AS I SEE IT – CZW Cage of Death is a Big Success
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets
http://pwbts.com
Despite snow as high as two feet in parts of central and North Jersey, and for the rest.. freezing rain, sleet, a cold, driving rain, all of the above at times…and all the fun that comes with the third winter system hitting South Jersey within a one week period, Combat Zone Wrestling presented the 15th annual Cage of Death from the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ before a standing room only crowd.
Fans donated four huge boxes full of toys, filled with hundreds of toys, to the US Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots effort. This is Combat Zone Wrestling’s ninth consecutive year of this effort, which has resulted in thousands of toys donated for children in Philadelphia and South Jersey over this time.
Let those on social media, message boards, or rival Indies say whatever they want about Combat Zone Wrestling being “slice and dice”, “nothing but hardcore wrestling”, and the like. Say whatever you want about their booking. Say whatever you want to about most anything else. But don’t EVER knock them as people, or doubt the sincerity and effort they put forth on last night. At a time when the area economy is still recovering, Combat Zone Wrestling and its fans gave and gave and gave some more to this effort. They publicized the Toys for Tots collection in every way they humanly could, online in social media, their company website; and went so far as to contribute themselves.
Again, much, much thanks to all the fans and staff of Combat Zone Wrestling. You gave hundreds of children a Christmas they might not otherwise have had.
The day opened with Tommy Dreamer introduced to the crowd with Maven Bentley, putting over the CZW locker room and staff. CZW’s photographer Lyle Williams was invited to the ring, announcing his pending retirement.
Chris Hero then came out to open the show saying he wanted to be in the first match so he could “be somewhere where he didn’t leave quite the way he wanted” (smart mark translation, he was working a doubleshot with Ring of Honor in their main event); and challenge Drew Gulak for the CZW Heavyweight Title.
CZW champion Drew Gulak put over being upset about being on the opener, and said something to Tommy Dreamer for “approving” it.
CZW Heavyweight Champion Drew Gulak retained his title, submitting Chris Hero. The two worked an excellent match, let alone an opener. The two worked a lot of their spots, with Hero finding new and creative ways to do a cravat. (Vince McMahon’s loss, independent fans gain). Gulak worked Hero’s leg, and eventually submitted Hero. Hero put over Gulak.
Post-match, MASADA returned to CZW after his knee surgery (looked good, walked fine) to confront Gulak for a presumed title challenge in 2014.
In the high spot parade of the evening (aka the six man scamble), Joe Gacy defeated Azrieal, Andrew Everett, Chuck Taylor, A.R. Fox, Tony Nese, after Gacy pinned AR Fox following Gacy blocked Fox’s lo mien pain; then won by pinfall after a big splash on Fox. These six pulled out every sick dive and high spot you could imagine.
In the “beauty and the beast” comedy match, Greg Excellent defeated Freight Train (with Cherry Bomb) with a single-leg submission. Not much of a match. Cherry Bomb now has to “conform to
Excellent’s rules” (guess that means being tempted by eating normal people’s food).
CZW Tag champions BLKOut (Ruckus/Blk Jeez with Robbie Mireno) retained their CZW Tag Team Titles, defeating Juicy Product (J.T. Dunn/David Starr) after BLK Jeez pinned Starr after a double stomp.
Kimber Lee defeated Christina Von Eerie by a roll-up after the various members of the Gulak Campaign interfered. Post-match, Von Eerie attacked Lee with skewers in her head. Lovely visual.
The Beaver Boys (Alex Reynolds/Johnny Silver) defeated CHIKARA’s The Colony (Fire Ant and Green Ant) after a two man wheelbarrow slam on Fire Ant. Better match that you’d expect from the Beaver Boys.
Chris Dickinson defeated Davey Richards. The two put on a stiff fest beating the crap out of each other. Late in the match, the lights on the ring went partially out a fuse blowing at the Skate Zone. Post-match, Dickinson told a story about one of his first shows, where the promoter had no one helped the talent to get to the show in St. Louis, MO, and Richards of all people gave him a ride to his show, an hour or more away from HIS show he was working that night. Davey Richards returned the favor, putting over Dickenson, who said he believes Ring Of Honor has lost its heart. Richards acknowledged going to NXT, saying “his time on the independents is coming to an end and he couldn’t think of a better place to wrestle one of his last indy matches”.
OI4K (Jake Crist/Dave Crist/Nevaeh) defeated CZW owner D.J. Hyde and The Front (Sozio/Biff Busick) in an inter gender six-person tag match, after Neveah pinned Hyde following multiple chair shots.
CZW Wired champion Alex Colon retained his CZW Wired TV Title, defeating Shane Strickland by pinfall after a double stomp.
Then came the intermission to to put up the Cage of Death, which was fairly long. Eliminations took place by pinfall, or by being thrown out of the Cage of Death.
Nation of Intoxication (Danny Havoc/Devon Moore/LuckytHURTeen) defeated the Forgotten Ones
(Drew Blood/Matt Tremont/Ron Mathis/Rory Mondo.
This was the usual crazy Cage of Death structure, with a one side of barbed wire, another cage side with a suspended structure in the middle, a side with glass, barbed wire tables,a scaffold on top of the Cage of Death, and a box with thumb tacks to be opened onto the ring.
Eliminations:
Moore pinned Drew Blood after throwing him off the scaffold attached to the Cage of Death onto a pile of chairs and shattered glass in the ring
Matt Tremont eliminated Moore after running him through another side of the Cage of Death.
Mondo eliminated Havoc after throwing him off Cage of Death through several stacked barbed wire boards and a sheet of glass.
Then Papa Roach and “Last Resort” cranked up again, and after <b>ten years… Sick Nick Mondo returned to CZW, and crashed the Cage of Death.
He helped LuckytHURTeen eliminates Rory Mondo by pinfall after hitting an air raid crash off the scaffold through a barbed wire table.
Post-match, Sick Nick Mondo confronted Rory Mondo (Backstory…years ago in the ECW Arena days, fan Rory would come to shows dressed as “Little Mondo”…in full Mondo gimmick. He grew up, went to wrestling school, and worked as “Little”, then Rory Mondo).
Nick Mondo told Rory that after working Cage of Death, he didn’t need to do anything else to earn his respect. Rory came out of heel character, and said, in essence, with that…he’d gotten all he ever wanted…was tired of being someone he wasn’t, and that Cage of Death was his last match. Papa Roach and “Last Resort” cranked up one last time…and the evening, er… morning concluded around 1:00 am.
Until next time…
— Bob Magee