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CZW DECADE OF DEFIANCE LIVE REPORT
Mike Johnson Reporting
Combat Zone Wrestling returned to the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, PA on Saturday 5/10 for "Decade of Defiance" which was a celebration of 10 years of wrestling at the venue.
The show opened with CZW owner John Zandig coming out to welcome fans to the show, saying that he had invited Tod Gordon and Paul Heyman to appear at the show. Zandig noted that Gordon didn't want to show "so he didn't care" and that Heyman didn't return his calls "so he doesn't give a f*ck about this place anymore." Zandig said that he called Tommy Dreamer to make an appearance but Dreamer was unable to due to WWE commitments but was honored he was asked. It should be noted the promotion didn't invite anyone to attend the show until the last week prior.
Zandig then introduced a video which he said would only be played at the show to commemorate the history of the building, which was clips of ECW and CZW matches set to different songs including the ECW theme, U2's "The Streets Have No Name" and White Zombie's "Thunderkiss 65." Whoever edited this thing together deserves one hell of a raise. Really an awesome video and as good as anything WWE puts out. Zandig then held a 10 bell count in memory of those who performed in the building but had passed away.
*In a Tag Team elimination bout, Z-Barr & Dereck Frazier defeated the teams of Jude & Niles Young, Jon Dahmer & Cory Kastle and The Ring Crew Express (Marcos and Dunn of ROH) and Hurricane Kid. Hurricane was accompanied by Rick Feinberg, who did a Sandman parody. Z-Barr looked real good here and has a ton of charisma. If he continues to work as hard as he did here, he'll be a top heel in the area in a year or two.
*GQ pinned Nick Berk after hitting him with a foreign object. At one point, he threw salt in Berk's face right in full view of the referee. Huh?
*Deranged defeated The Grimm Reefer and Smoked Out in a Three-Way Dance. Smoked is a trainee from the old LIWF Doghouse in NYC, which is where Reefer originated as well. Reefer pinned Smoked with a neckbreaker to eliminate him. Deranged pinned Reefer. OK, especially once Smoked was eliminated.
*Adam Flash and Ian Knoxx defeated Rockin' Rebel and Greg Matthews (Tough Enough 1). Rebel was whipping Flash with a belt when John Zandig took it and whipped him with it. Flash rolled him up for the pin. Rebel challenged Zandig to a strap match on 6/14. That was a match that was scheduled for their Best of the Best 3 event last month at one point.
*Homicide forced Trent Acid to tap out with an STF variation. They worked a 15 minute draw and Homicide asked for 5 more minutes. Acid agreed. Acid shook Homicide's hand afterwards but attacked him. He and B-Boy worked over Homicide. Mafia (Danny Maff in ROH) hit the ring and ran them off. Fans chanted for Mafia loudly, so they knew who he was. Both sides vowed it wasn't over. This was far and beyond the best match of the night and the most heated. Acid came out dressed mocking Homicide before the bout and declaring that he, not Homicide was the best Junior Heavyweight champion, as they have both held the Big Japan Junior championship. Considering that Acid was doing moonsaults off the bleachers to entertain other fans as a teenager during ECW shows years ago, it's pretty nice to see him have one of the best matches of his career on the venue's anniversary.
*CZW Iron Man champion Nick Mondo pinned Johnny Kashmere. Kashmere did some funny mic work before the match noting that fans had been throwing change at him. When the rainfall of coins began, he opened up an umbrella saying they had to get up early to get one over on him. Mondo won the bout when he hit his finisher the Mondo Driver on Kashmere's manager Dewey Donovan off the top through a table that Kashmere was laid out across. Mondo vowed to go into the "Tournament of Death" (see notes) as champion. Good match.
*CZW Junior Heavyweight champion Ruckus pinned Chris Cash. Ruckus is a heavy African American worker who is built like a tank and flys like a hang glider. At one point they brawled to the upper stage. Cash was going to hit Ruckus with a move off the upper stage through a table but GQ interfered and ended up taking the ride down. When they brawled back to the ring, GQ interfered again and knocked Cash off the ropes and put a chair in front of his face while he was prone in the corner. Ruckus hit a variation on Rob Van Dam's Van Terminator, only he flipped forward into the kick rather than a jump from one corner to the other. Awesome spot. Ruckus hit a handspring into a 450 splash for the win. Ruckus took his game up a big notch.
*B-Boy pinned Tony Mamaluke with a shining wizard. Flat match and probably a little too long. Mamaluke came out showing off an ECW sweater. Mamaluke received an "ECW" chant when he left the ring.
*Ric Blade defeated Sonjay Dutt in a Ladder Match to become the top contender to the CZW Junior Heavyweight championship. They used three ladders in the bout, where the object was to capture the contract for a championship bout.
*CZW champion The Messiah pinned Nate Hatred in a Fans Bring The Weapons Match. Some of the weapons including thumbtacks, a shopping cart, a street sign, plastic bats with tacks, and more. After Messiah took a bump into tacks, Hatred poured rubbing alcohol over his back and ran a mop soaked in it over him. Hatred's partner Nick Gage hit the ring and laid him out with a chair. He then laid out Messiah with it. Messiah fell on Hatred and the referee counted three. Gage hit Hatred with the facewash as Messiah's running mates the Backseat Boyz and B-Boy pulled him out of the ring. Lots of sick moments with a flat finish. Gage came out with a brace on his leg. Not sure when or how he injured himself. All three brawled, setting up Messiah vs. Gage vs. Hatred for 6/14.
Notes: Crowd was about 350 fans....Before the show, they were playing video packages on Eddie Gilbert, Sabu, and Terry Funk using ECW footage....There is no plan to sell anything involving the ECW footage shown at the show. It was done as something special just for those in attendance....They sold a T-shirt with a replica of the building's sign on the front with CZW's logo in yellow over the white ECW one and "Ultraviolent" replacing the word "Extreme" also on the shirt....The promotion announced three dates for Dover, Delaware at Racks on 6/28, 7/26, and 8/23. the July date will be their second annual "Tournament of Death." The promotion returns to Philadelphia on 6/14....For more on CZW, visit www.CZWWrestling.com.
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