Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Brian Streleckis climbs out of the pit of media frenzy and crosses the bridge into Philadelphia again to see IWA Mid-South put on their second ever show from the New Alhambra/ECW Arena. The last time they came was a little over two years ago with “Something to Prove,” headlined by a brutal classic between Samoa Joe and Necro Butcher. Did “Point Proven” live up to its name and deliver something better?

The crowd tonight was pretty big (read from czwfans.com by way of the IWA board that it was about 350), although one of the four three-row floor sections was pretty barren (the other three were full). I took the opportunity to move from my bleacher seat to a floor seat in front of me, but moved back by the second half due to some crazy little kids and all-around cretins populating the section. A number of people here tonight seemed more interested in blood and table spots as opposed to genuine wrestling, which is kind of a bummer, but it didn’t deter my enjoyment that much. Ben Jordan, IWA-MS’ current lead commentator, handled announcing duties tonight.

1.Brandon Thomaselli defeated Ricochet, Billy Roc, and Jack Thriller in a four-way to retain the IWA-MS Light Heavyweight Title. An unannounced match that was pretty fun overall. Ricochet got over via his high-flying moves, including a twisting tope that looked cool, but nearly missed the three other guys outside. Thriller, donned in a green singlet and reminding me of a larger version of Finlay’s leprechaun, acts like such a goof, but a pretty entertaining goof. Thomaselli’s the big heel, and Roc came off like the hungry babyface wanting a piece of him. Thomaselli wiped out Roc with the SAT Bomb (a powerbomb into a lungblower) and then hit Ricochet with the Impact (butterfly lift into a reverse lungblower) for the pin.

2.CJ Otis & Fukimoto (w/ Joey Eastman) defeated Akira Raijin & Brute Issei. Another unannounced match. To my surprise, Otis (an IWA regular) and Fukimoto (a Japanese death match wrestler) are the latest charges of ring announcer-turned-heel manager Joey Eastman, donned in a pink dress jacket and lime green slacks. The guy’s like a more vulgar, hate-filled version of Jim Cornette (well, the Cornette we’ve seen on TV, not on shoot interviews), and is pretty entertaining, cursing out the Philadelphia fans and calling Otis his “Star of David.” Raijin & Issei are two big young guys from All Japan who I learned from a friend on the web are (A) over here training at Scott D’Amore’s camp, and (B) not all that good right now. I like Otis alright, and the match seemed fundamentally sound, but it had nothing else going for it. Fans really turned on it, especially the All Japan guys who presumably 99% of them have never seen before and aren’t given a reason to care about them. Finish came when Eastman grabbed onto Raijin’s leg while he was on the top turnbuckle, Fukimoto sprayed him with the green mist, and Otis finished him off with the Burning Hammer. Can’t say I blame the fans for hating it.

3.”Black Machismo” Jay Lethal defeated Tracy Smothers and Z-Barr in a three-way/handicap match(?). Lethal came out in full Machismo gear and was pretty over, as was Smothers when he came out. Z-Barr, a Philly-area wrestler (I remember seeing him on the really early days of CZW on local TV) who started doing stuff in IWA-MS this year, was in Smothers’ corner, and ran down Lethal for being a “copycat ripoff.” Smothers, currently in this odd partnership with Z-Barr, told him to shut up, showed some respect to Lethal, and was willing to give him the chance to impress him. This was originally a singles match between Smothers and Lethal - billed as “The Feel Good Comedy of the Summer” - but Z-Barr added himself to the match in attempting to help and/or show up Smothers. Wasn’t quite sure if this was a three-way or a handicap match. Smothers and Z-Barr butted heads a bit, allowing Lethal to capitalize with various double axehandles. As fun as Lethal can be in the Machismo gimmick, I don’t like that he’s apparently limiting his own ability to mimick Randy Savage. Lethal scored the top rope elbow on Smothers to win this odd but fairly funny match. Smothers and Z-Barr teased fighting at the end, but ended up hugging.

4.Chris Hero & Claudio Castagoli & Cheech & Cloudy defeated B-Boy & Ruckus & Sabian & Ricky Reyes. Another unannounced match, combining two previously scheduled tag matches (Hero & Claudio vs. Sabian & Reyes, and Cheech & Cloudy vs. Chris Bosh & Scott Lost, who were MIA tonight), with PWG/CZW vet B-Boy making a surprise appearance to team with the three BLKOUT members. A good back-and-forth match given lots of time, with Cloudy and Sabian the recipients of lengthy beatdowns. As is usually the case in these multi-man tags, things broke down towards the end with a bunch of guys going after each other. Hero & Claudio were the stars of the match, scoring the win after giving Sabian the KRS-1.

5.Mickie Knuckles defeated Rachel Summerlyn in a Falls Count Anywhere Match. Mickie’s IWA-MS Women’s Title was not on the line as previously announced on their web site, but the FCO stip was a surprise. One of the more hard-hitting women’s matches I’ve seen a while, especially in person. A lot of fighting inside the ring and out, including a crazy headbutt exchange. Rachel suplexed Mickie onto the ring steps after Mickie attempted to do the same to her, but Rachel ended up eating a suplex onto the entrance ramp. Mickie scored the pin after that, and Rachel seemed legitimately knocked out from it. Luckily, she managed to get to her feet. The crowd really dug the hard-hitting action.

6.The Iron Saints (Vito & Sal Thomaselli) defeated The Naptown Dragons (Scotty Vortekz & OMG) and Notorious, Inc. (Devon Moore & Drew Blood) in a TLC Match to retain the IWA-MS Tag Team Titles. Moore & Blood wrestle in Phildelphia for Pro Wrestling Unplugged, and they looked better here compared to the last few times I’ve seen them over a year ago; Moore has been doing a bunch of IWA-MS shows solo recently. First time seeing OMG (or xOMGx as it’s written), a masked cruiserweight, and he and Vortekz looked fine together. This was largely a mess to begin with, as the wrestlers were hitting each other with chairs (both swung and thrown) and ladders. Just a lot of mindless action that blended in together. Things got better towards the end, as Moore & Blood took themselves out of the match when Moore dove off a ladder in the ring, aiming for Sal but instead hitting Blood, sending both through a table on the floor. The two remaining teams fought until Sal (with help from Vito), flung OMG off of a table perched on the top turnbuckle and through another table in mid-ring with some crazy suicide hiptoss move. The Iron Saints retained their titles in this crazy trainwreck of a match; not bad overall, and the use of table spots was smart, popping the crowd.

7.Human Tornado defeated Matt Sydal in a 2/3 Falls Match. My first time seeing Tornado live. Sydal, as was the case at the last ROH show I went to, acted more like the heel, but didn’t do much that was outright heelish, though he did attack Tornado before a rest period was finished, and denied everyone the pleasure of a dance off started by Tornado. Sydal was able to score the first fall following his standing moonsault, where as Tornado scored the second fall following the breakdance split into the crotch and a rollup. Odd choice of victory for the babyface here. After some more back-and-forth action, Tornado hit Sydal with the Pounce (yes, he does the ol’ Monty Brown/Marcus Cor Von Pounce as a signature move) and the Dat Ninja Dead (a cradle suplex move, and this is the family friendly name) for the deciding win. It may have lost some in the crowd (who as I said, wanted more hardcore stuff), but I thought it was good. I heard their match from June 16th in Joliet, IL was very good (see Robert Dolezil’s report), and I picked up the DVD to it at the show, so I’ll have something to compare it to.

Intermission came along, followed by a very good second half that began when…

8.Hotstuff Hernandez defeated Drake Younger. This match took me a bit by surprise by how good it was. Younger looked good as the both the “hometown guy” (he’s not from Philadelphia, but he is a CZW regular) and the overpowered babyface. He took it to the bigger Hernandez, but was taken down soon with a slingshot shoulderblock over the ropes. Hernandez hit a lot of his signature offense, including a running dive over the top to the floor which is amazing for his size. Younger fought back with some chops and such and escaped a Border Toss attempt, but was ultimately taken down with a Border Toss where both guys were up on the turnbuckle. Lots of fun stuff in this one. Hernandez is pretty awesome.

9.Chuck Taylor defeated Josh Abercrombie to retain the IWA-MS Heavyweight Title. Good, fun match that was most memorable for Taylor’s antics, especially shouting down the fans that were dissing him. Abercrombie, despite still sporting (and caressing) the mustache and sporting the crazy 80s gear, was more or less the straightforward babyface throughout, taking down Tayor with some flashly offense. Taylor worked him over a lot. Abercrombie was able to hit the Taliban Backpack (where he jumps off the second rope to give his opponent the lungblower), but he was too weak to make the cover right a way. Taylor recovered and nailed the Omega Driver (not so much a pumphandle piledriver as I’ve thought of it before, more of a side gutwrench piledriver), and he retains his title to defend and threaten little kids with again.

10.Homicide & Low Ki defeated The Tough Crazy Bastards (Necro Butcher & Toby Klein). A crazy match with relaxed rules. This was booked as the main event in an effort to live up the Samoa Joe-Necro Butcher main event of IWA-MS’ first Philly show; not sure if it got chaotic enough to live up to those high standards, but it was damn good nevertheless. Necro & Toby were accompanied by some skinny tattooed guy whose name I didn’t catch. Homicide & Low Ki have wrestled Necro before (in ROH and IWA-MS respectively), and they showed no fear here as they took it to their larger opponents. Lots of hard-hitting exchanges (chops, punches, headbutts, etc). Wild stuff throughout, with Toby taking a piledriver from Homicide on the entrance ramp. The end saw Low Ki fly off the top rope to give Necro a doublestomp through a table on the floor, for what may have been the biggest move and biggest pop the entire night. Meanwhile, Homicide hit Toby with a lariat for the win. My favorite match of the show.

11.Vulgar Display of Power (Brain Damage & Deranged) defeated Six Feet Under (Freak Show & Insane Lane), The Devil’s Rejects (Tank & Iceberg), and Darrin Childs & Massive in a Hardcore Rumble. All of these guys were big, fat, scary-looking dudes, except for Brain Damage (the favorite of the crowd) who resembles some kind of cyborg type dude. Six Feet Under are out of IWA Deep South and have been feuding a bit with the hardcore wrestlers of IWA Mid-South (largely stemming from Freak Show injuring Ian Rotten’s eye at a Deep South show). Tank & Iceberg, I believe, are aligned with the Deep South crew as well, whereas Childs & Massive are out of ACW in the San Antonio area (they both appeared on the San Antonio show IWA-MS held in April). Childs & Massive started the match with Freak Show & Lane, giving each other incredibly stiff chair shots… the kinds of chair shots that may very well lead to concussions and other problems down the line. Pretty unbelievable sight, though, with chips of paint and flying off one chair and anothe being totally destroyed. Outside the ring, Freak Show started hitting Massive with a plastic bat covered with thumbtacks, which started flying off the bat with the first few hits. Tank & Iceberg joined the match a few minutes later. Both put their considerable girth to good use as Iceberg hit a giant shoulderblock to an opponent seated in the corner and Tank nailed a cannonball on the same guy. There was a chair wrapped in barb wire, but I don’t remember that coming into use as much as a staple gun, which was used by everyone. Just about everyone was bleeding from the forehead, especially Freak Show (who I may have seen actually spurt blood at one point) by the time the last team - Brain Damage & Deranged - joined the match. Brain Damage landed a lot of punches and headbutts, but both he and Deranged (not to be confused with the Deranged of Special K fame) were victims of the dreaded staple gun, including Brain Damage getting his lip stapled to the rope. Towards the end, amidst all of the slow but bloody carnage, Brain Damage was no-selling some chair shots and made a comeback. He and Deranged ultimately won the match with a spike piledriver (kind of) on Massive for the victory. Crowd was digging the whole thing.

This was one of those cases where the final match is simply the final match, and not technically the main event (which Homicide & Low Ki vs. Tough Crazy Bastards was billed as). Just me, but I prefer violent, hardcore matches when they’re at the end of a long-standing feud (as seen earlier this year in ROH with the feuds Jimmy Jacobs had with Colt Cabana and BJ Whitmer). The violence means more that way. A match like this simply happening for the hell of it without buildup - violence for the sake of violence - is far from my favorite, and I wouldn’t be able to sit through an entire show full of these types of matches. The chair shots here, amidst all of the talk in the news recently of concussions and the problems they lead to, were especially hard to watch here. Still, when I end up seeing this type of match at a live show, being stuck there to witness it is quite an experience. I know IWA-MS draws big with these types of matches, so that’s their prerogative.

Overall: Fun show. Nothing quite to the level of Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher two years ago in the same building by the same promotion, but I think this show overall was a little stronger from that one. Aside from the Hardcore Rumble and the tag match with Otis & Fukimoto, there was some decent to very good stuff throughout, especially matches #7-10. I guess if IWA-MS was to come back, they might continue to draw a lot of fans with the hardcore stuff; CZW holds the majority of their shows in the same building, and I assume a lot of those fans came to this one. However, as I saw on this show and on some of their previous shows I’ve seen on DVD and in person, they’re capable of putting on good-to-great wrestling matches. They can still offer the goods with the traditional wrestling, high-flying stunts, and hard-hitting Strong Style action. I’d like to see them try to put on a wrestling show in Philadelphia - without the blood and weaponry - and promote it as such. They could potentially draw a crowd just as good as this night (Chikara - the polar opposite of CZW - has done quite well in the New Alhambra Arena recently, holding the types of shows I mentioned and drawing healthy crowds). In saying this, I’m not ragging on this show at all; guess I’m still kind of sore at the people I sat near during the first half. This was a fun show that I’m sure their fans back in the midwest would enjoy, and I’d like to see the promotion come back to Philadelphia before another two years pass.