Connor McGrath
Welcome to another recap of Wrestling On Fire. I hope everybody the huge sporting contest on Sunday. Yes, the battle between the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic just may have determined who will finish in 13th Place in the Eastern Conference this season and I’m sure it’s one we were all riveted by! But enough of the hoops talk! Let’s get down to ringside for this week’s edition of ECPW On Fire!
We open with an Upcoming Events segment. Which seems kind of silly considering ECPW On Fire only has one upcoming event since we’re in the dead of winter. Why not just say; “Hey! Everybody come check out, our show on February 14th at Parsippany High School.” Talking about your Upcoming Events only makes you look less bush league if you have more than one upcoming event! Anyway, that’s just another one of my little nit picks.
We open the show with the evil heel stable led by Ken Reedy and Mario Savoldi Jr. Ricky Reyes is apparently a heel again because he’s hanging out with them. NWA On Fire OGs THe Giant Pharaoh and Joseph Von Schmidt are back around too apparently. Sadly though, Joseph Von Schmidt has dropped his World War I German soldier gimmick. They call out Gino Caruso and ECPW Heavyweight Champ Jumbo Joe Gunns, who get booed by the thirty people in the crowd despite being portrayed as the babyfaces. These guys are less in touch with audience reaction than WWE! Caruso’s babyface promo about the WOF Title tournament is drowned out by fans chanting for various members of the heel stable like they’re the New York Yankees. Caruso talks about how he hopes everybody fights fairly in the WOF Title Tournament and wins the fans back by pandering to them. Kind of a weird segment. It looks like it was meant to be a big go home promo to hype the tourney but it was marred by the fact that A. the crowd is really small even by this promotion’s standards and B. They were all rooting for the heels.
Our ad break sees a much, much better show for ECPW/WOF’s show on Valentine’s Day that hypes specific matches (Joe Gunns Vs Joseph Von Schmidt for the ECPW Title, Dan De Man Vs Kai Katana for the ECPW Light Heavyweight title, Ricky Reyes Vs Crazy Ivan for the ECPW Unified TV Title, a guest appearance by Nunzio, formerly of WWE and ECW). Then a weird promo for the Best of ICW DVD, set to a Fall Out Boy song for some reason. Cause what better song to hype clips of Dory Funk Jr Vs Carlos Colon then Fall Out Boy?
The Giant Pharaoh Vs Ray Ray Marz
This is the first time we’ve seen Ray Ray Marz in in-ring action since I’ve been recapping the show on here. Ray Ray Marz is wearing one of those funny furry hats and the kind of sunglasses Big Poppa Pump wears. He also wears a Fireball Whiskey bowling shirt while carrying a pint of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey and talking about how great Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey is. Then he spits the whiskey like Triple H (although the announcers compare him to LeBron James). I guess the storyline is he has to be drunk to face the 7’1” Giant Pharaoh. And I guess the Savoldis struck up a friendship with a Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey rep. Marz sets the whiskey bottle on the announcers table and tells Joey G and Reedy not to touch it.
This also the first time I’ve seen Giant Pharaoh play babyface. I’m surprised Pharaoh hasn’t gotten a tryout/development deal anywhere. Dude is legit huge. I’m not sure if he’s the 7’1” claim that WOF claims but he’s not too far off. And by big man standard, he’s not that bad by hoss standards…certainly better than Khali is now at least (damning with faint praise). I guess the age of the giant in wrestling is over. Even in WOF, his stock seems to have fallen. Once built up as an unstoppable heel, he gives up a ton of offense to Marz, a weaselly heel part time wrestler/color commentator. Pharaoh wins with a Full Nelson Slam on Marz after ducking a brass knuckles shot by Ray Ray. This match was fine for what was more or less, a comedy match. B-
They show an ad for USWA Texas on Tuff TV! THANKS FOR RUBBING IT IN MY FACE THAT MY CABLE SYSTEM DOESN’T OFFER TUFF TV, GUYS!
ECPW Heavyweight Title Match: “Jumbo” Joe Gunns (c) Vs Andrew Anderson (with Doug DeVito)
Hate to start off the review for the ECPW Heavyweight title with another whiny nitpick but Joe Gunns carries a replica of the Big Gold NWA/WCW/World title. I don’t mind smaller indies using replica belts since hey, having somebody custom belts isn’t easy or cheap but do they have to use such a recognizable replica? The WOF Title is fine cause I believe they’re using a replica of the old, pre WrestleMania IV WWF World title (one Hogan had from ’84 to ’87ish), which is not incredibly recognizable to your average eight year old fan. That World Title was on WWE TV like a month ago! It’s probably the most recognizable wrestling title except maybe for the Winged Eagle belt WWF used from the late ’80s to the early ’00s.
I digress.
Joey G and Ken Reedy talk about Anderson crossing sides to join Team Wrestling On Fire. He’s the “Stone Cold” Steve Austin of this storyline, I see. If Stone Cold, I guess. Jumbo Joe Gunns gets a “You Still Got It” chant during his entrance, which seems funny because 1. Aren’t you supposed to chant that match after the old guy does something impressive during the match. 2. The actual match was just a really, really slow brawl where both guys looked their age. I’m still not sure why Gunns is really over. Because he looks like one of Uncle Jack’s gangmembers from the last season of Breaking Bad? Gunns with a facebuster after Anderson accidentally rams into a turnbuckle that he wrapped a chain around to hit Gunns with. Gunns, DeVito, and Reedy protest and try to get the match restarted to no avail while a couple of the fans do the “Yes” chant around Gunns as the show draws to a close. Got to give the diehard WOF fans props. No matter how these shows are, they always find a way to get really into it. Unlike the WOF audiences when they were centered in Maine, who usually had the same crowd reactions that I do watching these shows on TV! D
That ends the show for another week! Hope everybody has a tremendous week and remember, everybody that even though Valentine’s Day is coming up and you want to be good to all of your furry friends. Never feed your dogs chocolate. Thanks and good night!
