Connor McGrath
ECPW Heavyweight Champion “The Re-Enforcer” Andrew Anderson takes on Wrestling On Fire Champion Josef Von Schmidt in this week’s *other* pro wrestling clash of the super-heavyweights.
ECPW On Fire
August 16th, 2014 (Taped July 18th, 2014)
From the Elks Lodge in Paramus, New Jersey
Announcer: Charlie Savoldi
It’s SummerSlam Weekend and one of the great things about these landmark WWE events is that smaller promotions like this try to capitalize on the ramped up interest in pro wrestling with big shows of their own. ECPW On Fire is no exception as this week’s show featured the long awaited title unification match (a cynic will say this show was taped a month ago on Battleground Weekend but whatever). I’ve been waiting for the titles situation to be cleared up for almost a year now. Will it happen today? As Lex Luger would say “I DON’T KNOOOOOOOOWWWWWW” but I’m curious to find out.
Sol De Oro Vs Dillinger
Sol De Oro made his first appearance a little while back and is definitely quickly becoming one of the Paramus Elks Lodge’s favorites. He gives off a CHIKARA vibe and is a bit of a fresh air. Speaking of co-opting stuff the big boys do, Sol comes to the ring, pointing his fingers in the air and chanting “SI! SI! SI!” reminding everyone of the enormously ubiquitous “YES!” chants made popular by great former WWE World Champ The Big Show. Charlie Savoldi is announcing this show solo. I like the two man booth with Joey G and Ken Reedy or Gino Caruso better even though Charlie Savoldi might be the best announcer out of any of them. Not a fan of solo booths unless it’s a truly great announcer (JR or Gordon Solie) with the mic. Charlie’s alright but he reminds of Matt Striker in a lot of ways. His attempts to be a classic, old school announcer just seem forced at times.
Dillinger kind of looks like he could be Shaq’s stunt double but is built more like Cleveland Cavaliers/Boston Celtics Shaq than Orlando Magic Shaq. Sol De Oro had a marginally impressive debut but unfortunately, this match falls flat. It just seemed like one of those matches from WCW’s syndicated shows in the late ’90s where one of the luchadores took on one of the big stiffs from the Power Plant like Lorenzo and neither guy knew what the hell to do against the other. Hey a Lorenzo reference in 2014! A Lorenzo reference at any time! Sol De Oro gets the win with a Backstabber followed by a Frog splash. D
Tony Vega & Ricky Palmer Vs Jackyl and TKO
Another set of debuts here. Jackyl is unfortunately neither Don Callis or a ’90s Southern Metal band whose front-man uses a chainsaw and has a mediocre reality show. He’s a dude wearing facepaint or sells by screaming in an unusually high voice. TKO’s gimmick is that he thinks he’s a boxer. Highly imaginative. Anyway, this is a not particularly good rote, formula tag team match but it’s nice for Vega & Palmer to pick up a victory. I understand why young, up and comers have to learn the ropes and end their fair share of matches by staring at the lights but it’s hard to sell Vega & Palmer as “the future of ECPW On Fire” without them winning at least the occasional match. Anyway, nice to see them pick up a win as Palmer finishes off TKO with a modified atomic drop. C-
The World Cup Championship was still fresh in people’s mind when this show was taped so Wrestling On Fire Champion Josef Von Schmidt is celebrating Germany’s victory, wearing a Germany t-shirt and holding an replica of the trophy made partially out of aluminum foil. One of the fans who carries signs written on index paper has a highly amusing sign that says “Von Schmidt- World Cups. Anderson-D Cups” Von Schmidt is one SOUR KRAUT because only his Wrestling On Fire title is on the line in his match against ECPW Heavyweight Champion Andrew Anderson. Von Schmidt says if Anderson were a man, he’d put his title on the line too. Anderson agrees.
Unification Match: ECPW Heavyweight Champion Andrew Anderson (with Doug DeVito) Vs Wrestling On Fire Champion Josef Von Schmidt
So this title Vs title match is Heel Vs Heel, which seems slightly unusual. The crowd really, really likes Von Schmidt for some reason even though he’s the champion of the supposed “rival” Wrestling On Fire and constantly badmouths the good ol’ US of A. Although New Jersey might as well be its own country, am I right? HAH! Anyway, watching this match brings to mind Bret Hart describing a Hulk Hogan Vs Sgt. Slaughter match in his book as “looking two elephants fighting over a waterhole”. This match did what it set out to do (set up a rematch) but it was not pretty in the process. I could kind of tell from the get-go that we wouldn’t get a clean finish and surprise, surprise! This match ended in a Double DQ after both guys grabbed their belts and accidentally whacked the referee with it. D
Three steps forward, two steps back seems to be the name of the game for this show. For every good decision, there’s another not so good one. Obviously, I’ve been clamoring for a title unification forever but somehow, this feels like as Psycho Sid would say to be “the wrong place, wrong time”. More importantly, the wrong guys. Again, it’s funny how I spent a lot of time complaining about how directionless the undercard seemed but right now, it’s the opposite. They’re building some serviceable undercard guys and the title scene is more confusing than ever.
Summer’s almost over and it’s time to go back to school. I know everybody’s heading to the candy store to buy a treat and try and become teacher’s pet. But you know who it’s not OK to buy candy for? Your actual pets! Remember to never feed your dogs chocolate! Until next week, keep on rasslin’!
