WRESTLEFEST 2019 REVIEW

It was an event the likes of which had never been seen in the sport of professional wrestling. A festival of not just matches but music, food trucks, live shows, parties and much more. EWC Fans from around the globe converged around the Arles Amphitheatre in Arles France. 

20 Matches, 58 Wrestlers, 4 epic days of EWC Action. This was EWC WrestleFest 2019.

FRIDAY
The action started out bright and early Friday morning with Samantha “Titaness” Hamilton, sending a stern warning. The Rampage superstar made comments during her autograph signing that she’d be leaving with the Drake Memorial Cup, The International Championship, or perhaps both. That was quickly followed by in-ring action as Jordan Sharpe had just claimed the Combat Championship that President Mac himself had put up for grabs. That didn’t last long, however, as the nefarious Tommy Love took the title with the help of his client Killjoy Ito. 

After a brief message from former Undisputed Champion Candy, it was time for the first advertised match of the fest at 11:00 AM. Offered first was a triple threat match between Stormy, Allen Anderson and William Manson. All three looked to be victorious at different points in the match but in the end it was Allen Anderson taking the victory, a major momentum boost for the superstar. 

After some shenanigans involving ticket scalping, a pink taco that this writer isn’t going to elaborate on, and an appearance by legendary superstar Shadow Man, the next match was a fatal fourway Ambulance match between Darius, Samuel MacPherson, Jason Rayne and Bandana Joe Porter. A vile, vicious and brutal match ensued featuring bricks, baseball bats, lead pipes and more. Porter was the unlucky man thrown into the back of the Ambulance by the winner, Darius.

El Volando became the new Andele Heavyweight Champion in a family affair that confused most. Phineas Yi made an appearance to the confusion of even more and won the 2019 Rodeo Championship. Xplode was the next EWC Legend to make an appearance at the big event, hyping the crowd up in a way that only he can. After that, it was time for the International Championship match. Would the Titaness live up to her claims and knock off Cyrus? She very nearly pulled it off but in the end it was Cyrus hitting the blackout for the one, two, three. 

EWC’s impressive newcomer Bosa was next up in action, taking on Brooklyn Basher. The rookie phenom impressed audiences with a big victory using his samoan death drop. Ace King’s wrestling school the King’s Court did get to show off their skills at the event, however that was interrupted by a disgusting display by Scorpio as they squared up before their hotly anticipated match for the United States Championship. After an unforgettable concert by the amazing Madonna it was time for our first day’s Main Event. Lunch Time challenged America’s Most Hated for the EWC Tag-Team Championships. Lunch Time had been serving up delicious meals all day for the French crowd, but in the end they came up just short with Melody Malone and Iggy Swango serving up a hard fought title defense.

SATURDAY
Several superstars such as Ace King, Rafe White and Tommy Love made their voices heard as the day began on Saturday. But everyone was certainly talking about our opening contest, a tag-team match for bragging rights. On one side, for Brawl and Rampage, Justin Paird and Phoenix Winterborn. The other side belonged to FSW and PRIME, represented by Ezio DeLuca and El Pablo. Neither team wanted to let their GM and their brand down with all the eyes upon them but the smaller brands were hungrier on this day, with DeLuca earning a pinfall victory for his team.

Chuck Gacy made his violent intentions known for the X-Division and EWC Legends The Limit made a big appearance while Tanja Devereux feuded with NEVAEH in a Twitter war before they stepped inside the squared circle. And a war this singles match was, with Tanja ending up being taken down with the Fall From Grace as Prime Superstar NEVAEH picked up an afternoon victory. 

Catalie Portman made a legendary appearance that I cannot put into words. An awe inspiring moment that will go down in EWC History, no doubts about it. Prime’s secondary title the EWC Television Championship had the dubious honour of trying to follow her as Jonty Kelly challenged new Champion Faith Rivers. In what some people may have considered an upset, there was a new champion as Kelly hit the Brooklyn Destroyer to achieve his Championship dreams in EWC. Rivers made it known she isn’t done with Jonty however. 

Clay Byrd and Morgan Darkwater were next up, an exciting bout between two talented superstars. Darkwater looked like he had the upper hand on many occasions throughout the match but in the end Byrd made a statement, picking up the W. After hearing from the Queen Melody Malone, Eminem performed to the crowd to a standing ovation.
It was then on to the main event of the evening. Stephanie Matsuda defending her X-Division Championship against the red hot Xavier Reid. It would be a Weapon X Match for the title, and both superstars took each other to the limit. A gruesome match ensued on the scaffolding using chains and staples and even a paintball gun. In the end, The X-Division got a new Champion as Reid was able to take the victory. 

SUNDAY
Earlier on in the day we heard from Clara Monroe and the team of Richard Garcia and Lavender to start off day three. We opened up with a tag team match, Damage Inc. took on S.T from the Shieldmaidens. The two teams tore each other apart, but it was Damage Inc starting off Sunday in the win column. 

Antoni Malletoa made his triumphant return to the EWC next, before a big singles match between Voshon Jackson and Alex Carbajal. Both superstars were looking to make a statement and gain future momentum, and it was “The Bullet” Carbajal who ended up taking the win. A moment followed that is certain to be a fan favourite for years, as Ace King and El Pablo reminisced about their days as XTC and were joined by EWC Hall of Famer Ruthann Hunter. 

Brand supremacy was on the line again as Prime faced off against Brawl in a Wargames match. David Gibson, David Bugle, Azumi Goto and Kendrick Kross represented the red brand while Silver Ann Gold, Alexander Daemon, Stalker and Quinn Collins joined together for the blue team. In a hellacious encounter it was against all odds that Team Prime pulled out the win against the flagship show with Gold forcing Azumi to tap out in the middle of the ring. 

Jordan Sharpe’s niece Saidie made her EWC debut against a local competitor following that, as well as Scorpio and Ace King continued to torment one another before their championship encounter later on. Speaking of Championship encounters, it was now the North American Championship up for grabs as Wes Walker took on the Champion Kyle Gautier. Gautier seemed to be the favourite as well, but a kick to the head ended up being his downfall and Wes Walker was crowned the new champion.

Tommy Love, Jordan Sharpe and Nevaeh made their presence known Sunday evening among others before the main event. The EWC United States Championship is on the line. Ace King defending his legendary, historic 777 day title reign against Scorpio. The bad blood between The Gambler and The S Factor reached its boiling point at WrestleFest and in one of the greatest matches EWC has ever witnessed Scorpio became the new champion, two falls to one, in what many called the most shocking moment of the entire year. Certainly King had nothing to be ashamed of after the longest title reign in EWC History. 

MONDAY
Monday, the final day of the festival, was to be the absolute best line-up yet. First up was The Drake Memorial Cup. Four superstars fighting to claim the trophy honoring one of EWC’s heroes, the late Ashton Drake. A very important match-up to many fans and superstars alike, this fatal fourway match featured Mercenary, Gabi Vee, Samantha Hamilton and Dominic Sanders. Mercenary was the one that fell to a Riptide, and Dominic Sanders was left with the victory. President Mac then gave a very emotional presentation about the fallen superstar and thanked the fans.
After a message from EWC Legend Luke Wolfe, it was time for a tag team match featuring Lavender & Richard Garcia Vs. The returning NSFW. Some shady tactics ended up being the key to victory by disqualification for NSFW. Ace King made an impassioned speech to the EWC Fans, heartbroken after his devastating loss. The crowd gave him a standing ovation as he promised that we haven’t seen the last of him yet. 

Next on the docket was Prime’s Indy Championship, Jordan Sharpe defending against Killjoy Ito in the next chapter of their rivalry, this time in a ladder match. Sharpe was able to overcome Ito and also Tommy Love’s interference to retain his title. There was no time for the audience to rest, however, because immediately following that the FSW Championship was up for grabs, with Stitches defending against Candy. These two have had many storied battles over the years in Prime, and this contest was no different. Candy was unable to topple the clown, however, as Stitches scored a pinfall victory and remained Champion. President Mac addressed the crowd one more time before our final match, the main event of the entire festival, Cyrus Black vs. Melody Malone. EWC Undisputed Championship.

The tale of this main event match is like none other. Cyrus, not only the EWC Undisputed Champion after winning the Insanity Cage at Night of Champions, but the International Champion as well. Malone, not only one half of the tag-team Champions, but winner of the Rumble match in Texas as well. And to complicate matters even more, the two are lovers. 

Black hesitated at first to even wrestle with Malone, but after her ‘spirited’ urging, this match got underway and you would think there was no love lost between the two of them. After several near falls and Black ending up through the announce table, it seemed like these two would never be able to put one another away. Both superstars utilized their finishing moves, and a second blackout was almost able to win the match for Black if not for a well timed rope break. However, it was soon Off With the Champion’s head as Malone made the cover and became the NEW EWC Undisputed Champion. An exclamation point on one of the most talked about and revered weekends not only in EWC History, but professional wrestling itself.

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