Empire State Wrestling celebrates twenty years with big anniversary bash
Twenty years have passed since Western New York’s premier independent promotion first set up the ring and opened the doors at the Elks Lodge in Niagara Falls, New York back in 2002. Since then, Empire State Wrestling has brought high quality indie wrestling and nationally known in-ring performers to the Western New York area. From the beginning, to the long run at the St. Johnsburg fire hall in North Tonawanda, New York, to Saturday night, August 13th’s 20th anniversary event at Buffalo Riverworks that drew at least three hundred fans, there was a lot to celebrate at ESW 20.
For 20, ESW took over one of the outdoor rinks at Riverworks, providing a unique backdrop for such a special occasion as the city of Buffalo skyline looked on in the distance.
A look at Buffalo Riverworks from outside the venue
Ring announcer extraordinaire Chris Gullo, sporting a delightful pair of white dress shoes, kicked off the night’s festivities by welcoming the crowd to ESW 20. The long time in-ring voice of ESW announced that before the main card was to begin, the crowd would be treated to an unannounced pre-show match between veteran ESW wrestler Jerk Cockins and Colton Charles, who was making his ESW debut.
Chris Gullo addresses the ESW faithful as ESW 20 gets underway.
Early on in this match, Colton Charles took the upper hand and showed off his intense strength, holding Jerk up in a vertical suplex for nearly a minute. Cockins would fight back though, albeit not very valiantly, and was able to sneak out of 20 with a win after using the ropes for leverage to illegally assist the pinfall, with the dastardly maneuver being missed by the referee.
From top: Colton Charles grabs a hold of Jerk Cockins as he tries to pull away; Jerk Cockins drops Colton Charles with a DDT
The second bout of the night featured a high stakes stipulation. “Invincible” Vince Valor would put his Ilio DiPaolo Cup on the line against Leon St. Giavinni, better known in the wrestling world as LSG. Valor won the cup back in November at WrestleBash XI, giving him the opportunity to “cash in” and challenge for the ESW Title at any time. Valor sustained an arm injury heading into the big bout so he had the cards stacked against him from the get-go. LSG was able to take advantage of Valor’s injury early and often, wearing down the injured arm and leaving Valor writhing in pain. Valor withstood a great deal of punishment but continued to hang tough, even pulling off his arm bandage at one point to get full use of his injured arm, sacrificing further injury for more flexibility. The match’s outcome was in doubt throughout, with LSG pulling out all the stops, laying into Valor on the floor and even taking to the air. But Valor remained defiant, eventually gaining the upper hand and flipping LSG the bird before hitting a Death Valley Driver and retaining the Ilio DiPaolo Cup.
From top: LSG taunts the Buffalo crowd; LSG lands a big German suplex on Vince Valor; LSG takes flight in a bid to capture the Ilio DiPaolo Cup
Gavin Glass and Space Monkey met in the card’s third match. Glass made his way out to the ring wearing a gorilla mask, mocking the masked fan favorite Space Monkey. The first stare down between the two wrestlers resulted in Space Monkey appearing to pick some bugs from Gavin Glass’s head that he would proceed to eat as monkeys are known to do. We actually captured that exchange on video and you can check it out here. Glass came out flying early on with Space Monkey eventually gaining the advantage after landing an awesome dive to the outside of the ring over top of the referee. Space Monkey’s high flying athleticism took over from there and Monkey was able to wrap things up with a tail whip.
From top: Gavin Glass makes his entrance wearing a gorilla mask; Space Monkey collects bananas that have been gifted to him by the crowd
The next bout of the night was between Kevin Bennett and James Sayga, two of the best local wrestlers based in the Buffalo area and ESW veterans. We were able to grab some extensive highlights from this match, which you can check out as part of the video package below. Bennett was accompanied to the ring by ESW alumni tag team The Oliver Street Express and they certainly made their presence felt throughout the match. Sayga did the best he could to fight off all three men but in the end it just became too much. Bennett used the referee as a weapon, bumping him into the ropes to jostle Sayga from the top turnbuckle, leading James to land crotch first on the top rope. From there, Bennett hit a top rope cutter and that was all she wrote.
The night’s first title match was up next on the slate with the longest reigning Interstate Champion in ESW history, Frankie Feathers, defending his belt against Alec Price, a young rising star who has been touring all across the United States East Coast indie scene, making appearances for Game Changer Wrestling, Beyond Wrestling, and Limitless Wrestling where he’s the current Limitless World Champion. Price came to the ring wearing a custom Price 99 Mighty Ducks jersey and instantly drew the ire of the fans on hand, getting the complete opposite reaction of the fan favorite Frankie Feathers. But in the ring, there was no doubting Price’s skill and it was soon clear that Frankie Feathers was in for his toughest test as Interstate Champion yet. The Prize City OG showed off outstanding athleticism and unique offense throughout the match, yelling to the crowd on one occasion “I’m that good.” As good as Price was, Frankie Feathers did come close to retaining his belt after landing a spinning kick counter to the head that lead to a near fall. But Price really was just too good, eventually connecting on his awesome SuPrize Kick and winning the ESW Interstate Championship, ending the record setting reign of Frankie Feathers. After the match, American Strong Style hit the ring and beat down on the already down and out Frankie Feathers. Vince Valor made the save and challenged American Strong Style to tag team match for the upcoming October show.
The ESW Tag Team titles were on the line in the next match as tag team champions High Seas (Nick Ando and Cloudy) defended their belts against MSP (DangerKid and Aiden Aggro) who were making their ESW debut. The charisma that MSP put on display during their ring entrance made them instant crowd favorites with the ESW faithful. To keep that energy going, Aiden Aggro kept catching Cloudy in compromising situations to start off the match, forcing one half of the tag team champions to dance in the ring to the delight of the crowd. MSP then proceeded to show off their polish as a tag team, hitting all sorts of tandem offense. Cloudy and Nick Ando, on the other hand, used distractions and questionable tactics to continuously gain the upper hand behind the referee’s back. Cloudy and Nick Ando were able to isolate DangerKid in the ring using these techniques, setting up for a tandem top rope low blow headbutt that Aiden Aggro was able to break up just in time, leading to the champions landing the headbutt on each other. Aggro was then able to hit the ring after DangerKid was finally able to tag out. Aiden cleared the ring and it looked like the ESW Tag Team Championships were just about to change hands. However, as MSP set up for a tandem top rope senton, the wily tag team champions were able to cause the move to backfire, following it up with a combination slingshot into a powerbomb to retain the belts.
From top: High Seas makes their entrance; Aiden Aggro forces Cloudy to dance; MSP hits a double team move on “Captain” Nick Ando
Following an intermission, Mane Event took on To Infinity and Beyond. Waves and Curls were originally scheduled as To Infinity and Betond’s opponents but a scheduling conflict caused a last minute change. Waves and Curls has instead been announced for the upcoming October 8th ESW show. This was the perfect match to come back from the break with as both tag teams were full of energy. Colin Delaney made his entrance and immediately took off into the crowd to hype up the fans. Cheech was flying around like usual and was involved in a lot of air-based offense. The match was high paced and full of fun spots. At one point, Jay Lyon of Mane Event did a dive to the outside as Ringleader Midas held a lion tamer hoop in place for Lyon to jump through. To Infinity and Beyond wound up putting away Mane Event after powerbombing them on top of each other from the top rope.
Plenty of ESW alumni were on hand for the next match, the lumberjack match between Gregory Iron and Vinnie Moon. The alumni served as the lumberjacks and were hands on throughout the match. Oliver Street Express were ringside again and consistently took liberties against Vinnie Moon any time he was outside of the ring, making their presence felt. Former ESW Champion Will Calrissian also stood out at ringside as he originally brought an axe out to the ring and had it wrestled out of his hands by several officials in a hilarious struggle. He was completely unhinged the entire match and a lot of fun to watch. This match was made after Gregory Iron bailed on his last meeting with Vinnie Moon and willingly took a count out loss. The lumberjacks had to keep Iron from doing the same thing early on and forcibly carried him back down the entrance ramp into the ring. Gregory Iron ended up decking Vinnie Moon with his obviously-loaded fanny pack after the aforementioned axe made it into the ring and caused a distraction, stealing a win from the young star. Iron got on the microphone after his win, calling out the ESW roster and saying that everyone was now going to get “the real Gregory Iron.” ESW legend Johnny Puma answered Iron’s challenging, getting a big roar from the crowd. Puma would then clear Gregory Iron out of the ring and lead the ESW alumni in an anniversary celebration. We caught the entire exchange between Puma and Gregory Iron and you can check that out here or in the highlights video above.
Rachael Ellering would make her ESW debut next, taking on fan favorite Christina Marie. Both ladies possess a great deal of power and they showed that off in the match. The action eventually spilled out of the ring, leading to some brawling on the floor. After some back and forth, Christina Marie caught Rachael in a tight roll up that she couldn’t kick out of. To the delight of the fans, Christina Marie snuck out a victory and she continues to grow in popularity amongst the Buffalo fans.
The night’s third and final tag team match came next with the team of Edge of Hope (Cerin Rahne & Jeremiah Richter) duking it out with The Rad Boyz, Braden Elliott and Jake Wily. Richter showed off his size and strength throughout the match as Cerin Rahne was opportunistic and did a good job of complimenting his offense with his partner’s size. The Rad Boyz took to the sky when they were able to, at one point hitting a simultaneous frog splash and top rope elbow drop from opposite sides of the ring. But Richter’s size was just too much and that was apparent after Richter connected on a chokeslam and fed his opponent to his partner for a follow up codebreaker, giving Edge of Hope the win.
Finally, it was time for the night’s main event. Jake Something made it out to the ring first, looking in top physical shape. The ESW Heavyweight Champion came next, with Kevin Blackwood getting the best crowd reaction of the night. The Aesthetic Crippler used his technical skill early on to grind and wear down the larger Jake Something and keep the big man on the mat. But Blackwood couldn’t keep Something on the mat all match, and Jake flashed some impressive power moves including a torture rack slam that he used to bury Blackwood. Blackwood fought hard though, using fierce strikes and kicks to weaken the challenger. To close things out, the champion took to the top rope and landed a Meteora-esque standing double stomp on Jake Something. That was enough to put the challenger away and Blackwood retained, getting another great ovation from the crowd. But Blackwood’s celebration was short lived as Kevin Bennett made his way out to the ring, accompanied again by Oliver Street Express. Bennett let the crowd on hand know that he would be ESW Champion if he hadn’t gotten injured and was now going to go after the ESW Heavyweight Championship, likely setting up a matchup between Blackwood at Bennet at the next ESW show, set for October 8th.
Empire State Wrestling will be back in action on October 8th. Few details are available for this event thus far but be sure to stay tuned to WrestleMap and the ESW Facebook and Twitter pages for further updates.
