[2000-07-19-MCW Maryland] Qeenan Creed vs Adam Flash vs Chris Chetti vs Christian York vs Joey Matthews vs Mikey Whipwreck (Elimination)

[soup23]

We get a five minute video to Sarah McLaughlin’s “I Will Remember You” showing clips of Shane Shamrock’s life. This is terrible that they present him as such an upstanding citizen given the way he died. What is even more tragic is that we see video of Christmas Day 1997 featuring the baby that was also in the house when Shamrock was gunned down by police. Some epic 2000 themes here from Intergalatic to Last Resort from Papa Roach. This is a cool collection of ECW castoffs and indie talent around the area that we haven’t seen a ton of so far in 2000. Opening has the guys pairing off and we get some butt ugly botches featuring Creed and Chetti. The York vs Flash Sequence was the best of the first three. York and Matthews as two tag partners tease going after each other for a bit and then the match breaks down. All six guys are paired off in groups of two again They do some crowd brawling around the arena which honestly reminds me of a funeral home the way it is set up. Balls Mahoney gets involved for some reason to help Chetti attack Adam Flash. This brawling segment goes on way too long and is too aimless making the match as a whole screech to a halt. Mikey grabs a ladder to pop the crowd. We are hitting all the 2000 indie tropes in one match here. Mikey gives a stunner to the ladder which jawbreaks both York and Matthews. Kind of a stupid spot but also kind of clever. Chetti has been fucking awful and he whiffs on a spinning kick to Mikey. To compound matters, he gets the first pinfall on Adam Flash who was looking the best of anyone so far. York and Matthews decide to team up and they take out Mikey on a double bomb to a big chorus of boos. We are down to Creed vs York and Matthews and Creed overtakes York to put him away meaning we will have a new winner this year. The action for their two minute segment was enjoyable. The locker room empties out because we are down to two. This sequence is legitimately good in the ***/***1/4 level and I wish it would have just been a 15 minute singles match between the two. Matthews keeps going for the Cloverleaf and Creed is good fighting through and escaping. That plays right into the finish when he rolls Matthews up and gains the pin. Axl gives a rah rah speech at the end. This was a LONGGGG segment with some awful stuff but the finale with Matthews and Creed was fun so it wasn’t a total loss. **1/2 for the whole thing.

[Tim Evans]

This was very indie. You have ECW guys going against other indie guys. Some of it is alright with guys like Flash and Whipwreck Other stuff not so much as it gets botchy and bad. They go into the back area which looks like a wedding room and Balls Mahoney helps out Chetti for some reason. The ending run isn't good and this was just too long for my tastes. It's amazing that MCW still does the Shamrock cup to this day.

[GSR]

Fuck, that Brian ‘Shane Shamrock’ Howser tribute video should come with a disclaimer.  I didn’t know the guy but found myself close to welling up; the photos of him through his life, home videos of his children etc. all set to Sarah McLachlan’s ‘I Will Remember You’.

Six-way elimination match for the Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup.  Everyone gets a bit of ring time, although the Chetti/Creed section isn’t the best.  Chetti seems to think a side headlock take down is the way to go in a match like this before they go about badly blowing a couple of spots.  Flash folds York up with a running powerbomb but Mikey decides to break up the pin.  Grrr, how many times have I seen that in an ‘Elimination Match’ this year?  With Matthews not paying attention on the apron, Flash tags him in so the two regular partners have to go against each other.  There’s a bit of intrigue about this however it doesn’t last long anyway, Mikey pulling down the top rope so York takes a spill over it to the outside.  That results in a big old brawl with all the wrestlers pairing off, the camera following Flash and Chetti who fight out to the lobby.  Balls Mahoney randomly shows up, for no other reason it seems than to get a forced “Balls, Chetti” chant going as they take it in turns to slug Flash.  Mikey retrieves a ladder to a loud pop and after dropkicking it into Creed and Flash, incorporates it into a double jawbreaker on York and Matthews.  Flash climbs the ladder but is shoved off it by someone who isn’t identified and isn’t part of the match.  ‘Amityville Horror’ by Chetti and Flash is the first man eliminated.  Less than thirty seconds later though he’s gone courtesy of a ‘Whippersnapper’.  York and Matthews start to work together against Mikey, isolating him and keeping Creed on the outside.  Double drop toe hold onto the ladder.  He gets a hope spot in, but they counter the double ‘Whippersnapper’ with a double powerbomb and, to the disappointment of the crowd, now he’s gone.  Creed nails York and Matthews with a double dropkick off the top, however they, well mainly Christian, quickly get the better of him.  The double powerbomb is countered with a double DDT, flying elbow and last year’s champion is eliminated.  Down to our final two, Axl Rotten leads the locker room out to watch on from ringside.  Matthews and Creed just fire away on each other with punches and this already feels a notch above anything else we’ve seen so far, there’s a real sense of urgency, determination about wanting to put the other away.  Face first full nelson slam by Matthews gets him a two.  The wrestlers banging on the mat really adds to the atmosphere here.  Matthews telegraphs the back drop, Creed looks for a neckbreaker but Matthews reverses it into an inverted DDT.  Is that Orlando Jordan amongst the wrestlers?  Creed counters the huracanrana with a powerbomb, he heads back up top and lands a second elbow drop however, unlike his partner, Matthews kicks out.  Matthews rolls through on the sunset flip and locks on a Texas Cloverleaf.  Give Balls his due here, he’s great on the outside selling the in ring action.  They’re too close to the ropes on the submission though as Creed grabs them for the break.  Hard running lariat in the corner.  Desperation enziguiri by Creed.  Matthews gets his knees up on the frog splash and applies a second Texas Cloverleaf.  This time he’s got enough wears about him to pull Creed back into the centre of the ring when it looks like he’s again about to grab the ropes.  As it appears he’s got this in the bag, Creed somehow wriggles an escape and cradles Matthews for the win.  Axl Rotten gives a long post match speech and the wrestlers are joined by Shane Shamrock’s family before Creed is presented with the trophy.

If you ditch everything prior to the brawling around the venue, I thought this turned into a pretty good match.  The brawling itself served no purpose, didn’t play a role in the match and didn’t work on tape.  Maybe it was something that came across better live?  When we were down to the last two I was saying to myself that I couldn’t believe that the wrestler who had looked the worst was in with a chance of winning this, then Creed goes and looks way better than he had at any point when working with Matthews.  We know he can play the perfect FIP, but Joey Matthews has really opened my eyes to how good a worker he was.  Chris Chetti flat out sucked, Adam Flash was surprisingly impressive while York and Mikey were perfectly fine.  Oh, according to cagematch it is Orlando Jordan you can see at ringside.  I thought he was someone who started in OVW so a bit of shocker to find out he actually worked the Indies for a bit prior to then.