brian Hebner for a face-to-face. To his credit, Scurll wasn't frothing at the mouth over the result, but instead offered Hebner the chance to do the right thing and reverse his decision given the wealth of evidence suggesting he got the original call wrong. Of course, that then brought out "The Salt of the Earth" himself, who decided to put to use his power to fire or hire anyone of his choosing (as won during the Free-For-All Match back at SuperBrawl XIX)...only rather than fire Marty Scurll as most of us expected, "MJF" fired Brian Hebner instead, moments before the Referee could reverse his decision! And to add insult to injury, he then blamed Scurll for forcing him to do so! While Marty tried to take the bullet for Hebner and offered to lose his job in Brian's place, Friedman had seemingly made his decision, leading to Scurll angrily demanding a rematch between the two of them instead. However, when "MJF" turned it down, EWA General Manager Harry Smith made a rare SLAM! appearance to take the power out of "The Top 1%er's" hands, making Scurll vs Friedman II official for St. Valentine's Day Massacre! And whether "MJF" likes it or not, he can't get out of this one!
Main event time, and after Chad Gable got to choose Jack Gallagher's opponent last week, "The Extraordinary Gentleman" returned the favor this time around! Only, while Gable used that stipulation to mock the National Champion's caliber by giving him some greenhorn opposition, Gallagher decided to up the ante by bringing back Aleister Black! Needless to say then, this was a far greater challenge than Gable would have probably liked considering he's got a shot at the gold coming up in just a matter of days, yet that doesn't mean that "The American Alpha" didn't give it all he's got! Indeed, Gable came flying out of the starting blocks to try and end this one early, yet Aleister Black would quickly turn things around, taking control of the action. From out of nowhere though, Gable would eventually cinch in the Ankle Lock and try for the submission, only to see Jack Gallagher come down to ringside for a closer look. That distraction proved effective, with Black battling back before finally managing to secure his Dark Ritual submission, a variation on a dragon sleeper! When Gable refused to quit despite the torturous pressure he was under, the National Champion threw in the towel for his number one contender, wanting to make sure there was at least something left of the former Olympian for him to face this coming Friday. As "The Extraordinary Gentleman" himself would explain, he wants their match at St. Valentine's Day Massacre to be a true showcase for the National Championship, encouraging Gable to buck up his ideas if he's going to play his part in that! Of course, one could argue that this was just more mind games between these two closely-matched competitors, but nevertheless, it should add even more fuel to the fire when Gallagher makes his first title defense later this week!
Time now for my top three movers and shakers from this week's show. Let's see what we've got:
1. "El Desperado"/Seth Rollins
2. Aleister Black
3. Jacob Fatu
I've given top spot to both "El Desperado" and Seth Rollins jointly after the pair of them knocked off their opposition to secure a match against one another, with the right to challenge for the TV Championship on the line! Coming in at number two, Aleister Black looked as if he hasn't skipped a beat during his absence while also doing some serious damage to Chad Gable's momentum ahead of his National Title encounter with Jack Gallagher. And last but by no means least, I was thoroughly impressed with the bullish debut by Jacob Fatu, making mincemeat out of a tough son of a gun in Rory Coyle while barely breaking a sweat! Expect big things from this second generation superstar, folks!
Well, there we are then...another week in the bank, and with a huge line-up to look forward to this Friday! While most folks'll be celebrating St. Valentine's Day with their loved ones, the E-Wrestling Alliance will be making war, not love, with a whole load of heated rivalries coming to the boil! Between Gabriel and Harper clashing over the World Championship, Jack Gallagher putting the National Title on the line against Chad Gable, and "MJF" and Marty Scurll looking to settle their differences, there's bound to be plenty of fireworks this Friday in Chicago! And that's not even mentioning the possible explosions when "The Honky Tonk Man" and Santino Marella defend the Tag Titles against "The Mighty Don't Kneel," a still-injured Sasha Banks puts her Women's Championship up for grabs against Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch, "El Desperado" and Seth Rollins duke it out for a future TV Title match, and Marty Jannetty and "Prince Albert" look to settle their own score too! Yep, it seems like we're in for one violent night come February 14th! And with that, I leave you with this final message..."Roses are red, violets are blue, St Valentine's will be a Massacre, we'll see you there soon!" Until next time,
BOOMER SOONER!
