New England Championship Wrestling returned to the National Guard Armory in Quincy , MA this past Saturday night, November 1st for The 2008 TOXIC WALTZ in front of a jam-packed standing room crowd.
The opening contest was a grudge match for the NECW Television Championship with the added stipulation that there would be no time limit, champion Handsome Johnny with Sammi Lane and “The Real Deal” Brandon Locke wrestled to a double count out settling nothing in their long running feud.
Next up was a special Pat’s Pit segment. Piper wanted to show the fans the video of his victory over Sean Gorman the previous month. Pat then proceeded with the segment saying that he had an up and coming star to bring out. Instead, DC Dillinger interrupted and began to attempt to intimidate Pat. NECW President Sheldon Goldberg attempted to diffuse the situation by ordering Dillinger back to the locker room, but Piper made one last comment and was pie-faced by Dillinger, who then returned to the locker room.
In a match for the World Women’s Wrestling Championship, challenger Taeler Hendrix defeated the reigning champion “Portuguese Princess” Ariel, with her agent Brendan Michael Thomas, by DQ. Hendrix looked to have the title won, when Thomas dove in the ring and assaulted the referee leading to the disqualification.
The next match was contested under Amateur Wrestling rules as the newly dubbed “Superstar” Ryan Matthews faced off with amateur standout Davey Loomis. The first two-minute period saw Loomis taking down Matthews a number of times, almost appearing to toy with him. The second period began much like the first, but after two back-heel trips by Loomis, Matthews resorted to dirty tactics and kicked Loomis below the belt to stop the match. Matthews kicked and punch Loomis before leaving declaring himself the winner. After recovering, Loomis challenged Matthews to a traditional pro match on November 29th.
In a match for the NECW Tag Team Championships, PRIDE (Dan Freitas and Brian Nunes) defended the belts against Team Zero (Damian Dragon and Ken Scampi). The match was evenly matched between both teams with Team Zero appearing to be close to wrestling the titles from the waists of PRIDE. PRIDE retained their titles after reversing an apparent Team Zero double team into their electric chair / body press combo for the pin fall victory.
An announcement was made that Nick Steel had suffered an injury while training, so the following match would also be for a spot in the TOXIC WALTZ. The debuting Kris Pyro faced off with “The Prince of Pink” Brendan Michael Thomas, accompanied by WWW Champion Ariel. Both men pulled out all the stops in the match ended with Thomas hitting Pyro with a 450 Splash to win the match. However, Thomas injured himself in the execution of the move and suffered a dislocated elbow, scratching him from the TOXIC WALTZ as well. NECW officials made the quick decision to allow Pyro to be the substitute entry.
With one change in the field of 9 initial competitors and the ninth competitor being able to choose anyone in and out of NECW, the 2008 TOXIC WALTZ was set to begin.
The first two men in the match randomly picked were “The Talent” TJ Richter and the masked Asian star MAKOTO. About 10 minutes into the match, Richter threw MAKOTO to the outside. Unbeknownst to Richter, MAKOTO slid under the ring and slipped out the other side. While Richter was looking for where MAKOTO went, he fell victim to a high cross body press from the top rope. MAKOTO advanced in the match. After the fall, Richter attacked MAKOTO and hit him with a huge second rope neck breaker. “The Talent” then attempted to pull the mask off MAKOTO, before the officials got him out of the ring. Richter then chose Handsome Johnny as the next competitor.
Handsome Johnny entered the ring and saw MAKOTO lying prone. The ultimate opportunist, the NECW TV Champion pinned MAKOTO instantly and advanced with no effort. When MAKOTO had recovered enough to name the next opponent for Handsome Johnny, he hit a bombshell by bringing out “The Real Deal” Brandon Locke.
Locke ran to the ring and slid in. Ducking a clothesline attempt by Handsome, Locke pulled his fist back to punch his rival. Handsome ducked his head to cover up from the attempted punch and instead Locke rolled him up with a small package for a stunning quick 3 count.
Handsome was irate and flipping out until Sammi Lane reminded him that the title was not on the line and that he still is the NECW Television Champion. Handsome then called out Kris Pyro to be the next opponent for Brandon Locke.
Kris Pyro showed people that he could stand toe to toe with someone like Braadon Locke and the two exchanged some thunderous chops. Locke was able to hit “The Locke-Down” slam on Pyro to win in roughly 7 minutes to move on. Pyro called out a guy who had cheated in the past to beat Locke in “The Natural” Scott Osbourne.
Osbourne attempted to take advantage of Locke having already wrestled hard matches for a considerable period of time, but Locke was fired up as the two tore into each other. Locke countered Osbourne and scored his third straight pin fall in the Waltz. Osbourne was angry and insulted Locke saying that he was going to pick someone that accomplished things that Brandon never would… former Triple Crown champion, DC Dillinger.
Dillinger attacked Locke, taking advantage of the no count outs and no disqualification rules of the Waltz. Chairs, the guardrail, and almost a table were involved in the brawl between the two. One of the NECW security guards was injured by an errant kick by DC Dillinger and was helped out by security, as well. Nearing the 12-minute mark, Pat Piper made his way to ringside and got the attention of Dillinger. As the two exchanged words, Piper turned around and flipped up his kilt, revealing what he was (or wasn’t) wearing underneath. In the distraction, Locke rolled up Dillinger with a school boy pin to advance in the match. Dillinger did not choose another opponent and instead chased Piper from the building.
As Brandon Locke waited confused wondering who would be his next opponent from the back, that question was answered as the 2008 Iron 8 Champion “The Golden Greek” Alex Arion jumped the guard rail from behind Locke and leveled him with a chair to the back. Arion gloated as he got his first pin fall in the Waltz with little effort.
Ring announcer Chris Norman stated that only one man was left in the announced list of 9 wrestlers and that was Team Nightmare’s Evan Siks. Siks sprinted out with Lil’ Nicky Amaral as his corner man. Siks and Arion, for the first time ever, faced off. Siks took early control looking much like Arion in his NECW championship days, rocking and socking the current IRON 8 Champion. Outside the ring, Arion reversed Siks into the metal ring steps. Siks was injured and “The Golden Greek” took advantage of the situation. Arion stalked the knee of Siks methodically breaking it down more and more. At around the 15-minute mark, Siks fell out of the ring. As Nicky Amaral helped him up, The Crown Jewels, who were not even on the event, attacked both Team Nightmare members. The assault continued as Alex Arion gloated in the ring. NECW owners and officials were finally able to get the Crown Jewels away from ringside and assisted Lil Nicky to the back. Despite his injuries, Evan Siks insisted on continuing in the match. Unfortunately at this point, Evan was easy prey for Alex. Taking the no count out or disqualification rule into account, Arion locked on a figure four leglock around the corner post for the eventual submission victory.
Fans waited in anticipation, knowing that Siks could pick anyone in or out of NECW for the final man to face Arion. Siks regained some composure and said that Team Nightmare knew of an Enforcer who could come to the ring… The Masked Enforcer.
The Masked Enforcer came out in jeans and a tank top with a mask covering his identity. Standing at well over 6’6 and weighing somewhere near 300 lbs, he looked to be a legit threat to Alex Arion’s bid to be the first man to win both the IRON 8 and the TOXIC WALTZ. The Masked Enforcer hit the ring and Arion attempted immediately to take advantage. The Masked Enforcer looked impervious to pain and only a minute or two later hit a big boot to the face of Arion and a leg drop to win the match. As the fans cheered seeing Arion lose, the Enforcer removed his mask to reveal that he was the Triple Crown Champion “Mohawked Enforcer” Max Bauer. The crowd erupted even louder.
NECW President Sheldon Goldberg stated that unfortunately Max was supposed to be sitting out this event as he did not have doctor’s clearance to compete. Max seemed not to care until Sheldon stated that he had to announce that Bauer must forfeit the match and named Arion the winner. The crowd in attendance was very upset as Arion celebrated. Bauer ended the event by telling Arion that now that he “earned” himself a title shot, Bauer was going to simply “Kick his ass”. With that the crowd erupted one more time and Arion made his way out of the ringside area before Bauer could get near him.
NECW returns to Quincy on Thanksgiving weekend with an unusual two night spectacular. Saturday night, November 29th will be NECW’s DOUBLE INTENSITY with a 7PM bell time. The following day, Sunday, November 30th with a 5 PM bell time, it will be the return of World Women’s Wrestling for the first time ever in Quincy! Tickets for both of these events are on sale now at all FYE locations, K.C.’s Sports Cards, 33 Temple Street, Quincy Center and online at www.NECWwrestling.com.