Welcome to this week’s edition of the Weekly Roundup! Each week, we’re going to cover what you missed in EWC action, catch some highlights, check out our featured superstars, and look at two matches coming next week you’ll want to set your DVR to watch on repeat!
First things first, we kicked off this season with a massive season premiere of Monday Night Brawl, featuring eight stunning matches that ran the gamut from a lover’s battle to the brutal Wondercrush and anything in between. So let’s check out the winners, the losers, and the highlights of the night.
Brawl #578 – Recap & Highlights
MATCH 1
Darius VS Ruby Clifton WINNER via pinfall: Darius
Match Highlight: Ruby places the chair under Darius’ face and then calls for another. She’s looking for a one-man con-chair-to! Ruby brings the second chair down but Darius forces himself up to his knees. Ruby smashes the chair into the other and drops her chair as recoil flies through her arms like burning white fire. Ruby turns in pure horror as the crimson faced Darius laughs and lunges into her with a short distance Hunter’s Mark spear!
MATCH 2
Dio VS Iggy Swango WINNER via pinfall: Iggy Swango
Match Highlight: Dio goes for the Laertius Effect but Swango ducks at the last second. Dio stumbles forward slightly before turning back towards Swango. Swango grabs Dio around the crotch while hooking her arm around his neck. She lifts him up before dropping face first with Noise Pollution!
MATCH 3
King Flip VS David Miller WINNER via pinfall: King Flip
Match Highlight: They do not stay off the desk. Flip slams David’s face right into it, which only proves to make the man angrier. Miller slams Flip’s head into the desk and the King almost instantly crumbles. Miller climbs onto the desk and pulls his opponent onto it with him. The desk shakes a little at the weight of these men. Flip connects out of nowhere with a headbutt and the crowd fires up as he steals his opponent’s finisher. THE HARD GOODBYE ON MILLER!
MATCH 4
The Eleos Affect VS The Southern Express WINNER via pinfall: The Eleos Affect
Match Highlight: The Warrior is shook, taking a knee on the canvas as a result…but as Bobby heads to the ropes for momentum, he’s stopped like a ton of bricks with a hard knee to the head by KU! Jimmy charges, but is dropped over the top rope before KU slides back into the ring. RIPCORD SLAP! He hit Bobby hard with that…and Bobby ends up turning right into an Evenflow DDT by Antoni!
MATCH 5
FOR THE FX BROADCAST CHAMPIONSHIP
Rebel Rhodes VS Tyler Bradford WINNER via pinfall and NEW FX Broadcast Champion: Rebel Rhodes
Match Highlight: He brings Rebel back to her feet, hitting some solid punches to the head before dropping her with an arm drag. Rebel quickly gets back to her feet, charging at the champion…who manages to catch her with another arm drag! A smirk appears on the champ’s face, proud of his handiwork as he looks for a body slam on Rebel…who slips out of it! SHOT THROUGH THE HEART!
MATCH 6
Candy VS Stitches WINNER via stoppage: Candy
Match Highlight: Stitches is quick to grab a light tube, Candy eyes the glass weapons for a moment and too grabs a light tube. The two of them swing wildly at one another, not realizing the other has the same weapon. The two light tubes collide with one another, shattering in mid-air with a loud popping sound. The air eloquently fills with shards of powdered glass as the crowd emits an audible gasp. Realizing going for the glass objects right away may not be a good strategy, the two of them start trading a barrage of punches as powdered glass showers down around them.
MATCH 7
Melody Malone VS Xavier Reid WINNER via submission: Melody Malone
Match Highlight: As Xavier turns to look at Melody, he is greeted with a boot to his sternum once again! The pain forces him down and finally, Melody goes for her original intended goal. She starts locking in The Queen’s Grace while Reid fights like hell to escape the leg submission!
MAIN EVENT
Gabrielle Visconty VS Pence Weatherlight WINNER via pinfall: Gabrielle Visconty
Match Highlight: At this point, Gabi slowly gets to her feet before sliding back into the ring, ready to put an end to this match. She climbs to the top rope, carefully scoping her target before leaping off into a corkscrew shooting star press! THE FALLING! IT CONNECTS!
BRAWL #578 MVPs: Candy and Melody Malone
BRAWL #578 MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Candy VS Stitches
From top to bottom, Brawl managed to kick off this season right and show why they’ve been long considered the flagship of the EWC. And someone who Connors thinks has helped shape that coming into Season 23? Look no further, than Brawl’s very own Gabrielle Visconty.
Connor’s Corner
Gabrielle, or ‘Gabi Vee’ and she’s more affectionately known, came into this season as a former International champion, former Television champion, and the winner of last season’s Mac Invitational that saw her win a briefcase shot for the International championship this season. Gabi Vee wasted little time, announcing her intentions to cash in the coveted briefcase on the 580th edition of Brawl to challenge reigning champion Xavier Reid on the final episode of Brawl before the EWC’s blockbuster pay-per-view, Stranglemania. Not only did she steal the show opener with her announcement, but she went on to defeat Pence Weatherlight in the main event on Brawl to further cement her place as the rightful challenger for the International championship. She’ll have a tough time ahead of her, as before she gets to dance with Reid, she’ll find herself one on one in Charleston against the carnival clown, and former Undisputed Champion, Stitches.
Rampage #495 – Recap & Highlights
As great as Brawl was, Rampage threw out all the stops to not be out done on Friday with five matches of their own, two featuring the same superstar on a mission, a clash of dare we say… titans between the current and former United States champions, and to top it all off? A gauntlet match for the vacated HBO Broadcast championship. Let’s see how it all went down on the green brand!
MATCH ONE
Queen Melody Malone VS Tommy Burton WINNER via submission: Melody Malone
Match Highlight: Melody’s face contorts from pained to bewildered and uses the moment to throw an elbow back into the side of his head before spinning herself to face him and jumping up with a double knee facebreaker. The Crowning Achievement! Burton snaps back, hands over his face as Malone falls onto her back and both competitors are down.
MATCH TWO
Darna Dare VS King Flip WINNER via pinfall: King Flip
Match Highlight: King Flip walks over to her, having a face of annoyance on his face as he locks in a headlock. Darna stands up from the headlock after a while of being in the rest hold. When she does, she immediately scrambles underneath King Flip’s legs and hits a single-legged dropkick that sends King Flip over into the corner turnbuckles. She wheels around the ring to sprint into a flying forearm and unleash a very vocal strike flurry, completing the Mongoose Brave Assault when they both go down to the mat.
MATCH THREE
Ace King VS Samantha “The Titaness” Hamilton WINNER via pinfall: Ace King
Match Highlight: Ace is clutching at his lower back as Sam comes springing off the ropes with a leg drop across his neck. Sam immediately gets back up to her feet. Ace is slowly getting back up to his feet. Just as he does, Sam places her hand around his neck. She starts to jaw jack with him before hoisting him up into the air. Before she can bring him back down, Ace somehow manages to wiggle himself down behind her where he latches his arms around her waist. With a quick pop of his hips, Sam is tossed over head with her landing hard on the back of her neck.
MATCH FOUR
David Miller VS Queen Melody Malone WINNER via pinfall: Melody Malone
Match Highlight: Melody is the first to move as she half-saunters, half-limps towards Miller. She tries to lock in her submission, The Queen’s Grace, but once David feels and recognizes what she’s going for, he refuses to let her finish what she’s starting. He slams a boot straight up into Malone’s jaw, causing her to collapse onto the mat like a sack of potatoes. Miller now hurries over towards the fallen Queen, seeing an opportunity to end this fight here and now. He places Malone onto her knees and … wham! Stiff Knee Lift straight to Melody’s forehead!
MAIN EVENT
Autumn Raven VS Jamie Love VS Phoenix Winterborn VS Roisin Cadieux VS Ruby Clifton VS Tanja Devereaux WINNER and NEW HBO Broadcast Champion via pinfall: Phoenix Winterborn
Match Highlight: Tanja doesn’t get any sign of rest though as Autumn Raven comes flying into the ring with a diving double stomp to the base of Tanja’s skull! Broken Future! Toyo Yasahiro backs Autumn up and gives Tanja a moment to stand and catch her breath before letting the match continue. Autumn rushes Tanja and hits a giant dropkick that sends Tanja over the top rope to the outside! Autumn rolls out to the apron and waits for Tanja to get to a hunched over position before jumping down into a second Broken Future, this one to Tanja’s lower-back!
RAMPAGE #495 MVPs: Ace King & Melody Malone
RAMPAGE #495 MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Darna Dare vs. King Flip
Rampage went all out in their season premiere, looking to set the tone for the green brand for Season 23 as the hard hitting, action packed brand to be a part of. With the HBO Broadcast championship hunt in full swing as they crown a new champion, Duggan’s eyes have been on someone else, and that’s his United States championship number one contender, Darna Dare.
Duggan’s Diamond
Darna Dare’s tenure in the EWC hasn’t been long, but it’s been explosive. Securing a win over Phoenix Winterborn at the tail end of last season gifted her the rare opportunity at Wrestlefest to compete for a shot at the United States championship at the “grand daddy of them all” Stranglemania. Dare walked out of Rio with the win and the chance of a lifetime coming this March. While she fell to Brawl’s King Flip on Friday, Duggan chalks it up to off season fatigue and seems confident that the number one contender to Samantha Hamilton’s United States championship is going to put on an absolute banger at the big bash in India. She’ll have a chance to prove him right on the upcoming Rampage #496 when she squares off with a very game Autumn Raven.
Coming Soon – Matches to set your DVR for!
Paramount #16 – Gabi Vee vs Killjoy Ito | The number one contender for the International championship versus the Undisputed Champion! The stakes don’t get any bigger than this! Gabi’s win on Brawl has set her on the right path, but will that momentum stall out when she faces the reigning Undisputed champion?
Prime #91 – Saidie vs Scorpio | For the first time in several years, the G1 tournament won’t decide the Indy championship match at Stranglemania. Instead, the main event at Prime #91 will set the stage for the Indy championship match when former Showtime champion Saidie Sharpe takes on current Showtime champion Scorpio in a showdown with colossal implications.
