Ross Report - 7/1/22

This Sunday sees the hottest event of the summer as the EWA presents the 19th annual Red, White & Bruised! Over the years we've seen so many memorable moments created on our annual Fourth of July weekend showcase, and this year's promises to be no different, with a line-up absolutely stacked full of all your favorite superstars and multiple championships on the line! With that in mind then, let's dive straight in and break down this month's card!


Over the last several months, we've witnessed the steady rise of Roman Reigns. It's no secret that wrestling is in his blood, but Reigns has been proving that to great effect with win after win, not to mention scoring the most eliminations at Civil War. The only speedbump he's run into so far was Pete Dunne, but even then, "The Big Dog" ended up winning the war when he used Dunne's own signature weapon against him. With "The Bruiserweight" now in his rearview mirror, Reigns has seemingly set his sights on another former World Champion, namely "Hangman" Adam Page! The Aaron's Creek native hasn't appeared in an EWA ring since losing the title to Chris Jericho at SLAM! #500 last August, but it was recently revealed that we'd be seeing him make his long-awaited return to the EWA this Sunday at Red, White & Bruised! However, Page won't be Reigns' opponent when we head to Washington-Grizzly Stadium...instead that honor goes to the newly-signed Vincent! "The Gravedigger" has been making quite the name for himself on the independent scene in recent years, catching the eyes of many fans along the way. It's no surprise then that as one of Christian Cage's first acts as our brand new Commissioner, he not only looked to sign this talented young man to a contract but also put him in a marquee match on a major show like Red, White & Bruised! That should tell you everything you need to know about the high hopes management has for him, but make no mistake, a match against Roman Reigns in his current form is like stepping out of the frying pan and into the fire! It's little wonder then this has been unofficially dubbed "The War of the Monsters" since no one is likely to be safe with these two around!


This past week on SLAM! saw Matt Hart of "The Dungeon Dynasty" make a rare appearance, showing a lot of resolve as he vented some of his frustrations over how Nattie Neidhart has been managing his career, not to mention his recent lack of TV time. As such, "The Black Hart" started to throw out the open challenge for Red, White & Bruised, promising to reveal a tag partner as he looks to move into contention for a future Tag Team Championship match...only to be caught by surprise when Bray Wyatt interrupted! This is a version of Wyatt unlike any we've seen before, appearing from the "Firefly Funhouse" to accept the challenge. As we'd soon discover though, Matt Hart may have bitten off more than he can chew as "The Fiend" would then appear on the stage, soon joined by the legendary "Phenom" himself, "The Undertaker!" It seems these two creatures of the night have formed a "Deadly Alliance", one that could shake the tag team division to its very core going forwards! And we'll soon see just how effective they are in their first match together! At the same time though, there's still plenty of question marks over just who Matt Hart has lined up as his tag team partner for this bout. Could it be a fellow member of "The Dungeon Dynasty?" Or could Hart's recent issues with the group and the way it's being run have caused him to look elsewhere for back-up instead? One thing's for sure, we'll get our answers this weekend!


After their first encounter was a non-starter, The Usos finally managed to break the iron grip that "The Decree" have had on the Tag Team Championships all year long when they defeated Rickey Shane Page and Lance Archer several weeks ago on SLAM! Jimmy and Jey have been on top form from the moment they arrived in the EWA, and to many, this was a title victory a long time coming! Still, I'm sure you know the old saying, "heavy hangs the head that wears the crown." Indeed, the new champions didn't had much time to enjoy their historic accomplishment before Christian Cage decided to give them their first challengers, and he's not made things easy either! Earlier this week, we heard directly from the Commissioner's office that The Usos will be putting their gold on the line against both "The Surfin' Gunns" AND "The Acclaimed" this Sunday at Red, White & Bruised! While Billy Gunn's boys have only just started tagging with one another in recent weeks, they've spent their entire lives as brothers (much like the champions, in fact) and you've got to think that familiarity makes them extremely dangerous. At the same time though, Max Caster and Anthony Bowens have been on a roll for the past couple of months, racking up win after win against a variety of opponents whether in singles competition, six man tags or just regular two-on-two matches! Many a time I've talked about how much of a factor momentum can play, especially in potentially chaotic matches such as this, and "The Acclaimed's" momentum could well give them an edge. Still, it's great to see the EWA's tag team division get a chance to shine on the big stage, and whichever way this one turns out, you can be sure it's going to be a slobberknocker!


It's been one hell of an interesting month for the Women's Championship! At Mayan Mayhem, Aliyah was hoisted on her own petard when she tried to defend the title against Kylie Rae mere minutes after "Smiley" Kylie had already competed in a grueling match. That didn't turn out so well for "The Boujee Bratz" though, with Rae scoring the upset to bring Aliyah's lengthy reign to an end! Meanwhile, Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley had been at one another's throats since Civil War, leading to Flair injuring "The Nightmare" to put her on the shelf indefinitely! With her main obstacle removed, Charlotte then turned her attention towards Kylie Rae, showing her ruthlessness once again by aggravating the new champion's already injured leg! I guess that's one more reason why they call Charlotte "The Opportunity" as she looked to seize on the weakened state of the new champion by challenging her to a championship match on the last edition of EWA USA. Despite a valiant effort from "Smiley" Kylie Rae though, Flair's sustained targeting of the knee resulted in the Chicago native having no choice but to tap out to the devastating Figure Eight, making Charlotte a two-time Women's Champion in the process! However, "The Nature Girl's" celebrations on last week's SLAM! would be cut short by the arrival of Nattie Neidhart, fresh off a victory over both Aliyah and Alexa Bliss earlier in the broadcast! "The Queen of Harts" clearly felt now was the right time to step up and carve out her own "opportunity", and who can blame her? It's been 16 long years since she last held the EWA Women's Championship, so it would be quite the fairytale story if Nattie could etch her name in the history books once again! At the same time though, you've got to believe that Charlotte Flair won't be taking Nattie lightly or holding back in the slightest. Having worked so hard to take out her enemies and claim the top prize in the division, Flair will have zero intention of letting it slip from her grasp. But then, if Neidhart can continue building on last Sunday's huge victory, who knows? Charlotte may not have any choice in the matter!


Thom Latimer didn't just pull the wool over the EWA Universe's eyes...he pulled the wool over the eyes of his old enemy seemingly turned friend, Drew McIntyre. For months, Latimer worked side-by-side with "The True King of Scotland" and Rickey Shane Page to establish "The Decree" as the dominant force in the E-Wrestling Alliance here in 2022, but as we found out at Mayan Mayhem, "The Chesterfield Plague" was simply positioning himself close enough to bury the knife deep in Drew's back! That saw Latimer enter last month's Fourway Scramble Match as a last minute substitute for the rightful champion, capturing the National Title that almost seemed destined to belong to Hook judging by the way that match was going. However, it wasn't to be for "The Cold-Hearted Handsome Devil", leaving Hook eager for revenge! After demanding a match against Latimer though, Hook instead found himself the victim of a three-on-one assault by "The Decree", who seemingly looked to end the second generation superstar's career, much as they've done to several others over the course of this year! To everyone's shock however--including yours truly--it was this moment that saw the surprise return of John Cena after having been out of action for two years ever since his was leg destroyed in a car door by Pete Dunne! Cena would send Latimer and his cohorts running like a pack of scalded dogs, but he wasn't done there, throwing out the challenge to "The Chesterfield Plague" for a title match at Red, White & Bruised! With his injury woes behind him, it looks as if Cena intends to make up for lost time by jumping straight into the title picture, but almost as surprising as Cena's return was the fact that Latimer accepted the challenge without hesitation. In fact, he's promised to make the Boston, Massachusetts native bleed like a stuck pig, though whether he'll be able to follow through on that, I guess we'll have to wait and see! Either way, Cena couldn't have asked for a tougher first match back after such a long lay-off, and with the other "Decree" members no doubt in attendance this Sunday, this has the potential of becoming more of a three-on-one situation than John may have anticipated. Still, Cena has built his entire career on never giving up in the face of adversity, and with the National Championship on the line, who knows what might happen?


And then we come to our main event, featuring the return of the King of the Mountain Match for the first time in 14 years! Just like at V-Day in 2008, the World Championship will be up for grabs, but unlike that first go around, there will only be four competitors battling it out for the top prize in the business rather than five! However, it's safe to say there's plenty of bad blood between these four individuals! We start with Mil Muertes, one of the most dominant and downright scary superstars the EWA has seen for many a year! He's already taken out two legends in Chris Jericho and Booker T in recent months to establish himself as a force to be reckoned with, and who can forget his unstoppable display against Santino Marella in that instant classic Cage Match at Civil War as well! Of course, "The Italian Stallion" will no doubt be hungry for some payback after Muertes defeated him to become champion in Santino's first title defense, and while Marella seems to have overcome his fear of "The Man of 1,000 Deaths", he still faces a tough mountain to climb, both figuratively and literally! At the same time, they'll both have to contend with arguably the most experienced man in EWA history and the winner of this year's Civil War Match, Al Snow! "The Snowman" has had a chip on his shoulder for the past year, one exacerbated by Santino's title victory early in 2022, inspiring him to finally take the one prize that has always eluded him since his debut in 2007...a prize he feels the "powers that be" never wanted him to win in the first place. However, there's one person who's hell-bent on stopping the former "bWo" leader from walking out with the gold and that's his ex-Tag Team Championship winning partner, Kevin Owens! After Snow viciously assaulted "KO" last October, forcing him to relinquish the National Title and putting him on the shelf for months on end, Owens made his surprise return at Civil War to try and get some much deserved revenge! Make no mistake about it though, as much as Owens wants to get his hands on Al Snow again, he's still got the World Championship in his sights! It's been the Quebec native's dream since he started his career over 20 years ago, but can he make it a reality on Sunday? We won't have to wait too long to find out as battle soon commences at Red, White & Bruised! This being King of the Mountain though, you can bet your bottom dollar that anything can and probably will likely happen! All it takes is one pinfall or submission and a superstar could be powerless to do anything but watch from the dreaded penalty box while one of his opponents climbs a ladder and hangs the championship above the ring to win the match, making this one of the most exciting and unpredictable main events we've seen in quite some time!

What a line-up we've got in store this Sunday! From top to bottom, there are so many different potential ramifications that could end up changing the landscape of the EWA as we know it and so many opportunities for our talented superstars to break out from the pack! But there's only one way to find out how it all shakes out and that's by tuning in and checking out the show! In the meantime though, why not pay a visit to the world famous EWA Network, which recently saw 13 new additions from the summer of 2008, covering the rise of "The Mega Friends", the crowning of the first ever Hardcore Champion, that year's edition of Red, White & Bruised, and the build-up to the first ever King of Mountain Match! Or go back and take a look at some of our previous Red, White & Bruised Pay-Per-Views over the years to get a taste of what to expect when we broadcast live from Missoula, Montana on July 3rd! For now though, that's all I've got time for, so until next month,

BOOMER SOONER!