Ian Opening Promo: Ian goes over some highlights of his career. Two little notes, first Ian has an epic beard imagine Triple H/Harley Race handlebar beard but with the Hollywood Hogan dye job. Second it’s a pretty packed show for IWA Mid-South not really an empty seat. Very good and emotional promo like you’d expect from Ian who is “retiring” tonight, may be a little long but like I said you should expect that from IWA Mid-South. Opening ends with Ian getting several gifts which includes a plaque from Jim Fannin and the non-wrestlers, an awesome looking trophy from the wrestlers and some special boxing shorts from the Naptown Dragons. During the promo Ian mentions that he’s getting called Terry Funk tonight and he doesn’t want to be like Ric Flair, for those who don’t know Ian would return to wrestling in mid-2008 and is still doing shows.
Mike Stevens vs. Chrisjen Hayme: First of I do not like how Hayme spells Chrisjen. It’s Christian, what the hell are you doing? Eddie Kingston’s on commentary and this is already gold to me but let’s start the match. From the beginning you can tell this will be a big power man vs. small fast man match but the small man (Hayme) is playing the heel. Running powerslam from Stevens, big fan of that move but seriously early on Steven’s is making everything look impactful. Hayme get’s the advantage with an enziguri. Both guys are left handed which is rare in a wrestling match. Stevens comes back with a chokeslam and follows with a top rope elbow, seems weird to see a chokeslam on an indy show. Hayme wins with a 450 splash.
Jack Thriller vs. Jimmy Jacobs: Jack has the nickname “The Serial Killer” and he has the worst look for it. Imagine a ginger, tubby guy in a green singlet who jigs randomly. Nothing about that screams Serial Killer especially when you’re up against Jimmy Jacobs who in late 2007 was in full Age of the Fall gimmick. I really like how they’re doing a feeling out process but it’s more vicious as they have a history, just throwing in strikes at certain points helps a lot. Thriller gets the heat by hitting a Knee Stunner and the proceeds to work on Jimmy’s leg. A Knee-DT/EvenToe love those names and I don’t know what to call that move. In a great sequence Jimmy goes for a Tornado DDT but turns it into the End time, Jack the hits a Northern Lights and Jimmy’s leg hits the corner. The crowd get really hot as both guys start hitting big moves and even start chanting “Tap” when Thriller locks on the Figure-4. Great sequence when Jimmy goes for the Contra Code lands on his feet, Thriller grabs the leg and attempts the Figure-4 but gets caught in a Small package for a near fall. The end comes with Thriller locking in the Figure-4 and after Jimmy tries to edge himself to the ropes he taps out. Just a fantastic match which I think would have been better fitted as the opener as the fans ate this up.
CJ Otis vs. Bull Pain: This is nothing but Bull beating the crap out of CJ for a long time. Nothing really to note except they were building Otis as the Deathmatch Destroyer and then he gets destroyed by Bull Pain. But it pleased the fans.
Billy Roc vs. Brian Skyline vs. Ricochet: Mitch Page is on commentary and he takes away from the match so much making fun of them for being smaller guys. Very fast paced as expected from these 3. All 3 are babyfaces which makes for a weird dynamic. They do the breaking up the pin spot and asking “What are you doing” which I hate. We get one guy after another hitting dives to the outside. Roc hits a standing Slice Bread No. 2 for a near fall on Ricochet. Match ends with Roc pinning Skyline with a Ranhei. Good match, a little rushed but everyone looked good. After the match Ian puts them over in a promo.
Iron Saints (Vita, Sal & Brandon Thomaselli) vs. Naptown Dragons (Dustin Lee, Scotty Vortekz & OMG): Drake Younger goes on commentary, him and Ben Jordan go over the fact Drake is the 4th Dragon and Ben has known the Saints for years so he could be the 4th Saint. Sal and OMG start and I have to say OMG has to be the most awkward wrestler I’ve ever seen. OMG’s T-shirt says “Luchadork” hard to argue that when he has the transformers logo tattooed on you. It should be noted that the Saints (Sal & Vito) are the Tag team champions and the belts are copies of the WWE World tag titles, always speaks highly of your company. Very awkward between the Saints and the Dragons at points. The Saints get the heat, quickly, by attacking Scotty’s arm which he injured at the Carnage Cup the weekend before. Scotty fights back and leads to all 3 Dragons hitting plancha’s but they’re all attacked from behind when they get back in the ring. They pick on OMG with a great Triple Mafia kick and get the heat back. Sal kills OMG with a lariat. Vito hits a high knee and we get a Macho Man reference, sorry JR no love for Harley Race. OMG finally gets the tag after he nearly messed up several spots, which is regular in an OMG match believe me. The Saints hit a double team move and Brandon hits the Deal (powerbomb to the knees) which leads to a pendulum double stop and 450 for the win. This was really the Saint’s show as anytime the Dragon’s got offence it looked sloppy and awkward.
Michael Elgin vs. 2 Cold Scorpio: A much bigger Elgin than what we see in ROH today. We have Brandon Thomaselli on commentary now. Back and forth chain wrestling to start. Elgin gets the heat after hitting a jumping shoulder block of the apron. I have to say that it’s amazing that Scorpio would end up giving Elgin so much especially when you consider he had all the right in the world to just go in and destroy Elgin. A very strong style type match with lots of hard strikes and suplexs. Scorpio gets the advantage after a bicycle kick in the corner. They start trading big moves which include a moonsault from Scorpio and an Oklahoma Stampede from Elgin. Elgin hits a great looking powerbomb after catching a kick and then drills him with a seated lariat for a near fall. Scorpio wins with a roll up out of nowhere. A rather slow match that picked up and made Elgin look great but we didn’t get a 450 from Scorpio, I’m glad we didn’t as that would of been the 3rd tonight and 2nd in a row.
Drake Younger vs. The Sandman: For all of you thinking this will be hardcore it isn’t. This match is nothing but comedy and little action. The back story here is that Drake almost lost his ear the week before in the Carnage Cup and Sandman came up with this match so they didn’t have to do anything risky. As great as Sandman’s entrance in ECW was in IWA Mid-South it’s just him giving out beers slowly and doing very little. It must have been the fans who made it great. Drake’s wearing the Rick Steiner headgear. We start with Sandman asking to see Drakes ear, Sandman then gets a call from his mom the fans cheer and he tells her “No I’m not at a bar”. They do lots of mat work, which is odd to see from Sandman, eventually he grabs a beer and a camera man tries to steal it. The match ends when Sandman swings his cane and his caught in a School boy. Pretty much nothing here but the fans and commentary made this. It was tough to watch.
Mike Quackenbush vs. Chris Hero vs. Chuck Taylor vs. Eddie Kingston-4 Way Elimination for IWA MS World & Light Heavyweight title: Before we start Quack decides to put his Light Heavyweight title on the line as well as the World title, meaning behind this is that he hadn’t been defending the belts often in IWA Mid South. I should note the World title is a copy of the old, old WCW title and the Light Heavyweight title is the WCW cruiserweight title. We start with Quack and Hero trading holds, eventually Eddie is tagged and this leads to Hero running off and Chuck coming in, keeping that feud alive. Kingston is hitting every type of suplex you can think off. Pretty much a tag match as Chuck & Hero were team mates in Chikara at the time. They hit some pretty great double teams move. Hero turns on Chuck early just to make it clear that he’s THE heel of the match. Match breaks down to Hero beating up someone throwing them out and then beating up someone else. Hero hits his rolling elbow to Kingston which leads to Chuck coming in and taking advantage of Hero and then Quack doing the same to Chuck. A sick inverted brainbuster from Quack to Chuck. Quack is the first man eliminated when Chuck rolls him up leading to him being the new Light Heavyweight champ. The action is so fast in this match. Chuck is the next guy eliminated when Hero catches Chuck in a kravate after a moonsault attempt and hits a Kravate buster. Hero and Kingston trade sick shots like we’d expect, these two legit don’t like each other and beat the hell out of each other as a result. Hero hits an impactful powerbomb. The finish comes when Kingston hit’s two backfist to Hero to become the new World champ. After the match Kingston does a great promo which leads to Scorpio coming out and setting up the title match for the next show.
Rollin Hard vs. Corey Shaddix vs. Insane Lane vs. Freakshow vs. Jimmy Clough-Hardcore Battle Royal: Nothing to mention here, this is what I hate about Deathmatches is matches like this where fat no-bodies (seriously the commentators don’t even know who some of the guys are) just hitting each other with crap and bleeding. Rollin Hard was an IWA Mid South legend and this match was really just to put over his return (he came back from cancer which sadly took his life a little less than a year later). Eliminations happen in this order Corey, Jimmy, Freakshow, Lane. Really a nothing match.
Ian Rotten vs. Mickie Knuckles: Jim Fannin & Socks on commentary. Match starts badly when Mickie comes out to Ian’s music and Ian comes out to Mickie’s. Ian’s in his shorts given to him earlier, beats his normal gear which is t-shirt and jeans. Ian quickly hits a low blow to no effect in an amusing spot. They begin trading stiff shots rather quickly, would be hard to watch if it was just Ian doing these shots but Mickie gives as much as she takes. We get the sit down slugfest early as well which Ian wins and then nails an insane chair shot. Mickie is busted open, I never get used to watching women bleed in matches. Mickie fights back with a series of headbuts which lead to Ian bleeding. Ian nails a spinning heel kick which looked great, well for Ian. The two trade headbuts while wearing barbed wire in a stupid spot in my book but it got the fans going. Ian fights back by grabbing her boobs in an awkward spot if the rumours are to be believed. Both trade of B-Boy dropkicks. Ian hits the Rotten Rush for a near fall. Mickie pins Ian after a Shining Kick but Ian gets his feet on the rope this leads to Mickie putting barbed wire on Ian and hitting a second kick for the win. No one really got the advantage but this was a good match. Afterwards Ian cuts another long promo to end the show. They do another backstage promo which is just seconds and an angle with Drake being attacked which went nowhere.
Verdict: I love this show but it suffers in terms of time, it into the 5 hour range, and if it didn’t have the opener, CJ/Bull and the Hardcore battle royal you would of got the same effect if not a better show. But despite those minor things you can watch this show pretty easily and the Jimmy/Thriller and the 4-Way we’re the stand outs. Main event was also good just in terms of the emotion involved.
Once again thanks for reading, if you did, let me know what you think and hopefully I've got you looking forward to my next show review.
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