XCW Midwest Legends of the Garden Night 1 3/3/09

TKG: Pre-show Bill Dundee comes out to do some mic work only to be interrupted by Todd Morton, Shawn Cook and Cody Hawke. Todd Morton demands respect and Dundee reaches out to turn Morton's backward hat frontward. Dundee goes to walk away and is jumped from behind. Bull Pain comes out for the save. I'm going to start turning guys hats around when collar popped backward capped idiots buck at me at in bars. Unfortunately I like to drink alone and don't expect anyone to come in for the save.

PAS: I really don't get why you would run in to save a guy who cuckolded you, but I am glad that Bull and Bill have put their differences behind them.

Robbie Ellis v. Crippler Jeff Daniels

TKG: Ellis at this point looks like a less athletic Danny Kaye. I'm not sure why Ellis is a legend of the Garden, but I'll go with it. They work a roughneck brawler v highflyer with Ellis as your 64 year old highflyer, Ellis is pretty fun working a bunch of old guy highflying including an insane second rope to the floor plancha and a really nice headscissor take over. Jeff Daniels has a bunch of nasty ways to hit an old man and is damn good at selling in a way to make the highflying credible.

PAS: For worker in his mid 60's Ellis isn't as effortless as Dundee or Saint but he hits his stuff really well. Daniels was really great at credibly being thrown around by a really old guy, which isn't easy to do. Great looking elbow drop which looked rude on your Grandpa. There was one blown backdrop which looked like Daniels was going to die, but otherwise a really fun opener.

Tracy Smothers v. Mitch Ryder

TKG: This is a family show and Smothers is a professional, instead of giving the crowd the finger he keeps on giving them the pinkee. He wields his pinkee with such conviction that it actually comes off really crass. They start with a bunch of Tracy stalls and working of the ref before unleashing the bombs in the corner. Tracy chokes Ryder with wrist tape behind the refs backagain and again and eventually pegs Ryder with the roll of tape.

PAS: When Tracy Smothers does his stalling and heel stuff in other feds it comes off as more crowd pleasing ironic heel. Here it does what it is designed to do, piss off the crowd and get them more behind the babyface. I really liked how Smothers used the tape to set up the next nights taped fist match. The booking of the whole show was like a Clash of Champions to set up the next nights Great American Bash, and they did an awesome job of making me want to buy the Bash.

Bull Pain v. Todd Morton

TKG: So I really enjoyed this matchup on the Rollin Hard tribute show but that was a match for Roland, his family and friends and about Roland's kids. This was just these two going at it. Bull Pain is a guy whose offense looks devastating and Todd Morton is a guy who will eat stuff spectacularly well. But in the midst of the Bull Pain run of offense, Todd Morton is able to pull off a nasty chop block. And DAMN can Todd Morton take apart a guy's leg. They do the spot where Pain's leg is draped over the bottom rope and Todd Morton jumps on it, and I've never seen that spot look as nasty. Todd Morton just wrecks havoc on Pain's leg while Pain does real bad ass job of selling being on one wheel. Pain struggles on the floor to get a chair to protect himself and no one wields a chair like Bull Pain. You knew there would be outside interference, but this was Finlay/Booker/Benoit TV title more "outside distraction" setting up finish than actual "interference". I want to see these two guys wrestle an endless series.

PAS: This was tremendous, Morton is as good at working a leg as anyone you have ever seen, and I am pretty amazed at how good Bull Pain is as a sympathetic babyface. Morton is really great here pulling off the switch from stooge to killer which is the true measure of a great heel, it was something Arn Anderson was masterful at and Morton is as good. As good as this match was though, it still felt like a backdrop setting up Morton v. Dundee. This was the right match to work for that role, but I still need to see these two in a main event match where they can really deliver a Match of the Year. It seems like the XCW booking is building towards it, and I am confident if it happens it will be epic.

Sexy Shawn Cook/Cody Hawk v. Irish Airborne

TKG: I haven't liked the Airborne much in the past but they were fine here. There earl tandem-ish face quick tag stuff worked in the context of guys doing quick tags. This was also helped by Cook and Hawke being guys who do a real nice job with the buffoonish eating of the quick tag stuff. The quick tag face section was longer than it tends to be these days. I don't get the sense that the darker haired guy is that good at working face in peril. But it was a well set up FIP section with big bump and big floor move and the darker hair Airborne guy does a great job of selling a sleeper like a guy about to legit pass out. The lighter haired Airborne isn't very good as a hot tag guy. But these two are guys who normally are really problematic as they tend to try to work scramble tag BS when its out of place. They for the most part avoided giving in to their scramble tag tendencies. The were perfectly fine and I dug this matchup. This was a good show top to bottom. Post match Cook and Hawk attack with Morton and Gibson coming out for the save.

PAS: I didn't go into this w high expectations, but ended up really enjoying it. Irish Airborne had previously struck me as guys from the Fantastics/SAT's school of babyface tag wrestling where the focus would be on the fancy moves and double teams they could pull off. I always preferred the Rock and Roll Express style, where the focus is on fighting back against the heels taking a beating and showing heart. In this match they worked more R+R's then Fantastics and it was by far the most I have enjoyed them (although this match did have the same face rolls up the heel, second heel superkicks the face finish of ever Fantastics match of the 1980s). Cook and Hawk are a solid heel team, the kind of guys who could have made a nice living in the 1980's running through this match against local pretty boys from coast to coast. The quality of this kind of match depends on the blowjob team and Airborne were more Mason Dixon Connection then New Fabs, but that is still plenty good enough for me.