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Combat Zone Wrestling held their 20th Cage of Death event in Philadelphia, PA at the 2300 Arena last night, the promotion's return to the Arena. There are no current plans to return to the Arena.
The promotion was very happy with much of the show, which was designed to get over and present a next generation of stars for the company. Mance Warner, who won the CZW title last night, showed a ton of charisma and was being compared by those backstage to Drake Younger (now WWE referee Drake Yeurtz). Leyla Hirsh and Jordan Oliver were also being presented as being future centerpieces of the company.
There were no major injuries coming out of the show, just the basic bumps and bruises and cuts you'd expect.
The first intermission last night was taken so the company could go over what they had planned with State officials for the top matches to make sure everything was approved. Atsushi Onita and Masada going over the rails last night was not scheduled to happen and was something Onita did on the fly. The promotion had instructed the locker room before the show during a meeting that no one was to go over the railing, but there was some sort of communication issue and Onita did what Onita wanted, because, well, he's Atsushi Onita. There was some unhappiness that happened.
Jimmy Rave was backstage working behind the scenes as he's now living in Philadelphia and will be working here as an agent behind the scenes, as well as training talents at the CZW school. He was slated to wrestle on the afternoon event, which ended up canceled. More on that below.
Steve Mack was backstage as well. There is talk of him coming in to work behind the scenes for the company, which would be a big positive in my opinion. He also did commentary for the Leyla Hirsh vs. Mercedes Martinez match.
Hirsh vs. Martinez was originally slated for a pre-show event that was going to take place during the afternoon as the Philadelphia Eagles game played on the Arena's video screens. There were to be 3-4 matches on the pre-show, mostly featuring CZW dojo talents but when the game's half-time ended up taking place before the PA State officials arrived, the decision was made to scrap the afternoon show.
The promotion held a Toys for Tots drive before the show, bringing in over 13 bags of toys. They honored the Marines in the ring before the show.
The promotion already has a rough plan for the Cage of Death 21 stipulation and some potential gimmicks for that bout. That's how far in advance they start sketching ideas out for COD.
David Starr will no longer be a regular here as he's moving to Great Britain.
The promotion's next event will be 2/9 in Voorhees, NJ, which will be the company's 20th anniversary show. That is traditionally the night they do a Hall of Fame induction, so that will likely happen there.
The promotion intends to bring back their WSU sister promotion next year.
One change that will happen next year is that the promotion won't run a specific weekend every month.
The early plan for their annual Best of the Best tournament in the Spring.
Atsushi Onita made a huge killing on merchandise at the show.
Bull James and Homicide were backstage at the show.
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