The Pinnacle Showcase - The Aftermath
by Jon Harder
July 14, 2011
The Seventh Annual Crossroads was a night to remember. American Championship Entertainment on July 9 brought the drama, the action and the big fight atmosphere to the packed house to the ACE Arena in Union City.
Jorge Luis Rivera walked out of the first ever Steel Cage match in ACE as the new ACE Heavyweight champion, upending the 15 month ACE Heavyweight championship reign of "the ACE of Spades" Danny Maff. Throughout the entire match, the native from Guayanilla, Puerto Rico had to not fight the intense style of Danny Maff, but also Maff's adviser, the leader of the 4 ACES, ACE Owner Mike Morgan. Bloody and battered, Rivera overcame a lot of obstacles, even being able to weaken the knee of the "ACE of Spades" by locking on his figura cuatro, the figure-four leglock. Rivera ultimately climbed over the top of the cage and just as he was climbing down, Maff took out ACE Senior Official Brian Young inside the cage and Morgan took out the other official Matt Bennett outside of the cage. Morgan and Maff rolled the beaten challenger back in the cage, and as two referees went to eject "the Boss", Morgan took them both out as well. Knowing all the referees of record were knocked out, Morgan and Maff double-teamed Rivera and laid a beat down upon Rivera. Suddenly, Jay Lethal, who was in the building already, climbed over the cage and interjected himself, taking out not only Maff with a superkick, but THE BOSS AS WELL! Leaving the cage, Lethal then signaled for someone to come out, which turned out to be MO SEXTON!!! Sexton, who has not been seen or heard from since announcing he was taking time off to heal wounds at Rise to Power 2010, methodically walked out to the ring with a solid steel chair in hand. "The Workhorse" entered the cage and looked Danny Maff dead straight in the eyes. As Maff was looking like an extremely scared individual, Mo handed off the chair to Rivera, who finally got back to his feet. One chair shot later, and Maff was down for the count. Sexton then pulled out a referee shirt and put it on, counting the one-two-three and officially starting a new era in ACE, as Jorge Luis Rivera's long odyssey to the top culminated in the 15 pounds of gold and the rejoicing of the ACE Nation. There are a lot of questions to be answered, but regardless of that, J.L. Rivera is your new ACE Heavyweight champion.
Jay Lethal, as stated earlier, was in the building for Crossroads VII, as he was to face Tommy Dreamer in his first ever Crossroads match. The "First Time Ever" matchup was something that the crowd came out to see and they were not disappointed. After a bit of catch-as-catch-can grappling in the ring, Lethal grabbed the mic and started talking. He brought up how when people think of Tommy Dreamer, they don't think about the wrestling they were just employing, however, they immediately thought of steel chairs and kendo sticks and tables. They thought of hardcore wrestling. Jay went onto challenge Dreamer to a New Jersey Street Fight, which was ultimately accepted. From that point on, it was a warzone inside the ACE Arena. Dreamer started showing Jay why he was called the "Innovator of Violence", brawling all over the building. The match finally got back to the ring, where it came down to the usage of a steel chair. Dreamer almost had Jay in position for a Spicolli Driver, but Lethal weaseled out and one Lethal Combination later, Jay Lethal had returned to ACE in grand-style, pinning the "Innovator of Violence" in his own type of match. Afterwards, Dreamer grabbed the microphone and stated a lot of nice things about Jay, ending with how Jay was one of the best wrestlers today and finally embracing him in the ring. It was some great sportsmanship by two great sportsmen inside the realm of the squared circle at the "Pinnacle Showcase".
Stockade's first defense of the ACE Diamond Division championship took place at the Seventh Annual Crossroads, defending against former champion Eddie Kingston. "The Sadistic Striker" and "the King of Diamonds" have had quite the wrestling rivalry in ACE in 2011 and this match did not disappoint. Stockade used his valet at ringside, Nikki Syx, to try to distract "the Last of a Dying Breed" as he came to the ring, ala IndyMania, but this time around, Kingston came through the fans in the darkness for his entrance, jumping him from behind to get the match going. Both men beat the Hell out of one another, but it ultimately came down to their coup de graces. Stockade hit his "Fade to Black" spear tackle, but only got a two count. Trying to think of what to do next, Kingston, out of nowhere, rocked Stockade's world with a Backfist to the Future. Nikki Syx immediately jumped on the apron to distract the referee, and as Kingston was trying to regain the full attention of the official, a man in all black came out and took out "the Last of a Dying Breed". Kingston tried gaining his bearings back to his feet, but Stockade hit a second "Fade to Black" and successfully retained his Diamond Division championship. The "Black Diamond" of the Diamond Division is fully entrenched as champion now, and after all the interference, will do anything to keep his championship.
Stockade immediately got changed and sat at ringside to watch the Diamond Division "Chance of a Lifetime" Rumble match, where the winner would receive a Diamond Division championship match in the future. And all of people to win was none other than Andrew "Tiny" Johnson!!! Tiny, who was unceremoniously fired at Anarchy 2010, was the surprise 6th entrant, surviving everyone else and winning the Chance of a Lifetime! We still do not know how Tiny got back into ACE after being fired in August; but nonetheless, the biggest man in the match was the sole survivor in the endurance-testing contest. Within the Rumble itself, so many little things were shown. William Wyeth and Chris Cayden brought their extremely personal rivalry from MvW, ACE's sister promotion, and onto the main stage. Deranged made his return to ACE as well after a 3 year absence, as well as Mike Donovan, who was a founder of the Diamond Division style. 57 year old "Mr. Wonderful" JL Chico, who helped mentor Danny Maff into the wrestling industry, almost survived to the very end. Furthermore, some of the young MvW talents, including Chris Raze, "the Juice" JT Dunn, "Heavenly" Hatch Stevens and Hush, who is the first ever deaf professional wrestler in history, made their presence felt as well at the Seventh Annual Crossroads. However, Tiny pulled off the big win and is guaranteed a Diamond Division championship match in the future against Stockade.
Chris Rockwell and Sam Shields's 22 month odyssey towards the ACE Tag Team championship finally became fulfilled, as the Midnight Sensations finally won the tag silver, by defeating the Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz. EC Negro and KC Blade did their damnedest to pick apart both men throughout the match, but ultimately, the time-traveling, karate fighting aliens from the Triton Moon persevered and a victory roll by Shields on Negro won them the championships they have battled over for so long. Mike Lewis, who was in the commentary booth the entire night at Crossroads VII, was throwing a conniption fit in the broadcast booth, as he lost out on a whole lot of money, since he was the one who fired the Sensations from Mike Lewis Enterprises back in January at Redemption. Regardless, Rockwell and Shields finally did it and are now the TOP team in American Championship Entertainment.
Two of the hardest hitters in wrestling today, Tony Nese and "Big in Japan" Bobby Fish, tore down the house to open up Crossroads VII. Both men brutalized each other with strikes and high impact maneuvers, but in the end, Nese hit the jig-and-tonic he was looking to nail the entire match and picked up the big win over Fish. "The Premiere Athlete" is now looking to move up the ladder and make a name for himself in ACE.
Also at Crossroads VII, six of the best competitors in Middle Village Wrestling got their opportunity on the brightest stage, as the first ever MvW Tag Team champions the Movement and Stan "the Man" Stylez defeated MvW champion Jack Gallow, "the King of Queens" RT Bucco, and "the Future of MvW" Talon. Stylez actually pinned the MvW champion Gallow with his patented Facial palm strike to get the W at "the Pinnacle Showcase", which only adds fuel to the fire for their contest at MvW's End of Days for Gallow's MvW championship on July 16. For more information on MvW, check out http://mvwwrestling.com.
Finally, WSU's Icon Alicia won a hard-hitting contest against Nikki Syx, finishing her off with one of the sickest lariats that has ever been seen. Alicia used Syx to get prepared for Jessica Havok on August 6th in the ACE Arena for Women's Superstars Uncensored in a Last Women's Standing match. http://wsuwrestling.com for more on news for WSU.
Crossroads VII was definitely a show to remember and keeps the ball rolling towards August, as Anarchy 2011 is bringing Battlebowl and the Lethal Lottery on August 13th! American Championship Entertainment is back in a BIG way!
Jon Harder
jonharder@aceprowrestling.com