CTWE 5th Anniversary Farewell
Bethany, Conn.
Report by Zack Zimmerman

I would put attendance in the range of 350 people. For the most part, this was not a lively crowd. There were spots and workers that they got up for, but overall the lack of atmosphere brought the show down a notch or two. The set was a level above what most indie shows have, with a big screen that played entrance videos. Nice touch. Also, they sold cupcakes there; baked goods at a wrestling show are a win-win situation.

1. Mikey Webb won a 5-way elimination match to become the final CTWE Shooting Star Champion. Typical indie spotfest.

2. Bandido Jr. beat Kristian Frost. Bandido in about 10 minutes with a rope-hung spike DDT.

3. Homicide and Bobby Ocean beat Rhino and Bryan Castle. Rhino hit the crowd-pleasing Gore on Homicide, but got rolled up by Ocean for the loss. Post-match, Rhino gored his partner for a big pop. Rhino was one of the few guys on the show that this crowd got up for.

4. Vladimir Joseph beat Team Shazaam in a 4-on-1 gauntlet match. Joseph was pretty impressive for an out-of-shape big man. He plowed through the first three guys and after some back-and-forth action, got the win with a fireball to the face.

5. Trent? and Derrick Bateman beat Antonio Thomas and Mike Mondo. This was originally scheduled to be a three-way, but Bateman introduced surprise partner Trent right before the match. There were good spots, but overall the match came across as a bit of a mess. There were awkward tags and mistimed spots that even had Trent breaking at points.Trent got the pin on Thomas with his kneeling cradle buster.

Intermission went about 20 minutes and started at the two-hour mark. This was the first indication that the timing and planning of this show had not been well thought out.

6. Team Friendship won a four-way tag match to retain the CTWE Tag Team Championships. This one went twice as long as it needed to. There were bits that got over well, but it overstayed its welcome.

7. Ricky Reyes beat Michael Elgin. Decent back-and-forth match that saw Reyes get the win with a rollup. The crowd was dead so these two didn’t go all-out, but Elgin rarely-if-ever has a bad showing.

8. Eddie Edwards over Johnny Gargano. From what I saw, this was the match of the night. Again, the crowd wasn’t very hot, but these guys are two of the best on the scene and they put together a good 15 minute match that Edwards won when Gargano tapped to the half-crab.

9. Kevin Nash and Bull Dredd beat Platinum Entertainment. Big pop for Nash’s entrance. This was originally a handicapped match, but Nash introduced Dredd as his partner. Dredd wanted to cut a promo, but whoever was managing the show just blared Nash’s music again and played with the lights. Nash was smiling like “Really?” I get that Nash is the draw, but putting this after the previous two matches is a questionable pacing decision. Dredd got the pin on the illegal man after Nash hit the Jackknife.

By this point, the 3 hour and 45 minute mark, about a third of the crowd had filed out. CTWE owner Joey Bricco came to the ring, and rather than noticing that the crowd was exhausted and leaving, carried on with what turned out to be a 15+ minute talking segment in the ring. He talked about why he started CTWE, dropped a bunch of insider language, and made amends with workers he had issues with (storyline-wise).

At 11pm, 4 hours into the show, Northeast Wrestling Champion Brian Anthony came to the ring and announced that N.E.W. would be taking CTWE’s place in Bethany on a monthly basis. They joked about how long the show was running, yet continued to drag the segment out! Unreal! The only show I’ve ever spent four-plus hours at was WrestleMania, and this wasn’t about to be the second. I walked out of a show for the first time in my life. I was not a happy guy. Other indies take notice: put some thought into planning, timing, and pacing your shows. If that means only having seven or eight matches instead of ten, so be it. If it means shaving some time off matches and segments, so be it. This was unacceptable.

10. Lukas Sharpe won a 5-way elimination match to be the final CTWE Heavyweight Champion.

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