CZW 04/13/19 Best of the Best 18 Results

Combat Zone Wrestling capped off a crazy WrestleMania weekend in the northeast with their 18th Best of the Best Tournament. The tournament was designed to highlight the more technical and high flying members of the CZW roster and has been won by a proverbial who’s who in the wrestling world since the first tournament was won by Winger in 2001. Names familiar to fans worldwide like Trent Acid, B-Boy, Mike Quackenbush, Sonjay Dutt, Adam Cole, Drake Younger, Sami Callihan, and last year’s winner David Starr have all won the tournament.

This year’s tournament featured four 4-Way Single Fall First Round Matches, followed by singles matches in the Semi-Finals and Finals to crown a winner. The tournament got an 11th hour shot of intrigue when Maxwell Jacob Friedman informed CZW that he was taking a booking in Mexico just before WrestleMania weekend instead of returning to the promotion to challenge for the CZW World Championship, a title he never lost in the ring. This found champion Mance Warner without an opponent for the show. Things got more interesting when The Amazing Red announced his retirement from in-ring competition, leaving a hole in the tournament field. Just after the WrestlePro Vs CZW event, CZW owner DJ Hyde announced that John Silver would be using his guaranteed world title shot at the event – but with a twist, Mance Warner would be entered into the Best of the Best field and be forced to defend the championship throughout the tournament, something that only happened 1 other time in the tournament’s history.

The show opened with an in-ring photo of all 16 participants. House of Glory’s Anthony Gangone & Matt Travis entered through the side of the building unlike the other competitors and flicked off owner DJ Hyde in the photo. There has been tension between CZW and HOG since last month’s Trifecta Elimination when it appeared Gangone & Red went into business for themselves and captured the CZW World Tag Team Championship over The Rep. CZW released a statement severing ties with House of Glory, voiding the title change, and removing all three House of Glory competitors from the tournament field. After a series of attacks at House of Glory’s Culture Clash 19 show last weekend and WrestlePro Vs CZW – the invitation was re-extended to settle the score in the ring between the New York & Philadelphia based companies.

On top of Warner and the House of Glory participants, this year’s field featured several up-and-coming CZW stars like Anthony Greene, Jordan Oliver, WSU Spirit Champion: Kris Statlander, and Gary Jay.The field also features the return or debuts of several names like AEW’s Sammy Guevara, North Carolina’s Joey Lynch, former Catch Point member Fred Yehi, and PWX’s Darius Lockhart. Rounding out the field are former CZW World Champion B-Boy, last year’s winner David Starr, independent wrestling legend Jimmy Rave, and “The Meatman” John Silver.

(1) Best of the Best First Round: “The Retrosexual” Anthony Greene defeated B-Boy, Anthony Gangone, and CZW World Champion: Mance Warner to become the 53rd CZW World Champion, pinning B-Boy. Anthony Gangone appeared to have Warner pinned just after Greene had the fall on B-Boy. Gangone went on to attack Greene after the match, laying out both Platinum Hunnies in the process.

(2) Best of the Best First Round: “The Product” David Starr defeated Darius Lockhart, Joey Lynch, and Jimmy Rave when Starr pinned Lynch. Starr looks to be the first man in the history of then tournament to win back-to-back years.

(3) Best of the Best First Round: John Silver defeated Gary Jay, WSU Spirit Champion: Kris Statlander, and Fred Yehi when Silver submitted Jay in a hard-hitting affair. With the victory, Silver and Jay are now 1-and-1 against each other in CZW. Gary Jay and Fred Yehi had a stare-down after the match that got a loud crowd reaction.

(4) Best of the Best First Round: CZW Wired Television Champion: Jordan Oliver defeated Sammy Guevara, “Hot Fire” Myron Reed, and Matt Travis when Oliver pinned Guevara after Lost in the Sauce as Guevara came off the top in a high-flying match up.

(5) Best of the Best Semi-Final: “The Product” David Starr defeated “The Retrosexual” Anthony Greene by Submission to become the 54th CZW World Champion. Greene, despite the attack by Gangone after the first round match still competed. This was a big moment for Starr, who has been chasing singles gold in CZW for most of the decade. Greene also suffered his pin or submission loss in CZW.

(6) Best of the Best Semi-Final: John Silver defeated CZW Wired Television Champion: Jordan Oliver. Oliver, like Greene, was undefeated coming into the tournament. Oliver’s Wired Title was not on the line.

(7) Women’s Superstars United Feature Bout: “Legit” Leyla Hirsch defeated Shazza McKenzie by Submission with an armbar. Hirsch continued to pile up the victories. Both women were impressive.

(8) Young, Dumb, N Broke (Ellis Taylor & Charlie Tiger) with Griffin McCoy & Valentina Vazquez defeated IFHY (Shawn Kemp & Jonathan Wolf). This match could prove to be important in establishing new tag team hierarchy in CZW as The Rep appear to have refused to accept the Tag Team Titles back while Anthony Gangone is holding both tag title belts hostage. Both young teams were impressive here.

(9) Best of the Best Finals: John Silver defeated CZW World Champion: “The Product” David Starr by Pinfall to become the 55th CZW World Champion. This was an emotional match as both men were looking to set a new standard for Combat Zone Wrestling. The crowd gave this match a standing ovation and was one of the stronger finals in Best of the Best of history. Silver was emotional afterwards being presented with both the tournament trophy & CZW World Championship.

The night did not end there as Anthony Gangone along with several others from House of Glory including Matt Travis, Ken Broadway, and the New York Wrecking Crew hit the ring and destroyed the trophy after laying out both Silver & CZW owner DJ Hyde. The locker room cleared. Fans threw chairs. Gangone had a message before leaving: That while everyone else claims they love CZW, they have all been fake and disloyal. He and House of Glory aren’t trying to save CZW – they are trying to end it once and for all and give everyone what they really want.

CZW returns to the Coliseum in Voorhees, New Jersey on Saturday May 11th for CZW Tangled Web 2019. Already announced for the event is a Tangled Web Match between “The Rogue” Brandon Kirk and CZW Legend Masada. On their YouTube page, CZW posted an interview with John Silver where they announced his challenger for the CZW World Championship at the event will be “The Bulldozer” Matt Tremont.

Women’s Superstars United returns on Friday April 26th and mid-day Saturday April 27th with a one-night tag team championship tournament, Shazza McKenzie v. Violette (Friday), Kasey Catal v. Corinne Mink (F), Aja Perera v, Kasey Catal (Saturday), and more featuring the Platinum Hunnies, The Endless, Rainbow Bright, Hex, and more.

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