New England Championship Wrestling returned to live action in front of a packed house this past Friday night event, November 30th at the National Guard Armory in Quincy, MA for THE HARDER THEY FALL.In an exciting opening contest, “The Talent” TJ Richter defeated the debuting “Hawaiian Warrior” Makua with his feet on the ropes.
“Manager of Champions” Sean Gorman and D.C. Dillinger came to the ring and addressed the crowd about The Arions, and how D.C. was claiming to have injured Frankie Arion badly enough that he may never return to NECW competition, while targeting “The Golden Greek” Alex Arion with much of his anger. Dillinger also addressed his match with former Sabotage member and partner Jason Blade. Dillinger said he would take it easy on Blade and that their bout would be a mat classic and a match between two friends, as long as Blade did not try to test him.
In a quarterfinal match in the NECW Invitational Tag Team Tournament for the Vacant Tag Team Championships, The Baker Boys got past The Wild Boys with a double team clothesline move.
The debuting “Nightmare” Nick Steel made short work of “Mr. Undefeated” Matt Spectro by submission. Spectro’s friend “Future Superstar” Ryan Matthews interjected post-match and also found himself in one of Steel’s dangerous submissions. Matthews quickly tapped out.
D.C. Dillinger with Sean Gorman defeated Jason Blade by countering an O’Connor Roll to gain the pin fall in a match that NEITHER man viewed as an exhibition and both pulled out all the stops in. This one really turned into the mat classic that D.C. Dillinger predicted earlier.
Antonio “The Promise” Thomas defeated the debuting Brandon Webb following his reverse neck breaker finish. Fans instantly picked up on the cocky attitude of “The Promise” and turned on him loudly. Post Match, Thomas made it very clear that he felt that NECW Triple Crown Champion “Straight Edge” Brian Fury had disrespected him and he would get revenge and win the Triple Crown in doing so.
As Thomas left, his young opponent was starting to recover from his hard fought match. He was then jumped by Scott Osbourne and Brian Cairo. Cairo revealed that Webb was a friend of Team Cairo member J-Busta. Cairo said that Webb would pay for his friend’s actions. Osbourne tore into Webb and Cairo said that as of the next business day, he was going to go to the NECW offices and make sure that Busta’s NECW contract was terminated.
As a special treat for the fans, a raffle was held for one lucky fan to get to choose their favorite NECW star for a memorable photo opportunity in ring. The young woman who won came to the ring and surprised ring announcer Chris Norman and many of the NECW faithful by not choosing a wrestler like Fury, Blade or Brandon Locke, but instead chose Michael Sain. Sain, a former NECW Heavyweight Champion, slowly made his way to the ring, but seemed to take exception when the young lady touched him. He again berated her as she stood too close to him. As the photographer went to get them in the shot, Sain grabbed the poor woman by the arm wrenching it violently. NECW security rushed to her aid. Sain seemed to use some sense of logic and released the hold appearing calmer. As soon as security let their guard down, the Sain grabbed the young lady on his shoulders attempting to hit the Straight Jacket Driver. Evan Siks bolted from the back to save the fan. The two then got into a huge brawl that required just about every member of the NECW Roster and personnel to finally break it up.
Sean Gorman returned to the ring and said that he had pulled some strings and there would be a change to the WWW Feature match. He called out his former wrestler Tanya Lee and said he found her an opponent. He then brought out Ryan Matthews. Matthews made some inappropriate comments and innuendos towards the former WWW Champion. Tanya made it very clear that she had no problem backing up her words the match was on. Tanya was able to overcome interference by Matt Spectro and Sean Gorman to pin Matthews. Tanya, who was one of the most hated members of the NECW/ WWW rosters as early as 2 months ago was rewarded with immense support and cheers by an arena full of new fans.
In the main event of the evening for the NECW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, “Big” Rick Fuller managed by Brian Cairo faced off with the reigning champion “Straight Edge” Brian Fury. Both men gave all they had to give in this hard-hitting match. Antonio “The Promise” Thomas came out 20 minutes or so into the match and grabbed a ringside photographer. He went to pose with the Triple Crown Title belt. Fury caught wind of this and confronted Thomas. In the interim, Senior Official Rich Bass counted Fury out. As Fuller was announced as the winner, Cairo grabbed the microphone saying that Team Cairo came to win the title and they wanted the match restarted. Angry that he did not win the title, Fuller attacked Fury but was stopped by NECW officials and Sheldon Goldberg. Goldberg said that with Thomas and Cairo interjecting themselves, just restarting the match would not be the most fair option. He instead offered a rematch for December 28th back in Quincy. Fuller was so upset that he grabbed Sheldon Goldberg by the lapels and scolded the NECW President. Fury rushed in and knocked Fuller out of the ring. Cairo tried to argue this point and got in the face of Goldberg. In the meantime, Fury snuck in behind Cairo on all fours while the NECW President pushed Cairo onto his backside and out of the ring. Goldberg then announced that the rematch was on for Friday night, December 28th and that Cairo, Thomas and everyone else was banned from ringside and if anyone came out to interfere, they’d be fired.
NECW returns to Quincy on Friday night, December 28 with an 8 PM bell time. In addition to the Fury-Fuller rematch, NECW will present the annual TOXIC WALTZ. Tickets are on sale now at all FYE locations, at K.C.’s Sportscards in Quincy Center and online at www.NECWwrestling.com.