15 Y.C. Part 14: One of the Greatest Tournaments Ever!

On September 27^th 2008 IWA Mid South held its last Ted Petty Invitational ever, while they would promote tournaments the next 2 years they would ultimately cancel the shows. The TPI was originally the Sweet Science Sixteen but the name was changed in honour of Ted Petty aka Rocco Rock, when he passed away. The tournaments gained a lot of attention and became known as some of the best wrestling shows of the year. For this review I’m only going to look at Night 2 otherwise this would be stupidly long. We have Michael Z on commentary and he’s joined by others throughout the night.

Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) vs. Da Soul Touchaz (Marshe Rocket & Acid Jazz) w/C.Red: The Fall actually issue an open challenge here, both had lost their opening rounds last night The Touchaz come out to Soldier Boy and do the dance, something that was good for a  month at best. Jacobs and Jazz to start, mat wrestling. One thing I like is Jacobs throwing in a little strike when he gets the advantage, who wouldn’t do that. Rocket gets some serious height with a dropkick. Black catches Jazz and just bodyslams him over the ropes to the fall in a sick spot. Jazz goes for a sunset flip and can’t get Black over so he bridges up and gets a neckbreaker. DST gets a high angle flapjack double team. Black gets a head kick in the corner, Jimmy then hits a spear and Black ends it with a top rope splash for a near fall. Jazz goes for the Swiss Mist aka Hot chocolate but gets Rocket who is then hit with God’s Last Gift for the win. A very good opening match here.

Josh Raymond vs. Egotistico Fantastico: Raymond’s hair is just insane, it literally looks like it’s glued on to him it’s dreadlocks and their blue & black, very weird. Ego weighs 103,000 pounds apparently, bit of an overstatement I think. Josh crotches Ego on the top rope and gets a springboard kick to the face and follows with a suicide dive con heelo. Ego starts coming back with the tilt-a-whirl face plant, he attempts Taco Pizza but is reversed. In a weird stop they seem to have Ego just run the ropes and Josh just keeps leap frogging and going down until Ego runs into Josh and time is killed. Josh gets a Taliban backpack lungblower and locks in a unnamed submission but Ego gets up and does an Oklahoma Stampede style Death Valley Driver, followed by Taco Pizza aka Surfboard into a face plant. Josh gets Belly to Belly’d into the corner. Josh nails a low superkick for a near fall, he tries a weird cockscrew senton but Ego gets his knees up. Ego hits the Beach Break, imagine Kaz’s Fade to Black only looking good. Ego follows with the Merosault for the win. Match suffered from serious time killing but when it got going it was pretty good.

Michael Elgin vs. Drake Younger: A much bigger Elgin here. The fans just love Drake here. Trading blows from the beginning and we get “Yay” and “Boo” chants. Elgin somehow gets a frankensteiner and then a vader bomb senton, impressive. Drake spikes Elgin with a DDT, not as good looking as when RVD sells it sometimes. Elgin chop blocks Drake in the corner and starts attacking the leg. Elgin dragon screws Drake out of the corner. Drake catches Elgin with some headbutts as he’s climbing up and gets a superplex. He attempts Drake’s Landing but his leg gives way. Elgin gets school boy’d when going for a Figure-4 but he gets up and nails a mean lariat, Elgin then misses a second rope moonsault. Drake gets a straight punch to the face and then does a ground and pound, constantly punching Elgin and the ref stops it. A really solid match and a rather unique finish which the fans loved.

Dave Taylor vs. Claudio Castagnoli: After this show Taylor was very vocal about how he was not paid by Ian Rotten, what makes him so special if you believe all the rumours Ian did a lot of shows and couldn’t pay guys. Dave seems to be having legit fun in there during the beginning of this match. Claudio has a kravate locked in, Dave gets a bodyslam but Claudio keeps the kravate on, they do this again, I liked that shows that the smallest of holds can be hard to break. Dave holds the ropes open to let Claudio in, does it and goes for a handshake which is quickly turned into him hitting a clothesline and the fans loving it. Claudio goes for a takedown and Dave powers over Claudio into a powerbomb, Claudio now knows how that feels. Second match in a row where the leg is the focus. Dave goes a European uppercut and Claudio gets a backslide for the win. A fun match here and the finish was done to keep Dave strong.

Cassandro vs. Sara Del Rey: Cassandro just leaves me asking questions, I don’t get anything he does or is. Cassandro starts by flirting with the ref, Sara just slaps him in the face. Cassandro looks like Blanche from the Golden Girls, don’t you judge me! Sara somehow has 2 lipstick kiss marks on her boob. Cassandro gets the Gory Stretch and slides her down for a pin, Sara lifts herself up and flips over for a sunset flip, a very impressive move. Joey Eastman, who’s on commentary, is comparing this tournament to the 2004 one which is seen as one of the best weekends or wrestling ever and to be honest if I owned it I would be reviewing that right now. Cassandro does the lucha sit down flip armdrag, never got why you’d do so much just for an armdrag. Sara kicks Cassandro over the ropes and follows with the Foley senton. Cassandro messes up a leap from the top and just does a snapmare after landing, he makes up for it with a suicide dive. Cassandro hits a sit out Implant Buster. Cassandro messes up a weird pin. Cassandro shoulder blocks the corner and Sara gets a cross arm breaker for the win. I think Sara is great but I just don’t get Cassandro or why he got so much hype, it wasn’t bad at all but nothing great.

Too Cold Scorpio vs. Ace Steel: Have you ever noticed how much Ace and CM Punk sound alike? Ace comes out to Psychosocial by Slipknot, a song a lot of guys would use at the time I think it was the new Welcome to the Jungle. Remember when Ace’s gimmick was having tourette’s syndrome? Ace had actually won the Sweet Science before it became the TPI. They trade of really quick armdrags. Lots of strikes here, Ace hits some really nice looking knees. Ace gets a Crossface on, this would be just over a year after the Benoit incident. Ace messes up some kind of slingshot thing and then no sells a kick by Scorpio. Scorpio gets a flipping leg drop from the second rope. Ace gets a tope rope Frankensteiner. Scorpio struggles and then messes up a Ricola bomb, they finally get the spot of Ace getting a Yoshi Tonic out of it. Scorpio wraps Ace up in a crucifix for the win and holds on to show how well he could do it. Really didn’t like this match at all, tons of problems and they just didn’t mess well together. Ace gets the mic and says he would have asked for 5 more minutes if it wasn’t a tournament, a fan yells “It wasn’t a tie” and I fully agree.

Sami Callihan vs. Eddie Kingston: It’s the basic back and forth until they break in the ropes, Sami nails King with a sick slap and King hits the Backfist leading to Sami falling to the outside. A very nice head & arm suplex by King. King nails a mean chop and then a Yazuka in the corner. I’d like to note that Sami faced Chris Hero the night before so he’s had a rough 2 days. Sami comes back by hitting a headbutt while they’re on the ropes and follows with a dropkick. Sami gets a wheelbarrow pin, he beat Hero the night before that way so the fans brought it. They trade of backdrop drivers and Sami gets a lariat for a near fall buts that’s only because he landed on King. A very sick strike exchange that lasts a while but the fans are totally into it. King gets an Uranagi and when Sami kicks out he gets the Koji Clutch, very nice spot. Sami goes for a lariat its block, King hits the backfist but Sami sucks it up and nails a lariat for the win, Sami and King remain down afterwards. A really, really good match here and a nice way to close the 2^nd round of the tournament.

Jayson Quick w/Kimberly Cash vs. Jason Hades(c)-I Quit Steel Cage match for IWA MS Light Heavyweight title & the name Jason: Hades runs in to start and they trade blows. Quick hits a clothesline but goes down as well and puts on a choke. Hades gets distracted by Cash and Quick slings him into the cage. Cash tries throwing a chair over the cage but fails, she slides it in and Quick kills Hade with a chair shot making him bleed. Hades gets throw into the chair which is set up in the corner. Quick counters the Killswitch (not Christian’s move) with a shoulder breaker then a dragon suplex and rolls through into a full nelson camel clutch. Quick tries a crazy standing multiple flip leg drop but Hades moves, leading to Quick finally hitting the cage. The mic sucks and you can barely here either guy. Hades does Lance Storms rolls through crab. Quick hits a Blue Thunder on an open chair and that chair is destroyed. Hades gets a super German suplex and Quick lands highly. Hades gets a top rope double stomp with a chair. Quick gets the Box Cutter, a weird driver thingy. Hades goes the Killswitch with a chair and it looked so awful, the Killswitch is a double underhook and he flips over into a back breaker. Hades somehow gets screwdriver and buries it into Quick for the win. The finish was so cliché and I just got the feeling that they got a finish and nothing more when coming up with this match as they didn’t work the I Quit stip at all the rest of the time.

Egotistico Fantastico vs. Drake Younger: As Drake enters Ego dives onto him with a tope. Drake is still selling his leg when he enters. Drake does the Foley senton. They fight on the outside and Drake gets a powerbomb into the ring post on Ego. They do the Deathmatch slug outs, where they trade punches while sitting down ends with headbuts and Drake hiptossing Ego on the floor. Drake does Necro’s Chair bodyslam, I guess he didn’t use the chair so all is good. Very nice Falcon Arrow by Drake. Ego gets Taco Pizza after a dropkick to the bad leg. Drake gets a big knee and a lariat for a near fall turning Ego upside down. Ego gets an Air Raid Crash and the Merosault but Drake kicks out. Drake gets an inverted Brainbuster for the win. Very good match and I like how Drake is winning in different ways.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Sara Del Rey: Surprisingly they start trading blows early. Sara does a seated senton from the 2^nd rope. Sara attempts kicks from her back, just like Inoki vs. Ali but it only lasts seconds instead of hours. Claudio just dead lifts Sara like she weights nothing. Claudio tries a spinning X-factor but Sara lands on her feet and nails a kick. She locks on the cross arm breaker but Claudio gets out. Sara gets a series of kicks including the copo kick and a great looking axe kick. Claudio gets the big swing and Sara gets a small package after for a very near fall. Roaring uppercut gets Claudio a near fall. Sara gets the cross arm breaker, Claudio gets her up but she hangs on and locks it in again but he gets out. Claudio gets a bicycle kick and the Ricola for the win. Really good match here, the fans really got behind Sara and the action was great.

Sami Callihan vs. Too Cold Scorpio: Scorpio just quickly starts nailing Sami with hard strikes. Sami leap frogs Scorpio from the back and turns around with a lariat but Scorpio returns the favour soon after. Scorpio nails him with knees. Sami struggles and I mean struggles to get up and Scorpio just starts striking him down. Scorpio gets a really high top rope splash. Scorpio just kills time and then gets a gutwrench and top rope moonsault. Sami FINALLY blocks and fights back, he gets 2 backdrop drivers for a near fall. Sami absorbs a yazuka kick in the corner runs out with a lariat that turns Scorpio inside out for the win. Very slow at points here, a problem with Scorpio’s first match but still good, really showed how beat up Sami is.

Dingo (c), Ricochet & Bobby Fish vs. 2 Tuff Tony, Prince Mustafa Ali & Are w/Joey Eastman-6 Man tag were if Dingo is pinned he loses the IWA World title: Kingston & Chuck Taylor on commentary and I say this as they really add to this match. From the opening second King is singing Jimi Hendrix and saying “Don’t edit it out”. Fish & Tony are traded before the start making the teams I have listed above. King brings up that he was the champ but had to vacant it. Lots of lucha moves from Ali & Ricochet to start, King is pissed that there’s a standoff. Tony gets a spinning Rock Bottom on Dingo. The ref is checking Ares and he finds ties hidden all over him, during which Mike Z says “That’s my tie, he got that from me. I got jacked yo”. Fish hits a very nice dropkick. Fish gets an abdominal stretch and Ares gets out by planting a tie on Fish. Ali yells “Jihad” when hitting a kick, a move that would not help his career last long. Fish steals Joey’s hat, King says he looks like Paul Roma the worst horsemen, he must of missed Mongo. Tony gets a lionsault, impressive for a big deathmatch worker. Fish steals Joey’s jacket now and then his pants, Fish puts this all on as well. Ricochet gets a double DDT to get the tag. Mike Z gets a great line “Joey must be running his own indy company as he just lost his shirt”. Fish gets a nice spinbuster on Ali. We get a tower of doom build ending with everyone getting low blowed including Joey and the ref. Lots of big moves here including Ares hitting a “Driver Bomb”. Ali throws in a little bag which gets throw into everyone, he yells “Jihad” when he gets it and it’s a shoe, everyone jumps on him. Ricochet hits a shooting star on Dingo, as he wants to be the champ.  Ricochet does a tope con heelo. Fish gets the “Sleeping with the Fishs” an inverted Go to Sleep. Ali misses an inverted 450 and gets school boy’d by Dingo for the win. After King gives Dingo the belt and puts him over. A really fun comedy match which would have been good normally but became great with commentary on.

Chris Hero vs. Trik Davis-Falls Count Anywhere: Trik jumps to start and they fight in the crowd. Hero just throws some mesh at Trik. They get in the ring for a second and Hero nails a kick and they’re back out. Hero’s forearm shoots are just sick sounding. Hero goes to skin the cat and Trik gets a dropkick, he grabs his arm straight away and Trik begins the attack. Hero goes to throw Trik into the wall, he blocks and rolls back into a rotating headscissors. Trik runs into Hero and he lifts him up into the wall. Hero runs at Trik who is standing next to a ladder and Trik moves so he nails the ladder with his bad arm. Trik attempts a suplex of the commentary stage onto the floor on chairs but nothing happens, eventually Hero gets a blockbuster of the stage onto the chairs. Hero gets a sit out powerbomb when they get back in the ring. Hero does a gordbuster onto 2 open chairs, Trik’s head is between the chairs and Hero gets a boston crab and then kicks the chair causing the top to go flying. Trik puts on the Hangman’s Clutch, Hero’s move. Hero hits the sickest headbutt I’ve ever seen, you could hear the smack it was disturbing. Hero picks up a chair, Trik kicks it into him then low blows him and a 2K1 Bomb for the win. Very good brawl here that lasted a while.

Sami Callihan vs. Drake Younger vs. Claudio Castagnoli-Elimination match: This is the finals of the TPI. Each guy had a story coming in, Claudio had advanced one more round each year he was in TPI and he got to the finals last year, Sami has received the most punishment of all guys and Drake wants to be the first deathmatch tournament winner to win a straight up tournament. Claudio picks up both guys quickly and gets them in a pin, the 3 then trade pins and then strikes. Sami goes for the Lance Storm move but they struggle to roll through. Drake gets a wrist clutch DVD. Claudio drags Sami out and does a big swing through the chairs, the fans want one more and he does it. Drake does a crossbody onto Claudio to the outside. Sami gets a lariat on Claudio for a near fall, Claudio comes back with a bicycle kick that turns him inside out. Drake catches the Drake’s Landing to eliminate Sami. Claudio straight away goes to the leg.  Claudio does Bret Hart’s Figure-4 round the post and then he shoves the small steps into Drake twice. Drake gets a quick DVD on Claudio, he was pretty much down as soon as he was up. Claudio dead lifts Drake into a gutwrench. Drake gets a frogsplash after fighting Claudio off for a near fall. Claudio does a big swing with just one leg. Claudio attempts the Ricola and gets reversed into the Drake’s Landing for the win. Now the back story here is that before the match Ian had picked Claudio to win and the win was a legit shock to Drake, I imagine they did this just to surprise him on the night. Just a fantastic match to end with, all 3 did great and it just came off as a special match. After Ian thanks Drake and Drake thanks the fans.

Overall: The entire show told a great story and the matches were mostly great. While you had problems here and there it really didn’t hurt the show. Much like other IWA shows it was 4 hours and I don’t think it needed to be, you could have cut out the opening tag and the show would have been fine. There was something for everyone on this show and you’d struggle to get bored. If you’re a fan of great wrestling go check out the Ted Petty Invitational as all are just fantastic shows.