XCW Midwest -November Pain 11/21/09

Mobile Homers v. Knuckles and Knives

PAS: This started as a singles match between Rudy Switchblade and Ted “The Trailer” McNailer and turns into an impromptu tag match which is an XCW booking staple. Match varied from good to bad, these guys are both OVW tag teams and parts of the match felt polished like you would expect a touring match to be, other parts felt way too sloppy for guys who train together. Ted McNailer felt like the keeper in the group as he was really fast in his offense, and stuff landed well.

TKG: I don’t know if the singles into tag is a XCW staple or just a Mobile Homers staple. The quick taggin face part felt really polished. The member of Knucles and Knives who wasn’t Rudy Switchblade seemed like he was a guy who always knew how to be in the right place and work the crowd . I also liked his run in and beat down on Mcnailer.

New Age Assassin v. “Black Diamond’ Kliff Hanger

TKG: I don’t think New Age Assassin is the same New Age Assassin we’ve seen on earlier XCW and XCW ground Xero shows ,nor do I think he is New Age Assassin Tim Renesto. He was kind of stocky and awkward. Kliff Hanger and the Assassin start this match with lots of amusing horseshit. I think they may have overdone the horseshit to the point that it became dull. The point of a cliffhanger is you don’t give away all your stuff at once, you save some of that so you have something new next time. Hanger goes up well for back bodydrops and has some nice jabs but there was a lot of the post comedy stuff which looked ugly.

PAS: For the first part of the match this was a perfectly fine King Cobra v. Dirty Rhodes comedy undercard match. They switched into their “wrestling” section, and it felt unnecessary. I think that is a big problem with current indy wrestling, guys feel like if they have stuff to do, they need to do it in every match.

Todd Morton v. Mitch Ryder

PAS: These guys had one of my favorite matches of 2008, and they bring it back in 2009 and have another super match. Morton spends the first part of the match with some world class stooging, watching Morton avoid locking up is like watching Miles Davis play the trumpet. With all the Memphis wrestling I have watched over the last couple of years, I didn’t think there was new shtick I haven’t seen, but Morton is doing some revolutionary shit. When Ryder finally catches him and unloads with his great looking punch combos it is truly satisfying. Morton transitions into asskicker, and he unloads with super nasty punches and mafia kicks, with Ryder coming right back at him. The finish was fine, with Ryder rolling up Morton after he is distracted by Gerald Lowe. Still epic finishes are what XCW is often missing, it is like watching 1980’s All Japan, matches are great, but then you get the double count out. There are plenty of great finishes in Memphis they could borrow, but they seem to only use the cheap ones.

TKG: You get the sense that Morton has an endless number of lazzi at his disposal, and almost get the impression that he never uses the same one twice. His dodge and move and bullshit at the beginning of this match didn’t feel like time killer so much as stuff that actually built up anticipation. The punch exchanges on the floor right in front of little kids were awesome: “here’s some fucking close up magic, Ricky Jay”” and it’s neat watching them move from the platform to the close up and back. Finish wasn’t epic but it was satisfying.

Flash Flanagan v 2 Tuff Tony

TKG: Too Tough Tony is in as I think a replacement for Bull Pain. There is some odd pacing to this match. Too Tough Tony is a guy who normally works a match built around walking and hitting, while Flash is a guy who does quicker exchanges. And at times it feels like the two guys are having timing issues and at other times the difference in timing feels like a cool feature. Flash starts going all out and Too Tough looks somewhat awkward as guy working at the initial pace. Flash then begins a long run after a leg take down of Tony into turnbuckle. Tony doesn’t do much from below as Flash is constantly moving. The end with the two guys going for moves off the ropes where Flash moves quickly to avoid Tony, while Tony moves more last minute I thought was real neat. And I kind of liked Tony’s soccer bicycle kick which felt plodding guy hitting hard out of nowhere (as well as move that slowed Flash down to Tony’s pace). There were other moments where it just felt awkward.

PAS: I didn’t like this as much as Tom, Flanagan has had a great run in 2009, and this was the least of it. It not only felt like the timing was off on the match, but also their spacing seemed weird, multiple times they felt like they were too close to each other to pull off the moves they were trying. Flanagan had some moments, but this wasn’t any good.