August 18, 2012 – Bridgewater, MA
New England Championship returned to the Knight of Columbus in Bridgewater, Massachusetts on Saturday night, August 18th for its 12th anniversary event, HOT AUGUST FIGHT. A sold out crowd was on hand to witness a historic night filled with exciting action.
The opening contest saw the NECW Tag Team Championship contested, as Da Hou$e Party (Cooley K and K Emcee, formerly known as All Money i$ Legal) successfully defended against the duo of Nick Fahrenheit and Nick Westgate.
NECW Promoter, Sheldon Goldberg, came to the ring to address the crowd inBridgewater, and thanked them for all of their support over the past 12 years. He also informed them of some changes to the evening’s line-up, most notably, an injury to NECW Heavyweight Champion, “The Infamous” Bobby Fish.
Due to his injury, Fish elected to relinquish his championship, feeling it to be in the best interest of the fans and NECW. Goldberg announced that at NECW’s next event, taking place on a new champion Friday night, September 14th inBlackstone,Massachusetts, a new champion would be crowned on by way of a one night, four man tournament. He announced that the first two competitors in the tournament would be the man Fish defeated to win the NECW Heavyweight Championship last October, “The Real Deal” Brandon Locke, and the recognized number one contender for the title, Chase Del Monte. Goldberg also stated that the winner of the match later on the evening between Johnny Thunder and Sean Burke would also be entered into the tournament.
“Mr. Fabulous” Tony Ulysses scored a surprising victory over the pride of Blackstone, Tank the Tank.
In the match to determine the next entrant into the NECW Heavyweight Championship Tournament, Johnny Thunder and Sean Burke fought to a draw via double countout. NECW officials ruled that due to the draw, BOTH men would be entered in the tournament and would meet in a rematch in the first round.
Continuing his winning ways in NECW, “The Party Peacock”DaltonCastledefeated the returning former WWE star, Antonio “The Promise” Thomas in a great back-and-forth contest.
NECW Sonic Boom host, Al Basler came to the ring to conduct the contract signing for the next World Women’s Wrestling Championship match. Alexxis Nevaeh would be defending against Adrianna, the woman who has been a thorn in her side since 2012 began. It was announced that they would meet in a Taped Fist Match to take place on Saturday night, November 10th inBridgewater. Both champion and challenger had some choice words for each other before signing on the dotted line. After the match was made official, both women went nose to nose until Adrianna threw her drink in Nevaeh’s face. This momentarily stunned the champion and allowed the challenger to floor her with a thunderous right hand. Adrianna removed the glove to reveal her taped fist.
Chase Del Monte continued on his path toward the NECW Heavyweight Championship by picking up a victory over “The Boston Bad Boy” Jason Rumble with an assist from one of Rumble’s fiercest rivals. “Mr. Fabulous” Tony Ulysses came to ringside and took a page out of Adrianna’s book by tossing his beverage into the eyes of Rumble. This allowed Del Monte to hit his devastating Cradle Piledriver for the win.
In the main event for the evening, the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship was on the line in Stage 5 of the Seven Levels of Hate, a Dog Collar Match. In a brutal bout that saw both men decimate each other with18 feetof steel chain, champion “Scrap Iron” Adam Pearce retained the legendary10 poundsof leather and gold against Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana. Pearce, at one point in the series down three matches to zero, left Cabana defeated and heavily bloodied in the middle of the ring. This pulls the historic best of seven series to 3-2 infavor of Cabana as it shifts to Stage 6 on September 30th in Oregon.
NECW returns to live action on Friday night, September 14th in Blackstone for Fall In For Glory, which will feature the tournament the determine the next NECW Heavyweight Champion, Blackstone’s own Tank the Tank, and more!
Photo credit: Christine Coons