4:17 From The Other Side - "High Stakes" review
(i decided to post this here so that there's a decent review here. Its not on NHB yet but most of you may have read it already) NWA Pro/ EPW - August 12 2006 - Venville Rec Centre, Maylands. High Stakes was always going to be a night where a lot was going to be on the line. However by the end you the night, you would have had more luck predicting the river card in a game of poker, than the events that had transpired before the amped up 380 crowd. The night started with the Xeriyous Blade led Forefathers Davis Storm, Jimmy Payne, Jag and their associate for the night \\\"The Allstar\\\" Brad West entering. Davis Storm soon making his intentions clear. The Forefathers wanted the Young Guns to come out and fight them now instead of in the main event. It wasn’t long until the team of CJL, Shane Haste, AZ Vegara & Chris Vice were out at ringside, and the scheduled main event has commenced. The All For One match was quite unique, with stipulations I’ve never seen done in wrestling before. Essentially it was an ironman match with a 30 minute time limit, where the team with the most pinfalls, submissions etc at the end, would be declared the winner. The match however had the \\\"All For One\\\" stipulation where each team had to name a captain, and should that captain suffer a loss, the match would then be ended on the spot with the team who’s captain hadn’t been eliminated being declared the winner. The captains for this match were Davis Storm for the Forefathers and Chris J Lazareth for the young guns. Any smart bookmaker would have had short odds on the Forefathers to win, especially after the early stages of the match. Not only had Brad West locked a ringpost figure four onto CJL, damaging the young guns captain's leg, but also the issues between AZ Vegara and the other 3 members of the young guns team were an obvious hinderance to their cause. The first pinfall came when Shane Haste and AZ Vegara got into a bit of a confrontation in the ring. Jimmy Payne rolled up Shane with a schoolboy pin right in front of AZ Vegara. AZ could have easily broken up the pin, however decided to just watch as the Forefathers took the early lead. As the match continued the differences between Shane Haste and AZ seemed only to intensify, both verbally, and eventually physically. As the differences grew between the two, so did the extent of the effect it had on the match. So much so that the second pinfall against the young guns could have been avoided if the whole team was working together. Jimmy Payne had hit a Tiger Driver on Vice for the pinfall attempt, however Shane Haste managed to just break up the pinfall in time. Soon after Jimmy wrapped Vice up in a small package. Shane attepted to enter for the save, but AZ prevented this by pulling Shane off the apron. Jimmy Payne and the Forefathers then picked up their second pinfall. Any hope of a comeback by the young guns soon faded, as the match broke down. Chris Vice seemed to be on the end of a lot of the beating from the Forefathers and Brad West, as Shane and AZ continued to clash outside the ring. CJL found himself being the legal man after being kept out of the ring for the entire match by Vice and Haste. Eventually, Vice was taken out as too Shane Haste. Jimmy locked on a Texas Cloverleaf, the Forefathers restrained the rest of the opposition (with the exception of AZ Vegara who gladly stood back and watched) and soon Chris Lazareth tapped out, and the match was over. Post match, Storm again took the microphone, this time his target was Jack Burbank, the only publicly known Board Of Directors representative. Storm expressed his anger towards Burbank, and the way the Board of Directors think they can tell the Forefathers what they can and cant do. Storm laughed at how the whole nights proceedings has just been messed up, and now Burbank had no main event for the precious fans. Jack Burbank became infuriated and responded in a manner rarely seen by the EPW fans. Basically, he was fed up of the treatment from the Forefathers, and their constant need to mess with the way EPW is run. He also told them that they hadn’t escaped fighting tonights main event, telling them that they were going to be in a match against any 3 original ECWPERTH wrestlers that chose to step up to the challenge. As the Forefathers went to leave, he told them that all the titles would be on the line. The second match of the night was the first of the Invitational Trophy Quarterfinals for the night. With James Street in the ring ready to compete, Brad West then entered and proceeded to cut a promo. He told how he was sick of Jack Burbank telling him who and when he had to fight. He told how he’s already won the invitational trophy, so the tournament was pointless for him this year. His ego continued to swell as he showed everyone \\\"The Allstar's\\\" perspective on EPW, then pulled out of the tournament in an effort to disrupt the schedule. After he left, it was announced that James Street had just progressed into the I.T semi finals. This brought out fellow Invitational Trophy Semi finalist, Devlin Reeves. Devlin proclaimed that it wasn’t right for James Street to be awarded a semi final birth with out earning it. Devlin claimed that James couldn't even last 10 minutes against Devlin himself. As Jack Burbank was in a foul mood, he decided to make a ten minute time limit match between the two, for there and then. The match was pretty evenly con-*test*-('")ed with James Street showing signs of improvement, managing to hold Devlin’s hard hitting offense in check. As control swayed back and forward, it was hard to pick a winner. In the end, James Street managed the unthinkable, the time limit expired, and Devlin had been embarrassed by not being able to back up his claims. So with three of the four semi finalists now decided it was time to find out the fourth. \\\"The American Nightmare\\\" Brock Freeman and Jamie Jurah are two guys who both have been in good form of late, both on the winning list in their respective returns to EPW. An interesting match between a high flying speedy ex martial artist, and a stiff kicking, technical mat wrestler. The match had the risk of becoming uncontrollable considering both men have shown a relentless vicious side in the past. Luckily for the two of them, neither had any real bitterness towards the other, and as such, the match started of pretty friendly. As the intensity picked up, so did the crowd involvement, with Freeman's fans slightly more vocal. Brock Freeman eventually picked up the victory with a trademark fishermans suplex (if I remember correctly). After the match, the two shook hands in a showing of respect. (EDIT: Freeman actually got the pin via roll up not the above mentioned fisherman’s suplex) At Hell Or Highwater, the European Union had done quite the opposite at the end of their match. After shaking F.N Carnage's hand EU member Morleone decided to attack F.N Carnage. Respect is a big must in EPW, and by disrespecting an EPW veteran in F.N Carnage, the European Union should have known retribution would be on Carnie's mind. In the break between shows, a match was made between F.N Carnage and The Don Michael Morleone. Before the match began, Jack Burbank continued with his anger riddled decisions, deciding that Johnathon Wimbledon should be banned from ringside. This only served to infuriate The Don. As the two locked up, the expected dominance by F.N Carnage was disrupted by an inform Morleone. Like James Street, Morleone showed that he had much improved, and whilst he never really was able to gain dominance in the match, he did give F.N Carnage a bit of a run for his money. After a back and forth match including some huge spinebusters by the two, the fighting eventually spilled to the outside. As the two ran at each other, possibly attempting clotheslines, the heads of the two men collided. Both men dropped and a ten count began. With the count at about 7, rookie Marcius Pitt ran to ringside and put The Don into the ring behind the refs back. As the ref counted 10, F.N Carnage found himself defeated. Lord Johnathon came back out, and introduced the crowd to the newest addition to the European Union, \\\"The Golden Greek\\\" Marcius Pitsonopolous. Wimbledon then demanded that F.N Carnage get down on one knee and shake The Don's hand, as per stipulation as named by Carnie himself. Reluctantly F.N kept his word, then as the EU decided to celebrated, F.N Carnage decided to teach them one more lesson before leaving. He clotheslined The Don, the golden greek received a huge spinebuster when he came of the rope, whilst Lord Johnathon barely escaped the attack. A ticked off F.N Carnage then told Jack Burbank that heÿd take the first spot against the Forefathers later that night. After intermission, it was time to see Marcius Pitsonopolous in his debut match. He was scheduled to take on Tommy Cartel, however Cartel had suffered another in a long line of niggling injuries, so the \\\"Golden Greek\\\" was set to face a mystery opponent. In somewhat of a shock, the mystery opponent was revealed as \\\"The Fallen Angel\\\" Azazal. For the first time in EPW history, the fans were on Azazal’s side. Quite simply, Azazal came out and destroyed the rookie with a HUGE Alpha Bomb, then took out Wimbledon when he tried to interfere by gorilla pressing him over the rope over the mats outside straight onto the hard floor. He then turned his attention back to Marcius, and hit a Fallen Angel to pick up the victory. The Awe Inspiring Shane Haste then entered the arena next and took the microphone. He told how he's been distancing himself from the fans, listening to the wrong advice and how he’d lost focus of why he was wrestling. Shane had forgotten about having fun, but told that that was about to change. He asked the fans to forgive him, which they did. Considering they weren’t angry at him in the first place, the response was very loud. They had all been invited to join Shane's party. Shane then address a second issue. Earlier in the night, differences between himself and AZ Vegara had arisen, as such, Shane had decided he wanted he wanted to fight him. AZ Vegara came out and cut a promo of his own. He cockily claimed that Shane wasnÿt in his league. AZ refused the match then went to leave. His plan backfired, as he was met by Chris Vice in the entrance way. To escape, AZ ran into the ring. The bell rang, and the match began. The match started really fast, the tempo rivaling cruiserweight move set 2. What followed was to a big contender for match of the night. The two both had moments of offence with Shane showing signs of old by using some classic Shane Haste arsenal such as a new verion of \\\"Its Good\\\"(two footed dropsault in the corner where Shane lands on his feet), a 10 Elk Shane formerly known as the 10 Elk Driver, and the move with cult status \\\"3D Cow\\\". It wasn't all Shane in offense tho, as AZ managed to lock on an Octopus Stretch ( I don’t know the official name for IT ) although it was reversed into a facebuster of sorts. He also hit his finisher the \\\"Seal Of Approval\\\" (falcons arrow) but trying to hit Shane with a frogsplash to mock the Awe Inspiring One missed and Shane soon wrapped things up with a thermosphere scrapping frogsplash of his own. The heat trailed back down behind him as the crowd erupted the 3 count that followed It was then time for the main event, which at this stage was EPW champion Jimmy Payne & EPW Tag Team Champions \\\"The Ironman Of Australian Wrestling\\\", Davis Storm and Hartley \\\"Jag\\\" Jackson taking on the team of F. N Carnage and no one. It wasn’t long until the second man on his team made himself known, the path of destruction was set to begin as the big man Richter entered. The Forefathers began to laugh at Burbank, calling him pathetic as he could only find two men prepared to fight. They were cut off as a familiar music began to play. The Forefathers stood in shock as \\\"The Fallen Angel\\\" Azazal entered. The crowd erupted in delight. Who would have thunk it you ask, me for one, but that's another story. With all the titles on the line, this match was sure to be interesting. If Jimmy Payne was pinned, he would lose the belt to whoever pinned him. If Storm or Jag were pinned, the tag titles would go to whoever picked up the victory, with the other belt to go to a partner of their choosing. To retain all the gold, the Forefathers needed to be victorious. Before the match began Xeriyous Blade was ejected to backstage. The match didn’t take long to heat up either. In all honesty so much was happening, that deciding what part to watch would have been a struggle. Instead of trying to describe the match, I'll just point out a few high spots, and you all can buy the dvd to see just how awesome this match was. Every tag lit a fuse in the crowd of loud chants, none bigger than the GRIMMMMMMMAAAACE chant that seems to be plaguing Jimmy Payne. The next loudest were probably in support of Azazal, \\\"Fal-len An-gel\\\" chants chorused. The good old Holy Shit chant started after Richter chokeslamed Jag from the top rope to the outside. Luckily for Jag, the rest of the Forefathers broke his fall, albeit unintentionally. Azazal was on fire having one of his best matches ever, Storm showed his true leadership skills again, the ever commander and chief of the Forefathers. Jag's dominant presence was held in check by Richter early, and F.N Carnage later in the match, whilst Jimmy Payne's wrestling skill was proving to be the decisive factor. In the end, Jag and F.N Carnage brawled to the entrance way. Jimmy Payne hit Azazal with a \\\"Gore\\\" and made the cover. Richter tried desperately to get into the ring to break up the pin, but all to no avail. The Forefathers had escaped with the victory, and the gold, however the sense of a new war coming lingered over. With EPW's 5th Anniversary less than 3 months away, the road to ReAwakening is being traveled at full steam ahead. With all the new alliances, and new rivalries sparking up, the never calm waters ahead are starting simmer. At EPW's next event on September 16th 2006, \\\"Boiling Point\\\" could very well be considered an understatement of what will happen when anger and opposition, to steal a pun, start to boil over. be sure to check out epwperth.com for the official results and pictures
(i decided to post this here so that there's a decent review here. Its not on NHB yet but most of you may have read it already) NWA Pro/ EPW - August 12 2006 - Venville Rec Centre, Maylands. High Stakes was always going to be a night where a lot was going to be on the line. However by the end you the night, you would have had more luck predicting the river card in a game of poker, than the events that had transpired before the amped up 380 crowd. The night started with the Xeriyous Blade led Forefathers Davis Storm, Jimmy Payne, Jag and their associate for the night \\\"The Allstar\\\" Brad West entering. Davis Storm soon making his intentions clear. The Forefathers wanted the Young Guns to come out and fight them now instead of in the main event. It wasn’t long until the team of CJL, Shane Haste, AZ Vegara & Chris Vice were out at ringside, and the scheduled main event has commenced. The All For One match was quite unique, with stipulations I’ve never seen done in wrestling before. Essentially it was an ironman match with a 30 minute time limit, where the team with the most pinfalls, submissions etc at the end, would be declared the winner. The match however had the \\\"All For One\\\" stipulation where each team had to name a captain, and should that captain suffer a loss, the match would then be ended on the spot with the team who’s captain hadn’t been eliminated being declared the winner. The captains for this match were Davis Storm for the Forefathers and Chris J Lazareth for the young guns. Any smart bookmaker would have had short odds on the Forefathers to win, especially after the early stages of the match. Not only had Brad West locked a ringpost figure four onto CJL, damaging the young guns captain's leg, but also the issues between AZ Vegara and the other 3 members of the young guns team were an obvious hinderance to their cause. The first pinfall came when Shane Haste and AZ Vegara got into a bit of a confrontation in the ring. Jimmy Payne rolled up Shane with a schoolboy pin right in front of AZ Vegara. AZ could have easily broken up the pin, however decided to just watch as the Forefathers took the early lead. As the match continued the differences between Shane Haste and AZ seemed only to intensify, both verbally, and eventually physically. As the differences grew between the two, so did the extent of the effect it had on the match. So much so that the second pinfall against the young guns could have been avoided if the whole team was working together. Jimmy Payne had hit a Tiger Driver on Vice for the pinfall attempt, however Shane Haste managed to just break up the pinfall in time. Soon after Jimmy wrapped Vice up in a small package. Shane attepted to enter for the save, but AZ prevented this by pulling Shane off the apron. Jimmy Payne and the Forefathers then picked up their second pinfall. Any hope of a comeback by the young guns soon faded, as the match broke down. Chris Vice seemed to be on the end of a lot of the beating from the Forefathers and Brad West, as Shane and AZ continued to clash outside the ring. CJL found himself being the legal man after being kept out of the ring for the entire match by Vice and Haste. Eventually, Vice was taken out as too Shane Haste. Jimmy locked on a Texas Cloverleaf, the Forefathers restrained the rest of the opposition (with the exception of AZ Vegara who gladly stood back and watched) and soon Chris Lazareth tapped out, and the match was over. Post match, Storm again took the microphone, this time his target was Jack Burbank, the only publicly known Board Of Directors representative. Storm expressed his anger towards Burbank, and the way the Board of Directors think they can tell the Forefathers what they can and cant do. Storm laughed at how the whole nights proceedings has just been messed up, and now Burbank had no main event for the precious fans. Jack Burbank became infuriated and responded in a manner rarely seen by the EPW fans. Basically, he was fed up of the treatment from the Forefathers, and their constant need to mess with the way EPW is run. He also told them that they hadn’t escaped fighting tonights main event, telling them that they were going to be in a match against any 3 original ECWPERTH wrestlers that chose to step up to the challenge. As the Forefathers went to leave, he told them that all the titles would be on the line. The second match of the night was the first of the Invitational Trophy Quarterfinals for the night. With James Street in the ring ready to compete, Brad West then entered and proceeded to cut a promo. He told how he was sick of Jack Burbank telling him who and when he had to fight. He told how he’s already won the invitational trophy, so the tournament was pointless for him this year. His ego continued to swell as he showed everyone \\\"The Allstar's\\\" perspective on EPW, then pulled out of the tournament in an effort to disrupt the schedule. After he left, it was announced that James Street had just progressed into the I.T semi finals. This brought out fellow Invitational Trophy Semi finalist, Devlin Reeves. Devlin proclaimed that it wasn’t right for James Street to be awarded a semi final birth with out earning it. Devlin claimed that James couldn't even last 10 minutes against Devlin himself. As Jack Burbank was in a foul mood, he decided to make a ten minute time limit match between the two, for there and then. The match was pretty evenly con-*test*-('")ed with James Street showing signs of improvement, managing to hold Devlin’s hard hitting offense in check. As control swayed back and forward, it was hard to pick a winner. In the end, James Street managed the unthinkable, the time limit expired, and Devlin had been embarrassed by not being able to back up his claims. So with three of the four semi finalists now decided it was time to find out the fourth. \\\"The American Nightmare\\\" Brock Freeman and Jamie Jurah are two guys who both have been in good form of late, both on the winning list in their respective returns to EPW. An interesting match between a high flying speedy ex martial artist, and a stiff kicking, technical mat wrestler. The match had the risk of becoming uncontrollable considering both men have shown a relentless vicious side in the past. Luckily for the two of them, neither had any real bitterness towards the other, and as such, the match started of pretty friendly. As the intensity picked up, so did the crowd involvement, with Freeman's fans slightly more vocal. Brock Freeman eventually picked up the victory with a trademark fishermans suplex (if I remember correctly). After the match, the two shook hands in a showing of respect. (EDIT: Freeman actually got the pin via roll up not the above mentioned fisherman’s suplex) At Hell Or Highwater, the European Union had done quite the opposite at the end of their match. After shaking F.N Carnage's hand EU member Morleone decided to attack F.N Carnage. Respect is a big must in EPW, and by disrespecting an EPW veteran in F.N Carnage, the European Union should have known retribution would be on Carnie's mind. In the break between shows, a match was made between F.N Carnage and The Don Michael Morleone. Before the match began, Jack Burbank continued with his anger riddled decisions, deciding that Johnathon Wimbledon should be banned from ringside. This only served to infuriate The Don. As the two locked up, the expected dominance by F.N Carnage was disrupted by an inform Morleone. Like James Street, Morleone showed that he had much improved, and whilst he never really was able to gain dominance in the match, he did give F.N Carnage a bit of a run for his money. After a back and forth match including some huge spinebusters by the two, the fighting eventually spilled to the outside. As the two ran at each other, possibly attempting clotheslines, the heads of the two men collided. Both men dropped and a ten count began. With the count at about 7, rookie Marcius Pitt ran to ringside and put The Don into the ring behind the refs back. As the ref counted 10, F.N Carnage found himself defeated. Lord Johnathon came back out, and introduced the crowd to the newest addition to the European Union, \\\"The Golden Greek\\\" Marcius Pitsonopolous. Wimbledon then demanded that F.N Carnage get down on one knee and shake The Don's hand, as per stipulation as named by Carnie himself. Reluctantly F.N kept his word, then as the EU decided to celebrated, F.N Carnage decided to teach them one more lesson before leaving. He clotheslined The Don, the golden greek received a huge spinebuster when he came of the rope, whilst Lord Johnathon barely escaped the attack. A ticked off F.N Carnage then told Jack Burbank that heÿd take the first spot against the Forefathers later that night. After intermission, it was time to see Marcius Pitsonopolous in his debut match. He was scheduled to take on Tommy Cartel, however Cartel had suffered another in a long line of niggling injuries, so the \\\"Golden Greek\\\" was set to face a mystery opponent. In somewhat of a shock, the mystery opponent was revealed as \\\"The Fallen Angel\\\" Azazal. For the first time in EPW history, the fans were on Azazal’s side. Quite simply, Azazal came out and destroyed the rookie with a HUGE Alpha Bomb, then took out Wimbledon when he tried to interfere by gorilla pressing him over the rope over the mats outside straight onto the hard floor. He then turned his attention back to Marcius, and hit a Fallen Angel to pick up the victory. The Awe Inspiring Shane Haste then entered the arena next and took the microphone. He told how he's been distancing himself from the fans, listening to the wrong advice and how he’d lost focus of why he was wrestling. Shane had forgotten about having fun, but told that that was about to change. He asked the fans to forgive him, which they did. Considering they weren’t angry at him in the first place, the response was very loud. They had all been invited to join Shane's party. Shane then address a second issue. Earlier in the night, differences between himself and AZ Vegara had arisen, as such, Shane had decided he wanted he wanted to fight him. AZ Vegara came out and cut a promo of his own. He cockily claimed that Shane wasnÿt in his league. AZ refused the match then went to leave. His plan backfired, as he was met by Chris Vice in the entrance way. To escape, AZ ran into the ring. The bell rang, and the match began. The match started really fast, the tempo rivaling cruiserweight move set 2. What followed was to a big contender for match of the night. The two both had moments of offence with Shane showing signs of old by using some classic Shane Haste arsenal such as a new verion of \\\"Its Good\\\"(two footed dropsault in the corner where Shane lands on his feet), a 10 Elk Shane formerly known as the 10 Elk Driver, and the move with cult status \\\"3D Cow\\\". It wasn't all Shane in offense tho, as AZ managed to lock on an Octopus Stretch ( I don’t know the official name for IT ) although it was reversed into a facebuster of sorts. He also hit his finisher the \\\"Seal Of Approval\\\" (falcons arrow) but trying to hit Shane with a frogsplash to mock the Awe Inspiring One missed and Shane soon wrapped things up with a thermosphere scrapping frogsplash of his own. The heat trailed back down behind him as the crowd erupted the 3 count that followed It was then time for the main event, which at this stage was EPW champion Jimmy Payne & EPW Tag Team Champions \\\"The Ironman Of Australian Wrestling\\\", Davis Storm and Hartley \\\"Jag\\\" Jackson taking on the team of F. N Carnage and no one. It wasn’t long until the second man on his team made himself known, the path of destruction was set to begin as the big man Richter entered. The Forefathers began to laugh at Burbank, calling him pathetic as he could only find two men prepared to fight. They were cut off as a familiar music began to play. The Forefathers stood in shock as \\\"The Fallen Angel\\\" Azazal entered. The crowd erupted in delight. Who would have thunk it you ask, me for one, but that's another story. With all the titles on the line, this match was sure to be interesting. If Jimmy Payne was pinned, he would lose the belt to whoever pinned him. If Storm or Jag were pinned, the tag titles would go to whoever picked up the victory, with the other belt to go to a partner of their choosing. To retain all the gold, the Forefathers needed to be victorious. Before the match began Xeriyous Blade was ejected to backstage. The match didn’t take long to heat up either. In all honesty so much was happening, that deciding what part to watch would have been a struggle. Instead of trying to describe the match, I'll just point out a few high spots, and you all can buy the dvd to see just how awesome this match was. Every tag lit a fuse in the crowd of loud chants, none bigger than the GRIMMMMMMMAAAACE chant that seems to be plaguing Jimmy Payne. The next loudest were probably in support of Azazal, \\\"Fal-len An-gel\\\" chants chorused. The good old Holy Shit chant started after Richter chokeslamed Jag from the top rope to the outside. Luckily for Jag, the rest of the Forefathers broke his fall, albeit unintentionally. Azazal was on fire having one of his best matches ever, Storm showed his true leadership skills again, the ever commander and chief of the Forefathers. Jag's dominant presence was held in check by Richter early, and F.N Carnage later in the match, whilst Jimmy Payne's wrestling skill was proving to be the decisive factor. In the end, Jag and F.N Carnage brawled to the entrance way. Jimmy Payne hit Azazal with a \\\"Gore\\\" and made the cover. Richter tried desperately to get into the ring to break up the pin, but all to no avail. The Forefathers had escaped with the victory, and the gold, however the sense of a new war coming lingered over. With EPW's 5th Anniversary less than 3 months away, the road to ReAwakening is being traveled at full steam ahead. With all the new alliances, and new rivalries sparking up, the never calm waters ahead are starting simmer. At EPW's next event on September 16th 2006, \\\"Boiling Point\\\" could very well be considered an understatement of what will happen when anger and opposition, to steal a pun, start to boil over. be sure to check out epwperth.com for the official results and pictures