Ross Report - 4/23/22

The Ross Report is back and so too is Civil War! For the 14th year running and 17th time overall, the E-Wrestling Alliance goes to WAR as only we can! And much like the last couple of years, we'll have TWO Civil War Matches to look forward to as both the men and women of the EWA battle it out for "Anytime, Anyplace" title contracts! We've see just how effective that opportunity can be over the years, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, folks! Someone's got to out-last their fellow superstars to win Civil War first, so strap in and let's take a quick preview at what to expect tomorrow night!


We'll kick things off with one hell of a grudge match as "The Bruiserweight" Pete Dunne is set to clash with Monty Brown! It was almost two months ago that Brown made his debut at Dunne's expense, attacking the former World Champion backstage and putting him through a table! Dunne would gain a measure of revenge after costing "The Alpha Male" the win in his first match, before the two looked to settle the score as part of mixed tag team competition! Brown joined forces with his leader, Alexa Bliss, to take on the makeshift duo of Pete Dunne and Rhea Ripley (who had her own issues to deal with when it came to "The Goddess"), resulting in "The Career Killer" scoring the win and seemingly putting "Team Bliss" in the rear view. Unfortunately, that didn't turn out to be the case however, as a Monty Brown distraction on the following SLAM! allowed that Jezebel Alexa to damn near blind Dunne with a fireball! It was a heinous act, though one you could argue that gave Dunne a taste of his own medicine after all the careers he's cut short over the past couple of years...and yet, against the advice of his doctors, "The Bruiserweight" would make his return on last week's EWA USA, sending Brown and Bliss running before demanding this match! On the one hand, Dunne is evidently motivated to get some payback for nearly losing the sight in his left eye...but on the other, one can't help but question if he's truly ready to return for a match of this magnitude. It's only been a month since Alexa caught him by surprise with that fireball and the fact Dunne is still wearing an eye-patch should tell you he's nowhere near fully healed as well. Could he be walking into another trap by "Team Bliss," this one of his own making? Or will Dunne finally settle this issue once and for all? I guess we'll find out soon enough!


There's only been three previous Women's Civil War Matches over the years, but I've a feeling this one could well feature the most competitive field of them all! We've got so many talented women on the roster right now, from recently returned former champions like Charlotte Flair and Tessa Blanchard, to EWA legends like Nattie Neidhart and JoJo, to women like Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley who are hungry to win their first championship! For my money, Ripley could be the superstar to watch in this one after having racked up an incredible run of victories over the past few months, culminating in her putting Jade Cargill on the injured list just last week on EWA USA! "The Nightmare" has so much momentum behind her that it almost seems like she's destined to go all the way, yet anything can happen in a match like Civil War! And it could well be a case that her dominance in 2022 has put a target on Rhea's back that may prove costly. At the same time, this seems like the perfect opportunity for a Charlotte or a Tessa to let the world know they've come back to the EWA better than ever, but don't go discounting someone like Liv Morgan either. While her actions have been somewhat erratic since All Hallow's Evil, you can't sleep on a wildcard like Liv in a situation like this. She's been desperate to start putting together some wins to earn another shot at the title, and maybe it'll be in the cards for her this Sunday! One thing's for sure though, I'm certain our current reigning Women's Champion Aliyah will be be keeping a VERY close eye on the action in this match, scoping out the competition for what may turn out to be her next challenger!


Much like the women's version, the Men's Civil War Match looks to be absolutely STACKED with talent! And again, there's a heady mix of new arrivals and shocking returns to make it almost impossible to predict who'll go all the way! Don Callis has seemingly rejuvenated the career of the former WALTER, who so memorably crashed Civil War in 2019 with an army of clowns! Having ditched the facepaint and been rechristened Gunther, he's now fully focused on destroying everything within his path in his quest to erase the past! By the same token, Roman Reigns has only been signed to a contract for a little over a week and has quickly grabbed a lot of people's attentions. An event like Civil War is the perfect place to really make a name for himself, if he can smash and bash his way through the competition! But what about someone like Robert Roode? Even though he's spent more time focused on his investment portfolio in recent years, the man knows his way around a wrestling ring and oozes confidence (as well as some other less desirable qualities). This could be a "Glorious" opportunity to establish himself in front of the EWA Universe. But let's not forget about some of the more familiar faces who've been on the roster for a while. Hook has yet to taste defeat in 2022, with his latest win coming over Kenny Omega in an excellent contest on SLAM! And yet, "The Cleaner" seems to have used that loss to inspire him to greater heights as he looks to transfer his success in Japan to success here on the grand stage of the EWA! Then again, you've got someone like Matt Cardona who truly believes himself to be a savior of sorts for the EWA, as well as superstars like Shark Boy, who has seemingly indulged in a "unique" strategy to try and make it more difficult to eliminate him from the match! And then you have to consider just how much damage a group like "The Decree" can do if they can get multiple members in the match at the same time and work as a unit to clear the ring! Drew McIntyre finished as runner-up last year, yet with sadistic allies watching his back, could he go one better this time around? Truly, in this kind of environment and with this many high-level competitors, anything can happen! But with 10 of the previous 17 winners having gone on to win the World Championship as a result, you can bet your bottom dollar that each and every entrant will do everything within their power to be the last man standing come the end of the night!


While the winner of Civil War will earn themselves a shot at the top prize in the sport, just who the champion will be is still yet to be decided! But don't worry, folks...we'll soon get our answer as Santino Marella defends the World Championship against Mil Muertes in a Steel Cage Match! Since winning the gold at Collision Course, "The Italian Stallion" has been running scared of the masked "Man of 1,000 Deaths." For good reason too, as Muertes took out Chris Jericho by chokeslamming him off the stage, made short work of "Cowabunga" Colten Gunn in a hard-hitting match, and even put his hands on Santino's pal Hornswoggle as well! It got so bad that Marella even took to wearing a lucha libre mask and calling himself "El Cobra" to try and trick Mil Muertes into thinking Santino wasn't around anymore in the hope he'd turn his attention elsewhere. Needless to say, that ploy didn't exactly play out the way Marella probably hoped, leading to a match with Muertes' fellow "Temple" member Dragon Lee, which then resulted in Mil viciously attacking the World Champion as soon as the closing bell rang. For a brief moment, it seemed as if "The Man of 1,000 Deaths" was going to chokeslam Santino off the stage, just like he did Jericho, yet Muertes allowed Santino to live to fight another day, just to ensure this match still went ahead on tomorrow's show! No doubt about it, Marella has his work cut out for him at Civil War, especially with that fifteen foot cage enclosing the ring and adding even more potentially dangerous elements to the match! We've seen Santino pull off some underdog wins over the years, but could Mil Muertes be one step too far? I wish I had an answer...but fortunately, we'll find out one way or the other in about 24 hours time!

All in all then, this is one hell of a line-up that has the potential to be one of the greatest Civil Wars in EWA history! With the level of competition this close, you almost want to feel bad for those superstars who don't manage to go all the way, but I think it's important to remember that a big impact can be made at Civil War even if you don't walk out with that lucrative prize. It's very much a situation where it's easy to grab people's attentions, and with our National, Tag Team and Television Champions all confirmed to be in the mix, potentially even set oneself up for a championship match of another kind as well! Make sure you tune in tomorrow night to see how it all plays out, but the in the meantime, why not check out the EWA Network as well? We continue to see plenty of new additions to the archives every month, which recently included the slobberknocker 2009 Civil War! That event marked the biggest Civil War Match in EWA history with 60 participants in all, as well as being the last time we also saw a World Championship Steel Cage Match on the same night! It was a show packed full of more surprises than you can shake a stick at, but I've no doubt the 2022 version will have plenty more shocks and spills of its own! However, the only way to find out is to watch for yourselves either live on Pay-Per-View or shortly thereafter on the EWA Network! Until next time,

BOOMER SOONER!