[2000-01-19-MCW Maryland] Joey Matthews & Christian York vs Earl the Pearl & Rich Myers vs Chad Bowman & Dino Divine

[soup23]

We really got this to get a look at Matthews and York and they did a good bit for me here as a babyface, sympathetic tag team. They were worked over throughout the match and had to sell and execute good timing to make the match succeed. The match starts with them vs. Devine and Bowman who have this corporate worker gimmick where they were dress pants and turtlenecks. Once they are eliminated the match hits it stride in the final portion vs. Earl the Pearl who did a scathing heel promo pre match. This match also makes Earl the Pearl look like a pretty big star as he gets the big win here. Fun match. **1/2

[Loss]

With double the time, I think this had the potential to be a great match, but trying to rush two eliminations into a 10-minute match is pushing it, considering that they were trying to do full, fleshed out matches to build to each elimination. A for effort that they tried and almost succeeded, but it disappointed me because I saw the potential. Despite a few moments in the match from everyone else that look a bit unpolished, Joey Matthews and Christian York look ready for primetime, especially with similar teams like the Hardys and 3 Count floating around the Big Two.

[Tim Evans]

The TQM team is actually Chad Austin and Jimmy cicero. Good to see PWI legends the Holy Rollers: Earl the Pearl and Ramblin Rich Myers. I remember reading about them in PWI back in the day but never saw them actually wrestle. Same with Total Quality Managment. As for the match, It was fine I guess. TQM played the corporate heel team good and York/Matthews looked like they had potential as the babyface team. This being 2000, of course, it had to include a tweener team like the Holy Rollers to make it a triple threat. The match got better once it became 2 on 2.

[Moonsault Marvin]

This match was a bit clunky at times, but an okay watch. The turtle necks were a strange choice of wrestling attire. The double team finishing move at the end of the match was odd. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to hurt the knees or the arms.

[GSR]

Elimination tag match to determine the new MCW tag team champions. Myers is the former WWF jobber who is the son of George Steele. Earl does some dancing as he enters the ring which resembles someone having a fit. Myers and York starts out before a tilt-a-whirl headscissors sees Myers bail and tag in Austin. Austin tries a Tajiri style handspring elbow that looks awful. York and Matthews continue to control things until Matthews ‘blows out his knee’ on a leap frog spot allowing the others to work him over and focus their attention on that leg. Myers and Earl with a double suplex that Matthews reverses into a double neckbreaker, York then just charges into the ring without waiting the for the tag and double dropkicks Cicero and Austin sending them both from the apron to the floor. Springboard somersault out onto them, he throws Austin back into the ring and Matthews with a reverse DDT and they’re eliminated. Combination Buff Blockbuster/Russian leg sweep on Matthews for a near fall, before going between Myers’ legs and forward rolling across the ring for the hot tag. Double hip toss powerbomb to Myers, but while the referee tries to get Joey out of there Earl hits York over the head with something and puts Myers on top. Great near fall with York kicking out at the last instant. Earl climbs the turnbuckles, Joey ducks a clothesline and hurls Myers into the corner causing the Pearl to lose his balance. Matthews with a Frankensteiner off the top, York with frog splash and the heels manager pulls the official out of the ring at the count of two. Double team finisher (not sure what it was) by Earl and Myers to Matthews and the ref slides back in to count the fall and our new MCW tag team champions are crowned.

 

Not good for me. York and Matthews are both very green, Austin was bad, Cicero was non-existant really, Earl (who I wouldn’t mind seeing at all in a singles match) and Myers were decent, while the match itself felt rushed. Matthews stopped selling the lef the moment the heat segment finished, he dropkicks thin air at one point (which Earl sells) and messes up an Irish whip reversal. The first elimination also made zero sense. If York isn’t going to wait for the tag to be tagged in, why didn’t he just run into the ring earlier to save his partner or dropkick the opposition? A couple of nice near falls, the second which the crowd really popped for, and the match did improve when it became a regulation tag, but that’s it.