ECPW
"The Rumble in Ramapo"
Suffern HS, Suffern, NY
3/11/05
Benefit show for the Suffern High School football team
Guesstimated attendance: 1100

This was an annual show that ECPW puts on to benefit the high school. Last year they drew over 1600 crazed fans. Crowd was noticeably smaller this year, possibly due to bad weather forecast, but they still drew over 1000, which is damned good crowd by any indy wrestling standard. This year's crowd was unfortunately also pretty dead and didn't even pop that hard for their (literally) hometown favorites, which hurt the show a little.

Rob Eckos (playing babyface, unusual for him) b. Damien Adams with a small package. Really good match and the crowd reacted well to it. They were pretty hot for the first 2 matches but then just got quieter as the night went on.

Simon Diamond and Danny Doring came out and started praising the fans and the high school. They asked all the members of the football team to stand up for a bow - and then heeled out on them by mocking the team's (winning) 5-4 record and the performance of their coach, who is better known to wrestling fans as ECPW's Scotty Charisma. Matt Striker interrupted them, leading to...

Josh Daniels b. Matt Striker. Striker looked like he had Daniels beat following a lungblower, but Simon Diamond and Danny Doring came out and put Daniels' foot on the rope to break up the pin. A few moments later Daniels schoolboyed Striker. The heels then triple teamed Striker until Scotty Charisma made the save. Charisma and Diamond had been scheduled for a singles match, but as result of this incident they challenged Doring and Diamond to a tag match in the semi main event. Nice job of establishing the ECPW/indy veterans as being equals to the somewhat better known ECW alums Doring and Diamond. I enjoy all the little 80s wrestling moves that Striker sneaks into his matches. It's a bit of extra entertainment for those who are paying attention.

Johnny Thunder (w/Justin Idol) d. Mo Sexy with a Thunderkick [superkick], following a missed frog splash attempt by Mo. Good competitive match. Mo wiped out on a ringside table and did a great selling his injured back for the remainder of the match. (Either that or he really got hurt, which is highly possible though he seemed okay later.) Manager Justin idol interfered a few times.

King Kong Bundy d. Kodiak Bear for a count of five following an avalanche and a splash. Bundy has lost a LOT of weight. He's still a big guy but not nearly the size he was in his WWF heyday (and still was the last time I saw him a few years ago). Bundy is finally starting to show his age a little and Kodiak was almost immobile, so the match was on the slow side. Still fun to see Bundy in action, and I loved that he insisted on the 5 count. At this point in his career, it might have been wiser to put Bundy in there against someone who could carry him a little better than this rather than going for a "battle of the titans".

The Nelson Brothers and Kevin Apollo d. Andrew Anderson, Mike Xylas, and Red Hot Russ (w/Justin Idol) after the Nelsons hit a Doomsday Device type maneuver on Red Hot Russ. For some reason this was where the crowd really started to die and they never fully came back again. I don't know if the previous match killed them or what. (Bundy got decent pops so this interpretation, while possible, is not a given.) It's hard to understand why people didn't get into this match more as Apollo is a Suffern High grad who was over like crazy in his debut match here last year, and tonight's match was quite good. I think sometimes the risk you take with these benefit shows is that you draw large crowds who are coming to support the cause rather than because they are wrestling fans or even casual wrestling watchers. Consequently it's difficult to get them to react they way that they are 'supposed' to. That didn't happen here last year but it may have been the case on this occasion. The match was solid tag team wrestling with each of the Nelsons taking his turn getting worked over extensively by the heels until a final hot tag to Apollo allowed the faces to clean house and pick up the win. As a result of the win, Apollo got 5 minutes in the ring with Idol. Idol tried to run away but Mo Sexy chased him back to the ring (paying Idol back for his earlier interference). Apollo and Sexy each hit their finishers on Idol, including a top rope frog splash from Mo. We then took a 15 minute intermission so that the officials could scrape Idol off the mat.

Scotty Charisma & Matt Striker d. Simon Diamond & Danny Doring when Charisma got the pin following a crossbody off the top rope. They got good heat for the start and end of the match but not as much of a sustained reaction throughout as I would have anticipated. The match was good, which was unsurprising given the four extremely solid wrestlers involved, but it probably went around 5:00 too long for a match that wasn't getting the ideal level of crowd involvement. They had to be at least a little disappointed at not getting over more with the crowd.

Crowbar Devon Storm d. Vic D Vine (w/Serena - yes she was with D. Vine, not Crowbar) with a little help from special guest referee Mick Foley and Mr. Socko. D. Vine was playing the heel here, sporting what looked suspiciously like Hollywood Hogan's old NWO black and white boa. It's a look that's totally at odds with his overall appearance, but maybe that's the idea. Foley cut a promo to start, getting his usual cheap pops and asking if anyone could loan him a sock, since he had forgotten to pack Mr. Socko. This led to the ring being pelted with smelly sweat socks. Ugh. Foley also announced that he making it a hardcore match, which in this context basically wound up meaning that chairs were legal. (ECPW is a family style promotion so we weren't about to see any bloodbaths here. Not that I personally would have minded.) Crowbar got in an early offensive flurry, and D. Vine tried to run back to the dressing room but Foley grabbed him and threw him back in the ring. After about 15 minutes of back and forth action D. Vine had the match all but won when he made the fatal decision to exact revenge and attack Foley instead of going for the pin. He got Mr. Socko for his troubles, then a Crowbar gave him a face plant into a steel chair for the win. Entertaining match but not up to the level of the Charisma/Crowbar 25 minute classic that headlined this show last year.

Overall a reasonably entertaining show that accomplished its purpose a fundraiser, but disappointed in comparison to last year's excellent show.