Post by Ross Report on Oct 22, 2018 15:45:51 GMT
There's never a dull moment here in the E-Wrestling Alliance and this week was no exception, kicking off with World Champion Brock Lesnar demanding to know the identity of our GM for October. "The Beast" has a legitmate gripe with the person who's stacked the odds against him at next Sunday's All Hallows' Evil, especially since it would appear his shoulder woes aren't quite as healed as Brock would have us think. Well, it looked as if Todd Grisham had cracked the case later in the show, pinpointing the suited and booted "Yeti" as the man in charge, inadvertently putting a target on the giant's back. As a result, Lesnar took out all of his frustrations on "The Yeti," brutalizing him enough for local law enforcement to get involved, kicking Lesnar out of the Sun National Bank Center...only for it to be revealed that the mysterious monster from the Himalaya's wasn't General Manager after all! No, the actual guest GM would instead turn out to be Lesnar's estranged wife, Sable! And it seems as if she's out for revenge after her husband left her, doing everything within her power to make sure Brock Lesnar doesn't walk out of the Corn Palace next week with the World Championship still around his waist! We've seen Lesnar brush up against authority figures time and time again over the last six or seven years, but I never thought I'd see the day when his own wife was trying to rob him of the gold! No doubt about it, Brock Lesnar faces his toughest challenge next weekend, having to get past not only a hardened ring warrior like Big Show, but then either Shamrock or Trevor Mann as well, all while dealing with a major injury! Could we see a new World Champion crowned? Only time will tell!
After months of being talked up by superstars like Fit Finlay, Kenny Omega and Gabriel, King of the Ring season is officially underway! In one of two qualifying matches on last night's show, the enigmatic WALTER found himself going one-on-one with Velveteen Dream! Thankfully, there was none of those audio issues we've had whenever "They" appear, meaning we could concentrate on the match itself as WALTER took everything Dream had to offer and still came out on top. While his personal situation is obviously extremely distressing, "The Ring General" has proven himself to be a formidable competitor even under all that duress, and if this victory was anything to go by, he could well be one of the early favorites in this year's tournament. As for "The Dream" himself, it almost seems as if his battles with Marty Scurll have taken a lot of that early fire out of him. Here's hoping he can rebound from this loss though and start living up to his potential.
Lucas Calhoun might not have picked up any wins yet since arriving in the EWA earlier this month, but there's no question that he's quickly endeared himself to the EWA Universe. Considering how entertaining he is, it's not hard to see why either! "The Karate-Choppin' King" has a bone to pick with Marty Scurll, who last week seemingly moved on from Velveteen Dream by costing Calhoun a win over Big Show. Well, "The Villain" has officially been called out for his actions, with Scurll responding in kind a little later in the show while being interviewed by the lovely Renee Young. Indeed, it would appear the talented young man from the UK feels as if he's wrongly being painted with the same brush as "The King" thanks to sharing a few of his eccentricities, meaning these two are surely set on a collision course sooner rather than later!
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Nick Aldis this week, after "The National Treasure" took umbrage with some of my comments in the last Ross Report. Well, even though I won't pretend that I've been swung over to his way of thinking, I will say that I can understand Aldis' desire to protect the investments his various sponsors have made in him. Don't get me wrong, folks...I do still wish the focus was more on what he does in the ring rather than all the bells and whistles around it, but at the end of the day, you can't fault a man for taking every advantage to provide for his family as best he possibly can. And the truth of the matter is, despite all of that extra curricular activity, Aldis is still one heck of a competitor, as proved by the way he defeated "The Miz" last night. Mike Mizanin is very similar to Nick Aldis in many respects, with both having outside interests from wrestling while also having plenty of untapped potential in the ring, so while I'm sure this loss hurts, he'll no doubt be back and better than ever before you know it. Meanwhile, despite this not being an official King of the Ring qualifier, it seems as if this victory was enough to swing Nick Aldis a spot in the 2018 tournament, which has a real international flair to it this year! More on that later though!
Gabriel's disappointment at being skipped over as a challenger for the World Title is easy to understand, especially so since it seems as if Sable picking Big Show was more out of her vendetta against her husband than just his countout win over Gabriel a couple of weeks ago. Still, while I've had my fair share of criticisms about Gabriel and his attitude in the past, "The Solitary Reaper" showed real growth as he looks to use that disappointment to drive himself onwards to greater success. He'd get his chance to bounce back a little later in the show, taking on a competitor in Kenny Omega who is likewise searching for some kind of direction. It's no secret that "The Best Bout Machine" hasn't really been the same since his war with "The Santanic Clown Posse" earlier in the year, and this was a big chance for him to start righting the ship and getting back to winning ways, with the added pressure of a spot in the King of the Ring tournament up for grabs as well. As such, we saw an absolute slobberknocker between two men with something to prove, but in the end, only one of them could emerge victorious and that man was Gabriel. While you've got to feel for Kenny Omega coming so close here, my hat goes off to Gabriel for pulling it out of the bag and earning his place in the King of the Ring. Question is, can he keep his head on straight and go all the way?
Not only did I sit down with Nick Aldis this week, but I also got the opportunity to interview Big Show as well. "The World's Largest Athlete" has been one of the most consistent performers on the EWA roster this year, and it was certainly interesting to get his thoughts and feelings regarding the Double Jeopardy situation at All Hallows' Evil as well as all his potential opponents. I highly recommend checking this one out in case you missed it, folks. Fair warning too, there's every chance this might not be the only time you see my ugly mug on EWA television in the coming weeks...
It seems things really aren't going well in "The Vaudevillains" camp. Between Gotch and English coming up short against "The Kings of Wrestling" at Sin City Survival and then against Braun Strowman and Santino Marella last week, it's been a tough time for the throwbacks lately that has only been compounded by the fact that Blue Pantaloons has been enjoying plenty of success in comparison. I speculated that maybe there was jealousy starting to develop there, and not only does that seem to be threatening to tear apart the union between "The Vaudevillains" and Ms. Pantaloons, but it seems like it may even be driving a wedge between Aiden English and Simon Gotch as well. More on this as situation as it develops.
Becky Lynch made one hell of a statement last week with a vicious assault on Charlotte Flair, and she continued her dominance this week with an impressive win over Dakota Kai. It's no surprise then that the self-styled "Queenslayer" is feeling pretty good about herself right now, even taking the time after her victory to issue a challenge for a Submission Match against Charlotte at All Hallows' Evil. It was only two months ago that we saw Ken Shamrock and Trevor Mann beat one another black and blue in one of those contests, and with the way things have escalated between Charlotte and Becky in such a short amount of time, one can imagine this will be just as brutal. That is, if "The Nature Girl" is even cleared to compete at the PPV, given everything Becky did to her last week.
While Marty Jannetty has been all business since coming back to the EWA, we saw a return to some of his fun-loving antics last night as "The Rocker" mockingly dressed up as Dolph Ziggler and brought along Gene Snitsky to help out as Nathan Jones. I can totally understand wanting to get under the skin of the men who've screwed poor Marty over at seemingly every turn this past month, but at the same time, perhaps it's not a wise move to poke the bear. Historically speaking, that doesn't necessarily turn out well for anyone except the bear itself.
Tessa Blanchard has been riding high since defeating Nia Jax at Sin City Survival to earn a championship rematch, but all that came to an end last week when Dominatrix attacked her while making her first appearance since losing the gold to Blue Pantaloons. The result was a hard-hitting match between the two of them on this week's show, where "The Masked Mistress of the Santanic Clown Posse" continued to prove that she has Tessa's number, just like when she beat her for the Women's Championship back at Summer Stampede! And as we'd find out a little later on, it was a victory enough to earn Dominatrix a place in the Women's Title Match at All Hallows' Evil, making it a triple threat! While Blanchard and Ms Pantaloons would join forces to send Dominatrix into retreat last night though, I suspect it'll be every woman for herself when the gold is on the line next Sunday!
Braun Strowman and Santino Marella had a message to send to "The Kings of Wrestling," making it clear they weren't just coming for the titles, but to destroy Hero and Cesaro much as they did "The Midnight Rider" back at Sin City Survival. However, they were soon interrupted by what we thought was a returning "Rider," only for more and more similarly masked men to appear at ringside before getting the jump on Strowman and Marella! As they continued fighting them off, the EWA Tag Team Champions unmasked to reveal themselves as the architects behind the mind games, with Hero and Cesaro showing they aren't scared of the challenge their number one contenders pose! You've got to admire that well-earned confidence from "The Kings," who continue to set the standard as far as tag team wrestling goes. But when it's just two-on-two next Sunday, will they be able to stop the dastardly duo of Marella and Strowman from taking their gold? I guess we'll have to wait an see!
In our in-ring main event, it was the eagerly anticipated clash between Dolph Ziggler and Chris Sabin, two men who did battle one month ago with Sabin just about coming out on top on that occasion. However, Ziggler had a ton of momentum behind him coming into this one, racking up multiple victories since that loss, but also having left Sabin lying the previous two weeks running. "The Show-Off" had even laid out Chris' girlfriend Ruby Riot in a truly despicable act as well, adding yet more fuel to the proverbial fire. Fortunately, Nathan Jones was seemingly stopped from coming down to ringside, thereby denying him the opportunity to have any involvement, much as he has done in every other match of Dolph's since Sin City Survival. That meant it all boiled down to what champion and challenger could bring to the table, with "Detroit's Finest" and "The Show-Off" pulling out all the stops. In the end though, Chris Sabin was just too strong, putting Ziggler down once again and successfully making his first National Title defence since winning the gold back at Summer Stampede! It'll be interesting to see where both men go from here!
As mentioned, this year's King of the Ring bracket has been made official and it looks STACKED! Here it is for those that missed it:
Gabriel and WALTER both earned their places last night, while Aldis no doubt cemented his own with that victory over Velveteen Dream. Meanwhile, Fit Finlay, Marty Jannetty and PCO are three superstars who've been turning plenty of heads in recent weeks, while there's an air of intrigue over who'll fill out those last two remaining spots after All Hallows' Evil. Whoever it is out of Brock Lesnar, Big Show, Ken Shamrock and Trevor Mann, it certainly seems as if this could well be one of the most competitive tournaments in recent memory! And it all officially kicks off next weekend with Gabriel taking on his fellow countryman Nick Aldis and WALTER doing battle with Fit Finlay!
With all that said and done then, it's time for my picks for this week's top three movers and shakers:
1. Sable
2. Chris Sabin
3. Gabriel
She might not have wrestled a match, but I don't think anyone made quite as big an impression as Sable did when announcing herself as the guest GM for October, connecting a lot of the dots from the mystery of the past few weeks! In at number two, Chris Sabin had to be at the top of his game to defeat Dolph Ziggler and retain the National Championship! And last but not least, after a rocky few weeks, Gabriel has finally found his feet again with a hard-fought win over Kenny Omega to earn his spot in the King of the Ring tournament.
As always, feel free to share your own choices via our Twitter page. And if you want to get your questions in nice and early for the next edition of JR's Mailbag in just under two weeks time, you can do so by getting in touch right here on EWA.com.
For now though, all eyes turn to All Hallows' Evil! Between the Double Jeopardy situation, what promises to be a blockbuster of a Tag Team Title showdown, and two women's matches that could easily steal the show, it's looking like yet another great Pay-Per-View offering from the EWA! And that's not to mention the start of the King of the Ring tournament either! You can watch it all, and countless hours of other EWA shows from over the years, on the EWA Network, all for the small price of $9.99 per month! C'mon, folks...what're you waiting for?
BOOMER SOONER!
