RUMBLE!!!!!!!
Even if I don't find the time to squeeze in another post this month (yeah, right), you better damn believe that you're at least gonna get a Rumble recap post. Yes, this past weekend was "Triumph", home of the 5th Annual CWF Rumble. When it was all said and done the entire weekend would become one of the most enjoyable ones I've had in a loooooooong time with plenty of friends, food, and wrestling to pretty much make life perfect for a good little 48 hours there. Kamakazi Kid (and Kristen of course) made pretty much record time from Florida, getting in Friday night to officially kick off the weekend festivities. I gotta make mention that Yamaha's B-Day celebration coincided with the Rumble as well which led to some 5-star birthday cake that was topped with COOKIES AND CREAM ICING! Are you serious??? Holy balls, that's some icing from the Heavens above to be sure. Hope it's on the buffet upstairs when it's my time to go. Trust me, the picture does it NO justice...
The Rumble was Sat night 10/1 at the CSA of course and what a show it would become. The crowd (god bless them) was actually super hot all night, especially for a CSA crowd, and I give them major props and love for that.
1. Kamakazi Kid and Xsiris defeated Shawn Christian and Donnie Dollars in 11:19 when Kamakazi Kid pinned Christian - Yes, Kazi makes his return alongside his all-time #1 rival Xsiris in a picture-perfect opener. Christian and Dollars sure make a strange pairing but it works. I tell ya, Shawn Christian is one of those guys that unfortunately has no look cause he certainly has all the tools. Super fun opener that went a touch too long for the time alloted, but it was all gravy. **3/4
Michael McAllister comes out and rips up Commissioner Cross' pre-drawn Rumble entry sheet and decides since the cat's away, he's gonna play and do the Rumble drawing himself fair and square (ahem). Gemini id comes out to dispute his actions, saying that he probably wouldn't be able to exercise his authority if McAllister was in the hospital. At which point, Gemini, total calm, turns off the mic, hands it over, and then proceeds to beat the livin snot out of McAllister. Freakin' beautiful. But Sean Powers ruins the fun and ends up choking the life out of Gemini with a chain, which would actually put Gemini out of commission for the Rumble. Awesome, hard hitting segment.
2. Rising Generation League champion Kid Justice battled Ultra Dragon to a 10:00 time limit draw -
Excellent start to the match with a very good baby-baby feeling out process with the crowd giving both guys their props. Unfortunately, that took about 5 minutes and it appeared if neither guy knew it was only a 10:00 time limit which led to the beautiful early on pace being thrown aside and the second half of the match feeling far more rushed. Major confusion at the end with the time limit sounding, 5 more minutes being requested, and then the referee counting 10 as Dragon was outside the ring. Very good start, sad crash and burn finish to something that appeared to have great potential. **1/2
3. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Television champion "A Very Handsome Man" Mitch Conner pinned "Rock N Roll" Matty Dee in 7:19 - Conner makes his first title defense against Matty, who was fresh off of his first big singles match with Yamaha last time out. Solid enough match although not particular memorable aside from the finish as Yamaha interferes, crotching Matty on the top rope, leading to Conner giving Matty an impaler DDT from the top. Crowd wasn't balls out for this one as the other undercard stuff as it was pretty obvious that there was no chance in hell of a title change. **1/2
4. CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion Garry "Madd Trucker" Stevens pinned "El Fuego" Jesse Ortega in 12:23 -
Far and away, my favorite match in the Stevens MA title run. They start off hot and you just KNOW this sucker is gonna be brutal and of course they light it up with chop-city. Stevens steals the win with some gimmick in his elbow pad which is about a zillion times better than trying to hide the full blown billy-club from the referee. Very good babyface fire from Jesse in a losing effort. **1/2
Before the Rumble started, a very nice 5-minute video package aired recapping the previous 4 Rumbles. Very surreal to see at points and I couldn't help but think how Vince McMahon has traditionally ignored history and here we are showcasing a whole slew of guys that don't even wrestle here anymore. Bounty, Corey, Matt Houston, Stro, Eddie Brown, Trent, Collins, Rainz, etc, etc. Very nice to see a tribute like that, especially in pro wrestling where out of sight is usually out of mind.
5. Ric Converse won the 5th Annual 30-person CWF Rumble in 36:57 to earn a shot at the CWF Mid-Atlantic title of his choice: #1 Chris Vega and #2 Ric Converse entered...#3 Jesse Ortega entered in 1:00...#4 Bret Sharpe entered in 2:00...#5 Shawn Christian entered in 2:59...Sharpe eliminated Ortega in 3:23...#6 Bobby Fontana entered in 4:02...#7 Kamakazi Kid entered in 5:00...Kamakazi Kid eliminated Christian in 5:20...Kamakazi Kid eliminated Fontana in 5:24...Kamakazi Kid eliminated Vega in 5:29...Kamakazi Kid eliminated Sharpe in 5:38...#8 CWF/AWA Mid-Atlantic Television champion "A Very Handsome Man" Mitch Conner entered in 6:00...Kazi eliminated Conner in 6:33...#9 Alex Adonis entered in 6:59...#10 Jay Sinn entered in 7:59...#11 BJ Strickler entered in 9:06...#12 Ultra Dragon entered in 9:58...Kamakazi Kid eliminated Strickler in 10:26...#13 Gregory Vercetti entered in 10:58...#14 Kid Justice entered in 11:59...Kamakazi Kid, Dragon, and Vercetti eliminated Sinn in 12:19...Justice and Kamakazi Kid eliminated Dragon in 13:01...#15 Xsiris entered in 13:02...#16 GeeStar entered in 13:59...Converse, GeeStar, Kamakazi Kid, and Xsiris eliminated Adonis in 14:33...#17 Donnie Dollars entered in 14:59...#18 Brass Munkey entered in 16:00...Dollars eliminated Gee in 16:55...#19 Tank Lawson entered in 16:58...Munkey eliminated Vercetti in 17:34...Xsiris eliminated Justice in 17:56...#20 Julius Augustus entered in 17:58...#21 Rob McBride entered in 18:58...Augustus eliminated Xsiris and Kamakazi Kid in 19:50...#22 American Steel Ninja entered in 19:58...McBride and Converse eliminated Dollars in 20:43...Ninja eliminated Munkey in 20:51...#23 Will B. Smooth entered in 20:58...McBride eliminated Lawson in 21:18...#24 Coco Rojo entered in 22:00...#25 Marcellus King entered in 22:58...Augustus and King eliminated Smooth in 23:21...Converse eliminated Rojo in 23:34...King eliminated McBride in 24:32...#26 Brad Attitude entered in 24:36...Augustus and Converse eliminated Ninja in 25:33...#27 J-Money entered in 25:47...#28 Matty Dee entered in 26:47...Money eliminated Augustus in 27:22...#29 Sean Powers entered in 27:47...#30 Mikael Yamaha entered in 28:48...Money eliminated Powers in 30:26...Yamaha eliminated Money in 30:50...King and Converse eliminated Attitude in 31:43...Matty Dee eliminated Yamaha in 34:22...King eliminated Matty Dee in 35:55...Converse eliminated King in 36:57
First off, a HUGE "Thank You" to each and every Rumble participant. I had this feeling going into it that it was going to be good but I didn't want to jinx it. The WWF's 5th Rumble was actually the legendary 1992 one and that connection didn't miss me. I don't think it's much a stretch to say that as a whole it was easily the best Rumble we've ever done. There have certainly been great moments in the past but as far as a action-packed match with deep, compelling storylines from start to finish, nearly every single person in the match getting over in their own way, and not to mention a FANTASTIC finish, we haven't done anything that can hold a candle to this. I am DAMN proud of this match and time may show it to be my all-time personal favorite match as far as my input matching up with what actually transpired. Believe me, I'd love to take credit for a lot of this sucker but if it weren't for the INCREDIBLE roster we are fortunate enough to have to pull something like this off, any ideas or brainstorms I ever had would be for naught. Heck, on top of it, pretty much everyone went for non generic eliminations rather than the "duck and dump" routine seen in so many battle royals. You guys seriously rock.
Ok, match hilights: McAllister trying to fuck every top-shelf babyface over, including giving Ric the #2 spot and Jesse (who just worked Garry!) the #3 spot, KNOWING they wouldn't have a hope in hell of being there at the end. Meanwhile, he "allowed" loser-babyface Matty Dee to have the best non-heel spot late (#28) and low and behold, guess who just about stole the show...the opening 5 minutes was just great storytelling as McAllister's hired guns just do a gang-like beating on Converse and even eliminated Ortega with the crowd just going nuts for Ric begging him to come back, despite the 4-on-1 odds...His savior comes in the form of Kamakazi Kid who cleans house and then some like no one else has in our Rumble's history...Mitch Conner's 33 second elimination brings the crowd to their feet for about the 5th time in the first 10 minutes...I can't believe just HOW into this match our normally subdued CSA crowd is...Ultra Dragon and Kazi battle the Street Sweepers in a fantastically laid-out elimination for Sinn, who then has to save his own partner Vercetti by catching him in mid-air on his way to the ground and then tossing him back inside...Never before had I seen SUCH a show of babyface unity. I mean, the mid-to-upper-tier babys were just ALL on the same page and it was almost as if they were fighting for the TEAM rather than for themselves. I definitely think Ultimate Survivor is gonna play off of that kind of unity tremendously. Our crowd LOVES our babys and unity is only gonna make them all that much more over. The place went nuts when the Ric/Gee/Kazi/Xsiris quartet dumped Adonis...Boy, you could hear the breath leave the crowd like THEY were the ones that got chokeslammed when Dollars nailed Gee...Augustus got enough heat to live off of for months, eliminating Xsiris and Kazi at the same time. A-hole...As soon as I'm marking for the unity, Ninja weirds out and dumps Munkey. WTF?...the early-to-mid-20s is always the most difficult part of a Rumble. It's usually the part where it begins to hurt a lull before the upswing of the actual finish which is pretty much what we had here. Probably the only disappointing part of this year's Rumble is the timing of some eliminations as we weren't able to milk the Ric vs. Julius/Marcellus matchup before Atty came in to make the "save". A little piece of drama that never came to be but out of ALL the storylines here, missing on one was no biggie...J-Money came up bigger than expected as a late entry. Very happy for him...Ric accidentally eliminates TWO of his buddies, Ninja and Atty....the final 4: Matty Dee lies helpless in a corner while Yamaha and Marcellus take turns beating on Ric, who's gone past the 30-minute mark. In a classic "holy crap!!" crowd markout moment, Matty, all but written off, ducks and dumps Yamaha over the top rope who proceeds to loose his shit and then some on the outside. He blindsides a helpless trash can and then proceeds to grab the stiffest chair EVER. Matty, preoccupied as he's firing up on Marcellus in one of my "Images of the Year" is screaming "COME ON!" to King just before Yamaha gets back in the ring and smashes the chair across Matty's back.
Yamaha then proceeds to commit public murder in one of the most vicious beatings in CWF history to the point where Matty is about to curl up in the fetal position and die. Marcellus presses Matty over the top for the elimination and the officials carry Matty's lifeless body to the back. Meanwhile, Ric dumps Marcellus to apparently win the Rumble but all the officials are in the back with Matty! The fans are PISSED cause they KNOW Ric's gettin screwed yet AGAIN and low and behold, Yamaha bashes Ric with the same chair, cutting his back open with the shot. The officials are back out and yes, there's nothing left but for Marcellus to simply toss Ric over for the win...BUT Ric at the VERY last (and I mean VERY last) second REVERSES it, dumps Marcellus for a second time and the roof officially comes off.
Hellacious final 4 segment that made Yamaha the biggest prick ever, Matty Dee a bonafide singles star, Marcellus a serious Heavyweight contender, and Ric...well, added to his growing legend (two 37-minute matches on two straight TV tapings??? Holy crap!!). I could watch the final 5 minutes of that Rumble all day. Hell, I've watched the whole 36:57 about a dozen times now. Awesome, awesome match. ****1/2 by Rumble standards. Hell, by "Southern Indy" Rumble standards, it might as well be the full monty cause god knows we'll never get that much accomplished in one match again.
Post-show festivities at Castle CWF was just awesome with a gathering of 15 or so watchin the Rumble and just havin a great time in general. Poor Matty was virtually immobile thanks to Yamaha....
...but was it worth it? "Hell yeah". And that, ladies and gentlemen, is indeed, the sickness.
I could go on and on about the show because really, as a whole, it was that good, The workers were ON. The crowd was ON. It was just one of those nights where magic was in the air. It doesn't happen to often. Maybe once or twice a year, but on October 1st, we were all feeling it.
And with the Rumble comes my annual Rumble-stat sheets so here ya go, first off with this year's breakdown, followed by the all-time Rumble Record Book.
NUMBER OF WRESTLERS ELIMINATED
Note: eliminations by multiple wrestlers at once are counted as 0.5 eliminations, the same as a dual sack in football
7.5 - Kamakazi Kid
4.0 - Ric Converse
3.0 - Julius Augustus, Marcellus King
2.0 - J-Money
1.5 - Xsiris, Rob McBride
1.0 - Bret Sharpe, Donnie Dollars, Brass Munkey, American Steel Ninja, Mikael Yamaha, Matty Dee
0.5 - Ultra Dragon, Gregory Vercetti, Kid Justice, GeeStar
LENGTH LASTED IN THE RUMBLE
36:57 - Ric Converse
13:59 - Marcellus King
11:58 - Kamakazi Kid
9:24 - Julius Augustus
9:08 - Matty Dee
7:34 - Alex Adonis
7:07 - Brad Attitude
6:48 - Xsiris
6:36 - Gregory Vercetti
5:57 - Kid Justice
5:44 - Donnie Dollars
5:35 - American Steel Ninja
5:34 - Rob McBride
5:34 - Mikael Yamaha
5:29 - Chris Vega
5:03 - J-Money
4:51 - Brass Munkey
4:20 - Jay Sinn
4:20 - Tank Lawson
3:38 - Bret Sharpe
3:03 - Ultra Dragon
2:39 - Sean Powers
2:23 - Jesse Ortega
2:23 - Will B. Smooth
2:21 - Shawn Christian
1:56 - GeeStar
1:34 - Coco Rojo
1:22 - Bobby Fontana
1:20 - BJ Strickler
0:33 - Mitch Conner
----------------------------------
2001-2005 ALL-TIME CWF RUMBLE RECORDS
Individual Records
Most Rumbles Competed In
5, Mikael Yamaha
GeeStar
4, Brad Attitude
Rob "the Bull" McBride
Xsiris/Caleb X
American Steel Ninja
Brass Munkey
Number of Wrestlers eliminated
Note: eliminations by multiple wrestlers at once are counted as 0.5 eliminations, the same as a dual sack in football
7.5, Kamakazi Kid (2005)
6.5, "Nite Stic" Eddie Brown (2002)
6.0, "Slick" Ric Converse (2003)
5.0, Brad Attitude (2004)
Mikael Yamaha (2001)
"Ravishing" Rico Rage (2001)
Longest Length Lasted
36:57, Ric Converse (2005)
33:53, "Nite Stic" Eddie Brown (2002)
30:12, "Tremendous" Trent Wylde (2003)
29:01, Mikael Yamaha (2001)
27:21, Brad Attitude (2004)
Shortest Length Lasted
0:05, Blue Angel (2003)
0:33, Mitch Conner (2005)
0:41, Larry, the security guard (2001)
0:46, Tik (2001)
0:53, Blaze Knight (2001)
The All-Time Combined Stats
Total Number of Wrestlers eliminated
Note: eliminations by multiple wrestlers at once are counted as 0.5 eliminations, the same as a dual sack in football
12.0 - "Slick" Ric Converse
8.5 - Mikael Yamaha
8.0 - "Nite Stic" Eddie Brown
7.5 - Kamakazi Kid, Rob "the Bull" McBride
6.5 - GeeStar
6.0 - Brad Attitude
5.5 - "Tremendous" Trent Wylde, Xsiris
5.0 - "Ravishing" Rico Rage
4.0 - the Stro, Bounty Hunter, American Steel Ninja
3.0 - Mighty Orlo, Gemini Kid/Number Man, Julius Augustus, Marcellus King, J-Money, Brass Munkey
2.5 - Drake Tungsten
2.0 - "Iceman" Joe Storm, Scotty Blaze, Corey Edsel, Granite, Amber O'Neal, Sean Powers, Mitch Norris
1.5 - Kurt Solo
1.0 - L.A. Cash, Brad Rainz, Otto Schwanz, Sexton Tyler, Caprice "Ice" Coleman, Scott Powers, "Lord" Everett DeVore, Ozzie Knight, Blaze Knight, "Big Cat" Lincoln Thorne, Dexter Poindexter, Alex Adonis, Joey Silvia, "Madd Trucker" Garry Stevens, Bret Sharpe, Donnie Dollars, Matty Dee
0.5 - Hugh B. Johnson, "Special K" Krissy Vaine, Ultra Dragon, Gregory Vercetti, Kid Justice
Total Length Lasted in the Rumble
68:15 - "Slick" Ric Converse (2002: #1 - 14:36, 2003: #21 - 16:42, 2005: #2-36:57)
52:06 - Mikael Yamaha (2001: #5 - 29:01, 2002: #21 - 5:53, 2003: #4 - 4:47, 2004: #1 - 6:51, 2005: #30 - 5:34)
46:05 - Brad Attitude (2002: #3 - 5:31, 2003: #1 - 6:06, 2004: #7 - 27:21, 2005: #26 - 7:07)
43:08 - Rob McBride (2001: #7 - 5:17, 2002: #14 - 22:54, 2004: #19 - 9:23, 2005: #21 - 5:34)
42:03 - "Nite Stic" Eddie Brown (2001: #10 - 4:23, 2002: #10 - 33:53, 2003: #10 - 3:47)
35:46 - Trent Wylde (2002: #15 - 3:28, 2003: #5 - 30:12, 2004: #14 - 4:24 and #21 - 1:10)
28:43 - Otto Schwanz (2001: #8 - 22:43, 2003: #27 - 6:00)
27:11 - Xsiris/Caleb X (2002: #11 - 0:55, 2003: #22 - 13:38, 2004: #9 - 5:50, 2005: #15 - 6:48)
26:23 - Corey Edsel (2001: #19 - 0:58, 2002: #17 - 25:25)
25:09 - Kurt Solo (2001: #18 - 1:31, 2002: #28 - 10:40, 2003: #2 - 12:58)
19:27 - Kamakazi Kid (2002: #4 - 2:46, 2003: #3 - 4:43, 2005: #7 - 11:58)
18:34 - Mitch Norris (2003: #17 - 5:05, #20 - 2004: 13:29)
17:47 - "Ravishing" Rico Rage
17:45 - American Steel Ninja (2002: #7 - 2:12, 2003: #26 - 4:18, 2004: #17 - 5:40, 2005: #22 - 5:35)
17:33 - Bounty Hunter (2002: #29 - 8:58, 2003: #29 - 8:35)
16:19 - Gemini Kid/Number Man (2002: #30 - 9:13, 2003: #31 - 2:34, 2004: #27 - 4:32)
16:06 - The Stro
15:13 - Brass Munkey (2002: #23 - 2:06, 2003: #20 - 4:55, 2004: #10 - 3:21, 2005; #18 - 4:51)
13:59 - Marcellus King
13:29 - GeeStar (2001: #3 - 2:14, 2002: #12 - 4:15, 2003: #18 - 1:37, 2004: #2 - 3:27, 2005: #16 - 1:56)
13:03 - Kid Justice (2003: #9 - 3:26, 2004: #24 - 3:43, 2005: #14 - 5:57)
12:52 - Brad Rainz (2002: #2 - 7:06, 2003: #23 - 3:32, 2004: #15 - 2:14)
12:41 - J-Money (2002: #6 - 2:51, 2003: #12 - 4:47, 2005: #27 - 5:03)
12:27 - Stephen O' Hara (2002: #19 - 4:59, 2003: #19 - 7:28)
11:16 - Sean Powers (2004: #23 - 8:37, 2005: #29 - 2:39)
10:50 - Alex Adonis (2004: #11 - 3:16, 2005: #9 - 7:34)
9:59 - Joey "Spank" Silvia (2003: #6 - 4:28, 2004: #16 - 5:31)
9:46 - Caprice "Ice" Coleman
9:30 - Scott Powers
9:29 - Sexton Tyler (2001: #27 - 5:20, 2002: #20 - 1:37, 2003: #24 - 2:32)
9:24 - Julius Augustus
9:08 - Matty Dee
9:06 - Brad Hunter
8:56 - "Iceman" Joe Storm (2001: #26 - 1:14, 2002: #9 - 7:42)
8:47 - Hugh B. Johnson (2002: #27 - 3:52, 2003: #16 - 4:55)
8:41 - Dexter Poindexter
8:36 - Granite
8:22 - Scotty Blaze
7:58 - Latin Lover
7:44 - Drake Tungsten (2002: #8 - 1:32, 2003: #13 - 6:12)
7:44 - Quinson Valentino
7:40 - Amber O'Neal/Amber Holly (2001: #1 - 3:01, 2002: #18 - 3:14, 2004: #8 - 1:25)
7:12 - Jesse Ortega (2004: #18 - 4:49, 2005: #3 - 2:23)
7:05 - Matt Houston
7:01 - Tank Lawson (2004: #25 - 2:41, 2005; #19 - 4:20)
6:36 - Gregory Vercetti
6:21 - Kenny James (2002: #5 - 4:51, 2003: #28 - 1:30)
5:49 - L.A. Cash
5:44 - Donnie Dollars
5:42 - Chris Collins (2002: #13 - 1:33, 2003: #15 - 4:09)
5:29 - Chris Vega
5:24 - Guillotine LeGrande
5:24 - William Wealth III
5:21 - "Big Cat" Lincoln Thorne
4:35 - "Conceited Kid" Bradley North
4:28 - Johnny Blaze
4:22 - Mini Bull
4:20 - Jay Sinn
3:53 - Will Smooth (2004: #12 - 1:30, 2005: #23 - 2:23)
3:48 - Lumbee
3:47 - Ozzie Knight
3:40 - "Special K" Krissy Vaine
3:38 - Bret Sharpe
3:25 - "Playboy" Bert Tripp
3:08 - Jason Blade
3:03 - Ultra Dragon
2:41 - "Red Hot" Tim Blaze
2:37 - Johnny Suicide
2:36 - Lee Williams
2:33 - "Lord" Everett DeVore
2:28 - Chris Steel
2:21 - Shawn Christian
2:12 - Ashley Walker
2:02 - "Madd Trucker" Garry Stevens
1:57 - Mighty Orlo
1:34 - Coco Rojo
1:27 - Brad Stutts
1:22 - Bobby Fontana
1:20 - BJ Strickler
0:53 - Blaze Knight
0:46 - Tik
0:41 - Larry, the security guard
0:33 - Mitch Conner
0:05 - Blue Angel
GRANT "STATMARK" SAWYER
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