Jason “JerseyViper” Namako passed along this report:
ECWA Super 8 Results- 4/30/2011 Voorhees, NJ
By: Jason “JerseyViper” Namako
Hello everyone, this is Wrestleview resident SNAKE, JerseyViper, with results and some live thoughts from todays 15th Annual ECWA Super 8 Tournament, enmating from my neck of the woods in Southern New Jersey, in the small town of Voorhees, at the facility where my home hockey team, the future 2011 Stanley Cup Winners, the Philadelphia Flyers, practice at, the Flyers Skate Zone.
This is the 1st time that the Super 8 tournament has been at any other place but in Delaware. But with the departure of long-standing owner of the ECWA, Jim Kettner around a year or so ago, new commissioner and current owner of Combat Zone Wrestling, DJ Hyde, decided to bring the tournament this year to a suburb of his company’s home base, in Voorhees.
This tournament has long since been a who’s who of some of the greatest independent talent out there in the United States, with such past wrestlers and winners competing in this tournament like the Hardys, Christopher Daniels, Petey Williams, Jerry Lynn, Low Ki, Paul London, Davey RIchards, Daniel Bryan, and countless others.
This year brought an eccletic mix of young and some exprienced talent to this tournament. Some I have seen before, some however that I got to see for the first time. You had Adam Cole, a bright young talent in ROH and CZW, who shows great potential with both his babyface and heel work. Sami Callahan, a cult favorite in the Northeast with his unpredictable punk-rock character, and shows killer intestity in his matches from what I have seen. Bobby Shields, another Northeast talent who recently got a tryout with a company I am glad he is not with, and is a gradaute of the 1st class of the Team Taz Dojo. Shima Xion, another young talent that our teacher on Wrestleview, Mr.V, Anthony Valvo, is very fond of, and today was my first chance to get a grasp of him. Then, there is the sheer, utter uniqueness of one Shockwave the Robot. A entertaining piece of talent that is perfect for children, and I sincerely hope WWE picks him up someday. Tommaso Ciampa, a potential big name in the future for Ring of Honor and wherever he should go, hopefully the WWE. Ciampa, in this tournament, was looking to make three times the charm as he lost in the finals of this tournament the last 2 years, losing to Consequences Creed, better known to WWE fans now as Xavier Woods down in FCW, and indy talent Nick Logan. And finally, to round out the list, you have the former 2- time RIng of Honor World Champion and current Dragon Gate USA and Evolve talent, “A Double” in Austin Aries. Who will win this tournament? Let’s find out.
Before we got to the live show, we had a battle royal featuring wrestlers from both ECWA and its sister promotion, run by its original owner, Joel Goodhart, TWA, or the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance. This was a quick battle royal, won in classic George Steele or Jimmy Hart fashion, by a comedic heel in TWA known as Mr. Ooh La La. Other names of note in this battle royal were the head trainer of the Monster Factory down here in Bellmawr, Larry Winters. And also, was original ECW talent “Hitman” Tony Stetson.
Also before we get to the match-by-match results of this show, let me just say this. Everyone in the tournament who I got to talk to were nothing but pure class acts, very nice guys and all really seemed like they wanted to be there and were excited to compete in this tournament. The crowd, on the other hand, couldn’t have cared less. With it being in Voorhees, there was a lot of senior citzens and little kids being that TWA tries to promote a family product. WWE’s PG stuff has nothing on what TWA does, as I have been there every time since they re-opened in 2009. So, with this fast-paced, hard-hitting style that a lot of the guys bring, it was bound to not have the best of reactions.
But, man, they were IMPACT Zone bad. Except for a group of really good wrestling fans, including myself cheering and booing our asses off to make some sort of noise to come through the GFL stream that was carrying the show. But in my opinion, as much as I enjoyed the show and enjoyed trying my damndest to get the crowd into what was going on, it just wasn’t happening and I think it was a mistake to run in Voorhees instead of staying where they were in Delaware. That is a shame and I really felt bad for the guys, who were just working their butts off to get the crowd into what they were doing, but this crowd for the most part, just did not care. I don’t know if it was because of the time of the show at 4 in the afternoon or what, but it just wasn’t happening today, and it’s sad, because those guys deserved better.
Final thing about the guys in the tournament, they were really appreciative to myself and the group of guys who were trying to get the crowd into it, and they thanked us for coming out and showing appreciation to what they were doing. I don’t want to sound corny or come off like a mark, but it felt really good to be told that by them, and I respect all of 8 of them a whole hell of a lot more for that. That is all for my live expreience, now on to the match-by match results of the show.
Match Number One in the 1st Round of the Super 8 Tournament: Adam Cole vs “The New Horror” Sami Callahan
Before this match, ECWA Commissioner DJ Hyde, TWA Owner Joel Goodhart, and hostess for the evening, Tammy “Sunny” Sytch were introduced, then all 8 particpants in the tournament for photo ops and to receive their medals, as is the tradition for the tournament. Cole and Callahan, coming off their meeting in the finals of the CZW Best of the Best Tournament earlier this month in Philadelphia, with Cole being the victor. In this match, the roles they played were reversed from the CZW outing, as Cole, who was the heel in that match with his manager in CZW, and current member of the Embassy in ROH, Mia Yim, was now playing the babyface to Callahan, who before was the babyface, now played the heel. To me, it would have more sense to keep it the same from the CZW show, instead of switching it up. This was a really hard-hitting, back and forth contest between these two. Cole got the win to advance in the tournament after a second-rope Canadian Destroyer. Very well-done match that was just as good as the CZW Finals.
Winner: Adam Cole by pinfall to advance in the tournament(2nd Rope Canadian Destroyer)
Match Number Two in the 1st Round of the Super 8 Tournament: “A Double” Austin Aries vs Bobby Shields w/Magnum
A solid match, but had tons of botches in this though from Shields, who is really sloppy and went down a few pegs to me as a performer. Aries was good and did his best to keep the match together, and wound up being decent. It’s a shame for the botches, as I felt these two could have done a lot better. Aries got the win to advance in the tournament after a delayed Brainbuster.
Winner: Austin Aries by pinfall to advance in the tournament(Delayed Brainbuster)
Match Number Three in the 1st Round of the Super 8 Tournament: “The Project” Tomoasso Ciampa vs RIch Swann
A little on the short side, but both guys were really good here. Swann, who is still real young at 22, with 4 years experience, as a long, bright future ahead of him with his unbelieveable athelticism. CIampa, who had mannerisms and facials throughout this tournament of a 2009 heel Randy Orton, like just gazing at that trophy like it was a piece of meat he needed to have, was great. Short, but good match that Ciampa won to move on in the tournament after his powerbomb into lungblower move that he calls, Project Ciampa.
Winner: Tomoasso Ciampa by pinfall to advance in the tournament(Project Ciampa)
Match Number Four in the 1st Round of the Super 8 Tournament: Shima Xion vs Shockwave The Robot
Fun match with these two, playing off the unique character of Shockwave. The 1st match that the crowd seemed to enjoy, mostly the kids in the audience who were big fans of Shockwave. Shima got the win to advance into the semi-finals after the 450 splash. A fun match that really enjoyed for the athelticism of both, and the play-off of the Shockwave character, which I think would be a great pick-up for the WWE for the kid demographic.
Winner: Shima Xion to advance in the tournament(450 Splash)
Match Number Five in a ECWA vs TWA 8-Man Tag: Josh Daniels and TWA Tag Team Champions Matt Saigon & Damian Dragon vs ECWA Champion Papadon, ECWA Mid-Atlantic Champion Chris Wylde, and Team MackTion
Total cluster of match however it was pretty fun and decent work by all 7 guys in the match. Not much else to say about it other than that. Team ECWA got the win after Wylde rolled up Daniels in a small package for the victory. Post-match, TWA Champion, Breaker Morant, who had just gotten there due to travel issues, apologized for not being there in time for his team, and Daniels, incensed with the loss, put Morant in a Rings of Saturn type move to injure the arm of Morant, before being pulled off by referees and sent to the back by TWA Owner Joel Goodhart. A good angle to set up a future title match for TWA between Morant and Daniels, who is making a comeback on the indys and has looked really good on these shows as of late.
Winners: Team ECWA by pinfall(Small Package by Wylde on Daniels)
Match Number Six in the Semi-Finals of the Super 8 Tournament: Adam Cole vs “A Double” Austin Aries
A well-worked match between these two, with a very good finishing stretch. Cole is a very good face in peril, and works his butt off to get the crowd behind him, just a shame the crowd didn’t care, except for our group. Aries was good here and towed the line between babyface and heel in this match, and it worked. Cole got the win after this hard-fought match to go to the Finals after the Corona Crunch. Very good match between these two, and Aries put over Cole in a great way, especially after the match with a show of respect, yes RESPECTZ AND HONORZ, OMGZ. Anyway, Aries, as the veteran in this tourney, did a good job with putting over the younger talent here, very well done all around.
Winner: Adam Cole by pinfall to advance to the Finals(Corona Crunch)
Match Number Seven in the Semi-FInals of the Super 8 Tournament: “The Project” Tomoasso Ciampa vs Shima Xion
This was basically a match to make Ciampa a dominant force heading into the Finals. It was a decent match, but short. However, it was short for a reason, to put over Ciampa strong and it was done well. Shima was put over though as he kicked out of a Project Ciampa, but soon thereafter tapped out to a Texas Cloverleaf. Short, but solid match and Ciampa advances to his third straight finals.
Winner: Tomoasso Ciampa by submission to advance to the Finals(Texas Cloverleaf)
Match Number Eight in a battle of former Super 8 winners: 1998 winner Ace Darling vs 2008 winner Aden Chambers
The worst match of the show, as it was slow and plodding, and wasn’t really good. Both guys tried, but it didn’t click with me. Darling got the win with the Summerslam 1992 Bulldog/Hart finish as Chambers tried for the Sunset Flip, and Darling dropped to his knees to get the victory. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t click for me, so that is all I have to say about it.
Match Number Nine in the Finals of the 2011 Super 8 Tournament: Adam Cole vs “The Project” Tomoasso Ciampa
Sunny was the ring announcer for the finals, and was there to present the winner with the trophy. This had the most crowd reaction behind it, and it was the best match on the show. The bumps and strikes these guys took from one another was brutal, especially the German Suplex off the apron, through the ringside table below on the hard, concerte floor of this Skate Zone, which is hard as hard can get. The final 4-5 minutes with the nearfalls were just great, and you didn’t know who would come out on top. Finally, after 5 facewashes and a Celtic Cross off the second rope, the third time was the charm for the “Project” of the Embassy in ROH and Tomoasso Ciampa is your 2011 ECWA Super 8 Tournament Winner. Post-match, He and Cole hugged and the other competitors in the tournament came out to congratulate him. Ciampa was presented the trophy by Sunny and congratulated also by DJ Hyde and Joel Goodhart. Ciampa made a short speech, putting over the fans and the other competitors in the tournament, and thanking former ECWA owner Jim Kettner for believing in him after being fired by the WWE in 2008. Crowd gave him a standing ovation and Ciampa shook hands with the fans after his speech to close the show.
Winner of the 2011 ECWA Super 8 Tournament: Tomoasso Ciampa by pinfall(2nd Rope Celtic Cross)
Well, that was the show, great show from bell to bell, besides the Darling-Chambers match and lack of crowd reaction. But, all in all, I really enjoyed the show and hopefully the Super 8 comes back to Voorhees next year as the lack of a crowd today makes me think otherwise, and that is a shame. Thanks for reading this report and I hope to do this again soon, til next time, HISSSSSSSSSS!