Ross Report - 2/19/19

Collision Course certainly lived up to its name, with several classic matches between unstoppable forces and immovable objects! But before we got to all of that, we were "treated" to a performance by "The Honky Tonk Man"...or should I say, we were teased a performance, but instead had to sit through "Honky" running down Atlanta and its fans. That would eventually bring out Jerry Lynn, seemingly looking for some revenge after what went down between the two the previous week on SLAM! Before he could get it though, legendary manager Jimmy "Mouth of The South" Hart provided a timely distraction, allowing "Mr Shake, Rattle And Roll" to bash Lynn's head in with a guitar for the second week running! It looks as if "Honky" has found himself an ally, while you could very well say "The New F'N Show" could do with one of his own!

In terms of in-ring action, the night got underway with that highly-anticipated six man tag match pitting Chris Hero, Cesaro and Samoa Joe against John Cena, Big Show and Jake "The Snake" Roberts. It was a downright dominant display from "The Kings of Wrestling," helped by the fact that the Big Show clearly wasn't at his best after a shocking monster truck accident during the week. And to make matters worse still, "The Doctor of Thuganomics" would shockingly stab his friend in the back, delivering a giant-sized Attitude Adjustment before Jake Roberts would follow suit and lay Show out with a DDT, frustrated over "The World's Largest Athlete's" ineptitude. That handed "The Kings" an easy win, but Big Show's night would soon go from bad to worse as he was then confronted by Buh Buh Ray Dudley after weeks of Bubbs trying to get his attention. As such, a "Loser Leaves Town" match was set up for this week's SLAM!, where if Show wins, "Scott E." the lawn ornament is gone, but if Buh Buh wins, Big Show will be forced out of the EWA! Just when you thought Show's night couldn't get any worse, he tried to make amends for his performance during the six man tag by issuing an open challenge, one that would be answered by Jay White, who proceeded to put Show down for the count in under two minutes. Needless to say, Collision Course proved to be a helluva debut for "Switchblade," but a night to forget for Paul Wight.

Elsewhere, we heard from the duo of Joey Ryan and "Hangman" Page, as they looked to establish themselves much as their fellow "Kingdom" members already have. This would draw the attention of OVE however, who made it clear there's only one premier group in the EWA and the combination of Sami Callihan and the Crist brothers were it! I'm sure I'm not the only one who expected to see this exchange of views descend into violence, as that's been OVE's "MO" from the get-go, but to their credit, it was just a verbal warning on this occasion. We'll have to wait and see how Ryan and Page respond in the coming weeks.

Speaking of "The Kingdom," next up was Matt Taven versus Kenny Omega in a 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match. These two had a heated exchange on the previous SLAM!, with Taven accusing Omega of being nothing more than hype while Omega accused Taven of being a nobody, and with those tensions ramped up, it led to "The Best Bout Machine" making a costly early mistake as he accidentally caught himself throat-first on the ropes, allowing "The Chaotic Idol" to pick up the quick-fire first fall. As such, Omega found himself on the backfoot and unable to get any momentum going, making for easy pickings as Matt Taven soon picked up second fall and the emphatic victory! It's hard to guess where Omega goes from here, but one has to think that Matt Taven will continue to go from strength to strength based on his showings so far.

That action was soon followed up by another appearance by Buh Buh Ray Dudley, only to find himself interrupted by Johnny Flamingo. That would serve to be the precursor to the real shocker however, as Buh Buh Ray finally found himself face-to-face with his old "dirt" comrade, Scotty Flamingo, for the first time in two years! And with a bag of bacon strips to seal the deal, it seems that the "Flamingo Family" are whole once again!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who was looking forward to the battle between two of Europe's finest, as the 2017 King of the Ring Finn Bálor went head-to-head with the self-proclaimed 2019 King of the Ring, WALTER! The big Austrian has been on an absolute tear since embracing his inner clown, but Bálor is no slouch either, creating a classic "David versus Goliath" dynamic as Finn tried to use his speed to neutralize WALTER's obvious power advantage. No matter how talented you might be though, that's a task far easier said than done against the big man, and not even the power of "The Demon King" would prove enough for Finn Bálor to put WALTER down as "The Clown With A Crown" continued his win streak in 2019! Could it be just a matter of time before he finds himself in World Championship contention, I wonder?

As if that wasn't exciting enough, we then witnessed two more of the best talents to come out of Europe as Marty Scurll and Gabriel duked it out, with the added stipulation that a loss for "The Reaper" would force him to join Scurll's new alliance known as "The Horde." The action in this one was of the "edge of the seat" variety that the EWA seems to specialize in, with both competitors putting on an absolute clinic! You can tell how much of an emotional toll this rivalry has taken on Gabriel though when the man from Wokingham, England almost caved Scurll's head in with a steel chair, despite the implications of a DQ loss. Still, even after being busted open and then later getting caught with that devastating Cradle DDT, Gabriel refused to stay down! This is the kind of fight and spirit that some say he's been lacking during his time with the EWA, but no doubt about it, Gabriel showed it in spades here! Alas, there's only so much the human body can take, and when Scurll cinched in that Crossface Chickenwing for what felt like an eternity as the blood poured from his head, it's no surprise that the Referee had to call this one off to save Gabriel from himself as much as his opponent. What this means next, I truly don't know. Will Gabriel give himself over to "The Horde" and be a loyal soldier to Marty Scurll? Even after everything him and his associates have put "The Reaper" through over the last month or so? I guess we'll have to wait and see!

The Women's Title Match between Lacey Evans and Daffney has been a long time coming it seems, with Lacey picking up some big wins while "The Zombie Goddess" and her friends have managed to stay ahead in terms of mind games. We knew as well that the Falls Count Anywhere stipulation would most likely favor the Women's Champion, who has plenty of experience in that kind of "anything goes" environment. Still, Lacey seems to have learned a thing or two her from new Shyster Inc partner, at one point putting to good use a Figure Eight to do tremendous damage to her opponent, yet Daffney managed to lure "The Classy Lady" back into the "Revelation" locker room to spring a trap! Fortunately, Charlotte was on hand to help even the odds, at least until being surprised by Becky Lynch, whose injuries from Super Brawl miraculously seemed to heal up on the spot. Still, Lacey kept fighting like her life depended on it, using a Kendo stick to take out Becky before being assisted by Blue Pantaloons as well, who took the red mist from Daffney to protect Evans from suffering the same fate as she did in her first title opportunity! The fight then spilled outside of the State Farm Arena, where Daffney damn near drowned her opponent before finally finishing things off with that dreaded Lobotomy to retain her championship! What a wild match involving virtually the entire women's division in a battle for the very soul of the Women's Title!

That wasn't the only exciting championship match of the night though, not by a long stretch! Indeed, Braun Strowman and Santino Marella would defend the Tag Titles against "The Vaudevillains," with English and Gotch quickly managing to isolate Santino and wear him down! Once "The Italian Stallion" finally managed to tag in his partner though, the entire complexion of the match changed in an instant, with Strowman running wild and mowing his opponents down! Just as it seemed like the gold was starting to slip away though, "The Vaudevillains" received a helping hand from Jervis Cottonbelly, who'd find himself chokeslammed through the Spanish announce table for his troubles! It gave English and Gotch the opening they needed though, at least until Santino recovered and came to his partner's aid! However, that soon led to some Blue Pantaloons interference for the second match in a row, causing a distraction while Braun got blasted three times in all with his own championship belt! Despite somehow surviving that assault though, a Blue Pantaloons low blow to Santino would finally be enough to see new champions crowned, much to the chagrin of the EWA Universe! It's a damn shame that a contest as incredible as this one had to end on such a sour note, but it's also a testament to how strong the EWA tag team division is right now as well! Will we see a rematch? Or could some new challengers be next in line to step up to the plate?

While there was no love lost between "The Vaudevillains" and Marella and Strowman, there was plenty of respect between Frank Shamrock and his challenger for the National Title, Fit Finlay. Perhaps that's why this slobberknocker of a match started off with a bang and never let up, with Finlay unleashing 40 years of wrestling experience while Shamrock utilized his unorthodox MMA-based style. This one picked up right where their previous encounter on the first SLAM! of 2019 left off, right down to "The Fighting Irishman" targeting the arm. However, Shamrock had his own strategy in place too, trying to take out Finlay's leg before grinding him down with a plethora of submissions that very well may have tapped a lesser man. It's to the "Belfast Bruiser's" credit however that he refused to tap out, causing his opponent to leave his comfort zone to try and retain the gold. That would ultimately prove Shamrock's undoing though, as his attempt to head to the top saw his arm give out when he attempted a sunset flip powerbomb, allowing Finlay to pull him back up and damn near break Frank's neck with a Super Celtic Spike to win the match and the National Title! Some might say Finlay winning some EWA gold has been a long time coming, but give it up to Frank Shamrock here who gave it his absolute all. It's downright scary to think how great he's been in the first handful of wrestling matches he's competed in, and what could have been had he gone all in on the sport rather than MMA back in the day. Still, while both competitors are likely to be sore for some time after this epic contest, I imagine Fit Finlay can at least be gratified of the fact that he's done his family, friends and supporters proud!

How do you follow a match like that, you may wonder? Well, how about with an absolute barnburner of a main event! Talk about going at it balls to the wall, as Shamrock found himself not only fighting for his World Championship, but for his wife Tonya as well, who had been kidnapped by PCO and "Father" James Mitchell the week before! As we've witnessed many times in the build up to this one though, "The French-Canadian Frankenstein" rarely seems to show any sign of feeling pain, shrugging off his opponent's onslaught and using his raw power to gain control of the contest. However, "The World's Most Dangerous Man" lived up to that moniker, eventually ramming PCO's face into the top turnbuckle some 37 times to finally set the bloodied big man up for a pinfall attempt, but even that only got a one count! It's worth noting as well that on top of his imperviousness to pain and superhuman strength, Pierre Carl Oullet is more than capable of flying around the ring too, using every weapon in his arsenal to try and wear Shamrock down. With so much at stake though, Shamrock kept on coming back, doing whatever it took to slow PCO down, including going to the ankle lock once again! While it finally seemed to have an effect this time around, that trademark hold still wasn't enough to force the submission, no doubt feeding into Ken's growing frustrations. I give a ton of credit to the Referee here for trying to offer as much leeway as possible, even as the rules became more and more blurred as the match progressed. Shamrock could have been disqualified at multiple points for choking PCO with camera cable or refusing to break the ankle lock when his opponent had reached the ropes, but eventually, the Ref was left with no choice but to call for the bell when the World Champion introduced a chair to the match, seemingly trying to break PCO's ankle! I hate for any match to end without a decisive winner, let alone a Pay-Per-View main event with the greatest prize in the game up for grabs, but all things considered, it's little wonder this one went the way it did. And I'd suggest by the fact that PCO and Shamrock were still fighting as we went off the air and Ken's still being no closer to being reunited with his wife that this issue is far from settled too!

No doubt about it, there was something for everyone at Collision Course 2019! With the bar raised this high already, it makes you wonder what else we're in store for as the year continues! In the meantime though, let's take a look at my picks for the top three movers and shakers coming out of the show:

1. Ken Shamrock/PCO
2. Fit Finlay
3. The Vaudevillains

You could argue that my first choice is somewhat of a cheat, since neither Shamrock or PCO managed to decisively beat the other, but for sheer intensity alone, the two of them more than delivered in our main event! In second spot, Fit Finlay continues to age like a fine wine, finally culminating in a HUGE National Title win over Frank Shamrock. And not to be outdone, The Vaudevillains managed to knock off the oddball duo of Santino Marella and Braun Strowman from the top of the mountain to capture the Tag Team Titles, albeit with a little help from their friends. If I were to give an award for whatever the opposite of a "mover and shaker" is however, it seems Big Show was the runaway winner after suffering two defeats, being turned on by his best friend, and possibly even evacuating his bowels during the opening contest. Here's hoping he's more lucky against Buh Buh Ray Dudley this coming weekend, although at this point, that seems highly unlikely.

That match is just one of many reasons to be excited about SLAM! this Sunday, with the road to Civil War about to get underway in earnest! This is always one of my most favorite times of the year, and I'm sure in the coming weeks we'll see plenty of superstars stepping up their game in order to walk out with that elusive Anytime, Anyplace World Title opportunity! But not before PCO and Ken Shamrock have a chance to put their beef to bed I hope! Until next time,

BOOMER SOONER!