EWC *LIVE* ARENA REPORT: Lords of the Ring broadcast - MCI Arena, Washington, DC Shawn Pearce reporting So I'm at work last week, just minding my business, when Mr. Sam, the general manager of my store, tells me that I and seven other people are going on a little trip to DC next week for an independent hardware retailers convention. They wanted to see some of the younger employees go, cause the store I work at has a median age of about 50. But the details aren't important. Basically, I'm spending five days in DC on business, expenses paid. Gotta love it. Anyways, one of the other people going, Jamie from grocery, is a HUGE wrestling fan, and he asks me if I want a ticket. To what, I ask? Well, the EWC is doing a Lords of the Ring from the MCI center the tuesday night we're there. And I say, hell yeah! Wrestling is wrestling, and I knew from last week that Ernie Grendel vs. Bill Curtis was supposed to be the main event. So after nine hours of looking at exhibits and getting TONS of free stuff, we grab some dinner and head to the MCI center. This is the first time I've ever been to a televised event by a "major fed", and I can see the difference from a house show the first time I come in. The Solotron easily takes up one end of the floor, and it's *HUGE* (Our seats weren't ringside, but they were central to the ring, with the Solotron to our left.) There are a *lot* more fans too...the houseshows have been averageing about half-full houses (mainly because Ernie and Fuego have been on the shelf and they haven't had the drawing power) but the place is packed by about ten minutes to bell time. TONS of signs, everything from the prerequisite "Fuego's Gonna Kill You" to a bunch of guys spelling out "Nuclear" Nick with the letters on huge coffee cups. Finally, at about 8:30, Alison Carrere-Matthews (and her legs...yowsa) walk out to the ring to the prerequisite catcalls and whistles. She gives the crowd what I take to be the usual spiel...no throwing things, at 9 PM make some noise, etc. Crowd seemed pretty into it...finally, they started things off with a dark match. MATCH 1: Michael "The Law" Bastion vs. Walt Chizzneski The Walrus, looking very much YokoCajun, waddles out to "you suck" heat, very much like a jobber should. Then "Unforgiven" by Metallica comes out and immediately I pop cause I think that Children of Apocalypse have gone back to their old music. Instead Carrere announces him as Michael "The Law" Bastion. Basic wrestling attire with the phrase "Justice is Painful" on the back. Built kinda like Billy Gunn only a bit taller, so he seems thinner. No heat, but he's a new guy, and this isn't on TV, so there ya go. Match starts, they lock up, Chizz uses his weight to back him into a corner, misses a forearm shot, and Bastion with some shots to the head, followed by a dropkick that sends Chizz down. Chizz *VEERRRRY* slow in getting back up, prompting a "YOU FAT FUCK" chant from the fifth row. Ah, the classics... They tie up again, Chizzneski with a hammerlock that Bastion reverses, and follows up with the drop toehold, sending Chizz right onto his gut. Resthold time, at least for a few seconds, as Bastion tries to remember how to make the toehold look painful. Yes, kids, he *IS* that green. Chances are he's among the first to go through the EWC Bayou. Anyways, the rest of this match is your basic jobber heel gets some offense on the newbie before newbie takes over and hits the three spot moves he knows. After he hits a clothesline off of the middle rope, he sends Chizz into the ropes gut first, then hits a leaping splash from behind...as Chizz staggers back, Bastion taps his leg, bounces off the ropes...and hits an enziguri...sort of. 3 count is academic. Bastion raises his hands, celebrates a little, then leaves, slapping the fans hands as he leaves. (NOTE: Those who read my reports know I don't bother with match ratings cause I'm too much of a mark to distinguish the wrestling of a match...I'll live with a bad match that furthers a storyline well. After that, Carrerre comes in and starts marketing EWC's action figures, including new ones of Chris Monroe and the Children of Apocalypse (Hey, I've got an EWC Roker *still in the box*..can you say collectors item?) Then they show a very nice video promo of Ernie Grendel, even tho it's very much made to push the Evil Ernie thing (Someone should tell EWC that if you want to push a heel, fireball the GOOD GUYS, NOT THE BAD GUYS). Even so, some good clips of Ern's early days that drive home the point that I think Ern is going for. Then "Cowboy" by Kid Rock comes on, and that brings out Isaac Cross, who is dressed in a black shirt, bolo tie, and big 10 gallon hat. This is followed by "Space Bossa Nova" by the Quincy Jones Orchestra as Byron reprises his Austin Powers getup from GLW. This was supposed to be a halloween show, at that. Finally, 60 seconds away...crowd is psyched. They do the Lords of the Ring intro on the Solotron to let us know when to go apeshit. And we do, pyro, screaming fans, the whole bit, which goes into.... ..."El Phantasmo" by White Zombie, as Jon Owens comes out, accompanied by Curtis Stone. Wow, second week in a row they're wrestling right out of the gate. Matthews announces the match as a North American title match, which means.... [PA System] Real Real Real ...what it means to be Real And the joint comes *unglued*. Omega out to a THUNDEROUS ovation. Slides into the ring, and points at C-Jack, who just gives some lip service back. MATCH #2: Damien Omega vs. Jon Owens (North American title match) VERY fast paced match, especially considering Omega's a submission-based wrestler. Owens went for a charge at the bell, as Omega was handing his stuff off. Power games to start, with Omega being pushed HARD into a corner and hammered with some hard forearm shots. Whips him to the other corner, and charges into an Omega boot to the head. Owens staggers out, Omega comes out, hits a Russian leg sweep into a pinning combination for a two count. Omega up, waits for Owens to get up, hits a nice roundhouse kick. Goes for a second, Owens catches...Omega with the enziguri and Owens decided to roll out and talk things over with C-Jack. Owens comes in, challenges Omega to a test of strength...Omega goes for the one hand, then goes quickly into an armwringer, falling forward on the arm to make it a sort of wakigatame (sort of meaning very awkward, as arms aren't really Damien's forte.) He then lets up on the arm a bit before grabbing the leg and going for a crossbow, but Owens is too close to the ropes. Both men get up, Omega goes for the armtwist, Owens counters with a shortarm clothesline, holding onto the arm, then yanking him to his feet to hit a northern lights suplex. Cover, 2 count. Owens takes over with kicks and knees to the back, then picks him up and hits a firemans carry ribbreaker for a 2 count. Full nelson suplex, followed by a front facelock for about 5 seconds before slipping into a gutwrench suplex. Boston Crab by Owens, and the crowd starts to chant "DA-MI-EN! DA-MI-EN!" Finally Omega gets to the ropes, and Owens releases. he grabs Damien from behind..belly to back suplex, and that hit HARD. Only a 2 count, tho. Damien then picks him up from behind again, and grabs one arm for the Asylum suplex...but Damien uses the other arm for a back elbow smash, then another one, causing Owens to let go. Omega off of the ropes, goes for a spinning elbow, Owens ducks, sets up for a full nelson suplex, but Omega jawbreakers out of it. Owens stumbles backwards to the turnbuckle, allowing Omega to roll over to the opposite end and get the necessary head of steam to hit the handspring elbow on Owens. Omega grabs the leg and lands on it a couple of times, then gives the signal for the Nagata lock..unfortunately, Owens gets to the ropes before it gets locked on. Omega picks up Owens, whips him to the ropes, misses a roundhouse kick, Owens goes behind and gets the waistlock on, lifts for the released German suplex, but Omega turns over and falls backward HARD into a DDT, and then covers...for a three count!!!! Postmatch, Stone rolls in, but Omega rolls out just as fast, raising his hands..and his title... hight. Stone makes motions around his waist. Good match, if a bit fast for two techies to go. There's a couple of minutes pauses in between people all night for commercials. When we come back on, we've got squashes, guys. MATCH #3: The Wave Runners vs. VENOM MAN, I remember these guys...oh, to be young and smarkish again..... VENOM and "Poisonous" Pete McGee were already in the ring as the Wave Runners strolled down the aisle. Mark and Greg were both carrying giant Trick-or-Treat bags full of candy, and were tossing out Hershey's Miniatures and mini-Tootsie Rolls all along ringside. The Runners set their bags down in the corner and vaulted over the top rope, ready for action. Mark started out against Arsenic as the bell sounded. They did the usual exchange of arm drags and hammer locks before Arsenic managed to push Mark into the corner and land a hard chop. Mark immediately reversed and planted *three* chops of his own before bealing Arsenic out to the center of the ring. Mark circled and drop kicked Arsenic back into Greg's corner, where Greg took one of the candy bags and dumped it over Arsenic's head. Arsenic still had the bag over his head as Mark tagged to Greg, then sent Arsenic for the ride and caught him with a leg trip on the return. Greg followed up with a springboard leg drop to the back of the head. Arsenic rolled himself out of the ring as Cyanide charged and was met with a double hip toss from the Runners. Then a double drop kick send Cyanide through the ropes to the outside, and McGee called the troops together for a conference. While they were on the floor, Mark took the other candy bag and dumped it over all of them with a loud, "TRICK OR TREAT, DUDES!" Cyanide came back into the ring at the count of eight, and he and Greg locked up. A little collar-and-elbow tango into the corner, and Cy landed a knee to Greg's midsection. For the next three minutes or so, it was the typical heel beatdown on the good guy, with lots of illegal double-teaming and McGee getting in a shot or two for good measure. VENOM came close to an upset on a few occasions. Greg kicked out of both a double face-buster suplex and a power slam from Cyanide at the 2-counts. VENOM then hit a spiked Stun Gun, and Mark had to run in to break up the pin. Greg was then sent to the ropes, ducked a clothesline, and planted a flying forearm on Cyanide off the rebound. They might have knocked heads as well, because both wrestlers were slow to get up. Mark stomped on the apron and tried to rally the crowd behind his partner, and it must have worked because Greg was able to roll over for the tag before Cyanide could pull him back. Mark jumped in over the top rope and went Cornholio on Cyanide, flooring him with three straight hard running lariats, then pushing him back to the ropes for a whip across and a nasty tilt-a-whirl backbreaker off the rebound. Arsenic came into the ring but was immediately back dropped by Mark, who then drop kicked him out of the ring. Cyande was just getting back to his feet, when Mark turned his attention back to him and dropped him back down with a double underhool DDT. Mark then pointed back at Greg, who had enough strength back to climb up top. Mark picked up Cynade for what looked to be an inverted atomic drop, but turned him around to catch a top rope clothesline from Greg. Mark rolled with the momentum and had Cyanide pinned with a rolling leg cradle (the "Pass-Set-Spike"). Arsenic made it back in time to break up the pin. Greg got back to his feet and started pounding away on Arsenic, and everything was total chaos. The referee went to the corner where Greg and Arsenic were duking it out, trying to get the non-legal men back to the outside. McGee seized this opportunity to get up on the apron and grab Mark from behind and hold him there while Cyanide pulled a chain out of his boot. Cy wrapped the chain around his fist and got a running start at Mark, but Mark ducked and clocked McGee with the chain. Cy turned back around, kicking himself for making the mistake, and was then kicked in the stomach by Mark and got the receiving end of the "Jaw Jacker" (Stone Cold Stunner). The ref turned back around just in time to see the cover by Mark and count the 1-2-3. I like how the Runners can even make a jobber match fun for the crowd...then turn right around and be a very good hardcore tag team. Hopefully with the new North American belt they can get in there and be competitive right away, as I think they may be a little bit away from a World title push just yet. *END PART 1*