Full Evansville, IN Card

MAIN EVENT
Chase Stevens vs Psycho Sid Vicious

"Sellout" Tracy Smothers vs "No Mercy" Tommy Mercer

Chuck Taylor vs The Metal Master

JD Maverick vs Kyle O'Riley

"Headliner" Chris Michaels vs Lord Humongous

Chris Thomas vs "Platinum" Chris Phoenix

Canadian Cougar vs JP Lightning

Ok, what happened to Daniels and a partner vs Chuck and Tracy?? Where is Shank?? Other than that, the card is alright. Ive always loved me some Sid. Chuck v Metal Master will rock the house and Kyle O'Riley is a GREAT addition to the card! Good to see Canadian Cougar back on the card and against JP, that should be good as well!

That was all Daniel's doings. MECW had nothing to do with it.

Had to make a couple of changes to the card, but I'm sure you'll be pleased.

MAIN EVENT
Chase Stevens vs Psycho Sid Vicious

"Sellout" Tracy Smothers vs "No Mercy" Tommy Mercer

Tony Kozina vs ROH's Davey Richards

Chuck Taylor vs The Metal Master

Chris Thomas vs "Platinum" Chris Phoenix

"Headliner" Chris Michaels vs Lord Humongous

Canadian Cougar vs JP Lightning

No JD Maverick?

When I saw the first card, it didn't look like a bad show, but I wasn't sure if it looked exciting enough to make me want to go...however, with the addition of one name and one match, count me in! Richards vs. Kozina should be a great, great match! If that match happened in ROH, Kozina would probably be used as a jobber, but I'm hoping that since this is a smaller show, he's given a chance to really show his skills against one of the VERY best workers in the entire business.

I am kind of bummed that Kyle O'Riley isn't still booked for the show, but maybe at another show. Personally, I think a match between O'Riley and Ryan Drago would be something well worth seeing.

KingKenny wrote:

No JD Maverick?

JD Maverick had prior commitments and couldn't make it to this show. However, you'll be seeing him again in the near future!

Darn =/
and I hope so.
I like him.

I'm not sure where is the best place on this board to post this, but here are some thoughts on the show from last night.

I have to be completely honest, a few weeks ago, when I first saw the card for last night's show, I wasn't very impressed and didn't plan on attending. However, once the card was updated and Davey Richards was added, everything changed. When I got home from work yesterday afternoon, I made sure to check out some places on the net to make sure Davey was still going to be there. It wasn't that I didn't trust MECW to bring him in, it's just that I remember what happened the last time Richards was booked to work a show in Evansville last year. Anyway, what I found was that someone ELSE had been added to the card....none other than CHRIS F'IN' HERO!!!! That sure sealed the deal for me and I was already out the door, heading to the show.

I get to The Armory and while I do think it's a good place to hold a wrestling show, man, that place is as hot as an oven! It'll be an even nicer place for a show once this heatwave ever breaks. The show started 30 minutes late, but I got to talk to a bunch of cool people that I know (shout out to The O'boys! ) some I didn't even expect to see there. Overall, the crowd was strong. I'm not sure exactly how many people were there, but it had to be at least over 100, which is always good for indy shows around here. With The Gathering going on in Illinois and NFW running a show at The Metro, I was a little worried about what the draw for this show would actually be.

Before the show, they announced that MECW is getting a TV show on My44. While that's a very cool thing, I have to question why the show last night wasn't being taped. I saw one guy up on the balcony that had a camera set up, but there wasn't anyone shooting the show ringside. Anyway, on to the matches:

J.P. Lightning vs Ryan Drago
Drago was a very nice surprise. I was wondering why he hadn't already been booked for the show since he was quite impressive against Shank at the last MECW show. This time he was facing another of the absolute best talents that Evansville has to offer in J.P. Lightning. The match delivered too! The action went back back and forth with Drago even doing a few "heel-ish" kind of moves. Lightning got in a lot of offense and looked great. Drago used a lot of interesting stretching/submission holds. The only downside of the match was that the crowd was dead for it. That wasn't surprising for an Evansville wrestling crowd. However, being the Japanese wrestling mark that I am, to me, it gave the match an almost Japanese feel to it. In the end, J.P. pulled out a very strong win. Both guys worked hard and pulled off a fantastic opening match! This is the kinds of talent that MECW needs to be building their lower-card talent around!

Lord Humongous vs Chris Michaels
After that strong opener, I was expecting more great things from the rest of show. Man, did those hopes get killed quickly! This was my first time seeing Michaels in person and while I had heard lots of things about him, I hadn't heard very many positive things. Humongous was interesting because I wondered if they were going to have Sid Vicious work two matches. Humongous wasn't Sid though, it was his son. The thing about the Humongous gimmick is that back in the 1980's when Sid first debuted in the wrestling business, he looked the part because his body was pure muscle. I can remember going to USWA shows back then and literally thinking that he was the guy from the Mad Max movie...I was all of about 10 or 11 at the time! Anyway, just putting a hockey mask on a big kid wearing a jumpsuit doesn't make a very good Humongous. They should have just called him Jason or something, but maybe there might be some copyright issues from Japan on a wrestler wearing a hockey mask and calling himself "Jason"...I don't know. Anyway, the match was horrible. Michaels kept jumping out of the ring and was "heeling it up" with the fans. Tracy Smothers should kick Michaels butt just for stealing his lines, but I digress. The highlight of the whole match was when an older lady in the crowd started yelling at Michaels and giving him the finger. She reminded me of the old lady in Ohio that used to throw her shoes at Madman Pondo during the "Brink of Death" deathmatch tournaments. Anyway, once Michaels finally got into the ring, Humongous didn't do much of anything but stand there while Michaels bounced off of him. Finally, thankfully, there was a choke slam and Humongous got the pin and right now, I feel bad that I've written more about this match then I did the J.P./Drago match. NEXT!!!!!

Chris Phoenix vs Chris Thomas
Six workers and half of them named "Chris"...and we still haven't even gotten to the only Chris at the show show who actually matters. Anyway, the less said about this match, the better. Thomas got the win, but honestly, the match was so boring that I don't even remember much of what happened during it. The highlight of the match was after it was over, Phoenix started pushing around the ref and the ref then got mad and pulled off a dropkick onto Phoenix that was a better move then anything that was used in the actual match!

The Metal Master vs. Tony Kozina
My hopes for this being a good show were fading fast, but they were re-sparked by the sight of Tony "Da Man" Kozina. Though he has the look, I just still can't quite get used to seeing him a heel. Anyway, The Metal Master looked good, as always. My hopes were running high that the show was about to pick up. But then, out of nowhere, Master got a pin on Kozina in less then 2 minutes. I literally felt stunned and said to myself, "Really, MECW? REALLY???" But after the match, Kozina started pushing Col...er, I mean Metal Master around and then, Davey Richards hit the ring and attacked Master which then led to a run-in by the man of the show, CHRIS HERO!!!!! Chris then got on the mic and said he wasn't booked for the show (I guess he was just killing time in Evansville...and I mean, seriously, who wouldn't want to do THAT??...but I guess in a way, he really was since he was also working The Gathering this weekend) and challenged Kozina and Richards to a tag match against himself and The Metal Master in the main event! NOW we're talking my language here! Overall, the segment was well-done and an excellent set-up for the main event!

Chase Stevens vs Sid Vicious
I'm so glad they didn't make this match the main event, especially after the set-up of the Kozina/Richards vs Hero/Master match! Anyway, Stevens came out first and cut a promo about Sid not being there...even though he had been walking around up in the balcony...KEYFABE!!! Just then, the lights went out and Sid run into the ring through the front door. The spot was blown though by the fact that the lighting in The Armory was florescent and the bulbs had to warm up before they came back on. Ah...indy wrestling...ya gotta love it! So anyway, the first few minutes of the match were in darkness. Once there was enough light to actually see what was going on, the match actually wasn't quite as terrible as I expected. Sid looks pretty old these days, but man, that guy is in GREAT shape and can still move good! The match ended when, for some odd reason, Chris Michaels came out and attacked Stevens which led to Sid choke slamming him and getting the pin. After the match, Michaels and Stevens cut promos against each other that took FOREVER!!!! In the end, Stevens turned "face" and challenged Michaels to a match at the next Monroe City show. That was the oddest face-turn I've ever seen, but I guess that's a way for them to explain who he is a face in Monroe City and a heel in Evansville.

Tracy Smothers (w/ Jessie Belle Smothers, Isa-Mickie Knuckles-bella Smothers and James "The Muscle" J) vs C. Kane
I don't remember the other guy's name, but he had a big "C.K." on his tights and I think his last name was "Kane", not sure though. Anyway, the first ting I have to say about this match is that I have the utmost respect for Mickie Knuckles. I've talked to her several times and she's a super-cool, sweet, nice person who's been through a lot of crap the last few years. She's a great wrestler too and back in the days when she did deathmatches, her willingness to fight, bleed and do things a woman should probably never do in a wrestling match was nothing short of amazing! All that being said, I never, ever, EVER want to see her wearing cut-off jeans that are cut-off THAT short EVER again!!!! *SHUDDER* Anyway, Tracy did all of his usual heel things, only instead of doing his own lines, he had Isa-Mickie and Jessie doing them. It was nice too to see that they got their southern flag back from Jamie Dundee at The Gathering (a reference to last Wed. night, for those that don't know). Anyway, once the match finally got going, Tracy looked even better then I've seen him look lately. He was pulling off all kinds of old-school Tracy Smothers moves and was awesome at doing them. James J and his "daughters" interfered lots in the match, which had the crowd really worked up (how did I end up in the "Little kids who just want to scream 'YOU SUCK!!!' " section anyway??) In the end, Jessie got into the ring and hit Kane with the flag while Mickie distracted the ref and then Tracy got the pin.

Chris Hero & The Metal Master vs Davey Richards & Tony Kozina
For a smart-mark such as myself, this was nothing short of a dream match! During the match, pretty much everyone from the entire company was standing up on the balcony, enjoying it! And there was a LOT to enjoy too! Hero is so over here in Evansville that it's insane! It was kind of strange to see Davey Richards doing semi-comedy spots, but I guess you can't expect him to be a completely serious, a**-kicker at a non-ROH or FIP show. They teased having Hero and Richards start off the match, but Davey quickly tagged in Kozina. They played off the size differences of Hero and Kozina well. There were a lot of quick tags and the match was pretty much non-stop action. There were a few moments when some of the double-team moves that Richards and Kozina were trying to pull off didn't work so well, but that probably came from the fact that the match was put together on short notice and honestly, those moments were very minor. For a good portion of the match, Richards and Kozina worked over Metal Master. The crowd was so into the match and once Master got the hot tag to Hero, the place went crazy! Hero looked like a ba-zillon bucks too, pulling off one amazing move after another and making every single one of them look so effort-less. In the end, Hero hit Kozina with his "Young Knock-Out Kid" elbow (which was stiff as HELL!!!) and got the pin! An absolutely fantastic match that got a well-deserved "That was awesome!" chant! Hero then got on the mic and talked about how he got his start in the business in Evansville and said that he would be back...and yes, even I was joining in on the "Please come back!" chant! MECW seriously needs to get some kind of a title belt and put it on Hero, just so we'll know for sure that he WILL be back!

So, overall, the show had it's good and bad moments. The J.P./Drago match was great and all the Hero/Master/Kozina/Richards stuff was just awesome! The rest of the show I could have done without seeing and at times, I literally felt bored by it. That's not to say that I'm trashing MECW as a whole and saying, "I'll never go back!" Quite the opposite really. I'm just being brutally honest and I'm actually looking forward to seeing what happens next....and hoping that Chris Hero makes good on his word to come back!

First things first. Props to everyone who is invloved with MECW on how hard they worked to get Chris Hero in the house yesterday. I know it was a last minute thing and it was very impressive to me how you guys pulled in one of the best wrestlers in the world in about 24 hours. Im going to say, normally in wrestling i prepare myself to be let down, but in this case, you guys exceeded my expectations and that NEVER happens with wrestling in this area. There is no doubt that MECW will have my full support going forward!

Now, i dont even know what to say after Dweller pretty much echoed EVERYTHING that i was thinking. I mean you pointed out things that we said to each other durring the show. Myself and Dream were talking about how the JP/Drago match had a Japanesee crowd kind of feel. Like they were silent because they were watching in awe and not because they just didnt care. Then you said something we were saying after the show. Hero makes things in the ring look effortless. When i read your review, it just blew my mind on how we pretty much share a brain on everything wrestling. Crazy. That being said, i will try to give my thoughts on some things........

JP/Drago : Drago is one hell of a worker. He needs to be an MECW regular. IMO, if this dude wants it, he could be the next big thing in the indy curcuit. You can just see his Danielson-like style coming out. He may even be a little more stiff than the Dragon. JP proved once again he is among the best local guys in the area. The folks over across town are sniffin glue for not using this kid better on a weekly basis. I have little doubt he is the best guy they have over there. In the end, this was exactly what you want in an opener.

Humongous/Michaels : I am not a Michaels fan. He is a wanna be Tracy Smothers and to be honest, i wouldnt let this guy carry Tracy's bags. When he comes out he just sucks the life out of the show. The only kind of heat he can draw is by standing outside the ring and boring people. Newsflash Chris, they arent booing you because your a good bad guy, they are booing you because they want you to do something because your boring them to death. I hate to be so brutal, but i have seen this guy for years and i dont think he has ever got any better. Humongous was VERY green. Cool gimmick, but in the end, this was just bad. REAL BAD. The fact that Michaels couldnt get him off his feet the whole match, then just took him down by pulling on his legs just didnt make a lot of sense to me. If the match was bad, the finnish was worse.

Phoenix/Thomas : These two i know im not normally a fan of, but i think the fued they have going on is pretty cool. The match wasnt to bad from what i saw. Of course i missed most of it because i had to get a drink because it was so hot. I know there were some decent moves pulled off . Thomas needs to get him a real deal partner to matchup with Phoenix/Briley. The ref thing at the end was pretty cool. Nice ass dropkick.

Metal Master/Kozina : Kozina plays a nice heel. Just looks like a badass pitbull. I have to admit, when he lost in like 2 minutes, i was pissed, until Davey hit the ring. Davey, in his normal intense fashion, looked like he was going to break Metal Master's leg. Then Hero hits the ring and even though i knew he was going to get involved, i totally marked. Made me feel like i was 10 years old again. To see two of the best wrestlers in the world in the ring together in Evansville was a real treat. GREAT setup for the main event. The Evansville crowd simply ate it up!

Chase/Sid : Ive always liked Chase. I never really knew i was a Sid fan, but when he came out, i was just like, holy s**t thats flippin SID! He def looked a but older, but let me tell you, he is in GREAT shape. I could see him in TNA or WWE honesty. He hasnt lost anything in the ring and for a big guy he moved around great. Even whipped out an STF. Impressive. Michaels interfering got NO reaction from the crowd for the simple fact they didnt care to see Chase get jumped because he just called everyone morons. There was no reason for them to get behind Chase. In the end, Chase got it straightened out on the mic and we also got to see the POWERBOMB.

Tracy/CK? : Tracy is in the best shape i have seen him in a long long time. He carried this one pretty well. His band of Smothers family really adds to the crowd interaction. I thought this was pretty solid for what it was.

Hero/MM v Davey/Kozina : When they started the match with Hero/Davey due to the crowd reaction i was pretty hype. Davey heeled it up by tagging out and not giving the fans what they wanted. Davey/Kozina were kind of like the American Wolves lite. They were doing moves ive seen the Wolves do a lot on TV. Metal Master also impressed me. I always knew he was good from his past, but he proved he could really hang with the big dogs in this one. He should def be among the top contenders, as a regular in MECW. Like Dweller said, when Hero entered the ring he just made things look so effortless. His forarms are second to know one and in the end we got a deathblow! Cant beat it. While i wanted to see more Davey/Hero in there, im not complaining, it was a GREAT match.

The show had a good flow and i never really found myself losing interest in the show like i normally do. Im sure that was due to the fact i knew Hero and Davey were in the house and we were going to get something real good later in the night. In the end, that match alone made this the best show Evansville has seen since the IWA invasion! Hats off to everyone involved!

I couldn't agree more with 'Dweller and Ike.
only thing I want to add.
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Did anyone else mark out for Tony "the F**king man" Kozina coming out to YYZ???

I KNOW I DID!

Hero came out to "YYZ"? That's really cool! I couldn't hear much where I was sitting.

That was really, really awesome that they were able to get Hero there, especially at the last minute. I was told by a friend/former bass guitar student of mine that was running sound for the show that they're hoping to get more ROH guys in the future. I hope that's true! I really hope that anyone who was at the show who might not know much about Hero, Richards or ROH came away impressed with their match last night. The way MECW set up the main event was perfect and hopefully, drew in some fans that might only know about pro wrestling because of what they see on TV. If they keep booking shows like that and it works, then this whole MECW thing might actually take off and be around for a while.

I liked Ike's comment about how Chris Michaels gets heat not because he's a heel but because he sucks. Now that I think about it, that is what all of that felt like. That's the way fans are up in Philly...I know that first-hand! Ha ha!!

And by the way, it was a powerbomb that Sid finished Stevens off with...that's what i get for trying to write this stuff off the top of my head.

The only thing I kind of missed about last night's show that I would have liked to have seen was some kind of a high-flying/ lightweight match. I think it's time to get Zero Gravity in The Armory!

On behalf of all the boys in the back and the people that made the whole show come together I would like to thank you guys for your kind words. Sometimes those are hard to get in the local wrestling scene. I do apologize for the absence on Chuck Taylor, but I hope that "That Young Knockout Kid" Chris Hero helped make up for it.

I personally thought that it was an awesome show, I am not just saying that because I am the voice of MECW (lol), but I truly believe in our product. From start to finish the crowd was into it. Even though people were booing the snot out of some people and cheering their tracheas out for others, they never sat there totally silent. Like previously said the only quiet times were when people were in awe of the action in the ring. And even those times were broken up with cheers and chants.

Thanks again to everyone that came out for MECW's Main Event Experience.

Just to clarify 2 things, 1)The show was being taped for television. We had an issue with the second camera showing up which helped cause the delay in the show. But instead of waiting any longer we just decided to go with what we had. (at least the show didn't start at 8, and we were all out of there before sunday) 2)That CK guy was Mr. Controversy Casey Kage you can link to him here http://www.myspace.com/caseykage.

Thanks again to everyone. We hope to see you in Monroe City. You guys f'n rock!

Nic Wood

cavedweller73 wrote:

Hero came out to "YYZ"? That's really cool! I couldn't hear much where I was sitting.

That was really, really awesome that they were able to get Hero there, especially at the last minute. I was told by a friend/former bass guitar student of mine that was running sound for the show that they're hoping to get more ROH guys in the future. I hope that's true! I really hope that anyone who was at the show who might not know much about Hero, Richards or ROH came away impressed with their match last night. The way MECW set up the main event was perfect and hopefully, drew in some fans that might only know about pro wrestling because of what they see on TV. If they keep booking shows like that and it works, then this whole MECW thing might actually take off and be around for a while.

I liked Ike's comment about how Chris Michaels gets heat not because he's a heel but because he sucks. Now that I think about it, that is what all of that felt like. That's the way fans are up in Philly...I know that first-hand! Ha ha!!

And by the way, it was a powerbomb that Sid finished Stevens off with...that's what i get for trying to write this stuff off the top of my head.

The only thing I kind of missed about last night's show that I would have liked to have seen was some kind of a high-flying/ lightweight match. I think it's time to get Zero Gravity in The Armory!

Kozina , not Hero, came out to Rush's "YYZ" , and I thought if F'N ruled!!! LOL
We need to start setting closer to one another 'Dweller. Not only to combine our slow clapping, chanting powers but also for intelligent conversation.
It amazes me how you are one in the same as us. We were actually talking about how it's time ZERO G makes their long awaited return to Evansville and what better place than MECW. We thought about it so much we told an MECW rep after the show that we would love to see them!
The fans need to see something that will just blow their minds, and with the new TV deal, what better way to reach out and grab these potential fans then to show them something that they don't see on WWE TV......actually "WRESTLING"
and to know that they can go right down the road every month to the armory to see MECW live!!
ZERO G would blow peoples minds no doubt about it! It would be awesome to see them against the Kings of Wrestling (Hero/Claudio) The American Wolves (Richards/Edwards) The Briscoe Brothers to name a few top tag teams in the world. Hell even a team not so well known like Full Throttle, Northstar Express, House of Truth, or Irish Airborne.
I would be down with any of those teams vs. Zero G.

Def need some Zero G in MECW!!

That's really cool about Kozina coming out to that. Over the years of being tortured by my boss at the music store playing the pop music station on the radio (don't ask me why!), I've learned to block out music sometimes and I end up missing things like that. Also, the sound was kind of bad over there were I was. I honestly couldn't tell you what any of the guys used as enterance music the other night.

I too really think that a good, mind-blowing, high-flying match is the next thing MECW needs to focus on. Zero G is the team who could pull that off and since they usually work around the Chicago area, I wouldn't think it would be too tough to get them here.They were working up in Philly for CZW, but haven't been used there in several months now. Even a match between them against Chuck Taylor and Ricochet would be awesome! Personally, I always thought a match between them and Irish Airbourne would be awesome. I think that match has happened in either AAW up in Chicago or HWA in Cinninatti, but I've never seen any matches between them. I remember seeing Irish Airbourne work a match against Hallowicked and Fightmare in IWA:East Coast last year and man, that was an awesome match!!!!

As for the things that Nic Wood posted, here was my reply from that "other" message board:

Hey man, you're welcome for our kind words. Getting kind words from people such as the O'boys and myself isn't that hard really. Just give us a wrestling show that we want to see and we're happy little marks and will be glad to say how happy we are! I have to say thank you as well for being straight about things we asked on here. More than anything though, a BIG thank you for bringing in Hero...and granted, I'm as big a Chuck Taylor fan as anyone, but given the choice between seeing him or Hero....well, sorry Chuckie T...guess I'll see you the next time I get a chance.

I have to admit that when this whole MECW thing started, I was very skeptical, especially about the part where they were saying, "Tell us what you want to see and we'll try to make it happen." We've all been screaming for a long time that we wanted to see Chris Hero back in Evansville....and MECW made it happen. So, you have my respect for that!

Right on the money man!
I would love to see Irish Airborne vs. Zero G!!
.
And yes Nic...it's not hard at all. Keep giving us great talent to watch and we will be loyal to MECW!