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CZW CAGE OF DEATH 3 LIVE REPORT
Mike Johnson Reporting
Pre-Show Notes: As of 8:25 PM, the show as yet to begin. Not a good sign. They are still seating fans in the building. The line is down the block outside....They announced the passing of Russ Haas and did a 10 bell salute. Haas had worked for the promotion and even held their Tag Team championship....They ran a CZW music video on a large screen on the stage....Boxing great Smokin'Joe Frazier is in attendance. He got in the ring and got a standing ovation....The Rocking Rebel came to the ring with Frank Talent of the PA Athletic Comission. Rebel says that he brought Talent to make sure the rules are enforced tonight. The crowd was all over them.
Finally, at 9:09 PM we had our first match. Ty Street was introduced, and then another Ty Street was announced. Both were wearing Santa hats. The second Ty was Mongoose in the ECWA. Ty #1 hit a Kryptonite Krunch for a two count. Towel Boy, Jeff Rocker, and and someone else I don't recognize hit the ring and attacked them. Nate Hatred and Nick Gage attacked and laid out everyone to a big pop. They were then attacked by two masked workers. The bell rang, signalling a second match.
The crowd began chanting "Briscoes" at the masked team. One of them is dressed similar to Ric Blade. The match went back and forth. Masked guy Black hit a cannonball senton off the top on Hatred. They hit double planchas on the floor on both Hatred and Gage. Gage hit a senton off the top to the floor. Gage hit a piledriver off the apron through a table. One of the masked guys hit a moonsault but Dewey Donovan pulled the ref out. They doubleteamed The Black masked guy and pinned him. The masked guys got a big ovation after the match. I am pretty sure it was the Briscoes.
Next up is Joey Corman and Samir, the Overboyz vs. Brad Michaels in a Three-Way Dance. The Overboyz pretended to wrestle each other until Michaels cleaned house on them. The Boyz turned on each other. One of them hit a 450 splash off the top to the floor on the other two. Michaels hit a moonsault to the floor. Joey Corman hit a spin doctor on Michaels for the pin. Someone named Paul London (Texas indy worker, don't know anything about him) was scheduled for this, but didn't show.
Next up is a grudge match between Zandig and Glen Osbourne. Zandig thanked everyone for coming. He buried ICP for canceling their appearance tonight. The crowd chanted "F the Clowns." A "fan" dressed like ICP hit the ring and Zandig killed him. Osbourne and Lobo came out. Osburne had a sling on his arm. Danny Rose attacked Zandig. Zandig suplexed him thru a table. They tied Zandig to the ropes and began whipping him. Greg from WWF Tough Enough made the save. Zandig apologized for the match and announced a Lumberjack with straps match with himself vs. Osbourne and Greg vs. Rose for their return here on 1/12/01.
Pastor Jim (I think) came out to intro Quiet Storm, Brian XL, and Devine. He buried their opponents the SAT. SAT came out to a big pop and said they would leave CZW if they didn't win. It started with Storm and Jose going back and forth. Devine reversed a frankensteiner into a Fujiwara armabar. Big pop for Red tagging in. Red and XL flew all over, culminating with a SAT triple team. Storm hit three Northern Lights suplexes on Joel. Devine hit a dragon screw into a death lock. Storm and Devine did dives on the Maximos. Jose hit an Asai Moonsault. Red and XL did stereo springboard dives to the floor. Devine pinned Joel after the worst chairshot ever seen. I am stunned they did the pin. Jose moonsaulted and pinned Devine. XL caught him with a victory roll for the pin. Red pinned XL with a standing star press into a splash. It came down to Red vs. Storm. They went back and forth. Red hit a top rope frankensteiner but Storm held on for a sunset flip. They hit a spanish fly for the final pin.
After a five minute intermission, the next match featured Eddie Valentine and John Dahmer, VD vs. Chris Cash and GQ. A third team ran in and they made it a Three-Way Dance. Dahmer clotheslines everyone. Dahmer suplexed 2 guys at once. They hit the Doomsday Device for the pin.
The next match is for the Big Japan and CZW Junior Heavyweight Titles as Trent Acid challenged Ruckus, who holds both belts. Acid stalled in the opening moments. Ruckus exploded with a series of moves ending with a DDT off the ropes. Ruckus set up a bunch of chairs and put Acid on them. Johnny Kashmere tripped Ruckus. Acid sent Ruckus into the chairs. They brawled at ringside. Ruckus hit a space flying tiger drop on the Backseats. They brawled to the stage. Acid moonsaulted off the top stage. Ruckus came back and hit a shooting star press off the top stage thru a table on Acid. The referee counted both men out. The place booed. Ruckus complained on the mic. Out came Zandig with a ladder. They teased five minutes more and gave it to the crowd. Ruckus took the ladder. Kashmere pulled Trent out saying no one deserved 5 more minutes, but Acid attacked Ruckus. Ruckus hits an Arabian Press. Acid was hung upside down in the corner. Ruckus hit a Van Terminator using chairs and the ladder into Acid's face. Kashmere broke up the pin attempt. Acid slammed Ruckus face first on the ladder and scored the pin to win both titles. Kashmere attacked one ref and another speared him and restarted the match. Ruckus hit a tumbleweed legdrop for a two count. Acid hit a Yakuza Kick for the pin and won the belts.
Big Japan's Winger hit the ring with a missle dropkick and senton on Acid. He put Acid on a table on the floor and did a senton off the top on him. Winger steals both titles and walks off.
Out came Menace for his match with Johnny Kashmere. As he entered the ring, Kashere attacked him. Kashmere hit a running bulldog. He speared him and locked him in a boston crab. He missed a charge in the corner. Menace hit a flip dive over the ringpost on Kashmere. Menace dove off the top but Kashmere threw a chair in his face. He hit a cradlebreaker for the pin.
Z-Barr was introduced. Barr said it was time for the semi main event and introduced CZW Iron Man champ Nick Berk but out came Mad Man Pondo who killed Barr with a stop sign. Barr kicked the sign into Pondo's face. He hit a clothesline and a fistdrop. He got a 2 count with an inverted spin doctor. Barr missed a moonsault. He hit a Michinoku Driver on two chairs on Barr. Pondo hit a splash off the ropes onto Barr's face, covered by a chair and stop sign for the pin.
Next up is a Falls Count Anywhere CZW Iron Man championship match with champ Nick Berk vs Nick Mondo vs Adam Flash. They did dives early and brawled around ringside. Mondo tossed Berk into a guard rail. Mondo hit a slingshot legdrop on Berk. Flash hit a facebuster off the top on Berk. Flash hit a top rope legdrop on both. They brawled into the locker room. Berk returned with two chairs. Berk missed a top rope splash. They KILLED Berk with a conchairto. Flash threw a chair at Mondo and they battled. Mondo set up tables by the entrance and piled chairs and a ladder on them. Mondo and Berk battled above the entrance. Berk ended up shoving Mondo thru the insane construction. Flash set up a ladder in the ring and hit a legdrop off it thru a table on the floor for the pin.
Last night during the Combat Zone Wrestling Cage of Death 3, power was cut to my laptop during the course of the main event and post-match angle twice, causing a rather lackluster recap to be posted. Here is a detailed rundown of the course of events that closed out CZW's largest show ever:
The main event of CZW's Cage of Death was the Cage of Death itself, a steel cage topped with a scaffold. Inside the Cage were such weapons as a potted cactus plant, a jackhammer, a steel chair, a table, the hood of a car, and other instruments of destruction. The CZW championship was hanging above the scaffold and the only way to win was to retrieve it.
Out came the Rocking Rebel and the PA State Athletic Commission's Frank Talent. Talent said that he told everyone he was going to enforce the rules and he wasn't allowing the match and was shutting down the show. He then announced that he was going to let the match go, but wasn't allowing blood and Rebel was going to be the referee.
Out first was Wifebeater, followed by Justice Pain. The main event featured them brutalizing each other with the weapons inside the cage and using the cage itself as a weapon. WB had the Cactus dumped over his body, and it was then hit with a chair while on his back. The pottery was put over his head and then slammed with a chair, shattering it. Pain superplexed WB off the top of the cage. Pain battled his way to the scaffold, but had a trash can tossed at him, knocking him down onto the scaffold. WB joined him and they battled on the scaffold. WB went for a tiger driver on the scaffold, and as Pain went down, he grabbed the belt. Pyro exploded out of the ringposts of the cage and both men fell from the scaffold through tables in the ring.
The lights to the ECW Arena went out (along with our computer feed) and when they returned, inside the ring were Tod Gordon wearing an ECW jacket, the Blue Meanie wearing a BWO t-shirt, Rocco Rock, Pitbull1 Gary Wolfe, Rebel, and an unidentified fifth person. The Arena was stunned and was quiet but began chanting "ECW." Tod told them every last one of them was a hypocrite and how dare they come to the building that he built and chant "CZW." He said that he put the sign of the ECW Arena on the building and everyone had disrespected him. He told the fans to stop chanting ECW because he didn't want their cheers.
CZW owner John Zandig came out and entered the cage. Tod asked him who the hell he thinks he is running Tod's building. Zandig said he was the guy who was taking over the "CZW Arena." Tod and the others surrounded Zandig and laid him out.
The ring mat ripped open and out came former ECW World champion the Sandman from under the ring. The Arena exploded and Sandman looked around. He then tried to stop the beating by caning Wolfe and Rock. Gordon asked him what the hell he was doing and everyone attacked Sandman. The entire CZW locker room, face and heels alike, charged the Cage from the locker room and began scaling it. At this point the Arena was simply going insane. The lights went out again (along with the computer feed!) giving the former ECW performers a chance to escape. Tod said on the mic that taking over this company would be easier than he thought.
When the lights returned, the Sandman had climbed to the scaffold and the CZW workers were in the ring. Zandig told them to return to the locker room and climbed up to confront the Sandman. Sandman took off his ECW baseball style jersey to reveal a CZW shirt and the building exploded. Sandman took the mic and said it was great to be back in the "CZW Arena" and shared a beer with Zandig. Sandman then put over Wifebeater and Justice Pain for the match they had and invited everyone back to the Arena for CZW's return on 1/12/02. He then shared some beers with fans, who totally ate up the entire scenario.
CZW CAGE OF DEATH 3 - THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE DISORGANIZED
by Mike Johnson
Earlier today in my column, I wrote that I would have a ton of thoughts on Saturday night's Combat Zone Wrestling Cage of Death 3 which was the promotion's debut in the historic ECW Arena in South Philadelphia once I recovered. I stated recovered because I finally staggered back into my house in New York at 5 am, but we'll tell that story in a bit. Some thoughts and opinions on CZW's debut in Philadelphia and the ramifications:
THE GOOD
Obviously the major news out of the show is that the promotion drew well over 1200 fans to the Arena. It was the most packed I can remember the building being in some time, as there were chairs everywhere and it was impossible to navigate across the building to reach the backstage area without sneaking under the bleachers. The crowd was hot and wanted to see CZW. The fans who came up from NYC also provided some antagonism to the Philadelphia faithful as well, which was entertaining to watch while looking down from the building's balcony where I was doing the live play-by-play of the show.
A plus for the promotion was that the size of the crowd showed that fans are watching CZW's weekly television in Philadelphia. The audience popped for the regulars on the show including Zandig, Nick Mondo, and even the tag team of Nate Hatred and Nick Gage. The audience was also made up of a lot of women (including a pair that entertained the Arena by making out before the show started), which was weird given the over the top violence that the group promotes. The audience was obviously there to see sick spots and light tubes and blood based upon what they popped for during a music video that opened the show
If you were a fan who likes surprises, this show was obviously a plus for you as Greg Matthews from Tough Enough, Winger, the Blue Meanie, Tod Gordon, the Sandman, Pitbull 1 Gary Wolfe, and Flyboy Rocco Rock all made cameos on the show to set up matches and angles building for the promotion's return on 1/12/02 at the venue.
There was a lot of hard work from performers in the show. Johnny Kashmere, Menace, Trent Acid, Nick Berk, Adam Flash, Nick Mondo, Ruckus, the SATs, Quiet Storm, Chris Devine, and Brian XL among others all took it way beyond the course of duty with their work on the show. The matches were not perfect but they were entertaining. I think that due to the amount of matches on the show and the amount of time they were all given, a lot of matches that would have stood out in other circumstances instead will mesh together and not be as remembered. My pick for best match is the elimination match featuring the SATs although the work in Acid vs. Ruckus blew everything else on the show away up until the point they went for the tables and chairs outside to set up a spot.
There was a lot of talk going into the main event about whether the "Cage of Death" would take place. With CZW had built up the match as almost a legendary, Hell in the Cell style bout within their storylines, I liken it to the first Taz vs. Sabu PPV match, where no matter what happened, it wasn't going to live up to the hype. That said, you had performers falling off a scaffold through tables, beating each other with a cactus, a barbed wire wrapped table, the hood of a car, and other weapons, culminating with an explosion coming out of the four ringposts when the belt was grabbed. Justice Pain and Wifebeater will never be confused with Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat but I thought they had a decent cage match. Unfortunately, the audience came looking to see a Mass Transit-style blade job complete with "bloody stumps" (trademark Jess McGrath) left over from a weedwhacker attack and they just weren't going to get it (yet anyway) on the promotion's first show in the venue and anyone who thinks about it, would understand that.
The show ended with a really hot angle featuring the former ECW performers. It came off especially well since it hadn't gotten out, so the fans were actually stunned. The reaction of the crowd was a lot of fun to watch as they were stunned, then chanted for the ECW performers. When Tod Gordon went off on them, they didn't know what to think and got behind Zandig and CZW when he confronted Tod's army. When Sandman showed up, the place went absolutely nuts and would have turned on CZW if they hadn't aligned him with Zandig in the booking. When the CZW workers hit the cage and the lights went back out, the Arena was ready to explode. While there are some who will say this angle is a repeat of the failed invasion angle the NWA booked several years back, the major difference is the CZW fans actually care and are behind the CZW performers, especially with Sandman on their side.
I also really enjoyed watching the reaction to the Hardcore Icon. From the second he appeared, the Sandman had his hometown crowd in the palm of his hand. Although everyone knows he is insane, the Sandman decided to prove it anyway by walking across the top of the steel cage to one of the corners and then cracking open a cold one. I have called the Sandman the Onita of America in the past, and last night reminded me of that great charisma that he has. He completely woke up a crowd that was burnt out and sent them home happy.
THE BAD
As a fan, I want to like Combat Zone Wrestling and see them succeed with their unique product. It is not old school, traditional athletic wrestling but there are several workers there I truly enjoy. I love the fact that the promotion allows it's junior heavyweights to shine. Eric Gargiulo, their lead announcer, has been a personal friend of mine for years so I obviously want to see him do well. But there are times when no matter how hard you want to like something, the glaring weaknesses make you just shake your head and wonder why things happen that way. Last night, I did a lot of that.
In a column previewing the ECW Arena show on 11/8, I wrote the following, "CZW needs their core performers to be ready to have the show of their lives because fans will come to that show to see what others claim is the "next ECW" try to live up to it's Internet reputation. This is not the show where anything, from the sound system to the main event, should go wrong and CZW needs to make sure they have all their ducks in a row. Nothing should be left to the last minute, not if CZW is serious about taking things to another level and building their company."
Unfortunately for all, the promotion didn't take heed to those comments. A one hour delay of starting the show is absolutely inexcusable. CZW owner John Zandig has already apologized to the fans on the promotion's website, saying that it was the first time in the building and they were overwhelmed by the amount of fans who came to see the show (Zandig states 2000, although I believe that the amount may be a little high.) While that may be true, the company did nothing to help prevent the problem in advance by taking reservations by name in advance as opposed to physically selling tickets to the show. Atlas Security (who were the ECW security team and were brought in at the request of the ECW Arena's management) were used and there were numerous complaints posted on the CZW site about the way they treated fans ranging from a lack of information being given to the crowd over the delays, confusion over where to pick up tickets, and even what door they needed to enter in. According to some, Atlas was even refusing to allow cameras into the building or fans to leave the building during the marathon show to get air. If this is true, it is hardly the best way to show a new group of fans the promotion is fan-minded.
The show finally started at 9:05 PM and ran five hours, not including the post-angle celebration with Zandig and the Sandman. Way too long. The opening segment ran for 33 minutes. The SATs' segment went nearly 40 minutes. There was way too much time given in a lot of the matches, especially since they needed time to set up a steel cage later in the evening. I have written this in the past about other independent promotions, but bookers on the indy scene need to learn when to draw the line and keep match times short. It is better to give the fans 20 minutes of the SATs (using them as an example) to whet their appetites then 40 minutes of every high spot they can cram into one phenomenal match. The reason I feel that way? Now what can the SATs do to make the fans want to see them the next time CZW runs the Arena?
There were also way too many matches, some of which were pointless when it came to the flow of the show. I can understand that with no other shows booked until January 2002, CZW needed to film as much footage as they could for their TV show, but whatever the line may be, they crossed it about 30 times when it came to pushing the limit. Even worse, many of the matches began to build well (Ruckus vs. Acid is a good example of this), only to fall into the same pattern of other bouts on the show when they went for the tables and chairs and began setting them up. It seemed like much of the show needed to be paced out better as CZW was putting it all out there with no sense of thinking about the future. That is fine but to me, you need to leave something for next time as well. If they are depending on the ECW angle to draw the next house, I am not sure that putting everything into one basket is the best idea either.
I can appreciate that CZW wanted to give everyone on the roster a chance to perform in the building, but they would have been better suited booking a Battle Royal of some sort instead of so many matches. There were workers in from Texas, who while they were very good, weren't needed for the show especially considering how many people CZW had on the show. The amount of matches more than burnt out the crowd, which was clearly just waiting for the show to end by the time the CZW Iron Man title match went on. There was a tag team who did a run in on the Eddie Valentine and John Dahmer tag team match, that I couldn't even identify but still had a slot on the show. With no ring announcement or anything to signify who these workers were and why they were out there in the context of the storylines, a lot of the time there was "dead air" from the crowd who were trying to figure out just what was going on.
On a lesser note, and this is just my own opinion, no one in the opening matches should be doing mic work of any kind. Keep the mic work reserved for angles and interviews that build somewhere. The opening matches should be setting the stage for the show with good athletic matches, in my opinion.
Final Thoughts: So after all that, I am sure you are thinking: Michael, did you like the show? I can't say I did and I can't say I didn't. I am sort of trapped in the middle, burnt out by the length and from typing all night. There were a lot of matches I really didn't care for. I know that I have several friends who went to the show and don't intend to travel back to the return date. I guess I'll have to check out the videotape to decide . I wrote that CZW was either going to catch the wave or miss it with their show last night. They ran a marathon show, and things were not perfect, but they had a crew of workers who worked hard in a building with a ton of history and a hot crowd. In hindsight, I actually feel that CZW may have made the jump to the Arena too soon, as it seemed as if they were majorly understaffed and at times, overwhelmed by how many people showed up for their debut show. Return shows at the Arena will tell the tale of whether the promotion can build a following for itself and maintain the crowd they had, or if a starved Philadelphia wrestling audience was simply dying for a good live show.
Show Notes: Lori Fullington and Jasmin St. Claire were backstage at the ECW Arena....Smoking Joe Frazier sat at ringside and was introduced twice, including once where he got in the ring. His young son sat at the ringside timekeeper's table....There was a lot of talk of the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission stopping CZW from running their Cage of Death match on the Internet amongst fans. Those fans sure came off looking silly last night as not only did the match happen, but the commission's Frank Talent got inside the cage, surrounded by weapons no less, to take part in an angle. Only in wrestling....The silliest comment I've seen on the show was a fan stating that the Cactus plant used in the Cage of Death match was actually cardboard. Having walked past the thing backstage, I can state that was not the case....As you can imagine for a former staffer of ECW's website, It sure was weird being back in the building, with all the memories I have made there over the years. I kept looking over my shoulder waiting to see Paul Heyman sitting at a table giving instructions to someone and Francine crowding over a makeup mirror with the other ECW valets. It sure did seem weird, but with Tod Gordon in the building, it also still felt like home
Combat Zone Wrestling will present the 20th Cage of Death event tomorrow 12/9 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA, streaming live live for subscribers of The Highspots Wrestling Network.
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