Day #1 - 09/01/2020!

We open up with a picture of Vlad Blackheart. The intro to “See You Again” by Charlie Puth fades in. It is joined with the voice of New Frontier Wrestling CEO, Steven Brody.


A slideshow of Vlad starts to play. Scenes of him in and out of the ring, clips of him performing, pictures of him with friends and family all rotate as the lyrics of the song start.



The slideshow switches to clips and scenes from the last two Vlad Blackheart memorial tournaments.


The scene changes to the logo for this year’s tournament.

“Ladies and Gentlemen” by Saliva replaces “See You Again” as clips of this year’s entrants play. All twenty men and women have their moment to be featured. The scene then fades into the packed Collision Center.


Andrew Payne: This is it, ladies and gents! We’re live at the NFW Collision Center in Chicago, Illinois and it is going down, right here! The Vlad Blackheart Memorial Tournament! Third year running!

Matt Salvatore: And for the third year in a row, it’s being run a little differently.

Andrew Payne: Yeah, you’re not wrong, man. Our first year it was reserved for the men’s roster. Our second year, we held it parallel to the Queen of the Frontier Tournament for the women’s roster. This year, it’s our first intergender tournament. Hello, I’m Andrew Payne. I’m joined by Matt Salvatore. We’re here to bring you play by play commentary on the action as this tournament takes place over the course of this month.

Matt Salvatore: Twenty men and women are gonna be competing for a chance to headline Wrestle War XVII against the top champion of their brand. We could see the winner taking on Undisputed Champion, Cali-Kate or World Heavyweight Champion, Danni Anderson. Which one’s it gonna be? We’ll find out, won’t we Andy?

Andrew Payne: We definitely will, Matt. A Block begins tonight, but first we’re gonna kick things off with some tag team action, featuring the competitors of B Block. You ready, Matt?

Matt Salvatore: I’m ready, Andy. Let’s kick the festivities off, proper! Take it away, Roger Arden!

Well, to call this one a “tag team match” would have been somewhat inaccurate as Minoru Tanahashi literally sat back in a chair by the commentary table in his gear with one of his own merch line t-shirts on. It was more or less a handicap match as Tren Descarrilado took on the team of Emevlas Stastias and HEIDI by himself. The two ladies thought they this one in the bag as they took turns tagging in and out against the Train Wreck but his Congenital Analgesia made him a living war machine and he was able to pick up the victory after delivering the Bullet Train To Hell to HEIDI and hooking the leg for the pinfall.


All four competitors put up one hell of a performance and both teams seemed to work very well together. All eyes were on Milisandre Crowthorne, however, one of the draws after her controversial appearance at Cruel Summer. She introduced a unique variation of submission wrestling that focused on joint manipulation and her own flexibility. Her reflexes allowed her to catch strike attempts from either opponent in the ring and lock on a submission maneuver out of nowhere. She managed to lock Grasp of Cthulhu (Octopus Hold) onto Angel Kash in the center ring, soon transitioning it into Grip of Cthulhu (Royal Octopus Hold). Sela Rica-Lark darted across the ring with a Spear to Carter Slade to keep him from making the save. Angel Kash couldn’t physically tap so she had to nod and verbally announce her submission before the ref called for the bell.


This one was a truly dominant performance on the side of Asian Persuasion. Maki got Remi Fontaine, through verbal taunting, to start the match for his team. After the bell rang, Maki tagged Angel Kusanagi in to let her work on wear down her first Block opponent. Remi and Kusanagi had a good back and forth but it wouldn’t be a match with Kusanagi without a bit of dirty play involved and she turned the tables over quickly. Maki and Angel kept up with the quick tags while making sure Remi stayed on their half of the ring for a good portion of the match. Layla Aishe finally got a tag in to get up a hot comeback against the GHB representatives. Aishe kept them at bay for a moment until she went for a pin on Maki that Angel broke up with a kick to the head and their same strategy was used on her from before. It paid off in the end when Angel Kusanagi was able to spike Layla Aishe with the Boseki Driver for the pinfall.


Dona Rotten and Sativa Neveah started this one off with Cass Baumer and Morgan Payne on the apron, looking on. Payne was still showing visible wear from her hellacious match with Eric Lee at Cruel Summer, on top of having to wrestle just two days prior which had opened up some of her stitches and slowed healing. Sativa seemed intent on minimizing Morgan’s time in the ring, standing up to both Dona and Cass as much as she could until Morgan convinced her to come in for a hot tag. Battered and bruised still, Morgan hit the ring fast to get into the fight. It wasn’t quite all that was needed to win the match for The Regulators, however and Dona Rotten got a little taste of payback against Sativa as she was able to hit the Punk Plex for the pinfall.


The mash up team of Debby Haze and Savannah Sunshine put on a war with the Lord and Lady of House Crowley. Haze and Sunshine showed they could get along as a team better than some probably expected as they kept the Demon Prince and Trauma’s Undisputed Champion on their toes with quick tags and true grit. Crowley and Cali-Kate were a team with natural chemistry and worked on exploiting the weaknesses of both of their opponents. Haze and Sunshine fought back valiantly even as Cali-Kate went for Starstruck on Savannah but was shoved into House Crowley’s corner where Anton blind tagged himself in, immediately springboarding in and nailing Sunshine with a flying knee. He popped right back up and charged back in, delivering Ad Stellam Matutinam to pick up the pinfall. As Haze and Savannah headed towards the back, Crowley motioned to Haze that she was next tomorrow.


The bell rang. Jenn Drew and Graham Baker circled the mat and locked up. Graham Baker immediately took the opening advantage with his sheer size and power, taking her on a trip around the mat with a variation of suplexes to showcase just that against his much smaller opponent. Jenn Drew proved her own knack for doing what needed to be done once she flipped the tables with a nails raking the eyes to get out of a Powerbomb and reversed it into a brutal DDT. Drew obviously wasn’t anywhere near as strong as Baker but she was quick on her feet and able to wear the Guillotine down with her speed and quick thinking. If she couldn’t lift him, she was going to take to the air and that’s just what she did; the woman resorting to the difference in height to start slipping under Baker’s lariats and big boots attempt. Stiff kicks to the body and basement dropkicks to the knees clearly began to slow the big man down. Baker got his hands back on her for a spell and was right back to manhandling her like a rag doll until Drew was thrown into the ropes and springboarded off the ropes into a Tornado DDT she called The Final Act! Ever the resilient one, however, Baker persevered and kept fighting back until he was able to just nail Drew with Clean The Blade, knocking her inside out as he collapsed to his knees. When he went to pick Drew up to her feet, however, frustration had gotten the best of the woman and in an act of desperation she raked the eyes again and hit another DDT on Baker before flipping around and locking in an STF. Baker made it to the ropes but Drew refused to let up on the hold, causing the ref to call for the bell and end the match with a DQ. Drew argued with him for a moment while Baker started getting up, before she turned and just nailed her opponent between the legs with a punt kick. Drew turned and told the ref “that’s what you DQ someone for” before leaving the ring with a smug smirk on her face.


Layla Diaz brought the fight to Runa Olsen in this match, attacking her opponent before she even finished her entrance. She bulldozed Olsen into her corner and started laying into her with forearms and then stomped until the referee was finally able to back her off and ring the bell to officially start the match. Once she was able to get her bearings, Olsen brought it right back to one half of the Tag Team Champions, going to work with her technical background; suplexes and clotheslines. Layla Diaz got the advantage back with a kick to the face as Runa came running in for a splash in the corner. Diaz really showcased what she could do in singles competition, giving Olsen a real run for her money and eventually picking up the victory soon after, delivering not only the CT-Knee but also the Southside Cutta. It was, indeed, Knees & Cuttas that scored her the pinfall in her first Block match over Runa Olsen.


Jansen Myrrh put on an absolute clinic in her first singles match since her return to NFW. She met Ronnie North’s strength advantage with a good showing of her own, able to counter much of his offensive maneuvers and answer back with her own powerful suplexes, even pulling off her signature three High Back Suplex combination. While Ronnie’s naughty, flirtatious antics didn’t seem to affect Jansen as much as he would have liked, he still had his textbook offense to bring the fight right back to her. It appeared as though North’s greater strength would take him to victory but as he lifted Jansen up for Droppin’ Loads, the Anti-Villain was able to slip free and land behind the Prince of Pleasure. She wasted no time in turning right around and throwing an arm around North’s neck and administering The Confessional as she brought him down to the mat. North resisted for as long as he could but eventually ended up tapping out to give Jansen Myrrh the victory.


The bell rang and the two circled up in the center of the ring. Griffin Hawkins had the clear height and weight advantage. This gave him the power to maneuver Super Tiger around with ease. After all, she wasn’t but a little over one hundred pounds which is nothing to a heavyweight wrestler over 200 pounds at six foot, two inches. Where Super Tiger lacked in power, though, she made up for in her speed. Griffin wasn’t exactly slow on his feet either, and the match soon became an aerial spectacle with both competitors trading high spots off the ropes. Hawkins had the power behind his attacks, delivering dropkicks and crossbodies to Super Tiger but the little Joshi reminded everyone why she was proficient in Strong Style - that was to say she was a resilient little thing who could take the punishment given to her and she could give it back just as well. The little Tiger pulled out all the stops in the end, however, pulling off an explosive sequence of There And Back Again, followed by Tiger Snare, taking out one of Griff’s knees before catching him from behind and with a mighty roar, drove him into the mat with Starlight Express for the pinfall victory.


The main event of the evening saw The Black Ronin square off with the Cherokee Rose of The Kingdom. Cross won the jar for dominance in the initial lockup, pushing Cane back into the corner and breaking clean. They circled and locked up again but this time, Cane braced her foot against the turnbuckle and managed to push off and slip behind Cross in a rear waistlock before stepping back and dropkicking him into the corner, rolling back and coming in with a big corner clothesline. Lluvia kept up the offense until she went to try for a big Superplex on Damon but the Black Ronin fought back with shots to the ribs and took her back down to the mat with a stunning Sunset Flip Powerbomb, driving her down from the top rope onto the mat. Damon took control of the match from that point on for the next few minutes, working Lluvia over with a variety of perfectly executed suplexes and DDTs. The two kept up a good back and forth contest overall but once Lluvia Cane went for Angelic Rebellion, it was all over when Damon Cross caught her foot and used it to spin her back towards him and lock on Father’s Sin, taking her to the floor and choking her out until she faintly tapped at his arm.