Ross Report - 2/15/20

Valentine's Day has been and gone, and while romance might have been in the air for most, the EWA experienced something far more violent!

As the show opened, Gabriel was revealed to be already standing in the squared circle, once again looking to run his mouth about the EWA, its fans, and his World Championship opponent, Harper! That would ultimately draw out "The Goatsman," who sounded just as tired of listening to Gabriel's warped perception of reality as the rest of us, demanding they not wait until the end of the night to have their match, but instead do battle right there and then! Talk about a surprising turn of events to get the night underway, as Harper immediately took the fight to "The Archangel," catching him off guard! An eye rake and a low blow would help Gabriel turn the tables in his favor, before nailing the World Champion with a top rope Descension, only to see Harper kick out at one! The Fall From Grace quickly followed, but even that couldn't get more than a solitary count! Gabriel looked stunned as "The Goatsman" shook off the two biggest weapons in his arsenal before retaliating with some hard-hitting offense of his own that the 2019 King of the Ring simply didn't have an answer for! That culminated in a huge Truckstop Lariat to put Gabriel away in under five minutes, as Harper made his first successful title defense! I can't imagine this is anything like how Gabriel foresaw this match going, having been so confident that it was his destiny to win the biggest prize in the game and take his revenge on the EWA...but after spending the last 6 weeks pushing Harper to become a more worthy competitor in Gabriel's eyes, I imagine he's realized too late to be careful what you wish for! Meanwhile, with his first challenger vanquished, Harper proves without a doubt that he's no "one-hit wonder"...but the big question is, where does the Champion go from here?

Last week's SLAM! saw Marty Jannetty defeat "Prince Albert" via disqualification after "The Piercing Prince" tried to give his opponent a nose-ring against Marty's will! Well, "The Rocker" demanded the chance for vengeance and got it in the shape of this rematch, which saw the veteran go after his nemesis with everything he's got! The sheer ferocity of "Old Man Marty's" offense seemed to initially catch Albert unawares, but the big man is the kind of fighter who is tough to keep down for very long, as Jannetty found out here. Albert used his superior size and strength to take control of the action, before looking to finish what he started last week as he grabbed Zippy! He tried once again to pierce the nose, but this time, Marty fought his way free and then took "Prince Albert" off his feet with a couple of well-placed superkicks! "The Rocker" then looked to give Albert a taste of his own medicine, successfully piercing the big man's nose...but in a strange turn of events, the piercing seemed to have the opposite effect to what Marty Jannetty intended, firing Albert up and giving him the boost he needed to put his opponent down for the count! "The Piercing Prince" chalks up the win here, while Marty Jannetty is sent back to the proverbial drawing board.

It's fair to say that the anticipation for the Women's Championship triple threat match was off-the-charts heading into St. Valentine's Day Massacre! Between Sasha's much-publicized knee injury, Becky Lynch looking at redemption after coming so close at SuperBrawl XIX, and Rhea Ripley looking to finally get her shot at the gold, there was lots of different facets to this one! One has to be impressed with just how well "The Boss'" bad wheel held up here given the severity of her injury, but the champion still faced plenty of jeopardy in the match thanks to squaring off against two highly-motivated opponents simultaneously! You almost need eyes in the back of your head when you're in these kinds of multi-person environments, especially in a scenario where the defending champion doesn't even necessarily have to be pinned to lose their title. Indeed, we saw several close calls here with both Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley coming within fractions of a second of securing that elusive victory, only to have the action broken up at the last possible moment! It all came down to Lynch delivering her patented Straight Fireball to Rhea Ripley and seemingly having "The Full Metal Maniac" beat, yet Banks managed to break up the count and take Lynch out with a Banks Statement before pinning Rhea to retain the gold! This was undoubtedly Sasha's toughest challenge to date considering the caliber of opponents and her physical situation heading into the bout, but "The Boss" continues to rise to the occasion! At this rate, I'm genuinely not sure if there's a woman on the roster right now who can pry that championship away from Sasha Banks!

The lovely Renee Young had an opportunity to interview the newest tag team on the EWA block, (albeit a duo who've obviously got plenty of experience together), in "Demolition." That's right, Ax and Smash have signed on the dotted line, eager to show how destructive a force they can be as they issued an open challenge to any team who dared face them later in the show! While waiting for a response, "Demolition" decided to make the most of the EWA's amazing catering service, only for that to lead to a confrontation with Zack Ryder, who would go on to accept the challenge for a match, teaming up with Brody King to take on the brawling bruisers! Unfortunately for the makeshift team of King and Ryder though, Ax and Smash weren't in the mood for fun and games, absolutely decimating their opponents in brutal fashion! What an unbelievable in-ring debut from the veterans, who look like they might be better now than they've ever been, which is certainly saying something! And with "Demolition" on the rampage, that surely puts the rest of the tag team division on notice!

On the last episode of SLAM!, "El Desperado" and Seth Rollins both qualified for a match against one another at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, with the winner going on to challenge Braun Strowman for the Television Championship at our next show! And as we heard from "The Architect" earlier in the broadcast when interviewed by Todd Grisham, it was an opportunity that Rollins had every intention of making the most of! However, "El Desperado" didn't even get a chance to step foot in the ring last night after being jumped from behind by Jacob Fatu, who then launched the masked man off the stage to take him out of commission! Fatu wasn't done there either, marching down to ringside and demanding to take "The Outlaw's" place in the match, with Rollins showing no hesitation in accepting the challenge! This led to an impromptu high-octane contest between the two, which started at a breakneck pace and didn't let up throughout! That made for a thrilling encounter, with Rollins doing everything within his power to try and slow the momentum of the Samoan powerhouse, only for Jacob Fatu to keep coming back meaner and nastier than before! It looked as if Rollins might have finally had his opponent where he wanted him as he went for the Curb Stomp, only to get powered high into the air and caught with the pop-up Samoan drop! From there, Fatu followed up with a brutal corner hip attack before finally finishing off "The Crossfit Jesus" with a Clothesline From Hell to secure the three count! And with that, he books a mouth-watering slobberknocker against Braun Strowman a week from Sunday! As for Rollins, it's hard not to feel he was hard done by here given Seth had obviously prepared for an entirely different opponent than the one he faced, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before these two incredible newcomers do battle once again...hopefully with a bit more notice next time!

After months and months on the sidelines, Samoa Joe is back and looking healthier than ever! Not only that, but it seems that in his time away, "The Destroyer" has had a chance to truly reflect on his rivalry with Pete Dunne last year, which became more of an obsession than anything else. Well, with Joe looking to put the past behind him and start afresh, he issued an open challenge for a straight-up, good ol' fashioned 'rasslin' match on next week's SLAM!, one that would be answered by the self-styled "Greatest Man Who Ever Lived," Austin Aries! Indeed, "A Double" clearly sees this as a huge opportunity of his own, and he's not wrong either! If Aries can knock off a competitor like Samoa Joe in his EWA debut, that'll go a long way in pushing him towards the main event scene where Austin believes he belongs! But at the same time, defeating someone like Joe, especially when he's in this new frame of mind, is no mean feat! One thing's for sure...we're in for a potential barnburner of a match next Sunday!

Jack Gallagher versus Chad Gable was every bit the technical showcase many expected it to be. With both superstars highly adept at mat wrestling, it turned out to be the proverbial "game of human chess," as the late, great Gorilla Monsoon used to say. Things were fairly even in the early goings as both champion and challenger took some time to feel one another out, but that soon changed when Gallagher finally began to take the advantage, only for Gable to turn things around with a bone-shaking overhead belly to belly when he tried heading to the top rope! That just goes to show, high risk doesn't always pay off, folks! As the match continued and the sense of urgency increased, both superstars were going all out to ensure they'd be the one to walk out with the National Championship! After a missed corner dropkick from Gallagher, Gable attempted to hit the Chaos Theory German suplex, only to have "The Extraordinary Gentleman" avoid the move and battle his way back! That allowed Jack to finally hit his signature move on the second time of asking, before utilizing a guillotine choke to force the submission! It was a hell of a showing from "The American Alpha," but not quite enough on this night to walk out with the gold. Meanwhile, Jack Gallagher is off to the races as National Champion and apparently aiming to add some more championships to his collection, if his promo on EWA.com last week was anything to go by! Of course, he's not the first superstar to harbor such ambitions, but it goes without saying that even someone as talented as Gallagher has their work cut out for them in that regard!

It's no secret that "The Honky Tonk Man" and Santino Marella have had a somewhat tenuous relationship since destiny threw them together as Tag Team Champions back at SuperBrawl XIX. Well, on "Honky's" front at least, anyway. At the same time though, "The Mighty Don't Kneel" have quickly established themselves as completely in sync with one another, racking up four straight victories in the build up to this well-deserved title opportunity! Indeed, that familiarity helped them take the early advantage here as well, with Santino being isolated during the early goings before eventually tagging out to "The Honky Tonk Man." While "Mr. Shake, Rattle And Roll" seemed to be in control for several minutes, he may have pushed his luck a little too far, allowing "TMDK" back into the contest. However, despite having several opportunities to tag in the fresher man, "Honky" refused to do so, apparently having little faith in his partner despite the fact that Santino Marella is a five-time Tag Team Champion! Eventually though, Santino managed to tag himself in against Honky's will, at which point the match turned on its head as "The Italian Stallion" sent Buddy Silva packing before finishing off Shane Haste with the Cobra, allowing the champs to make their second successful title defense! You'd think "The Honky Tonk Man" might be happy about that, but no. On the contrary, it almost looked as if he felt Santino had stolen his spotlight and capitalized on all "Honky's" hard work, just going to show that things are still far from copacetic between the Tag Team Champions!

Earlier in the night, the Halls were surprised to find themselves barricaded in their private locker room, seemingly trapping them. It would turn out there was a specific reason for that as Marty Scurll later tried to give an interview to Todd Grisham, only to find himself assaulted by Alexander Hammerstone and Richard Holliday! Like a pair of damn jackals, "The Dynasty" picked Scurll apart knowing full well that "The Villain" didn't have any allies coming to his aid, damn near breaking his arm after twice slamming a heavy metal door against it! Needless to say then, when "MJF" came down to the ring for our main event and called Marty Scurll out, there was no response from the freshly injured former two-time World Champion! After Friedman demanded the Ref give Scurll a ten count or forfeit the match, "The Salt of the Earth" would then cockily open the floor to anyone with the cajones to face him in Marty's place...a challenge answered by Cody Hall, having finally been freed from his locker room! Seems like "MJF" didn't count on that, as he soon had little choice but to take on the second generation superstar in an impromptu match, with Hall bringing the fight in the opening minutes! He had "The Top 1%er" on the proverbial ropes, with "MJF" unable to gain any kind of significant foothold, resulting in him repeatedly cutting out of the ring to stop his opponent from mounting too much momentum. I'm sure it also had the added bonus of frustrating young Cody as well, especially considering he was looking to get payback for what "MJF's" cronies had done to Marty Scurll earlier in the night! "MJF" would finally turn things around after smashing Hall's hand against the guard rail, with the damage done continuing to plague the second generation superstar throughout the rest of the contest, especially as Friedman took a page out of "The Villain's" playbook! That meant when Cody finally found an opening to hit the Razor's Edge, "MJF" managed to take him out at the injured hand before forcing the submission with the Friedman Armbar Special! A valiant effort on this Valentine's Day from Cody Hall, but "MJF" continues to prove why so many people call him the fastest rising star in all of sports entertainment! Still, there's still the small matter of settling the score with Marty Scurll that needs to be addressed, and while "The Villain" looks like he could potentially be on the shelf for a while, there's little doubt that he won't stop until he finally gets "MJF" in a fair match! When that might be, I wouldn't care to speculate...but I'd bet a crate of my finest BBQ sauce that it'll happen sooner rather than later!

After such a wild and unpredictable show, let's check out my picks for this week's top three movers and shakers:

1. Jacob Fatu
2. Sasha Banks
3. Harper

I've given the top spot to "The Samoan Werewolf", who walked out with a guaranteed shot at the Television Championship next week despite not originally being booked on the Pay-Per-View! In second place, Sasha Banks deserves a ton of credit for overcoming the odds to retain her Women's Title against two game opponents! And last but by no means least, Harper's impressive World Championship defence against Gabriel shows he's no "flash in the pan," proving without a shadow of a doubt that "The Goatsman" is the real deal!

With St. Valentine's Day Massacre in the can, the build towards this year's Civil War Match gets underway! That's right, we're weeks away from one of the biggest shows and biggest matches of the year, one where the winner earns the right to challenge for the World Championship anywhere and at any time of their choosing! Now is as good a time as any for the superstars on the EWA roster to take the bull by the horns and start building some major league momentum going into that battle royal to end all battle royals! Who's going to step up to the plate and stake their claim? I don't know but I can't wait to find out, starting on next week's SLAM! Until then,

BOOMER SOONER!