IWA-MS Out With the Old In With the New 1/3/09

PAS: In the age of youtube and megaupload, wrestling fans mostly watch wrestling as a series of individual matches, you don’t see people really watching whole shows. Wrestling nerdom has become a singles phenomenon, no one is listening to whole albums, they are just buying the one Itunes song (I think that makes youtube highlight videos the equivalent of ringtones), I was kind of the DJ Whoo Kid of wrestling back in the 90's, but there is still something to be said for seeing how a promotion puts together a show, so in 2009, we will be taking the only interesting current promotions (IWA-MS, Battlarts, IWRG, XCW-Midwest, LDN) and reviewing their entire shows

IWA-MS Out With the Old In With the New 1/3/09

Juice Robison v. Jason Dukes

TKG: Juice Robinson is a Truth Martini trainee. Jason Dukes is an MAW regular who I’ve always liked as big guy who bumps well. I mean indy big, he’s lost a lot of weight but still stocky, The announcers put Dukes over as a veteran and this is worked like a Buddy Rose walks Jammin Mitch Snow through his first match type match. Dukes does this nasty back splash that was like a Slaughter bump as an offensive move.

PAS: I really don’t get why Jason Dukes isn’t a bigger star, even on this level. He takes really great in ring comedy bumps and has really cool looking well executed offense. He really feels like a guy who should main eventing these shows instead of working the undercard

Ricochet vs. Jonathan Davis v. TD

PAS: It seems weird that weeks before the inaugural of our first African American President IWA-MS was still running segregated wrestling cards, I guess that is Southern Indiana for you. This was a perfectly fine “guys who drove with other guys” three way dance. Jonathan Davis is perfectly fine midget black guy, better then Sabian, not as good as Tommy Smallz

TKG: I was kind of amused by them actually working hierarchy stuff in this type of undercard meaningless three way. IWA regular Ricochet worked as the man with the other two slotted lower going after him. Jonathan Davis ate things well and I liked his forearms. I think he attempted an under the bottom rope 619 into leg scissors. TD’s capoera offense didn’t do a ton for me. Maybe I’ve seen too man capoeara rodas performing on the streets. He seemed better than the fat white girl in the roda but not as good as the fat Lebanese girl. There was some blown stuff but this never fell apart.

Tag Team Battle Royal

PAS: IWA is clearly booking way too many people, there is no reason for any indy to be running an 8 team undercard battle royal. If Ian was actually paying anyone his budget would be busted. This was pretty bad up until the point that we got down to the final three teams, where it got sort of fun. I didn’t get much of a sense of the Hooliganz but they were perfectly willing to be hit really hard by Ian and Sami Callahan.

TKG: This was a mess for a while. One of the guys on the first Michigan team makes amusing faces when he gets hit. The Baba chops to the neck exchange between the guy working a Matt Clasicish old school wrestler and Ian were fun. But this was a mess till it got down to the final three.

Bill The Butcher v Necro Butcher

TKG: Bill The Butcher doesn’t appear to be working a Gangs of New York gimmick. Instead he’s a long haired guy with a chain. Impressive Necro show, as this is all about two guys going toe to toe until one guy goes down. All Bill the Butcher really needed to do was provide lots of movement, volume punches. Necro does neat stuff working points where he can no longer throw and needs to back down, and points where he fights back off the ropes. Bill the Butcher’s lots of long hair worked headbutts (both standing and from the mount) were nice looking. But this was a Necro match.

PAS: This is pretty much exactly how to work a match like this. This is the two craziest looking guys in a small town finally matching up, People had been having drunken arguments over who would win for years, and you finally get to see it. Necro is really great at working hierarchy in matches, this is the kind of match where Bill The Butcher isn’t on Necro’s level, but you come out impressed by him.

Soul Shooters v. Soul Touchers

PAS: This is sort of a bizarre show built all around the battle for semantic identity. I could see a Descriptivist writing a thesis on the sense v. reference inherent in the Soul Shooters anger at the Soul Touchaz for stealing their gimmick of black people with Soul. It is theoretically more interesting then aesthetically enjoyable, as the Soul Touchers kind of suck. They really should have saved Jason Hades v. Jason Quick loser is no longer Jason match for this show, keep it thematic.

TKG: The Soul Shooters are guys I’ve liked for awhile. I haven’t seen them in ages. Apollo Starr (now known as Q Skilz) didn’t get to do to much as this was mostly built around Drew Johnson (Drue Skillz?) big man throws. Still this was fine stuff when they were in control and I enjoyed it up to the blown finish.

Roderick Strong v. Michael Elgin

TKG: So I wasn’t expecting to dig this but it was surprisingly good. Elgin is good at selling winded big guy who can still hit hard. And that was really the key to this working. When Elgin threw stuff it always looked like there was force behind it and you buy him as a guy who any second will punch himself out.

PAS: All of Elgins strikes move Strong, they really thud. This almost had a Julio Ceasar Chavez v. Meldrick Taylor feel to it, as the faster sharper guy landed more shots, but the stronger guy was doing the damage. Finish didn’t really play into that idea which takes the match down a peg, but this was pretty surprising, I have found myself enjoying Elgin.

Egotistico Fantastico & Chuck Taylor v. Prince Mustafa Ali & Trik Davis

TKG: Trik Davis gets on the mic before the match and announces that they have fired Joey Eastman and hired Chuck E Smooth. CHUCK E SMOOTH BAYBEE!!!! You all owe it to yourselves to get on youtube and watch as much Chuck E Smooth mic work as possible. Smooth gets on the mic and he’s the one guy in indy wrestling who seems to know how o hold a mic properly, and you hear everything he says. He explains his interest in managing his team, runs down the opponent, insults people in the audience, tells folks that heroin was his drug of choice, threatens to walk out, gets his hat stolen has Davis steal an audience members jacket,etc. Trik Davis deliberately blows Tracy Smothers rant and Chuck E Smooth goes on another rant. The team of Egotistico Fantastico and Taylor aren’t much but Ali and Davis are fun and all the Smooth interactions with the match and the audience are fun. This is a show with a ton of managers/seconds and you forget them all when faced with Smooth. Cm Punk and Cabana went on to the WWE, Dave Prazak went on to book a midwest girl fed, Pierce went on to book ROH and the star of the Gold Bond Mafia seemingly dissapeared. But now he's back baby. Hide your children; Chuck E Smooth is back!!!!

PAS: Taylor and Fantastico are pretty much Exhibit A of everything I hate in Indy wrestling. Skinny white dork pretending to be Mexican teamed with skinny white hipster dork who spends the entire match winking at the audience, also everything Taylor does looks clumsy and awkward. I like Davis and Ali and love Chuck E Smooth, but they really couldn’t save this match.

Sami Callihan v. Jimmy Jacobs

PAS: These are two of my favorite guys on the indies right now, and this match pretty much delivers. I loved how the opening couple of minutes were really worked in a phone booth, both guys kept each other very close, grabbing for holds and counters, tight hard punches and kicks. Callahan takes his normal big sized beating and does his normally great job of selling, you have one huge bump with Callahan getting sliced bread on an open chair, and I loved how he kept grabbing the back of his head even while he was putting on moves. There were moments that got a little back and forthy, which keeps it from being as good as the best Callahan stuff, but it was damn fun.

TKG:The neat thing about the early section that Phil describes as being in a phone booth was that it was so different than what we normally get in indy wrestling. You normally get mat work built on wearing a guy down leading to (or forgotten after they move into) strikes aimed at putting opponent away. Here the early “in a phone booth” stuff was largely mat work aimed at finishing off the opponent. I mean both guys going for finishers early, going for pinfalls early and just fighting to keep their opponent down. I thought the sliced bread on the chair was kind of unnecessary for this type of match.

Jason Hades v. Dingo

PAS: Weird little match, the in-ring part were pretty mediocre, I think Hades is the least of the IWA-MS Jasons, and there were some real crappy back and forth juniory stuff. However when they take it to the floor it was ridiculously awesome, Dingo goes flying through chairs and the just kill each other with big moves on the hardwood. Unfortunately they went back in the ring, I need to see more Dingo street fights, because that dude is awesome out of the ring.

TKG: It’s not unusual for guys to be better on the floor than in the ring. Happens a lot. Guys working too cooperative, intricate and loose in the ring while they work more stiff and reckless on the floor. But that’s not quite what happens here. What’s neat about the floor brawling stuff is the elaborate intricate reversals. Dingo goes to suplex opponent from ring to floor, Hades reverses this into two spectacular posting bumps, Dingo goes for perfectplex on the floor which is reversed into a rana on the floor which leaves Dingo winded laying accross a chair where he gets double stomped from stage to a chair. Moves on the floor are strung together really well and in interesting ways. Its not like Dingo doesn’t eat stuff well in ring. But the moves in ring aren’t strung together as well can be overly elaborate and the reversals just aren’t as interesting. The creative in ring stuff cames across really cheesy while the creative out of ring stuff came across actually neat.