----“Baron” Malkavain beat Vinnie Romano. Just a total squash. Vinnie was on the mic making a challenging before the match – not bad. Other than that Malkavain dominated and ended it with a “Demon Wings” [*].
----“Genocide” [Maxx Corbin/Albino Rhino] beat by dq Kid Nikels/Eric Wayne. Entrance with video was awesome. Corbin had a fireworks grenade that was lit and it looked cool – it put smoke all over the small building. Not a good match – should have been a lot better. The ring was engulfed in smoke and Maxx/Albino jumped on Kid/Eric. Good stuff at the front for the shine. They did an injury angle where Corbin was supposed to be hurt and left to go to the back. [it made no sense] Rhino took the heat and it was not believable. Kid/Wayne should have done a ton of double team moves to put him down – they worked hard, but it just didn’t work. Wayne used a chair after Maxx ran in for the hot tag for the DQ. [*1/2]
----Bishop beat Idol Bane. Good solid bout from the two big men. They had these guys come in to try to get Bishop to start a babyface stint here. Bane used the chain Bishop wears to keep the heat going. [smart stuff] Belly to belly for a DKO. Bane went for the “Ghost of Andy Kaufman”, but Bishop came out of it with a DVD for the win. [**]
----“Bad Guys” [Chad & Brad Badd] beat Shannon Lee/Ike Tucker with Brian Steele. A good solid bout – a lot better than I expected. Lee, as noted, as improved a lot. Heat on Lee with Tucker making the hot tag [perfect role for him]. Chad ended up pinning Lee for the win. After the match, Steele ended up hitting Brad with a small guitar over the back.[**1/2]
----Strap Match: JR Manson beat Tatt2. This was really a disappointing match. I don’t like these matches anyway, but as typical with a lot guys in this area – they forget about psychology when doing gimmick matches. Just real sloppy from both guys and I actually like watching both guys perform. A heel fan for JR at ringside killed almost all the heat for the bout. I would have liked just a normal match between them. [*] – just for some of the whelps that JR took.
----Krisis vs Bishop ended in a 15 minute draw. This was not the kind of match that Bishop needed to get him over as babyface. No one cared about the match. Crowd was dead or leaving. It was close to 9:00 PM and the building was so freakin hot. Nothing bad about the match, but it just fell flat. [*1/2]
----“No Holds Barred” Jon Michael beat Scott Adams. Everything was good and solid for this match. Great video piece before and just super psychology. This was easily probably Adams’ best match of his career. Michael/Adams are both over here. Adams has really good punches. Michael did a moonsault from the top to floor. I thought he died. Both got a couple of big moves including a power bomb from Scott and choke slam - Michael with a senton dive with a chair on Scott’s chest - near falls building for a finish. They lost the fans a bit in the middle, but finish got a huge pop. Michael on the mat and Adams on the second turnbuckle getting ready to do a Vader splash – Michael then ran up and caught him in a powerbomb for pin and win. Big pop!! [***1/2]
----“Picture Perfect” [Christian Jacobs/Chris O’Neal] beat “Midnight Gold” [“The Golden Boy” Greg Anthony/”Beautiful” Bobby Eaton] with Brian Thompson. A fun match. Just basic psychology here. You could tell everyone was having a good time. Thompson at ringside sells everything in the ring – just what a manager is supposed to do!! Good mic work at the start. PP are soooooo over!! Heat on O’Neal as they worked on his knee. He even bumped over to the corner and Eaton worked on his knee. Great finish as after a hot tag they cut them off with TGB putting O’Neal in a figure four. Eaton was leaning over in O’Neal face when CJ bumped him and Chris rolled Bobby up for the pin with him still in the figure four. [**3/4]
----Stan Lee beat Dustin Starr to retain the EWE Title. The best bout on the show. Heat was there during the whole match. Crowd loves Lee and wanted to see him beat up Starr. It really came off as a big match. Solid build in the shine as Lee did a dive over the ropes onto Starr. He hit a running shooting star. A nice senton from the top. He missed a 450. Heat started as Starr worked on Lee’s knee. [only gripe – because they had just done that] Lee was working towards hitting the Tiger bomb for the finish with Starr kicking out once. A couple of ref bumps – one real sweet from Ron Bryson. Kaleb took a crossbody from Lee. Lee hit a Tiger bomb, but no pin. Lee went to the top and Starr hit him with a “Super Starr Struck” [Rock bottom from top turnbuckle] Starr tries to use a chair, but Lee hits the chair with a spinning leg smashing it into Starr’s face. Tiger bomb for the win. [***3/4]
NOTES
----140 to 150 in the building at the most. It was god awful HOT!!!...I just don’t buy “Genocide” as babys. They really need someone to beat the hell of them to put them over as babys and it is hard to have anyone on the roster to do that on the heel side…Eric Wayne got his nose busted during the match…Bane/Bishop and first match were not even needed. If I was going to put Bishop over big – I would have just had a quick squash…Bane deserved his Most Improved 2008 award. He has really turned into a solid worker. He is officially spelling his name – Idol Bane now. LOL…Bishop has great deliver on the mic. He needs a cool catch phrase…I am not sure who is doing all the video packages – maybe CineMaxx and Stan Lee – but with the EWE Tron and all – they heads above anyone in this area. The video pieces look like something you would see on TNA…Ike Tucker has more charisma than most in this area. If one of the young guys could get a pop and reaction like this – WWE would be knocking their door down…Tatt2 did some amazing stuff in his bout as it always seems he is just at the edge of being one of the top in the area. It was announced after the bout that this was his last match with EWE…Scott Adams needs a cool singlet made of that shiny leather stuff…The guys that are super over for this promotion are Chris O’Neal, Christian Jacobs, Jon Michael and Stan Lee on the babyface side. Starr and Adams are over as heels. Kid/Wayne got a good reaction coming out also…Main event went in the ring at 10:12 with it finishing around 10:45 PM – so we are talking almost 4 hour show. They could have done without two of the bouts and still had a solid show. I had someone joke, “well..you know DK was seen earlier today.” I really never understand that when they are doing a big show they seem to have to stick on matches that do not mean anything…This was the first in a series of matches with Lee vs Starr. If they did that on the first try, what else can they do?? One of the top four bouts I have seen this year...Starr may be in the best shape I have ever seen him in...Thanks to cast and crew - I had a great time!!
