Roy's Review: IWE Brewer, Maine May 6, 2017

Here is my review of IWE in Brewer on May 6, 2017.

In Ring: Adam Ricker comes out with Sebastian Mayhem and a bat with Big Daddy written on it. He whines about losing the IWE Title and says he wants his rematch. Captain comes out and says Mayhem is getting the IWE Title match tonight and not Ricker. Mayhem is surprised and says that he already has a match. Ricker gets pissed. Captain also says that Ricker is banned from ringside for the title match.

Match 1: Sebastian Mayhem defeated Ricky Williams

Ricky Williams

This was a solid match. Williams fought hard in his last match, including hitting a suicide dive. I've never seen him do that before. Mayhem got the win with a kick to the head.
5.75/10

In Ring: After the match Mayhem shakes hands with Williams. Williams then has an emotional retirement speech.

Match 2: JP O'Reilly defeated "Classic" Calvin Strange

How can you be classic if you've only been wrestling for a few months? This match was kinda dumpy. O'Reilly has improved a lot over the last year but Strange still looked green.
3/10

Ringside: Tommy Lane was coming out for a match when Adam Ricker comes out of nowhere and wrecks him with a bat. He threatens to wreck Ethan with the bat if Captain doesn't give him his title match tonight or if Alexander Lee doesn't come out. Lee comes out fights them off.

Match 3: Jason Rumble w/Adam Ricker defeated Big Moxie

This was a solid match. Nothing really special but a solid match. Rumble got the win after a distraction from Ricker.
4.75/10

In Ring: Big Moxie is super pissed that he lost.

In Ring: Captain comes out and announces that Derek Shorey won't be facing Eric Johnson tonight because he got injured in an MMA fight the weekend before. Derek Shorey comes out with his doctor's orders to not compete. Then talks about his injury. Eric interrupts him and says that this is bullshit because now he won't be able to earn his IWE Title shot. Eric then pokes at Shorey and he tears up his doctor's orders and says he doesn't care what the doctor says he is gonna fight. Bomb then comes out and convinces Shorey not fight and says since Shorey can't fight Eric he would. Eric asks Captain if he will get his title shot if he beats Bomb. Captain explains that if Eric wins he does get his title shot but if he loses he will have to face Shorey next month.

Match 4: Eric Johnson w/Mr. Marcus defeated John Bryer w/Derek Shorey

Bomb was wrestling in street clothes. I didn't really pay much attention to this match.
3/10

Ringside: Alexander Lee is in the ring for his match with Mayhem, when Adam Ricker comes out. Mayhem then tried a sneak attack on Lee but he saw it coming.

Match 5: IWE Champion Alexander Lee defeated Sebastian Mayhem w/Adam Ricker by DQ to retain

Alexander Lee

This was okay but if would have been way better if they were just allowed to put on a wrestling match instead of the expected interference. Ricker caused the DQ when he got involved. In the fighting Lee's eye got injured.
4/10

Match 6: The Maine State Posse: Danger Kid & Aidan Aggro defeated The Harris Country Club: Todd Harris & Malik Logan in a Maine State Street Fight

This was awesome. They destroyed each other all over the place and used a ton of different weapons. After this match I became a big fan of the Harris Country Club, they really impressed. At one point they handcuffed Danger Kid to the bottom rope but put the handcuff threw his ear. I've never seen that before. The end came when MSP pealed back the canvas and padding and Danger Kid gave Todd Harris a tombstone on the exposed wood.
8/10

Overall this show scored a 28.5 out of 60 for an overall score of 47.50%. This show was decent with an awesome main event and some good build toward the rematch between Alexander Lee and Adam Ricker. 

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Maria Menounos in the WWE

Maria Menounos is known for being a TV correspondent on such entertainment shows as Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, and the Today show.  She has also had a few movie roles and appeared as herself on several different TV shows.  What the average person doesn't think of is her being related to is professional wrestling.

Menounos' first appears in the WWE was as a guest host on the October 12, 2009 episode of Monday Night Raw with her Access Hollywood co-host Nancy O'Dell.  That night on the show she had a confrontation with Beth Phoenix who was upset over being traded to Smackdown and was physical with Menounos.  That lead to a mach that night where Menounos teamed with Kelly Kelly and Gail Kim to defeated Phoenix, Rosa Mendes, & Alicia Fox when Kelly pinned Mendes with a legdrop.

I didn't think anything about her appearance that night because it was just another celebrity being involved in a wrestling match.  That night in the match she got her own entrance and had customer gear with wrestling boots. She was only in the match for a minute but she looked good and didn't do more than she could do.

Her next appearance was a over two years later in December 2012 at the Tribute to the Troops special.  She teamed with Alicia Fox, Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly, defeating Beth Phoenix, Natayla, & The Bella Twins when Menounos pinned Divas Champion: Beth Phoenix with a sunset flip.

Maria was given her own entrance where clips from the match in 2009 were shown.  The commentators talked about a twitter exchange between Phoenix and Maria.  Menounos actually started the match with one of the Bella's taking a side headlock takeover before delivering one of her own.  She then tagged out.  She tagged herself back in after the match and when Phoenix charged at her in the corner she managed a corner assisted sunset flip getting a surprise three count.  Once again she looked good in the ring for what she did.

Her return to the WWE was just a few months later at WrestleMania XXVIII once again in tag team action.  However this time there was a build for the match.  Starting on the March 12 episode of Raw Beth Phoenix mentioned she was sick of Menounos showing up at WWE events.  Next on an episode of Extra during an interview segment with Kelly Kelly Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres showed up and confronted Menounos challenging her for a match at WrestleMania which was accepted.

At WrestleMania XXVIII in Miami, Florida Menounos teamed with Kelly Kelly and she once again got the best of Diva's Champion: Beth Phoenix pinning her with a roll up after almost seven minutes.  Menounos had been participating in Dancing with the Stars and had cracked two ribs during rehearsal for that show. During the match at Mania she played the Ricky Morton roll taking a beating on her two cracked ribs from both Eve and Phoenix.  Phoenix collided with Eve Torres which lead to the pin.

I'm not a fan of celebrities appearing in wrestling matches, at the shows fine, but in the matches not so much.  It has a lot to do with a person who has dedicated their life to wrestling losing a spot, even for one night, to someone who hasn't.  I understand it brings mainstream attention to wrestling and that's good for everyone but still.  I realize that I might be in the minority but that is genuinely how I feel.  When it comes to Maria Menounos though that changed after she inducted Bob Backlund into the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame.

When she was first announced it was puzzling.  I took into account her previous appearances but I just assumed that with her celebrity status this was just a main stream media attention grab.  I was very wrong, and I don't think I was the only who was proven wrong.  Turns out Mrs. Menounos is quite the wrestling fan, and a huge fan of Bob Backlund.  She was fan as a kid watching wrestling her whole life and later in life became friends with Mr. Backlund.  She told many stories about Mr. Backlund in a way which you can tell she is very genuine.

I think what truly shows she is a fan of wrestling is the fact the her fourth, and to date, final match was at SummerSlam Axxess in 2013 where she teamed with Natayla to defeat Brie Bella & Eva Marie.  This is essentially a how show match just for those in attendance.  I mean yes clips were shown on SummerSlam but I can't recall any other time a celebrity has worked a house show.

In the years to follow she has made several more non-wrestling related appearances working the red carpet for WWE Hall of Fame in 2014, 2015, 216, & 217.  She also worked as a backstage interviewer for a few WrestleManias.  At the 2015 HoF Red Carpet she cut the Hard Times promo to Dusty Rhodes in his voice, I mean, yeah she's a fan!

Maria Menounos has made more appearances in the WWE than any other celebrity and is at the point where when I see her I don't have that normal feeling of dread of how is this outsider going to mess things up.  Because she's not an outsider, she's a die hard fan like us.


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October 12, 2009 Monday Night Raw Indianapolis, Indiana
Maria Menounos, Gail Kim & Kelly Kelly defeated Beth Phoenix, Alicia Fox, & Rosa Mendes when Kelly Kelly pinned Rosa Mendes

December 13, 2011 Tribute to the Troops Fayetteville, North Carolina taped 12/11/2011
Maria Menounos, Alicia Fox, Eve Torres, & Kelly Kelly defeated Diva's Champion: Beth Phoenix, Natalya, & The Bella Twins: Nikki & Brie when Menounos pinned Phoneix

April 1, 2012 WrestleMania XXVIII Miami, Florida
Maria Menounos & Kelly Kelly defeated Diva's Champion: Beth Phoenix & Eve Torres when Menounos pinned Phoenix

August 8, 2013 SummerSlam Axxess 2013 Los Angeles, California
Maria Menounos & Natayla defeated Brie Bella & Eva Marie when Natayla pinned Eva

The Year the WCW Championship Changed Hands 25 Times

That's right in the year 2000, the final full year the promotion was in operation, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship changed hands or was vacated 25 times.  Is it any wonder why this promotion ultimately folded.

1) January 16, 2000 Cincinnati, Ohio Souled Out 
Bret Hart is forced to vacate the title due to injury after being kicked in the head and being concussed by Goldberg

2) January 16, 2000 Cincinnati, Ohio Souled Out
Chris Benoit defeated Sid Vicious with Arn Anderson as the special guest referee

3) January 17, 2000 Columbus, Ohio Nitro
Title is vacated: storyline Arn Anderson states he is forced to reverse the decision because Sid's leg was under the rope when he submitted to the crossface.  In reality Benoit left the WCW with Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, & Perry Saturn

4) January 24, 2000 Los Angeles, California Nitro
Sid Vicious defeated Kevin Nash for the vacant championship.  He had to defeated The Harris Brothers in a handicapped match for the right to wrestle Nash

5) January 25, 2000 Las Vegas, Nevada Thunder aired 1/26/2000
Commissioner Kevin Nash strips Sid of the championship because he pinned the wrong Harris Brother in his championship qualifying match

6) January 25, 2000 Las Vegas, Nevada Thunder aired 1/26/2000
Commissioner Kevin Nash awards himself the championship

7) January 25, 2000 Las Vegas, Nevada Thunder aired 1/26/2000
Sid Vicious defeats Kevin Nash & Ron Harris in a triple threat steel cage match submitting Nash

8) April 10, 2000 Denver, Colorado Nitro
Vince Russo & Eric Bischoff stripped all champions of their titles rebooting WCW

9) April 16, 2000 Chicago, Illinois Spring Stampede
Jeff Jarrett defeated Diamond Dallas Page to win the vacant championship, Page had won a four man tournament (Sting, Lex Luger, & Sid) on the April 10th Nitro for the right to face Jarrett

10) April 24, 2000 Rochester, New York Nitro
Diamond Dallas Page defeated Jeff Jarrett in a steel cage match

11) April 25, 2000 Syracuse, New York Thunder aired 4/26/2000
David Arquette won the championship teaming with Diamond Dallas Page in a tag team match against Eric Bischoff & Jeff Jarrett, the stipulation was whoever got the pin would win the title, Arquette pinned Bischoff

12) May 7, 2000 Kansas City, Missouri Slamboree
Jeff Jarrett defeated David Arquette and Diamond Dallas Page in a Triple Cage Match when Arquette turned on Page

13) May 15, 2000 Biloxi, Mississippi Nitro
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair defeated Jeff Jarrett to become the 15 time World Champion

14) May 22, 2000 Grand Rapids, Michigan Nitro
Vince Russo strips Flair of the title, at Thunder on 5/16/2000 (aired 5/17/2000) Flair had defended his title in a handicapped match defeated Jeff Jarrett, David Flair, Crowbar, & Daffney.  After the match Flair fell down leaving the ring with apparent equilibrium issues.  It was later discovered to be an inner ear issue, however prior to that discovery WCW chose to vacate the title.

15) May 22, 2000 Grand Rapids, Michigan Nitro
Jeff Jarrett defeated Kevin Nash in a no holds barred match to win the vacant championship.  Vince Russo tried to award Jarrett the title, however Nash stole the title leading to the match.

16) May 23, 2000 Saginaw, Michigan Thunder aired 5/24/2000
Kevin Nash defeated Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner in a triple threat match

17) May 29, 2000 Salt Lake City, Utah Nitro
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair is awarded the Championship by Kevin Nash who states that Flair never lost the title and it belongs to him.  This is Flair's 16th and final World Championship reign

18) May 29, 2000 Salt Lake City, Utah Nitro
Jeff Jarrett defeated Ric Flair with special guest referee David Flair

19) July 9, 2000 Daytona Beach, Florida Bash at the Beach
Booker T defeated Jeff Jarrett.  Earlier in the evening Jarrett was scheduled to face Hulk Hogan for the Championship, Vince Russo ordered Jarrett to lay down and allow Hogan to pin him, which Jarrett did and Hogan eventually put a boot on Jarrett's chest.  After Hogan left with the belt Russo cut a scathing shoot promo on Hogan and declared that Jarrett was still the Champion and would defend against Booker T.  Booker had lost to Kanyon earlier in the evening when Jarrett hit Booker with a guitar.  This was Hogan's last appearance in WCW.

20) August 28, 2000 Las Cruces, New Mexico Nitro
Kevin Nash defeated Booker T

21) September 17, 2000 Buffalo, New York Fall Brawl
Booker T defeated Kevin Nash in a Caged Heat Match

22) September 25, 2000 Uniondale New York Nitro
Vince Russo defeated Booker T in a steel cage match to win the title, yes this actually happened!

23) October 2, 2000 Daly City, California Nitro
Vince Russo decided he was not a wrestler and vacated the title

24) October 2, 2000 Daly City, California Nitro
Booker T defeated Jeff Jarrett in a San Francisco 49ers Match to win the vacant title

25) November 26, 2000 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mayhem
Scott Steiner defeated Booker T in a Straitjacket Steel Cage Match to win the title

So there you have it, 25 title changes in technically just under 11 months, two non-wrestlers held the championship, Sid Vicious had the longest single reign at 76 days, Chris Benoit, Sid Vicious, Diamond Dallas Page, Jeff Jarrett each held the title for 1 day where as Kevin Nash and Ric Flair each had a reign that lasted only a couple hours.  Jeff Jarrett won the championship four times but Vacated was a six time champion.

Also in the year 2000, The WCW Tag Team Championships changed hands 21 times, Hardcore Championship 19 times, Cruiserweight Championship 14 times, and United States Championship 11 times. Again, is it any wonder that this promotion folded with ridiculousness like this.

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