Phil's Ongoing 2008 MOTY List

1. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer IWA-MS 3/1

2. Floyd Mayweather v. Big Show WWE 3/30

3. Mike Quakenbush v. Johnny Saint WXW 3/8

4. Mitsuhara Misawa v. Takeshi Morishima NOAH 3/2
5 Erick Stevens v. Roderick Strong FIP 2/8

6. Finlay v. JBL WWE 3/30

7. Shawn Michaels v. Ric Flair WWE 3/30

8. El Valiente + El Hijo Del Fantasma + La Mascara v. La Sombra + Volador Jr. + Sagrado CMLL 4/30

5. Erick Stevens v. Roderick Strong FIP 2/8

This was a match I wasn't expecting to like nearly as much as I did. Strong helped train Stevens so this is a match up which has happened a ton. A couple of things elevated this match over their basic touring match. They started the match as a face v. face match and over the course of the match Roderick turned heel. First Roderick "accidentally" hit Stevens with the belt, busting open the side of his head. Then he maneuvered the ref in front of a Stevens clothesline, before finishing the turn by wrecking Stevens with a chair shot. Add that to both guys beating the piss out of each other and you get a solid entertaining main event.

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Retro IWA-MS Review

28 Days Disc 1

2/1/02

PAS: So Smartmark video is re releasing some of the early IWA-MS on DVD, this is the first of two shows on one disc during a really fun time for the promotion.

Adrian Serrano v. Cuefa The Flying Hawaiian

PAS: Serrano is a Perry Saturn looking ex-UFC guy who worked for a bit in Midwest indies. Cuefa looks neither Hawaiian or particularly flying. There were a couple of nasty punches to the temple by Serrano, but this was a trainwreck. This a light heavyweight title tourney match and very weirdly worked This was basically a squash, but kind of diffident as Cuefa kept getting rope breaks and 2 counts, and gets win after Serrano misses an elbowdrop and rolls him up.

TKG: I think Serrano may still be doing Midwest indy wresting. Really amusing to remember what a different world 2002 was. In 2008 both Kid Kash and Slim J worked MMA matches and IWA Deep South closed shop to become an MMA fed. In 2002 MMA guy saw an indy as another payday. In 2008 indy wrestlers look to MMA as just another payday. In 2008 Elite XC payed one of their fighters $1, so its not like they're making more money. Just more paydays.

Chuck E. Smooth v. Dysfunction

PAS: Chuck E., is a heroin addict who works as kind of a scummier Johnny Kashmere, Dysfunction is a guy who worked as an underdog who took some big KOTDM beatings from Ian Rotten. Chuck E. has a bunch of cool looking indy offense. This is basically a squash too, with Smooth pulling up Dysfunction at 2 a couple of times, before Prazack accidentially throws Gold Bond Powder in his eyes, allowing Dysfunction to hit his finisher. I have no idea why you book two semi-final matches with Mikey Whipwreck winning both.

TKG: I kind of dug this. Always liked Chuck E Smooth and all his stuff here looks nasty and he just comes across as a douche heel. Dysfunction brings more to the table than Cuefa. Both matches are worked with underdog being dominated and then getting the win but they're different matches. Cuefa was supposedly a guy with speed and highflying but looked neither fast not like a guy who cold get height. Just a guy who ate a beating and got a roll up. Dysfunction' is working a "young lion" gimmick and his comebacks actually look like the comebacks you'd expect from a "young lion" vs an A1 veteran. Chuck E Smooth as Jumbo is amusing. I mean I buy him as a guy with hep but still.

Mean and Hard v. Bull Pain and C.M. Punk

PAS: This match had its moments both good and bad. C.M. Punk sure called him his fair share of spots back in the day and there were a couple of really badly blown spots, including a double foot DDT which had Ian Rotten disgusted on commentary. This also had Bull Pain and Mitch Page punching each other square in the mouth. Bull Pain wastes some people with bat shots too.

TKG: Not just bat shots but corner of chair shots. The real star of this was Mean Mitch Page who sold really well during his FIP stuff, continued to sell well during his comebacks, bumped big and had a bunch of nice offense. Match made me want to see a Mitch Page v Bull Pain singles. Post match the Bad Muthafuckas all tease dissension.

Todd Morton and Mitch Ryder v. Colt Cabana and Cash Flo

PAS: Ryder and Morton are a spectacular Southern heel tag team, shtick, punches, horseshit, nasty kicks to the stomach and stooging. All of their stuff is really great looking, Cabana and Flo are kind of shitty blow job baby face team. Cabana stuff especially looked ass compared to the awesomeness of the Bad Mother Fuckers.

TKG: Todd Morton just completely ruled. I mean I dug Ryder in lots of places, and Cabana ate a nice post shot and yadda yadda but fuck all that other stuff. Lyger was never able to transition to working heavyweight the way Fujinami did but you watch Todd Morton and go "If that guy was in the Lyger gimmick". Todd Morton just runs this match.

Cuefa The Flying Hawaiian v. Dysfunction

PAS: This was a mess, for some Dysfunction works heel here despite being a underdog babyface in the semi-final. They blow some spots, and then a black guy runs in and hits a goofy back DDT on Cuefa giving the belt to Dysfunction

TKG: I had less problems with Dysfunction as heel than Phil, that actually made sense to me and held this together. Cuefa who showed little ability to leave the ground in first match does a bunch of highflyin here (big back drop take, a dropkick and top rope cross body). But yeah nothing to see here.

Rugby Thug Trent Baker v. Ian Rotten

PAS:This was pretty fun, as it was basically Ian Rotten beating on a guy. Rotten has really nasty punches to the ribs and great headbutt. This went a little long, as it was almost 12 minutes of Rotten kicking Baker's ass. Rugby Thug gets back on offense with a low blow, and busts open Rotten. I would have liked this to be a little more back and forth, but you have to like Ian beating on someone.

TKG: The angle that they're working here is that Rugby Thug Trent Baker tried to break Ian Rotten protege and IWA franchise Chris Hero as well as attacked Nadia Nice. Weird to have your big heat angle match tease going broadway. Match starts with Baker n the offense and I didn't remember his stuff looking this good. I played rugby so bothered by possible off sides violations after the big kicks. Ian's run of offense was nice but about five minutes too long, before Baker goes for the old low blow to the prop in the scrum move. They do a fans bring the weapons section which felt out of nowhere and some valet v. manager stuff. And the post match angle is really well done. I wouldn't mind seeing these two guys go at it again but this went too long.

Todd Morton + Mitch Ryder v. Mean and Hard

PAS: Really amusing match with really funny face comedy spots, and an amusing story with Mitch Page being worked over, and Mitch Ryder beating on Page and refusing to tag Morton. Really fun story, although any story with Morton being kept out of the ring is going to hurt the match quality. Ryder and Morton are such an awesome tag team, I would have loved to see them feuding with babyface blowjob Harris Brothers or Excitement Incorporated.

TKG: Yeah Phil really covers this. Real fun match with fun BS finish, real fun story line but story line keeps Todd Morton out of the ring for large chunks which is unfortunate. They reference spots from an earlier singles Todd Morton v Mitch Page match which i want to track down.The Mean and Hard double drop kick is a thing of beauty.

Necro Butcher v. Corporal Robinson

PAS: This was pretty fun, although it suffers from a lot of the problems with IWA-MS death matches. Basically this was worked as a genial face v. face GA undercard match, no reason to work a match with this much violence as Tony Zane v. Mike Jackson. Also it had a little too much hit with stuff, and not enough punch in the face. Still it had at least four crazy bumps, and while a draw finish is lame, that was a hell of a spot to have a draw on.

TKG: Robinson sets up the big table with light tubes before the match starts and match never gets bogged down by having to set up spots. Two guys just toss each other from one place to the next. Nothing felt elaborate or convoluted, every crazy thing (brainbuster on chair, etc) came off as intuitive. It is hurt by Ian and Trent Baker using a lot of the same props (crutch, thumb tack bat, and golf club) in their heated angle based match. This isn't as "genial" as Phil makes it off but the contrast makes it feel that way.

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Phil's Ongoing 2008 MOTY List

1. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer IWA-MS 3/1

2. Floyd Mayweather v. Big Show WWE 3/30

3. Mike Quakenbush v. Johnny Saint WXW 3/8

4. Mitsuhara Misawa v. Takeshi Morishima NOAH 3/2

5. Finlay v. JBL WWE 3/30

6. Shawn Michaels v. Ric Flair WWE 3/30

7. El Valiente + El Hijo Del Fantasma + La Mascara v. La Sombra + Volador Jr. + Sagrado CMLL 4/30


7. El Valiente + El Hijo Del Fantasma + La Mascara v. La Sombra + Volador Jr. + Sagrado CMLL 4/30

This was a title match on kids day, and I am a big fan of both Kids day technico matches and title matches. This was clearly a big match for everyone and they worked very hard. First two falls were especially good with Valiente especially impressing me, I am a big Super Astro and Dick Togo fan, so I love me a fat high flyer, and his big dive is about as spectacular a spot as you are going to see in wrestling. The third fall had its weak moments. For a guy with a Christian gimmick who is all superkick, I prefer Sagrado to Shawn Michaels, but he was pretty clearly off during parts of this. The third fall also had a lot of two counts for a lucha match, and the end run felt a little Briscoesish, still the final two minutes were great with the reversal finish totally ruling. I love graceful lucha, and it can still be awesome when given some time.

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Phil's Ongoing 2008 MOTY list

1. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer IWA-MS 3/1
2. Floyd Mayweather v. Big Show WWE 3/30
3. Mike Quakenbush v. Johnny Saint WXW 3/8
4. Mitsuhara Misawa v. Takeshi Morishima NOAH 3/2
5. Finlay v. JBL WWE 3/30
6. Shawn Michaels v. Ric Flair WWE 3/30

1. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer IWA-MS 3/1
This was probably the feud of the year in 2007, and after they wrapped it up in ROH, they moved it over to IWA. I think this was the best of their matches, as this was Whitmer being the least Whitmerish. No real goofball fake Akiyama shit, no 2.9ish wrestling, just taking a beating and giving one. Jacobs was the face here, which differentiates it from the ROH feud, I don't really understand the booking, as Jacobs threw the title in the trash, but Fanin was the heel who couldn't let go of the faces betrayal. It works better as a match, Jacobs is a great heel, but he is also a great sympathetic babyface, while Whitmer is a wholly unappealing guy, which makes it difficult to buy him as a babyface. As a greasy faced scumbag gun for hire, he works fine. The short hair is a good look for Whitmer, he kind of looks like a small time Irish mob legbreaker, instead of a long haired Dark Star Orchestra roadie. I loved the restart, with Fanin refusing to let the ref stop it, when Jacobs was destroyed in the corner. You also have to love the Sullivan spike as a babyface move, and the Frye/Takayama double spike spot is spectacular. Plus fuck what an ending, if a homemade vasectomy can't cause a guy to quit, then nothing will.

3. Mike Quakenbush v. Johnny Saint WXW 3/8
You have to admire Quakenbush, he is a backyarder without training who has gone on to work Mexico, Japan, Europe, run his own acclaimed school and indy and book himself into dream matches like this. I expected this to be an amusing exhibition , with Quack getting to work his idol and Saint doing some of his spots, but there is no way I expected this to be good. Saint always worked a style with a minimum number of bumps, so he was going to hold up well, but he is as slick and fast at 67 as he was in the 70’s footage we have of him. Some of the coolest counter wrestling I have ever seen, but it wasn’t just an exhibition of cool moves.

They worked a great little story, with Saint starting the match enjoying the crowd reaction and having fun, but slowly getting more serious as the match goes on. This young kid has counters to his counters, and Saint tightens up his wrestling as the match goes on, cranking a little harder on the holds, smacking his leg across Quack’s face. Saint is a competitor, and if he is out there, he is out to win. Meanwhile Quack isn’t going to give any quarter either. By the end they were in a real struggle, and it was awesome. Great match, and I would absolutely buy a DVD for a rematch.

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The Wrestling What I Watched in 2007 Pt. 5, by S.L.L.

I have started digging into the esteemed Goodhelmet's "Best of 2007" set, so figured I'd revive this feature. But first, I noticed I started a fifth part back in late January and never posted it because I got sidetracked with the Black History Month Project. So before I start talking about how much that Big Japan eight-man sucked, here is this.

Nigel McGuinness & KENTA vs. Takeshi Morishima & Bryan Danielson
ROH - 5/12/2007 - New York City, NY

I still love that KENTA sort of randomly jacked Rey Mysterio's late-90's WCW theme. Also must say I dig the graphics they used for their entrances here, though you probably didn't want to freeze-frame on a shot of Morishima with a bloody nose, especially since the others were all done from the entrance itself. Seems pointless to use footage from another appearance just to highlight Morishima's embarrassing nosebleeding problem. Prazak on Morishima: "He hits people very hard...he drops them on their heads!". Way to describe 80% of the roster, Dave. Danielson comes back from injury, and waddya know, he's still awesome. Morishima standing on his opponent with Danielson on his back doesn't do a whole lot for you when you've seen him do it with Rikio on his back. Morishima continues to impress with his fat based offense. I liked his rapport with Todd Sinclair while standing on Nigel. Dragon throws Nigel to the corner, but takes too long to makes the charge, and Nigel dodges and hits the kick to the back/falling lariat combo. KENTA gets the hot tag, and well, it's a Morishima match, so I'm kinda grateful that the heavyweight was the face-in-peril, but that still means the cruiser is the house afire. Or not, as Danielson flips over KENTA and catches him with a backbreaker to take back the advantage for his team. KENTA isn't in for long before he tags Nigel back in, and Takeshi is able to resist the urge to work like Abyss in that time. Seriously, they've really gone out of their way to keep Mori and KENTA separate for most of this match, which kinda makes me think Gabe has a better understanding of his roster's abilities than I usually give him credit for. Danielson kicks Nigel in the elbow, and he sells it like it may have been dislocated. KENTA tries to take on both opponents himself, but eats a big Morishima uranage, a Danielson diving headbutt, a Danielson rolling elbow, and a Morishima lariat for his troubles. Meanwhile, Nigel is on the outside racing to get his arm taped up before KENTA takes the loss. Morishima and Danielson go for Dommsday Something, but Nigel makes it back in and breaks it up, managing a Rebound Lariat in the process, while KENTA leaps to the top and brings down Danielson with a Falcon Arrow. Everyone's down, Nigel and Morishima roll outside as Danielson and KENTA do the big finisher sequence, ending in Cattle Mutilation. Nigel tries to make the save, but Mori drops elbows on Nigel's injured elbow and both men give in to the pain. Lots of fun, a fine way to introduce ROH on PPV.

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