ERIE EXPLOSION: THE CURSE HAS BEEN LIFTED
AUGUST 28th, 2004
CAULEY AUDITORIUM – ERIE, PA
Complete results from Joe Dombrowski
- Josh Prohibition def. Jimmy Jacobs
- Shirley Doe, Petey Williams, & Dirk Ciglar def. Eric Xtasy, Glenn Spectre, & J-Rocc
- The Wildcards (Blackjack Marciano & Eddie Kingston) def. The Gambino Brothers Moving Company (Mickey & Marshall Gambino)
- IWC Super Indy Champion Chris Sabin def. Carlton Kaz
- Troy Mest def. Nightmare
- Fabulous John McChesney def. Matt Cross
- AJ Styles def. Chris Hero
15 action packed matches. 3 championship battles. 2 unforgettable shows. 1 eventful weekend.
The debut in Erie at the Cauley Auditorium was highlighted by a match that has only occurred once before anywhere in the world: “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles vs. Chris Hero, in their first meeting anywhere near the East coast. As expected, it was an evenly-match competitive contest, both men rocking each other with hard strikes and innovative takedowns. Hero took the liberty of bending the rules and taking a few short cuts throughout the match, whenever he thought he could manipulate referee Bryce Remsburg to the point where he’d miss the infraction. Hero’s tactics worked short-term, but Styles made the comeback, and set Hero up for the Styles Clash. Hero came back with a beautiful counter to the Clash, meaning AJ had to improvise. AJ defeated Hero moments later with a 450 splash. After the match, a very upset Hero laid into Styles with a verbal tirade resembling that on a 4th grade playground. Styles, being the gentleman that he is, didn’t stoop to Hero’s immature level…so he let the fans do it for him. Styles went around the ring with the microphone asking fans their opinions of Chris Hero, most of which were too profane to be reprinted here.
IWC Champion Eric Xtasy must’ve felt great walking into this match, knowing his special friend “Wonder Man” Glenn Spectre and newfound ally J-Rocc could freely interfere in his match this time, seeing as how it was a six man tag. On the other side of the ring: NWA TNA X Division champion Petey Williams, one of IWC’s fastest rising singles stars Dirk Ciglar, and the #1 contender to the heavyweight title Shirley Doe. Doe wanted to start the match for his team, however Xtasy refused to get into the ring until someone else started the match. Xtasy wouldn’t come into contact with Doe until minutes later, once Xtasy’s partners had punished Doe sufficiently. Doe took a tremendous amount of abuse, but eventually found the corner to tag, however Xtasy’s divide and conquer strategy continued, as all hell broke lose in the ring. Doe was hurled over the top rope down to the hard floor, leaving his teammates at a disadvantage. After double and triple teaming, Ciglar as well was down and in pain, leaving a 3-on-1 assault on Petey Williams. With no one left to help, the infamous opening chords of “Natural Born Killaz” struck and “The Original Gangsta” New Jack came to the ring with weapons in hand. New Jack took a staple gun to Eric Xtasy’s rear end, then even took the gun under Spectre’s skirt to do some serious damage there. With those two taken out, Williams hit J-Rocc with the Canadian Destroyer flip-piledriver to score the win for himself, Ciglar, and Doe. Doe’s team got the victory, an incredible boost of momentum leading into his title shot against Eric Xtasy, with Chris Wood & Mick Foley as dual referees, on September 25.
It was Carlton Kaz’s career highlight, and his time to shine, as his shot at singles gold had finally arrived in his match with IWC Super Indy Champion Chris Sabin. Carlton Kaz had the match of his career, he went toe-to-toe with one of the very best in the business today. Kaz should feel no shame in his effort in this match, nor should he feel shame in being the latest of many to fall victim to the Cradle Shock and be pinned by the champion. Sabin’s title reign and winning streak continue still.
Perhaps the best story from this show was the events surrounding the return to Erie of the hometown favorite “Fabulous” John McChesney. Cheated out of a Super Indy Title shot by “M-Dogg 20” Matt Cross back at “Summer Sizzler”, McChesney had to forget his hopes of gaining gold in his hometown, and instead needed to focus on gaining retribution. The bad blood that has built between the two caused the match to spill to the outside early, where Cross was able to use his breathtaking Flagpole Press. With his hometown fans cheering him to a recovery, McChesney added insult to injury by defacing a cardboard cutout of Cross promoting their video game that was released last fall. Back in the ring, the physicality continued to escalate, but a series of beautiful dropkicks by McChesney proved to be the turning point allowing him to gain the advantage, hit the Cliffhanger DDT to become victorious. New Jack, who was watching the match from the commentary position, gave the match and both men’s efforts a standing ovation. Chris Sabin was also watching the match intently, as McChesney made his intentions known that after Cross, Chris Sabin & The Super Indy Title would be his next target.
Both men’s tag team partners also met in singles action when Josh Prohibition took on “Barbaric Berzerker” Jimmy Jacobs. Josh took Jacobs down early with the “Sobriety Test” and worked on Jacobs for most of the match, but his resilience led to a Huss Up and a comeback, until Matt Cross ran down to provide assistance for Josh, who was able to take Jacobs up into the Drunken Driver to win the match. A post-match attack was thwarted by McChesney who, as you just read, gained full revenge later on.
The Gambino Brothers, Mickey & Marshall made their debuts against a team that has very quickly become among the most hated in IWC, Eddie Kingston & Black Jack Marciano, collectively known as The Wild Cards. The Gambino brothers looked tremendous in their first match teaming together. Mickey has gained considerable size since we last saw him in IWC rings valiantly standing up to Sterling James Keenan, and Marshall was the powerful end of the team, together they complimented each other well and had the much more experienced Wild Cards on the defensive. It took an illegal move, as one Wild Card held the opponent’s feet while the other one pinned him, for them to ensure victory. The Gambinos are a welcome addition to an already stacked tag team division, a division the Wild Cards are looking to dominate.
Also on the card, “The Instigator” Troy Mest, a fixture of Steel City Wrestling, the predecessor to IWC, took on the debuting Nightmare. Nightmare had the veteran reeling, but Mest proved there was no substitute for experience. Mest capitalized on any and all of Nightmare’s rookie mistakes and put him away with a top rope elbowdrop.