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Northeast Wrestling
Wrestlefest XII
March 2, 2018
Waterbury, Connecticut
The show started with The Young Bucks & Marty Scurll and they taped a segment for Being The Elite. They asked the crowd to play along and the crowd was super hot for it. The Bucks then cut a promo saying the last time they were here they wrestled The Hardys and sat across from Roddy Piper as he signed autographs and put over what an honor it was. Marty then started saying that things are messed up in the Bullet Club when The Kingdom came out and cut them off.
Taven came out and said the Bullet Club is stealing everyone’s money by coming here and not wrestling. Nick then said they can’t wrestle because of their contracts, but they can get in the ring and get their asses kicked. The Kingdom hit the ring and ran right into superkicks. That sent The Kingdom packing and they were stopped by local police before they could get in the ring again. The Young Bucks thanked the crowd. That was a crowd-pleasing way to start the show to say the least.
MATCH ONE: NEW Tag Team Titles – Adrenaline Rush (Evans & Youngblood) (c) v. Cam Zagami & Robbie E
Adrenaline Rush is listed from the DANGER ZONE.
This was as basic of a tag match as it gets and I say that with the highest regard possible. The crowd ate it up, it told an easy story and it was entertaining. Zagami was out when Robbie E put his foot on the rope. After that, Evans was going for a big finish when Robbie E pushed him and Cam rolled him up with a handful of tights for the win. Simple, yet very well done and the crowd reacted huge. That’s all you can ask for. New champions.
WINNERS: Cam Zagami & Robbie E
Lanny Poffo out for an interview segment. He put over NEW as the best indy promotion and thanked the fans for everything. He also thanked all the fans at the meet and greet earlier who said nice things about his brother Randy Savage. That got a very cool “Macho” chant. He read one of his classic poems about the Macho King back in the day, which included an Elizabeth mention. This was a good little segment that the fans appreciated. He then threw Frisbees into the crowd because…why not?
MATCH TWO: Triple Threat Match - “Red Lion” Chris Battle v. Christian Casanova v. “Sexy Beast” Bull Dread
Another very simple, yet effective match. Casanova was playing the smaller cowardly heel who took a bunch of big bumps for the bigger Battle and Dread. The finish saw Casanova move and Dread speared Battle. Casanova dumped Dread out of the ring and pinned Battle. Everyone played their role well, the crowd was hot for it, and Casanova shined as the heel.
WINNER: Christian Casanova
Out comes King Brian Anthony and his Royal Court, which consists of The Amazing Graysons and a man dressed as the Mad Hatter. This is straight out of 1993 WWF. Before Anthony could cut a promo, he was cut off by his opponent and his entrance.
MATCH THREE: “The King” Brian Anthony v. “Man Scout” Jake Manning
Manning does a Boy Scout gimmick.
This ended up being a great match. Again, another simple yet effective story. Manning was running wild and the Graysons kept getting involved. The crowd bit HUGE for a false finish that saw Manning do a straightjacket fall from the top rope to the floor while he read his Boy Scout manual. Then when he got Anthony in the ring the crowd exploded at the near finish. Anthony got the win after one of the Graysons got involved and cut Manning off on the top rope. Anthony hit a top rope Jackhammer for the win.
WINNER: Brian Anthony
MATCH FOUR: “American Sumo” Mike Gamble v. Ron Zombie
I guess the fairest way to describe this match is that it was okay. It didn’t go all that long. Zombie sold a lot for Gamble, and eventually, Zombie fought him off and hit a leaping DDT for the win. Zombie is a local favorite with the promotion, so it was nice for him to get a quick win here.
WINNER: Ron Zombie
MATCH FIVE: Deonna Purrazzo v. Tenille Dashwood
I can’t say enough good things about this match. The only thing I would question is Dashwood playing heel since everyone was there to see her, however, she was fantastic in the role. As always, Purrazzo showed why she is probably the best female wrestler on the independents today. Both showed great poise, told a good story and didn’t have to kill themselves to get a reaction. Dashwood got a win with a running dropkick to the head.
WINNER: Tenille Dashwood
MATCH SIX: Matt Riddle v. “Big Bacon” Brad Hollister
To no one’s surprise, Matt Riddle was involved in another really great match. Hollister has a ton of natural charisma, but he’s just a tad bit off in timing and selling. Other than that, this was really terrific to watch. They traded nearfalls until Hollister got to win with a flurry of moves followed by a sit out powerbomb. The crowd was surprised, but they were into their local guy getting the big win.
WINNER: “Big Bacon” Brad Hollister
MATCH SEVEN: Josh Briggs v. Wrecking Ball Legursky
This match was starting to gain some steam and become somewhat of an interesting story when Wrecking Ball’s manager Jared (doing a trust fund gimmick) came in the ring and jumped on Briggs’ back for the DQ.
The match struggled early. There seemed to be some timing and footwork issues on the part of Legursky. Then Briggs took a suplex on the wood gym floor and I had to question his sanity. He nailed a huge Undertaker/Wrestlemania dive to the floor that landed perfect and got an enormous reaction. Other than that, it was slow to build but was eventually working itself out.
After the bell, Mick Foley came out to the ring and used Mr. Socko on Jared and dragged him to the back. He then came back to the ring and stood tall with Briggs as Legursky walked out. After the match, Mick cut a promo putting over NEW and all of the people for coming out in terrible weather. He then said how sad he was that there were so many Bullet Club shirts and no Cactus Jack shirts. He then saw two fans with Foley shirts and brought them in the ring. He then told Nick and Matt Jackson to take that because he’s over.
WINNER: Josh Briggs
MAIN EVENT: Flip Gordon & Rey Mysterio, Jr. v. Caleb Konley & Joey Mercury
I wouldn’t call this the smoothest encounter I’ve ever seen, but as far as building heat to a hot tag, then building heat to an even hotter tag that lead to an explosion after the finish, this was effective. Rey is a superstar for a reason, and Flip is building his way to eventually becoming one. Flip benefited greatly from being in there with him.
The finish saw Rey hit a double 619, followed by a top rope splash on Konley for the win.
WINNERS: Flip Gordon & Rey Mysterio, Jr.
Overall, this was a really fun show to attend. The crowd was electric throughout the night, they were into everything from beginning to end, and the talent had their working shoes on. If you get a chance to attend a show either here or in Bethany, CT, I would highly suggest it.
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