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TRENT ACID VS. TEDDY HART CZW STREETFIGHT TAKES IT TO THE STREETS...LITERALLY
by Mike Johnson
The main event of last night's Combat Zone Wrestling event at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, PA featured Teddy Hart vs. Trent Acid in one hell of an excellent match. During the bout, which featured the stipulation that if Acid lost, he could never wrestle in CZW again, mic work from both men turned the match into a street fight.
Both men later brawled out the side door of the ECW Arena into the street with throngs of fans following them into the street. A car "driving down the road" (a planted car that was owned and driven by Lit of ROH's Special K) was stopped by the mass of humanity in the streets. Hart and Acid brawled atop of the car. Acid piledrove Hart on the hood of the car. The brawl continued with Acid moonsaulting off the car onto Hart. Hart came back and calling for a table that was set up outside (and brought to him by the fans), Hart dove off the car, putting Acid through the table.
The fight made its way back into the building, setting off a great series of back and forth near falls that were made even more incredible by the rabid heat from the crowd as it was split 50/50 down the middle, although Hart's followers were far more vocal.
The match ended with John Zandig trying to strike Hart with a chair. Hart grabbed it and turned around, setting up Trent Acid to hit his trademark Yakuza Kick into it for the pin. This continues the Zandig vs. Hart feud that began last month, leaving their eventual match open for the future. Just an incredible must-see brawl.
The brawl outside of the building was one hell of a site to see, bringing back memories of Rey Misterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera doing a similar, shorter stunt in Extreme Championship Wrestling in their final ECW Arena appearance in March 1996. I heard that management of the building wasn't happy with Acid and Hart going outside, only because if they were more aware of what was planned, they would have helped by cordoning off the street from legitimate traffic to allow for a safer atmosphere.
The heat in the match was just incredible, to the point there was a near fistfight outside the ECW Arena among fans of each worker immediately after the show. The fracas was quickly broken up by security and another fan who cut one hell of a promo about those fighting ruining it for all the other fans at the show. CZW's John Zandig came out to check on the situation as well.
I'll have tons more exclusive CZW notes and news later today as well as further comment on both the ECWA Super 8 and the Trent vs. Hart CZW match.
A video of last night's CZW event is already available at www.smartmarkvideo.com.
As I reported on Friday evening, Trent Acid returned to Combat Zone Wrestling this weekend. Acid was originally set to return in Philadelphia at the ECW Arena but once Teddy Hart missed his booking in Allentown (see below), the company called an audible and brought Acid back a day earlier. There was some talk among the wrestlers about Acid (who quit back in February) being brought back with an immediate main event push, but nothing was really said about it publicly to management by anyone other than undercard worker Z-Barr, which ended up ending Barr's longtime association with the promotion (more on that below). Acid was "in the crowd" on the show Friday and ended up brawling with some of the roster. On Saturday, he appeared with the storyline that he realized he made a mistake walking out and wanted to return. It ended up with Teddy Hart and John Zandig getting involved and Acid facing Hart with Acid staying if he won or leaving if he lost. Acid won the streetfight and reconciled with Zandig after the bout.
Z-Barr, who had been teaming with Nick Berk regularly, quit on Friday prior to the company's house show in Allentown, PA in protest of the decision to bring back Acid. As the story goes, Barr told CZW owner John Zandig he was quitting over it and Zandig said, "Good luck." A few people I spoke to in CZW told me they respected Barr for his decision. There was talk of Barr and Berk getting a decent push in the near future, so those plans are out the window. Barr has been contacting a lot of independent promoters looking for work. When I contacted Barr for comment he said, "I wish CZW good luck and that's all I have to say about it. That was the past, I'm going to work on my future."
It wouldn't be a week without some Teddy Hart situation brewing. Hart called company officials at 7:45 PM Friday and told them he was going to miss his booking at that night's Allentown, PA house show due to car trouble as he was two hours away. Those in the company wondered why he was still two hours away that close to ringtime (of course they were still setting up the ring at 8:30 PM that night) and informed Hart and his agent Dave Penzer he was no longer booked on Saturday at the ECW Arena. The promotion tried to find a replacement at the last minute, including Low Ki but no one was available. CZW finally decided that the fans who were coming to Philly expected to see Hart and made the call to put him back on the show. As it turned out, Hart had a tremendous main event with Trent Acid.
The promotion's return to the ECW Arena on 4/3 drew about 530 fans. That isn't a bad crowd considered the ECWA Super 8 was 40 minutes away, they had huge competition in the NCAA Final Four and there was another huge independent show in New Jersey. I arrived at the show in time to see the main event of Acid vs. Hart which just had tremendous heat. It was one of the most heated crowds I've seen at a wrestling show since ROH pulled the riot angle. The fans were ready to tear into each other because they loved/hated Teddy/Trent. It's a real shame that Hart always seems to have issues wherever he goes as he can make a ton of money in the business because of his persona and work. Those issues are going to prevent someone from building around him, and he's someone that could make a promotion a ton of money one day under the right circumstances. Complete results of the Philadelphia event saw Mike Quackenbush & Gran Akuma & Icarus & Mr. Zero defeated The Wild Cards & Ultramantis & Hallowicked....The H8 Club (Nate Hatred and Nick Gage) defeated Rebel's Army to win the CZW Tag Team championship....the debuting BJ Whitmer pinned Jimmy Jacobs....Chris Cash defeated Nick Berk and Grim Reefer....Joker defeated Jon Dahmer in an Xtreme Strong Style tournament bout....Danny Maff defeated Arik Cannon....CZW Junior Heavyweight champion Sonjay Dutt defeated Petey Williams and Roderick Strong....Ruckus and Sabian defeated All Money Is Legal....CZW Iron Man champion Jimmy Rave defeated Chris Hero....The Wifebeater defeated Adam Flash. Flash had stapled Wifebeater's tshirt to his face at one point....Trent Acid pinned Teddy Hart in a Streetfight.
Notes: ROH's Allison Danger was visiting at the show. The next CZW event is scheduled for 5/1 in Philadelphia....CZW champion The Messiah and B-Boy missed their bookings this weekend due to what was described to me as "flight problems.".... The company is really high on Danny Maff, Alex Shelley, and Chris Hero. A lot of people have been pointing out the work of Robby Mireno's heel faction of Ruckus, Joker, and Sabian as well. I had a chance to check out a six man tag featuring Mireno's crew from last month and Mireno's act as the white guy who's found his calling as an ebonics spewing thug is brilliant. The match was plain awesome CZW-style stuff including a double stomp off the Eagle's Nest of the building by Joker.
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