Ross Report - 8/13/21

Since Harry Smith announced a special Pay-Per-View-sized event to commemorate the 500th episode of SLAM!, the anticipation has been steadily building to a fever pitch! And at long last, we're just days away from not just THE biggest SLAM! in E-Wrestling Alliance history, but arguably one of our biggest events EVER, taking place live from the home of the US tennis Open in Queens! With that in mind then, let's not waste any time here and dive straight into what we can expect from Sunday's showcase spectacular!

First and foremost, it's worth mentioning a special edition of Carlito's Cabana that was announced a couple of weeks ago. What makes this one interesting though is that we don't know who'll be the special guest on the show, and apparently, neither does "Carlito Caribbean Cool" either! That hasn't stopped Carlito from trying to find out though, with the backstage scuttlebutt from Todd Grisham last week suggesting it may well be a former champion and/or a Hall of Famer...but at the same time, that doesn't exactly narrow down the list of suspects by much! Still, color me intrigued to see who'll be appearing on Carlito's Cabana this Sunday!


As far as the rest of the card goes, it's absolutely stacked from top to bottom! For instance, how about the long-brewing showdown between Bo Dallas and Joey Janela? After Dallas took out the other members of "The New Freebirds" earlier this year, these two competed in several matches that typically saw Bo come out on top through some kind of shenanigans, eventually resulting in "The Bad Boy" being forced to join "Bo and the Boys" against his will. However, with Mark Henry violently eliminated, Abyss indefinitely suspended as a result, Marko Stunt screwed out of his job, and Eva Marie on the lookout for new business ventures, "The Boys" have pretty much collapsed! Perhaps that's why Bo Dallas is so keen to make amends with his former foe, suggesting that if he can defeat Joey this Sunday, then they become a permanent tag team! Unsurprisingly though, Janela wants nothing more than to move on from all the Bo Dallas drama that's turned his life upside down in 2021, meaning if he can defeat Bo, that's the end of their professional relationship once and for all! Of course, Bo Dallas no longer has any back-up to help him pick up the victory as he has in the past, so if he wants to form a genuine alliance with Joey Janela, he'll have to prove he can do it on his lonesome...and quite frankly, I'm not sure if that's something the self-proclaimed "Most Inspirational Man in the EWA" is capable of doing!

Who would have thought a bunch of bear traps would lead all the way to the first ever EWA Jailhouse Match? And yet, that's exactly what's happened over the past couple of months following on from Sammy Guevara's refusal to accept the citation he received from Officer Tyler Breeze! In fact, it wasn't just the citation "The Spanish God" refused to accept, but "Officer Getdown's" authority altogether, resulting in several clashes that seemed to culminate at last month's Red, White & Bruised, where Breeze would pick up a tainted DQ victory when Guevara attempted to bash his skull in with the ring bell! However, as if that wasn't bad enough, the "Black Thought LLC" member would then steal Tyler's partner, Officer DANGO! That's right...Breeze's custom police cruiser--almost a cross between one of James Bond's high-tech Aston Martin's, the GadgetMobile, and K.I.T.T. from "Knight Rider"--was taken for a weeks long joyride by the former National Champion! Alas, when it finally looked as if he was ready to return DANGO, it all turned out to be a ruse by Guevara, allowing him to get the jump on Tyler Breeze yet again! Using handcuffs and pepper spray to take down "The Long And Sexy Arm Of The Law," it was clear that Sammy Guevara felt extremely proud of himself for his blatant show of disrespect! It also inspired him to bring in "The Mountie" as a supposed "true officer of the law," who claimed Tyler was banned from returning to his home country of Canada! This eventually forced "Officer Breezy" to lay down a challenge to settle this beef once and for all, proposing to do so with a Jailhouse Match! That means whoever loses between Guevara and Breeze will have to spend the night on Riker's Island prison, one of the most dangerous prisons in the entire world! Talk about the stakes being high!

One of the ways that Harry Smith has helped mark this Sunday as such a special occasion is by declaring that EVERY EWA championship will be defended on the show, which may well be the first time in SLAM!'s 500 episode history that that's been the case! That means several champions will be making their first defense since winning the gold, including Kevin Owens putting the National Championship on the line! It was a long, hard road for "Mr. Wrestling" to capture the gold, with many an obstacle placed in his path, yet Owens finally hit the jackpot at Red, White & Bruised last month! He wouldn't have to wait long to find out who his opponent would be either, as a number one contenders match was quickly established, pitting Joey Janela against Chad Gable of the Albright Academy in Gable's EWA debut. Not many newcomers are put in that kind of position so early into their careers, but I guess it's a testament both to "The Shooter's" belief in his pupil's abilities, and the opportunities that are available here in the E-Wrestling Alliance for anyone who wants to step up! And while that match may have ended in Gable's favor thanks in large part to an "inadvertent" distraction by Bo Dallas, it proved without a doubt that the "American Alpha" is not someone to be underestimated! At the same time though, judging by the promo we saw from Kevin Owens on last week's SLAM!, he's as fired up as ever to prove he's no one-hit wonder! "KO" wants to be a fighting champion who'll make damn sure the National Championship is on the tip of the tongue of the entire EWA Universe, and you can bet your bottom dollar he's not going to back down from a fight against Gable or anyone else!


Another new champion who'll be making their first defense is none other than Pete Dunne! "The Bruiserweight" won the TV Title under extremely controversial circumstances several weeks ago, convincing Drew McIntyre to give him a rematch after falling short during their battle at Red, White & Bruised, before then pushing all the right buttons to make Drew accept a last minute No Disqualification stipulation. However, as it turned out, Dunne had no intention of giving McIntyre a fair fight, instead setting all of "Black Thought LLC" on "The True King of Scotland" in a damn mugging, before bashing Drew's spine in with the dreaded sledgehammer he put to such grim effect last year! To top it off, Dunne then announced that as TV Champion, any challenger would only get one shot at him, seemingly as a means to refuse Drew McIntyre a rematch should he ever return from his injuries (though given the severity of them, even that seems unlikely right now). The self-styled "Career Killer" would then tease the EWA Universe over who his SLAM! #500 opponent might be, only to be caught by surprise when none other than Chris Sabin made a shocking return! "The Motor City Machine Gun" hasn't been seen in an EWA ring for close to two years, but fans will remember the incredible run he had in 2018 where he managed to defeat Matt Morgan for the National Title and hold it all the way to that year's SuperBrawl, where he unsuccessfully Captained an all-star team that many pegged as the favorites. It's well-documented that Sabin also endured some major injury issues during that period, thanks in large part to Jack Swagger, issues which required surgery and kept him from making a full-time return to the ring until recently. What better way to come back to the EWA though than on SLAM! #500 and challenging for the Television Championship, a title Sabin last held all the way back in 2007! However, he clearly faces a tough task against a competitor like Pete Dunne, arguably the most dangerous man the EWA has ever seen, so there's a chance Sabin may have his work cut out for him. Still, if he can tap into that same form that made him one of the breakout stars of 2018, who knows? Perhaps we'll see a brand new Television Champion crowned this Sunday!

The women's division has had its ups and downs this year, but Ember Moon's rise to Women's Champion has undoubtedly been one of those "feel-good" stories that has really stuck out! It's amazing to think that her career seemed done after the collapse of "The Horde" in 2019, only for the former "Villainess" to take advantage of an open slot in this year's Queen of the Ring to make her return before then going on to win the third ever women's Civil War Match! Moon followed that up by toppling the near unstoppable Aliyah at Red, White & Bruised, yet she's barely had a chance to enjoy her momentous victory thanks to the arrival of Jade Cargill! There's no question whatsoever that "The Total Package" lives up to her moniker, with an incredible look and the physical goods to back it up in the ring. She's also not short of confidence either, as I can attest first-hand after my sit-down interviews with both champion and challenger this past week on SLAM! That's not to suggest Ember isn't confident either, but there certainly seems to be a sense of entitlement as far as her opponent goes, which obviously has its plusses and minuses. Still, there's no arguing with the facts, which have seen Jade lay Ember out on a couple of occasions and even pin the Women's Champion during a wild tag team match (albeit, after Moon had been stabbed in the back by her own tag partner, Su Yung). That seemingly suggests that Cargill may well have Ember's number, yet considering the type of person our reigning Women's Champion is, I wouldn't be so sure of that. If anything, I've a feeling that Jade's dominance during their previous clashes could well hand Ember Moon even more inspiration to find a way past her opponent this Sunday, as if retaining her title wasn't already inspiration enough! And with Moon's quickness against Cargill's power, anything could happen when these two superstars clash at SLAM! #500!

The tag team ladder match has become somewhat of a summer tradition over the years and it looks as if 2021 will be no different! Needless to say, it's an especially high risk/high reward environment where teams tend to go all out, and one that doesn't often favor the reigning champions. Still, you could say that this one has been a long time coming after Dak Draper and J Fowler shocked the world by winning the titles from Pete Dunne and Kazuchika Okada, only to soon find themselves attacked by a new "Black Thought LLC" duo in the shape of Shingo Takagi and the returning Brian Pillman Jr. That wasn't all though as "The American Wolves" would soon stake their claim as well, resulting in a wild triple threat match at Red, White & Bruised that saw Eddie Edwards defeat Shingo and J Fowler in dramatic fashion! However, rather than bump "The Wolves" to the head of the line, that just lit a fuse under the backsides of "Black Thought LLC," as we saw multiple fights break out week after week, with the champions understandably trying to stay out of the line of fire as much as possible! In the end though, the war between the two potential challengers saw both Eddie Edwards and Brian Pillman Jr. pick up minor injuries, but rather than delay a potential title match, Draper & Fowler had a different idea. Indeed, last week saw the champions defend against the makeshift duo of Davey Richards and Shingo Takagi, who'd agreed to face one another for control over both championships should they be victorious. Alas, that was about the only thing they agreed on the whole night, with that breakdown in communication soon leading to both their respective partners getting involved and the match itself eventually being thrown out! While we were denied a winner there though, Harry Smith soon made sure that won't be the case at SLAM! #500 when he took the titles from ringside and informed all six men and the entire EWA Universe that it was time to bust out the ladders! With all that in mind then, it's safe to say we won't be witnessing a "catch-as-catch-can" classic with this one! If anything, this is more likely to resemble a car wreck on I-495 when it's all said and done! These multi-man ladder matches have the potential to quickly turn into demolition derbies, and while that can be exciting for the EWA faithful, it's also the kind of action that can shorten careers as well! Still, sometimes you need to take that extra risk to either defend or capture those elusive championships, and I'm sure all three of these teams are willing to go the distance if it'll mean being the ones who walk out of Sunday's anniversary show the champions!


And then that then brings us to our main event, and what a slobberknocker this promises to be! Chris Jericho's return at SuperBrawl XX has blossomed into an incredible career renaissance, albeit one that has been steeped in controversy thanks to plenty of shady tactics over the last eight months. It didn't take long after his National Title reign finally came to an end for the self-styled "Demo God" to quickly turn his attentions towards the biggest prize in the game, calling out our brand new champion "Hangman" Adam Page! Of course, the Aaron Creek native has really come into his own in 2021, living up to that potential that many of us have seen in him over the years. To think, Page started the year drinking too much and unable to score a victory for love nor money, only for a pep talk from Dean Malenko to help pick him up when he was close to rock bottom, going on a run that saw him win Civil War and then defeat Jamie Noble at Red, White & Bruised! However, Page is all too aware that winning the title isn't the end of his story but only the beginning. That's why he decided to throw out an open challenge to anyone who wanted to step up to the plate on SLAM! a couple of weeks ago, where most assumed Chris Jericho would put his money where his mouth is! However, that challenge would instead be answered by the returning Ricky Starks, a man who holds two straight victories over Adam Page from earlier this year but hadn't been seen in months. The two proceeded to tear the house down in an instant classic, yet just as it seemed as if "Hangman" Page was about to finally end his run of bad luck against Starks, "Le Champion" showed up from out of nowhere to lay the World Champion out with a Judas Effect! That set the stage for this Sunday's epic encounter, with Jericho convinced that he's the savior of the EWA and destined to become a record-breaking six-time champion...while "Hangman" Adam Page is eager to get some payback and shut the loud-mouthed veteran up for good! Whichever way you look at it though, I'm sure you folks will agree that we've got a dream match on our hands! Jericho represents the EWA of old, having been here at the company's inception 20 years ago and put together a damn near immaculate résumé during that time...but Adam Page is very much of the new school, a young, hungry athlete who is just starting to hit his stride and etch his name into the history books! That begs the question then, who'll be walking out of the Arthur Ashe Stadium with the coveted EWA World Heavyweight Championship? Will Jericho's age and experience work in his favor? Or could Page's youth and vitality see him outlast the "Demo God?" I guess there's only one way to find out, and that's by tuning in this Sunday for the 500th episode of SLAM! and what promises to be an absolute barnburner!

Yes, it's going to be a hell of a weekend for the E-Wrestling Alliance, with some EVERY championship on the line, guaranteed phenomenal in-ring action and a whole bunch of surprises...and just to top it all off, we'll also be dropping September's additions to the EWA Network as well! After covering the start of the Harry Smith era back in 2011 with last month's new content, this time we'll see the addition of the controversial and chaotic two months Michael Cole served as General Manager! So be sure to check that out for yourselves...after you've checked out SLAM! #500, obviously! In the meantime though, this is good ol' JR saying...

BOOMER SOONER!