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They opened the show before a packed
house of around 500-550 with the introduction
of the eight competitors for this year's
tournament. Charlie Haas, scheduled
to be one of the eight before he blew
out his ACL on 2/19 in Cincinnati, spoke
briefly. He got "Haas" chants
from the crowd. Haas has already had
the surgery to repair the ACL and is
now headed for rehab.
1st Round
Match 1: Red vs."The Natural Bobby
Rude
Red has been making a name for himself
on various Northeast indies. Rude is
from, and works in, Canada. Really good.
Crowd was hot for this the whole way
and popped for everything. Red kicked
the middle rope as Rude was coming back
into the ring, causing him to crotch
himself. Basic storyline seemed to be
Rude, who was considerably bigger than
Red, bullying Red around and just killing
him with big moves. Red did a great
job selling. For a guy as young as he
is, his work is remarkably smooth. Rude
hiptossed Red into the buckles which
got a strong reaction. They did a false
finish where Rude put his feet on the
ropes, ref caught him in the two count,
they argued, and Red schoolboyed him
from behind for two. Finish was a corkscrew
legdrop off the top, followed quickly
by a Red star press (standing shooting
star press).
Match 2: "The Future" Donovan
Morgan vs. Pepper Parks
Good match. Parks, an HWA regular,
is a thin guy who does a male cheerleader
gimmick. Morgan was for years a regular
with Roland Alexander's All Pro Wrestling
in California before a publicized split
last October after their King of Indies
tournament. He now tours regularly with
Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan. They started
with nice matwork. Morgan brutalized
Parks with chops and dropped him on
his head. He also put him in a cool
looking submission move (forgive me
for not knowing the names of these holds,
but it's been years since I've watched
Japanese wrestling) where he had Parks'
head and right shoulder between his
legs and was pulling Parks' left shoulder
in the opposite direction. Parks didn't
get much in, but he did do a flip dive
over the top to the floor and a blockbuster
variation. Parks went for a swinging
DDT, but Morgan turned it into a swinging
neckbreaker starting from the fisherman
suplex (Perfectplex) position for a
two count. Morgan caught Parks diving
off the ropes with a Diamond cutter,
then followed up with a brutal double
underhook piledriver for the pin. Nothing
wrong with it at all, but I would consider
it fourth of the four opening round
matches.
Match 3: Jaime Knoble vs. Matt Stryker
Both Knoble and Stryker are from the
HWA. Knoble is under a WWE developmental
deal and formerly worked for WCW as
Jamie-San in the Jung Dragons. Stryker
is not under a WWE deal - yet. These
guys worked a program in HWA for several
months over the promotion's cruiserweight
title, and as might be expected, this
was really good. The work was not spectacular
but it was solid and tight. In a role
reversal from HWA, Stryker played heel
here and Knoble was the babyface. Knoble
did a rolling surfboard spot, lifting
him up three times before dropping him
right into a German suplex position
for a two count. Stryker got a sharpshooter
on Knoble but Knoble got to the ropes
for the break. Finish was a roll up,
which worked perfectly for what they
were doing.
Match 4: "The Phenominal"
A.J. Styles vs. Xavier
Styles is the current NWA Wildside
champion and just completed a week at
the WWE's training camp in Cincinnati.
He also appeared on last weekend's WWA
pay-per-view in Las Vegas. Xavier works
Northeast indies. I saw him have a great
match with Red and Nova at the ICW show
in Queens in January. Even though Styles
went over here, Xavier was the shining
star. Of the eight participants, I thought
his performance did the most to elevate
himself. Real stiff work in there. Styles
and Xavier pretty much just kicked the
hell out of each other's sides. Styles
went for an ankle lock, and Xavier rolled
through, but it ended up with Styles
holding him in a leg lock. Styles did
a beautiful twisting plancha over the
top to the floor, landing on his feet.
Xavier got a huge pop for a Sabu-style
springboard moonsault to the outside.
After a face buster, Xavier went for
the 450, but Styles got his knees up.
Xavier threw some wicked knees into
Styles' face in the corner, followed
by a forearm across the chest. Styles
later did the same knees to the face
to Xavier. Xavier did a running knee
to Styles' nuts as he was hung in the
tree of woe. Series of two counts starting
with Xavier sitting down on a sunset
flip, into a couple Malenko-Guerrero-esque
exchanges, then a small package by Styles
and a superkick by Xavier. Styles got
the pin after the Styles clash. Best
match of the first round.
Semi-Finals
Match 1: "The Phenominal"
AJ Styles vs. Red
Short match, around 5:00 or so. Styles
tried to do a dive onto Red on the outside
but lost his footing climbing the ropes.
Red came back with his own nice dive
to the outside. Finish had Red go for
a huracanrana off the top, but Styles
turned into a Styles clash off the ropes
for the pin.
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They brought out several "dignitaries",
including Simon Diamond (winner of the
1998 Super 8), Dawn Marie, Jeff Peterson
(who will wrestle his first match in
a long time at the next show on 4/6),
Michael Modest, Steve DeAngelis (who
by the way promoted a very successful
indy show on 2/17 in Anchorage, AK,
that drew 1,700), and Gary Michael Cappetta.
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Match 2: "The Future" Donovan
Morgan vs. Jamie Knoble
Another pretty good but short match.
Neither of the second round matches
were as good as the first round stuff,
but this was better than Red-Styles.
Knoble threw some real stiff chops at
the beginning. Morgan caught Knoble
in the double underhook but Knoble scooted
to the ropes for the break. I liked
the psychology of that. Knoble dove
off the top but Morgan caught him in
mid-air with a DDT. They did a series
of roll throughs and reversals before
Morgan sat down on a Knoble sunset flip
and got the pin. Knoble got a big ovation
from the crowd upon his exit. He looked
real good in his two matches.
Super 8 Finals
"The Future" Donovan Morgan
vs. "The Phenominal" AJ Styles
Before the match, they aired an interview
with both on the video screen. Longest
match of the tournament, around 16:00,
and it was excellent. Solid, well paced,
well worked. They slapped each other
at the outset, then shook hands. Early
stuff was some good matwork and exchanges.
They traded some stiff looking forearms.
Styles cut off Morgan's offense with
a spinebuster. He did the shooting star
press off the top onto the floor. He
pretty much missed hitting Morgan but
it was a beautiful looking move. They
rolled in, with Styles selling the left
knee. Morgan went right after it. Styles
came back with the Crash Holly Memphis
finisher for a two count. Styles got
a two count with a twisting senton off
the top. He went for a swinging DDT
off the ropes but Morgan turned it into
a Northern lights suplex without the
bridge into the buckles. Styles springboarded
off the ropes and landed on his feet
and caught Morgan in a Scorpion death
drop position, but Morgan turned it
into that swinging fisherman neckbreaker
he did earlier for a two count. The
execution of that series was flawless.
Big pop for it. Morgan hooked Styles
on the top almost in a backslide position,
then flipped him off to the mat, with
Styles landing face first. Great looking
move. Morgan got a two count off a double
underhook facebuster. It might have
been the double underhook piledriver
but he didn't seem to get Styles up
as high as he did Parks. Styles hit
the Styles clash but only got two. Crowd
really believed it was the finish and
popped out of surprise when it wasn't.
They really got into this one. Morgan
finally got the double underhook piledriver
and scored the pin. The rest of the
Super 8 participants came out. Morgan
was lifted onto their shoulders and
presented with the trophy. The locker
room also emptied out. Modest and Morgan
unveiled a Pro Wrestling NOAH banner
afterward in the ring
Thanks
to Chuck Ristano of ECWA Today!
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Featured Workers: Red, Bobby
Rude, Donovan Morgan, Pepper Parks,
Jamie Knoble, Matt Stryker, AJ Styles,
Xavier.
