ECWA- Raising the Bar

Newark, Delaware--"The Greek God" Papadon successfully retained "Big Red" - the East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA) Heavyweight Title - against one of independent wrestling's rising stars, in Adam Cole tonight at ECWA "Raising The Bar" in a nearly 30-minute affair. The only question is ... what will "The best unsigned talent in professional wrestling" do next?

Meanwhile, Papadon's compatriot and boss Mike Tartaglia had a much more difficult night in the ring, losing his newly bought ECWA Mid-Atlantic Championship belt in just his first title defense, against Mr. Ooh La La. All that, plus a smashingly painful loss for former Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (TWA) Heavyweight Title-holder Breaker Morant in his falls-count-anywhere match with new champion "Heart Killer" Chris Wyle, and a crazy first-time tag team encounter between ECWA Tag Team Champions Fusion-DS and the high-flying team of Bandido Jr. and Azrieal.

ECWA "Raising the Bar" was promoted as a night of nearly all first-time-ever matches, and it did not disappoint for the VERY electric Greater Newark Boys and Girls Club crowd.

"Beautiful" Bobby Shields (with Joel "Blackhart" Goodhart vs. Cole Callaway

Blackheart member Bobby Shields clearly underestimated the always-upbeat Callaway, and fell victim to his high-flying attack early. Outside of the ring, Shields was able to ground the rainbow-emblazoned competitor by ramming his back into the ring apron, then continuing to punish his back inside the ring with a series of punishing suplexes, charges into the corner, and dropkicks. In the end, Shields' aggression proved too much for Callaway, and he pinned him w/ the Gory bomb.

Tina San Antonio vs. Jessie Kaye

Jessie Kaye was all fun in the beginning of this match, dancing and playing with the Newark, Delaware crowd as Tina San Antonio looked on menacingly. It was not long before a screeching San Antonio punished Kaye with a front-face-lock that appeared to rip the face right off of the popular Kaye. In the end, a few evasive maneuvers were enough to get Kaye out of the situation, rolling up her blonde opponent for the win.

ECWA Unified Tag Team Championship - FUSION-DS (Damian Dragon & Matt Saigon) (c) vs. Azrieal and Bandido Jr.

It was a long feeling-out period, early, for champions and challengers, prior to Bandido Jr. and Azrieal taking charge with a series of strong aerial moves. Unfortunately for Jr. & Az, Fusion-DS would soon take advantage of a mistake to hit their opponents with some timely double-team moves and, ultimately, catching a prone Bandido Jr. on the top turnbuckle allowing DS to hit the FUSION Destroyer on Az for the win.

"Another night, another successful defense," crowed Dragon as the duo entered the back. "Joe Zanolle (ECWA matchmaker) is going to have no idea what to do with us because we'll have vanquished everybody." "All I can say is he better find somebody soon to give us more of a challenge," mirrored the equally smug Matt Saigon.

Aden Chambers vs. Kekoa The Flyin Hawaiian

A real-life dream encounter for ECWA fans between ECWA Grand-Slam Champion Aden Chambers and former Mid-Atlantic Champion Kekoa may have given birth to one of the most fiercely contested, one-on-one rivalries in the soon-to-be-45-year history of the company. Whereas the tag title match started out slow with the opponents feeling each other out, Kekoa and Chambers took the action to one another almost immediately. Everything from aerial combat to suplexes to vicious punches, kicks, and chops were on display.

In the end, Chambers looked poised to pin Kekoa with a superplex off the top rope that rocked The Greater Newark Boys and Girls Club, and seemingly sent Kekoa into more of a losing streak. This time, however, Kekoa was able to roll through and hook his leg on Chambers for the pinfall win.

"Kid America" Mike Kehner vs. "Greatest American Hero" Corey Blaze

For the now-unmasked Kid America, it was clear that he had a real grudge to settle. Mike Kehner would take it to Corey Blaze from the opening bell, punishing his opponent with an assault for nearly five minutes before locking on a choke hold on Blaze and getting disqualified for his aggressive behavior.

After the match an irate Kehner announced he was fed up with Corey Blaze, noting that their next match in July would have to be their last ever. It was then that Kid America challenged Blaze to a Stretcher Match!

ECWA Mid-Atlantic Championship - "The Boss" Mike Tartaglia (c) (with Ricky "The Model" Martinez and PR Agent Gus Grande) vs. Mr. Ooh La La (with Coach Jim Shorts)

Earlier in the night, Mike Tartaglia would come out to the ring to the absolute disgust of the traditional ECWA crowd which had grown accustomed to his antics in the ring and constant attempts at buying success. It was not long before Tartaglia would call out ECWA's special guest for the evening, Stacy "The Kat" Carter. It is no secret that Tartaglia - who has made the ECWA his own vanity project as late by promoting only himself - has long had a crush on the former Miss Kitty. In one of his more obnoxious displays, Tartaglia made an attempt to lure Carter to be his wife, showing her disgusting before-and-after pictures of what her life could be like. Sadly, the entire presentation would end with a gag-reflex-inducing shot of Tartaglia and Carter, arm-in-arm that left the fans chanting "Photoshop!" Carter promised to seal the deal with a kiss, wrapping a bandanna around The Boss' eyes. It was then that the night went awry for Tartaglia, as she quietly summoned Ooh La La, Shorts, and Cole Callaway, who would kiss the Boss to Tartaglia's absolute disgust.

At the start of the actual match, Tartaglia proceeded to run down Ooh La La, even handing him the dreaded envelope of money that, fortunately, Ooh La La turned down. In response, Tartaglia welcomed Ricky "The Model" Martinez and Press Agent Gus Grande to stand in his corner at ringside. Tartaglia dominated much of the match, using underhanded tactics to attempt to maintain his control every time Ooh La La started to rally. One bright spot in the match came when the Greater Newark Boys and Girls club crowd erupted in a chant of "Toss the Boss!" To their delight, Mr. Ooh La La was quick to oblige by throwing Tartaglia over the top rope to the outside. After landing a devastating second-rope bulldog on the fiery Frenchman, The Boss appeared to have the match won. To everyone's utter shock, however, Ooh La La summoned the inner strength needed to kick out at two, and - after The Kat ran down and distracted her #1 Fan with a long kiss - rolled him up for the three-count.

After the match, the audience erupted in a rocking chant of "Ooh La La" that will not soon be forgotten.

Tri-State Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Championship - "Heart Killer" Chris Wylde (c) vs. Breaker Morant (with Joel Goodhart)

Chris Wylde and Breaker Morant took their fight to the outside early, before making their way back into the ring where Wylde tried to take to the air. When he climbed to the top rope, he was knocked to the outside by Breaker and nearly assaulted by Joel Blackheart with a bowling pin. Wylde would catch the weapon, turning around and throwing it hard into Breaker's shoulder for an audibly painful thud. This prompted an all-out brawl between the two into the crowd, involving tables, stretchers, walls, kendo sticks, and anything else the two could get their hands on, including a car in the parking lot! After fighting nearly to the outside, the two would scale the scaffolding that holds together the ECWA entrance-way, brawling in front of the big screen before Wylde was able spear Morant 15 feet in the air and through a table to pick up the win.

Following this shocking, mortifying, violent conclusion, Wylde was attacked by Morant's stablemate Bobby Shields. After Kekoa came down to make the save, a physically and emotionally exhausted Heart Killer challenged the faction to a War Games match in July. Who knows what will be in store?!

ECWA Heavyweight Championship - "The Greek God" Papadon (c) vs. Adam Cole

On this night, "The Greek God" was just a little bit better. Papadon sustained a flurry of aerial and other offensive moves from the current Ring of Honor up-and-comer - and ECWA Super 8 2011 alum - Cole, including Cole hitting of a very John Cena-esque Attitude Adjustment, Cole's reversal of a Papadon back-splash into a rollup, and Cole moving out of the way of a Papadon top-rope splash, all for very close 2-1/2 counts. The combatants had each other scouted so well that they would use each other’s finishers on their opponent for near falls, including Papadon hitting the Panama Sunrise on Papadon and Cole catching Papadon with the Alpha-Omega (shining wizard). At the end of the day, Papadon was able to pin Cole with the Wrath of God (a top rope superplex which upon impact with the mat, Papadon rolls back into a standing position to hit the piledriver), ending more than 27 minutes of excitement.

"At the end of the day, this was not a battle to win my respect, as has been with so many others," said Papadon as he threw a towel over his head in the back. Adam already had my utmost respect for all he has accomplished in the ring. This was a battle between two emerging stars in this business, and I have no doubt that our careers will cross paths again. Maybe even in WWE. We're both that good."

June 2, 2012 Event Photos by www.snapmare.com at:

http://hollow.smugmug.com/Other/ECWA-060212/23332224_sVDnGj#!p=1&n=12

The ECWA makes its return to the Greater Newark Boys and Girls Club of Newark, Delaware on Saturday night, July 14th!

ECWA will meet Blackheart in a STEEL CAGE WARGAMES rules match and "Greek God" Papadon will defend his ECWA Heavyweight Title against Tony Nese!

Stayed tuned to www.ecwaprowrestling.com for details. Call 609.220.5598 for tix.

We hope to see you all there!