Photos Courtesy of Allan Barrie From Larry Goodman: Empire Wresting presented their megashow of the year, “Tooth and Nail 4” at the E...
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| Photos Courtesy of Allan Barrie |
Empire Wresting presented their megashow of the year, “Tooth and Nail 4” at the Empire Arena and knocked it out of the park.
And I do mean presented. “Tooth and Nail 4” was dramatic storytelling on a grand scale by indy wrestling standards, complete with multiple well-produced video packages, a mock Wrestlemania type entrance and a sprinkling of comedy.
All three Empire championships changed hands in intriguing, swerve-filled fashion.
Empire doesn’t have the most talented roster in the state (Anarchy has a lock on that honor). Empire gets the most out of the talent that they have. Any promotion would kill to have three babyfaces as over as Gunner Miller, Joey Lynch and Logan Alvey. Andrew Alexander has a knack for developing compelling, long-arcing stories, and he outdid himself at Tooth and Nail 4.
Attendance was a hot 200. The Empire fans are into the product like nobody’s business.
Preshow --
Reverend Dan Wilson did a live podcast of The Midnight Black Mass, which was a fan Q & A with commissioner/matchmaker Alexander.
(1)Rush defeated Kyle Matthews in 11 minutes. You know it’s a deep card when Matthews is relegated to the pre-show. Since returning from his shoulder injury, Matthews has been something of a nomad, putting people over wherever he goes. Rush is a serviceable and nasty looking heel who gets good heat. The finish saw Matthews reverse Rush’s finisher with a sunset flip, but Rush sat down on it for the three count. Decent match.
A video of White Rose (Chip Day & Corey Hollis & Ryan Vega) attacking Tank was shown.
Video - Special referee Alexander explained the rules of the main event cage match (win by pinfall, submission or escape and no stoppage for any reason). Alexander also said he had not heard from Ace Rockwell (scheduled to compete in the number one contender’s match). Mr. Sports Entertainment (Jay Clinton) entered begging Alexander for a spot on the show. After saying “no” a thousand times, Alexander relented. Funny stuff. White Rose entered. Vega said they should be in the main event. Alexander said he was in charge and that wasn’t happening.
A Tooth and Nail 4 video package opened the main show.
(2) Matt Fortune defeated Champion Gunner Miller and Johnny Viper pinning Viper to win the Empire Junior Championship in 9:59. Viper has turned babyface but you couldn’t tell it from the crowd reaction. They only cared about Miller. Fortune paid for running mouth and went to the outside to lick his wounds. Miller pulled off the Air Mexico suicide dive and did that ever look great. Miller gave Fortune an electric chair german suplex and press-slammed Viper on top of him. After Viper hit a doomsday device spear on Fortune all three were down. Viper speared Fortune and crawled for the cover, but Fortune rolled a shoulder. Viper ducked Miller’s wild haymakers and responded with pathetic blows. Miller speared the hell out of Viper. Fortune blocked referee Guy Brandon’s hand at the count of two and slapped the mat himself. Thinking he had won, Miller went to retrieve the title belt while Fortune covered Viper for win. Miller was super impressive here. He’s got explosive power and strength. Transitions are weak but that will come with time. The finish was a clever way to get the belt off of Miller without hurting his standing one iota.
Video - Alexander said he was going to be fair and impartial. Matthews advised Alexander not to do anything he would regret.
Ring announcer Gabe Walters said he had been informed that Rockwell was not in the building.
Video - Tempers congratulated Cabal stablemate Fortune on winning the title.
(3) The Youngbloodz (Octavious Black & Spoony Mack) defeated The Hatriots (Eli Thompson & Jason Hampton) via DQ in 10:35. Mack’s punches were horrible. He was the most egregious offender but he wasn’t alone in having the problem of quantity instead of quality with the strikes. Hatriots isolated Mack. The match broke down to mass confusion after the tag. Black hit Greetings from Asbury Park on Thompson. Hampton hit a double underhook DDT on Black. Mack botched a sliced bread on Hampton. Mack double stomped Hampton as Hatriots were being held by Black. After all of the hot moves, Hampton was DQed for giving Black a low blow.
Postmatch - Hatriots put nooses around the necks of Youngbloodz and tried to hang them over the top rope. “Try” being the operative word as Youngbloodz feet were never off the ground. A lousy match that the crowd didn’t seem to care about and a lame racist angle made this segment the black eye of the show. At least it came early and could be easily forgotten.
A video depicted the incident from the March 7 event in which Tempers burned Rockwell’s eyes by shoving him into the candles during Rev’s Midnight Black Mass. Cut to Alexander and Rockwell in the waiting room of the hospital for the birth of Rockwell’s first child. Rockwell’s eyes were bandaged. Alexander asked Rockwell about his eyes and whether Tempers had reached out to him. Rockwell’s reply was inaudible. The video closed with the baby being placed in Rockwell’s arms and Rockwell being unable to see his child.
Mr. Sports Entertainment made his grand entrance with various glow products attached to his body and announced that the “Mr. Sports Entertainment Invitational Dance Party” was about to commence. Mr. Sports’ dance routine was indescribably hilarious. Mr. Sports invited Bane Lynch to take a turn. Bane said he couldn’t dance. Referee Brandon gave it the glow stick dance a shot. The crowd voted with their applause and naturally Brandon was the winner.
White Rose confronted Mr. Sports, then turned their attention to Bane and smoked him with a triple superkick. Mr. Sports E tried to suck up to White Rose. That didn’t stop them from giving him the same treatment. Hollis said that is what happens when you step in a ring belonging to White Rose.
Video - White Rose were in a car tailing Tank and his daughter. They attacked Tank as he got out of the car and got him down on his knees. Tank told them to make it good and White Rose left him laying in his driveway with a triple superkick.
Back to the now – Vega told the story of Abraham taking Isaac to altar because he was a man of faith. He said White Rose were men of faith. They sacrificed Tank who was a martyr for nothing. The refs came out to get White Rose out of the ring. Ha ha. They put a beatdown on the kid ref and destroyed his face with a triple superkick. White Rose wasn’t finished. Corey Coxx hit the ring to protect the kid. White Rose made Coxx beg for the kid’s life. Coxx did and they left to great heat. The talking by White Rose didn’t do much for me, but their actions got it across that these were cruel, sadistic punks worthy of hatred.
Bobby Hayes said it wasn’t his fault Rockwell was hurt. This night was a year and a half in the making, and he was going to earn his shot at the Empire Championship. Hayes called for somebody an opponment. The crowd chanted “Gunner”. Hayes ordered the ref to start a 10 count and the crowd went absolutely bonkers when Miller came out.
(4) Gunner Miller defeated Bobby Hayes in 15 seconds to become the number one contender for the Empire Heavyweight Championship. Hayes hit Miller with a few punches and Miller speared him for a pop that blew the roof off the building. Miller has big league potential.
Hayes threw a fit, flipping the ringsteps and throwing chairs and table into ring while fans chanted “Gunner Miller” at him.
(5) Double Dragons (KT Hamill & Keith Hamill) defeated Wild Stallyns (Chris Ganz & Corey Coxx) to win their best of five series 3-0 and become the new Empire Tag Team Champions in 13:14. The ref, who vaguely resembles a broken down version of former UN ambassador John Bolton, called for the bell with all four in the ring. Stallyns hit a finisher right off bat and almost had it won in the first minute. KT’s chops had some mustard on them. He was in another league compared to the other guys in this match. Keith instigated a four-way tower of doom that made no sense since his brother was going to get the worst of it. KT almost died on a pescado when Ganz pulled the ropes down. Coxx did a turnbuckle dive onto his partner and KT. So much for psychology. Ganz hit a springboard move to save Coxx from being pinned. The ref had to hold up on the count on that one. Ganz did a rana off the top but KT rolled through to score a near fall. The pivotal moment came when Ganz injured his knee on a twisting dive to the floor. Dragons were horrified since the teams had been on friendly terms. Or so it appeared. Dragons posted Coxx and rolled Ganz into the ring to cover him. Ganz kicked out so Dragons hit their top rope elbow/DDT to finish him off. I liked this match in spite of the screwy aspects. KT is an unpredictable dynamo and really fun to watch. It had the element of surprise with Double Dragons turning and winning the series in three straight.
Postmatch - Dragons used the belts on Stallyns and KT did flying stomp onto Ganz’ injured knee.
(6) Joey Lynch defeated Empire owner Drew Delite two out of three falls in 24:12. The back story was that Delite did not believe Lynch was championship caliber. Huge pop for Lynch’s entrance Delite feigned an eye injury. Lynch lowered his guard and Delite won the first fall in just 1:36 with a fireman’s carry faceplant and a superkick. Delite had Lynch pinned several times during the second fall but kept pulling him up before the three count. Delite applied a sleeper. Lynch got to the ropes. Delite ordered referee Brandon to ring the bell because Lynch was out. Brandon refused. As the argument ensued, Lynch rolled Delite up to win the second fall at the 10 minute mark. They flipped into high gear for the third fall. Both men busted out the big moves with Lynch displaying tremendous fire and resiliency. Lynch folded Delite like a tent with a wicked powerbomb. Delite withstood a variation of the Indian Deathlock. Lynch tried for the Canadian Destroyer and Delite countered with Kryptonite Krunch but Lynch kicked out. Delite hit the combo that won him the first fall and Lynch kicked out again. Delite hit a sitout faceplant off the top and both were down. They traded from their knees. Lynch hit the Canadian Destroyer, but Delite rolled to the floor before Lynch could make the cover. Lynch posted Delite and said this was his house. The back and forth built to Lynch taking a full rotation bump on a german suplex off the top rope. Lynch caught Delite’s superkick and applied the deathlock and Delite tapped. This match way exceeded my expectations. They told a great story, and the third fall was something else. Lynch is quite the athlete.
The crowd was nuts for Lynch after the match and he milked it like a top babyface should.
An Alvey training video was shown prior to the main event. Tempers entered to a shower of the Temptation spray from an squad of minions. The odor got so thick that they had to open the bay door to air the place out.
(7) Logan Alvey defeated Shaun Tempers (with Steve Dave) in a steel cage match to win the Empire Heavyweight Championship in 20:13. Tempers punched Alvey with the mic and they were off and running. After repeated shots into the cage, Tempers’ face was crimson mask by the three minute mark. Tempers kept trying to climb out. Alvey would have none of that. Alvey blocked the hangman neckbreaker and got a close near fall. Alvey showed great fire on his comebacks. Dave went crazy when Alvey kicked out of the Tiger Driver. The crowd chanted for Logan as Tempers pounded him in frustration. Alvey kicked out of the hangman neckbreaker at ONE. Tempers and Alexander were both in shock. Dave spray Alvey in the eyes with the Temptation spray. Alexander ejected Dave, but the blindeded Alvey gave Alexander a Rockbottom. Dave fished the keys out of Alexander’s pocket and unlocked the cage door. Dave tried to clock Alvey with the belt and got planted with a Rockbottom for a huge pop. Alvey Rockbottomed Tempers but Alexander was still down. Alvey revived Alexander. Alexander was tempted to do something to Alvey but thought better of it. Alvey kicked out of a second hangman neckbreaker. Tempers got into with Alexander. Alexander punched Tempers and Alvey schoolboyed him for a very close near fall. Alvey barely kicked out of a belt shot from Tempers. Bad spot as Alvey bumped too soon. Alexander got the belt out of the cage. Alexander stopped Tempers from exiting through the cage door. Tempers slugged Alexander and made a beeline for the top of the cage. With the crowd behind him huge, Alvey cut Tempers off as he was straddling the top of the cage. Alvey hit a Rockbottom off the top rope and pinned Tempers. They had been building to this for a long time, and the pop for Alvey winning the title was unreal. Alvey is not a polisher performer by any means, but he had the right opponent and they told another terrific story with all kinds of twists and turns. The false finishes were really sweet.
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