Last week we saw the first round matches in the Enjoy Cup. In the first match The Runway pulled off a huge upset over BUSSY, with a little bit of help from David Lawless. The other match was an absolute battle with Violence is Forever, the favorite of the tournament, being able to get by The Rip City Shooters.
This week we will have the other first round matches. Ephemeral Babes, Edith Surreal and Willow Nightingale, take on Petty in Pink, Dillon McQueen and Kenzie Paige and The Production, Derek Dillinger and Ziggy Haim battle The Kings of the District, Eel O’Neal and Jordan Blade.
The Ephemeral Babes against Petty in Pink is going to be a very interesting matchup, as there are going to be four very big and very different personalities in the ring. While The Ephemeral Babes have teamed together before, and are best friends, Petty in Pink has been teaming together a lot more recently. Petty in Pink will look to use that familiarity that they have with each other to their advantage. They are not afraid to cut a few corners and use some illegal tactics while they are at it. Kenzie and Dillon were an absolute menace all through this past season of Unchartered Territory as part of The Last Laugh. That group was quite successful, but also may have been the most hated people on that show.
Kenzie Paige is still very young but has accomplished quite a lot in her career so far. Kenzie started training at the age of 14 and made her AEW debut at 18. She is currently the New South Champion and has been a bit of a tag team specialist, currently holding the New South Tag Championship and the NWA World Women’s Tag Championship with Ella Envy. She has also held the New South Tag Championship with her partner for this match, Dillon McQueen.
Dillon is just coming back from an injury, but that does not look to slow him down. Dillon is not afraid to tell you just how good he looks and how good he is in the ring, sometimes at the same time that he is beating his opponent down. He was trained at The Nightmare Factory by Cody Rhodes and QT Marshall and has made multiple appearances in AEW himself. Dillon calls himself the Gaytriarch of Professional Wrestling, but do not let his antics and good looks fool you, he is very dangerous in the ring.
The Ephemeral Babes may not have the tag team accomplishments that Petty in Pink have, but individually they have pretty much conquered independent wrestling and done it their way. Some may say that Edith Surreal is a specialist at tournaments, as she has won The Young Lions Cup, The Cassandro Cup and The Christmas Trios where she teamed with The Outfielders. Edith won her first-round matchup in the inaugural Enjoy Cup by defeating Ziggy Haim, but then lost to the eventual winner, Lee Moriarty in an incredible match. She is one of the best technical wrestlers in wrestling today but can also get violent if she needs to be, as she proved in her match of the year candidate against Ziggy Haim at Enjoy’s Night Moves.
Edith’s partner, Willow Nightingale, is known as the wrestler with big hair and an even bigger smile. Willow’s positive attitude is infectious and immediately gets any crowd behind her. Willow has had some tag team success in the past, as she was the Queens of Combat Tag Team Champion with Faye Jackson, as Thick and Juicy, and was also the CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas Champion with Solo Darling, as The Bird and The Bee. Recently Willow has been seen on AEW, IMPACT and ROH challenging for championships. Willow is surely going to be a regular on national tv soon, but this will be quite the test for her and Edith against the very cocky and confident Petty in Pink.
The second match is also going to feature one team who are tag team specialists and have been dominant everywhere they go, in The Kings of the District. They go against a pair that has been causing all kinds of problems in Enjoy, but have not had a proper tag team match in Enjoy yet in The Production.
The Production started as a stable in AIW and has included people like Danhausen, Eddy Only and Magnum CK. Once the other members seemed to go their own ways, Derek Dillinger, decided to take control and brought in Ziggy Haim. Since becoming a team Derek and Ziggy’s careers have took off to levels they have not seen before. Both wrestlers have been busting their asses in the Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio areas for years and teaming together seems to be exactly what they needed to get to that next level.
Both Ziggy and Derek have held the Ryse Grand Championship and Derek is currently the holder of the IWC Super Indy Championship, a title that has been held by the likes of AJ Styles, Johnny Gargano, Elias, RJ City and many more top stars in wrestling. The Production may not be the biggest name in this tournament, but they may have the most to prove, and they are not afraid to risk their bodies to win this match and the Enjoy Cup.
Standing in the way of The Production will be a team that has been competing in all of the top independent promotions in the east coast. They are one of the most cohesive tag teams in this tournament, The Kings of The District. Jordan Blade is a lethal weapon in the ring. She has trained in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and is extremely dangerous on the ground. She has held many championships in her career so far, including the Paradigm Pro Super Middleweight title. Jordan defeated GCW star, Cole Radrick for this title and defended it against the likes of Trish Adora, Janai Kai and Cabana Man Dan.
Jordan is typically very poised and under control while she lays strikes on her opponents and takes them down for a submission. However, the best way to describe her partner, Eel O’Neal, is controlled chaos. Eel can be very tactical and focus on one body part, but many times seems like he is going full speed and you don’t know where he is going to hit you from. Eel is not a stranger to tournaments himself, as he has competed in the Super 8 tournament, along with the Tag Grand Prix and the Christmas Trios, as part of the Goons. The Kings of The District are truly a team, as Eel says they wrestle together, train together and travel together. They are going to surely be one of the teams to beat in this tournament, but they need to be on the lookout for the innovative offense of The Production.
This episode of Enjoy Wrestling will debut on their YouTube channel at 8pm on Thursday 8/11.