Connor McGrath
ECPW On Fire
July 26th, 2014 (Taped June 13th, 2014)
From The Elks Lodge in Paramus, New Jersey
Announcers: Ken Reedy and Joey G
We got a super big show this week to close out July with four matches including two (maybe three?) title matches so let’s go down to ringside at the Paramus Elks Lodge to start the action!
WOF Heavyweight Title Match: Josef Von Schmidt (c) Vs Mike Capp
Von Schmdt’s World Title reign has been weird so far as a few months in, he hasn’t really been involved in any storylines except teasing the Champion Vs Champion/heel Vs heel storyline with Andrew Anderson. He’s just been squashing dudes. Usually, you build a guy up and have him squash dudes *before* he becomes the champ. Anyway, Von Schmidt sort of channeling Prince Devitt with his entrance gear as he dresses up like Darth Vader when he’s been unmasked at the end of Return of the Jedi with a Vader hoodie and weird face mask. The fans in Paramus love Von Schmidt despite him being a heel and despite his best efforts. He spits in Mike Capp’s face, yells at the fans chanting “JVS”, wrestles dirty…fans still love him. It’s like CM Punk in late ’12 on a obviously much, much smaller scale. I have no idea why they like him that much. Only guess is he has cool ring gear. Von Schmidt wins with a modified surfboard. This is a little better than his first title defense a few weeks back but only a little. D+
ECPW Tag Team Titles Match: Shields and Revello (c) Vs Frankie & Junior Flow
This is the same match we saw last week!
Sol De Oro Vs Saru
Saru The Monkey is one of the latest additions to ECPW roster. Ken Reedy and Joey G make almost the exact same jokes about Saru and the fact that he has a tail (and whether or not, someone will get DQ’d for pulling it) that they did during his last appearance. Sol De Oro is a white dude in a luchador costume. This is a semi-rare face Vs face match in ECPW. The match starts off with a dance off then turns into a goofy but mildly entertaining spotfest. These guys are super athletic and talented and two thirds of the match, I was set to give it a positive review. Ultimately though, this match reminded me of why some people don’t like lucha. It’s a bunch of impressive moves that don’t really mean anything. That and these guys really got gassed towards the end. Like I said, match was definitely not unentertaining and it was different than anything we’ve seen on this show but in good conscience, can’t give it a full fledged thumbs up. Sol De Oro wins with a Frog Splash. C+
Matt MacIntosh Vs Crazy Ivan (with Doug DeVito)
Matt MacIntosh is the ECPW Light Heavyweight Champion and Crazy Ivan is the ECPW Television Champion but they never clarify which if any title is on the line so I’ll say it’s non-title even though it might not be! Anyway, I got somewhat high expectations for this since MacIntosh is one of the best workers in ECPW On Fire and Crazy Ivan is one of the most entertaining so I expect it to be reasonably entertaining but it’s a bit of a letdown. Both guys are trying but their styles never click and most of the match is MacIntosh getting beat down by Ivan than hitting a flukey mid ’90s Randy Savage-sque comeback. The effort is there but these guys just didn’t mesh. The match ends with one of the absolute worst double pins I’ve ever seen and MacIntosh gets the controversial win. The show ends with Crazy Ivan and Doug DeVito ranting about this injustice to an agreeing Ken Reedy and a disgusted Joey G. C-
The good thing about cramming four matches into a half hour is nothing overstays its welcome. But it also feels like trying to stuff ten pounds of crap into a five pound bag. Especially considering none of the four matches (save maybe Sol De Oro-Saru) were any good. Ideally, with a half hour show, I’d like two or three decent matches with some sort of storyline behind them then four random, short matches. Anyway, better to have too much than too little, I guess?
Anyway, it’s the dog days of summer and it’s getting pretty hot out. You don’t want your candy to go to waste but remember even in these circumstances to never, ever feed your dogs chocolate. Thanks for reading and I’ll see everyone next Monday!
