15 Y.C Part 12: When 2 Worlds Collide-CZW vs. ROH

2006 saw one of the best inter-promotional feuds ever to take place in wrestling, in my view, in the form of Ring of Honor vs. Combat Zone Wrestling. The feud would take up half of the year and would produce some of the best shows and matches of the year. For me the stand out came from CZW’s When 2 Worlds Collide show on March 11^th in the ECW Arena. So to set the scene for the show, on this day ROH would run its first show in the Arena in the evening and at the closing moments of that show the CZW locker room invaded ran off everyone and spray painted CZW on the ROH ring. CZW’s show would happen a couple of hours later and they used ROH’s ring and ring announcer throughout the show. Also because of the two shows we got fans of both companies at both shows making for a great crowd dynamic. So onto the show, like with many “indy” shows we would get different colour commentators come and go but we also got Eric Gargiulo throughout and I have to say I do miss his commentary so much, he was so good at his job and as shown here could work with anyone easily.

CZW Extra: We start off the DVD with all the promos posted on CZW’s youtube page. Some good and bad but the standout being everything involving Eddie Kingston. King would be involved in 3 promos, one with the BLK Out celebrating winning the Tag and World titles, one with the BLK Out being more serious and looking at their past and a final one with Joker aimed at the ROH fans. All great promos from King. Chris Hero, who was the key factor in starting the feud, would explain that he wouldn’t be on the show and we get an awkward promo between the Kings of Wrestling with Claudio barely understanding the situation it seemed. We also get Kevin Steen going on about how he hates the fans and CZW in general, I’m guessing this was legit as him and Zandig had legit hate to each other.

Pandora’s Box (B-Boy, Sonjay Dutt & Adam Flash) w/Pandora vs. Nate Webb, Sexxxy Eddy & Messiah: This was B-Boy’s and Messiah’s returns. B-Boy had lost a loser leaves match to Nate and Lobo, who gained some control, allowed him back. Maven Bentley, who was the commissioner, brought Messiah back to even the odds even though Messiah teamed with Adam & B-Boy in the Hi-V group. There’s a fan dress like the Hurricane, the entire outfit he may think he’s standing out but that is so many levels of creepy. Eddy has the smallest tights ever, only slightly more than Naked Mideon. Pandora’s box jump on two of them to start, Messiah was not in the ring. Eddy hits a slit legged moonsault on B-Boy when it comes down to 2 in the ring. Nate hits a tumbleweed on Dutt and tries another but misses. For some random reason Flash actually throws Nate to his corner and allows the tag for some reason. B-Boy nails a mean kick to Eddy, Dutt than steals KENTA’s slingshot cocky kick. Pandora hits a hanging DDT off the apron onto the floor to Webb. B-Boy and Webb do a series of reversals on one another which ends with B-Boy hitting a high enzuigiri. PB hit a triple team crossed armed Lungblower. After Webb gets some offence B-Boy hits Eddy but not Messiah, this leads to the ref getting distracted and an insane Triple team move that involves so much I cannot keep up with it. Webb’s in the tree of Woe and Dutt climbs up the ropes and Webb drills him with a snap German suplex, he then gets a Backpack Stunner on B-Boy to get the tag on Messiah. He plays like he’s with them and then attacks them, he hits the Killswitch, a TKO and then an Exploder on Dutt onto B-Boy. Flash hit’s a tope on Eddy and almost lands on the railing, Dutt hits a Tope Con Heelo, Messiah hits a rolling senton of the top onto the group, B-Boy goes for a dive but is hit with a spinning kick and a Shining Wizard. Flash hits the Baba clothes, Messiah with a TKO, Dutt with a springboard Dropkick, Eddy hits a tilt-a-whirl face plant and then B-Boy gets a Shining Wizard for everyone to be down and the fans get up. Flash hits a superplex and floats over into a powerbomb. Messiah get a Implant DDT and Dutt gets the Asai DDT and a 450. Eddy gets the Sexxy-plex. B-Boy is in the Tree of Woe and Webb goes for a springboard moonsault across the ring into a chair, he misses the first time but gets it the second. Flash hits his Last Call leg drop, Dutt gets a moonsault double stomp and B-Boy hits a weird driver on Webb for the win. Just a fantastic match to start the show, a great way to show that CZW isn’t deathmatches and hardcore wrestling.

Larry Sweeney vs. Hallowicked vs. Jigsaw vs. Andy Sumner: Did you know that Sweeney was the ICW-ICWA Texarkana Television Championship 27 times in his career and at this point he was on his 14^th reign. Andy is the odd one out as the other 3 are Chikara guys although Andy was trained when CZW & Chikara shared a school. Andy tries to get involved and is constantly thrown out. Andy gets a Fujiawara armbar on all 3 guys at the same time. We get the Hogan “YOU” from Sweeney. A lighter version of Total Elimination by Larry & Wicked on Jig. Oh it’s suddenly tags. Larry pays tribute to the Iron Sheik with the Camel Clutch and we find out that Eric Gargiulo managed Sheiky baby at one point. Wicked & Jig did an inverted Ode to the Bulldogs that clears the ring and Wicked gets a Fisherman suplex into a powerbomb called the Graveyard Smash on Jig for the win. A fun little match here with Sweeney being the highlight.

Justice Pain w/Dewey Donovan vs. El Generico: Pain is getting some kicks in he tries one Generico catches it but Pain gets a jawbreaker in a unique spot. Pain gets dropkicked off the apron, does a dive fake and then hits a twisting plancha. Generico goes for a leap frog and Pain goes for a flapjack but Generico seems to be rolling over so he lands weird on it. Pain does a spinebuster but adds a kick on the way down. Pain hits a powerbomb and adds an elbow on the way down. A very nice STF by Pain. They fight on the outside and Pain hits a Belly to Belly over the railing onto the chairs. They’re fighting through the fans and the camera turns around when Pain is using drinks as weapons. Pain gets thrown into the post and Generico does his diving Tornado DDT between the bottom ropes. Pain reverses the Brainbuster with a very high German suplex, it looked great. Generico throws a chair and it stays on Pain’s head and he adds 2 Yazuka kicks for a near fall. Pain hits a Pain Thriller on 3 open chairs for the win, Pain has a reputation of being reckless and in the finish it showed as he just dumped Generico with no care. Very good match here but it had Generico in it so it was always going to be good.

Nick Gage (c) w/Dewey Donovan vs. DJ Hyde vs. Danny Havoc-Panes of Glass for the Ultraviolent Underground Title: It’s the Boss man or the guy who now owns CZW, DJ Hyde. Danny has a crazy afro here and it would go crazier as the year went on. Gage is jumped to start. Danny hits a headbutt and busts DJ open, they trade headbutts and DJ hits a roaring version to end it. DJ hits a suplex onto the upright railing on gage, Danny then hits a cockscrew moonsault onto Hyde on the outside. Looks like Danny was busted open earlier as well. Lots of dangerous chair shots between the 3. DJ powerbombs Danny through a slated table the opposite way that it’s meant to be set up aka all the metal up instead of down. DJ just kills Danny with sick chops and kicks and Gage comes in and hits 2 boot scrapes. DJ Belly to Bellys Gage into a pane of glass. DJ hits a lariat on Danny which turns him inside out. Gage hits the Chokebreaker on Danny, then sets up the pane of glass on 4 open chairs and hits a second rope piledriver for the win. DJ then hits 2 shadow drivers after on Danny just because. Just a deathmatch here, Danny was nothing but a punching bag here but he wasn’t long in the business so it made sense.

Kevin Steen (c) vs. Super Dragon for the CZW Iron Man Title: Steen cuts a promo and the ROH fans chant “Over rated” funny seeing how much they love him at the moment. The promo is basically Steen choosing ROH over CZW and begging ROH for a job. Match starts with Dragon hitting the Suicide Heelo. Their PWG feud is mentioned here adding importance to this match a bit. Steen hits Samoa Joe’s Ole Kick. They get back in the ring and both try for their finishers but fail, it ends with a Curb Stomp by Dragon always a mean looking move. Dragon misses a shoulder block and hits the ring post. Dragon is placed on the 2^nd rope and Steen hits a double stomp and follows it with a double knee Vader bomb. I can imagine it was hard to work in the Super Dragon gear literally has no room to breathe. Steen gets a double knee facebuster and a senton for a 2. Dragon gets little bits of offence here and there but Steen keeps cutting him off. Steen is doing pushups and Dragon goes in with a double stomp. Dragon slings over the top and hits a double stomp while Steen’s head is hanging off the apron. Dragon hits a beautiful top rope senton for a 2 count. Steen gets a gutbuster and a swanton for a near fall. BJ Whitmer than interferes, Steen gets the Package Piledriver and a 450 for the win. BJ and Dragon were a focal point of the CZW/ROH feud at the time. Necro comes in for the save but gets attacked and is apparently injured by the 2 of them.

Cheech vs. Cloudy vs. Derek Frazier (c) vs. Niles Young vs. Sabian vs. Heretic-Ladder match for CZW Jr. Heavyweight title: The title is stupidly high up and as the ring announcer says “The belt up there”. Cloudy comes out to “Hollow back girl” and I hate him for that. Everything breaks down earlier, Sabian goes for a tope con heelo but his hands stay on the ropes and he goes nowhere and hits no one. Everyone tries to climb one ladder when it’s set up. We get partly Cloudy with a chance of Cheech on Heretic, the duo are a team and start doing double teams until Cheech turns on Cloudy and hits a pumphandle suplex onto a ladder. Sabian makes a sandwich with Cheech & Niles between ladders and hits a senton. Derek hits a weird piledriver with arms being trapped on Heretic and then hits a legdrop with a ladder between his legs in a painful spot. Cloudy hits an Ace Crusher off a ladder on Derek. Cheech is attacking the legs of guys as it makes it difficult to climb. Heretic hits a fisherman buster on a ladder to Sabian. Sabian does Low Ki’s double stomp on Heretic while he’s on a ladder. Derek hits a 360 Killswitch which looked very nice. Cheech puts a sleeper on Niles on top of the ladder, Cloudy hits Cheech with a ladder and the ladder starts to give way. Niles is laying on a ladder that is laying on the ropes and Derek hits a crossbody off a ladder. Sabian always comes off as the most legit angry man in his matches, he always looks pissed off. Heretic does a hanging snapmare driver onto a chair to Derek in a sick spot. Niles hits a stage dive onto Sabian through a table on the outside. Cloudy hits the Canadian Destroyer on Cheech on a ladder that’s set up on the railing and the apron. Sabian is than handcuffed to the ring post. Derek gets an ugly Cash flow of the ladder through a table allowing Niles to sneak in and quickly grab the title for the win. Pretty much just a stunt show here but still entertaining, basically these 6 came out and killed each other to get the fans.

BLK Out (Eddie Kingston & Ruckus) & Necro Butcher vs. Generation Next (Austin Aries, Roderick Strong & Matt Sydal): Fans are super hot from the get go. Starts as a 3-on-2 as Joker was meant to team with BLK Out but had to miss the shows due to Military commitments. Ruckus and Matt start off. Ruckus rolls through a move into a handstand, Matt tries to sweep his arms but he flips out and we get a standoff all this looked awesome. King and Strong then in, the two trade chops early. We get the Kaientai pose spot, something that’s not used as much as it should. Necro then comes down evening the sides and the match breaks down. Ruckus hits a shooting star of the apron to Matt. King tries to run to the corner and Aries jumps in and cuts him off. Aries hits a Ric Flair knee, where he rolls through, and goes for the second with the strut but misses. Ruckus hits a handspring cockscrew kick and nails Matt with a cockscrew moonsault from a standing position. Ruckus is cut off as Strong gets his attention and Aries hits a great looking clothesline. Matt hit’s his gorgeous standing moonsault. Aries hits his slingshot cockscrew and then a no hands Lionsault. Aries misses his pendulum elbow, I love that move. Aries pulls Ruckus down but he nips up and hits a Pele kick and tags in Necro. Necro gets a Tiger Driver on Matt but Aries drills him with his turnbuckle dropkick. Strong gets a Sick Kick on King. Strong gets his half nelson back breaker on Necro and then Ruckus. King gets the Backfist to the Future to Matt goes for the pin and Aries gets his kick to the head, followed by Death by Roderick, a brainbuster and a shooting star to King to give Generation Next the win. A really solid main event here and the right choice in winner to help keep the feud going in CZW even though they wouldn’t do too much except have ROH stars in the Best of the Best that year.

Overall: You get the feeling that CZW knew they would get both crowds at this show and wanted to put on a show that proved they were more than just garbage wrestling a stigma they still have to this day. This show was fantastic when it came to in ring work and the deathmatch, Pain/Generico and Ladder match were there to show the CZW fans they weren’t changing. The fans were great all night long and the commentary teams were amazing all night long. Seriously a great show and is still one of the best CZW shows I’ve ever seen. I highly recommend this show to everyone.