| East Coast Wrestling Association - October 14, 2000 - Laurel, DE |
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| Friday, October 13, 2000 | |||
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A three-week East Coast Wrestling Association heavyweight championship reign came to an end, and the ECWA's sensational young tag team, in front of their parents and classmates, installed themselves in the number-one contender spot at the ECWA show held on October 14 at Laurel High School in Laurel, Delaware. Over 500 advance-sale tickets had been sold as the fans made their way into the Howard W. Elliott Gymatorium (named after a legendary basketball statistics guy; maybe there's hope that a certain school gym in Maryland will be named after a legendary winter-sports timekeeper) for the card whose proceeds benefited the class of 2002 (of which Jay Briscoe is a member). Manning the ECWAtron screen this evening: SEBASTIAN NIGHT. Ring announcer: CHUCK RISTANO. Timekeeper at the bell: JEFF AMDUR. Referees for the evening: ROCK AUSTIN, LARRY PEACE and PAUL TURNER. Taking pictures for the media: JOE ZANOLLE. Taking pictures for the sake of taking pictures, I guess [shrug]: BERNIE DIEHL. MATCH 1: "FALLEN ANGEL" CHRISTOPHER DANIELS pinned "FAST" EDDIE VALENTINE in 12:19. This was the first appearance of Daniels in the ECWA since he won this year's Super Eight tournament, and he did not disappoint. He quickly and rather surprisingly established himself as the fan favorite in this match. Both wrestlers got early 2-counts after trading leg sweeps. Daniels landed some stiff judo chops and what could best be described as a flying side kick (kind of a cross between an enzuguiri and flying drop kick). Throwing Eddie out of the ring, Chris did a super-arc sideways plancha off the top turnbuckle onto Eddie on the floor. As Eddie came back into the ring, Daniels tried another dive and missed. Valentine took control with a bolo punch, clothesline elbow drop and choke before missing a charge. Daniels hit a clothesline and double ax handle; but Eddie came back and threw him out of the ring, following this up with an Asai moonsault. Valentine then suplexed Daniels back into the ring, and got a 2-count after a series of German suplexes and a thrust slam. Seemingly out of nowhere, Fallen Angel got a second wind and clocked Eddie with an elbow and an enzuguiri. Daniels got 2-counts after some drop kicks. Eddie hit another bolo punch after Chris missed a moonsault; but Daniels quickly recovered to deliver his "last rites" off the top turnbuckle and get the pin. MATCH 2: VINCE GOODNITE & "MAXIMUM" JOHNNY MAXX pinned "FABULOUS" MOZART FONTAINE & MONSIEUR OOH LA LA (with E.S. EASTON & COWBOY BLA..., er, I mean NIGEL FAIRSERVICE) in 8:45. Maxx and Vince got an early advantage on the Bad Guys; but Easton's distraction of the ref precipitated a turnaround, as Ooh and Mo did some lengthy double-teaming on Maxx, not to mention the steady stream of saliva emanating from Ooh's mouth directed at Goodnite. This may have been the most spit I've seen since legendary slobberer ROCKY STORM was wrestling prelims in the WWWF circa 1965. Vince finally made the hot tag and cleaned house. Vince had Ooh pinned while Mo had Maxx pinned, as ref Austin made the count. As Goodnite and La were the legal men at the time, the pinfall victory went to Johnny and Vince. CHUCK RISTANO didn't even have time to completely announce the win, as the HAAS BROTHERS, accompanied by KEVIN KELLY, attacked the victors. As the crowd loudly serenaded them with a "Briscoe! Briscoe!" chant, Kelly and the Haases razzed on Laurel High big time. Kelly promised he would kick butt in his scheduled arm-wrestling match against LHS football coach MIKE PUGH (who, not-so-coincidentally, happens to be the father of JAY & MARK BRISCOE). The Haases promised that the Briscoes (both currently students at Laurel High) would find out how it feels to be "haastructionized", as Kelly added that the school would be entering the "Haas of Pain". MATCH 3: "BIG" BENNY STOLZFUS pinned THE FOREIGN POWERS (THE JAPANESE POOL BOY & THE PERSIAN PRINCE) in 3:31 of their handicap match as Benny splashed Prince, press-slammed Pool Boy on top of him, and sat on the both of them for the pin. MATCH 4: In an eagerly-anticipated battle of high flyers, RECKLESS YOUTH pinned LOW-KI in 9:29, as JOE ZANOLLE may have set some sort of record for most ringside pictures taken during a 10-minute match. Reckless hit the first high-fly as he drop kicked Low over the top turnbuckle onto the floor. As Reckless tried to follow up with a tope, Low-Ki hit a drop-kick from the floor, with Reckless reeling back to the middle of the ring as his momentum had been broken. Low followed with a moonsault, but Reckless returned the favor with a somersault of his own, following up with a choke. Low wouldn't submit to Youth's chin lock. Ditto for Reckless's arm twist. Low surprised Reckless with a leg sweep for a 2-count. Youth countered with kicks and stomps. Low hit a top-rope Frankensteiner, getting a 2-count. Reckless got 2-counts after delivering, respectively, a face-buster, an atomic drop off the rope, and a power bomb. The referee then got hurt in an inadvertent exchange, as Low caught Reckless in a pinning combination that remained uncounted. Reckless then met a Low-Ki charge with his foot and covered for the pin, with the still-somewhat-dazed referee oblivious to the fact that Reckless was using the middle rope for leverage. MATCH 5: The Mid-Atlantic title match between champion GLEN OSBOURNE and challenger PATCH (with E.S. EASTON) ended in a bitter 9:04 double disqualification as the ref let the encounter get way out of control. Patch got an early advantage by winning the battle of finger locks, leading Glen to the ropes where he would be choked by Easton as Patch distracted the ref. Patch got near-falls after a suplex, knee drops and a back drop. Oz countered with some stiff Flair chops and hauled Patch over the top rope out of the ring. Patch then kneed Glen in the throat, then hit some forearms, chops and a back flip. Glen ducked as Patch wound up clocking manager Easton by mistake. Speaking of mistakes, Patch also ducked at an opportune moment, and Osbourne wound up clotheslining the referee. By the time the ref came to, the wrestlers were brawling out of control, and he called for the bell and the no-contest. The entire dressing room emptied, and promoter JIM KETTNER made an appearance to try and get Osbourne and Patch under control. (Well--most of the dressing room, anyway. As MONSIEUR OOH LA LA attempted to vault into the ring to join the fray, he tripped on the ring apron and fell to the floor.) Now, it was time for the long-awaited arm-wrestling challenge match between the WWF's KEVIN KELLY (accompanied by the HAAS BROTHERS) and Laurel High School football coach MIKE PUGH (the father of the BRISCOE BROTHERS). The Connecticut Connection earned even further animosity from the Laurel High fans as they came out wearing football jerseys with the colors of arch-rival Delmar High School and reminded the Coach that Laurel's football record so far this year was 0-5. As the crowd taunted him with chants of "sissy" and "chicken", Kelly stalled for time, blaming referee Turner for the problems he was having in getting started. Kelly enlisted help of his own in getting the ref under "control", as his own watchdog came out--none other than Coach Ellis, assistant coach of Delmar High's football team. Ellis did some more gloating at the 4-1 record of Delmar and the 0-5 record of Laurel, and the fans chanted something about Delmar's propensity to inhale. Kelly and Pugh finally locked up, and Pugh had what seemed to be a clear-cut victory; however, ref Turner at that time was being distracted by both Coach Ellis and Russ Haas. Meanwhile, Charlie Haas took out some tape and taped Pugh's hand to the table. Turner turned around and saw Coach Pugh's hand pinned by Kelly, and declared Kevin the winner. As the victorious ones made their way backstage, Coach Pugh finally broke the tape and ran after them. MATCH 6: J.J. JOHNSTON (a.k.a. J.J. THE RING CREW GUY) won the ECWA heavyweight title back from the man who had defeated him three weeks earlier, INFERNO, in 14:05. Inferno stalled early, and J.J. eventually had to go back to the entranceway to carry him back into the ring, with some brawling on the way near the ringside table. J.J. got several near falls with a schoolboy off the rope, a reverse atomic drop, suplex, and thrust slam. In one exchange, Inferno went kicking and inadvertantly gave ref Austin the "completely eunuch experience". Still tending to his testicular dilemma, the ref was unable to count J.J.'s pinning combination. KEVIN KELLY then came from the back, grabbed the championship belt and tried to plonk J.J., but was stopped by CHEETAH MASTER, who had followed him out. J.J. didn't seem to appreciate Cheetah's help, as he turned to argue with him and got schoolboyed for a 2-count by Inferno. Cheetah's schoolboy (I'm relying on MARTY KETTNER's description as I missed the pinning combination) was more successful, however, as he got the pin and regained the title. MATCH 7: SIMON DIAMOND (with DAWN MARIE) pinned CHEETAH MASTER in 10:41, in the latest episode (but first one in over a year) of their long-standing rivalry. Diamond taunted the Laurel fans about the paucity of championship banners hanging from the Laurel gymatorium. He reminded the locals "from the boonies" that he was also from Delaware, but that he was from "the Big City--Wilmington" and that the gymnasium of his alma mater Salesianum High was overflowing with such banners. Inasmuch as he knows he wasn't going to be treated fairly here, he has enlisted the help of ECW stablemate "the extreme catfighter" Dawn Marie. The early exchanges of the match were indecisive. During one lockup of Simon with Cheetah (with his long blond hair), one ringsider yelled "Hey--it's Simon and Garfunkel!" Cheetah finally sent Diamond reeling outside the ring with a series of clotheslines. Cheetah followed up with a flurry of punches. Set to charge Diamond from across the ring, Cheetah was stopped as Dawn Marie grabbed his leg. As Cheetah turned to argue with Dawn, Simon Pearl Harbored him with a kick and a series of suplexes. Cheetah followed with a rompecojones, an "even flow Chee-d-t" and a face buster. Simon hit a savate kick. Cheetah recovered to do his patented top-rope dive, but Diamond got his knees partially up. Cheetah came back to cover for a pin; but Dawn pulled the ref out of the ring at the 2-count. J.J. JOHNSTON came to ringside. With the ref arguing with Dawn, Simon turned to argue with J.J. As J.J. went to plonk Simon with his championship belt, Diamond ducked and J.J. wound up clocking the charging Cheetah Master instead. Diamond covered his unconscious opponent for the pin as the ref turned back around to make the count. The stage was then set for what the Laurel High folks had come to see: two of their own, MARK and JAY BRISCOE, meeting ECWA tag-team champions RUSS and CHARLIE HAAS in a non-title match. If the Briscoes won tonight, they would get a title shot at the ECWAxtravaganza on November 25 at the Bob Carpenter Center on the University of Delaware campus in Newark (for which tickets had gone on sale this very morning and hundreds have already been gobbled up--plenty of seats left, however, as the Bob holds several thousand). As the champs came out with KEVIN KELLY, they were upset from the beginning, as Chuck Ristano had announced that Jay's and Mark's father, COACH MIKE PUGH, would be special referee for tonight's event. ECWA commissioner B.W. BROWN came out and agreed that this was not fair, and he sent the Coach to the back. TAFKABoogie Woogie had a special referee of his own in mind: TY STREET, appearing with a patch over the eye that had been injured by Kelly's fireball at the September card in Newport. MATCH 8: JAY & MARK BRISCOE, performing in front of their classmates at the school they attend, won the right to challenge for the tag belts at the Bob Carpenter Center in November with a non-title pinfall victory over tag-team champs RUSS & CHARLIE HAAS (with KEVIN KELLY) in 10:02. Incensed at referee Street's perceived procrastination in ordering the match to start, Kelly grabbed the clanger from my hand and rang the bell himself, quickly trying to "take that back" when he saw the Briscoes get the upper hand. The Haases quickly scampered outside the ring only to be hit by a double Asai moonsault from the Briscoes as ref Street taunted his erstwhile tormentor Kelly. Charlie finally clotheslined Mark, catapulted Russ onto him, then covered for a very slow 2-count from Street, with Kelly going ballistic outside the ring. Charlie got another late-starting 2-count after back-suplexing Mark, as Ty was occupied with keeping Jay in his corner, then with arguing with Kelly. Charlie put Mark in a Boston crab, then was joined by brother Russ with an odd double-stretch maneuver on Mark, stretching him as if he was a hammack being pulled taut. As the helpless Jay was unable to tag his younger brother, Russ threw Mark out of the ring where Charlie whipped him into a Kelly clothesline. Mark was finally able to back Russ off with a flying head scissors that gave him enough time to tag Jay. Jay hit both opponents with an array of clotheslines and drop kicks. Both Briscoes thrust-slammed Charlie, then covered for a 2-count as Kelly pulled ref Street off the count. The Haases then set up Jay to deliver the "Haas of Pain" flying elbow to the scrotal region. Ref Street counted to two, then rubbed that bad eye that had started to bother him. Russ and Charlie then set up the Briscoes for a double jackhammer; but before they could execute it, COACH MIKE PUGH hit ringside to help his sons. He speared Kevin Kelly out of the picture, distracting the Haases to the point that both were easily rolled up by Mark and Jay for a double pin. The high-schoolers get the coveted shot at the Bob against the Haases. As the evening ended, Kevin Kelly took the mike and declared that he "cannot be responsible for what we do to you boys [the Briscoes] between now and November 25. And Ty Street, you one-eyed freak, I have something special for you". What that may be we might found out next Saturday, October 21, as the ECWA returns to its home base at the St. Matthew's Parish Center in Newport (Wilmington), Delaware, with the usual 7 pm bell time.
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