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MANIAK MOMENTS |
EPISODE 9: MATCH 5 |
Episode: 9 Match: 5
*World Enterprise Title Match*
(c) Chase Richards vs. MACHINE
Event: POWERTRIP
Date: 04/26/02
Duration: 27:42
(*Audio Disclaimer: The audio is jacked up. It’s probably best to watch it with the audio up to a lower level. If you adjust a little, it works and you can still hear some commentary, the crowd, and the bump sounds. This is a horror of dealing with old VHS tapes. I suppose it’s good that I’m transferring these over to some form of digital copy before these tapes turn to ash or something. Sorry about that, but it’s still definitely worth checking out. *)
I have to just flat out say that this was one of the best matches in MEW history. It’s a rematch to what I consider my favorite MEW match. At the show before this we saw Chase Richards surprise the world, and by world I mean all 130-150 if we’re being extra generous people. The whole deal was that Chase was commentating because he was out with an injury after a pretty bad car accident. Mostly everyone thought he’d never wrestle again, but for some reason we decided to try to keep the fact that he was returning quiet from the fans and the locker room itself. Meanwhile, Cade Lee, Tank, and Chayne Wylde formed an alliance as they beat down Tristin Hayze. Chase comes in and joins them! Before we know it, it’s Chase vs. Machine, I become a bad guy, Chase becomes champion, and collectively we’re teamed up and called “The Establishment”. For a stable that was so short-lived, it was a pretty damn cool little group. The chaos otherwise was awesome, but the match itself was awesome. It went 40-plus minutes and they tore it down. There are matches and moments I never get tired of, but but that match was easily my favorite match in MEW history. THIS is the rematch to that. It had a lot to live up to. The main difference in this match is that I’m at ringside and heeling it out. If you look past how freaking annoying I am, this match is awesome. In the four or so years MEW lasted, we had four champs and here are two of them. The venue is small as hell, the crowd isn’t close to 100, and despite the religious artifacts and icons placed all over this Knights of Columbus the crowd is clearly on the side of the devil in this match. None of this mattered. Chase and Machine went out there like it was the main event to a WWF PPV at MSG. To me, moments and matches like this in MEW are what made the experience worth it. It’s crazy. This would be the last main event for awhile as MEW went on hiatus until December in 02. So maybe with all this, there was an added tension that made the match that much more special. Maybe it was perceived as a “last hurrah” of sorts. In many ways it was. After this show, when we came back there was a certain innocence to MEW that wasn’t there anymore. Some would probably say it’s because I brought Showtime, Lexington, Twist, Kerisa, etc. back, but I don’t think it was that. I think it was the fact the doors got more open to Chicago workers as opposed to our home guys. I love most of who we worked with, but it wasn’t the same. MEW had this loose cannon/“anything can happen” vibe crossed with an “Our Gang” type of spunky charm. This is what makes this match special. It’s the last hurrah of the first era of MEW. You never forget your first.
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