I Was There: MCW Anniversary Joppa

By Ryan Joy
Updated: February 28, 2020
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Chapter 5

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Event

Show 5: MCW Anniversary

Location: MCW Arena

Date: February 22

Headline: Kekoa vs. Rhett Titus

Miles from Home: 39

My Ticket for MCW Anniversary – Feb. 22

About MCW Pro Wrestling

A Brief History

Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW) began in July of 1998 mostly running events within the state until 2003 when they ceased operations for 31 months. The current ownership team of Dan McDevitt and Dennis Wipprecht reopened MCW in February of 2006, and today MCW runs shows throughout Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. With MCW’s geographic expansion, the promotion changed names in 2016 as Maryland Championship Wrestling officially became MCW Pro Wrestling.

The Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup

At the first MCW event in July 1998, Shane Shamrock (real name Bryan Howser) won a six-man match to become the first Light Heavyweight Champion. Sadly, an Anne Arundel County police officer fatally shot Howser a month later. The officer responded to a 911 call to intervene in a domestic dispute. According to the Baltimore Sun (link above), Howser held a knife in a threatening manner causing the police officer to fire his weapon. Not much more about the incident is publicly known. Saddened by the loss of their champion, MCW named Shane Shamrock the Lifetime Lightheavyweight Champion and they continue to honor his memory with an annual tournament: The Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup.

The Shamrock Cup began in 1999 and includes six qualifying matches followed by a six-man match to determine the overall winner. As the signature annual MCW event, plans were put in place to have Ring of Honor (ROH) continue the tournament when MCW closed in 2003. Unfortunately, ROH had their fair share of issues in 2004 leading to the 2004 Shane Shamrock Cup moving from Glen Burnie, MD to Philadelphia, PA. With the location change, ROH also changed the event name to Survival of the Fittest. A signature of the ROH calendar with its own 15 year legacy.

Aside from the 2004 and 2005 hiatus, MCW has held the Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup every year featuring some of the greatest independent talents in the industry. Many of those talents go on to become major television stars. Here is the list of winners:

1999 – Christian York
2000 – Qeenan Creed
2001 – Joey Matthews (known as Joey Mercury in WWE)
2002 – Reckless Youth
2003 – Christian York
2006 – Ruckus
2007 – Josh Daniels
2008 – Derek Frazier
2009 – Ryan McBride
2010 – Christian York
2011 – Sami Callihan (Currently in Impact Wrestling)
2012 – Adam Cole (Current NXT Champion)
2013 – Luke Hawx
2014 – Drolix
2015 – Lio Rush (Currently in WWE/NXT)
2016 – Lio Rush
2017 – Joey Matthews
2018 – Joe Keys
2019 – Brandon Scott

Championships

MCW Pro Wrestling has four active championships:

The MCW Heavyweight Championship dates back to October 1998. Among many other wrestlers, the championship has been held by some very well known individuals: King Kong Bundy, Jerry “the King” Lawler, Headbanger Mosh, Orlando Jordan, Adam Cole, Joey Mercury, Matt Hardy, and Rhett Titus.
The Headbangers won the initial MCW Tag Team Championships in 1998. Over time, the championships have been won by the New Age Outlaws, Sudden Impact (Lio Rush and Velveteen Dream), the Broken Hardy’s (Matt and Jeff), and the Sons of Savagery.
The MCW Rage Television Championship was introduced in 2001 and has been held by such notables as MJF, Adam Cole, and Billy Gunn.
The MCW Women’s Championship dates back to 2014 with Renee Michelle, Mickie James, and Melina all having title reigns.

MCW Pro Wrestling Training Center

MCW Pro Wrestling operates in conjunction with the MCW Pro Wrestling Training Center. The training center offers beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes. Lio Rush, Velveteen Dream, Lita, Mickie James, and Referee Jessika Carr have all received training at the MCW Pro Wrestling Training Center. In a feel good moment during Lita’s WWE Hall of Fame speech, she referenced the MCW Pro Wrestling Training Center and the kindness of owner Dan McDevitt.

Rage TV

The MCW Rage TV website has a catalog of about 100 shows that date back to the “Resurrection” show in 2006. After a 30 day free trial, you can get a subscription to MCW Rage TV for 4.99 per month. Shows typically go up within 10-15 days.

Resurrection

As noted, MCW closed in 2003 for 31 months, and Resurrection marked the return. Some of the top talent on WWE programming today (Samoa Joe and Roderick Strong) and legendary figures (New Age Outlaws, Blue Meanie, etc.) worked on that first show back. I’m fond of the epic introduction to the Resurrection show, so I’ve included the majority of it here:

A movement the changed professional wrestling: unity, honor, and old school wrestling tradition. In the Summer of 1998, professional wrestling in the state of Maryland changed with three little letters: M. C. W.
Maryland Championship Wrestling set the standard for cutting edge in-ring action with a mixture of today’s rising superstars and the legends that paved the way so long before them. Names like Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat . . . Eddie Guerrero.
MCW was the breeding ground for so many of the superstars you see on television today including WWE divas Mickey James and former WWE Women’s World Champion Lita . . . the innovators of the Table Ladders and Chairs, Matt and Jeff, the Hardy Boys.
Sadly, at the birth of MCW, we suffered what would be our greatest loss. When tragedy struck and Brian “Shane Shamrock” Howser’s life was taken from us far too soon. Brian was a son, a father, and more importantly he was a brother to us all. Once a year we celebrated his life and his memory with MCW’s premier event: the Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup . . .
After a five year run of redefining the sport of professional wrestling, on July 16, 2003, MCW’s bell tolled for what was to be the final time. We’re Back! Bitches! Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, M.C.W will once again soar to heights never before seen in our sport. Tonight, Maryland Championship Wrestling brings you our brand of professional wrestling superstars such as. . . And as all things are sure to come to an end, some are bound to be reborn again. Welcome to MCW Resurrection!

MCW Anniversary 2020

As mentioned, the Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup is the biggest event of the MCW calendar year, but the Anniversary Show is no joke. I could tell from being present at previous MCW Pro Wrestling shows that attendance was up. In fact, I bought tickets too late. As noted in previous posts, I try to sit front row if I can, but I didn’t buy tickets early enough for this show.

In most cases, the wrestling at MCW is good, and the crowd is typically hot. When you survey the group of people in attendance, you’ll see a pretty wide age range. What’s interesting though is that you’ll see a far greater percentage of children than you would at an AEW, ROH, or WWE show. I don’t know what causes the younger audience. Perhaps the lower cost of admission makes MCW more accessible for families. In any case, the kids are there, they crowd the rail, they know the wrestlers, and they participate in the jeering and cheering.

MCW Anniversary Highlights

Derek Frazier competed in a losing effort against Dak Draper and Brandon Scott. He won the MCW Cruiserweight Championship (a now retired championship) at MCW Resurrection in 2006, so this was a nice call back for an Anniversary Show.
Part way through the show, Kurt Angle came out to address the audience. He thanked the fans for supporting professional wrestling. He went on to say that without fans supporting independent wrestling, there is no WWE or anything. I completely agree with the message and the sentiment. If we don’t support companies like MCW, then the quality of the big national companies will undoubtedly go down.
Ken Dixon vs. Greg Excellent in the Joppa Street Fight was fun. Ken Dixon won the right to spend 24 hours with Greg’s mom, and this match concludes the 24 hours. They aired video packages throughout the night allowing us to observe portions of the date between Mrs. Excellent and Dixon. When the date made its way to a hotel room, Greg Excellent confronted Dixon and chased him back to the MCW Arena for the Joppa Street Fight.
Dak Draper grabbed the MCW Championship and posed with it at the end of the show. Presumably this sets up an angle for Kekoa vs. Draper at a future event.
For whatever reason, the MCW Women’s division was not represented on the show. The current Women’s Champion, Gia Scott, was available for Meet and Greets, but she did not wrestle.

MCW Anniversary Results:

I’ll include the remaining pieces when the show is posted to MCW Rage TV.

Recommendations and Tips

Meet and Greets

MCW wrestlers are always available for meet and greets, photos, and signings with various associated costs. The featured celebrity guest at the MCW Anniversary show was Kurt Angle. He had a long line of people there to see him. I paid $100 for a VIP experience where I got three autographs, a photo-op, and a VIP line that only took about 10 minutes to wait through. As Jim Ross would say, he was “busier than a fruit merchant,” so he didn’t chit chat too much. I welcomed him to Maryland and he thanked me. Kurt is a high profile guy, which led to the prices and the wait. I had a completely different $20 experience with Flip Gordan in December where I got a selfie and a signed photo without waiting at all. It depends on your timing and who you’re going to see. MCW does do a great job of advertising the special guests well in advance. An upcoming event on March 15th includes Tommy Dreamer, Orange Cassidy, and Rebel. Information on that event can be found here.

Merchandise

There were more vendors at the Anniversary Show than I typically see at a standard MCW show. The regular MCW merchandise includes 4 or 5 different T-shirt designs, some hooded sweatshirts, and some other things. At this show, the vendors had a ton of autographed memorbillia, DVD’s, action figures, etc. If you want to spend $500 or $600 on an autographed IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt, one of the vendors had that. Again, I don’t normally see this many vendors, so don’t count on it.

Bathroom

Go to the bathroom before the show starts. You have to walk through a retail section of the building to arrive at the bathrooms. As you might expect, this is the reverse of most public places. . . .lines are shorter for women. MCW Pro Wrestling events typically have an intermission, and you might be able to go to the bathroom during this time. You might also have a long line. Plan for it.

Parking

The parking here is easy to come by as the MCW arena is in a larger shopping center. Don’t even give parking a second thought because you won’t have issues.

Eat

OK. I love to get pizza before or after a wrestling show. If you happen to be driving to Joppa from the south and you happen to be driving through Baltimore, I have found Matthew’s Pizza to be a treasure. Matthews is about 25 minutes from the arena, but I think most people that attend are traveling in from somewhere, so I feel ok about the recommendation.

The Pizza

I do want to set expectations carefully. If you only like super thin New York style pizza, then this isn’t the place for you. If you like a pan pizza with a slightly burned and crunchy crust (as pictured below), Matthew’s has you covered. I’m lucky because I like just about every variation (hence why I write about pizza in my pro wrestling articles). I recently started eating pepperoni after years of going without, and Matthew’s has fresh cut, so it curls and gives you something to bite into. One of the better places for pepperoni. If you just like cheese (that used to be me), they have a couple of different cheese options to choose from. They also have some stuff that doesn’t interest me at all, but other people really like getting the pizza with crab on it.

The Shop

Matthew’s only has about 10 tables, so be mindful of arriving during a busy time. Since the doors at MCW Arena opened at 5:30 for this show, I arrived at Matthew’s around 4:30. I got a table right away, but people were waiting to sit down by the time I left. Claiming to be Baltimore’s First Pizzeria, they opened in 1943 and have been labeled “Baltimore’s Best Pizza “83” Times.” I don’t know why Mathew’s puts the 83 in quotes, but they do.

Matthew’s Pizza Offers a Pan Pizza with Crispy Edges that You will Love.

Venue for MCW Anniversary – MCW Arena

From the outside of the building, you might think that the MCW Arena is nothing special. You might be right about that. As I was walking up to the arena, somebody pulled up next to me and asked “Do you know where the wrestling is?” I asked the same question the first time I went. It’s kind of like a speak easy for wrestling. If you don’t know what door to walk in, you might not make it to the show. Here’s the good news though, the address is correct and when you pull into the parking lot full of retail, Wendy’s, and Dunkin Donut’s . . . . you found it. Just follow the horde of fans into the door at the far right end of the building.

The Arena itself only has two major rooms. The first room has the meet and greets and the vendors. In the center of the second room sits the ring with chairs all around. I find the lights above the ring to make picture taking a bit rough, but I make do with certain angles and cropping.