EMC’s “Rumble at the Lodge” Recap Apr. 28th

New EMC Champion Shaun Ricker has a Big Nasty challenge June 30th

BTWNCHAOSNORDER’S gives a recap of  Elite Masters of Combat “Rumble at the Lodge” at the Masonic Temple Lodge #305, Monrovia CA, April 28th 2012.

A relatively large crowd was on hand for this first event of this new promotion, held at the same new venue as DCW. Sketch Orchestra performed first before the first match of the night, and I kinda liked their last piece, which was their spin on the classic Super Mario Bros. theme song.

* That rolled into Johnny Yuma & Kadin Anthony coming out to praise the band for coming out to perform. However, the two of them had quite the conflict with their mic time, so to speak, and a brawl ensued that rolled into the opening match.

1 – Kadin Anthony p. Johnny Yuma w/ a Schoolboy Cover, w/ his feet on the middle ropes that was not caught by Referee Justin Borden, countering the Sex Factor.

* Lovin’ Nick Lovin comes out next, issuing an open challenge, since he didn’t have an opponent scheduled on the card. Answering it was….Extreme Loco.

2 – Extreme Loco p. Lovin’ Nick Lovin w/ the Chokeslam.

3 – 8-man tag team action. Jarek Matthews, SoCal Crazy, & Fresh 2 Death (Leo Blaze & Josh Rozay) def. James Morgan, Big Duke, Gregory Sharpe, & Christian Kelly(?). Leo Blaze or Josh Rozay scored the pin on Gregory Sharpe w/ what looked like a Modified F5 or Spinning Facebuster. One of the best matches on the undercard.

4 – Peter Avalon rolled up & pinned Ric Ellis, w/ a handful of tights, after evading Ric Ellis’ Flying Headbutt from the top rope.

5 – Title match between Epic War Champion Markus Riot (a.k.a. Jacob Diez, w/ Gary Yap) vs. Joey Ryan ended in a No Contest, when Anchors Away ran in and attacked both men. That led into an impromptu tag team match.

6 – Markus Riot & Joey Ryan def. Anchors Away (David E. Jones & Ryan Stone) when Markus Riot p. David E. Jones w/ a Piledriver. Ryan Stone got quite the cut on the bridge of his nose during what was a great mid card match.

7 – After intermission, which featured the music of TUSK, Flex Owen (w/ Heather Lynn) p. Sunami w/ what looked like a Leg Sweep into a Neckbreaker. For some reason, though, Heather Lynn had a sense of sympathy w/ Sunami.

SM – Battle royal to determine the #1 Contender to the EMC Championship. About 25-men were in this Royal Rumble style match, w/ a 30-sec. interval. Final 6 were: Eric Watts, Kyle Webb, SoCal Crazy, Ricky Mandel, Ric Ellis, & Ridiculoso. Kyle Webb eliminated Ridiculoso first, then hit his high drop kick on Ric Ellis to eliminate him from the top rope, only to get eliminated himself by Ricky Mandel. Ricky, though, got eliminated by Eric Watts, who went on to eliminate SoCal Crazy last to win the match & the title shot.

M – Triple threat match to crown the first ever EMC Champion. Shaun Ricker def. Willie Mack & Brandon Gatson when he hit the Gravy Boat on Willie Mack for the title-clinching pin. Eric Watts then hit the ring, and both big men had a staredown to close the show en route to their upcoming encounter on the 6/30 show, the week after the DCW show at the same venue.

New EMC Champion has a Big Nasty challenge 6/30

For more shots from the show, visit my gallery here.