Post by Ross Report on Oct 2, 2018 13:21:28 GMT
It's always a special night whenever the EWA visits Las Vegas, and Sin City Survival 2018 was no different! It was a show with all the glitz and glamour you'd expect in the "City of Lights," but one that was also jam-packed with the amazing action you'll only find in the EWA! Let's break it all down!
Before the show officially got underway, some breaking footage was shown of an incident earlier in the day at the Sin City Survival Fan Fest. "The Velveteen Dream" had been taking part in an autograph signing for the EWA Universe, only to get jumped once again by Marty Scurll! The war between these two sure-fire future champions has been escalating in recent weeks, and this was just another example of the bad blood between them (as well as being a damn good reason why you should check out these Fan Fests that typically take place ahead of every Pay-Per-View). Security was on hand to break up this fight, but I've been reliably informed that next Sunday on SLAM!, "The Dream" and "The Villain" will finally have the opportunity to settle the score in one-on-one competition! That should be a doozy!
Heading into the Pay-Per-View, there was a lot of buzz about the grudge match between Big Show and Fit Finlay, and it didn't fail to deliver. If ever you need an example of how compelling simple storytelling can be, look no further than this rivalry, folks! After "The World's Largest Athlete" defeated Finlay in their first go around, he refused to give "The Fighting Irishman" a rematch, not wanting to be the man to end the veteran's career. However, Finlay saw that as disrespectful on the Big Show's behalf, resulting in some wild brawls that finally forced the big man's hand and brought us to this second go-around. In any match involving Big Show, you've got to believe the former National Champion is an automatic favorite considering his size and strength, yet give Fit Finlay all the credit in the world here, that didn't seem to deter him. After weathering the early storm, Finlay took the fight right to his opponent in a way Big Show hasn't had to deal with before, eventually leading to Show trying to step out of his wheelhouse by scaling the corner in an effort to put "The Fighting Irishman" away. That would prove a critical mistake however, allowing Finlay to stop the attempt and use that positioning to spike his opponent with a Celtic Cross. With that devastating move came both the victory and a healthy slice of retribution for Finlay's only EWA defeat thus far! And as we'd find out a little later in the show, now that he'd slain the giant and proved himself once more, Fit Finlay has officially his hat into the ring for the 2018 King of the Ring, making him one of the frontrunners for this year's tournament, at least in my estimation!
It's fair to say Al Snow and the bWo have been somewhat subdued over the past month after being told by Val Venis to tone down the antics when he rehired them during his first night in charge. Of course, Al being Al, it was almost inevitable this new status quo wouldn't last. Indeed, thanks to an elephant-stomping, monster truck loop-de-looing, blimp-crashing escapade (that wasn't even caught on camera), it looks like "The Snowman" and friends are back to looking for new jobs again. Maybe they'll have better luck with whoever is Guest General Manager for October?
We've seen combinations of Lio Rush, Kenny Omega and Dolph Ziggler clash with one another on multiple occasions over the last month or so, often with Gabriel also in the mix. However, with "The Solitary Reaper" being bumped up to the main event in Matt Morgan's absence, that left an open spot in this fatal fourway to determine a new number one contender to the National Championship, one that was filled by Marty Jannetty! You could easily claim that "The Rocker" was the x-factor in this contest, having put together an impressive winning run lately while also not having any interactions with his opponents up until this point. It's fair to say that Jannetty continued to shine here in an exciting match wrestled at a frenetic pace, with all four superstars doing their damnedest to pull off the victory. That just makes it all the more frustrating that the result wasn't decided by a competitor's skill or the strength of their performance, but rather thanks to the interference of a near 7 foot monster in a suit who came in and decimated Omega, Rush and Jannetty to hand Dolph Ziggler the victory on a silver platter. I don't know who that man is or what his relationship is with "The Show-Off," but one thing's for sure, Ziggler seems to have found himself a deadly insurance policy! Here's hoping we get some answers on next week's SLAM!
Like many, the Unsanctioned Parking Lot Brawl was the match I was least looking forward to last night. Not because of the talent involved or the match environment obviously, but more so because of what might happen to "The Midnight Rider" on his lonesome against Braun Strowman and Santino Marella. Especially after what they did to his partner John Cena one week prior. Well, despite a promising start by the masked man, it turns out those fears were well-founded. As soon as Strowman and Marella took control, it was all one-way traffic, with "The Rider" suffering a vicious beating at the hands of this dastardly duo, eventually getting powerslammed into the trunk of a car and having it closed on him, before Strowman and Marella (well, mostly "The Monster Among Men") then up-ended the car, doing Lord knows how much damage to "The Rider." From my brief discussions with the EWA's crack medical team, the prognosis doesn't look good for "The Masked Rider," with there being a strong possibility that he might never be cleared to return to in-ring action after this. It was a disgusting assault by Strowman and "The Italian Stallion," one where you can see the monstrous influence of Samuel Shaw pulling the strings behind the scenes, urging them to go that step too far. And after finally making good on their promise to rid the EWA of both John Cena and "The Midnight Rider," one has to wonder just who'll be next on their hit-list?
Both Nia Jax and Tessa Blanchard had ample reason to feel aggrieved about not getting their respective title rematches after losing the gold, but hat's off to our GM for September Val Venis for coming up with this compromise. With a shot at the Women's Championship up for grabs, neither "The Wrecking Ball With The Million Dollar Smile" nor "The Queen of the Carolinas" held back even an inch, throwing one another across the ring with total disregard for the other's safety. In the end though, that wicked Hammerlock DDT belonging to Tessa Blanchard proved to be decisive, handing "The Spoken" member a chance to reclaim the gold! But just who will she be facing; Dominatrix or Blue Pantaloons? We'd find out a little later in the show!
Before that could happen though, it was time for a huge Two-Out-Of-Three-Falls Match for the Tag Team Championships, as "The Kings of Wrestling" defended against "The Vaudevillains." Both teams had a lot of momentum behind them coming into this one, with English and Gotch arguably eeking out the lion's share thanks to that Aiden English singles victory over Cesaro last week. Still, with the titles on the line and everything to play for, both champions and challengers brought their "A-Game," resulting in one of the most incredible tag team matches in EWA history. I've never been a fan of over-thinking match quality or rating them by "stars," but this one deserves all the plaudits it will likely receive thanks to nearly 30 minutes of edge-of-the-seat action. Honestly, any recap I try and give of this match won't do it the justice it deserves, so if you missed last night's Pay-Per-View (and shame on you if you did), I urge you to check it out on the EWA Network to take it in all in for yourselves. You won't be disappointed! Kudos to both "The Kings of Wrestling" and "The Vaudevillains" for an amazing contest that just goes to show how highly-regarded a prize the EWA Tag Team Championships are!
How do you follow up a match like that? Apparently, with a cryptic message from some mysterious forces, hyping the arrival of WALTER. The Austrian grappler is undoubtedly one of the most highly-sought free agents on the current independent scene, yet judging by what we witnessed here, don't expect the "Ring General" that has been tearing it up all over the world. This appears to be an all-new WALTER, one who could prove even more terrifying than his past reputation suggests. We'll see how this all pans out next Sunday, when he's due to make his in-ring debut!
From one title match to another, Dominatrix put her Women's Championship on the line against Blue Pantaloons. The challenger already held a non-title win over "The Masked Mistress of the Santanic Clown Posse" from a few weeks ago, proving without a doubt that she isn't one to be underestimated. Then again, neither is Dominatrix, who has been as strong a performer this year as arguably anyone else in the women's division. Needless to say then, this was exactly the kind of back-and-forth battle you'd expect to see between two hugely talented individuals who weren't averse to bending the rules if need be! In the end though, Blue Pantaloons managed to string together two big time moves in the Fiddle-Faddle Facebreaker and Claptrap Kick to finally put her opponent down for the count, securing her first Women's Title! And wouldn't you know it? That now means that the Women's Championship has changed hands three times in the last four months! For a division which some critics have tried to claim isn't very competitive, I'd say the evidence suggests otherwise!
For weeks, we've seen Val Venis speaking to a "mystery" person or persons on the other end of the phone, with the tease being that they'd arrive at Sin City Survival. Well, for anyone even remotely familiar with EWA history, you could probably make an educated guess as to who our visiting GM was talking to, none other than his old running buddies and the greatest tag team in EWA history, "The Vegas Connection!" Kevin Nash and Diamond Dallas Page haven't been seen in the EWA for over two years now, but they were on hand last night to receive the key to their adopted hometown (which thankfully went down a lot smoother than when Steve Corino was awarded the key to Philadelphia back before Return of the Living Damned in 2013). It was great to see "Big Sexy" and "The Master of the Diamond Cutter" in such good spirits, even as Nash has seen better days physically, and I'm sure they appreciated that incredible response from the EWA Universe as well. "The Vegas Connection" may be gone, but they'll never be forgotten!
And then we came to our main event for the evening, that HUGE Sin City Survival Elimination Match pitting Brock Lesnar, Chris Sabin and Ken Shamrock against Jack Swagger, Trevor Mann and Gabriel! I don't need to tell you about all the bad blood between the majority of these individuals, or the ramifications of potentially eliminating either the World or National Champions. "The Beast" was obviously all fired up for the task at hand going by his earlier promo, picking up where he left off at Summer Stampede to send Jack Swagger packing following a wild start to the match! However, Lesnar soon found himself in unfamiliar territory after some excellent teamwork from Gabriel and Trevor Mann that isolated the World Champion from his partners, eventually resulting in one of the biggest shocks of the year when Brock became the first man eliminated from his team! Granted, it took an accidental shot from Shamrock, as well as both Mann's 630 and Gabriel's Fall From Grace in quick succession, as well as both men piling on top of him to do so, but make no mistake, that has to put both Mann and Gabriel in the title mix as a result! Not to mention putting Ken Shamrock in Brock Lesnar's crosshairs on top of that!
The action continued to breakdown, until Shamrock was finally able to score a measure of revenge for his loss last month, forcing Trevor Mann to tap out to the Ankle Lock (despite Don West's ridiculous claims "The Spoken" was just reaching for the ropes). That seemingly put Gabriel at a huge disadvantage, as "The Solitary Reaper" almost found himself a victim of the Ankle Lock as well! Alas, a quick rake of the eyes and a sudden Shining Wizard changed all that, handing Shamrock his first pinfall loss in the EWA this year! As such, the match finally came down to Chris Sabin and Gabriel, one-on-one for the very first time. Both men looked exhausted after the balls-to-wall pace of the preceding 25+ minutes, but even with their bodies pushed to their limits, neither man held back in those closing moments. After some exciting back-and-forth, Sabin survived the flying European uppercut known as the Descension before coming back with the Cradle Shock to pick up arguably the biggest victory in his burgeoning EWA career! While Chris "Detroit's Finest" seems happy to sit out this year's King of the Ring tournament, he's made no bones about wanting to make the National Championship THE top title in the E-Wrestling Alliance, and I can think of few better ways of making that a reality than with this victory right here. And as for Gabriel, let's not forget that he more than held his own last night, especially after coming into this match as a last-minute replacement, capping off a month of stellar performances. The future is obviously bright for this young man, despite this momentary setback.
With Sin City Survival in the bank, here's my picks for the top three movers and shakers coming out of the show:
1. Chris Sabin
2. Kings of Wrestling
3. Blue Pantaloons
Last night was a career-defining performance from "Detroit's Finest," proving why Chris Sabin is deserving of being recognized amongst the EWA's upper echelon after emerging as the sole survivor in the Sin City Survival Elimination Match. At number two, Chris Hero and Cesaro had to overcome some game opponents to walk out with their Tag Team Titles, putting on a hell of a tag team clinic in the process. And last but not least, Blue Pantaloons put on an incredible show to defeat one of the most "dominant" (if you'll pardon the pun) women in the EWA today and capture the Women's Title! However, Ms Pantaloons can't afford to rest on her laurels, as newly crowned number one contender Tessa Blanchard is surely hot on her heels!
As always, we'd love to hear from you if you want to share your own picks for this week's top three movers and shakers over on our Twitter page. And don't forget that you can contact me via Twitter or right here on EWA.com if you've got any questions for my next Mailbag column, due one week from Friday!
In the meantime though, I can't wait to see all the fallout from this monumental show...and fortunately, we only have to sit tight until Sunday to find out! How will Brock Lesnar respond to that shocking early elimination? Will either of our new number one contenders demand their title shots at the earliest opportunity? What can we expect from the debut of WALTER? And, of course, just who will be our brand new guest General Manager for October? There's only one way to find out! Until then,
BOOMER SOONER!
