Connor McGrath
Welcome to another ECPW ON Fire recap. I hope everybody enjoyed WrestleMania Weekend. I know I enjoyed the big show a great deal. One of the best editions of Mania in a number of years if not ever. Our friends, ECPW On Fire had a big WrestleMania show 1,300 miles away from The Superdome in their home of Parsippany, New Jersey. There were a few surprise returns on this show but we’ll get to that next week since the show’s are one week behind. I’ll take being consistently one week behind over the shows being out of order and at random like they’ve been in the past…
The show opens with “The German” Josef Von Schmidt cutting a promo on Brian Fury and Apollo about their upcoming triple threat cage match to determine the Wrestling On Fire Unified Champion. Josef Von Schmidt talks about being a 20 time World Champion. This really annoys me. I HATE Indy promotions calling their belts World Titles. I don’t care if you’re ROH even. It’s not a World Title. Von Schmidt might have actually won 20 titles but to claim he has more World Titles than Ric Flair just makes him look like a jackass and makes the promotion look bush league. Which is ironic because I assume the reason they’re using the phrase “20 Time World Champion” is to prop the match up. God, only two minutes and I’m ALREADY ANGRY ENOUGH TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS!
The opening credits are using the awful “Time to Feed The Beast,” Rob Zombie soundalike this week instead of Eminem’s “Berserk” as the theme. “Feed The Beast” is an awful catchphrase for a promotion but is also a knockoff of Ryback’s catchphrase!
We go to the “announce booth” where Joey G and Ken Reedy are ready to make the call. I like seeing the “announce booth,” it makes it seem remotely like an actual live wrestling show. It’s a small touch but an important one. They hype the big cage match on the next big show but tonight we have, Dan De Man defending the ECPW Light Heavyweight Title against Matt MacIntosh. But first, Ricky Reyes Vs Mike Donovan
ECPW On Fire Television Title Match: “The Cuban Crippler” Ricky Reyes (c) Vs Mike Donovan
Reyes defended the TV Title at the WrestleMania Weekend show against Nunzio, Crazy Ivan, Kai Katana, and Matt MacIntosh and this is the last tuneup. This is basically an extended squash for Reyes. The chemistry between these two just seemed off. It’s not like they botched a bunch of moves but I couldn’t tell what they were trying to do with some moves. Reyes was game but Donovan just seemed off. Anyway, Reyes wins with a brainbuster. D+
After the match, Reyes cuts a “Yay! Wrestling” promo putting over ECPW and Wrestling On Fire as “the best wrestlers” in the world. I’ll cut him some slack since he just had a match with that one. He hypes up the gauntlet match.
ECPW Light Heavyweight Title Match: Dan De Man (c) Vs Matt MacIntosh
Ken Reedy dishes out a veiled cheap shot to WWE by saying that in ECPW On Fire, they defend their belts on TV. Dan De Man stalls on his way out and yells at the crowd. The audio for the commentary in this match is messed up. Sometimes, it sounds like they’re talking in a tin can and there’s a weird echo on other parts. Anyway, this match is heavily clipped, we see the first minute or two then go to commercial and come back for the last minute or two. Kind of jarring to see some chain wrestling then cut to commercial and come back to the same guys huffing and puffing. Anyway, MacIntosh goes over with his modified F5 into underhook powerbomb finisher and the crowd goes wild. Joey G puts over the possibility of MacIntosh winning two titles in 24 hours. Not much of a match but a nice moment. De Man is a fun comedy heel act but MacIntosh is on a roll and deserves to have the gold. C+
Ken Reedy no sells MacIntosh’s title win and says he has more important things to worry about than Matt MacIntosh trying to win two titles in 24 hours. Wow, he put over the secondary titles and then buried them in a ten minute span. It’s just like WWE! I know it’s his heel character but still, it was very late ’90s WCW-esque… putting over one storyline while ignoring several others.
Speaking of Reedy, he’s with Uncle Tommy Savoldi. Since Brian Fury has been out of ECPW On Fire for over six months, we get a video package highlighting his feud with The Savoldi Family, which is what somewhat indirectly led to the ECPW Vs WOF feud. Uncle Tommy calls Brian Fury an “asshole” a bunch of times, which is funny because old people swearing is hilarious (also isn’t this a family friendly show?) Reedy teases Uncle Tommy turning heel and joining Team WOF but Uncle Tommy is too concerned with selling the shit out of that Triple Threat Cage Match.
This was just kind of an awkward placeholder, hype show since they knew it would air after the big show in some markets. I did like Matt MacIntosh finally getting the ECPW Light Heavyweight title and the nice refresher on Brian Fury. He really was the biggest heel in the company’s history and he had been pretty much forgotten for the last six months up until this show. Hopefully, we’ll some more storylines developing in the next few weeks and hopefully, this WOF/ECPW feud starts to make some more sense. So until next time, remember that even though Easter is coming up and candy is prevalent, never feed your dogs chocolate. Like The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak, I’m gone. See you next Monday, CXF!
